HIDEOUS TRASH

First: I hate the Dodge Caravan.



I don't hate that it's cheap, so it's affordable, so everyone has one. Everyone. They are EVERYWHERE. But I just hate that 98% of the people I see driving them can't drive. And they're ugly. And they always pull into the wrong lane when turning into a 2-lane road. And they never use their parking brake, so they just throw it into P and the thing bounces against the parking pawl, destroying the transmission. And they're always loaded up with 17 invalid kids drooling and puking everywhere. My favourite is the Caravan "SPORT". Sport! So I like to play a game... so far, I haven't been able to win it yet...

The game is: Wherever you are (doesn't matter where), see if you can count to 60 (one minute) without spotting one.

You can't.

The highest I ever got was 58 seconds, but most of the time I can't even count to 10 without seeing one. UGH! Disgusting.

Oh hi

Chesney Conservation Area, etc.

Phil and I have been going on lots of adventures and walking a lot the last few weeks. Here are some photos from our hike at the Chesney Conservation Area, just outside of Innerkip (where I grew up).











On Thursday night last week, I wasn't feeling well - bad enough that I went to Emergency at the hospital. I stayed there into the wee hours of Friday morning, when I was inspected. After a long ultrasound and an examination by a couple of different people, they decided to perform surgery that afternoon/evening. Phil and my mom were at my side through the entire ordeal and made sure I recovered afterword. :) I actually had a lot of fun looking back - so many kind people work in hospitals. I've spent lots of time in them with my grandparents over the years, but never as a patient myself. The whole process was actually really interesting. Probably the most annoying thing was losing my earrings (they had to come out with pliers), but I guess that means I can go get a new pair now!

Phil and I booked our accommodation for our Washington D.C. trip in June! We're staying at the Fairmont Washington D.C., in the lap of luxury right downtown! On our way down, we'll stop in at Morgantown for a ride on the PRT, and on the way back home drop in for an hour or two at Knoebels, to take a spin on the classic Phoenix roller coaster, and enjoy the beautiful drive up Rte. 15. :)

All's Well

It's been a while since I've written anything, but that's more indicative that things are going very well :)

Last Sunday, Phil and I went to Niagara Falls for a little day-trip. On our way home, my mom sent me an SMS asking if we'd like to come over for dinner... so Phil could meet Dad! It was on my mind, too, actually - I was even going to suggest it but she did before I had the chance. Things went great! My dad welcomed him in just as any other friend. We stopped in again last night on our way home from Cara's to talk to them again, too. They're all excited because they just bought a Toyota Highlander to replace the 500 000+ km 1990 Volvo 240 wagon.



I'm steadily plodding along at dds - it's been a bit of a rough ride, that's for sure - but I love the machines, I'm learning a lot, and the people there are great.

Gem's OK

It's been a while since I've written a journal entry, but there's certainly a lot to tell! I flew down with my parents on the 28th of January to Florida. We spent 4 days together at Walt Disney World, then I flew back and looked after their cat, Gemini, and the house while they stayed down for an additional week and a half.

On Saturday, Phil came with me over to the house to check on the cat, and we fixed up some wiring on my car. Phil's wicked with a soldering iron - thanks to his experience at working at NCR. Once we got all that done, he made lunch for us, and we used a drawstring from his hoodie to play with Gem.

Thinking nothing of it we left later on and I came back Sunday night to check on her again, everything was fine. Monday night I got there about 11pm to find out she'd thrown up 3 times - while I was cleaning that up, she threw up again! I figured something wasn't right... then I found a small, ~15cm long piece of the drawstring, covered in kitty barf. :(

I knew that there was a good chance she'd eaten the entire thing - I couldn't find it anywhere. I called the vet straight away, and their recording gave an after-hours emergency number. I called that, and spoke with that clinic - in London. The recommended I come in straight away. I packed up Gem and by midnight we got to the clinic in London.

It took them over 2 hours to get Gem sedated to the point where she could have an X-Ray taken. The string was definitely all in there - completely impacting her entire intestine. I had called my parents en-route to the clinic to let them know what was up. I was pretty upset so they were more worried at getting me calmed down then figuring out what to do with Gem.

