Home for the Holidays?

Oh, my boys (and Yan), you made my heart flutter.

Once upon a time, my very snazzy buddy Carny threw a PARTY OF DOOOOOM!!

Bumble bee tuna.

And then another (DOOM II - 2007).

Tzane: "I'm NOT part black, my hair does NOT grow into an afro."

Me: "Ummmm I have a picture of you when you were like 14 that indicates otherwise."

Tzane: "You do not."

Me: "I do too-ooooooo."

This is what I do at DOOM Parties.

And then another (DOOM III - 2008).

Cool huh?

And then another (DOOM IV - 2009).

Having arrived late and departed early, I only managed to take 1 photo for this one.

And then he got married (like a DOOM Party but we sure wouldn't name their classy wedding reception a party of DOOM - 2012).

All grown up.

AND THEN THEY DECIDED TO HAVE A PARTY OF DOOM LITE!!  -on New Year's eve 2012 (if, y'kno, we survive the 21st of course).

I thought this was pretty funny.  Source unknown.

I sadly stated on the FB event wall: "For real?! I'm going to miss a Party of Doom for the first time?! :( :(
How am I going to take embarrassing pictures from all the way over here...."

To which Carns' lovely wife Yan replied, "Boooooo! Maybe you should come back... Lol"

AND THEN!!  And then I receive a phone call today from Carns indicating that if I could get the time off, a few of them has agreed to contribute to the cost of flying me home and back.  ENTER HEART FLUTTERING HERE.

I'm tentatively scheduled to work so far, but I'll see what changes I can manage.  If I can't get NYE off, I'll come visit some time in January.  Nonetheless, I just wanted to TYPE IN CAPITAL LETTERS HOW AMAZING YOU GUYS ARE AND WHAT SMILES YOU PUT ON MY FACE!!

Berrrday

Lights of my 12-12-12:

L: "Happy birthday bitch! You are officially older than me again.  What a grandma."
Me: "What are you talking about, whenever anybody asked what tmr's dinner occasion is, I'd tell them, 'Wellll I guess cuz I'm turning 20 and allll.'  But spanx for the wishes."
L: "See turning senile already."

Had Mexican at a restaurant my Mexican roommate approved as not dawgfood.

Me: "My mom sent me a pic of a cake with a candle, did she have a cake for me without me?"
L: "She said she found it on her comp."
Me: "She looks through my pics?!"
L: "Your mom said how's it going through your pictures when it's on your comp."

My mum overbearingly loves her children, and with that comes no sense of privacy.

SMACK.
My supervisor: "What was that for?!"
Me: "IT'S MY BIRTHDAY I CAN DO WHATEVER I WANT."

In my world, doing whatever I want means being whatever age I want too (in addition to abusing my superiors).

My first birthday away from home.  I miss everybody insanely, but distance is only a physical bastard of a thing.  I'm glad my relationships with my friends and family aren't like when I was really 20, living in the same vicinity yet neglected and uncherished.

I'd been sick of pretending to be happy lately, so I endured about a month of some uber emo times.  But here are my words of wisdom after "20" years of blessings, even with my share of lemons and all:  Smile at life.

Don't pretend there's sunshine when there are rainstorms, but in those times do remember about the rainbows and prevention of droughts, forest fires and heat strokes.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?"
-Matthew 25-26

A Christmastree Story

I was sitting in bed with one of those '__' faces.  Then Danicakes came home and I heard a loud thump before being asked if I wanted to decorate the new Christmas tree she just bought.  And so I dragged my bum out of bed.

What we thought was the tree stump.

Cleaning around the alleged stump.

Huh... looks like that's what was supposed to go on the bottom.

Shooting some snow so there's some outdoors AND indoors (see roof through windows).

Ms. Grinch cleaning some snow off the lights.

I think my pants might be falling down.

Leftover snow.

I forgot what this was called already.

Popcorn for the tree?  No man, for snackin while decorating.

Yeahh that's the spirit Batman, you know what it's all about.

My asian angel.

Voila.  Love the sloth around the TV.

Real friends play angry Christmas music for you when you're not feeling particularly merry.

Good Grief

Real friends encourage each other to be themselves and to feel how they feel. No fake smiles, no denial.

My beloved Katie and I finally made a gingerbread house, a slightly overdue plan, considering it's a Halloween gingerbread house. She told me to decorate the roof however I wanted to.

She fully embraced the results, like a true friend, and even added candy to enhance my design.

In other news, I finally got suspenders for my snowboard pants.

Pewpew peww.

What Doing?

Top three DOings since my last entry:

1. I finally got to see the Icefields!!

We saw a couple of these little guys during this trip.  If you ever see them, STAY IN YOUR CAR!!  These beautiful dudes/dudettes are meant to be admired from afar.

I like to sit behind the driver because it's arguably the safest seat (especially when your driver is an only child haaaaaaa ..ha), and I get to elevate my sprained ankle.

2. I went home for a wedding.  I managed to wear these with my still-healing ankle.

The ability to wear heels means the ability to go back to my regular duties at work - no more endless hours of polishing cutlery, folding napkins or folding laundry bags!!  It only took 1 day for my housekeeping bruises to return.

Day 1 back at work.

The best part of my trip was seeing my loves.  They always make me homesick.  I've been coming and going in the past year, and whenever I interact with them, times are filled with affection, dentist advertisement-worthy smiles and foolish laughs.

