Wednesday, August 31, 2005

G-town lovin'

My little G-town adventure and I are in the midst of a little love-in, and I felt the need to tout a few of the good things of my small town journey...
  1. The stars - I can actually see them, which is certainly a welcome change.
  2. Water - It's such a shock to be driving along, and suddenly see huge expanses of water. Despite the constant, armpit-ish feeling of the humidity, I love being on the lake, and the view of the harbour out my window is pretty incredible.
  3. New cars/Singing at the top of my lungs in the car - When I lived at home, my car was my refuge. I took long drives to decompress; I took long drives to think; I took long drives for the heck of it. I knew that I missed driving when I was in Edmonton, but I didn't realize quite how much I missed it until I picked up the habit again.
  4. The deer family who lives in my yard - 'nuff said.
  5. The people - I have been lucky enough to be adopted into a group of people my age (who very well could be the *only* people around here my age), and I've been having a blast going on road trips, crashing Stag'n'Does (don't ask!), and occupying the patio of the only bar in town (literally).
  6. Weekend road trips - one of the major advantages of being here in G-town with a car is that fact that pretty much any weekend destination is no more than three hours away. Also of advantage is the fact that Pearson, and all of it's supremely cheap airfares, is so close at hand.
  7. Radio - I'm not quite sure why, but I've been listening to a lot more radio here than I have in years. In all likelihood, it's a result of #3 and also the preference of the drivers that I spent most of my time zooming around Edmonton with. I will note, however, that there is a surprising amount of Nirvana still played on the radio here...I feel, at times, like I'm back in high school.
  8. Not sitting at a desk all day - I was beginning to have my doubts in Edmonton as to whether CubicleLife was for me. Not only has my work turned out to be extremely rewarding, but I've been having a great time doing it.
  9. Reading before bed - For the first time in 15 or so years, I don't have a TV in my bedroom. This has caused me to pick up a habit of my childhood...reading each night before I go to sleep. I'm seriously considering throwing out my bedroom TV when I get back home.
  10. Freedom - what started out as an rather unexpected and unwelcome "temporary relocation" has turned into quite the life-changing event. Perspectives have changed, career paths have changed, goals have changed. It's all been a bit traumatic, but it couldn't have turned out any better.
Yep. Happy hump day, all!

Liberated at 11:13 p.m.

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Sunday, August 28, 2005

Spider Slalom!

Random notes from the weekend:
  • I got myself a brand new, 2006 version of the 2005 that I had been driving. Mmm...new car smell.
  • I almost ran over a peacock as I put kilometre #327 on my new car. Seriously. There was a peacock strutting down the middle of the highway. Apparently there's some sort of private zoo in the area, but I haven't found it yet.
  • There were 17 spiders in the staircase to my apartment yesterday. Those of you who know me well should be surprised that I have not yet slept in my car to avoid the spider slalom.
  • I almost died on 8 Mile Road. Yep.
  • I downloaded exactly 123 new songs on my iTunes. I decided my iTunes needed an overhaul, and got rid of a decent chunk of my list. Almost every song I have has a memory attached to it, and it was certainly time to clean house. Song suggestions are being accepted, by the way...and thanks to those of you who have sent me your iTunes list!
  • I finally (finally!!!) get the evil monkey thing. Yay me!
  • Tuesday night determines my career path. Good thoughts are appreciated...please and thank you.

Liberated at 6:21 p.m.

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Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Despite my intense hatred of planes...

...it looks like I'll be making a cross-Atlantic journey to London in the next month or so.

My only other London experience (either than the Ontario kind) was two days a *very* long time ago, so I'm looking to my sparse world-traveling readership for advice... My main concern is finding a cheap hotel or hostel, and after that I'll be looking for suggestions on the must-see's.

So? Email me at uncharted@gmail.com, will ya?

Please and thank you.

Love,
--the amazing disappearing uncharted

Liberated at 5:44 a.m.

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Tuesday, August 16, 2005

My friends must really love me.

I received this text message tonight:

[uncharted's last name]! You struggle. Even your mail box is full. Phone me, sucka. OX - me.

In my defence, my blackberry has a pitifully low voicemail capacity and my voicemail filled up in the single hour that I was busy becoming a meringue master.

*sniffle*

Now please excuse me while I go RAID the spider that is slowly making his way across my living room floor.

Liberated at 8:04 p.m.

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Monday, August 15, 2005

An open letter to Michiganians
(Michiganites? Michiganers?)


Dearest Michiganians,

Thank you for warmly welcoming our caravan of rowdy Canadians into your fine state this past weekend. Either than the few times in which we feared for our lives, we had an excellent time enjoying the Wolverine State.

