First, let me wish everyone a very Merry Christmas ! Never mind the politically correct, seasonally appropriate greetings, it's Christmas. Most people I know who celebrate other holidays (ie. Jews, Muslims, Buddists) don't care if they are wished a merry Christmas - so long as the sentiment is there. So, my sentiment is this: Be safe, be well, find peace, be kind, and may yours and the generosity of others make your life better, sweeter, and positive. And seriously, I'm good with celebrating the birth of a heroic, important, really cool guy, Messiah or not.

With that out of the way, here is a brief run-down on my life since Friday, but starting with my day yesterday. It started with an idiotically late taxi, which was far more complicated than it needed to be at 4am. Once at the airport, everything else went off without a hitch. My shuttle driver met me moments of coming through the gate and the ride back was a riot. There were two middle aged women from Pittsburgh, PA and Boston, MA heading to the Petes to surprise their cousins, a father and his son coming in to visit from Halifax, NS, me, and a pair of slightly younger 20-somethings who'd arrived from Thunder Bay up in Northern Ontario. Everyone was friendly and fun.

I arrived home in time for lunch, which was yummy homemade soup. My mom's gardner/handyman, Miles, stopped in with his little boy, David. They're ultra Christian, but they're such good, loving people it doesn't matter. David sang the song he performed in the church pageant (he was dressed as a horse) and there were cookies and drinks and stuff. Then I took a bath. I fell asleep in the bath. Then I started on the tree, stopped for dinner (mmm, turkey), finished the tree, wrapped my presents, and was done just in time for the classic, Miracle on 34th St, which is possibly my favourite American Christmas movie not including anything with Muppets. Church was out - I was just too tired to bother with make-up and dressing up and Mom basically felt the same.

I didnt end up at the tavern Friday night, either, because I decided I couldn't handle another round of goodbyes. I decided to make sure everything was packed, vacuumed my apt., and sorted out various other things of import. Then I napped, woke up, played some freecell, went back to sleep and repeated that pattern thrice, before actually getting out of bed at 3am.

Tonight, we're off to the Mutton's for Christmas dinner, as per usual. Much good fun will be had, I'm sure, as will a shrimp ring and a fair amount of wine, presents and games. I don't know what to wear. I'm thinner than I was this time last year, so I shall have to pick more carefully. Tomorrow is D&D here in town, which will be fun. I will pick Rick up at the bus terminal around lunch time, and then later on there will be meatballs courtesy of Al's mom. Yay, meatballs !

Leaving Winnipeg behind was hard. I really loved it there, and more specifically at the Manitoba Museum. I have made friends for life, I know, and my life is better for the bonds built in that three-and-a-half month period. I feel that I have grown in every facet of my being, professionally, personally, emotionally, and developed my independence. I know that the road ahead will be bumpy, and in the direct future, there will be hitches, but I know I can handle it. I have love, health, will, and strength. I can do it. I am lucky. And I am very grateful.

I shall write more in the near future. Merry Christmas, everyone, and Kwanzaa, and later tonight, Happy Hanukkah, too. :)

"When Winston Churchill was told he might have to cut Britain's budget for the arts during World War II, he replied, `Then what are we fighting for?'"

Indeed. Where are the Arts in this electoral campaign? Where is our Culture and Heritage (and I'm not talking about free flags, here)? Why do these rate so low on the funding scale? While agriculture and industry might feed our bodies, furnaces, and cars, what is feeding our minds and souls? People rail against the Americanisation of our culture, yet how can we preserve what we have when we do not fund it, when it takes a back seat to everything else?

Show me a museum or gallery, publically funded, that is not struggling. The Manitoba Museum swoons at the idea of the funding brought in by the Royal Ontario Museum, but when that money is tied to replacing office chairs or massive construction projects, rather than cleaning and renovating existing exhibits, or funding research, what does it matter if they have more of it? If you want fancy looking museums with computer interactives, lofty ceilings, and uniformed greeters, there is the Museum of Civilisation, but there is so little strength to its content, it barely rates on Canada's museum scale. But it has funding and you can -see- it.

This article, from the Toronto Star, goes on at greater length on the issues surrounding Canada's music and theatre arts, so I encourage you to read it.

Arts and Culture should not equal tourism, nor should tourism potential equal funding. And funding should not be based on last year, but the future. This is our history, held for us, for the future, afterall. There is no easy answer for the Arts and Culture sector this coming election. It is a sector far off the map, and the parties with the greatest history of previous significant spending in it have other, flashier priorities now. But think about it; and, if your candidates come to your door, why not ask them about their parties' policies and plans for the future of Canada's Soul Food.

