Still a damn strange place...

What sort of place is it, where you can go golfing on Easter long weekend, and then the weekend *afterwards* go skiing? This makes no sense to me, but apparently here it's possible.

Going on week three - still a damn strange place.

Also, allergic reaction subsiding. I am no longer nauseous, and my skin isn't itchy (mostly), and my lips are no longer swollen to the Angelina Jolie + collagen point (only to the point of really badly chapped). None of these are much fun, but are how I spent my Easter long weekend. I profoundly need another weekend.

Other news: division finally had a meeting. Yay! I no longer feel quite as lost. I have a vague idea now as to what projects could bring me in to help work on them in the near future, which reduces my panic to acceptable levels once again. Not that my schedule is all roses - it's not, and I should really be doing far more work at home than I am right now. But that being said, life looks a little less unstable for the next week.

And then, the Girls arrive. Wheee! Visitors!

What a strange occurance...

This morning, I set my alarm early, planning on going in to work early before a meeting. Instead of hitting the snooze for an hour, grumbling and whining to myself half-awake, and rolling out of bed just in time for work, what happens? I'm too tired to actually get out of bed until the last minute, yes, but instead of dozing back off to sleep, my brain starts going over the morning's work project. Not -worrying- about it, just theorizing and pondering and focusing. Frankly, getting myself to focus on being dressed correctly and have my underwear on the inside of my pants is usually challenging enough in the morning.

I blame having interesting work to do, AND a lack of the usual student-associated sleep debt. What a strange arrangement of circumstances!

Also, flow charts? Sexiest things ever. I'm just saying.

They love me, yes they do...

Today is just one of those days where I realize again how much the PTB really love me. They love me soooo much, they’ve assigned two very special presences into my life – surprise and irony. Also, the girl pack, but they're (slightly) less omniscient.

My first day of work was slow, relatively speaking. When I say relatively, I mean relative to what the rest of the week, month, or maybe even year, will be. As it is, I’m sitting here eating salad and garlic stuffed olives to comfort my coffee-beset stomach, and hoping I can unwind in time to get a full night’s sleep tonight.

Also, I send out apologies, specific and in general, for ever mocking my older brother about how much work he had, or chose to, take on as part of work.

I’ve developed the funny suspicion that this job will threaten to not only run my life, but *be* my life. Good thing it sounds like so damn much fun. *^_^* Now here’s hoping I don’t fall flat on my face for the first couple weeks.

But, the house is coming along. Some stuff I can’t set up, because then the contractors won’t be able to get in and do up the baseboards this week. Other than that, things are fairly calm. Money worries me, but I have offers to bail me out rather than have me worry about money while I’m getting on my feet in this job. Still, accepting help is one of my issues, and I worry not because of that, but because my stupid stubborn pride takes a dent every time I have to ask for help. Bah.

Randomly: it is profoundly nice to be able to eat garlic stuffed olives, be PMS emotional, and blare classical music without disturbing anyone. I know these aren’t exactly major hinging factors in my life, but they make me realize that I am very lucky to be able to speak such and speak it truly.

Mmmm, heading south. So good for me.

Not quite your top ten lists...

Ten, nope, thirteen things I like about the relocation thus far:

1. I have a crabapple tree in my yard! Possibly more than one. Downside: many mushy apples left over from the fall that I don’t want to rot in my yard, and thus have to clean up. Upside – in fall, many many many large crabapples.

2. The night we arrived, I laid in my sleeping bag, on my room floor, with two very freaked out cats and looked up out my window, and *could see stars*.

3. The deer that walked through my front yard shortly before lunchtime.

4. The washer and dryer work! Yes, this doesn’t sound like a big deal, but in no place that I’ve lived for the past couple years has there been a time where both of them worked properly.

5. Cable internet! Not the illusion of cable internet, slowed through the two floors of concrete and crappy reception. I actually have a download speed. Neat!

