Ingrained habits.

Since being diagnosed as lactose intolerant, I've had to make some major changes in my diet. There's a lot more reading of food labels at the grocery store and a lot of sending waitstaff back to the kitchen to inquire whether their pancake mix contains milk.

But the fact that I lived for 24 years being able to drink milk has ingrained certain habits in me and every now and then, when I'm in a rush or stressed out, I get to a restaurant or coffee shop and order without thinking.

For example, this afternoon after my last class (ever!) I needed a caffeine boost before being able to delve into my major paper. This brought me to Second Cup, conveniently located right across from the law building. In a state of exhaustion, I ordered a giant vanilla bean latte, sat down with my books and then realized there was no way I was going to be able to drink it.

21 days.

Three weeks from today I will in Athens, spending the day seeing the Acropolis and the city.
Three weeks and one day from today, I will be onboard a cruise ship, heading to the Greek Islands, Egypt and Turkey.

It is difficult to concentrate on writing a paper when I'm distracted by planning camel riding adventures to the pyramids with future cruise mates.

Coda.

Last night was the last Domus of the year and my last Domus ever. It was a little bit nostalgic. I returned to Quinpool for some pre-domus drinks with the girls, since that's where many pre-domus parties were held over the last couple years. While downing a bottle of wine, we reminisced about all the crazy adventures that had stemmed from drunken nights at Domus...like the 5 in 7 week, the "points system" and the mini-pizza adventure one night in September of first year....and many more adventures, most of which are unfortunately not suitable for publication on the internet.

We headed to Domus, where we drank and danced. When the bar closed, we headed to the Alehouse. Sometime around 330am I found myself embraced in a giant group hug of law students, all swaying back and forth as the band played Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol.

This is it. Things are coming to an end. The real world is fast approaching. The second movement is coming to a close. Another chapter in my life over, time to move on to something new.

It's a little bit sad. I'm going to miss these people.

The coda begins. 17 days left. Graduation in less than two months.

Once upon a time I used to update.

Then I got sick, then I got busy with school, then I got sick again (story of my life), then the boyfriend got in a motorcycle accident, then I spent all my free time in hospitals, then it was exam time, then it was Christmas, then I went to New York, and now here I am, just recovered from yet another illness that my shitty immunce system can't fight off. Somewhere in between all that I got drunk, partied with friends, destroyed yet another digital camera by dropping it into water, and ate out far more than my waistline would have liked.

And now, there are only a few short months left in this second movement. Then articling and real life and paying bills. It'll be time for a new and improved blog....I can't decide what I should name it....I fear that it may end up being the equivalent of Berlioz's March to the Scaffold.

There's been too much funny stuff going on lately, like the following conversation:

Me (after spending an hour cooking): Time for supper boys.
Liam (age 8, entering the kitchen): What's that disgusting smell?
Jacob (age 5, seated at the table): That's your foooood.
Me (unsuccessful attempt to contain my laughter).

5am.

It is 5am. I am now the most sober I have been in the past 24 hours. Unfortunately, I am also wide awake.

No, I have not been drinking all day. I have been stoned out of my tree on cold medication. Usually my body can handle cold medication, but for no apparent reason, today it chose to go psycho on me. I took two Tylenol cold and sinus before my 930 class this morning. Six hours later, I was still so high, I was lying in my bed giggling. When I finally started to sober up, I also started feeling like crap again and had to take more drugs. I switched to a different variety in hopes of avoiding another crazy reaction. No luck. Normally I would have welcomed the giddy high feeling, given that I was feeling like crap. But when you've been high for 6 hours, it starts to get a little old. Ugh.

I have a week left of work.
I have about three weeks worth of work to do.
I'm not sure exactly how this is going to work.

Teenagers.

As I sit here, waiting up for the teenager who was supposed to be home a half an hour ago, I suddenly get a glimpse of what parents go through during the teenage years.

This is agony and I'm not even his mother.
God help me when my own kids are teenagers.

33 minutes late and counting....

Once upon a time I used to update...

Nowadays, I'm just too busy. I work a lot. When I'm not working, I'm running around trying to see friends who complain about never seeing me. Other than that, I sleep....not enough, mind you.

So what's been happening? Lots.

Unfortunately I'm too tired to write about it. And I'm not supposed to be looking at the computer screen anyway. Yesterday, my eye twitch suddenly worsened. Usually it just makes my eyelid jump, but for no reason it chose to expand out to the muscles at the side of my eye as well and caused my cheek to go numb. Apparently, I need to rest and relax and limit my reading/computer screen time. (What the doctor didn't seem to understand is that that would essentially involve me quitting my job.)

I never had any problems with my eyes until I went to law school. Now I've got a twitch. Occupational hazard?

Must get off computer.

Romkey comes home tomorrow!

Newfieland.

The last time I went to Newfoundland was with the Provincial Under 15 Soccer team to compete at the Atlantics. It was not the most pleasant of experiences.

We left about 3am in order to catch the ferry from Cape Breton. Our ferry crossing began in a torrential rainstorm, accompanied with a lot of wind. About two hours out, a pregnant woman went into labour and they had to turn the boat around. The rest of the crossing was horrendous. It felt like we were travelling through some sort of monsoon hurricane (if there is such a thing). My father, acting as team doctor, ran out of Gravol. Everyone was seasick. People were puking all over the boat. I remember curling up on the bench seat of a booth in the cafeteria with my sister and wanting to die. The crossing took about six hours longer than it was supposed to. I swore I would never go back to Newfoundland unless I was on a plane.

Tomorrow I do just that. I expect I'll enjoy myself a little more this time.

Voicemail.

"It was nice to have seen you the other night in the Delta. You look wonderful....(pause)...You look very happy. I hope things are going well."

Thank you.
I am.
They are.

Part 2 of Canada Day Weekend: Downtown Drunkeness

sleep in.
miss breakfast at smitty's.
head downtown with the gang.
buskers.
music.
crazy dancing tourists.
so many people.
drinks on the deck at peakes.
dinner at fishbones.
back to the apartment.
drink.
send canada day wishes to dirk in rwanda.
drink some more.
back downtown.
yell at the bouncer at peakes (who wouldn't let more people out on the deck).
push our way to the front of the crowd anyway.
fireworks.
dancing.
drunkeness.
garlic fingers.
sleep.

Part 1 of Canada Day Weekend: Down East Adventure

road trip.
panmure island.
napping on the beach.
montague superstore.
gourmet bbq.
lounging on the deck in the sun.
feeding the horses.
saving a baby bird.
emergency stop on the way back to town to put the top on the convertible.
downpour.
a complete double rainbow.
sunshine.
preparations for canada day.
oceans 13.
sleep.
middle of the night phone calls that made me giggle.
more sleep.

the skinny little kenyan.

perhaps after he told me all my secrets
i should have told him
the one thing he didn't know.

Jump.

Sigh.

After spending yet another night at the office until past midnight, I find myself wishing that, like my sister, I had done dental hygiene instead of law school. The reasons for this are as follows:

1. She's done of school.
2. She's making more money than I'll be making for several years.
3. She starts work at 830am and leaves at 430pm and doesn't think about work outside of that.

I fail to see how I'm paying almost double for my degree and she's making almost double my salary within weeks of her graduation, when I'm the one who is at work until midnight.

Life's not fair.

Not impressed.

When you tell me something is going to take 2-3 days, and that 2-3 days turns into 4-5, and that 4-5 turns into 7 days and then into ten days, I am not impressed. I am further unimpressed by the fact that your fucking answering machine says you're in the office but can't take calls and that I should call back in ten minutes, when you are clearly not in the office.

If I had a choice, I would have fired you last week.