Is the 2.0 format going to happen and our fantabulous blogging location will continue?

Once I could afford to pay for blogging here I would likely come back. I mean, it’s Xanga so how could I not? I’ve been keeping my fingers crossed for a monetary miracle cuz I love this place and would want our fantabulous community to continue. I know I would be welcomed back with open arms when I was able to afford a return. 

Please be alive, Xanga! 

SUMR

Once I learned our beloved blog was changing, I knew I’d no longer be able to remain a part of the xanga family. I still hoped for the rest of you that the monetary goal would be reached for the transfer to the new format, and as I do believe in miracles it may happen yet! Nevertheless, I have moved on to a new blogging site and you can find me at http://jaikaies.wordpress.com/

I am glad the xanga team allowed us to archive our blogs. It is a great record of all the things that have happened in my life, however mundane and boring it may have been. All of you have been with me through a lot, and I don’t know what I would have done without everyone’s advice, thoughts, and love. You were with me as I was starting university, having boyfriend issues (or the lack thereof), moving back in with my parents, finding numerous jobs, paying off my school loan, participating in local theatre, going back to college for my postgrad, trying for a publishing internship, living on my own, and making plans for my dream trip… You took the time to be a part of my life and I appreciate it more than you can ever know. 

Maybe some day I’ll look back through my posts and use it to create a novel. They say you should write what you know, and I know nothing better than my own life, right? Every one should be the lead character in their own life and not just the sidekick, and what better way to remind myself that than to write about it! *L0L* If you have any suggestions for plotlines or scenes you think should be included, be sure to let me know 

Even though Xanga is changing, and maybe ending, I wish to stay in touch with everyone because without you life just won’t be the same. If you decide against going to wordpress or even a new blog at all, y’all can always email me at jaimekristal@yahoo.ca (be sure to include your xanga name in the subject line) or look for me on facebook under JaiKaies. 

SUMR

This may or may not be my last post on our beloved xanga *sniffle* so I thought I should tie up a few ends regarding the latest in my life that I had been sharing with y’all. I am not sure that I like wordpress for daily-life blogging, even though I had been using it for a couple years with my book blog, but I suppose it will become normal in time. I still have my fingers crossed for Xanga 2.0 though even though I cannot currently afford to pay for it myself. Anyways, on to the wrap up! 

As y’all know, my dad has been redoing the floors in the rooms of our house. He still hasn’t finished, planning to do the closets today, but I do have most things back in room. I finally decided on an arrangement of my furniture and I am quite pleased with it. Previously, you would walk in my door and have my tv stand in front of my couch; across from it you would see a cd stand, a night table, and my bed with my dresser alongside it; and creating a corner with my dresser is my desk with a storage bin and light nestled between it and my bookshelf which is facing the door.

I’ve had that layout for a couple years now, longer really as I believe that is how my room may have been when I moved back. My new arrangement now has my dresser, desk, storage bin, and light where my tv stand and couch used to be. My bed was is now the location for my couch, tv stand, and night table. The previous “office” spot is now my bed area with my bookshelf remaining in the same place as before to create a divider between my bed and the door. 

I am hoping this change will help my general feeling of antsy-ness. I cannot seem to get rid of the feeling that I need to go somewhere or to do something, to where or doing what I’m not entirely sure. Maybe it’s God pushing me to just pack up and leave for Ireland already, to not worry about money because I have enough and He needs me there asap…but dang mum and her cautiousness rubbing off on me because I don’t feel ready to leave yet and thus keeping my planned departure date for next summer. It’s not just the money, but needing to deal with all the governmental red tape of doing a working holiday, getting my drivers license because I still haven’t gone for my G yet, and just emotionally ready to leave everything behind *sigh*

Last week I mentioned how my grandmother passed out in our kitchen while visiting (FYI, the pic is of her napping after Thanksgiving dinner, not of her fainting episode). She had been randomly passing out for a while, possibly the past year or so, and had just had a heart monitor put in a couple days prior this episode. Apparently my mum managed to use it right as my grandmother was called in for an appointment on Friday. My aunt (who drove my grands up to KGH) called us that morning to say that the doctors have grandma needs a pace maker put in and they were trying to get her in that day to do it. I don’t know if it was my aunt trying so they wouldn’t have to make the drive again, the doctors because my grandmother needed one immediately, or some combination of the two.

