honestly assess my situation, a.k.a. ramble incoherently whenever it strikes my fancy.

Let’s see – what kinds of hobbies do I already do (sort of)?

Container gardening, beading (occasional), paper crafts/papier mache, reading (if reading counts as a hobby), umm cooking sometimes, sewing (but mostly just repairing clothes), yoga, kite-flying (I must admit this has NOT been a very successful hobby so far), learning French, and I can’t think of anything else at the moment.

What else is on this list that sort of appeals… calligraphy? Mountain biking (but I don’t have a mtn bike anymore)? Cave diving (hahaha!)?, drawing, geocaching, hiking, soap making, puppetry, origami (lots of it is lame, but there is some really complex and cool stuff), learning to tie knots might be interesting for a while.

I’m curious about what the “textiles” one refers to.

I guess for me, when it comes to a hobby I’m not into collecting stuff, or making useless stuff that no one wants or can use. For example, it might be fun to make puppets (sewing, papier mache, etc) but I could only do that if I knew of a purpose for the puppets, i.e. making puppets which are characters in a particular story.

http://www.notsoboringlife.com/list-of-hobbies/ is where I found the list in case anyone’s interested.

but I’m undecided on how to word them.

• One is about limiting my computer time. Perhaps designating a computer-free day of the week? Saturday might be a good day.

• I also need to get out of my current non-exercise rut. So perhaps a walking goal. I find I’m motivated by measuring progress, so perhaps I need to find a way to clock my weekly distance. Easy to do inthe city where I can measure distances on google earth, but not so easy in rural areas where the satellite images are low-resolution.

I guess if I had a set route, I could drive it once, see how far it is on my car’s odometer, and then use that as a guide.

• I would also like to not be broke/in debt for a change.

• And I need to find some kind of (useful?) hobby – for the days when I am not called to be a sub. Starting to study French again? Some kind of woodworking? Literacy volunteering? Other stuff?

One of my friends recently offered me a job once in a while working at his mom’s office. But he’s been acting kind of odd over the past year or two, so I’d like to not be beholden to him any more than possible. Plus, he often makes big pie-in-the-sky promises, and his mom’s a bit hard to take.

but have been sick all this past week, so no work. Now it’s Xmas holiday time, and school is out. I’m flying back to Vancouver tomorrow, but I’m embarrassed to take the plane because I have been coughing so much. It’s not like you can change your ticket at the last minute this time of year.

I’m going to need a 2 litre bottle of water, tons of lozenges, and a big fluffy scarf to gag myself with (or to cough into). And some of that alcohol hand gel stuff.

Can anyone think of anything else that might help? It’s a 2 hour flight.

I’ll try asking the ticket agent if I can sit by myself (if there’s space) so I don’t horrify my seat mate with my potential coughing.

Some good news – I’ve been added to the sub list in my hometown. Now I just need to figure out the best time to move up there so I can get started.

As I mentioned elsewhere, we’ve made plans to renovate the bathroom starting on the 26th, my boyfriend’s birthday is on the 28th. On the other hand, the sooner I get up there the sooner I can (hopefully) start making money.

I’d probably come back to Vancouver during the Winter break (Dec – early Jan), since we’re keeping our place here, and I’ll be staying at my parents place up there, at least for the first while.

The loveliest thing about 43T is that I can take you people with me, no matter where I move! Woo! :-D

Well, I went to my hometown for a week, and I was all inspired and busy.

I got tons of things done – I visited some old friends, I spent time with my brother and his family, I purged all the junk out of my mom’s spare room & then painted the wall, I went to a training workshop for volunteer literacy tutoring, got my H1N1 flu shots, went to the School District Office for an interview, stopped in at one of the high schools just to quickly chat with the principal…

The HR people said they just needed a week to check my references, and confirmed that email would be the best way to reach me. But that was nearly 2 weeks ago and I haven’t heard a peep :-(

Maybe they thought I was a freak.

which was SO MUCH MORE EFFECTIVE than just sending an application.

She said they don’t usually hire people unless they are already living there. (Which means they would have completely ignored my application unless I called to explain how awesome I am, and how easily I would settle in and be ready to work.)

I replied, well I was thinking of flying up there for a visit next week anyway, if you have some time I’d love to drop by your office. My family lives there still, I’ll have a free place to stay in a central area and can easily commute to any of the 4 towns. My boyfriend’s company keeps an empty apartment in the most remote town, so I could sleep there when necessary…

We chatted for a while, I dropped a few names of local people ;-) She said, “Well, unless there’s something really odd with your references, I can’t see why we wouldn’t hire you…” And we arranged an interview for this Monday, even though I haven’t actually sent in my application yet. She said I can just bring everything with me on Monday.

Next problem… I need a plane ticket! (Gotta love frequent flyer points :-D)

(... just as he usually is!)

Even though I do have mixed feelings about being in my hometown, the simple idea of making a change is inspiring me – I’ve gone from feeling trapped and lacking ideas & inspiration to feeling inspired, with several plausible ideas zinging through my head.

I know if I am there, I will at least be more busy than I am now. First of all, my brother has a nearly 2 year old daughter who keeps everyone on their toes; second, the last time I was in my parents house, I was sure both their eyesight must be going because it definitely needs some TLC, and a good decluttering too; third, my dad has an impressive array of woodworking machines tucked away in his shop which I don’t know how to use… yet :-)

There are a few other people I am looking forward to seeing – some who are very much like me (a rare synchronicity), and some who are the absolute opposite (I like contrasts, there’s so much to learn!). And there are a LOT of people whom it will be awkward to see again as well. But I’m kind of used to that.

Anyway, I’ve managed to kick start my brain, which it sorely needed.

... well, not hometown, more like “home islands”. But I’m from a really rural place :-(

Anyway, since the job market is so horrible in general, especially for teaching, I’m feeling pretty hopeless about finding work in Vancouver. The handful of people I know who have found work here all got jobs through people they knew. I don’t know anybody, and I have a fairly average CV for a beginning teacher. I’ve been trying to think of ways to improve my CV, but I can’t even get hired as a teaching assistant or with a tutoring agency here…

I think I need to start out in a place where I do have connections, otherwise nothing’s going to happen.

I’ll admit I have really mixed feelings about the idea.

I know that they’re hiring substitute teachers where I’m from, and the facts that I grew up there and am a certified teacher will be a big advantage, even if I don’t know the actual principals who do the hiring. Many of their subs and even some teachers aren’t certified…

It’s a long weekend, and last night we were thinking of going out of town for a day-long cycling trip. But this morning the weather looks like it’s November: rainy, windy and generally gloomy.

that I would like for the city to create a bylaw banning anyone who lives in an apartment building from owning, renting or using a personal karaoke machine.