What is Normal, Anyway?

Today, my coworker said to me, “but you seemed so normal when you first started working here.”

This is not the first time I have heard this phrase. Nor, I’m afraid, will it be the last. This is not to say that I consider myself ‘not normal’ but, it seems, by the standards of others, I am a little…odd. I don’t consider myself odd. It’s hard to do that when the things you do every day seem normal to you.

I mean, look at the film, “Elf.” Buddy the Elf thinks it’s perfectly normal to put sugar on spaghetti, talk to raccoons and wear an elf costume. In his world, this is all normal behavior. It’s only when he goes out into the wider world that he realizes this is not what everyone else does and so he’s considered to be…odd.

Not that I’m comparing myself to Buddy the Elf. It’s just to illustrate the point that what might seem odd to others can seem perfectly normal to you. Normal is a very relative concept. In my case, what seems normal to me is watching the Top Chef: All Stars finale with a strong sense of anticipation. My very favourite cheftestant, Richard Blais, was in the final two. I have liked Richard since he was on Top Chef in Season 5. I think he’s an amazing chef who has an amazing sense of creativity. I’d never cook the way he does but I think some of his ideas are absolutely brilliant.

Anyway, (sorry if you haven’t seen it yet), long story short, Richard won. Naturally, I was very excited. I was so excited that I shouted “YAY! RICHARD WON” very loud at the TV. This proceeded to wake Sookie and Rory quite abruptly. After they got over their initial befuddled alarm as to why their mummy was shouting, they started to respond to my “YAY”’s with their own brand of excitement. It turned into a small, celebratory dance party with no music. This is quite normal for us. The pups and I often have dance parties. Sookie isn’t much of a dancer unless I pick her up and twirl her around the room. Rory, on the other hand, likes to jump up and down with me and keep up with my very uncoordinated but very enthusiastic dance moves. Sookie generally watches the two of us with a slight air of disdain. Although it might be confusion. Sometimes it's hard to tell.

Apparently, doggie dance parties aren’t that normal. I found this out today when my coworker asked if my “Top Chef” favourite won. I told her how excited I was for him and then told her about the dance party. This is how she came to say that somewhat familiar phrase of “but you seemed so normal when you started working here.” Keep in mind that this comes on top of my rather idiotically telling her a few days ago that one of the dogs and my favourite new games is “Throw the Rock into the Sewer Drain to Hear it Splash.” Apparently this is not normal either. How would I know? It’s what Rory, Sookie and I do on our lunch break now. It’s normal to us.

I probably don’t help my own case. I’m the twit who wonders aloud if you can eat Canadian geese and if they’d taste more like duck or goose when we pass by a flock on the way to an office lunch. It’s been ongoing since I started. It usually happens at all of my jobs. I start out being the proper British girl (or woman, I suppose I am now). Then, slowly, as my coworkers get to know me and I start to relax around them, I forget to act like a proper British woman and…I act like me.

It’s not that I’m not proper. Sometimes, I’m a little too proper. I can’t get used to my coworker putting chewing gum on the back of his hand when we go out to lunch nor can I get used to discussing bodily functions with my coworkers. However, I have also been known to be caught singing rather loudly in my office without realizing I’m actually doing it. This is not good especially when I’ve been singing the same line from one song over and over because it’s stuck in my head. I also like to bop my bobblehead of Ben Linus from Lost on the head so it bobbles and then cascade into a peal of giggles because he looks so funny.

You get the idea. As I said, normal is relative. I don’t think of my behavior as particularly odd until I get either an “ohhhkaaaay” from my coworkers or, worse, “The Look,” which, all at once, lets me know that I’ve made the mistake of letting people know too much of what goes on in my head and I should probably have kept my mouth closed.

