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November 5th, 2009
07:08 pm
I got a ride back from the synod meeting, but on the way was forced to stop and look at kittens. This was cruel. They were adorable and there were also bunnies and a big guinea pig and I wanted to take them all home.
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October 24th, 2009
11:28 am
Good news: Cat is here, yay!
Bad news: She was soaking wet and windblown and hungry by the time she got here last night.
Good news: We ate perogies and talked about how our brothers need to grow up, take responsibility, and get lives. I pointed out that at last my brother is in college.
Bad news: My mom called this morning and, among other things, told me my brother is planning to drop out of college.
Good news: We'll be leaving shortly for Scarborough where we will meet friends, eat food, and celebrate the birthday of the Cat. And I will cool off and avoid talking to Jay until I'm sure I won't kill him.
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October 15th, 2009
04:38 pm
I have finally more or less finished uploading some of my Jordan photos on the Record's flickr site! You may view them and tell me how pretty they are.
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October 4th, 2009
04:59 pm
I just bought a new phone last week, but while in Jordan I played with one of the Americans' iphones. I now want an iphone. Dang it.
Anyway, I'm back from Jordan safe and sound. Having lived in luxury hotels eating three course meals for the past week, I'm finding it a little hard to adjust to normal life again. Seriously, all we were missing over there were beautiful men feeding us grapes and women with fans. If you ever get the chance to stay in the Kempinski Hotel in Aqaba, you'll be spoiled beyond belief. The internet and minibar were both free, as were Dead Sea salts and mud masks in the bathroom, and when you called for a wake-up call you were asked if you'd like a cup of complimentary coffee sent up to the room 15 minutes after the call. I could have never gone home again.
Overall the trip was absolutely spectacular. I wasn't a big fan of Amman, but we got a private press conference with a prominent senator, and one evening had tea with Price Hassan, the former crown prince of Jordan, at the royal offices. (We were told not to ask why he wasn't king--apparently that's still a sore spot.) Both were brilliant, although the prince (having two degrees from Oxford) had a particularly indirect way of getting to any given point.
Umm Qais was really neat, although it made me want to crawl through ruins for hours on end and they wouldn't let me. It's thought to be the place where Jesus cast demons out of men and allowed them to enter a herd of pigs, which promptly threw themselves off a cliff. A lot of the ruined buildings are more or less intact, and it's hard to tell from the path how far it goes. Unfortunately we had to rush through in order to see Jerash and get back to the city in time to meet the prince.
Jerash was amazing. Apparently only 25 per cent of the city has been excavated, but my gosh what an epic 25 per cent. They're currently rebuilding Zeus' temple, there were a bunch of crazy dudes playing bagpipes and drums in the theatre to demonstrate the acoustics, and you could see the ruts from chariot wheels in the roads. I could have spent hours there.
But not as much time as I wished I had at Petra. If you ever get the chance to go, spend at least two days there. Three if you can. It's massive and amazing and I think it was cruel to only take us there for half a day. (Our tour guide, who was wonderful, had had what we thought was a stroke a day or two before, so he wasn't feeling so hot either.) I climbed everything I was allowed to climb and took tons and tons of pictures. I didn't have time to make it to the high place of sacrifice or some of the other tombs that were off on their own, so if I ever get the chance to go back I will. I'd love to make it up to Aaron's tomb someday too.
We also went scuba diving in the Red Sea and spent the last day at a resort/spa at the Dead Sea. I didn't do the spa part because it was extortionately priced, but I covered myself in mud and swam for a good 45 minutes. It was one of the most bizarre feelings. People told me you floated, but I didn't realize how much. It's impossible to drown in this sea. I could hold my arms above my head and point my toes and still not sink below my chest. And i's impossible to swim on your front because you can't quite get your legs in the water. And the rocks on the shore are white because they're so thickly encrusted with salt. Just don't get the water in your eyes because it stings like a bitch. Seriously. I did it twice.
