... Big surprise... she's back!

Haa... I know I said I was leaving, but I rarely mean that.

I'm back! Unofficially, of course.

Nursing is busy. Good, but busy. I've seen some things that I never thought I would see, I've made connections with lots of people during my clinical placements. I've learned a lot of different aspects related to nursing care... it's what I think I want to do, so that's a relief! I can't imagine having to do more soul-searching to find out my path in life.

I've been teaching at TKMT for the last 6 months, and while I loved it, I really don't think I'll have time for it in January... so these are my last few weeks. I need to find some other way to get exercise in!

We're in exam season right now, so I should probably go study -__-;

officially B.Sc!

I had my convocation ceremony in Waterloo on Wednesday June 16, 2010, so now I can officially say "Charlene Fan, B.Sc. Hon Kin, Co-op". Sweet.

Here's one picture of me brandishing my expensive piece of paper:



It feels so good to be done, but it's still bittersweet. On to bigger and better things, I guess! Thanks for the memories, UWaterloo!

Leaving Edmonton

I've been in Edmonton for the last 3 days for the Canadian Nutrition Society conference, and it's been awesome! I listened to a lot of great lectures and talks, got to meet some great people, and present some of my own work! It's been a whirlwind of busy activities, so I'm a little tired out by it all (and the time difference doesn't help either), but I am really glad I came and am so grateful to have had the opportunity to participate. There were a lot of clinicians at this conference, so I don't think it is unrealistic to think that I might be present at a CNS conference in the near future, perhaps doing research in Nursing!

I didn't take as many photos as I would've liked, but I did take a few. I'll post them later when I come back home. I'm heading back to Toronto tonight, and then I'll be in town for 2 days before taking off for Montreal!

Retail therapy

The damage done today:
- Ricki's: 2 pairs of Bermuda shorts ($100.50)
- Toneve: adorable plaid 2.5" heels ($53)

I love shopping, not so much when I'm spending my non-existent income though.

Sleepless in Waterloo

ugh. This is a rant.

I am so freaking tired. I walked for like 5 hours yesterday downtown (Doors Open Toronto) and I did Muay Thai. You'd think that I'd sleep like a baby after that-- apparently not. I went to bed at like 1 am, and I woke up at the ungodly hour of 4:45 am. >.<

I WANT TO CLAW OUT MY EYES. That is all.

In it

I ended up going to Muay Thai on Friday AND on Sunday! Wooo! I also made burgers from scratch on Friday, which was kind of cool. It's really easy to do, and it's cool that you can put whatever you want in it, and then you know exactly what goes into it (so, it has the possibility of being healthier than traditional store-bought burgers). Note: Garlic Havarti cheese is SO good inside the burger!

I saw Iron Man 2 on Wednesday; it was a good movie. Better than Robin Hood, I hear. If you've seen the first Iron Man movie and liked it, you'll probably like the 2nd one too. It's kind of predictable, but I'm a comic kind of girl, so I don't mind!

I realize there are a lot of things I want to say on this journal/blog... but I can't. I have to actually censor this thing pretty heavily because it's public access, and everyone can read this. I used to think blogging was a great way to keep people informed of my life, because let's face it: we're all busy, and we don't always have the time to keep our family/friends up to date, and blogging allows people to catch up whenever they have a spare minute. But more and more I realize that maybe I'm not willing to have people know every detail of my life anymore. Sometimes, I feel the need to write out my thoughts which tend to go into lengthy discussions. But I'm not sure I want people knowing my dark and twisty mind. I used to wonder why some of the bloggers I used to follow have stopped publicly posting their journals; now I think I know why. It's just too much information for everybody to see. There are people who sometimes comment on this journal that I don't know, and the internet is this vast entity full of thousands, or millions of people that can anonymously connect with others; the fact that I don't know these people, and they're able to tap into my life is a little unnerving.

So, I guess as of now, I don't know if I'll continue to update this blog... at least not with any significant thoughts. I may post about movies or bitching about assignments or whatever.... but this isn't my journal anymore.

Sorry.

Recovery took a bit longer

I was so sore after Muay Thai on Tuesday and Wednesday, but I'm a lot better today. I think I should be ok to try again tomorrow!

