Making It Up As I Go Along #295

MONDAY...
— Somewhat lazy start to the day... in on evening shift for today, due to the late return from Toronto yesterday.
— Work’s okay. In with Steve, Dave and Frankie. I take off an hour early to try to get home and to bed before it’s too late. Back to day shift tomorrow.

TUESDAY...
— Wake to rain... look out the window to see sloppy snow on the cars. It may be a touch slick... but ends up not too bad.
— Work is fine. Some training of Jen and some AFIS work.
— Groceries and some organizing of stuff when I get home. Some TV to end the night.

WEDNESDAY...
— Snow in the morning is a pain. 45 minutes driving to work due to snow plows and stupid people.
— Snow stops but it’s still pretty slow going in the afternoon. I do some table shopping... get a folding one at Home Depot... and bring it home to find a crack in the top. Blah! So back I go to switch up.

THURSDAY...
— Snow day. But a bad one because we still work. So it’s 45 minutes to get in... and another 45 to get home. Probably 15 cm of snow falls through the day.

FRIDAY...
— Work is alright... still takes a while to get in with the winter driving...even though the roads are fine today.
— Poker night. The game is a bit messy and we end up just playing two games at once rather than join them up as people get knocked out. That’s too bad. Hopefully people still enjoy themselves... it was a pretty fun night even with the mess. Steve and Bruce are the two winners.

SATURDAY...
— Lazy day around the house. I actually haven’t had one of those days in a while... and by late afternoon, I’m starting to feel like it’s possible that the cold everyone at work has been getting, is hitting me.

Traveling with Wagons
There are aspects to traveling that I really like... and other aspects that drive me nuts. Recently, I went to Toronto for Sam’s wedding, and the good and bad both presented themselves to me throughout.

On the bad side, I have come more and more to hate the wait. Waiting to travel is such a boring and unsettling thing all at once. My worst part of going home for holidays is now the wait in an airport. You line up in order to sit and wait... then line up again only to sit and wait some more.

It used to be that you had to line up in order to check in. You’d give them your bags and get your boarding pass. Then Ottawa got the kiosks where you can get your own boarding pass. You’d print it off and then walk past the line of people waiting. You’d be in a small line of people who’d just toss their bag to an employee at a counter and then you’re on your way to security.

Now, the line to check your bag is as long as the boarding pass line used to be. The self help kiosk no longer does anything to speed up your process. Yes, you still use it to get your pass... but then you line up for forty minutes to hand over your bags.

And speaking of bags... be it travel by plane or by train... I have gotten to a point that I hate most people’s baggage. What I speak of is the blasted bags on wheels that travelers drag behind them. We’ve returned to our youth! Where once we ambled along streets with a wagon full of toys, we now amble through terminals with luggage full of clothes.

But in our youth, you’d be one or two kids walking along with all the space needed for your wagon. In an airport, or a train station, we have hundreds or thousands of people, each with a wagon in tow. And it seems that the handles allow the luggage to get further and further away from the owner. If you enter a walkway, say from buying some gum or a bottle of water, you have to wait twice as long to merge into the crowd. You let the person walk past... but then their baggage scurries well behind them. From wheel of bag to tip of toe, a traveler now probably measures a good five feet in horizontal length.

The result is a complete loss of personal space. I’m forever having to slow down my pace for a luggage dragging old lady that veers in front of me... oblivious to the fact that her bag is right next to me when she shifts over.

And bless their hearts... the parents have given children wheeled bags too! Eight year old kids yanking a pink piece of luggage along. For all intense purposes, we are literally telling our children to bring a wagon to the airport! It’s insane.

On this past trip, I was twice nearly run over by other passengers baggage. Going from the train to the station was a death match where only the most ruthless survived. The weak were trampled by Samsonite.

Another part of travel that irritates me is the constant rush to get nowhere. My train to Toronto was with assigned seats. Everyone getting on that train knew exactly what seat they were getting. Yet still, a half hour before the train was to be boarded, people began lining up.

And as the train pulled in to Union Station, a voice came over the speakers saying “remain seated until the train comes to a complete stop.” At least... that’s what I thought it said. Perhaps it’s code and I’m too new a train traveler to know any better. Because the second that announcement ended, people got up, pulled their bags out from the overhead bins, popped the handles, and began the wagon train line to the front of the car. For the last five minutes of that train ride, people were standing in the isle hoping to get to the front of the death match race.

