Productively Unproductive

Life sucks when you're sick. It really does. For the past 2 days our little household has been nothing but upset stomachs, sore throats and snotty nasal passages. It's been gross, to say the least. I had to miss class yesterday because my guts were in such rough shape and I'm hoping that today isn't the case as well. So far so good. A little tender still, but much better than yesterday. Believe me, you don't want to know what my last 48 hours consisted of.

Poor Chris has a head-cold from hell and well...he's not the most enjoyable sick person to be in contact with. I'm pretty sure that most women in the world can agree that their man starts to evolve backwards into a baby-like pattern when sickness occurs. Chris is actually quite good in terms of that, but he's so loud when he's sick! The hacking and nose blowing and throat clearing! This is another common man thing I think. Most guys just want to get rid of all the accumulating crap as fast as possible while most women try to be slightly more dainty about being sick. I just hope this thing clears itself up quickly or else downtown Charlottetown will never get any peace and quiet.

The one good thing about being sick is that I have an excuse to be either, a) very productive because I have spare time at home to get assignments worked on, or b) highly unproductive because I have the excuse of being sick to use when I have to explain why I got zero work completed. I did a little of both yesterday. When I decided that going to class was senseless due to my GI distress, I used the morning to be really productive. I thought that since my morning at school would have been busy then my morning at home should be the same. I completed one major assignment and a part of another one. That felt good to do. A little pat on the back for me was in order. Then...it just all went downhill. I think my brain and body shut down because they were both hungry (but eating made me sick!) so I reasoned that watching multiple episodes of Breaking Bad was a reasonable suggestion to pass the time.

Tip of the Day: If you've never watched Breaking Bad, I highly suggest picking up all 3 seasons and spending an entire weekend watching. Don't even bother sleeping.

Now I have to face the growing stack of school-work growing on my desk here. My social life has been severely beaten down the past two weeks and it doesn't look like it will improve for at least 2 more. But after than then things should (should being the word of choice) slow down a bit. Here's hoping!

Who Really Has More Fun??

Thursday was a big day. I went out on a limb and decided to temporarily turn my head of super blonde hair into a dark shade of red. I made the decision two months ago to make the drastic change but until Thursday, as I sat in the hairdresser's chair, even I wasn't sure if I'd go through with it. But I did, and here I am - a redhead.

The funny thing I've noticed in the past 72 hours is how differently the genders interpret my new do. Nearly ever single female or female friend who has seen me since the new hair change has had the same reaction. The compliments gush out about how it suits my skin tone and how it makes my eyes pop..etc...the feedback has been great from the XX chromosome population. Then there's the men. I mean, you can't really be surprised that their reaction is different because men have, what I believe to be, a natural internal mechanism that responds strongly to females with blonde hair. If you think about it, a lot of young girls start their lives with lightly coloured hair and as they age it becomes darker. Maybe men think of blonde women as being more youthful and desirable? Or maybe since most Playboy centerfolds are blondes they think of blondes as being more sexy? Perhaps blondes really do have more fun and therefore are more enjoyable to spend time with? Or maybe since society has stereotyped the blonde as being more ditsy and dumb, men think that blondes are easier to out-smart and manipulated and they can make the women do whatever they want, meaning that blondes are easier to get in the sack. Whatever the reason is, ever single man who has seen my hair and has had the guts to speak up about it has said that they like the blonde better. And yet, none of them were able to give me a reason as to why this is. Hmmmmmm.

The one good thing about the new colour is that I can hide if I really wanted to. People tend to overlook me because they're not expecting to see my face attached to a head of non-blonde hair. I had a good number of people the past three days walk past me, glace up at my face, keep walking and them stop and turn around and say, "Oh Hey! I nearly didn't recognize you!" I think it's the nose that gave it away.

Tip of the Day: Justin Bieber jokes will never get old so if you don't want to keep seeing them then I suggest stop reading this blog for a while.