Five days left before I'm home again. Where has the time gone? This time last week I was feeling down about leaving Winnipeg, but now I'm really starting to get excited about going home. Five days ! Currently, the weekend weather is predicted to be warmish and kind of wet in Toronto and warmish and clear in Winnipeg, so hopefully my flight won't be grounded or re-routed. Things can change, though, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

I have basically said goodbye to the neighbourhood I'm living in. I took a walk on Saturday and got a few more photos, and went up to Osborne Village and window-shopped. I can't really afford to do anything else, now. I've got some bills to pay and stuff, so whatever is left on my credit card is being used for that and to ship home the stuff that won't fit in my suitcase.

My plans for when I get home are simple. On Christmas Eve, the tree goes up. Maybe Mom will have gotten a head-start on it. Then I wrap the few presents I have. There will be a little turkey dinner for the two of us and then depending on how exhausted I am, there will either be church or bed. I hope I'm awake enough for church, though, because I love the singing. Ya, that's the reason I go, it's true. Sermon? No. Jesus? Not so much. Singing? Heck yes ! Christmas Day will involve gifts, coffee and (as they say in Winnipeg) dainties, hopefully a long, hot bath and then the big dinner with the Muttons as usual. As for Boxing Day, there seems to be a push to have me play D&D with the gang in the Petes, and since no commuting would be involved, I'm inclined to say yes, but I need to check with Mom to see if we already have plans that she hasn't informed me of.

And, finally, I will now plug my Prints Account at deviantArt. Buy my photographs ! Help a girl out !

Need to buy something for someone but don't know what? Consider buying a print of one of my photographs. :) Yes, this is a shameless plug. But come on, everyone should have art on their walls. Why not make it mine? Hopefully in a day or two, a couple more prints will be available.

I'm dying of the heat - I don't know if it's the effects of my coffee, or the double set of socks and yoga pants beneath my jeans, but wow, I'm sweating. That's the thing, see, I left for work this morning knowing I was over dressed, but the weather forecast calls for falling temperatures through out the day. So, by the time I leave, I will no longer be over dressed. I'm talking about the weather again. *smacks head* Sorry.

Last night I got my international Christmas cards done, but I forgot them at home so I can't mail them today. Three cards to the UK, two cards to Holland, and one to Japan. And, amazingly, with the exception of one card, I've met all these people. I seem to have collected interesting people in my journey through life. Tomorrow I will write my cards to the Americans in my life, and hopefully by the end of the week I shall have all my Canadian cards sent out as well. I feel a little guilty because I can't afford to send anything nice to my sisters in NY, but I haven't had a pay cheque in four months and there just isn't anything left with which to spend, even if I could afford postage.

Friday night was the Manitoba Museum annual staff Christmas party. It was enjoyable and silly and I ended up staying far longer than I'd anticipated. Dinner was really delicious and the King's Head mixes a nice Bourbon Sour. Okay, let me make Rick happy here and say a Jack Sour. Jack Daniels -would- be a bourbon, but they do this weird thing with charcoal filtering and that makes it a tennessee whiskey, so they say. I am mildly confused by this, though, since technically, bourbon is a whiskey distilled from a mash of corn, malt, and rye and aged in charred oak barrels. So, Jack Daniels technically is a bourbon that de-bourbonises itself. Anyway, the Sours were -good- and they actually mixed them using shot glasses. Imagine that.

On Saturday, I managed not to inadvertantly stand up a friend from deviantArt and we had a very nice day wandering around and stopping for coffee. The wind was brutally cold, though, even though it wasn't actually as cold out as it has been. I don't love the feeling of having my skin flayed off, but you know, whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Besides, in only a matter of days, I won't have to put up with it and I'll start complaining about the damp air and sucky slushy, wet snow. Heh.

Nine more days at the Museum. Can I finish the exhibit? I have no idea, but here's hoping. I have a busy, fun weekend ahead of me. Tonight is the Museum's Christmas party at the King's Head. It took them a while to determine if I were more staff than volunteer (it's staff only, otherwise I'd have to pay), but they came through and decided that I was staff. Sort of. Whatever, I've stopped paying for coffee, but I don't get bus fare, so I'm still that hazy grey area of confusion. I'm... oh, I know, I'm unpaid staff. So, there is the party tonight, followed by bed. Then, tomorrow, during the day I have a social engagement (with the same girl from a few weeks ago, which didn't quite work out) for coffee and wandering. Then home again to get back to work.

I really wish I could stay. I'm starting to feel so at home at the Museum. Especially in Geology/Paleontology. I find myself following around the curator helping him do neat things. Today we photographed the enrolled trilobite that we're including in the exhibit. She (yes, I've given her a gender and name - Nahi) is really cute. I mean, this is the kind of fossil you can really get attached to with her big eyes and puffy cheeks. I mean, we're talking -cute-.

