Everyone Does

Methinks my thesis advisor knows something I don't know (well, who doesn't). When I called him today to shoot the breeze and figure out an actual plan of some kind for my summer work, I told him I would be taking two summer classes. He seems to think this is going to be a lot of work to be doing all simultaneously. But I think it will be okay. This is likely because I am, on occasion and most especially when it is necessary to schedule things, an idiot.

This has been a busy week and I have been feeling like a Young Professional. The provincial environment department has hired me on for a month to do a quick, almost consultant-like project on environmental governance. If one could find two people in the universe who believe the same things about what governance even entails, and put them in a room together to discuss governance, they would swiftly come to blows over how it should be done. This is because governance, like much of the policy literature, is made-up, making it fun and easy to disagree about. But I suppose something being made-up doesn't stop it from being real once it's been made up, if you follow me.

On a more personal note, my Wee Sister, the Boopsita-In-Chief, will be graduating from high school this weekend and it is making me feel old. But I am excited for her, because she has a great first year of university coming up and she shall be closer to my neck of the woods. Grandma is up visiting for the occasion, and we took advantage of her visit to have a nice weekend in Banff. The weather took advantage of our visit to be horrible; I have never seen it rain so much in the mountains as it did those few days. Yech. It had better be nice for the ceremony on Saturday.

Breaking News!

Of course, the real reason Ian Brodie may be leaving his post is that he cannot stomach the thought of another summer month in Ottawa without me - leaving town tomorrow for the high, dry prairies, so ciao bella citta and I will see you at the end of June!

Spannercat

A few hours ago I made a temporary addition to my household of one. A little black cat was tucked up outside the door to my building when I got back from capoeira today. To prevent anybody creepy from scooping him up, I've taken him in until his owners call me back. His name is Levi. So far he has been a real charmer; he has engaged in a little minimal clawing of my possessions but was appropriately amused by the old "ball of tinfoil on a string" toy. He has been very cuddly with me, as cats unfailingly are with people who are allergic to them.

My only concern is this: what kind of cat doesn't like tinned salmon? He is a skinny wee thing already and won't touch it. He also doesn't like rice or All-Bran. Anybody who is familiar with the way cats' tiny minds work is invited to call me and tell me what's up with that. Wikipedia is unhelpful except to tell me that I have taken a tiny anorexic into my home:

Unlike most mammals, cats can voluntarily starve themselves indefinitely despite being presented with palatable food, even a food which they had previously readily consumed.

Awesome. This lady is going to get back home after the long weekend to find that I've starved her cat.

Score One For The Patriarchy

Fine, I admit it: the Swiffer WetJet is kind of fun to use. This does not mean it is OK to pay me 70.5 cents per dollar of male earnings, though.

Aujourd'hui

Today I spent two hours adding material to my mini-thesis and to my consternation it seems to have got shorter. This is not how the world is supposed to work, is it?

Work was divine today because I had actual work to do. Being busy makes life much more fun. This is one of my main problems, actually; I rush to sign up for things because I so enjoy being busy and then discover that you are expected to to, like, do all of the things you have said you would do. Uh oh.

Last night at capoeira I learned the actual refrain to a song, so now I can sing along properly instead of playing the ultra-fun and ever-changing Syllable Guessing Game. I think I figured something else out too: it appears to me, if you will tolerate for a moment an SAT analogy, that Spanish vowels: Portuguese vowels as French: Quebecois. With that mystery resolved, all that remains is to work out why my right leg armada sucks so bad when there is someone at whom to aim it. Pacifist limb syndrome is all that comes to mind at the moment, which certainly seems no weirder than phantom limb syndrome.

I have nothing else interesting to say, except WAIT! Edwards endorses Obama! And then Obama makes a gender oopsie - not cool, but America just can't stay mad at you, Barry.

RRRRR

Thought du jour: I want my nose to stop running. Please just stop. There is an Everest-sized heap of used tissues in every garbage pail in my apartment. STOP IT.

Now It Is Later

It has been a long time since I wrote, and I have been running around a lot. There've been some changes so now it's time to turn and face the strange. Some of the strange is the new view out my window; this new apartment is treating me pretty well even though it is just as easy to procrastinate here as it was in the old one. My kitchen is tiny and three of the buttons on the microwave don't work. My lamp is broken. None of that really matters, though. I like it here anyway.

Work is okay. It has been really really quiet this week, and I can't decide whether that's because there is stuff I should be doing and haven't done, or whether there is actually nothing to do. Nevertheless, it is totally fine that it's quiet because I am still sick and having serious trouble focusing and working. At least I can sleep again since the asthma meds kicked in a few days ago; that's been really helpful. Few experiences are more frustrating than lying in bed for hours, exhausted, and being repeatedly forced into wakefulness by coughing.

Yesterday I had a meltdown over the mini-thesis, no doubt the first of many. It is not going to be fun, but then if it were supposed to be fun they would call it a "funwrite" or something. Anyway, I have help from various quarters, including my fabulous and sensible Mom. Psychological/academic help is just one of the reasons she deserves a very happy Mothers' Day and a daughter who sends her extravagant presents and sends them on time instead of laming out and bringing them in her carry-on luggage two weeks late.

In fairness, I have been busy singing to bring joy to the masses etc. The choir had a spring concert that went off much better than we were afraid it would. Our new conductor has some seriously interesting taste in music; there were at least three songs that I super-hated the first time we sang them, but grew to enjoy performing. He has also, unprecedentedly, accompanied us down the pub after rehearsal! To think that anyone would want to see us more after dealing with our shenanigans for two hours of rehearsal...

The capoeira people, whom I have seen four days this past week, are awesome too. It is very nice, because they are fun and have similar interests to mine (well, one similar interest at least). You can never have too many friends really. Yesterday we played in public, right next to Oregano's in the Market, which was a big first for me. I don't think I bore up very well under the pressure, frankly. But we beginners reassured ourselves by saying that people doing their Saturday shopping don't know what capoeira is supposed to look like so the vast gulf in skills in between us and the advanced students probably doesn't look quite so huge.

Suuuuuure.

Anyway, that's all I have for now. I have to get back to my reading here. It's been a packed couple of weeks, and hopefully my body will stop punishing me for that pretty soon. It is still pretty revolting being me just now, though - I have just bought a six-pack of tissue boxes in case the next two weeks are anything like the last three. Gross.