Birthday

Well today has been a day of trials and tribulations full of uncertainty for what may lay for the future. Driving home from class last night watching at the gas prices fall from municipality to the next, just dumb founded at how fast things are starting to become with our economy. I have always been the optimistic telling my self that this will never affect me and my family. Today this optimistic point of view may have just caught up with me. And it never ceases to amaze me that these hard times always fall on my children’s birthday. My daughter 2nd birthday was one to remember, that was day we lost our Hydro for 8 days because food was more important the heat. Today it my son’s 9th Birthday and layoffs were just announced were there father works. Today maybe the last day that he will work with this company.

Not that I am complaining about this, it has been a good run and this announcement was to be expected, but more towards Christmas. So now it is just a waiting game until I hear more news about this. But in the mean time…….

My son is having a great Birthday. He has been very excited about the idea that he has no school today, in his mind this best present ever. He did have the stress of parent/teacher interview and was told that he had to present for this one. He was nervous about this and so was I. Being the boy that he is, he has a hard time sitting still, he somewhat out spoken and he really loves his friends and as a result, he has had a lot of reminders about his performance. We thought that this was way he instructed to attend this conference. But as it may be – all the kids we told to come with their parents. Talk about relief. After the conference, his Birthday had just gotten better. The little guy got one C plus, five B’s and one A in math. There was letter grade missing and he feels that he is going to get an A in that class (Gym)….

His day is still not over, there is more to come….

So family member’s out place stay tuned.

I Have a Cat and His Name Will be Wisers

Well I should be doing homework and I should be doing house work, but I think I have had too much coffee so far today….I need talk about my newest addition to my family. After long conversations for the past couple of years over this one topic with my family members, I have gotten a cat. A very cute, stinky, keep me up in the middle of the night, cat. And we have decided that his name should be Wisers, yes that is right, named after Canadian Whisky. This name suits him because even thou he is a long domestic longhair Tabby, the colour of the Brown in him looks like the colour of whisky. So there you have it.

Wisers was found as a stray by my friends’ mother-in-law who works at our CASA building here in the village (downtown Sooke), this building is where Family Services is located and other wonderful organization to help families grow. She has noticed that the cat was hanging around for a couple of weeks and my friend (the daughter-in-law) had fallen in love with him. So she took him home. However, she as already has 5 other cats. She knew that I had wanted one and asked if we wanted him. So know I have a cat.

I took the cat to the vet and found out this cat is around 5-6 years old. He has been given a clean bill of health. As a precaution the cat has been vaccinated for the feline HIV and other stuff, but he still needs to have the Rabbeis and Dysfunction? (I believe it is called.) He was already neutered so that’s a bonus. I had the kids with me this morning before taking the older one to school and the vet decided to give the cat a Birthday for the children, so the cats B-day is March 1, 2002.

Also a little other tid bit about the name, my friends son has named the cat BudWeiser after his dad’s favorite Beer. I liked the name before I met the cat, but as soon as I have seen him….Wisers was the perfect name.

He Lives!!!!!!

I am really happy to announce that the 70 year old man LIVES!!!!!!!!

It was not a body bag that I have seen go into the back of the ambulance, (Thank God) it was a very bundled up poor soul who was in such a state of shock that he could not feel his broken Tibia and Fibula (the leg bones below the knee). Because he could not feel the broken bones the ambulance personal did not feel that it was necessary to go with lights and sirens. That is why they had took so long leaving the scene.

However, we do have a case of Hit and Run. My class mate who is a Paramedic who works out here in Sooke has told me that emotions are running high on this one. R.C.M.P figures that whoever hit this man lives on this road. From what I understand it was a car and there is significant damage to the front of it. I have a feeling that who ever owns this car will not be using it anytime soon. Sooke is such a small community that somebody will notice the damage. I just hope that this person turns him self in and count his/her lucky stars that they did not kill the pour soul.

