I realize I’ve been a bit AWOL as of late. Its been a busy last couple of weeks. Exactly a week after my depressing day of being un-hired (“We’ve reconsidered” was the exact phraseology, I believe), I started work at a local optometrist. It is a relatively new optometrist, although as an optical place, it has been around for a long time; the addition of a doctor is relatively new. We shall see how it goes. I’m also trying to get lots of paper work together to begin working as a casual employee of an organization in town that runs group homes for people with mental/developmental disabilities. It sounds quite interesting and will be potentially good preparation for grad school. Hopefully all of that will come together in the next week or so. While I am not the type to usually have two jobs on the go at once, I feel like it will all work out in the end.
At the moment, the highlight of the week is choir. I’ve joined the parish choir at church (read: the non-audition choir at the more informal family-oriented service) and its fun to get together Wednesday night for practice and then sing on Sunday morning. We sit at the front of the church facing the congregation and while I love looking at the huge rose window with the beautiful organ in front of it every week, I miss facing the altar at times and seeing everything that goes on up front. It has been a wonderful way to get to know other people at church. I feel like I’m in now and know lots of people. The only difficult part is getting there for 8:30 on Sunday morning. The only bus comes a little early and gets me downtown by about ten after so I usually grab a coffee (I know, not the best thing to wake up vocal chords but the only thing to keep me awake. Yawning at the front of church while facing everyone not a fantastic idea.) from the Starbucks on the way. Yes, Starbucks. It is the only time I drink their coffee when I’m in Victoria as it is not my favourite. But, the only other coffee shop on my way in the morning doesn’t open until 9 on Sundays, so Starbucks it is. This morning, I had the horrible experience of finding out that all the Starbucks in the city (or so I was informed) were out of soy milk. How is a lacto to have their latte without soy milk?!? After I recovered from that shock, I went into express mode and walked at top speed down to the other end of Yates St to my usual coffee shop, the Serious Coffee at Broad. Fortunately for me, they had only opened twenty minutes earlier (it was twenty past 8 at this point) and there was no queue. In and out, 12oz soy vanilla latte in hand, I’m booking it back up the street to get to church in time for our before-service practice. Up the several tight twists of small stone steps to get to our choir room half way up the tower, I have my coffee and no breath. But, I’m on time.
Speaking of coffee shops in town, I’ve been conducting an informal survey of prices: I go into a coffee shop, order the same thing (12oz soy vanilla latte) and always bring my own mug and then take note of the price. While it is always a rip off, prices have varied from $4.12 to $4.63. Though not dollars apart, that still is a bit of a difference between them. I’ve got about five different places in my sample thus far. Mundane, I know, but this has been my life for the last few weeks.
UPDATE: I was charged thirty cents less today at a previously sampled place for my coffee sans mug. Interesting given the fact that it is supposed to be cheaper if you bring your own mug.
gillian's island 