When the cat's away...

Hello! So this will be the last post I have for about two weeks. I'm scheduled to fly out of Kamloops tomorrow morning at 730am. I'll likely be answering emails only once in a while, and the blog will fall into complete disrepair. But, I have packed my trusty traveling journal, so I'll have loads to write about when I get back.

I'm totally stoked.

I also had the telephone interview with the lady from the Huron Perth Health Alliance in Ontario. The interview went super well, and I'm quite confident that the job is mine if I want it.

If I want it.

I was hoping for something for the summer that I could slink out if I needed to later. As it turns out the unit had to reduce its number of beds and I would get hired on "full time" when they returned to their normal number (33 beds) in SEPTEMBER. Because I'm a new grad, they offered to take me in July for two months of intro/prep and a mentor at work before I took on shifts by myself, but I just don't know if that would work. I asked about casual, but they didn't sound interested.

If course it's not going as planned.

But she's sent me the forms to fill out for references and the mandatory criminal record check. Like I said, I'm sure the job is mine if I want it....I'm just not sure if I want it now. BLARG!

Knitwise: I bought some red, white and blue finger weight yarn for knitting socks while I'm flying. I'll show you them when I get back....

So, have a great two weeks everyone! Don't have TOO much fun while I'm gone! I'll miss you! I should be back in action on May 9th (just in time for my birthday!) or 10th.

FLIGHT PLAN!

My pilot friend sent me the flight plan for our grand adventure! (it's all written from his perspective)

We clear customs the first day, though the location will depend on which day we can get away. With any luck we'll get away saturday though sunday or monday are fine too. After clearing customs we carry on eastward through Idaho and into Montana. We land at Butte for fuel. We turn south and end up in Salt Lake City for the night.

The second day we take off from Salt Lake City and can go check out the salt flats for brunch before heading southeast. We pass over Telluride, CO and head south, landing in Durango, CO for fuel. We head south and pass Los Alamos, Santa Fe, and Albuquerque (possible lunch stop?) before heading further south for Roswell and finally Cavern City. We spend the night there and the following day is our first vacation day, whereupon we'll spend our time doing a tour through the Carlsbad Caverns which I am quite excited about.

The fourth day we take off from Cavern City and head west for El Paso, optionally landing at an airport called Horizon or Dona Ana. Either are virtually on the Mexican border so a fantastic mexican lunch is almost assured. We head northwest from there for Whiskey Creek and then turn northwest for an airport called Truth or Consequences, our theoretical fuel stop for the day. We carry from from T or C bound north, passing right by the SETI VLA (Very Large Array) and head for Albuquerque before turning northwest for Monument Valley. There is a small private airport dead smack in the middle of it that apparently is very hospitable if you call ahead so we'll call and plan to end up there for a late lunch or early dinner, possibly staying the night. If not there, we'll end up in a small place called Kayenta to the southwest though the more I think about it the more excited I get to see the Monument Valley in the evening and at night.


That brings us to day five. This could all be done in one day or potentially split into two. We'll see how our scheduling goes. We take off from either Monument or Kayenta and head southwest for the Grand Canyon which isn't far. We circle around the canyon from the north before finally landing at Grand Canyon West airport. This is where we'll find the glass walk-out viewing platform. After getting our fill there we head east along the canyon to reach Canyon National Park airport. From here we'll take a scenic flight along or preferably into the canyon itself. That should take us to the end of day five. We'll spend the night at the Canyon National Park townsite.

On day six we take off heading almost due south. We fly until we damn near reach the Mexico border again and land in Tombstone which, as mentioned earlier, if it's close enough to the town we'll do a small excursion and possibly eat. We take off from there and head northwest to Tucson, passing over several airplane graveyards, and then head due north for Mesa. We land in Mesa wherein I plan on getting a ride on a WWII bomber. That will easily take us to the end of the day if not part way into the following day.



Day seven. We take off from Mesa/Phoenix and head northwest, passing over Lake Havasu City, and continue northwest, finally landing in Las Vegas. This leaves us half a day to explore the Vegas strip, catch a show, etc and then I hope to go back to the airport for a night flight over the strip.

