the post that never was...

well, i've been meaning to post an update for the past week... but you know how life gets in the way.... well, SIMS life anyway. i was addicted to the Sims for a few days and was therefore too occupied building million dollar homes for my little families. anyway, then i was going to post about getting my drivers' license on tuesday, but my lower back has been in spasm since then. i spent all of yesterday in bed, flat on my back hopped up on pain killers. that's pretty much how i'm spending today, but i'm not high from the drugs yet. i'm still lying in bed right now, good thing i have a laptop! so here i am lying down and writing this. here's the quick update:

No news from the embassy yet - to be expected, since they told me two weeks... keeping my fingers crossed.

i FINALLY got my drivers' license (as you must have read above). and i did it on the first try. the examiner told me that everything was perfect, except that i need to slow down a bit more for my turns. i wasn't going race car style or anything, only a 5 kilometers too fast. so, not a big deal. anyway, the bureaucracy of actually getting it is incredible.

i made my "appointment" in late April. the earliest they had was tuesday june 6 at 12:10 pm. so after waiting a month and a half i arrived about 20-30 minutes early, to make sure everything was in order, only to discover that the appointment was not for my test, but to take a number to get in line for a test. WTF?!??!?! so, i wasn't allowed to even take my number until 12:10 which meant sitting around for half an hour waiting for a number! HA! only in quebec?!?!? anyway, at 12:10 i got my number and was directed to a new room. my number was called almost right away. i thought that was good and meant that things would go quickly, i must have been out of my head - FAST ? at the SAAQ?? as my friend put it "it's slower than airport security" thank god i didn't have a flight to catch!

anyway, my number was called and i went to wicket number 34 where a semi-nice man took all of my papers, ripped up my learners' permit, and charged me $25. then he gave my number back to me and told me to wait for it to be called again. this was the REAL line for my exam. well, apparently every single person at the SAAQ goes on lunch at 12:30. the line for the exams didnt' move for an hour. people who had "appointments" at 11:50 were still waiting at 1:30, as was i. by this time, my ride had to leave to go to work.

of course, my name was called about 10 minutes after she left. my examiners name was George, he was a nice guy who had a very gentle voice and manner. anyway, like i said, my turning was bit fast but other than that "everything was perfect. so, i'm going to give you your license today." i wanted to jump with joy, but we were sitting in the car and my back was already killing me. i don't know how i completely ignored it during my exam, but i did. anyway, then he brought me back inside and gave me ANOTHER number. this was where they took even more money ($62)) from me and then gave me ANOTHER NUMBER. finally this was the last step. i just had to wait to get my photo taken. i hope it looks good. my license is being mailed to me... they do that because someone had broken into a center and stolen the machine that makes the cards, or so i heard.

anyway, after my photo was taken i asked the woman if she was sure i didn't need another number, and she assured me that i did not. so i got to leave with my new license (just a peice of paper) and get right back on the BUS. YAY! i still haven't driven since i got it and probably won't for some time, since i don't have a car, and any of my friends that do, don't trust me to drive it... which is utter ridiculousness, i think... anyway, i can't make them let me drive, i'll just have to rent one or something. which i will do in July when i go visit my grandmother. anyway, i'm just happy that i got it. i would have felt really stupid if i'd have failed it. but i didn't!!!

ok, so maybe not such a quick update. i gues my fingers have been itching to type for the last few days and now that i've started i don't want to stop. that being said:

i also picked up my graduation gown and hood on tuesday. convocation is on monday. that's one of the reasons i'm being such a stickler with actually lying in bed and not on the couch. i need to be better for Monday. it's once in a lifetime - university graduation - well, my BA anyway. and i am not going to miss it for anything. so think of me on monday between 2 and 4, cause sometime in there i will officially become a university graduate. though, my transcript already says "degree conferred with distinction" my final GPA is 3.62 - not bad. but since our GPA's are calculated on 4.3 instead of a straight up 4, it's a bit lower than it actually seems... it's an A- average. hindsight is always 20/20 they say, and i know i couldhave done better than that if i had applied myself even more than i did. i was one of the ones who did take it seriously, soing homework on saturday nights instead of going out, etc... but this last year was the hardest, and i slacked a bit. oh well... i still think i did really well, considering.

so, i guess that's it for now. My friend is coming over to keep me company for a little while. it'll be nice to have someone to talk to instead of staring at the ceiling fan or reading. even having the computer on my lap lying down is a bit uncomfortable, so i'll sign off. hopefully it won't be much longer 'til i'm up and running as usual.