Back to Square One

The title explains it all. I hate to just complain on this blog, but my knee is killing me. I have been taking it easier than usual too. I went to physio on Tuesday and she said that I should book an appointment with the surgeon for the 6 month post op check up. She said that it hasn't been getting better and I am not where I should be right now. I should be able to run or at least bike without pain. My knee locks all the time now and it is extremely painful. I think it might be more meniscus tear and she agrees. Who would have thought? I didn't think that I had any left to tear. I don't know how I could tear that without doing strenuous activity which I haven't done. I haven't jumped in over 8 months, haven't ran in over 6. Ugh it's so frustrating. Now that I am done class (on Tuesday) and just have exams left, I am going to hit up the deep water jogging classes. I seem to like those and hopefully it is less painful.

Other than that my week has gone alright. Wrote three lab finals and I think that I did pretty well. I have my last paper due on Monday so Erin and I are going to be working on that tomorrow. Tonight is normally youth but since they are going skating and I can't do it, I am not going. I really like youth now and want to go, but this week I am once again held back by this stupid knee. I am going over to Jess's for supper and to watch a movie tonight. Should be alright.

Christmas is indeed coming soon and I am excited. Nothing really feels like Christmas here though, apart from the little bit of snow that we got on Monday (boo hiss). I am really excited to go home on the 21st. Don't know how great my last exam will go cuz I'll be so excited, but I'm sure I'll make it through.

Well I don't want to bore you all with another long post today so I'll sign off. Peace out.

Last "Crazy Monday" ever!!

I am sitting here after having just finished my invertebrate lab test and waiting for my animal behavior presentation. Safe to say that today was incredibly crappy, but that's okay because it is the last Monday like it. It was good to be back in class after having skipped Friday. My lab test didn't even go that bad. I mean it could have gone better, but having not studied that much, I though it went well. I was supposed to study last night but I wound up going to bed at 8 out of pure exhaustion. It was a late night weekend that's for sure. Here's a recap:

Thursday I went to Abby right after my lab on the 7 o clock ferry. Joe picked me up and we went to the Bee movie. The story line kind of sucked but it was a really funny movie. Joe and I laughed a lot. We also got the refill of the large popcorn, that's somehow irrelevant to you all, but it's not a surprise for us. Haha. I don't believe that this night was too late, about 12 or so.

Friday was Serena's birthday. Boy was she glad to see me. We went for breakfast, played cards, went to BP's for lunch, went bowling, played fooseball, pool and pingpong, watched movies then went to the bball games at 6. The games were so good. The girls played awesome and the guys game was entertaining as well. There was this one guy that canned 6 threes in row and scored 24 points in the second half alone. It was crazy. I didn't really watch all that much of the guys game because Melissa and Katherine were talking to me and I hadn't seen Joe all day so I was chattin' it up with him as well. After the games I went back to Cat and Carlene's which was a poor decision. They ended up watching a movie and going to bed at 3. You all know me and that I can't stay up that late. So this was the breaking point of the weekend and it was only Friday night. I just got really tired and didn't function well the next two days.

Saturday was a good day though, despite being tired. Joe planned a trip to the states for us which was sweet. We went to Applebee's for lunch which was amazing. Then we shopped til we dropped, literally. My legs were so dead. Anyhow Joe got some jeans and some pop and I got some cereal. Fun times. At 8 I went to his hockey game. They won! It was so fun to watch and it was awesome to see them pull out the win. They were super pumped too. They have been doing quite well lately so it's good to keep up the no lose streak. We went to BP's after which was good times as well.

On Sunday we just watched football until I had to go home on the ferry. My mom says that she would never get sick of the ferry, but really it's possible. It's not so much the ferry, it's waiting in line and jostling amongst people.

This is getting to be a lengthy post, but I haven't posted in awhile, I guess more frequently then some. The Cowboy's won again on Thursday. So exciting. The big game between Green Bay and Dallas is on Thursday so I would suggest that you don't miss it. It's so awesome that the team I always cheered for is finally winning and giving me something to actually cheer about. It's sweet having a tv this year too so that I can actually watch them.

Well I have 2 more lab finals this week then I'm done. I have class til next Tuesday, but without labs school is a breeze. My finals are pretty spread out which is nice, but I am only getting home on the 21st. Until then, later days!

Life is Great

Here I am blogging again, but it's been five days so I give myself credit for not writing every day when I should have been doing homework. I am so close to being done my volcano paper that is 10 pages long. I just need to revise it and put the references in and stuff. I don't really know when that came together, but it did and now I am feeling a little less stressed. I can't complain though, life is good. Next week I will be done the dog stuff forever and all my labs will be done for this semester too minus some lab exams.