3. My old job recruiter contacted me, which led to an interview back home, so I made an impromptu trip back for about 1 day.  It was exhausting.  And expensive.  $530 for a last minute 1.5 hour flight to the province next over is pretty hefty (round trip).

Yes, that means I may possibly move back home - again.  I will post updates when I find out more.

My very first time eating "alone" in a restaurant.  Date with Sharkysaurus at the airport.

I'm not ever quite sure what I want to do with my life.

High and Low of the Week

I always like to eat my fav foods last, and it's the same with delivering good/bad news.

LOW of the week:

I missed a step while carrying a tower of towels and linen going down stairs.

I went to the clinic and they sent me to the hospital for X-rays.  After waiting in emergency for 2.5 hours and the doctor said, "WOAh that is swollen" ...see below.

HIGH of the week:

...the doc said it's only a minor sprain and it should be better by the weekend.  I'm allowed to lift 10 lbs max.  I remember in highschool, one of my dear friends and I went to our school gym (for I think the first and last time).  I had looked over to her, let's call her JBeans for her privacy, and was shocked to see that she was struggling with two 5 lb dumbbells.  I was quite snide about it, voicing that I thought she was weak.  Well that's 10 lbs.  After about a decade, it's come back to bite me in the bum.  High five JBeans.  (She can now do more than 5 lbs by the way).

As a result, my modified "light duty" tasks at work have included polishing cutlery for HOURS (fiiiiiive hours yesterday) and folding napkins. But very glad I'm not missing work.

My supervisor (who was also my supervisor at The Lake last year) had asked me, "Same thing as last year?"
I happily replied, "Nope, much better than last year."

For those who share my faith, please pray for a speedy recovery.

How Are You Settling In?

Top 3 ramblings since my arrival that I'm sharing with the blogworld today:

1. My friend and roommate, Dani, invited me to what I thought would be an intimate dinnerdate between the two of us.  When I arrived, my very dear friend and former roommate, who now lives 4 hours away from us, was sitting at our table beaming at me.  Suh-pliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiise!!  I delight in surprises, especially when my loves conspire to gift me with one :) :)

Loveloves

2. I got a scooter!!!!

Instagram-likeness of this pic was a fluke, taken by Ms. Danicakes

3. There's this mama bunny and baby bunnies that always hang around the staff accommodation.  Dani told me she and our other roommates used to see two adult bunnies.  They were assuming one was the mama, the other the papa, until one day they saw the one they thought was the mama, mounting the one they thought was the papa.  I've yet to have seen the papa, I suspect he must've left mama when he knocked her up :(

Taken by my coworker Kayla via her iphone 4S

This morning, I had a dream I saw the papa bunny mount the mama bunny o.O

I need to find more hobbies than sitting on the porch watching the bunnies and Mr. Squirrel frolic around.  You know you need to get out more when one of your blog highlights includes a rabbit sex dream.

Mr. Squirrel wishing me a good morning yesterday

Best Friends Know Best

It's 2:32am, I just disconnected with Leslie on Skype, and I'm less anxious.

The following things made me feel better.

L: "Albert was asking why you feel anxious because you've already done this before.  I said, 'Well, last time she was crying, a lot.  And babe, when you moved here you were fine, but when you put everything in the car, things started to hit you.'"

Me: "I don't understand why I have ONES of PAIRS of earrings.  I never put them anywhere else, they ALWAYS go in the same place.  WHY AM I MISSING THINGS?"
L: "Honestly, I think that everything that is missing, your dad is probably wearing."

L: "You should watch the music video for In Your Arms" - by Kina Grannis.

L: "Sel, you should get this.  I think it's a good deal."
Me: "Oh, I can wear that to [the] wedding."

I need to wake up at 7am, shower and finish packing.

Uh Oh

It's 11:20pm, I pick the car up from the rental spot at 10am for my 10-11 hour long drive to the Rockies, and I haven't even begun packing yet.

Reality is sinking in, I'm beginning to miss everybody already, I'm pouting at this Nike Bauer bookmark and ummmmmm I'm freaking out.

"This isn't goodbye."

Self-Inflicted Anxiety

I'm leaving again.

The times I've spent this past week have made me more anxious.  I felt rather peaceful about moving when I made the decision 4 weeks or so ago, but all of these good times definitely makes it tougher.  Most of these encounters and appreciations never would have happened if I weren't leaving though.

I've been taking pictures of my last week in Vancouver, some posted on my fb and some remain for my own private lurking and reminiscing, and scrolling through them sends bolts of lightning warmth to my heart.

It's sad that it takes something like this to trigger the fullout to-the-core love, fun and sentimental demonstrations.  Instability shakes things up and sends this sense of urgency.  I love love, I love fun, and I love sentiments.  As much as my mom wants me to remain stable, I'm attracted to these life shake-ups to provoke these amazing experiences.

I realize my family wonders why I can't just manage to stay in one place for long.  So long as I can afford to, with no children to be responsible for, there isn't actually anything wrong with jumping around.  It's a lifestyle that rather appeals to me, for now.  Maybe I'll grow out of it.  Who knows what I'll want at any given time in the future.  Nobody can predict that for themselves.

I'm in a really fantaba-fricken-licious mood tonight.

It's not goodbye.

Tickletickle

I have an itch to leave again.

I'm bombarding resorts with my resume.

I've been back in Vancouver for 6 months now and have still yet to have landed a job in a hotel.  It's rather disheartening.

Rockies, you may have my return after all.

Hoping for Whistler instead though.

If you happen to come across my barely active blog, please pray for my journey.