Miles to go

Saturday, November 16, 2024

Rushing toward the end of the tunnel, maybe a light, more last times

#AtLeastThereIsCake #AndTea #InThoseCups #SoIt'sNotAllBadIGuess

The week started still kind of down on the work next steps stuff. And country stuff.

#YesCorrectHangInThere

#WillDo

Spent some quality time with books, naps, and Natsume's Book of Friends. Natsume is a comfort watch because it makes me want to give everyone more grace and hugs, and there is something compelling about the slow burn of disconnected beings trying to connect with one another in healthy, safe ways in a world that is not always kind but sometimes is.

Then on Tuesday, randomly, a potential position appeared. Nothing definite, very short on details, possibly impossible, but maybe. Sing it, Sara #ItFeelsLikeItMightBeHope

Then a visit from my parents. And Taylor Swift. Who was everywhere. And more working half the day during my vacation days. : (

#TaylorAtCasaLoma

I took them down the block for dinner the first night, and the next day was sunny, so we did transit and city and too much walking. We wandered around the P.A.T.H. and got some lunch and then wandered to Union Station and then the CN Tower with my Dad.

#ThereIsAGiantWhiteReindeerMadeOfLightsAndWickerBehindUs #IPromise

#IComeByMyInabilityToFigureOutWhereTheSelfieCameraIsBiologically #WhichYouCouldSeeIfIDidn'tBlurThis

A highlight was when we decided to check out an outdoor mall, and it was . . . suddenly charging admission for some Christmas thing. I didn't care about the Christmas thing; I just wanted to see if the hat place had anything my mom would like. I thought maybe the Christmas event was just for a special part of the area, so we wandered around to a back entrance and meandered our way to the hat place. And realized we sort of accidentally snuck in illicitly.

#Oops #MerryChristmasInNovember

And then we waited in the cold, aching and shivering in the wind, for a streetcar that took forever (a required adventure in Toronto). Good thing dinner at PAI was a hit and didn't also have a ridiculous line. Then I showed them the sculpture that will haunt your nightmares, and then we transited home.

Where I synced my activity tracker to find out that it recommended I take the whole day off to rest.

#SorryActivityTracker

#IDefinitelyDidNotFollowYourAdvice

#NotOnlyBecauseIDidn'tKnowAboutIt

#WeHadPlans

The next day I felt slightly run over by a light truck. Activity tracker . . .

#IKnowTheseTrackersAreNotForPeopleWithChronicIllnessButStill

#Always Funny

The day after that we visited Casa Loma, the not-truly-a-castle-because-no-royalty-lived-there ridiculous estate. I drove. We . . . did not manage to make it to our planned dinner place and just ate snacks and stuff around my apartment for dinner, packed and cleaned, and went to bed at totally reasonable hours.

#SpaceFor10,000Books #MightHaveDrooled

#ButDidn'tBecauseTheFloorsWereAlsoAWorkOfArt

#YepIt'sACastleInToronto #TheOtherTurretWasClosedForAnEscapeRoom #MyKneeAndAnkleWereRelieved

We checked out the next morning after a hilarious adventure getting gas across the street and then taking 20 minutes to get back to my building due to some traffic shenanigans, and my parents headed home.

#StillPrettyWarmHereIssa #Probably Soon

I headed to the couch and listened to most of an audiobook and napped.

Saturday, I scraped myself off the mattress and found out that Little Canada is closed for an event (thankfully before I went). So I went to Eaton Place to get some gifts for the folks back home, found out all the cool food places in P.A.T.H. are closed on Saturday, and headed to Kitten & the Bear for one last egg cheese scone sandwich. On the way there, I realized I was on the streetcar that goes past Omusubi Bar Suzume, and they were open. Hopped off and bought miso soup, oden, and a fresh tuna rice ball (onigiri 4 evar).

#It'sOkayToBeJealous

The ever present suzume (sparrows) that hang out at Suzume hopped around on the table, say I had soup, and left.

#Sigh

Decided to walk the rest of the way to my scones and came across this new friend.

#VeryBlue #IApprove

#AlsoInTheGTA

More napping and audiobooking and then some exercise in the gym. Then some more Natsume's Book of Friends.

#Denied #NatsumeNotNap #SoRelaxing

#AlwaysRemember #BecauseIProbablyWon't

Hoping you find places of shelter this week and community to hold you.

Saturday, November 9, 2024

Sky still beautiful, weather still ridiculous in a good way, busting out the good hot chocolate with marshmallows in the mortality mug

Doing a lot of reading. But also some grieving and reflection and community.

#BalanceIsHard

Reached out to the folks I know who will be most potentially negatively impacted and are politically aware and know enough to be grappling with very real fears to let them know I see them and am holding them close in my heart. (In case you aren't as aware, here are some of the things people are thinking about. If you know anyone who might have similar concerns, consider reaching out to them.)

Many people aren't aware. People in my family--who voted to take away my health care and their own healthcare as people with preexisting conditions; who voted to take away our safety net if disability strikes us down (as it does 25% of people in the U.S. at some point); who voted to take away our retirement savings through social security; who voted for polluted air and water, unregulated medications, and getting rid of special ed; who voted for me to be less safe and healthy; who voted for their neighbors to be rounded up and put in camps and deported; who voted to prevent people from having the same opportunities as our ancestors to immigrate and naturalize and have children who are automatically citizens; who voted to break apart families and take away citizenship; who voted to take away the rights of people I love; who voted to take away their own rights and their daughter's rights; who voted for more taxes for the poor via tariffs and lower taxes for the rich and higher deficits and national debt; who voted for the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer, who voted to weaken democracy, who voted against religious freedom, who voted for the next generations to have fewer rights and and some to have less respect than recent generations--don't know what they really voted for. That's what I hope, anyway. That they didn't vote for these things fully aware that's what they were voting for. But the thing is, they voted for it regardless.

#ThisIsWhoTheyVotedToEmpower #Grieving

I got out the comfort hot chocolate with the fancy sweet chestnut marshmallow not once but twice this week. The mortality mug did its best to help.

#We'reAllDoingOurBest

The weather is still unseasonable, and I am still not complaining. (It was 75 degrees F on November 5 here.) It's nice to not be cooped up, to be able to go on walks outside, to work off frustration, and be distracted by my last times in this place I have lived for a year.

#I'llMissThisView #AndTheseWindows #ButNotTheNoise

#LastHealthProviderVisits #LastTimesAtUnionStation #SureItLooksPrettyButSoHardToEat #IDon'tGetIt

I spent some good time on the couch napping in the sun.

#ListeningToAudiobooks #DrowsingUnderTheWeightedBlanket #Resting

Then I went out to the Museum that I thought was a natural history museum but was not, in fact a natural history museum. My museum at home (Minneapolis Institute of Arts) has both paintings and cultural artifacts. Here, the Art Gallery of Ontario is where the paintings and some of the more artistic metal things are. The Royal Ontario Museum is the cultural artifacts place. It has, by far, the most interesting subway station of the ones I've seen here. No, of course I don't have pictures of the subway station.