Still, I suppose with this job, I should be pleased. It’s taken me six months before my coworker considers me weird. I think that may actually be a bit of a record. I’d like to think this is because I have an office and it’s a lot easier to ‘hide’ in an office. When you sit in a cubicle, it’s much harder to have chair boogies, sing-a-longs with myself and bobblehead moments without someone seeing you and giving you The Look or, worse, saying “What are you doing?” and being forced to realize that a) not only have you been spotted in a quite private moment but b) the tone of voice is conveying that it’s a weird thing to be doing and they’re a little concerned.

The nice thing about this job is that everyone’s a little weird so I don’t get judged. In my last job, office politics were horrible. It was the type of environment where if someone screwed up or did something ‘different,’ it would inspire gathered whisperings in offices, odd looks thrown and conversations with coworkers where they used that overly friendly tone associated with TV characters who are trying to calm down a person holding a gun.

Certainly, this sounds dramatic but, well, that’s how it was or, at least, how it felt. I might have imagined the tone of voice and maybe the looks but the whispered gatherings were real. The funny part is that there were some very loud whisperers and it was pretty obvious when they were gossiping and even what they were saying. That’s why it’s nice to work in my current office. If coworkers think I’m doing something weird or I say something weird, it’s greeted with a, “you’re very strange,” or “WHY on EARTH would you think about eating a Canadian goose?” I like that. It’s very refreshing to have upfront honesty like that even if it does make me question whether or not I’m normal.

Besides, as I said earlier, what is normal, anyway? Exactly. There’s no such thing. It’s all relative. I like my ‘abnormal’ world. It seems perfectly normal to me and that’s what counts, right?

Happy Friday!

Hunting Geese on an Autumn Day

I'm on my last Sunday evening before I start my new job. This is the last Sunday I'll have, I hope, where I remember that I have to go to work the next day and I feel that a grey cloud is settling over me.

I've had bad jobs before where I've been unhappy. This job is unusual in that I didn't realize how unhappy I've been until I decided to leave. It shouldn't have been hard to figure out. If I go back and read my blogs from the past two years, it's pretty obvious that I've felt trapped and discontented. It's just that it wasn't until I decided to make a change that I realized I've been unhappy with the way things have been.

I have no idea if my new job will make me happy but I have an inkling that it might. I'm excited to start the job. Ever since I decided to take it, I've felt a metaphorical weight being shifted off my shoulders.

It's made life fun again. It's made things seem more real, like I'm not stuck in my rut anymore. It's making me appreciate the world I have around me. This weekend, for example, it's been beautiful outside. I'm not sure if it's too early or not to declare it but it seems as though we're having an indian summer. The temperatures have been in the high 80's during the day but dropping down to a delicious crisp low at night.

I decided that the best way to appreciate such a gorgeous day was to take the pups for a long walk. We actually ended up having two of them. As is my habit on weekends, I've taken to letting the puppies play outside when they wake up at 7:30 a.m. and I go back to bed and doze until they've had enough frolicking outside and come inside to find me. This morning, however, I was awoken by a furious yipping from the girls. Last time one of them yipped like that, it turned out Sookie had escaped the yard and was squirrel hunting in the street. Thus, I got up with a start to see what the barking was about.

Well, it turned out that one of the pups' "friends" had come to visit. Our neighbourhood is full of dogs. As we go for our evening walks, there are several dogs who always come to their fence to exchange a friendly bark with the puppies. I call these the girls' "friends." This particular 'friend' was a large, yellow mutt from down the street. I'm not sure if he'd escaped or his owner was walking him without a leash but by the time I was outside and dressed, the dog had gone. I was a little worried that he'd escaped and, putting myself in his owner's shoes, thought it might be a worry. So, I put the girls' harnesses and leashes on and we went for a walk in the neighbourhood.

We never did see the dog again but it was a nice day for an 8 a.m. walk. That time of day is interesting. There isn't much traffic on the roads, the squirrels are out in full force and the smell of bacon drifts out from a few houses.

