Um, okay, I didn’t really realize how expensive skiing is… I had wanted to do a lesson rather than just trying to stay upright while careening down a mountain, and it was certainly more than I was willing to spend this past winter (what with having just bought a house and all…)
Maybe next year it will be more of a consideration.
Well, a long time has passed since my last entry on this and I guess a few things have certainly changed… I now have a house with a little yard, and have done a whole lot of prep work this year to add more soil (organic no less), and some fertilizer (all natural mushroom manure), and have planted a few things – just a couple of hostas which are doing well, and some lily of the valley which is not doing well at all.
I also put a few perennials in the side flower bed – daffs and crocuses and a few other spring things (will need to add some later bloomers as well or it will be a very seasonal flowerbed that’s for sure).
Then, dare I dream… cherry tomatoes?
Over the summer Daniel and I both got new bikes. We didn’t have a lot of time to enjoy them, as a rainy winter has been less than inspiring, but since spring is upon us we’ve already gone on a few rides so far this season.
While my office is being renovated, I’ll be working from a different building and my hope is that I’ll be able to ride to and from work. I’ve done one trial run and it was taking a lot out of me, but I’ll try it a few more times so that hopefully by the time we’ve moved locations I’ll have the stamina to do it without a problem. I’m looking forward to it!
Six Feet Under really is a great show.
I’m not sure why all television can’t be, you know, good – but it seems like it generally isn’t. Not so with Six Feet Under. I feel like I got a lot out of it, it sparked all sorts of interesting (though sometimes morbid) discussions, and was entertaining to boot.
My favourite part, (no spoilers) is the lesson of Brenda and Billy in the last episode – I recognized in myself the same penchant for rehashing the past and it was a real wake-up call to me that it will be my own doing if I choose to continually drag up things that happened years ago. It has really helped me to ‘get’ that humans have a choice in whether they carry baggage or not.
Not bad for a TV show!
Hurray!
I love not having a balance on my credit cards. I love not seeing the interest charges. I love feeling more in control of my finances.
Credit cards are a dangerous thing to give students. I’m just glad I managed to get out of debt without too much trauma – I know I’m one of the lucky ones.
Like the song says,
“Love won’t hurt anymore
It’s an open smile on a friendly shore.”
Cheesy? Yes, undoubtedly.
True? Seems to be (for me anyway).
It’s almost hard for me to remember what a hard thing it was to contemplate, all the doubts I had that I’d ever let myself open up enough to actually risk letting myself “fall”. But it’s been a nearly two years, and I’m so glad to still be exceedingly ‘in love’.
It was scary, but it’s not anymore. I’d highly recommend it.
Okay, so maybe I don’t work all night – but I’m working hard to pay down my debt.
Now that I’m in a new position at work that pays a fair bit better my debt is starting to be dramatically reduced. I think starting to see the results is already making me more dedicated – because now it is an exciting thing to do with my money rather than an obligation.
I have another cheque in my wallet that I’ll be depositing directly against my loan account instead of my chequing account – this little change in how I’m banking has been a huge success because I don’t even think about cheques as my money anymore – they’re only for debt.
I’ll have to do some more careful calculations, but I’m hoping to have one loan entirely paid off this year – and then get to work on the other.
I can’t wait to be debt free!
I don’t think there could be anything more worth doing.
To open myself up to someone; to love completely; to connect; to know, and always want to know better; to work through any issues with positivity; to support and be supported; to laugh, giggle and generally delight in each other’s happiness; to sizzle and spark; to plan a future together… to have this meaningful romantic relationship is simply one of the greatest things I expect to ever experience.
Much love.
Well, it’s been a long time interest of mine to learn a martial art – and for the past 4-5 months or so, I’ve been doing it!
I was fortunate enough to find a kung fu martial arts studio a block away from my house, and though the convenience was the initial draw, I’ve lucked into a really terrific, supportive group of people to learn with.
I’ve successfully passed the first major set and am nearing the end of learning the second. It’s been great to not only have the benefits of physical activity and a new social group to get to know, but to also reengage my ‘learning’ muscles for something I knew nothing about.
The ability to keep learning more and more is sure to make this something that can be as long lasting as I want it to be.
Hmm… so, I guess my intentions were ahead of the curve on this one, but now I’m in the midst of the Oprah-induced wave of people who are now reading “A New Earth”.
So, why have I had this on my list for over a year? Well, let’s just say I’m afraid it will work, and I’m afraid it won’t… In many ways I feel like I’ll be terribly disappointed if I don’t “awaken to my life’s purpose” through the reading of the book, and on the other hand, I often feel like I don’t have time/energy to be making big changes right now. I have a good, well paying job that is letting me rapidly pay down student loan debt and I don’t want to hope for anything else right now, or see what I’m maybe missing…
In any case, I’m on Chapter 3 right now, so we’ll see how it goes!
My avoidance of any sort of truly connected relationship has been well documented. The span of time where I was completely unable to have a deep connection with anyone is also well documented.
So now, after reaching a point where having something meaningful is possible, I’ve had to start trying to figure out what “meaningful” means to me.
