Yes, like the little brown and grey critters, but white. And not albino either - just white - the townspeople will quickly point out the squirrels have dark eyes!
Several weeks ago, in the phonebook's calendar of events, I saw that a nearby town was going to be having a White Squirrel Festival this weekend. It just sounded so bizarre, I had to check it out. Info on the web was limited, so the plan was just to head over there at some point and just hope we found the festival and were there at a semi-appropriate time.
Arrived in town about mid-morning, and stopped at a restaurant for some brekkie. As our meals were arriving we asked the waitress if she knew when the parade was starting (yes! a white squirrel festival parade!) - 11:00. What timing! It was 10:20! We even had time to stroll down the street (to the beginning of the parade route) before it started.
Sign #1 you're at a small town parade:
We didn't see a whole ton of people out on the sidewalk waiting for the parade - some yes, but not tons. We soon realized it was because they were all in their cars! Parking is free on the side of the road, so many people just parked and watched the parade from inside their car! Totally cracked me up!
The parade was actually quite good for being such a small town. Top honourable mentions go to the ElderBerries float - a trailer full of older women just whooping it up like they had had one (or five) Caesars before heading out, the little kid on the arctic cat snowmobile (but with wheels, not skies) who would drive a bit, stop, whip (and I mean WHIP) candy at people, then repeat, and O'Brien's Bait & Tackle, Open 24 hours (for those bait & tackle emergencies) whose float was a man (presumably Mr. O'Brien) riding a bike which was pulling a small cart done up like a boat (with a little boy dressed as a fisherman), which had, following behind it, a little cart done up like waves, with a little girl dressed as a fish, seemingly attached to the boat by the fisherman's rod. Definitely homemade, and definitely adorable. I also want to mention here Before & After, which didn't have an amazing float or anything but deserves mention for its hilarious name. Before & After just happens to sell lingerie, maternity wear and children's clothing, LOL.
After the parade ended (at our end), we slowly wandered down the other side of the main drag, window shopping. Headed over to the park grounds where the festival setup was. Usual rides and foodstuffs. There was an exotic petting zoo, cows, horses, sheep, the usual fall fair fare - except on a pretty small scale. The white squirrel mascot (White Wonder) wandered in and I managed to cut off about 4 kids and get my picture taken with him first. Once that part of the mission was accomplished, we left the fairgrounds, having experienced this sort of thing - several hundred million times - on a larger scale before. The only thing left on the to-do list was to see a real, live white squirrel.
My dad had read somewhere that the best chance to see a white squirrel was in McNaughton Park, so we headed over there. I was convinced we wouldn't see one, because I somehow always manage to miss the wildlife. At my uncle's cottage in northern Michigan, my family will see deer almost daily, but when I'm out, I see none. I went all the way to Tasmania and didn't even see a Tasmanian devil. These things never work out for me.
We saw a man with a camera standing near a rock garden, so we wandered over there and sure enough, there was a squirrel! So we stalked him (the squirrel, not the man - though strangely enough the man and his wife were from our hometown - and my parents' current town - and drove up that day specifically for the white squirrel festival!) and took photos and after about 15 minutes I suddenly went "this is a squirrel, not an elephant or a bald eagle or the last remaining Tasmanian Tiger, that's probably enough time" and we started heading back to the car. Over in the distance, across the river, I saw a white something moving. A second squirrel! And *I* found it all by myself! (My dad also saw a black squirrel - the black sheep of the family he said. ;) )
I took pictures on my old fashioned (read: non-digital) camera, and will post them when I get the film developed (in 2006).
A ham & cheese omelette, a parade, a picture with the mascot, and two live white squirrels. I got everything I wanted out of the white squirrel festival. Definitely a good day.
September 25, 2004
September 24, 2004
Things that make you feel human again
With all this moving, and upheaval, and re-settling, it's really strange to discover which things make you feel human and normal and home-ish and settled again. And I don't mean the big things, like your bed, or your clothes, or actually having a TV and phone. I mean the little things that somehow do a better job of making you feel like things are normal than those bigger, yet very important, things do.
