hmm. the past week and a half has been pretty dull. let's see...
-i had fun skype chats with nathan, natasha, and claire. i usually don't really love phone calls in general or skype itself, but i have been feeling pretty lonely here and it was nice to hang out with them that way.
-i posted this ad on the washington d.c. craigslist (in "strictly platonic"):
"craftster seeking letter writing partner - w4m - 25
I will be moving to D.C. for 10 weeks this fall. I would love to hang out with someone semi-regularly while I am there, and in the meantime, we could get to know each other by sending letters through the mail.
Show me your favorite parts of your city! My favorite hangouts include communal arts-and-craftsing (à la "the science of sleep"), conversing over tea, leisurely walks or bike rides, visiting museums, and (occasionally) watching movies.
I can't tell you much more - that will have to wait for the first letter I send you!"
i got a couple of nice responses, and i've already written them back with real letters. but i also got a mean jerk who wrote, "Have you ever considered discovering a place by yourself? You seem to be posting an ad to Craig's List, because you will be in DC for ten weeks, and need someone who will be temporarily useful to you." i wrote him back, trying to explain myself, but he told me to hire a tour guide if i wanted to see the city, and that i must think of myself as "daddy's little prize" for thinking it might be nice to write letters and then meet and hang out. he said a bunch more jerky things but i won't write about them. but, come on. why would someone do that? i can't understand it. oh well. i didn't write him back after that. and i still think it's a nice idea to write a stranger for a few months and then meet and hang out in person.
-my friend robin's art project, titled (something like), "the only thing i know for sure is that while i am looking for you, you are looking for me," ended. you can read about it here and here. basically, he found two people who were strangers to each other, and put them up in their own accommodations in vancouver for the month of july, and they had a month to find each other in the city. they didn't know anything about each other, except, well, what the title of the project says. they were also required to keep track of all the things they did to find each other. unfortunately, while the girl did a ton of neat things to leave a trail of where she was, the boy did nothing. boo. i felt bad on behalf of robin, and on behalf of the girl, and on behalf of myself because i was so looking forward to see what they'd each do and how they'd find each other. i won't give away how they found each other. you'll have to read the blogs yourself (start from the bottom!).
-i wrote a ton more letters.
-i went to the powwow at onion lake with my roommate/coworker nathalie.
-at my work, we had a saskatoon festival, which i kind of imagined/hoped would turn out like the strawberry social in "to wong foo thanks for everything, julie newmar" (ie. three flamboyant drag queens transforming a small community; everyone dressing in red & pink (in our case, blue and purple)). it didn't happen that way, though. it was mostly just old people buying pie.
-jordan was in the area for a family reunion, so he met me at my trailer after work and then i followed him to the community hall where the reunion was taking place. it was actually really fun. we kicked around a soccer ball a bit, which felt good because i hardly ever do that any more. then we sat on the grass and talked for a long time and ate candy, and then we went inside the hall for the dance. the music wasn't fantastic, but we had fun dancing to a few songs before i left. that night was the night when that crazy storm swept across alberta, and although we didn't get any trees down or cement falling on anyone, the lightning and thunder and car alarms going off still kept me up.