It was a really spectacular trip. But I've gotta say, if you're planning to go to Jordan, go as part of an official tour. I couldn't imagine trying to deal with the airport or checkpoints without an Arabic-speaking guide and smiling men in suits to do all the real work for me.
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September 25th, 2009
05:24 pm
Eight hour layover in New York airport is made of lose! Although now that I have internet it's a little better and I got some work done. Go me!
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September 23rd, 2009
10:33 pm
To check luggage or not check luggage. Decisions decisions. I went to Montreal for 10 days with only a carry-on suitcase, which was wonderfully convenient. But then I wasn't planning to buy anything while I was there. Except I ended up buying two coats and got a spiffy tote bag from the festival. But I was able to wear a coat home, which means I only had to cram an extra coat and bag into my luggage.
I can take everything I need for Jordan in one carry-on bag. It just doesn't give me much room to bring crazy stuff back. And it's coming back that I'm worried about. I've got a good 8 hour layover in New York before my flight to Jordan, but only a little over 3 hours in my layover before returning to Toronto. Plus, four airplanes means plenty of opportunities to lose my bag.
Hmm.
In other news, I got a swanky new phone yesterday. It's not a blackberry or iphone or anything--I'm not that swanky and I don't want to pay for a data plan that I don't really need--but for an extra $5 I can set it up to send and receive email from a hotmail, yahoo or rogers account. So in a pinch I think I could route my work email through one of those. I haven't actually set that up because I have unlimited text messaging and I've been using that more often, but I might if I need it in the future. (I just wish it could access gmail. *Sigh*) But the part some of you might care about is: you may now contact me via cell phone regardless of where I am and I won't try to keep the conversation under three minutes. But, of course, I'll have the thing off in Jordan because roaming charges are a bitch.
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September 21st, 2009
09:55 pm
Cat left yesterday (*sniff*) but thoughtfully left me her pjs to remember her by. They're in the washing machine now so they'll be nice and clean when she uses them as an excuse to come visit again.
I realized this weekend that I wasn't sure if my shots were up to date because I didn't get those hep shots in grade 8, so I booked myself an appointment with a travel doctor tomorrow. Once I've been pricked full of holes I'm thinking I may wander out in search of a new cell phone. Right now it's a toss up between Fido and Koodo. Both seem to have their good points and bad points. The main good thing for Koodo is that your 'local calling area' follows you wherever you go, whereas Fido I think tethers you to a particular area. But Fido has cooler phones which can be acquired cheaper if I do their 2-year agreement deal. And Koodo has a gawd-aweful marketing campaign which I despise from the core of my being. Whereas Fido has puppies.
Regardless, if I go for an agreement and get a cheap but classy phone, mom said she and dad would "buy" it for me in exchange for my old phone, which they would in turn give to my brother, who broke the screen on his years ago. I think that's a pretty sweet deal since I was planning to give my old phone to him anyway.
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September 19th, 2009
10:15 am
Cat is here! She arrived yesterday. We ate sushi and pocky and drank tea. Now she's sleeping upstairs in one of the extra rooms and I'm trying to be productive with my morning. Might just curl up and finish my novel, though. I'm really close to the end.
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September 13th, 2009
10:27 pm
My borrowed house definitely looks like it's had teenagers living in it for the past year. There's crap and boxes and clutter everywhere. But I don't really care because a free house is a free house XD. I'm planning to move in Tuesday evening.
And, because I'll be juggling houses even more than usual, I think I'll have to suck it up and ditch my pay-as-you-go plan for something a little more substantial so I can be reached at the same number regardless. Anyone have suggestions for a good phone plan? I've currently got an account with Rogers, but I'm willing to jump ship for a better deal.
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September 11th, 2009
06:05 pm
Yesterday I signed a contract to become the full-time permanent staff writer/editorial assistant at the magazine. It was a tough choice for me, I've gotta say, but I realized that when I look back on this decision in 10 or 20 years, I'd regret it if I didn't take the more adventurous choice. Money's nice and all, but I think that will come with time. I won't be working at the same place forever, and I'll learn a lot more and do a lot more if I stay where I am. So now I get full health and dental benefits, and the option of signing onto the pension and life insurance plan. With the pension and insurance coming off my paycheck I won't be getting much more than I was when I was on contract, but the sweet benefits package should make up for it.
