Varicose Veins and Snowy Blues

Yes, I realize that the title is incredibly random, but all will be explained throughout this blog entry (which, as a forewarning, has the potential to be very long as I have not updated in what seems like forever.

So first, an apology to any regular readers out there (although I'm not sure that there are any.) If any of you have been faithfully checking this spot to share in the drama of my life and have left disappointed, I am sorry. I will try to be more faithful in my updating, so we can all be connected through the magic of my words and ideas.

I wish that everyone could hear my inner monologue. You know when you watch those cheesy sitcoms, and all of a sudden one of the characters gets this great idea and they look up, and suddenly the audience can hear everything they are thinking. There are points where I wish people could hear that inner monologue, so they can tell me to stop being such a moron and get on with my life. Like the other night I was making my bed (yes, I was making my bed at night, just before I was about to crawl in...the sheets were messy...I can't sleep under messy sheets!) and I found myself thinking the weirdest things:

"Man it's cold in this room. I ought to clean everything up, so I can put on some music and dance so I can stay warm. Why is it so cold? Cursed New Brunswick. Sleeping bags. I come home and I get to use sleeping bags. I wonder why mom got mad when I told her I didn't want to do chores because I was a guest. Guests use sleeping bags. I use sleeping bags. I must be a guest. Oh great, this one has paint splatters on it, right where my head is going to be. Awesome. I'd better not die of some toxic poisoning, or someone will pay. Gee, this comforter is heavy. Velcro? Why is their velcro by my face? Oh great! I put the stupid comforter the wrong way around. It's really cold. I don't want to get out of bed anymore. I think I can live with his for one night."

It just goes on and on and on like that constantly. It never stops. This is why I need someone to listen in every now and then and remind me that I am being stupid and give me a good swift kick back into reality.

I can get into these crazy dazes sometimes. I visualize things, either things that have happened, or things that are going to happen (I don't predict the future, I just visualize what I think will happen.) When I visualize the past, I start thinking about things that happened, and what I wish I had done or said. When I visualize the future, I start planning out what will be said in certain situations, or think what things may feel like when they happen. I can get caught up in these escapes from reality to a point where I start talking to myself and acting out some of the things that have happened or I picture will happen. Then I snap back to where I am, and hope nobody was watching.

Stuff like this happens when I daydream too. I lucid dream at night, but I hallucinate throughout the day (if I nap or fall asleep in class.) I think it is God's way of telling me that I should get more sleep at night. But seriously, I will fall asleep and dream up crazy things, and later I can't remember whether they happened or not. That or I will fall asleep and think things are happening, and respond to them, and then wake up and not have a clue where I am. Almost worse than the sleep paralysis but not quite.

Enough rambling. Let me catch you up with the events that have happened in my life since I last posted:

The Thursday before I came home I woke up early and went to the second-year documentary screenings to get an idea of what to expect next year. I learned that, although drugs and violence are not permitted in the movies we film students create, nudity is completely acceptable. Slightly odd, but whatever works, I guess. It was a just a bit shocking when one girl completely showed her chest on this huge screen in front of a couple of hundred people, a good half of them complete strangers.

On the Friday I got up even earlier because I was running the chase screenings (the first-years made chase sequences.) All my teachers showed up to watch the videos, which was nice, as each of them will take what they saw and teach us ways to improve our work in the next semester and following years. The screening was fun enough, but the real party was after the screenings. We all went to the bar (no worries, no drinking for Kyla! I was just hanging out.) and randomly toasted everything that could be toasted. From the entry of one of our classmates to the staff worker in charge of clearing the empties from the tables, everyone got a cheer or two.

