senatorhung's pad
ramblings of an information troubleshooter
ramblings of an information troubleshooter
day of departure
permalink Friday, 18JUL2008:a big thanks to odile and pat for hosting my farewell poker tourney thursday evening. i was lucky to avoid the vinnie steamroll as he proceeded to knock people out one by one. my closest scare was when he finally folded K-2 to my all-in bet, which would have given him a full house, 2's over 3's. i ended up facing him heads up and managed to triumph in the first tourney. a 3d place in the 2d tourney allowed me to climb back up in the standings for the thursday tourneys. the sickest beat was when a 9, 10, and a K had flopped and i bet out with 3x the big blind with my bottom pair of 9's. cyndi went all-in for 4x my bet, and i stupidly called. she turned over her JQ for a flopped str8 and then watched with horror as the turn and river came K, K to give me a runner runner full-house.
after recovering from alianait, i began to start packing for my big move. i had gotten most everything packed up and taken away by the movers on wednesday for eventual sealift to montreal, and then the cleaners came in and did a whirlwind job on my apartment to leave it in a pristine state not seen in 6 years.
since i had my pc packed up and sent by air cargo on thursday, my time on friday was spent leisurely checking in, returning keys, and enjoying a final lunch at the frob. i was asked a couple of times about what i will miss most about iqaluit, and i couldn't really give a decent answer at the time. thinking on it now, i'd have to say that i'll miss the pace of living in the north, as well as the connectedness of everything and everyone. if you know the right people in town, you can accomplish *anything*.
after the numerous airport farewells, i finally boarded the canadian north jet destined for edmonton. a bit of frisson was caused by one of the feature articles from the in-flight magazine, which delivered a bevy of tales from northerners about their 'first days' in the north, including one from aaju peter, who happened to be on the same flight on her way to the 'folk on the rocks' music festival in yellowknife. topping off my sense of displacement was seeing a full-page ad in the magazine, placed by my previous seismic employer, touting all of their accomplishments in the north. ah, what could have been ...
looking back on my own 'first day', i remember marvin picking me up at the airport (ferrying people around town seemed to be his favourite work-related duty). after getting me settled at the frob, he invited me to join a farewell supper for another staff member at the kamotiq. 2 hours later, i had my first (and last) meal of deep-fried muktuq (i prefer it fresh and raw), and had been roped into running the lighting board for the community theatre production of 'The Wizard of Oz', simply on the basis of knowing what a lighting board was. seemingly heralding my own departure, the kamotiq was demolished earlier this month.
i had an extremely good run in iqaluit, with opportunities to do many things that i probably wouldn't have been able to do in a larger center. i'll miss broomball and all of the friends that i made in iqaluit. however, i won't miss the I.T. hassles, or the high cost of living (which is destined to go even higher with the increasing fuel costs). i'm excited to take a year out to live the student life and build up my proficiency with film, and see if i can find a way to affect cultural policy from the creator side in addition to the user side.
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