Climb over my way, we will paint the town red, get a little crazy

Hey y'all,

I've been too busy to blog as of recently, (my spare moments have been taken by the diamonddash app in my phone) so today I leave you with a bit of advice and wishes for a happy new year! Good luck to all who are buying gym passes...

Watch out for nargles.

If I see one more chocolate, I am seriously going to hurl. I don't even LIKE chocolate! I just apparently have absolutely no willpower, because every time I walk through my parents dining room, or the lunchroom at work, I'm like "OOH, PURDYS!" and I stop and snack for ten minutes. Like some sort of wild animal grazing.

It's just chocolate that I've developed an aversion to, however. Throw some rum-eggnog homemade cheesecake at my face, and I am once again a human vacuum. Mana and Chris made seriously the BEST Christmas dinner I've ever had without a turkey this past Thursday! I'm talkin amazing beef in gravy with mushrooms, drool-worthy roasted lemon potatoes, and Greek salad, here. The cheesecake was the perfect finishing touch. It was so so so nice to have a sit down dinner with friends. It's something I haven't done much since everyone moved and Manda went away. Definitely makes me miss the good ol cooking lesson days, that's for sure! Though I did make French toast, bacon, and eggs for breaky this morning with Libby! If you know my sister and I at all, you're probably surprised it even turned out edible, but I have to say, once we sured out all the smoke and actually got everything in the table, it was really not bad. Not bad at alllll, so against all odds, i'm actually improving. :)

So anyways, the fact that I've probably gained twenty pounds and now have as much acne as a 13 year old boy who doesn't shower every day aside (curse chocolate): this Christmas was a wild success! My wonderful, wonderful coworkers let me take off from work at TWO! I was sooo incredibly excited! I hate driving in the dark, and I was so impatient to just get back to ol dub el. It took me like seventy trips in and out of the house past a ginormous, overly excited German Shepard with no respect for my space bubble to load the car full of presents! When I was unloading then at my parents, I felt exactly like how Santa must feel. It was kind of amazing. The moment I got home, my mum surprised me by making deviled eggs (my FAVE!) and she made me theee nicest air mattress bed a person could ever ask for! Score for not having to sleep on a shitty couch in the rec-room with no pillows and my brother! (September visit...)

Last night we had a faaaantastic turkey dinner with all the trimmings, and Manda and my grandparents came over! I got THE king of care packages from them! I couldn't be more excited that the whole month of January I won't be eating pb & j sandwiches made with stolen condiment packets from restaurants! My grandpa and Mana has the same conversation about seven times, and we spent the evening drawing and playing board games just like how Christmas eves should be spent in my mind! (After my parents finally relented and turned off the shitty reality tv shows anyways...heh)

We woke up early to open prezzies, me out of excitement, some of the others, (and I'm not naming any names here *cough* *mom* *hack* *snort*...) because Mason had to work at nine. I think it's safe to say that everyone really loved what I got them, and I'm sooo happy about it! I got absolutely stellar gifts too: my family must really miss me or something, because holy guacamole did they do me good this year! Mason ended up being a total little buggering liar face, and he didn't have to work at all, he just wanted to start tearing up gift wrap 20% earlier hahahahahahahahahahahaha. I nearly died it was sooo funny.

Anyhoo, I hope you all had a lovely festive time with your friends and families! It's that time which matters the most. Today I leave you with what is possibly the funniest thing of my entire life:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VogjLauTNOk&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Unfortunately i'm on the blogger app on my phone, so I'm not sure that that will actually become clickable, but make sure you copy and paste because it's well worth it, and I know you could all use a little laughter.

Cheers!

A partridge in a pear tree

Only four more days guys!! The time feels like its going by really slowly for me actually - I think because I've actually done all of my Christmas shopping and I'm saving the rest of my wrapping for Christmas eve so I can do it with my mum... Also because I CAN'T WAIT to be home! We're leaving on the 23rd as soon as I'm off work, which could be anywhere between 4 and 6. It's going to be a full car this year with Manda, her sister AND her sister's bf, so that'll be kind of nice, not least because j won't have to fork out quite so much for gas.