I almost wish I hadn’t told my mum about the phone message, because it meant she was frantic for the rest of the day. She just couldn’t settle down or do anything for longer than twenty minutes. I know this because the only thing she did manage to last twenty minutes doing was trying out level three of Jillian Michaels’ “Shred” workout video. This meant I couldn’t get anything done either as mum would pop into my room to pester me frequently and, in most cases, say pretty much the same thing she did the time before. Why haven’t they called with an update? Should I go to Kingston? (Keep in mind, because dad was working late and mum doesn’t like to drive distances, I’d be the one taking her). How is a pacemaker put in? What if she dies during surgery? etc.

Thankfully we got another phone call five hours later saying my grandparents were back home and the procedure to put in a pacemaker had gone off without a hitch. This meant mum had to call and/or email all the family that she had called or emailed previously with the news. Considering there are six sisters and six grandkids (including myself) who had to be contacted, this generally takes a while to complete. I ended up having to field some return phone calls while mum went to pick up dad from work, even though I was probably the last person to hear the news having received it when mum was running out the door. Nevertheless, I’m glad they’ve figured out what was wrong with my grandmother and she’s doing fine.

On Tuesday morning, before I had to work, Buttercup and I got together again as it was his day off. It was already pretty warm out and I guess he was feeling lazy, because we didn’t go for a walk as per usual. Instead we took a drive out in the county after picking up some Timmies, which was pretty nice. We did have to make a short stop so he could smoke as I wouldn’t let him do it in the car *snicker* He also took a phone call which I think may have been his girlfriend and so I wandered off so I wouldn’t eavesdrop on their conversation.

Sometimes when he and I are together I cannot think of anything to say, but this time we were talking nonstop and he even had to drive me to work after stopping at my house to pick up my things just so I wouldn’t be late. He’s a bit concerned about my trip to Ireland, not that he thinks I shouldn’t go, but that I’m not fully understanding everything I need to do or know…and he’s right.

He’s been telling me what I need to know about the airport and going through customs, things like that. He offered to drive me to the airport if he’s still around, thinking it would be better for someone who knows what they’re doing to guide me through the crazy process. He thought I should book a later flight and then we’d drive up to Toronto in the morning, hang out about town relaxing, then get me on a plane. He can be such a sweetie sometimes, and other times he can be a real eejit.

For some reason, in nearly every hangout we have, the fact that I’m “waiting for marriage” is brought up. Buttercup is under the impression I’ll have trouble finding a guy willing to get in a relationship with me because he’d have to wait until we’re married before getting into my pants. He thinks most guys cannot manage going without sex unless they are “religious fanatics”. The fact that he doesn’t consider me a religious fanatic when I’m holding out seems a bit ironic, but perhaps there is some gender bias going on in his brain.

I am of the firm opinion that if a guy loves me enough, he’d be willing to wait until I’m ready (aka after the wedding), and if he can’t then he really isn’t the right guy for me. Buttercup gave the example of mediaeval knights, and said if a guy wasn’t sleeping with his girl it was because he was getting it from somewhere else. That you are either intimate with your s/o or have to accept him screwing around with other girls as part of the “package” until you will sleep with him. Buttercup is under the impression I’m going to either lose my v-card in Ireland or rush into a marriage with someone in Ireland because I’ll only have up to two years in the country… He may think he is giving me practical “advice” but I really want to smack him for being so cynical and stupid.  