Day eight. We take off from Vegas and head due west a short distance, landing at Furnace Creek airport in Death Valley. We'll catch a brunch there as apparently the food is amazing. We head almost due south from there and end up at Montgomery airport in sunny San Diego.


Day nine we'll do the San Diego zoo, possibly taking off in the early evening to fly to LA proper for the next day. We'll land at a small airport called John Wayne which will allow easy access to the beach and Santa Monica Pier.

On day ten we take off, heading first over to Catalina for brunch and then northwest for Santa Maria along the coast, then northeast bound for our fuel stop: Yosemite.

That's as far as I've (Martin) actually planned out at this point. Theoretically from there we'll head north along the coast and hit the rest of the points we want to hit including San Francisco, Reno, Portland, etc before heading home. I expect day 11 will be spent in San Fran itself though we'll see. We'll plan on arriving back home monday, May 11 though that leaves us a bit of leeway each direction. We'll watch the weather as things progress to decide if we need to be back earlier or if we've got time to spare.

More on the Interview...

So I'm thinking I'm going to take the interview.

But I think I'm going to steer it differently. I'm going to ask her if I can apply for a position that's casual and on-call. I just don't know how much I can committ, and I don't know that it would be fair to only work full time for 4 months. That's what it would be if I took the "permanent full-time" position because as a noob there's no way I'd get 3 or 4 weeks of vacation in September. In most cases, nurses must request time off a year in advance....unless I can be hired with those weeks off as part of the hiring contract...but that's getting complicated. I wondered if I could request to be hired casual on call so that I'd be able to leave silently whenever I wanted, pretty much. I can just tell people I don't want to work when they call me, and nobody would be upset or even care. I was thinking I could tell this recruiter that part of the reason I'd want casual work would be because I'm not sure about being in Ontario at all (which is true) and that I would take the casual position in order to be able to get to work there and get a better feel about the work in general with the thought that I could apply for a full time position later.

I was thinking that I could also tell her that the reason why I want the job is because of Grandpa, who'll be 102 years old this year. He's pretty much the main reason why I'm coming, and once he's gone (which, truth be told, won't be long now...) then I'd probably come back to BC...

I think I've got a shot at this because she offered to give me an interview before I've even given her a resume. We'll see how this goes...

Interview

So I've been trying to set up some sort of job in Ontario (see previous posts.) I wanted to talk to this recruiter on the phone so that we could hash out some of the details since emailing a sentence or two every couple of days is just taking forever.

I suggested that we chat.

She emails back and says "Hey, so we have a permanent full time position in (nursing unit). How would you like to have a phone interview on Friday for this job?"

Please note: I have never sent this woman so much as a resume. All she knows is that I'm a new grad. She's offered me a blind interview. Over the phone.

What scares me a little is that it's full time, and it's considered permanent. I don't know how long I want to stay there. I don't know if I'm interested in the job she's offering me - it's neither medical nor pediatric nor mental health. I don't know......

Any thoughts?

Clarification:

Yes, I did get an audition with the Vancouver 2010 Olympic opening and closing ceremonies. There were posters all over Vancouver and so I decided to fill out the application form. From the form, I could tell that they were just looking for interested warm bodies - you know, people to wear a coloured shirt and stand in a specific place in order to create a shape with another 99 people, seen from the air. I tried to get Mike to apply too, because they were looking for athlete types. The form opened with something like "Are you an a) Athlete, or b) a dancer?" So, I got a call from these people yesterday, informing me of my audition time. Of course it's in Vancouver. at 9am. So I have to figure out how to get there. I'm thinking of trying to get the guy I'm flying with on my adventure to just make it so that we get back to Canada on the 9th or early on May 10th so we can just fly there. We'll see. I'm going to try mt best to get there, because - come on - how many time in your life are you going to have the opportunity to attend the Opening and/or closing ceremonies of the Olympics, let alone be IN them....

In other news, I'm getting a littlw flustered that I haven't been called at all to go to work in the last 4 days. Frankly, I'm a little antsy. Yesterday was terrible because it was the third day that I'd woken up without work and without any plans for things to do all day. I pretty much knitted and watching TV on the computer. It was so bad that I caught up on all the new episodes of The Hills. I wonder if this is Karma for talking smack about work a couple of days ago.

