You tell me that you've heard every sound there is

This American Life:

1. I filled out my first US tax form. Well over two decades in Canada and I still don't understand taxes there....doubtful I'll pick it up here, either. What's this 401K Business? Where are they taking the money to? Why would I want to add extra to this?

I feel like I could star in some kind of takeoff on "The Simple Life." Yes, those are real questions.


2. I took my first drug test ever. I'm not sure if I made a faux pas by not placing the cup full of, well, you know, back into the bag before walking through the office hallway. Only 17 people saw my cup. Is there an etiquette book for this?

Yes, I passed. As if there was any question.

3. It's refreshing and nice to sit in an interview and have someone tell you what an interesting life you have (I have). I always have a hard time "selling" myself to other people seriously, if you ask me my taste in music, I'm more likely to share my most embarassing mid-1990s guilty pleasures than the more-socially acceptable albums I just bought. I think, sometimes, I end up selling myself short and people end up underestimating me. This is kind of a theme in my life. I can be sort of giggly and social and discuss pop culture and, to some people, this conveys a lack of intelligence or seriousness.

It's also really nice when someone makes it seem like all the traveling and volunteer work I've done has been worthwhile....


4. I have job interviews upcoming.

5. Come visit my lonesome self this November, por favor. So far, my weekends are open. I will be cold and wet like a bedraggled cat. I'll be all alone. All alone! Well, not really, I do have some friends.

I know it's sacrilegious for a native-born Vancouverite to say, but I hate our weather. I've talked to countless people who were fooled into moving to Seattle after spending a glorious summer in the area, only to encounter the drizzly gray that defines our fall/winter/spring. I often read these ridiculously laudatory type of articles, most recently, in The Oregonian (I do not recommend that paper, it's no Sunday Times), about how the rainy weather in the Pacific NW leads to a rich-inside life with coffee, beer, books, conversation, etc. In my opinion, that's just romanticizing the fact that it's too shitty to go outside for ten months of the year.

This is partially due to my innate hatred for gortex and fleece. The crisp Fall I dress for in my head (I think it's in Boston) is not the rainy Fall that is my reality. I never can quite master the layering thing. I am always too wet, too hot, or too cold, and it's always such an ordeal to figure out how to get to the bar looking socially presentable without having to lug around a coat and umbrella on the dance floor. Such an ordeal, in fact, I really prefer to go into hibernation between October and March.

6. Changes are afoot.