2000-2009: God I'm glad it's over.

Inspired by a little coffee, hope dies last, rainy saturday, just a titch & fiveblondes (x 2).


In 2000, I graduated from elementary school and went from Vancouver Island to Gravelbourg, Saskatchewan to attend a francophone Catholic boarding school. It was not a pretty year; I fell in love with my first boyfriend, only to be dumped a month later because I wasn't "cool enough." My room was vandalized and I was bullied. I started smoking to fit in and gained close to fifty pounds. I went home at Christmas to find my dad sleeping in the guest bedroom downstairs and was told my parents were in the process of separating. I haven't really enjoyed Christmas since.

In 2001, I spent the summer with my dad and sister while my mom did a summer semester at UVic for her Masters program. At the end of the summer we moved (Mom, my sister & I) to Clinton, Ontario (pop 3200). I went to a Catholic school and rocked a uniform - navy blue pants, white long-sleeved dress shirt and a navy blue short-sleeved polo layered on top. I'm proud to say that to this day I still have not worn a kilt. My mom taught Religion and English to my peers. I dated anyone who would look at me twice, got dragged out of the smoking pit more times than I care to remember and joined a competitive swim team (Huron Hurricanes). My mom and I fought. A lot. I got to know my extended family, especially my grandma. Sundays we would go to mass in St. Columban and hang out at Grandma's the rest of the day. I was a part of the Liturgy group, badminton and swim team at school. In all my yearbook photos, I'm unsmiling, legs crossed and arms folded in front of me. I'm still relatively skinny.

2002, I had short hair. I got involved in our schools ministry, reading at masses and the morning prayer every morning. I started studying Catholicism in order to be baptized. I was also involved in our schools pro-life group, along with the junior badminton team, the Huron Hurricanes (competitive swim team), and our school swim team. I met and dated my first long-term, long-distance boyfriend. We lasted for 7 months and lived 45 minutes away from each other, and one time only saw each other once in two and a half months due to my schedule. I failed my first class, grade 10 academic math.


Easter of 2003, I was baptized into the Catholic faith. I went to his prom even though we had broken up the night before. I made my own dress. I fought with my mom. A lot.

I spent the first month of 2004 in Ottawa with my aunt. I returned home to write my final exams, failing math again, and then moved to Ottawa on my 17th birthday, the day of Janet Jackson's infamous "wardrobe malfunction." I started skipping school and smoking a lot of weed, especially as the days got warmer. I lived with a raging coke-head who hated me, again dating anyone who would look at me twice. I tried E for the first time and loved it. Tired of being on welfare, I got a job working full-time at Wendy's up the street, often working 12 hour days. I've never been back to high school. I drank a lot with my new roommates, and slept in a sectioned off dining room. I lost my job in November and went back on welfare.

2005 saw me do much of nothing. My roommate got pregnant so I left and moved to Fitzroy Harbour for two months. It was not a pretty time. Drank a lot, had lots of DRAMA! concerning the people in my life. Moved back to Ottawa at the end of June and met Shawn while hanging out for Canada Day. We panned money for drugs and got some E. We spent the entire summer urban camping while panning for money and getting high. It was one of the best summers of my entire life. Just after Thanksgiving, I moved outside permanently and hooked up with a heroin/crack addict named Tom. He gave me my first hit of crack and I was instantly, instantly addicted. I tried to keep a job and failed after 2 months.

2006 I was a bonafide homeless crackhead. I lived for the next hit in my pipe and was turning into a really ugly human being. New Years Eve I became so ill I shat myself while puking, and that was the absolute final straw. When I could move again, I started living at the Young Woman's shelter and started the long process of breaking the crack addiction, although I did spend the spring getting high every night on E, often popping 8-12 pills throughout the night. Steven "Catcus" Beriault and Tim Wonja were murdered within two weeks of each other in June. I spent the entire summer under first bridge and drank a lot. I survived on 20$ a day made from panning - 5$ for a pack of cigarettes, 5$ for a shawarma and 10$ for enough booze to get me drunk. I enrolled in a school program aimed at homeless youth and completed an English credit and my GED. I applied for - and was accepted into - the Law Clerk program at Algonquin, OSAP, and residence. I started in the fall and promptly failed four out of five classes.

2007 In January, my Grandma passed away. I still miss her and think of her often. I restarted in my program and managed to pass three. I kept going into the summer, taking five and again, passing three. I HATED living in Residence; to me they were immature, drunkard twits. I moved out in August to a really nice apartment with a roommate. She lost her job and ultimately decided to move back home. I started chatting online to someone in England and we grew as close as our computer monitors would let us. I flew to England over Reading Break to meet him, a spur of the moment trip that saw me detained by customs for not booking a hotel before arriving. I passed a measly two out of 6 courses in the fall semester. I reconnected with an old co-worker from Wendy's and we started dating. At the very end of the year, I went for psychological testing and was diagnosed with adult ADD along with a non-verbal learning disability and was granted one more semester on a reduced course-load. Tammy Couture was murdered in November. I got my cat, Elvis in September and my dog, Molly, in December just before Christmas.

2008 saw me be evicted from the apartment I was living in. I spent the month of March living with Shawn in his tiny 1-bedroom. Our relationship ended with a brutal fight over keys when he wanted me to leave. Keith's parents, whom I had never met before, came and picked me & Molly up and let me live with them. Catcus' killer is found not-guilty and is set free. Tim Wojna's is not and is sentenced to to two years less a day plus 240 hours of community service. I failed my courses once again and this time OSAP would not give me any more funding. I went back on welfare after an agonizing month of having absolutely no income. I moved in with Keith in July. I found a temp job for a month and then worked full-time at another Wendy's. WORST JOB EVER. I spent Thanksgiving with my family and then actually enjoyed my first Christmas in eight years with Keith's family. I spent the better part of the year a dark redhead.

2009 saw me be re-accepted for funding by OSAP in the spring semester. I took 3 courses and posted a 3.13 GPA. Tammy Coutures' killer had her trial delayed. I quit my job at Wendy's because I was doing a weight-loss/management program with the Ottawa Hospital that required 12 weeks of only consuming 900 calories a day in the form of shakes. I lost 35 pounds, only to gain 15 back. In June, Keith proposed. I'm still not over how pretty my ring is. I started working in buttfuck nowhere Barrhaven at the Wal-Mart in July. In October, I lost one of the best people I've ever met - Keith's mom - quite suddenly. I took four courses in the fall semester and got a B-, 2 B's, and an A-. I worked hard, laughed often, loved much and grieved deeply.

Looking back, all I can say is that I am SO effing glad this decade is over.

Secrets

***I quit reading Pioneer Woman shortly after MIL died. I just couldn't take the banal fluff anymore. I couldn't take the spewing of trivial nothingness she comes up with almost daily. Now, don't get me wrong. She used to be good. She used to actually have content to read and stories to share. Now, and I kid you not, she has posts titled "Morning Cow" and "Afternoon Cow" and "Snowy Cow" and "Constipated Cow" and HOLY FUCK I DON'T LIKE COWS THAT MUCH THANKS. And if I see that flipping picture of her in 1987 one more time I will punch someone in the back of the head, ninja-style.

***I don't read dooce unless I am really, really bored. Tonight was one of those nights. I had to go back 8 pages. I want to steal Marlo's eyes and put them on my face. For serious.

***A coworker of Keith's that we hang out with all the time keeps shoving her tongue so far down my throat I'm sure she can taste what I had for breakfast. Keith's okay with it, I am (surprisingly) not. But I cant say anything because she'd get really offended, so I just let it happen. I thought getting engaged stopped this kind of nonsense? Heck, I thought having a boyfriend kind of conveyed the message I chose which side of the bread to butter?

***I really want to name my 2nd son Terrance. After Terry Sawchuk, the goalie for the Detriot Red Wings [starting] in the fifties. I'd name my third son after Jacques Plante (goaltender for the Montreal Canadiens also in the fifties, and the first goalie to wear a mask in the NHL in 1959) but hey, can't really rock a French name, being Anglo and all. Sorry dude.
(PS: 1st son would be Andrew, after Andrew Moog, goaltender for the Edmonton Oilers in the eighties. Keith actually chose this name because apparently Moog was his idol as he was growing up, and we are currently having a raging battle over the middle name. I suspect I will eventually win this battle, especially as I have to push the damn thing out my hooha.) I like the idea of naming our sons after NHL goaltenders. Does this make me totally nerdy? YOUBETCHA.

