Monday 26 June 2006

time goes by...

so slowly? well, sort of, but at the same time, i feel like it's flying by at the speed of some kind of secret military aircraft (ie. really fast... lol) i haven't been to work in three weeks and i'm so bored that i can't even sleep anymore. i'm feeling much better (physically) and hope to get back to work ASAP - i need money. The move to Korea is fast approaching and i'm not ready. i've gotten rid of most everything i own, and what little i've kept is all packed up and ready for storage in a friends basement. i'm moving sometime this week, with the help of Peter and Brenda, two wonderful people that i've only met once (at a party here, a few weeks ago). They need a couch and i have one that i don't need, so they're going to take it... and in return (god, what would i do without them?) they're going to help me. i don't have a lot of stuff to move, and most of it is going to Alexia, my bed, desk, dresser, and storage stuff... everything else is gone.

anyway, i don't feel ready at all... i was supposed to be working full-time all this time, to make money to get everything ready to go... i can only hope and pray that they'll still schedule me full-time when i get back (no pun intended) to work.

i'm really excited about going, but it's also, well, scary isn't the right word...when i figure it out, i'll let you know... i'm just worried, well, not even really... it's just this whole "leaving everything you know behind" it's exciting but not at the same time, know what i mean? the countdown is at around 8 weeks, which really isn't that much... and it could be even less depending on what job i get. ... i'll be hearing from EPIK on/around july 14... then i'll know for sure... wish me luck. :)

Thursday 22 June 2006

meh...things...

well, i'm back on my feet again - sort of. it seems that my back is improving daily, but it seems like a slow uphill battle. i'm so bored of staying in the house - and this one of the nicest times of year in Montreal. BUT, i am getting better, that's the important part. a dull throbbing has replaced the constant electric shock that was darting through my spine and down my leg - this is, of course, good news, but i am still confined to resting for most of the day as even the smallest wrong move brings back the severe pain. maybe the pain killers are just doing their job now? anyway, slowly but surely i am getting better and my spirits are rising.

had to go for a blood test today. my doctor LOVES giving blood tests... i had tried to go the other day at the same time as my x-rays, but they stop taking blood at 11 am and i only got there around noon... so, i had to fast again and go today. the veins in my arms are teeny tiny and i often get a huge bruise that stays for weeks. i usually go to the Montreal general hospital and for some reason the technicians there ALWAYS find a vein and everything goes off without a hitch- and more often than not, i have no bruise when i go there. so as soon as the woman called my name this morning i blurted out "i bruise very easily, please be careful" she didn't seem to take very kindly to this and replied "we are always careful madame" but upon closer inspection of my arm - and the nonexistent veins she wasn't so sure anymore. she checked both arms, but decided to go with the left (where i now have a small purple spot that is quite sore). anyway, the only thing left now is for me to get the CAT scan done in July.

i finally received my drivers license - and i don't look like a convict in the picture, it's actually quite nice. i'm still amazed that i'm allowed to drive. excited and scared that a small piece of plastic gives me such power and freedom... i wish i had done it years ago.

i emailed the Korean embassy on Monday and received a prompt reply on tuesday advising me that i would only find out on July 14th if i go the job with EPIK. so there you have it, my life in a few lines... keep your fingers crossed, with any luck i'll be on an airplane to South Korea in less than two months!

Friday 16 June 2006

to the SAAQ we go ... again and again and again and again and again and again... ...

i don't know if in the heat of everything that has been going on if i mentioned that i passed my driving exam. i must have, i think that there's a post all about below... anyway, i was told that my license would arrive by mail by June 16th - today - and that if i didn't get it that i should call a number on my provisionary license. well, of course, this being quebec, it didn't arrive. why on earth would i have expected it to? nothing from the quebec government is ever right. so i called the number - i should have waited until monday, the stress just doesn't help my back - and the guy who answered is like, (in a terrible french accent) "well, maybee da canadA post, day didn't send it, like supposed too. we send hit from us. now you ave to call dem to see if day loose it. den you ave go back to saaq to get da pitcher done hagain." this is fucking crazy. what the fuck is wrong with the quebec government that they can't EVER do ANYTHING correctly. look at my room mate - she sent off for her new medicare card in JANUARY and STILL hasn't got it. when she called them, they told her that they sent it which means that SHE MUST HAVE LOST IT. WTF???? so she has to pay again and pray that it gets to her this time. anyway, here is the email that i sent to the "complaints department" of the saaq - i'll be sruprised if anyone down there can READ english. here it is:

