changing decades

I thought for some reason that I'd entered my birthday in my profile and therefore my age would update automatically. Nope. I had to go in and change it myself.

I looked at those two little digits, not quite able to erase them. 2-9. Sigh....they looked so nice. My right hand hovered above the delete key, frozen and unco-operative. Come on you stubborn finger, press it! Delete. There went the 9. That was the easy part. I could replace the nine with anything else and whoosh back in time.


20. Back in first year university, fresh from my first overseas experience. I do well in school, I get a part time job at the Olive Garden, my friends and I have fun going out on weekends. It's a good year.

21. Still in university, still doing well. Hanging out more with work people, going out lots and having fun. I meet a boy and fall in love. It's a good year.

22. University takes a backseat this year. I move out, work more, play more. Still in love, still having fun. And still doing well in the two classes I take. It's a good year.

23. I move home again so I don't have to work so much and I can concentrate on school. I graduate. I have a degree! Relationship is strained due to various circumstances. It's an emotional and often difficult year.

24. We break up and I'm a wreck. My degree sits in its envelope and I work full time as a waitress. I have fun with my friends, but I need to get out of the city. It's not my favourite year.

25. I've left Canada and I've been traveling Europe with my best friend. I live in Scotland. I have so much fun. I feel glad that this is where life has taken me. It's a good year.

26. Still in Scotland. Still having an incredible time. Life is a party. I meet a boy and fall in love. We live together, we travel all over. It's a good year.

27. Back in Winnipeg, still in love, maintaining a long distance relationship. I work for my parents, I feel restless. I'm not ready to stay put. The boy and I plan to go to China. It's an unremarkable year.

28. Working and living in China, having an incredible experience. It's trying, exhausting, emotionally draining, and totally worth it. The relationship is strained due to various circumstances. My siblings and I travel extensively. It's the most challenging year to date.

29. Back in Winnipeg. Heart aches over lost love. Restless but determined to stick it out in my hometown. Get an internship that goes nowhere. Have a few meaningless flings that go nowhere. Get a new job that looks like it'll go nowhere. I feel close to my family, I love my friends. I have fun whenever I can. I get a car and feel like this is home. I feel pretty good about myself. It may not be the most productive, most adventurous, or most exciting, but it's not a bad year.


So... here we are. Ready fingers? And just like that the 2 is deleted. A quick taptap and I've entered the next decade. 30. That wasn't so hard after all.

The party

Well, here I am: a wise, mature, grown up 30-year old.

Hahahaha!

As expected, nothing feels different. I was disappointed to discover that 30 year olds are not immune to hangovers. You see, I'd had the very rational decision to not have any shooters. Then I thought that was extreme, so I'd limit myself to two. Well, that plan also fell through. I mean, I couldn't very well say no thanks when presented with one, now could I? It'd be rude! So, I ended up having more than I could keep track of. Some mystery shooters that Theran thought was Jack Daniels and banana, several Apples Pies (never had one, so delicious), a tequila (ugh) a Jagerbomb... and perhaps a few that I'm forgetting.

Anyway, the party was a success with really good turnout. I'd say 50 people. At around 11, they brought out cake, which I never ended up getting a piece of, too busy passing it out to others. But that's fine, I preferred to make sure everyone was having a good time. I gave my camera to my dad to take pictures, because I knew otherwise I'd never take any. I'll put up photos later this week (says the girl who still hasn't posted travel photos from over a year ago). I feel like I didn't get a chance to talk to people enough. I mean, I know I did, but because I was mingling so much, I never really spent too much time with anyone. I guess that's just the way it goes. Hopefully no one felt neglected, I tried to make the rounds!

I'm just so happy that so many people came. A few people I'd thought were coming didn't make it, which was disappointing, but totally overshadowed by everyone who did come. Hurrah! Not to get all sentimental in my old age, but man, I feel so loved and so grateful to have such amazing friends and family.

How on earth can I be sad about turning 30 when I'm reminded of how lucky I am!

It happened.... more later.

My last day!

This is it. The last day of my 20s.

