uncharted waters

Wednesday, January 26, 2005

The one-year itch, life in general, and Snoopy...

As many of you who know me fairly well will know, I have a bit of a problem with my attention span. Routinely, I can keep myself happy with something for about a year, and then my patiences wanes and I feel the need to move on. This has happened with jobs, relationships, living situations...pretty much all of life's biggies.

This quirk is also fairly evident in the little things in my life...and the one that's rearing it's head (hee hee) right now is the straight versus curly debate. No, this is not some metaphor for sexual orientation (although, if I may point out, my attention span in that regard has been just fine), I'm talking about my hair. I'm not really much of a girly-girl (and obviously so), but straight v. curly debate has been raging strongly in my office for at least a week. It seems that I've had my hair straight for a little over a year and - you guessed it - I'm bored. I had no idea that one's hair should be so riveting. It must be because I'm fascinating. Or something.

On to other, far more interesting news, I've finally hit a decent balance in my life that I haven't had in a while. Work, classes, friends, family, basic upkeep...it's all meshed into a very nicely knitted little patchwork (except for perhaps the slightly disproportionate time spent on social life, and the little bit more required on the schoolwork). Things feel very...put together, which is nice, considering how upside-down I have been feeling for so long. I am prioritizing what responsibitilies need to be taken care of now and which ones can be pushed off just a little, I'm giving in to my few guilty pleasures when I need to, reconnecting with old friends, and I'm feeling overall like an organized, responsible person (ignoring all of that excessive drinking, of course).

On a slightly related note, does anyone happen to have an old copy of "Happiness Is..." lying around? You know, the one with Snoopy and all of the Peanuts characters from when you were little (and, yes, all of you hacks...I'm insistent that you had some sort of childhood). Anyway, I'm in desperate need of a copy - just for a few days. I'll give it back, and in mint condition too...my flaring OCD w.r.t. books will ensure that. Pretty please? Anyone?

Liberated at 8:47 a.m.

Sunday, January 23, 2005

Deja vu...

I'm fairly sure that - at face value - this January compared to last January couldn't be more different for me...different apartment, different daily routine, different job, different perspective. I seems, however, that I'm in the midst of a major deja vu. And I like it.

I'll post more later. I've had a ton to say lately, but somehow just haven't managed to sit down and post it...which would be because I'm horribly, horribly lazy. But you all knew that already.

Liberated at 9:39 a.m.

Wednesday, January 19, 2005

It's been a while since I've posted...

...but I have good reason. The past several days have consisted of:

not coming home for days on end
actually doing of my readings for class! (*shock*!)
spending inordinate amounts of time on messenger
concocting the best. slate. ever.
being a real student!
giving in to partisan-ism (is that a word?)
hanging out by the SUBfire
a severe lack of sleep

So, you'll all have to forgive my blog-laziness as I - yet again - am in the midst of one of those major life switch-ups, and am a little flitty these days. Excited...but still flitty.

Now please excuse me while I go back to the real world...it's calling and it wants its database report. Silly real world...

Liberated at 7:58 a.m.

Friday, January 14, 2005

I'm having a bad day. Make that a bad week.

Have I fallen so far off the radar that I had to find out about what happened at this morning's BoG meeting from ExpressNews?

The answer is yes, in case anyone is actually wondering.

Sigh.

Liberated at 5:25 p.m.

Tuesday, January 11, 2005

Now that I'm not contagious...

...I suppose that something else in my apartment had to take over. I think that my favourite little ram, Bear, has Fish Tuberculosis. His spine is literally bent at a 90 degree angle and it's all he can do to keep from flopping into the other fish. Fuck.

Yes, folks...you heard right. Fish Tuberculosis. It can not only ravage a tank and kill everything in it...it can also be transmitted to humans who happen to stick their hands into tanks regularily. Even better.

All I want to do right now is go to bed. I guess I'll be setting up a quarantine tank and then washing my hands 20 times before I can manage to get under the covers.

Sigh. I love my fish and everything...but this is pushing it.

Edit: R.I.P. Bear, ? - January 12, 2005.

Liberated at 11:14 p.m.

Monday, January 10, 2005

A random jumble of crap...

Well, I was ordered by Pooh-Bog to post...and since I blindly follow orders (ha!), here you go, Roman. Although don't expect this to be anything close to coherent or worth your time...