There are many things that I can complain about the SAAQ. Getting my first driver's license has been more trouble than it is worth. first the strike last year - occurred the day before my original written exam -after already waiting over 2 months to do that, I had to wait another 2 months. when finally I was able to write my exam it took over five hours to get through it, even though the test only took 20 minutes. I was shuffled around from one line to another - never receiving even a smile from a single employee.


my driving exam was scheduled in late April - the earliest appointment available was on June 7th. over a month and a half later! my "appointment" was for 12:10 pm. the security guard at the front door of the henri bourassa center wouldn't let me take a number until the time of my "appointment". this should not be called an "appointment for a driving exam", as you call it, rather it should be an "appointment to take a number." finally as I walked into the waiting room, almost every single employee left their windows and went off to lunch - leaving me sitting and waiting for almost two hours while employees wandered around doing nothing. why would you schedule an "appointment" in the beginning of the lunch hour? it just get things even more backlogged. ridiculous that I could see all of the employees chatting in the back room and ignoring the 300 people waiting to be served - why aren't the breaks staggered like any other place of business - you can't send all of your employees to lunch at the same time without closing the shop!!!


Finally being allowed to take my exam, and passing it, just to come back and get ANOTHER NUMBER (this being the fourth or fifth) to wait to have my photo taken. while getting my photo taken, the woman noticed an error in my address (which I had just changed with the first agent I spoke with (I wrote it down for him and he STILL didn't enter it correctly) she changed it by removing one letter from the street name (good thing she knew Decarie and how it was spelled)


finally after almost three hours (better than last year but still too long) I was free. having been given a temporary piece of paper permit and being told that I would get my license by the 16th of June. well, today is the 16th, it isn't here and the rude man that I just spoke with on the phone told me that it's MY responsibility to got BACK to the saaq AGAIN and have my picture taken again and they would mail it again AFTER that.


it is utterly ridiculous the way that I have been treated by all the employees that I have encountered at the saaq both last year and this year. the man on the phone basically called me an idiot by telling me that maybe I didn't see it in my mailbox. excuse me? I’m not blind, or I wouldn't be allowed to drive. I have a herniated disk in my lower back (partly due to sitting and waiting so long at the saaq last week) and can't even get out of bed for another week and yet, I am expected to get to the saaq before June 26th to have you take a photo that you already have on file - twice.


the service that I have received from your "company" (if only it were privatized maybe we would get some real service) is abominable, shameful, and disgusting. your employees (thanks to the union probably) lack enthusiasm and any drive to be helpful; instead they are constantly scowling at customers and treating them like they are a hassle, as if the people who pay their salaries are disturbing them somehow. and lucky me, I get to do it all over again. and if Canada post manages to lose it the next time, then it will be my fault again, and I will have to go through the process until the end of time.

Wednesday 14 June 2006

a herniated, slipped, ruptured, prolapsed disk

For anyone interested, i went to see my physiotherapist yesterday and he told me that he thinks i have a slipped disk in my back. see below for details. i wouldn't wish this kind of pain on even my worst enemy. i verified the diagnosis with my doctor today and she told me that it's very possible and that is why she set up a CT scan for me. that is the only way to be sure - other than an MRI - and try getting one of those in Quebecthe wait times are about 3 months. at least with the CT scan i only have to wait about seven weeks - by which time i will hopefully be recovered.

my doc said that it can be a minimum of 4-6 weeks before i feel "normal" or it could be even longer. i'm kind of freaking out about it - i have to move by the first of July, and i'm not allowed to pick up anything heavy (probably ever again) let alone move all of my furniture. on top of having to move, the apartment that i'm supposed to be staying at for the summer has a single mattress on the floor for me to sleep on. i have trouble getting to a standing position from my full height queen size bed - i can't seen myself getting up and down onto the floor all the time - so i'm in a conundrum.

i could be better by the first - i still have over two weeks, and hopefully i will be. i'm doing my exercises every hour on the hour - that should be doing something... and when i really think about it, i do feel more mobile today than i did yesterday. it's just when i move in certain ways or stretch wrong the pain flares up and stays for hours. i'll keep doing my exercises, and you all keep praying for me, then i'll hopefully make a fast recovery.