***This blog makes me want to pursue a career in advertising. Not because she makes it sound glamourous or anything, but just cause. Although I have no idea how the hell to go about doing a thing like that, and I doubt I'll even really try. (Bonus points for being Canadian, FTW.)

All I want for Christmas.....

SO BONUS.

A couple of really really late nights later, and I actually pulled off getting everything done. Such a great feeling! I had to stay up until 4:30 the day before the Corporate report was due, and the day before last I stayed up until 3:30 in the morning doing my self assessment memo and mediation settlement, and yesterday finished working on on my justification report before admitting I felt really sick - aches and chills and the whole bit.

Except this morning I woke up and other than having a stuffed head, everything else was gone. SO BONUS.

So I finished the powerpoint to go along with the justification report that I have to present later today, picked up the living room and did the dishes. Now I'm probably going to be late to school but eh. All I have to do is hand in the mediation settlement and listen to more presentations.

My work schedule is CRAZY the next two weeks. I work Thursday, Sunday, Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Wednesday. BUT!!! I actually get Christmas Eve off! SO BONUS. I'll probably be working Boxing Day though, seeing as its a Saturday....it should be an okay shift - time and a half for working on a stat holiday and so busy it should go by really fast. (For all you Americans, Boxing Day in Canada is like Black Friday, except in recent years it's been extended for a week.)

We don't go back to school January 11th, which is SO LATE, holy crap. It means I won't get my OSAP until the end of January.

So its official, we are DEFINITELY going to Mexico in February over Reading Break - Feb 15th to 21st. My Grandmother came up with some REALLY nice digs in Mexcio for us, free of charge. We're staying here - Villa del Palmer.

SO BONUS. (I think it goes without saying that I'm so effing excited it takes a concentrated effort not to pee myself when I think about it).

Now, off to school!

Sprint to the finish

The month of December? Especially the next two weeks?

So busy. So, so busy.

Busy enough that I'm feeling the stress, especially today; I got home from work last night around 12:30, went to bed at 2, and got up at 6:30, unable to sleep another wink.

I have:
-Worked 3:30 to midnight this past Sunday & yesterday.
-Presentation later today; I just finished putting together the file that accompanies it.
-Report due on Thursday for Corporate Law which I haven't even started.
-Work 3:30 to midnight (I hate you, Christmas hours) on Wednesday.
-Presentation & assignment due for L&T on Friday.
-Keep the house clean, a never-ending, exhausting chore.
-Work 4 to midnight Saturday & Sunday.
-Self-assessment memo, oral presentation, report and powerpoint due on Tuesday for English.
-Work 3:30 to midnight on Thursday.
-Final exam for L&T on Saturday at 4:30pm (open book!), Christmas party afterwards.
-Work Sunday 3:30 to midnight.
-Final exam on the 15th for Corporate at 8am. Open book!
-Work 3:30-11 on Wednesday.
-Final exam on the 17th for Disputes. Must prepare study/cheat sheet (doublesided, WHOO!).
-December 19th is when my open availability starts for work. If the hours keep up the way they have been, I'll be working 21 to 30 (or more) hours a week - usually I only work 11-15, so it's a big jump.

Right now I'm giving myself an hour of "free" time before I do a load of dishes and pick up in the living room as well as getting myself ready to head out for the day.

I'm so tired already, just looking at that list. Now, off to play some World Adventures: Sims 3. Nothing beats flat out denial!

And it's snowing. Double yuck.

Crazy smart.

I had a FANtastic day today; we got our Corporate midterms back and my mark was 82.5%

Like, what? How did I pull THAT out of my ass? I suspect we'll never know - I didn't study at ALL or anything. I thought I would be getting 60%, at the most.

We also got our Phase I back from our Incorporation assignment, 90% so far. It was fairly easy though so it's not like I sweated over it.

After class we had a discussion with the professor about our boardroom assignment - basically our company wants to purchase another company in which we own 20% of the shares, (we also have an unsecured loan of 60k invested in the business), and we need to figure out ways of doing that.....and I have NO IDEA where the stuff that was coming out of my mouth came from.

Purchase of assets, purchase of shares, threatening to sue, giving the former shareholder options in order for them to let go of their shares, etc etc. I knew an unsecured loan would be as good as lost if the company goes under, because it goes to the back of the line in the face of all the other debts the company has and there won't be enough money - if there's any at all - by the time it gets to your loan, so you're screwed. (Guess where I learned that concept from? By reading Undomesticated Goddess by Sophie Kinsella. I shit you not.)

The professor kept agreeing with what I was saying, which is actually the amazing part. Especially about the options part; I think his mouth actually popped open at that suggestion. He said later that all my suggestions were fantastic, especially the options part, which was "real lawyering".

Hee.

Obviously I'm crazy...

I'm thinking of adding another part-time job to my plate. My plate currently being: I have 3 weeks until the end of this semester, I work about 15 hours a week at Wal-Mart and then I have open availability over Christmas for two weeks and next semester I'll be taking five courses (Criminal, Estates, Client Relations, English Gen Ed, & Creditor's Rights), and continuing to work at the grand old Wally-World, along with this job.

Yep, I know, I'm now certifiable.

BUT, in my defense, this is a pretty sweet job - a position as a part-time law clerk. In a firm that deals mostly with Landlord & Tenant issues. I KNOW. And he wants someone full(?)time for the summer as well as continuing back to part-time for next fall.

I was starting to panic about what to do about this summer. This will be the first summer in about 2 years I won't be attending school/relying on OSAP, and I just KNEW I would hate myself if I had to work full-time where I am now. Honestly, it's okay as a part-time job, 2-3 days a week, but every.single.day?

Oh hell no.

But now! It seems as though my problems are three steps closer to solving themselves. Cross your fingers for me - interview is Tuesday at 10!

conclusion

Finally got the entire situation with my English professor sorted out. I actually had to send her an e-mail describing in detail what happened. She was arguing that because there was no prior notice, I shouldn't be allowed to submit the assignment I missed. I pointed out that there was no prior notice because, um, hello, nobody pencils in "will die today" on their dayplanner.

I don't know if she thought I was lying about it or what but seriously? What a shitty thing to lie about.

Anyway. I agreed that one of the assignments could not be made up because it was actually due the week before (I was under the impression it was due Oct 20), but I can submit the one that was due Oct 20, and I can write the midterm.

So glad it's over, and I got what I wanted (deserved to get, really). And now onwards with the rest of the semester .....

click to enlarge

Opera

I'm off tomorrow for a quick whirl-wind trip to Toronto to see Madama Butterfly with my Mom. I'm so excited; I've wanted to see an opera for a really long time and finally I'm going to.

I wonder if leaving the menfolk alone for 48 hours is a smart idea?

On second thought, don't answer that.

Rant with me now

If you're my friend on Facebook, you probably know I've had some issues with one of my professors over the last week.

It basically goes like this: Oct 6, have dental work done. Miss class. Oct 13, have more dental work done. Miss class. Oct 19, MIL passes away. Oct 19, e-mail professor to inform them of the situation and state that I will be missing class on Oct 20. Oct 20 was the day of our midterm, so naturally, I asked if alternate arrangements can be made.

And this is where it gets pretty cold and disgusting: Oct 20, professor e-mails me back and says that because I have "not shown committment to the course" by missing classes, will ONLY offer me a make-up for the midterm IF my attendance improves, and then sends me another e-mail an hour later, futher stating that I will need a certificate of death IF I qualify to take the midterm.

Of course, I'm totally shattered (literally sobbing over this, I kid you not) and, in the spirit of full disclosure, pissed RIGHT the fuck off. I contact the Ombudsperson at the College, who says I should contact my co-ordinator first to see if we can resolve this on our own, which I do, only to be told that because it's an English course, I need to speak with the co-ordinator of the English department because she only runs the Legal department. This was on Friday.

