Saturday, December 30

For the Record

Better late than never I suppose. The soo officially has snow as of last night. Its about time. I thought I wasw guaranteed a white Christmas by living up here but nothing is for sure.

Leaving at 445am for TO, i still need some dark makeup and maybe a suitcase with wheels. Oh, and someone to be the guarantor for my passport. why do I wait until the last minute for everything?

Thursday, December 21

Some things Don't Change Part II

Being back for the holidays I wasn't sure how many of my friends I would see.
Last night I went to tim horton's with Shawnna and Steph. When I lived in wawa Shawnna lived two streets behind me. We learned to bake gingerbread together, we called each other on Christmas morning to see what eachother received, we watched CMT religiously, we went through the Hanson phase together. I moved here and her family followed suit a year later: just one street over. She quickly started hanging out with me and my other two close friends Lori and Steph. At least once a week we would walk to the Tim Horton's on the corner and laugh and talk about everything going on.

Shawnna spent last year in Japan, I hadn't spoken to her in almost two years. Steph goes to Guelph but I think we have hung out once at school in the last three years. But, we met up at Timmies and it was like nothing had ever changed. I know its cliche but we just talked about everything going on in our lives, we bought candy and went back to Shawnna's and talked for a few more hours. It wasn't awkward or weird, it was like we were back in highschool. I am so luck to have friends like that.

Monday, December 18

One week

I still cant believe that I have been home for a week now. i must admit to taking quite a bit of advantage over the break, being pretty lazy although not getting as much reading done as i had hoped. Luckily I have some disgustingly long bus rides to look forward to. I always take more out of the library than I can possibly finish if I also plan to see my family for more than meal breaks. I am working on Cider House Rules (actually my copy so maybe I should give it a rest) but its my workout reading. Actually dangerous because I let myself use the bike instead of the elliptical with the excuse that i need to get some reading done.

Another book i'm into is "The Collapse of Globalism" by John Ralston Saul and A History of India. If only I could choose one topic of interest and be well read on that subject. There is basically no snow here which is disconcerting; how can I feel good about the state of the environment now?

Wednesday, December 13

Some things dont change

The greyhound arrived in the Soo at lunch on Tuesday from Guelph, having left at 1030 Monday night. Anyone continuing on to Vancouver will be arriving at 9:20pm Thursday evening. I wonder if the single mother with her new son was warmly welcomed by the new grandparents. She would have arrived this morning I think. It was surprising the number of young single mothers on this trip, they bonded easily with each other while waiting for the very late bus to return from a tune-up in Sudbury.

Now that i'm home there is so much to do. That will keep me busy but I plan to also spend some quality time reading. I have already finished half of Go Ask Alice. More for teen readers following an anonymous young girls diary from a good home to the streets of California running away from a drug addiction. It's sad, i should have chosen something more upbeat for my first book home but it is an easy two or three hour read.

I just returned from the Plummer Hospital, geniously situated right next to the General hospital. One city, two hospitals, right beside each other? More importantly that the brilliance of the location planners I spent a few hours visiting with my Nonno. It was a bit of a shock to walk into his room and see that his face wasn't the same. He had sunken cheeks and his nose was so thin, his whole face was so thin. I probably would have cried except that he cannot help telling jokes. He told me about the day my aunt Marsha was born, 38 years ago when men didn't go into the hospital room and he slept at the Diplomat hotel waiting for news. Too bad the man behind the reception desk fell asleep and didn't get the phone call to announce the birth of his 5th child. He apologized to his middle of 5 children for the five years he tormented him about his long, curly hippie hair. Three of his sisters visited him (he is the oldest of 8 children). One brushed his hair, another recounted how he had refused to sit in the hard hospital chair any longer because he was not suffering from ALL in fact, he was suffering from the A-S-S disease. The middle sister insisted on getting Nonno on her side about how spoiled the oldest sister had been in childhood. all over the age of 60 and still taunting each other!

One comfort was that when I held his hand it was the same. Nothing had changed that i could see. His gold wedding band a bit faded stuck over his finger on his hands that seem to be the only part of his body that hasn't been affected by the quick weightloss. I guess that means i am doomed to have chubby fingers forever, its genetic!

Saturday, December 9

Two year Bloggaversary

About this time two years ago is when I started my blog. It was born out of distraction and a need to heal my brain during exam times. Out of a possible (approx.) 740 opportunities to blog I have taken 127 of them. Not a bad ratio but I would aim to improve it.

One thing that has held me back quite a bit is that fine line between being honest and real and just giving away too darn much information. My whole life this semester has felt like it was hovering over that line and it was difficult because blogging is a release for me. I'm not a big fan of writing in a journal so this allows me to have some record of my life over the last few years and hopefully into the next few. But it has been horribly incomplete for the last few months because everything important i have been dealing with has been absent. There have been many great joke opportunities missed because of the somewhat sensitivity of the topic. Maybe it would be easier if I didn't know anyone who read my blog. Maybe I'm just tired of censoring myself. I can't decide. As many a blogger has asked, where is that line?

Wednesday, December 6

traquilizarse

The title is the Spanish verb "to calm oneself down". I am so calm right now that I am not even studying for my Spanish exam that is in less than 6 hours.

One thing that I think calms me down no matter what is hearing someone talk with an accent. Weird? Maybe, but it works every time. I just need to find a long cd of someone talking with an accent. If only they would station someone whose first language was french (actually pretty much any accent will do, It even works to talk to the Indian people on the Dell helpline) at the Blood Donor clinic waiting area, right as I walk into an exam or beside me on airplane rides.

Solo cuatro dias hasta salgo para Sault Ste. Marie. No creo que este semestre ya ha terminado!

Monday, December 4

productivity (in a pear tree)

These last few days have been so relaxing and productive, I love exam time! I have baked over 200 cookies and even got to decorate a whole batch of sugar cookies, you can't much more fun than that! I won't say how many episodes of Friends I watched in that time but if I make it a goal to watch the whole series then watching episodes is productive, right? Right.

I plan on heading out for the great white north on the 11th of december. I have never left early for the holidays, this is revolutionary! It is good because my Nonno (grandpa) has been sick off and on since thanksgiving but I can't call him because he doesnt hear so hot on the phone. He was diagnosed with Chronic Myelocytic Leukemia about a month ago. it is a cancer of the white blood cells, it is actually manageable with just a few rounds of chemo and some pills but it will never go away. He had an infection a few days ago and they thought he would not make it but he pulled through but they are making him stay in isolation, he hates the hospital. Anyway, prayer for him would be appreciated, for his health, for my Nana because she is very stressed and our whole family because its Christmas time.