Last week sucked!

Mom and Eric were both sick after Thanksgiving (well they were sick for Thanksgiving but that didn't stop us from having a good time!).  Monday was the holiday but I had homework to do so I did my readings and I must have done other stuff but I really can't remember what.  Tuesday was a full day of school and then I had to go to a wake.  My brother-in-law past away on his wife's birthday and that really sucked.  He had been sick for three weeks and it was discovered that he had cancer.  So his funeral was on Wednesday so there was no school for me.  This now means that I have to catch up on the lectures that I missed.  ok.  Thursday I had a doctor's appointment and I got stuck with needles and a tetanus shot (every 10 years and my years were up)...followed by a really sore arm and a Major Structures of English Grammar exam.  yay
Did you know there are linguistic equations for English Grammar?  yeah

Friday I don't remember...I think I just slept.

Saturday was my ex-boyfriend's wedding (which I enjoyed quite a bit!).  I was so looking forward to this wedding because it was like a ray of sunshine after a really dark and dreary week.  It was a really nice ceremony and he looked so good in his kilt.  It was pretty funny to see his side of the family all dressed up in the clan kilts and sashes and then Her family were very cowboyish.  Her father walked her down the isle wearing a black tux and a really nice black cowboy hat.  I'm not sure where they are from but I'm guessing Alberta or there abouts.  The bride was absolutely gorgeous and I got a lot of great pictures.  

The food didn't really agree with me.  I loved the food....but it didn't like me.  I had to leave just after the speeches because my stomach just couldn't take any more and things were going to get embarrassing if I didn't get home soon.  So I called my other mom and asked her to come and get me and thankfully she had a car and was able to come get me.  

I took today off because i was just too tired to get up and go....slept 9 hours yesterday and 8 hours last night.....maybe I slept too much cause I just feel tired and heavy.  Back to school tomorrow because I can't afford to take time off now.  I'm glad I had at least one nice day this past week, even if I didn't feel all that great by the end of it.  It was fun while it lasted. lol    And I got to see T with that big goofy grin on his face that always makes me smile!

Happy Thanksgiving Day/Weekend!!! too all my fellow Canadians, and anyone else who happens to be visiting us this weekend!!!!

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend now matter where you are!

So the summer is well on the way to being over now. I'm done working at Costco until the spring. I'm so glad they have that student program so I don't have to worry about finding another summer job again next summer.

School starts on Thursday for me. I have 9 hours of Japanese a week this year.  I have a teaching methodology class and a teaching practicum as well as an English grammar class - Major Structure of English.  The Japanese is all preparation for the Japanese proficiency test in Toronto this December.  It's a three hour test that requires me to fly down to Toronto, stay at a hotel and get myself to York University on a Sunday. If I pass (which I better for the amount of money I'm dishing out to take this frelling test) I will be certified at the second highest level.  The next level up is native speaker level.  That is my eventual goal.

On other news....my mom has a boyfriend.   I haven't seen her this happy since dad died ten years ago.  She's smiling all the time now and laughing at absolutely nothing and everything.  It's a really nice change. I'm happy for her.  And I like him too so that's a bonus.

Tomorrow I'm meeting up with Tricia for dinner at Sushi Kan.  I haven't seen her in a month (which for us is really unusual).  She's asked me for my Farscape DVD's again so she can scape her room mates. I guess I can part with them for a while. lol  it's not like I'll have a lot of time to watch them once school starts this Thursday.

Friday is my b-day party at Boston Pizza...I think there will be about 20 of us partying for the evening.  I'm looking forward to it. Mom is taking me out to a restaurant for my birthday, I get to choose wherever I want. So it's off to Perkins for us.  I've never been there but my friends are all raving about it.  So I figure it's time to check it out.  It's not that close to home which is why I haven't gone yet myself.  But if mom is willing to drive....why not? lol

It's August already!  I have four more weeks of summer vacation before I have to go back to school.  That means I've already had 3 months of summer vacation...except it hasn't really felt like summer. It's been cold and rainy for more than half of it. Also I've been working at Costco since April 30th and going to school every Tuesday to study Japanese, so I haven't done all that much relaxing.