In which I manage to cheat death (I think).
It seems that whatever virus managed to overtake me last week is slowly looking for new people to infect and leaving me alone. For the first day in over a week, I can actually say that I'm feeling better than the day before, instead of horribly, horribly worse. Yay me. Although I think that one last visit to ye ol' Health Centre may be in order, it seems that I'll live. For now.

In which I decide whether to slack or learn.
I am currently registered in three night classes, and will be using this week to decide which one will win out. Today, I'll be sitting in on People and Cultures of South & East Africa (ANTHR 284), Tuesday will be Canadian Natural Resource Policy (POL S 440) and Wednesday will be World War Two (HIST 296).

There's no doubt that POL S 440 would be the most useful to me, but I'm unsure that I'm going to have the time and energy to commit to a 'real' course this semester. Should I feel like attending classes, but not useful ones, I'm left with ANTHR 284 and HIST 296...both of which I would enjoy (don't laugh!) but are entirely useless if I'm actually up to applying what I learn in the 'real world'. Thoughts?

In which I get my shit together.
I have been notoriously bad over the past few years at doing those simple things such as paying bills, keeping track of expenses, etc. Now that I seem to be in this role of 'real person', I've been trying a bit harder to be good. It was all going markedly well (all my bills up to date, saving money, etc.) when I realized that I really had no health care of any kind. The plan had been to coerce Manitoba Health into insuring me for one more year (which, for anyone whom I haven't ranted to about this yet, is FREE), and then get some supplemental Manitoba Blue Cross to cover the extras.

Well, not only did I not follow through on the Blue Cross stuff, while I was *this* close to going to the Emergency Room during my visit with the afforementioned virus last week, I realized that I had let my health care lapse and didn't even have basic coverage to see a doctor. Fuck.

After much panicking (and a complete dupe of the Health Centre...yay me!), I sent in my Manitoba Health renewal this morning. Now, I just need to not get sick until the card actually gets here...

In which I feel a little lost.
This is the first year that I have beeen in Edmonton and not spent the first half of January up to my ears in Tuition Campaign. It feels...bizarre. Although I think what feels worse is the fact that - even if I was still a full-time student and involved on campus - I'm not sure I'd be up to my ears...maybe my ankles, but that's it. I've spent a lot of time thinking about it, and I think I've figured out why...but still, it's disturbing me nonetheless.

In which I procrastinate. Alot.
Things that are currently half-done on my to-do list, that were supposed to have been done a long, long time ago...

changing the water in my tanks for my poor fishies
unpacking the suitcases that continue to sit by the front door
go grocery shopping (because fresh fruits and vegetables are a good thing)
finish the half-written POI post that has been sitting on my laptop for three weeks
catch up on all of that domesticated, house-cleaning type stuff
set up the new tank in my living room that is desperate for water and fish and such
go through the three (yes, three) garbage bags of clothes on the floor of my bedroom closet
finish unpacking. Don't laugh.

In which I ignore you all.
It was pointed out to me last night that I enjoy hiding out from everyone, and then pointing out that I'm hiding out from them. Yes, it's true that I haven't totally managed to kick my anti-social tendencies, I admit it. But really, you folks aren't missing all that much. Trust me.

And if you're one of the 18 messages on my voicemail...I apologize. I'll listen to them once I'm done hiding out.

Liberated at 12:27 p.m.

Friday, January 07, 2005

*Sniffle*

Statement from the Office of the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta on the passing of Lois E. Hole

Liberated at 1:14 p.m.

Sunday, January 02, 2005

Donate! Do it! You know you want to!

Well, I haven't even been back for 24 hours yet, and all I've managed to do is glue myself to the news on the tsunami. Should anyone have some extra cash lying around, the Federal Government will be matching all individual donations dollar-for-dollar to the NGOs below until January 11th (I can only assume in addition to the $80 million announced today).

Canadian organizations eligible for government matching funds:

Also, if anyone cares (and I admit, this is definitely a benefit for me) the government has also extended the 2004 charitable donation deadline until January 11th so that all tsunami relief donations made before that day can be included on your 2004 tax return.

On a side note, this whole mess certainly puts the upcoming tuition "struggle" into perspective, no?

Liberated at 6:34 p.m.

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