Anyhoo, just a quick post today, I'm just killing time at Honda waiting for my customer... Again... Gosh I love waiting. Love it. Who needs to be productive or get any real work dine anyways? Grrrfbbbthhh

So, alas, it is here that I leave you with an excellent Christmas recipe. Slightly out if character you think? Well... Read on :)



Christmas Rum Cake Recipe

Once again this year, I've had requests for my Christmas Rum Cake recipe so here goes!

RECIPE INGREDIENTS:
1 cup Sugar
1 tsp. Baking Powder
1 cup Water
1 tsp. Salt
1 cup Brown Sugar
Lemon Juice
4 Large Eggs
1 Bottle Rum
2 cups Dried Fruit

DIRECTIONS:

Sample the Rum to check quality.
Take a large bowl; check the Rum again to be sure it is of the highest quality. Repeat.

Turn on the electric mixer. Beat one cup of butter in a large fluffy bowl.
Add 1 teaspoon of sugar. Beat again. At this point, it is best to make sure the Rum is still OK. Try another cup just in case.

Turn off the mixerer thingy. Break 2 eggs and add to the bowl and chuck in the cup of dried fruit.

Pick the fruit up off the floor. Mix on the turner.

If the fried druit getsa stuck in the beaterers, just pry it loose with a drewscriver or whatchamacallit.

Sample the Rum to test for tonsisticity.
Next, sift 2 cups of salt. Check the Rum.

Now shift the lemon ice and strain your nuts. Add one table and a spoon of sugar, or whatever you can find.

Greash the oven. Turn the cake tin 360 degrees and try not to fall over. Don't forget to beat off the turner.

Finally, throw the bowl away. Finish the Rum and wipe the counter with the cat.

Cherry Mristmas!!

Yellow diamonds in the light.

You know when you're just so tired that you can hardly hold your head up? Your eyes are watering and everything coming out of your mouth is just random sounds (or drool) and it seems like you're speaking in wingdings or something? That's me right now. It's probably not even safe for me to drive. We'd all better hope I don't get another call or somebody's gonna get a hurt real bad (you better all be thinking of russell peters right now). Anyhoo, the point of this post is to advise you that yes, even though it may seem like a good idea at the time, taking a trip back down memory lane to say... Grade 3, and having a three person sleepover in one double bed may not really be the best idea ever if you want to be sane for work the next day. Also don't throw in two psychotic cats that like to spend the entire night leaping on and off of you like a springboard to and from the windowsill, whilst alternately scratching their claws on the paint in your living room, duplicating the sound of nails on a chalkboard to a T.

Bet you wish you had my life.

My hands, theyre strong but my knees were far too weak

Do you ever wonder if maybe you're too good at hiding your true feelings from the rest of the world? Or should we all just be thankful that we're excellent liars?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBcMKwbMEcQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player

You all did your snow dances! Good job! It snowed about a foot this morning; I actually woke up to the sound of shoveling and it put me in the best mood ever! I went outside with mittens and boots and a hat all ready to scrape the icy, goopy, freezing slushy mush off of Elliot, (you guys obviously know that this means I was rushing out the door ten minutes late with no coat, high heels and wet hair) and low and behold, the snow was already completely cleared off! My landlords are THE best! I often toy with getting the heck out of Dallas and moving into town because it would be way more convenient, but I totally don't want to move now! I might have to rethink the saving thousands of dollars and getting a roommate deal because how will i ever find this nice of people to live above me, ever again?! They even put a super sweet Christmas card in my mailbox! Made my day.

Today was an important day for another reason than snow, however! Today, I bought a planner. FINALLY! Seriously, I can't even handle life without them. I was going absolutely CrAzY. I need to write a daily to-do list or else I accomplish absolutely nooothing. I pretty much had a crack itch, like some sort of super drug addict. The first thing you think of when I say 'crack itch' is definitely a drug addiction, right? I think I should probably start saying something along the lines of a 'heroin itch' or a 'meth itch' because my dear mother thought I was referring to scratching my rear. Hm.

Tonight was our office Christmas party, and everyone brought an appy and a gift, and then we did an exchange - Brandi and I made cream cheese stuffed, bacon wrapped jalapeños and OMG were they ever friggin delicious. Hit of the party. (I'm totally lying, I'm at work right now, and we haven't tasted then yet since everyone shouldn't be here for like... Another 6 minutes.)

Anyhoo, I'm gonna go shake presents under the tree and drink palm bay now. Cheers!

nobody knows where to go, when you come to a fork in the road

Brotip #1383: The more you do something, the less value there is in what you're doing. (See: complimenting, tweeting, etc.)

