Not feeling creative enough

...to come up with a title! Why should I title everything I write about? Sometimes a girl just needs to write (and vent) a little, so read on if you want...

We are down to 7 1/2 hours of daylight and everyday we lose roughly 5 minutes. To be honest, it isn't so weird because it is similar to back home in Quebec. Basically it means that it is dark when you leave home and dark when you get home. The only thing that kind of bothers me is that I am feeling tired when really, I have no reason to.

Being in the work force is very different than being at school. Last year this time I was in school full time, working part time (sometimes up to 20 hours in a week), president of our student club, and involved to some extent in various MSA activities. If/When I felt tired I had reason to. Now, it is like, what the heck? I work 'easy' hours, I have no major responsibilites other than myself and I can engage in all the activities I wanted to...art classes, pilates, reading, writing, hiking etc. Really, it is a lovely change and I am learning to appreciate it. So I can only blame the weather and lack of sunshine for my tiredness.

I guess you can say it is winter now. We have gone down to the minus twenties and and there was a fresh snowfall today. I like winter, I like snow, I like being in a warm house drinking tea and reading...I am (inshaAllah) going to be joining the ski club and doing some cross country skiing, and I really want to try mushing (a.k.a dog sledding). I am still not quite winter ready. My boots aren't warm enough, neither are my mits and I don't have a warm scarf. I'm going to head out to the second hand sales and try to gear up, hopefully I will find what I need without spending a bunch of money.

I attended a lecture on climate change tonight. It was interesting and I am not going to get into it because it is a complex issue but I do want to rant about 2 things:

1. After the talks there was a question and answer session with the 5 lecturers. One of my pet peeves is when people take the opportunity of Q&A sessions to ask long-winded lecture type questions that have no meaning and really, all you want is to hear yourself speak. So this one guy gets up and asks the scientists about who is responsible for pollution and the emisson of green house gases, the producer or the consumer? Basically, he asked if Saudi Arabia is responsible for pumping up the oil and gas, or the US for using it (for example). DUHHHHHH! This is not a scientific question, it is an ethical question. He then when on to make a stupid analogy about Saudi Arabia being like the tobacco companies, and the consumers being like the individual cigarette smokers!! It is not the same thing!! This was neither the time or place for such a question, and he went on and on about blah blah blah...I just want the camera to be on my face and I want to look smart in front of all these audience members but really I am an alpha male with a ego so big that I have to get up and talk even if I have nothing relevant to say!! Needless to say I was annoyed, actually I guess I still am since I am ranting about it. I wanted to go to him and say something after but usually when I tell someone off it is only in my head, so at least I can share it with the blog world.
2. You know what, I am so worked up about #1 that #2 seems irrelevant. I'll talk about that pet peeve another time...

I think I may be living proof that thoughts often manifest into reality. Monday I woke up and I said to myself, "today I would like someone to buy me a coffee". So off I went to work (walking as usual), but I had to make a slight detour. I walked to the video store to return 2 movies I had rented and I realized I was going to be late because my detour took me longer than I had anticipated. So off I go, thinking to myself that it would be great if one of my taxi friends pulls up (though that hasn't been happening lately...I think I may have gotten myself a repuation for being a snob) and I get to an intersection and the lady at the red light motions for me to get in the car. So I am late anyway, and I get in. It turns out she is a local artist who has been in Yellowknife for six years. She is from Quebec and we had a delightful conversation, all five minutes of it. Then I got to work and I told my coworker *Michael that I would like a coffee from Tim Hortons, large with milk please. Anyway an hour or so later, I got my coffee, and I enjoyed it, thank you very much. Then today I was walking and I was going to be late (because I didn't give myself enough time since I was walking in more snow than before) and as I was walking by the intersection where I met the artist, I was thinking to myself that it would be great if she pulled up again, and right away she did. She drove me to work again today and I was not late, thank you very much.

So now I have a few more thoughts I would like manifested: I would like to get a new job with the company I applied to last week. I would like a SmartCar. I want my own house. I want to paint better, I want to travel around the world and meet new and exciting people and do new and exciting things...I want a whole bunch of things...(and Mom, if you are reading this: a husband is far down the priority list so don't get your hopes up)...

Okay I'm off, good night and Peace be with you!