Spring has sprung. Aside from the rain and the blooming crocusses, random construction projects have been springing up all around the city. With my sliding door ajar I can hear the robins before dawn and the drills once the sky gets light. Ahhhh, spring. It's going to rain all week and it's raining pretty heavily now, and here I am, knowing that my umbrella is where I left it - in my apartment. I am so clever.

I spent a couple of hours painting Grurl, one of my cute, fat dragons (I should trademark that) while I watched the last half of Pirate Movie and CSI Miami, which was slightly more realistic than it usually is. Grurl sits in a little flower pot, all four feet in the air, tongue lolling out of his mouth. He's a nice, vibrant blue with orange detailing and I gave him plastic stuffed-animal eyes so he looks a little intense. He's pretty cute. I hope someone takes him home from Ad-Astra. I'll try to get some pictures of him and the other ones I've made, too.

This morning I woke up around 7am, which is about an hour earlier than I need to get up, because Stinky was making quite a bit of noise as she wrestled with one of her cat toys. It was the squeaky... um... hampster?... and every so often it let out a pathetic, wheezy squeak. When she'd quite finished with it she dropped herself onto me like a small, soft, sack of sand and went to sleep. She and Porkchop have been getting along much better of late - perhaps the return of spring has raised their spirits. I hear them playing, then they tear into my room, raise some Hell before flying out again, and then the thumping continues in other parts of the house.

I sort of feel like I should be talking about important things. The thing is, I haven't heard back from Fleming College yet as to whether I've been accepted, things haven't moved much on the dead-beat politician issue, I've settled into the new jobs with no drama... This doesn't leave a whole lot to talk about. The most exciting things I can think of these days is my planned trip to New York in June. And even that is only in the conceptual stage. I'm thinking that if I'm there for a week (with Mom) then I might skip over to Philadelphia for two days of that to visit my pal, Megs, and various other people. Too bad it looks like there won't be any exciting temporary exhibits at the Philly Museum of Art, but there do seem to be several interesting exhibitions on at the Met. I might try the Rodin Museum in Philly, too, as I've never been there.

Working the main cash is a long shift, though not as long as that of the information desk. I see a lot of people from a lot of places (today including a family from Bermuda, two very funny Dutch lesbians, a family from Australia, etc.), but most of them aren't terribly interesting. There are people who reek of booze and reefer, or cigarettes, others talking around their hotdogs, people with strange body odours... You get the idea. When I worked at Membership I had a few of those, but mostly just expensive drunks. What kind of disappoints me is that here I am, chatting with everyone, greeting everyone, smiling all day, and so many people are so utterly humourless. I told the Dutch ladies that I wished they could just hang out at admissions all day to amuse me. They rocked. But they only just managed to balance out the nasty old man who was very angry about everything.

Now the day is winding down and I'm getting ready to cash out and I'm looking forward to going home and painting fat dragons. I'm going to put aside my money concerns, of which, despite an increase in pay, I still have, and just take it nice and easy. I think maybe with a cup of tea.

Oh my goodness, I've had such a nice night with Rick... actually, I've had a really nice day. Let's start at the beginning, shall we? After calling out of work sick with the uckiness of a cold yesterday, I dragged myself out of bed in order not to miss another day at the museum. Good thing I did, too, because today's batch of tours was really rewarding. Every single group was great. With the exception of one group of developmentally handicapped young adults, they were all about ten years old and the most (including the special group) engaged, enthusiastic bunch so far. I learned that it's not hard to teach about Egypt to high-functioning autistics and people with downs-syndrome, you just need to appeal to their emotional understanding. They all loved the concept of the Egyptian afterlife, which is a farm where the fields are always irregated, there are animals ("I don't like goats - they're smelly"), and it's always sunny. Hey, me too. Sign me up.

As a slight digression from my day, I feel really comfortable in the Eternal Egypt exhibition now that I've taken Mom and Julie through it. Spending over two hours talking about nearly every piece and certainly every period of Egyptian history makes me realise just how much I actually know. And I keep thinking of things I could have said while I was taking them through and never got around to mentioning. I really do enjoy this new job in Education and I'll be sorry when it ends in June. I'd happily work the feathered dinosaur exhibit that's coming next year, but God-willing, I'll be in school. There will be other exhibits, though, and maybe after I'm done at school, I'll be on a different end of things - making some of the magic happen.

