Frenchness to the max!

So much has happened since the last update. Where to begin?

I guess I’ll start with the fine folks at the Atwater Market. A week and a half ago one of the girls I work with, Cynthia, was being asked by Ben (who works at the butcher shop) what she wanted for dinner and I got invited to come along and have dinner with Ben, Cynthia, her boyfriend Mathieu and his twin Max. I had a blast. It was my first time hanging out with francophone folks outside of work since I got here. The dinner was incredible, they are such a great group of people and I’m really glad I got to meet them. We had a lot of fun. It’s been pretty good for my french to boot. I’ve been hanging out with Ben quite a bit since then and he’s introduced me to more francophone friends. It’s been hard to find time for everyone and I’m quite drained these days, but it’s a good exhaustion so I don’t mind.

My other friends have become better friends and I’m really starting to feel at home with them. My friend Saf (Asaf, but I am lazy so I knock off a letter) helped me to get a job at the Bank of Montreal. He really pushed them to call me, which they did on Tuesday. I had a face to face interview today and was told afterwards that I have the job. I start on June 18th. Until then I’m still at the market. I’m going to miss working there and I don’t doubt I’ll be stopping by after work often once I’m gone.

I’m excited to be going home this weekend to see fambly and friends and to graduate and what not. Various things that I needed to do, I no longer need to do due to all the paperwork and opening of bank accounts with BMO. But several other events have been added to my list so I’m still going to be crazy busy while I’m there. It’ll be good to see everyone though.

Tomorrow’s another busy day, working from 9 to 2, then getting some new keys cut (I lost mine somewhere on Monday night during the course of Alex’s going away party… damn that boy!) and then packing for the weekend. What to wear for grad? It’s all gonna be covered by the gown anyway! Anywho, that’s what’s been up with me. I’ll try my best to keep this thing updated, but if I don’t, send me an angry email and I’ll get right on it. Stay well my lovelies! A+

Sorry I’ve been gone so long…

Hey everybody, I know there were promises of blogging very shortly after I arrived, but I’ve been pretty busy so I guess it’s a good thing I haven’t been around. So here’s the (condensed?) story of the last 3 weeks.

A couple days after arriving, I hit the pavement to find a job and in the process, I found friends. I wandered into Chapters to drop off a resume and met Brooks, a witty, sarcastic young man working at the info desk. I liked the cut of his gib, so I told him I just moved here and had no friends and asked if he would like to be my friend. He told me he was done his shift in 8 minutes and he’d walk me around the city. And he did. Not only that, he introduced me to his group of friends. So I am now friends with Saf, Glen, Ian, Alex, Laurie, Tyrell, Melanie, Mike, Macik (although I don’t really know how to spell his name), Macik’s girlfriend, whose name escapes me at the moment, and various others. It’s quite possible that I am now friends with someone named Dave. I’ve always wanted a friend Dave.

Anyway, that’s the story of my new friends. Next there’s Cameron’s visit. We did a lot of hanging out with my new friends, but some neat stuff. We went to see the first tam tams of the season and lay in the sun, which was awesome. There’s been a lot of walking around I might add, which is also awesome. We took pics in those cheesy 4 photos for $3 booths in the metro. We divided them up and I love the ones I got. We are so cute. There is also a lot of eating in Montreal. Ice cream and pizza haunt my existance. I want them all the time because they are everywhere. And that’s ok, cause I’m walking everywhere and swimming once a week with my bro, and I’ve started running again.

While Cam was here we went to the Atwater market and he saw a “help wanted” sign at this cute italian place. I have been working at Pasta D’Ici for a week and a half now. We sell pasta and sauce and coffees and olive oil and canolli and it’s great. Everybody there speaks french so it’s great for keeping up with that (all the friends I’ve made are anglophones) and my coworkers are really nice. Laurianne’s my favorite and Luc. Luc and this other guy Jean-Marc (he works at one of the vegetable stands downstairs at the market) were messing with me the other day speaking very quickly and quietly and grinning. I caught enough to know they were talking about me, but all nice things. I told Luc thanks for saying I had a nice smile and they both laughed. They’re teasing, but it’s the good kind of teasing, you know? Like family. I really like it.

Then Matt visited. We went to the Biodome (still waiting on those pics dude!) and Chinatown and he met this guy Chris who works at EA (on the magicbus coming into the city), so we went and got a tour there which was cool, but I’m not quite nerdy enough for that. The only game of theirs that I have played is NHL2004.  After we went out for poutine with Chris and his gf Alex. They were so sweet. I need to get their contact info from Matt. And THEN, Matt and I went to Cafe Gitana (a place introduced to me by Maya about 2 days earlier) and smoked shisha.