Muay Thai

I tried out Muay Thai yesterday with my boyfriend; he's a member of TKMT and I thought I'd try it out because it sounded like fun. I have to pay a lot of attention to my feet (they do strange things, apparently), but it was a blast, and I think I'm going to join. The warm up was pretty crazy; kind of "Insanity-esque", but not too bad. It definitely gets you all warmed up for the rest of the class. I'm not in the best of shape right now, hence why I'm pretty sore today, but hopefully I'll be fine by tomorrow so I can do it all over again!

UFC 113!

Did anyone else watch last night? I was watching it at Hoops Sports Bar & Grill downtown with my boyfriend and it was pretty awesome! (mainly because I was watching it with him, but the fights were good too ^^) Out of the 5 fights, I won 3 of the bets, so it was better than the last time I watched with my brother (2/4 losses). My bets are usually alcohol-based, so by all logic I should've been pretty sober last night; nuh uh... we decided to split 3 pitchers of Rickards Red, which probably wasn't a good idea! We actually left about 1/3 of the last pitcher behind because we were just SO done, and we were so drunk as we were stumbling home trying to find Union station. :) Next time, I think I'll stop at 2 pitchers. On the subway ride home I passed out until the conductor woke me up at Islington, and told me to switch to the other train. I came home at around 2 am, and then drank some water before spending some quality time leaning over the toilet :p Oh man.

I woke up pretty early this morning because of my brother's cat, and I felt like was hit by a tonne of bricks-- dehydration, combined with limb soreness (I worked out yesterday for the first time in a long time) and lack of sleep isn't a pretty sight. Uggghhh....

Other than that: Life is pretty awesome at this point.

BWAHAAHAHA

I'm on youtube, this time not my own doing!

Some marks are up

And I'm feeling relief. 3/4 so far, and if all goes well, I may end up with an 84 this term. That mark may be "ok" or even "bad" for some of you over-achievers out there; Back in the day when I used to get 90s in high school, yeah, I'd call 84 a mediocre grade. But, given that I've had to dig myself out of a pretty dark place, I'm pleased with myself. If it weren't for Philosophy this term, I could probably have gotten an 87 overall.

I've been in the lab during the day since yesterday and I feel like my brain is going to explode. It makes me somewhat glad that I decided not to do Grad studies. I've been working on the poster I'll be presenting at the Canadian Nutritional Society conference in Edmonton this June. I'm still interpreting/analyzing data, and it doesn't help that Microsoft Power Point has been crashing on me all day, so it's taking me longer than I hoped it would. But with any luck I should be done the first draft on Thursday. I need to go home on Friday early because I have to renew my passport and those government offices are never open when it's convenient for normal people, so I've got to plan around that.

I've started watching a show called Californication. I had heard about it ages ago but like most things, I hadn't bothered to delve into it until recently when I was introduced to it. Aside from nudity (but who can really say they don't like nudity?) it's pretty entertaining. The main character is played by the same guy who plays Agent Mulder from X-Files, and he's much more entertaining in this show.

I've always considered myself a hermit of sorts, but I've just gotten so used to hanging around people, that I'm starting to not like being by myself. People have gone home since exams are done... but my cousin will be back next week, so I guess it's not that bad. I guess now would be as good a time as any to visit Chapters and enjoy some leisure reading.

And just like that...

Poof.

Things get better. Not that things were going badly to begin with. But things are still better than they'd been. And it makes me smile.

"If you don't learn to laugh at trouble, you won't have anything to laugh at when you're old."

-- Edgar Watson Howe

I'm talking 'bout blah blah blah

BAH... just one more day until exams are finito! I don't really know what she'll ask on it, seeing as there's SO much information from 11 labs... But really, even with an 80 on the final, I can pull off an 86, which I think is comforting. It's about 119 multiple choice (so she says), so technically I have real potential to do well. She is a tricky one though...

I made one of my last visits to Morty's Pub last night; Mmmm Dry Cajun wings! Delish. I've only really been there twice (or thrice, can't remember) in 5 years, which is kind of pathetic, but it's good times. I had some interesting conversations with a friend last night that kind of makes me rethink what I think I know about myself. Not in a bad way, but like the silly things that make us human; what I think about behaviours and how I tend to live my life. Nevermind this off-tangent thought.

Sigh. I'm still sad that graduation is coming fast, mainly because I will miss the people. I just started to get to know people really well this term; I kind of wish I talked to more people back in Undergrad.

Hmm. Anyway.