Even though we had a walk first thing in the morning, I decided that we'd still go over to the woods for what is becoming a semi-regular Sunday walk. This week, I hoped that we wouldn't stumble upon a sponsored walk. All I have to do now is say, "Walk?" to the puppies and they go and sit by the front door, their tails wagging in anticipation. So, we headed to the park.

We got there by around 10 a.m. and it was still pretty quiet. There were quite a few joggers. There were one pair who were a little perplexing. They appeared to be communicating through bluetooth, even though they were not that far apart. When we pulled into the parking lot, they were walking haphazardly around the picnic benches in the parking area. Then, as we began to walk along the trail, they crossed our path again. This time, they were about 20 feet apart, still communicating via bluetooth and walking the opposite direction from us. I know they were communicating with each other because it was like they were having a conversation...only they were 20 feet apart. It was peculiar. What was more annoying is that the male was making really unpleasant comments about "The amount of damn dogs on the trail," and, as he passed us, he gave the puppies a rather threatening look. This, obviously, did not make me happy. The trail is about ten feet wide. My dogs are small and they were happily trotting side by side far away from the man. While I can understand being annoyed at dogs if they're either not supposed to be there or they are actually bothering you by getting in your way, I didn't understand his animosity.

Still, we shrugged it off and kept going. It was an amazing day for a walk. Autumn is fully here now and the sheer grandeur of the colours of the leaves is seriously breathtaking. There are bright golds, reds, oranges and greens all blended together. It's just stunning to take them all in at once. We stopped a few times so that the pups could have a drink and rest for a minute. Then we got to our favourite area of our walk- it's the area where we go 'off trail' and run around in the leaves while the puppies get to sniff out their prey.

Today's prey didn't need to be sniffed out, it was pretty visible. There, where we normally spend some time while the puppies have some leisurely sniffing time was a flock of Canadian geese.

This may not seem like anything unusual but for Sookie, this was a dream come true. She's fascinated by the things. They often fly over our house, honking loudly. No matter what Sookie is doing, as soon as she hears that honk, she's looking upwards, trying to find it's source. For many months, I believe she has longed for her very own Canadian goose.

Thus, today, her dreams were almost realized. She and Rory, upon seeing the flock, got very excited and pulled their leashes taut, trying to move towards them. Knowing that geese can be mean, I held back for a while but then decided that it wouldn't hurt to let them go closer. If the geese pecked them, well, then, maybe they'd be less enthusiastic in the future.

We moved among the flock. Sookie was beside herself with excitement. She got close to one and then...it flew away and landed gracefully in the small lake nearby. She got close to another and that one flew away. Each time she got close, the silly geese flew away.

Still, she didn't seem discouraged. Rory was very enthusiastic also. She'll jump into the thick of anything without a moment's hesitation. She joined her sister in attempted to herd the geese into a corner so that they could pounce. Unfortunately, neither pup can fly and so after a while, they were discouraged.

I finally pulled them away and distracted them by leading them to a large pile of leaves. They promptly dove into the leaves and happily forgot the geese. We walked on. We came to the area where we can either go home or loop back around the lake again. I wasn't sure how tired the pups were so I let them lead me where they wanted to go which turned out to be looping around the lake.

This of course put us right back into the thicket of geese. It was once more into the breach, we went. Once more into the breach.

Sookie joyfully tried once more to catch herself a goose. Rory also gave it her best effort. Neither pup had yet learned to fly and they were thusly thwarted in their attempts to catch a goose.

I pulled them away. We moved beyond the geese back to the grass that would lead to the car. Sookie and Rory promptly sat down, clearly exhausted. My attempts to tire them out so they would sleep had worked. They were just working a little too soon.

I ended up plopping down on the ground so they could rest for ten minutes. At the distank honk from the geese, Sookie had an energy burst but as soon as I attempted to use that burst to my advantage and walk them to the car, she promptly laid down again.

Finally, they had the energy to walk and we made it back to the car. Their energy burst returned as soon as we got home and they spent much of the afternoon running around the garden. This means that they'll probably climb up on the couch this evening and won't move until bedtime and they won't stir again until morning.

