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Visit from a Type A

posted at 1:35 pm
on Oct. 7, 2005

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They say the key to blogging is to be personal and interesting.  Here goes.

So, this building’s elevators have mirrors on three walls, and on the ride down today, I noticed the LONGEST eyebrow hair I’ve ever had.  It must have been, like, inches long (that’s like a decimeter, my Canadian comrades).

What’s that? Too personal, not interesting?

OK, so this woman came to look at our current place recently.  She was quite the piece of work, and I’m going to change just a few details because she didn’t know she was being blogged.

She’s been in Vancouver about 10 days.  She works for a foreign embassy, and will be here about two years.  She’s trying to find a place right away, because she’s worried that her three-month time limit to be reimbursed for finding a place to live might mean she’s got to start paying for her own temporary accommodation if nothing suits.

Of course, once she chooses a place, she’ll get about $3000 CDN in living allowance.  So that will be a relief.

She used to be stationed in Pakistan, but she was reassigned to some place a little more politically calm, because she got a “local brain virus” that “wiped out a lot of her short term memory from that time” and “almost killed” her.

She was extremely worried that not all her furnishings would fit in our place.  She said the landlord told her our apartment was about 1300 square feet.  Of course, the same landlord originally told us this place was about 1200 square feet, and I think it’s probably 1000 square feet.  Conclusions: some landlords lie.

Back to the lady.  She said she needed to take it easy, but she also wanted to take French lessons so that she could go live in Paris next.  And she was interested in taking pilates.  And cooking.  She was “a little Type A,” as she admitted to us.  Oh, and she said she’d really like to be working in the Middle East, because that’s where all the embassy action these days is.

Overheard

“The superior man contains the means in his own person. He bides his time and then acts. Why then should not everything go well? He acts and is free. Therefore all he has to do is to go forth, and he takes his quarry. This is how a man fares who acts after he has ready the means.”

...who said it?

“Greatness is only a matter of will.  It is the end result of patience, determination, direction and strength.”

...who said it?

“kindergarchy n. Rule or domination by children; the belief that children’s needs and preferences take precedence over those of their parents or other adults.”

...who said it?

“The Northeast Blackout affected 50 million people and zero PEER 1 customers. Find out why.”

...who said it?

“As in 2007, the average U.S. worker has 14 vacation days this year. Just across the Canadian border, our counterparts get an average of 17 vacation days annually. But if you want a real “vacation envy” complex, consider the vacation banks of European workers. France tops the list with an average of 37 days, followed by Italy (33 days), Spain (31), the Netherlands and Austria (28), Germany (27) and Great Britain (26). “

...who said it?

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