Life is good.
Can't say that, a month after breaking up with the only person I ever considered spending my whole life with, I ever would have expected to be so content. But I am, even though it seems sometimes that people are trying to make my life difficult.
I've got some good things happening right now. And while some of them are not all together a secret, I'm just keeping a bit quieter than usual in one respect.
- Work -
I've got an endless expanse of opportunity ahead of me. I've been tossing around the idea of finding work on a cruise ship (I always inadvertently type "shit" when I write that!) for a few months next year. It was something I wanted to do a few years back but kinda forgot about. I know a girl that's been doing it for a few years and loves it, so I'm hoping to get a few pointers there. And what a great opportunity to work and travel!?
Other than that, my great plan of being able to go back to Australia on a different passport might be failing. I did a bit of research into it recently and I have a feeling it's not as easy as I would have hoped. However, I am still going to get my Irish passport so that I can work in Europe later.
I think I've decided to stay here in London until at least Christmas this year. I don't know exactly what I'll do after that, but that's kinda what I'm thinking right now. Obviously not going to just ditch my job... will likely aim to have a replacement before I take off anywhere. I'm sure the boss will appreciate it.
- Living -
I found a roommate!! I'm super excited about this too. I answered an ad on kijiji and we both hit it off right away. The girl that's moving in is about 21, has a dog, is into photography and is pretty much the same as I am when it comes to music/movies/etc. So I think things will go really well! She's moving in June 1st. The other great thing? She's not a student and thus isn't taking off anywhere any time soon - which means I wont' have to search for someone to live with me afterwards!
- Adventure -
My next big trip is out to Vancouver for Canada day weekend. However, not certain how that's going to go. Originally we (Trishelle and I) were planning on staying with S and wD, but with my breaking up with DJ things have gotten awkward there, apparently. Not on my end, mind you, more so on wD's. So now the question remains: Where do we stay if we are to go out to Vancouver? Hostel? Hotel? Or do we go to Vancouver at all? I was looking into changing my flights and where we could go for the same price - and if we're having to spend money on a hotel anyway, why not go somewhere exciting? So I've been considering Nassau, Bahamas a little bit.
Who knows though, maybe things will be okay a month from now.
Other than that, I'm heading up to Ottawa this weekend and taking Ren with me. Trishelle was supposed to come for the weekend but bailed on me for who knows why now... at least I still have Ren. The weather should be beautiful... I'm so looking forward to the time off work.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Self Inflicted, but for the best
Argh! I spent like, an hour yesterday composing a really long entry and then silly me closed the window without saving. That's what I get for composing outside of the usual Blogger window that's smart enough to auto save for me as I ramble.
I realize that my last post kinda left everyone hanging (everyone being the like, 3 people I know actively read this blog) and I think it's time that I explain why exactly I need(ed) a contingency plan.
Wed night, right before I posted my last post, Dave and I broke up. After 2.5 years of being back together (and 6 years pretty much to the date since we started dating) we realized that we're not good at being in a relationship together, at least not in some of the more important ways.
It happened like this. I arrived home to find Dave sitting at my kitchen table waiting for me. The first words out of his mouth were "We have to talk". We've never had a "sit down, lets talk" experience in all of our years together so I was a bit nervous to say the least. He confronted me about something that had happened in Vegas (and chose not to stay there, apparently.) and I told him his going to Japan has had my brain all effed up. He said he couldn't stay here anymore and that we'd talk soon, took his things and left.
I spent the remainder of the night on the phone with anyone and everyone. As I've come to realize, when I have a problem - with my relationship, my work, whatever - I discuss with those close to me... but not those involved. So while I've discussed any problems Dave and I might have been having with my friends until I've felt comfortable with the issue, it never is fully resolved with Dave.
So we met on Monday to sit down and talk. It was nerve wracking! Our first "real" talk since getting back together. The last time we'd had one of these talks was on his birthday, after I got home from Australia and before he left for China. And after that I was left wondering why we'd broken up in the first place.
We laid it all out, well, mostly.