I kind of got the impression that he’s trying to convince me to give it up, and I’m not entirely sure why. When I told a friend of mine about our conversation, she thinks he’s trying to convince me to sleep with him specifically. I thought that was bogus as he has a girlfriend after all, but she referred to an earlier part of the conversation and he and I had. I think we had been talking about the job he will be applying to will cause him to be stationed anywhere in the world and I asked about what his gf thinks about it, to which he shrugged and said it didn’t matter. On one hand I’m all for doing what’s right for your own life and not allowing your s/o control you, but it seemed kind of a major brushoff and thus potentially hurtful for his gf. 

He told me that she has some good traits but she’s not the brightest, and so he doesn’t expect their relationship to last long term. Ouch. I asked him why he was still dating the girl when he knows the relationship isn’t going anywhere, and that I always broke up with my bf whenever I realized the same thing because I thought it was mean to string someone along when they could be out finding the person they are meant to be with. He didn’t reply to that and went on to the topic of me and how I was a “great girl” if it wasn’t for the fact I wouldn’t allow intimacy in a relationship. I think relationships can be intimate without sex, and that’s when our debate began.

When our mutual friend B came to visit me yesterday, she asked me about Buttercup as she hadn’t seen him since before his internship. Apparently she forgot that he announced having a girlfriend on fb a few months ago (she may have baby-brain *L0L*) and asked what I knew about her when I mentioned it. All I knew is what he had told me, so I shared that with her. B was also of the opinion that if you’re not intellectually stimulated by your s/o then you shouldn’t be dating that person. I probably should have kept my mouth shut but sometimes what pops into my brain comes out my mouth, so I said that maybe he could deal with her not being terribly smart because he had me to challenge him that way. B replied that was probably right because “doesn’t he want you anyways?”

Considering he never outright stated such a thing in my presence I merely mentioned that he’d never said as much to me, and segued the towards how friends are supposed to dish about the latest s/o in their life and that some people really need to learn that’s what besties are for, etc. I almost wonder if that little tidbit –his wanting me– was discussed between Buttercup and B when she mentioned that I used to have a crush on him or if she was just under that impression due to the things I’ve told her over the years. To be honest, I have always wondered how that topic had come up between them while I was away at school, but never bothered to ask since it was a couple years ago now. 

I’ve known Buttercup for about six or so years now, and have had off and on crushes for him since. It is kind of amazing that we have been friends for so long considering how differently we think, but I almost think we balance each other out. He is a bit of a bad-boy to my good-girl, and while I do learn to look at things a bit differently due to his influence, I also think that I bring out his softer-side. He keeps trying to tell me that he’s often rude, a jerk, sometimes mean, and I keep telling him that he doesn’t act that way with me. Yes, he says the most aggravating things sometimes, almost like he’s trying to start an argument, but we usually have this grand debate that makes us think about the other’s perspective even if we never reach a compromise. 

I’ve been told before that I’m a good influence on people, that the longer they are around me the better they act. I’ve been confused on more than one occasion when someone mentioned how so-and-so swears like a trucker when I’d rarely heard them swear at all, and other similar stories. B told me that I have this “vibe” or something that seems to flick a switch in people’s heads to make them nice to me without even realizing it, so perhaps it’s like that for Buttercup to. He said once that even if I think he’s a sweetheart, that he doesn’t know what he’s thinking. I only replied with, “you’re right, I don’t” and moved on.

Sometimes I think the reason why we’re still in each other’s lives is that we could be the right people at the wrong time. Y’know how you meet someone who could be the love of your life, but neither of you have become the person you’re meant to be or could have been had something happened differently and so you’re not the right for one another after all? I’m not saying I think he and I will get together in the future, just that perhaps it is why neither of us has given up on our friendship for all our differences. You may say this thought is in juxtaposition to when I was sixteen and had that feeling of “knowing” I’ll meet the love of my life in Ireland, but it really isn’t. What if Buttercup had been adopted by an Irish couple instead of the parents he now has? What if his job will station him in Ireland while I’m there? What if, what if, what if? 

I don’t know what God has in store for me, but I’ve given my life over to Him long ago and will continue to follow Him all the days of my life. I like the thought that while I have no idea what will happen, He does and is guiding me towards a bright future. I know that where He sends me is for the best, that whatever I have to live through is for a reason, and good things are coming my way if I just have the patience to wait for it. 