Herniated nucleus pulposis is a condition in which part or all of the soft, gelatinous central portion of an intervertebral disk is forced through a weakened part of the disk, resulting in back pain and nerve root irritation.










The main nerve traveling down the leg is the sciatic nerve. Pain associated with the sciatic nerve usually originates higher along the spinal cord when nerve roots become compressed or damaged from narrowing of the vertebral column or from a slipped disk. Symptoms can include tingling, numbness, or pain, which radiates to the buttocks legs and feet.

* thanks to the University of Maryland Medical Center for the above images and text.

Tuesday 13 June 2006

For those of you who couldn't make it.

Here is a short video taken by Tricia on her digicam. the quality isn't great, but at least you can feel like you were there.



some pics

here are a couple of pictures from yeterday when i graduated... the second one is of me with the Tilley hat that my grandmother got me. thought she'd like to see me in my academic dress with the great hat she got me... kind of silly.. i should have put the sides down, but i was already late...





those hoods are really weird, they never stay on properly and half the time they're strangling you. mine must have been reset by about 15 people before i got on stage. i just think it looks kind of funny to have this big white band across your chest, don't you?

Monday 12 June 2006

Bachelor of Arts with distinction Specialization Journalism

well, today was the day. convocation. having been laid up for the last 5 days, i was quite looking forward to getting out of the house and (finally) getting my degree. i was feeling pretty good this morning and managed to take a shower, get dressed, put on my make-up, etc... basically get ready for the big event. now, don't get me wrong, i wasn't feeling so great that i could do much more than get ready and then lie down for five or ten minutes. it was a long process, but i did it and still felt good enough to go to the ceremony. i think though, that if it had been any other event i wouldn't have gone. this was the ONE chance in my entire life to get my B.A. and share the moment with my classmates, friends, and family. it is a once in a lifetime deal - and as usual, i decided to deal with the consequences later. (which i am paying for now.)

the ceremony took place at Place des Arts, in Montreal, the last (and only) time i was there (before today) was when i was in grade 8 or 9 and saw the Phantom of the Opera. the stage was decorated in our school colours, huge bouquets of flowers, and of course, chairs for all of the deans, professors, etc...

the ceremony was long, it was sort of boring, and it was painful. since my lower back is in spasm (prev. post) any position other than lying down is painful. so sitting in the old crappy theatre chairs didn't help. about an hour in, i decided it would be better to stand, so i did. i stood on the side until my row stood up and we got in line for our turns on stage.

it kind of sucked being backstage, in line, while all of my friends were crossing the stage. i would have preferred seeing them up there instead of the entire faculty of economics. but i cheered for them anyway.

i was standing on the side of the stage and before i knew it, it was my turn. i gave my marshall card to a woman and walked to the podium. standing before me, Joanne L. (i interviewed her in the fall semester for a story that i was doing for TV), i was so surprised to see her that i didn't really have time to be nervous about being in front of so many people. i also magically forgot that my back was out and i walked to the president who "capped" me. this is when he hovers a funny hat over my head while getting my photo taken... i'll post it when i get it. then Enn the director of the department was standing at the other end of the stage holding a big white envelope containing my coveted degree. i walked towards him and pain shot through my leg, but i didn't flinch. i shook his hand, took my degree, and walked to the stairs. i stopped for a second to wave to everyone with a face splitting smile. (seems to me, that should be when they take your photo, not with the silly "sorting hat"! )

anyway, that's it. thirty seconds of my life that i will never forget...especially since i'm still not convinced that it was worth the pain that i'm in now. hopefully by tomorrow i'll feel a little more like i did this morning. so until next time...

Thursday 8 June 2006

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.