7/11

(I'm stuck in the Toronto airport currently on layover. There will hopefully be a full blog update when I hit PEI. I'm really hoping for a "Welcome to Charlottetown" sign that I can get a picture beside.)

Hug the Environment

I spent 4 days in Swift Current, where my parents now live. While there, they took me out to see the new windmills installed by SaskPower to create electricity cleanly. They were very impressive and I got a chance to "hug the environment" by hugging the windmills! Here are some quick facts about the windmills:

• There are 83 windmills
• They were built on 7500 acres of land
• The tip of the blade at it's highest point is 30 stories above the ground
• 2500 truckloads of concrete were used to pour the foundations
  

Now here are some pictures for you!

This is me hugging the windmill! I'm the little dot at the bottom. Give you a bit of perspective for how big they are!


Looking straight up at the windmill.


Field of windmills - it just wasn't possible to take a picture of all of them. They're so spread out.


One of the blades that fell down. They had it mounted at the office there. This is me and my mom standing beside it. She wouldn't hug it with me. :(

Blog Meme Challenge

OK, Rhonda did it (see her link at the side), I'm too lazy to write a proper blog, and I'm a copycat, so here goes!

What were you doing five years ago?

5 years ago I had just moved to Saskatoon to start my Commerce degree. This specific day? I was at Orientation. Creepy that I remember that.

What are five things on your to-do list today?

Well, it's 10pm, so here's my to-do list for tomorrow:

1. Work out in the fitness centre
2. Soak in the hot tub after the workout
3. Go through my stuff and downsize/pack
4. Chat with friends online!
5. Watch TV

(what can I say? It's vacation time for me)

What are five snacks you enjoy?

Chips, Popcorn, Cheese Strings, Cheerios, Chocolate!

What are five things you would do if you were a millionaire?

1. Invest it and live off the interest
2. Donate some (yes, everybody says it, but most people do it, so there)
3. Travel!
4. Take a month or two off work to go to a "Boot Camp" and lose weight.
   
5. Buy a sweet bed!
   

What are five bad habits

1. Food
2. Gonna have to go with Rhonda's procrastination
   
3. Food
4. Interrupting people.
   
5. Food

Assuming these are MY bad habits.

Where are five places you've lived

Weyburn (Ash Drive House), Saskatoon (Temperance Apartment), Saskatoon (Wiggins House), The Streets (right now) - Sorry, haven't lived in 5 places yet.

What are five jobs you've had

Annual Giving Coordinator, Subway Bitch, Dairy Queen Bitch, Newspaper Bitch, Circus Bitch (yeah, that last one sounds hilarious)

Homeless

Well, I'm officially homeless. I moved my things into storage and am living in hotels for a week until I get to PEI. I'm incredibly glad to have the moving thing finished - it's been really stressful.

Of course, being homeless is stressful too. It's weird not to have a place to go that's mine. I just feel like I'm floundering - I really just want to get settled.

For the moment, I have way to much stuff that I kept out of storage to bring with me, and I need to sort through it, pack it properly, and decide if I REALLY need it all with me. Right now I have 2 rubbermaid containers to ship, but I might have to get a third if I think I need everything with me. Right now part of the problem is that stuff is just shoved places and not packed properly. But another problem is that bunny hugs take up a LOT of room.

But I want my bunny hugs. :(

Packing Progress

Well, I've been slacking in my posts, I know. Been a busy few days! I really haven't been "home" since Thursday. Friday I picked up a rental car at 8am. Decided to pay $100 for the convenience of having a car all weekend. Just too much stuff in my house that I needed to take to recycling/thrift stores and it was just easiest to rent a car.

So, Friday was my last day at work. A very weird day. University Advancement is being moved out to Innovation Place, so Friday was also the last day in Kirk Hall! So, I spent the day packing/finishing up work. But our computers got unplugged/packed up at 2pm, so by then I had no work to do! So, we went to the campus bar and drank until 6pm. Three hours of that was my "goodbye party." It was really nice - I was surprised by some of the people who came, but others I knew would come. Definitely going to miss some people there! So, after that, me and my callers headed to Folkfest! That's a post all to itself. Suffice it to say, we had a good time. And managed not to get arrested for any of the laws we broke.

Saturday I went back to Folkfest to check out some pavilions I missed. Danielle came with me. We then headed to Sandy's farm (my ex-boss) to visit her and her donkey! We went on a scenic tour down the wrong highway, but eventually got there!

So! Today is the first day I've been home. I spent most of the day packing/cleaning/making multiple trips to drop off stuff. I now have a bedroom AND living room floor, which is super cool. Tomorrow I will be attacking the kitchen.

Anyway, here are some packing pictures to hold you over until I get in the mindset to write a proper blog post!

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So, last weekend I decided to dump everything from my closet, dresser, everywhere, into the middle of my bedroom floor. That created a bit of a mess...


A mess that spilled onto my bed as well...


But! I managed to get a small amount of organization going on in the corner of my bedroom!


And by the end of the day, I had definitely made some progress. More boxes packed!


