Me, Myself, And I'm Dreaming of The Trans-Siberian

The rest of my sojourn in far Eastern Ontario ended up being wonderfully lovely. Tuesday was a far better day with beautiful weather (and the thickest early morning fog I've ever seen) and only three school presentations, one of which was cancelled. I actually had the time to go to a little restaurant and sit down with a breakfast meal. I chitchatted with a man named David who has three jobs and doesn't drive a car and the too-sweet-to-be-true waitress later directed me to the local park where I literally said OMG out loud in my car when I drove up to it because OMG it was just that pretty. A tiny gazebo in the middle of a big pond anyone? I took a walk in my open-toed heels and then hit the road with my windows down, rocking out to my music.

Driving along CR-18, I wondered if Chris Brown's Forever with the bass cranked up was disturbing the local farmhouses when all of the sudden a ginormous church appeared on my left hand side. It was St. Raphael's church, gutted by fire and then restored so that only the stone walls and foundation stood. My heels clicked slightly on the stones and every step I took echoed. I walked out the door behind what would have been the altar and overlooked a cemetery and rolling hills. I heard nothing but the breeze. For a moment I was taken back to India, when I used to climb the stone steps to the little temple on top of the hill and just sit there gazing over the fields of Anaikatti, listening to the cows and the distant voices from the village. With my heart stilled, my breathing deepened, and my head clear(er), I took one last big breath and slowly got back into the car.

I spent the rest of my day in colonial Williamsburg, chatting with the local shopkeeper, walking around and then doing my second, and last, presentation of the day. The too-sweet-to-be-true guidance counsellor gave me tips on where I should spend the rest of my afternoon and so I went to Gale's and got butter tarts to die for, bought some gifts at Auld Kirktown and putzed around the little shops in Lancaster just like she suggested. By then it was about 2pm, so I took off across the border, braved Quebecois traffic and found my way to Montreal where I met friends for tea and dinner.

Also, tell me if this is weird: Wednesday night found me hanging out with my friend Dan's parents. I went to their house with wine, we chatted, they gave me a tour, we went out for dinner, they showed me their garden/dock/pontoon/homemade fish habitat, and then we had cake, tea and wine. Most of my co-workers and friends told me that it was weird that I was hanging out with a friend's parents, especially because we weren't dating (Dan and I are close, but he's already in a wonderful relationship), but that thought didn't really cross my mind at all. So what's weirder: me hanging out with them or me not thinking it was weird when everyone else did? OR is it going for a massage and having the masseuse tell you, "You have very nice body mmm," right after she just finished touching your bum and, "You have skin like the baby"? This scenario, fortunately, did not take place with Dan's parents or else yes, that would have been weird.

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While cleaning my room yesterday afternoon (I know, as a twenty-something I never thought I'd ever have to do it again either, but you really should have seen the state it was in), I came across a sheet of paper from my last term in school that was titled, "My Immediate and Forthcoming Future." According to that piece of paper, my plans ended in August of 2008 when I wrote, sort out the rest of my life as a To Do item for the month. Man, for a person who lives out of a car/hotels and has a bedroom that looks like it threw up on itself, I'm pretty organized.

Welcome to mid-September of 2008, a time when, not only am I gainfully employed and being paid to work, I'm also being paid to live. Work covers accommodations, my rental car for two months, gas, a cell phone with long distance privileges, all food, and dry cleaning. They even covered the two bottles of wine I bought last week (as a gift for Dan's wine-loving parents). I've hit the jackpot. Too bad I have to give it all back in November. And with the end of my contract looming just a month and a half ahead of me, I can clearly see my plans running out from underneath me again.

But! As life has always been mostly kind to me, I'll probably have a fair chunk of money put aside that I can blow on further globe-trotting. This time, I'm looking towards lots of time spent on trains and exploring vast, vast landscapes....
4:08 pm

Monday, September 15, 2008

First Day On The Road

Let's just say that I learned a lot.

- Left the hotel at 6:30am to meet drizzle and gusting winds in my skirt and open-toed heels
- Had time to get gas before school #1 and be early! Whoo!
- Got caught in a fire drill at the end of my presentation.
- Principal allowed me to sneak back in to pack up
- Was late for three out of four school presentations
- Went 110 on some- er, most country roads marked 80
- Got good at fumbling with and reading directions, maps, and other pieces of paper while speeding
- Might have skidded onto the shoulder a few times...
- Definitely took the wrong road at one point and ended up waaay up there when I should have been waaay down here
- Had my first meal of the day (a small green apple) at 1pm while racing to school #3
- Had my first pee of the day at 2:45pm after presentation #4
- Had my second meal of the day (a banana) sitting in my car after school/presentation #4
- Number of turn arounds (U-ies and three-point turns): at least three.

Dear goodness I hope tomorrow is better.

For now: FOOD.


Update, 6:45pm
I have just returned from the wonderful little Italian restaurant across the street and am so full that I could pass out in the bath that I'm about to take. Also: Spumoni, how have I never eaten you before?!

