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Andrea MacDonald - I'm a simple songwriter, a thinker, slinging coffee and espresso by day and mulling over the generalities and purities of life. I'm also an amateur poet and photographer, guitarist, pianist and open mic host extraordinaire.
(Added: 14-May-2005 Hits: 244 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

  • 3:45am
    I went to bed early tonight (last night?) - earlier than I've been to bed in a long time. I woke up a few minutes ago with a terrible thirst and wide awake. I mean really awake. So, for the last twenty minutes or so I've been drinking water and catching up on my blog-reading. Whilst doing so, I realized that it's been a good long while since I wrote on my own. So here you go.

    I painted my bathroom today. My whole apartment, while a nice place, was painted this blue/grey color which became to be a bit much for me. I love color, and this drab neutrality on the walls was getting me down. I wanted to be inspired by the rooms I was spending so much time in. So, after painting the kitchen a lovely minty-green color last week, I went ahead and painted the bathroom a warm yellow.  I discovered in the process that bathrooms are hard places to paint - tight corners and all . . . not to mention it's difficult to stand on a step-ladder in the bathtub. So it actually took longer than the kitchen, I think. And it doesn't look as nice as I'd like it to. But it's done, and it looks okay. 

    On another note, STEVE POLTZ IS GOING TO PLAY MUSIC IN MY LIVING ROOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    I can't believe he agreed to do it, he'll be here on Thursday, Sept. 25th. So excited. 

    Okay, now I'm getting tired again. Time to go back to bed. Work tomorrow.
  • Mornings . . .
    I kind of miss mornings. Since I moved into this place, I've been staying up late (or not sleeping at all - thank you, insomnia) and sleeping in late, thanks to my regular work shift of 2:30pm to 9:30pm. Today I woke up at 8am (still not that early, I know) and ran some errands. I did some banking, bought a breakfast muffin from Beanz, had some coffee and cleaned up my room. In a few minutes, I'm going to buy a few groceries and some beer for the show on Thursday night. I'm pretty darn excited about this. I just hope that my roommates can keep the house clean until then.

    In other news, I've started a new project with Sean. This includes us sending each other lyrics to put to music. Sean has been having trouble coming up with lyrics, he says, although the ones that he sent me a few days ago are pretty tight, so I'm finding that more and more hard to believe. At any rate, this could be an interesting collaboration.

    And I'm off.
    Drea
  • A wonderful weekend . . .
    Last weekend was great. Although a little bit dissappointing in the amount of people who came out to my shows, still tons of fun. While we didn't get a chance to camp, I did get to meet a couple of Andrew's friends from St. John who took us in and gave us beds to sleep in. They were great. Our first morning on the road we got up semi-early to have a dip in the reservoir before heading out on the road. Boy was it refreshing. We were out of the water just in time to see the fog roll in. That was impressive. Then, it was samosas at the market, and good coffee from the mall, and then the road again. We drove around the Bay of Fundy to southern Nova Scotia, to the cute little harbour town called Liverpool. While there seemed to be no one in the town, it was still pretty. And while there was no one in the bar for the show, it was still fun.

    I didn't sleep much that night. We hung out in the sweaty hotel room that I got for free for a few hours, listened to a funny/cheesy local DJ and then the boys left. Ted went back to his hotel and his new wife, and Andrew and Sean headed downstairs to the hostel part of the building. I took off most of my clothes, turned on the television, and opened another beer - hoping to drink until I passed out, as I just didn't think I could sleep in that heat. I watched an episode of ER, a bit of Saturday Night Live (as bad as I remember), and then passed out for a few hours. The alarm clock went off at 8am, and I immediatly ran a cold bath for myself (this room didn't have a shower). I sat in the bath with a magazine for about a half hour, and then went back to bed. I managed to get up and get packed by the time we were supposed to leave (to get Sean back to work in New Glasgow).

    I really liked the drive home, and I'd love to go back to the Southern part of Nova Scotia sometime soon, it's beautiful. We barely made it on the ferry (second last car - how cool is that?:) and made it home before 5pm. I then had a nap.

    So, now it's time to prepare for the amazing show happening down at Ampersand this Thursday evening, and the after-party at my place afterwards. Not to mention my weekend away in Sackville for Sappyfest, which I am waaaay too excited for.

    Should be a good week.
    Drea

    http://www.sappyrecords.com/sappyfest_08/lineup_08.htm
  • Constantly Risking Absurdity
    Constantly risking absurdity
    and death
    whenever he performs
    above the heads
    of his audience
    the poet like an acrobat
    climbs on rime
    to a high wire of his own making
    and balancing on eyebeams
    above a sea of faces
    paces his way
    to the other side of the day
    performing entrachats
    and sleight-of-foot tricks
    and other high theatrics
    and all without mistaking
    any thing
    for what it may not be
    For he's the super realist
    who must perforce perceive
    taut truth
    before the taking of each stance or step
    in his supposed advance
    toward that still higher perch
    where Beauty stands and waits
    with gravity
    to start her death-defying leap
    And he
    a little charleychaplin man
    who may or may not catch
    her fair eternal form
    spreadeagled in the empty air
    of existence

    - Lawrence Ferlinghetti
  • Poltz

Animals aren't just for petting - Blog from "Slap me backwards and pet me sideways".
(Added: 5-Apr-2005 Hits: 194 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

  • Back baby - look out
    Well after a bit of a hiatus I?m back to my reliable blog. Sorry if anyone?s been checking (doubtable) but I just haven?t had the urge to blog at all. Anyway I?m not going to make this a long one, just wanted to update everyone on what?s taking place in my life right now.

    I?m really liking my job right now, getting along awesome and starting to do my own projects. It?s hard to believe how much a job can change when you can look at what you?ve done and feel a sense of accomplishment.

    I?m positive that if anyone interrogated me on the meaning of love I could explain it without a breath of hesitation. This weekend I?ll have been seeing Jelena for six months now and we are planning to go to Moncton. This will be our first trip together and I can?t wait. It?s funny when you have these feelings, things you thought were never going to happen or things that you thought were far off in the future really start to seem realistic.

    I?ll be turning 24 this January 10th and I?m starting to feel old, I realized this Christmas that I?ve got to get things in order, living healthy, saving money(in the process), and being more ambitious.

    After Christmas holidays I got back home to Summerside and was surprised with some rather big news. Marc has gotten engaged. We knew that this would happen sometime, Christ it?s been a long time coming but it was shocking that he never told any of us about it at all before he popped the question. The wedding is going to be sometime in September and is going to be an awesome time. I?ll be standing for him along with a bunch of our other close buddies so it should be a good night.

    Well I had without a doubt the best Christmas and definitely the best new years ever this year. It was nice spending time with all the family. My sister was home from Halifax and we all got together, that?s my three sisters and my bro. Between them all that makes 9 nieces so it?s a loud place around my house. Lots of little girls screaming and unfortunately for me, I?m the choice for the holiday amusement parks. I love it though, their all good kids.

    Anyway enough about me, this next part is a vent. I?m sick of childish, insignificant, petty and undeserving people that have to, through their own self-wallowing, steep to a level of slandering and badmouthing other people behind their back just so they feel better about them selves. I don?t know why, has no body told them that they just look desperate and spineless. You?re friends grow tired of this, your starting to be more of a tumor, a cancer, hanging around that just keeps bringing up tired and long since dead topics. Move on and get over whatever it is that has you acting like an immature, spoiled brat. What are you waiting for, someone to tell you that your actually getting to them, sorry to break the news to you but we all just sit around laughing and pitying how sorry we are about your pathetic life. You do however make a great topic of conversation, it?s not everyday somebody can make a complete ass of themselves but obviously you have figured out a way that amuses and keeps us all laughing , keep up the good work.

    Anyway that?s all I have to say about that, just move on and stop being such a little bitch. Well I?m glad I got that out there, hope I didn?t offend anyone, well there is one I do hope that I offended. I?ll try to make this blog thing more regular.

    Peace everyone

    Scottie
  • Some people have to learn when to keep their mouth shut, I'm probably one but at least i realize it
    What a great fucking week, I feel like a new man.

    After taking a weeks vacation this Monday was my first day back. It was a little weird going back to work but I actually didn?t mind getting up and going in today. I guess you could say I was looking forward to it in a way.

    I pretty much just spent the last week at the beach and beside the pool. I went out to Montague and Brudenell for a few nights. That is an awesome resort, they have horses to ride, canoes and kayaks to paddle, Nature trails to hike, Great camp grounds but the topper is the awesome hotel. We had planned on going camping but they couldn?t guarantee a spot because they were booked solid so we decided to stay at the hotel instead. It was a really nice spot.

    I went to BasinHead, Brackley, Tracidie, and Kepick beach. It was just awesome. We took some of my nieces to Brackley and then they got the bright idea to bury me in sand. Of course I let them being the good sport that I am. Spent a few days hanging out at my sisters pool just relaxing and soaking up the rays. Went sailing on evening, oh yes, did I happen to tell anyone that I?m on a sailing team. Yeah you can say it I?m a ?sailor?, but I?ll tell you one thing it is a sport that I wish I would have done years ago. I really want to have my own sail boat when I?m older. Also got a few rounds of golf in to boot.

    Didn?t drink much but that is alright with me. I did get one good bash in last Saturday though. Had a great time, went to peaks and seen some good friends that I haven?t seen in a while. Probably haven?t been that drunk in years but fuck it was well deserved and needed. I have no idea how when I left or how the hell I made it back to Billy?s place. I do remember waking up with a monster hang over but I didn?t care. I haven?t been to Myron?s since they reopened. Actually I don?t really care if I do make it back there. I?m kind of out of that groove, but it will be interesting to see what it?s like I suppose. I actually want to go to the Mac one of these nights, seems like it?s a pretty happening spot now a days.