Sun-Maid Raisins
Nature's candy. The stabilizing power of the little red box of raisins with the brown-haired, bonneted girl, is amazing. I think my mother must consider these some sort of staple, on par with water, or oxygen. These were *always* part of our lunch. Starting from pre-school and kindergarten days. As we changed from lunchboxes in primary grades, to brown lunchbags when lunchboxes were no longer cool, back to insulated lunchbags when we were in university or working, and were carrying enough food for days, or, most recently, in the snack bags she packed for interview trips, these little red boxes were always stashed everywhere. So somehow it seemed appropriate, when we were buying snacks for me to move up here with, while I was staying somewhere shortterm, that she threw in a bag of SunMaid raisin boxes. And last week I was sitting at my desk, eating SunMaid raisins and remembering how I used to sit at my desk, over 20 years ago, in kindgergarten and Grade 1, eating SunMaid raisins and I had to smile. My fingers have probably doubled in size (at least) and yet they're still trying to pry out the raisins, all packed so tightly together you wonder if you'll pass out from hunger before you get to one. There's something very comforting about that red box. It's like it's a reminder that, no matter how much things seem to have changed, you're actually still in the same world. And you're still the same you.
Oven Mitts
I was kinda living off EasyMac (not even regular mac and cheese because that would require, like, pots) for a bit at first, but when you make EasyMac the bowl gets REALLY hot. Like REALLY hot. So when I went for the first "stock-up" grocery shopping trip, I made sure to get oven mitts because the absence of oven mitts was weighing heavily on my mind. I hung them on my cupboard handles and it amazed me how calming that was. To see oven mitts and pot holders hanging on the cupboard handles. Like someone actually lived here. Everything was still in boxes, I had only been in the apartment for less than 48 hours, but the oven mitts were there, and out. It was a normal kitchen.
Fridge Magnets
I think I mentioned how my sister unpacked a ton of my stuff for me. It was a great feeling to walk into an unpacked apartment. But the items that stood out to me most were my fridge magnets. Almost all of them are from my travels. I know lots of people think fridge magnets are tacky, but I love my fridge magnets. Each one represents a great memory. And if the oven mitts were a sign that *someone* lived here, the magnets were a sign that *I* lived here. I had moved in. This was my home.
The Newspaper
I'm not a news junkie in a "glued to CNN/reading 14 news websites every hour" sort of thing, I'm just addicted to reading the newspaper. Even if I don't read most of it, and just skim through it, or turn the pages reading only headlines, I need a newspaper around. This week I finally subscribed to a paper and the first one arrived today. I went down to the front lobby to get it, and as soon as I picked it up, a sort of calm washed over me, like when you sit down after a long day and have that first sip of wine, or when you finally catch an episode of 90210, or when you finally buy the first postcard while on vacation, or a shower after a weekend of camping. It was like a hit of a drug. It was like everything was settled and back to normal. It was like I was human again.
Somehow these things were the biggest calming forces. With each one, I was surprised at what it did for my psyche. Sometimes it's the smallest things...
Sun-Maid Raisins
Nature's candy. The stabilizing power of the little red box of raisins with the brown-haired, bonneted girl, is amazing. I think my mother must consider these some sort of staple, on par with water, or oxygen. These were *always* part of our lunch. Starting from pre-school and kindergarten days. As we changed from lunchboxes in primary grades, to brown lunchbags when lunchboxes were no longer cool, back to insulated lunchbags when we were in university or working, and were carrying enough food for days, or, most recently, in the snack bags she packed for interview trips, these little red boxes were always stashed everywhere. So somehow it seemed appropriate, when we were buying snacks for me to move up here with, while I was staying somewhere shortterm, that she threw in a bag of SunMaid raisin boxes. And last week I was sitting at my desk, eating SunMaid raisins and remembering how I used to sit at my desk, over 20 years ago, in kindgergarten and Grade 1, eating SunMaid raisins and I had to smile. My fingers have probably doubled in size (at least) and yet they're still trying to pry out the raisins, all packed so tightly together you wonder if you'll pass out from hunger before you get to one. There's something very comforting about that red box. It's like it's a reminder that, no matter how much things seem to have changed, you're actually still in the same world. And you're still the same you.