SUMR

Other than my initial post when I created a wordpress blog, I hadn’t written anything. I think the reason for this is because I was denying that my beloved blog of over ten years was going to be changing, and maybe even leaving *sobs* Now, with the end of the month looming, I decided to give it a go. So if you want to see my latest thoughts you can check it out there, though I will probably still write other posts here until the last possible moment.

If you want to see my new blog, go here -> http://jaikaies.wordpress.com/

SUMR

So Dad still hasn’t finished in my room, and that made getting ready for work today a real pain. All my stuff is scattered all over the house, wherever there was room, and it made this morning a scavenger hunt for clothing, my purse, my work bag, my shoes, and all that necessary stuff. The fact that my clothes were not in the same room as my bed messed with my mind a little, and I nearly walked out of my bedroom in my undies like I would have at my old apartment. My mum would have had a conniption fit, even though my dad wasn’t home. If it weren’t for the fact I cannot afford rent I’d move out, because I really miss living on my own. 

It makes me wonder what I’ll do in Ireland. I want to have housemates, because I’ve only ever lived with “parents”. Not necessarily my parents, but somebody’s parents (a mother and daughter, a young family, an older couple), and I’d really like to share a house with some fun people my age. Preferably females who like to clean, because when I used to hang out at the “guys’ house” in university the place was icky. I would actually walk to my grandparents’ home a couple blocks away to use the washroom, because I was worried about the sanitary levels at the house. The thing is, though, that I loved being by myself in Toronto so much better than the three places where I rented a room in someone else’s home. I’m a little worried that I won’t like having roomies, but it seems like the best idea for both my budget and being social. 

Before work and before my frantic search for work-necessary items, I did my sixteenth day of “Shred”. Not the same shred as Riis, but Jillian Michaels’ DVD. I started Level Two last week but doing the lower intensity version of the moves with the intent of bumping it to the jumping version this week. Let’s just say I’ll have to work up to that even more gradually because I pertnear gave myself an asthma attack and my limbs were ready to fall off! I was slightly aggravated when my mum said that she didn’t get to do her workout regime correctly last week due to my doing the “Shred” before I went to work. I couldn’t comprehend that considering that (a) she said she prefers to exercise in the afternoon and (b) she doesn’t work in the summers and therefore has all freaking day to do her own exercises. She doesn’t have to do the same workout I do nor workout at 9 or 10am as I have been! *oy*

I had to force myself to work today. I don’t know what it was, the grey skies maybe?, that made me feel entirely lackluster. The only highlight of my day was fining out that Prince Wills and Princess Kate were at the hospital, and their baby’s arrival was imminent. However, by the time I found out that she was in labour Kate had already given birth, though I don’t think it was announced until a couple hours later. I was kind of hoping the baby would be a girl, just because the laws of succession had changed. It would have been fabulous to be alive when the first female monarch was born… At least I think a girl would have been the first female of the British Monarchy be known she’d be the queen from birth. It isn’t something we get taught at school, so all I know comes from blockbuster films about the Royals 

Shortly after I returned home from work my grandparents stopped by. I was in my mum’s office (aka where her computer and her exercise equipment are) where my laptop has taken temporary residence when I heard a thud and my mum panicking. It turns out that my grandmother had just suddenly keeled over! She had been fainting a fair bit over the last few months and went to the KGH on Friday to have a heart monitor put in. If she passes out, whomever is with her is to press a button on the remote control and put it on her chest where something or other was put in during the surgery. Then my grandpa has to call somebody and be told whether he has to take her to see a doctor or not.  

It seems my mum forgot what to do and once told she wasn’t sure where the button was. For some reason neither my grandfather nor dad moved when grandma hit the deck, rather than rush over to help. I didn’t think I should go to the kitchen, figuring there were enough people in the room and they supposedly knew what to do… If I had, I probably would have gotten there from halfway across the house before the men did *shakes head* They went home shortly after, and mum just called to check in on them as we weren’t sure if grandma hit her head on the cupboard when she went down. It seems she’s okay at this time. 

