Time flies!!

Wow!! Time sure flies when you're getting ready for school! I can't believe it's friday already. For the majority of you who are going back to school, your starting date is probably Tuesday. Suprisingly, mine is on Thursday. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining at all, but boy after this 4 month long anticipation, those extra 2 days will seem like forever. It's Ok though, I have a whole lot of getting ready left to do before Thursday, so the extra time will ultimately be very useful.

Ok, so to recap my week: Monday I learned that I hate York University, and I am SO glad I decided not to go there. After learning from their website I had to call in to cancel my OSAP application with them, I sat on hold for over an hour, only for them to tell me I would have to submit this request in writing. Ok, so I wanted to impress upon these people that I absolutely must have this cancelled ASAP so I can get my Mac OSAP. They assured me (and yes, I asked them several times!) that if I were to go directly to campus that they would cancel my application immediately.

So I arrive at the York campus monday around quarter to one. I wait in some stupid line for 15 minutes so they can tell me to fill out a form and drop it off in some drop box. I asked them how long it would take to process....they assured me it'll be taken care of in 4-6 weeks. EXCUSE ME?!?!?!? I told her I need it cancelled immediately and that when I called in before they told me if I bothered to waste my gas and time to come down that it could be cancelled immediately. So then they assured me...ASSURED, can you tell thats the point of this story?....that if I spoke to some people that they would cancel my application immediately. So, I took a number and settled in.

Fast forward 2 very long, uninteresting hours later when I finally got to speak to some snotty little jerk who then very calmly told me that nobody will cancel my application effective immediately and that it will have to be processed (normally takes about 4-6 weeks or so) but he ASSURED me that this will be taken care of. Ok, so I've lost my patience and demand to see a manager...after a five minute or so discussion about the pros and cons of seeing a manager he grudgingly got off his duff to go get one...promptly returning to tell me that there wasn't one available but that I could sit there like a dummy and wait some more...maybe eventually a manager would come out.

When I told him that this would not be acceptable, in the same stupid, calm, smug way he asked me, for like the tenth time "and what would you like me to do about that?" "Nothing you stupid &%$#!" "Well what would you like me to do at this point, ma'am?" he asked with the same jerky expression "Why, I would like you to cancel my frigging OSAP application!". Ok, so maybe I wasn't quite so...umm, forceful, but its pretty much what I said. I couldn't wait anymore cause my mother had to go back to work, and since I have no money and probably won't for the next couple months, I left with an ASSURANCE from him that the manager would definitely call me as soon as she returns. And, guess what, surprise surprise, still haven't gotten a call.

Ok, sorry, this little I HATE YORK rant has gone on long enough, but suffice it to say that those stupid jerks are seriously impeding my ability to afford school right now. Sigh. Ok, I'll finish my recap a bit later. Right now I need a stiff drink!! ;-)
Just kidding....or am I?!?!?!? muah, ha, ha, ha, ha!! Ok seriously though, gonna go work out and then I'll be back to recap the rest of the week.

Cheers!

Luvin me some Mcluvin

Ok, ok, so hopefully my clue tipped you off, but in case you haven't seen the movie yet, this is gonna be an extremely enthusiastic review of...dun, dun, da dun....SUPERBAD. Ok, first of all, let me just share with you one thing; normally, this type of movie is so not my style. In fact, even the trailer didn't fully impress me. I thought it was somewhat cute, and was willing to give it a chance, but would I have paid money for it? Not really.
Here it is in case you don't know


But then we got all caught up with the idea of the drive in, and the showing that had Superbad and I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry was the only option we had really: one of the other theatres was showing two movies I had never heard of but sounded pretty boring, and the other theatre was showing a bunch of crap. Seriously. So anyway, we kinda accidentally were way too late to catch the first movie showing, so we ended up with Superbad.

