Life as J

I love Christmas. I think it's the best holiday ever - and I know I'm not religious, but that doesn't seem to matter now anyway. As I mentioned before, it's not about the presents for me... I'll gladly give presents to my family, but receiving is of no consequence... it's all about the family and togetherness. Yes, I'm getting sappy. Holidays bring out that part of me - I think I've cried a little bit every day. I've cried because I'm so happy I'm home, enjoying this time with my parents. I've cried because I don't know when I'll be home again - after I graduate, I don't know where I'll be. I've cried from seeing happy endings (Pursuit of Happyness ) and sad endings (Charlotte's Web). I've been a regular water fountain. With a pinch of salt. I'm looking around my room now, and it's in partial disarray - some things are packed in the two suitcases I'm bringing back to Waterloo, and other belo...

It's been an eventful week, to state the obvious. Lots of smiles, laughter, tears, and excitement made the past seven days quite the roller coaster ride! I thought about splitting up this post into several bite-size chunks, but then figured it would all end up in the same place anyway. Here's hoping it won't be a confusing read for you... Last Saturday was PMC's annual Christmas Party. Or rather, "Holiday" Party if you're a stickler for political correctness. This year, they held it at the Westin Bayshore Hotel near Stanley Park and it was magnificently decorated - of course, it would be, considering three companies were having their holiday parties that night. The food was delicious - steak and salmon with a yummy chocolate mousse cake for dessert - but the best part was seeing everyone all dressed up... and drunk! A couple of my teammates decided to pre -drink before the shindig and it definitely showed - they were the quintessential happy drun...

Today was quite an interesting day at work. Most of the co-ops are finishing their work terms next week, so the company decided to provide a pizza lunch to all of us and our managers. The lunch was nothing particularly spectacular, but the CEO was among the attendees! Yes, Bob Bailey himself came and delivered a personal thank you speech to us and opened the floor for any questions we had. No one seemed to want to break the ice, so I decided to ask him (and the VP of HR) about new hires for the upcoming year and timelines for the hiring. After answering my question, he asked for feedback on our PMC experience. Again, I responded, saying positive things about how they keep their employees continually informed about company objectives and progress. Then, they asked for any suggestions for improvement - and I pointed out the lack of connection between co-op and new grad hires. Following their response, Bob Bailey had to head out to another meeting so everyone was left to mingle an...

In an ideal world, everyone should be treated to a spa at least once a week. For those who have never experienced a luxury massage, I know exactly how you feel. Until today, all my knowledge on the subject consisted of bits and pieces shown on TV and in movies - the typical towel around your midsection, lying on a table, and having someone perform a massage. You've probably seen the same thing - a masseuse kneading the person's back, or chopping their hands up and down the back, or even using their feet and walking on the person. Or maybe, you've had the good fortune to be prescribed massages by your doctor/physiotherapist. I'm not sure what those are like, but I'm sure they're pretty good too - especially since you can charge it to health care if you have extended coverage! Tonight, I enjoyed my very first spa treatment - a Utopian massage. It was apparently one of those famous Swedish massages, but with a twist. In addition to the typical hand massage ove...

I have no idea why this always happens - it seems as if every term I hit a period where it's impossible for me to have a good sleep. Usually, I have "dreamless" nights where I don't wake up until my alarm clock tells me to. During these trying times, I always have dreams which cause me to wake up at least once in the middle of the night. I don't think stress is a factor - although, I suppose that might be a quasi-lie in light of my last post. Seriously though, I try to vent out my stress during the day so that I don't keep it inside. Affirmation is easily attainable, trust me. Work-related anxiety is especially common these days - things are pretty tense around my cubicle because of issues I'm responsible for. It gets so frustrating sometimes, but I'm lucky in the sense that there are always co-workers around who are able to sneak in a laugh. At home, I guess the upcoming Christmas holiday might induce a bit of worry into my life. Holidays are a...

This morning, my colleague pointed out that my work term is coming to an end very soon and asked how I felt. In the past, at the end of a work term, I've always been hit with a slight feeling of reluctance since work terms tend to be much more interesting than study terms. This time, that reluctance hit me, but much harder than normal. I have no doubt that the cause is the upcoming graduation - it will be my last 4 months as a student, after which "real life" will begin. In my case, "real life" is a huge unknown because, like everyone else, I have yet to make those key choices. At least I know one thing - I'll definitely be working after I finish my undergrad degree. In the future, if I want to go back for a Masters degree or go to teacher's college, so be it. Right now though, I think I've had my fill of sitting in lectures all day. The big question mark is WHERE? The job hunt so far has been okay - a few interviews here and there with decent...

My last post was kind of depressing, so I suppose it's time for looking on the bright side - I'm walking almost normally again! After doing my own physiotherapy as regularly as possible, I'm very close to achieving full range of motion although I still feel a bit less stable than before my accident. Even if I'm harbouring a slight limp, I'm pretty happy with the progress I've made within this past month. With everything going so well, I figured I was strong enough to travel to California for my friend's birthday. Since they had come to visit me a couple of weeks after my surgery, I thought it would be nice to pay them a visit before the end of the term. I was one of three people who flew down to California for the birthday celebration, so it was quite a crowd for the small apartment. In the end, two of us stayed at a nearby hotel to alleviate some of the space. Otherwise, the whole group stayed together for most of the weekend. On Friday night, after in...

I can't believe it's already December - I know time flies and all that, but it really doesn't seem like 3 months has passed since I started my work term. Anyway, I decided to stop procrastinating and get on with updating this blog. My laptop is partially to blame for my recent absence - apparently, my hard drive is on its last limbs (once again). I blame Dell for not encouraging its users to upgrade their BIOS - yes, that's right, I know what that means now! Mine hadn't been upgraded since its inception in 2001 and it was causing my hard drive to constantly turn off and on regardless of what processes were running. As a result, my hard drive has been turned on and off more than 60,000 times since I first powered it on way back in 2002. No wonder it's died twice. I'm crossing my fingers that this upgraded BIOS will keep my laptop running until I graduate, then I can purchase a shiny new laptop that will run properly! Besides my recurring laptop problems, weat...