From Within The Storm

Okay, I'm trying just to keep breathing... In... And Out... In...

Okay, it's snowing here. A LOT.

And yes, I'm moving tomorrow.
And yes, I've rented a small truck that I have to drive.
And yes, I'm hoping my friends love me enough to still show up and help me move, even if it means trudging through the snow.

And yes, I still have more packing to do tonight!

And yes, I am stuck sitting here at work, in a bookstore (who goes to a friggin bookstore in the middle of a snow-storm?!?!) even though it's a Friday and I don't ususally work on Fridays, and it's the day before I move, because my boss had to fly to Winnipeg at the beginning of this week to see a sick relative.

And all I can do is stare out the window at the snow...

I am SO bored!!!

Are We THERE Yet???

Ugh, I hate this. I hate moving! Or rather, I hate the sorting, packing and living amidst the chaos of half-packed boxes that goes hand-in-hand with moving. I'm also starting to really resent my job because it's really hard to pleasantly work in a quiet little bookstore while you know that you could be being way more productive at home, actually doing something!

Okay, so I'm writing on my blog right now and not actually "doing" anything. Point taken. But, I've been up for hours - doing the usual, sorting, packing, preparing for another day of moving preparations. Today, Devon will spend the day with me. In a few minutes I will head out the door to pick up a cargo van that I've rented for a few hours from Autoshare (Yay Autoshare!) so that I can bring the couch that I am giving to Thea and her roomates to their place. I will pick up the van, then Thea, then we will meet Devon at my place, move the couch together to Thea's place and then Devon and I will spend the rest of the day doing (at least some of) the following:
- getting more boxes
- dropping off some of the many garbage bags of stuff to give away that I have already assembled
- sorting more
- packing more
And, let's be honest, whining more (that would be me whining, and Devon listening sympathetically, I hope!)

But first, dear readers, I thought I would share this little list with you... What follows is a list of what I found to be a rather entertaining representation of me, over the last year...

WHAT I FOUND ON MY NIGHTSTAND, OR THE FLOOR, NEXT TO MY BED:
The Following Books:
- "One Year Off" (The true story, told through emails, of a family with three kids who sold all their stuff, and took one year off from life to travel the world. I read about 3/4)
- "The Book of Laughter And Forgetting" by Milan Kundera (I read it, but it didn't make it back to my book shelf, apparently)
- "Hey Nostradamus" by Douglas Coupland (Also read the whole thing)
- "Watership Down" by Richard Adams (I'm almost finished it, but I keep putting it down to read other books!)
- "what matters most is how well you walk through the fire" a book of poems by Charles Bukowski
- "The Artist's Way" by Julia Cameron
- "Wicked" by Gregory Maguire (An AWESOME novel, for adults, the hit Broadway musical was based on this book - sooooo fantastic. My latest read. The best christmas gift I got this year. From my friend Mark)
- "The Organic Entrepreneur" by Maxine Hyndman (I'm workin' on this one...)
- "From Option to Opening: A Guide to Producing Plays Off Broadway" (Awwww, I sure meant well with this one...)
- "Best of Best Women's Erotica" (A great Xmas gift from year's past from Devon - The inscription read that if the city was my boyfriend, I needed some company at night in my own room. Heck yeah!)
- "The Places That Scare You" by Pema Chodron (Also a great book. I revisit it often)
- "Allen Carr's Easy Way To Stop Smoking" (No Comment)
- "The History of Vegas" short stories by Jodi Angel (Some depressing short stories. I think I stopped reading them)
- "The Beautifully Worthless" by Ali Liebegott (Some depressing poetry. I think I also stoppped reading this)
- "Between Myself & Them" Edited by Carol Krause (A great collection of writing about disability & difference, featuring an essay by my good friend Thea)
- "The Same Woman" by Thea Lim (One of THE BEST novels written by a young canadian woman... in my biased opinion)
- "Selected Poems y e.e. cummings" (I like cummings, and Bukowski. It's good to keep 'em nearby, I think)
- "Moral Disorder" by Margaret Atwood (I liked it)
- "Girls Speak Out - A Personal Guide to Self-Esteem" (A thoughtful gift from Tracey last summer, inspired I think by my ideas about creating some new workshops for teens... A good reference)
- "The Language of Letting Go" by Melody Beattie (I borrowed this long ago from Mark, but I don't really feel like giving it back. I like keeping it close by, as a handy inspirational tool)

AND... In addition to all those books, I also have:
- My "Soul-O Theatre Workshop (Creating Your Own One Person Show)" Workbook
- my hand-held recording device
- THREE journals (not including my dream journal)
- kleenex
- 1 pen
- 1 pencil
- earplugs
- "Heat Rub" for sore muscles
- aromatherapy spray to help me sleep (doesn't really work)

I swear, it didn't look like that much!

