Day One

"Smile!  Big smile!"

I do so thinking about all the other times I'm not allowed to -- for passports, for driver's licenses... And it turned out pretty good.  They spelled my name right!  But got my department wrong.  Tee-hee.  Looks like the security people can't keep all the re-organisations and name changes straight either.    


Two weeks to settle everything after the official announcement.  One week of more office drama than I would have thought could be crammed into one.  And finally, I'm here downtown.

The funny parts:

1. I've been back to the main campus twice since!  I should have just stayed... but then I'd have forfeited a whole lot of steps.


2. It turns out the IT department has the oldest and slowest computers.  At least, our area... Um... the one they gave me.  The person setting it up for me gave up and went to scavenge for another.

At 3:30 p.m. I had a working computer and phone, and lots of reading to do.  The overhead lighting is horrible and I'll likely need my glasses here. But somehow, I lucked out with one the closest things to a window cubicle.

One floor down and across the atrium, there's a little green oasis. 

Moving Down

"You're only getting one trolly, Lana."

Yes, but I can also use boxes...

It's official moving day at the office!  For our team, it means packing up to go down one floor.  We're losing space and our own kitchen... but for the reorganization to work (members of the same team sit near each other) it had to be done.  The people moving up are happy though. 

I was contentedly chugging along with my packing, but it seemed people thought it would be funny to come visit and hassle me about my stuff.  Just leave me alone! 

... But, I do have a lot of stuff.  And my office was always kind of crazy. 

Before

By the end of day, this is what it looked like: Ta-dah!

After

Things I discovered and threw out:
1. A pair of old dance shoes
2. First pair of "real" (office approved) shoes*
3. Four empty peanut butter jars (less than usual annual count)

* Elsie and Sharon were disappointed, "You should have bronzed them!" 

After days of back and forth, I finally also confirmed the start date for my job downtown!  But The Bosses have said there will not be an official announcement just yet -- there's too much stuff to finalise first.  Does that mean it might not happen? 

Oh, well, that's thinking for another day.  Bye-bye old office!  Bye-bye!

Scritch Scratch

Paul stands and points at the living room ceiling.  We are silent.  Then I hear it: There's something skittering in the attic.


Can you tell its size?  How many there are? 


Paul doesn't know, but he's heard the sound more than a few times.  Maybe a mouse? 

Ugh.  We decide not to confront it just yet.  There are no gaps in the attic access door, but it's in our bedroom, so we tape it up just in case.

I got the call!

Feeling a little guilty that I've been so lucky.
But my co-workers (even the one who applied for the position too) seemed happy for me. 
Everything is going to change!

Should I even bother to unpack my stuff? 

Ridiculous!  I know, I first need to pack my stuff for the move before even considering that :P

Connections

Last night I finally filled in my LinkedIn profile and accepted some connections. 

Once done, I took a look and found Paul and I were only 3rd level! 

By this morning, we'd risen to 2nd. 

These are the people I'd have to talk to to get in contact with him:

I guess I should get introduced?

32nd: You will live a long life.

"Will" was extremely animated.  He also didn't look anything like the picture on his ID card... But he seemed to know what he was doing and I'd made it this far through screening (yay, iron!).

My 32nd blood donation was turning out to be different.  

I don't think anyone was ever this happy about my blood pressure: "You have this blood pressure while resting and you've not fainted -- you're going to live a long life.  So good news, you'll have a long retirement.  Bad news, you have to prepare for a long retirement."

Uh, great.  I should save up.

He continued with a very comprehensive presentation of labelling the donation bags and what they were (I don't remember anyone telling me that before):
1. Main bag where 2 cups of blood will reside, and later split into smaller bags of
2. Plasma
3. Platelets
4. White blood cells
5. Red blood cells

His fast talking certainly woke me up.  I got the pass and moved on to donation.  It became clear then that the posted amount of time (60 minutes) was the wait "on top of" instead of "total expected for" the whole procedure.  I've never had to wait this long before -- serves me right to not make an appointment.

Someone was there for their 100th donation!  Which reminded me I'm behind on my personal goal (to have made at least the same number as my age).  I just need to stay the course away from monkeys (:P), and needles, and not become diabetic (the big question I noticed this time)!  

But really, I just need to fool myself about appointments (No, I don't have a donation appointment, so body you can, you know, stay fine...) or (like today) just walk-in before my body even know what hit it :P

Ballin'

"It's all about that bustle!" Tinkerbell exclaimed, in her faux English accent.  It's rather been a long time since I've actually thought I was deficient in that area... but skirt girth (!) was what was called for.  Oh, and really big moustaches.

Hours earlier, we were at Erik's putting on final touches to costumes and such for the Official Edmonton Steampunk Group's Steampunk Monsters Ball.

Steph, Rem, and I leaned on the side of steampunk, while Erik and Cynthia mixed in monsters.  Amy and Nathan came as Red Riding Hood and Wolf, all with a steampunk spin.

(Left: Our own league of extraordinary gentlemen / Right: And we're not going to take any sass. / Below: But will partake in some whimsy.)

The music and dancing wasn't to start until later, so we stopped for dinner at Under the High Wheel.  We caused more of a spectacle than the penny-farthing climbing up the wall...

The food was delicious, but did take a bit longer than we expected. When we made it to the TransAlta Arts Barn the party was in full swing. The costumes were fabulous - a light up bustle, full face makeup, horns, masks, and incredible dresses!  And if one felt a little under dressed (which I did) one could buy from the vendors corsets, goggles, parasols, amulets, pocket monsters, and others to supplement (which, of course, I didn't).

Rem laughed at me, asking if I planned on taking pictures all night.  A number of people did seem to be there not to "shake [their] tail coats", but I did want to dance.  You, know, once I closed my mouth and put down my camera.

