Trip to Ottawa

Weekend before Halloween, I went to visit my friends Graham and Kendall (and their little one, Ned) as well as Travis and Mal (who have recently moved to Ottawa)

This is me on a train!  Happy times.  Was a really nice ride to Ottawa, got to do a lot of writing.

Ottawa train station on a Friday night.  Spooky.

Graham picked me up, and we picked up sushi from 168 Sushi.  I commented how it looked like a strip club.

Here's us having a quiet meal because Ned is asleep.  All of us were fading fast because we had long days.  Kendal and Graham had been up late with Ned the night before.

They let me stay in Ned's room.  Very cute. =)

We get ready the next day to visit the Ottawa War Memorial.

Look at this little rascal.

Graham posing with his happy face.

Fountain!

The crowd is here, paying respects to the fallen soldier, 24 years old who was shot to death by someone claiming to be part of ISIS.  The police later confirmed that he was acting alone.  I felt incredibly sad, but, also not proud, but something like it as I visited the monument.  I always try and pay my respects when I come to Ottawa.

Parliament buildings.

The Centennial Flame, which confirms 100 years as a Confederation as Canada.  The change is gathered from it and given to the winner of the Centennial Flame Research Award, to someone with disabilities doing research on persons of interest with disabilities, or activities of Parliament.

Gov of Canada building.  The shooter was around here too, I think?

Beautiful view from the bridge nearby.

Ned eventually got tired of being pushed...and decided to push the stroller himself.  

Then we played in the leaves.

We went home and carved pumpkins.

Played ball.

The next day I went to see Travis and Mallory, since Graham and his family would be at church most of the day of Sunday, anyways.

Went for a walk, saw some cool art.

And then we went and ATE DOUGHNUTS. =D

After doughnuts, we went through a farmer's market.

Then I saw THE BEST THING EVER.

MY LITTLE PONY GAME OF LIFE.  MUST HAVE.

Afterwards, Mal and Travis and I chilled at the train station for a little while.  

All and all, was an amazing trip!  Thanks guys! =D

MY HALLOWEEN COSTUME IS READY

AND I'M SUPER EXCITED ABOUT IT.

Ottawa!

In the nation's capital! So excited to be here!

Oh Flute! How I've missed you!

TOW: Love

A friend of mine recently broke up with her boyfriend.  It was surprising; they were a good couple and seemed happy together.

But my friend Sarah (who is now happily married with a baby celebrating her birthday yesterday) once said to me: "No one can really know what goes on in a relationship except those two people."  And I have thought about this a lot since that moment. And I have seen that phrase proven true, time and time again.

Love is not easy.  And sometimes, for some people, love is not enough.  Because you might want more from someone else than just love.  You might want a house, or kids, or money.   You might want acceptance from their family, or for them to accept your family for the way they are.   

Not all loves are the same.  Some are romantic, some are familial, some are friendships.  And not all loves come in the same shapes or sizes.

Most importantly, sometimes you love the person more than the other person loves you back. And that can be hard to realize and wrestle with. 

But the beautiful thing about being in love is that you can hope for the better, for the best that can be.

And in all my relationships, of every kind, I hope for the best, every day.

I keep meaning to blog!

It's just been too busy.

I have fallen into bed most nights for the month of September.  What a interesting, strange, busy September.

Lots to love, though.  I am constantly blessed by the people in my life.

I have lots of thoughts….but I'm tired! =(

That's what I get for writing 75 personalized responses to all the Facebook messages I got. =P


My life….is so much better than it was a year ago.

I'm so happy. =)

Whew!

Finally moved into my new place.

Have internet, have roommates and I am happy.

More birthday postings coming soon! =)

What a great day

Can't wait for more days like this in my future!

Trip to college with Alex and friends

 

We played many a game of Uno.

 

This was my beautiful view all week.

 Necessary stop at Tim Hortons!

Why hello there!  (There's a funny video also included in this somewhere on my phone...)

 Scrabble!  I lost.  Miserably.

But still having a great time.

 

Making dinner.

 Hanging out on the hill. 

 Badminton!  It gave me....more tendinitis! =(

 Campfires are the best.  This one was pretty good....fed it all evening with the wood Greg and I collected.

 Greg doing charades.  Biggest fail that I never got....Quicksand.  Sigh.

 

Bri and Phil look on in anticipation! What clue could be next??? (We played a lot of charades...)

