My last month in Vancouver was amazing. It was extremely stressful trying to get everything done, but it was also incredible spending time with people I love and feeling so loved, too. My last gig, at Lugz Coffeehouse, was just incredible. I was not at my best, unfortunately, due to being really worn out, but the audience was fantastic, and we had a lot of fun. The highlight of the evening, though, was back at my place after, where my lovely friend David did an impromptu drag performance of one of my songs! Hilarious. Swimming goggles stood in for real glasses, and a small souvenir guitar from Mexico was the instrument. It was so great. I feel that I've arrived.
The drive across Canada was also amazing. The first bit of it is kind of a blur, due to exhaustion and emotion, but really, what a drive. Coming through the mountains in BC and Alberta was so, so beautiful, espeically our very early morning leaving Revelstoke. The whole way across, the roads were often near empty - apparently late March is the time to drive across Canada. We figure that there were probably 10 transport trucks to every car we saw on the road. Anyways, if you're interested in seeing more pictures, go check out http://s78.photobucket.com/albums/j114/johnandlesley/. And I recommend driving cross-Canada. It makes me even more amazed and appreciative of this incredible place I live.
So, it was a quick turn-around in Ottawa, then down to Toronto to apartment hunt. I found a great place in a cool, artsy part of the city, and I'll be moving in this Saturday. I then returned to Toronto again the next week for a job interview, and found out last week that I got the job! I'll be working part-time as the Executive Assistant at Planned Parenthood of Toronto. I'm pretty excited. I like the fact that I'm going to be getting paid to work for a pro-choice organization. I think the work they do is important and it will be exciting to be a part of it.
Otherwise, I've been hermitting here in Ottawa. I've pretty much only seen my family, and I spend my days by myself at my parents' house while everyone's at work. It's been great, actually, having some quiet and time just to get rested up. I'm finally starting to feel rested for the first time in a very long time. I've also been sorting through all of the stuff that I didn't bring with me to Vancouver, which has been very...interesting. I've found some cool stuff, and also some stuff that's raised old, hidden-away emotions. But the sorting is almost done, part two of the packing is almost done, and in 3 days, I'll be starting to unpack in my new place. Finally.
So that's my life at the moment. I'm really looking forward to getting things going in Toronto. I've been asked to play the youth stage at Toronto Pride, and I'm on standby for North by Northeast, so things are on the way! I will close off here, with two things: first, the lyrics to my "leaving Vancouver" song, and a small photo montage of the end of my time in Vancouver/the drive across Canada.
***Untitled***
I forgot that this is what it’s like to be leaving / when everything becomes the one last time / Only last year felt like it was forever / and only last year felt like the city was mine /I met a girl when I already knew I was leaving / I figured I’d hold out and it would be okay / And all the friends I have here and time, too, seems to be sticking / and it’s only me who is slipping away, away /I am leaving here without knowing how / ‘cause time sped up and like a movie I did, too / It seems to be a recurring theme that home is where the heart is / but the hardest part is following through /There are echoes here of the place where I will go / ‘cause the falling flower blossoms are a springtime snow / And there are reasons, of that I’m reasonably sure / it’s just the pushing through them that I don’t how to endure /I am leaving here without knowing how / ‘cause time sped up and like a movie I did, too / It seems to be a recurring theme that home is where the heart is / but the hardest part is following through /Any minute now my heart will catch up to my head / any minute now my feet will turn to blocks of lead / Will I be left with only these years of growing / 'cause I'm not sure that I'm enough to show for it / I am leaving here without knowing how / ‘cause time sped up and like a movie I did, too / It seems to be a recurring theme that home is where the heart is / but the hardest part is following through /I forgot that this is what it's like to be leaving / all of the grieving and forgetting / all of the grieving and forgetting / I'll miss you //
March 2006
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