New Everything.

Ok, so, Victoria is only 3 hours away from were I was born and grew up and only 1.5 hours from where I went to College and lived for 7 years, but there's definitely something different about this city, a change I didn't notice so much moving from my hometown to my 'College' town. There's almost always something going on here, arts shows, conferences, concerts, parties, and I'm guessing TONS of other things I never even get to hear about in parts of the city I never even see!

My very good friend, Bonnie and her guy Rob gave Mike and I a really cool 'Welcome to the City' gift, to help acquaint us with our new surroundings! It's a book, and every 2nd page has a brief caption about one of their favourite places in Victoria. On the adjoining page, is a spot for a photo. All of the corresponding photos to each of the captions can be found in the back, and the only way to match them up is to find the spot ourselves, (using the map, brochures and umbrella also included in the gift package). We've been grateful to have that little extra 'insider' exposure to our new City, and really, just grateful to be here! It's been a long time in the making. :)

I'm really enjoying my job so far. I'm the CLub Administrator at the Brand-spankin'-new GoodLife Fitness in the Bay Centre Mall. It's a pretty great company to work for - really admirable values and policies and a pretty wicked-fun work atmosphere. The Club itself is pretty impressive - being from a couple of small towns, I haven't seen a Gym like this before - it's big, and everything's brand new and state-of-the-art.

So, all-in-all everything has been good for us and our move and (almost) complete life overhaul. We've had a couple friends come for a visit (and we'd love to see more!!).

Too Much, Too Youg, Too Fast

I'm worried.
The way that technology's snuffing out our emotional human contact with text messaging, instant messaging, and e mail. We've gone from only having hand-delivered, heart-felt, hand-written letters to communicate with someone far away, to text messages mindlessly 'tapped' up while driving. The true emotion's gone, and so is the meaning.
SO many concerns stem from this: how we're raising our children to live their lives so technology-based, which could directly translate into how they raise their children. Modern-day Moms and Dads are pursuing full-time careers, they're busier and have less time than parents used to so they're using the tv to baby-sit their children, instead of finding games and activities to do WITH the kid. I worry that this is teaching kids to never know how to communicate on a more human, personal level. If I had it my way I'd take away TV's, computers, and cell phones as long as I could for each kid while they're growing up and so impressionable. Cell phones are needed for safety and I understand that. I got a cell phone when I was seventeen, when I started driving on my own. I had limited internet use at home - it was mostly available to me for school resources (studying, looking up information about school subjects, and the odd E-Mail here and there to let the grandparents know how my report card looked). I'm not saying that this is how everyone should be brought up, I just really appreciate that this was how I was raised.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not against the development of technology as it really can be a great thing for our future and it's part of natural, human progression. Humans are inquisitive and smart and always want more, and that's where the development stems from. We can't avoid or stop it. But in each of our lives, we can make decisions to 'kick it old school' and try to pick up the phone more often and actually talk to the person.

Height: 72", wingspan: 79"

I've been watching USA's Michael Phelps swim in the Beijing Olympics.

The man is a machine. 

If you really watch him, before and after his races, he's calm, cool, and collected. Creating yet another world record for his sport is just another thing in his day. No biggie.

If you haven't already been watching this guy, youtube him - he's worth seeing.

Dreams

I'm beginning to wonder if I need some direction. I recently took on a new job (when I didn't need to, as I had a good, stable full-time job), because I thought it would be a really cool experience and a lot of fun and I figure because I'm young, I can run around and not worry about having a secure, stable job. Now recently, I've been asked a lot what my dream is to do (career-wise) and I have no idea. I had a better idea when I graduated highschool of what I wanted to do with myself and now I have no clue. I know that whatever I do, I want to be successful (obviously) and that I want to do something that I genuinely love.  It seems like the next step from there would be determining something I really love to do that I could go to school for to make a career of...if only it were that easy. 

If I hear from more than 2 people (who know me quite well) that I should be a Hairdresser, should I be a hairdresser? Is that a sign?

Ch-ch-changes

A lot of things have changed in my life recently. I may have had a mini meltdown a couple weeks ago in the midst of dealing with these changes but now I'm fine. I've always been a dweller, I can't easily let things go when I really, REALLY should for my own well-being, not to mention easing other's sanity when they have to deal with me, the basket-case.

I do end up realizing that I'm, well, being a big baby, because I see how ridiculous I can seem, but once I finally allow myself to have my little flip-show pity-party, all is miraculously well! Kind of like a hurricane, I barrel through, do what damage I need to do. Unlike a hurricane, I clean up afterwards.

 

Define 'Cute'...

Ok, let's start this Blog off right: With a good ol' Woe-is-me rant!

I am 22 years old. I'm an adult. When will the time come where I'm considered an actual adult and the term 'Cute' will no longer qualify as a label for me? Don't get me wrong - I've accepted the fact that I'm small-framed and face looks like a 15-year-old's (minus the acne)...hell, I have the word 'wee' to describe myself in my email address. What I wanna know is when other adults (even those my age) will understand that they're essentially talking down to me. Calling me 'Cute' when I've done something, Said something, WORN something that these people perceive to be 'cute' is belittling me, in my mind.

Now, I'm sure that to anyone else, I'm just over-analyzing this and reacting to something that, in their minds, 'didn't even mean anything' when it was said, but being called the same thing that babies, baby things, and baby animals are called just gets under my skin.

Do I look like a baby? Do I look like a 22-year-old baby? If so, I better reconsider my makeup regime, low-cut shirts, and ass-hugging, low-rise jeans. I'll alert the other babies, they should know as well...