A Little Push

It was a little over a year ago that all of us hopeful nutrition students handed in our application packages in hopes of earning that prestigious position for a dietetic internship with the university. As the fates would allow, I was denied a position which left me rethinking everything I thought I wanted to do with my life. My confidence, self-esteem and ego took a major blow during that time and I was grateful to accept a job out in BC for the summer which allowed me to make some good money for the following school year. I needed to get away from PEI and away from the constant reminder that I had failed so miserably at something that was so incredibly important to me. But I still had an important decision to make as to where to go from here. Try for another internship or find a new life path?

To become a dietitian, all students need to obtain a bachelor's degree in nutrition and they must do a 10 month(ish) internship. I did not get the internship provided through the university so my other option is to go for a graduate internship in which I apply through the Dietitians of Canada. The thing with graduate internships is that they are harder to get. There are many many places in Canada that have programs for students, but they only take a select few. For example, the one in Calgary takes one, ONE! student. Whereas there are ones in Ontario which take up to 16 students...so your chances of getting in are a little better if you apply to those one. Another glitch is that some places only want certain kinds of students in their program. For example, the one up in the Yukon prefers Aboriginal students and the one in Newfoundland prefers Newfoundland students. ANOTHER glitch in the system is that each student can to apply to 3, and only 3, programs in the entire country. Plus there is that only 50% of those who apply get a placement. Overall, not great odds.

I was on the fence for a long time trying to decide whether or not to put myself through this rigorous system again. Another disappointment would be very hard to take...but what other options do I have? I suppose I could build a time machine and go back in time to last January and not screw up so badly in the first place. That would be convenient. Realistic? Not so much. But, after some heart felt emails to some choice friends and family from back home, I decided to put myself out there again and see if anyone wants me this time around.

So I've been spending the past two months organizing my time and paper work in hopes of having all of my affairs in order to get the application packages out in time. Trying to coordinate good references, transcripts and exceptional personal letters and resumes is not how I wanted to spend my time, but looking at the big picture is the whole idea here. I'm waiting on one reference to finish her paperwork for me, then I'm all done and can send them away. I'm finding myself emotionally pulling away from the whole process because I don't want to set myself up for disappointment again and I'm getting nervous that this reference won't finish in time! Either way, it's hard to be optimistic all of the time when success rate for all of this blood, sweat and tears is only 50%.



But today was a good day. It didn't start out very well at all, but the end result made it good. I had a rough day at school doing grueling research that nearly made me tear my hair out (which would be ok because I really need a haircut). And I had to pay for tuition which always sucks because your bank account dips so low with the mere click of a button. Plus I had to do some last minute running around which took far longer than expected. Then when I went to buy some pretty paper, envelopes and things for resumes and other important documents, I ended up having to spend WAY more money on the materials than I expected. By the time I got home, I was done. Just mentally done.

Then I checked my UPEI email and saw a letter from a professor. The subject line merely said, "left field question" which I found intriguing. I opened it and read a short and simple email asking if I was applying for a graduate internship. She also said that she hoped that I was because I would make a phenomenal dietitian (her words, not mine) and hoped that last years student internship results didn't stop me from doing it. My eyes started to well up after I read this because not only is this woman the smartest professor I have probably ever met, but she's someone I think very highly of and these words gave me a much needed push of confidence and hope for myself.

If we could only sometimes see ourselves as others see us, maybe we'd think better of ourselves from time to time.

Let The Normalcy Begin!

I'm beginning to hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel and that my life will return to normal again. It's been a rough week and even though Mondays are not my favourite day of the week, I am hoping that the beginning of a new week will be the first step to normalcy. I've been hugely sleep deprived for a week now due to all of the stress and unusual living conditions we've been in. Sleep on either bug infested mattresses or springy pull-out beds is just not my ideal sleeping arrangement.

As I just said, I am hoping that life returns back to normal now because it's strange to be stuck in a mental space I am not comfortable with. I've been bombarded with all of this extra junk in my life like bedbugs, internship applications (I'll explain about that one soon), Chris being laid off from work (don't get me started), lack of heat in apartment (see below) and as a result I have been putting important things at the back of my mind when they should be at the front. LIKE SCHOOL! I am the worst student right now! Unless I am on campus and sitting in class, my brain is completely withdrawn from school in every way. People keep asking me about assignments and I give them that dumb look like I have no idea what they are talking about because..well...I have no idea what they're talking about! I desperately need to get my head in the game.

