Life As Performance Art 57

Outside I am hearing the courtship dance of a male Anna's hummingbird. I can tell by the periodic loud metallic peep which happens when the bird dives down from a height then rises up again. Apparently the peep noise comes from special notches in his tail feathers. I have never heard this in my neighbourhood, being so downtown, but this could be coming from or near the garden across the alley. This is also a comfort to me because for some reason the white-crowned sparrow is silent this morning, and on some mornings he doesn't sing. The Anna's hummingbird, as some will know, is now the official bird of Vancouver, which is a little bit ironic. This is a particularly striking hummingbird. The male sports a helmet, rather like an executioner's mask of brilliant iridescent magenta feathers that have highlights ranging from yellow to almost purple, with shades of orange, scarlet and crimson as well, but in many lights they still appear dark and drab. They have somewhat displaced our own native hummingbird, the Rufous, as the Anna's is a California import that only established itself up here in the last thirty years or so. I suppose you can also tell they're Californians by their sunglasses. Ray Bans, of course. It is still just before 6 am, and it is quiet outside and for this reason I can have the window open. Later, when the rockstar in the building next door climbs out of whatever he sleeps on for a bed, at around noon or so, we will likely be serenaded by his dreadful excuses for music. But now it is a bit safer for me to keep the window closed on a summer or near-summer day, and for one simple and lovely reason. I now have an extra electric fan. I bought it yesterday at the local Home Hardware store on Davie Street. It is a standing fan, and I had to assemble it myself. I wasn't able to. Even if I am considered gifted, there are still gifts that I do not have, and putting things together properly is one of them. Trade-offs, you know. I had to track down the new assistant manager in my apartment building in order to borrow a screwdriver, since mine wasn't adequate. Then there were other things I simply could not figure out, so, instead of further troubling building staff, whom I couldn't track down anyway, I took the fan back to the hardware store where I thought of exchanging it for a table fan. The lady at the front desk instead wanted to put it together for me, in between serving other customers. Then one of her coworkers pitched in, and before I knew it, I had a functioning standing fan. Of course I asked if we could first plug it in and turn it on, in case upon bringing it home, I might discover that it doesn't work. It works. Rockstar next door was likely playing air guitar to whatever audial shit he was churning out through his open window. I was able to close my window, turn on my small table fan and the new standing fan, and it's all good. I also have earplugs if Rockstar is still audible. Living downtown is not for the delicate, and if you don't do well with other people's noise it can be a recipe for serial breakdowns. It may be onerous to have to take extra measures to simply get through the day, but it's still a place to live. And it's affordable. Now that as of today, my bosses have become a minimum wage employer, I still try to be thankful that I have a job. Minimum wage in my province has gone up to $13.85 an hour, which means that other prices are also going to rise and Vancouver Coastal Health Authority still expects their peer support workers and other contracted staff to subsist on 14 bucks an hour. Yeah. Uh-huh. I have a job. Yowza! Small mercies. The Anna's hummingbird has recently stopped his courtship dance. Maybe he got lucky. Or maybe he gave up. It's a lovely day, despite some idiot outside banging stuff together. It might be time to close the window soon. I have just heard the Ana's hummingbird again. The show must go on........This just in. It is almost eight in the morning, and the white-crowned sparrow is singing again....