Rotten Responsibility

Remember how great it was to be a kid? If you were sick, and able to convince your parents that you were indeed sick and not just pretending, then you got to stay home from school and have mom take care of you. You'd get to stay in your jammies all day without even giving it a second thought. Also, your day was spent getting some extra sleep, watching cartoons (or reading Archie comics in bed) and getting to drink flat gingerale (which always made you feel better no matter what). Yep. Those were the days.

Then you grow up.

Being an adult sucks when you're sick. When you're a kid you get to stay at home and have someone take care of you and the world goes on merrily without you for a day or so. When you grow up you have these pesky little things called "responsibilities" which perpetually consume your conscience when all you want to do is stay in bed and forget what's beyond your bedroom window. Wednesday I woke up not feeling super hot but I blamed it on my bad eating habits the day before. I had to go to campus because I had a quiz in my second class and my third class is Clinical which is basically my most important class. By the time second class was over, my head was spinning, my guts were unhappy and I was just not in a good place. Alas, I had to leave before Clinical began which was hugely disappointing because we were doing an HIV case study, which I think to be an interesting subject. But the idea of either passing out or throwing up in class was not appealing (and I'm sure my classmates would appreciate this as well) so I headed home and crawled into bed for a few hours.

Thursday wasn't much better than Wednesday but had to work. Everyone at work has been calling in sick lately (hmmmm...possibility as to where I picked this up?) and I really didn't to join the "call in sick clan". Also I have this annoying responsibility of paying bills and rent, so of course I went to work. And what do you know!?!? Someone else called in sick which made it so that I ended up having to work a few extra hours. Blech. Plus we got slammed with a lunch rush after the Remembrance Day gathering, which was literally right outside our doors. Hundred and hundreds of people gathered outside in the street, all in silence, while canons go off in remembrance of those who died. It was a bit eerie to watch so many people standing completely still and not making a sound. Either way, by the time I got off work I was feeling horrible and just went home and crawled in bed again. I had to pass up dinner at Chris's parents house which made me feel awful because that's always such a pleasant time, but I thought it would be better to stay home then possibly infect them with whatever I may have.

So today is Friday and I am feeling a bit better. Responsibility got me out of bed nice and early this morning so that I could get to campus and get some work done. And yet, here I am working on my blog instead of doing work....

Next week, tune in for my report about procrastination.

Pat on the Back

I am feeling much better than I was when my last blog was written. Thank you for asking.

Today is one of those days that I have every once in a while in which I kick myself in the butt for being so hard on myself and remind myself that I'm not as useless as I, every now and then, let my believe to be. Actually I take that back. The past couple days I have surprised myself more than once and it's a nice feeling to be able to do that sometimes.


So why are we so hard on ourselves? Well, I think that there are many reasons for this. The first is that we're afraid to gloat or be proud of ourselves because it makes us look arrogant. We don't want others to think that we think too highly of ourselves so we downplay our achievements. Let's say you get 95% on a test and your friend sitting next to you says "wow, great job!" Never do we say, "Thanks! I did great didn't I?" Nope. We have to answer with something such as, "The prof must have been drinking when he marked these," or, "This mark is a total fluke!" We're raised to be modest and yeah, it's good to be modest a lot of the time. But sometimes you need to just relish the fact that you studied your butt off and appreciate how happy it makes you knowing that your hard work paid off.

We're so critical of ourselves and we're always setting ourselves up for failure. I think this is another reason we're so hard on ourselves. If we strive for the stars and only make it to the clouds (which would be great nonetheless), it's not what we originally wanted so we put down the fact that we even made it to the clouds. We can't ever stop to appreciate what we have because we're always focused on what we don't have. What is the purpose of having this mindset??

So here is why I am feeling happy about myself at the moment. The first reason happened on Friday night when we were stuck for a ride to the Finger Eleven concert (which I had a blast at! I was so happy that they played some of their old stuff along with the new material). Jess has a car but she had a drink or two and didn't feel safe driving...but it's a standard and I have never driven a standard car in the city before and I was nervous at the thought of attempting it. I've driven my dad's truck on numerous occasions but it was always on quiet old roads with little chance of running into other vehicles. Plus in BC, when you're learning how to drive a stick shift, there's a fear of rolling backwards on a hill and even though PEI lacks hills, the fear is always in the back on my mind. But I decided to give it a shot and totally rocked it! I stalled it once which frankly, is nothing considering it was the first time I had ever driven her car. I was so proud of myself for trying and succeeding! The second event happened this afternoon when I got back a test which I was certain I did terrible on. Honestly, I don't know how I got the mark I received but I am thankful that it turned out that way. Way to go me! I guessed all of the right answers!

There I go being modest again...but I did honestly guess most of them. Eeny meeny miny mo paid off for me this time.

Enter At Your Own Risk

I know it's incredibly stupid to write a blog on a day in which I am in a horrible mood, but I haven't written for a while so I thought that I should write something, even if it is hostile and begrudging. In my defense though, I am listening to Phil Collins right now so that should help my mood exponentially. Here's hoping anyway. I absolutely hate being in a bad mood because I'm usually in a pleasant mood most of the time so when my pleasantness fades into a brooding bitterness, it catches me off guard and I just want to hide away until my disposition lifts. Today just started of badly and I am trying to get over it all and just enjoy the rest of my weekend. Let me explain.

