Best New Year's In Many Years...

Before I tell you about my wonderful New Year's, I will start with the story of my less than perfect move.

It took an hour for us to actually get the U-haul. Then we spent the rest of the 28th packing my apartment and loading it into the truck. By the time we had finished cleaning my place I was almost passing out with exhaustion. I gave my keys to my landlords and we got a hotel to sleep in for the night.

We left early the next morning- a foggy dreary day. My car had been acting up a bit but we chose to ignore it (bad move) and keep going. We followed some very slow moving vehicles heading to some middle of nowhere oil field for a bit and tired not to fall asleep.

My car died in Killam so we figured it was the battery and put a new one in. (Again, bad move). By the time I reached Sherwood Park I was driving in erie silence. I knew that as soon as I reached a stop light I was screwed and that the car was going to die again. And so it did. So my mom picked me up in the moving truck, and we drove to Canadian Tire. The Canadian Tire guys gave me a number to call for the pick-up truck and I beat the police to calling him by about 5 minutes. So we left the car at Canadian Tire to be fixed and proceeded to my new place to unload. At this point neither my mom nor I really wanted to unpack and we snapped at each other a few times and I cried. All and all... not a cool time.

We got everything unpacked and headed to Pharos for Lasagne. While there, I received a call from the Canadian Tire mechanic telling my that my alternator needed to be replaced (and that turns out to be pretty expensive). When we got back we set up our sleeping places (I got my mattress, my mom took my box spring) and we went to sleep. Best sleep I had in a longtime.

My mom went home the next day (the 30th) and I picked up my car. I proceeded to start the enormous job that will be unpacking and went to bed at around midnight. the next day, i got up and 8:30 to clean up the mess I made a bit before having to leave for Innisfail to ring in the New Year!

It was so nice to see Ryan. It feels like forever since I had seen him. I felt bad that his Christmas gift wasn't ready for him when I saw him. He got me mittens with idiot strings and the beautiful necklace pictured right.

We hung out and played some Settlers of Catan (with the Knights and Cities expansion pack) and ate some appetizer that Ryan's mom made (so good!). After, we went over to one of Ryan's friend's houses in Red Deer which was fun. We left early so that we could beat the crazies home and rang in the new year on the road. We watched The Brothers' Grimm when we got home (or rather Ryan watched it, I fell asleep on him). He said it wasn't that great though, so I didn't miss much apparently.

So that was my New Year's. It was nice, rather tame but nice. I'm not much into the wild party New Year's, nor have I ever been. All the best to everyone in the New Year.

It's begining to feel a lot like springtime...

This is what Calgary looked like this afternoon. It's Christmas, But it feels more like spring time. My mom and I went for a walk down Edmonton Trail to the Rotary Park which overlooks downtown near my mom's apartment. It was amazing...

Anyhow... that's really all that is going on with me. I got some really nice Christmas presents. My mom really liked the scarf I made her too. It took a long time but it was worth it see the smile on her face when she opened it up.

I am thinking about starting a food blog... but I'm not sure how much time I'd have to devote to it. Especially since I am going back to school... but it is something to think about.

I should go though... I hope everyone is having a good Christmas! Happy Holidays everyone!

Anti-social

tomorrow at 14:30 pm I commence the first of my last four shifts at the lab. Part of me is ecstatic and the other part of me is sad. I am going to miss the people I work with. That is honestly the ONLY thing I will miss.

Today, I saw Lindsay and Michael which was nice. Now instead of being pratically married, they are engaged. I'm pretty sure they won't mind me saying anything. We went shopping, and I finished up my Christmas shopping. The malls were busy, but I think I have seen worse. It all depended on where you were shopping. I got some pretty good deals today. I finished up Lindsay C.'s gift- probably the one I am most proud of. I felt like Martha Steward as I wrapped her present in two scarves I purchased from Smart Set... $8.00 flat for both and they look like they are worth about $20 each. And they suit Lindsay; I could see her wearing them.

Tonight, we took my cat in for his yearly shots. He was such a good cat. But we found out he is going to have to get some teeth pulled because they are absessed. Which sucks, but what can you do? Both I took my cat up to the vets, I did the last two weeks worth of laundry. By the time I got back from the vet, I was beat. I feel like I am jet lagged, which really isn't surprising, because with my job switching from days to night the way it does, really is tough on the body. I mean, right now I'm struggling to stay up until 11 pm, whereas at the beginning of last week I was struggling to go to bed at 8 pm. I think that is the root of my anti-social behaviour tonight... tired, with the potential of grouchy. So instead of forcing my social side out I am going to curl up with my book and go to sleep.

Why?

So I am checking my e-mail here at the Brooks library and find something unexpected. Last year at around Christmas I sent out a whole bunch of e-mails to numerous professors, the heads of labs ect. and got a few bites but not a lot and certainly no jobs. It is funny, because I haven't even applied for anything this year, nor am I planning on staying in Calgary and I get an e-mail from the Director of the Molecular Diagnostic Lab at the Alberta Children's Hospital asking me to apply to work in their lab for the summer. I vaguely recall e-mailing him last year, but I didn't receive much a of response. I'm amazed that they still have my e-mail address and e-mailed me. I think it would an awesome opportunity, but it would also mean I finish my degree a whole semester later. I mean this right up the alley of what I thought I wanted to do. It would be a chance for me to see what it would be like. I guess it couldn't hurt to apply.

Grrr... this makes my life a whole lot more difficult. I mean, I'm sick of making huge decisions. I thought I would be free of this for awhile. But I guess not.

Anyhow, I should go. I have a ton of stuff I want to get done today, for christmas you know.

Until next time...