Upon returning home to crime-less, character-less G-town, a few key questions stick out in my mind that I am unable to answer by my usual means (Google and whining profusely):


1. Does your road kill clean-up crew take significant holiday time during the summer months? While there is no fonder memory than being greeted as soon as you cross into Michigan with a rotting, maggoty deer carcass on the side of the road...I'm sure that there are other, more sanitary greeting methods that you could focus on. I have never in my life seen such an abundance of putrefying, half-liquid remains in one place. I realize that road kill is an inevitable fact of highway driving, but every single other jurisdiction I've driven through manages to clean it up on a regular basis. So...yeah. What's the story here?


2. Why must all of your public washrooms make visitors fear for their lives? Tourists to your fine state should not have to go to the washroom in groups, muttering prayers (or non-religious equivalents) under their breath. And please don't tell me that I must have just hit a bad washroom or two...my small bladder and I toured washrooms across the state, each one progressively worst than the last. On that note, you should mention in your tourist literature that it is helpful - even recommended - that each group of visitors have at least one burly, muscular bodyguard appointee. Luckily, I was covered on that front and made it back onto Canadian soil in one piece.


3. Is there a particular reason that you choose to patch your roads in such an over-enthusiastic manner? Potholes are one thing, but constructing small mountains in the former crevices only succeeds in worsening the problem. For future reference, roads should actually be flat. It leaves quite the mark when one is driving at the apparently common speed of 152 km and hits several of these small mountains in a row. The top of my head hurts, and I remain quite sure that there is a dent in my roof.


4. Do you employ practical jokers to get a laugh out of the tourists on weekends? I appreciate a good story as much as the next person, but I have to wonder...was the creepy looking guy standing below the sign in the middle of nowhere that read "DO NOT PICK UP HITCHHIKERS - YOU ARE IN A PRISON AREA" for real? Was he *actually* a newly-broken-out-of-jail hitchhiker? Or were you just trying to get a rise out of the tourists? I was curious...but not curious enough to stop and find out, mind you.

In closing, thank you for your hospitality, lack of speed-limit enforcement, and cheese curds. It was a pleasure.

Sincerely,
uncharted


Liberated at 9:06 a.m.

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Friday, August 12, 2005

The three-week update...

Well, I've survived three weeks here in G-town...and it occurs to me that many of you are not even sure if I'm still alive. The basic reason for this would be that, just this week, I finally managed to secure myself reliable internet connections...welcome to small-town living, I suppose. Anyway, now that I'm back spending time with my precious internet, I'm feeling much better.

G-Town is treating me fairly well, although resident insects have taken the welcoming process a bit too far. I am greatly enjoying having wheels again, but the amount of time that I'm spending in the car is pretty ridiculous. The apartment has shaped up quite nicely, barring a horribly scarring moth invasion (that's for another post), and everything there has come together better than expected. Work, especially, is going extremely well for me...it's nice to be dropped into a new place and be able to be so successful, so quickly in your work.

One of the biggest advantages to being here are the weekends, which generally involve groups of young-ish people jumping into cars for various roadtrips. In the few weekends that I've been here, I've managed to hit up London (twice), Kitchener-Waterloo and then once back to Edmonton. Tomorrow is Michigan, and the weekend after that is Toronto...other suggestions are certainly welcome.

Small town life is a bit stifling, but I seem to be adjusting well. The initial culture shock of the first week that prompted a last minute Edmonton visit has subsided, and I am slowly managing to find the almost non-exsistent under-60 population in the area. My major beef is the constant requirement to be on display...everywhere I go, I must make sure to drive the speed limit (in town only, of course), keep from cutting anyone off, and be polite to the point of being syrupy. Being that [company]-girl certainly keeps me on my best behaviour. It's good for me, I suppose...

Work is unscheduled and constantly changing at best, but other schedules remain. I've been hitting up the gym everyday (yes, really) and have been forced into taking Latin dance classes...which are fun, but somehow not quite right; I can't put my finger on it.

So far, so good...

Liberated at 9:40 a.m.

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Thursday, August 11, 2005

I'm glad I remembered my passport...

The weekly pilgrimmage to civilization heads across the border this weekend! We expect to come back broke and completely exhausted after far too many hours of driving. Although I hear the duty-free place at the border-crossing has ridiculously cheap booze...hopefully I'll have money left for the drive home...

And I will actually start posting again on a regular basis. Soon. Yeah, that's it...soon.

Liberated at 12:17 p.m.

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Sunday, August 07, 2005

uncharted is an auntie!




I am pleased to introduce Lauren Grace, born on August 4, to whatever readership I may have left. Boy, do I feel old...

Liberated at 10:15 a.m.

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This blog originates in Edmonton, in the wasteland that is Alberta, in the Great White North.

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