What I did in '06!

The first post of each month in 2006.

Stolen from My Sista.

January:
Rock on '06!

February:
To be unemployed

March:
Da Boys

April:
Bad/Good Luck

May:
The cons of boobs

June:
Today's New Shit

July:
Happy Canada Day!

August:
When Tuesday's Worse than Monday...

September:
Happy Labor Day Weekend!

October:
The Walk

November:
Times are a Changin'

December:
What a Weekend!

The List of '06

1. What did you do in 2006 that you’d never done before? Called it quits on a friendship. I'm usually the one hanging on trying to make things work -- this time it needed to happen from my end.
2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? My New Year's resolution was pretty easy.. have more sex. Now there's a resolution I can stick to! This year it's to keep busy and find a new hobby (or two).
3. Did anyone close to you give birth? No, but I don't hang out with a lot of people in that situation.
4. Did anyone close to you die? No people, but I said goodbye to 4 very special dogs this year. Tiara had a massive stroke in May at the age of 13. My baby Reba was put down due to old age (12)in October, and the same day Cino was diagnosed with acute pancreatitis and malabsorption syndrome and was put down, as well, at age 6. Then just a mere 2 days ago, Mom called to say that our Bouvier, DD, collapsed and also had to be put down. 4 dogs in one year is a lot to take.
5. What countries did you visit? I didn't leave Canada.
6. What would you like to have in 2007 that you lacked in 2006? A hobby!
7. What dates from 2006 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? October 12, as this was the day my sweet girl was laid to rest.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? You know.. it was a slow year for achievements around here.. I guess my promotion at work.
9. What was your biggest failure? The hopes and aspirations I had for Linc man.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Not that I think it started this year, but the ulcer was a big one.
11. What was the best thing you bought? All the stuff required to make my room the way it is. It's the best bedroom I've ever had.
12. Whose behavior merited celebration? I don't think anyone did anything that inspired a great amount of Cause Celebre in me
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Corey's. Undeniably. I never realized how calloused and selfish some people could be.
14. Where did most of your money go? Bills, bills, bills.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Going down South to Salmon Arm in August.
16. What song will always remind you of 2006? Crazy by Gnarls Barkley
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? - Well.. things last year finally seemed to be on the up and up for me, but sadly they didn't turn out the way I'd hoped. I'm still with the same guy that I was with but things are a lot more solid than they were then. So I guess that makes me happier.
b) thinner or fatter? About the same, I think.
c) richer or poorer? - Well.. at this time last year I was unemployed living off my last paycheque and vacation pay. So I'm richer because I can expect another paycheque in 2 weeks.
18. What do you wish you’d done more of? The unexpected.
19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Putting up with stuff that stressed me out.
20. How did you spend Christmas? With my family. Mom and I drank champagne and OJ, we all opened presents, set to work making Christmas dinner and just hung out at home.
21. Did you fall in love in 2006? I fell MORE in love.
22. How many one-night stands? None. Even my one 'filler' relationship that I had in the early spring was about 2 months from start to finish.
23. What was your favorite TV program? Family Guy.. it's the only thing I really watched.
24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? Yes... he's mentioned above.
25. What was the best book you read? The Five People you meet in Heaven, followed a close second by The Da Vinci Code.
26. What was your greatest musical discovery? The song Breathe Me by Sia.
27. What did you want and get? Several things.. a new digicam, luggage, a wok, an external hard drive.
28. What did you want and not get? A new computer.. but it's not something I asked for either.
29. What was your favorite film of this year? The Majestic was pretty great. I also watched the Miniseries of 'Angels in America' that was released back in '03 this year and I loved that.
30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I went out with Mr. Roberts, opened some presents and Ross made me cake and supper. I turned 23.
31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Having an amazing person by my side for most of it.
32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2006? Brown is the new black.
33. What kept you sane? Mr. Roberts.. he was a rock when I needed one, and he's always been there to keep me grounded.
34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Well of course Angelina, but I did have a brief closet fascination with Paris Hilton.
35. What political issue stirred you the most? The war and the amount of Canadian troops being killed overseas. It's not even our war!
36. Who did you miss? Different people at different times.
37. Who was the best new person you met? Shane. He's good shit. We started talking and just hit it off and it's great to have a new friend. I'll always be indebted to him for remembering to send me flowers on V Day when I knew no one else would.
38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2006. When push comes to shove, people only look out for #1. Never expect different.
39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. "Well this drama is a bore, And I dont want to play no more"

Now I'M It!

Agh.. I was tagged!

