Strangely Socialised

Was it really almost two weeks ago that I went for that walk? I suppose it was, now that I think about it. Last weekend was the late-night movie, so it had to be before that. I wanted to go for another walk tonight but there were so many people about and what I really wanted was just to be alone. What I did do was drop off my taxes a day late, because I suck. Even though I did them a couple months ago, I never got around to confirming the numbers and dropping the damn thing off. Should be getting about $600 back, which will go right into the moving kitty.

Plans are solidifying for the move. I’ve submitted a sublet form for the end of June and hopefully the building will find a tenant so I don’t have to. Most of the people who need to know I’m leaving now know, with the exception of work and Shoestring. Work will get their two weeks’ notice after my vacation. Shoestring will find out a about a week before that, once the performance is done. I figure there’s no point in getting people thinking about it while they should be concentrating on the play.

Class was good, as always, on Wednesday. Well, I’m never sure that “good” is the right way to put it, but it went well and there were no problems and that’s good, right? Me and Gerri spend a bit of time after class talking about one of the students. It’s clear to everyone that this student is far too advanced to be in such a foundations level class, but he’s comfortable there and so for the time being they let him stay. What I was told was that he’d been through some trauma in Iraq before escaping to Canada, which is why they let him remain in a class where he’s comfortable. Apparently he’d been in class the year before and they’d had to kick him out for being so disruptive. He’s much better now, but he can’t hold a job and this class is pretty much his only social activity away from his wife. I get along with him and he responds well to me (I understand he refuses to do activities or assignments for other people) but Gerri wanted to let me in on his background so if anything surprising or disruptive ever happened, I would be prepared to handle it.

I don’t even want to think about what he might have gone through before coming here. He’s a good guy, he really is, but her telling me all that didn’t really surprise me, based on his behaviour since joining the class.

I went through a bunch of papers today, even though I didn’t technically finish packing any boxes. I’m getting somewhere with the packing and organizing, and keep coming across things I could bear to get rid of. The more I get rid of before I go, the better. If I didn’t love my futon so much, I’d get rid of it, too. I’m already dropping all my bedroom furniture, and most of my bookcases (more cheaply replaced than transported).

But not my books. “Why would anyone want to sell their books?” –Gil Grissom

Have come to the conclusion that I drink too many chillattes from Second Cup. But they’re so good! I have bad luck with getting watery Frappuccinos from Starbucks (well, all two of them, since we never used to have Starbucks here) but the chillattes from the place right across the street from my office are to die for. I need to be independently wealthy, and skinny, so I can have one every day and not feel the slightest twinge of guilt about it.

Spent the weekend out at mom’s farm, which is always nice, even though the actual reason I was there was for a board meeting yesterday. A board meeting that was short by our standards (“only” four hours) but which did not go well. Trouble is brewing and I don’t think I’ll be able to stay out of it, much as I would like to. Not much sense going into it here, since it is both uninteresting and not something I’m going to want to remember about years down the road, but it involves a board member taking advantage of her position and that’s just not cool.

It was 35 yesterday, without factoring in humidity, and I was longing for just one air conditioned room in the place. I had to settled for stripping down naked (uh, after the meeting) and lying in front of a fan. It did the trick, even though there went an hour I didn’t get to spend with mom. My visits there are never long enough, but there’s a fine line, for us, between enough and too much. The wedding is next Friday, though, so I’ll be back there soon.

Which reminds me, should probably start seriously thinking about finding myself something to wear to that.

Wrote a couple of new scenes for a story I’m working on during my trip. Which sounds good, but really isn’t when you consider I was on the bus for a total time of about five hours, and should have been able to write a hell of a lot more than a couple scenes. But a couple scenes is better than none, and I should probably be thankful for that. Sometimes these things come, and sometimes they just don’t.

I have all this downtime at work right now. I should really be updating more often, instead of dicking around and looking for something to do. Of course, then the majority of my entries would be about dicking around, looking for something to do, so maybe not.

Last weekend was spend up in Dauphin at the annual ACT Festival, where I got to watch more than my fair share of amateur drama, most of which was surprisingly good. (Not that I think amateur drama is bad — I’m involved in it after all — but I’ve seen all of these groups perform in previous years. Nuff said.) I’ll probably write up a little blurb on each of the plays later, most for my own purposes, but also to demonstrate how utterly un-witty I can be when trying to describe a set made up entirely of cardboard cut-out animals. And really, that one should be easy.

Those who know me know that, for the most part, I don’t drink. Due to a medical condition, I have virtually no tolerance for alcohol, and when I am drinking, I have a self-imposed two drink limit. Which makes this weekend such an anomaly because not only did I scarf down wine, beer, vodka, rum, peach schnapps and rasperry sourpuss, in combination, but I didn’t get the least bit ill, and remained more sober than most of the people around me. Hooray for finally being on the right dosage of my medication! (Or so I presume.)

I brought my camera to the Friday night party, where one of the groups showed up all in matching kilts. The camera was quickly stolen from me — by the vice president of the board, no less — and stuck up under one of the kilts to get a picture of whether or not they were being worn correctly. Um. They were. And like it or not, I now have photographic proof. I think the main reason the batteries were dead on my camera by the time the Saturday party rolled around is because everyone heard of the picture the next day and wanted to take a look. (And for the record, in case anyone is scandalized by this, the “victim” of the picture was a perfectly willing one.)

On the downer side, during the first performance of the day on Sunday, there was a medical incident on the balcony (where I was sitting). Halfway through the play there were suddenly shouts from next to me of “Help!” and “Call an ambulance!” House lights went up and the play stopped and I rushed across the aisle to help and it turned out to be someone I knew, from my hometown. He was unconscious and they were trying to find a pulse, and we managed to get him laying on the floor — not an easy task when you’re in a cramped theatre balcony. At first they thought he’d suffered a heart attack but he regained consciousness about a minute later and was lucid and said he was in no pain, though he had no energy whatsoever. One of the other members on the ACT board is a doctor, so he rushed up there to get a handle on things while we waited for the ambulance to get there.

He’s fine now, and home, and spent less than a day in the hospital in the end (it was hot in the balcony, and he had suffered fainting spells in the past). One of the most difficult things was that he was a member of the theatre group that had been on stage at the time, and they were all a wreck, in tears over the whole thing. But much to their credit, once it was established that he was okay, and the ambulance had left for the hospital, they pulled it together and got back on stage and finished the performance. I’m not sure many people would have been able to do that.

So, in general, a good weekend was had by all. And I did, in fact, put my seven hours of bus time to relatively good use,