Red Cedar
More apocalypse, less angst
self-restoration – 2 forward, 1 back
huh – it’s not everyday you get a phone call from csis (and that’s all i’m saying about that one – it’s not nearly as interesting as it sounds, but all will be revealed in good time).
for the past two days i have had visitors keep me up a little past my bedtime each night, which although leaving me a tad tired, i am not complaining about. my friend megan brought her friend andy to see some of the sunshine coast this week, and it was great to have my first official “guests” since moving into my place and actually getting all the boxes out of the spare bedroom. they made me dinner last night, which marks the first time i have come home from work to a ready-dinner in, well, i don’t know – years. wow. how nice (mashed potatoes and gravy and fried tofu and salad…. mmmm).
i can’t really find the right metaphor to express how densely-packed my life is at the moment…. between work, union, socializing, trying to book holidays, and working on my own personal goals like learning how to play the guitar…. the days just keep slipping by and i feel like i’m not getting nearly the output i need on each aspect, or the downtime i need to stay healthy. i’m not feeling bad at the moment, mildly tired is all, but i also know that too much working+funning is a recipe for burnout and i have grown accustomed to a certain amount of hermit-time that does wonders for my self-restoration. this is the part i have to find again, the alone-time part (even if that means getting up 1/2 hour early to do qi gong, or abstaining from weekend parties to get that body-time i need).
this past weekend was fairly good, mostly just stuck close to home, went to visit a friend on gambier and got a bunch more house chores finished up – but now i’m back in the thick of things and going to victoria this weekend to see family, go to a party, and visit a friend in prison before going home. i’m not even sure i will make it home sunday and may start begging for a place to crash in the city sunday-night instead if only because next week is looking deadly in terms of schedule and it might just be easier to stay in the city sunday and monday as well. dammit, at this rate i’m never going home (and i have already agreed to work overtime tomorrow, monday and wednesday if need be).
but really, this is temporary and i know it, just a confluence of projects and grievance-cases and events coming together at the same crossroad. july will not be nearly so busy, august should be okay (though am travelling for a union convention), but september is already booked from end to end. as long as i get enough weekends on the coast, i’ll be just fine. quiet time, body-time, reflection space – yes, that’s a little of what i need. maybe then i can make some posts of substance again.
three afternoon appointments
a business planning meeting, a grievance hearing and a dentist appointment (filling) – how did i manage to arrange such a lineup for a single afternoon?
i am back in the office after three days off, and although i did manage to catch up on my sleep over the weekend, a visit last night from megan and a friend of hers kinda threw me off – i just wanted to stay up and drink beers…. bad me. and so, here i am, feeling pretty okay and just wanting to get through the next few hours until the hearing (once that is out of the way i can breathe a bit easier). the next couple of weeks is incredibly busy with stuff as usual (union meetings, work, going to victoria, maybe a flying folk rehearsal, and of course – my housewarming). i am trying to schedule 2 days of working from home over the next couple of weeks in order that i might actually have some unbroken time to work out a large project schedule. i just can’t seem to get it done in the office with all the phone calls and emails and union demands – i’m hoping that if i can hide myself away periodically i can make some headway on the information-schematic to get started with.
i’m a bit overwhelmed with working at the moment – not necessarily in a bad place with it – but realizing the amount of work i need to get completed this summer while also having holidays and doing the union biz – and feeling a little tension grow inside me as a result. i think if i can just get a couple major things accomplished this will feel a whole lot better. an afternoon coffee might help as well.
more tricklehouse
have managed to get quite a bit more done today around my house including the guest room and replanting stuff on the deck. because it was sunny, i was able to get the outdoor shots i couldn’t do yesterday and have posted them along with the interior shots at my photo gallery (linked in the post below).
photographs of my house
i posted photos of the inside of my house today at the red cedar photo gallery. because of the weather i can’t get good outside shots at the moment, so for now, i have posted pictures of the major rooms that i have finished working on for those of you who have been pestering me to see them.
a new instrument
yesterday after work i went to tom lee and purchased myself a nice little acoustic guitar made by seagull in quebec. solid top, nice finish, decent sound…..
i forgot that every new instrument requires a new round of small muscle development- just fooling around for 20 minutes last night my arms got tired. at least i am starting from a place of understanding music and how it goes together (i bought a beginners book that includes lessons for those who have no grounding in music whatsoever… that seems way more impossible to me….. like having to learn how to string and tune an instrument for the first time? frustrating enough to dissuade you from learning how to play at all.)
so yeah, the summer projects have started. this should take my mind off work and union responsibilities during my off-time. that’s just what i need – new things to absorb my ever-active brain. (cause i just can’t turn it off, i can only divert it to more interesting things).
Red Cedar 