DEAR PM vol.16
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Mon, Jul 4, 2016 at 9:46 AM
subject Dion voit Trudeau comme un antidote à la xénophobie; Chaotic Australian election is a stark warning for fans of electoral reform in Canada
Dear Justin,
I am still alive. I survived Canada Day, otherwise known here in Montreal as National Moving Day, ou la fête nationale de déménagement. Sorry I haven’t written in awhile, last week we were short fused with the kids, it was a stressful week and even the weekend was not very relaxing. Saturday ew went to Île Perrot for a Hubert cousin gathering, stayed a bit too late, and Sunday we drove to Val Morin to visit Mathieu and Sophie, which was actually quite restful as we spent time on the beach, the kids catching fish and releasing them into a canoe full of water. Even the 2 hour return drive in bumper-to-bumper traffic was calming; the kids napped, the AC works in the new car. It’s a nice ride, our new Subaru. I’ll take it for an oil change this week, one of the things on a list of things to do before vacation longer than my arm. Best get cracking on that list asap, seeing as I didn’t do anything exhibition or vacation-prep all last week. Happy Monday.
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Tue, Jul 5, 2016 at 2:07 PM
subject Ottawa cherche à imposer la neutralité sexuelle des documents d’identité; ‘We conquered Jupiter’: After epic journey, NASA hopes Juno will reveal planet’s secrets
Dear Justin,
I am still alive. I survived another Monday, and despite a very long, drawn out paw Patrol-related crisis before supper from Sol, we survived a relatively calm and painless bedtime. Sol fell asleep in the hallway again, and stayed there all night, but whatever works, right?
This morning I survived an hour-long telephone interview with the NGC about the on call technical position. I think I did well, but we shall see. I find I am bad at recalling the specific details that all job interview questions seem to revolve around: when something didn’t get done on time and how you responded, how to organize priorities, conflicts with co-workers, etc. Of course at DHC there were tons of examples but I’m just such a bad storyteller that I forget the details and end up speaking in generalities. It’s an on-call, temporary position that might involve a few days here, a week there, so in a way ideal for my post-EI life, which is fast- approaching.
Speaking of fast-approaching, we leave for summer vacation next Monday and there is lots to do to prepare the house and our camping gear, so I’m off ti do some of that now.
Haha, and now I see the headline from Canada.com is the reason I had “Juno” in my calendar, but unfortunately I wasn’t more specific with myself and thought it was referencing a screening of the movie with the same title, which is a good movie but I don’t feel an urgent need to see it again.
Rogers called me yesterday and upgraded my plan from 2g data to 6 and free access to Shomi, so I’m about to cancel Netflix. Sol will not be pleased: I don’t think Shomi carries Paw Patrol.
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Wed, Jul 6, 2016 at 12:02 PM
subject Transferts en santé: Ottawa doit tirer sa leçon, indique une étude; Mark Carney to the rescue: Bank of England’s Brexit plan the only one U.K. has to work with
Dear Justin,
I am still alive. I survived mixing up Tuesday with Wednesday, which meant I was rushing around with the kids preparing a picnic and gathering supplies to cycle to Parc Jarry for Iliana’s b-day party…which is only happening tonight. On top of all that both Sol and I had digestive issues throughout the day, thankfully for me at home but for Sol it happened at the park, just after a pipi nature. Poor guy. What did we eat? Today I am keeping Rose with me as she wanted a vacation from Day Camp, we’ve been out to our new garage for an oil change and need to stay near the house this afternoon as a tow truck is coming to collect the Mazda for the Liver Foundation. Did you know I worked for a short time for the liver foundation, gathering donations door-to-door in Calgary way back in 1992. This was after my short stint selling encyclopedias in Edmonton in 1991! Crazy shit. That’s also when I worked the night shift at a Tim Hortons in Calgary, and lived in a tiny little attic apartment close to Karina’s folks’ house. But I digress. Off to tidy the apartment, the yard, and continue the pre-packing for the upcoming camping road trip vacation extravaganza.
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Thu, Jul 7, 2016 at 10:41 PM
subject Les Canadiens peuvent postuler en ligne pour devenir sénateur; As crimes are increasingly captured on video, it’s becoming clear that nothing will change
Dear Justin,
I am still alive. I survived a day of strategic planning with the staff and executive of Skol at Lac aux castors, which also meant I survived cycling up and down the mountain. I don’t want to get into the details, as it was long and complex and made my brain tired, so now I’m tired, more so because I took a wrong turn and accidentally cycled up to the cross when I was trying to get off the mountain, but luckily I was in no rush, Claudine had finished her last day of work early and had time to get both kids. I grabbed a few things from the market to whip some sort of supper together, then Clo went out for a B-day party and I cleaned the kitchen, which was already quite clean as Marjorie had come today to clean the apartment, but it is amazing how quick kids can make a mess, especially with couscous. Actually I have a hard time controlling couscous as well. The kids watched Fabulous Mr. Fox tonight, then had a bath, then a fairly painless bedtime, though Sol is once again asleep on his blanket and pillow on the floor in the middle of the hallway. I’ve had a shower and now need some sleep, tomorrow is another day of strategic planning with the Skol team up on the mountain. I was thinking of applying online to be a senator, but I don’t meet the constitutional requirements of owning real property with a minimum value of $4000 in any of the vacant EDAs. Unless we suddenly buy land or a cottage in the Laurentides before August 4 – which is highly unlikely to happen. Heck, I might just apply anyway, just for the fun of it.