    Oh yes, let me note one more thing that I don?t want to forget to mention before I end this post. I did run into someone Saturday night that I wouldn?t mind pushing into traffic. Listen I?m not going to mention any names but lets just say she is a phony, fake-ass, red haired cunt that is probably the shallowest and most self-centered bitch that you could ever meet. How long is it going to be before you stab another one of your friends in the back and show what a self-absorbed skank you are. Learn how to shut your fucking mouth; I really hope that in a few years you?re living in a gutter you egotistical twat. I?ve never been so tempted to spit in someone?s face. Don?t even start to criticize me you slutty hypocrite. I really hope your boyfriend realizes that you?re not worth the money to keep you around. Go find a real pimp that will give you a job. That?s one thing that you?d be good for. You crack whore prostitute, at least that way your mouth will be to full to say what?s on your puny mind. Grow the fuck up and start acting like your older then 16. I truly would love to see you gain 100lbs, maybe then instead of ridiculing people that are a little less then perfect you would empathize. TRAMP!!!

    Fuck? I hope only one person is offended by this but it is someone that deserves a bitch slap and if it was socially accepted and wasn?t morally wrong I?d be the first to dish it out. Don?t get me wrong, I?d never lay a hand on a woman, well in a different context I would. I don?t condone the abuse of women and would never actually do it. I just think it is the only thing that would keep this slut in check.

    Anyway that?s all I?m writing today. I?m heading to the gym and then I got to study, starting another insurance course. I just can?t wait? Yawn!!!

    Scottie
    P.S. That is totally out of character for me to bad mouth someone but sometimes you have to get some things
  • Whats new with me
    So blogger, once again I said that I would update you on a more regular basis but once again I turned into a lying bastard and ignored you for about a month.

    What?s new with me you ask?

    Well next week I?m going on vacation for a week, nothing to exciting just going to relax and have some fun. I?m looking forward to taking my nieces to the beach and Sand-Spit. Going to do some drinking and just take it easy. I was thinking about going to Hali but everyone else has to work, bummer.

    I started a new meal/workout plan, so far so good. I?m down to 190 from 195 and I?ve lost 3? off my waist. It?s a Men?s Health plan and it provides you with a work out regiment that grows and develops as you enter your information. The meal plan is a program I ordered, it?s called the ABS Diet. I recommend it to everyone. It really opens your eyes to how you body burns calories and metabolizes. I find it very informative and for a laymen like me that is a bonus. It strongly encourages eating 6 meals a day and gives you examples of meals that are healthy and easy to make. Also it explains the leading causes of major health risks and disorders caused by lack of certain foods and nutrients.

    Job is getting better, I?ve decided to keep studying and in approximately 5 years I?ll either be an insurance agent or a claims adjuster. I can?t wait, I really went down the wrong path when I though I would like to be a computer programmer all my life. Sure it is interesting, you have to figure problems out using logic and a little ingenuity, you actually work on a project and feel like you accomplished something. But the killer is that you?re sitting mindlessly in front of a computer screen all day, usually getting frustrated because you forgot a semi-colon or something is in the wrong place. I really would love to be on the road talking to people and of course the pay increase is very substantial, but hey that is a long time away. Maybe I?ll just decide to be a plumber or Go-Go dancer.

    Another thing that I wasn?t going to mention but I guess it is something major that has happened in my life. Megan and I recently broke up. As a lot of people know it?s one of the hardest things to do, well I find it is. Especially when you?re a complete asshole and you forget to look at your fucking gas gauge, but that better left unexplained. Anyway we broke up, it was hard but I know now that it was the right thing. Some times people stay in relationships because it feels comfortable and to me I don?t think that is a good reason. Like you still have feelings for that person but they aren?t the same as they used to be and you can just feel and sense that they aren?t going to change. All I have to say is that the 9 months we spent together were great, I don?t regret anything other then maybe telling her how I felt sooner but I learned a lot about myself and hopefully someday down the road we will be friends again, who knows.

    Anyway, another update that is going to make me look like a bigger asshole is that I?ve kind of started to see someone, after me and Megan broke up I expected to be single for a while and get my life in order. I guess some things you can?t plan and you can?t predict. All in all things are going good and I?m very happy.

    So that?s something that?s new with me, oh yeah, Craig and I moved to a new apartment, it is directly below us but it?s a really nice place. Has lots of character and is newly renovated. Mark also moved in with us and the three of us are a big happy family. I?m a little annoyed with the way the apartment is set up right now, mainly because we have no decorations other then this enormous Scarface poster in our living room. I love that move as much as the next guy but fuck its tacky. I?m not saying I?m that gay guy from Oprah but I think I do have a little bit of taste and I?m not to cheep to spend a some cash for a few things that might spruce up the apartment a little. Oh well beggars can?t be choosers. I?m just glad I?m not living with doran and brad, basically two zest pools waiting to happen once they move in together.


    Anyway everyone I?m out again for a while, hope all is well out there and drop me a line or email sometime, it can get pretty boring up here sometimes.

    Peace
    Scottie
  • Tired of being
    Well it has been eon?s blogger but I have finally returned. I don?t have any good excuses why I haven?t been updating you on a more regular basis. I feel bad and somewhat guilty, I know that I have an abundance of avid readers but basically I just haven?t had the energy or interest to write two words down describing my mundane existence.

    I thought about giving up on this blog fad but I remember when there was a point I enjoyed updating this thing.

    I?m sure your wondering what is new and well to make a long story short there is nothing. Of course it is impossible to do nothing, therefore I will list some rather note worthy things I have done over the past little while and the new events I have coming up.

    Marc is moving up here and the three of us are getting an apartment. Actually it is the apartment directly below us and it is wonderful. It has been newly renovated and is much roomier. It will accommodate many more visitors and is must more attractive, hardwood floor, fresh paint jobs, laundry room with washer and dryer, great bathroom, and tones of storage. Sure there is no dishwasher but we will just have to make a pact to keep the dishes washed. Not only is this apartment a dime compared to our measly penny apartment it also includes a garage that I think we will be able to use as storage.

    That being said about the garage? I plan to get a heavy bag. I?m sick of feeling like a bloated whale; I don?t want to go to the beach this summer or even the pool. I know I?m not that fat but I just feel like I?ve gone down hill since I?ve moved up to Summerside. I don?t know how the hell I have? but I have. I eat well, I never eat junk food except when I come home on the weekends, the odd time Megan and I grab a burger. I work out four times a week at least. I blame it mostly due to the fact that I don?t play squash anymore, which I in turn blame on Summerside being a bastard town. Soon we will be getting the wellness center though and I?ll be back on the squash like white on rice. I also plan to get a heavy bag, that is great cardio and I love to bang out my frustrations by hitting things, and I think Megan is tired of me beating her. Basically I have to turn things around, I feel like shit most of the time because I?m embarrassed about my fat ass, I know I should be used to it since I?ve been fat most of my life but there is no fucking way I am going to let myself go back to the days when my little league coach called me cheese burger. I?d like to send him a bouquet of FUCK YOU?S while I?m at it.

    Anyway this email kind of grew into a vent about vanity which is basically what I?m feeling. I get pissed because I feel as though media has corrupted our youth and made them think that they have to be a certain weight and look a certain way. I have 8 beautiful nieces and I never want them to feel insecure about the way they look but I already see some of them obsessed with there appearance. I know I preach about this saying it doesn?t matter when you look like but I?ve also fallen victim to this tainted opinion. I can?t help it and I can?t see me ever thinking any other way about myself. I?ve made one of my goals to get in shape and I know that I won?t feel better until I do.

    Man I?m pissing myself off here writing this shit but I don?t give a fuck, I?m going to be in great shape soon and I will never go back to being over weight, that I promise.


    This might not make any sense or maybe it does but you have no idea how it fucks with your head when you grew up a fat ass, you get in shape and then you can?t appreciate the way you look because your too scared your going to fall back into that trench.

    I?m not saying there is anything wrong with being overweight I?m just saying I don?t want to be overweight. Bahh I done talking I feel like I just got in an argument with myself on here. Fuck you blog for pissing me off tonight and making me feel like a slob. I just got back from the gym and you took away my feeling of satisfaction for tonight. Maybe I will give up on you.

    Nah I take it back, I love you blog we are still friends.

    I?m out
    Scott

    P.S. The apartment is going to be a nice change on a more positive note
  • New In Scottoland
    A few updates that might be of interest:

    Last Wednesday I went on a company trip to Halifax, It was extremely boring due to the fact that it was business related. Most of the conversation was forced and awkward. The people that were on the trip with me were two people from Xerox, Kevin and Mary. Kevin is actually a pretty cool guy, he is a guitarist from a popular Summerside band ?camel toe? so he wasn?t so bad to talk to. Mary she is basically a self proclaimed sugar mamma. She is about 45 and looks about 35 or believes that she is. She actually wasn?t to bad to talk to she has a lot of interesting stories, like when she lived in Monaco and France. Plus all the other interesting places that she has traveled. It really made me think what I am doing, I?m basically set right now if I keep doing what I?m doing. If I stick with PEI mutual I will have a secure job for life and a good income in the upper half of five figures.

    It really made me wonder if that?s what I should be doing now though, I?m 23 and that is the prime age to travel through Europe and the rest of the world. I?ve always found myself day dreaming how wonderful it would be back packing through Europe, from Athens to Venice I want to see it all. Oh well we will see where the wind blows me in a couple years.

    So yeah the trip? Stan my boss was also on the trip with me, we were going over to Halifax to check out some new software that we are thinking about purchasing for out company. It was interesting since we got to check out all the new products that Xerox has coming out and got to see the inter works of their company. I actually wouldn?t mind working there other then the fact it is just in a business district about thirty minutes from Halifax.

    Oh well, I?ll stay where I am for now. So the trip was boring in a way but the really kicker was the fact that I lost my Glasses along the way. Oh well my Parents were bold enough to go out and order me another pair the very next day without tell me. Man that really pissed me off, like I can afford a pair of $300 glasses right now. Like they must think that I?m totally incompetent, I can?t stand when they hand out cash like that. I got pretty pissed and told them never to do something like that again. I know that I am the baby and I was spoiled most my life but I?m 23 and working, I don?t need their hand outs. It just makes me feel really useless, like they think I can?t look after myself, I probably sound ungrateful but they have other things they could be spending their money on, like 8 grandchildren. Oh and you can be god damn sure I will pay them back.