Today, I receive this heartless, pretty fucking generic message from the co-ordinator, stating that, as she understands it from my professor, I was unable to sit the midterm due to a family issue and that I have not shown commitment to the course due to many classes and assignments, or handed work in late.

My blood is BOILING by now. You could probably make fondue out of it (although I really wouldn't recommend it, but you get my point).

First off, I'm sorry, but really? A family issue? That's more like your kid coming down with a cold, NOT watching your mother in law's heart stop fucking beating right in front of you while you hold her hand and then seeing her lips turn blue and her face ashen THE DAY BEFORE.

I fired back an e-mail stating, quite calmly and logically (with supporting documentation!), why each of these "reasons" could not/should not be used as a basis for withholding a fucking midterm that I only missed because my MIL FUCKING DIED, YOU CUNT. It kind of went exactly like this:

Dear Shithead1; Thank you for your response to this matter. I'd like to clarify some issues within the e-mail you sent on Wednesday, October 28, particularly in regards to missed classes, work handed in late, and missed assignments.

Missed classes: I have missed 3 classes total. One was this past Tuesday (the date of the midterm) because of the death of my mother-in-law on Monday and the other two (October 6 and October 13) were because of dental work performed earlier that day. I can also provide documentation to this effect if need be. I fail to see how this constitutes "many".

Work handed in late: I handed in one (1) assignment late by a day - it was due Tuesday, October 13 (class missed due to aforementioned dental work) and I was present on Wednesday, October 14 during Shithead2's office hours to hand it in. On Blackboard, under the "course document" tools, she clearly outlines the late assignment policy, which states: "Late Assignment Policy: Please make careful consideration of the late assignment policy. One point will be subtracted from your assignment EVERY day that it is late.....".
I was aware of this policy and fully expected to be docked one mark for turning it in late. Nowhere does this policy say (and neither did Shithead2 mention in class) that invoking this policy would be basis for withholding a midterm.

Missed assignments: I have missed two assignments, both due on Tuesday, October 20, which I missed due to the death of my mother-in-law on Monday, October 19. One was assigned to complete in-class, and one was to be handed in at the start of class. I completed the assignment due on Tuesday, October 20 at the beginning of class and was told I could not hand it in when I returned back to class on Tuesday, October 27. In light of this, I'd like to draw your attention to College Directive E3: "Special Allowances for Individual Students".
Within this directive, it outlines special arrangements which can be made for students who "are ill or who face major personal crises such as bereavement," as stated in section 2.1 under Policy. It futher states within sections 2 and 2.1, under Procedures, Roles and Responsibilities: "wherever reasonable .... faculty are expected to extend to such students some latitude with respect to the following: 2.1 deadlines for submissions of assignments, lab reports, and similar projects." This directive was clearly not followed in this case.

As for the matter of being denied a fair opportunity to write the midterm due to the issues presented (which I only missed because of the sudden bereavement of my mother-in-law), I hope that I have outlined how each of these issues should not be used as reasons to withhold the midterm. In closing, I trust the matter of the midterm and missed assignments will be resolved satisfactorily. I will be contacting the Ombudsperson as to what the next steps would be.

Signed, ONE PISSED OFF ANGRY STUDENT.

And now I wait.

Apparently, its the hardest thing in the world to show some fucking compassion. Newsflash: I had to arrange two other midterms. Guess what happened? I explained the situation and they said, here's your alternate midterm date, see you then, good luck and sorry about your MIL.

What is SO FUCKING DIFFICULT about that? No. Really. Does this sound intensely difficult to any of you? Because if it does, I seem to be missing it.

15/06/45-19/10/09: funeral today

I could...but I won't.

Keith's mom died yesterday at about 3:10pm. We held her hands and were with her as she passed on....most surreal experience of my life.

I could rage on about the stupidity of it all - gone way too quickly, way too young. She collapsed on Wednesday night unable to breathe and as a result suffered some brain damage. She survived five days in the ICU. She never woke up. She was only sixty-four.

I could rage on about the staggering expense of funerals (3,000$ for a burial plot? are you fucking serious?), the fact that my professors are being complete COWS about me missing my midterms, the fact that all the arrangments have seemingly fallen on the shoulders of Keith and I.

I could rage on about the stupid, inconsequential things, like the fact that Keith's dad is alone for the first time in forty-four years, the fact that she was the only one with a valid license to drive us around. Things like the fact that I only got to know her for a year and a half, or the fact that I was supposed to meet Keith's siblings at my wedding and have her hold her first biological grandchildren in the years to come, or that I thought I had a lifetime to get to know her.

But I won't. Instead, I'll remember her easy laughter at one of my many jokes, the lovely Thanksgiving dinner we enjoyed and the fact that she was overjoyed we spent the holiday together. I'll be thankful that I did get to enjoy a year and a half with her, and for everything she did for us. I'll take comfort in the fact that she loved me, as I loved her, and that she was the best mother-in-law a girl could have.


May she rest in peace.
Della June 15/06/45 - 19/10/09.

Just "Bee Cuz" giveaway post

If you're my friend on Facebook you know some shit is going down with Keith's family. I don't want to get into it because I never want to look back and read about this time. Also, putting it out there in cyberspace in a permanent way feels to me like reality is just that much closer, you know? So. Yeah. That's why I'm posting about this amazing giveaway instead:

Just "Bee Cuz" Giveaway!
given by The New Black.

She's pretty awesome, by the way, so feel free to check out her blog!

But don't enter the giveaway, I seriously want to win this one SO bad. Ha.

I mean it.

Flipping

Tonight I was watching Degrassi: TNG, and the storyline was about a girl who has a wonderful, supportive, long-term boyfriend - but she meets this new guy and sparks fly.

So she's agonizing over what to do with her girlfriend, when her girlfriend remarked, "yeah, but when's the last time Spin [boyfriend] made your stomach flip?"

My immediate thought was "You stupid girl, it's not about the stomach flip."

The thought following that one was - wow, how sad that my life doesn't include the stomach flip. Then I thought of Keith, watching Family Guy in the bedroom, and literally smiled from the inside out. (Although I totally maintain it's SO not about the stomach flip).

And that feeling, truly, is enough for me, but what do you think? Should relationships always include the stomach flip? Is it okay when it doesn't? Really, is it about the stomach flip?

Fight for your right...to get better marks!

Today we got back our Memo/Lease assignment worth 15 percent, and my grade was 20/25 (or 80%). I missed four marks for the lease portion and one mark for the memo portion.

So, in the instructions it simply said "Mr. XX - tenant and Mrs. XX - wife" so I interpreted that to mean the only tenant was Mr. XX, and NOT both Mr & Mrs. XX, since she didn't specify whether the wife was a co-tenant - and so made out the lease accordingly.

Apparently, I was wrong - and every mistake on the lease portion was worth two marks. I went up and explained to her how the ambivalence in the wording made me interpret it the way I did.

Amazingly, she agreed with me. Gave me the marks back. (And made a note in her book to change the wording for the next group of students! HA!)

22/25. 88%. On something worth 15%.

I am so, so stoked.

Report Card

Disputes: Feeling really guilty because I've missed the last two classes. Rocked my oral presentation on the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal (80%), midterm is two weeks from now.

EnglishII: Lots of work so far; every class I've had to hand in something (we just finished covering the 6 types of informal reports). I have a formal report due Tuesday and I haven't started it yet. Not feeling it. I know I have to start it REALLY soon. Midterm is this Tuesday. Got 79% on my Information Report, waiting to hear back about the Group Recommendation/Justification report.

Corporate: Love-hate relationship. I maintain firmly that the prof is a bit of a tool; I love the individual assignment in this class, even if you do kill a small tree in the process. Bascially you set up a corporation minute book, divided into 3 phases. He FINALLY posted the info for Phase I, except for the actual client file that we are supposed to base all of our info on. Yup, like I said: a bit of a tool.

Landlord&Tenant: LOVING this class. The prof is one of my favourites. No-nonsense, easy teaching style, very informative classes and I just enjoy the work because it's so practical. Nearly everyone in their lifetime will at one point either be a renter or rentee, so it's incredibly informative to know the legislature behind it. There's alot of work but she has it all up weeks in advance, and so far it's been relatively easy work - just getting us used to how to fill out the forms required for, say, a Notice of Rental Increase. I'm already done all the assignments she has posted and am waiting to hear back for a mark on my Lease/Memo report, with the Notice to Rental Increase due tomorrow. I have a feeling the midterm (also in two weeks) is open-book. EFF ya.