And all I kept on thinking was that it wouldn't be so bad, and besides this was our first drive in movie together so at least it would be an experience. Hell, it was my first drive in experience since Twister (I think I was like 8 at the time). Anyway, so at first we were tentative...within 20 seconds I was giggling, but not sure what that would lead to. Within 5 minutes I knew this was gonna be an absolutely amazing movie going experience. If I wasn't laughing uncontrollably, I was tense and worried for the characters. Seriously, this movie was absolutely hilarious. And McLovin....AWESOME....sooooo awesome!

Honestly, one thing that was really awesome about this movie is that they had a bunch of teens playing a bunch of teens. The three main characters are absolute magic all together, and all of the add on characters are supreme. The cops are a riot, and the situations these kids go through are so nonsensical, and yet so entertaining. I give it an enthusiastic, as I said before, 10 thumbs up. Seriously, the trailer doesn't come close to covering just how awesome this movie is. You know how usually the trailer makes the movie seem so much better than it is? In this case, the opposite is true. One of the reasons for this is that there is a whole lot of cursing and adult content. This movie, under NO circumstances, should be seen by anyone under 18. Seriously, I'm so not one of those people, but this movie is rough. There are times where for 15-20 minnutes you hear nothing but profanity. Strangely though, it takes nothing away from the movie.

Ok, I won't say anymore. I can't really without spoiling it for you all. Each and every scene is something magical that you must see for yourself. The actual lines aren't the funny part: its the way they're delivered and the look of those delivering them, and the look on the faces of those receiving them, not to mention the situation at the time. 100% awesome. Seriously, I'm buying this movie the second it gets out. It is seriously in my top 5 favourite movies of all time.

Watch it if you're old enough. Happy Sunday!

Cheers

heheheheheheh

I'm sorry, but I think this commercial is absolutely hilarious. Nobody laughs as hard at this commercial as I do, but I think its too ridiculously funny. Maybe I'll make weekends the funny clip time. Hmmmm... some thinking must go into that. And stay tuned for another awesome movie review....I won't tell you what it is, but I saw the movie last night. Obviously I'm gushing so you can guess I give an enthusiastic 10 thumbs up! I won't give it away yet...suffice it to say that Mcluvin is now my favourite name on the face of the planet...Anyway, on to the commercial!

Cheers!

When Role Playing Goes Too Far

Ok, Ok, so I saw this series of clips before I saw the actual episode. Wow!! This is seriously like, in every sense of the matter, when people take role playing waaayyyy too far!!

Anyway, for your weekend enjoyment, and hopefully, if you like American Dad, and of course you do because you're not deaf dumb and blind, I present to you Jessica's Favourite Weekend Clip...will this become a series? Who knows. Probably not. Remember, lack of follow through...I'm still surprised I even remember my blog half the time (and as you've seen by this week, half the time I clearly don't!)

Anyway, enough of my rabble...ooouuuu that could be a clip for next week!!...enjoy!

What a Week!

OK, so it's been a while, I know, but I have been really busy what with helping Desi out and trying to figure out some school stuff. So first things first; Desi's doing just fine. His surgery went well, and although I think Trillium hospital in Etobicoke is the most disorganized, useless hospital I've EVER been in in my entire life, they managed to return my boyfriend to me healthy and complete save for three little incisions in his abdomen. I don't think in my entire life I've ever been so relieved as I was when I saw Desi being rolled out of the OR. His throat was dry, his eyes puffy and unfocused, and he looked so frail, but he was my Desi, and he was alive, and boy was I relieved. I feel like a punk, but i actually cried tears I was so happy. I guess I feel like I'm making a big deal out of nothing cause it was only hernia surgery, and I'm treating it like it was open heart surgery. But he's my baby and I love him to death, and I guess if that makes me overly protective and sen sensitive, then so be it!

