From back in the day

My favourite picture of my grandpa and I from when I was like 1 year old (I think).

Every now and then it really hits my pretty hard that he's gone, which is a little weird because it's been almost 7 years. Oh well.... Miss you, love you!

Who's Bemused?

...that would be I.

But I suppose the better question would be: Who am I?

I am an only child of European-born parents. My mother is from beautiful Scotland, land of bagpipes, kilts, haggis and beer, and my father is from Germany, the land of brautwurst and sauerkraut. Both of whom came over to Canada on the boat; my father arrived in 1954 in his leiderhosen with his older brother and sister and his mother; my mother arrived in 1967 with her four siblings and parents. As a child I spent a lot of time around my grandparents and my cousins, the result being my Nana and Papa (my mother's parents) are huge parts of who I am and strained relationships with cousins (fall out from family politic nonsense, which is present in all families).

For my benefit my mother enrolled me in the French immersion program in school, which I continued in straight through high school and subsequently moved to the nation's capital where Québec is only a stoplights away.

The move to Ottawa was due to my acceptance to Carleton University where I studied Sociology/Anthropology, linguistics and law - obtaining a degree in Sociology/Anthropology. Once here I fell in love with the city - though not huge there is lots to do - and to my mother's dismay after almost 9 years I have not yet moved back home. Quite the opposite in fact, I bought my first house in Ottawa and even adopted a little dog, Tucker.

I've been lucky to meet a lot of really great people in school, at work and around the neighborhood but recently the desire to be closer to home and family is stronger than ever.

- In November 2009, my great aunt died and at the funeral I met a whole new slew of cousins.
- In December 2009, my Tante Hannie (great aunt Johanna) who's going to be 94 in July 2010 slipped and broke her ankle, requiring surgery and physical therapy.
- My best friend, whom I've known since we were in kindergarten, has had two little boys and I'm miss so much of their lives being so far away.

These things together with others have stirred in me the urge to be closer to my family and even begin my own. Before starting my own family I would of course have to meet the right guy, which if I could custom order I've got an idea or two about what would be ideal (custom ordered guy) as I'm sure all women do lol.

But while I wait to come across that person I'll keep living life, having fun and blogging about the randomness of life and all the things in it. In 2005, I began blogging as a skeptic to the whole concept and while my posts have been sporadic at best over the years I've continued and learned more about me in the process.

So there you have it. I am bemused... with life and all its goings on.

Is this terrible?

I came across the blog of a girl who I used to be pretty good friends with and for obvious reasons we aren't any more. This girl thought that she was the smartest person...like EVER! And if your dared to have an opinion that different from hers you were not only wrong but an idiot to boot!

Well life is turning around quite nicely. We've both recently gone back to school and while she's complaining about getting a C+ on her midterm, I'm doing a crazy little happy dance because not only did I ACE my last final exam, I've been getting A's and A+'s for my final marks.

Looks like girlie isn't so smart after all. And maybe....just maybe, she should consider the fact that someone else might be able to teach her something.

My day just got sooooooo much better!!

Insert evil laugh here.

A nice romantic dinner...

....with my laptop!

I suppose this is what happens when you try to juggle work and school as much as I do. I'm rethinking the 7 courses that I am enrolled in this fall....what on earth was going through my head?? I have a full time job for crying out loud!!

Work is super hectic for me at the moment, so much so that I am currently taking a break from the work that I brought home with me. What really sucks the most about this is that I've been sacrificing a social life for work and school. Worse yet is that my friends don't understand my desire to continue in school. We all completed our degrees at essentially the same time but I'm the only one who's gone back to do more. I'm not content to just stick it out at my current job and party it up on the weekend, I want more.

I also think that being the first of my friends to have bought a house is also a pretty big difference too. Most of my friends are primarily focused on their boyfriends/girlfriends, parties, pets and work (in that order too). Which can also be a little hard to deal with sometimes being the only singleton in the group. Being single, 27 and owning my own car and home seems to be pretty intimidating to men. I just don't get it. Most of my guy friends say that chicks that are clingy, needy or flighty are such a waste of time and energy but on the other end of the spectrum independence, self-sufficiency and the ability to think also seems to be difficult to live with.