I ran some errands following that and took my self-portrait in to be framed at Frames 'n Graphics on Bloor Street before heading home to have a nice afternoon nap. I also cleaned out Willi's litter pan, disinfected it with cleanser and all. She naturally spent a good portion of my nap-time digging in it fiercely and waking me up. It clearly meets her standards of clean because she was in and out of it at least three times before she let Tobe anywhere near (who then also made use of it). Once I was awake again, happily noting that it is now still light out until past six o'clock in the evening, I headed out to meet Rick at our favourite (only?) Indian restaurant, Red Rose. The last time we were there was the day I told Rick I needed a break, so this was a much happier occasion and we enjoyed every moment of it. He gave me They Might Be Giants' children's book, which was very sweet of him and totally unnecessary.

We had initially intended to go see Ladykillers tonight, the new, seemingly quite bizarre Tom Hanks movie, but we ended up walking all along Bloor Street, ducking into Cheapo (Sonic Boom) Records and then Book City. It's very nice to be able to afford a couple of used CDs and one book on sale. It's been so very long. This past two weeks I've been able to buy clothing for the first time in months - with my own money - and now something to entertain my ears and my brain. In fact, one of the CDs I bought was an EP by my old favourite indy band, Red Autumn Fall. It's kind of surreal to be sitting here in my house with Rick in the shower, Willi sleeping on my monitor, and Simeon pouring out his mellifluous soul into my room. I haven't listened to RAF in years, but this EP is so much better than the CD they put out before they broke up.

So, we ended the evening having a coffee at Dooney's and being all hipster like. I enjoyed some tasty, if not exactly like how I remember it, New York cherry-topped cheesecake and a cappucino and Rick had an Irish coffee. We walked to Spadina Station and Rick slid his way up the immobile moving sidewalk and when we finally got home it was after eleven. Now we're both clean, well-fed, and ready for a snuggle.

Last night, I dreamed all sorts of weird things. The most troubling one concerning the latest assassination in Israel and the recent outbreak of anti-semitism in Toronto. People kept demading to know my feelings on Israel's policies and making accusitory remarks about how the vandalism is related to them and how Jews deserved this, etc. As most of my friends know, I am never quite able to put my feelings into words, a rare thing for me, as I simply cannot come up with how things in Israel should be handled. I believe in the Homeland and a little part of me always believes when we end the seder with "next year in Jerusalem", but do I support the policies? The state sanctioned murder? The wall? No. Do I feel for the victims of suicide bombings? Yes. So? Well, here's where I can't put it into words. I simply cannot fathom how anyone can get out of the mess that is Israel and Palestine. It was like this in my dream and people were yelling at me and hurling insults at me and then telling me it was my fault that Jewish cemetaries were being desecrated.

I am glad that when I woke up following this dream, there was a soft, fluffy cat curled up against me under my covers. Melody, as a cat of the ripe old age of 17, has no such worries, no understanding of those things that trouble my mind. She just offers love and attention and is generally available for kisses when needed.

Anyway, this past weekend was very nice. On Thursday night, my four year anniversary of being with Rick, he and I took the Greyhound out to the Petes where Mom picked us up. On Friday, as it was such a lovely day, all three of us went out for a walk along the Otonabee River. The usual photos were snapped in the usual places by the water, with the exception of a couple my mother took of Rick and I rough-housing. I guess it says something of my level of comfort with Rick, now, as opposed to in the past, as we have never really acted like that. We were flinging each other about, dragging each other around, all because I wouldn't relinquish my mother's cane to him. At the end of it, my arms kind of hurt, but I was smiling. I'm really happy with Rick and it shows. We went for dinner that night to a new Chinese (American-style) restaurant near-by and it was pretty darn yummy. Kind of like a scaled-down Mandarin, there were some very tasty things. On Saturday, Rick and I went off to the mall. Woo. He bought me the DVD release of Schindler's List as part of my present and I bought some small accessories and a card to send off to my little-sister, Gina, in Brooklyn.

