The exercise:
Write four lines of prose about: going out with a bang.
You're welcome, Greg.
Happy new year, everyone!
Thursday December 30th, 2021
The exercise:
Write about: a vision.
Almost done with 2021. Looking forward to what the new year will bring.
Saturday December 25th, 2021
The exercise:
Write a four line poem about: and to all a good night.
And thus concludes Christmas Week, 2021. Tomorrow commences the week of every single year in which I never know what day it is.
Friday December 24th, 2021
The exercise:
Write four lines of prose about: reindeer and ribbons.
Merry Christmas to those of you reading this in the morning. I'm off work until January 4th and I'm looking forward to the break. Then I'll have maybe a week left of work in Osoyoos (if I end up taking my last three days as vacation) before starting my new job in Penticton.
I hope Santa is as generous to all of you as he's already been to me.
Wednesday December 22nd, 2021
The exercise:
Write something which addresses the question: is it better to give or receive?
Tuesday December 21st, 2021
The exercise:
Write two haiku about: the magic of Christmas.
Feel free to ignore Two Haiku Tuesday if that helps with the (I guess it's officially happening now) Christmas theme week story you're working on.
Brought the boys home after work today. They had a great time but were definitely tired. Thankfully they both fell asleep early tonight.
Monday December 20th, 2021
The exercise:
Write about: the ringing of the bells.
The boys are having a sleepover with Kat's parents tonight. Max is old hat at it, but this is Miles' first one. Which means this is the first night we've been away from both of them since Miles was born.
We talked to them on the phone before their bedtime and all seemed well. Feeling pretty confident that there won't be any issues.
Kat and I took the opportunity to have dinner out and then watched a horrible cheese ball of a Christmas movie on Netflix. I can honestly say that I don't remember what it was called.
Anyway, it has not been a typical Monday night around here, to say the least.
Sunday December 19th, 2021
The exercise:
Write about: an early present.
We'll see if this develops into a theme week or not. I just wanted to use something that would be appropriate for what I have to share and also for the holiday season.
Mine:
It's been a long and winding road (twice a day, five days a week) to get here, but on Thursday morning I finally got the news I have been wanting to hear since February. Well, even before that, really.
Anyway! I received a job offer from the Regional District whose offices are... drum roll please... here in Penticton!
Since moving to Penticton this was actually the third job I'd interviewed for, but closest to home. In April I met with the Town of Oliver for their receptionist / clerk position - basically what I'm doing for the Town of Osoyoos right now. It was a bit of a shock when I didn't get it. That would have cut twenty minutes each way off my commute.
At just about the same time I was going through the interview process with the District of Summerland for a position with their recreation department - pretty similar to what I had been doing at Osoyoos' community centre. They had a huge number of people apply, I made it into the final three, they 'agonized' over the final decision, and... gave it to somebody else. That would have cut thirty minutes each way off my commute.
It was a pretty harsh double whammy to my self-confidence.
Since then it was a pretty dry spell for suitable municipal job openings - I only applied for two other postings and didn't hear anything back from either of them. One with the City of Penticton, the other with the Regional District (for a position I was admittedly not fully qualified for... but hey, didn't hurt to try, right?).
Anyway, I was pretty excited when this posting came out as it felt, again, pretty similar to what I'm currently doing for Osoyoos. I interviewed on December 10th and felt like it went really well. At first, obviously. The next six days were a roller coaster of 'it went terribly' and 'I've totally got this' and 'they must have offered it to someone else' and 'no, this one is mine, it's my turn'.
So when I got the call Thursday morning it was a huge relief. It's a clerk position supporting the board of directors, which consists of 19 members. It's a much larger organization (my department will be 10 people as opposed to the 4 it currently is in Osoyoos, and the 2 that it was for much of the last year and a half) so there's more room for growth. And it will take forty minutes off my commute. Each way. Five days a week.
I start January 17th and I am counting down the days.
Saturday December 18th, 2021
The exercise:
Write a four line poem about: the reason.
For the season, or some other reason - you know I'm not picky.
One week until Christmas(!). Might have to get things going in a festive direction tomorrow. We shall see.
Friday December 17th, 2021
The exercise:
Write four lines of prose about: the in between.
The boys' Christmas school break started today, so I brought them down to Osoyoos to hang out at the farm while I worked. On the drive home, the following conversation took place when we were outside of Osoyoos and well away from passing through Oliver.
Miles: Are we in Oliver yet?
Me: No.
Miles: Are we in Oliver yet?
Max: No! We're in the in between!
Tuesday December 14th, 2021
The exercise:
Write two haiku about: the Christmas concert.
The boys' school Christmas concert was this evening and it went really well. Especially proud of Max, as he shared narrator duties with the rest of his grade 3/4 class and totally nailed his (memorized) part.
And Miles was adorable in his cow costume, so wins all around.
Sunday December 12th, 2021
The exercise:
I think it's time to finish off 2021's yearlong prompt, so let us do so with a festive edition of The East Wallingford Gazette.
Saturday December 11th, 2021
The exercise:
Write a four line poem about something that occurs: at the gates.
Tuesday December 7th, 2021
The exercise:
Write two haiku about: a snow day.
Link, for those unfamiliar with the term. Took one yesterday because there was no way I was dealing with the roads and other drivers after the amount of snow we got overnight Sunday. I think Kat told me about a three car accident just south of Penticton about five minutes after I told work I was staying home.
Went in today and it was mostly fine on the way there and totally fine on the drive home.
Now I just have to pretend that they're not calling for more snow later this week.
Wednesday December 1st, 2021
The exercise:
Write something inspired by the phrase: speak of the devil.
Not something I say very often, but I did today and then pretty much immediately thought it would make for a good prompt.
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