I'm surprised I was able to wake up this morning on time! I usually set my alarm for 9 am but shut it off because I just can't bring myself to get out of bed after a good 8 hours of sleep. But... after getting only about 5 hours I feel as fresh as a daisy (more or less). Hmm. Cool.

Procrastinating

Hey ya'll... me again.

I'm clearly procrastinating; my last exam is in 6 days and I'm just not interesting in reading my notes for this class. Give it time; I've laid out a nice schedule for tomorrow, so hopefully that'll go according to plan. I've been trying all week, but I just can't while I'm here in Waterloo in my little room; I just end up sleeping. BAhhh... it's supposed to rain tomorrow in Toronto, and I was kind of hoping to go running in between studying, so who knows, maybe I'll be one of those crazies you see running in the rain! :)

Hmm... what else is new... I went to have my nails painted yesterday at my last Salon complementary package visit; my toes are now a metallic orange, and my fingers are a metallic pink. Meh, it's all for fun! My cousin and I went to Conestoga mall after and I finally got myself a trench coat. I've wanted one for a long time, so I finally got one at Suzy Shier for only $35! It's a taupe colour, has good structure, and ends about mid-thigh, so it's long enough but not too long. I also got a new body wash by Zest-- it's Mandarin Mango Twist, or as I like to call it: Sunshine in a bottle. Love it.

I'll be done my last exam of my Waterloo Undergrad career as of the 21st at around 10 pm-- whooo! After that, I have to get to work on the conference Poster for June. I will have more or less 1 month to get it all ready to go and have myself prepped for answering any questions. And thennn.... I suppose after that conference, I'll pop back in the lab a few days a week to do some SliceOmatic imaging, and then have graduation convocation, and then pack up my junk and head home at the end of June.

What I plan to do for July and August... not quite sure. I do plan on cleaning up my room at home; I have to make it live-able and clear out stuff I no longer need so that I'll have room for the next 2 years. Hmm... running will most likely be in there too... hanging out with friends when I can... and I dunno, I guess that's about it. The chances of me finding a job in July are slim, but who knows, I might try if I get bored. I might just end up going to the mall regularly to walk around... OOH! I could live at Chapters for a while. Yeah.

Ok... apparently I need to get off this blog now. Later.

Running again

The weather has been beautiful again the last few days, so I've been making use of it by dusting off the 'ol Saucony Motion Control runners! That's right kids, I've started running again!

I'm terribly deconditioned, so I started with 3K. I ran 3K on Saturday and Sunday, in about 20 minutes, which is horrible, but not THAT bad considering I haven't run/exercised in ages, and I kind of Fartlek'd it (that means alternating spurts of running and walking-- but I ran like 75% of the thing). I just have to get my lungs and feet used to it again, but I feel great. I think I'm starting off slow enough that I'm not in pain the next day, yet I'm pushing enough that it's not too easy. My goals are on track though: for this month (April) I will be running 3K 2-3 times a week, more if I can stand it. May-Aug will gradually step up the mileage until I can get 7-8K done 2x/week, and that'll put me in good shape for the Underwear Affair on August 28.

A couple of other things I'm doing a little differently this year from last year: I'm including more resistance training in the mix. While it's critical to work on endurance and cardio for this race, toning and strengthening muscles will also help. I'm not being too fancy or creative here though; I'm following either Turbo Sculpt or 30-day Shred by Jillian Michaels for this. Yeah I know, I could make up my own routine and all, being a Kinesiologist. But it's so much easier having it right there in front of you nicely choreographed with music and motivational speeches:p I didn't really do much of this last year, and I don't think it hurt me, but it would probably be better to have it this year. I have to at least maintain my time of 1:02! I will probably be able to shave off 5 minutes if I don't run 9K the day before :p (that was DUMB)

I put in my acceptance on OUAC for Bloomberg; I'm so happy. I had some free time yesterday to kind of think about my life and where my experiences have brought me, and what I've learned about myself.

Rewind 5 years ago:

It's 2005, and I'm 18. I was confident, if a little cocky, and had planned on being a pharmacist. I didn't really know anything about what a pharmacist did, but I figured it sounded prestigious, and made a lot of money. After I did 1 term of Biology Life Sciences at Waterloo, I decided this really was not what I wanted; I wasn't motivated or interested in what I was studying, and I knew without that drive, I wouldn't be able to do anything. I had some friends in Kinesiology and I found out what kinds of things they studied, and it sounded like something I wanted to do. In second term, I switched to Kin, and I think it's one of the smartest things I ever did, and one of the best decisions I've made.