    So yah another interesting thing today that happened was I wrote an exam for work. It was the first exam of ten. The purpose of these exams is to eventually make me a certified insurance professional. These courses cost about 600 bucks and work pays for the first one, after that the rewrites are about 150. So yeah I totally thought I was going to bomb my test today, I actually showed up to work with the intention of not writing it but Stan talked me into going to do it since PEI Mutual paid so much for me to do it. So with some peer pressure I drove into town for 9:30 and took the exam. To my surprise I actually did pretty good, well I think so anyway considering I probably studied for a combined time of 3 hours or less. I don?t exactly know how I did but I will find out in 4-6 weeks. The exam took three hours, it consisted of 50 multiple choice and a pile of written answers. I basically just wrote my ass off and hoped I got bonus points for the most blue ink used in a 3 hour period. By the end of the exam I answered every question except 3 which I was pretty proud of. Now don?t forget I basically BS?d the rest but I was satisfied with my performance just the same.

    So lets see what else did I do, Well I?ve been feeling like shit lately, I don?t know if it?s the fact that I?m eating less, not going to the gym as much, lack of Megan time, hating this apartment or because I?m drinking my weight in alcohol every night before I go to bed. Just kidding about the drinking, it?s usually before I go to work in the morning.

    Actually today I feel pretty good, I was a little stressed about the exam and now that it is over I feel like a got a little more step in my stride. You should se me go, just today I was walking down the street and some one shouted out ?Mario? sure I was thrusting my hips about and making my spine go like a slinky while my legs wiggled like two wet noodles but I think it?s pretty obvious I look nothing like Mario. Maybe K-os.

    Well I guess that?s all for now
    Peace-out
    Skipper

    p.s. If you could have three of somthing what would it be? Tounges would be mine because having one is just so much fun, the possibilities are endless.

B-Random - Brendan Clark: I think things have come to a new low of boredom in pei.....
(Added: 17-Jan-2005 Hits: 276 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

  • Just Wondering...
    Does anyone look at this page anymore? Comment if you do. Thinkin about reviving the blog.
  • Summers Passed
    I miss cottage life. Everything was so simple. So laid back. So happy. Every time I go back there I come back with great memories...something this summer has, for the most part, lacked to date. The cottage is being sold this summer. And I plan to take advantage of it while it's still around. This summer has been lackluster so far....change is in order. Some changes are wanted, others not at all. Some positive, some negative. I like to this positive will win out in the end...it's always come around before....



    This will be missed. Posted by Picasa
  • Shadows
    They say life in the real world begins when you finish university. I've been struggling to find this 'real world' that is spoken of. In search of this, I have found myself on the other side of the country, back home, and now in Ottawa. Thus far my search for the real world has uncovered nothing but feelings of doubt, loneliness, and uncertainty....a feeling of being lost.

    For a period of my life recently, a new month meant a new province. A new province meant a new city to learn, new bus routes to get lost on, the now familiar streets full of strange faces. Along with new expectations and opportunities came the doubts, insecurities, and sleepless nights that seem to follow me wherever I go, like a shadow.

    I guess the question is.....what IS the real world? How do I find it. Will I even know what this real world is, if or when I find it? I'm beginning to think that maybe I left my real world behind when I decided to pack up my life and jump on that plane. If great friends, family, fun, and love are it, then I guess I did.

    I hope I can soon outrun these shadows that have been following me around these past few months. When I do, I know I've finally found my real world.
  • (no subject)

    I miss this. Posted by Picasa
  • KK
    So I lied about posting more often...so sue me.
    Back with another recommendation....Kaki King.
    One girl, one guitar, one good listen.
    See video here...........sometimes it is delayed between audio and video so don't be confused if it doesn't seem to match up.

Back to the Motor League - Craig's blog.
(Added: 27-Aug-2004 Hits: 277 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

  • Vacation pics link!
    So yeah, back from the vacation. I'll write up a post sometime next week talking about the trip. But here is the link of some of the pictures I took over the 3 weeks. I ended up taking like 800, but here are some good ones. Still have others I'm going to work on posting, but that won't be till next week or so. So go take a look at this site for some pics! Start from the bottom up, as the trip started in England.

    www.craigsvacationpics.blogspot.com

    Going to halifax this weekend to play with the band on Saturday with the Insubordination, Gunt, and a few others. Should be a great time. Maybe I'll post some pics from that sometime too!
  • It's coming...
    My trip that is. Only a few weeks away. I've finally started preparing a bit for the trip too. Got my passport, got some new hiking shoes, and have my appointment to get some shots this Friday. I may have waited a bit too long for that, but hopefully I can get everything I need on Friday.

    It's gonna be a great trip, and me and Rosalyn are going to be packing a lot of stuff into it. We'll be staying in Oxford for a bit where she is studying, but we'll also be staying in London, then heading to Scotland and staying at a few places there. We then head to Costa Rica, and we'll be staying in the capital of San Jose for a couple of days. Then it's off into the jungle. That is the part I'm a little nervous about, as I've heard a few too many stories about snakes the last couple of weeks. I'm absolutely terrified of snakes, so it's gonna be tough being in the jungle knowing these disgusting creatures could be lurking anywhere including on the ground, in the water, even in the bloody trees! But I guess it's good to confront your fears, but hopefully I don't see any!

    It's not that I'm scared of getting bit by one, I'm actually scared of seeing a snake period. I can't even watch a snake on tv. There have been a few programs where snakes are on, and I tried watching one of some australian dude in a jungle somewhere. He was looking for some snake, and came across a discarded snake skin. I thought I could handle seeing that, but as soon as he picked it up, I had to change it. So if I actually see a snake, I'm gonna be pretty scared, but I'll get through it.

    Moving back to Ch'town this weekend. Marc is going back home, and Scott's moving back home for about a month too. I'll be living with mom for a few months at least. Gonna pay off this trip, and save up for a car. I'm hoping to get a used vehicle by September. I am pretty much debt free at this point, and I've gotten another extension until the end of June. Plus, I've been approved for a $10,000 personal line of credit, so I'm hoping to save a couple grand for a down payment, then buy about a $12,000 car. Might get one as soon as August, but that's not for sure yet.

    The band is going good. We got a new demo cd all done. We've also written 4 other new songs that aren't on the demo, so we are doing really good lately. I really like the new songs too, as they are different than our previous songs, and really expand on our style. Plus it means I don't have to play the same old drum beat for every song! Now hopefully we can get some shows lined up. It'll be a few months, but hopefully after I get back from Costa Rica we can get a few practices in, and play somewhere. We are gonna see if Fat Brandon will play bass for us while we look for another member. He won't actually be in the band, but he knows the songs, so it would allow us to play a few shows at least.

    And in some pretty shocking news, NOFX will be playing in Dartmouth. Yeah, Dartmouth, as in Dartmouth NS. It's gonna be an unreal show, and I expect there to be literally thousands of people there. It's on a Monday for some reason in august, but that's not gonna stop me. Rosalyn and I are gonna be heading over to it. Risky Business will be playing too, so that's gonna be really sweet. It's gonna be the best show I've ever seen! Can't wait!
  • 2006
    It's been another long while since my last post, but a lot of stuff has changed, and a lot has happend that I would like to update. But I have so much stuff to talk about, that's it's too daunting to do all in one session, or at all. So I'm just gonna use some point form stuff to update things.

    Rosalyn was home for 6 weeks over the holidays. She left January 28. We had a great time while she was here, and sadly, she had to return back to England. We didn't do anything too crazy, but we did go to Halifax. Other than that, we just enjoyed our time together.

    Had a great christmas. Rosalyn got me a really great watch, and also got an ipod nano. It works great, but the same cannot be said of my computer. It got some spyware on it a couple of weeks ago, and it's beyond saving at this point. It needs to be formatted, so I went out this past weekend and bought a new computer. Got a nice laptop from futureshop, and also got a webcam so me and Rosalyn can put on some kinky webcam movies! Ha! Just kidding? It's an HP computer with 160GB hard drive, 512MB of RAM (which I'm upgrading to 1BG), has a 17inch screen, impressive video card, and 2.0 GHZ. So yeah, it's totally sweet. Here's a link http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10070826&catid=

    In other news, Doran has finally left Canada and is in Korea as I type teaching English, and picking up Korean women. I can't believe he is actually over there, but he is. Seems to be doing alright so far. Bill will be joining him in early March.

    It's becoming the end of the gang now. Doran is gone, Bill is going, Brad is moving out west in early March for work, then going to school in Ontario in the fall. Marc finally popped the question to Jana, and they are getting married in September. Scotty is going to be moving in with his girl Jelena in May or so, and I'll be all alone until the end of August when Rosalyn gets back. But she may be coming home a bit early, but she's not quite sure yet. I'm crossing my fingers that she could, as it would be great to have her here for the summer.

    So with Scott moving in with Jelena, and Marc getting married, we are moving out of summerside at the end of march. Actually, i'm not 100% sure what I'm doing yet. My term is likely done at the end of march (after a very close call. Thought it was done Feb 17). If that's the case, it's back home with momma! If I do get extended, then I'll have to find a place to live up here, which will be a major pain in the ass. So things are up in the air for me.

    And come April, I'm going on the trip of a lifetime! 4 countries, 3 weeks, thousands of dollars! I'm gonna finally go see Rosalyn in England. While we are there, we are gonna scoot over to Scotland for a few nights. Then, after about 10 days of olde England, we are off to Costa Rica for about 10 days. We travel through the US, hence the 4 countries. But it's gonna be a great trip, and I can't wait.

    In band news, we are pumping out a new song every week basically. We have recorded the music for a cd with mostly tunes that haven't been recorded. We decided to do things simpler this time, so we all just got in a room, and jammed out the songs and recorded them as is. Now we are in the process of just adding vocals, and then we'll have a 13 song cd complete. We will be working on the artwork and what not as well, and we are gonna eventually get some shirts printed off. And I've said all this before, but this time it's happening!

    Finally started back at the gym a little. Went 3 times last week, hope to really get started next week, as I'm just warming up these first 2 weeks.