I told him that in his decision to go to Japan he never considered me. All my friends had said that it wasn't fair of him to just decide to go without consulting me, as we were a "unit". I had told them all they were wrong, that if I had the opportunity I would also take it, blah blah blah. However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized they were right. And so we talked about this. He had thought that there wasn't much point in talking about it until it was final, to which I replied "which would have been way too late!" I never would have told him not to go, but I would have liked a bit of consideration on his part in regards to my feelings.
We also talked about our inability to communicate with each other when it comes to issues. We're both "path of least resistance" type people and won't confront someone when something bothers us. This is fine if you're a country like, say, Switzerland, but in a relationship that eventually leads to other problems.
We discussed how we've fallen into a rut. We live together, see each other every day etc but we've turned into roommates instead of partners. More and more we've become comfortable doing things separately - hanging out with friends, doing groceries, etc. Sure we hang out at home but that intimacy of a relationship has been lost.
We had a good talk. But it came back down to one thing - we have a lot of problems that we would have to solve before his going to Japan. And, with his going away, IS there a point in trying to fix them now? Both of us agreed that no, there isn't really. I still love him, I do. I think he is one of the nicest people I know and we get along marvelously. We're just too similar in our inability to discuss problems and deal with them.
So we called it quits. We've been taking a break from seeing each other, only communicating when absolutely necessary. It seems to be for the best, since seeing each other often we would likely fall back into the same patterns and repeat the same mistakes.
I realize that my last post kinda left everyone hanging (everyone being the like, 3 people I know actively read this blog) and I think it's time that I explain why exactly I need(ed) a contingency plan.
Wed night, right before I posted my last post, Dave and I broke up. After 2.5 years of being back together (and 6 years pretty much to the date since we started dating) we realized that we're not good at being in a relationship together, at least not in some of the more important ways.
It happened like this. I arrived home to find Dave sitting at my kitchen table waiting for me. The first words out of his mouth were "We have to talk". We've never had a "sit down, lets talk" experience in all of our years together so I was a bit nervous to say the least. He confronted me about something that had happened in Vegas (and chose not to stay there, apparently.) and I told him his going to Japan has had my brain all effed up. He said he couldn't stay here anymore and that we'd talk soon, took his things and left.
I spent the remainder of the night on the phone with anyone and everyone. As I've come to realize, when I have a problem - with my relationship, my work, whatever - I discuss with those close to me... but not those involved. So while I've discussed any problems Dave and I might have been having with my friends until I've felt comfortable with the issue, it never is fully resolved with Dave.
So we met on Monday to sit down and talk. It was nerve wracking! Our first "real" talk since getting back together. The last time we'd had one of these talks was on his birthday, after I got home from Australia and before he left for China. And after that I was left wondering why we'd broken up in the first place.
We laid it all out, well, mostly.
I told him that in his decision to go to Japan he never considered me. All my friends had said that it wasn't fair of him to just decide to go without consulting me, as we were a "unit". I had told them all they were wrong, that if I had the opportunity I would also take it, blah blah blah. However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized they were right. And so we talked about this. He had thought that there wasn't much point in talking about it until it was final, to which I replied "which would have been way too late!" I never would have told him not to go, but I would have liked a bit of consideration on his part in regards to my feelings.
We also talked about our inability to communicate with each other when it comes to issues. We're both "path of least resistance" type people and won't confront someone when something bothers us. This is fine if you're a country like, say, Switzerland, but in a relationship that eventually leads to other problems.
We discussed how we've fallen into a rut. We live together, see each other every day etc but we've turned into roommates instead of partners. More and more we've become comfortable doing things separately - hanging out with friends, doing groceries, etc. Sure we hang out at home but that intimacy of a relationship has been lost.
We had a good talk. But it came back down to one thing - we have a lot of problems that we would have to solve before his going to Japan. And, with his going away, IS there a point in trying to fix them now? Both of us agreed that no, there isn't really. I still love him, I do. I think he is one of the nicest people I know and we get along marvelously. We're just too similar in our inability to discuss problems and deal with them.