After that I started supper. Dad is barbecuing chicken and mum is reading outside, while I make carrots (ew) and colcannon (mashed potatoes with kale). My sister-in-law says it’s a dutch dish called boutacol (spelling?) or some such, but when I google looking for the name I could only find the Irish name for it! *L0L* Admittedly, this dish could be made with either kale or cabbage, but whatever. 

SUMR

Well, the weather this weekend was pretty crazy. We started out with a heat wave during the week, then on Friday a storm cloud quite literally rolled in and we had a storm from about mid-afternoon and well into the night. The power flickered in my neighbourhood, but in other places it went out… partially due to the winds knocking trees and power-lines down. I had the day off and was outside reading when it went from stickily hot to windy and dark; it literally happened in about a minute. I was going to wait and see if the clouds would blow away, but decided I’d better go inside. And it was a good thing I did too!

The reason why I was outside is because my dad was in my room putting in new flooring. Now some time ago mum and I had ripped out the carpet and cleaned up the flooring underneath. It kind of looks like faux wood tiles, but it’s so old that it is apparently some kind of tar paper. I had thought to paint it, but soon realized that the paint would get dirty or worn off and look far worse than the fake flooring. It wasn’t in great shape, and progressively got worse, so I wasn’t opposed to getting pretty new floors.  

Even though dad is on holiday, it is taking dad forever to do just two rooms. Part of the problem is due to his constant calling his father –who had put the same flooring in a short time prior– and because he is practically living at the hardware/lumber store(s). I had to move as many of my things as I could out of my room wednesday before and after work though dad was only about halfway done the first room. I couldn’t move my couch by myself, but dad was “helping” with that on Thursday. I had to sweep and vacuum the floor and thought I may as well do my couch…

The thing is, I hadn’t opened my sofa-bed in about a year. I have too many things shoved into my 11-foot square bedroom that I simply couldn’t do so because there was no room. There was apparently a lot of dust in there, because I had such a bad allergic reaction that I actually had an asthma attack. Not as bad as if I were in the vicinity as peanuts, but still pretty bad. For the rest of the day and most of the next I could hardly talk due to having coughed so hard for so long. 

That mattress was also outside with me on Friday, getting an airing. I had the mattress propped up between four chairs, one of which I was using as a footstool, when the weather front rolled in. I yelled for dad to come help me and we barely got everything (aka the mattress, my kobo, dad’s favourite camping chair) inside before the rain started. And, boy, did it ever pour! 

By this point dad had gotten nearly halfway finished in my room and said I had to clear out my closet. Once the carpet was ripped out I thought the tile underneath was…um… interesting. *L0L* Dealing with the things in my closet is something I had planned to do soon, but never got around to and now had to. Everything got carted out to the living room and I had no idea so much stuff had been shoved in my tiny closet. It’s almost like it was Mary Poppin’s carpet bag or Hermoine’s satchel, cuz I don’t understand how it all fit! I managed to do a pseudo sorting of a couple boxes before dinnertime, and you wouldn’t believe some of the things I found. 

I mean, some of the university stuff like essays and exams wasn’t too bad, but for goodness sake I found the notebook that I kept my work schedule at Tim Horton’s in which was from when I was about fifteen or sixteen until I finished high school. I also found my grade nine sketchbook, a cartoon doodle I did in grade ten, some song lyrics for the “band” dawleigh and I planned to start, and my childhood diary! I know I should just toss pretty much everything since it has all been buried in there for so long, but it’s hard to get rid of nevertheless. 

