Home again, home again ... or, The post wherein Our Heroine reveals her book-nerdy side

Well, my pretties, after a long and exhausting trip home (turbulence at Calgary, diversion to Toronto from London, hours and hours of waiting to go to a hotel), I am safely ensconced in my parents' house in Woodstock. Yes, I find myself occasionally muttering, "Why did I want to leave the Yukon?" but that's just because the winter in Ontario sucks hardcore.

But there have been some pretty awesome things, too. I had pizza from a non-grocery-store/non-hotel place, Red Lobster for lunch yesterday, and the potential for sushi and Thai food in the near future. (I know, Kara, I know - but I can't help myself. I just can't.)

I've also been reading a lot. When I was at the airport in Vancouver, I was browsing through the fiction section...and not a single book appealed to me. No titles that made me laugh (like Michele Bardsley's stuff), or plots that seemed interesting enough to overlook the headless male torso that was the cover (like Hot to the Finish [which is not to say that I don't adore many of Erin McCarthy's books, just not the ones with covers like this]).

I've been reading a lot of the reviews over at Forever Young Adult lately (I came for the Sweet Valley High Drinking Game, and stayed for the witty banter and all-around-awesomeness). I decided to move away from the fiction section, over into the Teen/Young Adult section.

I picked up the eponymous first book in Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games trilogy. I have to tell you, I wasn't expecting too much. For starters, reading on a plane affects me much the same way as reading in a car - I get nauseated. But it didn't matter. I couldn't stop reading.

I read all the way to Calgary, pausing only during the crazy turbulence to clutch at my armrest and pray that I would survive so I could keep reading. I was finished the book before we got to Toronto (the first time, when we passed over it).

So the next morning, I went to the airport early (because I love going through security multiple times on one trip!), and once I cleared security I rushed into the bookstore to buy Catching Fire...only they didn't have any copies! They had Hunger Games and Mockingjay, but not the one I needed! I was frustrated! And crabby! Those are never a good combination for yours truly.

Luckily, before I could start smashing things around me, Hulk-style, my glare happened upon the eponymous first book in Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan trilogy, which had also received reviews over at FYA. So, book crisis averted, I snatched that puppy up and flew in to London with no problems.

Well, I was finished Leviathan by Thursday at lunch (taking into account the thirteen hours I was asleep), and I was facing the same crisis - what was I going to do?


Long story short, I bought Catching Fire and Behemoth at Chapters yesterday, and I finished Behemoth this morning. I am saving Catching Fire until tomorrow, and I know the opportunity to purchase Mockingjay will arise in the next couple of weeks (I might try to delay it until my return trip, so I can be occupied on the plane). But I am going to be sad and mopey for a while, because Goliath, the third Leviathan book, won't be out until next October! Bloohoohoo!


If you've stuck with me this far, thanks for reading! I haven't let me inner book-nerd out in a really long time ^_^

Bored in YVR

So, here I sit at the airport, biding my time until my flight leaves for London. I'm peopled-out, thanks to the woman two rows behind me on the plane who would not stop talking. It was 7:00am, I didn't want to hear the details of her life. I may have caused myself some permanent hearing loss from how high I cranked the volume on my iPod.

My drive to Whitehorse was uneventful. I was going slightly slower than the limit most of the way, because I'm not accustomed to winter driving, and I have visions of going around a corner too fast and winding up in Little Salmon Lake.

Leo and Esther were waiting for me, and plied me with a great deal of wine, good food, and desserts. They also told me to cancel my reservation in WH for the 30th, and just stay at their house. They won't be there, but their boarder will be, and they gave me a key and everything. Leo drove my truck to the airport this morning and dropped me off.

They're such nice people - the kind of people that make me love the Yukon. I'll have to work on quilting the lap-quilt I pieced for them when I get back to Faro.

Psst, Kara, I had a sandwich for lunch today - I figured it was the least offensive thing I could eat ^_^

ADHD Goldfish

I swear, I am having the hardest time concentrating today.

The headache that kept me home yesterday is not quite gone. I thought it was, but a few hours at work this morning have sent it back behind my eyes, throbbing away. Grrr.

I need to answer my interview questions for the travel blog, and come up with some appropriate companion photos. (Kara, I may ask for more of yours ^_^) I need to work on some crucial proposals. I need to pack!

I leave for Ontario on Monday. Between now and then, I need to do several loads of laundry, clean my house, put my Out of Office reply on the office email, and attend the Council Open House (taking care not to eat any of the sugary treats I know will be there).

All these tasks would be easier if I wasn't flitting around like a nectar-drunk hummingbird*.

So, I guess it's time for my old friend, the Checklist. That'll put me on the right track.


*I really like that metaphor.

Food Stuffs

If I required any further proof that going back on the Dysbiosis diet was really working for me, this weekend has provided it.

Friday, after I walked to work because my car wouldn't start, I ate two of the muffins that Jackie had brought to work Wednesday afternoon. That evening, I was babysitting at Kara's and ate a bunch of pancakes and syrup with a diet Pepsi (lots of sugar). I spent the rest of the night curled up on the couch, feeling like I was going to be sick at any moment. I woke up feeling hungover.

Last night was the staff Christmas party, and I ate salad dressing (vinegar), stuffing (bread = contains yeast), Hawaiian fruit punch (sugar), and had to leave by 8:30 because my stomach was reacting badly. This morning, again with the sugar-hangover.

So, eliminating things that make me ill is a good thing. What I need to be able to do is to find a way to record the sensations I get when I am reacting badly, and play them back to myself during the moments when I find myself tempted by bad foods. Unfortunately, I haven't figured out a way to do that during the fifteen years or so that I have been reacting badly to food ^_^

This also means that I am not going to be eating even a small piece of Matt's birthday cake this year, which is kind of a bummer because it's that amazing flourless chocolate cake from The Chocolate Claim that Kara had for her birthday. Before this weekend, I would have risked it...but not now.

Now I'm off to make the first of many cups of tea today, and to work on my sister's Cowboy Quilt (I've only been putting it off for a year and a half ^_^)

Worked up

Argh! I got into bed at 8:30 because I was tired and thought I was entitled to a really early night if I wanted it...but then my brain kicked into overdrive and I've been lying in the dark, obsessing over potential future outcomes of current scenarios.

I want to sleep! I don't want to imagine myself in all sorts of dire situations.

Brain, plz to be shutting down now, kthxbye.

Problem

This is a problem.



You see, as you may know, there is no Boston Pizza in Faro. The closest we come to BPs is Friday nights at the Studio Hotel, and there really is no comparison. So, this box could be considered a mystery.



This means that this pizza box has been in my possession since October 21, the last time I went to Whitehorse. And that's pretty sad.

This box hasn't always been on this part of the counter, either. It used to be on the other side of the sink, and the kettle sat on top of it for a long time.

What is wrong with me that I can't simply gather up my recycling and take it to the depot? Why would I let it sit on my counter for a month?

Well, it's down with all the other cardboard now. Take that, Boston Pizza Box.

So cold

Instead of building the fire after work, before heading to Kara's for dinner, I waited until I got home to build it. That was a mistake. So cold!

My internet acquaintance Tie sent me a link to a woman's photographic walk-through of her mother's house. Her mother is a hoarder, a person surrounded by boxes, and it sent me into a bit of a panic. My house is full of boxes, the vacuum is sitting in the middle of the stairs, there are piles of stuff all over.

So tonight's task is to go through the red rubbermaid container right next to me and throw out the garbage, put things where they should go, and calm the heck down.

The wind did not blow me away

But I was distracted.

How is it possible that half of November is gone already? How can it be that I have been here almost a year? I still feel awkward and artificial sometimes, and yet I feel like I have been here forever.

I'm not keen on this wind

I feel like it is going to blow the house down around me.

That is all.

Wahhhh!

Why does the internet mock me so?

I resolve to reduce my spending, and what do I find? Fabric Worm has the entire Castle Peeps line available in 1/2 yard increments, or just the red colourway in full yards...in a bundle.

Whyyyyyyy?

Rested and relaxed

I spent two nights in Whitehorse, and drove back on Saturday. All in all, I feel pretty good.

I got winter tires, had my truck serviced, got a new tattoo, had a haircut, and went to the Quilt Store to pick up some nice fabric to complement the cowboy fabric my sister sent me. I had coffee from Tim Horton's. I watched TV. It was a pretty good getaway.

I'm avoiding thinking about tomorrow, and that's okay.

Strung Out

Thank Zappa I am going to WH tomorrow. The cumulative effects of the past six months without a full-time boss have finally taken their toll. If I were a person who had firearms training, I would probably be a danger to all around me (joking, joking!).

Tonight's mission? Get through the Special Meeting without bursting into tears, come home and pack up the truck with emergency gear, and work on one of the two projects I have going. Also, keep out of the Hallowe'en candy.

Go, go, Team Free Will!

Desiderata (in two lines)

You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.

Preach it, Max Ehrmann.

This week's Wednesday

Yes, it's Tuesday, but for me it is Wednesday. I'm taking Thursday and Friday off to go to Whitehorse to get snow tires, get my truck serviced, and to finally make it to the quilt store. I need fabric to go with Hezz's cowboy fabric, and something to use as backing for the quilt I plan to give to Leo.

Council meeting tonight. Special meeting tomorrow. New interim boss started yesterday. I'm feeling something that could be optimism...or it could be residual heartburn from last night.

I'd better find some clothes.

You know what is amazing about today?

It's half over! Which means I am 4 hours away from curling up on the couch with Hunter's quilt, a cup of Relaxing Tea, and Alien Resurrection (followed by Alien vs Predator). Why not Aliens, my favourite movie of all time, you ask?

