Entertainment, Economics and Existence

This week finds me dragging a little, as some small foibles start to add up to become bothersome interludes. Still. If you didn't see last week's photo slideshow( Nov. 16th entry ) about Fall here in Victoria, go have a look.

Nov 17th - The Business of Existing

The phrase "There's never enough time in a day" seems to mean many different things to many different people, to use another well-worn cliche.

For some, getting through each day is a small miracle, a wonder that they made it through to another sunset and live in hope of seeing another sunrise, that their illness or poverty or other problems will relent for another day, giving them some peace from their personal burdens.

Choice is there too: choosing to live as you will, the decisions adding up over years to dig your path through the dark woods of the unknown future. Some choose family, marrying their first sweethearts and defining their lives by the creation and rearing of new ones, hopefully in ways that turn children into stable, wonderful people that are a credit to their parents. Others choose careers, perhaps with family as a stable influence on their never-ending climb to the top of their profession. Still more, many more, deal with life as it comes, often getting lost in the blizzard of bills, commitments, accidents, joys and sorrows that fly at us from all directions as we try to make sense of it all.

Daily life, all the little things that pass us by, large and small, are the ticks of the clock. Ever-forward, with fond glances back at what was, things remembered with a golden glow seen through the ever-more opague window of the past.

Yet what does it all mean?

Bhuddist monks spend their lives contemplating existence. Military personnel give their lives in the performance of their duty. Politicians spend their lives getting others to believe what they say, for good or ill. Doctors heal wounds physical, while lawyers bandage other wounds with words and money. All professions, all choices made, even the choice of not resisting what life pushes in front of you.

Meaning is what we bring to our lives, the interpretations we put on what we experience. As the expression goes, sometimes the glass is half-full, other times half-empty... and sometimes the glass breaks. How you deal with your own interpretations gives meaning to them, and shows your mettle to others... for some, this is important, but for other people, what other people think is the last thing they care about, sometimes for unselfish and purely personal reasons.

What you do, how you exist, how you find your place in the puzzle of life, is your business. Judging others by your own standards may help you find your place, but you should always keep in mind that your standards often cannot apply to others - they have their own path to make through the woods.

This brings me back to my own situation, far away from my other existence in Niagara. It is startlingly similar in some ways though, as I have come to realize. The loss of friends, of family, of places, of pets and jobs and things all tumble one around in life, nudging or tossing you in new directions. The same applies to new jobs, new friends, new places... the old fades and the new glides into the empty space of loss. Friends who are no longer in touch, old loves lost, old jobs remembered for the funny and not the frustration of the day to day grind. People who have changed, grown distant with time and other commitments, taking us away from each other though we try, failingly, to stay in touch.

I suppose that is what bothers me, that things cannot stay the same, no matter how much we want them to. When friends become aquiantances, then just names on cards sent at christmas or birthdays... that saddens me sometimes. To know that our choices have separated us after long years together, for good or bad, and that to see each other again is to see in their eyes the distance that those choices have put between us. A distance bridged, for a time, with shared stories and laughter, to bring with us when we must part once more to return to the separate lives that our choices have become.

Nov 18th - Sleepless Near Seattle

I was awake tonight, far into the morning, for no reason I could disern. The quiet hours ticked on, while I lay sleepless, the red glow of the clock shouting silently that I should be dreaming.

It was as through I was a spectator to my own thoughts, watching them chase each other around the room in the dark but unable to see them clearly. My subconscious mind was obviously in high gear, but my conscious mind would not just shut it out and sleep. Damned annoying, to know that there are things bothering me on some level, but that I cannot bring to the fore... and so lose sleep over them.

Plus, it didn't help that the garbage truck made its usual early arrival at 7:10am... or that an hour before that, I received yet another "Uknown Call" to my 935-Niagara line. Which is frustrating, since you'd think that with all of today's modern CID tech, you could trace most every call... but when it shows up as all 0000's there is little anyone can do, especially on a VOIP line. Apart from trying to initiate a police trace, I cannot think of anything I can do to find out who's trying to sell me shoes at 6am PST... likely from a 9am autodialer in Ontario, or somewhere out east. Since I am on the National DoNotCall list, and the jerks don't leave a msg, I am just going to have to wait and see... and lose
sleep.

