Thursday, February 22, 2007

The boardroom

Work is crazy. I do all kinds of things, from rolling up and mailing posters, to writing Important Documents, having meetings about T-shirt designs and going to boardroom meetings.

I sat in on a big meeting today in my huge comfy chair and had a hard time paying attention. All I could think was, "Where's The Donald?", "Why did they let me in here?" and "Why did I pick today to wear a button-up shirt with a sweater instead of a suit jacket?" It wasn't a meeting I had to really be a part of, so I used the time to write down and memorize everyone else's names.

I turned in two projects I've been working on earlier today and my boss seemed quite happy with them. Yay!

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

News plops

The Snowplower and I are done for real this time. He did something that hurt me and I spent the whole "relationship" being confusing and alternating between really liking and really disliking him.

It was messy from the start, but part of me was really starting to care about him.

I haven't been able to sleep well since the ending began and sometimes it feels like I'm suffocating when I'm alone in my apartment, but I'll be okay.

I'm going to spend the lonely times making myself a better person and doing more of the things I love like painting and yoga.


***
In completely unrelated and happier news, my job is amazing. It's so fun and busy and refreshing. My co-workers are taking my suggestions seriously and I feel like a respected and valuable part of our department. I worked on my own this morning doing some research and writing and spent the afternoon in a few meetings, laughing with the bosses.


***
It's hard work scouring all the grime from an old bathtub, wooden window wells, baseboards and walls. I thought my apartment was in pretty good shape until the cleaning spree started. Now it's looking like it will take hours.

Friday, February 16, 2007

Day one

I love my job and my huge window and my great big desk and my coworkers and my mountains of responsibilities.

I've never been so excited about a job before. Another girl and I will be working together and she is signed up for the boring stuff, while I get all the fantastic little plums. (We have different education and experience, so she probably thinks I have the lame job). I already gave my input in a meeting, organized my schedule for the next few months and met dozens of people whose names I won't remember. I'll be doing piles of research, a bunch of writing, giving training presentations to other employees and helping out with marketing campaigns. And I really believe in the work I'll be doing.

Apparently the company has a really strict internet policy and moniters all of our internet work, so I'll have to figure out a way to keep blogging.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

My space

My bachelor suite is smaller, cuter and brighter than I remembered.

It also comes with a problem I hadn't really thought through. My bathroom has a window that stretches from above my head down to mid-thigh. I don't have blinds yet, so using the washroom presents a logistical challenge.

Besides the bathroom problem, everything is going well. I'm mostly moved in and partly unpacked. I met a few of the other tenants and (so far) they're all my age. It feels like I live in a dorm.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

To do:

I move into my new home in nine hours. Most of my stuff is packed and ready to go. I can't wait to have another set of keys jingling around in my purse.

The Snowplower called today to make plans for later. I'm unpacking all morning on Valentine's Day and he works the afternoon shift (or so he says) so we're planning on hanging out on Thursday.

I have to pop into the office tomorrow to do some paperwork and to officially accept the job.

Also, I still need to buy a collection of dress pants and a navy sweater vest. (I know sweater vests aren't the hight of style, but I saw one I loved and am waiting desperately for the store to get one in my size.

I'm planning on doing a lot of cooking and baking at my parents' house over the next few days so I'll actually have something to eat besides cupboard shelves.

I have my phone and power hookups starting in the morning and have already bought some environmentally-friendly florescent lights to put up.

I'm excited about having my own place and being able to do what I want, when I want. But I think it could get pretty lonely not having my big family to hang out with all the time. And I'm worried that I'm going to let the Snowplower visit just often enough that my place will smell like him and feel empty when he's not there. I really don't want that.

Sunday, February 11, 2007

High society

I feel very cultured because of my activites this weekend.

Last night Faunty and I went to the symphony and it was delicious. I loved it. The music really came alive and filled me up. The symphony is almost too much for me. The conductor once described it as "discovering seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth dimensions" and as going from seeing in black and white to seeing in colour.

This afternoon I went with a friend and her boyfrind for a cozy Sunday activity. We went to have a look around an art gallery and to see some ancient carvings. My friend's boyfriend ran into a guy he knew (an anthropologist in training), so the four of us walked aroung the exhibits together. The Smart Guy and I started talking when we were both awed by a Buddist idol that was over 2,000 years old and had spent most of its life guarding a Chinese outdoor temple.

Our group had only made it halfway through the gallery when I had to leave, but everyone else followed me out. Smart and I had only been talking a little here and there and he kept giving me information he had learned in class about some of the artwork, but he seemed disappointed that I had to go. We all made plans to go back to the gallery next week to see the rest of the display, and I'm counting it as a kind-of sort-of date.

Smart said goodbye to me with a little bow (he seriously had his hands together at chest hight and dipped his head towards me) and added, "It was more than a pleasure meeting you." It was strange but still really cute.

(I haven't forgotten about the Snowplower, but he seems to have forgotten about me. We haven't talked since Thursday morning even though I'm pretty sure he had the weekend off. I think he'll call Tuesday morning at 10:30, since we seem to have a standing phone date at that time. Things with him are frustrating and exhausting and I'm not sure if I want him to have my new number.)

