Our house smells like wet suit

Well folks, it's been awhile. Can't say that I'm sorry cuz I have just been way too busy to even think about my blog. And the only reason that I'm writing now is that it is a good procrastination tool, seeing as I have 3 midterms this week, one next week and 4 the week after. Crazy, I know, but the week after Thanksgiving is my last crazy week and then it's all somewhat downhill from there.

SCUBA is going alright. I wish it was done now. The ocean dive was good. Nothing spectactular. Didn't see much because of all the debris and algae floating around and was freezing cold so all I wanted to do was get out of there. I guess it made the pool dive tonight seem warmer. I would really love to scuba dive in a tropical area once I have my certificate. It would be warm and the colors of fish and sea life would be awesome. One day hopefully.

I don't have a whole lot else to report on. I can't wait for this semester to be over. It barely started but I just want to be done with school and get on with life. An enjoyable one. Andy and I aren't dating anymore either . . . um, no real story to that one so can't really give you any details. I am busy working on finding a job/internship in the states and getting a visa for that too. There are some great opportunities, I just need to get on it so that I can go in January already. Hawaii, Florida, California, etc, the possibilities are endless.

Haven't heard back from the aquatics work study position. Seems like it's a "no" but I'm trying to be patient to hear back from them. The visit from my mom and grandma was enjoyable and it was good to see them. Wish that I didn't have so much work that week, but what can you do? We did the horse carriage ride downtown, which was awesome, and did some shopping and mini golfing and other such shinanigans.

Well that's about all from my corner of the world. Hope life is treating you all well and you lead more exciting lives than me. Later days!!

Half Way Through September

Well folks, school is in full swing now. The past two weeks have been pretty boring because there hasn't been that much reading or assignments today. However, that begins to change this week. I am taking SCUBA diving lessons on Mondays and Wednesdays for the next 4 weeks and then we get to do 6 open ocean dives. I am really excited for this. It is also a great thing to have in order to get a job at an aquarium in the future. I have quizzes already this week too and some prelim. work on some papers. Should be quite busy. Plus I am just trying to find stuff to do to fill up my time. I have applied for a work study and am now just waiting to hear if there is an open position in the aquatics facility where they house the fish. I really hope so. It would be a great experience and a good thing to have on a resume. Just gotta wait now.

Patience . . . a virtue that I struggle with. Oh man, I am so impatient and when I am just sitting around watching tv or studying I think too much and then I worry. It's a vicious cycle that I am trying so hard to correct. Prayer is the only thing that's going to fix that.

Whoa got a little off track there. So I just wanted to throw in a bunch of random and interesting facts that I learned this week in class or on the news:

- Never start running on a trail that you haven't run on before without knowing how far it is. Turns out the trail around the lake by our house in 10 km and I ended up running that the other day. Never ran 10km before. I was exhausted and I am still recovering today.

- Brain freeze. The reason that we get brain freeze is that the roof of our mouth has a very thin layer of tissue/cells. The bones and blood vessels and nerves run close to the surface. When you drink something cold, the bone drops a little hitting the nerve below it which sends signals to your brain and gives you brain freeze.

- On the internet I was reading that this man has eated 23,000 Big Macs since 1972 and he only weights 185 lbs. Apparently he eats 2 a day and is obsessed with them. He has only missed 4 days in his entire life. Oh and he walks 16 km a day, which will account for the lack of weight.

- One of the commentators of the NFL games last week was saying that the coach of the Cowboys said that this one player on the O line weighing at 310 lbs was "too light" to play that position. I laughed cuz that's huge. Probably 6'4 or something too. I think most of them weigh upwards of 500-600 lbs.

- Ever wonder what the white dome like shape at the bottom of your fingernail is? Well it's just the area where the underlying blood vessels aren't close to the surface of the skin and so you see white instead of pink. The blood vessels give the nail the pink color.

Anyhow those are some random facts that have been burning in my head that I just had to tell someone. Later days!!!

Previously promised pictures and more - in reverse order than I wanted

See what I mean? It's kind of a kitchen/salon/cafe/bedroom all in one.

Our living room/kitchen/hallway. The door at the end is Brianne's room. The door to the right is the one going upstairs and there is a door behind the kitchen area that is the bathroom.
The entrance and the desk that is now mine, since my room isn't big enough to have a desk in it.
My bedroom in our new place in Victoria. It's about 4 times smaller than Brianne's but the view in the morning is amazing! At 6am every day I see the sunrise over the ocean!

These are the Calgary Zoo pictures which I was just recently reminded to put on here.

We got to bring a friend, Aja came with Leia, Charlene with Brianne, and Andy with me. We also bought these massive soft ice cream cones that were amazing and cheap!!

Everything is finally coming together

Hey folks! It's been awhile but there is much to talk about today. I am back at school in Victoria for 4 more months. I will be finishing my marine biology degree in December and graduating in June. It's exciting times. I was just talking to my physiotherapist today as I passed her in the gym hallway and was telling her about my summer, my knee, the place Brianne and I have and she said "It sure sounds like things are finally coming together." I couldn't believe how true that was and how awesome my life is turning out to be. I've had some disappointments and frustrating moments in the past couple years but finally I am figuring out who I really am and how I can get the most out of life. I still have a whole heck of a lot to learn, but things are coming around.

As I look back on my time at Bamfield this summer, I can't help but smile. It was an amazing experience that I just want to tell everyone about. The whales, the class, the people, it was all great. I think the most important thing that I got out of that experience was confidence. Man alive, I was walking through campus yesterday and I was beaming with confidence. I have finally come to the realization that I don't need to impress people and that they aren't judging me. I can be who I want to be and do what I want to do. I am better at communicating with people I just meet and phoning for appointments and informational things. I want to be involved in things and hang out with other people. Not that I didn't before, but now I am just so excited to do it. I truly feel like a graduate. God is such an amazing God! This all may be rather personal for a public blog, certain people may say, but I would love it if others could take something from this and learn from my experiences.

Brianne and I have this great place up in Cordova Bay, about 10 min. drive to UVIC. It is gorgeous. We are a 5 min walk to the ocean and a couple minutes drive to a lake (actually the lake where the Canadian Olympic rowers practice at). She is occupied with getting a job and I am just getting into my classes which are conservation biology, animal physiology, vertebrates of BC, human anatomy, and a religious studies course on Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Should be a great semester! We have visitors coming every month it seems. I like to think that we are a good excuse for people to come out to the island for a vacation.

I'm currently looking for some sort of club to join or volunteer opportunity because my course load is the least I've ever had and I fear that I am going to be quite bored. Well I am right now just because we haven't really gotten into the swing of things yet. The time will come. Oh yeah, me and Andy are doing good. Long distance again, but seems like it's the story of my life. Ha! Later days!!