When I think about it, 5 years passed by in a flash; all the moving around, co-op interviews, and on-off terms-- it really takes a lot out of you. But I know now that it's made me a more responsible person, who is more aware of what goes on in the real world related to Kin. I know I sound like a poster child for Kin and co-op at UW, but seriously; unless you get that experience, you don't know what you're missing. Who I am now is so radically different from the child I was 5 years ago. It's kind of crazy to think of how much change someone can go through in a relatively short span of time, but it really depends on the person. I had a lot of life-changing experiences early on in my undergrad and maybe that helped to hasten the change, but eventually we all get there.

When I look out the window and see the city that I spent more time in than I have at home in the last 5 years, I get sad. Part of me has come to think of Waterloo as "home", and to think that I likely will not come back after June is foreign. The all-nighters, pub nights, and laughs had in this campus won't happen again, not in the same way. But things go on, life goes on, and I'll be starting a new chapter very soon.

On a happier note: my acceptance package for U of T arrived at home with more instructions for accepting the offer. AND... I found out that I am the recipient of the Seymour Schulich award, worth $8,000.00! Wow. Me? I've never won an academic award, so it's a new feeling. Maybe this is really how things were supposed to be, you know? I keep thinking that all the things I've gone through in life have been preparing me for this, and that Nursing is really where my calling is.

Maybe life will work out for me after all.

Accepted to University of Toronto's Bloomberg school of Nursing!

When I checked my email this evening I literally jumped up and down and was speechless. I had applied to U of T's Nursing school, and while I thought I would probably get in, I was wracked by the fear of rejection. I know that U of T's program is extremely competitive, and I knew my marks weren't that great; I mean yeah, they were B+/A-, but surely there would be people with higher marks. So I applied, and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And when I heard from York, I thought that was great too! But my heart was still set on U of T. And I thought maybe I wouldn't hear from them at all.

But wow. I got in! Granted, it is conditional acceptance; I still have to maintain a B+ average for this term, but I think it's totally doable.

Do you have any idea what this means for me? I can:

- stop paying $$$ for rent
- stop living in questionable apartments
- still see my family often
- see my local friends often-ish (this is debatable; time would have to permit. Goodness knows that didn't happen too frequently in UW...)
- Have access to cable!
- Have access to good public transportation (or at least better than Grand River transit...)
- Have lots of fridge space for my produce <3
- stop obsessing over people ruining my cleanliness
- ... and so much more!

I've seriously picked up on my mom's cleaning habits. I am always wiping counters, vacuuming the floor, and sometimes it's a little eerie how much it bothers me when people leave dishes in the sink for extended periods of time.

I'm so excited to go home this weekend; since it is a long weekend, my cousin and I are leaving Waterloo tomorrow afternoon to go to the outlet mall in Mississauga and then head home. Calvin is going to come home and bring Hobbes! :) I love that silly cat like it's my baby.

You know what else I'm excited for? getting rid of all my crappy excuses for not exercising. THe weather is getting nicer, so I'm going to cut the crap and move it! I've made a whole schedule from Friday April 2 - August 28 for training for the Underwear Affair 2010. I'm so pumped for it!

Ex-nay on the "partying two nights ina row"

Wow. I don't know how chronic party-goers do it; after attending two parties in the last two nights, I'm utterly exhausted and cannot stomach the idea of having to drink more, dance more, and having to avoid strange men. I went to the End of Term AHS Aftab Patla Memorial Scholarship game on Friday, and then the EOT party at bomber. The party itself was great; it was AHS only in the bomber, and everybody was drinking beer and eating free food. Some of my friends were pretty drunk though (myself included), so it made for a few awkward moments, but no harm done.

Last night, I went to 140West with my friend and her sister who was visiting for the weekend, and I swear, it must be the full moon or something: guys were everywhere. I felt like we were being targeted and cornered! One guy's opening line to my friend was: "hey! My friend thinks your friend is really hot!". Odd. And then his friend just came up behind me and started dancing without a "hey, wanna dance" line, or any other kind of actual verbal communication. After a fake "I have to go to the bathroom" escape line, the guy dancing with my friend found us later and was like (to me)

Random guy (RG): Hey, have I seen you before?
C: uh yeah. I was dancing with her when you came by.
RG: well yeah, but I mean I feel like I know you from somewhere
C: ... well you were staring at me the whole time you were dancing with her. But I'm pretty sure I don't know you.

