Just one more.

Alright, I lied. THIS will be the last post of the blog. And I knew it all along. Despicable, I know. Just thought I'd do a little update after being home for sort of 24 hours.

Everything is more or less how I left it. A few new things around the house but that's it. I'm also now living in a house which will most likely be a renovation site for quite a long while. Great. It's a mess, but it's home.

For now I'm really happy to be here. It's the same but I'm not sure whether this will turn out to be a good or a bad thing.

One of the things I've noticed is that it gets dark exceptionally later than it does in North America. Ok, sure, it's winter there and summer here which is like, totally opposite and whatever, but like, it doesn't get dark here until like, 8.30! I'm not sure if you're aware, but the sun hates North America so much it decides to leave at about 4. Also, I've been driving a few times since I've been back and I'm getting a bit confused as to which way the cars/ my car is meant to be going. I'm not gonna lie, this scares me. I didn't think it'd affect me so much seeing as

A) I used to always look the 'wrong' way when crossing the road in North America. Still did till the day I left! and

B) I didn't drive there. Nor did I want to.

I've got a lot of coffee and/or beach dates in the coming weeks to keep me busy which is good. I also need to get a J.O.B too... but that can wait a few days.

It's a bit weird being in a place that's so warm too. I haven't worn less than 2 layers in months!

As you can tell, not too many 'deep' thoughts from me this time. I'm not really in the mood. Plus there's nothing left to say.

So this is REALLY it then. I swear. I just thought I'd do something similar to when movies have like, little extra bits near the end of the credits where only like, the 'dedicated' people (read nerds) stay and see it. I do this by the way, not at the movies though, but on DVD's. I always fast-forward through the credits just in case (NERD ALERT!).

So if you're reading this, thanks again. Now I know who TRULY follows this. Ha. Now please re-read the last paragraph of the previous post. Thank you. That is all.

The build up to nothing in particular

Since leaving work I have nothing to do. Combine that with not having to go to Uni and that means I REALLY have nothing to do. Seriously, that's like, two-thirds of my life right there.

So I haven't really been doing anything since Sunday except for sorting out any little things like buying power converters and whatnot. Pretty much everything's been taken care of. As far as I know anyway. I'm just waiting for my travel insurance policy to come in the mail (I need to go check the box, cos I haven't in probably more than a week) and I need to exchange all of my cash.

I also chose my papers for Ryerson. If all things go to plan I'll be taking:

Public Relations
Marketing Communication I
News and Current Affairs Theory
Fairy Tales and Fantasies
Social Psychology

I figured I'd take papers to do with my actual degree and then balance that out with some papers that sound kinda fun or that I'm interested in. Fairy Tales and Fantasies is about how oral stories for adults have evolved into children's stories. It includes like, work from the Brothers Grimm, Beatrix Potter, Andersen and Milne. It sounds pretty awesome. I've also been interested in Psychology for a while now and I miss it so I thought I'd pick it up again.

Other than that though, there's not much left to do. I've just got a few parties/ gatherings to go to in the next week or so but that's about it.

Only 9 days left.

Job Status: Unemployed

Ok, so today was pretty anti-climactic. I guess I was just my expectations were too high. But I mean, I've been there for almost four years now, couldn't they have got me a cake or something?? Well, I don't mean to make it sound as if I didn't get anything but surely I'm worth more than a bottle of wine, some glasses and a t-shirt! But it's ok, I just thought I'd get something more is all... Other than that though it was a pretty uneventful day ( I guess I had high expectations for that too) - there was no major goodbye thing, just a 'good luck' / 'have fun' etc from people as they were leaving or as I left. Maybe it might be because I'm coming back and not moving there permanently. I don't know.

In any case, I now have no job. I kinda have no identifiable feeling about it, it just feels like I'll be back next week. Just habit I suppose. I'm guessing I'll start to miss it sooner or later. The people though, not so much the place.

I managed to get flights! And pretty cheap too. It took about two hours though but it was fine (my agent was really nice, if you get my drift ahaha). But yeah, I managed to get my flights cheaper than when I went looking for them a few weeks ago (like, $600ish difference). Also accommodation is sorted in Vancouver for a week but there's a week or so after that 7 days where I have no idea where I'll be/ where I'll stay. Thats kinda worrying but I guess I'll do what I do best. Wing it.

It's 2 weeks today that I leave! There's not many things left to do now, just any little things that I need before I leave. Travel insurance is the only major thing and that's more or less taken care of. I still also need to choose my papers for next semester/year and thats about it.

I'm still freakin' out. I'll probably be freaking out every day until I come back home.

Job status: almost unemployed

Only two shifts at work which stands between me and unemployment (yay?) I'm not sure where my money will come from now but when I leave I'll get all my annual leave paid out which, according to my calculations will be around $2700. That'll maybe cover 95% of my airfare (which I haven't really sorted out yet.....).

So yeah, after about four years now I'm finally leaving and probably just in time too. Everything is starting to go downhill - prices are going up, there's less entertainment, it's kinda dirty (plus it's pretty much looked the same since day 1), most of the other bartenders are kinda lazy which was/ is kinda pissing me off. So yeah, they want me to come back to work when I get back home but that'll depend solely on the state of the bar at that time. Cos I like most of the people but its just not the greatest place to work....

