I'm back at Hansard, having shed the shackles of customer service once again. I'm hard on myself when it comes to the job. I've got to learn to not be so hard on myself. I want to do well, but I have to remember that it will continue to be a learning process for a while. Hopefully this time around I'll have a steadier schedule to rely on. We'll see what this week brings. Either way, it looks like I'll have a week off in February.

I finished reading "Heavier than Heaven," and I found it to be a great, interesting read despite Cross' forays into dramatic purpose. It was hard to finish, since it's essentially the tale of a man with an almost supernatural drug habit slowly and then suddenly killing himself. Fascinating nonetheless. Kurt Cobain is a subject I seem to feel the need to revisit intently every few years to gain a newer perspective.

I've been writing music lately, far more often than I've been writing words. It's what comes out of my need to create something, and now that I have a general hold on writing music on a computer I feel like the outlet is completely in place. I think about where I might be able to take it - in the near future, a gig or three, and hopefully some studio time within the next year. I'd really like music to become as big a part of my artistic life as it once was. Lately it's been fruitful. I've recorded seven originals and three covers, the latest of which has driven up my myspace page hits by about 20% in the last two days alone. I'm looking at the songs I'm recording in my bedroom right now as demos. I'm putting them online in lieu of a demo tape to pass around. For the time being, I'm happy with the momentum I'm building.

A couple of posts ago I mentioned that I had quite a lot on my mind. I've been thinking a bit about Ottawa and the kind of city it's become. Lack of public transportation, lack of government and the palpable sense of a sinking morale amongst the city's art communities have made it a hard place to like lately. My perception of Ottawa has changed. It's starting to seem smaller and smaller. I've been admitting to myself quite strongly lately that I'm not going to stay here for the rest of my life. I've been making it a point to leave. Maybe not next year or the year after, but I know I won't be here forever. There is too much to see, and too much to do.

That said, I'm generally quite happy with life right now. I'm looking forward to returning to a steadier income and putting some money into traveling. It will be an eventful year, and I'm just now falling under the impression that the year has finally started.

I've had a lot on my mind lately, and I've been meaning to write one of these journal thingies, but I suppose I wasn't done thinking. I'm still not. So it goes.

The new year has gotten off to a bit of a slow start. I'm running low on money, so I've been watching my spending for the last couple of weeks while trying to scrape together a living at Haven books, a student-owned and run bookstore that caters to Carleton University syllibi. I've been walking to and from work, 40 minutes each way, and it's been good exercise. At first I felt tired and really ached from walking so much and standing for such long periods of time, but I'm more used to it now since I started the routine. I have two more shifts to work next week. At the very least it's been a friendly reminder of why I never, ever want to return to the customer service industry again. I've done my time.

One of the neat things about the job, however, is the fact that I can spend my half hour break at the Second Cup at Bank and Sunnyside. I used to go for breaks at that same coffee shop when I worked as a technical writer for the 3-Way Street Corporation. When I can, I sit in the window, reading and sipping a caramel corretto, sensing the tiniest hint of nostalgia for the early part of 2006, when I was writing my undergraduate honours thesis while working two jobs to make ends meet. I've been reading Charles R. Cross' biography of Kurt Cobain, Heavier than Heaven, and it's hard to describe the impact it's having on me. It will have to wait for a later update.

Tomorrow morning I'm testing for a full-time position at the House, knowing full well it's a position I probably won't get. I'm only taking the test because several people on the floor coerced me into it. I feel like it's going to make some kind of statement of which I'm not even aware, but one that should be made. By me. Maybe?

More to come. Much more.

Well, Harper prorogued Parliament, which is really the least dramatic of the decisions that could have been made at this point. It was, selfishly, the last option I had hoped would go through, since it means I'm suddenly out of a job until January 26th. And maybe even after THAT, if the coalition rejects the budget (which they probably will) and Jean calls an election. All Harper is doing right now is postponing the inevitable. I can't say that I blame him, really. A coalition in power would really put a damper on his holidays.

