The Ups and Downs of Small Town Living

So I'm finally done with school, and it's basically everything I dreamed it would be: independence, lower stress, less drama, etc. Maybe I'll be singing a different tune later on but for once in my life I feel content in the moment. I ended up moving to a small town because I really liked the office that I interviewed at. From the first interaction with the office manager over the phone, I felt welcome and accommodated--an impression which continued into the interview and still remains true today. Coming from living in the "city" which I prefer to call "suburbs", everyone asks me how I am adjusting to such a huge change. My default instinct is to say it's going well and it's not that big a change. It really hasn't been as much a shock as people expect it to have been, and maybe it's partly because I did one of my undergrad co-ops in an even smaller town with a mere population of 1k. Other things that have made the transition easier are my heavily introverted personality and the addition of my latest family member: Percy. See my baby below. :)

On the personality spectrum of cats, he's on the friendlier, more affectionate, but also more active and passionate side. Every time I come home from work or even an excursion for a couple hours, he waddles up to the door to greet me and expects an imminent cuddle session. Conversely, he is not afraid to express his general grumpiness or displeasure with overpetting by administering a swift bite where "necessary". Anyway, I told myself I wouldn't be one of THOSE parents, yet here I am. Back on topic...

I enjoy the small town life because it's cute to have (almost) everything in a centralized area, be able to walk around and appreciate things more without too much extra noise (and other types of) pollution. The community is pretty tight-knit; everyone grew up together and either knows everyone else or knows someone else who does. Don't have an obvious connection with someone? Just give your last name and your family name will usually speak for you. Despite it being a "small town", there are regular events put on by volunteers. I think having a more intimate community gives everyone more stake in everything and it's probably the closest thing I've experienced to altruism in my waking life. I think that's saying a lot considering my cynical opinions about humanity. 

Side note: maybe to be more humane humans what we need is fewer options and a simpler lifestyle to give us clarity of the important things in life. Something I definitely don't miss about the GTA is the clutter. That's the simplest way to embody my greatest dislike about urban living. 

Don't get me wrong. Small town living has its disadvantages too. As a bit of an outsider to the area, it's been difficult to integrate myself socially. I admit this is partially my fault too because I'm not much of a small talker and the number of patient faces I see every day is a little overwhelming to make lasting connections even if I ran into them in the community. There are the few exceptions where I can imprint the face/name in my long term memory because they either had extensive dental work done or there's some additional association with the individual outside of work (i.e. drop-in sports, exercise classes). I am told it will take time, but with my somewhat closed off INTJ personality, I am a bit skeptical. The last major qualm I have with the small town life is the lack of restaurants. Perhaps it's the "city girl" in me, but I love my high quality, ethnically diverse foods. I don't think I'm pretentious enough to label myself a foodie, but eating delicious food is truly one of my greatest life pleasures. On the upside, it's given me no choice but to work on my cooking level. This I do begrudgingly--even in runescape, this skill wasn't one I enjoyed working on. 

Other smaller praises/complaints: 
PROS: 
-cheaper housing due to lower demand 
-pedestrian traffic buttons are extremely responsive--I'm talking like within 10 seconds the orange hand starts flashing (I really appreciate this as a "city girl")
-great support for community recreational programs--currently loving the free drop-in badminton and soccer 
-people are generally friendlier (appreciate this as a fellow citizen)
-and lower maintenance/more reasonable (appreciate this as a dentist)
-cottage country and the beaches are shockingly close (just need travel companions)

CONS: 
-expensive country internet and utilities 
-hot water is slower to take 
-harsher winters and power goes out more often than in the city
-inadequate health care (nearly impossible to find a family doctor) 

The Evolution of Facebook

I've been a member of the Facebook community since around 2006, so I've been around a decent enough length of time to notice changes in the hottest, most "socially acceptable" way to use it.

1. In the beginning, Facebook was, understandably, super simple. 
Make sure to add anyone you even vaguely recognize. Spam each other's WALL (not Timeline--I miss the wall!) with conversation bits. 

2. Play all the Facebook games and spam invite your friends (e.g. Candy Crush, Farmville, Restaurant City, Mafia Wars, etc.).

3. Compose a bunch of notes for people to lurk (optional: and comment on). Make quizzes to see how good your friends are at being friends.

