the great northern alberta adventure

I ended up going on an unexpected whirlwind trip of Northern Alberta yesterday. I was returning to Fort McMurray from Edmonton and the highway was closed. There is pretty much one way into the town so its a tiny bit of an issue. Turns out that about 30 min before I arrived on the scene, some idiot forced a tanker truck off the road where it then burst into flames. Fuel on fire at the side of the road is just a fantastic thing to have.

I ended up turning back the way I had come to take a detour through Lac La Biche. I arrived to find that the road out of town was also closed and had to detour again. I got to see a lot of Northern Alberta in the process. I think that we should just rip it out and start again because its not a very efficient part of the province. The lakes up here are lovely though. I've also learned that I never ever want to have to do that drive again. It really is just silly and also added an extra 3 hours to my drive.

unpacking. still.

I really should take photos of my room in its current state as a way to demonstrate just how terribly my closet, nay my bedroom, is set up. I began to unpack the boxes of clothing today (a feat all on its own) and soon came to a very tragic realization. I am in desperate need of shelving. For the life of me I can't figure out why you'd make a closet without shelves or a bathroom without drawers. I need ways to organize or I'm going to live in a pigsty. (More so than I already am).

In related news. I find a reason almost every day to hate it here more and more. This is far and away the worst town I've ever lived in and to those of you who might read this and be from Fort McMurray, I'm sorry, but its true and deep down you probably know it too.

interviews again

I had more interviews. Well one more. Though its for a retail job. I think one of the hardest things at the moment is trying not to be discouraged about the lack of jobs in my field. I think at the moment I may be the only person who graduated with me who is jobless. I might be exaggerating that.

Anyway, so again, the interview went really well. I may have this one and the only downside is the fact that its not in my field. I'm still applying though. Wish me luck.

I should probably do an actual update rather than really lame ones like this.

still alive

The last little bit has been uneventful which, I think, is to be expected really. Learning to live in a smaller place with less is quite odd. I came from Southern Alberta where everything closed at 6 on the weekends except for bars and the movie theatre to here where the only theatre I've seen has been closed down. I'm a big city girl, the lack of shopping, Starbucks and hair salons is a strange thing to get used to.

I finally started to unpack my belongings. Since the job didn't happen, I've resigned myself to sort of be here at least long enough that I should unpack as much as I hate the idea. A lot of the time I talk about the things that I hate here. Really, the truth is I haven't found anything I love so its not that I'm focusing on the negative, its that I've yet to find something I truly love about it.

I'm applying for some retail jobs tomorrow, I've met a few people who are kind of my age. I'm working on trying to fit in somewhere. But while I'm waiting I came up with a photo idea that I'll just copy from my Facebook note earlier this week.

What sparked this idea is the overwhelming feeling that so many people feel they need to be thin to be beautiful or whatever else it takes to be "beautiful." We've all got our own little insecurities and things we had, but the idea here is that when two images are put side by side, one featuring a part of you that you dislike and one part that you love more than anything, that no one would be able to tell what the "ugly" part is. Sure everyone can guess, but it might not be as glaringly obvious as you feel it is.

So with all the insecurities and dieting and trying to look a way that we aren't meant to look the idea to showcase beauty in a different way. Celebrating a more natural, more attainable, more real version of beauty.

The idea is to take an empty photo frame and people. Every kind of person, male or female, no matter how you feel about yourself and take two photos. One using the frame to frame a part of you that you don't like and one using the frame to frame a part of you that you love. The thing you love can be something as small as your elbow or as big as your whole face, it doesn't matter. I want to then put them together in a diptych and show them as one full image. Faces won't be shown unless that's the feature you love and want to be shown so you don't even have to worry about someone identifying you. (My original thought was to name the images with the first name of the model and where they are from. Michael from Edmonton is pretty ambiguous.)

So this is where I need your help. I need people to take photos of, so if you're comfortable with it and want to get in on the experiment let me know. If you have friends that want to model, pass this on and let me know. I'd love to have as many different people represented as possible. I know that some of you have already expressed interest (or I thought you'd be interested) in joining me on my little crusade for beauty and I'd love you guys to help me spread the word.

Who knows what could come of it, but I'd love everyone to join in this experiment with me.

setback

So my interview had gone really well, they were really impressed and all of that and most importantly I was feeling good about it.

Fast forward to today, I get a phone call from the company (though not the person that I had interviewed with) and was told that they had filled the position as I was overqualified. I'm feeling a bit down on that as it seems like I'm either too qualified or not qualified enough.

Someone needs to give me a job soon.