A week and a half ago (Late Thursday night) I closed the car door on my finger (left ring finger).  Not quite sure how I did that, but it hurt and I really don't ever want to do that again!  Thank god it didn't break!  But it's bruised and I've been wearing a splint to protect it.  Friday I decided I didn't need the splint anymore (ok, I forgot it at home) when I went to work and wow, did I regret not having it for that little bit of extra protection.  I must have banged my finger at least 3 times during my shift. Lesson learned.  Even if I don't need the splint when I'm not at work, I will be wearing it at work for at least another week! lol

Also last week we had quite a few storms!  On Saturday we had flash floods all through the city.  We're talking rivers instead of roads.  There are pictures of people using canoes in the parks and on certain streets in my area.  The sewers back right up and quite a few people ended up with raw sewage in their basements (coming up out of toilets and sinks).  We had no power for 11 hours and yet the people across the street from us had never lost power once.  weird.  We had 30cm of rain in just over 2 hours!! That's it, 2 hours!  Amazing.  The parking lot where I work had areas where the water was almost knee deep. This is the third time in 13 years.  The first one was in 1996 (people were canoing down the streets then too), and the last one was in 2006.  I'm just glad that our house, being on top of a hill, didn't really flood.  We had some water in one of the rooms in the basement, but nothing serious.  We've had a big fan running in that room (aimed at the carpet) for the past week and it's mostly dried out now. 

Other than that, there hasn't been all that much going on.  I've got my bank loan all set up so I can pay my tuition this week, waiting to hear back from OSAP so I can find out about my loan from them....and hopefully I will get to see my aunt and uncle at the end of the month before I go back to school in September.

I hope everyone on my f-list is doing well.  I've been falling behind on reading my friend's page, but I'm working to get caught up on that.

Have a great week everyone!

 

Yesterday was a nice quiet day.  We stayed in Montreal at my aunt and uncle's place all day.  I went to the little grocery store just up the street from their apartment with my aunt and bought a lot of food!  Everything is so cheap there!  I took a long nap after lunch and then we chatted all afternoon and watched tv. 

Aunt Diane made spare ribs for dinner and Uncle Dan made home made french fries with salad.  I ate way too much but it was so good I didn't want to stop eating! lol

We left Montreal a little after 8pm and we got home at 11pm. 

So now I'm home and relaxing today and tomorrow it's back to work.  I'm glad to be home, but at the same time I wish I was still in Quebec.  It will be at least another 6 month before I see any of them again (and that's only if we go visit for Christmas).  Maybe I can convince them to come here instead. lol

If there is one person or more on your friends list who makes your world a better place just because they exist and who you would not have met (in real life or not) without the internet, then post this same sentence in your journal.

I have so many friends that I would not have without the internet. It`s really amazing! You guys are awesome!

Yesterday morning we got up ...well...I got up at 8am...mom got up it was almost 10am.  We went out for breakfast with Aunt Diane and Uncle Dan and then mom and I got back on the road and headed to Quebec city to see Grandpapa and Grandmaman.  We got to Grandpapa`s around 5:00pm and we picked up my great aunt Ghesline and went out to dinner, just the four of us. 

After dinner we went to my Great aunt Rita`s house to visit with her and Great Uncle Jean-Marie.  We sat around the living room and talked and I got all kinds of complements on how good my French is and that even though I may not think so, they think I`m bilingual and close to fluent (I think they`re nuts! lol).  I passed around my laptop which was full of pictures of my cousin`s baby`s daughter.  Sara!!  Everyone loves Myleigh!  And they all want me to print off certain pictures and then mail them all to them. lol  I have a list of pictures I`m supposed to get printed and then send to Grandpapa so he can pass them around. lol  I showed everyone a few pictures of you from mom`s suprise party so that they could be reminded of what you look like and we talked about your family...you know, family gossip lol.  But wow, old people go gaga over babies!!  hahaha. it was really funny to see their reactions to those pictures!

