these are not my walls

Today was my first real day at work, and I learned many important things. Like, apparently there is a St@rbucks in Sudbury! Must Find It!!

I also picked up my 5 boxes at the post office. They are now sitting in my apartment, unopened, because after lugging them up my damn stairs I no longer have the energy to deal with them.

I appear to have wrenched my right shoulder in some painful, debilitating way. It's ouchie. Pain sucks.

I'm currently sitting in Starbucks at the Toronto Eaton Centre, making maximum use of the 24-hour window of wireless internet access I bought. I'm meeting some online friends for lunch in a couple of hours, then bussing back to the exciting world of Sudbury. :)

The hostel I stayed in last night cost about 1/10 of the hotel the government put me up in, and it was actually quieter and I got better sleep. And this morning I saw a little old German man rushing down the hallway in just his underwear - you just don't get that kind of entertainment at the fancy places!

Unofficial grades are up and I appear to have passed everything. Except for one class that's noted as deferred - but I swear, I wrote that exam! I emailed the school, but there's not much I can do from here - it sucks being out of the gossip loop, man!

Point of information: I am not the only clerk with a facial piercing. There is also a clerk with a nose ring, and a male clerk with a hoop in an upper ear piercing. Apparently nose ring girl changed from a hoop to her more sedate - yet sparkly - stud in deference to the courts. That's sweet. :)

This morning I made it to training (at Osgoode Hall) a little early because I'd been afraid I'd get lost, so I left lots of time. I'm the only person in the program from the West Coast, and I'm also the only one who showed up with a backpack (MEC) and my own coffee (St@rbucks). I don't know why I didn't just wear my sandals to complete the image.

People keep being VERY impressed that I'm the only clerk up north. It's starting to make me nervous...

We all got taken out to dinner at Brant House, which was DELICIOUS and almost made up for that whole having to bus thing. Almost.

Tomorrow: new suit, same backpack. No more internet access until I get back to Sudbury, and even then I'm not sure...

Aaaaaaaaaaaand I'm in Toronto!

I took the bus down yesterday - 5 hour "express" with a 20 minute lunch stopover at the McDonalds in Parry Sound. Mmmmmmm! Last night I met a friend from law school for dinner with a couple of friends of hers and we laughed ourselves silly for 3 hours. It was good times. :)

Belated jet lag seems to have caught up with me, and the result is that I'm not sleeping and have become sick. I have a massive cold sore (waaaaaaaay bigger than Tyson's!) and bright red eyes and basically look like some kind of diseased drug addict. A well-fed diseased drug addict. Just the look I was going for to start clerking training!

The Ministry's putting me up at the Sheraton, which would be nicer if they didn't charge me for practically everything I do! Local calls are $2.00. Seriously.

I have some pictures!

Okay, if you want to see pictures from my Mom and my trip to see the Big Nickel, go here!

I am in Sudbury.

I actually flew in on Friday, and *gasp* drove myself downtown to the B&B! I only got lost, like, 5 or 6 times...in my defence, all I had was mapquest directions because I couldn't find a map in either the Toronto or Sudbury airports. Nor had I been able to find one in Victoria, go figure. Also, Sudbury streets are weird - they change names at odd times (seriously, Kingsway becomes Lloyd which becomes Elm, all within about 5 blocks), and if you're in the left lane you can suddenly find yourself in a left-turn-only lane with little to no warning.

ANYWAYS, my Mom also came to Sudbury this weekend, which was very nice, because she did all the driving. :) We picked up some stuff, saw The Big Nickel, and got massages. It was all good.

I have pictures coming, I just wanted to update.

Yesterday I was at a grocery store that I don't usually shop at, and I informed the cashier that I didn't need a plastic bag because I had my backpack. She nodded at me sagely and said "Oh, you're biking." Eh?

I mean, I realise that chances are that if you're biking, you don't want plastic bags that you have to hold while you're biking. This doesn't mean the reverse is necessarily true, and I normally see way more people walking to the grocery store (with backpacks) than biking. Now I'm curious whether this cashier made that assumption just based on her own life experience, or if this grocery store for some reason attracts a lot of cyclists. Like, it's a destination grocery store, so people come from miles around - clearly too far to walk, so they have to bike. Interesting.

In other news, I'm leaving in 38 hours. I've mailed off 5 boxes to Sudbury (one of which contains my precious precious espresso machine), donated 3 garbage bags of clothes to a local second hand store, and donated 1 1/2 suitcases full of paperback books to the library. So why does our condo STILL feel overcrowded???

You know what's magically delicious? Fig and anise bread from Terra Breads.

Last Wednesday, when I was busing to the ferry in Vancouver, there was an accident on the bridge that the bus takes, so it took 40 minutes longer than it should have to get to the transfer point, which meant I missed the ferry I was aiming for and had to sit at the ferry terminal for 50 minutes waiting for the next ferry. Wheeeee!

The thing about the Vancouver ferry terminal is that there is nothing in it except for a couple of vending machines (even the Victoria terminal has a coffee shop, fercrissakes!) Lucky for me I had the aforementioned magically delicious bread with me (I had previously picked it up at Granville Island, so I did not starve.

Good LORD it has been a long time since I posted here!

The quick news update: I am done law school. Well, assuming I passed all my exams - I had my last law school exam on August 1st, which was almost immediately followed by an hour and 20 minute bus ride to Sooke - do we know how to celebrate or what?

Actually, my mom took us (me, Alex, my sister, her kids, and my brother Tyson) to Sooke Harbour House for dinner to celebrate - very, very yummy!

Then we spent the remainder of the week in Sooke, except for trips back to Vancouver for Alex to go to work and be in Atomic Vaudeville. Then I went to Vancouver for basically 24 hours, and then came back to Victoria to pack and sort.

I move to Sudbury on August 18th. I am alternately excited and nauseous about the prospect, which I think is perfectly understandable. ;)