A list of things before I die (a.k.a. my bucket list).

Bucket lists have always interested me. I’ve never really understood why they were called bucket lists, though.  I guess it’s because it’s things you wanna do before you kick the bucket??  Seems a little weird to me, but you know, English is pretty weird that way.  I’ve taken to calling them bucket lists now, though, because it’s what everyone else seems to know them as, and it’s just easier than explaining why you hate the name every time you use it.

Anyways, so I’ve had one made long before I knew what they were called, and even now, I continue to add to it.  I think I was nine years old when I first started writing down the list I’d been keeping in my head for as long as I could remember.  Some items have never changed (hug a panda, see the northern lights, learn to surf), while others have been added as soon as I discovered it was possible to do them or that they existed (swim with sharks, write a book, walk the Skywalk at the Grand Canyon).

Thankfully, I’ve crossed a few off my list: I’ve climbed a volcano, visited Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon, camped at Bruce Peninsula National Park, climbed a pyramid (well, technically a ziggurat, but I’m not gonna be picky).

I figured I’d list a few here for you all, in case you need some inspiration.  Of course, there’s other, less photo-friendly items on my list, like write a novel, learn a new language, see a broadway play, spend the night in a haunted house, learn to drive standard, and visit all 50 states.  Plus, you know, ride a hot air balloon, swim with dolphins, go horseback riding, go paragliding, see the Sphinx…. you get the point, I’m sure.

I would love to see the Cristo Redentor and Sugarloaf Mountain in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.	The Galapagos Islands, Ecuador.  The animals aren't afraid of people!! Galapagos islands, Ecuador. I’d love to go and interact with the animals there. They’re not afraid of people!! Galapagos islands, Ecuador. I’d love to go and interact with the animals there. They’re not afraid of people!!
J.K. Rowling is my idol, and I'd love to meet her.	Machu Picchu has always been at the top of my list.
Hadrian's Wall, Northern England.	Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada.
The Festival of Lanterns in Thailand.  It looks like it'd be so beautiful to watch!!	Kid Cudi.  His lyrics are incredible, and I'd love to tell him how much I admire him and his honesty.
African Safari.  I think it'd be amazing!!  Hopefully one day it'll happen for me.	Angkor Wat in Cambodia.  I'd love to watch the sunrise.
Party in Rio de Janeiro for the Carnival.	The Great Wall of China.
Own a pair of Louboutins.  They're just so pretty!!	See the Northern Lights (aka Aurora Borealis).
Hug a panda!!	Skydive

So there you go.  I’m sure I’ll come up with others as time goes by, and hopefully I’ll get to knock some off my list soon.  I’m hoping that within the next year I can go horseback riding and maybe ziplining or skydiving.  I wanted to get cliff jumping out the of the way, but instead I jumped off a high ledge inside a cave, which I’m not sure counts as a cliff.  And next year, a trip for sure.  Maybe Machu Picchu and the Inca Trail??  Maybe Comic Con in San Diego??  Or maybe I’ll just buy a pair of Louboutin leather boots (and/or sparkly stilettos).  I’d so love that!!
What’s on your bucket list??

It's a new year, which means it's time for all those resolutions I'll have forgotten about by next week!!

So we made it to 2013.  It's amazing how fast time goes.  Was it really ten years ago that I spent New Year's Eve in El Salvador??  Was it really almost a decade since I finished high school?? Was the first Christmas Dinner that Kasia and I hosted really twelve years ago?!?!

Wow.  I feel like all this time has gone by and I haven't noticed.

Regardless, in the spirit of it being a new year, I figured I'd be cliched and come up with some goals for the year.  I don't want to call them resolutions, since that title is just begging for me to break them ASAP, so goals works for me.

Anyways, here they are, in no particular order:

1. Get a real job.  Not a temporary, for now, or in the meantime type of job, an actual full-time, permanent position.  With benefits.  The whole temp thing just isn't working out for me.  I need something with a little more security and longevity.