Ah well. At times like these, I think about how cool it would be to have a TARDIS... here's a look at the 45 Coolest Moments in Doctor Who history.

Nov 19th - Snappy TV

A long, long day... I ended up working 10 hours, due to two last-minute customers with large, complicated transactions. I really hate the part of human nature that makes people wait until just the last moment to really screw up someone else's day - combined with the other after-closing tasks that I had to get done, I was really tired by the time I cycled home in the cool mist.

Safely at home once more, I watched S:AAB ep 'Hostile Visit' which had a moment in it. On the eve of a suicide mission, one of the characters mentions the date... November 19th, today! I guess it's a 1 in 365 chance, or similar odds, but it still snapped me to hear it. The character talked about how she had fallen in love with Autumn, all the romance of the slight chill in the air, and how she would never see it again.

I was reading some of the SG: Atlantis production blogs, which are rather interesting for the insight( if slight )they give into the world of TV production. All the more interesting for that it takes place in Vancouver, which is not as far away as it was from Niagara - day-trip distant, in fact. Again, too bad both series are now over with, although SG: Universe is in the works, showing that the franchise has life left in it yet.

Nov 20th - Um, your hat...!

A promised windstorm never materialized today, despite some nasty-looking dark clouds that swooped in from the west. The rain was heavy, on an off, in that peculiar passing way that happens here in Victoria: pours for ten minutes, then light sprinkles for the same, then repeat. Nothing like the hours-long soakings I am used to from Niagara, or even the brief deluges that soaked me in Florida. I still remember a vast, dark cloud crossing the sky when I was living in Fonthill, a black wedge that reminded me of nothing other than a Star Destroyer moving against the lighter clouds around it. Yeesh.

One of the last customers of the day provided some entertainment: a solid construction worker, he came in shaking the rain from his jacket... and trailing smoke from his hat! I waited a beat, then said with a straight face a phrase I never thought I would utter: "Umm... you know your hat is on fire, right?" He said something colourful and then reached up to swat at his right ear... dislodging a still-burning cigarette and crushing down his briefly-smouldering ballcap. Apparently he had not quite pinched-out his cigarette before tucking it behind his ear and entering the store, so it had started to burn his hat! Luckily only a few seconds had passed, and his hat was wet from the rain... otherwise, he might have had a really bad evening. I'd not want to be the first person in MMart history to lose a customer due to a flaming hat...

Nov 21st - Economics

Mulling over the current economic downturn, I was perusing the 'net for opinions, articles and general thoughts about how things are going to go for the next six months. With the downturn affecting consumer spending, retailers are holding their breath for the next thirty days to see if wallets will open.

DollarStretcher.com recently posted an article about how the market downturn is affecting people's retirement plans. The article is interesting as it looks at various life stages of investors, from people just starting out fresh from university, to middle-career folk, to those already retired and watching their plans being jumbled by the economic uncertainty. Though it is not nearly as bad as the Great Depression( what was so great about it, anyway? )... from the people I have talked to who lived through it, the gist is that if you haven't lost everything and need to stand in line for days to apply for a job, then things aren't as bad as they were back then. At least every guy wore a decent hat and shoes.

Myself, I have migrated to a low-key holiday season... the days of ripping open presents under a tree are long past for me, save reminiscing over old and faded photos. I enjoy the holidays now more for their good cheer than anything else, though that's hard to muster when shoulder-to-shoulder with crowds in a shopping mall - hence my plan to avoid most such places evenings and weekends in December. I might enjoy the holiday music piped in as well, with less exposure to it; one can only hear "Jingle Bells" so many times before it becomes grating on the ear with false cheer.