The end of a glorious decade. I'm tempted to reminisce over all the absolutely amazing things I've done in the past 10 years. And I no doubt will, very soon. But not now. Now I'm too busy. Theran is arriving in about 25 minutes so I'm off to the airport to pick him up. Yahoo!!! I'm so excited that he flew in for my birthday. What a star. And tonight is my party, which I'm hoping will be a success. I'm feeling fairly good about it. Must run now, I'll be sure to blog very soon with tales of all the festivities.

Man, the next time I write.... I'll be thirty!!!

ONE WEEK!

That's right, just one week left til I turn thirty. What am I going to do afterwards? I've been pre-occupied with this birthday party for a while. It's been something to look forward to. The anticipation is building and I'm getting more excited as it gets closer. But that's a recipe for disappointment! Not in the party itself necessarily, but in the aftermath. I'll be so glum. Sigh....

Last night I went to The Tragically Hip concert. It was awesome!! Of course though, they're always great. It was the first show I'd seen at our new arena (Stars on Ice and Disney on Ice don't count) and it was fantastic. I'm feeling pretty exhausted today, it was a busy day yesterday. In addition to the big night out, my kickboxing class was really hard - the usual aches and pains are accompanied by some bruising.

Anyhoo, I think I will make myself some lunch and ease my sore, tired body into my tv watching chair.

A bit brisk

It's finally time to start plugging the car in. Yesterday morning it was -36 as I scurried to my car. Hmm, -36, you say. I suppose that's somewhat chilly. Oh, but don't forget the windchill, which brought the temperature down to -48. Yep, that's right. 48 degress below zero. Celsius. Not that it matters at that point. Here's my Winterpeg weather scale:

0 to -5: "it's practically shorts weather!"
-6 to -10: "pretty nice day out today"
-11 to -15: "hmm.. maybe I should bring a tuque"
-16 to -20: "a bit nippy out there"
-21 to -30: "brr"
-31 to -40: "crap, it's fucking cold!"
-41 down: incoherent cursing and whimpering

It's such a funny feeling when it gets so cold that my lips can't move fast enough to keep up with what I'm trying to say. Everything is stiff and slow moving, and my eyelashes get frosty and stick together when I blink. That's the fun stuff.

It's much less pleasant coming in from the cold and having the blood start flowing back into my extremities, making my fingertips feel like they're being crushed in tiny vices and about to explode.

*update* Another cold weather favourite I must now endure: our pipes have frozen! Yep, back from kickboxing all gross and sweaty, and there's no water. Wonderful.

3 weeks to go

Exactly three weeks til I turn 30. I sort of abandonned my list of stuff to do before then, mostly because I realized I've already done so many amazing things. Looking through other people's "to-do-before-I-die" lists, I began to feel very good about the past 29 years. I've already experienced a ton of things that many people won't do in their entire lifetime.Yay for me! But it seemed pretty silly to make a list of 30 cool things I've already done. Besides, I know nothing is going to change come January 28th. I'm still going to be the same adventurous, silly, youthful goofball I've always been. I'm still thinking of doing something ridiculous like dying my hair pink or whatever, but really, that's just out of boredom. And the fact that I'm a bit weird.

happy new year

So this is 2007. Huh. So far it's pretty unremarkable, much like the year before it. No exciting prospects on the horizon either. Ah well, we'll just have to wait and see.

New year's was fun. Spent the afternoon tobogganing after a huge snowfall. It was great! And I'd just been saying recently how I wanted to go tobogganing. There was a large group of us and we had a variety of sledding devices. A couple of crazy carpets, several plastic sleds of different shapes and sizes, and best of all, an inflatable tube. Man that thing zipped along! You went so fast that half way down the hill you couldn't see a thing through the cloud of snow spraying all over you, and then fwump! you've crashed at the bottom. Woohoo!

I had a nice chinese dinner with my dad, then went to a social, followed by a house party. Considering I hadn't been pumped at all for new years and briefly thought I wouldn't make it til midnight, it turned into a good night, and didn't crawl into bed til sometime after 4am.

Now comes the crappy part. Back to reality and the dull, monotonous routine of regular life. Really not looking forward to work tomorrow. Also, it's birthday month, with only 26 days left of my 20s. Poooooooo. I'd better get out there and have some fun.