Many good things happened this week. I couldn't contain my excitement. I'll make it into a list, because I like lists.
1. On Wednesday I went to physio and she did the same old strength tests for my quads and hamstrings thinking that it would be the same as always. But, and it's a big but, my strength was so much better. My full range in extension and flexion was there and I think Leigh was impressed. Ha. She says that I might be able to run next week seeing as it has been 6 months since my surgery and I should have been able to run after 3. Oh well, time heals my wounds.

2. On Thursday I went and declared my major. All I had to do was sign a piece of paper saying that I would get my Bachelor of Science degree with a major in biology. I found out some good stuff though. There is no "marine biology" specialty, emphasis or degree, so biology it is. This is good because that means I don't have the added pressure of going to Bamfield in the fall for a full semester to get the marine part done. It is all research and I have decided that I don't want to do that. Plus it's super far out in the boonies and as it is, Victoria is too far away from important people. The advisor also showed me what I have left to take which is 7 classes of which 3 need to be upper level biology, 3 upper level electives and 1 general elective. This is exciting because it means that next fall I won't be having 4 labs like I have had every other semester at UVIC and I will have my degree in December of next year, 2008. Also I can take some random courses at a high level, such as anatomy and kinesiology things and maybe some other random electives. In general, knowing the end point is making this time now a lot easier to deal with. I know what I am working toward and am going to put forth my best effort to get there.

3. Tonight's youth was so awesome. I always knew that I could be an actor. We played Clue, but life sized version. I was dressed up as Miss Scarlet and the kids had to go around asking all the characters where they were and try and solve who did it. I had a ton of fun and the kids had fun asking us questions. I felt like I really stepped out of my bubble without fear and had a great time.

Wow, well that's a brief overview of what life has been like for me. The rest of this weekend will involve working on my papers and hopefully watching football on Sunday if I get it all done. These weeks have gone by pretty fast thankfully, because I am so excited to go to Abbotsford next weekend. Like, so excited. Serena is going to be there and it's her birthday so we are doing stuff for that and there are home basketball games to watch and cheer for. And for those of you that haven't heard all about it already, Saturday is mine and Joe's one year, so that's exciting too. It should be an awesome weekend.

My family is in Saskatoon this weekend celebrating my grandma's birthday and Christmas with my other side and Leia and I are missing out. It's too bad because it would be really fun, but I'm sure that they will have a good time.

Just a closing side note, how the heck can I get blue pen ink out of my rain coat? Any suggestions? Later days!

I MISS BASKETBALL!!!

Oh man I can't tell you how much I miss basketball. Or running. Or playing tennis, or doing anything athletic for that matter. I have been trying to supress any idea or feeling about this because I just get angry the more I think about it, but I have reached a point where I can't stop thinking about how much I am missing out on. Right now all I want to do is bike the 50km to Sooke and back. I want to go to the gym and shoot 3's till I can't jump any more. I want to go for a however many km run in the rain with no pain. UGH!

It's time to move on. I thought that I was handling this well but I'm not. Basketball was my life. I played it all the time, I would work out in the mornings to be better at basketball, I would think about it during class, and it really sort of defined who I was. Now I have nothing. I feel really lost because I don't have clear set goals anymore. I don't have the drive to do well in school because I was just doing that in the past so that I could play university ball. I just feel like I have lost the only thing that I have ever been good at.

My favorite part of my day is getting up at 6:15am to go to the gym at 6:30. I absolutely love it and don't care if people think I'm crazy for getting up that early. I love working out when other people are still in bed. The gym is the one place in the world where I feel like I am good at something. I can work hard and put all my effort into it and I will achieve something and feel good about myself. Really, I just feel so confident when I am at the gym unlike anywhere else.

You're all thinking, yeah but don't hurt your knee. Well, you know what? I was better off before this surgery. I could at least run and play tennis and jump. Now I can't even walk down the street without pain. I know, I really know that God had a reason for this, but I just don't know what it is and what I'm supposed to do now. I have learned patience or am in the process of trying to be more patient. I have also slowed down to take time to get closer to Him. But in the long run, is arthritis at the age of 30 really going to benefit me? Is watching from the sidelines really going to make me happy? Like I just don't get it.

I guess for now I will just continue to do physio and try and be careful as I do my stinkin' dainty exercises in the gym for fear of pain. It's not even funny. At least today I had a boost of confidence and had to laugh when I was the only girl in the gym and was working with the weights while 6 guys were all on the cardio equipment. It was a sight to see. Anyhow I'm not good at asking for prayer, but I could really use some right now.

Well, I should be working on my animal behavior dog project thing right now. I'll be back on this thing soon, you can bet on it. Later days!

The Iron Chef

Well we all knew that I would be blogging frequently this week as I am sitting in my room alone. What else is new?! I had the spontaneous idea to go home this weekend, but after 5 hours of trying to make a decision I decided to just stay here. So the plan is that tonight I am headed off to youth and then tomorrow morning I am driving up to Nanaimo and catching the ferry that goes to Gabriola Island. That is where my friend Jessica lives. I am going to spend Saturday there and then drive home after church on Sunday. Should be good. She has wanted me to come up there for awhile. So yeah, that's the plan for the week in it's entirety.