Education threw me a little cake and tea party on Wednesday. The manager baked a yummy cake (banana with chocolate icing) and I was given a little gift of a beautiful Native-styled bone and bead cuff. The leather is soft, and even though it's brown and they suggested I look at the black one in the store, it goes very nicely colour-wise with the leather cuff I already wear. It is the perfect souvenir for me. I was touched. The reason the party happened so early, too, is because my direct supervisor left on vacation yesterday and she really wanted to be able to say goodbye and thank me. Like I said, I was touched. :)

I have recently been pointed to an article link that makes me tingle with excitement (not like that you dirty monkeys) and also balk with trepidation. The idea that a 'brain' grown in a dish can pilot a plane is... well, it is extraordinary and awesome and the stuff that science fiction is made of, only, apparently, now it isn't fiction. Read here. Nevermind robot vaccuum cleaners and nano-technology (cool as these things are), this is the shit. Seriously. This is on a level with fusion. Come on Future, come on !

And, from the near Future to the distant Past, the Giant Trilobite exhibit is coming together in its mocked-up form in my cubby. Peppy, the replica trilobite, and the almost matched trackway are laid out on a table that matches exactly the space requirements of the case. Different staffers have been dropping in over the last day in order to take a peek. Everyone is getting excited about it and there's a real sense of optimism, in that this exhibit marks the first redevelopment in the Earth Sciences gallery in many years. It keeps getting bigger, but today I had to say to the curator, "I'm sorry, that's just too much for me - I only have two more weeks here." Keep those feet on the ground (or in this case, specifically an ancient Ordovician seabed). I really wish I could be here to see the construction, or even stay on to help direct the other development that will sit alongside this display, but, I also realise that this simply isn't feasible. I'm hoping that I'll be able to see the exhibit's opening, at least. I want it to turn out well - I want this to be something I'm proud of - something tangible, something amazing. I wish I could stay here longer.

Winnipeg does not believe in Autumn. As much as possible, it raced through it from Summer straight to Winter, giving only three weeks in between. It is damn cold here. Over the last week, I have had to get used to temperatures in the negative teens (and worse), which is about a month and a half earlier than they come to Toronto. But the answer to your innevitable question is, I prefer frigid, dry temperatures to frosty, damp ones any day, particularly when accompanied by bright sunlight. It is cold, though, don't get me wrong. I could still enjoy dry cold at, say, -10, rather than -20C. It is not necessary that my nosehairs freeze when I step out the door. I thought I could make it to Christmas here without buying long underwear, and while technically, that's what I'm going to do, I have taken to wearing my yoga pants under whatever other pants I plan on people seeing me in. I tuck the yoga pants into my socks so that they don't peek out from under the hem of my jeans/pinstripes.

Currently, I am working my ass off to finish my two projects for the Manitoba Museum. The first (and the one being graded as my school project) is nearly complete. I submitted the first draft this morning before leaving the house after spending a grueling weekend writing it out. I still haven't quite managed to finish it, but most of the content is there, at least enough for my immediate supervisor to get a very good handle on what I'm saying. I hope that the Museum can (and will) make good use of the report, but I have the sneaking suspicion that it will end up on a shelf like so many other reports submitted at every similar location since the beginning of beauraucracy. However, when the time comes for them to revise their programming again, my report will be there should they decide to work from an existing review.

This week, I'm mostly spending my time in Paleontology, trying to put a lid on the text content for the Trilobite exhibit. This display just keeps getting bigger and bigger, but honestly, there is a reason why exhibits are developed by teams. Sometimes one person (plus the Curator) isn't enough. However, perhaps after a good night's sleep tonight, I will be more capable of finishing it up and can get onto the fun of drawing diagrams and physically mocking up the exhibit in my little cubby. I think it has dawned on the Curator now that the exhibit will not be finished in my time here, but hopefully, I will have laid the groundwork in such a way that it will be easy to wrap up over the winter.

I've given up on the idea of getting a job here. There are none to be had. While I like Winnipeg, I'm not interested in staying here if I cannot get the kind of work I want. I am sorry to be leaving, though. I have 19 days left and it's sad to go now that I have a social circle and fun people with which to hang out. I probably won't have made it out dancing by the time I leave, because I just don't feel comfortable going to dance clubs alone where I know no one, but I will have found some nice restaurants and seen some neat things, and certainly, I will be able to say that I had the guts to come out here where I knew no one and managed to make a go of it. For too long I considered myself unable to take a risk. Now I know this is not the case.

Finally, in other news, I would like to thank my friend G--- for buying me a print account at Deviantart. While the print approval process is kind of lengthy and a bit frustrating, on the whole, I think it can only work in my favour. I therefore invite you to visit my gallery and have a look a what is on offer please feel free to offer suggestions for photos and art you'd like to see made available. Also, I would like to thank the unknown so-and-so for extending my subscription to DA until the July ! Who ever you are, thank you !!