The bed got a bit more clean, but I had to dump everything from it onto my floor before I could go to bed. So, I did that, then ended up crashing on the couch anyway! Bah!


This weekend I really started purging and packing. Everything came off the floor, off the edges of the walls, out of my shelves/drawers and got put into a box or taken to the recycle/thrift store. I definitely made some progress.


For those who know how many books I have...this is all I have left that isn't packed. Talk about progress!!!


More packed stuff and YES! That IS carpet! You can see it!

So, all in all, a very productive day. But my couch is a TINY bit messy...

Layout - Let's Find a Good One!

So, I'm cycling through a few layouts currently until I find one I like, as the pictures for that other one seem to not be coming back. Although I really liked it. :(

I'll let you know when I've stuck on one!

[EDIT 1: Any thoughts on this one? I'm not sure I'm 100% loving it. It cuts off my blog description too and you can see just the top of the words that are missing. I think the search will continue tonight when I get home from work.]

[EDIT 2: Hmm...this one intrigues me...]

Stress Level

My stress level is currently through the roof. I just can't seem to calm down about everything happening in the next couple months.

I've definitely hit the point of "I don't want to go, I don't want to do this, can I please just stay here and find a job?" I think if I was heading back to school to get a Masters degree, I wouldn't feel so scared. It's not really uncharted territory. I've done the university thing, it's familiar to me. Instead I'm going to live with a stranger at an institution I'm not even going to, and taking a course that I have no idea about really.

Sometimes I wish I just hadn't gotten accepted. Right now the idea of being unemployed and homeless living out of a storage place in Swift Current seems more favourable than moving across the country to live with a stranger.

Olympics

Well, the Olympics have begun and I have to admit...I love the Olympics! It's such a great event that showcases not only national pride, but very simply is a great example of people making their dreams come true. Even if you don't win a medal, just GETTING to the Olympics is a great achievement.

Of course, winning a medal has got to be one of the greatest feelings ever. Watching Chen Xiexia win the first gold medal of the games, and for the host country, China, was amazing. It was clear, from the look on her face, that it was the happiest moment of her life.

There are many examples of overcoming adversity as well. Take, for example, Canadian gymnast Kyle Shewfelt (2004 Gold Medalist) who one year ago broke both his legs. Although he didn't get past the preliminaries, he still made it to the Olympics. That's a huge accomplishment and shows that drive, desire, and hard work can really make your dreams come true.

I also think that having the Olympics in China is a great thing. There's been a lot of controversy, but that's a good thing. I really don't think the world understands China as a country. We make a lot of assumptions and listen to a lot of stereotypes. My hopes for these games is that a few more people will be educated about China and about what a great country it is.

I feel like I'm not being very eloquent in this post, so I'm going to wrap it up simply with...

GO FOR THE GOLD CANADA!!!

Layout

If you haven't noticed, I'm having layout issues! I got my layout online and it appears that the person I got it from is having trouble with the account where his/her pictures are being hosted. So, I'm not going to change the template yet, because I really like it, but if the pictures don't get fixed sometime in the next week, I'll go looking for a new one.

I have new posts in my brain, I'm just busy packing. I'll dump them out of my head onto my laptop as soon as I burn myself out packing.

Change

Change - to make the form, nature, content, future course, etc., of (something) different from what it is or from what it would be if left alone

Every individual reacts to change differently. Some people throw up walls and build defenses while other people embrace the change and look for ways to make it work to their advantage. My personal views on change have always been, "Well, it's coming, let's make the best of it." I may not be happy about it, but I just deal with the consequences of it, whether they be good or bad.

I think I'm more nervous about this big life change because, unlike all the other change I've dealt with, I brought it on myself. Normally I'm reacting to a change that I have no control over. But in this instance - well, I could have not made a change and continued living my life the way I was. I decided to take the chance and now I won't let myself back out of it. I need to get my brain back to the mindset of making the best of it - there will be good and there will be bad and I just need to deal with both and hopefully at the end of everything, come out of it happier or wiser than I had started.

Countdown

Days left of work: 8
Days until I move my stuff into storage: 18
Days until I fly to PEI: 26

Bad things about working: I'm ready to move on and work represents the old life I'm letting go of...notice I don't say forgetting. Just letting go of it to do something else - I'm not going to forget everything I've done until now, the things I've learned, or the people I've met.
Good things about working: $$$

Good things about packing: It'll be at least 8 months before I can unpack, so by the time I do, I'll be so excited to have my stuff back that it won't be such a drag.
Bad things about packing: Packing sucks.

Good things about PEI: New things await me - new people, new stories, new experiences!
Bad things about PEI: You know, I was about to type "Scariest thing I've ever done" but that got me thinking. How is that really a bad thing? Nothing wrong with doing something scary - chances are I'll be a stronger person for it when I'm done. So really...there's nothing bad about PEI right now. It's a world of opportunity just waiting for me and it's up to me to make the most of it.

Lighter Side of Things

Bigfoot is on Twitter!

http://twitter.com/mebigfoot

Summary of My Current Outlook

Credit: www.xkcd.com