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Remember

The average age of a soldier in the World Wars is 23. Now think about what that means. Half of them were younger than that. On this day, and every day, never forget the sacrifice. Don't forget the fallen, or the survivors. Don't forget the ones without names.



THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER

Here lies a man, a hero to me now
Yet in my eyes still no more than a boy;
No wrinkle on his ever youthful brow
His dreams still filled with life and hope and joy.
Thrust into conflict by the men of hate
Those nameless, faceless architects of war
Those orders led him to his final fate
The flame of youth extinguished evermore.
But hate can never motivate a man
To sacrifice his own life for a friend;
True heroes ever since mankind began
Have upheld higher virtues to the end.
So when the roll is called somewhere above
Let it be said that this man died for love.

- Lachlan Irvine


LEST WE FORGET.

The ABCs of me

Oh yes, yes I did.

Yes, this is a meme. But lately, I've been strapped for content and Loralee was doing it, so I jumped on the cool kids bandwagon. I promise I'll be back, but for now, I've got midterms. And then papers. And then exams. FML. So here's the meme.



A – ADVOCATE FOR: Cancer research, a more effective Children's Aid system and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies as a breakfast food

B – BEST FEATURE: Eyes, hands down. Everyone comments on them, thanks to the fact that they change colours.

C – COULD DO WITHOUT: Vegetables. Jerks. Roommates. Cities. Injuries.

D – DREAMS & DESIRES: I want to become a teacher, get married, have a family and live happily ever after. I'm not after fame or fortune. Just enough money to live comfortably and someone who loves me for me.

E – ESSENTIAL ITEMS: My truck, a tank of gas, my Blackberry, and my iPod with some good tunes.

F – FAVORITE PAST TIME: Hockey. I could spend my entire life in an arena and be happy. I love the cold, and I like the smell of the ice. And yes, ice pads DO have a smell.

G – GOOD AT: Sports, school, farming and being the type of loyal friend who will throw a punch for you if necessary.

H – HAVE NEVER TRIED: Going vegetarian or vegan. There are some things I could give up. Meat is not one of them.

I – IF I HAD A MILLION DOLLARS: Buy a house, give a good chunk to my parents, have a bit of a shopping spree and invest the rest.

J – JUNKIE FOR: Dim sum. Sushi. Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies but only the soft kind. House. Hockey.

K – KINDRED SPIRIT: 6 of them, who I love with my whole heart.

L – LITTLE KNOWN FACT: I'm left handed. People in real life obviously picked up on that one, but did any of you know it?

M – MEMORABLE MOMENT: The first time I traveled internationally, the first time I went alone, California in senior year, far too many to list.

N – NEVER AGAIN WILL I: Lose myself. I came too close, and I hate that.

O – OCCASIONAL INDULGENCE: Live sports games. There's nothing that will make me happy like NHL tickets.

P – PROFESSION: Professional student. And I work at a bar. So professional student beer slinger? Awesome.

Q – QUOTE: "I'm selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best."
— Marilyn Monroe

R – REASON TO SMILE: A house, a home, friends, family, money, education, safety, Canadian...life's pretty good, isn't it?

S – SORRY ABOUT: My past screw ups. But I've owned to them, and its time to move forward.

T -THINGS THAT ARE WORRYING YOU RIGHT NOW: Midterms.

U – UNINTERESTED IN: Drama. Pink. Pop. Doing anyone's makeup but my own. (I'm good at it, but hate doing other people's)

V – VERY SCARED OF: Disappointing people I love. Losing people I love.

W – WORST HABITS: Hating household chores, period.

X – X MARKS MY IDEAL VACATION SPOT: LOL You seriously want me to pick one? I've traveled extensively. Here's a blog entry about it, if you're interested.

Y – YUMMIEST DESSERT: Anything that combines the word "cake," "chocolate," and "molten" had me at hello.

Z – ZODIAC SIGN: Virgo. I'm "shy." I stopped believing in horoscopes right when I read that one.

WHAT ARE THE ABC’S OF YOU?

Our asses make a cute couple?

I Twittered an abbreviated version of this amusing anecdote earlier and got some funny reactions, so I figured, for your reading pleasure, I'd tell you the story.

I have tutorials for my large history classes. It's standard fare. The class is broken down into small groups (20 or less) and we split up and discuss, rather than being talked at all the time. It's awesome.

In my group, there's a gay guy. He's pure, flaming gay awesome (I mention this for an important point in my story, and I don't exaggerate, he told a girl he had the same sweater as her in a different colour. Boy wears womens clothes), and we've already become buddies. He's hilarious.

There's also a guy that is dang good looking. Like the type you look at and the first thought is yum. He also happens to be a very nice guy, which is welcome. We're in the same group of 3 for presentations too, which is insanely convenient. He's hot, plain and simple.

We were leaving class today, and hot guy and I are walking and talking. The other guy is lagging behind, tapping away on his Crackberry. I notice we're leaving him behind and yell back to make sure he's coming. Once the hot guy takes off to his next class, the gay guy catches up to me in seconds, and the following conversation ensues:

Him: You know what, you two make a cute couple, even from the back.
Me: You were lagging behind intentionally?
Him: Oh yes.
Me: You were checking out our asses?!
Him: Well, his more than yours, but the point still stands. Hot couple. I was kinda hoping you'd pounce him.
Me: I barely know him.
Him: What better way to get to know someone than by pouncing?
Me: Well, you could try, "Hi, how are you?"
Him: So conventional. Jump his bones, sistah.