I'm still trying to figure out how my money is going to hold out. I get paid on Wednesday, so that will be my first clear indication.

In other, far more important news, Ash doesn't have cancer. She won't even need the procedure that would have taken a closer look. Huzzah!

As far as I can understand it, the government may dissolve yet again on Monday over the Conservatives' proposed financial stimulus plan. Everyone has been saying that it's because it called for the elimination of public financing for political parties, which would have crippled the smaller parties.

The big news is that the Liberals and NDP have been in talks to form a coalition to take over the Conservatives. They need the help of the Bloc in order to have enough seats, and the Bloc has said they will help out if the coalition has Quebec's interests in mind. If a coalition forms, the three parties take over the government. If it doesn't, and enough votes are cast in a non-confidence motion against the Conservatives, the government dissolves and the parties go to another election.

Or the bill could pass, which means that nothing would change.

Since the stimulus package was announced on Thursday and rumours of a coalition started, the Conservatives have backed down on the public financing condition. But I'm not so sure that's going to be enough. I think there is a deep down resentment for Harper's politics that might keep a coalition momentum going. However, the Liberals only have a standing leader right now in Dion, who announced he was going to resign after his performance in the October 14th election. They could pull the trigger on Ignatieff, but he hasn't yet really had the opportunity to prove himself against the current Conservative minority.

Another election would be costly in a bad economic environment. It would be a red flag against the Liberals that Harper would no doubt wave in their faces. Canadians are tired of going to the polls as often as they have been lately, no matter how they vote, and I doubt the Liberals would perform well. I think, and hope, that if a coalition can't form, the bill will be allowed to pass, not the least because I'm worried about my own job but because it wouldn't be a good move on the part of leftists.

It's a pretty volatile situation. It also means that I'll find out on Monday how much longer I'll have a job.

My upstairs neighbours left me a note telling me that they just bought a puppy. They're apologizing in advance for the noise. I don't really mind, in fact it was nice of them to leave a note, but I hear other noises coming from their apartment that kind of make me wonder about them. The guy often shouts profanities, and I don't know if they're directed at anyone in particular, but they're delivered with the voice of some high school jock who never grew out of throwing temper tantrums.

Still no paycheque from work, but that's the government for you.

Today was a busy day at work. Nine and a half hours.

I bought the first season of The Office (six episodes) and devoured the thing. I can't say enough good things about that show. Its quality aside, it takes me back to time I spent with Andrea days before she left for Europe last year. The two of us sat on my cousin's couch for hours marathoning the episodes.

It strikes me as odd that I've started working in an office and spending my downtime watching office-centric television. I wonder if I'm trying to make myself sick of it early on.

RANDOM TRIVIA: A man who contributed to the invention of the polygraph also created Wonder Woman. William Moulton Marston pioneered the systolic blood pressure test which would become a main component of lie detection. Marston, a feminist theorist and psychologist, wrote essays on emotion and believed that women were not only more honest and reliable than men, but also faster and more accurate workers. In 1940 he was hired as an educational consultant by a publishing company that would ultimately merge into DC comics, where he was given the go ahead to develop Wonder Woman, a female superhero of his own invention. Wonder Woman's weapon, a magic lasso, when roped around an adversary, forces that adversary to tell the truth. Marston lived in a polyamorous relationship with his wife and lover, fathering children by each.

Tomorrow's the big day, ie. the day the House begins its next Parliament session. They'll be choosing a Speaker to kick things off, and from the murmurs I hear its going to come to ballots. I was reading an old Hansard from the 37th Parliament, comparing it with the last, and it just went to show that the process can either take an hour or several.

I'm not feeling nervous about it. By this point I think that most of my questions are going to be answered in the process. They'll be keeping an eye on me at first. Murray said he'd look into getting me some extra hours in January to practice, and I want to take full advantage.