    Some big shows happening in the fall. The Fullblast are playing in March. Their new cd is great. And in April, Bigwig finally returns to PEI. This time, they will be coming representing their best release to date, so that's gonna be a wicked show. So a few things to look forward to in the coming months at least.
  • So this is Christmas?
    And what have I done? Certainly not updated this thing, that's for sure. It's too bad too, cause November was a pretty sweet month. Had my birthday on November 25 (I can't believe I'm 26), and also had a nice, free, all expenses paid trip to Ottawa for the National Youth Summit and Dialogue. Took a bunch of pictures too, with my newest digital camera! Got one before leaving. It's a Sony something, 5.1 megapixel, and looks hot as hell. Go check out my Ottawa pics up at photobucket.com Username is peilocal, and password is propagandhi. Some other pics in there too. Also, on the www.cprn.org website, if you go to the youth summit thing at the top, you can find out some of the details about that trip, and see more pictures in the forum, but I think you have to register first.

    Other than that, not much else going on. Got a lot of Christmas shopping done. House/dog sitting this weekend for Rosalyn's parents. Cheers to Beers had a final jam the other night, although we may play one final show. The H Factor is getting better, and we are gonna start practicing with J Mike and the C town Stomp. John Michael recorded some demos himself, check them out: www.myspace.com/jmikeandthectownstomp Not too bad if you ask me.

    Rosalyn gets home this Wednesday. The last couple of weeks have just been flying past, and it's hard to think that she will actually be home. Can't wait. Seems like she has been gone for a long time.

    Got another extension until the end of January. Not sure what's gonna happen after that. There are rumours that Melanie is coming back, as early as January! Not sure what that will mean for me, but there is a job opening in Ch'town that I'm gonna apply for. Doubt I'll get it, and even if I do, I may not take it, but gotta keep my options open.

    Hmm. What else? Nothing really I guess. That pretty much sums things up. Paid some big payments on my student loan this month, so by the end of this year, my student loans will all be paid! Sadly, I've been racking up some money on the credit card, but I'll just pay that off in January. So by February 2006, I'll be completely debt free! No more putting $400 dollars on loans or what not. I can actually really start savign some cash. I'll need too, because the trip to England is off. Gonna be heading to Costa Rica instead! I'm still hoping to get to England, maybe next September, but the plan right now is to meet up with Costa Rica in Mayish. I'm looking forward to it. Looks like a beautiful country, and has some nice beaches, and obviously, great weather. I'll make sure to take plenty of pics!!
  • A real post? Wow!
    So I haven't really posted in this thing in ages, but I got nothing to do tonight, so maybe i'll give it a proper update. I wanted to get in depth about the recent shows I saw, so let's start there!

    It started earlier this month when Bane, Comeback Kid, The Reason and Strung Out played at the Oxygen in Moncton. I managed to get a drive with a couple of girls over there. Thank goodness, or else I would have missed the show. So we got there, and after some ticket problems, we all finally got in. The Reason were up first, and I never really saw them before, but I was really impressed by what I saw. I wouldn't mind having their album actually, but I cna't really be bothered purchasing it. They weren't overly original or anything, but they put on a good show. It was there last show of the tour too, so the rest of the bands came out and started tearing apart the drumkit right in the middle of their last song. They were slowly taking it apart, and by the end of the song, the only thing left was the snare, but they never missed a beat! It was one of the funniest things I have ever seen at a show really, and the shenanigans continued throughout the night.

    It was a really big crowd there, probably over 400 people I would say. Some seemed familiar with The REason, but not too many people were into it at that point. But the next band got the crowd going, including me. Comeback Kid took the stage second,a nd I think they stole the whole show. I was there for Strung Out, but I was looking forward to seeing these guys too. And I must say, I was blown away. They got the crowd so pumped, and their music has really great lyrics that you just want to scream too. If they had played in PEI, I think I would have gotten in the middle of things, but being over in Moncton, with 2 girls I don't really know, I decided to stay out of the pit. They played all their best songs, and even gave a shout out to Risky Business (as did Bane later on), so that was really cool. At the end of their set, the Reason came back out to exact some revenge, so they tied some of the band members up wtih duct tape during the last song. Was funny stuff.

    Next up was Bane, and Moncton didnt' seem to into them. Neither was I really. I like them, but it wasn't an overly impressive performance. Even if you were a big fan, I think you would have to admit that it wasn't a great show by them. The crowd wasn't really into it either, so that had something to do with it. They just had too many long pauses in between songs. They were onstage longer, but it seemed like Comeback Kid actually played longer. At the end of the Bane set, both the Reason and CK came out to get them. It looked like they got them with water, and they put a box over the drummers head during the final song. It was really funny actually. They kept playing, meanwhile, the drummer had this huge box on his head. Gotta give credit to the bands for playing through all the pranks.

    So after a bit of a break, STrung Out came out to close the evening. I was looking forward to them, but by that point, I was pretty tired and sore. Had to work the next day at 8am, and I knew the show was gonna be late. So by the time they came on, I really just wanted to see a short set. They played a pretty predicatable set, but the crowd was going nuts for them. I enjoyed it, but i would have liked it more if they had played earlier. At the end of their set, they covered the drummers bald head and face with shaving cream. Of course, it was in the middle of the song too, so they are rubbing the cream all over his face while he was playing along. It was funny stuff. He didn't mess up at all though, but then again, he is one of the best drummers out there. Near the end, the singer finally turned around and saw the drummer and dropped to the floor just laughing. It was hysterical. He tried singing again, but couldn't cause he was laughing so hard. Then, once the song was over, some skank dragged her fat skanky ass onto the stage. Her ass was literally falling out, and she was wearing barely nothing for a top. Then she takes whips down her top to reveal to strung out stickers on her nipples, then took the drummers head and rubbed his face into her chest. It was pretty gross actually, because she was pretty ugly looking.

    I was also planning on buying all kinds of merch, but the Strung Out shirts weren't too great, and the CK shirts were ugly as hell. I did end up buying 2 Strung Out cds that I had lost before, and a Bane cd though, so I didn't come home empty handed at least, so it was a great show.

    Couple weeks later, Chixdiggit made their way to charlottetown, and played at Hunters Ale's House. This was seriously the funnest show I have ever been too. They just released a new cd, but they didn't play too many songs off that one. Instead, they focused more on their first, and best, cd. They played so many great songs, it was so much fun. The place was packed too. But, we got there at like 12:30am, adn they said the place was sold out! I was pretty pissed cause I had wanted to leave earlier, but Brad and Doran didn't. So we stuck around for a few minutes, and some people came out and we got in. Thank god we did too, cause I would have been pissed to miss that show. REally, it was teh funnest show I've ever been too. Hope they come back agian.

    So that's the show stuff that happened. Was a good month. I'm hoping Propagandhi will make their way out here next year. They just released a new album, and it is fantastic. They played moncton when they toured last, so hopefully they'll come back out this way. Hopefully it's not when I'm in England. It would be great if they come in May or the summer or something. I'll hopefully have a car by then, so I would go to every maritime show I could. Moncton, Halifax, and anywhere else they would play here.

    I've decided what kind of car I'm gonna get too. The Toyota Yaris. It's brand new for CAnada, and it's replacing the echo hatchback basically. Europe had that car over there, but no hatchback, so they have now introduced it to CAnada, and it looks great! I'ts about the same price as a hatchback too, like starting off at $13 500 or so. So I'm gonna plunk down the cash and get it, once the loans are paid off anyway. Hopefully I'll have a few thousand dollars saved next year, and I can put a nice down payment down. But, I can use my grad discount at least, so that will help. I figure it will cost less than $20000, and I think it will last me for years, so it's more an investment.

    Speaking of which, finally get set up with an RRSP account. Just a small one right now. Getting $50 per cheque put into it, but those things build up soon, and the sooner you start, the better. Also increased my savings up to $200 per week. So $200 goes into savings, $50 into an RRSP account, and just today I got set up with a payroll deduction to contribute to the United Way. I'm gonna give $15 per cheque, which adds up to $390 for the year. Not a bad charitable contribution I think? Makes me feel like I'm not just pissing all my money away at least.

    So what else? Work has been an absolute nightmare the last few weeks. IT's been crazy busy. ANd next week they are changing the way they calculate your EI rate (they will use the highest 14 weeks from the past year to figure out your rate now), so next week will be busy too. But it's the halloween weekend, and there is a party going on tomorrow, so that should be fun. Have some booze tomorrow, then football on Sunday. Should be relaxing.

    Rosalyn is still over in England, but Lana is over there this weekend, so I think that's a big help for her. She is sick again though,a nd that is a bit of a worry. She sounds like she is getting better though, so that's good. Only a month and a half till she gets home, then we have my Christmas party to go to a few days after she gets here. I'm really looking forward to it. Had a great time at the lobster party, and I think this one will be even more fun. I love having a few drinks with her, it's really a lot of fun. Then hopefully she can spend the night here. I don't think it will be a problem, but wh0 knows.

    So that's probably the longest update ever. So I'll leave it at that. Probably will be a while now before I update it again though!!

Beautiful Disaster... - Female. Virgo. Student. Daughter. Girlfriend. Bestfriend. Friend. (Kristi's blog)
(Added: 14-Aug-2006 Hits: 130 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

  • Secret Nerd
    So, yes... I still like Sailor Moon, and I am familiar with who Beast and Nightcrawler are when it comes to X-men. Yes, I spent all day in Marvel heaven! I am a nerd in secret. Pubcrawler, Glamour reading by day, comic and festy film lover by night. And I LOVE it.

    Great weekend, lots of catch up time, and a sad-sappy movie with the girls and some major heart to hearts with the men in my life who I absolutely love. The last two weeks have been insane, but this week is looking pretty low-key. With a pubcrawl, a grand opening, special visitor and a formal in the works, November, you are making me happier by the day :)

    Where did the time go?
  • Giving Thanks...
    I know, I know... I haven't I had time to breathe, let alone post on here, but do know that the last few weeks have been a riot! Trivia wins, office "sleepovers", hotdogs, birthdays - you name it... what a time! So, officially the school year started with a bang, now I need to focus a tad bit more on the whole school thing I suppose :P
    Thanksgiving weekend is here already, and as I lie here in bed, I realize there are a lot of things in my life that I can truly be thankful for. I'm at such a good place in my life at the moment... and I have so much to look forward to. I am trying to fix past mistakes, trying to do the right things, and even moreso, just trying to be the real me... and I am so at a point in my life when I can do it. Yay for progress!
    This month is jam packed so I can't promise that I will be updating often, just wish me luck!

