Corner of Bourbon & Division

 Nonetheless, I got stuff done today! Class let out very early, so I ended up going and doing some grocery shopping before I came home. It started snowing nearly 15 hours after the predicted time, but it's nonetheless snowing, and we're expecting anywhere from 10-15cm before the end of it. I've been checking outside the window, and the snow is falling much more sparsely than I would have thought. Maybe I won't have to shovel as much as I originally thought I would, which would be very nice indeed. I do like winter a lot, but I'm not a huge fan of shovelling snow.

Groceries aside, I've been trying to get some studying done today, since I got home so early. I've already done some revising of my Romanian lessons on Duolingo, and next up will be reading a bunch of documentation for tomorrow's class. I don't particularly feel like it, as the material is drier than the Sahara, but it's necessary nonetheless. The course itself is both very simple and rather difficult for me to understand: I think it assumes a basic level of knowledge that I simply don't possess, which is making it harder for me to follow. I'm hoping that going through extra course material tonight will give me a better grasp of the subject-matter.

I haven't said much on here about the political bullshit fest going on south of the border, not because I don't care, but because there's so much of it that it feels overwhelming to even scratch at the surface here on LJ. Suffice it to say that every time I open Twitter, it's to discover new lies from the Trump administration, or more examples of white people being terrible even when they "mean well." The reaction of white women in particular to the perfectly valid criticism from other members of the feminist movement (disabled women, trans women, native women, women of colour, etc.) is incredibly disheartening. It often feels like the message that's being sent is that anything is acceptable so long as cishet able-bodied white women aren't made to feel too uncomfortable.

There's been a lot of congratulatory back-patting about how the Women's March went off without a hint of violence (not exactly true, anyway), as if that's a virtue of the marchers and not a direct result of how white people are simply policed differently than people of colour. The police are reluctant to turn the pepper spray and rubber bullets on middle-class white moms, that's the long and the short of it. That's the only reason things didn't turn ugly. Women of colour have been at the forefront of the battles for justice forever, and white women have not returned the favour, only showing up when they themselves felt threatened. Like with a lot of these situations, I think it bothers me more because fifteen years ago I might have been one of these white women, but I was able to learn (and continue to learn, every time I fuck up), and it infuriates me when people just like me stick their fingers in their ears and refuse to listen. Surely white fragility can't be that hard to let go of? If I can refrain from shrieking about "not all white women," then surely all these other women can too? *hands*

Anyway, I have no good answer for any of it. I just know that my fellow white people and I are capable of doing better, and we need to try a lot damned harder to achieve it.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have 100 pages or so of technical manuals to study. XD

I am a little surprised at how many dreams I'm managing to remember of late.

In this one I had arrived at work and was just starting my shift. In my dream, starting my shift meant going outside the RCMP building and making sure the weeds didn't take over the place. I was still a dispatcher, but apparently weeding was part of the deal. I'm guessing that yesterday's yard work was lodged somewhere in my subsconsious. Anyway, the weeds were plentiful, and I was very worried that I hadn't already done a better job of keeping them at bay. I thought it might have something to do with the arrival of spring, since they were springing up all over the place, but I kept thinking that I should have done a better job during my last shift, even though there hadn't really been enough time to get all the weeds in the short time I was allotted before I began my shift (about half an hour in the dream, if memory serves), since the grounds at work are quite vast.

I wasn't able to get it all done then, either, but it was time to head back in, so I hurried into the building and, for some reason I now don't recall, went into a small conference room. Perhaps I was fetching something, or had to do something in the room prior to my shift, I don't remember. Anyway, the next thing I knew people were pouring into the room. I recognised them all as being from the drug enforcement section, and realised that I was inadvertently crashing an important meeting. There was a beautiful young woman there with very long brown hair and big blue eyes, and I recognised her immediately as the girlfriend (or maybe daughter?) of an important mafia boss, and that's when I knew that she must be there to give testimony. It explained why there were so many officers and why everything was being kept hush-hush. She was being kept in witsec in return for her to turn state's evidence, as they say in the U.S.

For some reason I couldn't figure out, she took a shine to me and insisted I sit next to her. I knew her life was in grave danger just by being there, and sure enough when I turned around I caught sight of a sniper on the roof of a building farther down the street. Amusingly enough, it was Eliot from the TV show Leverage. In the dream I apparently knew him well enough that we were friends of a sort, or at least had been. I remember being very upset at the thought that he'd apparently gone back to being a thug-for-hire. I didn't want the girl I was with to die, so I waved and smiled at him and sat directly beside her, so that he wouldn't have a shot unless he went through me first, and I was convinced that our relationship was strong enough that he wouldn't take that shot. (I'm not 100% sure, but I think briefly in the dream I either thought I was Parker, also from Leverage, and I might have transformed into her for a little while, to capitalise on their bond in the show).