On Saturday dad got a lot more done on my floor while I tried to figure out how I wanted to rearrange my furniture. I mean, with everything out of my room to the point I was sleeping on a mattress on the floor, now would be a good time. I thought I should do something different since my room hadn’t been rearranged in a year, and that’s saying something. Mum usually rearranges the furniture in the some portion of the house up to six times a year (though admittedly that often is rare), but mine is too much for her to do on her own –a good thing because I generally hate her messing with my stuff. But between the fact I’ve been here a year and really wish I wasn’t, I was feeling antsy. I was planning to do something crazy with my hair, like dye it blue or purple, but couldn’t really afford to fork out the money, so sorting out the junk and rearranging my room seems like a really good route… especially if I plan to move to Ireland most of this stuff has to go. 

On Saturday dad was nearly done, but I was still sleeping on the floor because he has to finish the finicky stuff. My room is a touch too small for one last row of full boards to fit, so dad is going to have to “rip” (this is apparently a technical term) the boards to be a bit narrower, as well as put in a new baseboard. He hasn’t finished my closet either, but that just gives me more time to go through my things and decide how I want to arrange my room… I have created six different possible layouts, but have yet to settle on the perfect one. Given the fact my room is way too small I doubt any are going to be perfect, but c’est la vie. 

The exercise thing is going pretty well. I had to take Thursday off due to that horrible allergic asthma attack, but I managed to get myself back on schedule by the next day. I’m also trying new foods or old foods I hated but am trying again. I got a kiwi and tried that… it tasted pretty good dipped in chocolate pudding. And on Saturday I got kale because it was on sale. I’ve only had kale once before when my sister-in-law made some dutch recipe of the stuff in mashed potatoes. I remember liking that, so thought to try it again. I was hoping I could use it for salad since I hate lettuce, but the texture is pretty similar and thus caused me to spit it out. 

As we were having burgers for dinner, I thought to make a potato salad and put finely chopped kale in it. Mum also threw in celery, which I’m not fond of but forced myself to eat anyways. I think my salad turned out pretty well! A few friends offered some recipes to try with kale so maybe I’ll do something else tomorrow! I will even find a recipe for a kale smoothie and try it… well, maybe. 

SUMR

Xanga Username:  SUMRdaisy

Xanga Birthdate: November 2002

Xanga Badges:  True

Xanga Profile Picture:  Constantly changing, but currently c’est moi

First Xanga Friend:  a bestie from high school talked me into joining when i left for university

Subsequent Early Xanga Friends: mostly friends from home, but my first non-IRL pals are @garistotle (still one) and Tyler (lost touch) 

Xanga BFFs: As awesome as everyone is, definitely @Karoline1982 who became an IRL bestie

Xanga Family: IRL family, my brother was on for a bit. But my online “family” @karoline1982, @garistotle, @Persiankitty, @MyxlDove

Other Close Xanga Pals:  @the_fur_pimp, @Brae, @happyworld_ofharibo, and more!

Xangans Who’ve Moved On But Are Worth Mentioning:  definitely @the_fur_pimp and one of my IRL besties @dawlz

Xanga Likes: getting to know people from all over the world, who would have been great friends IRL if it weren’t for geographical locations. Getting a new perspective on things, discovering something new to think about. The community of it all… and the meet-ups! 

Xanga Dislikes: people who start drama or are mean

Official Xanga Achievements: if I officially did something, that’s news to me!

Unofficial Xanga Achievements:  being a TBO on @MyxlDove‘s site

Recommending Habit:  I tend to forget it exists *whoops*

Commenting Habit:  I try to comment, but sometimes I’ll just leave a happy face or just click on the page (from subscriptions) so the person will know I read their post. 

Timestamping:  I’d use it mostly for future posts, but would occasionally bump the time if I made changes to what I had written

Protected Posting: I’ve rarely used it, but was still glad it was there just in case

Xanga Themes:  I loved mine and didn’t want to change it.

Xanga Pulse:  I use it on occasion, but also tended to forget about it

Xanga Plugz:  If I used this feature, then I’ve done so by accident as I have no idea what it is

Xanga Hopes:  I hope Xanga 2.0 becomes a reality, and I hope that there is also a free option. I’d much rather stay with Xanga than move to a new platform. 