The salmon run last night was really cool. Apparently they are a lot more physical and do more splashing at night than during the day. I was really into it for the first 20 minutes, but after another hour I got super bored and wanted to leave. I mean how long are you supposed to watch the things? It was really cool though. All these salmon are just sort of sitting in the water facing the oncoming water and not having to swim against it. There were hundreds that we saw. The whole stream is full of them. It's crazy. And then as soon as they spawn, they die. So the banks are littered with dead salmon and these things aren't your average fish. They are all like almost 3 feet long. Stinkin' huge.

Onto better things, well not really but talking "school" talk isn't all that appealing right now. If you are wondering what to make for supper sometime I would suggest the Salsa Mac and Beef recipe found on a can of Campbell's Cheddar cheese soup. It's so good. I have really been into baking and cooking lately. I love it. When I go back to Abbotsford in two weeks I have orders to bring back some more. Cat just loved my mom's banana cookies so I am going to be making those and then I'm sure that I'll make some other stuff for Joe. I would really like to make some sort of cake for Serena's birthday, but I don't think that it will fair too well hauling it across the ferry on the Friday.

I am running out of things to say, although you all know that I could talk forever. It's true. Just no one here to talk to, so I'll do it through my blog. Everyone's thinking "yes it's the long weekend". And oh yes, you have no idea how long. Fun times. Later days!

Procrastination Time Again

We all knew that this would happen. I thought that staying here for reading break I would be able to get a bunch of stuff done but I think that I am just going to be chilling around my house watching movies and what not. I mean I really do need to do work and since it's group stuff, I will be more motivated to put forth my best effort. I just don't want to do any more work.

Tomorrow I am going to watch my first salmon run. Should be fun, but cold seeing as we're going at night. I am looking forward to it. I also heard back from that old folks home/hospital for volunteering and so I am meeting with the coordinator in a couple weeks when both aren't so busy.

My knee was super swollen from the weekend but is finally going down. I couldn't determine why it was so sore until I remembered that I ran FAST to get on the ferry in time. I was just bookin' 'er. I really didn't think that I was going to make it. Note to self: plan for more than 30 minutes on a Friday. Thanks to my stealthy lane changing and amazing Jeep I made it on time (I think that speed might have helped a bit too, haha).

Another thing on my "to-do" list for next week (yep, another list) is to figure out stuff about school. I just don't know what I want to do. I am declaring my major on the 15th of November so maybe the counselor can give me a better idea of what I should do. But at this point in time, I do NOT want to do a semester at Bamfield in the fall. It's going to be all research and I just don't want to. So the plan at this exact moment in time (6:25 pm on Wed. night) is to do 2 courses at Bamfield in the summer and take 5 classes in the fall at UVIC and finish with a biology degree in December. I can't really get an official "marine biology" degree anyways so whatever. I will probably change my mind soon, even tomorrow. I will know more after my little advising session on the 15th too.

That's about all the major things happening right now. A big shout out goes to Jon and my Dad who have their birthdays tomorrow. I don't think either of them read this blog, but anyways : HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Later days!

A New Week

Well today starts another new week of school. On the bright side though is the fact that this is the second last week of actually labs. The last week of labs is all lab tests. So after this dreaded Monday where I have classes from 10-9 I will only have 2 more left. I will never do that again. I don't think that I even put a lab on Monday next semester so it's looking good. I did get my work for this week done ahead of time and since reading break is next week I won't be doing a whole lot of school work this week. Probably should do some reading for my classes but I don't think that's going to happen.

I was in Abbotsford this past weekend as you may have read on my last blog. It was fun times. We, as in Joe, Owen and I, watched basketball on Friday night. All the girls were so glad to see me. Someone asked me if I wished I was playing, and you know what, I actually didn't. I can clearly remember too much pain in my knee from last year that I really don't wish to repeat it. Both teams lost. They were playing Douglas which is an amazing team. This one guy, Joe's favorite, throws down all the time, it's crazy.

Saturday saw us playing minigolf and skee ball at Castle Fun Park. The scores were 45,46,an 47. Of course I brought up the rear, but one of these days it will change. I only lost by 1 to Joe, so it wasn't a blowout like last time. Joe played hockey at 8, so we went and cheered all hardcore for that. Twas a good weekend. I'm headed back there in 3 weeks for some more fun times.

Yay Dallas. 7-1. It's looking like a good season for them. Only loss to New England who is in fact undefeated, so it's all good.

Well I'm running out of things to say. Maybe I'll try and be more creative next week when I am just sitting around procrastinating on my homework. Later days!