Summer in review - misc

I'm partway through my 'temporary layoff'. AKA Furlough. A kindof weird status, keep benefits but don't get paid, but get EI. At first it sounded kindof neat, then it felt more like a corporate loophole. I should put more effort into finding a new job, but I'm not very 'driven', and also still haven't figured out what I want to do, what I actually can do, etc. In a way it's quite satisfying to receive money from the government that I put in (though overall I'm a bit right-wing and would rather have neither EI expense nor benefit).

I've done some Habitat for Humanity volunteering throughout the summer. First an office renovation then a warehouse/store renovation, no homes yet. It's nice to learn some things, do some hands on work, and generally people are pretty good to work with. Mostly retired men, but a few miscellaneous others, and occasionally an oil company would let some people spend the day with habitat instead of their regular jobs (only departments like HR and accounting seemed to have the free time, all the engg were probably busy meeting deadlines and loaded with real work).

For a large chunk of summer a couple of friends were in town. I felt spoiled, got to spend more time with them than all my regular friends combined. Unfortunately, that meant once they left it felt quite empty again. Was swimming with O, and it was nice to see her improve each time we went, and was fun to play in the dive tank as well and other things I wouldn't do solo. Was helping C with calculus, even though I can't remember anything anymore, I think it was useful to have someone to talk to and bounce ideas off of. Also went for evening walks, occasional lunch and late night snacks. Hope it's not weird to say I miss her.

In august participated in an all-souls (ghost) festival... had a lot of the shrine stuff set up outside, but it was a really windy weekend so it was frustrating with everything falling over, spent way too much time on setup and repeated re-setup. But was interesting and had a neat outdoor after-sunset ritual which I hadn't done before.

Took a sleeping bag out of town in the middle of the night to watch Perseid meteors. But it wasn't as spectacular as I'd hoped, and became a bit boring being solo. I had been intending to hike up a mountain for it, but got lazy (and realized it wasn't the wisest choice for the circumstances).

Finally tried to donate blood. Started collecting, but had to abort quite early as apparently my body really doesn't like bleeding. Felt like a failure. But at least I tried. Perhaps I will try again sometime. I seem to have very strong instinctive reflexes, such as "don't put holes in your body" and "don't stick stuff in your eye" but they should be overcomeable, if I really try (though these instincts are there for a reason, do I really want to break them down?)

Thinking about finances, again considering trying to get a roommate. The extra income would be really handy, could start getting all those things that would be nice but not absolutely necessary, like a stable computer, a bike from this millennium, etc. But how much would quality of life drop by living with a semi-random person...

While the weather was nice, I was pretty active. Think I got into better shape than I normally am in. But it's already probably started deteriorating with a month of poor weather making being outside less pleasant. Will have to spend more time at the boring gym.