We took Bernadette into Toronto on Saturday night so that I'd be able to work on Sunday and be able to drive out with our big present for Mom: a new (refurbished) 17" monitor. Rick was a Saint, picking it up for me as I had to work longer than I thought and would have otherwised missed the store hours. He waited for me at Kos for over two hours and I met him there. I had all-day breakfast and then we packed the monitor into the car. Stopping briefly chez moi so that I could pick up my school bag, say hi to Stew, and play with Willi, Rick took a moment to figure out why Natasha had suddenly gone from a half-empty harddrive to a nearly-full harddrive. It turns out that Stew's been storing stuff on it that he plans to burn for his friend, but he had failed to mention this to me. So, we deleted some un-used programmes and then I drove Rick home before returning to the Petes.

Mom and I will be driving into Toronto tonight, she staying at Julie's house in order to come to the ROM tomorrow. I'll be giving both of them the 'education' tour through Eternal Egypt. They're both looking forward to it, so much so that I actually feel some amount of pressure to really make it count. I've only spoken about three zones in the exhibit, four as of tomorrow morning, and I've got some studying to do, before I'm ready to do that. So, I hope that my tour for Mom and Julie lives up to their expectations and that they ask questions about things I actually know. *laugh* We shall see. Anyway, that's for tomorrow. Right now, I think it's time for a nice relaxing bath before my return. While I do that, you should check out my recent self-portrait. I'm quite proud of it. :)

There comes a time in every woman's life, usually once a year, when she has to make a visit to the doctor to get... checked out. Awkward as it can be, if the doctor has a nice manner and can still laugh at your jokes while peering into parts never intended to be seen in such a manner, well, the experience can be rendered inoccuous. Today, I had such a doctor. In fact, this doctor gave me the best exam I think I've ever had, if that can be said about something so utterly undesired. Young men think that there could be nothing better than staring into a woman's vagina all day, or at least I've heard them comment that being a gynacologist is a 'dream job'. This is because they have NO IDEA how unappealing and utterly unsexy the job really is. I would like to thank Dr. Hussein for making my appointment after work as - pleasant is probably the wrong word, here - unheinous as it could be.

Actually, I had a surprisingly good day at work. Today I was one of the 'break people' or 'breakers' in VS. Of course, it's March Break, so there aren't any school groups and I refused to be strapped into armour or do 'medieval dancing' for the enjoyment of an ungrateful crowd, so VS has me for most of the week. Today consisted of being 'in charge' at least for short periods of time. I got to relieve the lead hands for their breaks and lunches which put me in a direct supervisory position above the people on the registers. This is sort of funny considering I have worked a total of two days on the register, only one of which was unsupervised. However, with the exception of a couple of hairy moments, the day went extremely fast and without too much trouble. The job of this particular job is that you get to move around a lot. When not breaking people, I was doing crowd control (this means I get to yell and we all know how much I enjoy doing that), direct and float around being useful. Even better, no one yelled at me. Huzzah !

Today is A&C's one year anniversary. It is sort of hard to believe that they've been married this long already... or even that there was a time when they weren't. Rick and I went over to their place on Saturday in order to help celebrate this festive ocasion. I dyed Carrie's hair red (hopefully it won't fade out right away like last time) and brought over dessert. Rick came over a bit later with a bottle of wine. We went for tasty food at one of the Firkin pubs (um, the Goose and Firkin, maybe?) and I was overjoyed to find REAL steak and kidney pie on the menu, not the wannabe steak and mushroom pie (which is also tasty, I must admit). We went back to their place for the lovely fruity cheesecake I'd brought and wine, enjoying Underworld at the same time. Unfortunately, and not really surprisingly, I got hit with a migraine and had to lie down for over an hour in order to let the medication do its job. That sort of spoiled the evening, but other than that episode, it was fun. Hopefully, they are doing fun things tonight, but they're probably just playing Everquest. ;)