But there are aspects of travel that fascinate me as well. I always aim for a window seat, be it day or night, on a plane or a train. I want to look out at the world as it goes by.

I remember, during my trip to Greece, there were tourists talking of the bus rides from place to place and how there was nothing they could do other than sleep. I couldn’t believe how much these people were missing. I sat glued to the window, watching as much of the countryside go by as I could. I’d examine the properties of the locals and imagine what daily life would be like there. And I remember staring at an old stone bridge for a path along the side of the road. And I wondered of all the history that bridge has seen.

The same goes for me in any method of travel. By plane, I’ve passed over many a town that I’ve never been to. I’ve viewed the cars coming and going and wondered what that day was bringing to the people down there. Who were going to visit family on the other side of town? Who were off to do a little shopping? And who were heading home from work?

I especially am drawn to the small communities in this way. When flying, you see how many road side communities there really are. Groups of a few hundred people living along the side of a road, with only a few side roads to push them out from the main street.

At night, you see less but it’s still all there. Lights give you pinpricks of life. The lights of cars, seen from 30,000 feet above. Or the lights of homes as a train pulls you through a sleepy little town.

From a train, you can see snapshots of strangers at night. On the way to and from Toronto, I looked out as we passed through small towns of a few thousand. And I could see into kitchen windows for a second as we passed. Seeing plates and pots on cupboards and pictures of flowers on the wall.

Just outside of Toronto, both on the way into the city and when we left, we passed by a fire in the brush. And I imagined homeless people gathered around, huddled for warmth and looking up at the lights in the windows of the passing world I was in. Two extremes of society, passing in the night.

A moment that sticks with me from this last trip occurred on the way back to Ottawa. I forget which town we were stopped in, but the train came to a complete stop right in the middle of the town. My window looked out at one of the residential streets. In fact, I was sitting in the middle of the street. The train came to a stop while crossing the street, so I was able to look the length of the road with the red lights flashing and the guardrail lowered to stop traffic from proceeding.

The homes on either side of the road were lite... but there was no movement outside. No cars, no people, it was a sleepy town on a Sunday night.

But then, up the road I see a movement. A person coming towards the train, swaying from side to side in the middle of the street. The closer the person got, the more clear the picture became. White bags in hand, a wool hat atop the head... and swaying back and forth, back and forth... rhythmically.

The person comes up to the train crossing and stands up straight... stopping the swaying... and pushes back his heal to slow down. He was a middle aged man, probably in his late forties or early fifties, and my train has interrupted his roller blade trip home from the grocery store. Both hands holding bags of groceries and the man standing on his roller blades, quietly shifting his weight from one skate to the other as he waited... no roller blader ever stands completely still.

Then the train lurched forward and the view from my window shifted from the light of the street, with the man on his blades... instantly, the darkness of night overtook the view and I was left to imagine what lay within and beyond those dark bushes... All the while that man continued to wait for the rest of my train to pass... me on my train, like a traveler pulling wagon-like baggage behind.

Buffalo vs. Ottawa, a good game watched on Thursday
CN Tower late Saturday night, on the way back from the wedding.
The view from Jim and Kristann's hotel. Beat my railway track view by a mile.


MONDAY...
— Holiday. Not doing too much. Around the house and spending time with Ruby and Lee. It’s nice.

TUESDAY...
— Work’s okay. I’m in QC for the first time in months and it goes alright.
— Some studying for the Friday interview and some time on the phone.

WEDNESDAY...
— Bowling day at work. I team up with Melissa, Megan and Mike. It’s fun enough.
— My interview is delayed. Won’t be Friday now... probably it’ll happen in a week or two. Never straight forward in our office, that’s for sure.

THURSDAY...
— Work’s tricky. First time I’ve done Partial Purges in about seven months. And the last time it was for a half an hour. Last full day of it was about two years ago!
— Off to the hockey game tonight. Go with Melissa and Nick and Nick’s friend. I was lucky to get the seat cause it was a good game... even though Buffalo lost to Ottawa 3-2.

FRIDAY...
— Work is fine but a bit tiring. Not much sleep last night due to the late night with the hockey game.
— Walk to the train station from work and head to Toronto for the weekend. Get in town around 9:00... to the hotel just before 9:30... and have a few phone calls with Jim and the parents before calling it a night.

