You take the good, you take the bad...

So I'm driving myself around now. It's nice being able to get from A to B without having to rely on someone else for a ride (or bug anyone for a ride), although it does have its nervousness-inducing properties as well. One of the things that makes me nervous is when I want to move over into another lane...I am always wondering whether I'll be able to find a break, or, failing that, if someone will be nice enough to slow down and make a break for me when they see my signal (if you live in Toronto, you understand that I mostly believe that they will not be that nice, which makes me anxious as I really do have to move over at some point)...should I move over to the far right lane earlier, even though it's supposed to be the fast lane and I'm not a fast driver, risking angering the fast drivers and causing them to dangerously pass me on the right, or should I move over later, risking that I won't find a break (or someone nice enough to let me in) and I will have to drive past my turn and then have to find a way to double back? Sigh. I guess I'm just not used to driving in the heavy stuff; my practicing was pretty much here in Scarborough, but now that I'm car-communting to work I see a bit more traffic. I'll adjust, I'm sure; really I do have the skillz, I just have to get my confidence back. Oh, and night driving does freak me out a little because the headlights of other cars shining in my mirrors and past my side and so on make it seem like they are closer than they really are, making me feel more pressured and cramped than I really need to. But again, I'll adjust. Everyone who's ridden in my car has told me I'm a perfectly capable driver, after all; once this driving alone thing becomes a bit more routine the nerves will die down and I'll be fine and confident again and so on.

So I was working today. I think I've mentioned that someone finally bought Ice Gardens; well, that someone turns out to be Canlan Ice Sports. That's pretty cool. Unfortunately, with changes in ownership usually come some changes in staff. The man I knew as the general manager is as a result no longer with Ice Gardens. The woman I knew as my boss and the general manager's daughter is also no longer with the Ice Gardens (and that pretty much is due to her being his daughter as far as most people are concerned). It's really sad that she is gone because she was very dedicated and a good worker besides a nice person; I had good conversations with her whenever I was called on to do work upstairs about teacher's college, our work styles, the churches we'd attended, and so on. There are three others who I know for sure are gone...and one who had been told she would be gone at the end of the month yet has an interview tomorrow with Canlan, so we'll have to see what happens with that. Apparently this all went down Tuesday, so it's been a pretty crappy three days for a lot of the staff. Tomorrow the rest of the management staff either find out if they are still with the company or have second interviews (there was some confusion about which). Soon the facilities staff will find out if they are still with the company, too. Apparently, though, the people upstairs were told to keep all the part-timers on for now and to go ahead and make schedules for us for August, so looks like none of this will affect my employment there, though we will have to see how many shifts there will be to go around. Needless to say we're all a little on edge and a little sad at the Ice Gardens right now, though I was in a good mood today (and I don't have as much of an attachment to these people as those who've worked there longer) and this didn't affect that too much (though at times it did).

Eventually I finished work and drove a co-worker home before coming home myself. It is nice to be able to help people out like that (she's more or less on my way home anyway; I work with this girl a lot and it's nice to be able to do something for her now and then; keeps her from having to take the bus at that time of night, too, which means she is getting home quicker and more safely). A down side of driving myself right now and working evenings is that I have to do the car shuffle when I come home--that means I have to get my mother-in-law's car out of the driveway, put my car in the driveway, and put her car back in the driveway, along with the accompanying getting and putting back of her keys. This is a bit of a pain but could be worse; I'll just have to make sure I get a decent amound of sleep each night so that I can do that properly each time (I back my car into our driveway rather than driving in 'cuz Young Drivers taught me that backing in is better than backing out, but since it slopes upwards and I drive a stick that is sometimes a bit of a challenge).

Sooo...yeah, I had a pretty normal, run-of-the-mill day, with some little ups and little downs. Tomorrow will likely be much the same. I guess that's all for now...talk to you later!