So I’ve been doing all this, working, getting a lot of reading done (surprisingly), going out with my new friends, hanging out with my brother, getting to know the roomie and walking around exploring my new city. So now you know why I haven’t been around so much. Hopefully I’ll post more now that I’m a bit more settled in. I have been noticing some really neat language stuff about Montreal. It’s pretty cool. For now, I need to get out of my smelly running clothes and shower and eat and get ready for work.

Last thought: I miss my Ontarian friends, but I have never been happier about my life than in the last few weeks. This was a really good decision. Come visit, any time, and I’ll prove it!

Like something out of a movie…

Our relationship was very boy-next-door/girl-next-door, growing up together, then strained by the long distances when I moved away, visiting on occasional weekends but the time apart changed us both and now we have our memories, but it just isn’t the same…

In case you didn’t realise, I’m talking about my love affair with Toronto. Tonight we had our last fling. After putting on my new $17 pants and $10 shoes (both purchased from Honest Ed’s this afternoon), I walked up my street, past the church where I was baptised, had my first communion and was confirmed. My first initiation into religion and spirituality. Through little Italy (so much trendier now than when I was little), up to the Annex where I spent many a night during my highschool days at the Second Cup with now estranged friends (how fitting that another estrangement should happen in the same neighbourhood only a couple years later). I do like the BMV books they put in there, but I suppose it’s for a different generation of Annexers. Past St. George and the new Varsity Stadium, the area my “best friend since she was 2 and I was 3″ now lives (last I heard). They tore down the Mr. Sub, the cheapie store, the Harveys and the bar along that strip. I’m guessing it’s going to be condos or maybe a hotel. Past my mum’s office into Yorkville (as trendy as ever) to the Cumberland theatre to have a last movie by myself (something I started in high school as an excuse to get out of the house and have a cigarette). I saw Fauteuils d’Orchestre, which was wonderful and felt quite appropriate at this point in my life. I will really miss the Cumberland. They have all the best movies.

On my walk home I stopped at Greg’s to get some roasted marshmallow icecream, but they were all out, so I had to settle for malted vanilla which, it turns out, tastes almost exactly the same! And of course the fudge sauce. Mmm. Another thing I will miss. And I gave a dollar to one of my favorite homeless people (he’s always so polite and friendly and even flattering and I genuinely feel bad when I have nothing to give him).

So we’ve had some good times and some bad. We’ve both changed, for better or for worse, who’s to say? I will miss being able to come visit whenever I feel homesick, I will miss that feeling of pride coming in off the Gardiner and seeing our incredible skyline (I still think it’s the best in the world), I will miss walking through this city and feeling safe – even if I shouldn’t – because it’s all so familiar. Maybe some day I will come back, maybe I’ll teach here, maybe I’ll settle down and start a family here, but for now it’s all memories that are too painful to deal with.

So Goodbye Toronto. I’ll see you again soon, holidays and family visits and the like. And I guess all that’s left to say is Hello Montreal.

Sitting in a coffee shop…

Having moved all my stuff (minus clothes, shoes and my alarmclockradio) to Montreal this weekend, my apartment is now computerless. Sarah asked if I wanted to meet up at Williams (she’s here studying with a friend) so I stopped in and she offered me the use of her laptop to check email and so forth.

5:30 April 15th, 2007

Sitting on the floor in my empty room in Hamilton amidst piles of clothes and the empty bags that they will soon fill. Just devoured a salad from a tupperware container with a borrowed fork. I feel like I could devour the world right now and I would enjoy every bite. I’m feeling very appreciative of life and all its flavours. My mind is racing, but writing helps to pin the thoughts down, especially with the slow methodical pen strokes. I thought I didn’t have a pen, but I found one holding my page in a sudoku book that was a christmas present from an ex-boyfriend. I told people I would call when I got home, but I’m enjoying this moment of being disconnected. No distractions, a moment of rest from this hectic period of change. At the same time I love being in transition. I’m both terrified and excited for the next thing. I can’t stop thinking and planning for Montreal and how I’m going to arrange this in my apartment and getting a job and figuring out what to do about the wireless internet and my wired computer (I want a laptop but I just can’t afford it right now) and changing my number from 905 to 514 and should I stay with Telus or wait and hope to get a deal with Fido if I get a job with them and on and on and on. I made a list and I feel more organized but there is just so much to do before I get there and I almost don’t want it all to get done because I am loving this high. It’s exhausting but I don’t want it to end, I don’t want that low. I don’t want to say goodbye but I don’t want to bring the past with me. I don’t want things to be the same as they are now even if some of it is too good to be true. I want to go to Montreal with no restrictions and just live my life as well as I can. Talking to Tara today I feel so connected, so similar, so exactly the same in the way we were feeling despite how different our situations are. The scared, giddy happiness, dreading the “end” of the transition, just wanting to keep moving on, doing what feels right. Standing in a crowd of people and not worrying about how I got there or where I’m going next but loving being there at that moment and feeling safe and confident that the world will take me where I need to go and if it doesn’t I’ll do it myself, damn it!

