All cooped up and nothing to do

I haven't written for a while, a few weeks now probably. The only important thing that's happened in the last couple of weeks is that I didn't get hired back at my firm, but since I'm pretty sure I sent an email to absolutely everyone who might care at all (although I'm sure I managed to miss a few people when I was clicking off who to put in the 'bcc' address box, as always) then I didn't really feel the need to post the info too. Not cause I didn't feel like writing about it, just cause I'm lazy!

So yeah, I didn't get hired back. Not really too upset about it at all. Obviously would have been nice to have a job, and I really like (at least most) of the people in the department I would have been working in if I had been hired back. But I also really, really, REALLY want to go back to Toronto. I didn't think I would miss it that much, and I figured I could always go back to Toronto on weekends if I needed to. And I do have family in Ottawa who I love. But I never see them - they have their little babies and families and lives, not that I've put in the effort either, being ridiculously lazy on weekends! I think it's just a matter of being in different points of life at different times, makes it difficult. And I do have friends that I have made here, like people I am articling with. But none of those friendships are the same as the friendships I have with people from law school or undergrad. And I miss those friendships. I miss my sister. I miss having Adam's family around, because we hang out with his brothers and their significant others a lot and that's a lot of fun, like family and friends combined. And I miss a lot of things about the city - more and better restaurants (including more with good all-day breakfast!), more and better concerts, ease of access to getting around the city (who knew I would miss having a subway system so much, considering I've spent only about 6-8 months of my entire life having one, the rest of the time it's been buses if anything). Ottawa is nicer in the summer, but much more miserable in the winter (especially without the PATH underground system!). Basically Ottawa is a very beautiful, nice, relaxed city, great for a lot of people and I've enjoyed it for the year, but turns out it's not for me.

The downside of not being hired back is that it's a lot more difficult now to feel motivated. Especially since, as I think I mentioned before, the summer students are now here as of 2 weeks ago. Which means that all the work goes to them, which is great except that I am now really, really, really, REALLY bored. I have nothing to do. This is made a little bit better by the fact that I can get away with coming in at 9:30 and leaving at 4:30, but still that means I have to sit at my desk during those hours and come up with something to do (hence, this post and the crazy babbling I'm doing - sorry about that to anyone actually still reading this post!).

Went to Adam's cottage last weekend for the May 24, just the two of us and his brother Jack, plus Jack's 2 large dogs and my cat Spice. Spice spent some time outdoors for the first time since I've had her (apart from her going missing in downtown Toronto for a week last summer, after escaping through a broken window). She liked it, although she didn't go too far and only would spend about max 10 minutes outside at a time. She also continues to get along relatively well with the dogs, although she definitely does NOT like it when the boy dog decides that he needs to lick her all over. I can't tell if he's trying to show affection (he does lick people, too), or if he's trying to figure out if she's a tasty treat. Either way, Spice definitely lets him know it's not cool, and he's fairly terrified of her when she gets all bitchy, so that works out.

OH I TOTALLY FORGOT SOMETHING AWESOME!!!!!! I got to go to another Leonard Cohen concert last week! How could I frigging forget that??!! Yeah, my sister and I had gotten tickets for our dad for his birthday, but of course he decided he didn't want to go. I had originally said I couldn't go along, because it was in the middle of the week and I didn't want to spend the money to fly/drive there and back from Ottawa, and I didn't want to have to take too much time off. But the week before I'd realised that I had the Monday off anyway (the concert was on Tuesday), and that I could get a ride back to Toronto with Jack or with Adam (if Adam decided to go to Toronto as well after the cottage, instead of heading back to Ottawa), and then I would only have to take 2 days off and only pay one way on public transportation. So I went, and it was awesome. Not as good as the one I went to last year, only because it was a larger forum so less intimate-feeling, but still absolutely amazing. Definitely Leonard is my favourite musician/musical artist/songwriter of all time - the man has so much talent it's insane!

After we went back to Toronto, I left on Wednesday on the train, because Adam needed to stay and meet with some profs to get reference letters and stuff. And for some reason there wasn't a single train on Wednesday that had checked baggage (I had been sure there was always at least one a day), so I couldn't take Spice back to Ottawa with me (pets have to go in carriers in checked baggage cars only). So Adam and Spice are still in Toronto, and probably will be until at least Wednesday. Which means I am very, very lonely. :( But I did have a relaxing weekend this past weekend, and I watched some movies that Adam wouldn't want to watch with me, so that was all right. I also bought the first season of True Blood - if you have not seen it, find a way to watch it somehow, it's freaking amazing (and redonculously sexy!). The second season starts June 14th on HBO, so get caught up on the first before then!

So now we're all caught up. I only have 3 more weeks of work. How awesome is that????!!!!