4. Post huge albums of your trips and every artifact/historical site/interesting looking structure you encounter. Bonus points for artistic profile pic selfies with a meaningful song lyric

5. Join all the groups. Like all the things. 

6. Do all the quizzes to find out the colour/animal/Disney princess/food/article of clothing you are; this will greatly enhance your self-awareness.

7. Delete a few people from your friends list (most of whose profile pics have gone dark because they're inactive anyway) then post a deliberate status about how you're cleaning out the toxicity from your life and "if you're reading this, you have the honour of remaining my friend". Congratulations!

8. Post videos/links and tag all your close friends in it in order to guarantee a response so it doesn't look like you're talking to yourself. 

9. Join none of the groups. Like/comment on nothing. After all, "I don't do groups".

10. Profile picture filters/alterations to show that you're aware of global issues and this is the extent to which you can be bothered to get involved.

11. Tag friends in memes and "stupid but relatable" inside jokes because you don't want that garbage on your wall but you still want people on Facebook to see that you're cool enough to use Facebook just not with them.

12. Post meaningful articles and links to demonstrate your responsible citizenship--while inadvertently provoking an uncomfortable public disagreement in the comment thread between two of your friends that don't know each other and come from distinct parts of your life that you had previously hoped to keep separate. 

We've sure come a long way.

Glean all the things

So I realized I love the word GLEAN for several reasons. 1. It's simple. 2. I like how it sounds. 3. It's very applicable to me. 

Google defines glean as: 

verb 

extract (information) from various sources 
"the information is gleaned from press clippings"
synonyms: obtain, get, take, draw, derive, extract, cull, garner, gather; More 

collect gradually and bit by bit 
"objects gleaned from local markets" 

historical
gather (leftover grain or other produce) after a harvest. 
"the conditions of farm workers in the 1890s made gleaning essential"

With #3 being the main reason that I like this word, I feel this is the way I learn/pick up info. Not necessarily a good thing, but it is how I is. Rarely do I have the attention span to learn things by researching or being lectured on something in a "learning environment". Just as the definition says, I like to collect information on things "gradually and bit by bit" by overhearing it or seeing it in action.

A prime example of this phenomenon in my life is memes. I've never really gone out of my way to look up memes myself, presumably hosted by sites like reddit, imgur, funnyjunk (dating myself now I know...) but I still manage to pick them up because memes are, by nature, "viral". 

Upside: little effort, I literally only pick up things that interest me in the slightest 
Downside: may not be accurate

"Narziss and Goldmund" by Hermann Hesse

Just finished a book for leisure--shocking considering it's a "school night". I enjoyed it, though I probably don't grasp its complexities to the extent that I'd like to. Wanted to throw these passages up here before I call it a night: 


"Thought is an eternal simplification - a seeing out, beyond the things of the eye; the attempt to construct a world of pure intelligence. But you craftsmen take the most perishable of all things to your hearts, and, in their very transcience and corruption, you herald the meaning of the world. You never look beyond or above it, you give yourselves up to it, and yet, by your very devotion, you change it into the highest of all, till it seems the epitome of eternity. We thinkers strive to reach our God by drawing the world away from before His face. You come to Him, loving His creation, and fashioning it all over again. Both these are imperfect, human works; yet, of the two, art is the more innocent."

“But seen from above – as God might see it – were this patterned order and morality, this giving up of the world, and the joys of sense, this aloof withdrawal from blood and mire into prayer and philosophy, any better? Were men really made to live an ordered life, its virtues and duties set to the ringing of a bell? Was man created to study Aristotle and the Summa,  to know Greek, extinguish his sense, fly the world? Had not God made man with lusts and pride in him, with blood and darkness in his heart, with the freedom to sin, love and despair?

...Yes, and perhaps it was not merely simpler and more human to live a Goldmund-life in the world. Perhaps in the end it was more valiant, and greater in God’s sight, to breast the currents of reality, sin, and accept sin’s bitter consequence, instead of standing apart, with well-washed hands, living in sober, quiet security, planting a pretty garden of well-trained thoughts, and walking then, in stainless ignorance, among them – the sheltered beds of a little paradise. It was harder perhaps, and need a stouter heart to walk with broken shoes through forest-glades, to trudge the roads, suffer rain and snow, want and drought, playing all the games of the senses, and paying one’s losses with much grief.” 