Sometime close to 11pm we went to a motel and we had a pretty good room but the beds were really hard.  Mom and I got to sleep around 1am and we got up around 9am.  I accidently found the 24 hour porn channel and decided it wasn`t worth watching lol.  After breakfast we went back to Grandpapa`s and took his car on a tour of old Quebec.  We went up to the Parliament buildings and walked around and took a bunch of pictures.  We drove all through the streets of old Quebecand walked through the parks.  It was really nice.  Then we went to visit Grandmaman at the nursing home (she`s in a new one now, and it seems better).  We had a really nice visit (she gushed over the pictures of Myleigh and wants copies as well) and then she told up that she`s going to Paris with Grandpapa this September.....um....ok.  That`s not going to happen but she believes it will.  Other than that, she`s doing much better than I have ever seen her in the last 10 years or so.

We headed back to Grandpapa`s after that and mom took a nap for almost 2 hours.  Grandpapa and I spent that time sitting outside on a large porch swing talking.  I haven`t spent so much time with him or chatting with him since I was little.  It was really nice.

When mom got up we went to dinner at St. Hubert and then got back on the road (8pm) to go back to Quebec.  Mom had a lead foot for a good part of the way, so we got back here in exactly 2 and a half hours! Now were relaxing before heading off to bed for the night.  Tomorrow should be an easy day hanging out with Aunt Diane and then we`ll be heading back to Ottawa in the evening.  This has been a really good trip! I`m really glad we came.

This morning I got up and went to work and had a pretty good time working too.  It was really busy all day so the time went by quickly.  Mom came to get me at 2pm and we grabbed a bite to eat before heading home to finish packing.  We ended up leaving at 5 pm instead of 3 like we had originally planned, and we set out for Montreal to visit my Aunt and Uncle.  We did really well until we got off the highway and then we got really lost.  So I ended up having to call my uncle from my cell phone (wow that`s going to be expensive) and have him talk us through getting to his place.  We got to his place at 8:30 and then we went out to dinner.  We ended up going to Scores and the section of Montreal that we are in is bilingual so we didn`t have to speak French all the time.  We had a really fun waitress too and her English was pretty good.  She joked around with us and was really fun.

Now we are back at my aunt and uncle`s place and we are sorting out who is going to sleep where.  It looks like I just won the spare bedroom and my mom is going to sleep on the couch in the living room...it`s a really comfy couch but it`s a bit too narrow for me since I tend to role around (my mom doesn`t).

Tomorrow we are driving to Quebec city which should take between three and four hours.  We are going to visit my grandpa and grandma and probably a few of my mom`s aunts as well.  I love these trips.  I`m really hoping that my aunt comes with us tomorrow but right now she`s really tired and not sure she wants to spend all that time in a car. 

The plan is to go to Quebec city tomorrow and spend the night, then come back here the next day and spend the night here before driving home Tuesday.  Should be a nice visit with everyone. 
It`s been a long day and now all I want to do is go to bed.  

Hi everyone.

I saw this today and had to share it with you.
watch this video if you want a good laugh.  Don't worry about the Japanese intro, you don't need to know any Japanese to enjoy this.

Enjoy!

I GOT A JOB!!!

A week ago I got called in for an interview with Coscto.  I went in on Tuesday morning for a 15 minute interview that started at 10am.  90 minutes and 2 interviews later, I left feeling pretty confident that I had a job.  

So this week, Wednesday night around 5:30pm I got a call from Costco offering me a job. Only thing was I had to start the very next day.  SURE!  No problem!  I had to bail out on my friend's birthday party, but I'm buying him dinner this Tuesday to make up for that.  

