Caledonia Mission

She reads the leaves

And she leads the life

That she learned so well

From the old wives

It's so strange to arrange it

Though I wouldn't change it

But hear me, if you're near me

Can I just rearrange it?

Yeah.. so I just decided to super-quickly type the first lines of the song I happened to be listening to... Why is The Band so brilliant? Tell me now. Especially Whispering Pines :(

A lot of things have happened since I last wrote on here, I suppose. Not too much of note except for the things I will so elegantly describe. 

The hair of mine head hath been re-moved.

Hold up, Shakespeare, not ALL of it! But last-last Sunday (11 days ago or something... I can't count backwards), I busted into Suki's and got my locks chopped off into a sort of bob. Well, it's a 100% bob but I can't really bring myself to say it. Anyway, I think it looks kinda cool and it also removes a lot of very hateful summer insulation. 

I have a freakin bike.

Though David did build me a rather lovely, light-blue Miele road bike, it was far too big for my short little legs. Clearance was negative. So on the same day that I cut my hair, I got a second-hand Shogun from Sports Junkies. This, after weeks of searching on Craigslist, and in bike stores. So we fixed it up (by this I mean David did things and I tried to help, usually being scorned). (Whatevs, it got done in a week). Now we're waiting for new tires to come in. They had to be ordered from afar because no one in Vancouver sells Continental Ultra Gatoskins in 26 1/4. I know this because I called every bike store in Vancouver that Google provided me with :o I took my bike out for a test ride today for about half an hour. Everything was fine except I had and have no idea how friction shifting actually works. So because I sort of arbitrarily moved one of the levers, my bike wouldn't stop shifting gears at random for the entire ride. What...... David will teach me the true ways tomorrow, I hope. 

I am so tired! My head hurts! I'm covered in small wounds!

Ok, the wounds are from being outside a lot last weekend, helping at the Longest Day and the Harry Jerome. At the Longest Day, I got like 15 mosquito bites on my feet and legs. Wahhh! Then the Harry Jerome was all about moving equipment, so obviously I got harmed by hurdles, and one of those massive blocks with the lane number on it gave me a dagger-like splinter. Then I whacked my knee on my bike today, which was bloody. Then I knicked myself not once but twice in the shower... So I'm kind of a mess right now. I probably look like I've been hittin up through the legs. It's time to sleep now. Work today was very slow and therefore I was dyyyying for the last few hours. Also, I've been staying up too late and getting up nice and early, so I'm just kind of generally exhausted. I can't do the 6 hour sleep dealio in the summer! What is this! Therefore, I propose going to sleep before midnight. Fo serious! 

Goodnight.

PS. Picking up my mug from Crankpots tomorrow for Father's Day!! Yeahyeah.

Lucked out

You know the kind of middle-aged Asian lady with overly-defined (possibly blue) eyebrows? Often with short and perfectly styled hair? They are the worst complainers at work and all of them have blended into one face. I want to tell them to just suck it up, if you wait an hour, YOU ARE LUCKY!!! I think around the 20 minute mark, she came up to me and asked if Henry was working. I found this confusing. I asked what she meant by this. She asked if he was working, as in, was he seeing patients. ESL communication issues are old hat but irritating to me, and this, coupled with her half-lidded and severe gaze, was not welcome. Somewhat bewildered, I said that yes, he is working and he is seeing patients right now. When she drifted away, I realized that she was actually skeptical whether Henry was just chilling back there and intentionally avoiding his patients! She came back somewhat frequently to confirm whether Henry was or was not working. And reiterated the common complainer statements - how long she had been waiting, what time her appointment was, how this was ridiculous, etc. No mention of a parking meter but that's one of 'em, too. She had to reeeeally get this straight - he was with ONE patient for a whole hour???! No, no, Asian lady. No, no. He was seeing many patients. She also wanted to know why sooo many people were going in ahead of her when she came in early! Well, most of them were seeing the other doctor, and also, we call people in order of their booked times. Not first-come first-served. Duh. She just stood there looking at me with the most hateful expression. I tried to go back to my address-inputting duties, but her gaze was too evil to ignore. She finally sat down. I noticed that she and her elderly woman-friend were getting up, and then Angie called them. Asian lady was all, "We waited so long for this appointment, we were going to leave!" Angie, the surprisingly curt gal that she is, asked them if they did in fact want to walk out of the office or see the doctor. Ha. They decided they wanted to see the doctor.

One amazing thing that happened today came in the form of a call-de-phone. Annie had told me about a realtor she had seen on signs around Vancouver by the name of Spice Lucks. Amazing. What kind of parent balances the already-embarrassing last name of Lucks with the name Spice?? Is it even her real name? What does she look like? Annie theorized a second generation Asian woman, the kind that had the misfortune of being named something 'cool' by a parent that did not really grasp the nuances of the language. That was Friday. Then today, at work. I got a call. Caller ID: Spice Lucks. OH WHAT!! My brain leapt out of my head. I put it back in. She was very nice, and I helped her out, but it was hard to focus. She had 0 accent, and I sort of visualized her as one of those mega-blond, mega-rich, unnervingly youthful middle-aged private school moms who have no real job. I looked her up on Google. Basically, my guesses were corroborated in the form of http://www.spicelucks.tv/

She has a job, yes, but she is also older, blond, and somewhat unsettling.