I woke up to an evil alarm clock this morning. First of all, waking up to an alarm is the worst way to wake up because it's just so abrupt. Plus who wants to wake up when sleep is just so lovely? I haven't been sleeping much at all and last night was my first night of actual productive sleep, so having that machine wake me up was just uncool. As I laid there for a few minutes and listened to the rain pounding down outside I did not want to have anything to do with facing the morning. Torrential downpour is not the most appealing way to start the day. But I got up and headed to the farmer's market to pick up some bread and beets. Then I went to campus to go to the gym...only to get there and realize that I forgot my student card at home. The student card is what allows us access to the gym at UPEI. So I said to the girl at the desk, "Look, it's the first time in 4 years that I have forgotten my student card. Please make an exception this one time." But no. The snotty 17 year old girl had all the power in the situation and denied me access to the gym. And her smug little friends sitting there gave me this look that I was completely pathetic. I was soaked and grumpy at this point. But what could I do? So I left.

Then I decided to go to the Superstore to pick up some groceries since I was right there anyway. The thought of going home and doing some cooking seemed nice. I walked around the store and loaded up my basket enjoying the nearly empty store. When I reached the check-out, I saw the one and only sign in the entire store informing the customers that the debit was down and cash was only accepted. UGH! Plus the bank machine which is in the store was down. UGH! Since I am a considerate person, I walked around the store again and put my groceries back on the shelves/fridges/freezers even though I really just wanted to throw them at people instead. I head back out in the pouring rain with no gym pass, no groceries and no patience at all. So I drove home, changed into some dry clothes, grabbed my student card, some grocery bags and went all the way back to campus to start my day over again.

The gym sucked. I think my mindset was so terrible at this point that my energy was drained out of me. I fatigued so much faster than I can even remember happening in a long time and this just added to my bubbling temper. I know this sounds really silly and pathetic to get all worked up about, but I just couldn't help it! If there's one thing in this world that I hate it's wasting time and I felt that my morning was a complete waste of time. So I left the gym (lightly glared at the girl behind the desk on my way out) and walked back to the car.

Then I smiled. I happened to witness a moment that no one else saw and that was great. As I was walking to the car, this little boy who couldn't have been any older than 3, was dawdling behind his parents as they were all leaving the arena. He stopped dead in tracks, took two steps to the left and splashed calf-high into a giant mud puddle. Just a quick splash of each leg and out he was to join his family. I couldn't help but burst out into a huge shit-eating grin. Kids are so simple in that way. The simple joys they have are lost as we age and it's depressing to think about. But I was glad to witness that moment. A bright moment in my dark and wet morning.

But tonight I am optimist. Yes it is still pouring rain, but Finger Eleven is playing at the Wave tonight and I am very excited to attend. They were such a huge part of my life when I was in high school and I am looking forward to the nostalgic effect they will have on me.

Satisfyingly Short

Today I am going to discuss the reality of having short hair. It's a rather strange topic to talk about but hair is something that we all have (well, most of us anyway) and being a female with very short hair can be controversial sometimes, and a pain in the butt other times.

I once read a statistic that about 95-97% of men prefer long hair on women. This is because having long hair accentuates being feminine, it is defined as being sexy and guys also like being able to run their hands through long hair. Sure it also depends on the woman's facial features, shape and personality, but overall, guys like their women to have long and thick hair. Now for people like me who look ridiculous with long hair, this can be an inconvenient piece of information. I have had my hair cut very short since I was 14 years old and after some failed attempts at growing it out a few years ago, I decided that my short hair is here to stay and if guys don't like it, well that sucks for both of us. Furthermore, they say that women with short hair should keep their weight slightly lower than normal because it will make you look more elegant and more proportional with less emphasis on the head. FML.

Does this mean that a man will feel emasculated if he's with a woman who has short hair? Does the masculinity of short hair freak him out? Dude, just cause you're making out with a chick who has short hair does not mean that you're any less of a man or that you're leaning more towards a liking of men! That's just ridiculous. Think of all of the amazingly sexy women out there who have rocked the short hair! Case and point: Natalie Portman and Halle Berry.



There are so many factors to consider when deciding what length of hair to have. First of all, cutting all of your hair off means that you pretty much can never wear a ball-cap again. I used to wear baseball caps all of the time but after being called "sir" or "him" one too many times, I decided to ditch that habit. I was thinking about this in class the other day when a handful of girls came to class wearing ball-caps and I felt envious that they could just crawl out of bed, ignore the greasy/unkempt hair but pulling on a hat and heading out the door. Having short hair means that you have to do your hair every morning because it's always sticking out in every direction possible when you get up. Plus you have to get it cut every 6-8 weeks depending on how short you keep it, and this means major dollars out of your pocket. Someone with long hair can go years without getting a trim and most people won't even care or notice. On the plus side though, taking a hair dryer to my head only takes about a minute or two, meanwhile long hair can take 5-20 minutes to dry. That sucks. I also mentioned to some girls at school the other day about when you have big or long hair that one can easily hide behind it, and they were quick to agree. Having a lot of hair can be easy to get lost in or hide within.