So I stayed at Desi's house until Thursday, by his side at all times. I helped him sit and stand and move around, and got him food and tucked him in. He was my little trooper though, and after about 48 hours wanted to try and do everything himself (stupid!) so I had to be more mindful of him come Wednesday so I could catch him trying to do something himself and intercept before he hurt himself. That Desi!! Anyway, he's OK though. Sneezing hurts him something fierce, but otherwise as long as he doesn't tense his stomach muscles, he's good. Yesterday was his first official outing. We went through Wal Mart and then hit Kool Kats for a few beers. He held up nicely, but the bloatiness became too much eventually and he had to tap out for the night. Its ok, I was already pretty drunk and I had had a really good night anyway! ;-)

Ok, so other than Desi, I also helped move Marg's stuff out of her apartment on Thursday. It was hard not to focus on where I was and why I was moving the stuff and why she wasn't there, but I managed. Especially once we got to the really heavy stuff! And then we get the stuff up to the building, and the dick we call John Boy (the superintendant's husband--he holds no power and is the most useless piece of garbage on the planet) starts up with his shit about how there's only one elevator and we better not fill the elevator with our crap otherwise he's gonna stop us from moving the stuff in and how we're a useless bunch, etc. etc. First of all, it's their bloody fault that the service elevator was broken (has been for weeks now) so either fix the damn thing or shut your damn mouth. Secondly, it's either we incovenience the elevator for like 2 hours or we spend the next six being a nuisance to anyone who wants to get in and out of the elevator. Not that anyone but him was inconvenienced. In fact, the entire building was really nice to us, trying to be really helpful, and upset at the super that the service elevator was down. So there!

Thursday night after moving day I had Carol (the lady driving the truck for us, and also my sisters friends' mother) drop me off at Kool Kats to unwind with a beer. Mmmm, beer, it had been days since I did anything but stare blankly at a TV, and although I love my baby to death, boy was I bored! Besides, it was too late for me to go over to his house, so I decided to take advantage of the time. I had a good time, although the Beautiful Women's Curse struck once again (more about that later...I think maybe I'll do an entire expose on it so you can fully understand all of the facets of this curse. Then again, it'll probably have to be a two part expose since there's so much to cover, I don't know if it can fit all into one post). I got wasted, stayed til last call, woke up with a wicked hangover, and somehow or another only managed to spend $6 the entire night!! LOL!! How do I do it you ask? I have no clue, but maybe thats some of the good back splash of the Beautiful Women's Curse. Again, we'll explore this in my later expose!

Friday, as I said, was really nice. We went to Walmart to get some cheapy frames for this sketch thing we had made in one of those booths when we were in some city in ontario when Desi was travelling for his job. Wait...nope, doesn't say on the picture which city, but I think it was probably Bellville. Oh well, anyway, its a nice picture. I'll add it to my blog once my home PC is back up and running so I can use my scanner. I could load the software onto my laptop, but the more programs, the more polluted the hard drive, the slower and crappier the laptop becomes. Anyway, afterwards we went to Kool Kats, and were having a nice little conversation when one of my really good friends, incidentally named Desmond as well, came in with Ray and a bunch of other people. I was like holy crap, long time no see, because you see Dez (my friend) had an actual girlfriend for the past 8 months and was beyond whipped. They had some crazy problems and apparently she gets violent, cause his necks all scratched up, but they broke up, and hopefully for good this time, so he was able to go out and see someone other than her for once. Good job Dez, stay strong, and find a girl who uses her claws for good, not evil!!

Ok, so thats about it really. Today I'm gonna head to the bank and cash some of my birthday money (woo hoo!!) and try to fix up some stuff for my basement apartment (which by the way is not going to be done on time...stupid Michael!)and finally...and here's the best part....because my birthday is in the month of August, Lucy's Seafood (the one on Milcreek) is gonna give me a free meal (as long as we buy another one, which is fine since generally Desi and I do tend to eat 2 separate meals when we go out to a restaurant!) Seriously, they sent me a letter in the mail, and they sent Desi one too in November. Awesome eh?

Anyway, to all a good weekend, and Michelle, I'm thinking September 4th?? Thats the Soc Sci Faculty day thing (so I've just received a letter informing me) but I have a serious feeling I'm gonna feel waaayyyy to old to participate in like 90% of the things they wanna do. Plus there's a lot of extra time after they're done and stuff. Anyway, let me know.

