Nerd Score

Worked all day today, and work again tomorrow morning. There's something very discomforting about having less than 12 hours between end of one shift and start of another, but maybe that's because I'm a lazy student.

In other news,:

Edd's Birthday and other schtuff.

Happy birthday, Edward! Though technically his birthday was yesterday, I'm posting retroactively. Edward is now legal to drink in America, thereby not making me feel like *as* big a paedophile. I got him a set of Monty Python dvds and a Rough Guide: Toronto. I admit, I have somewhat selfish intentions in the dvd selection.

In other Edd-related news, I am going to England next month to visit! Yes, rather than spend Reading Week freezing to death here in Toronto, I prefer to spend it in the soggy Midlands. I am, after all, a Vancouver girl at heart, and accordingly believe rain to be infinitely better than sub-zero temperatures. I will be arriving in Londres early on the morning of February 11th, and will spend the majority of my time sequestered in the Warwickshire region, so that I may see where Edd goes to uni while not blowing the bank further than the past ... 20 months (basically since I left for NZ) already have. I apologize in advance if you live in the UK and I am unable to visit over my holiday; it's nothing personal but rather that I can't afford frivolous transport expenses. Not that my friendship with anyone is frivolous... I come home on February 22, after a weekend in Belgium visiting Edd's family (and hopefully eating copious amounts of moules et frites again!)... Sweet, sweet moules.

Blowing snow.

Thanks for all the supportive comments both on here, and those which were verbally/textually communicated to me in regards to my last post. I guess I was exaggerating slightly, but I remain firm that this is certainly not my ideal living situation. At least it's economically priced!

Today is perhaps the most intensely "Canadian-winter" type day I've experienced since I've returned to Canada. It's about - 30 with wind chill, and snow hasn't stopped falling since last night. There's also a blowing snow warning, which means for all you unfamiliar with extreme Canadian weather, snow essentially blows directly in your face and therefore blinds you. It's pretty straightforward. Though I have no intentions to go outside unnecessarily today, I am enjoying looking out the window and seeing all the pretty snow.

As of late, I have been working approximately 20 hours a week. Although I know Sarah kicks ass and works that much quite regularly, I am a big wuss and can't handle school full-time and working so much. I'm not sure what's going to give - either I'll have to drop a course, or I'm going to have to drop down to a shift here and there each week. The problem is, people keep offering me their shifts, and I can't refuse, what with my impending trip to Britannia next month. We'll see how the semester progresses.

Other than that, Laura and Hamish are supposed to be arriving in Toronto today!! Guys, if you read this before we talk, contact me so I know you've arrived!

Roomates.

I'm sure everyone who has ever lived with flatmates understands that there are times in one's life that they have had moments of serious hatred toward their roomates. Well, unfortunately for me, I've been having plenty of those moments lately. Allow me to explain... I live with 6 people in total, myself included. It's me, my best friend, a (former) friend from residence days, and three siblings (one of whom I also know from residence days). When we first moved in here, Heather and I were thrilled! The location is superb, the rent is low, we both have relatively large rooms and the roomate situation seemed to be ok. Oh, how my romance with this house has worn off. At present, my feelings towards this house are indignant at best. I do not mind the physical structure of the house, which is always a good thing. However, I do have issue with pretty much everyone else in the house, less Heather (God, I hope they never find this)...

Former friend, who shall remain nameless, is probably my least favoured person in this house. Once someone I considered a friend, his erratic and selfish behaviour over the past few years has demonstrated that perhaps he lacks the character I once believed he had. Not only does he continue to say negative things to me despite no provokation (this happened again today at lunch as I was speaking to another roomate about his class; he butt in just to put me down twice and then left), he does so even though he knows how it makes me feel. While I am a lively person, I can count the number of times I've freaked out at anyone not related to me on one hand. However, last fall I had had enough of said roomate's offhand putdowns that I actually screamed at him at the top of my lungs in front of all my other roomates, and stormed off. Realizing that he'd acted hurtfully, he apologized later that day and I accepted it, although I told him he can't talk to me like that. However, it seems we are back at square one, and this time, I refuse to let it bother me. Much.

As for the other roomates, my issues are not as personal. The house we live in was actually purchased by the parents of the siblings who live here as an investment opportunity, though their parents live some 5 hours east of Toronto. Anyway, at first I had no issue with living with siblings. But then it became apparent that both my "roomates-siblings" and their parents acted as though this was their house exclusively, and ignoring us other 3 (while I may resent the aforementioned negative roomate and his putdowns, he is still key in balancing out the sibling/non-sibling status of the house). Now, this isn't a race issue folks, but when you wake up to 5 elderly ladies shrieking in Cantonese in your kitchen when you know that very few elderly ladies actually live in the house, you get agitated pretty damn fast. It's not enough that the "siblings-roomates" parents show up for multi-day visits without a heads up to any of us non-related roomates, but their relatives come over and congregate in our kitchen. To make this situation more akward, the relatives stare at me with mixed fascination/confusion at my presence in the house when I try to sneak down the stairs to my bathroom. Imagine how would you feel to wake up one morning and find strangers sitting in your kitchen, staring at you as though you didn't belong there? Probably as similarly annoyed as me.

Well, guess whose parents have just arrived? Surprise, Krista!

Semester 2

I am back in Toronto as well as back from my impromptu month-long hiatus from blogging. Holiday break was wonderful; I finally got to see Sarah and Victor after almost three years, and Lenny, Jen and Timo, and my family! It was so relaxing. And to be honest, going home after being away so long really made me miss BC (yes, even though I was in Surrey). I forgot just how stunning and relaxing the West Coast can be, particularly when I go there on my school holidays and I have no obligations whatsoever. I'm pretty undecided about what I'm going to do when I finish university, but I do know that if I stay in Canada, it will definitely be in Vancouver. I can't handle these Central Canadian winters and the lifestlye out there is more conducive to life enjoyment.

To continue, I feel really unsettled right now. I always find coming back after being away a strange experience. I'm sure other people who call multiple cities home know what I'm talking about, or those who have returned home after a trip away. It's like I almost don't remember what I used to do to pass the time here before I left. A feeling which is no doubt further exacerbated by the fact Edd is back on the other side of the ocean and not in the same room as was the case for 3 weeks. I am surprised by this homesickness I am experiencing... hanging out with Sarah and Len and Victor and my family was so great, and made me feel like I had a past, a history, rather than how I often feel in Toronto, which is somewhat like I'm an anonymous individual with minimal ties to this place. My friends here do a great job of making me feel loved, but the truth is that no amount of support from them can change the fact that I'm so far away from my family and lifelong friends, especially when all of them live at most an hour or so from home. I realize it was my choice to come out here, and I don't regret it. I just think I need to get back into the swing of school and work, and take my mind off this stuff.