Shoes

Officially summer? Maybe it's a high of 18˚ but it is time to break out the summer wear. Retail therapy is not a myth!!!!!!

Soulful Days

No, this isn't really a soulful post. But I'm listening to a jazz piece by the above name on CBC Radio 2. If you're not a fan, become one. 

Work today was surprisingly uneventful. It would have been a good first day on the job since all the charts were there, and people weren't too crazy. Yeah, Henry ran around an hour and a half behind, but not one person complained to me. C'était un miracle! Even when a couple had been waiting 45 minutes, and I said it would be another 45, they were just kind of like, Ok...

The only prollo I have is that people keep dumping these day sheets on me and tell me to move all the appointments on there because Henry can't make it anymore. Surgery or something. Why this is mad hard for me:

1. I have no access to the phone while Kitty is answering the never-ending flood of calls. And if I did, I would never be able to dial out because the phone is always ringing. Always.
2. Henry's schedule is booked solidly til July. Sorry, prenatal mamas, you're going to be double-booked (to Henry's chagrin) and probably spend the rest of your life in the waiting room. And you, you non-urgent cases, yes, your appointment this week has been moved to a month later. Oh well! It's painful to find slots EVER, and I also just feel bad about screwing people over.
3. 99% of his patients are ESL or ENL. As in 'never.' And so I can't even communicate that their appointment is being moved. It's kind of a big deal.

In other news, today is warm and sunny! Perfect. It's 8:00 pm and so now I plan to have a post-run shower, then do some knitting on my now-enjoyable sweater while talking to Carmen about my ridiculous breakup, then settle down with some tea to Anna Karenina. 

Lyrics du jour:

Chorus:

Herman the worm, all his hearts were broken

But he never gave up on love

Herman the worm, all his hearts were broken

But he never gave up on love

Now Herman, that sad soul. Had lead tragic life

His father, was fish bait, the early bird got his wife

His grandma wasn't very sly, she ended up in apple pie

Well, Herman, was squirmin', away back to his hole

His girlfriend, named Sally, had left him all alone

She turned into a butterfly, and flew away up into the sky

Now Herman, he found him another love so strong

They wiggled in the green grass, 'till a lawnmower came along,

The couple never had a clue, that breaking up is hard to do!

My life is like a party

It's Tuesday, after the Victoria Day long weekend. With Ottawa, I basically had a 5-day weekend (shazzam!) and so I went to work today fairly relaxed and optimistic. The buses didn't take forever, and I strolled in on time. Then I looked into the system and saw that only Henry had patients today, except for a couple of the random doctor's patients at the end of the day. So I was like, score, easy day. But things turned ugly. Allow me to complain.

Moving appointments

So he's booked like crazy (I have experienced quadruple-booked) and then oh hey guess what, I'm told we have to moved a bunch of patients to different times because he has to do a C-section. (Random - why Caesarean section? How is this related to Caesar? Did he come up with the idea of ripping fetuses from the womb?) Anyway, Henry is the only boi-o in the office who can deal with Chinese-speaking patients, so naturally dealing with his patients is not really a walk in the park. On the phone, I get a lot of "Wai... wai... WAI.... WAI?!?!?" Which apparently means "hello" because they have no idea what I'm saying. But I thought they were saying "why" so I would just keep explaining, baffled. And then realize we were not speaking the same language. So today, I had to move all these people, some of them urgent, some of them not. The urgent ones I think worked out, but there were a couple I had to move a MONTH later. They were just like, let's-talk-about-birth-control type appointments, but I would be super annoyed if I were those patients. Luckily those ones I only could leave a message. Bahaha.

Assertive patients

It's really an oxymoron. Why can't they just sit there quietly? Okay, that's harsh, considering Henry is consistently late, at least by half an hour. And today, around 4 pm, people were backed up two hours. And it's cruel to make a pregnant woman, or a woman with a hyperactive bladder, or an 87-year old relic of a woman, wait that long for maybe a 10-15 minute appointment. And most of the time when I walk through the hall, I just see the patients chilling there, waiting yet again to see the doctor. What grates my ragged nerves is those people, the patients themselves or the accompanying progeny or husband, take out their frustrations on the staff. Not even me, necessarily. But when I see them getting mad at people who have absolutely no control over how fast the doctor gets through patients... ohhhh boyyyy... you done now, son. Today there was a man who came in with his wife - he looked very Captain Li Shang-ish (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Shang) who got really exasperated after waiting an hour, and you can't blame him. But then he found out if would be at least another hour... which really got him riled. He just sort of hung around my desk, puffing his roided-up chest out. He would either a) explain why our system was flawed and how we should have the service of a busy restaurant, or b) loudly complain to or provoke the other patients, in an act reminiscent of young Hitler and the Beer Hall Putsch. Angie dealt with him by taking on the conspirator's role (which she knows and loves) and would look up at him through her glasses, all, "The doctor is sooo slow... he needs to really hurry up!" But I felt repulsed by this man, and could only muster something like, "I understand, but he has a lot of patients. And the staff have to wait just as long as you do." Eventually he and his apparently mute wife left to get dinner, but I went home before they came back.

