It's been a Monday...all day.

The morning started off fairly well. I dropped off my passport application and should have a new passport in 6-8 weeks. I don't have a trip planned, but it is easier to renew than re-apply after it expires. I found it hard to believe that it has been ten years since I got my first passport. My how time flies...literally.

On my way to work I realized I had forgotten my lunch and stopped into pick up a sandwich--no problems. Then dropped off my truck for an oil change and to check the brakes. I arrived at work around 9:30am and wasn't overly concerned about my lateness. I had emailed my late arrival earlier in the morning.

The truck is still at the shop. They need to repair the tube that carries brake fluid to the brakes. I must have had some panic in my voice when he said they needed to keep it overnight cause he offered me their loaner. I knew I could get a drive home but I also knew I had errands to run so I took the loaner. It is very strange to be driving a car--a very low to the ground car. I felt small compared to the vehicles around me. Normally I look down upon the cars around me, today I looked up at them.

I'm now trying to pack canned goods and clothes in preparation of my trip Wednesday morning. Hard to believe I will be up North for a month (or more). I am glad of my own apartment and a bit of space to call my own. I know that if I had to live in the bunkhouse for the duration I would certainly go bonkers. And I still have a couple friends in town to visit so that will be nice. And on my last visit I ran into a guy that I had a couple of dates with when I was in Iqaluit. I am hoping that he would like to be friends again and that I will have a walking buddy during my time in town.

Tragedy struck my life this morning. On a chat to one of my co-workers in Cam Bay I got some bad news. The person on the other end of the phone was telling me the news from the weekend and mentioned the passing of someone who had lived in Cam Bay. He kept talking about other stuff and I fell silent. I got off the phone as quickly as I could end the conversation and sat without moving for quite a while.

He was one of the first people to befriend me in Nunavut. He was living in Cam Bay and I was in Pang, but we had the same job and he was one of the key folks who kept me going at work the first couple months I was there. We stayed friends over the years as we both left the employ of the GN and even still when he moved to Yellowknife. I actually just saw him in February or March of this year. I will miss his raunchy jokes and thrill for living. He didn't have an easy time of life always. He had polio as a child and got around on crutches in the North and a wheel chair when in the South. Mel...I will miss you.