July 9

Summary of the last few months:

Got called on to be emergency nanny again. SUCH FUN! Those kids are the best, even if my nephew did sneak some of my Easter chocolate.

My roomate moved back to Ottawa. Had the place to myself. Extra room for activities. No worrying about making too much noise at night time. No more worrying about wearing pants.

So I'd get up. Maybe put on some pants. Perhaps get totally transfixed with random aspect of technology that I can utilize in a certain way, or a virtual world where I can slay dragons and feel like im being social without putting on those pants. Realize its been 10 hours. Eat. Ride my bike. Play with Cat. Repeat. Realise its been 38 hours since I last slept. Read up on alternate sleep patterns. Try some out. Realise they don't match the outside world and are therefore impractical, though can be useful in isolation to get more done. Sleep for days. Lie in bed exploring the boundaries of asleep and awake. Dream vividly. Its not depression, its decompression. Isolation isn't a bad thing. When social skills are this easy its being alone with oneself that is the challenge. Eventually I ventured out and joined some internet friends (friends made with the help of internets) on a weekly bike excursion, leading to more events like BBQs at the beach.


Summary of the now-ish:

So now, I'm living in a COLLECTIVE HOME! with 11 (or so, its hard to pinpoint) other people. I've been here a week ("is that all? feels like longer"), and am loving the everlasting crap out of it. There are still things to learn and systems to adapt to (I have yet to make dinner), but this is such a great place. We eat food from the extensive garden, work on various house projects (a chicken coop, house improvements) and socialize regularly. Last weekend was the bike rave. BIKE RAAAAAVE. Thousands of cyclists riding along with music playing in (almost) sync and stopping every so often to dance, or dancing on the bikes. I went with friends, who I lost (so much chaos) then ran into a new friend from the new house, then lost him, then stopped caring and started dancing, then found him again (and others), then met up with more house mates and got some pizza. Really, really good pizza. I know pizza, and this pizza was really good. Started the day doing Yoga in the park, led by yet another of my house mates (did I mention there are ~11 of em?), had an OmgWhatFunSuchAweome time at the bike rave and finished it up with delicious pizza at 2am. What a day. Quite the contrast from whole days spent at a keyboard in my pyjamas, and leaves me feeling so positive and happy. Not that I was very unhappy before, just more subdued - less ecstatic. I am eating so much healthier and biking longer every day. Once I read that eventually your marathon becomes the warm-up, and the truth of it is really hitting me now. I went from a 30-40k ride a few times a week, to a 50-60k almost every day. Intentionally picking the most gruelling up hills and pushing harder as its getting easier every time.

And hopefully I can remember to update this more semi regularly. Don't hold me to it.