In between the live band, Punch Drunk Cabaret (an incredibly energetic rockabilly swing band), the DJ played a sets of familiar favourites.  Thriller, Time Warp... were popular, but slow numbers cleared the floor.  That was o.k. it meant for a Viennese, Rem and Steph, and me and Amy had the whole place to ourselves.  (My dance with Amy wasn't as successful as I'd liked).

We took in tea in the tea room where we could trade some of our "extras" tickets for a real teacup and refreshments.  Or, what we ended up pooling for: Professional photos!

And then, there was more dancing.  

(Right: Rem commands the dance floor with his walking stick, while Erik was amazingly still upright in his non-breathable costume.) 

It wasn't ballroom, but still I loved it.  Unfortunately, the dancing stopped, multiple times for program items.  I would have liked to dance more, but it was pretty amazing to see the costume contest entrants on parade.  Oh, and the measuring of the Biggest Bustle and Biggest Moustache (winners below).


Afterwards, in our walk back to Erik's, Steph remarked it the dancing could have continued if the costume contest had been moved into the hallway (since the vendors had closed down by then).  And I would have been happier if all the program items had been announced in the hall area, so people knew where to go if they were interested in viewing them (we missed the parasol duels!)

But these were minor things.  I was still really happy to have gone.  A very big thanks to Steph and Rem for this birthday treat.


More photos of the ball here - don't worry, they're not all sepia.

Up and running!

Paul's editing website has launched!  It's very professional and elegant.  (Like the logo?  I helped!)

The Highlands Garden Club blog I've put up... not so much.  But hopefully it'll be a fun place for club members (current and potential) to share information, stories, and pictures.  Yep, me and the pictures again :P

The Good Life

The weather was beautiful this weekend.  Perfect for being outside... and maybe getting some yard work done.  OK, I was kind of dreading it, but Paul was determined this year to do something about all the leaves.  All those lovely trees we have (the blessing/curse of a corner lot), shed every autumn.  Oh, and everyone else around us has already cleaned up their yards...

Anyway, it was beautiful, and colourful.  And even even though it as work, it was nice*.  And, Paul looked like he belonged in a magazine. 

This was his response:

* I got to listen to Wiretap :) 


 

There were so many lady bugs in the leaves!  Why won't they stay out of the bags?  (I fished them out, and they actually flew back in!)

Paul: I named that one.
Lana: Really, that one. 
Paul: Yep, Ladybird.

The job was mostly done when we called it a day.  And then I was free to do some gardening :) 

See!  My fava (broad) beans are still growing.  Oh, and there's Pinky the cat. 

Hello, I'm Jonathan.

No surprise. 

Who are you? 

Fringed and Confused

The week has been flying by.  The days off work have worked well for Fringe volunteer shifts (not so much for housework and other chores), but not for shows.

Front of House volunteering is much like previous years - a lot of activity for about 45 minutes followed by a break almost as long (rinse and repeat once or twice).  It's tempting to try to fit a show into that break, but not really that feasible.  Instead, I've mostly walked the site and people watched.

Street performers try their best to get the attention to draw a crowd.  One promising to swallow a flaming sword while riding a bicycle... but only if the crowd is big enough.  The zombie bride stares down audience members, while her zombie groom unpacks a big trunk of props...

The Copper Cowboy, Paul photographed last year, is also the "Space Cowboy" on alternating days. The petticoated woman seems to hover next to a large stack of suitcases.  (I catch her setting up one time and ruin the illusion for myself.)

Artists do their spiel to get you to consider their show.  A volunteer tells me how she thought the animal rights protest against "Me & My Monkey" was for real, before realising it was the artist trying to get you to buy a ticket to the show (to protest or not)...

My favourite had to be the handsome man in tighty-whities handing out samples of chocolate cake.  Photos (for Steph) below.

The show involved?  "Red Wine, French Toast, and the Best Sex You've Ever Had" - a contemporary dance number I'm told.  Oh, those beautiful dancers.  























Despite parade of amusements and actual volunteering, I do feel a bit down and alone on site.  I'm really happy to see a familiar faces.

On duty, checking the line at the Walterdale, I spot my high school biology teacher!  She seems to remember me :)

I caught Peter from dance  at VHQ (Volunteer Head Quarters).   I'm pretty sure he doesn't remember my name, but he remembers the dancing and has promised me one at the volunteer party.  With him at my table, I feel a bit more included and laugh along when he hands another volunteer a Canadian penny: "I give these to the Americans as a souvenir and tell them, "Here's my two cents - rounding up from 1.6.  It has a copper maple leaf and the queen's backside."

(Above: A piano fortifies the barrier and encourages people to stop and play. / Below: Marg and Peter - Paul's old neighbours - are team leaders of a different volunteer team.)

I'm ecstatic when I see Rem at VHQ!  He directs me outside and I see there are more good surprises abound: Malcolm and French Anne were in town!

(Right: This guy makes the most amazingly intricate balloon animals - look for his unicorns on site.)

Between slapping at mosquitoes, I catch a small update: They are doing well.  They're now in Strasbourg instead of Marseille.  There are fewer mosquitoes there.  And they're leaving the next day.

 (Above: A magpie appraises the garden / Left: Bicycle couple / Below: Little girl dances to the music of the fiddle septet buskers).

 (Left: Patrons are not allowed to bring food into theatres - this one gets rid of cotton candy impressively fast.)

I also take the opportunity of being on Whyte Ave to check out the stores.  Many pretty things I can't afford, but are certainly nice to touch.  At Murn's Clothing and Curios, I find Murn is a most accomplished cat (see below).

Tomorrow Paul and I will go together to some shows... we'll see what adventures we'll get into.