Last Words:  It has been over ten years, and it would be so sad to see our beloved Xanga go. I’ve shared the good and the bad on this site, and stayed faithful. Admittedly I sometimes neglected writing, but there was a comfort in knowing the site and the entire xangian community was there if I needed it. Thank you to everyone who has ever read my blog and participated in a piece of my life. I love you all!

SUMR

Hey Lovies, 

As y’all know I’m starting to get ready for my dream trip to Ireland a year from now, and a friend suggested I have a blog about my travels. I naturally thought that was a great idea, but ran into a couple of snags… One was coming up with a name, as you may have seen a couple weeks ago in this post, but that has now been decided. It was thought best to keep a similar theme with what I already have, and therefore the new name will be similar to my book blog (which can be found at jkbooklover). As my book review site is called “Tales of a Book Lover” my travel blog will be…

JaimeKristal: Tales of a Traveller 

The new issue is creating a header banner for my new blog! I no longer have access to Photoshop or InDesign like when I started my book review blog (not that I have any skills in that sort of thing), so I thought I’d make a mayday call out to any of y’all who like doing graphic design stuff and would be willing to help me out. I thought I could make it a “contest” and whomever has the winning banner will get their design used on my blog. Okay, so it isn’t much of a prize, but it’s all I’ve got *L0L*

Below are some pictures that I like that I found online, but if you’re inspired go ahead and use something else! I just want something that is obviously to do with travelling and has the aforementioned blog name on it (be sure to get the spelling right!). The banner size should be 940 (long) x 198 (height) in pixels to fit the website requirements. I’ll be adding more pictures as I find them, as I’m not on my own computer right now…

Have fun designing!  

SUMR

Today is day nine of my 30-day shred and it’s finally starting to feel like I won’t die… figures, considering tomorrow is the last day on Level One. I’ll start the next level on Monday, which I’ve heard from various sources is killer. That just makes me sooo excited to try it and then the third level too… NOT! Today I also tried a dance workout, but it wasn’t all that great because they didn’t break down the steps very well and went too fast. I ended up hurting my knees –not just my bad one, but both!– so I won’t be trying it again. 

My friend Buttercup (the one I have a pseudo-crush on) and I planned to hang out today as he finally has time off. He works sixty hours a week doing two jobs, so he doesn’t have much free days to spend with his pals… especially since his girlfriend is, to quote him, “paranoid” due to his being a player years ago. Seriously, he was on his way out of that phase when I met him nearly ten years ago now. He’s not even going to tell her he hung out with me today because he knows it will send her into an insecure hissy-fit. I really don’t understand why guys go for girls like that; my mum is like that and she drives ME nuts, let alone my dad 

I haven’t met her yet, but the only thing I’ve heard of her that I like is that she also bugs Buttercup about stopping his icky smoking habit. We were only together for two hours and he had three or four of the nasty things. If I so much as wrinkled my nose at him, he’d call me “wifey”. As his friend I don’t get a say in it, but considering he won’t stop for his gf either I don’t see how that make a difference. 

Anyways, we stopped at Tim Hortons and he treated me to breakfast, then we headed for the park for a walk. This is what we usually do whenever we get together, and I like just strolling by the water with him. Just as we were about to get out of the car it had started to rain, so we chatted a bit until the rain slowed. He didn’t think I’d want to get wet, but I was willing to chance the rain. It’s not like I was going anywhere but home after, so getting soaked would have been amusing rather than annoying. 

After we did our usual route, we went to Chapters to browse. We’d never done that before, but he knew I wouldn’t have any issue with going! *L0L* We both still had some gift cards from Christmas, and went about spending them. I got three books, one of which he suggested to me, and he got four –three of them being part of a box set that I convinced him to buy since he thought it sounded good but was being all iffy. Chances are we’re going to end up doing a trade to read each others in a month or so 

We did another stop at Timmy’s (the boy cannot be without his coffee!) and he had me try a strawberry-banana smoothie (without icky yogurt). We shared that on our way back to my place, where I finally gave him his birthday/grad prezzie. For my college grad a couple years ago he gave me a gorgeous claddagh ring, so I crocheted him a blanket that was similar to his family plaid. I think he liked it, but it is pretty awesome if I do say so myself. 