Oven Mitts
I was kinda living off EasyMac (not even regular mac and cheese because that would require, like, pots) for a bit at first, but when you make EasyMac the bowl gets REALLY hot. Like REALLY hot. So when I went for the first "stock-up" grocery shopping trip, I made sure to get oven mitts because the absence of oven mitts was weighing heavily on my mind. I hung them on my cupboard handles and it amazed me how calming that was. To see oven mitts and pot holders hanging on the cupboard handles. Like someone actually lived here. Everything was still in boxes, I had only been in the apartment for less than 48 hours, but the oven mitts were there, and out. It was a normal kitchen.
Fridge Magnets
I think I mentioned how my sister unpacked a ton of my stuff for me. It was a great feeling to walk into an unpacked apartment. But the items that stood out to me most were my fridge magnets. Almost all of them are from my travels. I know lots of people think fridge magnets are tacky, but I love my fridge magnets. Each one represents a great memory. And if the oven mitts were a sign that *someone* lived here, the magnets were a sign that *I* lived here. I had moved in. This was my home.
The Newspaper
I'm not a news junkie in a "glued to CNN/reading 14 news websites every hour" sort of thing, I'm just addicted to reading the newspaper. Even if I don't read most of it, and just skim through it, or turn the pages reading only headlines, I need a newspaper around. This week I finally subscribed to a paper and the first one arrived today. I went down to the front lobby to get it, and as soon as I picked it up, a sort of calm washed over me, like when you sit down after a long day and have that first sip of wine, or when you finally catch an episode of 90210, or when you finally buy the first postcard while on vacation, or a shower after a weekend of camping. It was like a hit of a drug. It was like everything was settled and back to normal. It was like I was human again.
Somehow these things were the biggest calming forces. With each one, I was surprised at what it did for my psyche. Sometimes it's the smallest things...
September 23, 2004
I wonder if they could dispense a defribilator too
The vending machine at work has been intriguing/bothering me. Next to the Doritos column were two columns with clear plastic bags. I was always walking by there so quickly I never knew what they were, but it was driving me crazy that no one was taking these plastic bags out of there. Today I started wondering if they were selling bags of air or something. When no one was in the aisleway, I stepped closer to inspect these bags more fully. They're safety glasses! (Which is why they looked empty - clear plastic). A vending machine that dispenses safety glasses! Amid the chips and chocolate bars. If you want the plain safety glasses they're $3, if you want the ones with the black rims, they're $4. Doritos are $1. Even in the vending machine it's cheaper to go the unhealthy way. (I find it hilarious that this machine is simultaneously promoting an unhealthy, and a safe, existence)
I needed something a bit stronger than plastic glasses today though. Today was my first "almost heartattack and 3 minute lunch" day. About a month ago we anticipated a shortage in grinding wheels, so I ordered more of an old kind we used to use. Seeing as how this was still in my first week, I was pretty much at the mercy of others, and while I verified as much as I could, I really had no clue what I was doing. The last week we've been using up our last wheels (and I'm talking rock-bottom last - like, ones people found in drawers and stuff) and the wheels were supposed to come in today. The parts store (inplant) calls me and says "I think your stones are here but they don't match what you ordered." OMG! Two thoughts are running through my head:
1) Production is about to shut down FOREVER (or at least a week :p) cuz we have ONE wheel left and I don't know how we get anymore really really fast
2) This is gonna look like it's all my fault, when it is nowhere near being my fault, and that's really gonna suck.
After about 35 minutes of trying to sort this out (while everyone's away, either for the day or at lunch), the mystery is finally solved. Minor confusion and miscommunication - the number the grinding wheel supplier lady told me to order wasn't the right one, and she changed it when the order was put through and just didn't tell me. So the wheels we had were the right ones. So we're all good. For now.
So now my first almost mistake (except not) and "shovelling food down in the 30 seconds no one is around" lunch have happened. And I've been there a whole month! That's not too bad really. :p
I needed something a bit stronger than plastic glasses today though. Today was my first "almost heartattack and 3 minute lunch" day. About a month ago we anticipated a shortage in grinding wheels, so I ordered more of an old kind we used to use. Seeing as how this was still in my first week, I was pretty much at the mercy of others, and while I verified as much as I could, I really had no clue what I was doing. The last week we've been using up our last wheels (and I'm talking rock-bottom last - like, ones people found in drawers and stuff) and the wheels were supposed to come in today. The parts store (inplant) calls me and says "I think your stones are here but they don't match what you ordered." OMG! Two thoughts are running through my head:
1) Production is about to shut down FOREVER (or at least a week :p) cuz we have ONE wheel left and I don't know how we get anymore really really fast
2) This is gonna look like it's all my fault, when it is nowhere near being my fault, and that's really gonna suck.