4:24 pm

Sunday, September 14, 2008

A King Sized Bed, Five Pillows, And No Stuffed Penguin To Sleep With

Lately, one of my favourite people in the world has been calling me regularly despite our distance across the ocean. The first couple times from Egypt and the last two nights she's called me from North Ronaldsay, Scotland, an island populated with just about fifty people way up in the north. Though her travels have been good to her, she had had a particularly bad day and in order to get out of the funk, told herself to do what I would in that situation: sit down and make a list of things that I'm grateful for.

Admittedly, I've been in a bit of a funk myself these past few weeks and I think it's about time that I take my own advice. My friend Bre's mum has always said that for every negative thing you say about yourself you should say three positive things. I'm going to try to combine our advice and see what I come up with.

- I like my friends.
- It's neat that I can sort of speak French fluently.
- Over the next two months I'm being paid to live (accommodation, car, gas, food, etc. all covered).
- I've had (and will continue to have) lots of opportunities to travel.
- I have my health (mostly).
- I'm ...great.

That didn't really help at all. Must work on being positive and grateful.

I am generally just thankful for my position in life. I'm out by the Ontario-Quebec border for the next handful of days for work and I'm glad that I've, so far, survived the large amounts of driving solo. Now, I just have to survive the large amounts of time solo. I've only been alone in this hotel room for a few hours and already I wish I had a roomie.

9:21 pm

Saturday, September 06, 2008

No Room For Rent

You know what's fun about having nowhere to live? NOTHING.

My landlord officially gave me my one and a half days' notice via a voice mail while I was at work the other day - the jerk went and gave away my room to a tenant who'll actually stay in the house for more than a month. Okay, so maybe I wasn't the most financially rewarding choice, fine, but COME ON - I've got heart, dammit. And since I'm no longer speaking with my Emergency Shelter Person aka the dishonest bastard, I've got nowhere to go right now.

Maybe that isn't true. No, it's not true at all. Bless the hearts of all those who immediately jumped in and offered their places, or offered their friends' even. There are special places in the skies for you. I'm not going to bless so much the people who cocked their head to one side and went, "Aww..." when they heard the news that I was being booted out of my house instead of offering any help. You're still nice people, but your special places will only have double beds as opposed to king sized ones. And your bathrooms will not be able to host dance parties.

I think my problem is that I was so sure that the room wasn't going to be rented out to someone else that I settled right in without acknowledging the fact that I could be wrong. Now that I *am* wrong and it *is* rented out, I can't handle it and am instead choosing to wallow in denial. This is definitely NOT a proper response. I need to find a place not only to sleep, but also to store all of my junk - I brought waaay too much stuff for just a five-week stay. There's clothing and bathroom stuff, sure, but then there's my freakish jewelry collection and my food and the martini glasses I bought for just 10 cents each my first week here and the laundry rack I brought back with me this past weekend because I was *that* sure that I was staying in the house. I'm trying to take it well, but this is just the shitty cherry on top of the sundae of crap (my five week term here has not exactly been the splenderful experience I had hoped for).

The other night, I stood up in the middle of my room with determination to be positive: I balled my fists, narrowed my eyes and said through gritted teeth, "Come on, find the silver lining. This could be worse. It's not so bad! It'll be like travelling! YES! LIKE TRAVELLING! EXCEPT WITH BUSINESS CLOTHES! THAT'LL ALL BE WRINKLY BECAUSE YOU'RE LIVING OUT OF A SUITCAAAASE!!"

Then I took a breath and went and ate ice cream.

Last night I took a break from EVERYTHING; I got a chai-soy latte at the cafe and went to see a movie about a poor rickshaw driver in India by myself and loved it, both the movie and the experience. Note to all: Amal is more than lovely. Give it a see. I expended all of my pent up energy and went out for drinks and dancing since it was Funk Friday. I've decided that the hipster lounge is the best place for me to meet guys. They're all geeky in some way and seriously, I can't remember the last time I've seen so many guys actually dancing with no shame.

The world needs more chai lattes with soy milk, more films like Amal, and definitely more places like the Starlight.

4:45 pm

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Sticky Notes

I wanted a post up yesterday and I've been thinking about it forever, but with most of my time being eaten up by work, I haven't found a spare minute to reply to emails and phone calls never mind sit down and write a big long post about high school. The date's vaguely special though, so I wanted to mark down the fact that it should have been here ...even if it isn't. Yet. I've set aside Saturday/the weekend as my catch up with the internets time.

And you'll all be relieved to know that life is going on as usual for me: I'm swamped with work, I feel like no one appreciates me, aaand I let myself be hurt by another dude. But, though I'm just in the middle of having a momentary relapse into the Super-Ultra Negative Energy Zone, the spontaneous tears at work have stopped. Another name added to the list; another person whom I thought was special, but really just another reason to be cynical. So what else is new?

I knew I was right when I had my freak-out about turning twenty. I knew this whole New Decade thing was going to be bad news bears. I never thought I'd say this, but I sure can't wait to be thirty. That decade has GOT to be better than this one.

5:00 pm