Reading On the Road is perfect right now. Having Little Pieces in my head is perfect right now, particularly “when I was a girl well I didn’t much care about why I was where I was or how I got there”. I’m gathering my pieces now so later, when I’m taking a bath someday down the road, regrouping, I can wonder at them and know that I did what was right for the moment and not regret a thing.

Going to call the boy now and enjoy some of our last moments together in Hamilton. See ya on the flip side!

PS. Pigeons are wise beyond their looks. She’s goin’!

After writing that I called the boy, organized the piles of clothes and few items I have left here, did some sudoku puzzles while snacking on robin eggs and then had a little nap. I’m quite content. Gonna log off of this and head over to the boys house for the evening. I’ll be spending a lot of time there this week.

One more thing before I run off…  do people have me in their feed readers? Or are you guys checking out the actual page? Just curious. Thanks!

RIP Kurt Vonnegut

 ”Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. It’s hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It’s round and wet and crowded. At the outside, babies, you’ve got about a hundred years here. There’s only one rule that I know of, babies — ‘God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.’”

You said it Mr. Vonnegut. Thanks for the stories.

For all the references to rockstars…

I’m not going to write a full post at the moment cause I’m feeling a bit down, what with all the reminders of my leaving Hamilton (empty shelves surround me) and the gross weather and sadness about the boy.

Anyway, this thought just popped into my head while listening to C.C. Chapman’s Accident Hash.

“I always tell the girls, never take it seriously, if ya never take it seriosuly, ya never get hurt, ya never get hurt, ya always have fun, and if you ever get lonely, just got to the record store and visit your friends.”

This is what podcasting is for me. While the sweet sounds of Lee Coulter and David Ipolito aren’t quite making me feel better, having CC share this music with me makes me feel less alone and a little less scared about the move.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m so excited to be moving to Montreal. I just think it’s really hitting me how much of a change it’s going to be. 5 hour bus ride home as opposed to 45 minutes. Knowing very few people in the city. Not yet knowing what I’m going to be doing. I know it will all be great and I’ll meet people and I’ll get to see John all the time and I’m doing this for me. It’s just… the transition.

Anyway, thanks CC for Accident Hash (http://www.accidenthash.com). And thanks Bill (http://www.deys.ca/) for asking if I’ll be at PAB. I hadn’t really recognized this until today, but this community has offered me so much support and sent me so much love. I really appreciate it. Thank you to everyone who has been helping me get to Montreal.

I will definitely make a post-podcamp nyc post soon. I have a list of things! It’s just on paper and I have studying to do for my last exam tomorrow (eek!) and my dad’s rented a truck to help me move on Friday, so I’m a tad busy. The computer is going to Montreal with the rest of my heavy stuff (desk, books, cds, dishes, shoes, etc). Basically just clothes staying with me for the two weeks following. I’ll be online at work; my boss is intrigued by twitter and facebook so I can get away with those, but I doubt there will be any posting on the blog. So the next time I post might actually be from Montreal.

You guys are my rockstars. Thank you.

How/Why do you add twitterers?

Just a quick post before I get started at work.

I have had some people add me on twitter who I don’t really know and I’m kind of curious as to why me? So I asked the question on twitter and I’m looking forward to seeing the answers.

But I figure I should probably answer myself first. I add anyone back who has added me (and if I haven’t added you back it’s likely cause I thought I did and then I forgot, so you can send me a message if I haven’t added you back and I will do so asap). I do that cause I want to know the people who want to know me. Most of the people I have added I have met in person, but some people are friends of friends who have been mentioned in twitters in an interesting context. I like to have different perspectives and see the world in a positive way, so if people seem to fall in that category I will add them. But to be honest I don’t really add many people that I have gone and searched for myself, mostly cause I’ve been busy with school and stuff, but maybe if I find myself with some freetime I will go and read twits by random folks and see what I like.

That’s all. If you have an answer for me, reply here, or add me on twitter (charlotteann) and twit your response!

Working now. Later folks!

The apartment has landed.

I have a place in Montreal. I will be moving sometime this month. My roomie seems to be wonderful. She is a healer, she has a cat, she dates women and is super friendly and excited to have me as a roomie. As I am excited to have her as a roomie. She really seems great.

To be honest, I’m very excited about the whole Montreal thing, but I am also terrified. Recently a friend told me about a conversation she had had with a mutual friend of ours who said she wished she was as independant as me. I’m incredibly flattered by her remark, but sometimes I feel very NOT independant. I rely on so many people for so much. Which isn’t really a bad thing, but it seems like a bit of a sham when people say “You’re so independant” and I’m barely lifting a finger to get things done.

