I’m Like a Cat

June 1, 2010

We moved to Canada. I’ve been frowning a lot. Our belongings are in a moving van somewhere between here and Minneapolis, and while I knew this would be annoying, I thought that knowing that fact would make it more tolerable. We have kept temporary moving waste (plastic forks, disposable furniture) to a serious minimum, losing money only in the mobile phone circus.


And yet still I am ornery, lingering under the covers on the air mattress longer than necessary in the morning, avoiding the serious tedium of starting over again, hiding in the apartment like a housecat. New wireless service, new utilities, new landlords. New driver’s license, new job (dear Lord please someday), new coffee shops…no wait, they don’t have those here yet.

The cat and I flop around the apartment, listening to the radio (we hand-carried that in the suitcases, along with forks, a pan, some bedding and our router) and I try to locate enthusiasm to go outside and figure out the easiest way to buy food. Sometimes it’s fine; sometimes I’m optimistic, and then by the end of the day, after 6 hours of sitting on the floor using my computer, I’m grumpy again.

Everyone told us how great it is here, but I don’t fully understand or see it yet. I’m leery that when they announce the temperatures, they have to say plus or minus all the time, not just in the spring or fall. “Today is plus 9,” they say cheerfully. This indication of uncertainty about whether or not it will be “plus” or “minus” on any given day in June worries me.

I don’t remember the movie perfectly, but it kind of reminds me of Footloose here, or some other 80s rat-pack feathered-hair movie. The bummer is how expensive it is, so that we are paying U.S. coastal prices but we are getting Fargo lifestyle for it. I’m feeling a little cheated.