A meme post is better than no post at all...right? RIGHT?

{via}
The book that’s been on your shelves the longest.
I know this sounds lame, but basically the Houghton Mifflin Canadian Dictionary of the English Language. And some sort of thesaurus. I moved out with them and through everything I've managed to hang onto them. Weird, eh?

A book that reminds you of something specific in your life (a person, a place, a time).
My grade 10 and grade 11 yearbooks. Nothing says specific time in your life like a yearbook does! I somehow managed to lose my grade 9 yearbook though.

A book you treasure the most.
That would probably be my most favourite book in the world - a hardback copy of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy: A trilogy in five parts by Douglas Adams. Besides being my favourite book, the way I got it was beyond awesome - I was complaining one day via MSN to my best friend Peggy that I had lost my copy in one of my many moves and how much it sucked. A week later I got a call at the front desk (I was living in Residence) that I had a package for me; it was from Amazon. I opened it and there it was! Peggy had bought it for me for "Christmas" without ever telling me about it. Have I mentioned how much of an awesome person she is and how much I love her?

The most recent addition to your shelves.
I've been on a book buying spree the last three weeks - I've bought Another Faust by Daniel Nayeri & Dina Nayeri Viergutz, The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown, The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova, The White Queen by Phillippa Gregory, Downtown Owl by Chuck Klosterman and Runaway Devil by Robert Remington & Sherri Zickefoose (a non-fiction account of the 12 year old girl in Alberta who murdered her parents and brother in 2006).
And then, of course, my monthly issue of Cosmo & Readers Digest (I swear, sometimes I think I'm the only person under the age of 50 who reads it).

Your current read, your last read and the book you’ll read next.
Currently: The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova - I keep reading other books which is why I haven't finished it yet.
Last Read: The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown would be the book I technically finished last.
Next Read: The Official Drivers Handbook for my license and Downtown Owl by Chuck Klosterman.

post & dash

I have such a busy week ahead of me - if I'm not in school, I'm working. Including today - I have to get ready and leave in a half hour, so this'll be quick. Tomorrow I won't get home until close to 11:30 - and we're celebrating the end of 26 weeks of weight management AND the finale of Big Brother 11 (which I'm probably more excited for than it warrants) with Chinese food! YUMMY! I haven't had Chinese food since I started this program, so I'm just REALLY looking forward to it (again, more excited for it than it warrants, but hey, it feels good!)


My first group project is due next Tuesday. As in, the Tuesday after tomorrow. WHAT? Holy hell. I have no idea when I'm going to find the time. Add to my general anxiety about the whole thing is that the college-based e-mail system is down at the moment, so I can't even get in touch with my effing teammates. I HATE when technology fails.

And we're going out to celebrate our 2 year anniversary next weekend with a nice dinner. I've informed Keith that I am buying 2 dozen roses (yellow, red and orange, of course) for myself. This works out well because a) I love roses b) Keith thinks they're a waste of money because they die and c) I don't feel put out when he doesn't get them for me. Win-Win!

My engagement ring is at the jewellers for repairs. I'm trying not to be supersitious about the whole thing. (I was fiddling with it; it dropped on the ground and the centre stone popped out.) My finger feels so naked! Sigh.

Somehow managed to sell 3 textbooks to a fellow student for 80$. Textbooks that I was going to chuck into the recycling bin (the bookstore doesn't accept these books for re-sale). Effing SCORE.

Bought my first high heels over the weekend. They're an adorable pair of the Mary-Jane style. And to conquer my fear (and general inexperience) of walking in them, I have made myself promise I will wear them at least once a week.

Shall we have a picture? Why yes, let's exclaim over their adoreable-ness!

You may commence exclaiming now. ;)

Grinding my gear

Dear Lady with the Weird Accent;

Look. I'm pretty sure you're an awesome person who loves her family and dog and goes to the Y every night, yadda yadda. But CONGRATULATIONS! You won the "Piss Sarah Off" Award last night while shopping. It's her #1 pet peeve, when some poor unsuspecting fool asks if she can get something from the back - often a piece of clothing in a different colour, size, what have you.
And look, I get it. Asking someone to get something from the back might work in a small, boutique-y type store, and yeah, it's pretty much expected in a shoe store.

Now take two seconds. LOOK AT WHERE YOU'RE SHOPPING. It's huge, right? Over 80,000 products for your purchasing enjoyment? Wow! Look at everything you can buy! From ice cream to a dresser, the newest DVD release to a flat screen TV. Amazing that it can all fit into one store, right?

Now with that in mind, ask yourself this; DO YOU THINK OUR BACK ROOM IS ANY SMALLER?! If it's an oversized warehouse out here, do you think our stock is somehow crammed into a teensy tiny room somewhere in the back? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?

And yeah, I totally understand that I'm just a part-time employee that works nights. So yeah, my "power" is pretty limited. But geez, how rude do you have to be to imply that I'm somehow not to be trusted with the precious, precious back stock? Eff you and the donkey you rode in on, asshat.

For your information, we have people in the store 24 hours of the day. Working to bring you products so you can go find that lovely flat screen TV you want, making sure everything is stocked for your grocery lists, unloading trucks, what-have-you. It takes around the clock work to make sure this type of store runs smoothly. We get trucks with thousands of items daily. Do you see those people walking around with stacks of boxes on those fork-pronged yellow things? They magically start appearing around 10:30 every night, in case you haven't noticed. Guess what those are? And where they come from?

And THEN, imagine this, THEN we have people in the morning who open the boxes and put the stock out on the shelves. They spend half their shift doing this, believe it or not. Including the medium-sized pink plaid Bum shirt you want for 16$. And since A) I don't work overnight, and B) don't work in the mornings, I'm simply afraid that getting you a different effing sized shirt from the back is simply outside of my limited, untrustworthy hands.

Next time, don't even effing ask.

Thanks for shopping with us -
The Girl in the Blue Vest.

Rundown (School Edition)

This semester I'm taking four courses - Landlord & Tenant, Dispute Resolution, Corporate Law and Comm II (Business English).

I have Mondays and Wednesdays off, and since I'm knitting together random courses that I've failed before, I don't have the same people in any of my classes. Disputes is a level 1 course, and that's going to be, um, less than wonderful? Full of 18 year olds just graduated from high school. OH EFFING YAY. (Can you smell the sarcasm?) I think the most fustrating thing is all the Blackboard issues with new students. Drives me INSANE.

The great thing about this semester? Well, the two great things?
All my classes are in the afternoon. I'm aiming for an grade in the A range in every class, and I think it's actually possible! The only one I wasn't sure about was Corporate Law, but I'm in class right now and it actually seems to be achievable.

Anyway, since I'm in class, and the prof has already told me to "stop my e-mailing" (wooooops), I better go.

3:45am, and this is what I occupy myself with....

In between randomly checking Facebook, Twitter, and reading Just A Titch in its entirety (thanks Laura!), I have complied my yearly list of the premiere dates of TV shows I watch; categorized by channel, of course. Behold, my addiction (and indiscriminating tastes, apparently);

Monday;
House - Sept 21, Global.
Big Bang Theory - Sept 21, CTV.

Tuesday;
Sytycd(A) - Sept 8, A Channel
Sytycd(C) - Already on, CTV.
Big Brother - Already on, Global
18 Kids & Counting - Already on, TLC

Wednesday;
Sytycd(A) - ibid
Sytycd(C) - ibid
Toddlers & Tiara's - Already on, TLC
America's Next Top Model - Sept 9th, CTV
Glee - Sept 9th, Global **new**
CSI: NY - Sept 23, CTV
Criminal Minds - Sept 23, CTV

Thursday;
Grey's Anatomy - Sept 24, CTV
90210 - Sept 10, Global
Big Brother - Already on, Global

Friday;
Flashpoint - Sept 25, CTV.