I suppose they mean I have an independant spirit, but that’s something else I’m not so sure about. Just this morning I was daydreaming about domestication and thinking maybe I would just abandon the whole Montreal plan and just live in Toronto and move in with le boy and get married and have babies and live happily ever after. All the while I was laughing to myself though, because it’s so not realistic at this point in time. It wouldn’t happen like that. I would spend a couple months in Toronto and enjoy the fact that I can see Sarah and Cameron and Jeff and Alex and maybe even Tro (although that might not happen for other reasons) and maybe I would even patch things up with the girls from high school. But I would get bored. I would want something different, something “more” and I would regret not moving to Montreal. As much as I want safety like most other people do, I need to figure out what I really like and what I really want and not be doing things because I feel I have to.

This is going to be scary. I have resigned myself to this fact. But I won’t let scary stop me from doing something that will help me grow and mature into the person I really want to be.

On the note of things Montreal, I need to complete the following tasks in preparation for the move:

- Make a doctors appointment and get all checked out before I go away.

- Go to the bank and sort out some financial things (such as getting me a cheque-book!).

- Figure out what to do with my cellular situation.

- Start throwing stuff out, deciding what I want to take to Montreal and maybe even doing some packing.

- Get in touch with people about the possible job.

- Any other thoughts? Hm. Oh, finish school.

Heading home to the T-dot for the weekend!

7 songs meme or I tag you!

So I was tagged by Mr. Jay Moonah (soon to be proud papa – http://www.jaymoonah.com/blog/) to do the 7 songs meme that is floating around the blogsphere. Basically the deal is to post 7 songs you like. Tough to narrow it down. Jay went with 7 songs that are  %100 downloadable via the internets. I’m going with 7 songs that I have recently discovered that I like. Feel free to categorise as you wish - all Canadian, all female, all folk, all punk, etc.

1 – Carla Bruni – Promises Like Pie-Crust

2 – Dixie Chicks – The Long Way Around

3 – The Barenaked Ladies – Serendipity

4 – Ron Sexsmith - I Think We’re Lost (actually, the entire album Time Being is great, and I really couldn’t decide. I kept switching songs, but I’ll stick with this one I guess)

5 - Pink Martini – Dansez-vous

6 – My Chemical Romance – This Is How I Disappear

7 – Naturally 7’s subway rendition of In the Air Tonight

Speaking of which, check it out:

That’s it. And now I tag the following people:

John (my brother: http://delightinallthings.blogspot.com/), Pat (http://www.freedomisacupcake.blogspot.com/), Jeff (http://jonesnandthings.blogspot.com/), Hugh (http://dosemagazine.com/), Clarence (http://www.42minus71.org/), Adam (http://amediacirc.us/), Julien ( http://inoveryourhead.net/ - how the hell are you not tagged yet? I guess it’s cause you’re always sharing music you like), and of course le boy aka Cameron (http://ka0tique.livejournal.com/).

Go to it people!

Well, it looks like the sun is emerging and I should really get to work. The in-class essay went quite well, thanks. One essay and two exams to go before I’m done my BA. Woo.

Carla Bruni

First of all, this will be a very quick post because I am le sick and should really be going over these notes for an in-class essay I have to write tomorrow morning at 9:30, BUT I had to share this.

I went record store browsing today in Toronto with my friend Jeff. Being broke I decided not to purchase, but I couldn’t help but squeel when I saw that Carla Bruni had an album sitting on the shelves of HMV. It’s called No Promises. She is an incredible French singer-songwriter that I adore. I was a bit wary of the fact that this album appeared to be in English, and due to my extreme brokeness I decided to pass and told Jeff I would download it and see if it was any good. When we got in the car he surprised me with the cd. He had bought it for me while I was looking at other things (I bought the movie The Apartment on DVD cause it was pretty cheap and who can resist a young Jack Lemmon?).

So after watching my new movie upon my return to Hamilton this evening, and after a very sweet unexpected visit from le boy involving stones thrown up at my window and him putting me to bed (because I am le sick), I got up again (with the intention of going over my notes) and popped in my new cd. There’s a neat little feature connecting to a “private” part of the website with photos and lyrics and so forth. As I browsed the album booklet I discovered that all the lyrics are actually poems from the likes of William Butler Yeats, Wystan Hugh Auden, Emily Dickinson, Walter de la Mare, Dorothy Parker and Christina Georgina Rossetti (one of my favorites and from whose poem Promises Like Pie-Crust comes the album title). It’s absolutely wonderful. There’s a very cute moment in Ballade at Thirty-five where she pronounces the “t” at the end of bouquet, which is hilarious because it’s a loan word from french so she knows how to pronounce it. I’m thinking it’s even funnier if she did this intentionally, which is likely cause she must have had advisors on how things are pronounced. I adore Carla Bruni.

Anyway, that’s all. Back to schoolness. Ugh. The sniffles bum me out.