CanNor - Week One

Work

My first week of work at CanNor, the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency, is done. I have to say, it went pretty well!

I began my newest venture by seeing 6 am for the first time since March of 2020. I was very early Monday morning, but that gave me an opportunity to cross the street to a Bridgehead coffee shop and take a moment to relax.

After getting a temporary badge and meeting my supervisor, as well as other coworkers, Day One was mostly setting things up. I'm in a decently sized workspace, with two computer monitors, a desk space behind where I sit, and my own cabinet, complete with a locker.

Over the next three days I learnt more about what they would like me to do. A lot of email monitoring and administrative work, but also some opportunities for writing and maybe even some disability advocacy too. 

Throughout the week, I experimented with different pick-up times and locations. Being downtown is great, and Para Transpo was pretty good, but the building is in an odd spot. One whole street is reserved solely for pedestrians and certain sections are closed off (thanks for that, Freedom Convoy...), so I can only imagine how chaotic things will get as more people start going back to work and the cold weather sets in. Thankfully, there's another entrance to the building with more spaces to park, a ramp, and it looks like it could be easier for a driver to help me if I need it.

Thursday I got my official "Welcome" from the department, learned some Inuktitut (a language spoken by some of Canada's Northern Indigenous residents), and completed my first real task. My supervisor had expressed curiosity about Joubert syndrome, so we chatted about that for a while. 

I made good use of a shorter day by pushing back Para Transpo and going out to enjoy the beautiful Summer weather. I explored the surrounding area, part of which was being used as a filming location for a Hallmark movie.

I saw Santa!

I made it to a nearby deli and grabbed some lunch. The whole afternoon was an experience I haven't had in almost three years and I was so happy I could've cried!

 Starting to alternate between working from home and in the office next week, which should be interesting.

It looks like it will be a busy two years, and I can easily see a few major challenges already, but I'm looking forward to it.

Cheers!

Old Job/New Job

 

Thursday was my last day of work for the job I've held for the past four years, my first real employment, ever! 

It was an oddly emotional, and yet dull day. I had started off-boarding last week, and spent most of this past week cleaning up my computer, then received a nice thank-you email from the department head and some of my coworkers Thursday. I bid my team members farewell, handed off my laptop and what little else I had, work property-wise, to my manager, who luckily lived a short distance away, and I was finished by that evening.

When I was told almost two months ago that my contract would not be renewed, I was pretty nervous. I had remembered all those years ago now, looking for work and relying solely on my parents and ODSP (not that I'm not grateful for either of those!), and slowly all those awful feelings started to creep back.

But, I immediately got in touch with my job coach at LiveWorkPlay, and within a couple weeks he had a job offer for me. It was a two-year contract for an Administrative Assistant position, except this was for more hours, which was something I wanted, and a smaller government department, which meant a wider variety of duties. Shortly after reading over the description, I jumped at the opportunity.

After an interview, rescheduled and modified because Murphy's Law happened and it fell on the day of a nation-wide internet outage, many emails and a nice face-to-face MS Teams meeting with a couple soon-to-be-supervisors, I had the job!

I start this Monday, roughly the same hours as the previous job, only one extra day per week. For the first little while, they want me in the office while I get set up and used to things. On one hand, this means having to deal with Para Transpo, adjust to a new routine, and minor COVID stuff. On the other, it means I get to be back in downtown Ottawa again after two-and-a-half years!!! Silver linings, folks!

Very daunting stuff, but excited for a new adventure.

Cheers!

My Life as Fantasy

 

Disclaimer: This is strictly a nerdy little creative writing project, and will in no way become something bigger. Also, I may use terms like cripple, so apologies in advance to those who may be offended.

Real life has been getting pretty, well, real lately so I've needed a creative interlude. I took another Dungeons and Dragons "personality test" a while ago and again, came up with a Neutral Good Human Wizard/Monk. However this test listed some other classes I'd fit in: Bard, Paladin, and Warlock. 

Reading about these classes, I started to get an idea of how well some parts of my life could be twisted to fit this fantasy stuff. So, my next step was challenging myself to write about my life as if it were a Dungeons and Dragons-style fantasy. The Tale of Scomac Andrellan turned out pretty well!

Basically, I just took as many details and life events as possible and made them seem old-timey or medieval. Some things were easier than others:

Terms like disabled/disability became crippled, sickly, ills, ailment, and so on.

Cell therapy became alchemical knowledge and potions, provided by a far-off man of medicine.

Instead of Taekwondo, I attended a monastic academy.

Instead of using a computer to type, I learned a system of magical writing, where I could put quill to page with no physical exertion.

Easter Seals became a guild called the Seal of Eastar and Camp Merrywood became The Merry Wood.  Also, Eastar allows Scomac to become a bard (speaker) and swear his first oath (Leaders of Tomorrow). Sounds really corny, but it translated really well!

Translating Joubert syndrome to a fantasy world was surprisingly tough. Everything I thought of at first sounded really cheesy or a little offensive, and I didn't want either. Finally, I wrote genetics/genetic testing as a form of magic called internal divination, using spells etc. to diagnose things in people. 

Joubert the syndrome became Joubare the race. Joubares are a very rare type of human, and outwardly present as having a variety of common ills and afflictions. However, very few members of this race are exactly alike, with each Joubare possessing traits unique to the specific individual. 

Wanting to do something creative and fun with Joubert syndrome as fantasy, I turned common issues with communication into an aptitude for magic, using the magic writing/computing from before, and expanding it to include people who can speak psychically (in place of speech devices, I figured), and others who craft words and phrases through complex hand gestures typical of some spell-craft (sign language).

These people had their own society, and Scomac Andrellan was asked to speak at one, telling tales of his life experiences. Eventually he'd start encouraging young Joubares to start sharing their stories and would be asked to sit on the society's council until a great plague spreads through the world.

I ended my tale with Scomac writing a book, something I may do myself someday soon.

Fun times!

Cheers