Last Monday was the official day we learned about the whole bedbug situation and it still seems that we are bedbug free. I was really itchy yesterday but it's because I was wearing a wool sweater, but the paranoia is still there at the back of my mind. Every time my hand touches my skin to scratch, I have to feel around the area for a good 10 seconds to make sure there's no bump attached to the cause of itch. So far so good.

On Friday night when I went to bed, the apartment seemed a lot cooler than normal. The heat in our apartment is controlled by the people who live in the very bottom apartment which is a crappy system but it's all we've got. Usually the place is really warm so the fact that I was super cold when crawling into bed was a new and unusual experience for me. Unfortunately all of our extra bedding was not available since it was still at Chris's parents house (where everything we owned was washed) so by the time I was warm enough to actually sleep, I was wearing slippers, sweat pants and two long sleeved shirts. I would have worn a toque but they were with the bedding. The following evening was a bit cooler than the night before so I figured that something was going on. Why did they have the heat turned down so much? Turns out the people moved out so no one was controlling the heat anymore! Plus since it was a weekend, no one would help us until Monday. Ugh. Luckily Sunday night we went to Chris's parent's house for supper which meant I not only got a lovely meal but I also got to retrieve the rest of the bedding, plus my pillow!

Thankfully when I got home from school the apartment felt nice and warm once again. Ahhhhhhh. Last night I finally got some decent sleep. Man that feels good. Only about 10 more hours of catch-up and I should be back to normal.

Saturday night was a fun night. As I mentioned in my last post, a good sized group of ours all met up at a bar to celebrate the births of many friends. The cool thing about living on this tiny island is that the longer you live here, the more friends you make, and suddenly you find out that your one group of friends knows your other group of friends so you end up partying with various groups of friends who you didn't even realize knew each other! Friend overlapping is very convenient because instead of making plans with various people at different times, you can do it all at once and chill as one large group. So the party was a success and I was incredibly happy to see a group of friends I don't get to hang out with nearly often enough.

No New Bites!

I want to first say thanks for everyone being so great about my little infestation problem and for not judging me for it. Obviously because you are my friends you have to say supportive things like that and I know that secretly you will always find an excuse to avoid my apartment at all costs...but the kind words are nice to hear anyway. Second I want to send out a HUGE hug and heartfelt thanks to Sue and Jim for being amazing to us. I'd probably be crying in an alley somewhere in the fetal position if it were not for your help. Thank you!

Wednesday afternoon a professional was brought in (paid for by the landlord!)to take care of our little blood-sucking visitors. We ended up staying at Chris's parents house for both convenience and to give the apartment a little extra time to breathe and let the chemicals really get a good sink in. It's somewhat disturbing to come home to find plastic sheets on your mattress and box-spring and know that they have to stay there because disgusting bugs may bite you if they're removed. I really hope the disgust begins to wear off at some point. Putting the apartment back together after removing and washing every piece of fabric in the place was a major pain in the butt, but it was necessary to deal with the mess. It was just really nice to wake up this morning with no new bites on me. That's all I ask for in life. No new bites.

In hopes of getting past this unfortunate experience, it's time to change the subject. Today is birthday week here on PEI. I have about 5 or 6 friends all celebrating within a 4 days time. Much to celebrate! Wednesday was Jess's birthday, so in celebration a group of us gals drove out to the country to have a lovely supper at her mom's house. Good food and great company is basically the best way to spend an evening, especially when a birthday is involved. The sparklers on the cake were being a bit difficult with us but it all worked out in the end. Today is Chris's birthday: HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I feel like a really crappy girlfriend considering I have school all day and have to work tonight so I can't even make him a birthday dinner! Sounds like the family is all getting together on Sunday for the official birthday dinner which will obviously be fantastic.

Tip of the Day: A case of Alexander's Keiths you buy only moments before getting home is a perfectly acceptable birthday present.

