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 !!