Today I thought I'd share with you seriously the most stellarrrrr song that I discovered yesterday! Listen and love:  

Sooo, you all remember when I was whining and moaning and groaning (like four posts ago) about Manda abandoning me to go live in the more eastern, french type speaking region of our country? Well, believe it or not, the day has come that she is finally returning home! This Friday! I'm surprised, but it actually feels like the six months just flew by! I think having weekly skype dates and texting nearly every single day might have something to do with it, hah! Anyhoo, I'll be picking her up at the airport in like, two days! AHH! I guess this means I had better start wrapping gifts, hah. 

Did you all realize that it is actually Christmas in TWELVE DAYS?! Where did the time go?! I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I actually miss snow, because it must be what actually puts me in a festive, merry spirit, (that and food,) December just isn't the same without fluffy white falling from the sky!

Everybody bring on the snow dance!

Hello there, bloggity type people!

I apologize for the abandonment, I hope this doesn't bring back any bad childhood memories for any of you... heh. Seriously, though, I think this is possibly the longest time I have gone without blogging in my entire like... what is it... four year blog history?! Don't worry, I have faith in you all, I know you'll all be reading again loyally as soon as I start actually talking about something of importance!

Where to even begin? I guess I'll give you a little general life update.... I bought THIS: 

I named it Elliot, and he is basically the love of my life. Think six speed, manual trans with a turbo, and a 1.6L engine... So basically what i'm saying is that it gets the most fantastic gas mileage ever while still managing to kick some serious ass. Believe it or not, I seriously have already managed to put 12,000 kms on it, since August! Thats averaging over 100kms a day! I can just feel it depreciating in value by the second... KIDDING! :P But not really. I'm actually kind of so obsessed with this car, its almost disgusting. Seriously, for a while at every deal I did, no matter what dealership, I would seriously have practically sold the customers on the Juke before they even saw it! I'm pretty sure it made the sales guys a little antsy for a bit, because a lot of times the deal wouldn't be completely sealed by the time they actually got to me for insurance - believe it or not. Anyhoo, I'd take my customers out and show Elliot off to them like 95% of the time at their request, and man, not a lot of things make my day hearing something like "Man, I have to see this thing!"

Anyways, enough about my freakish love for that big hunk of metal, I just thought of a serious question for y'all. (I can't believe I just used that word... "y'all"...what a terrible abbreviation!) For the last year or so, I have had a WEIRD number of random strangers come up to me and tell me that I look like like Alyson Hannigan. If you don't know who that it, you're not alone. I just found out that's her name like a few days ago. Usually, their wording is something along the lines of "You look like that redhead off of American Pie!" or "Omg you're the spitting image of Lily off of How I Met Your Mother!" I personally thought maybe it was mostly just to do with the red hair, but I asked a couple of people, and they actually seem to think there might be a real resemblance, so I've decided to attach a photo for your viewing pleasure:

Let me know what you think! I definitely think we all probably have a doppelganger out there somewhere, and so far, I guess this is the closest I've found! I just had to mention it because it happened AGAIN today while I was just standing in line minding my own business at Starbucks. 

Speaking of Starbucks, actually, I just want to say: I'm OBSESSED, and its breaking the bank!! So I've decided that after Christmas, I'm going to totally ban myself from fast-food, Subway included, because seriously, between that place and Starbucks every month, I could probably afford a mortgage payment instead of a tiny overpriced bedroom suite in Dallas. Jesus. 