So Thursday I went for a 4 hour orientation and filled out a tone of paperwork and then I started working. I did 3 hours in the front end.  I am now a Front End Assistant at Costco.  I pack people's carts and run around getting things people forgot or putting things that people decide they don't want back where they got them.  

I have never been so sore in my entire life!  I feel like I've been hit by a mac truck.  My arms, hands, legs, back...everything hurts.  It is one hell of a good workout!  I worked the three hours on Thursday night and I did seven hours yesterday.  I work 8 hours on Sunday.  I am hoping that my muscles get used to the work soon and stop hurting because I can hardly move today.  But the pay is good, especially on Sundays (we get an extra $4 an hour on Sundays) and it's great exercise!  I'm going to be in really good shape by the time summer is over!

Tonight is D's bachelorette party.  I'm supposed to help get things ready before hand.  Should be a fun night.  
 

10 years today.  Doesn't seem like it's been that long, and at the same time if feels like it's been forever.

I miss you dad, and I love you very much.

Did a bunch of homework yesterday morning that I didn't really need to do because I didn't end up staying for the entire class.  Well, that's not really true, it needed to get done for part of my term paper, but it turns out I didn't need to have it done for yesterday. lol

So it turns out that I will not be participating IN Nationals, but I will get to go and see what it's like at Nationals and cheer Egor and Jaime on. So one less thing for me to worry about and I can enjoy a morning listening to Japanese speeches from people from all over Canada.  Sounds like it will be a lot of fun.  I'm glad I get to go.  I"m gonna bring some Japanese stuff with me to study for my exams while I'm there, but I'm sure I'll send up spending more time listening to speeches than actually studying. lol

As much as I would have liked to participate in the Nationals, I'm kinda glad I don't have to this year.  So much other stuff to worry about instead. lol


 

Hello everyone!!!

I'm feeling much better today.

Yesterday morning I sent my Japanese teacher an e-mail explaining why I missed class Last Monday and yesterday.  Apparently I missed an in class essay and I was worried that since I don't have a doctors note (cause I was at the hospital with my mom, not for me) that I would miss out on it and lost marks.  

I got a reply this morning,  She told me that she understands my situation very well (she just spent a week in Japan because her dad is in the hospital) and that I can write the essay and hand it in to her before the end of term.  She said I should focus on getting better.  THEN she says,

"By the way, a Committee for the National Speech Contest really wants you to participate in the Contest. Thinking about your situation, I may be able to provide a ride on the day of speechi contest. Paul ,my husband can pick you up and take you to the Embassy of Japan. So, please let me know your address and a phone number."

HOLY CRAP!  So, does this mean I am actually supposed to compete, or do they want me there to see what it's like?  Apparently it was a very close thing between Egor and me and the judges had a hard time deciding who should get first place..... so now my hopes are up that I can compete in Nationals...but I could have misunderstood.  So, I'm not going to get toooo excited until I hear back from my professor and she tells me for certain if I am competing or not...but to me it sounds like I might. lol

So! now I have to go do that homework I mentioned yesterday!  Although homework is that last thing I want to be doing right now. hahaha
Happiness!

Take care everyone!

ETA:  by the way, Nationals is this coming Sunday!!! I haven't been practicing because I thought I couldn't compete....so now I have 2 papers due this week, and one next week and and exam the day after the contest.  So please cross your fingers for me!  I'm gonna need some luck.

I figured it was time for an update.

Mom is back at work now and she's off all medications.  She does have to keep her foot elevated but other than that she is doing a whole tone better now!  Such a relief.  I've been sleeping a lot better and a lot more than I have been for the past 2 and a half weeks.  So nice.