In the end, we got through the interview with no bloodshed, and the officers were able to take the girl back into witsec without incident. There was a strange little interlude in my dream, then, in which I shifted into spectator mode. This actually happens a lot to me in dreams, when I seem to step outside what's happening and just watch what's going on. Sometimes I'm watching myself, but more often than not it's like watching a very surreal movie. It felt like an extra scene from Leverage, but it was taking place right after what had just happened in my dream. Parker was there (perhaps I had been her after all, and was now myself again?), and she'd gone to find Eliot, and gave him a very impassioned speech about coming back to the side of the good. She reminded him of everything they'd done, all the progress they'd made, all the lives they'd improved, and I am pretty sure that by the end of the scene they had reconciled and Eliot had given up his thug-for-hire ways for good. So it was a happy ending for them.

By then, though, I was nearly five hours late for my own work shift. I sprinted down the hall and arrived at my office, where I couldn't see anyone. There were beautiful green plants hanging everywhere, though, as well as lined up on trolleys in the hallway just outside. My office was apparently in the midst of a big campaign to improve employees' lives through plants and flowers. The whole office smelled fragrant and green, and I couldn't help but feel my spirits lift when I walked in. I knew that not only would I be allowed to have plants at my desk, but that I'd be encouraged to take more plants home, which was great. I kept thinking that this would never have happened at my old posting, and was such a vast improvement over my previous job, and that I was very lucky to have such a great job now.

Still, I had to account for my tardiness. I ran directly to my supervisor's office to explain what had happened. He seemed pleased to see me, and had wondered why I was late. I explained that I'd actually arrived at work early for my shift, but that I'd been delayed by circumstances outside of my control. He seemed pretty sympathetic overall, since he apparently knew about the witness meant to give testimony, but I lost him when I told him that Eliot had been the sniper on the roof. I recall saying: "But wait—it gets better!" because I was legitimately excited about Eliot being there, but I could tell my boss couldn't quite bring himself to believe me. Nonetheless, he decided that I didn't deserve to be sanctioned, and sent me back to my desk to get to work.

And that's all I remember of that.

Today there is rain in the forecast, which means yard work will not be happening, alas. I should have gotten up at 6:00, but I was lazy and slept until 7:30, so that means I couldn't get an early start on the yard work at all. Since there's mostly rain forecast all week it's not the end of the world, as my main goal was to get the yard in good enough shape for Bean to play in it. If it's raining he won't be able to play outside anyway.

Instead I shall try to organise some of my stuff today. The back and forth from Ottawa means I rarely stop and go through my things, and so my "packing" has become increasingly haphazard over the months. So today I'm going to cull my things and try to get everything back down to manageable levels of bags.

pdaughter has been taking a cake decorating class given by Wilton at Michael's Stores (the one in Vaudreuil). It's every Sunday, which means that it's been tricky to schedule babysitting for Bean on the Sundays I'm not home, 50% of the time. Unfortunately the class doesn't appear to be held on weekdays, when Bean is in daycare, because that would make it easier for everyone.

Still, today I am home until the afternoon, so Bean and I will be spending some quality time together over the course of the morning. The last few times we've watched videos on my computer, but I'm hoping that we can find something with less screen time to do. Or at least something that doesn't involve my computer. He has his LeapPad, and if worse comes to worst I'll suggest a movie. We never did finish Sleeping Beauty the other night, so perhaps we shall do that today.

( Picture-heavy recap of yesterday under the cut )

... so consider this today's post.

The car has been dropped off at the shop. With any luck, in two days' time, I shall have a bumper that is no longer concave! I am excited. Ever since the summer of 2010 when someone hit my car in a parking lot while I was shopping, I've had a giant dent in the bumper. I never bothered to get it fixed, but after the little fender bender I had in early December I decided that the insurance could handle it this time around.

Today is a day for errands. Groceries, dry cleaning, prep for tomorrow's cooking day, and then a Capricornucopia meeting. I'm also looking forward to the cooking day tomorrow. We haven't had one in many months, and I've always enjoyed them.

Right now I am sore all over. The thaw and subsequent freeze yesterday morning meant that when I went to start my car, I literally spun my wheels. No amount of salt seemed to help, and I spent a good fifteen minutes trying to shove my car out of the icy hole in which it sat. Luckily some good Samaritans stopped by to help me out after that, but it still took two of us to push the car out of the hole while another guy drove. So all my muscles hurt today.

I did get home a little earlier than I anticipated last night, and Bean wasn't asleep yet (thanks to a nap at daycare which wrecked bedtime), so I got to give him a kiss goodnight. He asked me if I'd gotten cupcakes for my birthday, and was very disappointed when I said I hadn't. Then he all but shot out of bed to inform pdaughter: "Mama! Dah-dee IS want a cupcake for her birthday!" So it appears there will be cupcakes at Capricornucopia. No complaints here. ;)

On that note, it's time for me to get cracking. I've taken painkillers for the muscle aches and the latent headache, and now I'm running a bit behind on my self-imposed timeline for this morning. With any luck my errands will take less time than I planned for, which will get me back on track.

The dog and all the cats are sound asleep. I am jealous.

