faced with the dodo's conundrum

My friends, gather 'round and rejoice, for today is a most glorious day. Sing praises to the heavens; I am motherfucking employed.

Not only that - I have not one, oh ho, not one but TWO sources of income: being a vest-sporting lackey at the liquor store AND short-term work at a community health centre. Is there something vaguely ironic about this? Can I get a witness??

(To which you heartily respond: "TESTIFY!")

Anyway, I don't start until saturday, which means I have to milk these last days of unemployment for all they're worth (and trust me, brothers, they are worth oh-so-much). To begin this veritable milk-fest (worst phrase ever, I'm sorry - and I know these parenthetical asides are irritating, so I'll stop), I went to my Aunt Rita's house last night to sup with her, my cousin Emma, and her friend Melanie. After our most delicious meal of vegetarian lasagna and ridiculously excellent homemade cheesecake, Emma and Mel and I wandered down to the beach just as it was getting dark. The fog was a-rollin' over the lake and the tide was roaring in and smacking against the rocks and we sat ourselves down to take it in.

"It's sort of an 'edge of the earth' type of feeling," Melanie said. Emma was quick to agree, and the two of them talked about how the water stretching on forever was majestic and beautiful or what-have-you, but also kind of eerie.

Conversely, I found the sensation comforting. I think it's because I grew up being able to see forever - not water, but wheat ("Wheat. All there is in life is wheat."). So looking out into the gaping endless maw of Lake Ontario felt not overwhelming or spooky but...actually kind of like home. As I thought about this, I remembered Ferron saying a similar thing about when she saw the ocean in Honduras: she was overcome with an oddly strong sense of homesickness.

As much as I felt an acute ache for the prairies, I'm incredibly happy to be here now. Oh, and - having a job lends it a sense of permanency it didn't quite have before. I think I'm here to stay, comrades.