So we called it quits. We've been taking a break from seeing each other, only communicating when absolutely necessary. It seems to be for the best, since seeing each other often we would likely fall back into the same patterns and repeat the same mistakes.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
and... cue contingency plan
Life has recently taken a nosedive.
I've gotta come up with a new plan for my life since the last one is officially in the crapper.
And this time, it's completely my fault.
I've gotta come up with a new plan for my life since the last one is officially in the crapper.
And this time, it's completely my fault.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Las Vegas
I realized I haven't really mentioned anything about my recent trip... Not because nothing happened but because I've been too busy playing catchup since getting back to get around to it!!
I drove down to Niagara on the Lake to meet Ange and leave her car at her dad's work. From there we took my car across the border (Ange might have flirted with the border guard a little bit) and then to our hotel for the night. It wasn't anything to write home about, but it was a place to park the car and sleep a little bit before heading out in the morning.
We went to Cracker Barrel for dinner (apparently it's THE place to eat in the US - it reminded me of the Crossroads in Elmira, which is all mennonite cooking).
It took forever to get to sleep on the Thursday night, and we were up again at 3:30am. Got ourselves dressed and ready to go and took the shuttle to the airport. I was incredibly impressed with the friendliness of all the security people at the airport.
Finally got on the plane (we were there at 5am and the flight didn't leave til 6:30... way too early) and then flew to Detroit. Stupid me forgot my headphones in my car and thus couldn't listen to music. Flew out of Detroit and arrived in Las Vegas at about 10:30am.
Got ourselves through the airport and outside into the nice warm air. Got a shuttle to our hotel and then went to find something to eat. We managed to be find some food and check in fairly early... and then off to the pool we went.
Spent a lot of the day laying poolside soaking up the (hot) Las Vegas sun. Drank some beers and then went for a walk over to New York, New York for dinner... on the way over there I managed to have a door swing back and hit me in the leg and cause me to bleed. For an epicly long time. *sigh*
After our naps we decided to go for a walk up the strip. Walked as far as Caesar's Palace and Ange found Serendipity - an ice cream place that's somehow connected to her favourite movie. Ate again...got this huge sandwich that I only managed to finish half of. Took the rest home and packed it in the garbage can under lots of ice.
I'm sure we did other things- mostly drinking beers here or there, I think... but eventually went to bed and got up the next morning.
Ate breakfast and checked our emails (there was free wifi in the food court) and then went out to the pool. Continued to burn ourselves to a crisp. Spent probably another 4 hours outside again. Went inside, changed and got ready to go for lunch at Burger Bar, which was between Luxor and Mandalay Bay. Walked over there, sat down and ordered... and then Ange's sweet tea somehow spilled all over her lap. She was drenched head to toe... so after lunch we had to walk back to the hotel room (3 hotels over!) and get her changed. Headed back out to the outlet mall south of the strip to do some shopping. I bought some strappy wedge sandals so that I could dress up.
Our bad luck of the day didn't end there though - while we were at the mall I managed to lose my cell phone. I didn't realize until I was back in the cab to go to the hotel. We drove around the block and back into the mall. I ran to the bench I'd been sitting on and looked for my phone - it wasn't there. I checked with the Nike store, not there... went to information to see if anyone had turned it in, but they hadn't seen anything. They told me to call the next day and they'd check to see if anything had been turned in.
Went back to the hotel, had another nap and then got all dressed up to go out for drinks at Mix, a club at theHOTEL, which is part of Mandalay bay. It's on the 64th floor of the place and overlooks the whole strip - pretty amazing view.
It was another late night by the time we got home...
Sunday morning was again spent poolside, but since it wasn't as sunny we didnt' stay out that long. Decided to walk up the strip further and see the stuff we hadn't managed to see before. Made it all the way up to the Wynn before we were exhausted. Ate a big lunch at a cowboy themed place at Treasure Island (mmm pulled pork sandwich) and then took the bus back to the hotel. On the bus Ange and I got into a massive giggle fit about the woman behind us smacking away on her gum and then the guy ahead of us who's XL sticker was still on the back of his shirt.