Rick and I will be celebrating our fourth anniversary of being together this coming Thursday. We'll be celebrating it on the bus, heading out to Peterborough where we will also jointly celebrate my Mother's Birthday. Today is actually her birthday, but I can't be out in the Petes until later in the week and Rick took a day off work in order to come too. Maybe all of us can mutually treat each other to a nice dinner out. :) I sent my mom a spring bulb platter from the excellent Peterborough flourist, Pammett's Flowers. This was the very first time I'd ordered flowers for anyone and it was terribly exciting. Well, not really, but there were just so many choices. I'm afraid I pooped out on the little card that accompanies the plants: "Happy birthday, Mom. Love Maya." How's that for original? Anyway, I didn't want to waste money on a bouquet of cut flowers or an arrangement. This way, the bulbs can be dried and planted in the garden next fall so that they can come up once again in the spring.

Happy Birthday, Mom !!

"Troubles, like babies, grow larger with nursing." So reads the sign outside the Dovercourt Baptist Church. I know what it's trying to say, but I think it fails. It has the feel of being translated from a different language. Anyway, I couldn't get it out of my head all evening last night once I'd read it. I kept repeating it in my head as I rode the bus home last night and it was the first thing I said to Stew when I came up the stairs. It really doesn't put babies into a nice light at all, especially if you put emphasis on the 'like babies' part. Creepy.

Last night was my Yay-I-Quit membership party except we (all who attended) were all kind of out of it and not very partilicious. A bit disappointing, but it was nice to see people, especially Nick, whom I had not seen since before Christmas. I was sorry that A&C had not come out, but they, too, were kind of bleh. Anyway, we were at Insomnia a place that has amazing food and great drinks. Our waiter wasn't a barrel of laughs, but he mostly got the job done effectively.

I've been settling into my new positions at the ROM with very little difficulty, but there is so much to learn about the VS postion that I just hadn't ever thought about. My first day on cash went well and at the end of my day everything balanced. Lia was my trainer and since she has a hard time explaining things, I got to do a lot of practical learning, hands-on, etc. It's the best way to learn, though. I'm back in there on Sunday working cash, which is the first weekend of March Break. I'm on the cash that stays open the longest so that ought to be a challenge.

Today's school groups were very good, the kids all really well behaved and quite keen. I had one teacher lose her cool because she thought that everything was taking too long and they were supposed to be, "in a lab RIGHT NOW." I calmed her down and promised that their lab wasn't going to go anywhere and that whomever was leading it understands that sometimes the tours run late. She also was one of those people who thought she knew everything. The best class of the day was a grade eleven class from a christian highschool. They kids were a lot of fun and really got a kick out of my descriptions and stuff. When I referred to Ahkenaten's 'man-boobs', they killed themselves laughing and when I described him marrying his daughters adding, "Mmm, nothing like a little incest to keep a bloodline pure," they groaned and shuddered. They actually knew very little about Egypt not being a history class and that was kind of refreshing, especially since they were so receptive. Had I known, at the time, that they were from a christian school, I'd have talked a bit about the theories relating to who might have been pharoah during the Exodus, but I didn't know so I didn't say. Maybe that's for the best as yesterday I was cornered by a christian mother and her homeschooled children.

Tonight I will get paid, which will be a truly wonderful experience. I'm looking forward to it. I've been living so tight these past two weeks. Without the help of my mother and Rick I would not have eaten at all. Rick's been very generous, treating me to dinners everytime we've been out for the last three months. Soon I will be making more money and I'll hopefully be able to repay some of my debt, but I know that this paycheque is pretty well earmarked for bills and medication. There won't be much left to spend or save.

Finally, there are three significant things coming up in the next week. Firstly, my mother's birthday on the Ides of March. Secondly, A&C's first wedding anniversary also on the Ides. And thirdly, Rick and I will have been together for FOUR years as of the 18th. Wowsers. Go us, all of us ! And now I shall go home as my day here is done.