Sorry, I lost focus there. Where was I again? Oh yeah

Cheers

I'm baaaccckkk

Hey Y'all, I'm back!! We ended up in a little cottage only a few minutes walk from beach number 5 at Wasaga. It was a cute little blue cottage, and was actually more of a townhouse because it was in the middle of two other cottages and was attached on both sides. Across from us there were 3 cottages that were completely detached, but really considering how close they actually were to one another, they may as well have been attached. The owner owned a gigantic mansion of a house in the middle of the two rows of cottages, and the backyard was gigantic (we all shared the backyard, which was nice). For some reason the insects really enjoyed our cottage doorway, and made a point of always doing something else gross and distracting while being directly on our door and blocking our entry (yes, I AM terrified of bugs....ok, anything that flies, bites, or has millions of legs or is a spider...or is poisonous...I'm fine with the rest of them though....)

Otherwise, our location was awesome and we spent a couple nights hanging out at our personal picnic table playing cards or dominoes, and chatting away. (OK, and drinking away!! LOL). Daytime we went down to the main beach and did some wading, and some beach walking. We shopped for about five minutes but the strip is so small...I swear the strip was alot bigger when I was younger. I remember it was a long magical paradise covered with interesting shops, bars, beautiful people, and beautiful cars. This past week, it was a rinky dink affair covered with rinky dink bars (3) and a bunch of pathetic shops and a stitches. It was really quite disappointing. I didn't go after my 15th birthday, so I guess maybe it was just a perception thing. I find often times when I return to something as an adult that I thought was wonderous as a child I'm always a wee bit disappointed.

But without the strip I had such an awesome time. We talked, we laughed, we had a few drinks at the bars on the strip and laughed at the wickedly strong wind that refused to let up some days, and we'd laugh at the fact that they had these plastic things blocking the wind from the bar patio and yet our drinks always ended being full of sand anyway. Oh, and I wouldn't recommend going to Banana's, but Dardanella's (i think thats what it is at least) has one of the most delicious mushroom swiss burgers ever! There was this little bar down the street from our cottage (did I tell you what it was called??? Big Oaks..its on 45th street near mosely st) and the first night we went there it sucked. Large. But the last time we went it was a lot of fun. If you ever end up in that area check it out (especially on a friday). It was good hick bar fun!!

Seriously, walking through the water, or through shifty, slidy, sand is really peaceful. I love looking down the beach and hearing the waves and feeling the sun. So relaxing. So rejuvenating. And Desi and I had such a great time even when we were just hanging out together in our cottage. We did what we wanted when we wanted. We watched some good shows (finale of So You Think You Can Dance...GO SABRE!!!) had some great conversation, and got to be lazy and comfy with each other. It really was an amazing week, and although we're dead broke now and can't do anything else for the rest of the summer, it was absolutely 100% worth it. I would do it again in a heartbeat (only this time bring some bug repellant).

So, I'm sure there's even more to tell you, and when we develop the photo's and I post em I'll elaborate on certain days and themes.

For now though, I gotta head off to bed. Gotta be out of my house at five AM tomorrow for Desi's operation. My prayers are with him right now. I love my baby and I hope he'll be OK. I know he will be. But I still worry. After all, he's my baby.

Hope you all are well.

have a happy Monday!!

Cheers

Stress

Ahhh, the beautiful stress of getting prepared to go to my dream University. Well, one of em at the top 2...I wanted either Laurier, which my friends Keithan and Chelsea got to go to...by the way, I think they graduated already, so congrats guys!...or to McMaster. I technically had the dream to go to Laurier all my life because they had a pool and I thought that was like the awesomest thing when I was 10, but thats neither here nor there. Anyway, so back to McMaster. I've been struggling with rearranging my schedule, trying to drop half of my schedule and replace it with level 2 courses. I finally got the prerequisite waiver I needed for level 1 calculus (woo hoo!!!) so now I gotta replace the prerequisite with another course, and replace one other course, and then I'm finally done! Except today a course I really wanted to take, death and dying in western society, opened up except there a prerequisite that says I have to be in level 2, but I know they'll waive that because I've taken my college courses already, but now I have to wait til monday, which means of course the course will be full by then....oh joy, oh bliss!!
Oh, not to mention the fact that I'm going away next week, so hopefully we'll get a place with the internet so I can still make changes from there!

