I Found a Roomie!!!

Well, after months of searching for a roommate, I finally have someone moving into the bedroom downstairs. (Main floor, not basement.) And what a search it has been! I had ads on every free website I could think of - kijiji.ca, roommates.com, I pasted it on Facebook a few times, told everyone I know, and I called the local churches in the area and asked them if anyone in their congregation was looking for a room.

Out of all those things, I didn't think I would find a roommate through calling the churches! But wouldn't you know, one of them put it up on their bulletin board, and someone saw it and told someone who doesn't even go to that church about it, and now I have a roomie!

I had to weed out a few weirdos before I found someone I clicked with too. One in particular was very interesting...and by interesting, I mean that I would rather live in a cardboard box in the river than share a house with her! She was telling me what to do within seconds of walking through the front door! She was sarcastic, bossy and a little rude as well. My neighbors, who happen to be my Aunt and Uncle took a peek at her when she drove up and they could tell just by looking at her that she was a no!

We concluded that she must have been recently divorced and was very bitter about it. Hopefully she doesn't have any children!

I had another person coming to see the room a couple of hours after her, and I was a bit nervous! If I had to put up with 2 people like her, I think I would have called it quits... The next girl was like a breath of fresh air in comparison though, and she moves in Sept 1.

I have lived alone for 2 years now, so I'm not sure what this new living situation will be like, but hopefully I've made the right choice. After all, I don't want to become too set in my ways or anything - someone once told me that living alone makes it harder to adjust when you get married. So maybe a roommate will teach me to compromise and get me used to having to think about someone else's needs for a change...let's just hope that I don't hate it!

I do want to get married someday when the right guy comes along, and if he ever asks my roommate what it was like to live with me, hopefully her answer won't send him a-running!

I guess the Honeymoon is Over!

You can make some of the people happy some of the time, but you can't make all of the people happy all of the time. Everyone who has ever been elected President of the United States must know this truth better than anyone else!

Everyone loves you on the campaign trail, on Inauguration Day and up to the first couple of months after election. After that, approval ratings start going down and you become the prime target of Letterman, O'Brien and Fallon. The worse the President's ratings are, the better theirs are!

Why can't we be happy with the person that we elected into office? Why do we assume that they are perfect and can do no wrong? We must assume that, because we get so upset when they make a mistake! Now, I agree that when someone is leading the country, they should do their very best to be a good role model, and we are sadly lacking this with many politicians these days. Barack Obama appears to be a pretty good role model however, and I think we should stop complaining and get behind the man that we elected into office a few months ago! (Would you rather have George W back?) :P

Come on Americans, Barack Obama won the Presidency by a landslide - and you made that happen! The honeymoon period is over, and his approval ratings are falling steadily. Do you think you made a mistake? If you are not happy with some of his decisions, contact your congressman and be the change you want to see. If all you do is sit at home complaining about what is happening in your country, you will never see the change you want. If all you do is complain no matter who you vote for, then keep your complaints to yourself!

We need to get a better attitude about our leadership in America; remember, no one is perfect, and no matter how much you like a person, they will let you down at some point. You can't control the actions of anyone else, but you can control your reaction!

You know what they say about assuming...

I wonder why we always assume the worst in most situations. How many of you think you're in for something good when someone tells you that they need to talk to you? Or how about when your boss asks you to step into his office for a minute? Even when it is a friend or family member that needs to talk to us, we automatically start racking our brains, trying to think what we did wrong that day!

I had an experience like that a couple of days ago, when one of my writing clients emailed me with this message: "Please call me at: ### ### ####." Well, I immediately started to worry! I had just started working for this client, and I couldn't think of anything I could have done wrong in such a short period of time. Nevertheless, I had that awful feeling in the pit of my stomach as I dialed the number, and I tried my best to keep my voice from shaking when she answered the phone...

It was about a raise in pay! She had referred me to another part of the company that paid a lot more for writing than the articles that she had me writing. All of my anxiety was for nothing.

Sometimes it will be bad news that you get, but even so, there is still no need to panic. 99% of the time, problems can be worked out, and you will walk away feeling okay.

Why Don't They Just Ask Us?

