I thought I should drop a line and give a little update on my life. This is it.

I stopped posting regularly around the Summer, 2003, because the family computer started having major issues displaying PoC. It got to the point that if I wanted to even read anything that I had to be on my bro's computer which was seeing more and more use by him which meant I was seeing less and less of PoC. Then I was in Ontario for most of August but barely saw anyone and after that skoo started up again and I did my turle impression. So here's a recap on my life for everyone who is uninterested in knowing about it. For the most part, the subheaders make sense, but there are parts that don't belong. Sue me. I dare you. No, better yet, fight me over it. You bring your friends with bats, and I'll bring my platoon with rifles and ammo.

Late Summer

Bro's laptop with all my phone numbers had a HD failure in the Summer so when I drove down in August I didn't know how to get a hold of most anyone. I count myself fortunate enough to know a large number of people who have no problems putting me up for X-number of evenings at their abode and wound up spending lots of time with them for obvious reasons. When I got back, I dicked around until school started. School was awesome until the middle of October and not because of exams. It was awesome because I made a way cool friend Samantha. She was in a couple of my classes and we got along well. We often went for coffee or lunch and discussed our courses. I started a study group for one of the courses we were in because when she told me she wanted to do her PhD, I knew I could count on picking her brain. Lots of fun was had with classmates as I always brought a coffee maker and sometimes homemade chocolate chip cookies. Studying paid off as I got a B+ in the course, 83.5%. But then a close personal friend of mine that I made in high school passed away and life royally sucked and school got derailed.

Mrs.Brenda Evans was my grade 11 English teacher and everyone uncluding myself hated her. She had high expecations for her essays and was always demanding we do better. Sheesh, go figure. Of course we didn't like her, she was a hard marker to boot. The best essay I'd ever written, or so I thought, was the only paper she'd ever refused to mark in that class because it was so awful, she told me. I did learn how to write a better essay. Honestly, it wasn't until she started rubbing my ego after hearing Johnny G. and I with the three other guys perform something for the school at the Christmas break that I started liking her. And only after high school that I started a friendship with her, which is far easier to do after you've graduated. We kept in touch on an infrequent basis and she always had helpful, insightful suggestions and comments. She was always happy with how I was progressing in life. It was not until I was living in Ontario a year and a half ago that I learned of her sudden illness. ASL had stuck her swiftly and by the time I caught up with her face to face, she'd cut her hair very short, used a four-legged walker and had lost the ability to speak. She was always so apologetic when she drooled on me but I could care less. She was in and out of school, still teaching, but with various symptoms. I was able to visit her in August. She was in a wheelchair at this point, not doing school anymore. I never asked, and it didn't click in, but she was probably preparing to die. I asked her if she would be still here in another 3 years, because she knew I expected to be done all of my school, and I'd be a full-fledged Lieutenant. with the Forces. She was very proud of all that I had undertaken and of course gave me more suggestions on what I could do with my life with such accomplishments. But she said she wouldn't be here in another 3 years. So, just in case, though I was sure she'd still be around in say two years, maybe for when I could visit again, we said our final good-bye and I gave her a big kiss and hugged her for a long time. She died two months later and my world stopped spinning. Samantha helped me through, so did Cory, her way cool boyfriend. I owe them bunches for talking to me over coffee in the cafe, Degrees. Confirmed when her memorial would be and flew out for it. Only... I didn't attend. I won't go into it, but due to technical difficulties, I chose not to go. I don't know if it was the right thing, but I did what I did and I stand by it. Then in November I couldn't get a hold of Samantha.

November

She didn't show up for study group right before the test like she said she would and she didn't return my calls that day or the next. Then when she didn't show up for the test, I knew something was wrong and I called and called and called but got no answer. Finally, over the weekend she called me from her bed in Emergency, hopped up on Morphine and sleep deprived. We didn't know if she'd make it because the doctors didn't know what was wrong. It's not my place to say here anything else, other than she is highly restricted in what she can injest now. Like... no caffine, zero. That was rough on its own. Anyway, she made it, she pulled through like she has on her other trips to emergency. She's a tough girl, already having survived heart surgery and whatnot.