Because I watched it last night.

Jeanne is coming over tomorrow for assistance with a quilt kit, which means I will be doing a bit more tidying up. But other than popping over to the Went's for dinner, I will be glued to the couch, quilting away to some of my favourite sounds ^__^

Quiet

Rodney is curled up in the boat, head tucked up to his feet, peering at me through one squinchy eye.

Paku is curled up on my unmade bed, burrowed down into the duvet.

In the midst of the peace and quiet, I am working on some therapy. I'm getting in touch with my inner bitch, and we're having a chat about appropriate/inappropriate reactions to news, stress, and life in general. We're talking about hormones, and how they wreak havoc with emotions, how they cross our wires and make us say things we don't mean and think things we'd never say.

And now I'm going to throw some logs on the fire, curl up under my quilt-in-progress, and get on with it.

HEART ATTACK (not really)

So, I woke up this morning, rolled out of bed around 7:30, and walked into the living room...where I found the back door open and the skinny cat nowhere to be seen.

If you heard a thud around that time, that would have been my heart dropping out of my chest onto the floor.

I called out a few times, and then I got his food dish and rattled it. Within moments, he came running inside. I snatched him up and held him against my chest. He was cold - God only knows how long he was outside.

Even as I was thanking the stars that he hadn't wandered off too far or been eaten by a fox, I was cursing him. He never used to be so bold. Getting into the space between the walls, wandering outside...the one time he got stuck on the porch in Japan, he stayed right by the door and cried to come in. Moving to the Yukon has been bad for him.

I don't know what happened last night - I guess that, when I took my laundry in, I didn't push the door all the way shut. The lock was locked, but it wouldn't have made a different since it never latched.

Either that, or someone broke into my house - but the computer and DVD player are still here, so the chances of that are slim.

I'm so wound up, I haven't been able to make breakfast...and I had a good one planned, too.

Wordy Wednesday

I got all riled up about how I was going to do a Wordy Wednesday (all words, no photos) post to counter all the Wordless Wednesday (all photos, no words) posts out there, on account of me not having any photos to share.

Then I realized I don't have a lot of words to share, either.

I'm working as hard as I can, and that's stressing me out a little. I can't seem to get in front of my eating problems, and that is definitely stressing me out. My house is still not unpacked, because I don't have furniture to unpack things to, which isn't as stressful as you'd think.

On the up side, I started quilting something for a pretty special guy yesterday, and I think this quilt is going to be amazing.

Try to tamp it down

The anxiety, that is.

I'm a naturally anxious person. I worry about stuff that I have no control over, and I worry even more about things I have even the slightest amount of control over. I worry about things that didn't happen but might have happened (example - the time I nearly got hit in the face with a taiko drumstick while the PE teacher was pounding out the accompaniment to the Nen-cho class's Sports Day display - I still wake up in a cold sweat about that).

It's hard to let go of anxiety when it feels like it's the reason you exist. This job doesn't help that. The job itself is great, but all the uncertainty surrounding it makes it very difficult to know what I am doing from moment to moment. And, naturally, my already high anxiety-levels skyrocket.

I'm having breakouts. My hair is falling out again. I eat stuff I know I shouldn't. And it just builds on itself.

But there are nice things, too. Yesterday, Bernice made me a BLT and Caesar salad for lunch, and Kara had me over for moose stir-fry. (Kara also let me use some of her photos for a new sekrit project which I hope will bring in some tourists - yay Kara!) I had a delicious peach for breakfast.

I guess I just need something around that reminds me not to let anxiety get the best of me. Perhaps it's time for some new tattoos ^_^


EDIT - And then I read this entry from Celia McBride, and I remember to notice the sun shining on the mountains.

Better today...but the day's still young

After the Council meeting last night, I went home and crawled into bed. I was in bed by 10:30, and I was tired. I didn't anticipate that I would have any trouble falling asleep. I recited Desiderata a few times (I pretty much have the whole thing memorized, go me!), curled up with the cats behind my knees, and waited.

And waited.

The clock was ticking so loudly that it felt like it was ticking in my chest, like every tick of the second hand shook the bed with its force. I couldn't drown it out. By the time midnight rolled around, my cats had gotten energetic (and hungry, again) and were bouncing around and yowling. The clock was still ticking. I was nearly in tears.

Out of the bedroom went the cats! Into my ears went some foam earplugs! Desiderata recited twice more! Look out, Morpheus, I'm on my way!

I don't know what time I actually got to sleep, but it wasn't early enough. I woke this morning with bags under my eyes that were the size of cat-carriers. I cried because I had to get up and take a shower. I am so totally not a morning person.

Signs things might not be working

1. When the thought of returning to the office after lunch makes you want to barf and/or cry.

2. When the phone ringing makes you want to hide under your desk.

I'm not saying I'm going to quit, I'm just saying that, sometimes, I really want to quit.

I have not vanished into the mist

My internet connection should be working tomorrow at the new place. Heck, it might even be working now, but I haven't found the box where my router and phone are, so I haven't been able to check.

I burned my thumb on the wood-stove yesterday. I am having some major hand/eye coordination issues lately. The burn isn't really bad, although I did call over to Matt and Kara's because I couldn't remember if you're supposed to leave the blister alone or lance it (I really wanted to lance it, it feels like my thumb has grown a thumb of its own). Between the burn and all the assorted bruises I gave myself this weekend, I am looking a bit worse for wear.

I did a lot of unpacking this weekend. Probably less than I should have, but I get bored easily. Kara told me I have Adult ADD, which makes me laugh. That's better than Early Onset Menopause, which is what Dianne always used to tell me I had.

I think I heard the Cranes flying south this morning. There was a strange honking sound in the air. Everything is starting to change colour, and I'm thinking about packing away some of my warm weather office clothing. Of course, the fact that I dislike a lot of that warm weather office clothing is helping. Man, I bought some weird ass clothing when I worked at Lindor.

I fully intended to do 20 minutes on the treadmill this morning when I woke up, but wound up lying in bed with a cat-blanket from neck to knees. I should feel guiltier about that than I do.

The update

I haven't written anything this week because this week was awful.

In retrospect, there was not one single event that took the prize for "Crappiest Thing," but the combination of every little thing made the whole week stink.

But that is okay - you know why?

It's Friday. The Friday of a long weekend. I am all alone in the office, which means Otis Redding Appreciation Day can get underway as soon as I like. Hooray!

Germany, I don't blame you

I'm at odds with Europe at the moment.

I am so tired, and so cranky, and I am the only one in the office. My eyes are burning. Every little noise irritates me, every stupid little thing that people do because they are acting on autopilot instead of thinking makes me want to punch Tuesday in the throat.

I can't even lock the doors to take a five minute sanity break because there are people in the building for Court.

Where is a box of old mugs for throwing when I need one?

Saturday

Well, after last night's disappointing attendance at both the Dog Jog and the movie, I was prepared to spend the weekend fuming. I think there is a boycott situation happening.

But this morning I got up and went down to the Rec Centre. The swim team was holding a pancake breakfast and carwash (with a bottle drop-off). In one fell swoop I got rid of my refundable recyclables, got my truck washed, had breakfast, and felt smugly satisfied that I was contributing to the youth of the community. And those are all good things.

Now I should do a bit of packing and take a load of stuff over to the new place before I have to get back to the Rec for the afternoon festivities. (If people actually show up for those.)

hah!

Now that I have an answer for the guy who swore in conversation this morning, I have no way to reach him, as his number is not listed in the phone book. Good times!

Not good times - I'm supposed to be moving and I'm supposed to be doing Fireweed Festival stuff...at the same time. It's a good thing I'm taking Monday off to unwind, is all I can say.

The way to start your morning

I know that guy wasn't swearing at me, he was swearing about someone else when he was talking to me, but come on. That is so not the way I want to start my morning. I already had to use the scraper on my windshield. Don't get me down any further, bro.

I spent an hour and a half on eHarmony last night (warning: yes, I am on eHarmony) going through matches and sending messages. You see, they send between 2 and 5 new matches per day, and I fall behind because I am phenomenally indecisive and can't decide who to send messages to and who to archive. When I sat down to it at 9:30, I had 67 matches in my New folder.

They weren't all new, per se, but they were not-dealt-with-at-the-time. SO I went through and archived those who needed archiving (as in, I really wasn't feeling it right off the bat for some reason, but didn't feel I actually needed to close them) and sent messages to the rest.

I'm exhausted from the effort of clicking mouse buttons.

What's really stupid about the whole thing is that I'm not sure I want it to work out. There's a part of me that doesn't want to be doing the pursuing. There's a part of me that doesn't want to start a long-distance relationship with a guy in some faraway place.

I want someone right here and now, who sees me for who I am and who wants me like crazy. I want love to trip and fall in front of me, to come over to my house to watch DVDs and talk about his day. I'm tired of being told it will happen "when I least expect it" or "when you aren't looking for it." It's gotten to the point where I don't know if I even believe in it.

Sigh.

I didn't have breakfast this morning, and it's left me a little cranky. Now I will add coffee to the mix and see what happens.

Blither

Do you ever get the feeling that you are on a train whose destination is unknown and it is going to derail at any moment? Sure you do. We all do, right?

I feel like this weekend might be the derailing moment. We've got the Fireweed Festival on Friday and Saturday. I need to move all of my stuff (except the furniture) to the new place before Sunday. Sunday is furniture day. The lady who is moving into my current place is coming by tonight to move things into the downstairs, which means I can't really leave the house to move my own stuff. There are reports. I haven't made phone calls. I haven't changed the kitty litter.

