2 months later... (actually, it's more like 4)

*** I wrote this first part a little over a month ago and then promptly forgot about it***

How embarrassing to have such a depressing post on my blog for so fucking long. (disclaimer: I've just spent 5 weeks in the woods with people who feel that no sentence is properly expressive without some sort of profanity. Please excuse the fucking profanity. Fuck.)

So shit... a bunch of stuff has happened. Anyone who matters (ZING! to all those who don't) know the important stuff: moved out of the Coloniale place, will be moving in with David come July and just got back from another treeplanting session.

While treeplanting wasn't really the ridiculous adventure it was last year (and last year was pretty fucking ridiculous) it did have it's moments. Mostly though it was just a job. A job where you get cold, wet, dirty, hot and severely bug bitten everyday and have nothing to look forward to but a tent and another day of your own personal hell tomorrow. Actually, I probably already knew this, but treeplanting kind of sucks. Nevertheless I'm glad I went. Sort of.


***Okay, now we can cut to real time***

So the move has happened, we're more or less settled, yadda yadda yadda. I won't bore you all with an itemized list of everything that has happened since my last post, but I will say that despite what I wrote a month ago, I could have done without a treeplanting repeat. I'm considering sabotaging myself for next summer by not taking a full courseload thereby forcing me to take a summer class. Not to mention I'd have a bit more spare time.

I'm working two jobs these days. I'm still participating in all that sucks about capitalism while working at Starbucks and on weekends I work at easygoing, family-run, neighbourhood favorite poutine and hamburger place. Guess which I like better. Guess which one offered me a promotion. Here's a hint: the anwser to both is different.

Before working at Starbucks I rarely, if ever, went there. It just so happened that I was flat broke and they were the only people to contact me. So, I swallowed my pride and put on the green apron. Thing is, I kind of like the job. It keeps you busy, I like working with people, I get free drinks.... but its STAR-FUCKING-BUCKS. It bothers me that I put in effort in my job and the people who reap the benefits don't even know I exist. The most that can be said is that the work I put in saves my manager from a heandache. The fact that their entire business plan goes against everything I look for in life doesn't help either. Their entire goal is that for 3 minutes of your day, you will be welcomed as though you have stepped your second home and be served exactly what you want by your endlessly smilling barista. And then you can fly halfway around the world and have the exact same experience. God forbid your soy latte tastes different in montreal than it did in New York. It's the same soy milk, it's the same esspresso; Starbucks makes sure of it. It is the product of a society that doesn't like surprises and certainly could not stand the thought of dissapointment.

The sheer amount of waste is enough to make you want to puke. We don't re-steam milk, which means that once it's been steamed once and then goes cold, it gets tossed. If ever you order a drink that only takes one shot of esspresso, you should feel good knowing that a second shot was poured at the same time and that it in all likelyhood went straight down the drain. You see, someone somewhere figured out that if you pour single and a double shot the quality will be different, therefore we should just always pour a double shot, no matter what. Again, god forbid your espresso tastes different. I won't even go into the fact that less than 6% of their coffee sales is fair-trade or organic. I don't know enough on the subject to sound convincing, all I know is that by anyone's account, they're kind of assholes.

So. Despite all this, why the fuck do I still work there. Good question.
-Like I said, I like the job itself. I don't dread going in to work.
- I need money. Treeplanting was far less lucrative than I would have liked.
- I have enough flexibility to work at Ma'am Bolduc, which despite its awesomeness, doesn't give me enough hours (re:money issues).
-Free coffee. This isn't a real reson, but it's still nice.
-I've convinced myself that it's temporary and I'll quit when school starts.

Recently I was offered a promotion at Starbucks, "if I was interested". So am I interested? Once again, good question. It comes with a raise significant enough for me to not automatically dismiss it. It also brings extra responsibility (not a lot, but some which is a start) which I would really like. And last but not least, it's right next to school so it's really convieniant.

Damn, I just ranted on for a really long time about work. Despite how boring this is to all of you, it was good to put it all in writing. It kind of puts everything into perspective. No doubt I'll be mulling this over all for a while to come. But for now, I have to head back to work (again).

Either way internetz, it has been too long. I forgot how writing helped sometimes.