Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Oh, how I should be trying to sleep! However, the kids outside the crack-house next door are being loud, and I just realised it's been over two years since I have left Scotland. Yet I still spell 'realise' with an 's'. It makes me feel cultured.

So two years. Wow. I've adjusted to the fact that I finished uni over three years ago, but to move to the next level and accept it's been over two years since my first "big" adventure ended is quite astonishing. How young I was, just a wee lass of 21 crossing the ocean. Actually, 21 isn't really that young, many people do it when they are younger.

I don't really believe in faith, but I like to think the decisions we make at present affect the outcome of the future. I don't like the idea of faith and the "purpose" of someones life because it makes life seem pre-determined. The idea of my life path already being in place, even if I don't know the plans set before me, does not appeal to me at all. It makes the present seem so irrelevant if you are to reach the same conclusion regardless. We all have the same conclusions eventually (death, boo,) but I don't want the events between birth and death to be in a proper, sequential line. I like to think if I do something stupid, it's because I was temporairly being an idiot and not because it is part of a bigger plan.

Summer is nearing its end. It quite saddens me but I'm trying to remain hopeful that this winter will be better than last. Barring an extremely unfortunate, tragic event, I really don't think this winter could ever be any worse than last winter. Those were dark days. Literally and figuratively. This may sound odd, but winter is inconvenient. I hate having to put on so much clothing before facing the outdoors. I hate wearing socks. I hate wearing pants... I can't even tell you the last time I wore pants that did not involve a uniform or... Well, actually, I just don't recall. Hmm. I remember wearing pants to tennis in May.

So yes, this summer was great! Starting in July I finally had a "Canada" Canada Day. It was great! I took many photos and got to wear a costume!! We had Lynda's hen party, followed by Kiki's wedding the next day. Next Brad came to visit, and I was sooo excited someone "from" Florida found his way here. I also re-learned a valuable lesson regarding drinking that I hadn't experienced since that dreadful pubcrawl back in January 2004. But it was all in honour of B-Rad! Brad also brought the consistent start of summer, as prior to that the warm days were scattered among cold, grey days. The following weekend Raeanne and Jay came to PEI, and I, gasp, actually experienced nightlife in Summerside. Nice for a change, but not my preferred location. *cough* House of Blues *cough*. Dawn also arrived in early July. She was a masters student from Arkansas doing an internship at UPEI for six weeks. It was fun having a long-term tourist around who was up for anything and wanted to experience everything. I also enjoyed listening to her "y'alls". The following weekend (July was amazing - there was literally an event or visitor every weekend) was Lynda's wedding. It was so much that I kind of want Lynda to get married again. To Jamie though, not for her to get divorced or anything. Maybe a giant one-year-anniversary party/"reunion"? Hmm? Brother and Heidi came home around this period too. (Not together though.) The more the merrier on this Gentle Island! Heidi was still home the first weekend in August... Then came the strange weekend: no visitors the following weekend. It was Shan Courtney's b'day, however, which ensured happenings, and probably one of my favourite "bar nights" of the summer! (Save the insane adventure with Brad and Hannah, and my interesting foray into Summerside culture. But those were more so for the people.) For Shan's b'day we went to Piazza Joe's!! It was almost like a real club, music wise. Not so much in decor. (It's an Italian restaurant by day, for those not in the know.) It was just a DJ doing his thing, you know, that thing DJs do. Umm, like mixing music without lyrics and stuff. I dunno, but sober Jen danced so hard in her own little world that she was pretty much dripping in sweat when the bar closed. She was wise and said, "Dancing is really like listening with your feet," but now thinks it's like listening with your whole body. But she wasn't wise enough to say that at the time.

The following weekend was spent in Ottawa. I had so much fun, and the post-holiday blues were quite apparent when I came home. The solution was simple: cut off two-thirds of my hair. Seriously. It was, Monday, mope, Tuesday, mope, Wednesday day, mope, Wednesday evening, cut hair, GREAT!! It's not that I really disliked having long hair, but I felt it had reached its expiry date. It's what I do... Grow my hair out, then chop. Grow hair out again. Chop. Repeat. However, the leaving-O-Town blues weren't really caused by miskept hair - it was saying good-bye to people again. It's neat that the World is so big, different cultures have developed and hundreds of language span the globe, but sometimes I wish the world could be a bit smaller. Make it easier to reach out and literally touch those I care about. It was a bit of a flashback. Like when in Florida, I got to see Charlene every day. Now I shall not see her again for, oh, six months at the earliest.

I kind of wonder what it would be like to live in Ottawa there. The winters are harsh, and Lord knows I despise harsh winters. They grate on my soul and destroy me. I do still know people there, but some of them are leaving so the experience wouldn't be the same I had during my short vacation stint there. I'm not sure if I would like to live there. Lots of greenspace and bike paths, which is great, but I don't know. It's funny, because people comment that it's such a clean city. Guess I'm rather spoiled on PEI, because I find it much cleaner here. However, the market there is amazing! Oh, but yes, it shuts down in the winter. I dunno. That's all I can say.

The weekend just passed was Keri's b'day so more going out fun. When I was younger I thought it would be bad to have your b'day in the summer because you wouldn't see your friends at school to invite them. However, I thought it would be nice not to have your birthday party cancelled due to weather. Now I'm envious of those with birthdays in the summer. During university I spent multiple birthdays either writing exams, (bonjour 19th b'day, Sat night, 7 - 10pm exam,) finishing papers, studying, etc. Bonne fete, eh?

This weekend is Labour Day weekend and... the end. It's an empty feeling, similar to that I had when I graduated high school.

In great events to look forward to: trip to LOS ANGELES!! Justificiation? A seat sale. I'm meeting up with two lovely former Disney co-castmembers and am sooo excited. I was a moron though and thought I could satisfy my travel urges with multiple short trips. While it is nice to have one already in the works when returning from the current vacation, the short trips sometimes feel like they are over before they really "start". I arrive in LA Thu at about 11:00am, and depart Monday at 10:30pm. I'm betting on a one-day lag of jet lag when getting home. It'll be the same time difference as Ch'town to Edinburgh (four hours). I always found flying east much harder than flying west. I haven't quite figured out what I'm going to do for driving to Halifax. Literally I have (put keys in ignition, turn, place car in "drive", etc.) but my flight leaves Hali at 6:30, I think. I was thinking about sleeping after work, then waking up at 1:30 to drive to Hali. However, I can never sleep before trips at, like, 2:30 in the morning so that won't really work as I'll be bloody knackered by the time I get to the airport. But then there is the prospect of sleeping on the plane....

Regarding sleep, it would be ideal to get some tonight. Funny, I have been quite tired as of late but still can't seem to fall asleep before, at the absolute earliest, 11:30. Now it's pretty much 1:00am and my alarm is going off in six hours. Hmm, kind of a flashback to my Delta days. How on Earth did I ever, ever, EVER manage to work at 6:30 in the morning?!!??!