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Sun, Jul 10, 2016 at 10:41 PM
subject Justin Trudeau rend hommage aux victimes d’Auschwitz; Emotional day as Trudeau pays respects at most notorious Nazi death camp
Dear Justin,
I am still alive. I survived the weekend and the final push to load the car up; we plan to leave before dawn tomorrow. I’ll write you from NB if we survive the camping.
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Mon, Jul 18, 2016 at 8:34 AM
subject Réfugiés: Ottawa fera des évaluations sur place en Irak; Ottawa Hospital managers, after choking down ‘appalling’ patient food for a week, decide to revamp menus
Dear Justin,
I am still alive. I survived camping in Lac Témiscouata and arriving in Saint John and now just seeing rejections from Ingrid at MSVU Art Gallery and also from the CALQ, which is tricky as I still need to find a way to make the bronze goalie for less than $20K, all of which I need to scrape up on my own. Need to find some money. On the plus side I was asked to provide references to the National Gallery so maybe I’ll land a few gigs there? We are alone with Sol this week as we dropped Rose off to her horse camp last night. She was very nervous about spending her nights without us but she was happy to be with Kaiya. She’ll have a blast but we miss her and I’m sure she misses us. Clo will write her an email today that will be read as part of a “pony express”.
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Tue, Jul 19, 2016 at 9:34 AM
subject Une fuite torpille la confiance de scientifiques envers Ottawa; ‘Dinner won’t cut it’: Passengers furious after Air Transat pilots held for suspected drinking before flight
Dear Justin,
I am still alive; a tad hungover, but alive. Much discussion last night over whether or not I should just abandon art completely, with I think the consensus being yes, yes I should. Apparently art makes me miserable. Fuck you art! After everyone had gone to bed I stayed up trolling Jason Kenney’s facebook page. I’m heading out shortly to get my haircut by Adam at Element 6, he did a good job back in April.
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Wed, Jul 20, 2016 at 9:45 AM
subject Trudeau lance un appel de candidatures pour recruter des jeunes conseillers; Their job is to help the dying prepare for the end — should they call themselves ‘death midwives’?
Dear Justin,
I am still alive. I survived an afternoon wandering around Uptown Saint John. I had my haircut, then ate some sushi in King’s Square, watching the bizarre blend of old-time ‘Johners with folks playing Pokémon- Go. Met up with Katie and Jess and Clo at Tuck and went on a tour with Judith of the renovations at Hopscotch and her new pop-up office space – though I missed that last one as Sol had become clingy and wouldn’t leave my side. Last night we were going to brainstorm the questionnaire the National Gallery sent Judith as one of my references: it is a very detailed and intense form! Clo and Judith worked it out this morning as I fell asleep with Sol early last night. Woke up in the middle of the night and couldn’t get back to sleep until reading a few pages of Debt. I’m taking Sol out to my parent’s this afternoon to prepare their house for their arrival later this evening. Oh, and I dowloaded the Pokémon app and captured my first creature in the house, but I’m planning to save the game mostly for Rose, who already has a fascination for the old-school Pokémon cards. I miss her lots but her absence has made Sol much less prone to angry freakouts!
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Sat, Jul 23, 2016 at 9:42 AM
subject Trudeau appelé à démontrer que le «fédéralisme fonctionne»; Premiers agree to ‘historic’ interprovincial trade deal but details on changes unclear
Dear Justin,
I am still alive. I am surviving vacation! Survived a nice meeting with Emily of Third Space regarding my New Chapter grant proposal for the Dear PM touring retrospective, and then a night of B-Corps presentations at Picaroons, supper at Thandi’s with Clo and Katie, watching the Lobster (very weird film), and then picking Rose up from the Snider Mountain Ranch. She and her team won first place in their rodeo relay competition! She had a great week, she and Kaiya are now solid BFFs. A day of packing and prep as the kids are going to the QPlex this afternoon and then off to NS and the Cabin with my folks after church tomorrow; Clo and I back into the city tonight to hang with our own BFFs and have a bit of a drunk night before visiting Molly tomorrow.
-chris
DEAR PM 