American Thanksgiving

Well, that's another thing on my list of things I've done.

This Sunday was the first time I had celebrated American Thanksgiving because our good friend Sydney is, you guessed it, American! lol

We were invited over to Katie's and Sydney's where they worked hard to feed us all 13 or 14 or so. It was the first time most of us had all been in the same place since residence. It felt like good old times. The food was amazing, especially since Katie was in the kitchen. (jk Katie, we all love ya) Not to mention desserts, mmmm, cake and those rice krispie squares. yum yum yum.

After dinner Jessica and I went to Scott, Fraser's, Yam's, and Mat's house to play N64 for a "few" hours. lol Good times all around.

Mike K. you shoulda come down.

Thanks girls for the fun night!

Combat baby

So here are some random things that haven't made it into the blog.

I have had a new carpet in my room for awhile because water leaked from the outside wall. My feet can finally feel clean.

I recently finished the last lab report of the term; went to bed at 3ish in the morning. First really "late night" of year 2. Much better than I can say for first term. All that's left is a few minor quizzes online, one in a lab, some reading and an assignment in Stats. Well, there's one major essay for English, the second big milestone before exams.

I bought cool stars for decorations.

It's colder here than in Calgary.

My shower is filthy.

Shooting Stars

I have the best girlfriend. She watches Band of Brothers with me. :D :D

And she brought me along on a shopping spree at a craft show. lol

Facelift

New layout. I'll give it a shot.

Old School DoD fans...

Sorry it's such shit quality, but perhaps the phrase, "Low Stamina" will clear things up. lol
(Justin, you'll probably be the only one that understands this, or Mike.)

Mr. Dressup

That is the greatest kids show ever. I remember watching Mr. Dressup every single day when I was a little kid up in Ft. McMurray. Today I saw it on TV and was so glad that they still show it. A childhood wouldn't be the same without Mr. Dressup.

You're a hero, Mr. Coombs.

"Keep your crayons sharp, your sticky tape untangled and always put the tops back on your markers" - Ernie Coombs (Nov. 26, 1927 - Sep. 18, 2001)

I...

...always seem to make the worst of the best in life.

Blah

Ever have one of those days that just doesn't feel good? Even when nothing really goes wrong? Sometimes you just feel as though you have no reason to show the world you're happy. Conserve your energy I suppose, but then it just brings yourself down even more and for no reason at all. Then it brings others down and then it's an endless cycle of being all flat expressioned.

I suppose everyone always has to feel different all the time or else there would be no point for emotions. Shrug.

At the moment, my biggest issue is I don't have a home that I can call "home", except for of course in Calgary. I can't stand my place anymore, little things just annoy me. I don't know what made me choose this place but I'm regretting it. It could be worse, I've seen many far worse, but it just seems everyone and anyone lives in a much nicer place, even if the people they live with aren't enjoyable. It's easier to escape people than it is a place you care nothing for.

That brings me to expensive housing. Waterloo has a lack of affordable housing and it pisses me off. I'm not even paying for it myself but that doesn't mean I should go find the most expensive place possible.

That note leads to the saying, "Money doesn't buy happiness.". Right. Sure it can't buy everlasting happiness, but it'll keep you going that's for sure.
Seeing as winning the lottery is a far fetch, I guess I just have to keep chipping away at my school work so I can have a good job later.

It seems though that I'm not chipping away hard enough. First term of first year it felt like I did no work at all and becuase of it I fell behind and was failing until I pulled everything up with exams. Even so, I feel as though I did so much more work. I did so much more reading [even though it was close to none] and so much more practice work.

I want to get into Optometry, but it just seems like I'm not trying hard enough. I don't know why...

Living woes

Work, work, work, and then the occassional break to do something else, then back to work. Seems like midterms, assignments and labs just take up all the time now. Halloween was a day of 10:30AM-9:00PM classes/lab so it wasn't too exciting. Jessica and I dropped by Jason, Greg, and Andrea's place way south of campus. It's a sweet place, it was Andrea's grandfather's and also her older sister lives there too.

I need to find another place for next year. I just can't seem to stand living in this basement anymore. At first I was extremely disappointed in my decision but it got a little better the more settled in I got. Now it's back to wanting to live somewhere else. Somewhere cleaner, maybe closer if possible. My dream idea was to live in a single/bachelor apartment, to be specific the big apartment complex next to UW Place... but turns out the single rooms are about $900/month utilities included and unfurnished. So the hunt is on again. It would be easier if I knew some people to live with because then it's much cheaper, but the idea is so I don't have to live with anyone else. Also, it would be a lot nicer if I lived close to Jessica, that way with schoolwork and just in general it's not as big of a hassle to go to each other's places. Espescially if we're working on something and I forget something at my place, it's just so far to go pick something up, etc. etc. yadda yadda.

UW Place, UW's upper year residences don't seem too bad. They're newly renovated so their pretty clean but the rooms are tiny as hell, smaller than in Village 1, my first year residence. Of course, they're furnished and literally a two minute walk to campus but you have to live with 1-3 other people. Sure that sounds nicer than my 7 other people I live with now but atleast I sort of know them and it's pretty much just Colin and I in the basement living together.

Along with living with randoms in UW Place, I would have to use whatever they brought for kitchenware etc. I'm not going to go buy all brand new stuff just for other people to use. Frankly I want a place for myself so I can start accumulating things I "need for life" I suppose you can say.

Then comes the issue of summers. I need a place I can stay in the summer but I also would need something to do, like a job etc. Of course my jobs are limited to distance. No car, no bike, shitty bus service, expensive taxi's, little experience, etc. It all builds up.

It would be nice to whittle down the list of things that get in the way of general living. Things like a car would make parts of living just that much easier. Or perhaps a decent place I can look forward to coming home to. Perhaps the prospect of a summer job, etc. It just goes on and on.

Atleast I'm luckier than lots of others. I must admit I'm pretty well off and frankly many others have more to complain about than I do, but by that I mean students in debt, people living under the poverty line, people with disabilities, etc. Not just the "situation X sucks in my life" kind of things. Sure I could whine about my marks or lack of learning ability [which believe me, I do], but this post just isn't for that.

Perhaps another one will be... I guarantee it.

Back to work...