Is anyone else bothered by all the gangland shootings that have been going on in Toronto over the last few months? I'm bothered by it. Of all US culture we import, do we really need THAT? It disturbs me. It troubles me. I just don't understand it. *sigh*

My feet really hurt tonight. Walking back and forth to the bus several times a day, plus walking up and down through an exhibit for two hours, and elsewhere in the museum, on a daily basis is hard on the tootsies. They've got that slightly burning feeling of skin that is threatening to blister. Having doffed my shoes (can you doff a shoe as you can a hat?) they are still tender. I wish I could tell them that they get to sleep in tomorrow, but I'm training on the switchboard at work so I'll be back at it in eight hours time. They won't get a day off until this coming Friday. I've already decided on what I'll be doing, too. NOTHING. Oh baby.

I had an entertaining night riding up Dufferin on the bus. It isn't often that I enjoy a ride on that route, but for some reason, tonight the mix of people was kind of fun. This probably had something to do with it being Friday night and people were out. There were some girls at the back of the bus, probably around fourteen years of age, and rather than being the obnoxious, noisy things that teenage girls can be, they were fairly interesting. They were talking about other people at school, but without the nastiness that so many of the 'fairer' sex exude. There were two gangly, gawky teenage boys standing in front of me, somehow oblivious to the girls, but probably only because they were discussing one of the few things that can distract as much as boobs - music. There were some adults around me, many clearly coming home after a post-work drink. There were also some couples doing their Friday night bus snuggling and the smattering of stylish single twenty-somethings that only seem to ride the bus after dark. And, what route would be complete without the requisite drunk guy arguing and staggering around up near the driver. He seemed to have gotten hold of two long-stemmed roses, which just gave him a weird surreal appearance.

I think I'll take a moment to reflect on my first week doing schoolgroup tours at the ROM. For the most part, the grade fives are the most engaged of all the grade that have come through. The grade nines, of which there still have only been one class, were the worst. I have great hopes that at some point I'll be able to engage them. Generally, the grade elevens are really hard to interest. They are at that horrible age when they don't want to look smart - God forbid - or even mildly interested. Today was the exception. Today was a wonderful exception, actually. Most of the groups coming through were grade elevens and with the exception of one class they were all very enthusiastic. They came from, mostly, highschools with intensive arts programmes and "gifted" classes. And, I am happy to report that my old school was one of these. Unfortunately, the ten-year-olds that came through afterward were really unruly and hard to keep focused.

One thing that I've learned is that the teacher, more even than the kids' backgrounds, makes the biggest difference. If your teacher is fun, smart, engaging, can talk to his/her students on their level without coming off dumb or trying to hard - those kids will eat out of his/her hand. Of course, I knew this from my own school experience, but it's really amazing to see it at work. The highschool teachers coming through today were really good. Another thing I've learned is that if you challenge your kids, especially the younger ones, they will rise to the occasion, regardless of whether the curriculum believes they can. On Wednesday, I asked a class of nine-year-olds, "Can anyone tell me the name of the Egyptian cat goddess?" Their teacher, an older, probably jaded woman, piped up from the rear, "Um, they're only grade fours, you know," in an offensively condescending tone. I didn't skip a beat when I answered her with, "Actually, you'd be surprised to discover how much nine-year-olds know about subjects like Egypt, compared to adults." She smirked at me, but her face was wiped clean when one little black girl raised her hand and offered a tentative, "Bastet?" BINGO. Stupid teacher. It was obvious that she needed a reminder, but it was probably lost on her. I bet she can't even remember why she went into teaching in the first place.

Anyway, I'll wrap up now. I need a shower and my feet desperately want off the floor.

Have you ever done something for someone else, something that would mean a lot to them even when under normal circumstances you would poke out your eyes first? This weekend, I did just that. You see, my dear friend Ryan, with whom in the early years of our friendship we agreed to never talk politics, was running for the Conservative nomination in Peterborough. Are you getting the idea of where I'm going with this? I do love Ryan and though, in the past couple of years, our relationship has sort of been a bit uneven he has surprised me in the past by doing something special for me. I, having recently gained plenty of political/election experience, was invited to be part of his team, should he win. And, of course, I was also invited out to support him, even though he knew very well that I couldn't and would not vote for him. However, for a day, I could be a plant in the audience offering uber-Ryan-Conservative-support.

