March 2008 - moneymoneymoney

This was the month that my contract at the hospital job came to an end.  As is common with the end of fancy corporate jobs, this meant a lot of money would soon be coming my way.  I explained a bit about this in another entry, so I'll swerve away from being too Jewish and just leave it by saying I received six checks this month, each of them larger than a typical paycheck - some factors larger.

With my new found fortune and ever expanding leisure time, what was I do?  By the end of my last week working at the mental health clinic just above downtown, I was more than ready for a change of scenery.  My home away from home beckoned me.  G and I ran away to the north, to old Vancouver and Victoria.  We stayed with Kristina at her historic downtown apartment in Vancouver, and then with Sarah at her middle-aged duplex in residential Victoria.  It was deliciously cold up there, and sumptuously moist.  The rain, interspersed with moments of snow and moments of drought, refreshed me inside and out as it always does.

Sarah and her friends took us out to a Jamaican restaurant that actually had vegetarian items being jerked alongside the pork and chicken.  G bought a fabulous coat at a thrift shop on a bargain, albeit at a price still far beyond her means.  The ride back to the airport was decorated with daffodils, just popping into season in fields beside the highway.  We flew into Seattle, then into LA, a truncated week that felt even shorter upon our return.  Back to the lions, back to the relentless sun.