So weird. But trust me, it gets weirder.

Two other random guys just come up to my friend and I and just wouldn't let go! I mean it's not like he was bad looking, bad smelling, or rude; but slowly my friend and I kept getting closer and closer til I was practically smelling her hair! It was funnier when I saw my friend making out with RG#2, and then the person dancing with me tried to, and I was like "OOOoops sorry, I don't do that! *insert haha here*" Nice guy, but too young, hahaha. He is 3rd yr Mechatronics, which is cute and all, but really, I am not interested in that sort of thing. (I've learned from my 3rd year drunken birthday experience!)

And then RG + friend kept coming around to "check" on my friend and I, who were otherwise possessed by some random youngins.

Yeah. That never happens to me, ever. Flattering though!

In any case, my ears and voice are busted, so I'm drinking a lot of water and homemade juice today to try to aid recovery: I have a presentation on Tuesday. Yikes.

On an unrelated side note: I bought a lovely bunch of daffodils on Friday. It really make my place look a little happier and more like spring is on the way.

Another unrelated note: I'm still angry at my new roommate. What part of "If you spill something on the floor or counter, clean it up" do you not understand?! IAWEguyshladyuahbljdfhgyslhbd;khfsjbadkldhjn (explosion and implosion of rage ensues)

Back to normal

I'm feeling a lot better now! I was still feeling crappy on Thursday, but I went out with a few of my girl friends to help them get their grad ball dresses and stuff, and then we were hanging out til about 11:30 when my advil started wearing off and I felt the need to get home. I felt pretty bad on Friday, but after Friday evening I felt better. My cousin and I had our girls' night; we went grocery shopping, made dinner, waxed our legs (hahaha, too much info?), and then watched Avatar online. Yeah, that's right, I stream movies online. Do you know why? Because James Cameron has already raked in his millions and having one more person watch it won't really do anything to his sizable income, so there. And I'm a poor student. Yeah.

Anyway, so I've spent the majority of the week sleeping and taking Advil and prescription medication, and not doing work. Saturday I was still kind of slacking, but yesterday (Sunday) I had to sit down and really get my stuff done. I finished a lab, and read some stuff for my sport psychology course and finished the assignment for that... and started thinking about my essay for my philosophy course. It's hard to believe, but there are only really 3 or 4 more weeks of classes before exams! CRAZY. And, Grad ball is this Friday.

Hmm. Grad ball. It's like the university Prom, I suppose. And, almost like last time, I'm again involved in a threesome. No, that kind of threesome you disgusting pig! I am not bringing anyone as a date since I prefer to just "be", so I'm unofficially Lisa's other date. She's such a pimp! :P

I've been catching up on my WoW too this weekend. I have been putting off playing my Shadow Priest because I'm convinced she's really weak, but I decided to put in the effort. I re-spec'd her, so I had to pay a couple of gold to reallocate the talents, and then I handed in whatever quests I had completed for Kalimdor and that other place, and then took her out to The Outlands, where my Death Knight is as well. There are higher level quests there, better gear, and at level 60 you get a flying mount! I hit level 60 as of yesterday (I think... or Saturday), so I've got my flying mount. Yay. Seriously, it makes things so much easier. I tend to attract a lot of aggro from the nearby boars and now I can just fly over them. But yeah, I've made progress with my shadow priest. Now, I'd say my two mains are pretty equal. I think I'm only ahead in my DK by a few quests and 1 level. My ultimate goal is to get my SP to level 80 and start raiding with the guild... apparently they need more ranged DPS people. As much as I want to do it, I'm also kind of nervous that I won't live up to the guild's expectations and whatnot; everybody is really good. Ah, oh well.

Anyway, gotta head out to campus soon. I have a couple of things to do before my night class. I'm helping out with the March break open house at UW tomorrow (UW day!), and I'm really excited. I love showing people the ropes.

Oh yes, and I signed up for the Underwear Affair 2010 (Aug 28). I planned to start running again April 11. I feel like I'll be starting from ground zero again, so my goal for that month is 1-3K 2-3x/week. Yep, starting out slow.