The thing about short hair that makes me sad is that women are afraid to try giving it a chance. I can't even begin to tell you the number of women (most complete strangers) who have approached me and told me that they LOVE my haircut and wish that they could cut it short but they could "never pull it off". Have you even ever tried??? Doing something drastic with your hair is liberating and exciting and I recommend everyone to do it at least once in their life!

I had to throw in a picture of Pink. She's basically, in my opinion, the hottest short haired chick I can think of.

I thoroughly enjoy having short hair. I love when strangers stop me at the mall to tell me that they love my hair and ask where I get it done. I like not having to clean up giant tumbleweeds of my hair accumulating around the house. Yes I do wish that I could have that certain appeal that long hair gives to a woman, but I figure I've done ok without it this long. I'm satisfied with my short hair.

Tip of the Day: Do something drastic with your hair!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween was a bit of a bust since we started way too late and I got home much too early. Most of my friends were headed out to a party way out in the middle of nowhere and the time they were expecting to get home would be pretty close to when I needed to get to work this morning...so unfortunately I had to miss the party out there. But at least dressing up was fun! Here's a few pictures to explain!









We got many more trick-or-treaters this year compared to last year which was nice to see. I think we only got about 6 last year which was quite pathetic. Maybe my awesome pumpkin roped them over to our front door. Just a thought.

Homework, Costumes and Mice... Oh My!

It's Friday already and I have absolutely no idea where the week went. Well, I mean, I have little blurps of memory here and there about my doings and whereabouts the past 5 days, but the fact that it's Friday (night!) just blows my mind.

I've been working lots this week but now I have 2 days off to get my shit together and make some headway on my To Do list. Tonight I officially completed my Halloween costume for tomorrow night so I am relieved to have that done and out of my mind. I'll be dressing up like Morticia Addams which I am excited about. I realized tonight that I have never dressed up as a character before for Halloween...that I can remember anyway. Throughout the years I would dress up like a witch or devil or ghost but never an actual character from a TV show or movie. So this year is a first for me which is very cool. Hopefully I can pull off the Morticia look. I've got some pretty big shoes to fill to look at hot as her.

Speaking of Halloween, this year I bought my pumpkin nearly a month ago and it's been sitting on the front steps just waiting and waiting to be carved. I started to think that I would never get the chance to carve it, and the thought of that just broke my heart because I LOVE carving pumpkins. I look forward to it all year and when I finally get the chance I have so much fun. So today, even though I did not have the time to do it, I hauled that giant gourd inside, pulled out the knives and went to town on that sucker. Now this was no small feat. Had I known that this pumpkin had the hugely thick flesh that it had I may have not attempted the carving at all. It took me well over an hour to hollow it out, gets the seeds separated (which I roasted and ate copious amounts of) and actually carve. But in the end I am happy with the result. But I can't seem to get my picture of it uploaded onto this blog which is frustrating me because I wanted to share him with the world! Oh well. Bummer. But I can tell you that he was meant to resemble this fella....


We got the keys to the apartment today so Chris has been busy packing and moving some of his stuff into the place. I'm waiting to move most of my things tomorrow since that's when we'll have a truck and I'll have the time to do it. I was talking to Sam tonight about the reality not sinking in yet that I am actually moving from this house and within a few days I will have a whole new address. I think that since we've all been so incredibly busy that we haven't taken the time to stop and realize that yeah, I'm heading out of here. We don't talk about it much (we don't see each other much though) and I haven't done a huge amount of packing...plus I don't own much stuff anyway, so it's not as though my belongings being gone will leave much of a dent in anything. Except for maybe the walls.

One thing is for sure though, I will be happy to not have to share my food with any more mice! We've already killed two in the past week and it's not even November yet! The poor little guy I cleaned up this morning had his entire head covered in peanut butter. But like Kaylynne said, it's a good way to go! At least he was happy and oblivious while indulging in delicious peanut buttery goodness before his neck was snapped. There are worse things.

And this is my favourite cake of the week

This one makes sense when you think that "RIP" stands for "Rest in Poo." Bahahaha.

Shout Outs

Today is a busy busy day for me so I want to just send out a few (yet very important) shout-outs.

The first goes to my amazingly wonderful dad who celebrated his birthday yesterday. I called him as soon as he got off of work and wished him a very Happy Birthday. Unfortunately my sister and niece had just arrived at the house as well which not only took all of my dad's attention away from my phone call (Cadance is good at taking over a room when she enters it), but it also made me miss my family that much more. Happy Birthday Daddio! I hope you had a great dinner with everyone. Love you.



The second shout-out goes to the celebration of the 25th anniversary of Back to the Future! I may have only have been 2 years old when the movie came out, but I've seen it over and over again and enjoy it every time just as much as the first.

So how do I tend to celebrate the most? With an amazing cake! Here is one of the town square. The thing that makes this cake that much more amazing is that it is someone's wedding cake. The fact that someone had this for their wedding cake makes me think that I missed out on one hell of a party.