Whew.

And now H is enticing me with links to crafting supplies. Bad, bad H.

Where have I been? (again)

Working, working, almost running out of gas on the way in to Whitehorse, having horrible experiences with my tonneau cover at the Superstore with $400 worth of meat in my shopping cart, working, and trying to move things over to my new place. Whew. That's where I've been.

Nothing super exciting to report on the personal life front. I finished the quilting on the red quilt last night, which means binding time! This will be my first quilt started and completed in the Yukon, which is pretty dorky to mention. Hurray dorkiness!

My Friday Night crew are packing up for Ross this week, so I will be all by myself. That's okay, though, because we'll be showing a movie at the Rec Centre as part of the Fireweed Festival, and I'll probably be busy with Festival stuff. And then Sunday is supposed to be the day of moving furniture to the new place. Because I've been forgetting to phone Northwestel, I might not have phone and internet hooked up right away, which is kind of a bummer, but I'll survive.

So, there you are - caught up on the life and times of Erica.

Tongue-tied

The presence of an attractive man approximately my age (possibly much younger, I can't tell) has had a negative impact on my ability to concentrate on work this morning.

Thank goodness Jim is showing him around the buildings this afternoon - I wouldn't be much use...too busy salivating and trying to suck my stomach in ^_^

Tired of painting

My enthusiasm has waned as the project progresses.

I went over to the new place to put another coat on the dark wall in the bedroom and inside the closet. Now I'm trying to decide if the dark wall in the living room actually needs a third coat of paint or if I am just being fussy. There is one spot that definitely needs a touch-up, but the rest of it might be fine.

The people who are moving into my current place are making me feel pressured to get out of here ASAP. I'm hoping to go in to Whitehorse this weekend to buy curtain rods and pillow forms so I can start decorating as soon as my eBay purchases arrive. Should I bother buying paint to re-do the trim on the windows and doors? A perfectionist would, but a girl who is tired of painting might not.

I was originally planning to leave Friday night and stay over at a hotel, because doing the drive in and out in one day is really draining. But I've been invited to a baby shower on Friday, and I'm really torn.

I feel awkward around most of the gals my age in town (not you, Kara ^_^). I'm not a mum, and I don't have a guy, and I feel conspicuous because I work for the town. Plus, when I get nervous, my stomach reacts badly (remember the Ladies Night Out fiasco?). But if I don't try hanging out with them, the awkwardness will never have an opportunity to dissipate.

Ah well, too late in the day to worry about these things.

Happy Discover Day!

So, to celebrate the Yukon, on the statutory holiday (Suck it, everyone in Ontario who gloated at me two weeks ago when I was at work and you were at a BBQ or the beach!), I got called over to the CRIC to meet with a lady from the Yukon Heritage and Museums Association. Hurray.

Seriously, I was ticked off. I was in my PJs, trying to work up the energy to put my painting clothes on and head over to the new place to do more painting (my arms and back hate me so much now), when S called to ask me to come over. I hadn't showered, because, really, what's the point when I'm just going to get sweaty and gross over at the new place? But I put on my Big Girl Panties and said I would be over in half an hour.

The upshot is that there is a bunch of funding available to us, so yay! There's a social media seminar coming up in Whitehorse in October, and I could get that paid for, which would be super. And I got a cup of coffee out of the deal - wooo!

It turns out that my painting pants aren't dry yet (I washed them last night because they were totally disgusting), so I am having lunch and watching a little SPN before I head over for more painting funtimes! Perhaps I will check out eBay for more saris for decorating purposes ^_^

I think my body is trying to tell me something

And that something is "Stop."

First it was stomach trouble, followed by the doom-headache, and now I'm having hot flashes. I am far too young for hot flashes. Perhaps it's just the office that is hot.

Special Council meeting tonight. I hope it will not take long. I want to go home and put a hot water bottle under my head and an icepack on top of it. Surely one of those will cure me.

I don't understand

I'm getting ready to move into a new rental unit. I'm painting. I'm happy as can be.

And then an opportunity to purchase half a duplex for a pretty darned reasonable price drops into my lap, and I don't know what to do.

Is it a sign? Am I going to stay here long enough to pay off a house, and make it worthwhile?

Help!

Thing I deleted.

Yesterday I wrote a post about my crush on Dr. Spencer Reid/Matthew Gray Gubler, but I deleted it before it ever got posted.

The post, I mean - not my crush. That's still going strong.

I have a thing for tall, skinny, geeky geniuses. What can I say?

I am not, perhaps, destined to be a painter

I've been over at the new place all afternoon, taping and painting. I guess I hadn't mixed the paint up quite as much as I should have, because when I was doing the edges of the first two walls (ceiling, floor, and around the windows) there was a lot of dripping and patchy colour. So, naturally, I had to go over those spots again.

I got the first coat of paint on in the living room, though, and I think it's starting to have a bit more personality ^_^ With luck, I'll be over there again tomorrow, putting on coat number two.

Really, what's been taking me the longest time is all the taping. I hate that part - the fiddling around corners, trying to get the tape to stick to the horrible stucco ceiling. Also, someone who used to live in the house had a real thing for staples - there were staples all over the walls. They're all on the carpet, now.

My back and shoulders are on fire now, so I'm going to hit up a nice hot bath.

All in all, a pretty good Sunday. How about you?

A Severe Geritol Deficiency*

I'm developing a headache as the day progresses. I'm not sure why - the office has been very quiet with my coworkers away and a minimum of citizens coming in to pay bills. I feel it in the back of my neck and behind my eyes, though, and am looking forward to going home.

I've had some inspiration about the blocks I've been piecing for the past few days - they're made from leftover fabric from the quilt I'm making for Hunter. I thought, rather than put those scraps away until some nebulous future date where I might do something with them, I should just jump into another quilt top. I made 40 blocks, and then started wondering what to do with them. ^_^

Everything hinges on how much unbleached muslin I have kicking around in my scrap box. It used to be my sashing of choice, and there might be enough for what I intend. If not, I guess another trip to an online quilt shop may be in order.

Will I go home after work and wind up on the couch, or will I head over to the new place to continue taping corners and spackling the crazy number of holes in the walls? If I do the latter, I could start painting tomorrow. But if I do the former, I get to lie on the couch all night. Decisions, decisions.


*5 Internet Points if you can tell me who said that.**
** Internet Points are non-transferable, and are only good for gloating.

Freezing

So, when I got to work this morning, it was like walking into a freezer. And I worked in a freezer at Schneider's for four months back in 2004, so I feel qualified to judge.

To fix this problem, I would have to call Public Works to come and adjust the boiler. By the time that happens, and by the time the boiler finally makes everything better, it will be time to go home, and then when we come back on Monday it will be too hot.

I have a wool coat that's been in my office since February. I might just toss that on. Or make several cups of tea and rest my hands in them.

I'm all alone in the office today. That means MUSIC TIME!

[EDIT] Turns out the cooling system had not been shut off last night, and so K came in and adjusted it for me. I am typing much faster now that my fingers are not in danger of shattering on the keyboard.

Feliz Navidad! Feliz Cumpleaños to me

There was a cake at coffee break time - I didn't take a picture because I was too busy being serenaded by Glenda and half of Council, but rest assured, it was lovely to behold and delicious to consume.

I was late for work today, actually. Last night's meeting ran until 10pm, which meant that I wasn't home until 10:30. There was a rumour floating around the news and internet that around 3am this morning might be a good time for seeing the Northern Lights. I was trying to stay up for that, but eventually crashed at 1:30 - I hope they weren't out at 3am, that would be disappointing.

Anywhoodle, I had a hard time sleeping, then a hard time staying awake, and I finally rolled out of bed at 8:35...five minutes after I was supposed to be at work. Whoops! I called Glenda to let her know, and then took my time showering and picking out my clothes.

It's only fair for me to be late on my birthday - I was two weeks late to my first one, why change a good thing after *thirty-mumble* years?

Now I have to decide between being a Responsible Adult who doesn't put anything more on her credit card until the current balance is paid off and being a Birthday Girl who buys herself a pair of wicked, impractical stilletos and a skirt she can't fit into until she loses a few pounds. Decisions, decisions...

Eight Months

That's how long I've been in the Yukon now.

I know, it barely seems like any time at all. I guess it helps that I've been so busy at work, pretty much from day one.

I'll try to return with a more interesting post later, but I'm running late, the photocopier is out of toner, and tonight is a Council meeting. I've got issues today.

Hahahahaha!

In this post over at Lemondrop, they're talking about wedding proposals. Nothing too out of the ordinary...except this bit, which made me almost choke with laughter:

Second, she likes to believe that you know her intimately -- and no, we're not talking the carnal sense. We mean that you know, after all this time, how she takes her coffee, whether she likes to sleep with her socks off or on, and what her all-time favorite movie is. Pay close attention to that last one, guys, because no matter how deeply you loathe it, and even if she doesn't realize it, she is hoping that when she finally meets the man of her dreams, and he professes his intentions, he'll recreate a scene that's like something straight out of that.*

My favourite movie of all time? Aliens.

I think I can safely say that there is no way that a recreation of any scene from my favourite movie is going to get me in a proposal-accepting frame of mind.

Unless you're proposing to me while teaching me how to shoot a high-powered pulse rifle with a grenade launcher. That just might work.


*Emphasis most emphatically mine

Belonging

There is a quotation I found on a community planning website shortly after I came North. It reached into my chest and touched my heart. It seemed to encapsulate my feeling toward this new place in which I had found myself, and it spoke to me of hope.