SATURDAY...
— Meet up with Jim and Kristann in the morning. We do some walking around, shopping, lunch, and hanging out.
— Sam’s wedding in the evening. It’s good. Done in a restaurant on the 54th floor of a skyscrapper, overlooking downtown Toronto. Had the roof been off the Air Canada Centre, we could have watched the game. I continue my no-dance policy with some words from others for it.

SUNDAY...
— Long day. Up and find that my train ticket is gone. The receipt part is there but not the ticket back to Ottawa. So I go off to Union Station and talk to them and have to buy another ticket. Then it’s meeting Jim and Kristann... over to Sam’s place for brunch... and end the Toronto trip hanging out at Christie’s place eating, drinking, and watching football.
— Train to Ottawa is long and slow. A couple of delays gets us in Ottawa about Midnight. Twenty minutes walking to the car at work... ten minutes getting the frost off... and home.

No story this week. A long and busy weekend with things that need getting done on Monday make the story tricky. Pictures instead.

Making It Up As I Go Along #293

MONDAY...
— Craziness at work... I go in with a couple of slices of pizza for supper... put it in the fridge... and at supper time, I look and find one slice left. Who takes other people’s pizza?

TUESDAY...
— Crazy times at work. The day after someone steals a slice of my pizza, I go in today to hear that dozens of cars have tires punctured in the parking lot. Someone going around with a knife it seems.
— First snow for me to see this winter. Just a few minutes of it at shift change. I run in to Laura on my way to AFIS and she said “did you bring your snowmobile?” I didn’t know what she was talking about... ten minutes earlier, I walked in with no threat of snow. Nuts.
— Thai food for supper with Jon and Trevor tonight.

WEDNESDAY...
— Work is alright... nothing out of the ordinary really. It’s pretty cold though, hovering around zero today. I still do an hour a ten minute walk late... and come back pretty frosty.

THURSDAY...
— Work is fine... Ruby and Lee pop by the office in the evening to get my key to the house. I didn’t know they were coming tonight so it’s quite the surprise... but the weekend should be nice with them around.

FRIDAY...
— Lunch with Ruby and Lee. Some hanging around with them as well. Work is alright but a longish night.
— Lined up for my promotion interview... next Friday is the day.

SATURDAY...
— Some shopping with Ruby and Lee. Jan and Melissa come over with Melissa’s nephew and we have spaghetti for supper. Hockey and some movies in the night.


Surprise!
A week of surprises. Lots of things going on and popping up this week. It begins on Monday.

I bring in a couple of slices of pizza Monday for supper. Some of the good stuff from Louis’. I got a pizza there Sunday after doing some work.

Having a good supper waiting in the fridge is a nice thing. Too often, I go to work on evening shift and bring a crumby sandwich that I’d rather not eat. But not this time... this time, it’ll be a pleasure come six o’clock.

Six comes and so does a surprise. I open the fridge and take out my ziploc bag of pizza... and it looks smaller. I only see one slice. I flip the bag over in my hand a few times, trying to get the second slice to come out of hiding. Yes it’s a clear bag and it would be hard for one slice to disappear behind a second... but I’m desperate to find my pizza.

Alas, it is not there. Someone else came to the fridge, opened my ziploc, and took a slice of pizza. A high level of class is what it takes for this to occur. I picture James Bond on a top secret mission, pacing through a kitchen with much stealth, and his gun ready to fire. He stops, opens the fridge, and proceeds to grab an enemy spy’s pizza.

On Tuesday, another surprise awaits me. I come in and it’s cool outside, but nothing too bad. I discuss the pizza affair with Megan... we leave a sign for the thief on a bottle of mustard... and then I head in to AFIS to prepare for the day’s work.

On the way in, Laura is coming out... getting ready to head home for the day. “I hope you brought a snowmobile.” She says. I’m confused. I have no idea what she’s talking about. Until I get to the window.

In the fifteen minutes between my arrival and now, the heavens opened up and the ice it poured down.

It’s a very wet, icy snow. The concrete outside the lobby is coated in white and people scamper to get away to their cars, or into the sanctuary of the building. I stand in AFIS, stunned. Winter is here and I’m not prepared for it... not mentally anyway. It crushes my spirit.

Thursday comes with another shock. I’m working away in AFIS, it’s now dark outside so those people who come and go are mere shadows as they pass.

One of the shadows suddenly comes into focus as it raps on the window. I blink twice as I see the image of my uncle Lee.