It's also looking like a trip to Malawi is in the works for next May (woohoo!) I may also have found myself a house. Not really for myself--I can't afford a house--but a family I know moved to New York last year. Their son was working at church offices too, so he was been staying there by himself until he headed to school in Ottawa last week this month. Instead of leaving the house empty, they're letting me look after it. I think they're planning to sell it eventually, but not anytime soon. So in the meantime, I more or less scored myself a free house to live in. It's in a beautiful area too! I should be picking up the keys tomorrow. Once they leave again, I shall prance about and pretend it's my own. The best part is the mother is Japanese, so you'd better bet one of the rooms has a low table and a tatami floor. Score!
So the way I see it, if this house-sitting thing becomes longer term, I'll be able to more or less have my own place and still have enough money to buy my dad's old car if he gets a new one this spring. Then, when they decide to sell the house and I get booted out, I can always sell the car. By then I may have enough saved up for a hefty down payment on a mortgage, though, and can seriously think about buying a place.
In other news, the film festival was enormously fun. I freaking love Montreal. If I didn't have a 100% anglophone boyfriend, I might seriously consider moving there. We stayed at what was probably the ritziest hotel I will ever stay at in my life and watched lots of films about children killing their mothers and then possibly having their father's baby afterwards. There were some really good films too, including a couple of great Japanese flicks that I thoroughly enjoyed: Viyon no Tsuma, which was about a married couple and had a certain poetry to it, and Dia Dokuta ("Dear Doctor") which was about a rural doctor and just plain fun. But the sheer amount of cold-blooded murder in most films made our job as a religious jury pretty simple because it meant there were only a handful of films that came close to meeting our mandate. Of those, I recommend our two winners: Korkoro by French director Tony Gatlif, which is about a band of Roma (gypsies) in rural France in 1943 and Waffenstillstand (aka Ceasefire) by German first-time feature director Lancelot von Naso, which is about a couple of German aid workers and journalists in Iraq. Not only is his name Lancelot and he's a really awesome guy with a phenomenally cute baby, but he started to cry when we announced that he'd won. (Fortunately he pulled himself together during the English translation and no one was the wiser). He found us having a drink later in the hotel and sat down to talk for a while. From the sounds of it, they had the absolute worst time filming the thing on a shoestring budget. I think filmmaking must be one of the single most stressful jobs on the planet.
Oh, and the city museum was running a special exhibit about pirates! That was nifty, but the coolest part was an old timey market set up around an entire city block. It was like a giant ren fair with all kinds of baked goods, cheeses, cider, wood and woven goods--great stuff. There was even a reenactment group trying to recruit. Ewan tried to talk to the Francophone drummers, but the only thing they really understood of each other was the "drum" part.
I think every working holiday should be like that. Seriously.
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August 25th, 2009
08:11 pm
I'm off to Montreal to watch movies. My flight leaves at 7 am (ugh) Thursday, so I'll be leaving the ground at 7 and eating breakfast in la belle province by 8:30. I'll be taking my laptop with me and I'm sure the hotel has internet, so if you need to reach me you can do so by the usual means. I'll be at Ewan's tomorrow.
If I meet any celebrities I recognize I'll try and get pictures, but I'm not really into that thing, and they're probably Canadian anyway, so I doubt I'll know who they are.
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August 23rd, 2009
02:13 pm
Headed out to Guelph yesterday to help John and Kasia move into their new place. It was a good size for them, I think, with a balcony and a willow tree and plenty of parking. Unfortunately, I don't think the bathroom tiles had been cleaned since they were installed in 1984, so I spent the morning scrubbing tiny pink and off-white tiles. There should be no such thing as tiny bathroom tiles. I believe them to be an abomination.