December

Then in December I was finally, finally sworn in with the Forces. They kept on finding new paper work to do on their end, all of my applications and interviews and screening tests were completed some time in June! I've framed my Solemn Afermation and I'm putting it on my wall whenever my room is totally overhauled. I still have essays that were given no precise due-date extensions.

January

I really really should get them done, now that I have ALL of my papers due at the end of this month that are not due at the end of Term. For some stupid reason, January is crunch-month for me. I'm giving piano lessons two a friend I made at the Computer Science Lounge who, surprisingly, is majoring in Comp.Sci. Seriously, a lot of the people who hang in the lounge are not CS students! I found out one of the is in my Hellenism class (Paganism during the time after Ancient Greece; 330/350 BCE - meh 750 CE?). Conor, I'll udpate you more on what we discuss in brief although I have to do a research paper on ... on... something... yah. Winter Basic Military Qualification (BMQ) starts up on the 20th. I get to "draw my complete kit" on the 17th at 0830 in the morning. I'm the only Officer Cadet (OCdt) in my course so it will be interesting. It will be interesting regardless actually. We spent last Tuesday evening taking what weighed like solid iron bed parts (they were mostly solid), and heavy, uncomfortable matresses up three flight from storage in the basement and assembled our beds. We'll be spending every-other weekend on those beds so we had better have put those bunks together right. NO ONE is calling bottom-bunk. We don't want the shoddy job we did on putting them together greeting us in the middle of the night because they're all made out of rusted, pointy, twisted chainlink when they're not made out of cast iron. Of course, falling the 5+ feet from the top bunk will not be fun either.

Later

Later this Winter/Spring, I'll be spending anywhere from 106 hours per month with the Forces to 165 hours a month (26.5-41.25 hours a week on avg) with the Forces, taking 4 courses, and seeing what else I can throw into my life because you know it's not full enough. On the 2nd week of April I'll be writing final exams and then on the weekend I'm being shipped out to Shilo for the final phase of BMQ. Me thinks I won't be catching a wink of sleep. I'll graduate University and BMQ in April and be shipped out for 4 months of solid training with the Forces starting more than likely the first week of May. I may miss out on ceremony things for University which is a shame but I'll be doing Basic Officer Training Course (BOTC) followed by my CAP-R. Don't recall what the CAP stands for but the R stands for the Reserve module. I'll come back, upon sucessful completion, a 2nd Lieutenant. It's pronounced "Lef-tenant" by the way. I'll be officially useless at this point. Somewhere in there, before Summer training, I'll have written my GMAT and applied for the Masters program in Business Administration. My grades from this may not be competative enough as competative is a 3.75 out of 4.5, so in other words, I need an 87.5% AVG in my final year. Not so easy to come by as in Religious Studies 85% is still a B+ and they're looking for a high B+ to be competative. Joy of farking joys. My leadership roles with previous jobs and the Forces, my GMAT mark, and my GPA from last year should make me a contender. We'll see if I get in. I honestly have NO contingency plan for if I don't get in. I mean sure I can write the GMAT again and try to get a higher score but other than that... I have no idea what I'll do.

So, that is my update. Some things have been left out but that's because they're either not important enough or haven't been resolved yet and won't make much sense if I get into them right this instant. But, now that I can post again on PoC on my VERY OWN COMPUTER... hey, that's something I did forget to mention. I got a sweet comput0r for Christmas and it's all mine and I spend too much time on it. Yah. Okay, so, I lied. Not everything was unimportant enough to mention or unresolved. Sue me. I dare you. No, better yet, fight me over it. You bring your friends with bats, and I'll bring my platoon with rifles and ammo.