ajillstory skips town

Today I got on a plane, left sunny Winnipeg behind and touched down in Toronto for a six day escape. What possessed me to get up and go? I present to you a few different theories:

a. Job interview with The Agency, Toronto office.

b. Secret internet love rendez-vous.

c. Plan to meet up with Vince and elope.

The answer is of course d, none of the above (although Vince has given me a key to his apartment, heh. That one was for you Rob, beat you to it). About two weeks ago I mentioned to Vince that his birthday party was looking very tempting. He wrote back that it would be cool if I came out. So I checked flights, booked the time off, and well, here I am. I was feeling very jet-setter that I decided on a whim to fly out for my friend's 26th birthday party until I found out Chris was coming out too in even more of a jet-setter fashion--he's flying in Saturday morning and heads back Sunday evening. It should be fun!

Summary of the day:

Got up early. Couldn't sleep in. Assembled a flying outfit. On Amara's advice I wanted to pick out something impressive so I would look like I was someone important with some place to go. I decided on dark jeans, white t-shirt, black jacket and my favourite floral heels.

The rest of the day I kept notes in my journal. Instead of typing them out, I'll just post them here.

Got an e-mail from Abby today. Apparently someone in the department left rather abruptly. I swear, every time I have this weird effect on work places. Last time I went away someone on my team resigned. It's happened with other places too.

Anyway, stay tuned for more jillstory adventures in T.O.

My work slogan

Another fabulous day at Good Wooden Leg inspired this graphic.




*Please also don't shoot the artist who creatively assigned me the title of "Messanger". Passionate as I am about spelling, I think pushing mess and anger up together works appropriately here.

Not again

My friend Joanna is on a Man Quest. She's been doing the online personals thing for while now and has had many nibbles, but no real catches. I've listened to countless first date stories and giggled with her in excitement about the latest find but they all end up going sour just when things seem to start getting good.

I stopped by this morning to see her and ask how her Friday night date went. I think I was as excited about the guy as she was. This one seemed good. He was sweet, smart, geeky cute and had promising job as an assistant prof at the U of M. He would send her sweet little text messages throughout the day and he was all about being a gentleman when they went out.

Friday was good, she said. It was so good that they met up again on Saturday too. He was in the neighbourhood on Sunday and dropped by but Jo immediately noticed a change. She asked him what was up and he ended it for reasons he probably figured were honourable but really just showed a slimy side. I couldn't believe he was another one of the dumb ones.

But Jo just keeps on going. She's got another first meet lined up this week. This one cooks.

"I don't know how you do it Jo," I told her. "I admire you. I don't have the patience for that stuff."

"You'll want it enough some day," she said with her five extra years of wisdom. I just shook my head. A while ago I told a friend, "At this point, I think I'm just going to see how long I can last. I'm going on a man diet." (I am fully aware that at 25 I'm still pretty young to say I have reached any kind of point, but that's beside the, er, point. . .)

This last guy of Joanna's actually was giving me hope. The fairy tales were starting to seem more possible. But that story is over now and I'm thinking wow, there are a lot of toads out there.

Keep it up Jo, don't let my rant discourage you. You deserve something great. Good things come to those who wait, right?

This is my fairytale

"Ronald," she says, "your clothes are really pretty and your hair is very neat. You look like a real prince, but you are a bum."--The Paper Bag Princess

Happiness is not a fish you can catch

I wasn't going to post but I always hate leaving my blog on a down note so I decided to throw in here a sort of list of things that made me happy in the last few days. It's not a story or a point (which is why I wasn't going to blog at all, I simply don't have anything to say right now. I don't see that as a concern, I just like to take time to stop and listen for a bit instead of reflect on myself and my world) but here we go, in completely random order:

1. Last night I watched TV with my sister and we laughed together. We watched Engaged and Under Age followed by The Hills and then The Hills After-Show. Pure mind numbing trash but good times. Can't explain it much past that.
2. Took Elmo for a walk the other evening just as the sun was setting. It wasn't even cold. I was outside, listening to my favourite songs, grooving down the bike path not caring at all how ridiculous I looked because there wasn't a soul around (try to walk properly to something like Walkin' on Sunshine without wanting to pretend like you're in your own little music video.) Music. Sun. Outside. Dog with cute waggly tail that sticks straight up and who zigs zags around with little regard for the boundaries of cement and painted lines. These things light up my world.
   