In good news, just before dinner I remembered that I was supposed to go to the Annual General Meeting for the Kamloops Heritage Railway. Huzzah! Something to do! I really have missed being with them. I spent a lot of summers with that train, and all of the people involved with it, so it was nice to get to see them again. It's also nice to hear that after they fired the last Office Manager that the finances are back on track. Without getting too much into it, be pretty much did nothing at work, and made some really rediculous financial (and otherwise - like even though the KHR got approval from the government to have a summer student, she DECLINED it...weird) choices. But now there are people at the helm who care and who - even if they don't know exactly what they're doing yet - want to learn and are eager to do their job well. Me like train. Me like train people.

Plus, they like me, and made me feel good again when I went to see them. Is it bad to do things for that reason at all? Everyone wanted to say hi, and that they missed seeing me around the train, and were interested in what I'm going to do now that I'm done school....Frankly, after the useless day I'd had where I just felt totally blah, it was nice to have people interested in me. Maybe it's a little vain, but I think everyone needs to feel a little bit interesting sometimes.....

Socks As Promised!

AND! BONUS! I just got a call from the Olympic people! They've scheduled me for an audition for the opening and closing ceremonies on May 10th! (now I just have to figure out how to get to Vancouver the day after (crossing fingers that we don't get held up on the Airplane adventure) we get home from the States. eek! But it all sounds like fun!

What What?

While parousing perezhilton.com, i found this video.

Some of you might recognize the song played in the middle, which is why I'm posting this.

The video is after the jump: "You Won't See This on America's Got Talent!"

Brilliant.

AND! I finished another pair of socks today! YESS!

FINISHED!

I finally finished my Hot Pink Alpaca Lace Socks.

YESS! I started them almost exactly a year ago, after I had been knitting so much for everyone else (because they were having babies.) and I wanted something absolutely luxurious for myself.

I will post a photo for tomorrow.

In the meantime, I'd like to leave you with a gem I found from when I attended Independence Day Ceremonies in Samoa last year. Sorry, there's no sound - which is the best part. These people are all singing while they're dancing. Other notes: They're dressed in the colours of the Samoan flag, and they're dancing as part of the inter-community performance competitions held on the front lawn of the parliament buildings. Pretty much everyone in a given village will participate, and they all sound amazing. The old men standing around the outside of the dancers are elders in the village. They're wearing "tapas cloth" and many of them have the traditional chieftan's tatau (tattoo) around their torso.

I'm sorry for the quality of the video, too. It was shot with my digital camera. Admittedly, it's a little out of date.

Sometimes...I Just Don't Know.

Being the daughter in the family sometimes sucks.

Or, just the "other child."

It means that I've lived in my family for 23 years, and I know what happens when things aren't going well, but it means that I don't really have any "power" to help. I'm pretty much useless. I don't have the authority to put my foot down on anything. In some cases, I can give input sometimes, but I just can't do anything to help, or to set limits.

For the sake of others, I'll keep the details short, but I have a family member who has had difficulties in his life. Things have been genuinely hard, and a lot of doors have closed on him. But it's really frustrating when this person doesn't do anything for himself (including cook, or clean, or do his own laundry), and then unequivocally refuses any help when others see that he has difficulties (with anything). He refuses assistance with school work, with job applications, with his emotions...pretty much everything. And you know what, it would almost be best to let him go to learn his lessons and figure things out, except he doesn't learn. He doesn't learn and then he stops doing pretty much enything because he sees that he's not succeeding.

And what's happening is that he's slowling becoming dependent on others for sustenance. He has difficulties coping with adverse situations, and he's slowly becoming that person who never leaves home...molly coddled for the rest of his life like a manatee in the zoo let go that can't cope in the wild, so they just never let it out.

Pretty much everyone reading this knows what I'm talking about. Whatever. It's one of those afternoons where everyone in my house in on edge and upset and will eventually take their frustrations out on other people in a varying ways. People are feeling angry and sad and upset and scared (not for their safety, but hiding so as to not be party to others' emotional conversations) and just wrong today.

It's one of those days where I could be reading or typing completely out of the "path of destruction" but get sucked in because someone was upset and decided that they were not upset because I'd left some shoes or some knitting in the wrong spot.

