Trips (Both Kinds) And Moving
Been a bit of a busy weekend. On monday morning I was given a call by the Lonsdale Quay (Pronounced 'Key') Hotel to ask me to come in for an interview on Wednesday. Since I normally work graveyards on Tuesday - Saturday nights I told them that I would have to clear it with work to make sure that I could get a night off somewhere in between so I could make it there and back without badly destroying my work schedule or making myself late accidentally.
So after a breif consultation with the folks at the Bedford they decided to give me Tuesday off, and I set about making a few plans to head over to the Vancouver area. Which included sprucing myself up a little bit and getting a large portion of my hair lopped off so that I'd look more presentable and professional because they were advertising the job as a front desk agent position.
So I went over to the nearest salon and had them do a bit of clipping, had some lunch and then trekked downtown to see if I could find some nice new clothes to help deck out my wardrobe... Only to find that most of the mens wear outlets in downtown Victoria couldn't find their ass with both hands and a flashlight.
One of them didn't know what a waistcoat was... The second knew what it was, but didn't sell them, they rented them as part of a full tuxedo, but they didn't offer them seperately, no sell them. (Keep in mind these were two of the largest mid-range mens wear outlets in the city, useless tards).
I also found out that fitting myself into a blazer or suit jacket is a lesson in frustration, and not entirely because of the excess weight that I'm packing around. Even the largest blazer they had there (Size 54) was tight around my shoulders and neck in a way that wouldn't let me close the buttons across my chest comfortably. Suffice to say that closing the buttons down the front of it made me look like someone tried to cram a kitten into a sweatsock... grumpilly I decided that I'd simply pick up a nice pair of pants, and a shirt and tie...
About $225 later. (Did I mention I really hate Victoria) I emerged with a nice looking shirt and a pair of pants that fit decently, though I don't much like the cut of them, they were obviously made with someone thin and lanky in mind. Once again, not as much an issue of weight, but an issue of body shape, even with a pair of pants that matches my waistline, whenever I move around or take a seat they bind across my thighs and tightly wrap around my upper legs, even if they're loose around most of my calves. But they do fit, and they do look decent.
So I went off to Vancouver. Which since shopping took -ages-, cost me even more money because out bus system is a complete joke (Despite the fact that it takes 30 minutes to get to the ferry terminal by car, it takes an hour and a half by bus down a rediculous, windy country road... Honestly, because the rich bastards up there near the cost are too lazy to walk out to a series of convenient stops along the highway... Hell... in some cases it stops infront of peoples -houses-).
So I had to cab to the ferry landing... Expensive in the extreme. About $50.
At least I managed to get across to the mainland without too much trouble, and was happily picked up by a wonderful Lisa on the other side. We ended up deciding to have a snack on the way back to her place, and stopped at Zestys, which is usually pretty reliable in terms of service, food quality, and atmosphere...
And then, we stepped into the Twilight Zone.
They were holding their -first- talent show at Zestys, complete with a bunch of useless comedians and musicians (usually people who combined the two, sadly with disasterously terrible results that hurt my brain more than Fox news does... And that's saying something...)
We managed to wince our way through a bit of food and drink, despite the ghastly level of service. (We got -one- refill of coffee in a one hour visit). Then, half dead, we stumbled off to meander about Safeway in search of cherry based things to see if I can finally stick a dagger in the back of the gout that's been hounding me for more than two weeks. So I picked up a ludicrously expensive little packet of dried cherries, as well as a couple cans of fresh ones, and we picked up some bottled, flavored water (because Vancouver is on a boil water advisory until the resevoirs settle down from the nasty couple storms they've had lately.)
Came home, ate as much cherry stuff as I could stand (I -hate- cherries unless they're fresh, I can't stand canned fruit because it looses its texture, which is -really- important to me in the food I eat... In some cases taste even comes second to texture.) and them promptly took a nose dive into bed...
I slept surprisingly well despite sleeping in little snippets, even though I had been up for almost 24 hours by that point, I only got about 4-5 hours of sleep in one to two hour doses, but I felt sharp and refreshed when I slipped out of bed at the crack of dawn to iron some clothes and get myself ready for my morning interview.
Went with Lisa to drop off her rental and pick her regular car up from the shop and got dropped off at the Main skytrain station. (I'd forgotten just how much I've missed having a solid transit system. Victoria's transit system is such a pathetic, worthless joke compared to every big city I've stayed in. It was refreshing to be able to buy a ticket from a machine with the simple swipe of my card and have it be good for both the busses, skytrain and seabus (A ferry that runs between downtown Vancouver and North Vancouver, which happilly unloads -right- at the Lonsdale Quay...).
Trekked upstairs to the hotel and arrived right on time. They seemed startled by my ammount of hotel audit experience, and their questions revolved more around my background and how long I'd lived in Victoria and my reasons for leaving previous jobs than it did around my skills and what I was capable of. Perhaps my resume told them that I was fully ready to eat their job as a side dish and they just wanted to make sure I wasn't a psychopath... I think I managed to suitably impress them with my candid demeanor, but they asked -thrice- whether I had any questions for them, which is typically something that bodes ill in interviews, as if the person feels you're not asking enough questions and aren't interested in the job... Happy with them, I missed a key question that I should have asked, "When will I know whether I'm accepted?", so tonight I'm going to fire off a fax to their head office manager and thank her kindly for taking the opportunity to see me, and enquire politely as to when I'll know if I've got the job. Thanking interviewers is usually a very good principle anyhow, and I'm going to respect protocol carefully on this one. Its not often that one finds a hotel with all female upper management, and I'm not certain what to make of how that will affect the atmosphere, but in a way I like it...
From the interview, I slipped down into the Quay market and spent a lot of time wandering about. They have a -really- neat little market down there, and I was happily able to find a herbal gout remedy and a bottle of melatonin... Mmm, melatonin...
I had a bit of lunch, and then slipped back towards Lisa's place, a process that took nearly an hour because I forgot that Elgin crosses 29th Ave. I had remembered the nine, but originally thought that the scenery right near 19th avenue looked -very- familiar, so I got off there and wandered around looking for Elgin... then got fed up, got back on the bus, and got off at 29th... Popped a melatonin and tried to compute a little, but the net wouldn't play nice and by the time I fiddled with it a bit the melatonin was tugging at me... Which felt -wonderful-.
You know that feeling you get at the end of a very long, hard day, when your muscles just seem to go slack and you feel heavy and warm and a little disoriented. Imagine stripping away all of the aches and pains of a day of back-breaking work but keeping that heavy, soft warmth that tugs at your body to try and drag you down onto the bed... I just slipped into bed, feeling a little strange, and just sorta snuggled in, got comfortable, and dozed right off...
Sleep was -so- nice. Normally I don't sleep very deeply in the day. In fact, in the daylight hours I rarely even get to the point of REM sleep anymore, which is a real shame given that when I was little I used to dream every night, and remember most of the wonderful little details... I do miss dreaming, but not as much as I miss a good night's sleep.
Imagine if every hour you slept felt like two hours worth of solid rest. Imagine waking up after four hours of sleep and feeling as if you've caught a full night's sleep...
That, was what melatonin felt like for me.
(Trailing off now, gotta get some work done...)