now: july 2025

figuring out how to manager #

Spending a lot of time with project planning, mentoring, and dealing with unexpected/corporate level stresses. Very uncomfortable with how little control I feel I have over certain things, and not really getting to IC all that much either. On the bright side, I’m appreciating the additional voice I have in the direction of the soccer group, especially getting to a weekly planning meeting that consistently feels productive.

very volleyball #

Playing a lot of volleyball right now - Sunday league, Monday skills, Thursday league, and still active in Friday sports too. It’s been tantastic and I feel like I’m getting better at the sport as a whole. Definitely developing a bit of a frustration with beginner level players which I’m taking as a sign of becoming more intermediate level! Will try to get into more challenging leagues in the fall.

took a road trip #

Took Mom, Dad, and Jasper on a four day road trip to Gaspé!

As I wrapped up the team level planning for Q3 at the end of June, I found myself thinking that if I wanted to take any time off in Q3 it would make the most sense to go at the beginning of July. However, I also found myself a little torn because I was in such a good rhythm / schedule with rec sports that I didn’t want to lose any momentum there. I also remembered that I had bought Bluesfest tickets to see Hozier, Green Day, and Papa Roach, and I definitely didn’t want to miss those!

Thus, despite having two weeks scheduled OOO, I decided that I would cram in a road trip to Gaspé in the four days between my Sunday and Thursday league games (departing early Monday and returning Thursday afternoon to make it to my game Thursday night). It was rather a lot of driving (28 hours in four days meant 7+ hours each day), but I did find myself doing ALL the driving because a) the drive was incredibly gorgeous (all along the St Lawrence River, tons of ocean and coastal views), b) Dad’s driving always makes me very nauseous, and c) because it was a nice way to force myself to disconnect during working hours. The trip days worked out to pretty much driving ~ four hours in the morning, stopping for ~ two hours of exploring/hiking/eating late lunch, driving another ~ two or so hours to where we would stay the night, and then going out to find dinner before turning in for the night.

It was the first extended trip I’ve done with the parents since I left home for university, and honestly went better than expected on that front. Bringing Jasper was probably more the adventure to be honest: one of the motels was explicitly not pet friendly, but my parents decided to sneak him in anyways which made for a rather covert effort to ensure he didn’t bark as well as making sure nobody could hear his little paws pattering around the motel room. Good news: we didn’t get caught! I was also excited to introduce my parents to the best gas station food of all time: the lobster rolls served in the canteen of the Edmunston truck stop - and they agreed it was fantastic.

Honestly had a great time, could have taken more time to explore and hike but I cracked 15k steps each day so I was pretty happy with that too. I definitely wasn’t playing at my best Thursday night after driving 7 hours earlier that day though (heh oops).

first bluesfest #

I made sure to be back on Thursday so that on Friday I could go to my first ever Bluesfest to see Hozier, Green Day, and Papa Roach! All three were excellent shows and teenage Tan would have been thrilled. Fun to be able to take those in with a growing friend group. Also was rather impressed with how smooth the LRT was for getting to Lebreton Flats - park and ride worked great. Would definitely consider a season ticket if the Sens moved there anytime soon.