So now that I've written this and you have an idea of how messed up my family is, I'm going to accept a friend's invitation to partake in some photography this afternoon. I need to get out of this house.






I'm imagining being back here. Virgin Cove, Upolu Island, Western Samoa.

Yesterday was funny...

But in a really good way.

Firstly:
I went to work. That's not funny. It just sets up the reason why my second point is funny. I work with nurses, and LPN's and care aides. "Real artistic" types, if you know what I mean.

Secondly:
I received the Western Canada Theatre's (WCT) e-newsletter in the mail yesterday, about an hour before I finished work. At the top of the email, it read: "WCT 2009/2010 Performance Lineup Announced." The hairs on the back of my neck perked a bit.

Thirdly:
The lineup includes My Fair Lady and The Miracle Worker. I am ecstatic. A classic musical, and a lesser known show that I myself performed in in 1999 at a community theatre in Ontario (when I lived there.). It was my very first "non school" show. It has a special place in my heart.





Forthly:
I would like to giggle really loudly, and excitedly tell others about this great news. I realize that absolutely nobody around me cares. Many of them probably have not even heard of "My Fair Lady," nor would they know what I'd be talking about if I said "WCT." I am surrounded by a virtual artictic desert. I realize I must keep this amazing news to myself for another hour until I find someone worth telling.

By the way, I told my mom when she picked me up from work. The conversation was like this:
"Hey mom (...) May Fair Lady!"
"oooooH!" "
"And, (...) Miracle Worker!"
"OOOO!!"

...Finally, someone who understands me.

Fifthly:
Went to dinner with a few friends. One was the pilot friend, and the other was the other passenger on the flying adventure. Good company, in other words. Ate dinner at Bistro 3.2.6. Nice Place. Good food, definitely. We chatted about the upcoming adventure, and how I'm glad I've got a couple of friends who actually call me from time-to-time (I DO have a couple of them. Redhead, you're one of 'em.) I just mean that this Facebook thing can be bad for your ego in that you see pictures of your friends and classmates all out having fun together - fun that you weren't invited to...*sigh*

Sixthly:
I realize that I, more than anything, want to audition for the WCT 2009/2010 season. I think about how much I miss theatre and how I love seeing live theatre, but that I always feel sad when I leave a show because I couldn't be a part of it: like being the water-boy on the football team - you watch all the time, though maybe once or twice you got to throw the ball to a player which only served to show you what you were missing. Sucks. I'm thinking about updating my resume....and contemplating coming back to Kamloops, even though I was 100% convinced that I couldn't stay only days ago.

Seventhly:
I went with my two friends to A&W after dinner. We bought food for the bums on Victoria Street. For one guy, I say "Hey, you want some coffee?" he says "oh, ok." He thanks us. Then he says, "yea, I'm just out here trying to get some change for a couple a beers." I'm glad we gave him coffee and a teen burger instead.


I forgot to mention that I was accused of trying to pick up the high school aged A&W boy for asking if I've met him before (he really did look familiar). He was being jovial. We were there 5 minutes before closing. As we left, he said "Here, I've thrown in a couple of pies and some fries just for trying to pick me up!" I was NOT trying to pick him up. But we took the extra food.

By the time we finish giving out the food, I realize I'm having a really good time, and I'm feeling chattier than I have been in a long time - more social or something.

Eightly:
We go to Zach's Coffee House. I don't order anything, but rather chat up the young woman working at the counter. My friends finish their drinks before we sit down we talk so long. I make the girl almost reconsider not going to TRU by telling her about how much I've loved the nursing program. Somehow, we all decide that my Pilot friend is picking up the woman, and I have a thing for mascot porn. (I really don't)

Ninthly:
I spend the next hour in the coffee place reciting lines from "Team America: World Police" and - moreso - Monty Python. Pilot informs me that I'm a bonified Geek for being able to recite that much Python. I'm just happy that I'm having fun being social and silly. I liked being silly.

And I didn't get called into work today. So I'm feeling good still.

So Many Options...

So as it seems, I've got a few options beginning June 4th.

June 4th is the date of my graduation.

