November*

I am a bad blogger. :(

I’m sorry. But I have been busy, and in this post I shall explain why. If you are a regular reader, you will likely have noticed that my number of posts per month have dropped off drastically. I think this is #4 for November, and I used to try and write every day. So let me fill you all in. Grab a cup of hot chocolate, a blanket, and let me tell you my story.

Yesterday, I put my teacher’s college applications in the mail. I’m not even sure if I’ve blogged about the fact that I was applying, but that was mostly because they have consumed my life for the past 2 months. Also, because there is a good change that I won’t get in anywhere and I didn’t want to embarrass myself. haha You see, last year I went through a “I’m not sure if I really want to be in university studying what I’m studying” phase and my marks went down the toilet. I’m basically sitting at a 70% average right now which is the bare minimum to get into teacher’s college. Yeah. I know. So I needed to have AMAZING statements of experiences which is what I worked my butt off for. But now they are in the mail and there’s nothing more that I can do until they tell me on April 15th.

This has also been a major source of stress for me because if I am not accepted at the college here in town, the Hubs and I will have to live apart for a year. He is a year behind me in school and unless I took a year off to work, we’ll be seeing each other on weekends only. I really don’t want to take a year off though, as I am really at a point in my life where I need to be done with school… and I don’t think I’d have the willpower to make myself go back once I had a taste of freedom. I have been in school non-stop since I was 4 years old, and the prospect of freedom within my reach is almost irresistible. So, as much as I don’t want to be parted from my Hubster, it might be a reality. But in the words of Scarlett O’Hara, “I don’t want to think about that today. I’ll think about that tomorrow.”

So, that has been one reason I haven’t been blogging. The other, is work. I’m still working with the Peer Mentoring Program at the school, and that eats up a lot of my free time. There has been a lot of actual work to be done while I was in the office, so I didn’t have a ton of free blogging time there anymore either. As well, I’ve just taken on a second job (I know, I’m insane). The Catholic Board called me and wants me to come back and teach again this year. I couldn’t turn it down… as trying as the experience was at times, it was still amazing and the pay is incredible for the amount of work I do. Besides, I loved the school, the kids, and the staff (the principal actually wrote one of my reference letters for teacher’s college) and it’s good practice for me.

So, teacher’s college and 2 jobs. I know there’s something else… ohhh right… SCHOOL. haha the other huge thing in my life that eats up all my time. I’m still enjoying most of my classes–the English and one of my 4th year history classes are a little trying, but I’m muddling through. Knowing that there is really only 3 months left of school (I only have a week of class in December so I don’t count it) is keeping me going. I am SO excited to graduate and just be DONE. I’ve been trying to stay on top of my readings this year so I just feel like I’m doing something all the time.

With school comes my lovely volunteer position with Frontier College. I sometimes feel like it’s taking over my life. haha Throughout October and early November I was responsible for making all the reference calls for the students who volunteer with our organization. We work with children and senior citizens, so our background checks are pretty intensive. There is an interview process, police checks, and reference checks. I did the reference checks. For all our volunteers. To sum up, it was a lot of phoning. I now hate the phone. haha

And then… there is my wonderful husband who I sometimes think isn’t quite sure if I still live at the apartment or have moved into my offices on campus. Our schedules are pretty opposite right now so it’s not always easy to catch each other at home. Today, for example, I left before he was even out of bed (he always comes to the door with me, but he wasn’t quite coherent yet… haha) and I won’t be home for another couple of hours. We’ve booked “date time” for tonight so he’s making me dinner and we’re going to watch a movie as we both actually have a few hours off together! This is really the root of why I hate being so busy… after spending so much time together in the summer, all of a sudden it’s hard to catch a minute because we’re both exhausted when we finally do get home. We’re both really looking forward to Christmas when I’m going to force him to hang out with me all the time. haha :)

So, those are my excuses for being a bad blogger. But don’t you worry. I have lots of essays coming up so I’ll need lots of reasons to procrastinate. And I promise to make blogging my number 1. :)

Now I know this post is already a novel, but there is simply one more thing that I need to blog about. Last night I met Daniel Ellsburg. I was absolutely SHOCKED when even Doodle, my internationally minded Lawyer brother, didn’t know who he is, and why he is someone I was so impressed to meet. But I think it’s because we’re Canadian, and his actions in the U.S. had no real impact on Canada. But anyway, he came to speak at Trent last night–his first time ever speaking in Canada–and I have never been so impressed with another person before. I left his lecture SO inspired. If you click on the link I’ve placed on his name (which I HIGHLY recommend you do) you’ll read that he is the man responsible for leaking the Pentagon Papers and exposed the actions of the American government in Vietnam. He spoke briefly about that experience last night, but his real focus was on comparing Vietnam to the U.S.’s current involvement in Iraq, and his predictions of their entrance into Iran. It was SO interesting.

After his lecture, I was invited to attend a reception for him. I thought that was pretty cool–my prof was only allowed to invite 8 students and she asked me! It was a little intimidating, it was in the Alumni house and it was crawling with professors and all these intellectual people and then there was… me. haha! Thankfully my friend Phil was there so he helped me break the ice and then it was awesome. I met some really interesting people, and even had the opportunity to meet and speak with Ellsburg. I have to admit, I was a little star struck. haha!!

So, that was my big experience of this month… and now you’re all caught up in the world of Shop Girl. Did I mention how excited I am for Christmas? Because I am SO excited. WOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

Shop Girl*