Speaking of mortgage payments, actually... Remember how buying my car was supposed to be a "5 month plan?" It sort of turned into a one month type deal, so now I find myself again without a goal! And haren't many things I hate less than not having a goal, so here we are: Operation Buy a House. I know, I know, you're all like "WHAAAT?!" and "Niki, you just turned 20 like a month ago, get a grip!" and that I'm kind of in a hugely different place than a lot of my friends around my age, but really, guys, its never too early to get started, and its not like i'm going to run out and do it next week or something. If you think about it though, I just throw away $8400 per year! Practically into the air! I'm seriously actually BUYING my landlords' brand new Dodge pickup! That should be buying ME something, wouldn't you agree? Now, I won't get into all of the math of it, but I've been pricing and figuring and adding and subtracting and I figure its feasible. I've also decided that I think maybe its about time I get a roommate. You know, I've lived by myself ever since I moved out two and a half years ago, and I'm just kind of bored. Like sure, I'm going to miss walking around naked like 100 percent of the time, and its going to be weird to not always be able to have random dance parties in my kitchen, but I just kind of think that its probably one of those experiences I don't want to miss. Besides, maybe if I do that, I can cut down the wasting from to $8400 to $4200 a year, and really stack away some cash for a downpayment, you know? So anyhoo, I guess most of you know that I've been known to jump the gun once and a while, and here I go again...! I'm pretty sure I'm cutting the 5 Year Plan back into a 1 Year Plan... But I liiiike itttttt. I think it just feels good to really have a purpose again. Like seriously, I loooove my job, I loooove my car, I have faaaantastic friends, but it was time to aspire for bigger and better and greater and grander! Wish me luck! 

Speaking of my job, I kind of feel like we're sort of on the brink of something big. Just sort of in the middle of that somethingsgottagive phase, and it has only made me more motivated, because I feel like i'm one of the only people that really actually likes what I do, and is motivated to get better and it, and learn and sell and set goals. I want to be the person that everyone thinks is the best. I want to know the most. I want to feel confident with everything I do every day. Would you still take me seriously if you found out I was listening to Justin Beiber's Christmas album right now? HAHA. Don't worry, I switched it, and we're now onto a playlist which is basically a mix of The Black Keys, The Used, and As Cities Burn. Yep, that where my mood is right now. 

Has anyone else noticed that The Hunger Games are being made into a movie?! I am fairly excited, I just read the first one while I was in Mexico, and I actually think it will make a fantastic movie.  Actually I read like five books while I was in Mexico... I forgot how much I miss it, so I think I'm going to make a point of buying a new one every payday... OH YEAH... Guess what?!?! Yep, I went to Mexico! It was FANTASTIC! I went on my birthday, with the whole fam! That's a whole other blog post though, because I really want to be able to illustrate, but I don't have the pictures here, they're all actually on the work computer, and the whole ancient stupid chunk of plastic had the computer equivalent of a heart attack halfway through sending all of the pictures to my personal email today... Eff. Looking at all of the pics seriously made me miss everyone though, I can't WAIT to be back in WL for Chrismas even if it is only for like four days! Weeoo!

Anyhoo, this has really turned into like a huge novel.... Look forward to the Mexico sequel shortly! I'll leave you with three recommendations to fill your time with: 

1) Get Twitter. Because if you said something hilarious, you can bet I tweeted it, and wouldn't you want to know whats coming out of your mouth and ending up on the internet?

2) Check out TED.com. It will probably blow your mind if you have a few spare brain cells that you actually might like to stir into action. 

3) The Phillip DeFranco Show Everyone should know whats going on in this world from day to day, and c'mon, we could all use a laugh, or at least a smile. 

Go on, now. Click one!

"We are all a little weird and life's a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love."

apricot

aeronaut, aliquot, angle shot, apparat, aquanaut, argonaut, astronaut, beauty spot, bergamot, booster shot, burning ghat, cachalot, Camelot, caveat, carry-cot, chamber pot, chimney pot, coffeepot, cosmonaut, counterplot, doodley-squat, floreat, flowerpot, flying spot, follow shot, gallipot, granny knot, guillemot, Gujarat, hit the spot, honeypot, Hottentot, Huguenot, juggernaut, kilowatt, Lancelot, like a shot, lobster pot, megawatt, melting pot, microdot, monocot, monoglot, noble rot, Nouakchott, ocelot, on the spot, overshot, paraquat, parking lot, passing shot, patriot, pepper pot, peridot, piping hot, polka dot, polyglot, running knot, samizdat, sansculotte, scattershot, scot and lot, shoulder knot, single knot, Southern blot, stopper knot, surgeon's knot, terawatt, tie the knot, tommyrot, touch-me-not, tracking shot, turkey trot, underplot, undershot, Western blot, Windsor knot, Wyandot, wyandotte

must be doing something right

Today I Wish I:

-didn't have Wendy's for lunch.
-had filled up my car four hours earlier when gas was still 20 cents cheaper
-exercised

Today I'm Glad I:

-worked on Vincent the beast for two more hours
-told Steve @ KFL I've decided to not take the mini coop
-finally told my mother what else was wrong with my passport.
-sold two Colwoods
-took my vitamins.