I'll quote you on that

As always, it's been a while since my last post. Today just wanted to share some thoughts on quotes/quotations. Talking about this reminds me of one of my high school English teachers who was fairly particular about the distinct uses of "quote" and "quotation". I can still hear her voice in my head, "A quotation is a noun; to quote something is a verb. Don't call a quotation a quote." As one is wont to do for someone one's not particularly fond of, her QUOTATION reverberates in my head in a nasally tone, of course. Anyway, this post is about me quoting quotations. :) 

When I read random things or even encounter provocative song lyrics, sometimes the words really strike a chord with me (unsure whether there's an unintended pun in there to forgive or not). So I've made it a bit of a habit to note down these quotations when I can, wherever I can. Today I came across one of these many notebooks lying around. Wanted to share some on here.

LOVE

"There's the intelligent sort of love that makes an intelligent choice. That's the kind you're supposed to get married on. Then there's the kind that's anything but intelligent, that's like a possession. And that's the one, that's the one, everybody really values. That's the one nobody wants to have missed out on."

"Love always comes back to self-love. The idiocy. You don't want them, you want what you can get from them. Obsession and self-delusion." 

AMBITION 

"There are your true philosophers...they survive in this particular world better than other people. In a time when people tear themselves to pieces with ambition and nervousness and covetousness, they are relaxed. All of our so-called successful men are sick men, with bad stomachs, and bad souls, but Mack and the boys are healthy and curiously clean. They can do what they want. They can satisfy their appetites without calling them something else." 

"The things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding, and feeling are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism, and self-interest are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second." 

"The sale of souls to gain the whole world is completely voluntary and almost unanimous--but not quite."

MORALITY

"I don't suppose God laughs at the people who think He doesn't exist. He's above jokes. But the Devil isn't. That's one of his most endearing qualities." 

"Is the Devil, then, sin? No, though sin is very useful to him; anything we may reasonably call sin involves some personal choice. It is flattering to be asked to make important choices. The Devil loves the time of indecision." 

"Both God and the Devil wish to intervene in the world, and the Devil chooses his moments shrewdly." 

"Boredom and stupidity and patriotism, especially when combined, are three of the greatest evils of the world we live in." 

Don't get me wrong; I don't consider myself a deep thinker. I just really do love words, and have a profound respect for those with a talent for their deft manipulation.

Kardashian Day

So I'm not normally one for celebrity gossip, but I couldn't help but love what came out today. For those who don't know, Kanye West made a derogatory reference to Taylor in one of his songs. When Kanye claimed she gave him permission to use that exact lyric, she denied all claims and of course no one in their right mind would believe Kanye at that point, considering their recent history.

Well, today Taylor's "woe is me" jig is up and it couldn't be sweeter. Today, Kim Kardashian posted on Snapchat many recordings of Taylor and Kanye's exact conversation where she approved the use of the lyric--the exact opposite of what she claimed. I don't particularly like any of these three celebrities, but I'm glad Taylor is finally being exposed for the pity-starved wannabe she is.

Since it's the current trend, I've included a complimentary photo of Taylor:

Time not only flies--sometimes it soars

Hello...it's me. 

I'm well into the early half of my (last??) summer vacation, and it's pretty relaxing so far! It's been a little while since I've posted anything. Some exciting/unsure things in my near future that I wanted to briefly share: 

1. In September I'll be entering my (hopefully) final year of formal education. That means I'm one huge step closer to entering the real world, entering the workforce, and making my own money. For anyone who knows me, you know this offers what means most to me: long-awaited independence. Independence to manage my own affairs, make my own mistakes (and hopefully some successes too!), and really see what I have to offer to society. 

2. Just before that, I'll be traveling abroad semi-on my own (aka without my parents) to Jamaica for a dental outreach trip. I hope to learn a lot through this trip, feel like I'm making some contribution to areas with poorer access to oral care, and to maybe even have a little fun. It'll be my first time having Jamaican food; again, those who KNOW me know how important that is to me. 

3. Still figuring out where life will take me after my anticipated convocation in June 2017. Some options: 
a) Associate locally immediately 
b) Northern Ontario government-subsidized associateship (?) programs 
c) US residency 

All exciting options, each with their pros/cons. Trying to go with the flow and get by efficiently. This means evaluating my options carefully to make sure appealing options stay available to me as long as feasibly possible. It's likely a result of the distance away from the misery that is school/clinic, but I'm in one of those rare optimistic moods. Grateful for where my life currently is and trying not to waste everything that's been invested to get me to this point.