University education at its finest.

M.I.A. due to The Happy

I know I don't have a large blog following (something I am sometimes grateful for and sometimes I lament but that's another post in and of itself), so I haven't received a public outcry or anything. But for those of you wondering where the heck I've been since mid September, I'm around. I swear. I'm just balancing a lot of balls right now, between school, work, sports, and friends, and blogging has been on the back burner.

I'm still reading but I haven't had the burning desire to write anything particularly noteworthy, so rather than stuff my space on the interwebs with filler, I've stayed quiet. Today, I got to thinking about it and I realized why.

This blog was started when I was in a really shitty place, and I definitely used it to blow off steam that I couldn't, or more often wouldn't, unload on people in real life. It didn't matter that it wasn't going out to a huge audience. It helped to put things into words. But what helped more was getting out of that shitty place, both mentally and physically.

I'm at a new school. I like it here. My courses are just as much work. I spend just as much time with my nose buried in books. But the campus is smaller and the professors are more accessible. It doesn't all seem so overwhelming. I'm not a goldfish in a shark tank anymore. Home is less than an hour away. I can go home for an evening or a weekend if I want to, and I have on more than one occasion. My friends can drive to my place and spend the night, which they do frequently. I'm not lonely.

I'm happy. Feels kinda nice to say. I still have my days, but don't we all? But the good days outnumber the bad days, and damn, what else can I ask for?

Don't take this as me quitting my blog, by far. I still have things to say, topics that are important to me, things I'm proud of and things that rub me the wrong way. You'll still see a rant or two out of me. But I'm doing better, and it feels nice.

Old friends don't always change

Facebook is like one giant life reunion. Sometimes, you see stuff you don't want to see, but sometimes, it pleasantly surprises you. I first got that wonderful time suck in first year of university, when it was only available to people with a registered university address. (Those were the days.) No stupid apps, no quizzes or surveys. Just a quick way to connect with friends from home who were at other schools, and new classmates, all on one neat website.

I've had it since then, and while it's become more MySpace by the second, adding all those apps, quizzes, games, etc and letting people's moms on (seriously parents, don't add your kids' friends. Its creepy), I still use it to keep in touch with a lot of people. Every now and then, someone unexpected crops up. Someone from way back in the day, that sends you a friend request out of the blue.

The other day, an old friend from elementary school added me. We didn't go to the same high school, because he moved, and we just eventually lost touch. I added him, found out where he's been going to school and quickly got caught up as to where his life is heading. We started chatting on Facebook, catching each other up on the past 10 years of our lives, and now talk regularly, as if those 10 years apart never existed.

He's in school in a neighbouring city and we're planning visits soon. I can't even describe how nice it feels to have two things because of this. The first is a decided throwback to the innocent days of elementary school, and how uncomplicated life was, and the second is a knowledge that though our lives change, some people really do stay the same. We've both grown, and matured and had totally different life experiences, but we click just like we did, and it feels good.

So I caught a case of The Stupid

So my recent absence is easily explained. While having a stellar vacation in Ireland, I caught a nearly deadly case of The Stupid. In case you are unfamiliar with this life threatening disease, it makes you think you are Superwoman and can do 2 weeks worth of things in about 4 days, while jet lagged, on little to no sleep.

We landed on Monday morning from Ireland, tired as you always are when returning from vacation with friends. You know, the "Oh man, I am SO ready to collapse in my own bed that I feel like skipping baggage claim" type tired. Instead of following that instinct, we grabbed our stuff, drove home, dumped it, and headed for the lake, still sleepless. Mistake number 1.

When we arrived at the lake, with 2 boats in tow behind trucks, we launched them and turned them into two floating bars in honour of my birthday. Complete with kegs. Mistake number 2. Like any good party, it lasted until the early hours of the morning before we even bothered to head back to the marina. Mistake number 3.

In what should now be a state of almost complete exhaustion, were it not for sugar, caffeine and adrenaline, we drove back. I crashed for a grand total of 2 hours, before getting up to go to my new job, bright and early Tuesday morning. Are you beginning to see the symptoms of The Stupid now?

We had training from 8 AM (did I mention I'm not a morning person AT ALL?) until 2 PM. I headed home, grabbed some food and caught 2 hours of sleep before returning to bartend for a frosh party at work until almost 2 AM. I've lost count of the number of mistakes in that paragraph.

After grabbing a few drinks with coworkers once the bar cleared, I headed home to catch 2 more hours of sleep once I wound down, only to wake up and head back into work for 8 AM for more newbie training. (I'm new, but because I've bartended before, I'm helping train instead of being trained). Training lasted from 8 (ew mornings) until 4, when we took a supper break. The newbies took off and trained staff worked a private party until 11:30 PM.

I caught a grand total of 3 hours of sleep, was back in for 8 this morning, and just got home for 4 PM. This is the only night we've got off this week, and the bar officially re opens for the year on Monday, which means it will be ridiculous.

So for those of you keeping count at home, since Monday, I have had a grand total of 7 hours of sleep and its now Thursday afternoon. So I am at the point of being so exhausted that I'm actually jacked up. So I promise I'll write about Ireland soon. For everyone asking, it was STELLAR and I'm going back soon, so help me god. My birthday was great too, thanks to anyone who said happy birthday. I'll be back, after I catch about 20 hours of sleep and my case of The Stupid is cured. I just don't know when that will happen.