Goodbye 2021 (Day 656)

 2021 will come to an end in roughly 10.5 hours and it's ening a lot like 2020 did. We're still dealing with a pandemic, case counts are on the rise, gathering resturictions and limits are being put in place and people are speding hours waiting in long time ups. This time it's fr booster shots and rapid tests. Thank god we have toilet paper this time around.

So we saw a small reprieve n the summer whne case counts went down and vaccines were going in arms en mass. A new varint of Covid that diesn't give a shit about any of that changed things over the last month and a bit and here we are. At least I wasn't afraif to travel home to see my family for Christmas this year and this time I was able to hug my great aunt and uncle. Still didn't get to see my niece thouh.

Most of 2020 sucked hard. But 2021 say a marked improvement. It felt like a few things came into alignment for me. My health improved. I was able to get out and walk more, which made a word of difference. I somehow managed to remove 55lbs from my body (pre-Christmas of course!).  So here's hoping this trend continues into 2022. I still have eye issues and am still worried about Covid 19 but otherwise, things seem to be going well. My family are healthy and all seem to be ok too, so that's a blessing I can count. And I have four packs of toilet paper. LOL

Kindness was a big theme this year and something that a lot of people seem to have forgotten. My mom was reading comments on a Facebook post this afternoon. A new "emergency" homeless shelter is opening here, next to a school. Some of the comments from people were downright awful. Without even knowing the details of who will be staying at that shelter or when, people were villifying the homeless. I hope that none of those people commenting every have to know what it's like to lose everything. To struggle with mental illness or addiction. To have no home. Judge not lest ye be judged and all that. 

Here's hoping that those who opted to be more kind can keep it up for the new year as well. The world needs more kindness.

On the positive side, I got to see more family in 2021. I was able to travel home in July to see my parents and then came to visit me at Thanksgiving and I'm here now for Christmas and New Yeas. My aunt and unclde from Thunder Bay spent a day with me in late September. It's been a minute since I've seen them. LOL. Still not broad travels for me though. Perhaps things will improve enough so that I can venture out within Canada at least. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

I have to admit, way back back on March 16th 2020, I had no idea that this virus would still be kicking our asses. That we'd still be working from home. That we'd still be seperated from our families. 

I feel like I'm heading into 2022 with a lot more optimism. Sorry to dump so much hope on you 2022, but I think you can handle it.

Happy New Year!

Sarah

Ice Storm, Christmas, New Year's and Merlin.

So it would appear that I haven't written for a while. I haven't written for 2 months and 26 days in fact. I don't know I haven't written. Just didn't feel like it I guess. I formulated a couple blogs in my head but never had the energy or drive to get them out and onto the screen. I guess I needed a break.

I'll bring you up to speed.

I'm still employed. I'm still single. I'm still broke and I'm still going to Curves. So that would be great, not so good, really shitty and fantastic.

Christmas was lovely. Went home for a week and got to spend time with my family. Thankfully, none of us got sick this year which is good, because I still haven't fully forgiven Typhoid Stephen for giving me the stomach flu last Christmas. It's been over a year and I still can't bring myself to eat cranberries.

The day after my arrival at home, mother nature blessed us with an ice storm. Not quite on the same scale at the one that Ottawa received back in 1998, but it was pretty impressive none the less. We were very lucky and only lost power for a very short period of time. 2 minutes the first time and 10 minutes the 2nd time to be precise. The next door neighbour and the one across the street both lost power after a limb from our tree took down the line (that sound you heard was my mother correcting me and saying that it was the city's tree and not ours. Minor detail. It's on our lawn!). Anyhow, the line was live but it was blocking the road so the nice people at the Hydro company came and cut it, thus knocking out power to both houses.

I got to test out my new "winter tracks" when dad suggested that we go for a walk around the neighbourhood and check out the damage. The damn things worked and I stayed vertical while facing a great fear of mine. I'm terrified of ice. We walked in the middle of the road and everyone froze the second we heard a cracking tree branch as a lot of the tree limbs were still falling. But hey, you've got to do something a little stupid every now and then, right? Besides, it was my dad's idea!

Adding to the excitement of the day came in the early afternoon when a tree around the corner caught fire. Ironically, the house where it happened is owned by a Fire Fighter. The cool part was watching the wreath that was hanging on the tree light up and sizzle as the electrical current ran through the tree. It was like a giant, live science demo.

Christmas Eve took on a fun twist when one of my oldest and dearest friends tagged along with us for dinner in order to avoid having to visit her mother-in-law. However, she made the kids go and see her. I'm not sure if that's cruel or just plain old funny. I think I'm going to side with funny on that one. Kind of like our Christmas dinner. We were only expecting my grandfather to come for dinner. But when he arrived, I broke the bad news to my mom as I saw him helping my grandmother from the car (earlier she said that she was too sick to come). Dinner was interesting as, for the first time in my life, we had Ham for Christmas dinner and not turkey. A fact that my mother bitched about, non-stop, for almost a week straight. The kicker? She's the who bought the god damn ham! In the ham's defence, it was delicious and I loved it more than I like turkey so I wasn't upset about the swap at all. Anyhow, back to grandma. She spent most of dinner just pushing food around her plate and saying that she wasn't hungry. Things really got interesting when she asked for some extra strength Tylenol and then her and my grandpa got into a fight over whether or not she'd taken 2 aspirin before leaving the house. My father really didn't say much. Just kept looking at his plate a lot. And my mom drank more sherry with dinner than I've seen her drink in years. It all amused the hell out of me.