Before I got onto my amusing anecdote, allow me to express all my GLEE at my Generic Seasonal Greeting Card™ from prolixfootle.

\o/


So winter seems to have caught most of Montreal off-guard. Heck, even I was a couple of days late getting my winter tires put on the GSVCO. What a difference traction makes! It's as though a few months without cold and snow lulls us all into a false sense of security or something.

Last night, though, there was a serious mishap outside my front door. A snow-removal tractor clipped the fender of a parked car and proceeded to just about rip half the side of the car right off.

No injuries, but the car looked like it was going to need some major TLC. Inconvenient at this time of year, to be sure.

Spent the morning with karine, owldaughter, ai731 and toughlovemuse doing the knitting thing, had a delicious lunch of soup, freshly-baked rolls, and schadenfreude pie.

Have been vegging at home, watching the new season of Heroes, getting some writing done, having quality time with the cats. Good times, overall.

The weather is kind of grey, which I suppose is normal for November. Sleeping cats, however, totally makes up for that.

I've been getting up late all week. Not sure why, except that the days are getting colder and shorter, and I've never been a particular fan of this season change. I've always been more tired around this time of year, and I guess this year is no exception.

Had a really intense dream about taking a 911 call in which the only thing I could hear was screaming in the background (note: I don't take 911 calls in my regular job, since the RCMP doesn't have jurisdiction over that in Montreal. This was all my subconscious playing up.). I flagged down my supervisor who was in his office, and said: "[ADD!Supervisor], I need you to trace this call right now. Someone's getting murdered!" I remember thinking in my dream that I should have said "It *sounds* like someone's getting murdered," but I couldn't do anything about it. I tried to get someone's attention through the phone, and I got a young child, who didn't seem to understand what was going on, and wanted to hang up. I kept calling over and over not to hang up the phone, and after that things get a little hazy.

I think that after that the dream kind of switched to where I was more actively involved in the scene, and I'm pretty sure that things weren't as they seemed. There had been violence but no murder, and after that things get very very blurry in my memory. I do know that I ended up in one of my usual dreamscapes of weirdly-designed buildings, going through winding corridors and secret doors and stairs and the like that weren't quite Euclidian in design (Cthulhu! Ftangh!).

Part of me seriously wishes I was able to paint and draw well, because damn would I have fun drawing the weird stuff I dream up. It's always vast, epic scenery when I'm outside, or huge, misshapen buildings when I'm inside, with ceilings that stretch out forever and corridors that wind and twist and lead into even weirder-looking rooms.

It strikes me as odd that I remember the beginning of the dream so vividly, but not the rest. Huh.

Two hours until I can go home.

Den!Mother came in to replace Excitable!Puppy yesterday, and so I only ended up having to stay an extra 45 minutes. So yay!

Today I must resist the temptation to forgo sleep and go outside in the garden all day. I came very close to doing that yesterday as well.

I hate night shift. It wrecks everything. Boo.

On Monday I am going to go spend my OT (the Overtime Fairy paid a visit in the form of a cheque!) on a barbecue and on furniture for the garden! I am very excited about this. This week is going to be expensive, I fear. I have lots of useful (although not entirely essential) stuff that I want to get for my place: shelving for storage space, some proper storage equipment for the shed, a few extra garden things (one of those racks for the garden hose would be nice), etc. I am going to take some time, maybe tonight, to sit down, make a list of things I absolutely want and things that would be nice to have but aren't essential, and figure out a budget for the whole thing.

In other news, I am royally pissed off. Not only is this weekend GORGEOUS while I am working night shift and can't enjoy it, but next week's forecast is all about the rain, when I would much rather be in my garden. GNAR!

Having one day per weekend makes the weekend go by really fast. I dreamed that my supervisor asked me to come in for overtime next weekend. Sheesh.

I accidentally locked Gretzky outside all night. I feel horribly guilty, but she seems to be none the worse for wear. I went to bed early-ish with a migraine and didn't do a head-count of the cats the way I usually do. She doesn't even harbour any hard feelings, and is curled up next to me on the sofa, purring and accepting pats.

I have to head to the gym in about 15 minutes. I don't feel like going, but it's good for me, so I shall go anyway. None of this "I don't wanna!" anymore. When I get home I shall go back out into the garden. With any luck I'll get the side beds dug out. Tomorrow I will plant the seedlings, 'cause I don't think I'll have time to do it all today.

I have a long week of evening shifts and dentist's appointments ahead of me, and I don't even have Wednesday evening at Hurley's to look forward to, since I'll be working at the time. On the plus side, when I work evening shift, my mornings are usually pretty productive, unlike my evenings when I'm working day shift. I get up with a fair bit of energy to spare, which is more than I can say for when I get home from work and just want to pass out on the chesterfield.

After a weekend of rain, naturally the week is shaping up to be particularly fine in terms of weather. Typical.

All righty. I'm off!

Why is it that every time I've come to Halifax I've brought a snowstorm with me? :P