"When people feel they 'belong' to a neighbourhood which is theirs through their own efforts, then it will become a place which is worth struggling to retain and develop. People will safeguard what they have helped to create."*

I feel that way about this place most of the time - I want this town to continue, I want this town to thrive. I want to promote this town to the world outside, to say, "I came here, and look! I became part of something - not because I want to take over and tell people what to do, but because I want us all to develop and retain this place to which we all belong!"

It's a bit lofty, I know, but it keeps me going.


*Lord Scarman and Tony Gibson, The Guardian, 11 December 1991 [emphasis mine]

Paint paint paint

Yesterday, Heather helped me pick out colours for the living room and bedroom of the house I am moving into at the end of August. My new landlord gave me the okay to paint, and he is actually paying for the paint, so woohoo! I can go in whenever I want between now and move-in day, so things will be nice and painted before I move my masses of junk in.

The bedroom is going to be a warm yellowish colour, with a slightly darker 'feature wall' behind my headboard. The living room is ... I can't even describe it - kind of a brown, with a darker brown on the chimney. My choices were kind of limited by the crazy hideous burnt orange carpet that is all over the house. I don't know if the landlord plans to take that out when he moves back to town in two years, but I am definitely not up to the task at present. So no red walls for me ^_^

I will be jazzing the place up with exotic curtains made of sari silk and perhaps some decorative throw pillows. Hooray for eBay.

It's funny - I am becoming so totally bushed. Being in Whitehorse for more than three hours gets me on edge. Today was particularly bad - everyone was grocery shopping, there were only two cashiers, and the lines were heinous. I only managed to keep from going postal by reciting "Grow from love, accept from love," every time some kid who shouldn't have been in control of cart cut me off.

Now I'm going to eat licorice and watch movies.

Soooo

I just saw the guy from college, the one from a few entries back, as an extra on Supernatural, and you know what? I was happy. No pangs, no sadness. No tugs at my heartstrings.

It didn't hurt that he was playing a patient in a mental hospital and just looked crazy.

Things are looking up.

Dear schmo,

When going over to someone's house for "a glass of wine," be sure that their glasses are not approximately the size of decorative fishbowls.

I'm just sayin', there's a reason you're so slow today.

Heartburn...

So many delicious pancakes for dinner + delicious chocolate cake = heartburn that won't end.

Such a sad ending to a delicious meal chez Went. They're getting ready to go away for two weeks, and I will be on my own again. I will have to occupy myself with painting the new house ^_^

In other news, there's a big public meeting in town tomorrow, and guess who gets to take the minutes? The girl who plans on getting all dolled up for it and wearing her stompy red sandals, that's who! Red skirt, black sweetheart-neck t-shirt, and crazy shoes - they'll have to pass a bylaw to get me dressed down!

I'm kind of tempted to buy these gold platform shoes with red rhinestone flame decals, just so I can wear them to meetings. It would be a kick, really ^_^

Deliciously Dorky

I have an idea...an idea that melds my love of quilting and my newfound love of Supernatural into a glorious, harmonious whole.

I get the giggles every time I think about it.


And I'm not saying anything more at this time ^_^

Where have I been?

Let's see...lounging, having a headache, working, working, having a stomachache, taking a sick day, and that brings us to today.

One thing I like about this town? People notice if you're not where you're supposed to be. Kara noticed my truck wasn't in front of the office yesterday, deduced I was sick, and she and Matt and the kids brought me dinner (and visited briefly because it was pouring buckets outside). Back in London, no one would have noticed a thing like that. Or brought me delicious cabbage-roll things.

Unfortunately for me, my landlord had made arrangements for some guy to come look at my house yesterday - without letting me know. The guy turned up, and I'm in my sweatshirt and fuzzy pants, definitely not expecting company. I asked if he could give me half an hour, and I tidied up the kitty litter and threw several bags of garbage in the garage. The house wasn't perfect, but it was okay.

Actually, the more I think about it, the more pissed off I get with my landlord. I thought maybe he had tried to email me at work, but when I got here this morning, there was no email. I was home all Tuesday night, so I don't want to hear him say he tried calling. That is bull cookies.

Also, if I hadn't been home sick, there wouldn't have been anyone home to show the guy around. Did you think about that, landlord?

Whew. Sorry, that got a lot rage-ier than I meant it to. I need to summon back the calm of last night - headache gone, belly full, overdosing on Supernatural. Life was good then.

Storytime

I'm back again. I took a little time off from blogging...mostly because I was approaching my 100th post, and I wanted it to be something meaningful. But it's hard to squeeze meaning out of hot dog lunches and looking after a friend's cats.

This past week was kind of rough, work-wise and personally. I can't talk about the work stuff (more's the pity, although I really don't need to keep hashing it over, so I guess it's more of a blessing), but the personal stuff...Yeesh.

Here goes...

Once upon a time, there was a girl who wanted to be an actress. She studied drama all through high school, and refused to even consider any other career. After high school, she auditioned for a couple of theatrical courses at a variety of colleges, and ended up in the Nation's Capital.

When she was there, she met a guy. He was older than she by a year, and he was the most interesting guy she had ever met. He lived one floor down in the same apartment building, and they hung out a lot. She was really, really into him. And although she longed to tell him, she was shy and hoped he would figure it out.

Unfortunately, he was really, really into a girl he had known for years, and so nothing really came of the infatuation. Our heroine, though, had suffered a tragedy - she now compared every man she met to the guy from college.

This had a negative impact on her relationship life. A few years later, she dated a guy for a few months, but after they broke up (because he was in love with a girl he had known for years) she never dated again. Not that she didn't want to, but circumstances just didn't work in her favour.

Flash forward to Monday, July 5th.

Our heroine was watching a great Canadian comedy show, and who should she spot as an extra in most of the scenes but the guy from college. In addition to all her "oh, why didn't I tell him how I felt" angst, there was a great big dollop of "why was I such a coward that I let people talk me out of following my dream?" woe. That was enough to cue a low-level funk.

Work interefered with her attempts to feel better. And then, on Facebook, she saw photos of the guy from college with his girlfriend...and her pregnant belly. They, naturally, were thrilled about their soon-to-be-born progeny. And our heroine felt sad, because she was alone and had two incredibly noisy cats instead of babies. She felt bad because her first reaction to their happy news had been to be miserable. She was happy for them - she was just a lot more unhappy for herself, because it felt like her life was going downhill.

So, Friday, after a shitty week, she went to a neighbour's house for coffee, and after that she came home to drink vodka coolers and eat shrimp noodles. And she feels a bit better for having shared her tale with the Internet. Where anyone and everyone can read it. Because, honestly, her life isn't over just because she isn't doing what she originally planned. It's just different.

In the words of Marcus Aurelius, "Everything that happens happens as it should, and if you observe carefully, you will find this to be so." You just have to get over the feeling sad part.

Happy 100th Post!

I survived!

I am still alive and kicking after my ten days with the parentals (well, kicking is perhaps a bit strong, flailing is a bit closer to what I am doing).

I had Monday off to make up for the Friday I worked during my vacation, and I'm only now beginning to feel like a person again. I've been bonding with the cats, putting the first coat of stain on my new headboard, and working on a new quilt-top made from material I purchased in Juneau. I watched the 6-hour BBC Pride and Prejudice starring Colin Firth (which is still as amusing and repressed-sexy as it was when I was in high school), and followed that with the first six episodes of Supernatural. And I wonder why I'm single ^_^

Having the parents staying with me was troubling on a certain level. Is it possible for a person to become so fixed in her ways that she becomes incapable of living with other people? I'm afraid I'm heading toward that outcome - I will never be able to live with a guy because I can't live with anyone but my loud and annoying cats.

Whew.

On another level, it was nice to have my mom around to show me different ways to cook chicken. I'll be stopping at the Liquor Store on the way home to pick up a nice white wine for poaching my dinner ^_^ Or maybe I'll just have the bottle of wine for dinner.

I will need a vacation to recover from my vacation

I love having my folks here, but I am so tired I could just about pass out on top of the keyboard.

It is hard to go from hermit-who-goes-to-Matt-and-Kara's-on-Fridays to person-who-has-people-around-her-every-minute-of-the-day. Really hard.

Tomorrow, we'll be heading out to WH for the evening, then on to Skagway for a couple of days. The parentals will be flying out of WH early Friday morning, so I am going to try to get my truck serviced that day, get the chip in my windshield fixed, and I'll probably buy some books to ease my nerves.

I think they're having a good time. We went out to visit Matt and Kara and the boys at Lapie Canyon, where we had a delicious dinner and took some great photos. I think seeing me interact with friends is reassuring to my parents - I might be weird, but at least a few people appreciate me ^_^

Time doth fly

Goodness, is it Tuesday already? Where did the weekend go? Where did the time go?

My parents will be arriving in Whitehorse tomorrow. Tonight is a Council Meeting (hurray, hurray), so I will not have much time in the evening for doing the remainder of my cleaning. I have Kara's vacuum, so I guess that's what I'll be doing at lunch.

I'm excited for M&D to get here, and for my fuzzy mens (Rodney and Pakuchi) to finally be here. I'm excited about time off, although I think I will be coming to work on Friday anyway because of meetings (if so, I am taking a day in lieu after my parents go).

I need to chop more firewood at lunch. That'll be pretty - me in a sundress and Sketchers, wielding my trusty axe. Too bad no one will be around with a camera ^_^

The other reason I'm excited is that I enrolled in the Social Media course over at Tourism Currents to help me figure out how to use social media to help promote the town. I'm paying for it out of my own pocket, because I don't want to sit through endless meetings trying to explain why I think it's important.

