It's just past the half-way mark of my 10-day gig living with Emma, the twelve-year-old black lab mix I'm taking care of for the holidays. Her family's visiting their family in the US, and I'm trying my best to subsitute the love and comfort the 6 of them generally provide her with. Unfortunately, given all the aggitated "What's that Lassie, Timmy's fallen down a well?" conversations she's tried to initiate, not to mention what appears to be her repeated searching (for them?) in such likely places as under beds and behind furniture, I don't think my walks/cuddles/singing/Spanish lessons/water&food-refilling/etc. are enough to prevent her from missing them lots.

On the other hand, I'm quite enjoying house-sitting. For the first time in months, i actually have my own space (okay, shared with Emma, but she's pretty nice company most of the time!), and lots of it. Not just space, either, but perks like a computer with internet access, a stocked fridge, a queen sized bed, a baby-grand piano, a land-line, and a DVD player. I really can't complain, except that next weekend I'll have to leave it all behind.

So far, the tentative January plan is to sublet a room in a house near Bathust and Bloor (conveniently enough, right by the Victory Cafe where I've been doing the odd spoken word performance!) and work my ass off on this Foreign Affairs contract. If I haven't found more work by the time I'm done, I'm thinking of taking off to South America or something. We'll see if the practice lives up to the theory, though...

Anyhow, I'm just getting in from celebrating in Kensington Market at the Festival of Lights and watching I Robot with Jennie, so I'm gonna go crash. It was awesome to bump into so many people I don't see enough of after the festivities dissipated, and made me miss summer/fall Drum Circles and regret the Canadian "necessity" of winter hibernation. Happy Solstice everyone :)