Saturday, February 10, 2007

My Valentine's vices

1. This time every year, I overdose on cinnamin hearts. I eat them by the handful until my eyes water and until my tastebuds fall off. I once made a friend take a mouthful while she was driving on the highway -- we barely survived.

2. I can't stand getting flowers. While I think they're pretty and smell nice and all, I have this weird compulsion where I rip the petals off and destoy them. This started when two huge creeps gave me flowers (separate incidents) that I ruined.

3. I was "seeing" this guy in Grade 8 and I ended things between us on Valentine's Day because he kept talking while I was reading a funny book. It was, like, totally so annoying.

4. A few years ago, I had quite the Valentine's dilemma.

I was thinking about maybe starting up a relationship with this guy I worked with (incidentally, my friends and I now refer him as Psycho) when this other guy who I'd been dating sporatically for about a year (he lived out of town and only came back once every few months) called to see what I was doing for Valentine's Day.

I didn't want to have to choose between them, so I spent Valentine's alone.

5. When I have assorted boxes of chocolates and don't know what's inside them, I dig little holes in the bottoms and taste them. If they're orange or any other gross flavour, I sneak them back into the box.

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

A room of one's own

I looked at three apartment suites yesterday and today I snatched up the best one. It's a cute tiny bachelor suite that's just the right size for me and my lack of stuff.

It's within walking distance to my new job, a coffee shop and a park. The building is charmingly old and I have fabulous hardwood floors and a sunrise-facing window. This apartment, unlike my last one, has a bathtub, which I promise to enjoy, and it has a storage room I can use as a bedroom since my bed is just little enough to fit inside.

I move in on Valentine's Day and start my new job two days after that.

My walls were being painted yesterday and they're a kind of apricot beige with popping white trim. I'm in the middle of painting my kitchen table and two old wooden chairs my mom gave me. I have white paint on my elbow, all over my hands, in my hair and on my jaw. Even though I keep painting myself, the chairs are starting to look good.

My new life is starting soon!

Monday, February 05, 2007

The weekend

As it turns out, I survived my weekend with all the strangers, participated in making a list of recomendations for the provincial government, and even had a (sort of) good time.

The government spent $750,000 on the youth conference and sponsoring business contributed $50,000, so my bus ticket, fancy hotel room, shuttle rides from the hotel to the conference centre, gourmet meals and my fantastic door prize (a portable DVD player) were all covered.

I caught the bus on Friday afternoon and this guy who got to the depot just in time asked to sit beside me. I made some space for him and he sat down and said, "I know this sounds really weird, but you were an extra playing a reporter in a T.V. crime show, weren't you?"

I gave him a strange look. The show hasn't even come out yet.

He told me he does some editing for a local production company and that he had just finished my scenes before racing to catch the bus.

Then we talked about his degree and mine and it turned out that his best friend and I were in the same program and graduated together. And it turns out that he and I had met briefly twice before.

He wasn't going to the conference, so I headed to the hotel alone and checked in. My room was HUGE and I didn't even have to share it with anyone. I hadn't seen many people in the lobby so I walked around and investigated the hotel a bit, trying to find something to do or someone to hang out with. Afterall, it was just 8:30 on a Friday night.

I checked out some business recruiting places but didn't find anyone to talk to, so I went and sat, alone, in the hot tub. Then I ended up watching T.V. in my suite.

The next day I ran into a guy I had met while we were working as extras a few months earlier for that T.V. crime show. I was eating breakfast with him and a table full of very nice strangers, when he totally exaggereated the "acting" we had done and made it seem like we were co-stars in the show. It was ridiculous. So then I went and hung out with different strangers.

Basically I spent the whole weekend meeting strangers, eating with them, wandering hallways with them, collecting their business cards and forgetting their names. It was a little lonely, but I'm really glad I went.

The political side of the weekend was great and we came up with a lot of suggestions for what the government could do to make the province into an ideal place for us to live. We talked about the environment, about developing the northern parts of the province for eco-tourism and recreation, about educating people about First Nations culture and about minority groups and about creating an exchange program for students from cities, farms and First Nations to learn more about each other and to have a better understanding of one another.

We talked about strengthening the downtown cores in the cities to revitalize them and about making it easier for local people to start their own businesses. We talked, essentially, about everything. And if the government listens and follows even a fraction of our recommendations, I will be thrilled.

Friday, February 02, 2007

Me and the strangers

I'm going to a political-type conference in another town this weekend with 599 strangers. I think it will be interesting and I never miss a chance to participate in democracy.

I'm heading out on a bus full of strangers, eating with strangers, particpating in focus groups with strangers and sharing a hotel with strangers. I'm thinking this will either be a fantastic trip or an awful one.

Thursday, February 01, 2007

Gaggy

One of my sisters and I were talking the other day when I made a joke about her. Pretending to be upset, she grabbed a juggling ball (about the size of tennis ball and filled with something like sand) and chucked it at me when I wasn't looking.

The ball hit me hard, right in the throat. I assume she meant to hit me a little lower, but my sisters and I have terrible aim. Good thing we usually only hit each other.