Nov 22 - Overtime Saturday

The morning dawn'd bright and clear, though clouds lurking on the horizon shook their fists at the sun as they blurred across that firey disk from time to time. Much better than a gray, flat ceiling of clouds, glowing in one spot as the sun tries to burn its way through to smile on the earth below. Yep.

I worked an extra shift today at our Colwood store, which brought back some memories of Welland Ave in Niagara, where most every store, including Welland Ave, had a Timmy's nearby. In matter of fact, Colwood has the best setup I have seen: literally steps from the door, there is a Tim Horton's, and a few steps the other way is a Wendy's. Not that I eat out all that much anymore, but it pained me, almost literally, to see that the Bacon Mushroom Melt was back at Wendy's after a two-year absence... must be that time of year again - loved that sandwich. Though my coworkers back at Office Place asked me NOT to have it for lunch when I was working, as it tended to... disagree... with my digestion. But it tasted so GOOD. *sigh* Now that I have the gallbladder issues, beef has been off the menu for some years now, so I have made do with Chicken Grills, as well as enjoying soups from Timmy's such as Potato Bacon: now THAT is a satisfying meal.

Nov 23 - Cow Bay

Took a road trip today up to Cowichan Bay to celebrate my dad's upcoming birthday, he's turning sixty one... glad to see he has been retired for ten years already, and not the other way around, to be still waiting for retirement.

It was a scenic ride, as the weather cooperated and the clouds stayed away. We traveled up the Malahat Drive, hugging the mountainsides and taking in the great views across the Saanich Inlet - there are a few scenic outlooks along the way that are simply breathtaking; mere words cannot describe the sweep of the forested hills, the deep blue of the waters or the pearlescent snow-topped glow of Mt. Baker far to the east. The smell of dead fish when we passed Goldstream park was very strong, even with the vents off... I am not sure when that will end; hopefully after Christmas.

We had lunch at the Oceanfront Grand Resort & Marina, which is renowned on the island for its amazing Sunday buffet. It reminded me in a way of the Beacon Harbourside Hotel in Jordan, which my family used to head to on occasion for their Sunday buffet... which I recall as being rather limited, but they had lots of pancakes. We used to travel all over to check out new places for Sunday buffets, even up to Hamilton a few times, though most of the restaurants we went to are long since gone - anyone remember the old Julio's on Ontario St., where Jack Astor's is now?

The evening vanished in the usual blur of catch-up, as I juggled laundry loads with cleaning, to get things done so I can enjoy my total day-off tomorrow. Supposed to be bright and sunny, albeit chilly, so I may decide to take a walk around the block or to Cook St. Village, though doing so by myself really stinks sometimes... I can think just as well at home here, where it is warmer and less likely to rain on me indoors. MUCH less likely. Not that I mind the rain, when it could be snow... *smiles*


No spiders this week; the closed windows and scattered chestnuts around the apartment seem to have put paid to their nocturnal ramblings. Which is nice, as they don't pay any portion of the rent, the sods.

The Second Week in Victoria: Lots and lots to tell...

My second week in Victoria was rather stressful, and I ended up catching a cold by the end of it from some helpful stranger, likely one at work. As always, you can comment on this blog at the bottom - I keep wondering if anyone's actually READING this thing....? ALL previous Blog enries have been updated as of today with Links - images will be next, I hope, in a week or two.

Nov 11th - Remembrance Day

We drove through Beacon Hill Park today in the rental Pontiac G6, the last day we had it. I took a lot of pictures, as the sun peeked out here and there from the overcast sky to give a few good photos. The park is very large, larger than the sizable Bourgoyne Woods back in St. Catharines, and since it sits in the middle of the south end of Victoria, the city surrounds the park but does not intrude on it. Tall trees cover about a quarter of the land, with winding roads and paths meandering through the vast spaces. A good portion of the park is undeveloped wilderness, with great rock prominences jutting through the grass like the bones of the earth itself. Some areas, like the ones where I saw 4 peacocks, are planted as beautiful flower gardens, while another area contains a large pond surrounded by willow trees. A gorgeous park, the south end of which overlooks the ocean straight and gives amazing views of the Juan de Fuca Islands.

