/life/Itchy Feet Scratched
Jeff was a mild-mannered Chinese immigrant who came hear to do a year at U of T in 1996. He gained his Chinese citizenship 3 years ago.
Albert graduated from CS at UW in 1991. He seemed to be something of an archetype of a UW grad, though I can't put my finger on exactly how. He's currently between jobs, and was evasive about the last place that he worked, though I gathered that it was a failed or failing startup.
We discussed various aspects of world politics. Jeff explained to me in some detail the "Cultural Revolution" in China in the '60s, a historical event that I knew of, but not about. It was good to have that filled in.
Jeff had posted in the ott.rides newsgroup offering a return-only ride to Ottawa. When various family members, immediate and extended, had concerns about getting a ride this way, though mostly half-joking.
My weekend was most excellent. My cousin got married, and it was a great ceremony and reception and next-morning brunch. I think it was the best wedding I've been at.
Saw lots of extended- and extended-extended-family. I think we outnumbered the groom's side about 2:1, 2.5:1. Good stuff. Also saw some family on my mom's side. That was nice; I haven't seen that aunt-and-uncle in over a year.
Next weekend I think I'm going to Montreal (briefly) and then hiking or biking. The weekend after that is something else, then after that it's my dad's birthday party in Orillia, then after that it's my Convocation in Waterloo.
Oh, my other good story is that in Scarborough (or "Scarberia" as some call it) there were these four identical Mustang convertibles driving around the parking lot of the Famous Players where Jeff was to pick me up. My guess was that they were gang-related, though that might be stereotyping of me. Though the guy beside me (Waiting for a ride to Kingston) seemed to agree.
So, in summary: wedding, ride home. Good. Traveled. Good. Saw family. Good.
New Albums from the Gallery
/life/Twenty Days in One Town
This past weekend I was very edgy. I still haven't had a paycheque, so I'm short on cash, and so I couldn't afford to catch a bus ticket out of town. But if I could have, I would have.
It took me a while to put my finger on it all, but it eventually occurred to me that the last time I had been in the same town for this long was a long, long time ago. It certainly wasn't August, and it wasn't cycling, and it wasn't June. It might have been May, but if it wasn't May it wasn't April or March or February either, I don't think.
So I'm all settled in, and I've shocked myself out of my nomadic lifestyle. I'm slipping back into work slowly but surely.
Ottawa's good. The family I'm living with is interesting, and generally pleasant to live with. They're certainly not treating me like an outsider, which I appreciate; it makes me feel more comfortable in their house. Conversely I have to watch a bit how tightly I get involved in their family affairs.
My social life here isn't as good as I was expecting/hoping. It's not intolerable, and once I have some money it'll feel a bit less constrained I think. Saturday night I left the house at 23:00 just to get out, and went to the market. I think it was the Heart and Crown that I ended up in, had a couple pints, invited myself to sit with some interesting-looking people, and had a reasonably good conversation and evening. But other than the first week, I haven't been out enough. So I've been doing geeky things a fair bit. Got my phone talking to my computer, and my camera, too. Got my computer working reasonably well. Done a bunch of work on the server (though I still haven't properly fixed the blog, which is lame of me.)
I took my touring bike in for a tuneup. They said they thought the frame might be bent slightly where the rear wheel goes in, presumably due to the accident outside of Luebeck. They still remember me from two years ago when I bought the bike there, which is nice.
This weekend I'm doing a bunch of traveling, going to Orillia and Toronto and who-knows-where-else for a wedding and various related visits.
The family I live with has two parents and three daughters. The eldest has moved out, the youngest is about to, and the middle one moved out and came back. She's curious about my cooking, which is neat; for allergenic reasons, the household has had a somewhat limited diet I guess. So I made some random eggplant-stuff last night, and she seemed to like it.
Haven't been carrying my camera. My CD burner, despite dreams to the contrary, is completely fried, and so I can't backup my photos, which makes me nervous. That's silly, though.
And now it's time for me to go home and make something to eat.
/life/The Grand Vacation Ends
I've been on vacation officially since June 16th. 83 days. Possibly the longest vacation I'll ever have.
Tomorrow I start work. I'm much looking forward to it. I went in last week to visit, and it was a good visit.
My housing arrangement proceeds well. I have to do a big shop still, and I'm not sure when I'm going to do that. The family reminds me somewhat of some of my relatives (in a good way.) It's a pretty intimate situation -- in many ways I'm just a member of the household, which is weird when the rest of the household is a family, but so far so good.
Had a great weekend of socializing, biking, unpacking, and some electronic housecleaning. My computer is officially troubled, though concievably saveable, I'm simply not all that motivated to put much time into it. I'm using one of the household machines a fair bit to do things like write blog entries.
Last night I biked home at like 01:30 along empty Riverside drive. 27kph average with a few traffic lights.
They warn you about "reverse culture shock," which I think I've avoided using a carefully turmoiled transition period, though occasionally things stand out or seem funny, where I notice that the Finnish version would seem normal. I guess this is mostly the sheer choice of foods, and other things. This wasn't helped by the gigantic new Loblaws grocery store here, where I had a hard time finding simple fluorinated toothpaste.
Expect less blogging as my life gets less interesting. Or perhaps more uninteresting blogs (hint: they're in the "life" section. :-)
/life/Arrived in Ottawa
Real life beings.
Last night I went to Failte (which I now know how to pronounce..thank you Ireland!) with a bunch of mathsoc people. It was fun and good to see them again. I have a good time with them. I also saw Ian and Joy again, which was good.
Today my dad picked me up in his giant new Ford Expedition. We picked up my stuff from storage and off we went. My mattress had to be strapped to the roof, since I have way too much stuff and it was badly packed.
I figured in unpacking I'd find lots of stuff to junk since I just spent a year living out of slightly more than two suitcases, but that didn't come to pass. Some junk is definitely going, but lots of it I use when it's there. And there's lots of books and stuff. I'm going to try to get rid of some clothes, books, school-paraphenalia, and such.
So, here I am. I have a lot of focus for the next four months; since my parents have moved from Saskatchewan to Ontario, I've got to transfer my bank, licence, health insurance, etc., to Ontario, and since I'm no longer covered by my parents' house & health insurance I have to look into that stuff. I also need to organize the next stage of my life and find out what that will bring.
But for now, it's time to sleep in a real bed. I kinda have a home again. It's a weird feeling. It's been a long time since I've slept on my own pillow.
Oh yeah. I found my computer. It was in storage, in a box. I don't think it works though -- I haven't even plugged it in, and I'm still not sure that I'm going to.
