The one where she's surrounded by sickos

Welcome back to the new season of Fancy.

To catch fans up on what they missed during the summer hiatus, I'll provide this summary:

Fancy went to Ottawa, had an adventure with many highs and lows (more lows really), and came back.

I left Ottawa yesterday afternoon, in the pisspouring rain; it was a dismal day and it didn't do a lot to improve my mood about leaving. As you may have known, I've been living at Etienne's for the last three weeks, a refugee from a bedbug infested Hippie Hellhole.

All had been well until last week, when Etienne started to get sick. Really sick. We suspect H1N1, as his symptoms all matched, but there's no way to confirm it without him paying. He's a Swiss citizen, without work benefits until he's officially bridged in to the Federal government, and he's just finished his master's so he's not covered by his university plan, so he's not covered by any health plan. And given that he's practically a student still, he's not exactly in the position to spend a lot of money visiting a doctor and getting prescriptions or receiving treatment. Sucks for him. And I've been looking after him like a good little pseudo-roommate, so I was anxious to be leaving him yesterday, knowing he's still not well.

I'm happy to be back home, in a world that makes sense to me, but guess what? Rod's sick! I literally left one sick man for another!

So, you may be wondering how it is that I'm not complaining about being sick, given my substantial exposure to the flu (Saralee at work also has it). My only possible explanation is that I was quite sick this spring, and it must have been the milder version of H1N1. Because there's just no way I should be okay! My immune system is generally regarded as lazy and useless...a cheese-eating surrender monkey, as Steve might say. So the only answer I have is that I have the immunities :) Even if it's not H1N1, I've lucked out and gotten whatever these people have early enough that I shouldn't be in bad shape to start school soon.

The End is Nigh!

It's been a strange couple of weeks in Ottawaland. First of all, I'll start with the fact that I'm no longer living in the hippie hellhole.

"But Fancy, where are you if not in hippie hellhole?"

That's an excellent question, thank you for asking. I'm living at Etienne's. He took pity on me after seeing all of the old blood stains on my sheets, and took me in, despite his desire to be alone.

"Umm, what old blood stains? What's going on?"

Aww, I'm touched by your concern. The truth is that I discovered what I had suspected all along, from the first night in hippie hellhole: Bedbugs. Yes, the little bastards have been feeding on the premium quality sanguine-goodness of yours truly all summer. I found a couple when I took the sheets off my bed to wash them. It was only a few days later that I fled the apartment for the safety and comfort of Etienne's apartment. And it's a good thing too. One of my roommates decided to throw out the futon I've been sleeping on, and when he took apart the frame, he found about a thousand of the little bastards all holed-up in the cozy wood nooks. It was a truly disgusting thing to hear about, so I can only image the sight of it.

It's only for a short time though, since I'm homeward bound after the 28th! INAC is releasing me for good behaviour, and I will be home soon, petting my cats and swatting my husband away from me ;)

I admit to mixed feelings when I go. I've gotten to be close with people here, and not seeing them on a daily or weekly basis will suck. But who knows what the future holds, and there's a good chance I'll return to the NCR, like any other repeat offender...back in the custody of the Feds.

Amelioration

It's been nearly a month, and in that time, I've been alternating between busy and...sleep. That statement *could* be taken to mean that I am busy AND I sleep a lot, and you'd be forgiven for making that mistake. But what it means is that I've been so busy that I have no time to do everything, and my only respite is about 6-7 hours of sleep a night!

In truth, I was insanely busy at work in July. Things took an unexpected turn, and the pressure was on all of us in the ADMO to rise to the occasion and deal with it. This was a team clusterfuck, and it was handled incredibly well. And that's all I'm going to (and allowed to) say about that.

Now, given that the word going around is that I've turned into a party animal (alcoholic), I feel I need to clarify just what's going on in my life that makes it sound worse than it actually is!

About this drinking. The fact of the matter is that my "schedule" breaks down like this:

1. On Wednesdays, I go to Trivia night at a pub with Etienne and his friends. While there, I restrict myself to 1-2 beers because it's nice to unwind, and because I know I have to work on Thursdays.

2. Fridays...well, Fridays have always been 'Cut Loose' days for me. Fridays are my day to drink and really have fun and enjoy feeling younger than I actually am. So I don't restrict myself on Fridays, and given that so many others don't either, I don't see the need to.

3. Saturdays. If I'm doing anything on Saturdays, it's usually low key such as movies, dinner, or just hanging out and spending the night chatting over a (shared) bottle of wine, or a beer or two. I place this restiction on myself unless there is a particular occasion, and even then, I'm usually good about sticking to it.

So you might think, "well geez, that's three nights a week!" But I see it as being no different than those who have a glass of wine every day or something like that. I'm not ragingly slobberknockered on the corner every night, which is what it sounds like when I hear people addressing their concerns to me. The most important thing to me is that I am in control, and I am capable of deciding where my line is. It's really not often I get really drunk because I know I'm usually at the centre of trouble when that happens.

So fret not, dear friends and family. Fancy maintains control over herself and her life, but she's not opposed to enjoying her life either.

In fact, I spend a lot of time alone. When I'm not working or handling the Wednesday/Friday/Saturday night events, I'm usually at home, in my room, or I'm out walking around alone. I spend a lot of time alone, contemplating, writing, and just spending time sorting out a lot of the issues that are involved in being in Ottawa alone.

They have made it clear that they are holding my position for me at INAC. It's mine to take it or leave it. But moving to Ottawa is not only not a part of my life plan, it's also likely to create a lot of complications for Rod and myself.

The thing I dread most is that this life and this place will suck me in and kill the life I've been working towards for the past seven years. It took me longer than most to figure out that I was not only intelligent, but that I was good enough to go after those huge challenges in life and not be afraid of failure. I'm a risky bet, and you can always count on one thing: settling is just about the most dangerous thing a woman like me can do. It's a well-documented fact that when I settle, I get bored, when I get bored, I get into trouble, and when I get into trouble, it's a spectacular mess! It's just my nature.

So forget the drinking. The drinking is not even on my radar as an issue, and if I wasn't so frustrated about having to explain myself, I'd laugh about it being an issue for people. I've got bigger dragons to slay!