Tally

In the past few months, I have managed to break...
- one wine glass
- two water glasses
- one small vial
- two lamps
- an exercise ball (popped one of of the pieces of glass from one of the aforementioned water glasses.)
- some kind of record, I'm sure.
I'm beginning to think I deserve some sort of prize. Or maybe just that I should child-proof my house.

The Aforementioned News

Uh, so apparently when I said "later tonight" I totally meant tomorrow, which is now today! Tada!
So I try not to whine too much on here (completely unsuccessfully, really :P) but one of the things I hadn't really mentioned was that money had been getting pretty tight, because of Dad's pension, including my "child benefit", being revoked due to factors I really don't understand, and because of my general inability to stick to a budget.
I'd noticed a small grocery store in town was hiring, and since I've got more than two years of cashier experience, I decided I'd go apply, even though I didn't particularly want to.
So, I got up early, dressed in presentable clothes (even though I never wear anything but jeans in the winter!) and took a resume down. I talked with the manager, but she just didn't seem terribly enthusiastic, and I left feeling kind of discouraged.
Fast forward a few hours, and I have a voicemail from the children's director at the church, saying she has a "proposal" for me. I call back, and quite out of the blue, she offers me a part time job working in the day care at the church! With a bit of juggling, it fits perfectly with my class schedule. It pays decently, and is enough hours to keep me afloat without totally stressing me out, plus it's working with kids, which I love, and even better, it's relevant to my future career in child and youth mental health. It is truly such a Godsend, and I nearly started crying I was so happy!
So I start on Monday, and it shall all be a Grand Adventure, I'm sure :-) Wish me luck!

A Quick Warning

(Real post coming later tonight, with Exciting News!)

Oh...Right.

This is why I don't bother going to bed early - my version of early, that is. I hit the hay tonight around ten thirty and was looking forward to a great night's sleep. But now it's 2:43 and I'm wide awake. Huzzah! So, I shall tell you a story.
Today, on my way down the hill from feeding Mum's friend's cats, I saw a young man waiting at the bus stop. He'd been there on my way up, too, and he was looking at his watch and seeming a bit worried. There's no buses here on holidays, and I pulled over to tell him so. He looked so stricken, I offered to give him a ride downtown. We chatted a bit and I discovered he is here on an exchange from Germany. I told him I had a friend in Austria, and that my little sister very nearly did a Rotary exchange to Thailand. And then I felt very dull.
I've always said that I wanted to travel, but beyond a highly structured missions trip to Guatemala, I haven't. I was speaking with that friend in Austria, Lizanne, just a few minutes ago. Time differences are lovely for insomniacs. She was showing me pictures of her Christmas in Austria. The lights in Vienna were spectacular, and I very nearly cried. Why am I still here, in the town where I was born? I hate moving, yes, but that shouldn't preclude travel. This is the perfect time in my life to be doing it - nothing tying me down. Yes, I need to get my degree - but after I finish my Bachelor's, absolutely nothing says it has to be here! I've spent the last hour looking at Masters' Programs all over the world, and mostly terrifying myself. But still, it's intriguing to think of continuing my education in England, or Australia or even "just" the U.S.. I want to be a much more interesting person than I am. Even if the travel just involves a camping trip, I resolve to go somewhere this year, and to somehow look beyond my horizon.

Is anyone good at thinking up titles?

Well, Christmas was lovely, even though it was two days early, and the drive back home wasn't too bad - though it was definitely winter road conditions!
It was lovely to spend time with my Grandparents, and to hang out with Mum and play some real Scrabble, instead of just Facebook's Scrabulous. I still beat her most of the time in person, too ;-)
I had a couple crash days when I got back to the Loops, just being a homebody and enjoying the time alone. I got my house more in order, and spent time with friends I hadn't seen in months. Tonight, my "little brother" whom I affectionately call Brianna (and he just loves that) and I watched the Bruce Willis movie "Live Free or Die Hard" which was huge and cheesy and full of corny one-liners which was precisely what you expect (even want!) from an action flick. I cooked dinner for us, and we ate some steaks I had left in the freezer. Explosions and steak - a very manly sort of night. Also occurring was the checking (and re-checking) of the hockey scores, in which the 'Nucks stomped the Flames 5-3. W00t! Brianna is torn, though - he's a BC boy all the way, but he lives in Calgary and works at the Saddledome. It makes for somewhat divided loyalties. ;-)
Anyhow, I'm well, and still around, so I thought I'd pop in. More soon, I'm sure, but for now, I've a lot more reading and writing to do. Ciao!

On Depression

Those of you who know your way around the blogosphere are very likely you know of Dooce, aka Heather Armstrong. However, if you don't, she's a popular blogger who's been writing about her life, her family, and her depression for several years now. From her site today, I clicked a link to a post her husband Jon had written on what it means to live with someone who has clinical depression. You can tell by reading it that it takes some special adjustments, and a lot of patience, but you can also tell that he loves her very much.
I thought that some of the people who know me might benefit from reading it, because it's hard to know what to do, or say. Or, if you want a greater understanding of depression for another reason, it's still well worth a look. If you'd like to read, click here.