But the trip got me thinking that I really want my own place. If I stick with the magazine I'm still not going to be making a ton of money, but I've got quite a bit saved up, so I wonder if I could manage to buy myself a tiny townhouse or something. My mom doesn't want be to rent a place because buying one would be more of an investment. I guess I can see that, but I don't know the first thing about real estate or buying houses in Toronto. I'd have an awful lot to learn first.
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May 13th, 2009
09:22 am
I believe that all foreign cities hate me. Last week I left beautiful sunny Toronto for overcast and rainy Indianapolis. Now I'm hanging in Dana's kitchen in Winnipeg and, although it was beautiful last week, it's crappy and windy and rainy now. After I leave, it'll be beautiful again.
Evil, evil weather.
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April 22nd, 2009
03:00 pm
Ewan didn't get the job. He lost out to one of the higher-ups at Fort Erie who, granted, has been at a fort for longer and already lives in the area, but still... Dang it.
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April 11th, 2009
09:29 am
Ewan will find out about the new job on the 20th. Keep your fingers crossed for him.
I discovered that rentals are slim and expensive in NotL, but that was expected. It's comparable with Toronto in some ways, but quieter and prettier and full of tourists. There are a couple of potential places that we found, so we'll see what's still available next week if he gets the new gig.
If he doesn't, he's still planning to quit Fort York. He can't stand some of the people; they've been there for decades, they're lazy yet feel under appreciated and overlooked when it comes to promotions, and they simply aren't going to change. Nothing there will really change until people start leaving. But I don't want Ewan to leave, mostly because I selfishly like having him in the city, and I worry that he'll shoot himself in the foot. There are so many people looking for work right now--I think he'll have a really rough time, and I'm not convinced a new job would be much better. But I also don't want to see him burn out. He dreads going to work everyday. So maybe it's really just me being selfish.
I still think Fort George is going to work out, though. And I like NotL, so it'll be a nice excuse to get out of the city for weekends.
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March 29th, 2009
07:30 pm
I got my first reprint! Christianity.ca is reprinting an article I wrote about refugee sponsorship. It's kinds nifty. I'm like...a real writer now or something XD. Now if I could just figure out how the Giant Freaking Camera works, I'd be a all set. Camera shake is the bane of my existence. It's evil. The silly camera should automatically keep the shutter speed faster than the lens length or whatever, because when I speed up the shutter I end up with dark pictures because I don't quite know what I'm doing. And, since carrying around the Giant Freaking Camera makes me feel like a journalist, I feel the camera should magically turn me into a journalist without any skill on my part.
In other news, earlier this week Ewan applied for a job at Fort George. It's basically Gavin's old gig--he'd be in charge of the summer guard on a 6-month contract, but there's a possibility it could become a permanent year-round position. Not with the guard, of course, since that would remain seasonal, but he'd be doing other fort stuff during the rest of the year.
It sounds like a really great job and he's probably the best qualified person on the planet, except for not having a driver's license (and that could be fixed). So I have a strong feeling that he'll get it. Which means he'll be moving to Niagara-on-the-Lake for at least six months--probably longer, if things work out. And I want them to work out. So I've found myself doing a lot of thinking over the past couple of days. It's silly, really, because he hasn't even had an interview yet--but I'm sure he'll get the job. If he does, it's best if he finds a rental place for six months and hangs tight to see if the job pans out. If it does, and he'll be staying in Niagara permanently, then I guess I'll be doing some more thinking come December when my contract runs out. I'll stay in Toronto until then, at least. I'm expecting the editors to try and renew my contract again--so maybe I can negotiate something.