 Handsome! 

 

Phil admits that he has a problem and says goodbye to his best friend, alcohol.  Next vacation for Phil: detox and rehab.

 

Playing gin rummy!  (Also lost terribly at this....)

 

Remains of the weekend!  I had a great time, but I also was very tired by the end.  Was good to get to know Alex's friends a little better.  Overall, I had a fun time....it's been a long time since I did something like this, so it was a good learning experience for me.  Next time, I need to make more personal time for myself, I think.  It'll help me to have a better time.

TOW: Loneliness

Did you know that some of the loneliest people are the ones in a committed relationship?  A recent study showed that 62.5% of the people who reported loneliness were married and living with their partner. (Can I find the link to that study?  Nope.  But, hey, the internet is probably right about that, eh?)

Sometimes people we love make us feel lonely.  They are being dismissive, they have been unfeeling and uncaring, they have done something unexpected that upsets our daily routines.

Sometimes we feel insecure, and it seeps into our relationships.  Who knew that in a world of 7 billion people, you could feel lonely and insecure?

I suppose I am going through a rather insecure phase myself.  A lot around me is changing…my friend Robert moved to Ireland, and I am missing him.  My friend Derek moved to Calgary…I miss him too.  My friend Elizabeth is plotting a move to Calgary to live.  Anyone else getting the theme of 'love me and leave me' here?  Hello??? Is this thing on???

Ahem.

Life is tough….you build something up that makes you happy, and then suddenly, it's gone again.  You look for good things, and instead, you find sadness.  We often look under rocks hoping to find jewels, and instead are disappointed with the muddy underside of what we've uncovered, especially when we look closer and critically at our relationships.  Disappointment can lead to loneliness.  But disappointment is just part of the story.

Every love we have will hurt.   No friendships is perfect.  No romantic relationship, no love is perfect.   And it's stupid, and we wonder why we bother in the first place, and we wish that hard ball of pain inside of us would go away.  And we wait and wish and we hope, and sometimes if we're lucky, we can smile again.

No one can feel my emotional pain.  Only I can feel it.  And this separation, this individuality of pain, it makes us unique.  It is our story.  And sometimes, that story can make us lonely.

The Creative Process

This is totally how the creative process works….I have been in these meetings:

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/642693

Geez!

Been such a long time since I posted on here!

I have found I don't have as much time for personal writing as I used to.  I suppose I should be happy to have a full schedule, but still!  So busy!

Some life updates:

• Alex and I are going to his friend's cabin for a week next week.  Photos to follow.
• I am tentatively planning all my birthday awesomeness that will be the birthday I was meant to have when I was 30.  THAT'S RIGHT. SCREW YOU, 30.
• Lots of vacation planning this year. 
• My niece is getting christened at Christmas, really excited for that.
• Moving Sept 1.  Need a new place.  Argh.

Alright, time to go….next activity of the day! =D

Happy Canada Day

Had an amazing weekend and the last couple days have been really special.

Played board games with friends….super fun!  Though I lost most of the time, was really great to get together and just relax and be a bit silly with some great people.  (That's Liz and Sarah in the photo.  We were playing Dominion at the time, I think)

I also celebrated 3 months with Alex.  I normally don't make a big deal out of anniversaries and such, but it was really nice…and we got to talk, had some laughs, spent most of the day together, was really nice.  At first I thought I would be exhausted by it, but it turned out to be just right.

OK!  Off to bed!

Happy Canada Day, to all my Canadian friends and family!

Fishy!

I bought a fish!  Alex helped pick him out. =)

We bought him from a store near my workplace.  We decided to name him Chuck.

My new friend chuck now has a new home on my kitchen counter.  I might have him move in the near future, but for now…he takes up kitchen space! =)


I'm so happy…I have been wanting to get a beta fish for a really long time.  Glad I have him now…hoping he stays nice and healthy for the next little while as he adjusts to his new home!

My friend Robert left for Ireland on Thursday

I already miss him terribly, but I am so happy for him on his new adventure, living and working in Dublin, Ireland.

He's going to do so well there, I know it.

Trip to Niagara Falls

Alex and I took a weekend trip to Niagara Falls.  

We went to get close to the Falls on the boat.  The poncho is what Alex called 'Garbage Bag Couture.'

Then later in the day, we went for bike ride upstream to see some really cool stuff.

The next day, we went and did Wizard Golf…it was super shiny with all the black lights!

