Mid-December snowy weather

There's snow outside. I like it for the most part. Only thing I don't like is that it makes it harder to get around town, as I usually bike. If there's only a little snow it's not bad, but it limits the space you get on the road so there can't be much if I want to bike comfortably.

Work is good. A little repetitive, but I enjoy the customer interaction more than I thought I would. People are pretty kind actually. And they understand if I don't know things if I tell them I'm new.

I'm feeling sad. Just some regular sadness, nothing big. It's kind of lonely in my world, but it could be worse. The cats, I enjoy their company. They're always around, and they enjoy the attention I give them. They don't seem very concerned about worldly things. And I doubt they care about loneliness.

I've fallen back on some old patterns. I try not to view them as negative. I do eat more, though. But my weight gain isn't there. So I should be happy about that. And I still work out. I just don't do as many activities as I used to, giving myself the excuse that I'm busier with work and I'm not used to it. And it's wintertime, which usually leads to fewer outdoor activities.

So I guess I'm feeling sad and a little bit anxious because I'm not taking care of myself as much as I used to. And I feel like I let someone down because I was disinterested in what they were talking about. And I don't like that feeling, but I genuinely wasn't interested. I still enjoy cooking. And the anxiety is more of a physical feeling, and I'm looking forward to yoga later today, even if I can't get there by bike.

A singsong

At my old job, we had 3 speakers strategically placed throughout the small business for listening to pretty much anything we wanted. Not everyone had the same tastes, so when I got to pick the playlists I tried to play "neutral" music, stuff that you could hear on the radio, especially when I knew coworkers would be coming in and out of the room. The Beatles were often a pretty safe choice.

One of my coworkers didn't like the heavy stuff (i.e. metal), but he did like to sing. The singing wasn't half-bad, honestly, and it never really bothered me. Adds a bit of levity to the work grind.

Out of all the songs he could sing in the Beatles repertoire, this one sticks out because I haven't heard it often but boy did he like to belt this one out:

 

 

New work, new play

I didn't want my last post of November to be an overdone reference to a Guns n' Roses song, so here I am.

I started a new job yesterday. I'm not sure if I'll like it more or about the same as my last one. I should probably know this by now... but I don't think I'll be getting paid as much overall because the lunches are unpaid. But the advantage is that I can walk or bike to work: my commute, whatever I choose, is under a half hour. And I felt like time went pretty fast yesterday, though that might be because it was my first day.

I work at a grocery store. Not a chain, more like a mom & pop. It's not glamorous work, but I long ago decided that it doesn't matter what I do for work as long as I get paid. Okay, it's a little more complicated than that; obviously a bigger paycheck probably leads to a more comfortable or at least convenient life. And I cannot live in Toronto independently on a part-time income. But, it's a step in the right direction now that I've been out of school for a while and my last job was a couple months ago.

So that's a life update in there. Today's shift starts soon, so I can't blabber on forever here. I will say that, on a whim, I was inspired by a graphic novel/journal I borrowed from the library called Emitown. It's beautifully drawn, quirky, and it's like a slice-of-life snapshot of an up-and-coming comic artist living in Portland, OR circa 2009-2010 or so. Every single day during some months, Emi Lenox wrote about her life (and drew it, too) and it was really fascinating seeing life through that lens.

I don't think I could do anything remotely close to what she does. I mean, I don't draw, for starters, and also my life isn't nearly as exciting. I could write/blog every day, and I do with my gratitude journal, but I lead a relatively uneventful life. I play some amount of video games, and I like to cook.

Right, other news is that I got Monster Hunter: Rise for my Switch and that has been a lot of fun. The gameplay loop is addicting: you hunt monsters for parts to build better equipment to fight stronger monsters, and depending on your weapon (I picked longsword but there's over a dozen wildly different ones) there are combos to learn too. And in this version of Monster Hunter, there are tower defence-style scenarios, and I've always been partial to tower defence games.

Okay, I have to wrap things up. I'll try, once again, to post some photos (it would mostly be nature and food photos). It's just I'm not really satisfied with the photo quality on my 5-year old phone. So we'll see.

It's hard to hold a candle

 ... in the cold November Rain.

Yup, still around, I've been busy. Here's the song of the day!