After about 35 minutes of trying to sort this out (while everyone's away, either for the day or at lunch), the mystery is finally solved. Minor confusion and miscommunication - the number the grinding wheel supplier lady told me to order wasn't the right one, and she changed it when the order was put through and just didn't tell me. So the wheels we had were the right ones. So we're all good. For now.
So now my first almost mistake (except not) and "shovelling food down in the 30 seconds no one is around" lunch have happened. And I've been there a whole month! That's not too bad really. :p
September 20, 2004
A downside to living alone
There's no one from whom to "borrow" stuff. I just rain out of dental floss. Wtf?! Am I really supposed to not floss tonight? Maybe I should go ask the neighbour for some. :p
It's almost like I'm all growed up now!
So I noticed the other day that my bathtub drain was draining rather slowly (compared to just a couple weeks ago) so last Friday I bought a thingy of Liquid Plumber, deciding to nip this in the bud. Except, horror of horrors when I got home tonight. Somehow AN ENTIRE DAY wasn't long enough for the bathtub to drain! OMG! So I grabbed the liquid plumber (how do you spell that anyway?!), went to pour it in then had second thoughts. What happens if it doesn't work? Then, not only do I have old icky water in the bottom of my tub tomorrow morning, but I'd have old icky water with really corrosive shit in it! Not really the best idea to shower in corrosive liquid, I don't think.
First instinct? Call dad. But then I was like "what's he going to do?!" It's not like he can solve this by tomorrow morning except to tell me to pour some liquid plumr (I went to the bathroom and looked at the bottle) in there and then call him back and that would involve a 20 minute philosophical discussion on drains and my hair and his frustrations over drains and my hair (is this passing that "too gross" line yet? :p). So then I started panicking about not being able to shower tomorrow, then I thought about calling dad again. Then I panicked again. (well just kinda panicked really) Then I decided to try the liquid plumr anyway and figure out the shower thing tomorrow. And guess what! It worked! And I didn't even have to call dad! Go me!
Then I celebrated by trying out my new salad spinner. Last week I bought lettuce and then realized I didn't have a salad spinner and so I was patting my lettuce dry all week. But today I bought a salad spinner. And spun my lettuce. It was so much fun! (Every since I was a kid I've always loved the salad spinner. My favourite is to sit on the floor and spin it and then let go so it sorta spins across the kitchen floor like a top.) I'm so excited about my salad spinner.
But the big news is that I fixed my own tub! We'll pretend that's enough of a good thing to make up for the fact I did only 2 of the 10 things on my to-do list this evening. :p
First instinct? Call dad. But then I was like "what's he going to do?!" It's not like he can solve this by tomorrow morning except to tell me to pour some liquid plumr (I went to the bathroom and looked at the bottle) in there and then call him back and that would involve a 20 minute philosophical discussion on drains and my hair and his frustrations over drains and my hair (is this passing that "too gross" line yet? :p). So then I started panicking about not being able to shower tomorrow, then I thought about calling dad again. Then I panicked again. (well just kinda panicked really) Then I decided to try the liquid plumr anyway and figure out the shower thing tomorrow. And guess what! It worked! And I didn't even have to call dad! Go me!
Then I celebrated by trying out my new salad spinner. Last week I bought lettuce and then realized I didn't have a salad spinner and so I was patting my lettuce dry all week. But today I bought a salad spinner. And spun my lettuce. It was so much fun! (Every since I was a kid I've always loved the salad spinner. My favourite is to sit on the floor and spin it and then let go so it sorta spins across the kitchen floor like a top.) I'm so excited about my salad spinner.
