Aaaaah. Everything is right in the world again - I was reunited with boxes of my books last night, which I've tried to stack in the most orderly way possible, considering the lack of bookcases and shelving.

Oh yes, and I'm feeling much, much better. This cold or flu was so horrendous that I still feel its remnants in my throat and lungs three weeks after it disrupted my life, but in general I have been acting like a normal human being again and sleeping well. Too well. For some reason my fancy CD alarm clock hasn't been going off for the past few mornings. I've checked the settings and the time, but it's no use - it has a life of its own and has decided that it, like me, is sleeping and refuses to get up. By extreme luck I ran into my co-worker this morning as he was opening his car door; his apartment building lies coincidentally on my block, and he sometimes has access to a vehicle. I was blasting a rainy-day album on my diskman but he was kind enough to holler incessantly from across the street to get my attention, which allowed me to ride to work in comfort and on time. Luck indeed!

It's been an interesting few weeks at work, having been immersed into my project and the company head first. For years I had trouble comprehending the expression 'hitting the ground running', but now my imagination has fully registered its meaning. But while it has been very busy and full, with important meetings taking place within the first few days, I have felt comfortable and animated with my surroundings and tasks. It has been refreshing to have so many creative things being developed around me by a group of younger individuals. You may remember that my experience in project coordination has been good, but it needed to be - my education isn't nearly as advanced as I wished it were. Still, the leaders in the organization seem to recognize and value experience and creativity, as well as development opportunities for young people. That to me is extremely forward-thinking and representative of reality in an optimistic, confident manner. Of course, it's not as though I single-handedly blazed my way into the firm; I was a client of theirs in my previous job. But it was still flattering and wonderful that they seemed to recognize potential in my capabilities, and that they sought me out to apply for the position that opened up. And they continue to provide incentives and encouragement in the beginnings of my employment - today the co-worker I report to repeated twice that she is very pleased with my work and potential, and confided that she doesn't think it will take too long for me to continue to move up towards greater responsibilities and a higher position. Of course, these things are exciting but I do not find myself wishing to concentrate on them or even count on them; I'm much too fixated on the opportunity I've acquired and trying to comfortably find my place within it. There's too much going on to spend too much time thinking about the future, anyway! In the past few weeks I've had several big meetings, I've been organizing workshops across Canada with the National Film Board, I've modeled for office furniture (check out a test shot from the session in on my Flickr photo page), I've been offered research tasks on the side by one of the firm's partners (which, I am sure of it, is a kind of test to gage my ability to juggle tasks and take on higher profile accounts), and next interesting item on the agenda is going to Toronto or Montreal to meet potential sponsors, Much Music & Musique Plus - the list goes on, all while organizing my desk, creating new files and just figuring out where the mugs are kept and how to fill in my timesheet. It's been quite a whirlwind, but I've welcomed it. What better time for change than Fall?

Of course,on the subject of change I have many things to improve. I'm still lacking items for the apartment, including a set of curtains. My red persian-style rug is lovely against the wood floors, but it feels lost without more chairs for one to sit nearby and appreciate it. I need a teapot badly. That pile of cardboard boxes in the corner really needs to be removed too, and I'll have to figure out the recycling system in the underground parking area because my pile is currently staked out in a poor cupboard that wishes it were holding exotic foods, or a few canned goods at the least. And above and beyond the house stuff are other tasks that I'm neglecting. That writing project about my grand-father and the house in Hull. Yes I know, that writing project that somehow means the world to me but that I can't find myself to actually undertake. When I think of it, it makes me feel entirely like a failure. It makes me feel ashamed, and the mix of a full schedule and perhaps a bit of insecurity and fear prevent me from throwing myself in. But perhaps this self-deprecating mention will help to bring this dream to the forefront, because it certainly has crossed my family-tree style daydreams. Won't you help to kick some ass here? I welcome the requests for updates on something that I haven't started; my pride may then force me to pick up tape recorder & pen to this whole thing once and for all.

In the next few weeks I find out how much travel and where I may go at the end of October. Friends in Calgary, Saskatchewan, Winnipeg or Halifax, brace yourselves! I may be in your neck of the woods before you know it. In any case, I am hoping to trek out to Saskatoon to visit the lovely Lisa before the lovely fall weather vanishes. That would be one of the personal highlights of the season without any doubt. I will contact those concerned once I get more details...

It's getting late and the container of my spaghetti sauce is wimpering for fear that I may not move forward with plans of marrying its contents with spaghettini pasta. My stomach seems to be annoyed as well - how dare I choose this glowing static screen over a warm and savoury home-cooked meal! The nerve!

In other unrelated news, and before I succomb to my hunger pangs, and also to draw you into the truly daily issues of my life: I need to clean and polish my old brown leather boots that probably went out of style five years ago. The Daniel Bélanger album I was listening just ended, and now the apartment is quiet. The living room window is open just a few inches, and it smells like autumn, like musty burning wood. I have piles upon piles of laundry screeching in disgust at the bottom of my closet. I am quite satisfied with the framed image of two women in bathing suits in my bathroom, which counters the too-white walls. I'm going to try and acquire the Whitest Boy Alive album through an independant record store (sample at http://www.myspace.com/thewhitestboyalive). Tomorrow is supper with dearest Manon in a vietnamese restaurant in the market. This weekend, a few extra hours of work from the comfort of my home, and Chez Lucien's on Sunday as usual.

And of course, as always, I love you.

Camille xo