Today has felt like an adventure already. I went to do some work at a client’s office, because their email was dead and they couldn’t wait until I had time to see them on Tuesdsay. So, I went there this morning to have a look at it. I used to work every Saturday, but found that there wasn’t huge demand for me on Saturdays. I decided to enjoy the weekends instead, and make Saturday working an optional thing. Well, the fewer Saturdays you work, the less appealing it becomes. Anyway, it turns out that the email problem was Bell Canada’s fault (no big surprise there) but you can’t get Bell to admit doing anything wrong because they don’t want to get sued. I fixed the problem and left.

After that I went to my old apartment to clean up the last of my stuff. I took down two cool light fixtures I had installed, and grabbed the remainder of my things. Surprisingly, it was another five trips to the car, and I filled up the car with stuff. I returned the apartment keys to the superintendent. It felt mildly sad, since it was the end of an era. I lived there for almost three years. But, by the end, the place was empty and no longer felt like home, so the emotional impact was minimal. I did leave a bunch of plants there, because I can’t find a place for them here. I felt a pang of guilt about that. I couldn’t just throw them in the garbage, after I’d looked after them for so long. A couple of them were really sick looking when I got them, and I brought them back to life. I hope someone takes them and gives them a new home. Shit. I just remembered that I was using a $10 Chinese bowl to hold one of them, and it’s still there on the counter. Oh well. Easy come, easy go.

I headed over to my dad’s place to tackle the snow in his driveway. He’s in New Zealand, just in time to miss all this lovely snow. I wanted to shovel it before it got all hard and crusty. I was about halfway done when my dad’s neighbour offered me the use of his snowblower. Since I hate shoveling only slightly less than death itself, I gladly took this offer. Shoveling is actually fun when you have a snowblower. The snow was flying everywhere. :bounce: I was kind of sorry when it was done.

Then I went to get my hair cut. My Italian barber shop is just like it should be: a refuge for men. Today, the topic of discussion was how the barber was upset that female hairdressers are stealing his customers. He also talked about he won’t buy anything from America, even if it’s free. Italian barbers are very passionate about certain things. There was an Italian tile contractor waiting for his hair cut while I was in the chair. Turns out he did the tiles in my new building. Nice black slate tiles too…. mmmm… classy. My barber lives one block from my new place too. These are two pieces of evidence that it’s a small world.

After getting my hair cut, I went to a stereo store to buy a switch thingie to connect my DVD player and XBox to the TV at the same time. Choice is good.

Then I went home and hauled all my stuff out of the car and upstairs. 31 stairs times five trips. I counted. I took a little trip up onto the roof too to check out the satellite dish situation. Getting on the roof involves climbing a steel ladder two storeys up into a chimney-type thing with a trap door that leads to the roof. The ladder doesn’t go all the way up to the door, so you have to lean against the inside of the chimney and pull yourself up. It feels very adventurous, and I’m not crazy about heights. But I had to admit it was kind of cool to be up that high, standing on the top rung of a ladder and not holding on with your hands.

I’m feeling a little bit tired now, but I need to put away my stuff, and maybe have a nap. Movie night is tonight.

Ok. I’m noticing a weird pattern. The girl who lives next door to me went to my high school about five years before I did. The guy who lives in the basement unit was the basketball coach at my high school. And the girl who lives in the suite underneath my next door neighbour is my friend’s ex-girlfriend, also from my high school. So, including me, four out of eleven condo owners in the building have some connection to Glendale Secondary School. And I haven’t even met everyone yet! There could be more that I don’t know about! Understand that Hamilton is not a small city. There are over 500,000 people living here, and there are 25 high schools in the city. My building is not even close to Glendale. The coincidence is so strange that it’s almost like a dream.

When I was living in my much smaller apartment, I developed the habit of coming home, sitting down at the computer and taking off my watch. I’d put it on the desk beside the keyboard. It was more comfortable to type without the watch on. I eventually started doing this without thinking. It was fine, because I’d just grab the watch on my way out the door in the morning. My computer was about three steps from the door.

Now that I’ve moved, I still have the same habit. But, now I’m constantly forgetting my watch because my computer desk is upstairs, and not near the door at all. I’m going to have to break the habit. It doesn’t seem like a big thing, but when stuff becomes automatic, it’s hard to change. Certain changes come out of necessity. What other habits will I have to break because of new circumstances? What new ones will form? Life can be so interesting when you pay attention to the details.

The move has been all-consuming, but now that it’s mostly finished, I can concentrate on other things. Tonight I’m teaching my first drop-in workshop at the Staircase. I will be leading the class through a series of exercises designed to improve their “environment” work. This means building and maintaining elaborate imaginary sets on stage. We’ll start with something simple, like washing dishes in their own kitchen, and progress towards full two-person scenes in which they engage in a mutual activity while discussing something totally different. It should be a lot of fun.

The class is cheap. It’s $3. What else can you get for $3 these days? Barely a Big Mac, that’s for sure! And improv is so much lower in cholesterol. :nod: If you’re in the area, check it out. We start at 8PM.

I built the new coffee table. It’s huge. It’s also got a glass top, so could be dangerous when running for the phone. But life becomes boring without a little danger. And this truly is a little danger. I haven’t touched the 10D since I moved. I’m using my $40 webcam to take all my interior photos. It’s a crime.