6. Air that smells like actual outdoors, of trees and gardens and wet earth and morning.

7. The fact that I know I can host MeCon here, and that there is suitable space for a variety of games to be run. Given the LARGE empty crawlspace, I request Cthulu or Mage or something freaky.

8. That the worst casualties of the move were a few fish and my can opener. Really, all things considered, I can live with that. And yes, somehow, the pleco is still alive. I just don’t understand it.

9. The amazing amount of help I got from my parents, and without either one of them making me want to strangle them. I’m stunned, and very thankful.

10. The cool and undauntable Moe. Crazy man that he is, has helped me move –three times-. Even having learned how much stuff I have, he still shows up, and I love him for it. He did say that I’ve used up my quota of moving help from him for the next while, but that’s okay. I don’t plan on going anywhere any time soon.

11. The fact that in spite of my parents having been here at least as long as I have, this place feels like it’s mine. Already. I don’t jump at weird house noises. I don’t worry about where stuff is, or if it’s broken, or anything. I would claim a heightened maturity at this lack of worry, but I think it has more to do with the fact that this is the first relocation in years that wasn’t forced by some circumstance or another. This is the first one that I –chose-. I got offered this job and accepted it, I looked for a place and picked this one (and not because it was the only livable option, or only option at all), I decided where everything was going, on what I was taking and leaving behind. I’m not juggling anyone else’s preferences or needs, just mine. It leaves me feeling so light I’m almost dizzy.

12. There is a DQ about 6 blocks from my house, and I sense impending weekend morning walks for sundaes. Possibly barefoot.

13. Being able to navigate in a new town without a map or specific directions. I hate maps. I dispise them. And don’t even get me started on people giving directions.


Ten, nope, seven things that I dislike about the relocation thus far:


1. My front door doesn’t lock, and is currently blocked by close to the entire contents of my bookshelf. I’m frankly displeased about this, dispite the fact that there is actually less chance of someone getting in through the front door with the books there vs any lock that can be installed in a normal residential door.
2. The amount of vacuuming that needs doing. I like living in a relatively un-lived-in house, but it means that there is a lot of dust in places I want to store stuff or let the cats go, and it means that a lot of stuff that needed fixing hasn’t been noticed or dealt with. Mostly just stuff like lightbulbs and outside motion sensors and little stuff like that, but some of it really just bugs me. I mean, the bathroom door is supposed to shut, right? Without trapping you in the bathroom?
3. The lack of thought to basic safety. Why do people not have a concept of this? Houses need smoke detectors, and they need light fixtures without flickering and dubious connections. How is this hard to grasp?
4. The amount of trauma caused to my two dear fuzzy compatriots. I have not yet been forgiven, not quite. The car ride was unpleasant. And loud. And lacking in music. But the howling did keep me awake, I guess.
5. Having a door to the outside with a lever handle. Cats and small children can open those. Gah. I’m glad I’m in the habit of locking it all the time anyways.
6. Having my big living room windows –directly- across from someone else’s big living room windows. Makes me feel weird about the thought of bellydancing in my living room.
7. The evangelical Christian sticker on my door. Really, even though it's in error, I don't like it advertising to anyone who might come to my door.

Oh, the love!

I actually have people who have volunteered to brave my stuff! Yes, I'm amazed. Some of them are even the foolish people who helped me move into my current place, so I'm doubly astounded.

That being said, why is it always when I have a million other things to do that I find things that pique my intellectual interests? Political movements and world religious happenings, new gaming stuff, sociological movements I want to monitor, etc... It's rather frustrating to try to keep up with it all.

Oh well. It will give me something to keep my brain occupied in thrilling Lethbridge. Well, something other than finding out where the grocery store is. :)

In unrelated news, I think I have completed the first ever 'girls shoe shopping expedition' wherein *I* actually found shoes! Not only shoes, but shoes I needed more than the ones I was looking for. I'm not sure if this has ever happened before. I'm quite stunned. Thanks to the advice of a certain rednecked bunnyrabbit, I may be yet another Fluevog convert.