The Fog Was Thick Last Night......

Before I can continue my Activities of Daily Living, cleaning up everyone’s used epidermis’s (dust) and fingerprints off of my T.V. and fish tank I really need to get a few things of my chest. Last night was one of those nights where I wish I went go to school. But however, because of my daughter not being 100% health wise I ended up spending two hours in the walk in clinic in Langford (a ½ hour drive from Sooke) for a prescription for her ailment. It is amazing what children pick up!

Deciding to go shopping well I was in town for a few odds and ends, I didn’t realize just how foggy it became as our afternoon turned into evening. After paying for my stuff, I walked out of the store and it was hard to see the parking lot. The street lights looked ghostly in the fog and the cars driving under the streetlights looked like shadows. I almost needed a butter knife to cut through the fog just to find my car. Under these conditions heading back into Sooke would be a long and careful drive. Because of the fog and it almost seems to be the rule of thumb in my area that the fog will spell disaster and some poor family will suffer a tragedy. And sure enough tragedy did strike - five minutes before my house.

Carefully driving along the last road to my house, I was greeted with an R.C.M.P cruiser with lights flashing. A half of kilometer after that cruiser was an ambulance, more cruisers and rescue personal scattered all over the road. (The lights flashing in the night with the dense Fog reminded me of a night club blasting its fog machine) However, oddly enough there was no Fire Trucks. This told me that this was involved a pedestrian. I was the third car from the scene. I was greeted with an officer who explained to me that they would be letting cars go through in about five minutes. Unfortunately those five minutes turned into 45 minutes. The ambulance was in no rush to go anywhere and after a while of waiting I decided to turn off the car and go out side for a cigarette; I ended up watching the rescue personal put what looked like a body bag into the back of the ambulance, and sadly enough the rescue truck that holds the huge Halogen Flood lights came and was set up so the light could shine down on the scene and officers could get the tape to measure the skid marks on the road. From what I understand this is done after a death. What a tragedy! I really do hope with all of my heart that it wasn't a bodybag that I have seen going into the back of the ambulance. I really, really hope that it wasn't.

I had learned well I was waiting from another person (who had a good sorce within the R.C.M.P) who was also waiting to go through the chaos that it was a 70 year old man and it was a hit and run. There are several old men that live where I live and I wonder which one it was. My heart goes out to the family.

For me, this is a grave reminder to all who walk the roads in rural areas to wear the proper reflective clothing so drivers can see you out there. I had a long to talk with my son about this this morning when I drove him school. I just hope that he would remember my words. Of course I would remind him and buy what he needs to be safe, I just hope my words will sink home!

The School Gods Were Smiling!

I would never would of believed it if some one would walk up to me two years ago and tell me that I would have a favorite wall. I am not talking about the wall that I use as a shrine for my childrens art work, but the kind of wall that would make me feel nervous, scared, laugh and releived all at the same time. This wall has the name of the "The grade Wall." And this wall is the most popular wall in the Continuing Care Building. It is amazing how this wall will turn the most rounded person into a bowl of jelly. All who view this Great Wall will either hang thier heads down in shame or their backs against the wall with the look of asperation and thinking to them selves, thank God that is over and done with, NEXT!"

In order to get to my class room, I have to walk past this Wall. There is no avoiding this Wall. I don't want to walk past it and I do wish that the classroom is on the other side of the building or even on the first flour. This would make me so happy. But no, my class room is located infront of 'the wall.' I walk out of the classroom the wall greats me every single time.

Last night I walked past the Wall. I kept my head down avoiding eye contact with the wall. I did not want to see my student number on the wall. Because there will be the most dreaded number in the world marked beside my student number. I walked into the class room and I look at my class mates. Do theylook Happy? Do they look disappoined?

Has the marks been posted? I am sure I will find out. The teacher walks in the greating us with her famous Nurse smile. She has a peace of paper in her hands. Oh God, the marks!