5 things that almost no one knows about me:

1. The bathroom is seriously my favorite room anywhere. It's solitary and the good ones have magazines!

2. My phone is still listed as B & T Bowles because my brother was supposed to move here last October. I'm simply too damn lazy to change it back to just my own name, and it's sort of moot considering it's unlisted now anyways (damn telemarketers!).

3. I discovered that dialing the digits 9-1-1 followed by another digit still directs you to 911, and I'm not sure I'll ever forgive my brother for making me test that theory.

4. I have to constantly have something to look forward to in my life. Small or large.. there's always got to be something on the horizon. Or I crash.

5. My mom is the only actual Canadian citizen among all her siblings -- they're all American. My aunt Michelle got her landed immigrant status last year, my aunt Patricia applied for dual citizenship but had to relinquish her Canadian citizenship when she joined the US Navy and the rest never bothered. It's the reason I know all the words to the Star Spangled Banner.

In turn I tag Lil-Miss-I'm-Engaged and Callie!

Christmas Wishes

It's unbelievable how fast the year has gone by, although I'd by lying if I said sometimes it felt like it would NEVER end.

Since all that is past me now, I guess I can reflect on the past year and be ever so happy that I survived and came through it all relatively unscathed and a little wiser than I was last year.

It's 2 days till Christmas, I'm at my parent's place in BC fighting the urge to nap or to try to strap a few dogs to a sled and go for a run to wake up. At this point almost anything beats staring out the window while fighting with a flaky dialup connection that refuses to stay connected for more than 5 minutes at a time. The joys of living rurally.

I am however, feeling fairly gifted to be able to be home for the holidays, eating mom's cooking and not having to wake up at 7 to be at work. Only one thing is missing to make me contented beyond all belief, but he's happily also with his family on the other end of this big province, and that's a good place for him to be.

I do have to send a great big shoutout and congratulations to my big sister, Corina and her man James who got engaged on Wednesday night! What a tremendous present for her 28th!

I wish them all the best and would like to know when the big day is so I can book my holidays accordingly?

As for the rest of you.. have a very Merry Christmas!

What is Justice?

I'm reading this book about the Leonard Lake & Charles Ng sex crimes in the late 70's and early 80's and it sparked a lot of unease.

To summarize, this pair of survivalists from hell built a torture chamber and snuff film parlor on a remote Northern California Ranch. It is estimated that between the pair, they tortured and killed over 30 people, including 2 babies under the age of two.

But back to my unease...

In 1985, a routine shoplifting call (Ng attempted to steal a vice from a hardware store) to the police resulted in Lake's capture. Ng disappeared leaving Lake to take the fall, where shortly after being arrested he swallowed two arsenic pills resulting in his death and sparking an investigation for more than just a shoplifting charge.

Ng fled to Calgary, where his sister lived, and where he was apprehended for shoplifting at a Hudson's Bay store, and subsequently shot a security guard trying to escape.

For 6 years Canada held him in either the Edmonton prison or in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan and battled against the US justice system to prevent him from being extradited.

Why?

In 1976, capital punishment was removed from the Canadian Criminal Code. It was replaced with a mandatory life sentence without possibility of parole for 25 years for all first-degree murders.

In addition, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that in extradition cases it is constitutionally required that "in all but exceptional cases" the Canadian government seek assurances that the death penalty will not be imposed, or if imposed not carried out. Mexico also abolished capital punishment in 1929, and passed a similar extradition treaty with the US.

I don't think I'm the only one that finds this mildly frightening. The 2 countries on either side of the American border have both not only abolished the death penalty for serious criminals, but we're both also willing to hold said criminals in our prisons using OUR nation's taxpayers money in order to ensure no harm comes to them.

So for 6 long years, Canadian taxpayers chipped in money to keep a wanted criminal behind our bars and away from the threat of losing his life. Eventually he was extradited back to the States, and when he got back he and his team of lawyers began to manipulate the legal system with endless delay tactics that included formal complaints for receiving bad food and bad treatment. Ng also filed a $1 million malpractice suit against lawyers he had dismissed at various times during his pre-trial hearings. Ng also wanted his trial to be moved to Orange County, a motion that would be presented to California Supreme Court at least five times before it was upheld.

After all the delays, Charles Ng finally went to trial in 1998, 13 years after he was arrested in Calgary. The jury reached a decision quickly, and he was convicted of 11 of the 12 murders he was charged with.

I love my country, but you have to imagine how it feels to come across the realization that we were such a compassionate nation as a whole that we allowed a calculating criminal to be our guest and helped him delay the process of justice.

So why are we (and more than seventy other nations) going through such great lengths to protect US fugitives from the US death penalty?