    Remembering that the truth can free you...
  • Things In Life That Make Me Happy...

    And the list goes on...

    • Award-winning trivia team (0w, ow!) - first time takers baby!
    • Free food
    • Friends I love *heart you all*
    • Lunch invites *also with free food*
    • People who love ACE as much as I do
    • JT's new album (yay!)
    • Clean bedrooms (fresh sheets included)
    • Being caught up on school work
    • Having time to lie in bed in do nothing but watch DVDs
    • Pink roses (in both real, and photo form)
  • Balance...
    Life really is all about balance. When I think of it, I am a happier "Kristi" when I have certain aspects in my life. When I am eating good, gyming it up, spending time with loved ones, loving, working, socializing, churchin' it, studying, and taking time for just me... I feel like life is in balance. When one of these things is off... my whole system can be out of whack. And though, life, truly is uncontrollable, and there is no way (or nearly enough hours in a week) to have a COMPLETE balance, merely the act of striving to achieve it, can be enough to keep me content and lively.

    Does this make any sense?! If not, call me crazy!

    School has started in full swing, and though busy, it has been a riot! I love being on campus, around the people that have grown to be my compainions and "partners in crime" over the last few years... and the more I think about it, the more I realize how much I am going to miss these days of "university maddness". Whether it is "family fajtia" days, or therapy sessions in the office - these are all the little things that make day to day life so friggin' amazing. So, I have offically decided that I am refusing to grow up just yet. I want and NEED to enjoy this year to its fullest! Don't get me wrong, my goals and ambitions are still very much on my mind... but then can wait until AFTER grad week!

  • Today is So My Day
    Know the feeling you get when all is right in the world? It's like your heart is tingling out of excitement or and you find yourself grinning so hard it hurts. Though the beginning of the school year has been a whirlwind of activity, I couldn't be f*cking happier!

    Everything just fits. AMEN!

    As I look at the calendar, that oh so familiar date stares back at me, almost taunting me - reminding me that I am getting older, that I am becoming an adult, and that every decision I make is having an impact on the approching future. Sometimes I just wanna stay this age forever. I have the world's most amazing friends, the family thing has come to an enjoyable calm, and I have someone who truly loves me, for me. The social and work life are in balance - and though I vow never to drink myself sick again, a few drinks/shots with the ladies I am sure, won't hurt... right?

    Big decisions to be made, but I am feeling more comfortable in my own skin, then I ever have. I like the person I am, and that I am becoming. I am pretty damn nifty if you ask me! Yes, I have made my fair share of mistakes (sheesh, no one is perfect, don't judge) but I have learned from each and everyone of them. That is what growing up is all about!

    I am excited to see what this world has to offer... and where God leads me.

    Thank You for the granted opportunties, and I pray that you allow to me only become a better person.

    In the mean time, on MY DAY, I am going to relax, reflect, and be thankful for all the people out there who genuinely love me. Even when I am late.


    I wouldn't be me, without you... each and every one of you. Ya'll know who you are.

bicycles are for lovers - Jenn's journal
(Added: 16-Dec-2005 Hits: 180 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

  • Fri., March 23rd, I'll miss you old school nano
    To the asshole who stole my ipod ....

    I am sad and i hate you!!!
  • Sun., February 25th, She's Like So Whatever



    DEAR GOD!
  • Sat., February 24th, (no subject)
    going to visit sister and baby in one week, baby is not a baby anymore as she is an abnormally tall 4 year old.
    i just want to cuddle and sleep in bunk beds for entire stay.
    she's going to show me new dance moves and i will teach her a few bad words to tie her over until we meet again.
    then we'll stay up till midnight watching Dora the explorer movie and eating ice cream.
    we shall squeeze hands in excitement for mickey and minnie ice capades in detroit. what fun!

    my very best little friend.


  • Mon., December 18th, Feelin' it!


    i ve fallen back in love with sufjan stevens, he makes me inhale and exhale in a correct manner
    that is healthy
    ...the first person to find me his xmas box set wins my love an admiration for at least the next 5 years, who knows maybe even forever.

    CHRISTMAS MY LOVERS!
    SOON THERE WILL BE REINDEER! (not reindeers that would be poor speakage)
  • Thu., November 23rd, JENN ON A PLANE!?
    Tomorrow im going on my first plane ride ever...this i am not fond of...planes i do not like.
    Thanks god i have my mummy and Babo to go with me....but neither of them have ever been on plane either.

    at this point i dont know whether to direct my nervous breakdown towards this or the actual reason im going to Newfoundland, for exam itself. I think ill most likely combine the two.

    Fingers crossed...only on one hand please!

    GULP!

buzzing like a fridge - I'm simon. I am interesting. She told me so.
(Added: 5-Sep-2004 Hits: 237 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

  • (no subject)
    Yes. The wind pats my back. I scored 80 simplicity points yesterday. I came to a better understanding of what it is that i'm to do. It doesn't sound bad. It's only as hard as i push myself. And it's what i want to do with this body. I have two things to do. I can break them down into more, but let's keep it simple. On that note, i can bring it up into one thing to do. I'll start there.
  • (no subject)
    The laptop that bonnie and I ordered has come in. I am connected to the internet from the comfort of my own home. I might have some occasional posting to do. "But Simon" you say, "i'm moments away from curing personal boredom. Please don't lead me back down the path of perpetual thurst for useless distraction." And to that i say, "those are very big words, i'm proud of you. Find yourself a
  • (no subject)
    I have been sick, and it has been difficult for me. My throat hurt on sunday, but i attributed this to drink and smoke and song. Monday it was swollen, i kinda forced myself to eat. But i think it was took a self destructive angle. I believe fasting is best for health, and i was saying to myself "look at what eating will do!" I had a blue cheese sandwich for lunch. A sandwich whose core
  • (no subject)
    Why has it been so long, you ask? Well, i don't have the internet, which is partly to blame. I'm thinking about other things, which is fully to blame. I'm writing a lot on paper, which i am fully pleased with and will blame nothing on, except goodnesses. I've been thinking of a web output area which does not yet exist, a website which i want to own and be proud of, and work towards the
  • (no subject)
    who, what, why, where, when. who? Searching for consciousness; I'm pretty sure there's something which is me. I am thinking, therefor i am. Are there other whos, sources of consciousness which aren't me? Are other people, other humans, separate sources of consciousness? Is there something other than humans? Plant life, oceans, or winds might be places to find whos. Are there gods? Is

C. Ryan Gallant - "Better to do little well than a great deal badly." - Socrates. Ryan's rants
(Added: 21-Feb-2006 Hits: 169 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

  • ...And now for something completely different: Une Session à Québec
    "Ryan!"
    It was like déja vu. An early morning wake-up in my sister's living room.
    "Ryan!" Ugh. My eyes adjusted to reveal my sister standing beside the couch.
    "Ryan, it's ten after 7:00." She said.
    My flight was scheduled to leave at 6:55.
    "WHAT?"
    "Oh, I mean ten after 6:00."
    And so began another long day.

    By the time my plane began its descent into Québec, the lack of sleep, as well as the glasses of wine and beer from the night before, were beginning to catch up to me. As I dozed on and off and thought about how I was going to live out of two bags of luggage for the next four months, that age-old question slipped back into my mind: ""What the hell am I getting myself into?"

    Well, first of all, I was getting myself into a semester of French as a Second Language courses at L'Université Laval in Ste. Foy, Québec, just outside of the capital city. Laval has over 37,000 students, studying everything from Philosophy to Languages, Dentistry to Medicine, and the Languages Department in la pavillon Charles-de-Koninck was to be my home for the next 15 weeks. After landing at Jean Lesage Airport, I hopped in a cab and arrived outside my dorm, la pavillon Alphonse-Marie-Parent, at about 11h00 on Saturday January 12th.

    Suddenly I was and eighteen year old all over again, signing in to residence for my first semester at a new school in a strange land. After getting all my stuff packed away, I slept away most of the day on my sheetless bed, and, waking up around 18h00, I decided to check out the nearby mall and to buy some essentials for my room. Like sheets. Of course, no one had told me that the Québécois shut 'er down at 17h30 on Saturday nights, which seems ridiculous. I mean I know that Confederation Court Mall kicks mall rats and prostitots out at the same time, but that's, well, Charlottetown.

    L'Université Laval is connected underground by a 15-kilometre network of tunnels, which makes walking around in the winter a lot less of a pain in the ass. And so, even though I had classes in Koninck on Monday and Tuesday, by mid-week I still had no idea what the building actually looked like from the outside. As we started courses we were placed in different levels based on preliminary testing, but some of the placements were messed up, leading to a confusing week for everyone in the program. I somehow started in the 'Débutant' group, where we working on phrases like "Hi, my name is Ryan. How are you today?" (In French, obviously), all of which I had done in about, oh, Grade 2. By the end of the week I was up in 'Inter-Avancé', the most advanced class. Though I'm still not sure if I belong there, you have to admit that's pretty good progress in the language in one week. Haha.

    In the class I finally ended up in, there are only three other Canadians, the rest of the class being mostly made up of Thai, Chinese, and Spanish-speakers from various countries. One of the other Canadians and I, along with a bunch of other residents have become the unofficial drinking team of the program, which has been a lot of fun, but which has also taken its toll on the studies, and perhaps also the health, of each of us. We represent a variety of provinces from across Canada: Scott Pickup - Nova Scotia (Or Republic of Cape Breton... and yes, Pickup is his real name), Gillian Irving - New Brunswick, Luke Moyer, Laura McDougall, Debbie Lobbezoo, Barbara Ciochon - Ontario, Sara Lechasin - Manitoba, Tammi Viney - Alberta, and Kirstie Bagshaw - British Columbia. The main topic of discussion is making fun of each other?s pronunciation of different words (I apparently say 'peanut butter' wrong), and sharing regional sayings (Pickup's "Not dat bad... not dat goood, but not dat bad." is an oft-repeated example). Our Mexican buddy Gerardo Sistos Sescosse hangs out too, but his regional diction is in a totally different ballpark.