Option 1: Ontario. I've been emailing a recruiter in the Huron Perth Health Alliance. She's the same woman I was madly emailing last year at this time about working there as an undergrad. They didn't have a UGN program then, but of course they have one this year when I'm no longer eligible. BUT, she's helping me find out whether I'm eligible for the New Graduate Nurse program there. The reading material says it's for nurses graduating from a nursing college in Ontario, but there just might be room for me...I asked her about working at Stratford General Hospital in the med/surg unit, or perhaps mental health, but I'll take anything. She asked me if I would consider a more rural spot like St. Marys or Seaforth. Seaforth is waaaay out there. I suggests St. Marys. I was thinking Ontario because of family. Well, more becausemy grandad is 102 this year and, well, every day is a surprise party. But, I would get the added benefit of being able to work nearby my favourite theatre in pretty much all of Canada. And I would see all of the shows.....*drool.* I'm working hardest on getting this job.

Option 2: Vancouver. Move back to Vancouver and get a job at BC Children's hospital. I really did like it there. I did my last practicum there in the Adolescent Mental Health Unit - which I loved - but I was thinking that if I went back I'd go to the medical or surgical units for practice doing all of those nursing skills I haven't even looked at in what seems like years. I'd stay in Mike's dorm/apartment probably until August when his apt. contract runs out, and then find a place in Vancouver for myself with the spoils for having worked for a few months. I can see myself being back in Vancouver, coz like I've said a few times, I don't think I've got all of my "city sillies" out yet, and I really like Vancouver.

Option 3: Kamloops. At the moment, this is probably my least favourite option. I'm sorry to all the people who'd need/like me to stay for the summer, but there just aren't as many opportunities here. I'm working at a psychiatric facility here as a "patient care aide," where my job description is basically making sure that the patients get fed, dressed and cleaned. Sometimes they need to be cleaned more than once in the day. Sometimes they really REALLY don't want to be cleaned. Sometimes it takes three people to help them get clean - because we have to have two people holding the limbs while I clean. After not having worked in so long because I was finishing school, my first shift back at work was a total drag. I'm not a huge fan of the envirionment, and sometimes I'm really not a huge fan of the staff. To tell you the truth, there are sometimes that I watch other staff, or listen to them talk, and I just can't believe that these are the people I have to work with. And then I realize that I'm more educated than many of them. And THEN I remember that I could be making twice the amount of money that I'm making now at a real nursing job that I liked. SO, if I stayed in Kamloops, I'd definitely have to find a new job - probably at the General Hosptal. I get hesitant to do this, though, because of my experience from last year. It took several months to get my interview (after having been "double booked" with another interview on the day that I was to drive to Vancouver to go to Samoa) and then after being told I HAD the job in June, they tell me "OK, so your first shift is July 14th." I lost so much time trying to get work at that place....blarg. I don't want to get mixed up in that again while trying to find a new job.

My plan is to work at my PCA job at the psych hospital until I grad, (for the very reason I just explained about time lost from trying to get a new job. Not that it'd matter since I've only been called in to work once since I've come back to Kamloops), and then get the heck outta there.

Anyone want to weigh in?

ADVENTURE!

Me thinks I'm going to go on an adventure!

So I've got this friend who's a pilot. He's training to be a commercial plot, and he needs to log some serious flying time.

He's also a photographer. I met him for dinner this evening to repay him for taking my grad photos. During supper, he asks me

"Soooo....do you have a passport?"

YES!

And he tells me about this two week trip around the western US to see any and everything. He's already got one friend coming, and he wants me to come too.

After some thinking, I really think I'm going to go.

It's two weeks. 10 days of flying 6hrs per day, with 4 days of earth exlopration. I don't have to pay for anything except for my meals, activity costs (like going to the San Diego Zoo), and some accomodation.

Why shouldn't I go? He leaves on April the 25th. That's not long from now. The time is right coz Mike will be away for the summer, and it still leaves me plenty of time to work before AND after. It's such a brilliant idea, and it's semi-spontaneous, and I doubt I'll ever get the chance to do this again.

I love the idea of going on an adventure!

By the Way

If you want to hear any of Leslie's music, go to her myspace page.

you SHOULD hear her music. Anyone with the guts to write (and perform while wearing a gold unitard) a song called "Tight Pants Body Rolls" is fine by me.

http://www.leslieandthelys.com/

OR

http://www.myspace.com/lesliehall

Just to Share

On March 31st, I went to a wicked concert. I had my picture taken with the lovely "Leslie Hall" of "Leslie and the Ly's" fame.