2. Move out.  I'd love to have my own place, and it'll have to happen this year.  Currently, I live at my mom's, but she'll move in with her boyfriend soon, which means I'll definitely have to find somewhere.  Somewhere in Sauga, I think, not downtown.  And I don't want to look for a roommate, I'd rather have my own place. As for moving in with Matt, well, I have no idea.  I like the idea of seeing him every day and sleeping next to him every night and waking up to him every morning, but I also like the idea of having my own space and decorating how I want to and getting the chance to live on my own.  Plus, I have no idea how he feels about moving out with me anymore, since I tossed us aside.  Twice.

3. Go on vacation.  Not camping, but somewhere that I can lay on the beach, drink lots, and not have to worry about a goddamned thing.  Cuba, maybe??  Or somewhere different, like St Maarten??  Just somewhere that if I wanted to do nothing for a week, I could.  Even El Salvador would be good, although that would be much more heartbreaking to leave than anywhere else.

4. Go somewhere new.  Similar to the vacation one, but with more doing.  Maybe sightseeing or a tour or hiking or whatever.  Machu Picchu??  Thailand?? Somewhere new and interesting and awesome.  Honestly, I'd even settle for somewhere closer and less exotic, but till new.  New Orleans??

5. Learn a new language.  Or possibly work on the two half languages I know (Spanish and French).  Maybe learn some new Polish words??  The last few I learned were a few years ago.  Time to add something to my mental translator!!

6. Finish a story.  I've been stuck for the last while and haven't been able to write too much, even tough I have an incredible amount of ideas.  Maybe I can work on getting them out??  I've still got some up on my FanFiction profile, and I've got maybe 20 pages of another. I've also got like 35 pages of an original story, and a bunch of stories left anywhere from 2 to 5 pages.  I really should work on those.

7. Find a new hobby.  I keep saying photography or painting, but I do neither.  So I need to give them my all or get off the pot and find some new ones.  I can't imagine me knitting or anything.  Cooking??  Maybe more event planning??  I do love me some planning.  I could definitely make that into something fun!!

8. Pay off debts.  Honestly, I need to do this.  If I'm smart about it, and I find a job soon, I should technically be able to pay off all the people I owe money to, and fix quite a bit of my credit, this year.  I obviously can't finish OSAP this year, but I could do almost everything else.  Or, quite possibly, everything else.  Let's aim for as much as possible and hope it goes well, okay??

9. Lose weight.  I have to find a way to get rid of at least 60 lbs.  HAVE TO.  I can't use any machines or go crazy (stupid back), so I've gotta take up swimming and an aerobics class. Maybe I'll join Kasia in  Zumba, as much as I don't like it.  I've also gotta do yoga or something to help stretch out my back.

10. Relax.  Be healthy.  Smile.  Honestly, I need to just learn to enjoy life and laugh it off when it goes wrong.  I need to not blow everything out of proportion and I need to not over think everything and stress myself out to the point I get panic attacks.  I need to be on the offensive much less and not bite everyone's head off.  I need to think less for me and more for others, and sometimes, I need to think the opposite.

Wow, that's more than I planned to set for myself.  I don't think they're hard, though.  At least, most of them aren't, so I should be able to find ways to get them done, right??  Or possibly, and maybe even more realistically, I'll forget all about them until the end of the year.

And I'm back!! Well, hopefully.

Ah, updates.  How I fail at them!!

So it's been a few months since I wrote on here, and I've decided I need to go back to writing and sharing my wonderful and oh-so-important opinion with you all.  But first, an update on my life!!

Let's try to do this quickly, shall we??

Health: Okay now.  I threw out my back and then had the flu, but I seem to be in okay working order now.  Joined a gym (which had to be put in hold by the aforementioned health issues), but I'll be getting back into that in the next few days.  I've even convinced Jenn to join!!  Maybe we'll do some yoga??  I hear that's good for your back.

Work: None.  I was on contract, and they ended it (rather abruptly, if you ask me!!), so I'm back to looking.  I'm gonna try and find something writing related, although I'll be applying for admin too.  I do not want to be unemployed for longer than a week.  Or maybe two, since next week I need a day off.  But after that...work!!