The ladies who run the site are amazing - I was having trouble registering myself after I had paid, so I dropped an email off to their admin address. Within ten minutes, they had contacted me, fixed the problem, and thanked me for helping them fix the bug in their system. One of them even gave me her cell number in case there was a problem and I couldn't contact them by email. That, my friends, is a class act.

So, in the near future, I may be able to promote Faro to the max with mad social media skillz. Look out, Internetz!

Rarrrr!

Look out, world! Today I am wearing my fiercest red sandals, and I am feeling stompy.

Where do emotions come from? Why am I suddenly filled with rage? I don't know. Nothing happened in the past five minutes to make me angry. But I want to stomp on things. I want to throw mugs at walls and shout rude, cryptic insults at passers-by.

Is this what insanity feels like?

In non-crazy news, I have less than 4 days to get my home prepared for the coming of the Parental Units (figuring in time spent driving to WH [twice], at a council meeting, and at work). I am both excited and exhausted, and they aren't even here yet.

Tonight I have to take my recycling to the Bottle Depot. I may have enough money coming to buy myself more booze. That would be both a blessing and a curse. It's hard to clean when one is stumbling around like a schmo.

Tagged

I got distracted yesterday before I could finish the Tale of Saturday, but I'll get back to it eventually.

In the meantime, Kara tagged me in a mini-interview. Since talking about myself is one of my favourite things, this seemed like a natural fit ^_^

1. Where would you like to live once you retire?

Somewhere that was a mixture of rustic and urban. Since I've been in Faro, I've become much more rustic than I ever was before, but there are times that I miss the city. I'd like to live somewhere where I didn't have to socialize with anyone, but I wouldn't have to look too far if I did want to. (*realizes this is not a definitive answer, but [hopefully] has many years to think about it)


2. What causes you to worry the most?

The thought of dying alone. (Or the fear that I'm somehow going to destroy every place I live.)


3. What was your favorite toy as a child?

Well, there was that My Little Pony that I loved and some jerk girl stole from me in second grade, but I think I have to go with Sheepie - a stuffed sheep given to me when I was born. He's travelled the globe with me, and he's sitting on my bedroom windowsill at the moment.

4. Do you make decisions quickly and easily or do you fret over them for long periods of time?

Both. I think and think and think, and then I shut my eyes and jump in, and then after I've jumped I think and think and think and regret and wonder why I can't be a normal girl who makes decisions rationally.

5. What hobby would you pursue if money wasn't an issue?

I would become a full-time quilter. I'd have a quilting room set up with sewing machines, a frame so I didn't have to have the quilt on my lap in summer, a TV so I could watch endless hours of forensics shows while I worked, and a crazy big stash of fabric.

Either that or move back to Japan and study bellydance all the time.


I hope you've enjoyed this little trip inside my brain. It was fun for me. I'm tagging Erica S, because I don't think I can do a touch-back on Kara. (If I can, Kara, consider yourself re-tagged.)

1. What inspires you?
2. What is your favourite fairy tale/folk tale?
3. Which historical figure (real or fictional) would you like to have dinner with?
4. Which of your personality traits is your favourite?
5. If you were about to be exiled and could only take one memento from home with you, what would you take?

Nothing Blogworthy

To quote the gals at Go Fug Yourself doing their Jennifer Lopez impression: Hola, lovers! I am back!

/end Jennifer Lopez

It's be a week in which little happened. There was a council meeting. I took a sick day. It's been cold. I broke my butt-muscles trying to plant flowers outside the town office. The door to my porch has been fixed.

These are all great things, but none of them really reached out and told me I needed to write about them. The internet doesn't need to hear my drug-induced rambling about what pretty eyes Gary Sinise has...bad enough I rambled to an empty room. (Which is not to say that Gary Sinise's eyes aren't beautiful portals into a deep well of sorrow - seriously, he has beautiful eyes.)

*Pause to reflect on Gary Sinise...mmmm...Mac Taylor...mmm...

Where was I going with this?

Oh, yeah. I want to be profound, y'know? I want to write things that are interesting, unlike my last journal which gradually became all about how much I hated my life at the Kindergarten. And when I'm dealing with the day to day minutiae of living alone, not being inspired to cook, and having a house that sets off Hoarder-alerts in my brain ... well, I don't really feel like turning on the computer to write about it.

But Saturday, events conspired that combine all of the above, and made me laugh in horror.

So, Saturday was Town Planting day, when people are supposed to volunteer to plant flowers around town - in front of the post office, and the town office, and the "Welcome to Faro" sign. Normally, I was told that there are around 30 volunteers. This year, there were 12.

Now, I am crap with plants. Basically, they die if I look at them. I am not the best person to help out if you want your plants to live. But as the Admin Assistant, I was under the impression that if I didn't volunteer, there would be some serious hell to pay. So I came out and got my diggin' on. (I discovered that I like to plant marigolds, because they are easy and smell like Grandma's garden at the old house.)

I worked for 3.5 hours, and then went home. My butt was killing me, my thighs were killing me, and my nails were dirty*. I needed to shower. After my shower, I was clean, but everything still hurt, so I dressed in my fuzziest pants and a comfy shirt, and lounged on the couch watching CSI: NY.

I should have been cleaning the house - my parents are coming in less than two weeks. I got a huge shipment of summer clothes that I had thrown willy-nilly around the dining room in my excitement. My lunch dishes were in the sink. But all I wanted to do was quilt and moon over Danny and Lindsay's burgeoning romance in Season 2 (so that I could get to Season 3 where I could enjoy the tortured romance parts and watch as all the shots of Lindsay get higher and higher up until by halfway through the season all you can see are her eyes ^_^ **)

Well, mid-sigh, the doorbell rings. Who could it be? I thought maybe Kara had stopped by, but it wasn't her...


To Be Continued



* Tru-fax - I really hate having dirt under my fingernails. I used to carry safety pins around on all my bags in case of dirt - emergency nail cleaner.

** This was because the actress was pregnant, but her character was not.

Back at it

Ah, another Monday dawns...the golf course is greening, the dandelions are popping up, and my stomach is in knots.

I'm not sure if it's a weekend of trying to eat well (but probably failing), or if it's just that time of year, but I feel gross. Seriously. Like, alien parasites swimming around in my stomach gross.

And I walked to work today, which may have made things worse. Mom gave me the "Oh, Erica!" when I mentioned I had been driving to work since I got my truck, which sent me into a shame spiral. So, I walked to work and got my stomach all churned up in the process.

This is why I'll never be an award-winning blogger. Intestinal woe!

Still here

You thought I was in a drunken stupor all this time, didn't you?

Well, I wasn't.

I did have a drink Friday night, and a couple last night, but nothing major. I went to Matt & Kara's Friday night to check out the work they're doing on their backyard - it looks pretty good now, so I can only imagine how great it's going to look when it's complete.

I drove to Ross River yesterday morning to put up a sign at the Canol Footbridge. I didn't know where I was going, and there weren't really many people around to ask, but I asked the man at the hot dog stand (which was actually just across from the bridge). And then I was starving, so I bought the most expensive hot dog in the world - seriously, it was just a hotdog, like you make at home. I could have bought a whole pack of hot dogs (and buns, too, if I were still in Ontario) for that.

But I was really hungry.

I filled up with gas at the General Store, so now I have no excuses for not going to Ross for gas (since I know how to do it and how to pay for it now). Then I came home for my last day of snuggling Titus. Heather came by to pick him up in the evening, and now I find the house is a bit too quiet.

Now the mad rush to get my house presentable for my parentals is on. I want them to see me living in a neat and tidy house (even if most of my belongings are stored in Rubbermaid containers). They'll be here in just over 2 weeks, so I need to get crackin'.

Is it me?

Do I emit some kind of energy field that causes destruction? Everywhere I go, things fall apart. I am the only common factor, am I therefore the cause?

Man, I am getting hella-drunk tonight. My trip over to Ross may be postponed until Sunday.

Punchy

Man, I hate how a person can be in a great mood, ready to be productive, and loving life, and then have that mood completely destroyed by some jerk.

I am just an admin assistant - I don't have any power to make things happen. Stop trying to pressure me!

To reiterate

Like I said last Thursday, I am tired all the time.

I drove into WH with K on Sunday, to pick up stuff for the event she's having at the Rec next weekend. To WH and back in a day...that is tiring. And even though I had yesterday off (Thank you and Happy B-Day, Queen Vicky), I still woke up this morning feeling like I had been running marathons in the night.

Titus is a pleasant houseguest - he is friendly, noisy, and knows how to curl up beside me so that I sleep through my alarm. Hooray for feline-therapy!

In three weeks and a day, my parents will be landing in WH. I have that time to clean the house, arrange to borrow an air mattress from someone, and try to plan some activities for the three of us to do. My idea of time off lately involves me sleeping. I don't think M&D are coming all the way to the Yukon just to have naps ^_^

In other news, I have a target goal of money I need to save up for a future sekrit projekt. It's a pretty big number, so I'd best get saving.

I need sleep

I am not falling asleep well at night, and staying asleep far later than I should in the morning. It takes me roughly three hours to get awake enough to be useful, and by then I need a nap anyway.

No more sugar, no more caffeine. No more foods I eat even though I know they make me ill. (Which I guess means no more booze, either).

Once I finish the stuff in my fridge ^_^

Going to Town

I am going to town this afternoon, and it is hard for me to do anything productive.

