Je ne parles Anglais.

I've begun learning two new languages in the last few days, and I must say, it's going rather well. The Rosetta Stone technology is a wonderful tool, and the image association instead of word association does make it a different approach than most language learning tools in my opinion.

I've begun to "learn" French, and I put learn in quotation marks because, as a Canadian citizen, even though I grew up in a completely English speaking province, French was a mandatory course from grade 3 until grade 9. So I have 6 years of "experience" under my belt. I used to be able to hold a decent conversation en francais, now I'm lucky if I can say "hello", "how are you", and "where's the bathroom?" It's been relatively easy to get back into the swing of this language, and I have a couple of french speaking friends, so it should be easy enough to become fluent in it over time.

The second language I've begun learning is a little more difficult. I've decided to learn, or at least, gain a basic understanding of, Mandarin Chinese. I'm not sure why, but the language appeals to me. The pronunciation of many of it's words is extremely foreign to me, which makes it more difficult to learn than French is. The basic syntax doesn't seem to be too far off from that of English or French, but unlike both of those languages, I've never heard Mandarin while growing up, so it seems... strange. I'll get the hang of it eventually though. After all, I am only one lesson in.

Wish me luck, and until next time,

Good bye!

Au revoir!

Zai jian!

Life, The Universe, and Everything....

Wow. I know it's been a while. I've had a busy schedule for the last few months, and it doesn't look like it's slowing down any time soon. Let's do the "New Years Resolution" thing, since it's what most people post in January blogs.

I suppose it's not really so much of a New Years Resolution, as it is me finally deciding I need to be back in shape. I know, pretty typical of a resolution, but as I said, it's not a resolution. :) It's been going well so far, I haven't lost much weight, but I feel healthier, and stronger, and that's what I was aiming for. Health isn't about being as tiny as possible, it's about proper nutrition and exercise. (Sorry anorexic teenage girls, you've got it wrong.)

I've also made a decision that I've been mulling over for a while, and it ties in to the getting into shape bit. I'm going to join the Canadian Army Reserves part-time. It's a good paying job, offers some good benefits, and is relatively flexible as far as hours go, since it's part-time. Also, it looks pretty darn good on a resumé. :)

The biggest decision I've made this year, however, is to go back to school. I've been looking into courses at the Universities in Atlantic Canada, and I've decided that I'm going to apply to every one of them that offers a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. I've also been looking at some careers after University, and I've narrowed it down to a few I think would be interesting, exciting, and fulfilling.

I would either like to work for a Canadian Federal position, such as an Intelligence Officer for C.S.I.S. or for the Department of Foreign Affairs. Another career track that's really catching my attention is serving in the United Nations.

I'll keep you posted on any developments. As always, post any thoughts or feelings.

Advice is a funny thing

    I received the best advice I think I've ever been given the other day, and I've been mulling it over since then. Now, I don't want to put down all of the other advice I've been given over the years, and the Lord knows there's been a lot of it, but this bit of advice just hit me. It hit me profoundly and irrefutably.

    I was having a regular old online conversation with a friend of mine, and we got to talking about some things, and I fired a little bit of moral and emotional support her way. She in turn sent some back my way. I like to think what I said to her helped, but I know that what she said broke through to me. Hard.

    She told me to “stop looking for myself in other people.” I know this can be taken a couple of ways, but I don't think she meant it as “stop looking for the qualities you possess in other people.” I think that she meant I should stop trying to find myself, and who I am, by attaching myself to other people and emulating their qualities, and, perhaps more so, depending on them to define who I am.

    I never realized it until then, but she's right; that's how I've always behaved. I've always needed someone else to define who I am, and what my wants and needs are. I've always needed someone else to be the center of my life, instead of my life being about ME. I don't intend to be selfish, because that's not who I am, but I do intend to focus more on what I need and want, and to define myself. I won't let anyone else define me anymore.

    Thank you, for helping me see this. You know who you are, and know that you've earned yourself my eternal gratitude and friendship. You understand me, perhaps better than I understand myself. I believe that right now, that's the greatest blessing I could ever be given.

Christmas in November?

So, I was on my way to work today, kind of not looking forward to it. Mostly because it was so early in the morning. I don't get along with mornings. If they were a person they'd be the kind of person I couldn't spend five minutes with before I wanted to punch them in the face. I STRONGLY dislike mornings, but I digress....

I get to work early like I always do, and hang out in the staff room for a while, trying to keep my eyes open. Quite successfully actually. I'm proud of myself for that. A couple of co-workers show up and we get to chatting like usual. Now, you may be starting to think, what does the title of this post have to do with what I'm talking about. Well hold your horses there, Bucko. I'm getting to that.

I work in the retail industry, and as I'm sure you're aware of, music is generally playing in the background of most retail establishments as a backdrop to a customer's wonderfully exciting shopping experience! Usually we end up with country playing, or a variety of relatively modern tracks (released within the last ten years), or some stuff from the 70's. Not today, OH no. That would make Jason's morning acceptable. Instead, the Christmas tunes have begun. Yay.

I'm no Ebeneezer Scrooge, and I rather enjoy Christmas. The last time I checked, however, Christmas fell in December, NOT November. I'm rather old fashioned in a lot of ways, and one of those ways is, for me at least, is that Christmas is the day the Saviour Christ was born, NOT a day where all of the major corporations got together and decided to make it about buying the biggest, best, and newest things to give to your children so they'd grow up into spoiled little brats.

I strongly believe that Christmas is about Christ, charity, good-will, and peace. NOT commercialism. Honestly, I find it somewhat offensive that the retail industry has so taken over this time of year and essentially destroyed those values. Playing Christmas music starting in mid November in order to subliminally remind people that Christmas is coming up so they had better buy their presents while they're in your store and thinking about it, is despicable.

And that's my rant on that. Let me know how you feel about it.

And so it begins...

The proverbial bandwagon, I'm jumping on it. Not because everyone's doing it, (as a matter of fact, I only know of two friends who have a blog, so I don't know if I should even be calling this a bandwagon...), rather, because maybe I've finally decided that my thoughts and views are worth sharing with the world.

If you disagree; so long. If you've continued reading this far; welcome to the world that is me. You may love it or you may hate it, but all that really matters is that it's me. No compromises, no holding back. I've done enough of that in the past to last me nearly an infinite number of lives.

I've recently discovered my sense of self-worth, and my drive to succeed. I've also discovered that the old me was a pathetic thing, wrought with doubt and insecurity, clinging to the norm for fear of what might happen if I try my hardest and fail. No longer. Move over Neil Armstrong. You may have touched the moon, but I'm going to touch every star on the way to where I'm going.