We saw quite a few folks out for Remembrance Day today as well, despite the weather. Quite a gathering was down at the Parliament Buildings on Government Street, and we saw many military uniforms returning home from that area as we finished our tour of the park. After returning the rental car, my parents and I had lunch at the Bay Centre cafeteria, which is on the fifth floor of the Bay Centre and is quite large. The food is excellent, as are the prices, and included in the meal is a fantastic view to the west of Esquimalt, where my parents will be getting their retirement digs set up in a month or so - more on that later. The view of the harbour shows seaplanes taking off, as well as the ferry to the USA and other boating traffic.

Another nice thing about Victoria is that everyone seems to watch out for one another. The bus drivers actually SLOW DOWN when nearing each stop, even if all they see is someone walking towards the stop area - they slow, just in case that person is trying to catch the bus. And as I've already mentioned, everyone THANKS the driver when they leave the bus; it's great to hear. Even seeing people wait patiently in groups to cross almost-empty stretches of street is a treat; I keep expecting people to do the Niagara Falls dash-for-your-life-through-oncoming-traffic thing, and seeing people actually WAIT for the 'walk' signal, en masse, even with no cars in the immediate area, is still a source of fascination for me even weeks later.

Nov 12th - Stay Home Storm

A nasty pacific storm blew in today, revealing that our temporary quarters at the Landmark building are not all that well sealed against the weather. In particular, the door to the patio of the main bedroom had huge drafts of air blowing in around all four sides, so we sealed those with painter's tape temporarily. We also have noticed the tile floor in the kitchen is quite chilly, which we suspect is a lack of insulation in the walls. Another point is that the kitchen backs onto the second bedroom, and there is a complete lack of noise insulation in the wall - you can hear every drawer or cupboard close, utensils rattle or appliances running. I am very glad we haven't rented this place for more than the few months planned, for although it looks to be a lovely building and the trimmings are very nice, the guts of the place aren't very well thought out a'tall.

Needless to say, we didn't go much of anywhere today due to the storm, and a good thing too. While we didn't lose power here, the evening news revealed a lot of damage all over Vancouver Island - the heavily wooded Island meant a LOT of trees fell from the severe winds. Seeing as today was the second of FOUR days off in a row, I spent some of it sorting through things I had brought from the storage depot and just generally relaxing, as I've been very tired of late.

Nov. 13th - a Day Spent Shopping

A very quiet day again... I had received notice from Multicites Moving that the delivery would be taking place either today or tomorrow, so I was very grateful to my new co-workers for giving me these three weekdays off to get that taken care of. Unfortunately, nothing arrived today due to delays caused by that severe storm a few days ago - it played havoc with shipping schedules for the Vancouver Ferry, setting things back at least a day... of course.

So I went walking around Victoria instead, determined to get a better look at the place on foot. I wandered into the London Drugs store on Yates, and found a fantastic camera that I had been eyeing for a while. After having a better look at it, I bought it - a Fuji F50fd, a little pocket camera that packs a 12 megapixel SuperCCD, a large screen and a ton of features. While it cost a fair penny, it was nowhere near the SLR-range price insanity that seems the rage these days.

I also bought a 2-gig high-speed SD card for the thing too, to ensure I could snap pictures fast. Seeing as our last camera had started to severely malfunction a few weeks ago, I knew that I would be needing a new one, so my research pointed me to the Fuji above all others. Joy!

When I arrived home that evening, I discovered that Multicites had called; the shipment would finally arrive tomorrow. I was thrilled, as I had been stressing that the bad luck revolving around trying to ship our goods would keep true to form and result in its total loss in transit. Whew! I slept a lot better that night, let me tell you.

