Sick :(

I am sick. Like, actually sick. I have bronchitis :( This is the third day in a row that I've taken off from work and I *never* take time off work because of illness. I've worked there for 2.5 years and this is my fourth sick day, all of which have been in the past two months. I went to the doctor and he told me that I'd finally done what everyone had been warning me I was going to do: I ran my immune system into the ground. He prescribed me one week of penicillin and two weeks of bed rest. I can do the week of penicillin, but the two weeks of bed rest is not practical with my schedule (which is, incidentally, what landed me in this predicament to start with). Therefore, I am compensating. It's been really bad the past few days, so I haven't gone to work or school and I've stayed home and slept instead. I've slept A LOT! Probably around 60 of the last 72 hours have been spent with my eyes closed. On the plus side, I am beginning to feel moderately human again! On the downside, taking time off of work and school has caused me an extra amount of stress... At least there's no homework to catch up on from missing work :) Buuut... tuition deadline is Tuesday and the unearned wages are making me squirm a bit. I'm not in dire financial need or anything like that, I'd just rather not dip into my savings if I didn't have to. God is good in the midst of trials like these. He has the power to heal me and to provide for all of my needs, which he's doing - just in his time, not mine.

On a completely different note, I'm kind of getting tired of the look of this blog and I'm thinking of changing it up a little. I don't even know if people read this anymore, but if you are reading this and you have a 'new blog look' suggestion, please leave a comment with your ideas :)

I'm off to procure some Tylenol Cold (copyright thingamajig) and perhaps bake a cake (it's my younger brother's 11th birthday today :D).
TTFN

It's been a while...

I was just flipping (or clicking) through my internet bookmarks and remembered that I haven't posted on here in aaaaaaaages. Ironically, I made my last post on the day before classes began at the beginning of the semester and here I am posting again the day before the end of classes. Weird. Anyway, I suppose the long period of time between post leaves many events untold. I don't know if I'll go over all of the stuff that happened... no, I won't. The big things are more or less known anyway. I survived the semester (so far, given that it's not officially over yet)! I'm looking forward to the end of exams, but that is nothing new. What is new is that I am taking a break from school. No, I don't mean those few measly days between exams and the following semester. I am taking a real break! Now, before you begin to panic and start thinking that I'm leaving university and never going back, allow me to explain myself. This upcoming semester will be my sixth consecutive semester. I am tired, tired, tired of classes, homework, and exams.
I am sick of getting up at ungodly hours throughout the year just to drag myself to a place where I don't actually want to be to listen to a voice I don't want to hear to talk about something I'm not terribly interested in. I'm tired of standing in line to buy a parking ticket in the pouring rain, with everyone around me grumpy and complaining about how many of the machines aren't working and how high the parking costs are. I'm tired of staying up late to finish assignments and study for the midterm that is coincidentally on the same day that the assignment is due. I'm tired of professors who give lectures right after they've administered a brutal midterm. I'm tired of needing an intravenous coffee supply just to make it through the day.
That being said, I am taking a break. I suppose the last paragraph isn't the most positive note to begin an explanation with, but I figured it would give an idea of my motivation. In spite of all of that stuff, some of which is my own fault, I do want to keep going and I do want to get my degree. I just decided I needed a decent amount of time when school wouldn't be constantly haunting me. Even in my break I'm being terribly practical. I really wish I could take a whole semester off, but I'm not going to do that. Instead, I am taking only early semester classes this summer. That essentially means that I am doing a regular semester in half the time. So, instead of being in school for four months over the summer, my semester will start in May (like normal) and end in June (not normal). Since the semester will end in June, I will be left with two full months of joyful school-less-ness! Yay! In addition to that, I'm taking a trip to Oregon between the current semester and the next. I'm super stoked for that :) I have a countdown and everything!
I'm pretty sure that's all that is considered new at the moment... Hopefully I can remember more often that this blog exists and I'll check back to post more frequently. No promises though ;)

Cheers!

January is far too similar to September

Classes start tomorrow. Sound familiar? Matt went back a while ago, Grant went back this afternoon. I am currently trying to distract myself from the cruel reality by catching up on my email and facebook and laundry and blogging and... anything that will take my mind off of school and leaving people. Attempting to drown myself in good music and good chocolate is working to a certain extent, but I'm afraid I'll get a stomachache or one of those songs (the kind that basically tell you word-for-word how you're feeling) will come on and make me cry. Besides all of that, I am actually quite happy. Things have been going incredibly well on the homefront :) MY PARENTS ARE COMING TO CHURCH! They've been coming for a few weeks now. Both of their new jobs are going well and everyone is a whole lot happier. 2008 looks pretty good from here. It might snow again this afternoon. We've had quite an unusually large amount of snow in the past winter season. It even snowed on Christmas! I have pictures with time/date stamps to prove it. (I turned the date/time stamp function specifically for that purpose ^^) I should probably go switch over the laundry before the distraction wears off.