Sat/Sun;
Project Runway 6 - (Sat) Sept 12, Slice
Degrassi - (Sun) Oct 7, CTV
Desperate Housewives (Sun) - Sept 27, CTV
Amazing Race (Sun) - Sept 27, CTV
Cold Case (Sun) - Sept 27, CTV
Big Brother (Sun) - Already on, Global

Upon reflection, this list is CRAZY. (Aside; does anyone remember when Thursdays were the 'big night' for TV? Now it looks like Wednesday is the night to have your ass parked on the couch. What's up with that?)

And it should come as no suprise to hear that I am incredibly in love with my PVR. No, seriously. If marriage to an inanimate object was legal, I think I'd be entered into holy matrimony already. Sigh.

So now that I've shared - what are you looking forward to this fall?

Bullets

• In-law's had to put down their dog this week. Kayla (a golden retriever/samoyed) was at least fifteen years old and had been steadily declining all summer; at the end she only weighed 13 pounds and had to be carried into the vet's office on a stretcher.
• It's hitting me harder than I thought it would.
• I think I found the place we're going to get married. Still fits our criteria - actually in the city (none of this country-bumpkin-just-outside-the-city-rustic shit) and beautiful grounds, yet more in-line with our budget. I go by it every time I go to & from work, and today they had the doors open and I saw a bride and realized they did weddings! Eff ya!
• Besides, it's right next to a Tim Horton's. How can you go wrong with that?
• I need school to start RIGHT THIS VERY SECOND. Please and thank you. Let's just get this year going already!
• Speaking of that, my Landlord & Tenant prof posted our first 'assignment' - a web-based scavenger hunt due Sept 11.
• I'm already finished it.
• Does anyone want to lend/give me fifteen grand so I can actually get married when I originally planned to?
• No?
• Well, then, I guess I'm back to being depressed.
• Gah.

Needless to say, Keith isn't on board with this idea...

I'm in such an incredibly bad mood tonight, and I have absolutely no idea why. But the day didn't start well with me waking up at 5:30 (after going to bed at 1:45) from a nightmare, and then waking up again around 11 crying from a really mean, nasty dream.

Ugh.

Anyway. Remember when I wrote all these crazy, fanciful visions and dreams about how I wanted my wedding to be like?

Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. Bwahahahahahahahahaha. ha. ha. ha. HA.

Ahem.

Excuse me.

Yeah. Now that I'm looking to do a B.A.(hon) next fall (Honours because that allows you to do a Graduate degree afterwards, and I'm not about to close doors over a few measly extra credits) - anyway, now that I'm adding potentially another 3 or 4 years to the being-so-broke-it-hurts style of living, well, um. Let's just say the wedding won't be until, what? fifteen years? after the world was supposed to end?

And this depresses me. Immensely.

Right now, this is how I want to get married;
Marriage License; 145$
Rings; 2,500$ (we both want custom-designed pieces with bling)
Nice dinner out; 120$

And in a few years, when we can actually afford a big party, we'll throw one. Big effing woop.

Replay perfection

The last time my laptop crashed, I decided not to install any music downloading software. This was a pretty painful decision, since I used to listen to music constantly, but it seems to have helped with keeping my laptop going (that, and a fan I bought to put underneath). So I've been relying on youtube whenever I get the itch to listen to music; I find a song and usually play it on repeat for about an hour (it drives Keith CRAZY). But this song sums up my attitude these days perfectly; it started playing and I spontaneously started singing along to it.



Go on, have a listen - I dare you not to sing along too!

(Not-So) Wordless Wednesday

• Found out via Facebook that Tim Wojna's killer was found guilty. Relieved doesn't even begin to cover the array of emotions I'm feeling right now. Mostly, I just miss him.
• I beat my weight-loss goal this week by a pound. Total loss over five months? 35 pounds. Go me!
• Just went to put my laundry in. Kay, in our laundrymat, we have two double load front-loaders, and the rest are just regular old washers. Both were clearly showing they had two dollars owing to them to make them work - so I start loading one up. Naturally. And then this old lady with an incredibly thick accent comes over and quite loudly says "I PUT MONEY IN THAT, THAT'S MINE!" No, no you didn't, lady, it says - 2.00$. If you put money in it, it wouldn't say that. Asshat.
• My mother arrives this afternoon. Hilariousness will ensure, I am sure. /sarcasm.
• The elevator smells like hot garbage.
• I'm effing hungry. And lazy. Someone come make me lunch. Or buy. I'm not picky.
• Sigh.

Rewards

For the past eight weeks, I've been a standstill, weight-wise. I'd lose up to 2.5 pounds just to gain it all back the following week. Lose, gain. Lose, gain. Part of that was going back onto food, and owing the gym 226$ (since fixed and now going semi-regularly), but now it's mostly just fustration and lack of motivation from the lack of success. I realize I need some concrete goals tied to when I hit specific amounts of weight, so I've been thinking -

On Tuesday, if I lose what I gained last week, plus another half pound (2.5 to be exact), I get new headphones for my mp3 player.

When I reach 270, I'll treat myself to a mani/pedi.

Reach 240, and I will get my hair professionally cut, dyed/highlighted, blown-out, etc. etc.

Reach 200/180, and I will treat myself to Lululemon pants. I'm kinda drooling right now thinking about them, to be honest! (The reason for 200/180 is that I'm not sure I'll actually FIT into Lululemon pants at 200, so we'll see.)

Reach 150 and I will get my make-up professionally done and learn how to take care of my skin and do my makeup properly. Also will invest in some quality makeup/skin care stuff, as well as contact lenses.

And when I reach my goal weight, which is around 140 to 135, OR if I maintain 150 successfully and happily for 6 months, then I'll buy myself a violin. And lessons for 6 to 12 months, depending on cost. (I have no idea what my 'ideal' weight is because I've been heavy for so fricking long; it might be 150, it might be 135, or it might be anywhere in between - I won't know until I get there, really. )

I'm also giving myself around 14-15 months to complete this, but I'm not going to beat myself up if I'm not 135 by that time. As long as I'm working towards the end goal, if October 2010 rolls around and I'm higher than that, I won't really give a shit. The main reason for that is I want to be as close to my "ideal/goal" weight as possible when it's time to go dress shopping (and I don't think I need to get into all the reasons for that line of thinking, I'm pretty sure you can figure it out), but pffft. Dress shopping can be pushed back a month or two (or six).

I like that pretty much all these rewards have something to do with making myself look better. I haven't liked how I've looked for a really long time now and I think by celebrating my new self by improving other cosmetic aspects (hair, nails, pants that make your ass look delectable) is such a great thing to do. And, as I move from student into young professional, probably necessary as well. The violin thing is because I've wanted one for a long time and I miss playing so much that I think it should be my end goal.

So what do you think? If you're on the weight-loss train, what goals have you set for yourself that work? Have you achieved any of them?

Why do these things exist? WHY?

Cleaning out the second bedroom has yielded some treasures, let me tell you.

Treasures like this book;

Why! That sounds promising, let's just open it up and take a gander, shall we?

Cripes! First off, who's bright idea was it to stick random roses on that girls dress? Did they think it would make it look better??! And secondly, ANYONE who makes someone wear something that hideous to be a part of their wedding party SHOULD BE SHOT. No questions asked. Seriously. That is the mother of all butt-bows, that is. Yuech.

And then there's this gem:

Seriously, Keith? SERIOUSLY? I can't believe you spent money on this. And if you got it for free, I'd re-think your friendship with them. Whoever gave it to you needs their lobotomy reversed.

But the best one is a board game (and I use that term very, very, very loosely here) called French Kiss. Check what's written on the back:

Be prepared for the sexual act? Your sexuality will be in extasy? What.The.Hell?? First off, ecstasy is spelled wrong, and um, be prepared for the sexual act??? I'm surprised the game didn't come with a sheath of condoms.

And then you open the baby up, and WOW, IT'S MICHAEL JACKSON! Nice celebrity endorsement there, although anything endorsed by him should have normal people running for the hills, in my opinion. And he's next to an .... ostrich?! Wha? What do ostriches have to with ANY part of the "sexual act"? Unless you're into that sort of thing, and in that case I think you should be looking in the yellow pages for a licensed therapist, not playing an "erotic" boardgame. Just sayin'.