A few of us went to the diner last night and hung out. It was a good weekend for seeing people; I'd like to get into the habit of seeing them every weekend, just to hang out over a pint or milkshake. Tonight Andrea and I are going to catch a showing of Jules et Jim at the Bytowne.

Someone upstairs is singing Happy Birthday.

I may need to revert to the two-alarm system of getting out of bed in the morning. My body isn't used to 9 AM.

The man I'm "replacing," Murray, is retiring in January and he's been showing me the ropes, letting me know how things work in the Chamber and how parliament business proceeds. A really nice guy. We sat down and watched a debate tape and he walked me through the published transcription step by step. Occasionally he'd clear his throat and explain that he wasn't used to talking so much.

At the top of the morning I sat down with a guy named Michel in the Verifications Centre, a guy who's also retiring, and he told me about some of the things he's had to verifying, including the spelling of "Jiminy Crickett." He actually PHONED DISNEY and asked them how to spell it, and now it's in the House of Commons verifications database.

The Chamber gets crazy. Politicians hoot and holler at each other like they're kids in a sandbox fighting over plastic shovels and toy cars, cracking painfully bad puns and reciting song lyrics and quotations with abandon. I'm just in awe of the entire thing and can't believe it works the way it does.

Less about the job, eventually. I've never really liked blogging about work.

I have my own cubicle. My own! I don't have to share it with anyone. Its bare, faux-carpeted walls are crying out to be covered in pictures of loved ones, funny cat calendars and posters of sunsets. I have a computer and a couple of filing cabinets. At one point, someone emailed me about calling a number to schedule an appointment, and I left a message for a callback.

I felt like such a regular person. Of course, I'm not really that regular, so I'll inevitably find ways to bring irregularity to the workplace. Gradually, inch by inch. They won't even notice.

I'm in for an average of about five seven-hour work days a week. The earliest I'll start is 10 AM. Today I read through a multitude of information about formatting House of Commons debates, but I won't be able to really grasp it until I'm applying it on a daily basis. Dry work, maybe, but it's going to teach me a shitload about Canadian politics. It's a job that will make me smarter, and really lend me a greater handle on how the country operates.

Vacation-wise, it's ideal. I get six weeks off at Christmas beginning December 13th, a week off in May and then June 24th - September 18th off. It's ideal because I won't have to lose myself in the job all year. I can take plenty of time to explore other interests.

So far, so good. I train for a couple more days this week. The 40th Parliament begins session on Tuesday. Here's to hoping everything continues to work out.

I start the new job tomorrow at 10 AM. I'll be sleeping in my bed for the first time in a couple of months because I want to be ready and raring to go tomorrow morning.

I finished up the Terry Lee Hale cover. You can hear it over on the Wire and Light myspace page: myspace.com/wireandlight.

I picked up a Bond box set at HMV to start hacking my way through the films.

My updates in this blog might slow down a bit, since I'll be writing about a lot of things on the new one, but this should still afford me a space for things that the other one doesn't.

I quit my job at Senate publications today. Dave emailed me and asked me if I wanted to, and my return email was something akin to "Now that you mention it..." Working up to 35 hours a week will be enough without knocking myself out with overnight Senate shifts.

I've been working on music this afternoon, a cover of "Dead is Dead" by Terry Lee Hale. Hopefully I'll have it finished tomorrow, and then I'll finish up the original I've been working on for the last month and put both online.

Not ANOTHER new blog:

Things To Do Before I'm 30.

It's pretty much exactly what it sounds like. My first post is a video blog, which I've never done before, but which I've now done before I turned 30.

Christine called me today and offered me the job at the House of Commons. She said I tested the highest out of every applicant, and offered me a spot with the Hansard Association, the group that edits and researches chamber debates and speeches. I'll be working 33-35 hours a week, so it looks like I'll be leaving the Senate job behind shortly.

Don't forget to check out the blog. If you have any suggestions about things for me to do before I turn 30, I'm more than open to them.

All I want is right now to find out once and for all about this job. The waiting is the hardest part.