That's all I can think of, and that last point was definitely a stretch. What an uneventful day, eh? Ah well, tomorrow is a work barbecue of sorts that I am actually fairly looking forward to (Kim and I are bringing pineapple kabobs, which are basically the most original and cool thing to bring to a bbq EVER), it's payday, AND believe it or not, its only something like a 30% chance of rain, which is extraordinary for this March. Or wait.... is it July?

like a freight train, rolling down the tracks

hello lovelies! i am proud to announce, blogging is back! it seems that everyone is getting into the groove of it these days! I am soo excited to have blog friends again, given i'm going to have to have something to pass the time once manda leaves for the eastern region of our great country in a mere 8 days! luckily i am making her a "katima-blog" so that she can keep me updated with the details of her government funded volunteer life for the next six months! anyhoo, i'm really going to have to develop a hobby or something to fill all of this extra time. ideas?

right now i am just enjoying the last day of my three day weekend by alternately eating cinnamon scones and reading harry potter, and doing mass amounts of laundry. (i had the bright idea that i would take every single article of clothing i own out of my closet and dresser and refold it, because it was driving me mad) but it turns out that i have a LOT of clothes, and that this is a full day project.... but it needed to be done. my house has now had a lovely cleaning overhaul, which it really needed, because i have been out of town on all my previous two days weekends. speaking of which, i went home to wl last weekend, and ended up having a most fabulous time! possibly one of my best visits ever. i got to see almost everyone i wanted to, and managed to spend some really good quality time with the fam on fathers day too! i even managed a trip to Quesnel, where it turns out that people actually CAN have fun! who knew?! probably had something to do with the whiskey, and the good company of tyson and kyle, but i ended up having a blast. i actually wanted to stay in the cariboo longer, which is practically unheard of.

trust me, no one in their right mind would normally choose cariboo over thompson-okanagan.

anyhoo, i really should continue with my folding... the dryer just buzzed, and i think i'm about ready for a nap too - last night was absolutely ridiculous. i was up until about 7am, purely thanks to the influence of an iced coffee (which i won due to my prowess in 5 pin bowling) at about 9pm... the evening was a lot of fun, i saw a few people i hadn't hung out with in a while, and it ended up being a really good time, but i should have thought twice about the caffeine. i read an entire book last night. in one sitting! i guess that is one way to get it done though, right?

i like a punk rock chick, with hair just like rihanna, like a go-go girl, who dance like lady gaga

I figure its high time that I start blogging semi-regularly again, wouldn't you say? You must all have been so bored without my insight. The truth is, I've just been busy lately. Haha just kidding, thats not the truth - the truth is that I just haven't really been motivated to do much at all between work and... well... yep, just work.  Speaking of work, though, things have been going great, or they would be, if you could subtract a clinically insane manager from the daily mix, but I really can't post much about her significant lack of brain cells here on the world wide web... besides, just the thought of her makes me want to punch infants. Luckily, I'm not within an arms reach of any other human beings right now. 

On with the more important things in life... I have developed a couple of new short term life plans... better known as the 5 year plan, which then turned into the 1826 day plan, as Logan deemed was necessary, so that we aren't all constantly reminded of Stalin and his failures. The 1826 day plan then was altered slightly by kyle, to become the 1826.25 day plan, because though Logan and I did account for a leap year day, we did not account for the extra few hours in the 5th year, and alas: the 1826.25 day plan was formed. Believe it or not though, before that I really had no idea why we even have that one extra day in every 4 years... -shame-

Anyhoo, I present to you, The 1826.25 Day Plan:

...actually nevermind, I think I must first present to you, the 5 Month Plan.

I present to you: The 5 Month Plan

Its fairly simple, really... I just save $500 dollars a month for the next five months, and then I will have a $3000 down payment on: THIS!!! <--- click it, you know you want to. So yup, thats what I will be buying myself for my birthday in November. I'm so excited, and being forced to drive by it like 12 times a day doesn't make me any less impatient! 