I can't complain anymore.

2 things:

1. I was just looking through my old LJ from grades 10-11. I was both incredibly smart and hilarious. What happened :(

2. Dr. Zhivago took a back seat in my literary phaeton. Anna Karenina, or I guess Leo Tolstoy, is so much more fascinating. Somehow he manages to be a lot more captivating, and things happen in what feels like real time. None of this 200-pages-on-a-train business. 

Cast on

Duotone cardigan, take two.

So I kind of explained my frustrations with knitting with more than one ball of yarn. Trying to juggle 5 rolly-polly (olly) balls and all the complicated tangling of string actually made me hate knitting that sweater. So I hit up Urban Yarns today, which happened to be having a megggga sale. I talked to one of their ever-friendly and helpful staff and I picked out 11 balls of dark blue yarn. "Gedifra Living" in dye lot 17. Normally these little 50g fellows are $9.95 each (OW) but I got them for OHWHAT 60% OFF!!! So all 11 came to about $47. I win. I feel so lucky that I got such a good deal, but also that they even had enough yarn in the first place. There were a lot of dark blues that were sadly the only skein left. Poor things. 

Tonight: Cast on 136 sts. 

Tomorrow: The world.

Auto-wahh??!

Allo. Fluuuuue back in from Ottawa today. I had to wake up at 4:45 am Ottawa time, or 1:45 am Vancouver time. I'm not sure which time zone I was/am in, but it was painful either way. I slept for most of it, but the man next to me was apparently kind of odd, so say maternal sources. I watched most of To Kill a Mockingbird when I finally came to. Gregory Peck is dashing with or without lawyer spectacles. I'm a little glad I couldn't finish it because the sad ending would have been TMTH (yeah, I just abbreviated that) at 10 am Vancouver time.

Some cool things that happened include:

- Meeting and talking with Michaëlle Jean. She is amazing.

- Walking across the bridge into Quebec, and seeing the Museum of Civilization

- Being a ballaaa in my own hotel room

Anyhow, in this bleary post-flight stupor, I want to...

Bust (a move, man) out Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain

Why? CUZZZ I spent a good part of my life looking through it at Chapters, Ottawa version, yesterday. Motivation: To make cool art for the apartment next year. Skills required: Being better at drawing. And we already have a copy, it's just not the "NEW" version. Time to unearth this gem from the annals (hee!)

Buy a bunch of yarn

Okay, so other knitting blog has been dormant, for a couple reasons. I took up the sweater again since coming home for the summer, but knitting with 5 balls of yarn at a time just makes me angry with humanity. And that little hate-o-meter is already set on high after coming back from 8 hours of receptionist duties. So I want to just make it one colour. And since I'm earning money/rollin' in the cash money flow, I can afford such things. It would mean a sweater knitted with less seething anger, and would be completed at a rate faster than 1 row per 15 minutes. Urban Yarns. Hit it up.

Go for a run

Okay here's the issue, or ischii: 

1. I'm lazy

2. I'm especially lazy when there aren't GOOD places to run. And I'm not all that demanding. All I want is some kind of trail or path that is reasonably long, is away from cars, houses, and non-running people, has a degree of sensory interest, and preferably loops back on itself. There are two places that are perfect for this in Vancouver: Pacific Spirit Park and Stanley Park. So why not run there? Can't do the forest because of the recent kill factor, and Stanley Park is somewhere I would have to drive annoyingly long times for. I guess I could suck it up but I'm not a very good driver.

As of now, there is no clear solution. 

Running around Quilchena is acceptable, but the thing is running back up the crazy hill with everyone staring at you. I don't want to be watched when I'm in that state!!!

Inspirational lyrics:

HIT ME!

Going, going, gone

Now I dialed 911 a long time ago

Don't you see how late they reactin'?

They only come and they come when they wanna
So get the morgue truck and embalm the goner
They don't care 'cause they stay paid anyway
They teach ya like an ace they can't be betrayed
I know you stumble with no use people
If your life is on the line they you're dead today
Late comings with the late comin' stretcher
That's a body bag in disguise y'all I'll betcha
I call 'em body snatchers quick they come to fetch ya?
With an autopsy ambulance just to dissect ya
They are the kings 'cause they swing amputation
Lose your arms, your legs to them it's compilation
I can prove it to you watch the rotation
It all adds up to a funky situation
So get up get, get get down
911 is a joke in yo town
Get up, get, get, get down
Late 911 wears the late crown