"I have done marking your exams, would you like to know the range of the marks before I put them up on the wall? Of course we all want to know the Range!!! 19 to 30. I thnk to my self that 19 is mine. I know I needed to get 21 to pass. Dread fills up in in side. We all follow her with our eyes as she goes to the wall and hangs the paper with a thumbtack. We all watch her walk back into the class room. She gives us a look and smiles at us all and says quite happley "Do you want to know how you all did?" We all jump out of our chairs and make our way to the wall. We are all shoving and pushing each other like small school children to found our most secreat number. I find mine, I close my eyes and then open them. My back is aganst the wall. and I think to my self "Thank God, I am glad that is over and done with. NEXT!" I past my test with flying colours.

6th Foot Found on Beach!!!!

I really don’t get to read the paper that much anymore since I started my course, but when I do, I get a kick out of some of the stuff that I read. I found out last night that someone has found another shoe with the foot still in side it washed up on a beach. Wow, 6 feet all together, in what a year? A year and a half? Strange! This is a mystery indeed.

One of the things that I get a kick out when reading stories such as this, is the comments section and for this one there was lots; just to let you know I read my paper online. It is amazing how people like to speculate what had happened to these pour souls who have lost their feet. My favorite theory is about a boat that had sunk somewhere and a bunch of illegal immigrants were on board. This accident was never reported because the boat was never to be in our waters to begin with. Anyways, read the article and read the comments. Some of them are interesting. Some of them are down right stupid, but I must worn you, there is a lot police bashing.

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=3d3ff931-97ab-4dda-8d54-278d56f55b1b

Part 2 - Being a Tad Stressed!!

So here is the continuation to my car key Saga. Yesterday was a brand new day and to my relief everything was open. I was able to make up 4 keys for the car. One I have, one I gave to a friend for safe keeping and the other key is located with the truck keys. And get this. I have already misplaced the 4th one. My daughter had a mild temper tantrum in the parking lot of the Nissan Dealer ship and that key went flying somewhere, could be in the car, I just don’t know. But that is all right. At least I have the other 3 keys and the key code to the car for when (and it is a matter of when) those keys go missing.

My car did not get towed and to a great deal of relief, the only horrible thing that happened as a result was I got a 20.00 ticket from the parking company in charge of the parking lot for failing to produce. Get this…. I was issued the ticket 15 minutes before I arrived to pick up the car. Could that be a higher power telling me something?

As a joke, I was given a key rope for the only key that I have for the car. If I was to be somewhat offended by this friendly joke, (construction worker mentality) I don’t know, but I was more then grateful for the gift, because it is a wonderful idea. And yes, yesterday I did wear my keys around my neck and this made me feel very reassured to the fact that I could fell them on my body. After going through what I did…I am sure you would to.

But as a result from all the stress (being yelled at) that came with losing my keys and the horrible sleep I got the night before (children not wanting to sleep until 2 a.m.). It would be somewhat of a miracle if I barely passed my exam yesterday for module 155. It was a very strange feeling to look at the questions and know that I know the answer but can’t quite formulate my thought process to think of the best way to answer it because I was to damn tired to concentrate.

So let this be a HUGE Lesson for me.

If I do poorly on this exam, I now that I better work real hard for the next one to keep my marks up.

Can You Say, Just a Tad Stressed!

When people are stressed out they do some dumb things such as, lets see here, forget important dates such as anniversaries, unable to sleep; I am sure you get the idea. When I get stressed out, I loose things, not just any type of thing, just only one thing and that thing just happens to be my keys. I have been doing this since for as long as I have been on my own, fresh from the home nest. Over the years I have learnt the importants of having spar keys of every kind. I have even learnt that the best for me is have a separate key ring for the house and a separate key ring for the car, this way I don’t loose both at the same time. But what happens when you loose the last set of keys that you have for the car. While I just found out.