Best wishes from a lonely little penguin,
B1

IT'S SNOWING!

Guess what? It SNOWED! AND IT STUCK! AND I DROVE IN IT! AND I'M SAFE! AND THAT MAKES TOO MANY SENTENCES STARTING WITH "AND"!

Thank you, God, for the snow. It is positively gorgeous :)

In the wake of American thanksgiving...

God is good. Life is good.
Flashback: Please squint your eyes until the screen goes blurry and hum some flashback music to yourself...
***
The long weekend was pretty darn fantastic! It was wonderful to see everyone again and I got to spend some quality time with Grant before he had to go back. I am really thankful for that mini-break in the midst of school chaos. It even helped me with my assignments! Even though I skipped my classes on the Tuesday after... Seriously though, I'm not even kidding, the long weekend helped me with school! Not even for the rest, but for the experience. I had a short story due the Wednesday after the long weekend and I had tried for weeks to get it done but it just wasn't working. Eight different attempts with completely different plots and ideas later... I said good bye to Grant at the airport. Seemingly unrelated, right? Yes and no. I'm really quite awful when it comes to goodbyes. It didn't help to know that I wasn't going to see him again for quite some time. Anyway, we said goodbye at the airport and I left and headed home. I was a mess! I hate crying, but sometimes it's unavoidable. I got home and I had this assignment looming over my head and I still didn't have any ideas that would work... I nearly gave up. (It's harder to write fiction than you think!) In a desperate attempt to both feel better and get my homework done, I started to write about my experience at the airport. After changing some minor details and using up a lot of Kleenex, my story was finished and I was satisfied with it. When I got it back the following class, my entire workshop group had loved it and my prof did too. It even made my mom cry when she read it. I find it kind of funny how something so discouraging and unhappy (such as saying goodbye to someone you love at an airport) can have such a positive outcome, indirectly.

Back to now... (to end flashback, repeat directions above - same for beginning flashback)

***

So there are only 7 days left 'til classes are over... YAY! That means I only have one french class (BIGGEST YAY EVER) left and one french lab, two english 209 classes, and two english 212 classes left. The end of the semester is so close I feel like I could almost reach out and tangibly touch it. The only thing that mildly puts a damper on things is that I still have exams after that. Though, in all honesty, I have a lot to be thankful for there too. I am taking three courses, but only 2 have final exams. My english 209 final looks like it's going to be fairly straightforward, but I am absolutely terrified for my french exam. Given the class history, I say I have reason to be scared. It's in God's hands. We'll see what happens.

Christmas is coming! People are almost coming home again! A bunch of us are going to see Trans Siberian Orchestra this Friday! My mom is loving her new job and she's really interested in making Christ a bigger part of her life! My mom's been coming to church! She asked for a bible for Christmas (which is totally happening)!

All in all, I think I've got a lot to be thankful for. It might even snow today! I think the best way to end is the way I started.

God is good. Life is good.

On the brink of a long weekend...

and all that I can say is:

YAY!
See most of you tomorrow :D
<3

Here comes the sun... doo doo doo doo... Here comes the sun and I say, it's alright :)

It's been a while since I've posted, but what else is new ;) I'm finished my midterms (Thank God!) and I'm currently just trying to ride out the last of the semester. The weather today is absolutely gorgeous! Bright sunshine, temperature of a balmy 13 degrees, fall colours in raging glory... what more could one ask for? To make things even better, last week is over! My last week was one giant sob-story. Between work being awful, school being worse, and typical cold rainy Vancouverian weather I was ready to pack up and head to Maui or something... I don't know why, but everything that could go wrong went wrong, or at least that's how it felt. I'm looking forward to this week with much more excitement :) LONG WEEKEND IN 4 DAYS AND SOMETHING HOURS! That means that some of my favourite people (who I have not seen in a very long time) will be coming home! I'm reeeeaaaallllly looking forward to the weekend. When you've got something like that to look forward to, the rest of the week is a piece of cake :) 27 days left in the semester, including weekends and holidays... Only 8 classes of French and 4 labs left... YAY! For once, the numbers are on my side. Youth this week is going to be fun too - it's Gym Jam. We'll see how that goes. I have roughly a day and a half to figure out the most tacky workout ensemble I can muster. I also get to sleep over at Megan's. We haven't done that in ages... I'm really looking forward to it! I think I finally broke my glum-post run :D Yay!
I will undoubtedly see all of you soon and I anticipate that with much excitement and gleeful joyness :D TTFN