My trip to Edmonton was fantastic. The conference turned out to be a very useful job-searching trip and I’m really excited about the opportunities for research in the next couple years. I don’t want to talk too much about it in case I jinx things, but keep your fingers crossed for me!

On Tuesday night I went to visit with my Dad’s cousins and met my extended family for the first time. My paternal grandfather died when I was young, and I hardly remember him. Meeting his younger brother, and seeing such a family resemblance was rather special. The family genes are relatively strong, one of my dad’s cousins looks just like a cuter female version of him, and many of my second cousins are also double jointed like me. It’s always nice to have family – and Chris & Graem made me feel totally welcome in their home and took care of me when I was really tired from a long day.

Wednesday and Thursday nights I went out with Treefen & the Monkey – and we had such a great time. You know when you meet someone and feel like you can tell them anything? When the conversation’s interesting? and when time goes by wayyy to fast? I don’t like many people (I don’t dislike many people either, it takes a lot to make me care either way) and it’s rare that I really meet someone who I want to be friends with. But slowly through travelling and moving around I’ve developed a network of very cool and interesting friends – and it’s awesome to be able to add Treefen and Monkey to that small group.

It feels like I’ve hardly been sleeping in my own bed lately and I was looking forward to a quiet weekend. The weather was great when I got home though, and we’ve been itching to go camping, so we threw everything in the car and headed north. After such a busy trip, a night away sleeping beside a lake was wonderful – we had a great walk-in campsite and slept for 10 hours. I’m feeling relaxed and happy today.