Earlier in the week, I expect them to come. House guests for a few days in the middle of the week. But a few days ago, an e-mail tells me of their delay and I hear nothing more. I assume they’re bypassing Ottawa on their journey now.

But here they are, and house guests I will have after all.

The last surprise of the week comes on Friday. It’s sort of an expected surprise though. I get to work and check my e-mail, and there’s the message I’ve been looking for the last several weeks. My promotion interview is coming in a week. The messages glares up at me in my inbox, even before I open it. So when others will be gearing down next Friday, getting ready for the weekend, I’ve got to wind it up... slip on the tie... and sit under the hot lights of interrogation. Perhaps they’ll ask me about my pizza.

Making It Up As I Go Along #292

MONDAY...
— Reasonable day at work... training and working away. Lunch with Kiyomi, Michelle and Anne-Marie. My stomach is a bit touchy though today. I think the shawarma I had yesterday wasn’t all it could have been.
— Scraped frost from the car for the first time this fall/winter. A week ago it was 25 degrees, today it was -3 when I leave in the morning. It does warm to about 12 but still.

TUESDAY...
— Work is okay. Hang with Megan some at lunch and a break... with Kiyomi at the other break.
— Long walk tonight... and some hockey on the tube.

WEDNESDAY...
— Tired day to start... hard getting out of bed. But okay at work. Training Jenn still, this time in TC AFIS. A few visits with Laura... lunch with Megan... and after work, Janice and I go for a quick bite before going to the arena to watch Laura play hockey with the RCMP guys. It’s a fun time.

THURSDAY...
— Day starts rough as there’s a blackout and three sets of lights are out on the drive in. So the drive becomes twenty minutes longer.
— Work is fine. Lunch is lots of laughs with Megan, Kiyomi and Martin. A bit of TV and the internet end the day.

FRIDAY...
— Luncheon for Atlas today. So work gets a break that way. Watch Apocalypto on the movie network tonight.

SATURDAY...
— Quiet time around the house during the day. Some movies... laundry... a few phone calls.
— Out for the evening. Atlas and Karen pick me up, we meet Laura and Sheila and some others at a diner... go to a bar for a drink... then off to another bar for a show. Pretty fun night.


It’s Complicated
Well I’ve done some writing today. But it’s nothing I’m too keen to share. Sometimes, things don’t need to be an open book.

Now, things are complex. People guard privacy with such ravenousness that it’s like a trusted friend is a thief that needs to be watched suspiciously. But, at the same time, people share their minutest life details with such tools as blogs, Facebook and MySpace.

YouTube makes an ordinary thirty second segment of your life entertainment on a global scale.

One minute people feel as though they’re being stalked, the next minute they’re calling for all to see a private moment. I guess it’s all about control. Taking charge of what you share... and how much of it you give.

I’m torn on the matter myself. I don’t want to share everything. I don’t want to be under the illusion that anyone else would even care to see or hear what I’ve got to share. Yet, at the same time I write a blog and send out an e-mail.

I was once recently asked “where’s Sunday?” on my blog. I write a daily list, telling the things that stood out, but Sunday is usually absent.

There are times I include Sunday. If I’ve basically had an entire day go by before sending out my update, maybe I’ll include the reason for the delay. But what started as a simple exclusion has grown into a type of stand.

Sunday’s were originally excluded because the writing was done Sunday morning and nothing else had happened to that point in the day. But now, it’s more of a wall. I share every other day of the week... sharing mostly only what I wish to share but, in actuality, sharing most of my meaningful things all the same.

So Sundays have become mine alone. One day of the week that I can do what I want without feeling any need or desire to share it.

I don’t know the answer to it all. I don’t know if people should be more open or more private. Plenty of times I’ve seen people share more than I’ve ever wanted, or cared, to know. And, other times, people shoot up walls about such mundane things as their weekend activities.

I guess it’s proper judgement that I would like to see more of. A cell phone is a great device to keep in touch with friends and family who you can’t be near. But it can shut out those that are right there next to you while you use it. Frivolous text messaging when you’re not alone is like making fun of someone who’s standing right there. They can see it happen, they know it’s happening, but they’re being left out of the activity.

So today I did write something more than this. And it’s something that means more to me than the stuff I’m typing here. But not everything has to be thrown out there for all to see. And the complexity is... at the same time, I wish people did this more... and less... often.