Living Space: I'm still at my mom's.  I'm trying to be smarter this time and wait until I have a stable, full time, permanent job before I move.  Sadly, that seems to be impossible for me to find.  But once I do, I'm totally moving out!! Hopefully somewhere in Mississauga.  And if not, somewhere near a highway so people will visit me.

Family: Gaby's off at McMaster, doing first year humanities, and Nelson's back Humber doing Network Engineering Technologist (I think??).  I'm super happy for them.  Jose and I haven't killed each other yet, so I'd say it's a success!!  And my mom's happy and doing her thing with Aidan in Burlington.

School: I'm taking law classes at George Brown.  I was thinking paralegal, but I've been advised that what I want to be (according to the image in my head) is a law clerk.  So I'm gonna look into that.

Love:  Matt and I are currently not together.  It's pretty much my fault, and honestly, I'm not sure yet what the right decision is.  It's been 3 days and I already miss him so much.

Life: Lots of partying.  I've been to at least one party every weekend for the last two months.  This Friday, there's a wedding (yeah for open bar and then hotel party!!) and then there's still a club bday, a house party bday, an open bar and 3-course meal bday, the Xmas dinner, the New Year's Burlesque Ball, and Malanka.  I'm sure there's other stuff I'm missing, but that's what I can think of for the next two months.  So yeah, there's been some good times had, and there's still more great times to come!!

Travel: None recently.  I do want to, though.  I think next weekend we're planning a day in the states, so at least I get to use my brand spanking new passport and leave the country.  I know there's talk of getting a group and planning a week-long trip to somewhere, so hopefully next year we can do that.  I'd also like to go to El Salvador, if I get the chance.  Maybe for Easter?? I know they get a week off around that time. And for mine and Jenn's bday we'll hopefully do Vegas!!

So there you go.  Now you're caught up in my life and everything.  I can't promise I'll update anytime soon, 'cause, well, you know me.  I'm not good at updates.  Or keeping to schedule or being on time or anything like that.

So I guess you'll just have to keep checking!!

Summertime advetures!!

So it's almost summer time, which means it's about that time for me to make a whole bunch of weekend plans in the hopes that at least half of them will happen.  Sadly, I don't always make realistic plans, so whatever.  As long as some happen, I'm happy.

What are these plans, you ask??  Well, let me just tell you all about them.

May 2-4 is the first upcoming long weekend, and I just can't decide what to do.  There are so many options!!  My sister and I talked about camping, but she may go with other friends instead.  Matt and I talked about maybe going to Ottawa, 'cause I really want to go for the tulip festival, but I'm not sure how doable this is.  There is also the Bamboozle festival in New Jersey (Saturday's show is Foo Fighter, Blink 182, All-American Rejects, Jimmy Eat World, and Anti-Flag!!!).  NJ may not be the nicest place (as learned on the last Bamboozle road trip), but the festival is pretty good.  To be honest, I'd really like to do the road trip/concert option, but it all depends on if Gaby gets off her ass and gets her goddamn passport!!

Then comes Canada Day.  It's a long weekend this year again, and I really like the idea of going to Ottawa for this one (which is why I'm not super sad if I miss the tulip festival).  I figure Matt's been there before, he can show me around.  I'm sure there's one or two places he liked.  I don't know if Matt can take the time away from work, but if he can, I'd really like to go.

For the August long weekend I really want to go camping at the Bruce Peninsula National Park, which is just south of Tobermory, ON.  It's incredibly beautiful there.  And since renting a cottage might be crazy considering we'll be going to El Salvador (and stopping in Dallas for a football game, eww), it might be a little better to go camping.  Camping is much cheaper and you can still enjoy the gorgeousness that's up there.  Also, I love camping.

I have other things I'd like to do, although those are way less likely to happen since I don't have a timeline or plan for them.  I'd like to do a weekend in Boston, or maybe in Chicago.  And more camping.  I looooooove camping.