I'm going in for a meeting about the new health plan all the Yukon Communities are enrolled in, which means there will probably be a lot of note-taking involved. But there will also be a hotel bed, and a chance to go grocery shopping, so I'm all woooo-hoooo. But, you know, in a quiet, refined kind of way.

In other news, I have punctured the middle finger on my left hand through excessive quilting over the weekend. I couldn't find my good thimble, and nothing else seemed to have any effect at all - bandages were punctured within three stitches, and whoever suggested a few layers of nail polish obviously was not familiar with my inability to allow nail polish to dry. Luckily, I did not touch the fabric during that experiment.

The new quilt is coming along pretty well, I think. The part that I thought would be the hardest (freehand-drawing of vines and leaves) is actually proving to be fairly simple. The only difficult part is the darkness of the fabric combined with a regular old pencil makes it tricky to see what I've drawn in order to quilt it. But with any luck, I'll pick up a white pencil at Walmart or the Bear's Paw, and then everything will be aces.

Judgemental

I was looking at a dating site (trying to recover from the humiliation of my last look at a dating site), and all I could think of was how bad the spelling was in many of the ads. I thought, "I could never get involved with you - you obviously didn't think to run that through a spellcheck program before you posted it."

Then I felt bad, like I was judging people unfairly. It's not like I haven't spelled a word or two wrong in my day. Maybe eHarmony was right - I will be alone forever.


On the plus side, it's the weekend! Huzzah!

No pissing in my cornflakes

Man, every time I start the day out cheerful, something comes along to make me seethe within half an hour of getting to work.

It's probably a good thing that I can't talk about work on my blog, because I don't want to get fired.

Suffice it to say, I am very glad it's Friday.

Cryptic Note

I've been taking notes since yesterday in the Tenorikuma notebook I purchased on my first trip to Puroland. They're tiny bears who run a coffeeshop (at least, I think they're bears - their tails look a bit more like racoons), and they're accompanied by smiling sugar cubes, spoons, and little wisps of steam. I wasn't going to get sucked into something boring, like Hello Kitty - although I do have a fondness for Kuromi-chan (or Bondage Bunny, as we like to call her) - no, I am on Team Tenorikuma all the way.

I mention this because I found a page where I had written some cryptic notes. I think maybe I wrote them while I was still in Japan - I only received this book in the mail yesterday - but have no idea what it means. It's about sushi rolls, salads, and main dishes - but right in the middle is this cryptic note:

"Please feel free to ask a NINJA"

Was I doing a lot of drugs back in the day? Was I tripping? Is this like that notebook full of ramblings from the time I spent the night in a Shinjuku McDonalds, waiting for the trains to start running again?

And at the back are 6 pages of notes from two episodes of Stargate: Atlantis, which are obviously for that story I wrote for the Secret Santa exchange. That takes me back. Maybe one of these days I will get around to watching the rest of SGA...maybe.

All I need is a notebook, and a really cool pen, and I am happy.

Fin

I survived the weekend, with only one major attack. It was a doozy, and I am still paying for it, but such is life.

I took today off - I really needed some time away from people, and I want to be at my best when I meet the new guy tomorrow. I'm hoping he'll be able to direct things and I can go back to what I do best - painting my nails.

Just kidding. I don't paint my nails because they chip and look tacky about two minutes after I've painted them.

I went to Kara's for a nice cup of tea this afternoon, and then hurried home to tidy up my house for prospective buyers. They are coming back tomorrow night, which gives me a little more time to tidy again. But I probably won't. I'll just flop out.

It's just after 10, and I am going to bed. My body is more tired than I like to admit after all the running around I did. My soles feel blistered.

Note to self for Thursday

I'm writing this here so I won't forget by the time I get up tomorrow.

1 - Make signs with shuttle times
1.1 - Make signs with tour times
1.3 - Get shuttle times to J at DVG
1.4 - Make signs for Weight Room for Saturday night
1.5 - Make up GCs for ARAS Silent Auction
2 - Call ARAS to confirm table for Sheep Cabin, and to pick up 1.5
3 - Call PW to make sure table makes it out there
4 - Panic a little
5 - Calm down
6 - Find out for certain when the Fire Marshal is coming
7 - Find 50/50 tickets for draw at BBQ
8 - Have tea
9 - Roll posters in elastic
10 - Seriously, what was I thinking?
11 - Call B&Bs, find out if they want brochures
12 - If H brought tissue paper, wrap gifts
13 - If not, have a little cry under desk
14 - Write cards to go with gifts
15 - Find out about finances re: GC Breakfast
16 - Is that guy going to bring a guitar to the BBQ?
17 - I am going to be so sick on Sunday night, I can just tell
18 - Make sure everyone has my cell phone number
19 - Remember to turn cell phone on
20 - Find out if CRIC needs more maps/brochures
21 - Make sure laptop and projector have all their cords and stuff
22 - There will be enough salad
23 - Print up Sheep thing for CRIC on the nice paper
24 - Talk to K when she comes in for our meeting with CA - see if she can think of anything.

Man, I am to the point now where I just want this to be over.

Back

Let the productivity begin.

Today, I am wishing I had taken the job as a secretary at the feed mill

There are so many curse words trying to make their way out of my mouth that they become a garbled grunt.

For the next hour, while I am on lunch, I am going to concentrate on how badly I hate this place, and then when I come back, I will be fine.

Not good with planning

I've never really been a person who's good at planning - particularly when it comes to meals. Other people seem to have the knack of plotting out plans for a week or a month at a time, and they stick to them. Me, I can decide at 4:00 to make salmon for dinner, and by the time I get home at 4:30, I've changed my mind in favour of a burger or soup.

I'm really trying, though. I made an inventory tonight of everything that's in my freezer, and everything in my pantry.

I am trying to follow the advice of a woman who feeds her family of 6 on $190US a month. Granted, some of her options are not available to me - food up here is always going to be more expensive - but I have to try. I've already spent $100 this month on crap from Mel's - stuff I really didn't need to buy, but couldn't stop myself. I knew there as a reason I stopped going there for a month!

I get really tired of recipes that tell me to double the recipe up and freeze it. This is a problem for me because:
A) I am only cooking for one person anyway, doubling it up would make enough for 8 servings;
B) I don't have a really big freezer;
C) I don't have a microwave, so reheating food is just as much a pain as cooking it the first time was, and;
D) I tend to forget about things in the freezer, and eventually end up throwing them out.

Whew.

Anywhooo, to wit, I am trying to plan ahead, so that my next grocery trip will be an organized, list-following extravaganza.

Sunday Brunch

Well, it was not actually brunch - more like a late breakfast, but it was nice. A few strips of turkey bacon, some hashbrowns mixed with salsa, and an egg. Yes, salsa contains vinegar (and probably sugar, too) so it wasn't quite dysbiosis-halal, but it was a nice little brekkie.

It's a greyish day in Faro - Kennie used the word "snain" for what they're having in Ross, but here it's intermittently drizzly. That's unfortunate, because today is the town's Clean Up Day, in preparation for next weekend's Festival. I don't know about the general public, but I certainly am less than enthused about picking up trash in this kind of weather. Even the thought of the Hot Dog BBQ to follow is not lifting my spirits.

But for the next two hours at least, my focus is on the house. There are prospective buyers coming to look at the place on Wednesday, so I need to get it spiffed up. Ever since I got a dining room table, I have been piling things on top of it. I guess I needed a gentle reminder that piling things is a common habit of hoarders, and I do not want to be a hoarder, do I?

Off to work!

Time-delay

So, it was brough to my attention last night that, while I relayed the tale of last Sunday's adventure on my Facebook, I did not blog about it over here. That is true. Part of the reason was my going over my internet limit part-way through the week, and the other part was sheer laziness. That's not good.

So to recap - last Saturday I got myself all morosed up over some stupid comment a girl I used to know made, and then I chopped wood to make myself feel better. You had to be there, I guess.

So, the next morning, I decided to chop more wood. I really like my axe - it makes splitting logs a breeze. I split a whole bunch, and then stacked them at the back of the garage. I was impressed with the end result of my work, and I decided I needed to take a photo to prove to the people back home that I am becoming a tough and independent wilderness woman. (Because there is some doubt about my transformation.)

So I went upstairs (changing out of my shoes and into my slippers), grabbed my camera, and went back downstairs. I took pictures of the stacked firewood (with bonus pictures of the kindling pile), sighed with smug contentment, and went back upstairs to the couch to bask in the warmth of the fire I had started before my wood chopping.

Well, that is, I intended to to go back upstairs to do that stuff. Unfortunately, I couldn't open the door into the house. The door had closed behind me, locking me in the garage. You see, it turns out that the door had always been locked, but it had opened and closed many times - I figured it was one of those things where the house had shifted (kind of like my back door that doesn't open).

So, I was locked in the garage. In my slippers. Luckily, a few weeks earlier I had figured out the bizarre contraption that opened the outside garage door, so I was not completely trapped, but I spent several claustrophobic minutes trying to open the door into the house. There was no joy there, so I opened the outer door and tried to work out my options.

There was no way I could see to get back in. The front door was locked, as it always is, and there was no way to get the back door open. My only hope was that my next door neighbour Pat was home, and that she still had a key to the house (she looks after my landlord's properties in town). But that meant I had to walk down my driveway, up the street, and up Pat's driveway (all of which were incredibly muddy) in my black satin grandma slippers.

The long and short of it is...I got back in the house, nothing burned down, and I have learned an important lesson about checking the door between the house and the garage carefully before letting it close behind me.



Here is the picture of my firewood pile that got me locked in a garage.

Yowza

Yup, I'm already $40 over my limit, so I will not be turning the computer on again until Saturday. Grrrr.

