“In like a lion, out like a lamb; in like a lamb, out like a lion” is the phrase I remember learning in Kindergarten. It was supposed to tell you that March would either start well and end badly or begin on a rough note and end nicely. This year, March has been a little more schizophrenic with a day of rain and/or snow here and a day of sunshine there. While it hasn’t been as warm as March in Victoria should be, the flowers are finally up and spring is on the way.
I’d like to say that I don’t talk about the weather, but lately in Victoria the weather is all anyone is talking about, or so it seems. It has been pretty crazy! After the last few days, I’m quite happy not to be working on the boat at the moment. Yesterday we had seriously intense, practically gale-force winds that shook the house and broke the sign outside the shops behind us. I was waiting for it to come crashing through my window at some point during the night.
Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:to loose the chains of injusticeand untie the cords of the yoke,to set the oppressed freeand break every yoke?Is it not to share your food with the hungryand to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe him,and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Beautiful day in Victoria. I finally got my long-awaited sleep-in this morning and managed to get a whole 30 minutes extra. After running around downtown and various other places, I walked down to Cadboro Bay once again. It is becoming one of my favourite places to pass time. It was wonderfully warm until the sun moved behind trees and shade began to creep across the beach. I sat on a log and drank my coffee while alternating between reading my book and watching all the people on the beach.
There were lots of dogs being run on the beach and they are always humerous to watch as they hop up and down waiting for sticks to be thrown, sniff each other up and down, and frolic in the water. Other people were taking in the sunshine just strolling down the beach or going for a run and still others were doing like myself and sitting on a log soaking in the sun.
Now that it has warmed up a bit from our periodic snow and bitter cold wind over the last few weeks, the blossoms are beginning to emerge. The snowdrops have been up for a few weeks but all of a sudden the crocuses are showing and there are a number of daffodil buds to be seen. Trees have the beginnings of blossoms and everything is lovely and green. My biggest surprise today was the pussy-willows. I’m used to small bushes like what we had in the backyard in Belleville. We would cut a few branches every year and wait for them to bud inside during Lent as our Easter tree. They have already bud here and apparently grow to the size of a full grown tree!
Speaking of Lent, next week is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the season leading up to Easter. Tuesday is Shrove Tuesday (Mardi Gras) and I’m looking forward to my first church pancake supper in many years. That means it is now time to start thinking about anything that I might do in lifestyle change during the season of Lent. How about you? Any plans? Think about it and let me know. It is easier to keep commitment to these things if we support each other.
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This poor tree is about how I feel right now. It is February in Victoria where things are supposed to be warming up and in another couple of weeks we will count all of our flowers and brag to the rest of the country about how nice it is here. But the last few days have seen noreasterlies/easterlies bringing cold weather. It feels like below zero temperatures and there has even been occasional snow over the last two days (nothing that sticks, it just makes us feel colder). Like this tree, we are all gearing up for spring only to have it be yanked away from us by the grim reality of winter. Brrr. I can’t wait until spring!
Re: Decisions, Update, and Strange Turns.
I’ve gotten all of four shifts in my casual position since I started. Four shifts. I was led to believe that they were in desperate need of people and I had a great chance of getting a reasonable amount of hours. Apparently not so much. Either that or the hours they need people for just so happen to be the hours when I’m in classes, meaning that they don’t call. I did turn down one shift. Well, two. The first was because they called me to work a time I had already said I couldn’t, so that doesn’t count. The second was a day I said I could work but was still in Vancouver for Christmas. My fault on that one, though I’d like to blame it on BC Ferries taking a bloody long time to get me home.
The lack of work was fantastic for visiting with family and friends over the Christmas season. I have been able to go to all of my Christmas parties and able to visit with friends in town only for the holiday season. On the other hand, the lack of incoming funds is seriously damaging my bank account. I had to wait a couple days to buy textbooks because I needed to transfer money into my debit account from my savings. That always hurts.
Speaking of textbooks, I’m taking three classes this semester. Only one of them I absolutely need (organic chemistry), but the other ones I thought would be quite useful when it comes to nursing: anatomy and biomedical ethics. Knowing about the human body and its systems if fairly useful in the medical profession, or so I’m told. Not to mention I get to take anatomy with a good offshore buddy. My ethics text I’ve been able to borrow off of a friend (Thank you, Eric, every penny helps!) but the texts for the other two classes are worth their weight in whatever the most expensive thing imaginable is. I’m looking at $400 for two classes. Yikes! Both profs have said we can use previous editions (so if anyone has Organic Chemistry by McMurry or Anatomy by Martini, Timmons, and Tallitsch kicking around, I will love you forever) but these previous editions are virtually untraceable. I’ve got my eye on a super cheap copy of Organic Chem at Alibris, but am not sure if I can wait the “7-14 but up to 30 days” shipping. I’ll have had 2 quizzes by then. I suppose there is always the library reserve section…
Back to the topic pre-tangent: work. I went back on the pavement on Monday, applying at a couple places. One call back thus far (which prompted my embarrassment and a prompt revision of every single version of my resume) for a position which I have a feeling isn’t a great fit for me or them. So, I have sucked it up, swallowed my pride, and called the place I used to work. Not the one of the aforementioned decisions, but the one I used to, used to work at when I first moved down to this lovely city. I’m not really sure why it is even a pride thing except for perhaps I quit and therefore I feel like I can’t ever set foot inside again. Which is BS, because I have. I’ve even bought sunglasses there and had them repaired twice (they didn’t like the boat life very much, especially not smashing into the fore boom. Come to think of it, my head didn’t like smashing into the fore boom much either). The people I worked for and with there were, for the most part, wonderful people. In fact, I’m still in touch, sporadically, with some (even though they don’t actually work there anymore).
So all of this was to say that perhaps I will join the more regular workforce in the future. Near future? I sure hope so. At any rate, I have learnt a lot about budgeting in the last few weeks/months which is likely a good thing.
I’ve made it back to Victoria and it took a record 6 hours. I probably could have flown across the country in that time period.
No, I haven’t bought another pair of shoes. Of late, I have been spending the better part of my walking-around time fearing for my life wearing my black boots. The soles of these boots are completely flat; no tread whatsoever. They’d really make a great pair of skis, you know the mini kind that people wear to do tricks. Except these are incorporated into the boots… I could save some serious money at ski hills without needing to rent. I digress.
I went to meet Jen at the airport today and anticipated some walking. Not knowing the road conditions, I decided to branch out and wear my hiking shoes. These have serious tread. I didn’t even fear for my life walking down the hill of death to the bus stop this morning. Novel concept, but apparently tread works and perhaps I’ll be wearing the hikers a little more until people ice pick their sidewalks around here.
gillian's island 