I think this whole working-life has changed me. I suppose that's sort of a no-brainer statement, but I think I'm a different kind of person from who I used to be.

I used to be the type of person who would give everything, do anything, and expect nothing from others. I used to be spontaneously thoughtful and creative. I once bussed to the middle of nowhere (Nortel's Carling campus, Lab 5!) with a bunch of balloons, the day before a final exam to surprise a friend on his birthday. I used to spend oodles of monies (let's not revisit that) calling people all across Canada, and heck, around the world just to say hi and catch up. I once piggybacked little C all the way from Lisgar to the clinic on Elgin because she sprained her ankle. And for the record, she may LOOK tiny, but boy does she ever hide that muscle!! I once invited a bunch of girls over for dinner for "green eggs and ham" and the whole dinner turned into a green theme (green lemonade, green grapes, mint chocolate chip ice cream, etc.) I used to send birthday cards to everyone, and if not that, then at least call or email.

Now, you're lucky to get an msn message on your birthday. If you're really lucky, maybe a text message (because unless I do it from the internet, it costs me 15 cents!). I feel so out of touch with people sometimes, but at one point, I realized that I was the one doing all the calling!! And when I stopped calling, no one called me! Hrmmm.... I guess I learned that just because a friend is far away, doesn't mean that they're not friends anymore. Just have more to catch up on once we see each other again. Altho sometimes those catch-ups are few and far between. Everyone seems to have moved out and moved on.

Maybe I've moved up and on... Working consumes a lot of my time. The irony is that I'm only putting so many hours into lesson planning now because I'm a new teacher. The more experience I get, the more I can recycle lessons and have more free time!

I suppose I still do lots of crazy freewill gestures for people, although now I have a partner in crime. John is very much like I am in that sense. For Norm's first thanksgiving in Kingston, he had no way back to Ottawa, so John drove to get him on Friday (amidst a horrible rainstorm) and drop him off on Sunday. We've spent many Saturdays together fixing people's cars (Well, he fixes, I watch and learn) just because they need help.

I guess the more I change, the more I stay the same....

Well, I haven't posted in a long time, but things have just been BUUUUSY (as usual, I suppose).

My sister came home a couple of weeks ago, so I spent almost 3 straight days just talking to her and hanging out with her. We talked and caught up on everything!! And even then we forgot to talk about stuff!! She brought all her wedding pictures back with her, and we all spent a while just reliving her special day and laughing about how we actually pulled the day off! Of course there were all sorts of mishaps...water leaking all over the floor of the changeroom at the restaurant, forgetting to send someone to drive the rest of my family around, and me breaking Chris' boutinniere (he started the day with a white calla lily and ended with a pink one that we broke off my bouquet!)... It all worked out in the end! Like my sister said, when it comes down to weddings, you really know who your friends are.

JET applications were due on Friday, so I've been busy trying to get my application together for the past month or so. Researching and trying to decide where in Japan I'd prefer to get sent. Basically I just didn't want to end up in Hokkaido, which has a latitude somewhere around Ottawa's. It's also far from the major places I would like to visit. Everytime I brought this up, however, my friend Norm yelled at me, trying to get me to understand that Japan is unlike Canada - it's the area of about California! What I perceived as "far" Norm approximated the distance using the legend and his finger as a ruler - it's actually about as far as Kingston, (1.5 hours drive) hahahah!! Here I always tease the Brits because they think everything is a short jaunt away in Canada, and about how they complained about the distance to the Hershey factory (about 45 min drive), and here I am doing the complete opposite!! Anyway, for anyone interested, I put as my preferences pretty much anywhere in the western half of Honshu island. Basically, anywhere west of Tokyo. I wouldn't mind being in Kobe or somewhere in Shizuoka Prefecture (where Mt.Fuji is). I'm quite excited about the whole thing! I've been told I'm a shoe-in, or, kutsu naka ni. It defintitely gets lost in translation with that one. Have to start reviewing my Japanese for when I get an interview! :)

I don't understand how I only work 3 days a week yet I am still so incredibly busy! I have places to call, cards and accounts to cancel, laundry to do, and all sorts of other things to accomplish! I just don't understand! Perhaps I'll have to *gasp* start waking up earlier in order to get more things done. Doing that unfortunately usually evens things about, because I end up having to take an afternoon nap. :(

Another thing we've been doing is working on Saturdays. *sigh* as someone said, John's been cursed with a skill. The past 3 or 4 Saturdays have been spent at his work (maybe it's a bad thing that he has a key). We helped one friend of his replace his brake and gas lines, brakes, and ball joints, and the rest of the weekends/weeknights have been spent doing odds and sods for other people. Changed brakes for one uncle, winter tires for his sister, winter tires for another uncle, brakes and tire rotation for his aunt... He's also cursed with a large family. At least we benefit from it all... Winter-tire uncle and aunt gave us a coupon for a free movie and free popcorn and drinks. Now we just have to find a movie worth watching. Maybe Harry Potter or Chronicles of Narnia when it comes out. Then we have to find time...yikes. Brakes-uncle tried to pay John $100 for his time, but John settled for $50. That sounds like we could do a very nice dinner and movie date, if only we had any time to do something like that.