A large group of friends is assembling at a sketchy bar tomorrow night to celebrate everyone's birthdays all at once. It should prove to be a sloppy night for most attending.

Bitten By The Truth

The thing with having a blog is that you're quite limited as to what you can talk about sometimes because there can be some apprehension about the wrong people reading it or you don't want to offend someone or you don't want to over-share your life...etc. My life has been especially chaotic the past few days because of a certain situation which came up and I've been wondering whether or not to share with the world because it's a delicate topic and most people freak out when they hear about it. To speak or not to speak? But I think I will blog about it because I figure that anyone who reads this will know me well enough to not think less of me and to hopefully pity me and send me presents to make me feel better.

You ready?

Monday morning it became official that our apartment has bedbugs. There. I said it out loud and now you all know my dirty little secret. There's been rumours for months that they are on the island but no one has been able to confirm anything. This is me confirming.

It all began well back into November when I woke up with two little bites on my arm. I figured a spider got me in my sleep and didn't think too much of it. And so it continued like that - a bite here, a bite there...but nothing too horrible. I cursed spiders for over a month and even cursed Chris because he wasn't getting bitten at all. People suggested bedbugs but I denied the idea since I was the only one being bitten and it was only one or two bites. When I went home to BC my skin cleared up and life went back to normal. Then I returned to PEI and by the first morning I had about five bites. Two day later, the day after I washed all the sheets, I noticed a weird little smudge of blood-looking stuff on the sheet and found that strange since I had no cuts on me at all. The next morning I woke up and my right arm and side of my face was just covered with bites. I immediately went online and researched bedbugs. To my dismay, the sites all confirmed what I was trying so hard to deny. The little smudge was a blood-smear, meaning that I killed one of the little a-holes in the middle of the night. But the bites were undeniably from these horrible little blood suckers. It also said that some people do not react to the bites, which probably means that Chris is one of those people so he may be being bit but there are no signs from it.

Now I know you're all disgusted with the thought of this and believe me, no one is more grossed out than myself - except maybe my good friend JB here - but he doesn't judge me either.



The thing that sucks about bedbugs is that they can live in homes of people with severe cleaning obsessions or homes in which the person never cleans at all. Bedbugs do not discriminate in any way and it's absolutely horrible for anyone to go through. So what is a girl to do when she finds out these little guys are living in her bed? CLEAN! You would not believe the amount laundry and vacuuming I have done in the past two days. It would blow the mind of each and every one of you. After some research we learned that it is the responsibility of the landlord to rid a building of bedbugs (because they are defined as being parasites and the presence of parasites means that we are living in an unsafe environment and providing a safe environment is the responsibility of the landlord) so we called them up and explained the situation so today they are sending over an exterminator to fumigate that place. Such a lovely scenario. Exterminators, fumigation...not the most comforting words for a person to hear. The thing that freaks me out though is that these bugs travel through water lines and outlets and places like that, so if it's the downstairs people that have them and they don't deal with it then the bugs will just return after we clean the place up.

As stressed out as this whole situation makes me, I am glad that it happened now and not while I'm in the middle of the school semester. I've been spending every minute of my days either cleaning or doing laundry and I can't imagine dealing with this if there were exams and projects to worry about as well. Just finding the time to make something for a potluck dinner tonight has proven to be difficult. I just can't wait for this to all come to an end so that I can move back into my bedroom and back into my normal and unbitten-extremities life.

I'll keep you all updated on this so that you're not afraid to come visit me in total and utter fear of infestation of your own. Live not in fear my friends! I am a clean person, I promise!

Babies and Gate Changes and Fog...Oh MY!

Alright, so I made it back to PEI with only a few minor bumps and bruises. Most of my ailments were caused by the obscene amount of sitting in cramped quarters which always comes hand-in-hand with long distance travel. Dad and I left the house around noon on Wednesday afternoon and arrived in Kelowna about 4pm. The roads were unexpectedly fantastic (except for over the Blueberry-Paulson which was less than ideal but still drivable) so we made decent time considering it had snow both that day and the day before. Plus we got to see some big-horned sheep and dozens and dozens of deer on the drive, which is always enjoyable. Surprisingly there was only one car in the ditch on the entire drive, which was shocking considering before we headed out I had guessed there would be 3 and Dad guessed 2 (people are stupid drivers on icy roads sometimes).