Ultimately, I'm not a big fan of the city. Although it can be lovely at times, it's full of people and traffic and buildings made of mirrors, and I'm far too fond of open spaces. I think Niagara is beautiful, so I wouldn't mind living there if I can swing it. It just comes down to the job situation, really. Mom keeps prodding me to go back to school--Niagara-on-the-Lake is close to Hamilton, home of McMaster and it's intriguing master's program in cultural studies. But there's also this crazy economic downturn thing happening, and it seems to be mostly an excuse to fire people. So there are suddenly plenty of journalists more seasoned than I competing for work. I'm kinda hesitant to even think about giving up my job. And I know there would be more opportunities in Toronto than in Niagara, if it came to that. But I think, in an ideal world, maybe the Record would be willing to keep me on and let me work from Niagara--I'd have my license again by that point, so I could commute in once or twice a month for editorial meetings, but otherwise work from home. I might have to take a pay cut, since I don't think I'd qualify as "in house" staff anymore, but I guess we'll see. It's all idle speculation, but this whole thing has gotten me thinking a little more long-term I guess. It's kinda neat, even if nothing comes of it..
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February 21st, 2009
11:30 am
It's been almost two months since I so much as looked at my lj. Isn't that terrible? And I think it's been even longer since I logged onto msn. Working on a computer all day has totally killed any desire to use one during my free time.
But I thought you should all know that my absence will continue because my contract has been extended until Dec. 31! Yay! Only downside is they're requiring me to get my driver's license. Boo!
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January 10th, 2009
10:38 am
For some reason, over the past couple of weeks, I've been thinking a lot about moving out. Not particularly seriously, because I know I can't afford to live on my own in Toronto and stay above the poverty line, and because I think I'd get lonely. But I feel like at this point in my life--as a graduate with a full-time job--I should not be living with my parents, and should be forcing myself to pay proper rent and buy groceries and get my driver's license and learn to cook etc.
But if I find a place and move out and discover the joys of cockroaches or bedbugs or mice, I wouldn't be permitted to come home, and the novelty of being an adult would wear off real fast.
Oh, and RUTH, I got your amazing storybook! The numbers were reversed in my address (it should be 61-28 not 28-61) which is probably my fault not yours--the letter was all beat up when I got it, but I got it! It's so pretty! You're getting crazy-good at drawing funky perspectives.
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January 4th, 2009
02:16 pm
I have so much bread, holy crap! I spent New Year's at Mac's cottage in the great northern hinterlands and there were supposed to be 13 of us, but the majority wimped out and buggered off on New Year's day, so we wound up with a handful of reenactors (plus Andrew), great piles of food, and a 19 C cottage all to ourselves. I ended up bringing home most of the bread for some reason--much of it delicious baguette--which I must gradually consume.
I thought the event itself was pretty chill, but that could be because I've been fighting down a cold, so I got tired quickly (especially because it got so dark so fast. That plays havoc with your sense of time). Apparently all the rowdy partying happened after I went to sleep both nights (the nocturnal bastards).
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December 30th, 2008
11:31 am
I'm off to Ewan's this afternoon, and off to Mac's cottage tomorrow morning. Who needs three course dinners and fancy wines when you could have an un-winterized cottage, fire, and sherry? I'm also resisting the urge to bring my new (still nameless) musket. Phil and Mac are bringing powder and ball, so I think there's a plan to fire some of his flintlocks live, but I really don't want to lug mine on the TTC to Yorkdale mall. It's day will come. Oh yes, it will. And my gosh I'm friggin' spoiled! G has threatened to start dating Ewan if these are the kinds of presents he gives. Although I don't think he'd appreciate the hand-painted Japanese tea cups quite as much as I do. Thanks to my mother and my boyfriend, I now have one beautiul set of Japanese cups, and one set of English china. When I get my own place I'm totally throwing a fancy tea party so I can use them.
But for now, you guys can help me with OPERATION NAME CONNIE'S MUSKET! My fort musket was named Bedivere, which I think is the perfect name for a musket (because I love Arthurian legend, and The Passing of Arthur in Tennyson's Idylls of the King makes me cry. Bedivere has this wonderful connotation of a lost dream, or a golden age that has passed away.) But I've already used the name for another musket, so this one should be unique. I may stick with the knight/hero theme through.
So here's the criteria:
1. The name must be male.
2. It can't be Ewan (because that would be confusing, and the endless dirty jokes would annoy me after a while).
3. It should be related to a knight, hero, weapon, or something overwhelmingly awesome.
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