It was a beautiful day for a walk/geese chasing. I feel like I got to appreciate nature with a fresh pair of eyes. With my freedom from my current job approaching and the hope of fresh possibility at my new job looming brightly, I think I'm finally shaking off the cobwebs of frustration. It's a beautiful world of autumn out there and it's nice to it share with with two puppies, a flock of geese and the other intrepid walkers we passed on our morning jaunt.

I'm just glad they didn't catch their goose.

Happy Monday!

The Danger of Geese....

It's a wet night out there. It's raining the type of rain that's settled in for a while. It's wet and soggy and the puppies get soaked every time I let them out. On the plus side, once they're done with their business, they come right in and play inside nicely. It's quite nice.

I was supposed to get my estimate for my fence tonight and even came home early to do so. Alas, that's what I get for finding an independent contractor on Craiglist. My thinking is that in this economy, there has to be a lot of people out of work and maybe they can build a fence. The quote I got from him was excellent. Unfortunately, it seems that he's unable to use a phone or even send an email to tell a potential customer that he's not going to show. I hope nothing horrible happened to him but I will say that he's now lost my business. I'm a little unforgiving that way but, in my view, if someone is offering you their business, a little more consideration might be nice.

I'll try again. If not, my dad's promised to come down and help. Unfortunately, when my dad offers his help, it generally has to be on his timetable. Since I'd like the fence sooner than later, I was hoping I wouldn't have to wait.

Nevertheless, on wet nights like this, it means the Dog Whisperer will not be leaving his dogs out for long either so the 'windows' of time when Sookie and Rory can go out to play are a little wider.

The Canadian geese seem to enjoy the rain. The female has now made an official nest on her room. She has three eggs in it. I'm hoping the custodian doesn't remove them. We only have to wait 28-30 days before they're supposed to hatch. I googled it today- the gestation period of Canadian geese. I was quite surprised as to how quickly Google came back with a response but I suppose a search for "gestation period of Canadian geese" is really quite a specific thing to search for, isn't it?

Anyway, I'm not-so-secretely hoping the eggs make it and cute little goslings hatch out. I have discovered I'm completely alone in this hope. For some reason, everyone else seems somewhat intimidated by the geese. Some people have taken to parking around the other side of the building to avoid crossing their path.

In their defence, the geese do seem a little territorial. Today, they were literally guarding the doors from our building, sentry style. My coworker was going out to lunch but when he saw the geese, he decided to take an alternate route to his car. Apparently he's quite afraid of being pecked.

When I left tonight, one of the geese was still playing sentry. I moved a little more slowly than usual but greeted it with a "hi, goose!" It left me alone though it did follow me with its eyes. That is a little alarming, I'll admit. But then when I think about it, even if it does chase me and peck me, it's not like it's that far to get to my car and it's a goose- it's going to nip if it manages to catch up with me but it's not exactly a fearsome creature...is it? Now, if it had fangs or giant teeth or even stingers or tentacles, I might get a little worried. However....it's got a beak.

Maybe I'm underestimating the geese. Maybe it would hurt? Has any of you readers been attacked by a goose? Is there really something to fear?

Until I hear otherwise, I think I'll move slowly around the geese but not avoid them completely. I'm rather enjoying the new company at work. They keep things interesting.

And anything interesting at work is a good thing.

Happy Friday!

A Couple of Canadian Geese...

I promise not to blog too much about the puppies today. They're currently sleeping in their basket as I write this- I think there's hope for them to be trained as good 'writing dogs' yet. They wore themselves out this evening, tearing around the garden. Only once did I have trouble with the Dog Whisperer's beasts. My puppies yapped a couple of times and then went about their business of playing. Meanwhile, the Dog Whisperer tried to control his dogs' incessant barking.

