natasha's right - i will just write about the recent past, and hopefully eventually get around to writing about the slightly more distant past when i have time.

so. i moved away. in april, alyssa and i packed up all of our things and moved out of the apartment emily, alyssa, and i have shared for the past 6 years. alyssa moved into the condo my parents bought last year, and will be living there with emily for at least a year. after sorting through about 1/10th of my belongings (ie. actually determining whether i should take each and every item to the garbage, ecostation, reuse centre, recycling, donate it to goodwill, or keep it), i eventually just indiscriminately shoveled everything into plastic bins and put them in my parents' basement. neither of my parents are very pleased with this arrangement. oh well. a few choice items survived the mass packaging, and are keeping me comfortable at either my old bedroom in my parents' house, or my new bedroom in my trailer in elk point. both of these are parts of my homes for the summer.

i took a job working as a museum interpreter at fort george and buckingham house near elk point, alberta (which is about 55 minutes north of my parents' place). i like being in rural areas for 1/3 of the year, and i like being near boreal forest (we're actually in parkland, just south of the boreal forest, but it's just a 10-km drive to spruce and pine foresty goodness), and i like doing museum work. and i like working for the provincial government. so it's all a pretty good deal. plus, the government provides free housing for its workers there, which is essentially like adding about $500 to every monthly paycheque. right now i share the house with a dude named cameron, who is significantly younger than me. but he's easy to live with, so that's good. he very graciously allowed me to have the largest bedroom, which has an extra twin-sized bed in it (which means that you are more than welcome to come visit me there sometime!), as well as an en-suite bathroom. good deal. i've been stealing wireless internet from one of my neighbours in the trailer park, but i've ordered high-speed internet from telus, so hopefully i will be legit soon. the biggest frustration with the house right now is that our fridge is broken, so we can't even store leftovers from suppers to take to work the next day for lunch. in guyana, we didn't have any refrigeration, so i know what a pain in the ass it can be. and if you don't know, you should unplug your fridge for a week. gah. but it's okay being up there. i'm not totally in love with it yet, but i think that might have to do with the fact that it's still so brown and yucky in the forest. when things are greener i think i will like it more. i like learning about the forts and alberta's history. apparently workers like me are encouraged to learn "historical skills" while at this job, so during slow times, i might learn how to finger weave or skin a hide or something. i'm more of a craftster, but there are some other neat skills i'd like to learn if the opportunity presents itself.

i need to go to bed. i am at my sisters' right now because my coworkers and i have training in edmonton over the next 3.5 days. so if you read this and want to hang out, give me a call on my cell! i will write more later.