Now, the 1826.25 Day Plan is much along the same lines.... It begins the day after the 5 month plan ends. I continue to save $500 a month for the next 5 years, and then I will have a $30,000 dollar down payment on a lovely $300,000ish home, with a basement suite that I can rent out for $1000ish a month, which would leave me with the rest of the mortgage payment/heat hydro, which according to the RBC Mortgage calculator, will be about another 1500 a month, which is completely feasible, because I already pay $700 a month now, plus I'll be used to putting away that $500 a month already, which leaves about a $300 dollar difference, give or take, depending on the economy 1826 days from now... In any case, I really hope I'll be making at least $300 dollars more per month 5 years from now... hahaha. 

Sleep time pour moi.... dream happy dreams of houses and cars!

i used to be your silver lining, but now i'm gold

ladies, another reason to support the boys if you don't already....

i give you Kesler.... without his shirt. 

http://www.thisiswhatwelivefor.com/

want to be in a sweet canucks mosaic? i am. thats right. only 6000 entries max! go, go, go!!

and I can't find a reason to be loved

life is a dance floor, and you are the music

"What makes you feel alive?"

It is a good question, definitely one that i have never been asked before. I had to think for a couple of seconds, but what immediately came to mind was: Anis Mojgani, sunshine, dancing, soup kitchens, afghanistan, and lastly, church choir. Allow me to elaborate:

Slam poetry is a new discovery of mine, but i am now borderline obsessed, and Anis is definitely my favorite, being my first experience with this form of literature. You have to hear it and see it to understand what I mean (and if you scroll a couple of posts down, you can actually watch Shake the Dust.)

Sunshine has always put me in an extrordinairily good mood... when i go outside see an endless stretch of blue sky, it improves my mood to the power of ten, i feel like anything is possible; i feel alive.

Dancing, and singing, maybe it is really just the music, i'm not sure. There is just something about expressing yourself without having to use your own words, or any words, that is so empowering; the adrenaline, the confidence you have to feel to be able to dance in front of even yourself.

Soup kitchens to me just symbolize humanity. How we continue to feed the hungry, even though the majority of the people on the street will never be able to feed themselves. Disabilities, addictions, society... the truth is, most could make a half decent living for themselves if they took advantage of the tools out there, but most never will, yet we still continue to save them. Many think it is wrong, but i think it is right.  Did you know: "72 percent of all grain produced in the United States is fed to animals raised for slaughter. It takes 15 pounds of feed to get one pound of meat. But if the grain were given directly to people, there'd be enough food to feed the entire planet."

As far as Afghanistan goes... the more of a reality death is, the more of a reality life is.

Church choir is probably one of the last things you would come out of my mouth, as the majority of you probably know i am an atheist, there is just something about their music that embodies such power and good will and just... faith that nothing else can really express so strongly, even though it might not be the same type of faith a church has, i still beleive in something, i'm just not sure what it is yet.

dream big

if you're breathing, you're surviving

sooo i found this great new song - its constantly stuck in my head, awesome lyrics, eclectic, just plain great! i'd post the youtube video if I weren't at work right now, because they block youtube :/ so instead i settled for making the title of this blog a link to a site where you can play the song. go click it!

anyhoo, you're probably wondering why i'm bloggin at work, but it is because i got here at quarter after eight, and don't start until nine. painful, i know, but thats the way the bus goes.

oh wait - i probably haven't mentioned i lost my license, have i? ah well. i lost my licence. for two months. BUT on the plus side, only 26 more days to go! "why?" you ask? well, short and sweet: too many tickets. while you have your N (two years) you're basically only allowed one ticket (impossible, i know) once you hit two, they whisk your license away faster than you can say "Tiburon."

anyhow, i don't really want to tal about that, i've sort of been hiding it from the majority of people, really... but i'm working on this great blog aout people on the bus, so i was going to have to spill the beans eventually.