I finished Headhunter. I enjoyed it, but it's a complicated book with a multitude of characters of often unspecified intertextual origin that deserves another read. Today I started The Passion by Jeanette Winterson, which Andrea was kind enough to lend me.

My record with job interviews has been pretty damn good since I entered the world of employment. There have been occasions in which I've gone into an interview and not secured the job, but I'm usually quick with the responses and good with the attitude and never say the wrong thing. Today was no exception. Great test scores, great interview, great feeling, great results.

"I'd be crazy not to hire you."

They're going to let me know officially early next week, once interviews are through, but I'm very confident it's a lock. I'd be working at least 30 hours a week at a fantastic pay rate. I'll be making more money than I ever have at any job. Which means I'll start paying back my loan while worrying less about money. I'll be in a great spot.

Not a bad day at all. I received three new hardcover Oz books in the mail (Rinkitink, Scarecrow and Tin Woodman), so I only need three to complete my Baum collection. I watched the director's cut of Amadeus, a movie I'd never seen all they way through, and hadn't seen pieces of probably since junior high. Tomorrow is Kat's birthday/punkin carving party, and I'm wearing a mask that Andrea brought back from London. It's pretty freaky looking.

Things to do over the next couple of days: listen to Orson Welles' performance of The War of the Worlds broadcast (70th anniversary!), and watch Halloween. And party.

Supposedly Ottawa will be covered in ankle-deep snow when all is said and done tonight. It's certainly wet and crappy outside now. My apartment, however, is nice and cozy.

I went out and used the gift certificate my brother got me for my birthday at HMV today, picking up Amadeus and Blazing Saddles on DVD. While I was browsing I saw a sign advertising the release of Chinese Democracy in late November. I joked with the cashier that I didn't think I'd live to see the day of that album's release. I won't believe it until I actually see the thing in stores. The reviews should be something to behold.

I got back into my reading schedule today. Tomorrow morning is the job interview and I've been going over information about the House of Commons to familiarize myself with what I may be responsible for.

RANDOM TRIVIA: The total population of the Northwest Territories, the Yukon and Nunavut is less than the total population of Guelph.

I got out of bed at 7:40 AM in time to attend my French oral test, which I, of course, failed with flying colours. As I sat in the waiting room the receptionist handed me a basic information questionnaire to fill out in French, and I couldn't complete the thing. The lady who administered the test was friendly and encouraging, and let me attempt to speak for six minutes in conversation before stopping the test. My final French test results: AAX. Requirements for the job that forced me into taking French tests: AAB. By the time I got home I had received both the results and a "better luck next time" note from the Senate in my email inbox.

As I started to ponder what, exactly, I would have to do to keep from starving to death come February, I received a phone call from the woman who tested me at the House of Commons for the transediting job two weeks ago. She invited me back for an interview on Wednesday, so apparently I performed well enough in the first round.

Real rollercoaster of a morning. I'd like to get this job. I'm in the nice, comfortable spot just before the inevitable interview where I know they must think I have promise, and I'm going to coast on the feeling before Wednesday, making sure I go in armed with a CV, recommendations and a smile. Wish me luck.

I ended up organizing Janet Leigh's Bad Luck with Motels for the day after my birthday. Andrea arrives back in Ottawa tonight and I'm leaving in ten minutes to meet her at the train station.

I have quite apparently opted to be as lazy as possible today. I just woke up from a nap I took after working a box office shift for the Writers Festival this morning, my last shift of the week. All in all I'd call it a pretty fun experience, though one has to take serving poets in stride when they run out of hot water for tea. Austin Clarke was one of the best readers I've ever seen in terms of delivery.

ARC celebrated their 30th anniversary. I think this week had a "turning thirty" theme to it. I had dinner out with Jim and others (including Chris and Kathryn's new baby Eric) for his 30th birthday, so I've been thinking about it a bit more than usual lately. I've reached the point where I'm okay with turning 30, thankfully, and I haven't even turned 29 yet. All I care about when it comes to aging these days is knowing that I'm still capable of growth, that growing doesn't just stop. I think I spent a lot of my 20's subconsciously worried that that would be the case. Thankfully, I've grown out of it.