When we got back to the hotel we decided to waste some money in the slot machines. Once it got dark went for another quick walk to get some pictures of Vegas at night with my SLR.
Also, I called the outlet mall to see if anyone had found my phone - and they had!! I was amazed. They said I could come get it, but I figured I'd wait til Monday morning before catching our flight to get it... spare ourselves having to take a cab 2x.
Got dolled up again, this time wearing our "What Happens In Vegas" shirts that we'd made. We grabbed a bite to eat at the food court and headed out to MGM to try to get into Studio 54... which we couldn't. There was a private function going on. So, we headed over to New York New York and went to Rok Vegas, which wasn't a rock club... had a great time. We got a tonne of people to sign our shirts and made friends with some guys from Scotland who were there for a guy's bachelor party.
After a few incidents we headed over to this cool little piano bar also at New York New York. Stayed there for a while and then went back to our hotel to gamble a bit. I spent a grand total of $5. Hahah whoot!
Monday morning arrived and we got ourselves ready to go home :(
Checked out and took a cab to the mall to get my phone. After a bit of miscommunication it was determined that yes, my phone was there. I got it back and we headed towards the airport. However, on the way we realized we'd forgotten our passports in the hotel!! So back to the hotel instead and Ange ran to get them... she returned not too long later and informed me that because my name was on the room I had to go... so I ran up there and conveniently the maid was cleaning our room at the time. I got our passports and ran back down... back in a cab we got and to the airport. ... with just enough time to check in.
The flights were thankfully uneventful. We had to connect through Atlanta, which was kinda out of the way, but got back to Buffalo around 11pm.
I dropped Ange off at her dad's work and we parted ways.... and I drove back to London... got home around 2:30 or 3:00am... and immediately crashed.
Such a great trip. I'd love to do it again, but with more money to spend. It's not a cheap place to go, and you can't really spend more than 4 days there without getting overwhelmed (or needing a liver detox) but I think it was definitely worth it!!
I drove down to Niagara on the Lake to meet Ange and leave her car at her dad's work. From there we took my car across the border (Ange might have flirted with the border guard a little bit) and then to our hotel for the night. It wasn't anything to write home about, but it was a place to park the car and sleep a little bit before heading out in the morning.
We went to Cracker Barrel for dinner (apparently it's THE place to eat in the US - it reminded me of the Crossroads in Elmira, which is all mennonite cooking).
It took forever to get to sleep on the Thursday night, and we were up again at 3:30am. Got ourselves dressed and ready to go and took the shuttle to the airport. I was incredibly impressed with the friendliness of all the security people at the airport.
Finally got on the plane (we were there at 5am and the flight didn't leave til 6:30... way too early) and then flew to Detroit. Stupid me forgot my headphones in my car and thus couldn't listen to music. Flew out of Detroit and arrived in Las Vegas at about 10:30am.
Got ourselves through the airport and outside into the nice warm air. Got a shuttle to our hotel and then went to find something to eat. We managed to be find some food and check in fairly early... and then off to the pool we went.
Spent a lot of the day laying poolside soaking up the (hot) Las Vegas sun. Drank some beers and then went for a walk over to New York, New York for dinner... on the way over there I managed to have a door swing back and hit me in the leg and cause me to bleed. For an epicly long time. *sigh*
After our naps we decided to go for a walk up the strip. Walked as far as Caesar's Palace and Ange found Serendipity - an ice cream place that's somehow connected to her favourite movie. Ate again...got this huge sandwich that I only managed to finish half of. Took the rest home and packed it in the garbage can under lots of ice.
I'm sure we did other things- mostly drinking beers here or there, I think... but eventually went to bed and got up the next morning.
Ate breakfast and checked our emails (there was free wifi in the food court) and then went out to the pool. Continued to burn ourselves to a crisp. Spent probably another 4 hours outside again. Went inside, changed and got ready to go for lunch at Burger Bar, which was between Luxor and Mandalay Bay. Walked over there, sat down and ordered... and then Ange's sweet tea somehow spilled all over her lap. She was drenched head to toe... so after lunch we had to walk back to the hotel room (3 hotels over!) and get her changed. Headed back out to the outlet mall south of the strip to do some shopping. I bought some strappy wedge sandals so that I could dress up.
