a year, and a decade
Every New Years I like to think about what I've accomplished, how I've grown, and how much farther I have to go.
This past decade was my first full one as a Canadian. That makes it officially half my life. Haha! It also marks 10 years of drawing because I started once I moved to Canada, in 1999. I remember my first night in Canada, we came from California and we stayed with my mom's uncle in Toronto. We BBQ'd in the back yard, which I've never had before (we've always lived in an apartment), and the food was delicious (as all of my mom's meals are) and I remember thinking "this place is so weird and foreign, but I have to call it home now." Toronto doesn't look a whole lot like southern California. lol
Ironically, Canada is where I first encountered blatant, hurtful racism. So for a long time, I hated living here, I didn't know why everyone hated me. But I lived in an area of all of one race of people, and also when it was more acceptable to haze and hate on anyone from the US. As a 10 year old, I couldn't figure out what the fuck I did to deserve the discrimination. But high school was different, and I made the friends who remain my best friends, and suddenly I found a home. But obviously my life has to suck, so my parents moved to a different city that didn't like new kids, so I never really made friends there. But fuck those guys. They're rich spoiled brats and to this day, I hate "going home" to that city. Also it doesn't help that because of bullshit drama, I lost one of my best friends. However two years later, he apologized for the bullshit drama and we decided we're better off not being friends. At the same time, I became better friends with a mutual friend of ours, Jimbo. He is like my brother now. I love him to death, and he is my moral and logical sounding board. He teases me to death about being crazy and a tard, and he's like 80% of the reason I have any semblance of self esteem.
But not having friends in high school meant I could work really hard and get into a good school! So now I go to Queen's, which is a pretty prestigious school, even though it's kicking my ass. I had to continue dealing with being amongst rich brats. But among the rich brats, I found a group of people who I will absolutely have as friends for life. I live with them, they're the best! We plan each others' weddings. LOL Including William. We turned him into a girl. I asked him "Who's hotter: Kirk or Spock" just to see if he'd answer. He said "Kirk" without a thought.
First year of University: LENA! I met my soul siser. lol She taught me to knit, which, as you can see from my gallery, stuck. It'll probably be a life-long hobby, I love it.
Second year: Courtney, who I met in my gael family. Our friendship lasted a year.
Third year: EMILY! I have become so much closer with her this year, it's wonderful!
I met Amye and Marisa who I am slowly becoming better friends with. I spent almost every night staying up with Amye talking about everything. One of my New Years resolutions will be to keep in better touch with them because they are great, supportive, incredibly fun and non-judgemental girls.
Since 2008, I've had plans to move to Vancouver slowly put into motion. I got myself a roommate (Kim, who will live with me for a few years), and am looking into going to school there. It's an exciting move, and that's exactly where I want to be when I grow up. By the ocean. By the mountains. In the city.
This past year was amazing and extremely emotional lol. Became really close with Courtney. She introduced me to my first boyfriend who I dated through the summer which I spent living in Kingston, away from home. He stayed in Kingston too, so we had a great summer together and he broke up with me randomly a little into the school year. Spent the fall getting over it, which I am. Now we're well on our way to being good friends. Also this summer, I pulled away from home a little too much. It upset my dad but it was good for him. I made a separate bank account for myself... which made dating Nik a whole lot easier. lol
I got hired at Garage in July which I've been working at for the past 6 months, which is like... one of my longer jobs. I love it there, it's a stress reliever and I've become good friends with my managers, especially the assistant manager, Sascha.
I had SWINE FLU this fall! Scared my housemates to death, they were going to take me to the hospital but I brought my fever down with some frozen peas and Tylenol.
And this past week, Courtney decided I'm a horrible friend because I wouldn't mission an hour and a half to Whitby for New Year's when I never said I would. But I can see that I've grown because I went through the same thing with the friend I lost in high school. She made the same needy, dependant, guilting arguments, and I know how to deal with it. I know what kind of person I want to be friends with and I don't need a bully of a friend who throws a tantrum the first time I say "no" to her and decides I'm a bad friend when I get out of bed at 12:30AM when I work the next morning because she says she really needs me. I'm better off. I have seen myself turn into a person who won't take your bullshit. I've become slightly misanthropic, but at least in an entertaining way, like Lewis Black.
I spent New Years with Kim and her family which was amazing. She has such a welcoming family. I'm honourarily Ukranian.
I've done a lot of thinking about friends. Who it is good to be friends with, the type of friend I am to people, which friends I think will last and who will fade away. I'm very happy with my friends, the ones I have left anyway.
Now I'm thinking about the future. The next 10 years. I spent these past 10 years growing up and becoming incresingly nerdier and being extremely poor. I'm excited to see how I'll change and grow over the next 10 years.
Plans for the future:
-figure out what I want to do with my life
-go to grad school or get a 2nd degree (depending on the aforementioned figuring out what I want to do with my life)
-move out west
-find my soul mate
-get married
-have at least 1 kid
-have some semblance of a career started
That's a terrifying list, but that's fucking exciting. I know I can plan stuff like finding a soul mate but I'm going to forget about this list in a little while and just let things happen.
