Occasionally Wright

Happy Birthday

If you could be anywhere in the world today where would you want to be? I'd be in Georgia spending my girlfriend's birthday with her. Happy Birthday Meg!

Job Update

You know you're not happy with your new job when on the way home you pass the Canadian Forces recruiters in the mall and consider stopping to talk to them. Not that I have anything against the Canadian Forces. I have a huge amount of respect for anyone that's willing to make the sacrifices necessary to be a part of Canada's armed forces. It's just not something I think I'm cut out for.

Speaking of my job, it reminds me every day how multi-ethnic Ottawa is, which is funny because I think the general assumption by people that haven't been here is that Ottawa is extremely white and of British heritage.

Consider this- in my work group of 20 or so people we have a girl from Moscow, a guy from Holland who speaks 4 languages, an older man from Romania who left in 1992 after they overthrew the communists and a girl whose parents are Eritrean and Ethiopean who was born in Saudi Arabia and has also lived in Geneva, Paris and Tokyo. She speaks 5 languages. Then there's the Lebanese guy and the fellow from Dubai who has Palestinian and Algerian parents. Then just for good measure we have a dual citizenship Canadian-American who was a sniper in 'Nam.

The job might suck but I can't say I work with boring people.

Defining Home

As Christmas approached a lot of friends asked me if I was gong home for Christmas. I struggled to find an answer because I was going to New Brunswick to stay at my sister's place and my mom was driving over from PEI so we could spend Christmas in Saint John. So I was going to be spending Christmas with my family but not on the Island which is where I'm from.

The real problem is that I'm not sure what home is for me. I've lived all over the Maritimes but did all of junior and senior high school on PEI. So I guess that's kind of home to me (and I was born on PEI) but my mom moved while I was in university so when I stay at her place it's a house I never lived in when I was going to school. Now that I've lived in Ottawa for almost three years it can pass as home but I never think of myself as an Ontarian.

The result is that I have no physical sense of home at the moment. Home to me is people- my family- and as they move my home moves I suppose. With my two sisters and their families live in New Brunswick and my mom living on PEI  I guess I feel a bit displaced in a way.

At the other end of the spectrum my girlfriend's parents have lived in the same house since she was born so she's always gone home to the same place. On top of that her mother grew up in the house her grandmother still lives in, so Atlanta is definitely home for them.

So the question of the day is, when someone asks you about home what comes to mind? The place you live now? The place you grew up? The place your parents live? Inquiring minds would like to know.

Housekeeping

So I went and got myself a job.

What that means for you is that for the time being I'm not going to be able to post anything during the day and anything I do write will be posted between 6 and 11 pm. Once my training is over I might be able to post some during the day but who knows.

Exciting stuff, huh?

This and That

Pending a police background check and the signing of the paperwork tomorrow I will be starting a new job on January 10th. It's a service industry job- nothing too fancy- but it'll get the bills paid. To kill time until then I'm heading to the Maritimes for part of the holidays. More specifically I'm going to Saint John for Christmas and will also be spending some time in Sussex, NB. It's going to be weird going east for Christmas but not actually going to PEI but with both my sisters and both my nieces and my nephew in New Brunswick that's where my mom and I will be going. One of the unanticipated bonuses of being in Saint John is that my sister has TSN which means I can watch the Canadian junior team in their quest for gold. The playoff rounds don't start until New Year's Day at which time I'll be back in Ottawa and free to watch them at MacLaren's on Elgin. That's the benefit of not starting the new job until January 10.

How Far Back Can You Go?

How far back can you remember? I'm pretty sure it's not normal but I can remember my second and third birthdays. I could also draw you a floor plan of the first house I live in even though we moved out if when I was about three and half years old.I can remember sleeping in a crib in that first house and I remember playing with all of the other neighbourhood kids. I remember some of the Christmas presents I got in that first house which means I remember my third or fourth Christmas (I was born in the summer).

I remember the first toy I played with in the new house- a Sesame Street Grover puzzle- one of those cardboard ones where all the pieces fit into a carboard-type frame. One piece was shaped like a circle with an arrow coming out if it. Grover was wearing a straw hat. I remember sleeping on the floor (I think) in the new house until my new bed that my grandfather was making for me was ready.

All of this well before I started school.

Maybe it's easy for me to pick out distinct memories and place what years they might have been because we moved so much. Until junior high school the longest I ever lived in one house (or one town for that matter) was about three years so everything is divided into nice chunks whereas people that spent their entire childhoods in one place probably have more trouble distinguishing between time periods.

So what can you remember?

High Tide, Access Denied

It's a light brown Fruit of the Loom t-shirt- almost a beige/olive colour. It was bought at The Island Beach Company store in the Charlottetown Mall and then decorated with a felt marker on a table in the food court outside of the arcade which has long since been closed down.

On the bottom hem my name is printed in block letters. On the back in faux-asian lettering is the word 'stickless' under which is the exclamation "High Tide, Access Denied!"

On the front in the left corner is a simple logo- Chopstick Tour 96.

I don't remember what year Chopstick Tour started, although I was there for the after-party in the Stretch's basement out in Long Creek. I don't remember what year it ended either (maybe 1997), but I was there for that too, out at Camp Seggie with songs being sung at the top of our lungs in the old camp building. 'With or Without You' comes to mind but I could be mistaken.

Chopstick Tour was a special weekend every summer that was held towards the end of August.

Here and Gone Again

So I've moved and I now have consistent internet access. Hooray. The first 48 hours without being able to find whatever I wanted with the click of a mouse were pretty rough. Then it got easier, then I got bored. than I remembered that there are legitimate things like job-hunting and keeping in touch with people that I actually rely on the internet for.

That being said I have a pretty full Saturday and Sunday planned (disc golf, a house party and a wedding) and I'm hoping to be eating turkey somewhere on Monday (Canadian Thanksgiving) so don't expect much before Monday night. I was gong to write a bunch of posts in MS Word while I was offline and then post them but I doubt anyone missed my rambling that much.

Moving Day

Today is moving day which means a new phone number and the end of my current internet account. I probably won't get something set p at my new place until the beginning of next week so the odds of anything else being posted here between now and then are pretty slim. Have a great weekend.

What To Do?

More than packing I hate cleaning. I'm moving from my current furnished apartment to another place on Thursday. Given how much I dislike the cleaning process I wonder what kind of shape I'm obligated to leave my apartment in. I paid no damage deposit and it was tidy but less than spotless when I moved in. I don't plan on leaving any garbage behind or anything but I don't really feel like scrubbing the kitchen floor either. Thoughts?