Currently located at Cafe St-Michel.
Tanned from skiing on Friday.
In love with Mont Sutton. <3
More at peace with the fact that I'll most likely have to return up North soon, unlike at xmas. Most likely because the end is nigh.
Sending CVs like crazy for the fall. Please?
That's all.
On the road again finally.
Country roads, take me home.
Letting go doesn't mean giving up... it means moving on.
Mistakes I've made plenty of (D, T if either of you ever reads this, which I doubt... you know who you are... I'm sorry).
I am, however, letting go. No more trying to get closure, resolution, forgiveness. Some people aren't strong enough to forgive. (Maybe it's time I forgave someone for a discretion in the fall of 09. Maybe no one will forgive me until I forgive others). If those people aren't strong enough to forgive.... I'm moving on. Maybe time heals all, maybe our paths will cross again in better mindframes, maybe this is endgame. But I'm not trying anymore. My efforts just get laughed at, kicked aside, turned into something negative. Sometimes the punishment outweighs the crime. Sometimes you just have to stop waiting for people to forgive, and accept maybe they aren't capable of doing so because of their own demons.
Forgiveness is the cleansing fire that burns away old regrets and resentments.
That doesn't mean that it's still not what I'm wishing for on my bday. Especially the first of the 2 initials indicated. Losing a friend sucks, to put it plainly.
Celebrate endings - for they precede new beginnings.
So, last week I had the chance to go to Ouje-Bougoumou for 24 hours (minus flight time, I suppose it was more like 21.25 hours). I actually have known of this town's existence since it was created, as my adored Grade 2 teacher took a year's leave when I was in elem, to go teach there. Odd, to find myself there, 20 soemthing years later.
Ouje, officially settled in 1995 (although the restaraunt opened in '94 and the school in that year as well), is the newest of the 9 Cree communities (for now, anyway, as Washaw Sibi is currently being built, near Amos). And is a stark contrast to Wask. The roads are paved, and not sand/mud/potholelakes. No dogs followed me (here, an average walk of 10 minutes entails roughly 10 dogs, if not more). I saw NO garbage, let alone layers of garbage anywhere (I actually saw someone from Public Works picking up a few stray pop cans... what?). Nor did I find myself tripping over empty Russian Prince bottles or Budweiser cans. Granted, it is, at 700 people, one third the size of here. But still. Clean!
Ouje-Bougoumou means "place where people gather" in Cree. And is an urban planners dream (actually, it was a famous one, Cardinal, who was the architect of the town and most of what is in it). I quite literally was going "wow", driving into town. It also won an UN award for being one of the world's top 50 settlements. Again, stark contrast to where I live.... Rather refreshing (and depressing, in a way) to see what could have been, or could be for a community such as this one.
Pics to follow when I'm at home tonight.
I unfortunately wasn't quick enough with my camera on the way into town to snap a pic of the: Stop! Jesus loves you sign (located right next to Mr Layton.... )
Dear readers,
I will be off to Ouje-Bougoumou tomorrow for 24 hours, and thus will not be updating until I get back.
Finally, some exploration.
My world has been limited to 15 km2 since January 4th, and a chance of scenery is needed. Even if I'm trading in one set of black spruce trees for another. And the Bay for a lake.
Pictures and updates when I get back from OJ.
That's right, Jeopardy just had a question in which the answer was "What is Farmville?"
:)
I recently stumbled across Listography, a website dedicated to making lists. Which, for those of you that are like me and love list making, is a great way to spend time on a rainy day. (I long for a pad of the yellow and orange list-making paper we used at IBM. "Don't try to remember it, write it down". Maybe I'll beg my dad to procur some for me).
And I came across the list topic: Things that I define me. For me, personally, I'm defined by experiences, and places. Living in the place and context I have been for the past 7+ months, I realize how defined I am by place, by my environment. When, considering my first BA, makes perfect sense. I didn't just study Environment and Geography, I'm a firm believer in it.
Place, of course, defines how we see the world. It impacts who were are, changes us. We, in turn, destroy the environment. How's that for symbiosis? But, that's not my point (I'll talk environmental degradation later, to anyone willing to put up with it. Vote Green?)
I've been voraciously consuming travel lit this winter. Partially for something to do, partially for reassurance that I'm not crazy at times, partially for the comfort that others have felt this way before me, partially to gleam some wisdom on a lot of this. Partially because I have quasi-grandiose plans to go Kerouac on the Greyhound system this summer.
And, I'm starting to understand something: when you're in a new place, a new culture, especially when cut off from the "outside" world in so many ways such as I am; place impacts you in the sense that it completely turns you upside down and inside out. To quote Susan Gilman in Undress me in the Temple of Heaven, it makes you forget a lot of who you are. React like a helpless baby (mostly inwardly), because, in many essences, in travel such as this, you're helpless at times. Frustrated. She also touched on the idea of imagining emotions, exaggerating connections, to counter the lonelieness. So, I'm not crazy. That's a relief.
I'm craving mountains, leafy trees, grass, drive thrus, driving my car, movement, and the rest of the amenities the outside world features like mad.
So, this is officially a new record. I've been in Waskaganish, without exit, for 3 months now.
I decided to click around Google Streetview for shots of back home. Or the outside world.
Who ever would have thought that home would someday seem exotic, with its leafy trees, grass, and asphalt? It's non-standard issue rez houses, with small cars instead of huge trucks? Neon signs, sidewalks, and large buildings?
A whole different world.
Soon.
Sometimes, it's about being in the right place at the right time, and stopping to look UP.
Last night, from 11 PM onwards were the most amazing Northern Lights, ever. Accompanied by some shooting stars.
Intense blues and greens with a hint of pink. Right over my house.
Irony, since the forecast was for zero activity.
Watching the Northern Lights requires more patience than I possess; last night I managed to get it right.
Occuring on April 1st, I'm taking this as a good omen for the month ahead.
If only it hadn't been interrupted by the He-Donkey across the way, with his newest victim. But, alas, nothing is perfect.
Hello, April. Long-awaited month, welcome.
It's warm ("hot", if you ask the kids) and sunny, and SPRING like.
Which is ironic, as there's a 20 cm+ of snow winter storm warning back home.
Which I'm happy with; increased chances of skiing Easter weekend, you see.
Off to ped day/ aka, digging through the avalanche warning mountain of papers that has become my desk/bookshelf/filing cabinet.
