Weight Sadface
My weight makes me frustrated and depressed for all the wrong reasons. I’m healthier than I’ve been in a long time. But nothing makes me more angry than stepping on the scale and not seeing results.
*sigh*
I think it’s time to go back to Weight Watchers meetings.
Filed under My Life As Written by Me | Comments (3)Nuttiness and Nuptials
1. What were you doing 10 years ago?
Sweltering away in my old townhouse in Valleyview. Just finished grade six so I was mostly chilling and watching a lot of X-Files.
2. 5 things on your to-do list for tomorrow
- Determine if I’m actually floating down Thompson River with my girlfriends.
- Do some more work on my wedding website.
- Do some laundry so that I’ll have clean clothes when I get back to Burnaby.
- Walk my dog, if it’s not too hot outside.
3. What would you do if you were a billionaire?
Travel, travel, and more travel. It would be amazing to just take off, travel around the globe, spend as much time in each place as I’d like, and not have to worry about running out of money or getting back to work.
Oh Rob, that’s exactly what I’d do!
4. What are three of your bad habits?
- Raaaaage - seriously, I fly off the handle at the dumbest things and sort of shut down on the inside if it’s something remotely serious.
- Procrastination - I flake on the important stuff half the time and the other half, I just plain forget. Ever since Mike got me a shiny new Blackberry Curve, however, I’m finding it much easier to keep my life together. I’m still a flake.
- Stressing Out - I stress out over everything, even if it’s out of my control. Mike’s trying to get me to break this habit, though. I stress out and then I procrastinate. It’s a vicious cycle, people.
5. What are some snacks you enjoy?
- Sunchips (the Original Flavour)
- Raisin Bran or Harvest Crunch cereals
- Wheat Thins
- Jube-Jubes (I’m such a little kid)
- Naan Bread that Brock makes. Jeeebus, so good.
- Chocolate Soy Ice Cream
I’m a sweets/salts junkie.
6. What were the last five books you read?
- Blood Noir (Book 16 of Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter) - Laurell K. Hamilton
- Galaxy in Flames (Book 3 of Horus Heresy - Warhammer 40K) - Ben Counter
- Black Powder War (Book 3 of Temeraire the Dragon) - Naomi Novik
- False Gods (Book 2 of Horus Heresy - Warhammer 40K) - Graham McNeill
- The Golden Compass (Book 1 of His Dark Materials) - Philip Pullman
7. What are five jobs you have had?
- .NET Developer
- Freelance Web Designer/Developer
- Sales Consultant & Resident Technician
- Team Leader
- Babysitter
8. What are five places where you have lived?
- Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada
- Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada
- Fort McMurray, British Columbia, Canada
- Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
- To Be Determined!
Thanks to the lurvely Rob for this inspiring Meme.
Now for the nuptial news: here’s our new wedsite. Enjoy.
Filed under Memes, My Life As Written by Me | Comments (2)Hometown Business
After four weeks of adjusting to life in Vancouver, I’ve finally found a bit of time to head back home to Kamloops and visit with my family and friends.
We left Burnaby around 7PM on Friday, only to find that we, like all of the other saps that had to work during the week (well, I still don’t have a job so I can’t fully lump myself into that category), had to leave after work on the day before the long weekend began.
For those of you who aren’t from Canada, July 1st is Canada Day and is the first big holiday of the summertime. Traffic is annoying on the best of weekends but… that was insane. It took us an hour and a half to get from Burnaby at Gaglardi Way to Abbortsford (usually this would take 35 minutes). Not only that, but we all traveled in Rob’s lovely non-air-conditioned Corsica. Although we did have incredible conversation along the way, it was a bit hot in the tin can on our way out of the Lower Mainland. Luckily, the sun set pretty quickly as we began to make our way North East towards Kamloops.
We arrived in Kamloops at midnight and, for the first time in a long while, I was actually really happy to see my hometown. Even though I’ve been living in Burnaby since the end of May/beginning of June, it hasn’t really sunk in that I actually live there and not here. Hrmm. It’s not to say that I don’t love Burnaby, ’cause I do. It makes the insane materialistic consumer in me jump with glee each and every time I pass an outlet store. Mmmm… H&M… hahaha.
Tonight, I’m going to hang out with my girls for my BFF Isha’s birthday party. Since her actual birthday is on a Wednesday this year, we’re celebrating a little bit early to compensate. … aaand, I just remembered that I need to go to the grocery store to get an appy and some Pink Champagne. Oops.
