This Is Not A Democracy

I have to wonder, though: how many Americans really want a vice president with a Canadian accent?

Whenever I'm feeling crap, I go to Craigslist and look at places to live in Vancouver.

Looks like prices have gone up a bit...

I do wonder, sometimes, how the hell I'll ever get there. Getting more experience in working with Marketing and Publicity will probably help get a visa, and the ancestry thing might swing it for me a teensy bit. I think what I really need to do is speak to someone at the Canadian Embassy and find out if there's a snowflake's hope in Hell of being given a working visa; and then find out what I'd need to do to get it.

I do still want to join the TA, but I almost feel there's more chance of me getting to Vancouver than there is of me getting fit enough, soon enough to be in the Army.

Maybe if I got some qualifications in Marketing (my company might be able to help with that, having joined the Investors in People scheme) it would make it easier to get a visa. I know that you can get in on the strength of your qualifications if you're a secretary or a Business Development Officer. I've acted as assistant PA to the director of a company (I interviewed her nannies!), a receptionist and office manager (corporate and medical), I've helped devise brochures and adverts, I've done extensive proof-reading for brochures, adverts and venue maps. I've just joined the Publicity Committee (upon request, rather than a voluntarily) for my theatre society and I've co-created a website intended to elevate the online presence of underappreciated actors - which is almost at launch stage. With a bit of practise, I could regain my grasp of conversational French, and also Italian.

I'm twenty-four in November. And I have got a fuckload of very useful experience.

Maybe the qualification is a way to go about it.

I'm just crap at studying, is the problem.

Edit: Oooh ooh ooh! They're halving the application fee to get to Canada - they're trying to make it easier for skilled workers. Sounds like they're a bit desperate. Maybe they'll have me after all...

Things aren't so bad as I tell myself, sometimes.

And someone has found my Canadian ancestors in the 1911 census. Taylor Township is near Black River-Matheson, in Cochrane District of Ontario. It's remarkably cool. I emailed someone in the Mayor's office to see if they had any idea if the township was still known as Taylor, or what has happened to it.

It's very cool. When I get something solid I'll show my nan - it was her mum who was the first child in our family born there. She still has photos of the log cabin with them standing outside. It's really sweet.

I'd love to go there and get in touch with my heritage. Maybe I will. The only thing, is that it's in the middle of nowhere and I don't drive. I'd need someone who could drive to come with me. Maybe, if I find some people we're related to, Jem and Nan will come with me. Jem's a courier, so he's used to travelling long distances.

In other news, I've been saying my brother, Cris, looks like Jake Gyllenhaal for ages. He told me today that everyone else says it, too.

No one usually sees that sort of thing when I say it - so I'm feeling a bit smug at the moment.

Back to dreaded work, in the morning. There's a tube strike, so I'll have to go the other way and make sure I'm on the platform by 8.10am. I don't usually leave the house until after then! Not best pleased.

I've also been talking to Mary about taking on the design for The Camera Obscura. She protests that she's not a good enough webdesigner, but she's better than I am. Jane is too busy to finish it herself. We want something up in time for the release of Within, because there's sure to be a bunch of new fans appearing around then - it'd be nice to have something they can actually draw some information from, instead of the IMDb profile - because there's simply no detail.

Fingers crossed, anyway.