The term 'An eye for an eye' may sound archaic to some, but isn't proportionate punishment for inhumane crimes vastly preferable to opening our arms to a plethora of wanted criminals with the promise of a safe haven and lenient justice system?

$20 and a horse named Nassau

I know. Yet again I've been slacking. But with the hustle and bustle of the season upon us, a boyfriend recovering from surgery and a dog who is seemingly getting worse behaved by the day, I just have a hard time making the time to sit down and tap out the day to days.

Anywho, yesterday was Wayne's Christmas party for Avialta, the company that he was working for when his appendix decided to give out.

They held it at the Northlands Spectrum, which for anyone not familiar with Edmonton is the horse track. Brilliant idea on their behalf, as they rented a suite overlooking the track, had a catered dinner and bar set up and all the employees, et al, spent the evening getting pleasantly wasted and betting their money on the ponies.

Races 1 I bet on a horse named KG N Krafty who won me nothing. Since it was a safe $2 bet, I shrugged and smiled and let it go. Race 2 I went with the favorite, Lucky Jenny, and bet she'd 'Show' which means she'd place somewhere 1st through 3rd. She won the race and I won my $2 bet back plus a 20 cent profit.

By race 3, I was starting to feel a little more comfortable so I bet $5 on the dark horse named Nassau that had the lowest odds 10 minutes before post. I even went so far as to bet he'd 'Place', which means he'd come in either first or second.

I had a feeling. And the jockey had on red silks, which seemed like some sort of odd omen for me.

On the last bend before the finish, I was shaking and smiling as I simultaneously watched the TV screen and the track through the blizzard-like conditions outside, and saw my horse going all out at the head of the pack.

He won. And the odds were slim enough on that happening that I doubled my money.

Race 4 I bombed, betting on another favorite who finished somewhere right at the back.

And Race 5 I bet $3 that horse 3, Mattjestic Pistol would place, and $2 that Horse 2, Pandoori would show. They actually both showed, but in the other order. Pandoori won the race, and Mattjestic Pistol came in third, therefore making my money back on horse 2 and losing on horse 3.

And there, any semblance of a winning streak stopped.

But all in all, I spent a grand total of $20 the entire evening, so I think that was brilliant success.

Betting on the ponies and drinking complimentary wine: A fine way to spend a Friday evening.

Seduction Style..

Awww.. and I wanted so much to be a charlatan!

Ugh.. Hospitals

I hate hospitals. With a passion.

Just walking into the sterility, watching people walking slowly around pulling their IVs scares the hell out of me.

People are so damn breakable.

And going to visit Mr. Roberts tonight, watching him being one of those people, seeing his brilliant blue eyes a hazy grey color with needles in him scared me even worse, because let's face it -- He's my Superman. My Superman is not supposed to be in the damn hospital on a stretcher with an IV.

The good news is the surgery went off without a hitch. Jeanette and Marc picked me up for a visit tonight and we got there just as he woke up from anesthetic. He was in pretty good spirits considering, but I still hate seeing him like that.

I brought him some bright daisies because I figured it might be the brightest thing he'll see during his stay there.

I miss him, though, and I hope he's out soon, because I need my Superman here. Not there.

What a weekend...

Saturday night Mr. Roberts starts complaining about a pain in his stomach.

We made light of it for most of the night, laid in bed drinking wine and watching "Accepted" and eventually we both passed out.

Sunday, when we woke up, the pain was worse, and had gradually isolated itself on his right hand side. By about noon, he'd diagnosed himself with a bad appendix. I went online, looked up the symptoms and confirmed it. It was quite likely appendicitis.

He made a quick call to Healthlink and the nurse told him to get to a hospital within the next few hours.

So we drove to the Misericordia hospital in the Westend (where they make their Emerg patients PAY for parking???), got him in, and they took him into observation after about an hour.

I was outside renewing parking for a 24 hour stay when they finally took him in, so I sat in the waiting room fighting over Sunday's Edmonton Sun with the girl next to me for about an hour.

Finally a nurse comes into the waiting room, calls out my name and escorts me through the secured door.

"He's a little lonely," she says, and points out a door for me to go through.

And there he sits in a seafoam green hospital gown, looking for all the world like a sad little boy who wants his mom.

After 3 hours of being asked the same questions over and over, giving blood and urine samples, and trying not to laugh, the doctor finally comes in, prods his left side again and confirms that it's appendicitis. When he announced they were keeping him overnight and doing the surgery first thing the next day, I'm not sure I've ever seen Mr. Roberts pull a longer face.

So evidently the surgeons came in at 6 this morning, which should mean he's already undergone surgery at the time of writing.

Fingers crossed for a speedy recovery, and warm thoughts are always appreciated.