Seriously though, I really am looking forward to having everything straightened out and actually starting my first day. My cousin's going to give me a tour of the campus so I won't be terribly lost my first day, and as soon as they give me my GO pass thing I'll take a couple of test runs to and from school so I know what I'm expecting. I think I really need a new laptop though. My battery life actually really sucks, and I just bought it not even 3 weeks ago. The guy in the store told me that it had between 5 and 6 hours and I get just barely over 2!! Anybody know if thats like some flaw with my specific laptop or not? I don't know, even our much older laptop from the same company gets like 4 hours. Hmmmm....

But I think whats probably most stressful at this time is trying to get my basement together. We have like 10 billion things to order and like 4 hours to do it. I have no idea how we're going to manage. :-S probably won't go so well. Well, we'll see about that. But I guess I can't worry too much about that because I won't have quite so much pressure if I don't go away tomorrow, and I'm not sure how we're going to manage that since we still don't have anywhere to actually stay or anything, but for some reason or another we have these delusions of grandeur that we'll be able to find somewhere that will be willing to rent us their cottage for the week, starting tomorrow, and for a reasonable price. Go Team!! So yeah, I don't know about cottage, hopefully we'll manage but I've been think hotel near the beach kind of thing. If you have suggestions over the next, say, 6 hours, I'd be delighted to hear it. Anyway, Desi's last day was yesterday, NO MORE STUPID INSTALLS!!! lol!! Congratulations honey on that one. Now you can enjoy the life of the comfortably unemployed with me ;-) Yeah, thats about all. Wait....no.....hmmmm......yeah, no, thats about all. Off for some food and then hopefully we'll be ready to go hustle, hustle, hustle!!

Cheers y'all! Happy Weekend!

Computers Suck

Ok, so after my post yesterday, and subsequent comments yesterday and today, I have drained whatever brain and typing energy I have. So, if you wanna get in to something serious or whatever, this isn't the post--read the previous post and the comments that follow. I've decided to make this nice and simple. Computers suck. No really, regardless of the company, regardless of what they say the RAM or processor or whatever, they all suck. I swear if this laptop shuts down to that stupid blue screen one more time I's seriously gonna chuck it out a window. Ok, maybe not. But only because its not mine...and mine doesn't suck. So anyway, this is my comedic relief for today. For those of you who know me, I am in love (seriously) with the Mac PC commercials, and I love the Marvel/DC spoof on it. I also happen to love South Park, which did a cute little spoof of their own. Please enjoy, and have a great day!

Cheers

Is Dirrty really dirty?

Ok, so I thought I would post the video first for those of you who aren't into Christina and haven't seen the video. I'm sure you've heard the controversy about the video though, as not only did it start years ago, but to my surprise only a couple of weeks ago I overheard people actually having a discussion about how horrible Christina Aguilera was for coming out with the Dirrty video.

Ok, I first want to express that I am so on Christina's side with this. Like really, are people honestly serious when they say that this video is almost pornographic? I personally think the video for Britney's Slave is alot more suggestive and kind of perverted. That could just be my personal bias, but come on now...'Hit me Baby One More Time'? You don't think having a bunch of 10 year olds singing those lyrics out and trying to dress just like Britney did is slightly more upsetting? Or worse, little girls singing out that they're a slave for the boys while Britney moans in the background as though she's in some extended, annoyingly loud orgasm? Nobody seemed to have a problem with that though...hmmmm...but Christina's the slut...hmmm...

Not to mention all the rock and rap videos that exploit near naked women all the time, featuring them doing much more suggestive things than just a choreographed dance with a group of people. Christina didn't set a precedence here, and she didn't even go to the extremes that some others have gone to...Britney, Madonna, Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey (in case your confused with this one, think Honey with Mariah in an almost invisible teenie weenie bikini crawling out of the sea in a very, very sexual way)...I mean really, the list goes on.

