Dispatches from a happy Hullian

It's a nice day today, we've got plans to hit the annual opening party for our neighborhood garden box project. Vivien has somehow managed to lose her bike helmet, which is a big hit to our family mobility. I've been wandering around looking for it to no avail.

I got that promotion… true to form this was the time I had figured it wasn't going to happen and that I should just plan for another couple of years in my old post. The new team (I'm leading a team of six) seems like a nice one and I've got a good 2IC who knows the work very well. I've got a lot of the subject-independent skills and I probably know more of the statistical nuts and bolts than I feel like I do now. I'm going to a new office on a floor with the open "2.0" plan; so far I think it'll work out okay.

I went on TV on TV and talked about polyamory and how I do it… you can only pack so much into 22 minutes or whatever, and I was on (in the second half) with a counsellor who had her views and a program to promote, but I think I did okay for my first time on live TV.

Next week is going to involve a lot of bargaining… once an election writ is dropped we have to wait until the next Parliament is good and settled before negotiating again… probably 2020. But we'll be working hard (and staying late) to get it done.

We're starting to plan the summer a bit — Elizabeth is making musical plans, we've signed the older kids up for a week of climbing camp, we'll probably festival with the pagans a couple of times… and in what I hope is the start of a series of adventures with individual kids, I'm going with Oscar to visit Heather, Andrea and Morgen in Banff for a week in July: his first passenger air experience and sight of what Albertans call real mountains :) I'm pretty excited and hour it will be wonderful bonding and relaxing time.

- Bicycling weather. Buses are good for reading, but I miss fast and flexible.

- An upcoming night with Elizabeth… with the kids off with my parents! It has been years since we'll be off-duty together for a whole night.

Yay! Spring! Good things, times and people!

This week, I'm looking forward to:

• Having lunch with one of my closest work friends tomorrow. I've seen her a couple of times lately with at least some of each of our kids in tow, and this time we'll have a little less stimulation and be able to talk in full sentences.
• Modelling in tomorrow's evening drawing workshop. This is also a little scary.
• This week's Parent and Child in Vanier — making little felt gnomes and hanging out with the parents, children and animators there. Oscar is getting playing with others a little better, and definitely knows how everything works. Even over the semester and a bit I've been doing it, he's grown a lot. The fact that he's only in P&C mode once a week, and that everyone else only sees him for those 2.5 hours a week, makes it easier to spot stuff like "gets the idea of fetching specific toys for specific activities" and "snacktime is soon" and "manages frustrations with peers with somewhat more patience and willingness to hand them something to make peace". It's also fun to be part of the little community of parents and keep my French up for sustained sessions.
• Hanging out and probable board game with fairestcat.
• Union-management meeting on Friday. Not always the most uplifting content, but it'll be nice to poke my head in at work and see people, and some people there may be the bearers of bad news but they're all decent people.
• A friend's housewarming on Saturday, and possible other supper plans.
• Family skating on the canal on Sunday — Vivien's first time out (probably in a stroller) and we may see how Oscar does on skates.

I have a sleepy baby in my lap, and it's nap time (I hope) upstairs for E & O.

Last night, we rang in the mid-Atlantic new year with our neighbour, her kids, her sister and mum, stuffing ourselves with tasty food and letting Oscar feed us innumerable clementines. It was a fun evening, and more or less our speed.

Today has been pretty low-key — in the afternoon, Oscar and I trampled/tobogganed an oval track in the backyard snow.

I'm looking forward (in no particular order) to more drawing in the new year, getting back into the patterns of activities outside the house with Oscar (definitely more parent and child in Vanier, and maybe story time at the library if the sign-up is enough for Mondays to run), to more daylight, to catching up with people missed during holiday social madness, to whatever sort of date Elizabeth and I can manage next, to reaping the benefits of Oscar being done teething and to lots of tasty hot beverages.

teinm_laida gave me some random questions:

if you had a time machine, what time period would you be most tempted  to relocate to?

I think the future, definitely, to see how it all turns out. Say, 2210, under the assumption that my English may be quaint but not entirely useless, and some serious history will have happened by then.

what was the last film that really moved/disturbed you and why?

I think the most disturbing one lately was The Idiots, by Lars von Trier — cultiness, mental illness and black comedy are always a disturbing mix.

what is the kindest thing anyone has done for you?

It's hard to sort out a ranking of them, but my elementary school teachers — Mrs. Lawrence, Mrs. Lang and Annick stand out — and our awesome ahead-of-his-time principal Mr. Rennie really went out of their way to put lots of stimulating stuff in my path. It can't always be easy to be long-time elementary school faculty, but they were awesome anyway.

least favourite vegetable? ;)

Probably Brussels sprouts, but even they can be saved with black pepper and butter.

would you bungee jump?

No, I think the days when that made any sort of sense for me are past — I'll take my life-and-limb risks doing yard maintenance and bicycle commuting, now.