Nov 14th - Our Stuff Arrives

I went to the Budget Car Rentals just down the road with my mom at 8am to rent a nice SUV to use today once our things had arrived in a few hours. It was a nice Ford Freestyle, which had a ton of interior cargo room, lots of bells and whistles and drove like a brick, while looking like a squashed cousin to an SUV. At least it had heated seats, as it was quite chilly today.

We got a call from Multicites at 9am: they were en route from the morning ferry. We met them at the City Centre Storage depot on Johnson St a little after 10am; after some paperwork, they started unloading our stuff... which was no longer palletized - Strike One. I had organized our goods into seven distinct pallets, to allow easy shipping and distribution of important boxes on arrival - apparently that wasn't good enough for Multicites, which jumbled it all together... while damaging several DOZEN boxes in the process. The moving crew of three men were nice enough, but they were NOT careful with our boxes at all, even though we were right THERE watching them unload and directing certain boxes to be set aside for our SUV to take. I saw quite a few boxes CLEARLY marked 'Fragile!' in red marker all OVER the box simply tossed around and piled under other boxes marked 'VERY HEAVY' - can you say, DO NOT CRUSH?

It was rather stressful, and all this in the wet and cold too. I ended up paying a TON of money for these folks to mangle my goods, and LOSE several boxes in the process, conveniently one containing my Olympus camera, which was marked clearly on the box. I suspect that this was 'lost' intentionally along the way, but the last laugh is on the theif: the camera is defective, and while I had to eat the $200.00 cost through an eBay fiasco I won't get into, I am very slightly satisfied that the camera will NOT do whoever has it now any good. However, the flipside is that I have NO idea what ELSE was in that box, and never will likely know. My whole plan was to take pictures of the contents of EVERY box before it was sealed, as a record of the goods that we could use in case of loss in transit. Due to the failure of our old camera and severe time constraints at the tail end of October, this simply didn't happen - let that be a lesson to any of you who are going on a long move that will see your goods out of sight for weeks: TAKE PHOTOS! My shattered Visions pots, broken wine bottles and missing boxes are all proof that any idiot can move, but only a wise one will take precautions against other idiots messing it up. Given the MANY negative reviews of Multicites I have since come across on the 'net, I am not bothering to claim anything with them, as very few people have had any results without a lawyer!

We packed and moved three SUV-loads of goods to take back to the Landmark; I had had the foresight to purchase a handcart from Canadian Tire for the move, but it was defective - the tires went flat in minutes, and since I was the only one capable of heavy lifting, I had to move ALL the boxes on my own. My parents could not do more that unpack the stuff once I hauled it to our condo, which was stuffed with vital necessities by day's end. I was exhausted by the whole experience, and went to bed early with thoughts of how I could have managed the move some other way dancing a nasty tap in my head. I hadn't come up with any solutions before sleep whacked me with a soft pillow.

Nov 15th - Wow, can it RAIN here in Victoria! But what if you have nowhere to sleep...?

When it rains here in Victoria, it tends to be a gentle sprinkle in the morning, followed by some clearer skies around noon, then some more rain in the late afternoon. Today was no different, save that the rain decided to skip the clear bit around noon and dump a load of water instead.

Which made me glad to have my umbrella as I walked to work today for the closing shift; having a solid gust-proof umbrella is a must for anyone walking among downtown's odd wind patterns.

One thing I haven't mentioned yet is the preponderance of street people here in Victoria. While there were homeless and street walkers in Niagara, one didn't see too much of them all that often, which wasn't to say they were not really there. However, here in Victoria they are quite visible in the downtown core, right in your face quite often. My first time walking through downtown Victoria, I counted more homeless folks in sight that one day than I had ever seen in my life up to that very day. Here, they are polite but ever-present and certainly not shy; they will approach anyone to ask for change, and there is usually someone sitting in front of any store or business that is closed for the day, or in front of the few empty shops that dot the area.

