Pixie rust

Another Laura day.
Ha, ha.

You know, the frequency of these little mood swings of sorts is increasing.

Why can`t I just smile and be outgoing and whatnot and make Laura disappear?

Can`t I?

I don`t know, I don`t think I can, because then my outside does not coincide with my inside.

Work blows.

Almost got a CTI for sleeping on the job.

I had worked all morning in six feet of snow, and even with snowshoes, it really drains you. So by the afternoon, I was really exhausted, so I kind of dozed off during lunchtime, and woke up later. My ``boss`` was rather unhappy.

Now I need to make a little schedule of sorts to follow.

I really do work, it`s just, cutting branches over and over again is just awful. Also considering the fact that the work could be done four times as fast with an axe or chainsaw or something.

Baaaah.

Going out to the bar tomorrow with our PL, who is, very sadly, leaving us for greener pastures. :(

We get to meet our new PL, Patrick, sometime soon. He`s supposed to be just as cool as Pascalou.

Doing some big volunteer thing at a high school all day tomorrow.

See ya.
Actually, I might not see ya.

Crashed Ice and Caffeine Cliffs

So on Friday and Saturday, my Katimagroup and six others (five of which were only there on Saturday) volunteered at the massive Red Bull Crashed Ice event in Québec City.

If you didn`t know, for the last few years, this event has been happening in Québec where they build a gargantuan slide of ice with twists, turns, bumps & jumps down which skate four competitors, trying to reach the finish line first.

On Friday, we were assigned to be security-ish people with official-looking uniforms going around to stop people climbing onto the slide. We then snow-shovelled the sidewalks. There were only about 20,000 people (because Friday is only the qualification rounds) , whereas on Saturday there were more than 80,000 people.

On Saturday, we got to see the finals (it was a bloody cold day...), and it was really friggin`cool. I managed to snag a spot really close to the slide, got to see the action right up front. Really exciting stuff. Hung out with a bunch of other Katimagroups too.

Then, when the event was over, oh god, it felt like we were in some sort of landfill. Beer cans/bottles, LOTS of Red Bull cans, and other various recyclables which we were assigned to pick up. It actually went surprisingly fast, with around 70 Katima-victims cleaning up Le Vieux-Québec, it only took about an hour to have bags and bags filled with stuff to recyle.

The hardest part was fending off all the drunkies who were somewhat hindering our tasks. There were a couple assholes who staggered up to us and threw their beer cans into the snow banks, laughing at us while we were cleaning up.

I`m not a violent person, as such, I didn`t feel the need to punch them in the face like so many other people would have. I contented myself with humbly passing by and ignoring them.

Being a massive Red Bull-sponsored event, free Red Bull cans all around.

Terrible, terrible idea for me.

I know I`m not supposed to ingest caffeine, but I kinda like the Red Bull taste, and it`s completely free, so I couldn`t help but take four Red Bulls. I also finished half a beer can before the ride home to Ste-Marie because I was so thirsty.

Definitely one of the stupidest choices I`ve done in Katimavik.

Hyper-ventilation, buzzing, vibrating eyesight etc.

And since I know you like to spy on my blog, K, thank you for that magic potion and that peanut-butter-bread-thing (it tasted awful, but er, that`s beside the point).

Didn`t get much sleep either.

Back to work tomorrow, oh joy.

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The Arctic

Today was a very windy day.

My work consists of taking this giant pole thing and cutting tree limbs off. Really, really repetitive and boring. The smile on my face on the picture below is deceptive. It's boring.

The picture is also deceptive in that I work with J. I`m not alone in wielding this beastly tool. Our system is that I`ll either adjust the hook thing at the end onto a branch, and J will pull the string to cut, or vice-versa.

So, since we get bored of that work quickly (we`ve been doing it since Monday - many more weeks to come...) we decided to drop the tool and go off to explore the forest, not following a path or anything. It was really cool, we found a clearing with a little hill surrounded by trees, and we ended up at a field, pictured below, and the wind is very strong. And it sounds just like that classic arctic wind (although it wasn`t particularily cold), a strong wooooooosh sound.

To warm up, a nice hearty lunch at the local restaurant (I work at the municipality of Ste. Marguerite - 1000 people or so, it`s not in Ste. Marie).

Oh, and at the end of the day today, I got to drive around on this ATV-with-snowtreads, it was a lot of fun. It`s almost like a tank, it can plow through anything.

After a hard day`s work, J and I relaxed on the ATV, and J`s camera is always snapping pictures...

Good times in Québec.

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Laura

Who is Laura?

Okay, Laura is the missing Katimavik participant from my group. Katimagroups originally start with eleven participants.

We only started with ten.

Laura was sick with mono, we figured she might join later. But no, she never showed up.

Laura is also a nickname for when I`m in a certain type of mood - according to the other people in this Katimagroup. It`s when I turn quiet and don`t speak very much, or something of the sort. It also represents all the girlish aspects of me - say, my long hair, my habit of using a straightening iron etc.

I don`t mind the nickname. It gives me a cover to feel the way that I feel - How are you, Laura?

Once people realize I`m in a Laura stage, I think I`m left alone more, which is good.

Work is going alright. I work with J now, since she`s done being house manager. We go into this beautiful snowshoe trail and clear branches out of the way. It`s boring and repetitive, but work is work, and we can clearly see the work we`ve accomplished by seeing the cleared path.

It does, however, get rather cold, because standing there cutting branches off doesn`t really keep me warm. I`m not moving enough.

And my feet kill me after spending a whole day in snowshoes.

We have this self-defence workshop tomorrow. Doesn`t sound very exciting - I grew bored of Karate class when I was younger. Twice.

I miss a certain someone.