And I don't know about you guys, but a random coloured strip of practically naked baby cherubs dancing around does NOT do it for me. What a horribly inappropriate thing to have on something like this!! WHAT CRACK ARE THESE GAME DESIGNERS SMOKING???

Needless to say, all the items mentioned above WILL be donated to poor unlucky Value Village sometime in the near future. Even if Keith wants to keep them. There is absolutely no effing way I am having them in the house. NO EFFING WAY.

In which I talk about an issue you're supposed to pretend doesn't exist -

Money.

Ugh. Even the word is making me cringe. We're in that awful last month, where my student loans are so tantalizingly close to being disbursed and all the money from the last student loan is gone. The part-time job I got three weeks ago is a huge help in keeping us afloat right now but we're still definitely feeling the squeeze.

Case in point; within the next two pays, we have to find the money to pay for Keith's part-time course for the fall semester. These courses aren't cheap! Five hundred and some change a pop. Geesh. However, it's a super necessary expense, absolutely non-negotiable. Five hundred has to be found, and paid, and that's it.

Ideally it would be the next pay, but the next pay is technically rent. You know how they say your housing costs should not be more than 30% of your net income? Yeah. Right. Excuse me while I laugh. We don't live outside our means; we just don't make enough. I go to school full-time and work part-time, Keith works full-time and goes to school part-time. There's not much else we can do. (And I am, in NO way, saying we live in a fancy place. We don't. We actually live surrounded by a pretty bad area of town; our "pocket" is nice, but that's it. Renting in Ottawa is INCREDIBLY expensive.)

Add to the mix that paydays are wonky for the next little bit - as in, next payday is August 21st. Rent? Due Sept 1st. Payday after that? You guessed it. The fourth. Sigh. OF COURSE. And the fact that we're in a loop for payday loans right now adds to the stress.

On the 21st, we will not be paying rent. We will write a self-cheque for the amount on the 30th, put it in the bank account, and keep writing cheques until the payday on the 4th. On the 21st, we will be paying back the payday loan, the gym cheque, Keith's course, some groceries, and gas money for Keith's parents. That's all we can afford right now. The Rogers bill will go unpaid, as much as I hate doing that. Oh well. There's really nothing you can do if you don't have the money.

We can't afford to even go to the movies, or dinner out, because if we do, then we're scrambling for money for the next three pays. Yes, we go on "vacations" and trips home (and in all honesty, I've been home twice with Keith, 2 weekend-trips, and one week-long one. In a year and a half), but those are carefully planned, budgeted excursions. I think you'd all agree everyone deserves a little R&R. So please, no judgment.

It absolutely SUCKS living like this. I won't lie; the big draw to me to start working in a professional career when I graduate as opposed to going to University for another 3 years is the money. I'm so tired of struggling. I dream of the day we can pay bills and rent with ease. I dream of the day we can look at our bank accounts and have money left over for saving. I dream of the day we don't have to resort to a payday loan, cheques don't bounce, and we don't have to resort to writing ourselves cheques to cover rent.

Sigh. It'll get better; it has to. Some day.

Frozen boobies will occur

The past few days I've been feeling the cleaning bug and getting a few apartment projects that I've been wanting/needing to do since I first moved in. A year ago.

I finally got tired of waiting around for Keith to feel it too and decided I would think of myself as "single" in order to get these projects done. As in, if I lived alone, these would be done already, so stop waiting on the other half to help. That sounded a lot worse than I intended it to, but sometimes that mentality helps. It sure does in this case.

Basically there are three things that need to get done; cleaning out the hall closet, cleaning and re-organizing what we affectionately call "The second bedroom", and putting the damn shelves up.

I cleaned out the hall closet yesterday and donated a whole black garbage bag of jackets, mitts/scarves/toques and other assorted items that were left over from K's ex. I was expecting it to be a whole lot worse than it was; it turned out to be a quick hour (or two) job. I don't even know why I waited a full year to even look at it. And now it's all organized and cleaned and PRETTY.

The second bedroom is a bit more of a challenge; its probably going to take me two or three days to get it done - really it's an onsite storage closet that has served as a catch-all for EVERYTHING over the years. There's a small freezer in there as well as a couple of deep wall shelves and two shelving units with doors with floor space left over, but we have so much on the floor that you can't really use any of the storage stuff. The shelving units used to be used as extra pantry space, but honestly? There's candy in there thats 4 years old. (Aside: Does anyone know if canned spaghetti sauce goes bad? Gatorade?) The freezer runs off the lightswitch; guess who turned out the lightswitch for months unknowingly? Yeah. NOT looking forward to opening that baby up and seeing the damage.

And then there's just STUFF. STUFF that's piled to the ceiling and Keith hasn't used in years and just really needs to be thrown out/donated. Am expecting some resistance to this, because Keith, as it turns out, is a fucking pack-rat. Doesn't want to throw out ANYTHING. Even if he hasn't used in the 2 years I've known him, and I can't see a situation where he would, ever, HE WILL NOT PART WITH IT. Which explains why I'm facing this predicament right now, doesn't it?

The shelves. Ah, the shelves. The f%&@king shelves. A YEAR AGO, I said, let's take them down. A YEAR AGO, I said, lets spray paint them red. And then winter happened. And I said, let's do a second coat. IN MAY.
They are now sitting in my living room, have been since JUNE, and they are mocking me in all their reddish glory. They need to be put up, they need to be put up NOW. And then I will ignore them for the rest of existence (or until we move).

Oh, TMI, but it has to be said: Do not lean over to reach the bottom of the freezer (which, incidentally, has a giant candy cane stuck to the bottom - those don't go bad, do they?) while not wearing a shirt. Frozen boobies will occur.

Who DOES that?

Who has class at 10am every single Thursday for four months, and yet on the last Thursday of the semester (on which day they had to be the judge in a mock trial presentation) thinks class starts at noon?

WHO DOES THAT!? WHO?

Me, apparently.

My idiocy astounds me sometimes. I don't even understand where the "class starts at noon today" thought came from - as I said before, it's been ten am EVERY SINGLE THURSDAY. FOR FOUR MONTHS. And yet, suddenly, I thought today started at noon. FOR SOME UNEXPLAINABLE REASON.

This is just proof I will NEVER work in a civil law firm. I am a flake. An incredibly unreliable flake. I feel so incredibly stupid - and rightly so. I don't even really want to tell my teammates the reason I missed the presentation today, because the excuse is just that lame. Seriously. "The dog ate my homework" is a better excuse than, "I am incredibly stupid and flaky and I totally blanked on when class starts even though its been THE SAME TIME EVERY SINGLE THURSDAY FOR THE PAST FOUR MONTHS."

SERIOUSLY, WHO DOES SOMETHING LIKE THAT?

how I'm going to do this in 'real life' is a mystery

getting up at 6:30am sucks. Sucks sucks sucks sucks sucks sucks. To make it worse, Keith gets up with me and today he is singing. Singing! WHAT THE EFFING HELL?!

It's day 9 in a row of me having to wake up at 6:30, and if you haven't guessed, YES I'M CRABBY. Grrrrr. And somehow I am incapable of going to bed before midnight. Don't know exactly how it happens, but every night despite my best intentions, midnight rolls around and I'm still awake. Such a pissoff.

I figure that if you get up and you have no e-mails waiting, ITS TOO EARLY. Way, way, WAY too early.

And it's not ending any time soon - I have class all week and then Saturday I work at 7, meaning I have to get up even earlier. AS IF THAT WERE POSSIBLE.

Last Month Crunch *squeeze*

Hey guys! Reporting to you from the trenches of "the last month crunch". Papers are flying thick around here and we're right in the middle of the action. WOW! This is intense! Now, shiny teeth and hair person, back to you in the studio. I'm Sarah XXX, CollegeNews.

Ha. All joking aside, it's been an intense week and I still have two and a half weeks to go until basically the end of the semester. I kid you not, this week I have had 5 different projects due and next week I have the same amount to slough through. Since I work better when I concentrate on one project at a time, that's a project a day to finish. And since my English credit is only 5 weeks long (well, 2 and a half by this point), she assigns something each day to be done for the next class. Pretty intensive course.