I also plan to go skydiving.  Yes, I would like to jump out of a perfectly good, well-functioning airplane.  And as terrified of heights as I am, I know I'm gonna freaking love it!!  Also, zip lining.  I wanna go to Scenic Caves Nature Adventure in Collingwood and do their Eco Adventure Tour, which includes a suspension bridge, treetop walk, zip line, and cave tour. Doesn't that sound freaking awesome???  Thankfully that doesn't need a whole weekend, so it's perfectly doable.

I'm sure as the summer gets closer, I'll come up with more plans.  Let's just hope I can do most of them!!!

A trip home?? So exciting!!

So my cousin is getting married in November, and I'm super happy for him.   I'm also happy that he gave me advance notice, and hopefully I'll be able to go.

Now, I haven't as of yet been able to find a job, so I'm running short on time for saving. I'm still hopeful, though, that if I get a job soon, make a budget, and stick to it, I'll be able to go with no problem.  I know, I know.  A budget.  But in the end, if I really want to go, and I really want to be there for his day, then I'll make it happen.  I've always said I'll be there for it, and I'll do whatever I need to make it happen.

Happily, Matt has agreed to come with me.  I'm super excited to show him around and introduce him to all the people I love and miss.  I'm also super excited to take him to the beach and show him my favourite place in the world.  Los Cobanos is my little piece of heaven.

I'm not sure yet where we'll be staying.  I want to go for a little longer than a week, that way I can spend some time with my cousin before he gets married and goes on his honeymoon.  So I'm thinking we can fly in on the Wednesday or Thursday before the wedding, and stay at my aunt's until Sunday.  After that, I'm not sure if we should find a hotel in San Salvador, or even just stay at my aunt's, so we could have her drive us and go sightseeing and stuff every day, or go stay at the Royal Decameron Salinitas, which is the all-inclusive resort on the beach I love so much.  The only problem with staying at that hotel would be that it's too far for my aunt to drive us every day, so we'd have to either pay for hotel tours or only go sightseeing maybe three days.  I guess I'll have to figure it out with Matt and my aunt closer to the actual date.

But there are a bunch of places I want to show him!!  I want to go see el volcan de Santa Ana, and hopefully try and go to the crater.  I read that it should be done with a police escort, but those can be arranged the day before.  I also want to go to el lago Coatepeque, and maybe go to Illobasco.  I also want him to be able to walk around the little towns, 'cause they're totally different than walking around the city here.  And of course, I want to take him to a pupuseria and to Los Cebollines and the restaurant in Punta Roca.  I'm just not sure what's safe and what's not.  I figure if my aunt says it's not safe, I'll call my cousins (on my dad's side) and see if maybe they can help.

I do plan on calling the Silvas and trying to meet up with all of them.  I assume my dad will be there, since they'll prolly invite the whole family.  I'm okay with that, 'cause I want to see my brothers.  I'm hoping they can put something together.  I just don't want to see them on the 11th, because as petty as it may sound, that's my dad's bday, and I don't want to it to seem like I'm there for his day.  Unfortunately, though, that might be the best day to do it.  I guess I'll figure that out when I call them, which I don't plan to do until I know for sure when I'll be there.

I'm so excited!!  I'm gonna have some mango cumbia, and some chancletas, and some marañones and jocotes.  And some atol de elote.  And some tartaritas!!

Yeah, beyond excited.  I love the things my country has to offer.  Food is awesome, and the places are great.  And it helps that I have family there.

Of course, Matt's not happy that it's the second most dangerous country in the world.  Yeah, apparently, it has more deaths per 100,000 people than most African countries.  That's freaking crazy!!  But since most of those deaths are gang-related and not directed at tourists, I'm thinking we'll be okay.  I think as long as we stay out of dangerous neighbourhoods, we should be okay.

But yes, excited.  I'm hopeful that everything will, for once, go according to plan and work out.  so I guess I'll keep you updated.

And is it weird that after living in Canada for almost 20 years, I still say that I'm going 'back home' or just say 'home' when I refer to El Salvador??  Home is clearly in Canada...