what i ACTUALLY wanted to blog about, was my first ever trip to Vancouver! Now, now, i hear you all gasping and shaking your heads... "First trip to Vancouver, how could that be?!?!" Well, its true. But I have finally emerged from beneath my rock, and have started to travel the world! sort of. anyways... katherine and I drove down Sunday morning, and made awesome time - 3.5 hours and we stopped in Merritt! Do I ever love the coquihalla... i was itching to be driving my cqar sooo badly! Anyways, it was GREAT! So much fun... I got to go to stanley park and walk part of the seawall, which was beaauuutiful... who knew there was so much OCEAN EVERYWHERE?! It was simply amazing.  We went to the aquarium and go to see the dolphin show and the beluga show, and there was a sloth and snakes and jellyfish! The jellyfish were by far my favorite... if i was at home right now, i'd upload a picture! Though i guess you all have probably been there before and know exactly what i'm talkign about already, but, alas, it is all new to me! I got to experience Chinatown and all of the grossness of the fish market, and we went for Dim Sum, which was super crazy... we were ina raestaraunt that seated 1000, and there were just people pushing carts around to each table, and each cart had different food on it, and you just picked what you wanted. You could tell the cart pushers made commission though, because they really tried to force you to have their stuff... some of it was really good, sopme of it... not so much. We went to robson street, which was absolutely so cool, with all of its insanely expensive stores; there was Guess EVERYWHERE! Be proud, I bought nothing.  In the evening, we went for malaysian food, at this cool place called the Banana Leaf , which was abso-freaking-lutely delicious! My new favorite ethnic food for sure. in fact maybe the best fod I have ever tasted in my life. Yeah. For sure.  By the time we finally checked into the hotel, it was like midnight, and by the time I actualyl went to bed, it was 2:00am and i'd been awake for a solid 21 hours. My mind was exhausted... so many new things in such a short period of time! It was insane. The hotel we stayed at was so cool... it was relatively cheap, on robson street, and it had big rooms, with a sofabed that was pretty iffy. But the WHOLE SIDE of one wall was just these HUGE windows, and so was a part of the other side of the wall, with a balcony.. nine floors up! I thought i might pass out when i stepped out there.

The next day not as much happened, because we had to drive home, but we did manage to fit in some ten-pin bowling - which i might add, is like basically a billion times more fun than 6 pin bowling. i don't even know why! Just way better. Or maybe it was the fact that I was way better at it than regular bowling for some strange reason? hahaha.  This bowling place was pretty swell too, all sorts of neato planets painted on the wall and there were like 50 lanes!

Anyhoo, i am off to work now, later, alligators.

shake the dust

one word: amazing.



While we're on the topic of AMAZING videos I've been watching on youtube, check out Zeitgeist, which is just something EVERYONE should see, its fantastic, it makes you see the world in an entirely different light,  it allows you to see past the blinders you've been wearing since day one. watch it.



And if you haven't seen any of Micheal Moore's films yet, i highly recommend you start right now:

'cause I've got one hand in my pocket, and the other one is giving a high five

I moved!
and its amazing.
just downright fantastic.

its amazing how this new place feels like home already, and the old one never really did. it looks damn good inside, too, i'll tkae some pictures this weekend and post them!

i've decided the next two months are going to be dedicated to hermitism, and i'm going to get super fit and run the 10k in Boogie the Bridge on May 1st, and i'm going to write my CAIB 1 insurance exam on May 4th, so LOTS of big goals for May. So far, i've got a good start on the CAIB thing, i made like a billion excellent flashcards today, but the exercising thing hasn't really been going at all, its just SO HARD to exercise alone when its FREEZING COLD and DARK. ew. but spring is in the air, i feel it, so hopefully it warms up and i'll be able to ge toutside and start exploring my new home in Dallas!