That's right. She's awesome.

This is the picture we had taken together. I know. It's awesome.


Note that my shirt is flashing mad-wicked glare at you. This is because it's a Gem sweater. It had gold sequins on it. It's a great sweater.

In other news, I found this picture of a few friends (and friends of friends) of mine at UBC...

..They were "Storming the Wall" at UBC. At Midnight. REALLY drunk. When they weren't supposed to. I think they managed to get two people over the wall...

This is the "after" picture. When we got caught. The girl in the "REC" t-shirt was the one who caught us. She was kind enough to pose for a photo. She must have been drunk, too. Ah well!

Good times were had by all!

Why You Should Love CBC Radio, too

<--- This is Jian. He's a CBC radio host. He's super great. Below is a link to Jian doing his job when Billy Bob Thorton is a stupid idiot on national radio.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJWS6qyy7bw

Plus, after this interview, and following the Boxmaster's next performance where they get booed, Billy Bob and his band leave Canada, and don't bother finishing their tour. In other news, Sarah Michelle Gellar is Pregnant! yesss! Baby slayers for all!

I'm feeling like putting pictures up. Here's a couple more.

Robert Pattinson, aka "Edward Cullen" (aka, Mr. "Do I dazzle you?"


Mike. aka "Better than R. Pats" McBurnie.

AND HE SAYS "GET BACK TO WORK!"

New Car?

1998 Pontiac Sunfire.

White.

2nd Owner bought it when it was 2 years old.

Needs new tires, but comes with winter wheels.

No special features except a/c and CD player.

Crack in windshield needs replacing.

$1500.

All in (with tires and insurance and windshield) it'll probably come to $2500, but that's 1/2 of the $5000 budget I'd set for myself. I haven't made any decisions yet, but it looks like a good deal. The seller is Mike's neighbour, and he seems legit.

Dunno yet. Even though the cabriolet for sale down the street looks super cute, I'd go for the sunfire over it. Dad and I went to look at it, and it's got rust. And it looks like the hood was replaced (front ender, perhaps?). but it's only $500. All in the way things go. But I'm still looking.

Here's Some More

I liked going to Wreck Beach.

Even though I only made it there a few times, I thought it was great.

And after all of the walking I did every day being in Vancouver, the stairs weren't that bad by the end. Sure there were 880 of them, but I was able to get them all in without a heart attack, mildly burning thighs and a guitar strapped to my back.

And, yea, I brought my guitar. The downside was that it was a lot cooler on the beach than it was where I lived (where I could see the ocean through the trees), and the moment I pulled the acoustic out and played 3 chords I could tell the thing was waaay out of tune. So I played a little. Then I played out of tune. Then my fingers froze and I couldn't play much of anything, so I went for a short walk. It was really, really nice though. I was there at sunset, and it was just right. Perhaps a little windy, but just the way you'd expect a spring sunset to be like.

And now I'm back in Kamloops where it's brown. I'd also normally say that it's bone-dry, except there's a spattering of rain that's put a gloom over everything and made it slightly soggy.

I liked being in Vancouver, on the whole. I liked that there was always something to do, and even though it took a rather tiresome bus ride out of Point Grey (UBC) to get to where some of the action was, there were always things to look at and see and do and explore. Not like here in Kamloops where you could take a 30 minute busride to get to one place, and there's not much else to do once you get there. I'm thinking like ballet class. In Vancouver, I took some ballet classes (to keep up - I still have a recital to do here in May) downtown. After - or even before class - I'd often go walking around...go to the book store, or explore a street I'd never seen. Back in Kamloops I can take a bus to ballet, but then there's nothing anywhere nearby that would warrant me walking around, unless I wanted to go to the supermarket or the bank.

In Kamloops, I couldn't say, "Hey Mike, I have ballet class at noon. I haven't been to gastown yet. Would you like to meet me after and we'll go walking before we go to the Lazer Led Zeppelin Show at the planetarium?" and then walk for three hours before going to dinner on Granville island and seeing the (WICKED AWESOME) show?