I have mixed feelings on these folks, having worked in cheque cashing for nearly eight years now and seeing the many paths that life can lead a person down. On the one hand, some of these folks were simply dealt bad hands and became stuck here in Victoria, where their life went askew and they haven't been able to turn it back around again. That, I can understand very well. On the other hand, I see people every day on the other side of the glass at work that simply don't care to try, or are so lost to themselves that they are beyond the help of all but the most dedicated social worker. Having heard stories about folks making more by begging changed that I make working for a living( and questioning those same stories ), I always wonder as I pass these folks what their real story is, and why they sit on the sidewalk day after day, asking strangers for change... and where they go at night. I have seen things in passing down alleyways that I will not repeat here, and I know there is a sordid life that exists in every larger city, everywhere in the world, that most folk do not see nor care to. Due to my job, and my own observant nature, I KNOW it is there, and it tarnishes my image of this lovely city to see each street walker working the crowds in downtown Victoria day after day. For it is where the crowds are that they set up; you will not find them outside the local malls, or on side streets or suburban shopping plazas - downtown is where the easy money is, and why they still persist day after day in asking for change. Which is sad, and ironic, for they themselves will never change until it is forced upon them, likely through circumstance and likely through violence. And while I applaud the efforts of organizations like Stop Homelessness.Ca, I wonder how many of the people I see every day walking to work actually want to change things for themselves. That, I think, is the sad part, and one I see played out day after day in the lobby of my workplace.

So that's my rant on the homeless and the street folk of Victoria. Like it or not, they're there, and nobody who lives in Victoria can deny that fact, though many choose to ignore it as they walk past them... day after day.

Nov. 16th - T.G.I.F.

I spent the morning putting together the last of my PC, so that I could communicate with the world once more without having to use my parent's laptop. Too bad I have to run a fifty-foot cable all the way down the hall to the main room here to connect to the 'net; I will have to figure out a wireless option one day soon when I have more time, as I had to work later this day.

My closing shift last night went well enough, or so I thought. Apparently I missed a few things, as I am wont to do when faced with a new way of doing things in the same company. At least they were minor, and I am dilligently taking notes as I go along, so tonight will go better. As I noted above for yesterday, there are quite a few homeless folk here in Victoria, and the system here to support them is set up somewhat differently from Niagara. Wheras I was used to seeing Social Assistance cheques once a month coming through the doors at work, people here receive a weekly allowance instead, albeit three much smaller cheques and one larger per month. I should also note that due to the wet weather here in Victoria, many of our poorer clients do not have the best odours, and I find that hard to ignore when dealing with them regularly, being a fairly clean person myself. My empathy is working overtime in this new job; seeing so many people so hard-pressed to get through each day tugs at my heart, but at the same time I have to deal with the anger, mental illness and stress that same life brings about in them. Good thing I've trained myself not to get emotional at work, or I'd be a wreck some days.

Nov 17th - A cold, of course...

I woke today with a sore throat, which I blamed on the lousy air in the Landmark; there's no fresh air save if one opens a window( and baseboard heaters only )so I resolved to unpack my air cleaner later tonight after I finished work, hoping it would fix the problem while I slept.

No such luck. By the end of my shift today, I had added a stuffy nose and a headache to my sore throat, all classic signs that I had caught a cold. Lovely. I've very careful at work to wash my hands, use sanitizer regularly and NOT to touch my face, but something got through the window and now I'm going to suffer for it.

I did talk to some of my friends tonight, thanks to my foresight of getting a local number set up in Niagara through Vonage, so that anyone can call me from there as a local call and have it ring out here in Victoria. It was great to talk to all of them while they were at Starbuck's at the Fairview Mall in St. Catharines, as they are wont to do most every Friday. Though I can no longer be there in person, I did stop at a local Steeb's here on the way home tonight, so that I could hoist a hot Tazo Chai tea to them as we talked on the phone. Lovely folks, I miss 'em all.


While it was a great way to end the week, I was feeling rather under the weather... but there you have it Next time, I will try to pack two weeks into one, as doing a week at a time, as a once a week blog entry, will mean I'll always be behind. There's lots more to come!