Nine Snowboots
Divergence
There’s a podcast called The Loudest Girl In The World, hosted by Lauren Ober. The show concerns Ober’s autism diagnosis at 42, as well as her experience dealing with this information and opening up to others about it. When I listened to it last summer, I related pretty heavily to what she was talking about. I’ve also started to make peace with how my own brain works in the last few years. It’s been a rough road, though.
Saudade in transit
I’m on the bus. It’s too early to be human and I haven’t had my coffee yet so I don’t really want to do much; maybe read or listen to music, things that help tune out the other people or the monotony of the commute. When I leave the suburbs, it's usually dark. I sometimes look out the windows, but more to see how far I’ve traveled than at anything interesting. By the time I arrive downtown, I can see the sun coming up over the harbour.
December thoughts
The year is winding down. I’m preparing to go to New Brunswick for my regular Christmas visit with the family; my travel arrangements up there have all been taken care of. I haven’t bothered with Christmas shopping yet; my cash flow was a little tight until my last paycheque came in, and my tolerance for the malls has dropped over the years. Everything costs too much money now.
Camera itch
Last year, I was randomly working on setting up some galleries for my SNL reviews when I realized that the settings for my photography portfolios were wrong.
Thoughts on things
I’m in the office most of the week now, and that means it’s back to waking up early, rushing to get ready, and catching the 7:10 bus downtown.
Getting back to it
It’s now a few weeks into the new year, and I’m back at work. Technically, I’m working from home most of the week thanks to Omicron, and going into the office one day a week to take care of matters that aren’t as easily arranged from my apartment.
Some questions for you
I’ve been having a little trouble coming up with things to talk about, so if you’re reading this, I want you to fill out this form. Only the questions with asterisks (*) are required. I’ve decided to keep this anonymous with as little identifying information as possible (It shows up in my e-mail as just a “form submission” from Squarespace) because I want the anonymity of the form to allow you to open up.
Crowded bus season
It’s September again. Crowded bus season. Halifax is a university city, so the buses and streets are teeming with young adults.
Checking in
I owe a few people some e-mails, and there are countless other people I haven’t checked in on in a while, but I always have trouble getting started. I like e-mail for the personal touch and the space for sharing private thoughts and feelings (at least moreso than on social media); I tend not to feel comfortable using chat or DMs unless I know the person well. Eventually I figured I may as well send a group e-mail, but since there are people who I’m not sure I have up-to-date addresses for but may otherwise want to hear from me, I decided to turn it into a public blog post.
Dispatches from the pandemic wall
Writing always requires a certain amount of motivation, even if only for attention.
In our bubbles
I live in Halifax, Nova Scotia. We had been fortunate enough to have a low number of COVID infections, especially in comparison to the rest of North America, and life had gotten back to a semblance of normalcy in the summer. Unfortunately, cases are back on the rise; it’s still not as bad as it is in the States or even other places in Canada, but we’re back to smaller gathering limits and increased restrictions on businesses.
Bald alien babe
I had a portrait session with local photographer Invidia Obscura a few weeks ago; I loved what they did the last time I shot with them, and since I came out back in August, I had been hoping to get another good batch of gender-affirming photos. As many selfies as I take, I wanted to have some nicer pictures of myself for the website and my web presence in general.
Faded memories
I’ve been thinking a lot about memory lately. I’ve been wondering how far back people can clearly remember things, and trying to figure out where my own memory goes from spotty episodes to clear and continuous. How much of it exists by virtue of finding corroborating photographic evidence or through others’ accounts, or research through Wikipedia?
A somewhat quieter vacation
I’m currently visitng my sisters’ place in Fredericton. We only live a few hours away from each other, but I don’t have a car, bus service has been reduced within the Atlantic Bubble, and the trains aren’t running at all. I had a four day weekend coming up for the Thanksgiving holiday (my EDO landed on the Friday before), so I booked a few more days off around the weekend, found a sitter for Autumn, and bought a round-trip bus ticket.
A busy August and future plans
I want to thank everyone who has reached out to me so far since my last blog post. The love and support I’ve received over the past two weeks has been, to put it mildly, overwhelming. I’m very lucky to have such accepting people in my life, and it’s a huge relief to finally be myself.
Somewhat out of lockdown...
I’m back in the office beginning this week. I come downtown every day this week, then on alternating days beginning next week, with me working from home the rest of the time. I like that I can actually take care of things that can only be done at the office, but the commute and general expense of energy (among other things) is taking some getting used to.