Work work work

I am terrible at keeping up to date with posting on this.  Also, lately I'm terrible at just being online.  I decided to turn my life further upside down (I was already half-way there, why not just REALLY stir things up, eh?) and change my career plans completely.  So, my dreams of academia are on hold.  Temporarily, but indefinitely.  I am not giving them up entirely, just a little bit, for just a little while.

I am giving them up for this:

That's my job site.  Now, I had no idea how lucky I would be to get such a placement when I decided on this new path, but there you have it.  I'm well pleased.  I am now what is called an Occupational First Aid Attendant, Level 3.  I'm there in case bad things happen, as the step between the accident and the hospital.  I can put on bandaids (properly!), clean wounds, deal with sprains and strains, and if a really BIG bad thing happens, stabilize someone as much as possible and strap 'em to a board to get loaded into an emergency transport to go to the hospital.  Mostly, it's a sit around and wait job.  It's a lot of down time, which is.... down, but gorgeous surroundings and I love my coworkers.  It's a good thing I'm not busy fixing people all the time, that would indicate unsafe practices!  As it is, I do other little things like keep track of who is where on site.  It's 5-6 days a week, 11-12 hours a day.  So, that's why I'm behind on updating anything.

I love my job.

I'm also extremely glad I moved up north to FSJ.  It's gorgeous here. Yes, the mosquitoes are huge.  I heard that one landed on a runway recently and the ground crew fueled it up before realizing it wasn't a plane.  (ba-dum-tiss!  That's actually my Papa's joke.)  And the days are long this far north - sunlight peeks over the horizon at 3am and doesn't fully disappear until after 11pm.  And I hear the winters are atrocious.  Time will tell.  For now, I'll enjoy my summer, with a short drive to a view like this of the Peace River:

*dreamy sigh*

Am also loving my participation in the SCA.  Garb, combat, camping, bawdy songs.... doesn't get much better than that.  However, my first "war" event, north of Edmonton, was rained out partially; it flooded so bad that the war field became a war lake.  And the tent partially flooded.  And everything I took was soaked.  But.... still a lot of fun.  And I got a special dragon token for playing the harp!  Huzzah!

Ishbel, of course, continues to adventure with me.  She has come to work a couple times now, and sits in the car being a terrible influence on me.  I need to stay awake in case of an emergency and she keeps trying to talk me into a nap.  So hard to say no to such a cute face!

Ishbel at the W.A.C. Bennet Dam

The Adventure Continues

And now, for something completely different....

So, first off, I left off over a year ago and life has changed somewhat since then.  I've moved, a couple of times, and am back in my Home and Native Land ... sort of.  While I've returned to Canada, I'm not at my old "home" any longer.  I've moved way up into the frozen North, and I am loving it so far.  Even with the ice and cold and mud and potholes.

I have lovely roommates, who have taken me under their wings as I am joining the SCA, which is excellent.  I am continuing my harp and language studies, and am exploring exciting career options in the wild frontier north that I live in.

Ishbel, of course, travels with me, and is the inspiration and joy of my life.

Mommy, you're interrupting my studies for pictures.

I'm settling in well, and aim to share this blog more now.  Things... got hard and complicated and I lost interest in sharing my life, but, here we go again on another new adventure.  Stay tuned and see where we go from here!

For those who say I never post pics of me...  this is the view from my grandparents' place.

Cheers!