Back at my house we hung around outside; we usually end up talking for a bit whenever he drops me off. Mum came out to chat with him as she hadn’t seen him in a while either. It took years before she got used to the idea of him and I being friends, as she doesn’t think it is possible to be friends with someone of the opposite gender. Sure, I think he’s cute and sometimes wonder what it would be like if we were in a relationship, but I also am pretty sure we wouldn’t work out as a couple and am happy with things as they are.

He continually teases me about going to Ireland to find a husband, which isn’t entirely far from the truth. If I happen to fall in love and marry an Irishman, I have no problem with that! I’m not sure I’d want to live in another country forever, but we’ll see how I like a year or two there. Don’t know what I’ll do if I love it more than anything and don’t fall in love or find a job that wants to keep me around. Is there I way I could move there for good without changing my citizenship? Unless they let me get a dual one, because I’m proud to be Canadian! 

Mum didn’t bother asking much about him, just why she hadn’t seen him around in a while, and then started going on and on about her exercising and new diet and all that stuff. Even I was bored to tears by her and started zoning out until she finally went back inside to finish getting ready to leave. Her ramblings made me wonder if I was boring all of y’all with all my talk of workouts, but it’s just too bad, cuz you’re stuck with them until the end of the month 

Buttercup said he’s going to be applying for the job he went to college with the aim of acquiring probably at the end of the summer. If he gets it, he’ll have about four months of training in Quebec (province, not city), then posted anywhere in the world. I would love it if he was assigned to the British Isles, because then we could do tourtisty stuff together! If he gets a choice, though, he’d go for Alaska or Australia as those are the places he’d like to see the most. He told me he could totally see everything he’d want to in Ireland in less than two weeks… *pshaw!* There is no way I could see everything I want in twice that time!

SUMR

I have been exercising and eating healthier for about thirty-five days now. While my weight doesn’t seem to be dropping all that much, I have found I possess a lot more energy most days. This is possibly because on the days I exercise I find it easier to fall asleep at night having used up a heck of a lot more energy during the day. I do still wake up a few times in the night though, possibly more than before, but I can usually fall back to sleep pretty quickly. Some of these wake-ups may be partially due to the fact I’m trying to drink eight glasses of water a day rather than my usual four…   

Anyways, I’ve been using this one website to track my eating habits and exercise minutes, and it said I could join this other page which gives me daily visualizations to complete. I have only been doing this for a couple of days, but it actually relaxes me and motivates me more. I love it!

Here are some examples I found through the page and snooping other people’s pages on said site: 

Spend 30 seconds visualizing one of your most important goals. See yourself reaching this goal. What will you feel like? How will this change your life?

Picture yourself at your goal weight, working out effortlessly alongside your former self. You see your former self struggling with exercises now easy. How does it feel to see yourself on both sides of your journey? What habits can you work on today to get one step closer to your future, improved self?

Imagine you have to make a choice between a cookie and an apple. Confidently reach out, grab the apple, and take a big bite. Notice the feeling of relief that washes over you. You made the right decision to help you get a step closer to your weight-loss goal! Think about this scenario if you feel tempted by unhealthy choices today.

Spend 1 minute visualizing that you’re standing in front of a powerful waterfall in a beautiful place. Harness that energy and power to help you stay strong all day long.

But then I found out it was just a trial and I’d have to pay to get a membership to all it has to offer, and to be honest I’d be more likely to join Xanga than it if I had the money cuz I love y’all more!

So here is the thing. I need help visualizing becoming healthy and losing weight, as well as being brave enough to go to Ireland for two years on my own. I tried looking for guided imagery websites or books or apps, but didn’t have any luck. What I would like is for y’all to send me some things to visualize each morning regarding any of those things. Please? 

SUMR