After that, we bowled!  I did really well…..Alex, not so much.

We played some games at the arcade, and we won 30 tickets…which let us buy….a cow eraser.

Then we had ice cream…mine was green apple.

Alex had bubblegum.

And then after ice cream, we drove back into the city.  =)

I just had a giant June bug land on my neck in the middle of the night

NO NEED FOR SLEEPING.

Busy life!

Whew!  It's been busy lately!

Some things:

• I'm going to Niagara Falls next weekend
• I have been working lots, no surprise
• I am getting all my financials under my belt
• Planning on taking a class, potentially a french class soon

And this big thing, one of my best friends, is leaving to go to Ireland for a year.  I'll do more of a post on that later…I am still thinking about how I feel about that at the moment.  Liz is also in Scotland for two weeks with her family, which seems like a really fun trip, I hope she is having a good time.

TOW: Unexpected Surprises

It's funny how humans plan things.  Woody Allen said, "If you want to make God laugh, tell Him about your plans."

One time, when having a conversation with my friend Brennan and his mother, she mentioned that her second son, Emerson, was a 'surprise.'  I had to think about that for a bit and it made me pause….how can pregnancy be a surprise?  And yet, when you think about it…even when planned, pregnancy is a surprise.  Happy or not-so-expected.  Life is surprising, right from the start.  And when you think about it that way, you'd think more people would be excited by the unexpected.  And yet, we spend most of our lives trying to plan for the unexpected, to be well prepared for things we could never know beforehand, and try and guess what is right and what is wrong.

Why do we make plans?  Why do we care so much about the future?

I think we understand patterns happen in our lives.  We understand that some people are good, some are bad…some situations and events frustrate us, and some make us happy.  We look at new people, at new situations, at new things we have not encountered and think, "Ah, this is just like that one time…"  We can look at life without newness, with an eye that says, "Aha, I understand what is happening here.  I see patterns."  

But then…it's God's laughter.  Because the older and wiser we get, the less likely we're able to deal with unexpected surprises because we think we have seen so much, we think we have seen it all.

And some people stop living, and only accept patterns as what is 'acceptable.'

We don't know it all and we can't predict it all.  And those who wish they could become the most unstable in times of crisis.

I think there are times when we are overwhelmed, when we don't know how to deal with situations that surprise us.  Becoming old is the idea that we want to stop being surprised, we want life to get easier for once, instead of harder.  We want to know that the future is going to be alright.

But we can't know that.  

In the end, we will only be able to reflect on how we reacted to the unexpected, not to what we would have done, had we known.  Because we never will.

The best thing we can do is live for the right reasons, be who we are for the reasons we believe in.  We could become rich and happy, we could become poor and sick.  

But it's probably not what we were expecting, was it?

It's been a long time since I've posted on here!

I've been meaning to post here every weekend for…well…for a really long time!  ^_^

A couple things have gotten in the way of my writing time:

-Moving.  I have only just recently started to get everything under control.  And under control is…probably an overstatement.

-Filing an insurance claim.  I hope I never have to do it again….it's possibly the most annoying thing I've ever done.  I had to double check a bunch of receipts and get new receipts from people who misquoted me, and my old landlord still owes me money.  Lots of fun for everyone.

-Taxes.  Losing your T4 among a mess of papers means stress….along with having to change your address, locate all your old tax paperwork, which is now everywhere because you moved all your possessions into a storage locker for a month and half, and then moved it into a new apartment the same month your taxes were due.

-A funeral service.  We recently buried my grandfather.  It was a very difficult weekend.  There were good highlights, I guess….but burying your family…..it's not enjoyable.

I was supposed to say…I put a rose down for my Auntie Jocelyn, who couldn't be here.  And one for me….and I suppose my older brother and Tammy, who couldn't attend because of a sick baby.

-New job:  It's been a REALLY busy first month for me.  They hired me in an upswing of work, and I have been working against the clock to help everyone finish their projects on time.  The amount of overtime on my schedule has been a little much, but I'll be done it soon.

-A really busy social life:  I have sort of ventured out into the world of dating again.  That….takes up a lot of my time.  ^_^  And my friends have been busy, as well.  

In a lot of ways, life is perfect, even when it's not, at least for right now.  I have a new job that I love, I have good people around me, and a good family. 

Time for bed.

Me and my bed

Reunited after 5 weeks.

Can't wait.