I could rehash each and every argument I have that are pro-Dirrty, but really I'm sure you've heard em all already, and the video was released so long ago, I can't see why anyone would want to fully re examine the issue all over again. But really, I brought this all up to bring up one point: How in the hell can anyone still care at all, whatsoever, about this video when there is so much else to focus on? Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, and Nicole Richie are all repeat offender drunk drivers, rehab goers, relapsing back to drug and alcohol abuse, flashing their private parts to the world almost as though its a joke...

I mean really, if you want to be concerned about something, don't be concerned about the 4-5 minute video some star does that will stay popular for all of 2 weeks. Be concerned about the stars we let into our homes and into our childrens hearts that live each and every day a life that is irresponsible, troubled, immoral (think sex videos), etc., and very, very public that for god knows what reason we as a society choose to glamorize. And worse, the children get to see that ultimately there are no real consequences for these illegal, irreprehensible actions commited by their idols. Why would they not want to be just like them?

What do you think about all this?

Cheers

What a Weekend!!!!

Ok, so to start off with, Caribana was AWESOME...as expected. We walked for like 5000 hours to get to a point where we could be in the street next to the parade without having to pay or just be behind a fence. The music was great, the costumes were great, the vibe was great...it was a lot of fun. Some criticisms this year that didn't happen last year were that it took, if you were standing still, sometimes 20 minutes for another float to get to you, or even to be within hearing distance of either the float in front of or behind you.

I was also not happy with the way the people who were not part of the parade behaved, which was probably a big contributing factor as to what the delay between floats was all about. Seriously, it was sad how non curteous these people were!! Walking from one side of the street to the other in front of the moving truck who has been honking for the past 10 minutes trying to move forward! Like seriously people, behave yourselves, this is the reason why they have the parade all fenced off and you have to pull some kind of daredevil moves to get near it....people don't use their common sense or common courtesy when given free will to do as they please!

Ok, but enough of that rant...even with the mini flaws, it was still an awesome time! We danced, laughed, talked, jumped...for hours and hours! It was an absolutely awesome experience! Pictures will be posted to my website soon (I'll let you know) and I'll import some into the blog once their all posted!

Ok, so that was Saturday. Sunday was fun. I went with my baby sister to see the Bratz movie...ok, I know how pathetic this sounds, but it was seriously great! Then again, it is sooo my kind of movie, what with the high school kids, the cliques, the nonsensical problems that anyone could solve with their eyes closed, the conceited, supervillan beauty queen, the fact that friendship perseveres through all...ah! So sweet! Really, definitely a good watch...seriously though, for those of you who don't love wonderful things, my boyfriend said it wasn't a horrible movie to watch overall, so check it out!!

In case you haven't heard of it, here's the trailer.


And then Monday. Ok, so I've figured out that I'm just about the easiest person on the face of the planet to surprise..I honestly just expect it so little that it never even occurs to me, even when things around me become suspicious, that there could be a surprise in the works for me. So, Monday my mom, and everyone else, threw me a surprise party for my birthday! I honestly didn't have any idea what was going on. My mom told me that my uncle and his family were gonna stay over the night before, which they do occasionally, so nothing weird there, and when there was a whole bunch of food in the fridge, I just figured that they were going to have a barbeque without me, which happens, sadly, often enough, so again didn't get it.

The night before when my sister asked me 500 times if I knew what was happening tomorrow...still nothing. When the plan went askew and people kept arriving at the house with me standing right there, just didn't process. When one person actually wished me happy birthday although my birthday had already passed on thursday and that person had already said happy birthday to me then? Nada. When I came downstairs after my shower and they screamed surprise and I saw the balloons and stuff...finally got it...see, told ya, the easiest person to surprise!!

My party was awesome, my whole family was there and in a very loving, family oriented mood. We played Twister and Uno, shared jokes and laughs over delicious barbecue. I had such an awesome time having all my family share with each other, speak to eachother...I guess the general word is fellowship. Oh, and my sister baked me a cake without eggs...so chocolatey delicious!! Sooo delicious! Seriously, my baby sister is seriously talented when it comes to baking! Even people who don't like chocolate cake at it and thought it was delicious! I have pictures of everything too, so once their developed they'll be going on my site and I'll post some on the blog too!

