bonus round

[the_siobhan]

It's been two months since I made an update with any meat in it. So here ya go.

The big thing (or at least the big thing that is mine so I can talk about it.) is the new job. I got the one year temp job downtown and started it last week. So far I like it here. It's pretty casual, everybody is really nice and although they are incredibly busy it's the kind of busy you get when you have a lot of work to do, and not the kind of busy you get when other people are disorganized or can't make their minds up. I don't know why that makes a difference, but it does. It's also a much better location for me, closer to home and not up in the wilds of the inner suburbs. As an added bonus, whenever they offer courses to the traders I can take them for free.

And the traders do a very loud countdown when the market closes every day. Eventually this may come to irritate me, right now I think it's hilarious.

The basement renos are proving to be just as frustrating as every other time we have tried to do something to the house because people just DO NOT GET BACK TO US, holy fucking fuck people. I found the date when we first started asking for quotes and it was May 25 - seriously, over two fucking months ago. Not. Acceptable. Axel has been the main point person for this because he's home during the day but I told him to say that if they don't start responding to his emails and phone calls, then his wife is going to start calling them, and they do not want that. Because if I have to start calling people while I'm at work, I'm gonna be pissed off at them right out of the starting gate.

The brain chemistry is still mostly holding, which is kind of blowing my mind to be honest. (Pun entirely intended.) I had a couple of rough weeks when the air quality got really bad, like I do every year when Toronto gets into smog season. Anxiety and depression are very much conjoined twins for me and nothing will trigger anxiety quite like not being able to breathe. Knowing what's going on doesn't reduce it, and poor Axel still has to deal with me losing my shit over minor things, but it does make it easier to have some perspective when I know I just have to ride it out until the end of the summer and it will get better by itself. If there is any advantage to being a geezer(™), that's got to be it - the same things mess me up that always have, but I'm a lot calmer about them.

So that's been my last couple of weeks - busy at work, busy at home and way behind on blog-reading.

Comments

[greylock]

I take it when you mean traders you mean TSX/TSX-V trading and whatever else you have there?

If you made it a few weeks in, I'd say that's very encouraging. I've known a few people in affiliated fields here do that and they usually last days.

if they don't start responding to his emails and phone calls, then his wife is going to start calling them, and they do not want that. Because if I have to start calling people while I'm at work, I'm gonna be pissed off at them right out of the starting gate.

Do you want people pissed off at you doing work for you? That just seems to be problematic.

But I know of this pain, albeit on the small scale. It happens almost every time we need stuff fixed, and was worse in the boom. We're in the process of starting to renovate the bathroom because the floor is rotten (because the previous owners never sealed it against water) and I am dreading my interactions with the people we'll have to deal with.

I had a couple of rough weeks when the air quality got really bad, like I do every year when Toronto gets into smog season

I had no idea Toronto had a smog season. I thought that was an issue now largely confined to China, but some quick reading proves otherwise. But it also seems like there isn't that much in the way of coal-fired power in your area (US and Canada), so maybe it's still to clear up naturally or down to cars and weather factors.

I'm so glad to live in a city where smog alerts aren't a thing.

[the_siobhan]

I take it when you mean traders you mean TSX/TSX-V trading and whatever else you have there?

Yep.

If you made it a few weeks in, I'd say that's very encouraging. I've known a few people in affiliated fields here do that and they usually last days.

Well I'm support staff, not a trader myself. Although the ones here seem to like it.

Do you want people pissed off at you doing work for you? That just seems to be problematic.

If the alternative is not getting the work done at all, I'll have to settle.

I had no idea Toronto had a smog season.

Mid summer it gets brutally humid because of the lake. And that ends up combining with all the car exhaust and just hanging in the air. It's foul.

[greylock]

Well I'm support staff, not a trader myself. Although the ones here seem to like it.

I meant both.
Admittedly, I have thoughts about share trading (all of which involve the phrase "bottom-feeders"), but as I said, if you've survived this long, the stories I have heard are probably irrelevant.

If the alternative is not getting the work done at all, I'll have to settle.

I'd rather have work undone than having someone who is spiteful. But that's me. And I get crazy about my house. But it doesn't stop me thinking I can. :)

But, I am also stupidly optimistic that I can do most home improvements myself.
I can't, of course.

Mid summer it gets brutally humid because of the lake. And that ends up combining with all the car exhaust and just hanging in the air. It's foul.

Just for laughs, I checked out To-to-ro-town's weather... and, you know, Wikipedia is kinda annoying, but we have the doctor that comes in and clears the skies. We're hella hot, compared to you guys. But your record low is −32.8C (ours 0.07C) and and our highs are not so different.

I don't even know how to compare that data, especially since you guys need to count daylight hours... which is baffling to me.

Y'all should move down under.

[(Anonymous)]

But then we'd just have the hot months.

[greylock]

Hey, it rained last week.