Of course, I'm crazy, so I got a part-time job last week and now I'm trying to fit in training on a day-to-day basis until I get on the schedule. Ugh.

Anyway. I had an oral presentation to do for English today and I was so nervous and stressed about it because the topic was "How I got here". (How to tell it's full of immigrants....Really? You couldn't?).
So I did it about my, um, housing challenged period. It actually went super well! The prof actually called it "profound" and wants a copy of my powerpoint slides. Nice. And a couple people came up to me after class and congratulated me on having the courage to present something like that, etc. One girl actually gave me a little piece of paper with all the comments/marks she had given me (we were peer evaluating each other) and told me I was the only one she had given 40/40 to. Nice!
She wrote: "Profound/moving! Well presented! Awesome! Awe-inspiring! Emotional with fantastic use of slides! Took a lot of courage! Educational and informative!"
(yes, she put an exclamation point after everything. It sounds! so peppy! and upbeat! OMGZZZ! Like, really!)

ANYWAY. Just thought I'd come here to brag, cuz ya know, I'm klassy like that. And now that my head is sufficiently blown up from all this ego-stroking, I shall go back to drafting a f#%king bill of costs. Yippeeeeeeee.

new project

Just a quick note to say that I've started a new project. Because clearly, I don't waste enough time in a day.

The basic gist of it is that it's a story-telling blog for the Legacy Challenge in Sims3. You create a Sim with humble beginnings, and then through 10 generations try to lead them to fame, fortune and success.

The most obvious rules:
Can't cheat (obviously)
Can't pick your traits for your Sims, other than the Founder.

Both those are hard rules for me to follow. I usually move my Sims into a house, and then give them 50k to afford the best stuff. And, I never let my Sims have "bad" traits, like Klepto or Insane. I much prefer them to have characteristics such as Brave, or Athletic, or whatever.

Also, the house thing. I've NEVER built one in all my time playing the Sims (2 & 3), nor have I ever done any kind of story-telling within game either. So those are definitely going to be challenges as well.

Anyway, if you want to check it out, it's called The Wisk Legacy.

I can't promise it'll be as good as The Broxton Legacy and it definitely won't be as good as Alice & Kev: A tale of being homeless in Sims3, but I'll try my best!

(Housekeeping note: the blog layout and style is still very much under construction. Thanks!)

Feel free to laugh, I sure am

This post is a part of 20SB’s Looking Back Blog Carnival, and Ben & Jerry’s is awarding free ice cream to lucky bloggers and readers. For more info, check it out here.

So this is from the very first month I started blogging - I was 15 and living at home and I had a boyfriend named Chris who lived 45 min away from me (oh, gotta love Huron-Perth county!) and holy CRAP, does that ever feel like a lifetime ago. Oh, and about the Shakespeare thing? Yeah, we didn't have to write it in iambic pentameter - I did that just for kicks. I'm kinda geeky like that.

Tuesday, December 10, 2002
I was pretty much paid the biggest compliment
of my life yesterday. And no, it didn't come from Chris. Or my mother. Or any family member, for that matter.
It came from my English teacher. I borrowed the movie we were watching in class
because I missed three classes last week, and she really needed it back yesterday, on Monday. So of course I bring it, and she went "Some people
you just count on to not screw up."
Also, today, we had to pick a topic for our culiminating task for Much Ado
About Nothing. I picked the "in-voice" journal....and I
couldn't really decide who I was going to do it on. So finally I picked Beatrice, and Ms.Kappler was like "I was kinda hoping you'd pick that person." I go..."Why?" Ms. Kappler "Because she's an excellent choice for
you....gutsy and independent" (She's right, ya know.....you gotta be gutsy
to be goin out with a guy like Chris!!....heehee, mwa, I love you sweetie)
Anyway.....anyone EVER try to write in iambic pentameter?! Stupid, stupid
Shakespeare!
Btw, how is getting everything right on a questionnaire about your boyfriend scary? So I pay attention! I'm smart for a reason, people! On that thread of
thought, why haven't I gotten that back about me? hmmmm Chris? O yea, had a very interesting conversation with Erica last night.....::frowns::..
They put too much chlorine in the pool. I swam 2 and a half hours last night and an hour and a half this morning, so my shoulders and face are burning and really itchy. URGH!!! I feel horrible. Ok, an OFSSA time for a 50 free is a
:30.25 Right now my time stands at a :35. If I achieve an OFSSA time, then I
will probably be going to Western Regions, which is a double whammy. And if I
get my time down to a :28 I'm a likely candidate for Provincials. But thats not really going to happen. At least not this year anyway. Yesterday I had choir practice at my church for like 2 hours. I get to sing soprano this year but I was trying to hit this extremely high note and falling flat almost every time.
It was so fustrating, because I'm supposed to be a good singer and able to hit
that note and I just couldn't do that last night.
My poetry blog is up and running....its called Jardin Des Reves and the
address is www.jardindesreves.blogspot.com. I have a link in this blog but since
my links are currently white, they aren't showing up. By tomorrow I should have
a new poem posted. Go check it out if you want. (Tomorrow, of course)
Chris, one piece of advice. When you write something and are finished with
it, just go Shift+Ctrl+S. That'll publish it. Another thing, at the
beginning of each post, go < font color= and type in this six
digit/letter code. 9999FF... > This will make your posts blue....which is
what you want!!

Bebe

Absolutely delicious, decidedly nutritious....

You guys, I have food in my fridge. Real, honest to goodness yummy nummy FOOD.

For three months, all our fridge had in it was diet pop, a jug of water, and a few condiments.

Now we have diet pop, water, condiments, and THIS:You have NO IDEA how excited this makes me.

Oh! And wanna see my dinner? I swear - I never thought I could eat like this AND ENJOY IT.

Basically, that's a quarter cup of whole wheat pasta, 1 cup of tomato sauce, 3 oz of extra lean ground beef, 2 cups of chopped red, yellow & green peppers, a stalk of celery and one green onion with a side of 2 cups of steamed carrots, green & yellow beans with, of course, a diet pop to drink.

Doesn't that look amazing??!

AND, believe it or not, in about an hour (because man am I STUFFED!) I can have half a cup of low-fat frozen yoghurt with 2 cups of strawberries for dessert. Nom nom nom.

it's friday, I'm not required to think

Got this from Kelly. Mwah.

1. What is your current obsession? Sims3. And looking at my very pretty sparkly ring!!

2. What is your weirdest obsession? Collecting different versions of Monopoly. So far we have 3.

3. What do you see outside your window? Straight out: the other highrise in our complex, trees, buildings, blue sky and a highway. If I look down I can see the parking lot, grass and the pool.

4. What is your favourite colour? Yellow, Orange, Red, Silver, Blue.

5. What is your weakness? Books. Gah.

6. What animal would you be? GROUNDHOG! haha. Seriously, wtf?

7. What would you like to learn how to do? Be patient.

8. What do you want to never happen in life? Not sure.

9. What is on your bedside table? My rhiny horno, table lamp, phone, Dsi, book, a couple stray elastics & bobbypins, ring box, purple pen, a tub of mango body butter, two remotes, probably a couple of empty Sprite Zeros.

10. What's the last thing you bought? Little Pink Slips by Sally Koslow.

11. What do you think about the person who tagged you? I worry about her - she doesn't seem to be in a good headspace lately.

12. What was your favorite children's book? The classics - Hungry Caterpillar, Goodnight Moon, Love You Forever, etc.

13. Who do you want to meet in person? Keith's siblings! Damn them living on the other side of the country!

14. What did you want to be as a child? Writer/Journalist/Lawyer.

15. What did you dream about last night? I didn't.

16. Which do you prefer, day or night? Anytime I'm not tired.

17. What's your favourite piece of clothing in your closet? It's a tossup between my enormous black hoody that I've worn everyday (or close to it) since getting it last October, and my new purple tank top with lace at the top.

18. What's your plan for tomorrow? Finish nitpicky things on assignment, class, submit assignment, pay bills, look at my pretty ring, buy food for Elvis, play Sims3, read a book, play Dsi, listen to country music, take a nap & go to bed late. My life is hard eh?