I'm broke but I'm happy

I'm poor but I'm kind

I'm short but I'm healthy, yeah

I'm high but I'm grounded

I'm sane but I'm overwhelmed

I'm lost but I'm hopeful baby

What it all comes down to

Is that everything's gonna be fine fine fine

'cause I've got one hand in my pocket

And the other one is giving a high five

I feel drunk but I'm sober

I'm young and I'm underpaid

I'm tired but I'm working, yeah

I care but I'm restless

I'm here but I'm really gone

I'm wrong and I'm sorry baby

What it all comes down to

Is that everything's gonna be quite alright

'cause I've got one hand in my pocket

And the other one is flicking a cigarette

And what it all comes down to

Is that I haven't got it all figured out just yet

'cause I've got one hand in my pocket

And the other one is giving the peace sign

I'm free but I'm focused

I'm green but I'm wise

I'm hard but I'm friendly baby

I'm sad but I'm laughing

I'm brave but I'm chickenshit

I'm sick but I'm pretty baby

And what it all boils down to

Is that no one's really got it figured out just yet

'cause I've got one hand in my pocket

And the other one is playing the piano
And what it all comes down to my friends

Is that everything's just fine fine fine

'cause I've got one hand in my pocket

And the other one is hailing a taxi cab

if i could relive those days, i know one thing that would never change

I feel like I’m so ahead of the game with things right now – I’m just barely 19, and I’ve been renting my own place for a year and a half, I have a full time job with benefits and job security. My company actually pays for all of my insurance courses, and I like what I do. Give it another 6 months, and I’ll be running road full time, and I’ll be bringing in close to what the manager of my office makes. I want to have a house by the time I’m 25, and I’ll be right on track, or I’ll even be there! But then what happens? I run the road for 5 years, and then without a doubt, just like everyone else, I WILL get sick of the road, and I’ll want a job without insane amounts of stress, and I’ll want to go back to working in the office, or worse, I’ll finally figure out what I want to do with my life, and I’ll decide I want to go back to school. If I go back to working in the office, I’ll take a huge cut in pay, and then maybe I won’t be able to afford my mortgage – or the worse option: I’ll enroll in university. By that time, I will not be ahead of the game anymore, I’ll be far, far, far, behind the game. I’ll be 25 and in my first year, and I probably won’t even be able to get a student loan because the government will look at my nice car and my house and be like.. uh no way. So then I’m really screwed, basically.

Thoughts?

Of course, ideally, I’d just decide what I want to do with my life, like now, but I don’t think that’s going to happen anytime soon, I just can’t seem to find that ‘niche’ everyone else seems to discover. Of course, by that time, I’ll have a level 2 license in insurance, and all of my CAIBs and be certified to manage an office/have my own brokerage, etc etc, but I just don’t really see myself working in an office for the rest of my life.

Anyhoo, that’s my rant for now. I’m moving this weekend, so the next two days of my life will be spent packing EVERYTHING, and I haven’t really hardly started yet, oops. I’ve just been an eat-sleep-work-watch greys anatomy mode, and its quite sad. On the other hand, I’ve been doing a fair bit of walking lately, which has been pretty excellent, I feel better for it actually. And the other day I spent FORTY FOUR dollars on groceries, and I actually have SO MUCH FOOD, its so amazing. And rare. I’m really enjoying it while it lasts. I have a bunch of photos I’ve been meaning to upload, and I know I need to change the music, but next time, hopefully!


Cheers

I wish I could say that's it's all black and white but it's grey, it's the same, it's the same and I'm so tired

i have decided that i'm sick of being on fb/skype from after work to sleep while eating dinner and watching greys anatomy.  i'm going to lose my hermit status starting this monday. (technically i started yesterday, but that night was a write off, and tonight i am a prisoner in my own house because the roads are pure ice. too icy for the sander machines to even be on the roads apparently.) anyways, seriously.... 3 weeks ago i only went on fb like 3 minutes every two or three days. ridiculous.

drowning on dry land

New Years Resolutions:

Wash my car
Set the date for my CAIB 1 exam
Set up my RRSPs
Do a spring cleaning overhaul of my house
Take my Class 5 Road Test (i tried to do this yesterday but i had a tail light out.... @#&%(&@#

pretty good for january the 12th, i have to say! but now i can not WAIT for summer. i am sick and tired of wind and cold and snow. i want green grass and waterfalls and hiking and blue sky and sunscreen and floating down the river and horseback riding and swimming and puffy fleecy little clouds that hold no moisture whatsoever!

We bear your name,

and you let us say

you are something that you're not.

As if you were made after we saw our own faces,

and knew we were gods enough.

I think we were made too pretty.

We're caught up in a stare we cannot break.

We know nothing changes too slowly.

Someday we might come down,

but who's to really say?

And if we are the body,

how'd the pretty men get so ugly?

How'd he get all these spaces between each limb?

And if there is one thing bigger than my head,

that's the distance I've been mislead.

'Cause I think we were made too pretty.

We're caught up in a stare and we can't break.

We know nothing changes too slowly.

And someday I might come down,

oh, I don't wanna come down.

I think we became too pretty.

We don't want a God we don't see in ourselves don't see we're in need.

We don't want a God we don't see in ourselves don't see we're in need.

I think we were made too pretty.

We're caught up in a stare and we can't break.

I think we were made too pretty.

Yeah, so much we don't see it yet.

We don't see it.

We know nothing changes too slowly.