    Designating a different room for pre-drinking each night, one soon notices that the thermostats in many of these rooms are set way too high. The residence has over 900 rooms, and each series of three or four have one shared thermostat, with one lucky resident given the power over the heat of all the rooms within his immediate vicinity. For some people, well for me anyway, this is a problem when it is -22 degrees outside, because there are a lot of Franco-Africans on my floor who like the keep the temperature set at a balmy 30+ degrees all the time. More often than not though, we drink in Tammi's room, first of all because she has candy, and also because from there you can see all the action going on outside. One night last week, for example, four cop cars rolled up with campus security, followed shortly by a media SUV from TQS. Another night, no less than six cop cars sped into the driveway, with an ambulance following close behind. I don't know if some serious shit is going on in Parent on a regular basis, or if there is very little action going on in the rest of Québec. Either way, I don't wander around when the cops show up, just so I don't get caught up in a shoot-out or something.

    There is a lot of interesting stuff going on in Québec this year, as it's the 400th anniversary of the city's founding, which adds to the usual Carnivale de Québec, l'Hôtel de Glaçe, and the Red Bull Crashed Ice competition. There is literally too much to do, but so far we have been taking in as much as possible, and enjoying as much as we can without freezing our faces off. One of the big misconceptions that I was wary of before coming here was the idea that les Québécois are rude. I have not found this to be the case at all. If anything, I would say they have been more polite than most people back home. They politely say hi and bye as they get in out of elevators. As far as I know they don't talk about you behind your back or make up rumours about you. As a perfect example, on the third day of school I was stopped in the tunnel by a girl, and I had no idea who she was. She introduced herself as one of the sisters of the kids from the Explore program that I worked with last summer on PEI. She recognized me from Facebook pictures and offered any help that I may need. Now, I would say it takes balls to pick out one student out of 37,000 that you sort of recognize from your sister's pictures to introduce yourself to some random.

    Of course once they discover that you to be an Anglophone, all bets are off. Haha.
  • Half-Assed and Clueless - Across an Ocean
    The next morning Meghan and I heisted on our backpacks one last time and lugged them across the huge bridge towards the cruise dock in Barcelona. After going through some security checkpoints, we boarded our ship that would take us across the Atlantic: The Legend of the Seas.

    This ship is a Royal Caribbean-owned, offshore-registered cruise ship in a huge fleet of luxury liners. It was certainly a sight to behold. The ship had 11 floors, with a 7 floor-high atrium, and with grand marble staircases with glass elevators spanning the distance between. The ship has an internet café, coffee shop, library, study, two pools, spa, casino, fitness centre, photo gallery, hundreds of rooms, 7 bars, a huge cafeteria, and an 1000-seat restaurant.

    Basically everything is jammed in there along with about 2000 old people who will go home and describe the ship like I just did (perhaps with not so vivid a memory), and all of it seemed so gloriously meaningless. This ship has no real purpose other than to cart old people around and sell paintings and photos and internet and phone time ($0.50 and $7.95 a minute, respectively) to their captive audience. It was truly a monument to Western civilization. Luxuriously cruising from poor country to poor country, blissfully ignorant to everything else in the world. Imagine living in an impoverished country and watching a five-star hotel pull into the harbour every other morning, discharge a bunch of rich tourists, who come and haggle about the price of whatever trickets you are trying to sell, and then as you go home to feed your family, the tourists sit up on deck eating all-you-can-eat dinners as their hotel sails off for some other 'exotic' location. Imagine what that would do to your view of the world... and of the people of the West. But I digress.

    After some guy died on our ship while in the Canary Islands, we headed out across the ocean, mostly hanging out with our table mates from the dining room; Les and Zoiey, a fourty-something couple from Britain, and Ed and Linda, a sixty-something couple from the US. We partook in a lot of trivia games during the journey, but the majority of our time was spent on the deck in the sun, reading books, or eating. The days at sea themselves were quite uneventful, but it was a good oppurtunity to reflect on the past month. Those five days at sea were really the culmination of my trip, allowing me to read the books and think the thoughts that were hard to get through while we were jumping from train to train and checking in and out of hostels.

    One might say that the thought of being 2000 kilometres away from the nearest land and that the ocean floor is seven kilometeres below the bow of the ship is quite unnerving, but what I can certainly say is that the colour of the ocean in the middle of the Atlantic is so beautiful that it is hypnotizing. At first it looks like a black but after looking at it for a moment, you will see that it is actually a deep deep blue, and even as I stared at it, I could hardly believed that such a colour could exist. It was in view of this water and in the presence of absolute solitude (save for the other 1999 people on the ship) that, in many ways, my journey concluded.

    I asked myself at the beginning of my trip: 'Why does one leave their home?' It is quite obvious to anyone who knows me that I am comfortable among the people I know and within a community where people know me, but over the span of the two months abroad, I realized that sometimes, one must see for themselves that the world is more than a sum of its parts. That for its beauty, nature reveals most of herself in its variety. That human kind is most gifted in its rich cultural mosaic, and that we share in our own cultural experiences not by insulated ourselves from all others, but in understanding that societies naturally complement the amazing aspects of one another.

    One must also travel to understand that beauty exists in many forms, and that everywhere and everything is beautiful to someone, somewhere. Stare at a captivating landscape or at the world's most amazing masterpiece for long enough, however, and the colours will meld, and the lighting will become unremarkable, even commonplace. And so, one must step back, re-focus, and realize that just as the people of the netherplaces of the world are incredible and beautiful, so much more are the captivating and amazing people that we care about, the same people who, over time, have come to seem commonplace.

    In that, upon seeing the immensity of the world, one must come to understand that the incomprehensible size and scope of the world does not make one insignificant, but instead, highlights the careful and beautiful intricacies of life and creation, wherever it is found.

    For all their adventures and experiences, travel is as much about coming home and seeing it anew. My trip affirmed for me one thing in my heart: there is no place quite like home.
  • Half-Assed and Clueless - Eurotrip 2007: Switzerland and Spain
    After 28 days on the road, carrying our lives on our backs and jumping from train to train, hostel to hostel, Meghan and I were pretty tired out. After a week in Greece and Italy, with a lot of bar-hopping in between, I was about ready to sleep for seven or eight days. Once we reached Bern, the cold temperature didn't help our ambition to walk around, but we did the best we could, seeing much of what the very small, very beautiful capital city of 120,000 has to offer within the first few hours of our arrival. We checked into the hostel at 15:00, and spent most of the evening sitting around, doing laundry, and reading. On our way to the train station that morning, I remarked that Switzerland was the only country in our travels that didn't have any pigeons. We also noticed that Switzerland is the only country where McDonald's serves 'chicken' wings. Coincidence? Probably.

    Anyways, this was to be a long day on trains, switching threes times as we made our way through Switzerland, France and into Spain. It was an uneventful journey for the most part, the only events out of the ordinairy being that there were tons of police at one of the train stations in France and a long delay once we crossed the Spanish border. I have no idea why there were so many police and emergency vehicles around but they were controlling the flow of traffic in and out of the station and had some of the exits cordoned off. I didn't really feel like sticking around until I found out or until a bomb went off or something. As for the delay, we were told in broken English that the tracks up ahead were 'broken', which is a great comfort after a long day of traveling, but we eventually were back on our way, and made it into Barcelona after nightfall.

    As we hopped in our cab on our way to the hostel, I smacked my head off the side of the cab and then my head bounced back and smacked the door. I yelled a quick combination of interesting words, grabbed my head with both hands and thought: "Wow, what a great end to a great day." It took us a bit of walking to find the hostel once we got dropped off, but once we did we went into the office, and I shrugged off my backpack and... that was it. My leather folder (with my Eurail Pass, Passport, insurance info, cruise ticket, etc.) was defintely not in my hand anymore.
    "Could I see your passport please?" (Hostel lady)
    "Uh oh." I said
    "Don't say uh oh." said Meghan
    "Uh oh." I repeated.
    And then I remembered grabbing my head WITH BOTH HANDS after I smacked it off the side of the cab. "Wonderful." I thought. The folder was still in some cab, roaming the streets of Barcelona. To make matters worse, the hostel lady told me there was no way of tracking down who had dirven us there from the train station, even if we called the cab company. As soon as we had finished checking in I told Meghan I would be back, and I headed down to the streets, determined to somehow find the cab that had driven us to the hostel. Just as I stepped down from the last step to the ground floor, a familiar face stepped through the door: Mr. Cab Driver, with my folder in hand. I could not believe it. He had driven around the city, and returned once he had found my folder in the back seat. He asked for some cash, so I gave him 10 Euro... which is quite a lot, but after making a dumbass mistake like that, I didn't care.

    As I sat on my bed the next morning (Friday), with a stuffy nose, applying nasal decongestant with instructions that I could not read, and listening to Meghan cough her incessant cough, I remarked about how sick and tired I was of walking. Back-packing around Europe was interesting and all that, but by this point, my legs were ready to tell me to eff off and just quit. And enough of these old buildings and sights to see. And I realize that a lot of people would be pissed at me if they somehow heard me thinking that, while they dug out from 20cm of snow back on PEI. But I was done. And I guess that is an good place to be at the end of a trip.

    With the consolation that this would be our last day of walking around and looking at random stuff, we headed out to the streets to see what we could see. It was a warm sunny day and we toured around the waterfront and the sidestreets and bought some supplies for the cruise ship that we were getting on the next day. On Meghan's insistence, we jumped on a dumb over-priced tour bus and went around the city. It was a huge waste of time, and after about an hour I told her I would meet her back at the hostel, jumped off, and walked through the city by myself. It was the first time I had had the chance to go off on my own in a long time, and it was damn near exhillerating. By the time I got back, it was dark and Meghan was just getting back from the bus tour. We found a little place for dinner, and ended the evening (our last in Europe) by having an argument in hushed tones over dinner at the restaurant. Good times.
  • Half-Assed and Clueless - Eurotrip 2007: Greece and Italy
    On Friday we headed for Patra, Greece to catch our ferry to Italy, but we got off at the wrong station, and consequently missed our train. And so myself, Meghan, John and Richard found ourselves in speeding taxi, racing against time to catch our connectin train at the next station, but we missed it by about 2 minutes. (Either way we appreciated our taxi driver balring 'Bohemian Rhapsody' on the radio and the fact that he was far more interested in telling stories about his trip to Italy in 1972 than to what was going on on the road in front of him).