Shall check in soon with some pictures to share.
Ciao.
Filed under My Life As Written by Me | Comment (0)Jumping on a Couple of Bandwagons
First of all, Mike was perusing the Struggling Writer and shared the whole post on Wordle with me. Now, as both a professional internet surfer and a budding writer, I know that it’s easy to get distracted from getting one’s editing done and goofing off at a particularly interesting site.
I must thank you, Struggling Writer, this site gave me at least a couple of minutes of amusement. The best part about Wordle is that I copy+pasted my entire 50,000 word NaNoNovel and this is what it spit out at me. Wordle is meant to analyze the words that you use the most frequently (and you can filter out the common characters such as “the”, “and”, “or”, etc.) I seem to enjoy using the names of my characters the most!
It’s definitely worth a peek if you haven’t seen it yet.
And also, I FINALLY HAVE WII FIT! And by I, I clearly mean we. As in my whole household. Brock doesn’t seem to be too into it right now (he’s busy building our Warhammer table), but Mike was the one who stood in line for the game and got it for us. It’s so much fun!
So, today christens my hopping on the Wii Fit bandwagon to keep track of just how much weight I lose. I put a goal into the system to lose 18.2 lbs in 2 months. Seems reasonable and I’m sure Weight Watchers would agree. The funny thing about Wii Fit is that it’s balance board is not giving me the same numbers as the scale does! It’s out 15 pounds! Mike has told me that this much be a glitch in the scale because electronics don’t lie.
He’s probably right.
Anyway, stay tuned for more on my Wii Fit journey.
And finally, I’ve redesigned my wedding website, although I won’t share the link (since it’s changed again). I’m looking forward to finishing the content tonight so that I can get started on the Save-The-Date cards to send out in September.
Wedding is fast approaching.
Oh goody! I can’t wait.
Edit: About the Wii Fit not being accurate, it’s because I didn’t put the optional feet on there. Seems to be accurate now. Hahahaha. I’m so intelligent.
Filed under My Life As Written by Me, Video Games | Comments (2)Pigs and Children
I hadn’t seen Z in a couple of days and today was a tough day for her. I always forget that she’s 5-years-old and dealing with the insanity of cancer. Although I do think she is a tough little cookie, today she proved to me that, even though she’s tough, she’s also very little and is sort of exhibiting the signs of ‘roid rage, as they say.
Now, little Z has always loved this stuffed animal of mine. His name is Babe… and he’s a pig. Original, I know. But I got the pig when I was 8, what do you expect? Anyway, Z loves to “steal” this stuffed animal from me and claim it as her own. I had been planning on lending her the pig for the next six-months so that Babe can help her get better during her chemo. So, I grabbed Babe from my bedroom and said to Z, “You may have this pig on one condition: I have to have him back at the end of your treatment so that he can join the rest of his stuffed animal family in the bedroom. Is that okay?”
“No, you have lots of stuffed piggies. This one’s mine. Mine.” And she grabbed Babe from my hands and hid it behind her back.
Z loves that game. It makes me upset and she delights in it.
Her mother, Jen, told her that she can only play with the pig while she’s at her uncle and auntie’s house. Z refuses and says again, “Mine.” So I offer her another pig of mine - one that I’d bought in Florida and the mom pig to the ones I’d bought for her and K for Christmas - and said that she could keep that one. She refuses and says again, “Mine. That one’s not soft enough. Or nice enough. I want this one.”
“Z, you can’t have that one. I’ve had it since I was a little girl and it was the last thing my grandma gave me before she died of lung cancer. Why would you take something so special from me?”
“Fine.”
And she proceeds to throw the pig down in anger and ignores me until I leave to the mall with Jen and her brother, X.
Children should not be able to push an adult down into the dumps over something so silly as a stuffed animal but, somehow, she managed to. It really bothers me when children do something bad and they don’t even care enough to say sorry. I know that she’s five and that she’s undergoing intense chemo and also that she’s been going through a lot of emotional turmoil… but for some reason, I sort of expected a different response from her.
Something like, “Thank you Auntie Amanda; I’ll give it back before I go back home to Nanaimo.”
K would’ve said something like that and would have hugged me afterward.
The difference between Z and K is astounding sometimes. K is only eight-years-old (and only two years older than Z) but already she is exhibiting signs of maturity and intelligence that is far beyond her age-level. It’s impressive. She really reminds me of what I used to be like when I was younger. She’s eager to learn and eager to help at any time. She’s a mini-shopping buddy and a cuddle-muffin for when I need a hug.