I'm going to miss that.

Now, I do like Kamloops. I liked that the moment I came back, I would see people I knew everywhere I went. Just last night I went to the movies with Mike. Once we came in the door, I bought my movie ticket from Erica (Highschool friend), and was in line in front of Larry Reid, a local TV and TRU sports personality (I immediately came out with saying "oh, HI, Mr. Reid." I bet he has no idea who I was. I loved that my first response was to call him "mister.") and then after we bought our popcorn, I recognized a local Real Estate Agent. This all happened within about 10 minutes. I like that Kamloops is small. I like that you can know so many people. Frankly, it means that if you work hard and shmoose with the best of them you can get the leg up that you need/want. (My example is within the arts/theatre community, also called "the Trinity" - Kamloops Art Gallery, Western Canada Theatre, and the Kamloops Symphony - if you're in good with at least one of them, you're in good with them all. Of course, if you wrong one, you're toast)

I also like that I can be in Barnhartvale and still be in Kamloops. I can be out where it's quiet and more rural (though still very suburban), but be as far away from downtown Kamloops as I was from downtown Vancouver when I was at UBC.

But, we'll see where I end up. I'd like to be in Vancouver for a while. I want to get the so-called "city sillies" out, but I have a feeling I won't be there forever. Since I'm pretty well finished school (HUZZAH! I've never felt so proud than I do now for being [nearly] finished my degree), the world is opening up. I've been telling people that "after June 4th (the date of my graduation) the world pretty much falls off" and I like that. Being a person who has felt the need to strictly plan my life, it's felt pretty freeing to be able to have so many choices to pick from. I like it!

YESSS!

and by "hot Pink" I mean "Hot Pink Alpaca Lace Socks"

What Am I Knitting Today?

Hot pink alpaca lace socks.

I'm nearly done. Yess.

Coz Mike says I don't Post Enough

These are the holidays that sometimes I feel like I'm of the select few who actually know why it's a day off work in the first place.

Not that I'm saying that everyone has to be Christian or anything. Not by a long shot. What I'm saying is that there are a lot of "holidays" that are being spread so thin that I feel like a weirdo going to Church on Easter Sunday or on Christmas day.

Yea, I get that Easter being the celebration of re-birth (though originally meaning the re-birth of Christ, and our own selves and thinking about making positive changes in our own lives) coincides with puppies and ducklings and baby bunnies and new flowers, but Easter time is one of those holidays that you get TWO days out of, and people don't know why. "It's the time for getting chocolate and hunting for eggs!" MMk. Find your own meaning. Maybe I'm just feeling weird because when I want to celebrate the season, people look at you like you're made out of sea-foam or something. "Huh? You go to church? oooooooook..." I don't know that I like feeling outcast for trying to celebrate the season with fewer commercial prompts. Plus, I don't think anyone gives the Jewish population the same looks when they celebrate Passover. It's what they do. Easter being about the religious motives is what I do.

And now I'm done ranting. Plus, I just polished off a nice tasting chocolate egg, so I'm feeling better.

As Mike Would Put It....

Happy Zombie Jesus day!



Today started at 430 am. It's family tradition to go to our parish's Easter Sunday Sunrise Service. That involves putting on winter-wear and going to the beach on the North Shore to stand around a fire. Mike says it's cult-like, I say pish-posh.

But that's because we go to Denny's for breakfast.

Sort of. Actually, I kind of like it. Some years it's really nice and you get the whole sunrise on the beach thing for the "rebirth of Christ," but this year was not that year. This year was cold. And cloudy. (of course, I know better, and I wore the winter coat, knit toque mittens and underwear. My brother, who I'm thinking may have done it just to make us feel bad for him because he was acting like an angry pansy for being up early, wore a t-shirt and hooded zippy sweater and froze.)

Then, I came home and slept. These days are always weird and trip me up. It's also my mother's birthday. You see, after you come home at 830 am, you go back to bed for a nap. I woke up at 1pm. I started thinking "Oh no, I didn't get to give mom her birthday present yesterday." Then I realize that it wasn't yesterday. It was today. Many, many hours ago. It's like having a mini day in the middle of two other days. I think I got 8 days this week. Weird.

But the french toast this morning was good.