I've been sick since Thursday.  Got the scratchy throat and sore ears  Wednesday night and woke up Thursday feeling stuffy and achy.  Stayed home Thursday from school but went out to lunch with a friend and ended up just talking for about 4 hours and then went back to her place and got a tour of her house and made plans to hang out again next week.  Mom had gone to back to the doctors because her foot was flaring up again and was told that she had to stay home from work for the rest of the week and keep her foot up.  She had been at work both Monday and Tuesday and hadn't kept her foot up enough so the infection started to come back.  So mom got another extended weekend that she wasn't happy about (she was getting really bored with sitting on the couch watching tv and keeping her foot up),

Friday I went to breakfast with Mark and then went back to bed and slept most of the day away. 

Saturday morning Mom had gone back to the doctors for a check up and was told she was doing alright and she bought me some medicine for my cold.  I was feeling so bad by Saturday which really made me want to cry because I was suppose to go to the Great Big Sea Concert that night.  Tricia called me and basically told me I was going, so I decided to suck it up and go anyway.  I am really glad that I did because the concert was absolutely amazing!  Spirit of the West opened and played for about 45 minutes, they told some great little anecdotes and pulled a little girl (about 6 years old) on stage to dance with them.  

Great Big Sea came on at about 9:15pm and played until just after 11pm.  They played all my favourite songs and a couple that I didn't know.  Spirit of the West joined them on stage for the final two songs of the encore.  What an amazing night.  I dosed myself with cold meds and fishermen's friends and had a great time.

Sunday morning I thought I was dying! lol  yeah, that will teach me!  or not. lol  Went out to breakfast with mom and then went home to do some homework...I was not successful with the homework...actually I still haven't managed to get any of it done.  I'm going to have to do it tomorrow.  well that sucks. LOL 

Yesterday I experienced what I am calling Kamikaze sneezes!  I must have sneezed about 30 times yesterday!  And every time I sneezed by back muscles and chest muscles would seize, my shoulders and around my collar bone would hurt like crazy, my arms would feel heavy and my hands would tingle.  Every time!  It hurt so much!  Thank god I haven't sneezed once today! I don't think I could take much more of that!

This morning I had a headache from hell so I got up at 7 and took a bunch of medicine (2 Tylenol 1s with codine, two advil and a sudafed) and went back to bed to sleep.  Slept for another 3 hours and felt a bit better.

Haven't done much today.  Watched a french comedy show and laughed my head off!  There was this one comedian, he was African and wow he had a weird accent.  Definitely not from Québec.  Anyway, he got to a part of his act where he talked about meeting this little girl and her mom.  The translation isn't perfect but basically he said that he went to a bar/restaurant to eat and sitting beside him was this lady and her little daughter who was about 5 years old.  And he could tell that the little girl wanted to talk to him (this guy is black with short spiky dreadlocks. Looked really cool).  Her mother was all "no you can't talk to him, stay over here, it's dangerous etc."  the guy was all like, yeah right.  So he goes over to the mother, sticks out his hand and says "Hi! My name is (insert name) and you don't have to worry about your 5 year old daughter, I'm a vegetarian!"   So the little girl turns to him and asks him if he had been covered in chocolate? Her mother freaks out and tells her that she can't say things like that to people and that it's rude.  Meanwhile, he's smiling and looks at the little girl and tells her "as a matter of fact, yes I was" then he licks his palm and turns both hands palm out towards her and says "see? it's coming off!" (palms are lighter than the backs of his hands).  

I nearly died laughing! This guy was on for about 20 minutes and he was hilarious!

So that's been my few days.  Still sick, but doing better today then I was yesterday.  going to stay home tomorrow morning, but I'm planning on going to my evening class.  Back to school as usual on Wednesday! YAY!  2 more weeks of classes!

Wow.  I sat and stared at my computer screen and just thought....wow.
This is supposed to be entertainment? This is complete bullshit!
Fuck you Fox News!