I think we can safely say that the dog issue is not on our side. I do try to wait to go out until the large beasts are inside the house but, inevitably, someone lets them out. Since my puppies do not really react beyond the initial alarm and he can't control his dogs barking, I feel slightly superior that my dogs are so much better behaved.

It's nothing a privacy fence isn't going to cure.

Ok, moving on from the puppies, since I promised. Work has been good, lately. I don't know if it's the arrival of Spring as a break from the doom and gloom of the lurking winter months but things definitely seem brighter lately. I'm busy with projects, I've been allowed to do some training and, all in all, I don't hate being at work. Well, ok, so I'd rather be at home with, uh, my pets but I'm making the most of not being able to have that luxury.

It is nice that Spring is here. We have clusters of daffodils scattered around all the trees in our office park. It's lovely, particularly when the morning chill fades and the sun brings a warmer breeze.

In addition, we now have geese living in the office park. They're Canadian Geese. I know this because I heard them honking at one another the other day and it instantly gave me a flashback to all the years I lived in my parent's house and how I'd sleep with my window open in the hot summer months. Across the road, since my parents live in the country, was our neighbour's house. He had a very large pond that was infested with Canadian Geese and ducks.

I'm not sure if he meant for the geese to live in his pond. I know he liked ducks but I was never sure about the geese. All I know is that for years, in the sultry summer heat, I'd hear this obnoxious "HONK" through the night.

Since the sound is embedded in the recesses of my memory, it's only natural that a flashback would be inspired when I heard the sound at work the other day.

I'm not quite sure why the geese are there, though. Eventually, we're supposed to get a pond in our office park. It's not there yet though. So, I'm thinking that the geese are a little early for that- either that or they're squatting, holding the best spots for when the pond is built.

They seem quite happy. They're always together. Some of my coworkers are a little alarmed, afraid that they'll be chased. I've heard stories from my mother about how she was chased by geese as a little girl. They never bother me much though. I've taken to saying, "hi, geese!" when I see them. They never say hi back though- which is probably best because if they did, it would be a little weird.

I actually was going to go say hi to them the other day. We had a meeting outside since the weather was nice but my coworkers pulled me back, afraid that I'd inspire the geese to chase them. I admit, that might have been funny. Would that have been a wild goose chase?

Ok, that was bad.

Yesterday was the most interesting day with the geese. We have these pieces of roof that extend out from our windows. They could be balconies but I don't think they're secure enough. Yesterday, as I was coming back from the bathroom, I passed by one of these windows and saw, to my surprise, that one of the geese was on the roof.

Not only that but she seemed to have a large tennis ball. I feel confident saying, 'she', because on further inspection, I realized it wasn't a tennis ball...she'd laid an egg.

Naturally, I was a little...surprised. I went back to my desk and told my coworkers. Two of them ran to look, fascinated. Another one casually sniffed and said that our resident custodian had already been 'moving' eggs from all over the office park. By 'moving', she naturally meant 'throwing away.'

I instantly felt bad. I know that the geese would be a nuisance and that we don't want them infesting our office park. Let's face it, Canadian Geese make a mess. They 'eliminate' all over our car park- a greenish poop that looks nasty.

Yet, I still felt bad for them. Here we have this rather sweet, joined at the wing, loving couple of birds. They wanted to raise a family. They found a nice office park where they heard that there would eventually be a pond. So they made it their home, sort of like getting into a housing development in the early days. They decided to pop out a couple of goslings...

And then our custodian took them away.

I ask you, is that really fair? From the human angle, I can see the logic, I suppose. But if I'm thinking like a goose, I'm thinking that's just plain unfair and cruel.

Still, the geese don't seem to be bothered that much. If they were, they would leave. They would probably stop laying eggs. For now, though, they tend to just wander up and down, occasionally chasing each other with flurried "HONKS!"

Personally, despite the nasty poop, I think they're fun to have around. Some places have swans, we have Canadian Geese.

I proposed adopting them as our company mascots. I got some funny looks at that

But that's nothing new, really, is it?

Happy Wednesday!