I think this list is very representative of me... But maybe I need to think about clearing the space around my bed, and maybe I will free myself up to actually SLEEP more when in my bed... ???

The Procrastination Stops Here

The time has come for the procrastination to stop. Holly is on her way here from Oakville and she will spend the day with me, helping me to finally pack! I tried to get a head start on one area this morning but chose the wrong pile. I came across a stack of things from last winter and my tour with Tracey, which made me feel incredibly nostalgic and sad. And then I came across some stuff from the memorial for my friend Emily, who died last February.

I can't do this, I thought to myself. I just cannot face the last two years of my life right now! Feeling incredibly nostalgic, and completely weepy about departing my lovely (in some ways) home for the last two years, I decided it was time to document the process. So I whipped out my handy-dandy digital camera.

Over the last few days, I have started, little by little to begin the "sorting" and "box accumulation" part of the moving & packing process. So the photos you are about to see are NOT exactly what my apartment has looked like over the last two years, but it's close enough. I felt the need to take photographic evidence now (before the real dissassembly begins) of the living space, and life, that I created for myself over the last two years. And so...

Here is the view from my door to the outside world, looking in to my apt:

For my first year here I had this silly little table with stools as my kitchen table, then I folded the table into the wall and Guntar lent me a lovely couch that I placed here so that I could spend more relaxing and social time in the above-ground part of my place. (I returned it to him last week so as to discourage too much relaxing procrastination):

The kitchen area of my place...

And, though the view right now (in the dead of winter) isn't so picturesque, this was my favorite spot in my whole place for the years that I lived here; Standing at my kitchen sink, looking out at my backyard:

More kitchen; I loved my fridge decor...

And now, The Basement Living Space...

The view from standing inside my wee "walk-in closet":

And now, looking back towards my wee "walk-in closet" (in the far right corner):

And now, it's time to get some boxes checked off this list:

Procrastination Central

Oh my gosh - I am ACTUALLY writing here simply to procrastinate from packing. Seriously. I am fully aware that I am now doing ANYTHING to avoid dealing with the task of sorting through and packing up my stuff. I actually feel a little bit like I am going to have a full-on anxiety attack...

I am about to make soup. From scratch.

And then I will probably check my emails,

and my Facebook,

and then I might make a couple of overdue long-distance calls,

and I have committed to visiting my friend Cheryl later tonight (also something that is long, long, LONG overdue!)...

So, I'm probably not actually going to get much of any actually packing/organising done today.

Oh well. There's always tomorrow, right?

New Year, New Neighbourhood, New Boyfriend...

So Robin and I had a great day yesterday, a great day.

In the later part of the morning we trekked out to The Junction so that I could show Robin my new home. We met up with 2/3rds of my new roomates, Laura & Henry, who joined us for a trip to the best place to get hot choclate in Toronto (I swear) and a field trip to our new house. Robin really liked it, and I seem to get more and more excited each time I visit it. (So excited apparently that it didn't occur to me to take any pictures of the place. Sorry my dear readers!) Henry and I had a fun time jumping up and down in my empty new bedroom as I exclaimed over and over "We're in my new room! We're in my new room!" I think he and I are going to have a great friendship. I made a comment to Laura though that I pity her, because both Henry and I are very talkative and our voices seem to be able to rech screechingly high octaves when we are excited.

Below: Robin, Henry & Laura walking down my new street

After Robin and I enjoyed a yummy japanese lunch in the west end, we headed back downtown to the CBC. Robin had the brilliant idea for us to go and watch a taping of George Strombolopolous' show The Hour - which is quite brilliant itself. It was a glorious afternoon, but then isn't falling in love always glorious??? Indeed.

And The George (as I like to fondly refer to him) is just so lovely. And although of course I had to play it kind of cool (don't you always have to play it cool at the start of things?), I'm pretty sure that he's into me as well. Conveniently I have Thursdays off, so I can visit his show tapings once a week! Stay tuned my dear readers, this is surely the beginning of a great new relationship...

The George, chatting with his audience. He's so friendly and down-to-earth. Truly.

And Below: Me & Rob, post-show with The George

Alas, I don't think this is the most flattering picture of me, and right before this picture was taken Robin stole George's attention from me by mentioning that her mother is a big fan of his, but it will forever be our first picture together.

So for now my dear readers, feel free to learn more about my new BF by checking out his website: www.strombo.com (feel free to use the link on the righthand side of this blog-->), and until I write again...

*NAMASTE*