I talked with Glenn Nuotio quite a bit last night, who graciously let me know about a job opportunity. On my way home I wondered why when anyone asks me what I'm doing, I tell them I'm looking for a job while never mentioning that I'm also writing stories and music and trying to improve at those things. When I tell people that I'm after a government job, I sometimes get a reaction along the lines of "Really? Why?" I don't know why, really. Because the money is good, and because I live by myself paying rent and bills, and because I have a debt. Mostly, though, I suppose it's because I don't know what I want to do, nor how to go about doing it effectively.

I write stories and music. Today I started a new short story to procure another rejection letter. Yesterday I finished a cover of "Sleep Apnoea" by Buck 65, which you can listen to here: It's what I do.

I tested for a position as a transeditor with the House of Commons today, a two-hour, three-part process. Part one was a typing test, definitely the most grueling part as it was timed and I wasn't used to the keyboard. Part two was a written grammar and government knowledge test, mostly multiple choice and fill-in-the-blanks that I feel I did well on. For part three I had to transcribe a debate from audio tape. The recorder was hooked up to a foot pedal, so it felt like driving. Every confidence that I whooped that part's ass. They're going to let me know in about three weeks if I'm worthy of an interview.

I watched JFK last night, and it's a phenomenal film. Stone's editing makes it, as he assaults the viewer with multiple types of motion and still photography to produce different storytelling effects, mirroring the frenzy of the conspiracy theories he address. For not having known much about the assassination, it was incredibly revelatory for me as a film about the importance of questioning government. Cutaway scenes during the trial of JFK's autopsy were real and gritty and took my breath away.

Speaking of dead politicians, how about that Stephane Dion? The worst Liberal showing in Canadian election history. Slow clap. The election played itself out pretty much how I thought it would, though it's certainly a shame the Liberals didn't perform better. The Conservatives are even stronger than they were before. The NDP are inching back up to where they were in the 80's. See you again in two years.

My phone woke me up a little before ten thirty. I had opened it and was able to consciously grasp that someone had called me and was waiting for me to say "hello." It turned out to be a woman calling me about a transediting position at the House of Commons I had applied for a couple of weeks ago. I'm going in tomorrow to get "tested" for two hours.

I went to the grocery store and ran into Amanda Earl. Afterward I decided to head over to Future Shop where I picked up special editions of JFK, Psycho and Touch of Evil along with a gift certificate for my brother. I've been wanting to see JFK ever since I watched the Seinfeld episode that references it constantly awhile ago. Plus, W. is coming out on Friday and I haven't seen any of Stone's presidential biopics.

I voted at the Knox Presbyterian Church at Elgin and Lisgar just before I got home. I received an email about a Senate job I applied for asking me to take a French reading/writing comprehension test. I looked at some of the sample questions and I don't think I'll be able to get a good enough mark, but depending on how things go tomorrow I might try it out anyway. Couldn't hurt.

I'm worried that I might become addicted to Mythbusters.

I'm trying to make peace with the job situation as it stands right now. I've applied for a few positions but I'm nervous about landing myself a job that I don't want or that will be tough to get out of for a month while I travel next year. I think I'll be better off waiting until the Senate resumes after the election to make a serious effort at the hunt. I have a bunch of volunteer stuff to do soon, plus a trip out of town and a couple of reviews to write that work would get in the way of. For now I'm just trying to breathe and not panic. There's no need to yet.

I do have to set some goals. Today I'm going to get a working draft of the short story I just wrote off to Joe for his thoughts. I need to dig further into the Sandra Gulland book and read about another hundred pages. I've been working on a new Wire and Light track today that I want to finish off tomorrow.

Last night I watched the No Mercy pay-per-view online. The Jericho/Michaels feud has been stellar, the best I've seen in awhile.