Mom and I went to the clinic first thing this morning.  I went with mom because she wanted a second set of ears for whatever the doc had to say.  It turns out it was a good thing I went because mom didn't remember all that much about what happened last evening.  I guess she was too scared and panicked at the time.  So I had to tell the doctor what mom had described to me on the phone last night.  Mom is still having residual side affects from the antibiotics and endured a few of them while the doctor was looking at her.  So Doc gave her new antibiotics that she only has to take once a day instead of every 8 hours so that is better for her.  Now she doesn't have to keep track of time and remember to take meds at all hours of the day and night like before.

After we finished at the doctor's office we went for breakfast with Janet and her daughter. Mom didn't eat as much as she normally does but she didn't have any trouble keeping the food down and we had a pleasant 2 hour visit.  Then we went shopping at Costco and mom had to run to the bathroom twice...but all things considered that's not too bad.  It's now been 24 hours since mom last took those anitbiotics and it seems to have cleared her system.

We will have to wait and see how these new meds go.  I'm really hoping that they work for her and that she'll be off them completely in the next five days.  It still looks like she'll be able to go back to work on Monday as long as she keeps her foot up as much as possible and since she has a desk job, that shouldn't be a problem.

So YAY to things getting better.  I'm sticking around home tonight and Eric will be home tomorrow while I'm out.  I really don't want to risk a repeat of yesterday.

Thanks for the words of comfort guys.  They made a difference.

I'm gonna go take a nap :)

NO ONE who knows my mom is allowed to tell her I wrote this here...she told me not to post about this on facebook and I really agree that it's not a good idea...but this is not facebook.  And I need to get this off my chest.  I am so Frustrated! and a whole bunch a feelings that I don't know how to describe, and right now there's no one available for me to chat with cause they are either sleeping or at work or whatever.

My mom is sick.

she's getting better, but this has been a week from hell!

It started last Tuesday night when she came to pick me up from school at 9pm and could barely stay awake long enough to drive us home.  We had to get off the highway because the cars passing us kept startling her.  That isn't all that unusual because she's often tired.  Wednesday morning she wakes up and has what looks like a bug bite of some sort on her left leg just above her ankle.  It's all red and puffy and hot and sore to touch.  But it's just a bug bite, so she goes to work.  By the time she gets home that night it's spread all the way around her leg and is touching on both sides.   So Eric and I convince her to go to the clinic.  Definitely not a bug bite!  Doc doesn't like it and marks the edges in pen and tells her to come back if it speads outside the lines.  Doc gives mom meds and tells her to stay home and keep her feet up.  

Next morning (Thursday) mom can hardly walk at first cause her leg is so sore and stiff.  Pink has spread quite a bit, but it's not red or puffy so she waits for Janet (my adopted mom) to get back from her appointment to take her to the doctors.  By this time it's spread half way to her knee and it's red.  So Doc takes one look at her and sends her to Emerge (hospital).  I get a phone call around 4pm from Janet's daughter telling me Janet took my mom to the hospital.  They get back after 8pm and it turns out mom has a subcutaneous skin infection called Cellulitis which can be deadly if not treated.  

Mom had to go to the hospital for IV antibiotics every 8 hours from Thursday through Saturday and then she was given a fanny pack and a portable IV tape that would give her a dose every 8 hours. So instead of going to the hospital 3 times a day, she only has to go once a day.  But this means that I had to help her get changed, do her nightly routine and morning routine and anything else that requires two hands, also she had very strict orders to keep her foot elevated and not move around too much so that left cooking and what have you to me too....on top of school and everything else.  No one slept much at all this past week.  Janet took mom to the hospital for all her appointments and my brother drove her the few times Janet couldn't (when he wasn't working).  Mom cried every time the IV turned on.

Mom was taken off the IV yesterday afternoon so I thought things were a lot better.  So I went to school today and Eric went to work and then after school I went to have dinner with Tricia cause I haven't seen her since New Years.  Half way through dinner I get the most disturbing phone call of my life.  I went into full panic mode, and I think I freaked out Tricia too.  My mom called me and she sounded so scared.  She must be allergic to the meds or something because what happened tonight really shouldn't have happened and it's a bit too personal for me to write about here.  It was bad.  And she was home alone and I feel so guilty for not being home with her.  I was in South Keys which is over an hour from home by bus... at least 30 minutes by taxi.  She asked me to come home and help her and I couldn't get there, not in time to help her at all.

