{"id":1142,"date":"2021-09-25T12:52:29","date_gmt":"2021-09-25T19:52:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/?p=1142"},"modified":"2021-09-25T19:15:48","modified_gmt":"2021-09-26T02:15:48","slug":"a-change-of-scenery-moving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/2021\/09\/a-change-of-scenery-moving\/","title":{"rendered":"A Change of Scenery – Moving"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I think we can mostly agree that COVID-19 has changed the landscape of the modern workplace. Whether that be office work, service work, or health and safety, where we work has changed. For me, the biggest change was going from working eight-to-five in an office to working eightish-to-sometime-in-the-evening hours from home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For about thirteen months starting in 2020, Real Life Rissa (that’s me!) worked from home at an I.T. job in the Alberta environmental services sector. During these thirteen months, I went through various hardships, from dealing with a bloom in my anxiety, to struggling with immigration to the U.S. for my family, and the death of a family pet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
At least my home office had a great backdrop!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Then my husband’s company was acquired, and his job situation went into flux.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then my <\/em>company was acquired, and my job situation went into flux.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then the capitol riots happened in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the span of a few months, our emotions went from “What are we going to do?” to “Okay, we better do something fast!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
The only good thing about lockdown was the daily walks.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Low-and-behold, the hubs settled into a new job with a real estate company that wanted him to work out of their Vancouver office in the lower mainland of British Columbia. Now, if you know me, you’ll know my family and Vancouver go way back. Naturally we jumped at the opportunity to relocate from the prairies to the west coast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We sold all but one property in Alberta to afford the move to the Vancouver area. It’s frickin’ expensive to live on the west coast, but we squeaked into a new development in Coquitlam, one of the tri-cities of metro Vancouver. We secured a deposit on a temporary rental until construction on our townhouse complex could be completed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
We had the best view from the breakfast nook year-round.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Now, we knew well beforehand that we’d be moving from an estate home just under 3,000 sq-ft to a cozy little 900 sq-ft apartment for the next nine months of our lives. A sacrifice we were all willing to make to live in one of our dream destinations. And sacrifice we did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About a month into moving plans, we lost our Boo. She had been battling untreatable kidney problems for years, and they all came to the inevitable end in June. I got to hold my Boo for one last time before the vet sent her off to that big scratching post in the sky one sunny afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
She will forever be my favourite co-author.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

So it seemed losing my country view and awesome writing space was suddenly no big deal. I had to believe we would make new memories in Coquitlam, we’d inherit a new view, and we’d adopt another cat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of July once all the frustrations of selling multiple properties finally worked out, we packed up the SUV (and boy did we pack <\/em>the SUV) and hit the road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Just enough room for 3 yahoo’s and a Shiba.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

After battling through the height of fire season in BC and Alberta, three days later, we rolled in to our rental in Coquitlam and got a serious dose of reality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
A travelapse of our move to BC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We thought we had donated or sold enough of our belongings to downsize into our apartment, but three storage units and one crowded living space later, we came to realize just how much stuff we really owned. Fifteen years of accumulation . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
It’s like one of those hidden objects game. Can you find the Shiba?<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

We’ve been here for about 2 months now and have settled in (not to mention organized a bit). Now that the relocation is complete, I’m hoping to dive back into my writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although my main concern should be publishing The Rose Cross Academy<\/em> book #4<\/a>, I’ve had a sudden creative streak that’s put my time towards yet another WIP. That’s three I have going, now. And each one demands a different corner of my already crowded brain. I prefer to write whatever’s in my head so I don’t loose any ideas, but I’m also a year behind on my 4th Book. COVID certainly didn’t help with that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With NaNoWriMo <\/a>fast approaching, I’m counting on that being the kick in the pants I need. I want to get my 4th book off to my editor before November so I can focus on NaNo. 2020 was the first year I didn’t complete the month-long writing challenge, so this will be a redemption year for me!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alrighty. So now that I’ve dusted off the ol’ blog, it’s time to get back to some writing!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hope the last year has treated you well. Stay healthy everyone!<\/p>\n\n\n\n