In a perfect world, if I could custom order a man, here are some of the things that I would want built in:

- taller than me (5'8 or more because I'm 5'7)
- dark hair
- great smile/eyes (a nice butt wouldn't hurt either lmao)
- post secondary education (college or university, something!)
- has some personal goals and is driven to acheive them but is not arrogant
- has an adventurous streak (willing to consider nutty things I want to do, like bungee jump)
- is good with kids and wants some of his own
- can cook so that I don't always have to
- likes all kinds of music, movies and books
- has to enjoy reading because I have sooo many books and I love talking about them and sharing them with people
- has a strong sense of family
- great sense of humour and laughs as much as I do (I often crack myself up)
- doesn't mind going to church especially on the special occasions (Christmas, Easter, etc.)
- is patient (especially with me when I'm frustrated about something)
- gives good hugs because a crappy day can sometimes be fixed with a really good bear hug
- has some interests different than my own so that we can teach each other things
- dependable but also independent

And probably the most important thing is he has to love me BECAUSE OF my faults and not IN SPITE of them. But all this is of course in an ideal world.

Maybe if I'm lucky writing this all down and sending it across the internet will work like it did in Mary Poppins where the kids wrote down what they wanted in a nanny and she appeared. *sigh* what a nice thought.

Well, it would seem that since I've finished my dinner and have rambled for long enough that it is now time to return to the moutain of work that towers before me.

C'ya.

Fun with Adobe Illustrator

Lookie what I can do!!

My teacher says that occasionally we should take an object (anything) and draw it just to keep up with our skills using all the different tools.

What do you think??

(Actual package)
(What I drew)

I think I'm getting pretty good at this! lol

It's awlays gotta be something...

The stories that I hear about my relatives never cease to amaze me. Whether it's my dad's side of the family or my mom's there is always something.

DAD'S SIDE
My cousins (George, Christine and Mark - who are siblings) seem to have some kind of crazy baby race going and they (or their wives) are cranking out kids like they are going out of style!

With four boys under the age of 12, Christine is in the lead and might I add extremely out numbered. Following right behind her is George, with a girl and two boys - the most recent one making his grand entrance last Saturday (September 5, 2009). Finally, playing catch up is Mark who has one son and in two weeks time will have another baby (gender unknown at the moment). Sure it doesn't look like much of a race but if you consider that Mark & Laura have been married a little over two years and that George and Karen have been married only a while long than that.......... it's a regular little baby-pa-loo-ZA!

MOM'S SIDE

So as far as anyone knows none of the cousins on my mom's side have had any kids but they are getting married....or on their way to it.

My cousin Adam recently got married but didn't bother to invite any family except his mom, brother and sister...WTF! Not even our grandmother was invited or even notified for that matter that he was getting married, I told her when I accidentally came across it on Facebook.

Then there's Kevin. We essentially grew up more like brother and sister because we spent so much time together but that can also lead to a fair number of problems too. Anyway...he just recently bought a house with his girlfriend and we're all pretty certain that they are headed for that aisle in the not too distant futur.

And then there's ME. I'm nowhere near getting married and having children (not that I wouldn't love to - 'tis the curse of singledom); instead I'm doing things a little differently.

1. I've completed my university degree.
2. Spent a year working full-time, part-time and went back to school part-time.
3. Bought a house all buy myself. It's not a huge place but it suits me just fine.
4. And this term on top of FT work I've taken on a full time course load (7 classes) on a part-time schedule.

To put this last point in perspective, I'm enrolled in three different college programs at the same time. By 2012 I will have completed all three programs and on top of my degree in Sociology/Anthropology I will have the following certificates: Media Communications, Public Relations, and Graphic Design - Print. Ok so I may sound like a bit of over achiever or something like that but I'm really not I just don't have any idea what it is that I want to do in terms of work/career.

I wish that these things were easeir to figure out *sigh*