Ok, onto other things now. Everyone went back to Uni yesterday after a month of so off and I kinda miss it already (sad face). I dunno, I guess it just feels weird not going to Uni with everyone else. I've got nothing to do now (hence the writing of this post) and no one to hang out with but I'm trying to organise stuff with them while they're on their breaks.

Something kinda related - I have to choose my majors for next year! I have absolutely no idea what I'm gonna do. I haven't left myself with many options (not intentionally of course) so it looks like either Journalism major/ PR minor or vice versa. That's it. I can't do TV cos I'm missing this semester's paper plus, I kinda don't wanna do it anymore after last semester. I mean, it's fun and all and it'd be an interesting job but it's just the way that they've organised (or not organised) this specific TV course. So I'm not gonna rule out TV as a job when I leave but it might take me a while to get there ( I probably need to do more networking etc etc or maybe I'll just stumble into it. Who knows?)

Ummmm, right, I'm about to confirm my leaving party for about 20 people which is a pretty good number I think. I just need to call them which I will do right after this.

I got my restricted license today! It's about time - I've had my learners for like, 2 years and for those who don't know you only need to wait like, 6 months before you can move from a learners to a restricted. But yeah, the test was surprisingly easy. It was raining though which didn't really help much but I passed and pretty well too. Apparently just a bit slow on the open road (but it was raining!) I've already planned my first trip by myself - a baby shower/ housewarming in Albany - all I need to figure out is how to get there!

That is all.

Four more weeks till joblessness (nothing much to report)

Ok, so there's not really much going on at the moment hence the lack of blog posts and such. I'm waiting on some stuff to send for my Canadian visa and after that all thats pretty much left are flights and travel insurance. But yeah, I have some ideas about some fun segments to do while I'm away, hopefully it'll be as great as I imagine it will be but we all know that's generally not how things really work out huh? (I'm gonna keep that under wraps for now anyway but keep an eye out for it ok?)

I only have 27 days left to go until I don't have a job! I'm not sure what that'll feel like right now as I haven't not had a job since I was about 15 so we'll see how that goes..... but no job generally = no money so I kinda have to spend it wisely but I've already got a substantial credit card debt which isn't that great. It's justified though. That's how I live with myself.

Oh, and just a quick note, this blog isn't really for anyone in particular. It's kinda just for me but you're welcome to read it and make some comments or whatever, it's just that I tend to forget stuff that happens.....

Oh, and also, apparently it's dark for 18 hours a day in Alaska from November to February so I may need to rethink that plan..... I still really wanna go but I guess there won't be much time to do anything worthwhile with 6 (6? 18 + 6..... carry the 1..... yeah, thats right) hours of daylight. So that's kind of a bummer (thanks sis).....

Also, I suppose a leaving party is in order. But when and where? I have no idea.

Progress....of sorts.

Five weeks from today I wont have a job. I handed in my letter of resignation but I'm not quite sure how I feel about it. I've been there for about 4 years now and don't get me wrong, I'll miss all the people there but I've probably progressed as far as I can at this point in time. Plus hospitality isn't really my thing. I've always maintained that hospo was alright as a job/ to get money but I don't think I could ever make it a career. It's just the dealing with people all day everyday which I suppose you can't really get away from unless you're a hermit, but thats not really a job now is it?. I dunno, I guess its just that people can be so demanding sometimes, also you don't really get time to yourself. I guess you either love it or you don't, I'm somewhere in the middle.


But anyway, now that that is crossed off my to-do list I've been looking at the procedure s for getting a student/ temporary resident visa and it's kinda confusing. I've also been looking at flights but I'm don't know where exactly I'm gonna go but its looking like I'll be going from Auckland to Vancouver and then make my way along the border to Toronto by train.

Also on my places to go list is Alaska! Ever since I was reminded of it's existence a few days ago I've wanted to go pretty bad. It just looks amazing, largely untouched by man and oozing with native wildlife that most people can only see in a zoo or wildlife park. I dunno, everything is semi planned at the moment. My planning has been kinda half-assed which is something I guess I can't do with something like this.

But yeah, I dunno, it seems like in the coming month or so I'm gonna have to fork out a crap-load of cash for stuff: plane tickets, travel insurance, warm clothes (for my first white Christmas!), a backpack, fees for various stuff etc etc..... So the plan is to keep spending to a minimum i guess. Easier said than done.

*edit: If there's one thing that I've learned in my time doing hospo it's that you can't say 'no'. Ever. Except drunk people. You can always say no to them. Always. But anyway, I've figured out a couple of ways to get around doing things that you don't really wanna do for whatever reason. One of the phrases that I've found comes in handy is: 'I'll see what I can do". That way, if you actually can do what your customer wants/asks then you look awesome, if you can't/don't want to it looks like you've at least tried to do something. Either way you're good. I know this sounds kinda bad but there are just some things that people ask you to do that just make no sense/ you know you can't possibly do. So yeah, I just hope I'm not the only one who does this. The thought of other people doing this is the only way I can live with myself ahahahahaha