A few things come to mind:I feel pretty confident that the relationship I’m in now is going to be an extremely meaningful one in my life (since it already is), and I look forward to discovering how deep our connection will become.
I know I always appreciate a good massage more than I can say, and I’d love to be able to return the favour from time to time.
I’m not sure if the best route to getting better is finding one of those massage workshop class things, or just plain old practice with someone who is honest enough to tell me what is working and what isn’t… perhaps both.
For right now, it will probably wind up being practice since I’m a bit too busy to seek out a class, but hopefully it will be practice done with specific intention toward improving rather than further ingraining bad habits and poor technique.
Okay, so the Neal Adams article was done on Monday rather than Sunday, but still, for a long weekend, not bad. Next up – Hammy Hamster! I’ll aim for Sunday again on this one…
It was a lovely surprise – Daniel took me to Van Dusen Botanical Gardens as our first official date (though, personally I count our first date as when we went to dinner at the Naam).
We strolled through the gardens, saw all sorts of really neat plants and flowers, and best of all, at one point it was as if nature was giving us our own personal bird show. First it was ducks and geese in the pond, but then a huge eagle perched in the tree above us. Unfortunately that drew the attention of some sort of hawks or something who pestered the poor eagle a bunch. All of this happened as we were standing by the pond for maybe 15 minutes at most. It was amazing.
I am definitely going to want to go see the gardens again in the spring when all the new flowers are just starting to bloom. And I’ll have to see Butchart Gardens and Dr. Sun Yat Sen Gardens too!
Yeesh! The backlog!
I want to at least catch up on the “new” articles (i.e. recent ones that have never been posted on livejournal), there are currently 3 new ones pending. Then I have to start tackling the backlog, I’ll have to take a count again, but I think there are in the neighbourhood of 30ish.
My goal is to do one per week. First up – finish the Neal Adams one by, let’s say, Sunday.
So many little things that seem to get left behind…
I finally finished a few days ago and I can’t say enough good things about it. This book has quite literally changed how I live my life, made me a happier person, and given me the faith in my abilities needed to keep grounded.
It’s already reaped benefits and is definitely responsible for helping to free me from a lot of the weight of the past that used to crush me. On top of that I have very little worry or anxiety about the future whereas not so long ago I used to be paralyzed by possibilities.
I wish everyone I know would read it.
I was somewhat (nay, profoundly) horrified by the results of the last election. I voted, and even encouraged other people to get out and vote but after the last election I realized that that may not be enough. I think that if I feel passionately disgusted by the result I should be more passionately active – simply voting is just the bare minimum.
I vowed as the results flashed on my screen to start doing more. Yet here we are, all these months later and I haven’t done much of anything. With the Conservatives (a.k.a. the Reform Party – never forget who they really are!) allegedly creeping up in the polls and speculation that they may be thinking about a spring election to try to gain a majority I’ve started to realize that I better get off my ass or I’ll be even more sorry in the future.
So, first step – investigate whether I want to become a member of a party.
Oooh! Oooh!
I just totally sang this like um, kind of amazingly well. I’m a super hard judge in general, and especially on myself, but I think I actually truly had it there for a while!
It was great because usually I have a hard time being comfortable with more quiet, voice-centred songs – I usually like to hide in a lot of instrumentation.
Still, it’s just me and the cats hanging out, but hearing my own voice with just one other voice and some soft guitar didn’t seem so bad. I think part of why it seemed okay was because I had the words right in front of me, therefore there was no hesitation in my voice. I’ll have to keep that in mind…
When I think of the number of things I have avoided doing, or the number of chances I’ve let pass to do new and interesting things just because I’m not willing to run the risk of looking foolish I feel almost sick.
I’m a person who tends to have lots of stuff come pretty naturally to me, and while that is a wonderful gift, it comes with it a feeling that there is pressure to be good at everything naturally. I know logically that this is unreasonable, but I still feel extremely awkward when something takes work. And though I know it is a facade (and readily admit to others that it is) it is still hard for me to let my guard down and do something I might be terrible at in front of other people…
It’s completely stupid, but I can recall with painful, precise detail one time in French class in grade 7 when we were answering homework questions on the board and I wrote the ones I was assigned up on the blackboard and had one question wrong… the class hooted and hollered and on a separate section of the blackboard wrote a note was just the date and: “Aimée was wrong!” (Why the teacher let that go on for as long as it did that day I’ll never know…)
But that is literally how it was for me… I was so used to always being right and always being good at everything (and apparently everyone else was used to me being that way too), that I had no experience with how to handle being wrong. So it is hard for me to let go and think that no one will notice if I screw up because everyone did! And it was a big deal!
Now, in the grand scheme of my life I know that one day in grade 7 French class is pretty unimportant. But that feeling of shame and the horror of standing out and being noticed because I made a mistake is hard to shake sometimes. I’m going to try though.
First up on the agenda is going to my company’s golf tournament in 10 days despite the fact that I’ve never golfed before. In front of all my co-workers I’m going to be terrible and hopefully still have a good time.
