2006 has been a great year, it started at a bar called the globe and it will end there. We've decided to ring in 2007 in similar fashion. Although I doubt anything will ever top that night. Other memorable moments in january included my 20th bday, the drunkest I have ever been. I got kicked out of the club at 1230 and proceeded to spend quite a while sitting up against the wall and throwing up sporadically.

In february, I got accepted into optometry and it felt as if my life was finally on track. I'd had some hard times in undergrad, but my 3rd year was great. I had never planned to get my bachelor of science and I was relieved to finally escape. At that time in my life, I was sick of Edmonton. I'd spent 20 yrs in this town, and we'd come to call it "hick capital of the world." Many days were spent plotting our escape from the only place we'd ever known.

The end of april also marked the end of my time at the Univ of Alberta. Sort of. I continued working for one of my psych profs, it was the best job I've had so far. It paid $14.15/hr and it was super easy, we ran experiments and entered data into excel. I also got a job at lids which paid much much less. But I figured it was only fitting to work retail one last time in my life. The summer passed by; I spent as much time as I could hanging out with friends.

Suddenly, I didn't want to go. My great escape was causing me more and more anxiety as my lazy summer days dwindled. I felt like I'd just figured out undergrad only to have to leave it behind. I listened to a lot of dashboard, and told myself it was a rite of passage to be away from all that was familiar to me.

My brother, Stephen, went to Malaysia to fight in an international kung fu competition. He was gone for basically all of august and I wanted to spend a few days with him before I left for boston but Barbara McGinley insisted that I be in town for saturday sept 2nd orientation even though school didn't officially start till tuesday sept 5th. I still haven't forgiven her for the days I missed. Needless to say, I was miserable. Sitting in my tiny apartment, in a new city where I didn't know anyone.

I didn't stay miserable though. Once school got underway, I had less time to be homesick. But I could still see the streets of edmonton very vividly in my mind every time I closed my eyes. I grew to love optometry and was actually kind of freaked out that I liked school/my future career so much. I lucked out, I went into it for the wrong reasons: money, status, to shut my mom up. I'm doing very well academically, I get more sleep than I ever did in undergrad and the material comes easier to me. The only thing is we're in class for more of the day. Other than that, it's basically a walk in the park.

I went back home for a week in november during american thanksgiving break and it was exactly what I needed. I returned to boston totally refreshed and much less homesick knowing that I had less than a month until christmas break. Truthfully, it was very hard to leave and the only way I could do it without breaking down into tears was looking forward to christmas. This year, I took my love of christmas to another level.

The first challenge 2007 will bring is leaving my home knowing that I won't be back for 5 months. All I can do is spend the rest of my week with the people who've made me who I am.

First off, if you're planning on seeing The Good Shepherd starring Matt Damon, DON'T DO IT! Save your money and 3 hours of your life. This is probably the first movie that I've had a very insistent voice in my head telling me to walk out. I didn't, but only because I paid $11 to see it. It is intensely boring, there is absolutely no suspense throughout the entire movie. I can't stress this enough, don't see this movie. I know it looks decent in the trailers, that fooled me too, but don't make the same mistake I did.

OK, now that that's out of the way... I had a busy day today, we went for dim sum with some aunts and uncles, grandma and grandpa. Then out to dinner with a couple optometrists, one who works for my mom's optical and the other is my cousin. Sort of an office christmas/new yr dinner. Afterwards I went clubbing cause it was my friend's bday today. The club wasn't exactly packed, I've had funner nights drinking. But I've also had much worse so it wasn't bad. They should've played more sean paul.. I should've had more to drink... I'm barely buzzed, I only had like 6 drinks (hence the late night blogging), however the up side is I didn't spend a single dollar. People kept buyin me drinks since they hadn't seen me in months. The pros of being away...

As a materialistic person (and unashamed to admit it), it's now that time of year to take stock of all the things I have acquired over holiday break thus far. For christmas, I got a JL polo and an indoor grill from lana and den, slippers from bo, and a gift certificate from justine. Thanks guys!

Boxing day, I got a few shirts for myself. Although I was very disappointed I didn't get what I really want, lacoste shoes. But don't worry, I won't give up. I shall have new shoes.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!
well..... 364 days until my favourite day rolls around once again.

Christmas eve started out with dim sum with the parents; I picked up the lil cousins' christmas presents then went to my grandma's to put them under the tree I put up.
Today, I watched john tucker must die and thank you for smoking. And went to dinner at my cousin's place to celebrate his optometry license coming in the mail. It was a funner day than I thought it would be but still nothing terribly exciting.

Now I must rest up for the physical challenge of endurance and perseverance that is boxing day shopping madness.

After my connecting flight was delayed and I lost 3 hours of my life sitting in the chicago airport, I made it home. And it's been awesome; I've taken a totally different approach. Last time I was back it was only for a week, so I had plans for every day. But this time, I figured with 2 weeks I wouldn't make any plans and just chill. And that's what I've been doing, sitting around and watching bad tv. I love it.

Tonight I went to my grandma's house for turkey dinner and was very disappointed that the artificial tree wasn't up! Apparently my aunt had been busy with work lately, so I basically whined about it like a baby and decided to put it up myself. My uncle helped and I asked my little cousins if they wanted to help me decorate the tree. They were so excited, VERY cute!

Merry Christmas!

The countdown to christmas has begun. Thursday night, a few of us went to the christmas tree lighting. It got up to 17C that day, so not exactly your typical christmas weather but it was still awesome. Pics are on facebook if you wanna check 'em out.

Naturally, the beautiful lights inspired me to start up my annual tradition of handing out candycanes at school. I started on fri, dec 1; spreading holiday cheer one candycane at a time.

Of course, the downside to the christmas countdown is it means finals are even faster approaching. Wish me luck, I'll see you all soon in edmonton where the snow makes the weather more holiday appropriate.