And boy did I fool the best of them. I waved my sign. I screamed like a banshee. I did the Xena yell. I heckled. Wow, am I a good heckler. And wow, was there ever reason to heckle. His name is Wayne. McConnachie. And he is a fundamentalist ultra-right-winged christian fascist. I booed him when he called homosexuals a-moral and unnatural (lots of other people booed him, too), I heckled when he talked about being pro-life, and as soon as he was finished ranting (or rather when he ran out of time) I began a huge Ryan chant. I rocked. Anyway, in the end, age won out and Ryan was beaten by James Jackson. It's Peterborough, afterall. A twenty-seven-year-old youngin' has very little chance of beating out a fifty-something man who's lived and been active in the community for decades. Sure, Ryan knew his policy and had real political experience, but we are talking about a place I used to call "Raisinville". Ryan made an excellent showing and proving himself to the Conservative voters. He'll win it next time. In the meantime, he's got four years to work on policy development where he can effect real change.

In celebration of the event, regardless of his loss, a bunch of us went out for drinks and dancing at Reiley's, a pseudo-Irish pub along the main drag. Next door/upstairs was the Junction, a dance club. In the end, only Ryan, his friend Kyle, Tanya and myself went dancing. I have to tell you, the Junction had to be one of the worst dance club experiences I've ever had. I did end up having fun, but it took a lot of effort because the music was awful. It was mostly the worst of mainstream hiphop with some limited dance music thrown in. I have never seen so many cookie-cutter people in one place, either. You haven't seen anything until you've seen hundreds of bland white people shuffling to hiphop, everyone wearing the same clothes, with the same hair, and the same type of dancing. Sure, there were exceptions, but in general, it was pretty sad. Lame, even. And the smoking - YUCK ! We'd thought that Peterborough has gone non-smoking, but it seems they don't actually follow the rules. There was bad ventilation and no fans so the dancefloor was a smokey, sweaty meat-grinder. Ryan got me doing some Mambo, which was a lot of fun, and it kept me at the club an additional twenty minutes, but honestly, after an hour and a half upstairs, I was done.

At one point, Tanya remarked, "You know, I don't know any of these people. I'd expect to see some faces that I recognise." My answer, "Tanya, everyone we know here is at home with babies." Sad, but essentially true. Next time, we'll go to the Trasheteria, at least the music is fun.

So, on a completely unrelated note, I had my first day of working in Education today. I was very nervous going in. I spent my ride on the Dufferin bus thinking about what I'd talk about in the Gold Room. As we prepped in the Studio before the classes arrived, everyone with their morning drink of choice in hand, I started to get nervous. Waiting in the Gold Room was nerve-wracking. I could hear the first class coming through and we (the other interpreters and myself) were milling around and chatting anxiously as we heard the tour coming closer and closer. Finally, the first class arrived at the station before mine and I knew it was showtime. Joe handed off to me and I started. Unfortunately, the first class through was a very unengaged class of grade nine art students - the ones who are taking it only because it's required for them to graduate. Things picked up from then on, however; the other classes being made up of ten and eleven year olds. The grade fives had great questions and with the exception of one unruly group, were very easy to control and talk to. At about a quarter to eleven in the morning, I suddenly realised that I was having fun ! And then it was over. We all went back to the Studio to debrief and sort out the bugs, but it seems that we all did a great job. Considering there was one unscheduled group of forty students, meaning we had to marshal nearly four-hundred kids in two hours, that's pretty amazing. I'm really looking forward to Wednesday when I'm back in.

I also picked up my schedule for Visitor Services. I thought that I might have some time off during March Break in order to visit my mother for her birthday and whatnot, but I only have two nights off. I'll go out to see her on those two days, I guess, but that isn't what I'd hoped for. Oh well. I've also learned something very important about VS. They actually do their schedules in advance, so if I want a vacation, I have to book in advance. Well, in advance, actually. Something else I have learned, I am not going to suffer a lack of hours over the next few months. Hooray ! It's all so very exciting.