But Z… Z has never taken to me. I’ve always been a punching bag or someone other than her aunt. Sure, I’m not blood related to her or even married to her uncle yet… but I’ve been around her long enough to know that this is a kid who simply does not enjoy being around me. She asks her uncle for everything, chooses to ignore my presence, and seeks only to irritate me.
*sigh*
I don’t understand children.
But at least I can understand my stuffed pig, Babe.
Filed under My Life As Written by Me | Comment (1)A Site Overhaul
After a month of no updating, I’ve finally had the courage to update Wordpress, archive all of the old posts (which will be re-uploaded soon to an archive blog), and re-work the design using the free themes offered on Wordpress’ site. I’m still working up the nerve to create a new template of my own creation.
C’mon - it’s a lot harder than it seems. 
So here’s this month in review, just to get everyone up to speed on what’s been going on (not that anybody actually reads this sucker aside from my friends but hey, what’s the harm?).
May 15-30
My last post was on May 14 and read a little something like, “Woe is me, my life is falling apart.” Well, just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, surprise surprise, it did. Because of the massive overtime I’d been working at NRI, my health was falling apart. I’d had problems sleeping, eating, and getting out of bed (due to the good ol’ bipolar issue that I’ve been battling since adolescence). It came to a breaking point somewhere around May 17, when I’d had enough of overtime and the two of us (meaning me and Mike) decided not to go into work when overtime was required. The proverbial shit hit the fan come that Tuesday, when we were giving our walking papers from NRI and told that we were not a fit for the company.
Imagine my surprise when they said that they were going to actually pay out the overtime that they wouldn’t have had any intention to, if they hadn’t dismissed us without cause (as refusing overtime resulting in dismissal could be a class-action lawsuit, not to mention the issues from BC Worker’s Compensation). Needless to say, this was a large blow to my already fragile ego and I’ve been hurting ever since.
Somewhere in the midst of all of the employment madness, we’d managed to find a really beautiful home in Burnaby’s Crest neighbourhood. We signed the paperwork on May 19 and agreed to move in on June 1. We spent the two weeks of unemployment (and a hefty severance package) packing our home and preparing for the move to come.
Mike got in touch with his old boss at Wenco Mining and managed to secure a programming position there for June 1 and even managed a salary increase from his old salary at NRI. Currently, I’m still unemployed and playing part-time nanny to my nieces and nephews. More on that later.
We officially moved on May 28, marking a new chapter in our lives. The Kamloops Chapter has ended and the Vancouver Chapter is just beginning to write itself.
June 1-13
My first week in Vancouver was plagued with incredibly bad news. First, the house wasn’t in the best shape; there were no three-prong plugs outside the kitchen/bathroom, the washer was broken, and we have a serious ant problem (still). On the Monday after we moved in, I received news that my 92-year-old great grandfather had passed away in a terminal patient facility for senior citizens and that the funeral was postponed until such time as everyone can get together for it. The next day, Mike and I received the most horrible news imaginable: our niece - we’ll call her Z - was pre diagnosed with leukemia. His sister packed up her children and long-term boyfriend and brought them to our relatively unpacked home.
Z was diagnosed with acute leukemia and is now undergoing the best treatment that BC Children’s Hospital can offer her. Z and her mom are going to be staying in a long-term treatment home here in Vancouver, along with with Z’s younger brother, X. Z’s sister, K, and other brother, N, headed back to Nanaimo today with Jen’s boyfriend, Mark. They’d been living here for quite a while and although I know everything’s going to be okay, it’s been really stressful for everyone. I loved seeing all of the kids and taking care of them. But I won’t miss Dora the Explorer all that much!
Z, X, and Jen are going to be in Vancouver for the next six months while Z undergoes chemo. It’ll be nice to see my sister-in-law more often, as she is the most delightful person, but it sucks that it has to be under such horrid circumstances.
If you’re looking to help out with the situation, feel free to donate to BC Children’s Hospital - every little bit of funding helps them give better care to the little ones there. It’s a phenomenal facility with amazing doctors and nurses that are dedicated to providing the best care possible to children from all over BC. They even do crafts and magic shows!
Anyway, that’s been our little lives over the past month or so. Because of this revamp, I’m going to make sure that I post often with progress updates on Z’s cancer treatment, living in Vancouver, and trying to make my dreams come true.
Much love goes out to everyone in Kamloops - I miss you guys a lot.
Ciao.
Filed under My Life As Written by Me | Comment (1)