The veterinarian talked with me about the X-Ray results and recommended surgery immediately - that she might not make it to the morning if I wanted to take her to her normal vet in Woodstock. I called my parents, bawling my eyes out, figuring this was all my fault this happened. We gave the vet the go-ahead and she went in for surgery at about 2.30am.

By 5am my stomch had tied itself as tight as Gem's with worry and I'd spent half the time in the washroom. "Worried Sick" is a real term. One of the other vets came out and saw how worried I was and gave me an update, that the surgery was going well and I should go home and sleep to come back to pick her up in the morning. They had removed all of the string through 2 separate incisions in the intestine (I think). Hugely relieved, I called my mom and made my way back to the house in Innerkip.

That was stupid, though, because it took me an hour to drive there, then I slept for an hour, then drove back an hour to London. I picked up a very, very sedated Gem and took her to the Vet in Woodstock... except her regular vet was not open because they were doing renovations! They'd forwarded her info to another vet, so I took her there and left her in their very capable hands. She was on an IV and pretty doped up. They expect her to make a full recovery from the surgery and should be home sometime on Thursday.

I crashed back home in Innerkip at 9am and didn't wake up until 4pm. After that I swung by Cara and Mike's house and they invited me for dinner! I stopped by Will and Sarah's house briefly too on my way back to Kitchener and caught up with them. My head is still spinning and I'm in shock about all of this; it's all happened so fast. I still feel deathly sick to my stomach about what's happened and I don't know if I'll ever be able to forgive myself. I just don't understand what got into her kitty head that it'd be a good idea to swallow a METRE LONG PIECE OF STRING! They said at the emerg. clinic that cats are insane and will do things you would never think of.

Time for bed!

Parents are Awesome

I met up with my parents on Wednesday night at Swiss Chalet. They were in town running some errands; they had some great news, the long-term care/retirement home that my Grandma was waiting to get into has availability! She's at another place right now but the place she'd be moving to would be right in town, and several of her friends are there as well. Since they were in a really good mood, I took a chance and decided to tell my dad about Phil.

I haven't talked to my dad at all about the the whole "liking guys" thing since I was about 17, when I told them. So I had no idea how he'd take it at all. My parents continue to amaze me; he was happy, asked lots of questions, and when I hugged him goodbye later he said "It's good! I'm glad you've got a buddy" and smiled. It means the world of me to have his approval. I think the world of my parents and their advice and thoughts.

The next few weeks will be pretty intense job-wise, with some pretty big changes coming. I'm still exploring the possibility of joining my parents for a few days in Florida when they head down later this month; if only to take them on Soarin' and then come home. :) I can't even handle watching a YouTube video of the thing without bursting into tears; it's simply the most incredible attraction ever created. The soundtrack is epic. (If you don't know, Soarin' is an OMNIMAX theatre at Disney's EPCOT Center, where you enter the building and seat in giant hanggliders that reconfigure mechanically to have you positioned vertically in front of the dome - feet dangling, free-flying with some motion and so forth)

Still thinking things over

Don’t they know that there’s something going on?
What they’re harming with their indecision
But who will be left standing when I’m gone?
There’ll be nothing left but a vision

It’s too easy to turn a blind eye to the light
It’s too easy to bow your head and pray
There are some times when you should try to find your voice
This is one voice that you must find today

Oceanlab - Miracle (Above and Beyond Club Mix)

I was listening to this yesterday while driving, and kinda feel like a puss but I started crying. Frigin' amazing remix but the lyrics really hit me. I keep trying to turn over in my head what to do. I'm in what you'd call a "good situation," in that I have a lot of options - but in my case I don't want options; I just want to kind of set out down one path that is already there. Making choices is hard, and I hate doing it, because of my fear of doing the "wrong thing" or hurting others.

I think I have to do what my heart tells me, and that is to take a risk with my friends, who I have immense respect for, and who value my abilities, and go with them.