a client just phoned my boss to rave about my methods of intervention. i, apparently, am young but have the maturity of a 40 year old woman. obviously, this client has never seen me whine! ah well...

(my boss was so happy, i could see tears of joy in his eyes. after 3 years, i've become the by-product of his company's philosophy and people are phoning to tell him about how great that is.)

Grand Morne - take 2- about 6 months later.

the crew changed a bit. mel, a, e and y.

i could find my way to the cheese shop fine but ended up driving east on the way back. which, well, is the one direction i should not have been aiming for.

got sunburnt on the way back - i think i tanned through my car windows... is that possible? i mean, i though you could not tan through windows but i swear i could feel the radiations heading down hwy 20. i've got a serious case of murphy-itis (that is my so-white-i-almost-glow-in-the-dark irish pigmentation took a serious case of red).... it will be gone in two days.

we hiked up the mountain, it was a lot less steep than i remember. we went on the look out point where they have swivel chairs to look up at the stars. it was a perfect spot to look at a few parasailing freaks set up their gear.

---

went to my dad's tonight. helped him sort through boxes of christmas decorations. i swear his girlfriend has so many boxes that she could go 14 christmases without having ever to use the same ornament twice.

we found a battery operated desk-hockey game with little male-figurine that move on the ice, the puck almost half their size. i remember getting it years ago. it was the best. i took it home with me tonight... sure to be a hit at the next playoff watching party!

in three weeks, my worker who was held up twice in a matter of months went from completly phobic to becoming rather optimistic.

he greeted me, there first two times we met with impressive descriptions of his migraines. today i found him leaning back in a chair with a smile on his face.

it's wonderful what can happen when people regain a sense of agency over their lives. it's even more amazing to see what happens when 3 or 4 people decide to each give a guy a little pat in the back to help him back up onto his feet.

today is a good day, he said.

meeting with a worker. i had the door closed in my 6 x 8 office, because my colleague was downstairs as well watching a video.

after telling me an infinite amount of details about his non-existing sex life, my worker gives me his USB key to show me one of the projects he was working on at school. i bend down and get on my knees to plug into the USB key in the port and he says: "gosh, it's been a long time since i've last had a woman on all four like that in front of me."

i think i laughed at the time, it seemed like the best thing to do at that point, but i would very honestly like to have a little one-on-one with him again.

i'm not sure he would come out laughing.

life should be about walks in the park on a cool spring night. or enthusiastic chats over a warm cup of camomille.

c'est un decret. if i was running for government, i'd try passing a law about that.

that is all.

---

toronto with the kids for 3 days with 3 buses. that is 160 teens with raging hormones. pray for my sanity.

there is a man who sells religious calendars by the jean coutu. he's somewhat of an early bird and so i most often run into him on my way to work. i've decided that he's italian based on his dark complexion and on the way his tuque sits on the edge of this comb-over on snowy days. you would guess that god would chose his followers according to their p.r. skills. but this guy clearly defies the notion of customer service. he stands there holding up his calendar on a opened page and lifts it up abruptly everytime someone passes by. in an up and down motion that could very well be used by someone giviing you the finger. lovely.

despite all of this, i kind of like the guy.

coffee with mil yesterday after bball. sudden realisation, i'm so lucky to have you guys in my life.

that's it. i think it needed to be said.

---


(oh! oh! brilliant quote of the day from the fugitives)

the time it takes to show somone your something
is half the time it takes to say goodbye.
but someone somewhere is willing to listen to me
because the sound of friendship is silent
and i've got practice being quiet.

ok. just because i know you guys are dying to know about great resources to learn mandarin chinese, i will share with you : www.chinesepod.com

i mean, seriously, where else can you learn the slang words necessary to bargain down a waving mao watch or the latest pick up lines.

love it.

(p.s. i know what you are thinking. but there's a lot of stuff for beginners which you'll need when you come visit me in china :)

note after meeting a worker today: there is nothing that fractures the soul as much as a hold-up. listening to him, i could feel dislocation.

ironically sometimes i think that what makes it hard to be here is that it's so easy being here.

hmm, maybe i should try being a bit less cryptic if my aim is actually to be read and understood! i guess when i say here i'm mostly talking about america at large or whatever we've chosen to call 'western democracies'.

that is 1000 km away from where you could actually make a difference. or, is it?

(by the way, you guys should check out truthout.org it's pretty fascinating the stuff they have on there.)