3. This morning my radio came on as per usual at 5:25 and I frantically had to search for the remote and then the volume button before I woke the rest of the house up. After that exhilarating routine one of my favourite sweet songs came on so I rested my head back down on the pillow (the new and perfect one I had just bought the night before) and took an extra five minutes to dream a little longer. You can't take that away from me.
   
4. I remembered to watch The Hour tonight with George Stroumboulopoulos. I really enjoy the show and George makes me happy. I remember watching him on MuchMusic. Rick (The Temp) Campanelli was cute, but George was smart.
   

Here's something fun I found just now. It's an obit generator. What a great way to go!

'What will your obituary say?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Big sister/Little sister

"Are you ready to go?" my sister asked me. I was on the computer collecting the stats on the Red Shoe House website and talking to Mike about house stuff. My hair was pushed back with a stretchy headband and I was wearing my white-ish polar fleece Gap hoodie with some mysterious and random dirt on it. No, I was not ready to go.

I checked the clock, it was 7:46 and Tracy told me to be ready to leave at 7:45. "Sorry! I lost track of time!" I apologized and quickly said goodbye to Mikey.

I could feel her rolling her eyes. "Are you going with your hair like that?"

I pulled the headband off and felt the top of my head for rogue locks. I attempted to pat everything down and put it in place. Thank God I have a hair appointment on Tuesday. "I better wear my hat," I told her as I followed her upstairs.

I grabbed my jacket and quickly searched the usual places for my pink cap--no luck.

We were going to the airport to pick my aunt up. Tracy was driving but we took my mom's car because it would be easier to load the luggage into than the Sunfire.

I got in the passenger side and pulled down the vanity mirror.

"I look like a bird," I laughed, as this seemed the most appropriate description for the plume of blonde hair feathering out of the top of my head.

"I told you to be ready," Tracy chided me.

"I know."

The airport was busy when we arrived. "Spring break," Tracy said. I noticed that the people walking around were either tanned or carrying ski bags. I wished I was one of them.

We didn't know where to stand and not get in the way. It didn't matter though as 10 minutes later the place was pretty much empty. There was a lot of unclaimed luggage hanging around. Tracy said it was probably sent to the wrong place--another symptom of the end of spring break.

"Somebody lost a boot," Tracy pointed out the lonely sole without its mate going around the conveyor belt. I took out my camera and took a picture.

"Jillian! What are you doing?"

"Taking a picture of the boot," I said. My family uses my full name when they are exasperated with me, which happens a fair bit. I used to imagine that when I started working in the real world I would only go by my full name. I had visions of the Jillian B@rr0tt name plate on the door to my corner office with floor to ceiling windows. I would have a fabulously posh job and a fabulously posh fiance named Avrey and only he and a few close friends would affectionately call me Jil (yes, I think there could be only one "l"). At a corporate function or charity event Avery would say things like, "I'm taking Jil to Naples in September, she's never seen the fall foliage". I would be charming and graceful and life would be lovely.

"Jill, stop it," my sister instructed. "That's weird. People are probably wondering what you're doing taking pictures of them. I know I'd feel weirded out."

I put the camera down. I actually wanted to take a picture of her too but if she saw that she'd probably strangle me with her pashmina scarf. She looked like she was ready to jet off to Paris. She was wearing her white patent leather kitten heels (that I picked out for her and made her buy), dark wash skinny jeans and a black wool coat. I on the other hand was wearing my very worn and tired brown hikers (I'm ashamed to admit, they are probably my favourite pair of shoes and I cannot bear to part with them), faded soft blue jeans with tattered cuffs (I can't believe I want to pay $80 American for a pair of Abercrombies with the same look), and my black windbreaker/green vest combo. You already vaguely know what my hair looked like. I was also sans makeup because I like to let my face breathe when I can on the weekends.

My sister graduates this summer. She already has her job lined up in the Children's hospital which will pay to start more than I make after two raises at one of the city's largest companies. She smiles when she says it, but she keeps telling us she's going to find a rich doctor to marry. She doesn't have the easily abbreviated name, but she will likely have the lifestyle I used to dream about. She definitely deserves it; she's my little sister, she deserves the world.

Our days left together in the same house are numbered. I guess I just realized that. I have a lot of catching up to do.