We did a small Costco shop, had a quick dinner and Dad left me at the airport and went back on his way home. My flight was at 8:00 so I had some time to kill. I started a book called "Eating Animals" by Jonathan Safran Foer and while I'm only about half way done at this point, I'm really enjoying it. The author explores our logic about eating animals, such as why it's alright to eat cow in our country but dog is a total no-no. Whereas in other countries, eating a cow is sacrilegious and devouring man's best friend is a common delicacy. So far, really good book with lots of great statistics, facts and lessons which are amazing to learn about. Like, did you know that in the US alone, over 250 million baby chicks are destroyed because they are born male and therefore cannot lay eggs so are rendered useless? They are either sucked up onto an electrical plate to die or are tossed into large plastic bins, alive, where they suffocate. So sad.

My first flight was uneventful. Kelowna to Vancouver is a useless flight because I am going in the opposite direction of PEI, but Air Canada had all these cutbacks which got rid of most Calgary stops, which sucks. But, I had a couple hours in Vancouver to write some emails and watch an episode of Breaking Bad. Next flight was at 11:30pm and headed to Toronto.

It was hell.

My plan was to try to sleep since it was the red-eye flight. Haha. Good one Adrienne!!! I was surrounded by chaos. Behind me was a loudly snoring man. Beside him was a screaming toddler who slept intermittently. Beside me were two young boys who yelled at each other constantly because they were watching movies and wearing headsets and the only way they could hear each other over their headsets was to yell...loudly. About 10 rows in front of me was a baby with the most frightening scream I have ever heard! It was as though he was a 18 year old horror movie starlet who was getting stabbed repeatedly in the shower. I have never heard a baby scream like that! And he was vocal for about three quarters of the flight. I just want to point out that I feel for the parents who have these screamer babies on airplanes. I understand that babies scream and cry and a lot of the time there's nothing you can do. You see the faces of mom and dad which are covered with remorse for their babies which don't allow other's their rightful peace and quiet. Shit happens.



Oh man. And the thing that bugged me the most was the snoring man behind me. Not the fact that he was snoring, but the fact that he could sleep soundly through all of this. Oh, and there's more!

By the time we finally reached Toronto (a painful 4.5 hours and one movie later) it was too foggy to land so we circled around for 30 minutes waiting for the fog to disperse. Finally the pilot told us that we would have to go to Hamilton to refuel and wait for the weather in Toronto to improve. So we sat on the Hamilton runway for well over an hour and waited. At this point the boys on my left had fallen asleep but the one directly beside me was constantly shifting and elbowing me violently. We eventually got to take off and go to Toronto. YES! Unfortunately my plane which was supposed to land at 6:55am landed at 9:55am instead - and my flight to Charlottetown boarded at 9:30am. I know the Toronto airport quite well so when I got off the plane I began running to the terminal where these flights always take off from. This was when I heard over the loud-speaker, "Last boarding call for Charlottetown. Miss Adrienne Kotyk, this is your last call at Gate 45." WHAT? Gate 45? Since when did Jazz take off from that gate? So I spun around and started running back the way I came to get to Gate 45. They announced my name over the speakers again, which got me running a bit faster. Fortunately I made it in the nick of time (people were giving me some dirty looks when I got on the plane because they all knew that the plane was being held for one passenger whose plane had arrived late). Why they feel the need to announce to the entire flight why the plane is being held is beyond me. Common human sympathy perhaps? Either way, I made it back to PEI.

Now I have to get back into a normal sleeping routine. This may prove harder than usual for me. I have now successfully slept until 11:30am (yesterday morning) and 12:30 (this morning/afternoon) which is not good! School starts in a few days so I have to get into the swing of things again.

PS. Happy New Year!