After things calmed down a bit and mom went to get cleaned up, I called Janet and told her to call mom after 10 minutes if mom hadn't called her yet.  I told her what happened and she said she'd wait 20 minutes then call mom.  Mom called her first and things were ok.  Janet let me know what was going on and I was able to stop worrying. 

God, I have never felt so scared and helpless in my life!  ok that's not true, I felt that way when my dad died and I really don't need to go there!

SO, tomorrow we are going back to the clinic to get rid of those damn meds and get some other type of meds because she NEEDS antibiotics to get over this.  It's been over a week of me seeing her in pain and watching her cry and having to help her with everything!  I just want this to end!  I am so tired.  I don't mean to sound selfish, frell.  I want her to be better and for this to go away. and I really need to stop shaking and calm down so I can go to sleep too.  Mom's fine for now, she's in bed and she's asleep...I should do the same.
 

My cousin had her baby girl!!!  Welcome to the world Myleigh.  Born on March 3rd.  8lbs 11oz.   although I don't have any more information than that yet. I have seen pictures on facebook....but I'm still waiting to know more!

CONGRATULATIONS SARA AND  ROBERT ON YOUR BEAUTIFUL BABY GIRL!!!  

 

She really is amazing!
Love ya hun!

Call us where you get a chance, mom wants to hear all about it (so do I).
 

Well, it's been a crazy semester so far!

I have only one exam this semester and it's before the exam period officially starts.  Instead I have 3 papers to worry about.  I think I actually prefer exams to papers.  At least with an exam you know that it's on a specific day and that you have three hours to write it and then it's over.  With a paper you have weeks to worry about it and work on it and it just never seems to end.  Especially when you have three to write.

The buses are finally running again.  We had no city buses from December 10th until February 7th.  The buses are still on reduced routes, but according to OCTranspo website, all routes will be back as of March 16th.  Full Service. YAY!!!  I have missed so many classes this semester because I had no way to get to school.  Now I am actually able to get to school every day and it's nice not to have to worry about getting caught up on classes that I had to miss...repeatedly.

Yesterday was the Japanese Regional (Provincial) Speech Contest.  I entered into the Advanced category along with one other person from my class (Egor).  I knew that Egor would be my only real competition for this thing (cause he's really good) and I was right. Egor beat me. He got first place and I came in second place.  But Second place is still really good!!  So I'm happy.  If anyone else had beaten me I would be pretty disappointed, but it's Egor, so it's OK.

My speech was called Family, and was about how the Farscape Community is an amazing family.  It was just under 5 minutes long and had to be completely memorized.  One of the judges was the same as 2 years ago when I last competed and she remembered me and told me (and everyone else at the competition) how much my Japanese has improved in the last two years and that my speech was really well done.  Apparently it was a really hard decision to choose between Egor and I. That makes me feel good. 

So now I have a paper to write for Tuesday (a case study, actually).  So now that the speech contest is over I can finally concentrate on that.  I tell you, it just never ends! LOL

I hope everyone on my flist is doing well!
Take care everyone!
Lisa

MERRY CHRISTMAS/HAPPY HOLIDAY to everyone on my flist!!!

I hope you all have a wonderful day with family and/or friends.

I got my Christmas present today.  When I was in Burbank for the Farscape convention I ordered myself Crichton's long black trench coat.  Had to get it custom fit for me.  It came in today and it is perfect!  I am in love with this coat!  I really need my brother to come home so I can get him to take a picture of me in it.  LOVE IT!!!

so once again,
Season's Greetings to all.  Have a wonderful holiday everyone!