Let's get the boring updates out of the way.

When I finally got an internet connection last night I got excited about putting something in this blog and thought about discussing how torn and confused I am about the fact that I'm starting to not hate Beyonce, or about how I have cable for the first time ever, or about how I have cable and am so grown up it's on my own tv in my own apartment and I'm paying for it, or about how it was torture and yet strangely calming to have no email or internet connection. But before I can do any of that, I guess I have to update what's happened so I should stop putting that off and just do it so I can get to more important issues like... Roy, the man down the hall who wanted to know which car is mine because he likes to watch people as they come and go? I don't know. (Plus if I put it here, I don't have to repeat the story 15 times. :p)

The job
The job is going well. Process Improvement Leader (PIL for short - as in pill - which I find completely hilarious, but I guess they're so used to it I'm the only one laughing ;) ), basically being a process engineer in one of the departments. I really like the people and the laidback atmosphere of the place - at least laidback insofar as *everything* isn't an emergency, and they manage to get all their work done without biting each other's heads off and they realize we're all actually on the same team. Shocking for a manufacturing environment really. :p The people I work with are great and the job itself seems like it will have quite a bit of variety and provide lots of learning opportunities, so I'm happy with how it worked out.

The apartment
A one-bedroom on the second storey of a 3 storey building. A corner unit so it's out of the way a bit I guess. A little balcony with a cute railing, decent-sized kitchen (esp for an apartment), dining room, family room and a pretty big bedroom. It's an older building (though well kept) so the cabinetry and flooring and bathroom and light fixtures are like, circa 1970s, all in atrocious yellows and browns, but to the point where it's so hokey it's fun again. Plus I have all my parents' old furniture from the late 70s and early 80s so really, it all fits in quite well, lol. It's been a bit of a challenge getting used to the surrounding noise - not that it's overly noisy, it's just that I now realize just how quiet our old neighbourhood was, especially being set back from the road with really only one neighbour whose noise would even affect us. This is in a residential area too, but the road my windows open onto ends in a cul-de-sac with several apartment buildings so it's busier than a regular subdivision/residential area. But I'm pretty much used to it now. When I was home last weekend I couldn't believe just how quiet it was. The best part of the apartment, though, is that it's only 6 minutes from work - a huge plus since I start at 7 am. :p

Home
I started work on a Monday. That Friday I went home. I didn't have my apartment then, I was still in a "transient" housing situation and yet, when I woke up Saturday, I already felt like this place wasn't my home anymore. I mean, in a way, it will always be "home", yet somehow, in just those 5 days, it lost its home status. I wondered how long it would take to happen, but I was surprised it was a matter of days, not months. Maybe because I've been more than ready for this for a while now. ;) So right now I guess I'm kinda "home"less. Home isn't home and yet, this place isn't home yet either. But that's okay.

The move
Can I just say how spoiled and lazy I am? I started work on Monday. On Tuesday my parents came up to check out some apartments (honestly, the searching for apartments thing almost sent me back home - I was just too tired and stressed to deal with it on my own, and well, my parents are amazing people) I had circled in the paper. Tuesday night I had decided to take it. That weekend I went home to gather my stuff. My mom said if I identified everything, she would pack it. She packed it the whole next week, my parents (and cousin) packed the truck, and they drove it up here the following Friday night. We unloaded it, then they went back home to take the truck back. My sister arrived on Sunday for a couple days. Monday, while I was at work, she unpacked most of my stuff. Came home to find an actual real apartment instead of boxes! Last weekend, while I was home, I bought a tv. Was scheduled to get cable & internet yesterday. My parents drove the tv and tv table up (it would've been really hard, probably impossible for me to carry up the stairs myself), set it up while I was at work, stayed while the cable guy connected everything and then went home. How amazing is that?! (I offered to make them dinner but given the drive home they wanted to go) So again, I come home from work to find tv and vcr all set up and ready to go! And yet, despite the fact that I've only had to do about 1/4-1/3 work of moving, I'm still exhausted by it all. :p The last two days I've done absolutely nothing (and I desperately need to vacuum) just because I needed days of not doing anything, of not running to the store for batteries or garbage bags or coffee makers or *something*. But really, my family is incredible. I don't know how I would've handled it without them.

The town
It's a small town, surrounded by beautiful farm country. Can't wait to get out and explore it. Took a walk along the river while my sister is here. Not as much water as home ;) but quite peaceful and lovely. Had a bit of a scare though. Sib and I went for dinner, then decided to go grab a coffee. 8:00 pm on a tuesday - almost couldn't find a coffee shop open. wtf?! It's a small town but surely they can support a coffee shop that stays open past 8! Found one (it closed at 9 :p) - this should be interesting - especially once the theatre season ends and the town really dies down. :p Come one, come all! To the most exciting place on earth! (oh wait, that's the circus right? While my brain sometimes resembles a 3 ring circus, I'm sorry to say there are no dancing bears living with me. Not sure if that will affect anyone's decision to visit or not. :p)


So there you have it. I think that's it in a (rather big) nutshell. Now that we're all caught up, I will be able to focus on more important things like the upcoming white squirrel festival! Woohoo!