Happy New Year!
And happy new decade! Make it a good one.
This past decade was my first full one as a Canadian. That makes it officially half my life. Haha! It also marks 10 years of drawing because I started once I moved to Canada, in 1999. I remember my first night in Canada, we came from California and we stayed with my mom's uncle in Toronto. We BBQ'd in the back yard, which I've never had before (we've always lived in an apartment), and the food was delicious (as all of my mom's meals are) and I remember thinking "this place is so weird and foreign, but I have to call it home now." Toronto doesn't look a whole lot like southern California. lol
Ironically, Canada is where I first encountered blatant, hurtful racism. So for a long time, I hated living here, I didn't know why everyone hated me. But I lived in an area of all of one race of people, and also when it was more acceptable to haze and hate on anyone from the US. As a 10 year old, I couldn't figure out what the fuck I did to deserve the discrimination. But high school was different, and I made the friends who remain my best friends, and suddenly I found a home. But obviously my life has to suck, so my parents moved to a different city that didn't like new kids, so I never really made friends there. But fuck those guys. They're rich spoiled brats and to this day, I hate "going home" to that city. Also it doesn't help that because of bullshit drama, I lost one of my best friends. However two years later, he apologized for the bullshit drama and we decided we're better off not being friends. At the same time, I became better friends with a mutual friend of ours, Jimbo. He is like my brother now. I love him to death, and he is my moral and logical sounding board. He teases me to death about being crazy and a tard, and he's like 80% of the reason I have any semblance of self esteem.
But not having friends in high school meant I could work really hard and get into a good school! So now I go to Queen's, which is a pretty prestigious school, even though it's kicking my ass. I had to continue dealing with being amongst rich brats. But among the rich brats, I found a group of people who I will absolutely have as friends for life. I live with them, they're the best! We plan each others' weddings. LOL Including William. We turned him into a girl. I asked him "Who's hotter: Kirk or Spock" just to see if he'd answer. He said "Kirk" without a thought.
First year of University: LENA! I met my soul siser. lol She taught me to knit, which, as you can see from my gallery, stuck. It'll probably be a life-long hobby, I love it.
Second year: Courtney, who I met in my gael family. Our friendship lasted a year.
Third year: EMILY! I have become so much closer with her this year, it's wonderful!
I met Amye and Marisa who I am slowly becoming better friends with. I spent almost every night staying up with Amye talking about everything. One of my New Years resolutions will be to keep in better touch with them because they are great, supportive, incredibly fun and non-judgemental girls.
Since 2008, I've had plans to move to Vancouver slowly put into motion. I got myself a roommate (Kim, who will live with me for a few years), and am looking into going to school there. It's an exciting move, and that's exactly where I want to be when I grow up. By the ocean. By the mountains. In the city.
This past year was amazing and extremely emotional lol. Became really close with Courtney. She introduced me to my first boyfriend who I dated through the summer which I spent living in Kingston, away from home. He stayed in Kingston too, so we had a great summer together and he broke up with me randomly a little into the school year. Spent the fall getting over it, which I am. Now we're well on our way to being good friends. Also this summer, I pulled away from home a little too much. It upset my dad but it was good for him. I made a separate bank account for myself... which made dating Nik a whole lot easier. lol
I got hired at Garage in July which I've been working at for the past 6 months, which is like... one of my longer jobs. I love it there, it's a stress reliever and I've become good friends with my managers, especially the assistant manager, Sascha.
I had SWINE FLU this fall! Scared my housemates to death, they were going to take me to the hospital but I brought my fever down with some frozen peas and Tylenol.
And this past week, Courtney decided I'm a horrible friend because I wouldn't mission an hour and a half to Whitby for New Year's when I never said I would. But I can see that I've grown because I went through the same thing with the friend I lost in high school. She made the same needy, dependant, guilting arguments, and I know how to deal with it. I know what kind of person I want to be friends with and I don't need a bully of a friend who throws a tantrum the first time I say "no" to her and decides I'm a bad friend when I get out of bed at 12:30AM when I work the next morning because she says she really needs me. I'm better off. I have seen myself turn into a person who won't take your bullshit. I've become slightly misanthropic, but at least in an entertaining way, like Lewis Black.
I spent New Years with Kim and her family which was amazing. She has such a welcoming family. I'm honourarily Ukranian.
I've done a lot of thinking about friends. Who it is good to be friends with, the type of friend I am to people, which friends I think will last and who will fade away. I'm very happy with my friends, the ones I have left anyway.
Now I'm thinking about the future. The next 10 years. I spent these past 10 years growing up and becoming incresingly nerdier and being extremely poor. I'm excited to see how I'll change and grow over the next 10 years.
Plans for the future:
-figure out what I want to do with my life
-go to grad school or get a 2nd degree (depending on the aforementioned figuring out what I want to do with my life)
-move out west
-find my soul mate
-get married
-have at least 1 kid
-have some semblance of a career started
That's a terrifying list, but that's fucking exciting. I know I can plan stuff like finding a soul mate but I'm going to forget about this list in a little while and just let things happen.
Happy New Year!
And happy new decade! Make it a good one.