Our bad luck of the day didn't end there though - while we were at the mall I managed to lose my cell phone. I didn't realize until I was back in the cab to go to the hotel. We drove around the block and back into the mall. I ran to the bench I'd been sitting on and looked for my phone - it wasn't there. I checked with the Nike store, not there... went to information to see if anyone had turned it in, but they hadn't seen anything. They told me to call the next day and they'd check to see if anything had been turned in.
Went back to the hotel, had another nap and then got all dressed up to go out for drinks at Mix, a club at theHOTEL, which is part of Mandalay bay. It's on the 64th floor of the place and overlooks the whole strip - pretty amazing view.
It was another late night by the time we got home...
Sunday morning was again spent poolside, but since it wasn't as sunny we didnt' stay out that long. Decided to walk up the strip further and see the stuff we hadn't managed to see before. Made it all the way up to the Wynn before we were exhausted. Ate a big lunch at a cowboy themed place at Treasure Island (mmm pulled pork sandwich) and then took the bus back to the hotel. On the bus Ange and I got into a massive giggle fit about the woman behind us smacking away on her gum and then the guy ahead of us who's XL sticker was still on the back of his shirt.
When we got back to the hotel we decided to waste some money in the slot machines. Once it got dark went for another quick walk to get some pictures of Vegas at night with my SLR.
Also, I called the outlet mall to see if anyone had found my phone - and they had!! I was amazed. They said I could come get it, but I figured I'd wait til Monday morning before catching our flight to get it... spare ourselves having to take a cab 2x.
Got dolled up again, this time wearing our "What Happens In Vegas" shirts that we'd made. We grabbed a bite to eat at the food court and headed out to MGM to try to get into Studio 54... which we couldn't. There was a private function going on. So, we headed over to New York New York and went to Rok Vegas, which wasn't a rock club... had a great time. We got a tonne of people to sign our shirts and made friends with some guys from Scotland who were there for a guy's bachelor party.
After a few incidents we headed over to this cool little piano bar also at New York New York. Stayed there for a while and then went back to our hotel to gamble a bit. I spent a grand total of $5. Hahah whoot!
Monday morning arrived and we got ourselves ready to go home :(
Checked out and took a cab to the mall to get my phone. After a bit of miscommunication it was determined that yes, my phone was there. I got it back and we headed towards the airport. However, on the way we realized we'd forgotten our passports in the hotel!! So back to the hotel instead and Ange ran to get them... she returned not too long later and informed me that because my name was on the room I had to go... so I ran up there and conveniently the maid was cleaning our room at the time. I got our passports and ran back down... back in a cab we got and to the airport. ... with just enough time to check in.
The flights were thankfully uneventful. We had to connect through Atlanta, which was kinda out of the way, but got back to Buffalo around 11pm.
I dropped Ange off at her dad's work and we parted ways.... and I drove back to London... got home around 2:30 or 3:00am... and immediately crashed.
Such a great trip. I'd love to do it again, but with more money to spend. It's not a cheap place to go, and you can't really spend more than 4 days there without getting overwhelmed (or needing a liver detox) but I think it was definitely worth it!!
Friday, April 2, 2010
Latest and Greatest Plan
I was sitting around today thinking about how am I going to work in the EU after I'm 30 if I can't get a working holiday visa - and then it hit me! I can get dual citizenship to Ireland and get a passport! Hurray!!
So I've been doing my research - if I've got a grandparent who was born in Ireland I can apply for citizenship. I have to provide a birth certificate, a marriage certificate and a death certificate. Not totally certain what to do after that, but I'm thinking I'll start the process soon.
Yay!!!
So I've been doing my research - if I've got a grandparent who was born in Ireland I can apply for citizenship. I have to provide a birth certificate, a marriage certificate and a death certificate. Not totally certain what to do after that, but I'm thinking I'll start the process soon.
Yay!!!
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