19. What would you like to get your hands on right now? A RIDICULOUSLY ENORMOUS WAD OF CASH.

20. What is your must-have of the moment? My phone. Where the HELL is it?

21. What's your favourite tea flavour? Sugar. And milk.

22. If you could go anywhere in the world right now, where would you go? Europe.

Are you blind?

The whole story really starts at about 4pm on Thursday....I was napping and all I heard was "Hi sweetie, I'm home." He then kissed my head and announced, "and now I'm off to school." In my half-awake state, I thought this was really weird as he usually has an hour or so between work and school, but it didn't stop me from sleeping another hour.

I got up at 5 and checked my bank account - and I saw the transaction from the jeweller (my account has the higher POS limit) and I immediately screamed and got very, very shaky. And then I was half-mad at myself for looking; but really? That's me. It's not that I hate surprises, it's that I'm so impatient that surprises never last long around me.

This was at five. Keith had school until at least 9:30. The next four hours passed by agonizingly slowly - although Keith called me twice, emailed me once, and we had a mini-conversation on Facebook about my status. I also thought that weird, because we're adults - we CAN go 4 hours without speaking to one another, believe it or not. I just chalked it up to him getting a new cell phone the day before.

The next part of the story is really, really embarrassing. He got home at 9:30, like usual. I actually started patting him down looking for the ring! (I can't believe I did that!) Needless to say, I didn't find it - and he explained the transaction away by saying they had made a mistake and the ring wasn't quite ready, but since he was there he just paid off the remaining balance. (He really knows how to deal with me, huh?)

Ahem.

My mood immediately went from nervous excitement to, well, I think you can imagine. I was disappointed, and yet chiding myself because it was silly to be disappointed - I wasn't even supposed to know! I was really tired at this point (about 11) so I decided to call it an early night. I went to bed and finished reading July's issue of Cosmo. I'd like to note here that he had me totally convinced that he didn't have the ring yet.

Keith followed me into bed and we just did normal stuff - watching TV, playing on the Dsi, talking - you know, just stuff. Then we started cuddling and slightly making out, which was really nice since we haven't done that in awhile. I was laying on his chest when he remarked "Are you blind? There was something on my desk the entire time."

I sat up and gulped while my stomach did a nervous flipflop. "What?" I asked. I'm not going to lie, it honestly felt like he was lunging at me while his hand came out from underneath his pillow and suddenlythere was this object in my face. It took me a few seconds to realize what that object was and it was as if his voice was coming from very, very far away - "Will you marry me?"

It was the most surreal experience of my LIFE. I managed to choke out a yes (obviously), but it felt like everything was like when they dub something and its a little off - his mouth was moving but I didn't hear them until a few seconds later. So surreal.

The wedding won't be for a couple of years yet. We've both decided that the focus right now is on our schooling and - let's be honest here - neither us nor our respective parents are in a financial position to host a wedding.

But that's okay, honestly. Just knowing I will marry him (and that it's official) someday is enough.

life-changing

I'M ENGAGED!!!!

I'll tell you the story in a day or two. Right now I want to just savour what happened.

(oh, and PLEASE click to enlarge, these don't do it nearly enough justice)

bang bang

• I LOVE unexpected money. In all forms! Like unexpected cheques, a bill for half the amount you planned on, or even just a kind salesperson that says they'll waive the connection fee for both cellphones.
• Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons. Sigh. "Walk Like A Man," "Big Girls Don't Cry," "Beggin'," "Can't Take My Eyes Off You," "Who Loves You, Pretty Baby?" "Swearing To God," "Oh! What a Night," "Grease," "My Eyes Adored You," are all on instant replay in this household.
• Getting very, very fustrated with this whole losing a half pound to a pound a week thing. Although it did take 9 years to put on, so perspective & patience are needed.
• I don't think my Mom will EVER stop working. I mean it. On her vacation this summer, she's headed to China to teach ESL for a month. WORKING. On her VACATION. Intense.
• I can't believe its nearly been two years for Keith and I. Every day I look at him and feel so, so incredibly lucky.
• Our trip was great. We really did tons - Ontario Science Centre, BlueJays game, CN Tower, the Zoo, Jersey Boys, ROM, Casa Loma. We were complimentarily upgraded to a queen suite, which was massive - 430sq ft. I got a wicked sunburn, a huge blister on the bottom of my foot and won a full game of Trivial Pursuit. I wore very impractical shoes and then limped very painfully through 3 hours at the zoo and 3 hours at the CN Tower on Friday, and at Casa Loma climbed so many stairs that until yesterday my legs felt amputated from the thighs.

(see that tower? Yeah. Climbed that to the top. Ouch).

(Favourite room in the entire castle - The Observatory)

gems

new trick

We're packed and counting down the hours until we leave. The one thing I absolutely HATE is having to put Molly in the kennel when we go away, so a couple of nights before, she gets absolutely spoiled with treats and cuddles. I'll miss her so incredibly much :(





(For those interested: weight loss: 3.5 pounds, 1 inch. Totals: 28 pounds, 5 inches)

new & old

Meet my new sexy phone:

It's a Blackberry Pearl Flip 8820
in PINK. (it's okay to be jealous)

My new toy; the game I got for it was Brain Age 2.

And because you haven't seen them in awhile (and they're still incredibly cute):

Can I start packing yet?

Keith's on vacation for the next week and we're off to Toronto in 3 days! Keith and I are SO excited - the last trip we took was in November for his birthday. It was a loooong winter, let me tell you. Sheesh.

The day after we get there, my bestest friend is coming down from Blyth to spend two days with us and oh, I can't WAIT to see her. And on Saturday, my mom is driving from London (after a teachers conference, no less!) to spend a day with us. Mom & I are going to see Jersey Boys on Saturday night and then the three of us are going to the ROM on Sunday morning/afternoon. I haven't seen my mom since Thanksgiving. That's WAY too long, if you ask me. But the trip to Stratford - Ottawa takes a day (literally) and its hard to find the money & time; it's not like you can just 'pop up' there for a weekend.

Because of my diet there's some logisitics to the trip that I've never had to think about before - like realizing last night that we have to bring along dish soap. DISH SOAP. How weird is that? But I need something to clean my shakers out every day.

Other than that there's just the usual to do before we leave anywhere - namely make sure the house is clean and the laundry is done. Which I should be doing now instead of typing this. Ahem.

Trip:
Thursday: Peggy arrives 8:10am at Union Station, then Hockey Hall of Fame, Ontario Science Centre and CN Tower (at night).
Friday: Toronto Zoo! Peggy leaves at 10pm *sad face*
Saturday: Jays Game at 1pm, Mom arrives at 5pm, show at 8.
Sunday: Checkout at 11am, ROM for afternoon, then catching the Greyhound at 6:30. Get into Ottawa at midnight.
Monday: Keith calls in sick? Maybe?

mystery

Next week is going to be the longest week of my life. And what kills me is I don't want to say anything because I want it to be this BIG! SURPRISE! when it happens.

I can't wait to show you pictures.

It's going to be beautiful.

8 things + results

Loss: 7 pounds (3.2kg)
Inches: 1 inch
Blood pressure: 120/80
Totals: 27 pounds (12.3 kg) and 4 inches.

Also, Mrs. E from The Marvelous Mrs. E tagged me today.

8 Things

8 Things I'm Looking Forward to:
vacation in a week
eating again
getting engaged
finishing my diploma
going to bed
watching the 90210 season finale
getting weighed next week
seeing my dad this summer

8 Things I did yesterday:
Watched Harry Potter movies #3-5.
Watched some Sex & The City.
Slept
Stayed naked all day
Did some wedding research
Snuggled with Keith
Went to the bathroom every 20 minutes (damn liquid diet)
Did some homework

8 Things I wish I could do:
Speak French fluently
Eat
Start actual wedding planning
Fit into a size 10
A cart-wheel
Get an A on every exam and assignment
Save money
Afford name-brand cigarettes.

8 Shows I watch:
90210
Grey's Anatomy
Flashpoint
Friends
Sex & The City
Criminal Minds
Say Yes To The Dress
18 kids and counting (don't judge)

8 Tags:
Heather's Daily Life
The Well Written Kitty
Dustyn & Kamie
Patiently Waiting
FiveBlondes
Empty Uterus Syndrome
Weedze - That's Me