Anyway, that was my weekend! I had a great time and I thank everyone who participated in it for making it such a memorable, awesome weekend! Who would have thought I would have been saying this with all thats happening right now? Anyway, to all a great week

Cheers

Caribana!!

Ok, so I'm about to take a trip downtown to, you guessed it, Caribana!!! I was planning on going for my birthday this year, and regardless of whats happening I think its important to me at least that I still go. Its gonna be really fun. Last year we went with someone (Ok, Aliya...sorry girl, but it was toooo funny!!)who had never been to the parade, so she wore like 12 inch heels! Boy, were her feet sore afterwards. And Desi and I are so the marching types so we followed that parade for a loong time, with her barely able to stumble along behind us. lol. Ahhh, good times!! Yeah, so anyway, this time we're going just the two of us, and its gonna be some crazy fun! Just gotta finish getting ready, pick up some Rev (what else could you drink during the caribana day parade?) and then we're off!

Let you know how it goes. For anyone who hasn't heard of caribana, (again, do you live under a rock in a cave on mars?) I'm not about to try to give a mini history lesson to you...this is a short clip taken from Caribana 2006 that should give you an idea of what the sights and sounds are like!


Anyway, to all, a good weekend!
Cheers

The Power of Family

Sorry I haven't kept up over the past couple days with my blog entries...its been really hectic what with preparing for the funeral and all. Yesterday was the funeral, and incidentally, my birthday as well. I was really upset about the date when I heard about it, but what can you do?

So anyway, the service was really nice, everyone had some beautiful words to say, and we all cried fiercely during the viewing period. Pretty much what you'd expect at a funeral for someone who was well loved by many people. All of our hard work came together beautifully, and the little touches were what made it all so special. That and being surrounded by family.

I was struck yesterday by the power of family. I think that family ties are stronger than anything else known to man. I don't just mean the family you are born into, but also the family you choose, the family that chooses you, and the family you one day realise you've fallen into. Sometimes you marry into a family, sometimes someone marries into your family, and sometimes you just become absorbed into a family after a brief meeting that you didn't think meant all that much at the time.

But regardless of how they become your family, i think that the bond you feel with your family is one of a kind. It doesn't matter whether you are in a fight with one member, or have been in a fight for years with another, in times of pain and trials they are always the ones you turn to, the ones you can always lean on, and the ones who bring you the greatest comfort and relief.

I saw an amazing thing through this painful time-- I saw my family, all the assorted members of it, pull together to support one another. My parents, who cannot even stand to be in the same room 90% of the time, ended up sharing old jokes over dishes. Everyone was all in unison, actually speaking to eachother when some of them haven't even said hi to each other in years. Not even a few months ago during my uncles 10 year memorial did they speak to eachtother, but in this time of extreme pain they were able to all band together and give each other the support and love that they needed.

My parents and my family was so amazing during this time; so supportive and understanding, regardless of what they were all feeling. But one thing that blew me away more so was a large part of my family that I haven't seen in soo long. They are actually my baby sisters family. But when I was younger, they took me in as though I had always been there and treated me like family. I had so many wonderful memories with them, and then one day i didn't see them anymore. I was worried about how they would treat me when we did all come together.

And it was amazing. They treated me as though not a single day had gone by since they saw me last. They were just as caring and wonderful to me as they had always been, as they were being to their family...as though nothing at all had changed. I was their family as much as they were mine. That really filled my heart, took some of the ache away. The way they treated my blood family was just the same. I just felt so overcome by how wonderful people can be, how wonderful family can be.

I thought my birthday was going to be the worst day of my life, but the funeral, and after the funeral feels like 2 totally different days altogether. Amd the part that I got to spend with family is priceless. To not only sense all that love and care around me, but to feel it, was uplifting, and made me see the silver lining on this very dark cloud.

Thank you, family, for filling my heart, yesterday, and everyday before and after it.
I love you all

Cheers

P.S. All my friends are absolutely awesome too!