John Williams, Bagpipe style

More awesome stuff about downtown! Frequently, somewhere near the intersection just below my building, you can frequently hear street musicians playing. And since I'm only 6 floors up, I can usually hear them from my desk at work. A few weeks ago, it was a guy with a sax playing the Beatles and Simon & Garfunkel. Today, we got a dude in a kilt playin' the bagpipes. He started off with a bizarrely jazzy 'Scotland the Brave'... and then segued into the Star Wars theme song. It was the greatest bit of pipery I've ever heard (and believe me, I've heard a lot).

Now, this building I work in. It's not a secure building by any means. Anyone can waltz in, take the elevators up to wherever they want to go. The offices themselves are locked, though (hell, you even need a code to get into the bathrooms) so there are courtesy phones outside the doors for visitors. Well, a few weeks ago, ours disappeared. Someone called in around 10:30 one morning, and by the time the Purolator delivery dude showed up around 11, the phone was gone. The few of us who noticed just assumed it was removed for repairs or something and didn't give it a second thought; at least, not until the office manager found out and freaked out. Turns out someone decided to STEAL our phone. It still makes me laugh.

And then there's the crazies. I'm not (just) talking about the Scientology center a few blocks north. There's also the dudes who mutter to themselves; talk to themselves; argue with themselves; and scream obscenities at themselves so loud you can hear them from 3 blocks away. And my personal favorite, the Indian lady who's dressed like every other working schmuck around and doesn't seem at all unusual... until you take a look at the sheaf of papers in her hand, which turn out to have things like "WHEN YOU SLEEP IS WHEN THEY GET TO YOU" written on them in big blue marker. She holds these papers at her side, like she's just carrying around some reading material, and shuffles the messages around as she walks. It's a very unique way to deliver your message, I'll give her that.

Oh, downtown....

I now have 2 jobs. One, in the 'burbs, at a public library, working in the circulation department. Blah blah, boring. Although last night I had one patron apparently have a heart attack and leave in an ambulance, and another lovely fellow try to tell me that public libraries shouldn't have displays about homosexuality because it was a perversion, right up there with drug addiction, and kids shouldn't be exposed to such filth. Lucky for him he was out of punching range.

The other is downtown, working for a non-profit organization that basically provides resources for other non-profit organizations. This one is not so boring. My desk is right next to a giant window; across the street from us is a big condo building, and I can pretty much always see right into their windows when they neglect to shut the curtains, which is usually. Like this afternoon. When a couple of girls were washing the windows in one of the units, presumably in preparation for moving in. Only one of the girls wasn't wearing any pants. That's right, she was washing windows in her panties on the 4th floor in full view of anyone in the surrounding buildings.

So you can see why I feel that working downtown is going to be fantastically entertaining. I have to start reporting all the crazy things I see/hear down there, because really, they're frequently too good not to share. I only wish I had some kind of secret spy camera so I could provide photographic evidence of things like Homeless Jesus, who was about 7 feet tall and walking down the street telling the story of Moses and the Jews wandering the desert like he was there (he kept referring to his brother Moishe). Or the giant brass statue laying on a flatbed truck with a couple of construction dudes sitting on it. The statue, not the truck. I should also snag a pic of the stretch of Yonge where they filmed the street fight in the Hulk. Although it's kinda depressing because Sam the Record Man is closed, the Zanzibar is actually a strip club, and there is no Apollo (they built that facade in front of a tattoo parlor and an adult movie theater). It's also about 2 blocks from where I work. Which rocks. Did I mention that already?

Re-permitted!!

So I just got my shiny new work permit in the mail - and it's good for 3 years! Should be MORE than enough time to get my permanent residency. Also it means I can finally get back to work. I've actually got 2 part-time jobs that have been waiting on this permit, so hopefully next week, I'll be nearly full-time employed!

I return...

In honor of today being the LAST DAY OF SCHOOL, I thought I'd post a little update.

Since my last post, I'd like to say I've been far too busy to update... but I'm really just lazy. All I've been doing is going to school, knitting, and tutoring a few hours a week. Still no job, but I've got some applications out and I'm hopeful. Trouble is, after May 31, I can't legally work here unless I've received a job offer before then that's for a temporary position so that I can apply for a post-graduation work permit.

Immigration is a bitch.

Come April 26th, though, I can send out my application for sponsorship (assuming I have all the pieces ready) which shouldn't take more than a few months. Why April 26th? Because in Canada, you're considered to be in a Common Law relationship after 1 full year of cohabitation, and your common law partner is eligible to sponsor you for permanent residency.

Best case scenario : U of T calls me in a week or so for an interview, then offers me the 1-year position and I get a work permit and can stay here legally while waiting for the sponsorship application to be approved.

Worst case scenario : I don't get a job, and they realize I'm still in the country after May 31st and I get deported while waiting for the sponsorship application to be approved. Not that it would be terrible, I'd just go back to San Diego and wait, but I'd miss Mark, my cats, my stuff, and Toronto. Plus, that would be kind of a major pain in the ass.

Also, the whole library school thing is on hold for now... I just don't know if I can handle 2 more years of inane bullshit assignments and homework for something I already know how to do. Maybe I'll do it part time, after I'm a resident, and see how that goes.