Sleepy times

Well, friends, I'm fairly exhausted today. It's been a while since my last post... I've been pretty busy with work, household things and just random life stuff. This Artist's Way book has been a bit challenging to stick with. I don't seem to have a lot of spare time somehow. I am currently sitting in a coffee shop having my "artist date" with myself. I decided this week I would just sit in a coffee shop and write for a while, as I don't have much energy for anything really physical at the moment. I did consider going out for a hike, but that sounded too taxing for right now. I have tomorrow off for the provincial holiday, so perhaps I'll go out into nature then. That sounds like a good plan.

So, what's new with me? Besides being busy and sick... although I think I'm pretty much better from that mysterious wheezy-lung ailment. Took its sweet time going away though. This past Thursday was the worst; it was my day off, but I woke up feeling like a truck had run over me, stopped, backed up, and run over me again. Blargh. Since then I've been feeling better each day, apart from being tired. I'm not giving myself enough time to sleep, which is a bit of a problem, I know. It's probably the reason this illness has been drawn out so long. Getting up at 4:30 rather than 5 seems to make a noticeable difference! My goal for next week is to go to bed early enough to give myself 8 hours of sleep. I think it's the only way I'll survive my next work week; I have to work 6 days in a row coming up. It would have been 7, but my super-nice supervisor changed up the schedule for me on my request. I feel bad asking for days off (for some weird reason), though there are usually plenty of people to cover me in the deli department. I try not to call in sick for or change my bakery shifts very often because it's just me and the bakery manager in that department.

Anyway. To summarize that: work is tiring and I need to allot more time for sleep!

One of my best friends has decided to join the Fox and I in our journey to Oregon for Faerieworlds. I'm pretty excited about that, because now I won't be completely alone in a big festival (the Fox is coming for the trip but not the event). We've rented an adorable little cottage-style house in a little town nearby the event site for our accommodation. I'm so stoked! I love travelling, and I'm so excited about Faerieworlds and seeing Faun and Wardruna and Woodland live that I'm afraid I might have a conniption when we actually get there. Ha.

Last night my sister was in the city for a bachelorette party, so I offered to pick her up in town afterwards and drive her to my parents' house in the suburbs where she was staying the night. I probably shouldn't have, because it was much too late for someone who had to get up as early as I did, but it was worth it for the nice little visit I had with her in the car and at my parents' when we got there. I told her about Faerieworlds and how excited I am. I wasn't expecting her to be too thrilled, because it's a fairly pagan event and she's pretty Christian, but I was surprised when not only did she say it sounded like fun, but that my niece would probably love to go one day when she's a bit older. If me going to Faerieworlds becomes a yearly pilgrimage (I hope so!), then perhaps one day I'll actually do that.

My sister surprises me a lot these days at how accepting she is. I mean, she has never been hateful or bigoted in the slightest -- she wouldn't say a mean word about a slug -- it's just that she is very devoted to her Christian faith, and my interest in this sort of pagan-type stuff used to concern her (I think) a lot more than it seems to now. This makes me happy. I want to be able to be close with her and talk about things that aren't just small talk. Of course, her moving to Grand Cayman is going to hamper that a little bit in the near future... but, I've heard tell that it's not a permanent move. And this will force me to get better at staying in touch with people, hopefully. I feel so bad sometimes when I realize I haven't talked to certain friends in months and they were the ones who reached out to connec with me last. I really just don't notice how much time has passed and it doesn't occur to me to get in touch with old friends who have moved away or I just don't see as often. I think I tend to live in the present a bit.

Anyway! (Yes, I ramble a lot. This is my blog though, so... whatever.)

Today is the Pride Parade. Our city hosts the second-largest one in North America! I've never actually had a chance to see it, because I have had to work weekends for so long and it always happens on a Sunday. (Side note: a pet peeve of mine is when people assume that everyone gets weekends off. No. Poor saps like me who work in the service industry have to work whenever our place of work is open. And if it's not open, the people who work 9-5 Monday to Friday complain about it!) The plus is that I got to wear colourful clothes to work instead of my usual boring black uniform. So I'm currently wearing a green skirt, blue shoes, a coral shirt, and a rainbow necklace. No one can say I'm not festive. I've got some awesome gay/bi/trans/etc friends and they all deserve the same rights as everyone else, so of course I am fully supportive of equal rights for all.

If I weren't so tired (and it wasn't so hot out) I would walk home from here; it's a mere 30 blocks!! I've done it before, but it was a long, tiring walk and I don't think I'm up for it today. I'll just hop on a bus in a bit. Don't want to hang around here too long or the buses will be super packed from all the people going home from the parade. I think I'll pack up soon. Mostly I came to a coffee shop to write rather than at home because the sweet Fox has a habit of sticking fairly close to me at home sometimes. Not that I'm complaining, really... but I like my alone time, too. I can't blame him, as he's been at home almost all day every day for the past two months now. Must get a little lonesome (although to tell the truth that sounds pretty blissful for this introverted blogger).

Before I sign off, I want to consider what I had in mind for this blog when I started it. "Fruthark" is a portmanteau of "Fru" (my long-standing nickname) and "futhark" (from elder futhark, the name of the written language of Viking runes. I sort of had a plan to make it about my personal spiritual journey, as I feel like I'm really just starting out on this path of neo-paganisn and/or its relatives. And I do want to write more about that, but I also don't really mind that it's kind of turned into a stream-of-consciousness everyday sort of journal blog. It's fairly cathartic. Especially for someone like me who doesn't really tend to talk a lot. I express myself better through writing and art, not speech. Since I'm pretty quiet, people don't tend to pay me much heed, which is fine, but that also means no one really asks me about my life (excluding the Fox and my closest friends and family of course). Like at work, for example. I'm not very good at starting conversations and keeping them going. That's why I like being in the bakery department by myself, where I can just go about my work and only occasionally talk to others. When I'm in the deli, I tend to be excluded from the general conversation... which I don't particularly mind, as I'm happier listening than I am talking... but, eventually I do feel the need to express my thoughts somehow. So... blog! Where no one is forced to read it, but they can if they feel like following the random adventures of me.

I think that's all for now. I could just keep going about whatever goes on in my head, but it should probably stop before it becomes a saga.

I hope everyone who might be reading is doing well and enjoying life. If you are reading, please do leave a comment! Especially if you have your own blog where you write about your own life and happenings and thoughts and feelings. Those are the kind I like to read.

Farewell for now!