But the big news is that I fixed my own tub! We'll pretend that's enough of a good thing to make up for the fact I did only 2 of the 10 things on my to-do list this evening. :p
September 19, 2004
A little culture and a ton of clothes
I went up to Toronto this weekend to see a couple friends and attend the Toronto Film Festival. Well, okay, actually I went so I could say that I was "going to the Toronto Film Festival" even if that really just means that we went and saw one movie. ;)
Arriving at my friend's Friday evening, I was suprised to discover, as I walked into her apartment, that I felt more at home, and settled, there, than anywhere else in the last 5 weeks. She's moving out of there next weekend though, and so, when I told her that today as we were walking back after breakfast and she was starting to get sentimental about this being the last time she'd walk down that road, I think I really got to her, hee hee. ;)
Anyway, after a quick change, we headed to another friend's for dinner. Got my much needed drink and had a yummy yummy dinner and then my friend (who's lost a bunch of weight recently) mentioned she had a bag of clothes she was going to give away to charity, but thought we should look through first. She dumps out the bag and the three others of us turn her room into a large changing room (with the one friend's husband sitting in the living room just laughing at us). After an hour or two I ended up with a leather jacket, a jean jacket, another 3/4 length grey spring/fall jacket, 2 suits, a brown sweater, a black knit top (which looks SO CUTE with the skirt from the one suit), a coral long-sleeved loose-knit top, and this pair of jeans that fit me so perfectly that went I put them on my friend was just like "whoa!" (they're also super comfy and I just love the colour!) So ya, out of nowhere, a whackload of clothes - all for free! WOOHOO!!
Saturday was the movie. Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson. Jack Johnson was the first black heavyweight champion and his winning of the title lead to national riots and lynchings. A very interesting story, if a long one (almost 4 hours - even with the intermission, by the end we were praying for it to end ;) ). Alas, because it was a documentary, and about a dead guy, we saw no celebrities (screw the culture! point me to the celebrities! ;) ) unless you count the director (Ken Burns - that might mean something to someone, meant nothing to documentary-ignorant me ;) ) who spoke before the film and then sat at the table next to us at the restaurant we went to after the show. (I pointed out to my friend that he ordered the same entree she had selected and she was all excited about it).
So now I've attended the Toronto Film Festival. Quite an event! I will have to get better organized next year and see if I can catch more of it. In the meantime I have to figure out when to wear my new jeans!
Arriving at my friend's Friday evening, I was suprised to discover, as I walked into her apartment, that I felt more at home, and settled, there, than anywhere else in the last 5 weeks. She's moving out of there next weekend though, and so, when I told her that today as we were walking back after breakfast and she was starting to get sentimental about this being the last time she'd walk down that road, I think I really got to her, hee hee. ;)
Anyway, after a quick change, we headed to another friend's for dinner. Got my much needed drink and had a yummy yummy dinner and then my friend (who's lost a bunch of weight recently) mentioned she had a bag of clothes she was going to give away to charity, but thought we should look through first. She dumps out the bag and the three others of us turn her room into a large changing room (with the one friend's husband sitting in the living room just laughing at us). After an hour or two I ended up with a leather jacket, a jean jacket, another 3/4 length grey spring/fall jacket, 2 suits, a brown sweater, a black knit top (which looks SO CUTE with the skirt from the one suit), a coral long-sleeved loose-knit top, and this pair of jeans that fit me so perfectly that went I put them on my friend was just like "whoa!" (they're also super comfy and I just love the colour!) So ya, out of nowhere, a whackload of clothes - all for free! WOOHOO!!
Saturday was the movie. Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson. Jack Johnson was the first black heavyweight champion and his winning of the title lead to national riots and lynchings. A very interesting story, if a long one (almost 4 hours - even with the intermission, by the end we were praying for it to end ;) ). Alas, because it was a documentary, and about a dead guy, we saw no celebrities (screw the culture! point me to the celebrities! ;) ) unless you count the director (Ken Burns - that might mean something to someone, meant nothing to documentary-ignorant me ;) ) who spoke before the film and then sat at the table next to us at the restaurant we went to after the show. (I pointed out to my friend that he ordered the same entree she had selected and she was all excited about it).
So now I've attended the Toronto Film Festival. Quite an event! I will have to get better organized next year and see if I can catch more of it. In the meantime I have to figure out when to wear my new jeans!
September 15, 2004
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!
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!
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