Staying Sane 101: How to Work Nomadism into an Otherwise Functional Adult Life.

I haven't blogged in a while. Somehow having the most free time since the beginning of the year translated into simply not having enough time to blog.

See, I've had 2 weeks off school. I'm only just, this week, starting up another round of staring listlessly towards the front-ish part of the classroom while attempting to keep my brain alive by folding origami paper balls. You can tell I'm thrilled. Anyhow, I've known for awhile that I was going to have those 2 weeks. Ever since I figured it out I've been joyously planning ways to fill them with things that make my heart happy. Here's what I did:

1. Made my parents drive the 6 hours each way from PR to Chilliwack so that I could see them. Visited. Hugged. Even nomads need love. Stayed with my Dad's family. Had a scintillating debate with my uncle about how not all Muslims are terrorists. Was informed that all bad things happen on the 7th of Ed (a month on the ancient Jewish calendar) by my aunt. As she is not actually sure what day on the normal calendar that is I'm deciding to ignore the predictions of doom. Had another debate with my uncle when he threatened to not order me a pizza because I requested spinach on mine, rather than sausage. Apparently vegetables on pizza are "crap."

2. Went to Van and visited B. Ate a LOT of sushi. Drank coolers in the sunshine. Attempted to sunbath in the wind and cold the next day. Froze myself almost to death, but got a sunburn (SUCCESS!). Shopped. Randomly ran into my little sister in La Vie En Rose. Had coffee with her like two grown-ups would do. Felt weird. Hung out with a group of very, very serious kareoke singers. Sang. Did not impress anyone.

3. Went to Tofino for 3 glourious days. Attempted to surf. Mainly failed, but caught one wave on my knees. Loved every second of falling off/attempting to catch waves. Hiked straight down a hill for an hour. Lost shoes in mudhole mid way. Hiked barefoot for half an hour. Got incredibly soft skin. Considered patenting process- cardio bootcamp/spa day. At the end of the hour hiked to the world's most awe inspiring beach. Questioned decision to travel ever again. Pondered possibility of becoming a hermit. Ate the world's best chocolate chip cookies and realized that, as a beach hermit, I would have a difficult time aquiring said cookies. Gave up hermit plan. Sunbaked in first ever bikini!!! Got wicked tan, thanks to recessive Metis genes. Hiked straight back up hill. Died a little and then continued to die for the next week everytime moved legs. Hung out with surf instructors, got very jealous of lifestyle. Learned to sing every single word to Desaparacido while drunk. Now feel fluent in Spanish. Ate life changing sushi (seriously). Learned how to make fruit salsa. Never, ever wanted to leave, but had to as:
a) not a good enough surfer to be instructor
b) selling spray painted t-shirts won't pay student loans
c) job being crazy and stealing empty bottles from people's garages is taken.

4. Returned to Kamloops. Spent almost a whole week recuperating. Watched a lot of movies. Became laziest person in the world and loved every minute of it. Almost bought bike (with streamers on the handlebars) but checked bank balance first. Dream of cruising down road with streamers flying crushed. Then realized that Kamloops is 90% uphill no matter which direction you go and felt better.

5. Went out to Barriere to visit second family. Went to Pow Wow, watched very cool native dancing. Ate bannock. Was, apparently, there to be hooked up with future husband (according to second mother) but didn't know that, so failed to fall magically in love with anyone. Got drunk. Very drunk. Somehow managed to explain single transferable voting to my second mom while shloshed. Very impressive, as I don't actually understand it when sober. Pet the dogs, threw the tennis ball for them a thousand times. Sat in the hot tub once, for five minutes, before getting way too drunk to handle hot water. Ate chocolate for breakfast (it kills the hungover shakes).

So. That's what I've done. You can see I've been far too busy and important (read: hungover) to blog. I anticipate a much better blogging to time ratio in the next three weeks....I'm tired of playing hangman with whoever is sitting next to me and plan to bring my laptop to class and play hangman online instead.