I received a package from home today - the parentals have started to mail all of my boxes to me. I don't know if it's going to wind up being more expensive than if I could have gotten a moving company, but I don't care. My things are starting to make their way west.

I have a photo of the Gaijin Gang during our first Yuusuzumikai (the summer festival in which I wow-ed audiences with just how high my breasts rose when I was strapped in to my summer kimono ^_^) on my desk now, and it makes me laugh. There I am with my crazy bleached blonde hair, and there's Sean and Danni and Pat. I remember the good times now, so one day in the future I am sure I will look back at any bad times I am having now with the same degree of forgetfulness.

That being said, I am really tired today. My body senses that the end of the Festival is rapidly approaching, and is telling me to give in to my desire to pull the covers over my head in the morning and just sleep all day. Today has been a long day of meetings I didn't want to have (well, actually, only one meeting, but it drained me).

My luck seemed to change at lunchtime, though - Heather took me up to the Fingers Site because there were sheep out (that I saw with my own eyes). And then I got the package from home and an emergency kit for my car from the folks at Whitehorse Motors. So I guess today was more positive than negative ^_^

Here's a photo from my last summer festival, back in 2007. Sean and I are looking pretty cute ^_^

Argh! Download limits!

As a result of my friend Paulette's suggestion that I give Sharpe a watch, I have been downloading episodes like a mad fiend. As of yesterday at 4:00pm, I was at 19,286MB - but I didn't know that until this morning. I had downloaded another episode overnight, which will put me over the 20GB limit for the month...with 4 days left in April.

Curses.

On the up side, May starts on Saturday, so I won't be denied the pleasure of watching the new Ashes to Ashes as I relax on the weekend.

I can see I will have to be a bit more prudent in the future.

Sharpe is really good - set during the war with France in the early 1800s, it is the story of man who rises from the ranks of the British Army through his heroic efforts. In the first episode, he saves the life of Sir Arthur Wellesley (who later becomes Lord Wellington) and is promoted to Lieutenant. Sharpe is not from the nobility, which is a huge social issue (he's not even from the gentry - his mother was a prostitute and he was raised on the streets), and throughout the first episode he struggles to win the respect of both his men and his fellow officers. He has a sense of honour but he fights dirty - he fights to win.

This is a roundabout way of saying that Richard Sharpe is a delightful bit of rough, which is a change from my other fictional Napoleonic-era boyfriend, Horatio Hornblower. HH is the son of a doctor who rises through the ranks of the Navy through his heroic actions. Unlike Sharpe, HH is only 17 at the beginning of the series, and he is a lot more of a gentleman than Sharpe.

What I'm trying to say is, expect a number of Napoleonic references from me for the next month or so. That's usually the length of one of my fits ^_^

I swear to God, Nature...

If you don't start showing me wildlife, we are going to have to renegotiate this deal.

Heather emailed me this morning, offering to take me on a tour of some of the nature spots that I have yet to explore around Faro. I haven't really done much exploring. At first, it was because I didn't have a vehicle of my own to explore in, and later it was because I am always so tired after work and would much rather curl up on my couch with plate of shrimp and watch DVDs. I know, I know.

But at any rate, I said sure, and (after our afternoon meeting) off we went. We drove up to the Fingers Site (no, I don't know why it's called that and no, I didn't ask) to see if we could spot some sheep. The festival is just around the corner, and it might be nice for me to see one before the tourists get here. Alas, no sheep were making merry on the mountain.

Someone had been, though - we stepped over a used condom. Who has sex at a sheep viewing platform? I made a mental note not to get roped into going up to the site on Sunday for the big Clean Up...no sirree, I will be busy in town where we only have to deal with empty aerosol containers in the gazebo.

At any rate, we drove up to the Mine, so I could see the pools of toxic sludge and shiver at the ominous look of the mine complex. Interestingly (to me, anyway), the sludge in the lagoons is the same colour as the dirt my boss imported to lay out at the kindergarten in Japan...coincidence? There were no animals around the mine, but I hardly blame them for that.

Then it was off to the cabin at Mt. Mye. I was getting a bit tired by then (our jaunt up the mountain to the mine wound up taking an hour and change), but really hoped my wildlife-luck would change. Plus, I didn't want to seem like a jerk when Heather had made such a kind offer. We chatted, and I was really sure I would see a sheep.

But I didn't. Mt. Mye was bare. Now I was chilly and disappointed. But we kept driving, down the Blind Creek Road toward Lynx Track Farm. We saw some moose tracks, and Heather stopped the car to show me wolf poo (complete with moose hairs!), and we stopped at the end of the road to take in the Pelly River. Then we turned around to go back.

I did see one thing on our journey back - a male grouse, standing in the middle of the road, staring at the bushes. The car didn't bother him - he was fixated on whatever lady-grouse was in those bushes. It is spring, after all - the sexiest time of year.

By the time I got home, it was 7:30 and I was two hours late for my supper. It's a good thing the days are so long now - it was still bright when I had my rice and shrimp dinner ^_^

And now to bed, I think. Not to sleep, but to imagine all the wild things that lurk in the bushes, ignoring me.

Non qui parum habet, sed qui plus cupit, pauper est. *

Please ignore the crankiness of my last entry - I went down to the garage and chopped a couple buckets of firewood and kindling, and now I feel better. Sweaty and single, but better ^_^

Now I am lounging on the couch, with a blazing fire roaring away in the fireplace and cold Growers Cider on the coffee-table. I'm just about to watch my favourite Jane Austen movie, Persuasion, and perhaps later I will make myself fried shrimp appetizers and pretend they qualify as dinner ^_^

Rest assured, my friends, I am not as gloomy as I sounded before.



*It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor. *Seneca the Younger

Feeling whiny

I can be pretty obnoxious at time, I think.

I complain a lot, because complaining is so easy, but really, I have a pretty good life. I have my health, a family who loves me (I think), and some really great friends (some old, some new). Yes, there are things that could potentially make my life even better (someone to share it with, a money tree, world peace), but on the whole, I am pretty lucky.

So, when I'm a jerk, I'm really a jerk.

The little voice in my head should be saying stuff like, So what, a girl you went to school with (and didn't even like much at the time) is making a go of it as an actor, where as you went home and lost your nerve and never pursued a career in theatre? So what, the guy who broke your heart years ago is having a baby with his partner and they're both really happy and excited about it, and it makes you feel like you're going to be alone for all eternity? So what?

Right on, voice in my head. I had dinner at Kara's last night, played with the baby, and enjoyed being in the company of pleasant people. I shouldn't let myself get into the mopes just because of a photo.


In positive news, I made a really nice soup for lunch today - Coconut Chicken, with carrots and potatoes and stuff. I feel like I am becoming the Queen of Soups up here.

Frothing at the mouth

Ugh, I came home early, slept for hours. Woke up, checked email, went to Facebook. Saw a post on the first page from a girl I went to theatre school with...and now I am feeling ill and angry.

Oh, you poor thing, 115 pounds, size 2, with people coming up to you thinking you're pregnant. My heart bleeds for you.

Ugh. This is making my dinner rise to the back of my throat. And it was a nice dinner.

My body may be giving up the fight

I'm not sure, but yesterday it was my stomach, today it is my throat and head. I think my body is trying to tell me something. Perhaps that something is "You are making yourself sick, dumbass. Go home, wear fuzzy pants, and lie on the couch while watching movies, drinking tea, and feeling sorry for yourself."

I went home a couple of hours early yesterday, because of my Stupid Stomach Troubles. I am debating going home after the others get back from lunch, because I need rest and there's no way I can take a sick day tomorrow.

On the other hand, if I go home, I'm just going to stress out and be anxious about emails coming in or missing phone calls or people thinking I am a slacker.

On the third hand, ginger-ale would be really nice right about now. And maybe some toast with jam. And I wish my dad was here to bring me tea with honey. And my cats were here to curl up on my lap.

Okay, rambling over. Back to work.

Colour me surprised

That was the shortest Council meeting we have had since I've been here. Surreal.

Then I hung around talking to people until 9, which kind of negated the finishing early part, but still, good work!

Now I'm going to watch some Ashes to Ashes, because I don't have to do anything else tonight ^_^

Hurray!

Tuesdays are trouble

When I said I wasn't going to buy any new food until I had used up some of the excessive amount of staples I have acquired through not knowing how to shop, I obviously neglected to say that Tuesdays before council meetings don't count. Because there is no way I am going to tonight's meeting until I have devoured that thin-crust pepperoni pie I just picked up. But when your choices are eat a pizza or start smoking again, it's not really a choice, is it?

The tricky thing about blogging is expressing yourself without saying too much, if you know what I mean. Good days become angry bees days just because one funny turtle opens its mouth.

Maybe Kennie is right, and I should install a punching bag in the office. Because my other option, install a bar in my living room, isn't going to happen.

Punching Monday in the throat

It's five minutes before work even starts, and already I have screwed something up. Hooray for Monday!

Seriously, things were going so well this morning - woke up, made my bed, made dinner and threw it in the crockpot, showered, put some laundry on. One phone call has made me upset, because I made a mistake because I didn't know any better.

This day better take a 180 degree turn toward awesome, is all I am saying.

What I've been up to

So, I have mentioned some quilt-stuff I've been doing.







They're all as finished as I can make them for the moment - I need more fabric to do borders and backing. Right now, they're all about 24 inches square, which seems really small in comparison to the quilts I normally make. I don't feel like a 24-inch quilt would be at all helpful for anyone. I don't know if I can convince anyone to buy a 24-inch quilt.

