Just another Day on Salt Spring

It was kind of an interesting day after a long, rather uneventful week.

My co-worker wasn`t around so I spent it working alone and had to work the full five days. I really missed her company. Now, that wouldn`t have been so bad if it hadn`t been totally dead in the office but it was. Not many people were coming in looking for work.

Then, today, Friday, a couple of things happened. Someone came in whom I`d met before. He`s been in a few times. I could tell he was feeling kind of desperate or depressed. When I get depressed all you have to do is listen to my voice and you`ll hear it. So, I can recognize that in other people when it manifests the same way. So, I didn`t say anything until he actually brought it up. And,I was able to talk to him openly about it because we were alone in the office. And, then we worked on his resume together and when he left he said he was feeling better, more hopeful, and that just made me feel so good that I could help him in that way.

Then, I go for lunch and I end up sharing my table with this guy whom I`d seen previously when I went to Yoga last Sunday. He joined me while I finished my lunch. Turns out he`s a divorce lawyer from Malibu who retired last year and who`s looking at property on Salt Spring and on Vancouver Island. Do you know how surreal it is to sit across from someone who is speaking about property and when they mention the price and refer to 2 they actually mean 2 million It`s just so bizarre.

I find it sad when men use their wealth as a means to impress as if that`s the only way they are valuable. And, I suppose if you live in Malibu, that`s really what matters most. Then, he invited me to have a drink after work so I decided to celebrate with a lime margarita.

I wasn`t even going to go but then I thought, Gayle, smarten up. You have been bored this week. Just go and have a conversation. When are you ever going to get to talk to a divorce lawyer from Malibu in this lifetime. Never! Well, that`s not true. Today actually! So, I went and it was actually kind of interesting. I enjoyed it. He was putting Salt Spring down which I thought was particularly American of him even though technically he is a Canadian with dual citizenship. He was referring to all the, for lack of a better word, dead beats. It`s all about context I said to him. We are going to meet up again on Sunday (barring a snowstorm).

Tonight I went and saw Sean Penn in Milk at our local cinema, The Fritz. I love The Fritz. Except for the chairs which are old, you never see trailers at The Fritz. You only ever see beautiful photos of the Gulf Islands or of Kayak trips until the main feature is set to run.

Obviously in the 1970s when I was a teenager, I wasn`t thinking about gay rights and to see this movie and to see what Harvey Milk did and how hard he fought for Gay rights and rallied so many others is just a reminder of how far things have come in comparison.

Tomorrow morning, I`m going to see Madama Butterfly at ArtSpring. It gets beamed in or whatever you call it from the Metropolitan Opera in New York. I hope I enjoy the experience. I find it absolutely amazing that you can be living on a little island of 10,000 people in Canada and get to see what people in New York are paying big bucks for all thanks to technology.