Finding a Voice
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
mini-retreats
This morning, walking up to the newspaper office, I kept thinking, "I have got to stop. I have got to stop."
I have got to stop going, going, going, going. Tour for 2 months, then straight here to my brother Jeffrey's place to be his business manager. Our first task was to get ready for his fall/Christmas open house and sale: cleaning, sorting, cleaning, emptying the kiln, cleaning, pricing pottery, arranging pottery on shelves, and cleaning. It was a good sale, November 10th--his best ever. I sang a few songs every hour or so and sold 6 CDs. A local lady provided baking (we paid) and a couple of neighbours helped keep the coffee and tea going and the mugs washed. Wow. It was a good sale, but man-oh-man, Jeff and I were wiped out for 3 or 4 days afterward.
While Jeff went back to his regular routine--bus driving, educational assistant, pottery making--I got into my new routine at the newspaper. Routine might be an optimistic word. This job in sales and reporting is fascinating and multi-faceted. I'm loving it, but it's an awful lot to learn and some days my head is truly spinning after meeting people and doing new things and writing new thoughts about events and people. Of course, Christmas season is the busiest, so if I get through this I can get through anything! I enjoy the people I work with at the "Cornwell Centre" and they seem to enjoy me. (The Cornwell Centre houses several businesses in a cluster of cubicles: alpaca wool and knitted products, embroidery and sportswear, Sears, greeting cards, Sasktel, stationery, User Friendly Computers, Watkins, and Last Mountain Times.)
This weekend I drove 4 hours to Spiritwood to pack my rooms at Mom & Dad's place. I thought I could do it in one day--Saturday. Nope. Sunday evening at supper I was my feet ached so bad and I was so tired that I just wanted to put my face in my dinner plate. Monday Mom & Dad helped me pack up the last things in my room and in my car. The drive "home" to Duval was actually relaxing because all I had to do was sit and drive and sing and listen to CBC radio and eat the nice roast beef sandwich Mom had packed. Unpacking the car was not so bad--took about 30 minutes.
After a couple of days here at the newspaper, I'm now heading to California. In 9 hours I will embark a plane en route to Los Angeles. On one hand, it's more traveling, which could be exhausting. On the other hand, I have no responsibilities and no checked baggage, only several hours of travel tomorrow to sleep and read, with good friends and American Thanksgiving dinner on the other end. These are my mini-retreats. Friday I'll take a 5-hour scenic train to San Luis Obispo (north of LA) to spend the weekend with my friend Becky (former roommate from Regent days). Monday I'll train back to LA and catch a plane home, hopefully arriving rested and rejuvenated and ready to settle in--and not go anywhere overnight for about a month!
I have got to stop going, going, going, going. Tour for 2 months, then straight here to my brother Jeffrey's place to be his business manager. Our first task was to get ready for his fall/Christmas open house and sale: cleaning, sorting, cleaning, emptying the kiln, cleaning, pricing pottery, arranging pottery on shelves, and cleaning. It was a good sale, November 10th--his best ever. I sang a few songs every hour or so and sold 6 CDs. A local lady provided baking (we paid) and a couple of neighbours helped keep the coffee and tea going and the mugs washed. Wow. It was a good sale, but man-oh-man, Jeff and I were wiped out for 3 or 4 days afterward.
While Jeff went back to his regular routine--bus driving, educational assistant, pottery making--I got into my new routine at the newspaper. Routine might be an optimistic word. This job in sales and reporting is fascinating and multi-faceted. I'm loving it, but it's an awful lot to learn and some days my head is truly spinning after meeting people and doing new things and writing new thoughts about events and people. Of course, Christmas season is the busiest, so if I get through this I can get through anything! I enjoy the people I work with at the "Cornwell Centre" and they seem to enjoy me. (The Cornwell Centre houses several businesses in a cluster of cubicles: alpaca wool and knitted products, embroidery and sportswear, Sears, greeting cards, Sasktel, stationery, User Friendly Computers, Watkins, and Last Mountain Times.)
This weekend I drove 4 hours to Spiritwood to pack my rooms at Mom & Dad's place. I thought I could do it in one day--Saturday. Nope. Sunday evening at supper I was my feet ached so bad and I was so tired that I just wanted to put my face in my dinner plate. Monday Mom & Dad helped me pack up the last things in my room and in my car. The drive "home" to Duval was actually relaxing because all I had to do was sit and drive and sing and listen to CBC radio and eat the nice roast beef sandwich Mom had packed. Unpacking the car was not so bad--took about 30 minutes.
After a couple of days here at the newspaper, I'm now heading to California. In 9 hours I will embark a plane en route to Los Angeles. On one hand, it's more traveling, which could be exhausting. On the other hand, I have no responsibilities and no checked baggage, only several hours of travel tomorrow to sleep and read, with good friends and American Thanksgiving dinner on the other end. These are my mini-retreats. Friday I'll take a 5-hour scenic train to San Luis Obispo (north of LA) to spend the weekend with my friend Becky (former roommate from Regent days). Monday I'll train back to LA and catch a plane home, hopefully arriving rested and rejuvenated and ready to settle in--and not go anywhere overnight for about a month!
posted by Colleen McCubbin at 10:02 PM
1 Comments:
Wow, that does sound stressful! Enjoy your trip to California!
Post a Comment
<< Home