Now before you point out what a horrible daughter I am, rest assured that I'm fully aware that karma will be coming back to bite me in the ass over this. One day, hopefully in the really distant future, I'm going to be the one drinking the sherry and staring at my plate while my mom and dad bicker over drugs. Actually, it won't be sherry. It will be Bailey's.

This is a photo of my grandma from earlier in the day...she's hiding from my camera.

Moving on. I headed back to Ottawa just before New Year's Eve. Mostly because I was out of vacation days and had to go back to work. Also because a very good friend of mine was in town and I got invited to his parents' house for a NYE party. This also meant that I *finally* got to meet his awesome wife and see his wonderful little guy, who had the decency to sleep the entire time. I also got to try lobster for the first time and quite enjoyed it. Sadly the night flew by far too quickly but 2014 was ushered in with good cheer and some great people.

Not too much out of the ordinary has happened since then. I do have a bit of a "dating" conundrum going on at the moment but that can wait for another night as this blog is getting quite long. Seriously!? Why can't people just step up and say what they feel? If you're interested, just ask me out. It's not hard. Especially when I've told you that I want to get some face time with you. Clearly that means I'm interested, right?
Sorry, sorry. Just needed to vent a little.

Work is going well and so is Curves. I was there tonight. And now I'm very sore. Especially my back. Hello new muscle groups. Oh, and I've formed a slight addiction to the BBC tv show Merlin. I've been watching it on Netflix. No worries, I just have 1 last episode in season 4 and then all of season 5 to watch and I'm done.  Then I'll have to find a new series to get hooked on. I am behind on my Sherlock and Downton Abbey watching. It would appear that I'm on a British roll.

Anyhow, I have to go and finish doing up the dishes and then I'm going to relax and watch an episode of Merlin.

Hang in there. I might just very well be back.

Good Night!

Sarah

Happy New Year 2014!!!!

Coffe Rant and New Year's Eve

I'm a little cranky tonight. Maybe it's because I'm tired. Or maybe it's because I'm super stressed at work. Or maybe it's because there was nothing good on tv tonight. Or perhaps I just need to get laid. Maybe it's PMS. Or maybe it's that someone who's supposed to be one of my closest friends appears to be deliberately ignoring me as of late. Or maybe it's all of the above. I'm opting to go with the first option at the moment. I'm tired. Very tired.

I had french class this morning. It went well and I got all the answers on my homework correct. The problem is, by the time class is over, I'm totally drained and just want to nap. Having to focus and think in another language for 4 hours is mentally exhausting. The fact that my jackass teacher kept making me say one word over and over about 10 times (yes, I kept pronouncing it wrong, EVERY FUCKING TIME) didn't help the cause either. Once class was over and I got back to the office, I didn't even make it from the door to my desk before I had people bugging me. Fuck, I didn't even get to the elevator. The commissionaire was giving me a hard time about the coffee delivery guy and not being able to reach who he was looking for. Best part? I have nothing to do with the fucking coffee thing. Another co-worker looks after that and she'd given the delivery guy her cell phone number so that he wouldn't have to ask the commissionaire to call up. I then had conversations about said coffee delivery with 2 other people before I was able to reach my desk. Seriously, what a fucking gong show. I deliberately didn't want to get involved with the coffee thing because: A. I very rarely drink coffee so it was of little interest to me and B. I already have way too much on my plate. Yet somehow, it's landed back in my lap. Fuck. We have nearly 150 employees. Surly someone else can step up and take care of the damn thing. Sigh. On the up side, the woman I'm training to help me is catching on very quickly and is very eager to learn and is doing a great job. I'll be happier once she's up to speed and then I'll be able to do my stuff and she'll be able to do hers and we'll be good to go.

Today was a little depressing too because I'm trying to make my Christmas/New Year's holiday plans. I can't decide where to spend New Year's. It's either going to be in Ottawa or at home in Cambridge. Most years, I spend it at home. My parents and I spent New Year's Eve together, watching a movie and then a bunch of family goes for bunch on New Year's Day. Last year, I decided to try something different, and came back to Ottawa for New Year's Eve. While I was supposed to spend it with a friend and her husband, plans changed and I was left to my own devices. Which meant that I spent it home, alone. It actually wasn't that bad. I watched some of my favourite movies and made finger foods and watched the ball fall in NYC on tv and I only had to shuffle into the other room to find my bed. And there was wine in there too. However, you know the old wives tale that says how you spend New Year's Eve is how you'll spend the next year? Well it's September and that tale is bang on the money. I have definitely spent a very large amount of time alone this year. I think the only year that I recall spending more time alone would be my first year in Calgary back in 2005.
I want to party. I want to get all gussied up and put on a great dress and go out and dance and drink and laugh and just have a blast for the night. Just be surrounded by mirth and happiness and hope for a great new year. But unless I plan on doing that on my own, it doesn't look like it will happen this year either. But it's only mid-September. New Year's is still 3.5 months away. A lot can change in that time.

I think it's time for sleep. Here's hoping I can fall asleep quickly and get a solid, restful night's sleep and not wake up feeling like I want to maim half my office :)

Good Night!

Sarah