    We were therefore stranded in some random town, with about four hours to kill before the next train. We headed into the town to see what we could see, and we found a beach, which is usually boring in mid-November, unless you're in Greece and it's 25 degrees. I decided to go for a swim while the others wandered the beach and after an hour or so of skipping rocks and other mundane beach activities, we ate at a seaside cafe (except for Meghan, who fed most of her food to a hungry cat), and then I had a nap on the beach. Probably the best nap ever, making the missed train the best mistake of my life. Eventually we got on another train and headed for Patra, this time we were much calmer than we had been during the early morning dash for Patra, and we arrived just in time caught the last boat to Bari, Italy. On the ferry we shared a 4-person cabin for the 16-hour journey, complete with a bathroom and a shower. After sharing some Bulgarian liquor and having gotten up at 6:00 that morning, we all slept tremendously well.

    We stuck around waiting for a train in Bari until 13:42 and headed for Rome, and took the time (after John insisting that he wanted to be able to say "I've done Bari"... pun not intended), to tour the city of Bari. After looking at all the fishing boats that Bari had to offer, we headed for Rome where Jared, having flown earlier that day, was waiting for us. Jared and I made a laundry run for the five of us, before we headed to dinner, this time with Phil, student from Niagra, Ontario. Again, dead tired and filled with Italian food, wine, and ice cream, we were all asleep by 1:00.

    The next day was Sunday and we all rushed off alll the way to St. Peter's Sqaure in time to see mass (mostly in Latin) and to receive a blessing from the Pope. We got a hell of a lot closer to him than I ever did in my entire trip to Germany for World Youth Day, and we didn't even have to sleep in a field with 1.2 million people. We then found a small Italian restaurant that ripped us off severely, and then wandered more of the city, visiting the Pantheon and the Coliseum. As that would be our last evening with John and Richard, we went to the grocery store and bought a bunch of food, and made a massive meal for ourselves (for a fraction of the price of the meal we had bought earlier), and drank and the five of us played Risk until 2:00 with another two Aussies that we had met.

    Despite the late night, we got up early the next day and went back to the Vatican so that we could tour the inside of St. Peter's Basilica and the Vatican Museum. Both of these were, as you would expect, absolutely incredible, except they get real pissed if you take pictures of the Sistine Chapel. Before Richard and Joh headed for the train station, we found a greatItalian restaurant and had lunch together one last time. We saw John and Richard off, I got my hair cut (finally) and we all prepared to go out. It was Phil's (the guy from Niagra) birthday, and as 23 of his Canadian classmates had just arrived, we had been invited out on a Roman pub crawl. It was a great night, (complete with the 'I Am Canadian' speech in one bar), and it ended with us carrying poor Phil back to his room, where he spent a very painful morning the next day.

    Our train left at 20:40 on Tuesday, and so we had most of the day to see what we had missed so far in our visit to Rome. We dug deep in our pockets and paid the entrance fee to the Coliseum, and I walked around with my iPod headphones on, listening to the soundtrack from Gladiator the whole time. It was awesome. And dorky. After some lunch we sat around the hostel and hung out with the Canadians for the rest of the day.

    We left Jared and Rebecca (one of the other Aussies) behind in Rome, and for the first time in a week, Meghan and I were once again on our own. Our train was another night car, which we shared with an elderly Swiss couple. The husband spoke German, Italian and French, but no English. So him and I chatted about a few things in French (including a debate on stem cell research) while Meghan and his wife sat in silence, awkwardly smiling at each other every now and then. Another couple joined the car in Milan, and we all took up residence in our bunks for the night, somewhere between Milan and Bern.
  • Half-Assed and Clueless - Eurotrip 2007: Serbia, Bulgaria, and Greece
    The next morning in Budapest, (well technically the same morning), we got up at 11:30 and headed over to the train station to catch our train to Belgrade. At this point I was ready to jettison any thought of staying in Eastern Europe any longer than was absolutely necessary. I just wanted to get the hell to Greece. We hopped on the train and seven hours later ended up in Belgrade, Serbia. We stayed on the ground in Serbia for about, oh six minutes, and hopped on another train for Sophia, Bulgaria. Now this train was the sketchiest vehicle that I have ever travelled in. Imagine, if you will, the old dental mobile home they had around PEI back in the day. (If you don't remember that, imagine the old bookmobile or one of the old replacement school busses. If you don't remember either of these, you are probably a townie, and would not understand the state of anything beyond the Peter Pan Corner anyway). Now imagine any of these structures experiencing traffic upwards of 300 people a day, smoking, drinking, eating, etc. And now imagine that it is mid winter, the heaters are broken, as are many of the windows, and that it hasn't been cleaned since 1987. It was pretty ridiculous. Some guy came to me and asked for 6 Euros so he can get on the train too (God knows why he would want to). I pulled out some change, and he informed me that they wouldn't take Euro coins, so he needed a 10 Euro note. Of course he promised to pay me back. The benevolent heart that I am, I obliged and spent the rest of the night thinking... they don't take coins... riiiight.

    I made that money back though, kind of by accident. The tickets booths were closed in Belgrade, so we just hopped on and figured we'd pay on the train. Every time a ticket person barged in (which was several times during the night, usually when I had just nodded off) I wordlessly handed him my Eurail Pass (which is totally not valid in Serbia or Bulgaria) and he would frown at it, and then pass it back to me and mumble something under his breath. I don't know which was the funnest part of the journey, feeling like I was going to get robbed (and keeping my long heavy flash light handy just in case), trying to use the washroom without a proper door or toilet, or being questioned by Hungarian border guards about smuggling. When he pointed to my bag and asked (I think he said something about cigarettes), I just shook my head no. Not five minutes later I read in my guide book that: "Bulgarians shake their head 'no' and nod their head 'yes'." Wonderful. There were about 25 border guards on the train, poking holes in the walls and ripping stuff apart looking for... God knows what. Thankfully they didn't seem to care too much about a dumb Canadian with an invalid ticket and who may or may not have had contraband cigarettes in his bag.

    Our original plan was to arrive in Sophia at 6:25 and have 35 minutes to get on another train to Thessaloniki, and then to head for Athens, arriving by 19:50 tthat night. But seeing as our train was a full two hours and fourty minutes late, we didn't quite make the 7:00 train out of Eastern Europe. You know what they say: don't set your watch by Bulgarian trains.

    We found the ticket office in Sophia so we could reserve beds on the next train to Athens, and ran into two British guys, John and Richard, who were in a similar predicament to us... that is, wanting to get the hell out of Eastern Europe. Our introductory conversation went something like "Holy shit it's good to hear someone else who speaks English." They agreed, and after we hung out at the hostel, walked around the city and had some lunch (with no meatballs), we made plans to meet up with them in Greece once they arrived the next day. Meghan and I then headed for our train. After being harassed by a bunch of husslers to carry our bags and what not, (I gave one guy $5 Canadian. He gave the blue bill one look and he got really pissed at me. Should've just gave him Canadian Tire money), we reached our sleeper car, locked the door, and slept the night away on a much more comfortable and much nicer train than we had encountered... nay, endured, the night before.

    Somewhere in the night we finally crossed the snow threshold as we passed into Greece, and arrived in Athens shortly after 6:00 to somewhat more temperate weather. We found our hostel and ate, then headed off to a landromat to do some laundry until our room was ready. It was a fairly uneventful day, but we did meet an interesting guy at the laundromat who was absolutely obsessed with California, saw some of the city, and the many stray dogs that inhabit it. Even though most of the dogs that roam the street are strays, many of them have collars provided by the locals, and are fed by people around the community. More on this later. Tuesday night we stuck around the hostel and hung out in the pub, meeting more Canadians and Americans, along with a Mexican and two Brazilians. We had a lot of interesting conversations. (I met one girl (Cynthia) from Ottawa who went to middle school with a friend's roommate at UPEI. Small effing world). Before I nodded off to sleep, the Aussie in our room (Jared, who would become one of our travel companions) threw up all over himself and the floor. I dozed off to the sound of him apologizing profusely to the Ohio girl whose bunk was directly below his.

    On Wednesday we headed out to see the sights in Athens, you know, all the usual ruins you would see on pictures of the city. It was all very nice, and we ran into a lot of our hostel mates on the hill, most of whom were slouched on benches or drinking water in an effort to recover from the intake of Ouzo the night before. The ruins were beginning to look an awful lot like each other when we randomly ran into John and Richard at one fo the sites, and they had met Cynthia at the hostel, and so, reunited in a more comfortable climate, the five of us went out for lunch and spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around Athens.

    That night was much the same as the night before, but considerably more rowdy, as England was playing Croatia for a berth in the EuroCup 2008. England lost, and so there were a lot of pissed off backpackers and staff. In the midst of the angry post-game drinking, Richard, John, and I headed up tp the top of Acropolis (a plateau in the middle of the city with the most prominent ruins on it) to see the view at night. As we left the hostel, as if followed by body guards, three dogs who always hung around the hostel led/followed us to the hill, barking and intimidating anyone or anything that they perceived as a risk to us. By the time we had reached the hill, there were five dogs guarding us, and as we sat down on the rocks talking about history and other boring stuff, the dogs each took a sentry point in a circle around us, alert and ready to take down anything. It was amazing.

    On Thursday the weather got a lot nicer, and we (myself, Meghan, John, Richard and Jared) headed to a monastery on a hill in the centre of the city to catch the view from up there. It was beautiful, and by mid-day, the temperature had climbed to 25. We made a final effort to see as much of the city as we could before sharing a traditional Greek meal together, finishing off some random drinks in a trendy local bar, (where Richard, John and I met a couple from the US/Taiwan, and a bunch of Americans, one of which was a girl from Iowa who hated Canadians because one had asked her if Iowa was where all the potatoes come from [that would be Idaho]), and getting set to take off for Italy the next morning.

