My new best friend and other end of week musings

I've taken to using coffee shops as my office, as of late. My lab has been a ghost-town lately. Summer classes are done (therefore no participants), and it seems everyone has taken the entirety of August off. As such, it is hard to find reasons to commute an hour to go write on a computer in a windowless, stuffy lab. I've actually found that coffee shops are the perfect blend of public and private for me. Private enough that I feel reasonably at ease in a corner with my headphones on, but public enough so that I feel motivated to work, rather than slack off. Plus, no matter how great my lab coordinator is, he doesn't make me white chocolate mochas upon command.

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In an attempt to increase my affection for my spider neighbour, the Duke decided to name him Esteban. He says that there is no way I could harbour homicidal urges towards someone of that name, particularly if I pictured the spider speaking to me in a flamboyent Spanish accent.

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So here's a tale of mixed messages for you...

As some readers already know, prior to my current relationship, I was in a relationship and lived for many years with another fellow. We broke up on fairly mutual and amicable terms (as resentment free as things can be, at least), and still keep in a reasonable, but not excessive, degree of contact (e.g., coffee every few months). Ironically, and probably very telling, since the break-up, we have both began relationships with individuals who are near polar opposites of the other-- his being a religious 21-year old fast food manager.

Lest you think I sound a little judgmental in that last sentence, let me assure you that any hostility you sense is a response to her reactions to me. I was actually very happy to hear that he had moved on, as it gave me more freedom in my own relationship, and he is a solid guy who deserves to be happy. However, I rapidly began hearing about her resentment towards me, including her profound jealousy, anger whenever my name came up, and accusations that I was keeping any contact with my ex secret from my own boyfriend.

In fact, I have reason to believe that she may be my short-lived phone stalker, considering that the series of four calls in an hour began right after he sent her a text message intended for me (totally innocuous, I may add, about a planned meeting that was our first in three months)- and that, when I asked my ex if it sounded like a plausible explanation, he agreed, saying "I wouldn't put something like that past her!"

Imagine my surprise when I see that she has sent me a message via facebook. I brace myself, expecting some scathing "stay the hell away from my man!" tirade.

Instead: "its *********. how are you? i think addin you as a friend would be a big step. we havent even met each other. but i thought a short message wouldnt hurt. i hope youre enjoying your summer. hope to hear back from you ^_^"

Huh?

How does one go from despising me and potentially stalking me to that?

I mean, it could be that she decided to be the bigger person and try to start a positive relationship with me.
But forgive me if I'm a little suspicious...

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Last weekend was our a long weekend, and the Duke and I decided, since we were stuck in the city, to make the best of playing tourist. Thus, on Saturday, we decided to take a tram up a mountain, which is known for its views. It was rather comical- just as the tram started moving, the Duke exclaimed "Shit! I forgot I was afraid of heights!"

It was a pleasant day- we had a lovely lunch, were only a few meters away from some grizzly bears (in an outdoor pen- I'm not quite that gutsy), and just wandered around. However, being a long weekend, it was a little too rife with the "family" crowd for our liking. Towards around 6pm, it felt like we had pretty much overexhausted all the attractions, and were ready to leave and meet some friends for the big fireworks show. Unfortunately, everyone else had the same idea- several hundred people were lined up to cram into cable cars that left only every 15 minutes.

Loathe to wait, we made what seemed like a good decision- walk down the mountain. Without giving too much away, this particular mountain has a rather infamous trail-- which I will call the Evil Escarpment, or is also commonly known as Nature's Stairmaster. We figure that walking down a few kilometers of stairs can't be as bad as waiting in a neverending line full of antsy children, so off we went. Despite the fact that I am wearing a $7 pair of Chinese slipper.



As you can probably guess, by the simple fact that I am writing about it, the hike didn't go especially well. Stairmaster is definitely too flattering- this was one of the most trecherous trails I had ever seen. It is apparently a 40 degree slope at times, and the trail often takes you clamouring down large rocks and steps several times larger than your average stair. I had no opportunity to focus on the beauty of the woods, as every single step took painful amounts of focus, especially since my cotton shoes were seeking to slip off my feet at every moment. It was also excrutiatingly slow, as we had to yield to the side of the narrow path whenever someone was coming up the trail-- and, for some reason, my city is full of masochists who love the Escarpment and mysteriously claim to enjoy such an uphill battle.
It is an odd thing to have gotten no cardiovascular workout, yet be painfully sore.

We later found out that it is highly recommended that you do not walk down the Evil Escarpment for the sake of your knees-- which I could have figured out when I could barely walk the next day. I never thought the two steps up to my bathroom would ever be such sources of frustration.
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Work has been frustrating over these past few month. Austin was probably my saving grace in feeling like I had actually achieved something in taking the course and developing some research ideas. I planned to use the summer as a CV stacker of sorts, with three manuscripts to be written. Unfortunately, my supervisor, who recently claimed to be working on a whopping 20 something separate projects, has still not given me back my first draft of manuscript #1 back- despite having given it to him around a month and a half ago. I know there are other people who are in a hurry to defend that are priorities- but it feels a little ridiculous. And all these various activities are so contingent on him... I can't start writing the chapter until I have some feedback on the paper, and now I have a second manuscript essentially done that I don't even know what to do with, because I know it is just going to end up on some secondary piles for ages. I wish I had known all this before, so I could have either used the summer to stock up my clinical hours, or taken more holidays, rather than forcing myself to the lab countless days to feel like I am accomplishing something... when it will just end up on the backburner anyways. Bah.

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To end this post on a positive note, here's a clip from my favourite show of the moment-- Extras. Ricky Gervais is bloody hysterical, and he gets such great guest on the show willing to poke fun at themselves. In this case, witness Sir Ian McKellen discuss his profound acting techniques.



Oh yeah, and song of the moment is Rilo Kiley's "Moneymaker". Love it.