My main obsession in life is to go somewhere, figuratively and literally.

What does it make me in HR speak? A goal-oriented person?

This could be a strength to mention in a job interview, except I suspect my goals don’t exactly align with corporate’s idea of the perfect engaged go-getter. I mean, I’m perfectly fine with successfully and skilfully completing tasks, but I also believe that the never-ending drive for profit incentivizes amorality and that capitalism deserves a slow, unceremonious death because globally, most of the world’s population is on the losing side.

My obsession with going and getting somewhere took me on another path. Most of my to-do lists revolve around the idea that surely, I can learn new useful skills, save time on tedious tasks to spend more time doing what I love, make the world a better place, and connect with interesting people.

I know. So hippy of me.

I have a big to-do list for May and June after coming back from Brazil and France. I refer to Canada as a productive chapter of my semi-nomadic life, after all.

I was obsessed with life hacks when Mark was younger—I wanted to find shortcuts and solutions to make daily life with a baby/toddler easier because a regular 24-hour day wasn’t long enough to be a fun mom, a practical caregiver, a productive freelancer and an overall happy human being.

These days, I’m looking for skills and solutions to work better, save money, make my life more portable, and fulfill my creative needs.

So what did I put energy into?

To make life easier and grocery shopping cheaper, I said goodbye to dairy and many of my former recipes because I just can’t find the ingredients anymore, or they are stupidly expensive. Instead, I took the wok out, embraced Chinese and Thai food, and shopped in Chinatown.

I made yellow curries, Pad Thai, and Thai basil rice noodles. I cracked the Chinese way of cutting veggies, mastered the Lǎo gàn mā chili oil noodles, and managed to achieve a decent zhájiàng miàn. Mark claims my food is the best food he has ever smelled and tasted. That’s an achievement in itself. (Sorry, taking decent mouth-watering pictures is on my next to-do list, I took these ones in the kitchen with my phone…)

I also spent weeks changing the blog’s theme and design. It loads faster and it’s easier to read on mobile devices, plus I was due for a redesign. Oh, and I did a fun interview about life in Ottawa!

I worked seven days a week because having money isn’t a goal in itself but it does offer more options in life. I can’t raise my rate otherwise I will lose clients, but everything costs more—I have yet to find a solution and a better work-life balance. It does help that I love my job, I suppose.

We went to Toronto, I saw Neil Young live, I met with many friends for coffee and I even had a fun night with Mark who “subbed” for a friend who had to cancel plans because of a sick kid. I love hanging out with Mark now, he is actually a good human being now.

And I got ready for the summer because I have plans.

As usual, I wish I could have done more. I haven’t even opened the embroidery kit I brought back from France in April, just in case I would be bored in Ottawa.

Ah. I wasn’t.

My backpack is once again in the corner of the room, full of stuff that I will need at one point or another in the next two months.

I’m leaving tomorrow.

I come and go. This is a feature, not a bug. I put work into it.

Stay tuned.