Saturday I got up at bloody 6:15 to meet my cousin who drove me to the airport. Then I braved the crowds at Pearson (Oh dear gosh, it was nuts!) and found a place to sit and wait until they began to board my plane. Well, they started boarding a half and hour later than when the plane was supposed to take off and didn't actually leave until a good hour after the plane was due to leave. I promptly fell asleep, waking only every 15 minutes or so with the realization that I was sleeping with my mouth wide open and drooling all over myself (I'm disgusting, I know!) I was pretty ticked off at Air Canada for being so stupid, but I will admit that most of my anger melted away when we rose above the thick clouds in Toronto into a dazzling and simply stunning cloud adventure. The clouds were so white and fluffy and looked so cozy! It calmed me down for the remainder of the flight. Then I got into Saint John and found out that they had left my luggage in Toronto. The one time I put blankie (my most prized possession) in my luggage is the time they decide that they want to lose it. Curse Air Canada.

The rest of my day was better. I got my hair hacked off (a good 8 inches of it, I think.) I will post pictures later. The program I use to upload to the internet is on my computer in Toronto, and I am currently not there.

Sunday was AWESOME! I woke up and cleaned the house (not the awesome part) and then went to the apartment of a friend of my dad's who was giving away a whole ton of movie memorabilia and books and stuff. I got the entire Yellow Submarine action figure collection and the yellow submarine itself. I also got two mint condition Michael Moore books, some novels, and some other amazing treasures that I'm sure I will talk about in greater depth in coming blogs.

Then I had a PARTY! All my friends came over and we had a super awesome time. My mom made some awesome food (chicken wings, pita pizza, stuffed peppers, onion rings, etc.) and we sat around and they watched my movies (the ones I made) and then we watched one of my most favourite movies (Ocean's Eleven!) After that (everyone had shown up by that point) I gave them all the gift that I made for them. They all liked the opening credits sequence, but they went nuts over the Star Wars sequence that I put together for them. How nuts, you ask? Andrew Miller kissed me (on the cheek, mind you) and and then began bowing to me chanting "We are not worthy! We are not worthy!" After that, we chilled for a bit and then played coed Twister. I remember when Twister was a cute and innocent game. When you get to 18 however, and start playing with both guys and girls (and take blackmail pictures) it gets a whole heck of a lot more interesting (pictures of this, along with my short hair, to be posted at a later date.) After that we played spoons (which is a painful game, but a lot of fun.)

(Please note: I think I have used more brackets in this post than all my other posts combined. It must be that inner monologue thing I was talking about. My inner thoughts are breaking through into type. Run for your lives!)

The next day Kristyn (my sister) and I went Christmas shopping. I AM NEVER SHOPPING WITH LESS THAN A WEEK BEFORE CHRISTMAS AGAIN! Did I make that clear enough? We went to four stores all across town before we actually found something that was on our list (it wasn't even exactly what we are looking for, but it was ok.) That night I went and saw the amazing Ocean's Twelve again with Jocelyn and Bryan and Lindsay and Nick and Ricky and Christina. We somehow ended up sitting boy girl boy girl, and each girl chose a boy-toy to idolize (I had Matt Damon, Lin got George Clooney and Joc got Brad Pitt) throughout the movie, driving the boys nuts. They got sick of us blowing kisses and oohing and ahhing the entire time, but are good sports, and we all had a good time. The second we got out of the movie, we began analyzing it piece by piece. The best line in the entire movie is definitely when Brad Pitt says to Matt Damon "Look, it's not in my nature to be mysterious. I can't talk about it, and I can't talk about why." and Matt Damon responds by saying "Oooooooooooo!" all cute-like.

I had a dentist appointment early the next morning (Tuesday) but had no cavities. I had forgotten about how friendly the people out here in New Brunswick are, until my dentist hugged me and wished me a Merry Christmas. Weird. Later that evening I went to Finding Neverland with my sister (who I made buy me food (no worries, she obliged happily since she is working and I am not...two brackets! Man I suck!)) and promptly bawled for the entire last half hour of movie. Johnny Depp is so amazing in this. I would definitely recommend it!