As I was doing the 5 minute dash from parking lot to classroom I had dropped my car keys somewhere along the way. I didn’t realize until I got to the classroom that my keys were gone. During my first class, I was unable set still. I went through my pockets and my school bag. Looked in the women’s washroom countless of times. Heck, I even done the gross, I dug through garbage bins looking for my keys in the women’s washroom. (Big washroom - 7 stalls, 5 garbage bins) I have talked with campus security, campus general services and the library. No keys. Second class, I realized that my keys are gone; gone where all lost keys go to live out the rest of their key lives, never to be seen again.

It is after my second class (my last class for the night) things get interesting. After calling home and finding out the Nissan dealer ship phone number for my area (they have someone in the office after hours for road side assistance) I was told that I would have to wait until tomorrow and someone from parts would call back in the morning. Perfect I thought, Deal with everything then. Get a good night sleep and everything will work out. So with some peace of mind, I locate a bus schedule and slowly make my way back to Sooke – 3 bus transfers and 2 hours later.

Well today is tomorrow and today just happens to be a holiday. Everything is closed. No phone call from the dealer ship. Can’t get a hold of the parking lot company to let them know why the car is still there. The only thing that I can do today is talk with Nissan international and find out how I can get keys made with out a set available to me or parts. I was told I need to speak with the original dealership - located in Calgary and ask for the Key code.

And from there the Saga continues………….

D Day Tomorrow

Tomorrow is test day – After cramming Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of basic human needs and studying each need in-depth through human development physically, socially, emotionally, cognitively and spiritually and taking a close look of the Continuity Theory for understanding aging in all aspects of one self and, Good God, can’t forget the importance of Asepsis in the work/home environment, my head feels like it is going to explode. After saying this sentence out load, I am out of breath.

But to let you know I feel good about this test. I will most likely not get a 100% in this test but I know I will get at least a high 80% or low 90% and I really need to remind my self that this test is only 20% out of my module 151 course. So it is not that bad. It is the other two tests that I need to worry about the most. There both at 30% for the over all mark. There are some assignments but the mark criteria are small.

I know my family can’t wait until after Friday, I am sure they want the house back to its normal state and I discovered that T.V is the best babysitter for my daughter. I know some of you will think differently about but when you have to hit the books and it’s is just the two of you. You do what you got to do.

Well back to the books I go for my last day of studying.

Pre Test Jitters

I have my first big test out of a hundred big tests coming up this Friday, and am I nervous about it, you bet I am. It is not the actual test that bothers me, it's the anxiety leading up to the test that is stressful. In order to pass this test I need a B or higher. As with the whole course, I need a B or higher to graduate and obtain my certificate or it's money poorly spent.

Living out in Sooke has it draw backs with this whole college thing. Tonight there is a study group downtown Victoria and I can’t go because of my family obligations. And I also hate driving in the torrential rain that seems to be the worse in between Sooke and Langford, so I am just going to have to make due with me, my self and I. I am sure we will do fine; it is just the pre-test jitters.

Well back to the books I go.

October is gone....

October is gone and so is Halloween and that is fine by me. At least there will be another Halloween next year and the year after that, and the year after that and so on and so forth. I missed out on Trick or Treating, but I got to hear fantastic stories about the festivities. I was told that the Haunted House at the Sooke fire Hall was spectacular. The staff there had out done themselves as usual. I heard about a man hanging in a tree beside his house trying to scare everyone. From what I understand the individual was hanging for two hours. What people do for the fun of Halloween?

I my self didn’t see any thing eye catching, just people walking down town in the everyday clothing. Oh wait, I lied, I seen a very tall tin man walking down the road I live on. That was neat.

My drive home was uneventful. I was expecting to at least pass through 3 road blocks on my home from school, and I didn’t even see one police car. So ether we had a very quite Halloween and every one was good (likely not) or I was just in the wrong spots and the wrong times. I didn’t even see a fire cracker….Strange….

What ever the case may be, I survived last night.