Health care seems to be the "hot topic" now, probably ever since Michael Moore had the guts to make a documentary about it! If I recall, America's health care system came out under Cuba's!

As a Canadian, I am proud to say that we are number 2 in the world in regards to our health care. True, on a government sponsored health care system the waiting time is a LOT longer, but as a Canadian citizen, I can feel good knowing that no matter where I am in this country, I will be taken care of if something happens. There are many people who would never be able to afford health care if it were to be privatized. If it ever came down to a hospital bill of thousands (or hundreds of thousands. as it is in a lot of cases) of dollars, or a 2 hour wait, I've got a lot more time than money!

I've been hearing the discussions and debates about Barack Obama's plan to reform America's health care system, and to be honest, sometimes it just makes me laugh. They are so scared of this plan being put into place! Do they not know that public health care works in a lot of countries? Don't they realize that they have a neighbour that has done it successfully for years? They could call in a favor and just ask us for some advice - I'm sure we could help them out quite a bit. And I'm sure we would as well. Even if they asked rudely, we are nice people! We would still gladly help out.

But...like most big brothers, they are too used to helping the little brother, and probably think that little brother can't help them...

Hopefully they do eventually reform their health care, so that millions of people can afford to go to the hospital when they are ill or injured. (Americans are well known for being proud to be Americans, but when that guy in Michael Moore's film "Sicko" found out it would cost him $72,000 to sew two fingers back on, I'll bet he wished he had been born somewhere else!)

Please get a grip America...let's move onto something else. The only people fighting the reform are the rich anyways, because they are scared of being treated just like everybody else.

I'm My Own Boss! Wait A Minute...

I've been "working from home" for a few weeks now, and I must admit, the dream job situation does have its challenges. There are so many different distractions around here! Why is it that we would rather clean, dust, vacuum, (blog,) do dishes, organize, fold laundry, unpack boxes, hang pictures, etc, than work? It doesn't matter what kind of work either - and in my case, it's writing.

I have always wanted to be able to stay at home and support myself freelance writing. Now (finally!) it looks like I'll be able to do that with a part-time job teaching 2 days a week to supplement my income. However, it takes discipline - and a lot of it! Being my own boss is great, but I really need to start listening to myself. Hmmm, maybe if I threatened to fire myself I would be more on the ball...

I grew up as an only child, so I'm used to being alone. I always had to play alone, and I was pretty good at making up for the lack of siblings. I even played board games with myself (somehow I always won...I'll let you think about that one ;) So, it makes sense that I would want to work by myself, but to be honest, it was a lot easier when I was a child - probably because playing is always more fun than working! ;)

Don't get me wrong though; I love writing, and it doesn't even matter what I'm writing about. Sometimes I write about fun topics, but there are a lot of times when I have to write 500 words on the most boring subjects, but once I start writing, it always feels good - feels write. Oops, I mean it feels right. (Just a little writer's humor there for you!)

It's hard to go to work at a "normal" job day in and day out when you've known what your dream is since a young age. (I was 5 when I knew I wanted to be a writer.) But it's way too easy to put your dreams on the back burner and forget about them. Maybe they don't seem realistic, or maybe your family or friends think you'll never make it - whatever the reasons are, you are afraid to step out and take a risk. I have 2 words for you: "DO IT!" Even if you have to work full-time and do what you love part-time, do it! Don't live a life of regrets - live a full and satisfying life, and do what you were born to do.

Wanna Buy Some Death Sticks?

Well, I'm all moved in, and loving the new place! It's great to be so close to family members that I haven't spent enough time with the last couple of years...

They came over to watch Star Wars last night ("Wanna but some death sticks?" "You don't want to sell me death sticks." "Uhhh, I don't wanna sell you death sticks." "You want to go home and rethink your life." "Uhh, I wanna go home a rethink my life.") Best part in the movie! I always seem to like the little, insignificant parts in movies the best!

One of these days I'm going to have to write a post in español. I've been learning the language of love for over a year now, and I guess it's about time I show off a bit! ;)

Well, this is a very random post, but it feels good to get back to blogging after being too busy for the last month!

Will Post Soon!!

Sorry all...I am in the middle of moving, and I haven't had time to post anything new on here, but things should settle down soon, and then I will go back to being regular...I promise!