On Thursday we had an early Christmas at my house, turkey dinner and all. Mom's boyfriend got me this book about vitamins and minerals, so I can learn to be healthy and such (for those of you who didn't know, I got sick and crappy feeling because of low iron levels...5 instead of 40-50.) After that I went to Jocelyn's house for a mini pre-Christmas shindig. We played some stinkin' hilarious games, and had a good time all around.

What came after that? Friday...let's see...Friday was Christmas eve. I don't remember what I did this day, but I'm sure it was lovely. I know that I played Trivial Pursuit and had an amazing come-from-behind win, while my sister snored on the couch. Then I went to bed early to await Santa's visit.

I woke everyone up at 9:00 the next day. I am such a little kid when it comes to Christmas...I love it all! Stocking, presents, playing with all my new stuff. It rocks! Here are some of the highlights of my Christmas haul:

- a nice piece of luggage that is significantly larger than the other thing I've been using.
- the entire Shrek collection (Shrek 1, 2, 3-D and a bonus features disc.)
- Star Wars Trilogy
- clothes (a fun black zipper shirt, pink lounge pants, a pink shirt, etc.)
- a map of the world (so I can display all the places I have travelled.)
- a pink, fluffy, fur scarf...it is so rockin'!

I got other stuff, but those are the ones that stand out right now. My stocking stuff was all very fun. I got a frying pan with this little egg guy on it...I now have the entire egg (or as I call it Eggbert) collection. I'll take pictures. I got a whole ton of makeup and body wash and face stuff and other make yourself feel good items. I also got some very funky underwear stuff. The one good thing (if there is anything good about it (note: I'm not saying it is a good thing, this is just an observation I had)) about not having my dad in the house is the fact that I can wander around in my underwear and no one cares.

The underwear I got is so super cool, it makes me want to be an underwear model. I personally think I would make a good underwear model, though I know there are many out there who would not agree. If only I didn't have these cursed varicose veins! What is next? Liver spots? I have this habit of sitting cross-legged when I am on the computer, or sit on my feet when I sit around, which has given me these nasty old-woman varicose veins all up my legs. When I have enough money, I swear I will get them laser removed.

Anyway, I got some other stuff (socks, a couple of super rockin' games, etc.) and treated myself later that evening by watching a classic movie from my childhood, Home Alone. Dad and I watched Napoleon Dynamite on Christmas as well. It is really good, but REALLY random. It was a fun movie though, and I would probably watch it again...it was pretty funny, and I felt that in a crazy way, I could sort of relate to the character.

Boxing day I worked a ten hour shift at the Shoppers Drug Mart that my mom is the assistant manager of. For the first three hours we put up talkers (tags by the product) and organized the store. When the store opened, it was dead quiet and we were worried that we had all these people in working and would have a slow and boring day. I went on my lunch and came back to madness! It got so crazy busy that I stood at cash for a good two hours straight doing nothing but ringing people in one right after the other. I guess the Walmart flyer (and numerous others) mentioned that they would be open during boxing day, and weren't, hence the business Shoppers got. I went to bed a sore and tired girl.

I was woken at 7:30 this morning by my mother who, while trying to get to work, got stuck in the snow. It snowed about 30 cms overnight, and was made worse by the intense blowing winds. Kris and I were of little help, so she sent us in and called a tow truck. The entire town shut down; Walmart closed, the mall closed, the grocery stores closed...EVERYTHING closed. The amount of snow that fell overnight was disgusting...creepy almost since there was not a speck of the stuff on Christmas day. And it was dead cold...if there is anything I hate in the world, it is cold...cold can go away forever. I could have sworn the world was ending...what with the crazy earthquakes killing thousands and blizzards stranding people in their homes. Sounds like end of the world weather conditions to me.

Anyway, it has taken me over an hour and half to write this blog (I was interuppted many times.) I will get pictures up later, and try to update more regularly while I am at home, with my crazy inner monologue thoughts.

Stay warm!