If I can, though, woo-hoo! Now I need to figure out what I could realistically charge for such a piece ^_^

Tranquil Sunday

I have a batch of chili in the crockpot, apples and nectarines baking in the oven, and a plan for dinner. I'm curled up on the couch with my new notebook, fire crackling away in the fireplace (not because I'm cold but because I still have a ton of firewood left to burn before the fall arrives and I move back into the hotel), and things feel pretty good.

I had a chat with the parentals earlier, and I explained to them the situation at work, what I've been asked to do. I thought about it over the weekend, like Heather asked, and I talked to Kara and Matt (the Sam and Dan of the North), and I decided what I'm going to say. Hopefully, that will put an end to my drinking ^_^

It's nice not having to do anything. I haven't even put on real clothes yet - I've been lounging around in my PJs and hoodie (although the hoodie should probably go, as I sprayed it with soup while I was making lunch). The house is clean enough that I don't feel stressed out when I look around, and although I have a load of laundry I could throw into the machine, I don't feel any pressure about it.

Hooray for Sunday!

Baby, you can drive my car...

If by car I mean truck, and by you I mean me.

I woke up kind of late this morning, which isn't surprising since I didn't fall asleep until late. I puttered around the house, doing dishes, cleaning the fridge, and just generally trying to clean house. I pretended Mom was coming over for lunch, and I didn't want her to see the kind of disorganization I normally live in.

It worked pretty well - it was mostly my quilting stuff that had spread all over the floors. I got a handle on it, and did some trimming and pinning this evening.

In the afternoon, though, I went for a drive. I needed to get gas for my truck (and for my jerry cans), and decided I would take a spin to Carmacks. The store in Carmacks has a much better selection of vegetables than the Hardware store does here in Faro. (I know, Kara, I said I wasn't going to buy any more food, but when I was cleaning this morning I found some veggies in the fridge that had gone a little manky, so I needed to replace them.)

It was a very nice drive. Two hours there, with my satellite radio cutting in and out so that I wound up listening to a CD. I saw a few birds but nothing really big (I guess the North and I are still uncertain about each other), and I sang out loud as I whipped down the road.

By the time I did my mini grocery shop and filled up my tank and cans, I had spent almost an hour in Carmacks. I didn't want to stop at a restaurant because I didn't want to be still for any amount of time - I wanted to be back on the road. The radio was strong all the way home, and I sang and sang.

I like the Campbell Highway between Carmacks and Faro. I like being beside Little Salmon Lake, the way it's open and lovely with the mountain on the opposite side. The shadows of clouds pass over the still-icy surface of the lake and the sun lights up frozen wavelets.

I am glad that I went, and happy to be back. I am making food plans for the rest of the week, and I am confident that I will not be resorting to burgers in the near future ^_^

New sweet Notebook

So, my new computer arrived from Dell today, meaning I am not going to be without Internet for an entire weekend. Instead, I got to fight with it over lunch, trying to set up the wireless router, got to go back to work frustrated, and then I ignored it on my brief stop at home before going to dinner at Kara and Matt's.

At dinner, I drank several drinks, ate a delicious elk roast with carrots and sweet potatoes, and got to have ice cream with my beer for dessert. Seriously, it was the best dinner I've had, well, since the last time I was over there for dinner ^_^

And then I came home, and the problems the computer had been giving me at lunch were gone - it connected to the wireless router easily, and I have been downloading all the things I need to have to make it feel perfect.

Granted, the keyboard is a bit tinier than I am used to, so my hands are feeling a little cramped as I attempt to touch type, but other than that, I am happy as a clam.

My other computers were all Computrons (2000, 3000 or 3.0, and IV) but I have decided I am moving away from the name "Computron." This little thing is tiny, red, and awesome, and so it is named "Sweet Cherry Notebook."

I will probably just call it Cherry ^_^

Now, having come home and started a fire, I feel a sudden need for nachos. I'll be in the kitchen.

So, snow?

When I tucked my tipsy self in to bed last night (yes, I was drinking on a Thursday, we'll keep a close eye on that in future), the hillside behind my house was almost totally bare. All the snow was gone, and I could see dried grasses and rocks. I had a vision of what the hill might look like in summer.

This morning, when I stumbled my groggy morning self out of that same bed, the hill was covered in snow. You may have heard me crying out, "What?" or "Why?" or "The hell you say!" - I was not impressed.

It isn't a heavy snow, and there's not tons and tons of it, but it was just so surprising. It's the wet stuff, too, so my jeans are damp around the bottoms from walking out to the truck. And I had to brush snow off the truck - good thing I bought a brush/scraper at Canadian Tire.

Speaking of the truck, I have figured out that it is a strange height for me. It's not quite high enough for me to need to step on the rail, but if I try to get in without stepping on it, it is awkward. On the other hand, if I do step on the rail, I have to scrunch down to get into the seat. So it is all around strange.

But I love it! Don't get me wrong, I love it!

It's just strange.

Where is the boy who fetches my drinks?

Still not a 100% definite answer on the cautious optimism issue of yesterday, but perhaps 80%? If the corners of my mouth turn up a bit, is that out of line?

I just composed a two-page long email to Sean regarding his email from the weekend. It was nice to have someone to whom I could completely unload, about work, about life, about my continuing lack of love-life. I think I'm going to have get his phone number in Australia - it's been too long since I've heard his voice.

Yesterday's soup turned out a bit more like baby food than soup - turns out that when Mum said to use a blender, she meant use a blender. The hand mixer was not terribly effective - especially when it was spewing sweet potatoes and squash all over my kitchen and work clothes ^_^ Ah well, live and learn. 'Twas tasty, nonetheless.

Right, then. Back to work.

Cautious optimism is the watchword of the day

I got a phone call last night that could, hopefully, take care of one of my major stressors - namely, a keynote speaker for the Festival. I shan't say too much, lest I jinx it, but things may change this morning.

Made some cupcakes this morning for our last lunch with my boss, and I managed to throw the makings of soup into the crockpot. I did not have enough butternut squash, owing to a complete lack of understanding of: A) what squashes are like on the inside, and B) how quickly an unattended squash will start going rotten. Also, I did not have apple juice or apple cider vinegar. So I had to make some additions.

So it is a butternut squash, apple, and sweet potato soup. I used actual apples instead of juice, and threw in a sweet potato. I might try to sneak out for a few minutes later today and throw some carrots and cauliflower into the mix. It all gets blended up, anyway, and that would be a sneaky way to add more veggies to my diet.*

I can't believe it's only Wednesday - I feel like I have been going for days and days. I think I need to go to Carmacks this weekend, to get gas - I forgot to bring my jerry cans to WH when I picked up the truck, so I will need more fuel very soon, particularly if I am going to keep driving around town (getting super lazy).


*Note, I will not actually be fooled - it's not like I will forget that I put cauliflower in there ^_^

Booze is not the answer

But I could see it becoming the answer.

In the immortal words of my former housemate, Mads...

Thunderbirds...are GO!

I on the other hand, am a little less go, a little more why was it so cold in my room last night and why did I have to get out of bed once I finally got warm? My rainbow quilt was drying on the rack after I spilled a mug of tea on it, so all I had was the thin little comforter that came with my bedding set. I don't know if the temperature plummeted in the middle of the night, or if I am having reverse-hot-flashes, but around 1:00am I woke up because I was freezing. I had to grab my Original Quilt (the first one I ever made) from the living room and throw it on top of my comforter.

So this morning, I am a little cranky. I am really trying to rein it in, because I don't want to get the reputation of being that girl, the one who is always cranky and complain-y. I don't want people to think I am cracking under the extreme pressure of work (which I totally see myself doing somewhere down the road).

On the plus side, I'm wearing a skirt today!

Monday Morning, like a jolt to the system.

Sean has put ideas in my head again, and now I am trapped in a daydream.

Would it be bad if I went back? Could it possibly be as bad as I remember? With the old guard gone, could we change things to create a happy environment? Maybe Baa-chan will shuffle off this mortal coil and stop poisoning the place.

Curse you, Sean-sean. Curse you for making me dream about kaiten-zushi at Kamikitadai, and shopping at Diamond City, and walking down Daigaku-dori in Kunitachi on my way to dance class. I want to go to the Yuzawaya over Bic Camera in Tachikawa and buy lots of scraps of cheerful cotton.

I spent the weekend in bed or on my couch, sipping tea and ginger ale. I couldn't go to Carmacks for a training session, because I was ill, ill, ill. Headache and stomachache and nausea and all manner of foul things. All I could do was lie there, listening to movies and sleeping. Stress is a killer.



Okay. Less with the daydreamin', more with the working on the Festival...I still need to find a speaker.

Bring on the Sandra Bullock-fest

What a day.

I came back from WH yesterday, in my brand new truck, and I was doing my best to get through today. It was my boss's last day, and there was a potluck planned, and in typical high-school fashion, it was not good. And then there was an article in the news about our town that just made things worse.

Once again, I wonder why I came here. There are really good, nice people here, I just know it, but it is so hard to remember that on days like this.

I don't doubt that there are jerks at home - indeed, with a population almost the size of the entire Yukon, I'm sure Woodstock is full of them. But I didn't feel like I was constantly butting heads with people. Oh, apparently there's a rumour floating about town about moi - namely, I am actually an American, and I'm here without a work permit. Does this mean I'm being accepted?

So it's time for Sandra Bullock movies, a bottle of Wild Vines, and an early night.


On a tangent, I feel really bad for Sandra Bullock. Way worse than I normally feel when I hear celebrity gossip. Chin up, girl.