May -3-5K, 2-3x/week
June -5-7K, 2-3x/week
July - 7-8K, 2x/week
August - 8-9K, 2x/week

Also, I intend to really clean out my cupboards in April so I can start with my raw stuff again.

BAZINGAA!

"Your shoes are delightful, where did you get them? BAZINGA! I don't care" - Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory

Woot woot, one more gold to Canada's count: Chrstine Nesbitt for 1000 m speed skating!

In other news, my computer is being retardedly slow. I've been trying to work on graphs for my abstract (which is due like Sunday, and I'm still trying to figure it out), and my computer is so FREAKING slow. It makes me want to jump on it and smash it to little bits.

Life updates

Apparently there's some big UFC thing on tonight, so my brother is bringing me to hang out at his friend's place to drink and watch. Wooo! I think it's kind of funny that I'm hanging out with my brother's friends who are all 9 years older than I am, and have known me since I was 8 year old. I discovered a new beer today called Fruli, and it's a strawberry flavored beer! I'm not a beer fan, so when my brother told me about it, I had to get some. I haven't tried it yet, but I will. I'm also going to be trying Rickard's White tonight. No, I'm not trying to drink my (non-existent) sorrows away; just simply trying to live a little.

Birthday officially celebrated - Liver needs to recoop.

I celebrated my 23rd birthday with friends last night at 140West. I had a lot of fun, partly because of the alcohol, but mostly because of the company. I had 11 drinks in all last night, which is 2 down from my 21st birthday, but hey, at least I didn't throw up at the club this time (I threw up at home... mildly better?). Anyway, now that it's over and done with, my liver can rest in peace for the next 12 months. Hopefully I won't drink as much next time!

It is getting better, isn't it?

I received a comment on my last entry stating that my articles were getting better, and that they were better than my old ones. I do appreciate the comment, and it makes me happy that someone is deriving entertainment from my posts. On the other hand, since majority of my posts are life-based it makes me also think that my life wasn't very interesting up until recently :p All the same, it is comforting to think that things are starting to look up!

I had my night class, and starting tomorrow I'll be working on a 20-minute presentation for Monday. I'll also be in the lab for most of tomorrow, learning how to identify Spleen/Liver in thoracic CT scans. Woot.

Ugh. I thought I could have dairy products again. Nope. Apparently not. Even taking those lactose pills doesn't help! :(

I want to play WoW.... but I opted to do some studying tonight instead. *sigh*

Productivity

I feel so productive! I went to a meeting with my prof this morning, and it looks like I'll be presenting at a conference in Edmonton in June! This is pretty big news for me! :) I am so stoked. This also means the likelihood of me working at Linamar may not happen. (I'm looking at requesting 4 days off in June for the conference and my graduation, and I need to do stuff in the lab likely, so the chances of me working a "real" job... not high). I may stick around in the summer and find a summer job working odd things, like at the bookstore, or a shoppers drugmart, or something. This is pretty cool!

Anyway, I bought my Kin453 textbook at the Used Bookstore on my way home, threw out the mountain of recycling (I lost a bet), cleaned up the kitchen and everyone's dishes... and I even completed like 60% of my lab report! :) I feel so good. To makes things better, my Bath & Body Works order arrived today too (I bought anti-bacterial hand soaps and Classic Body Lotions from the Semi-Annual Sale).

I am going to see Sherlock Holmes tonight with my beloved Jenn. The people upstairs must really like me today.


EDIT: 5:33 pm

Aaaaannnndddd... go figure, my mom isn't even happy for me. It seems like nothing I do is ever good enough to make her proud of me.

Happy New Year!

Wow, 2009 is finally gone. We're finally in the double digits of 2000, people!

My new year's eve was quiet, but good; my friend slept over and we stayed up until 5 am watching movies and the first season of Big Bang Theory. We ate popcorn covered in seasoning salt, drank icy Smirnoff at midnight, and pretended to be about 12 years old again. There are only 2 people that I love this dearly (other than my parents and family, that is), and she is definitely one of them. My 2009 ending was sweet and as a result, my 2010 is off to a great start. I'm sitting in my living room staring out onto the street as the snow gently falls to coat everything in a soft, powdery layer, like in a Christmas card. I just ate an egg and cheese omelet, a tiny piece of cherry-almond pound cake, and enjoying my French Vanilla instant coffee.

Life is good. Short, but precious.

Let's make 2010 rock.