California Girl in PEI - From California to PEI living happily with my adorable/loving husband and daugther. Nothing much but a place for my rambling and whats going on with me, my family,life on PEI or even a rant.
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  • Another school year is starting today.....
    YAY! Im alone again! Another year is underway here and it was pouring rain during that rush hour of getting all the kids to school in town. YAY! kiddo is starting grade 8 this year and it seems to be smooth so far. she was excited to get back and yesterday we went by to see if we could get her list early so she didnt have too much first day anxiety....we did and she is still excited...lol other then the rain this morning everything went great and its quiet now in my house...only me typing on the keyboard.

    on August 30th me and hubby celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. i really cant believe its been 6 years already...it feels odd... in some ways it feels like only yesterday we met, fell in love and i moved here to marry him. but in other ways its like we have known each other for many many years and married longer then six years. Im still as much in love with him as i was when we first started talking to each other. there certainly is something to say about that.

    "love you sweetie!"

    Im still waiting to hear back from Imigration Canada about my papers. its been 2 months and a day since they got my papers in their hot little hands. now they are officially over the "average" wait time for the first stage of waiting. once this goes through then i will be able to watch the status of my file. but until them im in the dark.

    today im feeling like crap. have a nasty chest cold that just isnt moving and it hurts to cough and my throat is all tore up. started antibiotics yesterday, so im hoping things will start to improve by tomorrow or over the weekend. I WANT SLEEP!....and im tired of coughing.

    hope things are well with you and yours. be safe and much love to you.
  • nice and breezy

    nice and breezy
    Originally uploaded by caligirlpei
    things went well at my moms with other family members making it in for my step dads gathering. i didnt make it out due to the cost of airfare. 3x's what it was in May when i went to vegas. mom assured me not to worry and dont feel guilty but i still do. anyway...she is handling all this well. Harolds sister was there when he passed and stayed for 5 days to help out.

    other then that....just wanted to post that i added a lot (about 90) photos to my flickr site. have some pictures from the Pride Parade we went to, the redo of my daughters room, a few from our trip to the zoo, and island stuff.

    hope all is well with you....hugs :)
  • feeling lost......
    not sure how im writing this right now...and exactly what to say.

    my step dad of 25yrs passed way last night at home peacefully after suffering a long battle after having a major stroke a few years ago. everything kept going down hill for him after that. he was a strong, funny and active man until all that hit him. he took it very hard he couldnt work anymore and just withdrew. the past year has been really hard for my mom taking care of him. his breathing was always the big problem. we knew this day was coming but it always hurts when they leave us. I know now he is in a better place now.

    i worry about my mom now and how she is going to deal with all this. she is strong...or at least comes off strong but i know how she is deep down....and im so sad for her right now. she is so tired ...the past week has been the hardest for her having had harold on hospice care in their bedroom. I cant imagine and dont know if i could do it myself when and if that time ever comes.

    the littlest one in all this....ashley. 5 yrs old and adores Harold and helped care for him as best she could. my mom told me she is lost right now and is asking where he is. she wasnt home when all this went down yesterday and when she got home he was gone. im in tears thinking about how she must feel loosing her buddy who listened to her and loved to have her help do things.

    i know this was expected but i cant stop feeling sad and crying. THIS SUCKS! i just cant get accept death. never have....and i dont think i ever well. i hate going to funerals and wakes. i have only been to a few of them only due to the fact they were family. other then that...i avoid them just because i cant deal with death.

    ....love you Harold.
  • Im sure looking forward to winter......
    Well well, this month has been one big roller coaster at our house and for the family.

    the beginning of the month had me down and out with all the teeth issues and drug withdrawls. as far as that is going my mouth now is 90% feeling better and no more withdrawl symptoms from all the codine i was taking.

    kiddo went to camp again this year and had a great time. this year she was in the "teen" camp and they did lots of fun activies....but she didnt do some of them cuz she had a big problem with the bugs/mosquitos (she has a major phobia). she came back all stinky and needing a shower so i know she had fun...lol

    we dropped her off at camp that saturday morning....we did a bit of running around Charlottetown with his mom. we went to a strawberry social event and had some great strawberry shortcake. we took her to do her grocery shopping.

    after dropping off his mom we went to lunch on our own then waited for the Pride Parade that was scheduled in town for that day. IT WAS GREAT! we had a fun time at the parade and then went to the park for the rally and just hung out with a great bunch of people in the GLTB community.

    during the week kiddo was at camp we re-did her bedroom. OMG, we through out over 100lbs of trash from her room and other stuff we had around. No lie, they weigh your car when you into waste management and then when you come out. INSANE. Oh, and the dust! my allergies were so bad all this week from the cleaning out of things the benedryl wasnt even helping. at the end of everyday we were so tired from cleaning, taking apart furniture and sorting junk.

    got her a new bed, desk for homework and crafts (we dont allow her a computer in her room), new book case, two large rolling organizer draweres and a few new posters she had been talking about. we finished it the day before she was due home....i think it looks great and i wish it was my room (if i was a teenager).

    during this week my mom informs me that my stepdad is in the hospital again. and they will know more as the week goes on if he is going to have to go into hospice care or not this time.

    on the morning of pick up day for kiddo we get a call from hubbys oldest sister telling us that his mom was in the hospital over night. from what she was told, his mom who two months ago had a stroke...had gotten up during the night and while in the bathroom she passed out and fell to the ground. she was there for two hours until she was able to drag herself to the phone and call 911. the senior home didnt call any of the family. the only way any of us found out was his mom calling one of sister to come pick her up from the hospital.

    doctor now informed us that she really shouldnt be alone for a minimum of three days...thats taken care of with her staying at one of hubbys sisters homes. then after that she is going to stay with one of her grandkids house until next thursday then with us for the following weekend.

    things have already been decided she cant live alone anymore unfortunatly so hubbys older sister was planning on a move end of next month anyway so they are going to get a bigger place and have her live with them. my mother in law was ok with it and understands her situation which is a great deal of pressure off all of us since she agrees.

    Kiddo LOVE LOVE LOVED her room. she cant stop saying how much she loves it. im so happy she does because we put so much work into getting things cleaned, old stuff sold, new stuff bought and put togetther.

    called my mom tonight to find out she was in the middle of making calls to all the family (hadnt gotten to me yet) that my step dad isnt doing great and IS going to be going into hospice care and only given a month. didnt talk to my mom long since she was busy but will find out more tomorrow and talk to her then.

    we were supposed to have a yard sale tomorrow but as our luck has it....we are due for lots of rain overnight into tomorrow and ending late afternoon. yeahhhhhhhh. so...we try again next weekend even if his mom is here. im planning on her not doing a darn thing when she is here and my foot is down on that. but we have to do this yard sale...i have so much stuff now to get rid of since cleaning everything out. oh well....now we have a nice relaxing weekend instead.

    im so tired. physically and emotionally. hope all is well with you this mid summers day. Oh, and if I hadnt mentioned it yet....I cant stand summer! the humidity and the summer bugs are driving me nuts.

    hugs



  • Anyone still there?.....
    for anyone still checking in on this darn thing, Im still here alive and breathing. It has been a hell of a month for me.

    last I spoke i was not in the best of moods due to several things going on. one of which as been my dental problems that have been bothering me since i got back from my vacation the beginning of May.

    long story a little shortened.....one root canal....5 fillings...2 of which were very deep and worse then having root canals. one of the fills ended up inflaming the root and the only option was to pull it since it was a tooth that was so built up it wasnt worth saving. then....while that was done an infection was brewing along where the other fillings were done causing pain from my ear, down the side of my face to my neck. got antibiotics for that. THEN....the extracted tooth area decided to become a "dry socket" and had to have this gross soaked piece of gauze packed into it and pain flared up again in that area. oh...and on top of all that...im currently going through codeine withdrawal from all the Tylenol #2's i have been taking....major headache and cold sweats.

    it has not been a fun 4 weeks for me and havent been to work either due to it. just not in the mood for anything or anyone. sucks really. there is so much house work that isnt getting done and its driving me nuts.

    today....im feeling about a 5 out of 10, which is pretty darn good. havent felt this good in weeks.

    after Canada Day (which we didnt do anything this year) I decided to get my butt in gear and turn in my citizenship papers. Watching those going through their ceremony made me wish it was me standing there taking the oath.

    so...I have had the application filled out since April. all i had to get done was take the 2 pictures they need and pay the fees. THAT WAS DONE TODAY!

    im putting the papers in the mail tomorrow....July 4th! kinda symbolic IMO ...starting my Canadian citizenship process on independence day. im very excited that this is now in the works and around this time next year I hope to be a Canadian Citizen.

Cameraguy's blog - TV cameraman Darin Foulkes' weblog
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Captain Quixotic - Tim Gormley's blog.
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  • The Dark Mod: Ingame Video
  • So, you wanna buy a shirt?


    We have Intoxicado T-Shirts for sale. To get one, contact csbbookings@hotmail.com

    $15 + S/H

    Mens medium and large available
    Ladies available soon.
  • Testing out some neat stuff.
    Testing some stuff out. I'm using a blog editor that is an Addon for firefox. Seems to be pretty sweet so far. Test. Perhaps I will write more often now.
  • Been awhile
    Things have been going well. I'm so very thankful for the good fortune that has come my way in the months since my Dad passed away. It was eight months on the 11th. I really can't believe how quickly time has gone by.

    I've been extremely fortunate and I will do my very best to carry on with what has been granted to me since January.

    Opening for Aerosmith, recording a single for the "Well Oiled" compilation CD, working from home as a graphic designer...these are all dreamlike things. I'm so eternally thankful for the good fortune, and I do not take it for granted. I'm not the type to be superstitious, but if I were...I would say that my Dad is looking out for me and sending these gifts my way. I'm happy to be observant enough to have accepted them.

    I really didn't see myself being where I am today eight months ago. As the summer goes by, I have little flashes of last summer. My Dad would call me every day to see how things were going, I miss that. I took him to the hospital for his transfusions once or twice and then we ha