layovers

Dude, I'm going to Ireland! I booked my flight tonight and I'm going from April 29th to May 15th. I can't believe this. It doesn't feel real at all, but it is happening.

I found a cheap flight to Dublin and my family offered for me to stay with them, so I couldn't refuse! Having a place to stay is going to save me about $500 and flying into Dublin versus Belfast saves me another $600.

*officially freaking out*

Question: How do people graduate college or university without even knowing the difference between "to" and "too" and "their" and "there"?

Excuse me for acting like a grammar snob, but I feel like these are basics tought in grade school and everyone should know them. I frequently see memos/signs posted at work that have these errors in them and I cannot help but feel embarassed.

As most of you know, I've been struggling to figure out my future career path. Leaving Professional Writing was one of the best decisions of my life and also one of the worst. At 18, I was convinced I was going to be a writer. Imagine my surprise when I realized I am way too much of an anxious person not to have a steady paycheck and I did not want to be a starving artist.

Which left me with one question: "What now?" I've been searching for that answer for the last two years.

I've heard lots of advice, but the one phrase that sticks out in my mind is, "Follow your passion!". This lead to more questions like, "What IS my passion?" and "What do I enjoy enough to make a career out of?".

Photography, writing, jewelry making, working with children, swimming, nutrition, the elderly, and traveling all came to mind.

Needles to say, most of my hobbies are not potential careers. I have already written off Olympic Swimmer. :) I decided to go into Hospitality because it is what I'm passionate about. It's a hectic, busy, crazy industry but I find it exciting. As with writing, I am under no illusion of the low starting salaries.

So what? This whole idea of Following Your Dream Career is relatively new. People have worked jobs they despise for decades in order to support themselves and their families. All I want is a career that will allow me to pay basic bills and save so I can do the two things I am passionate about - travel and photography.

Maybe I won't make as much money as an accountant, a nurse, or an engineer but I see myself being challenged throughout my entire career, there is lots of room to advance, and lots of variety so I will never be bored!

Money is not the be-all-end-all. With great power(and higher salary) comes great responsibility.

I have already been able to do a lot of traveling in my life. Yet, I yearn for the day I can jump on a flight overseas.

I have a ton of places on my Wishlist - various places in Alberta and B.C., Ireland/N. Ireland, Germany, France, England, Scotland, Italy, Egypt, Australia, and New Zealand to name a few.

Various circumstances have given me the opportunity to see beautiful places and experience North America. Admittedly, as of Feb 2008, I had traveled more of the U.S.A. than I had of Canada. I had never ventured out of Ontario. After one road trip where, quite frankly, we did more driving than sight seeing, I came back feeling sheltered. The east coast is absolutely beautiful and I had no idea what I had been missing.

That's what I love about travel. It takes you out of your comfort zone and lets you experience something fresh, new, and exciting for the first time. It gives you a chance to try new foods, see new sights, and talk to new people. It broadens your horizons and expands your mind in ways sitting in a classroom could never do.

My financial and personal priorities are not on traveling at the moment, but you can be sure that the minute I have my diploma in hand, I will be the first one in line on the next plane to anywhere and everywhere.

p.s. yes, that is my photo. :)

I'm already starting to get the winter blues. :( I'm feeling run down and I'm cold and sleepy. I am craving some warm, hot comfort food terribly. Maybe tomorrow I'll splurge on a can of Amy's organic soup and some crackers.

I thought I had more to say but I don't so I guess I'll go climb into bed for the night.

Yesterday, I ran into Zehrs to grab a few groceries before work. I noticed there was a PC Financial Mastercard representative wandering around the frozen food section. She was trying to convince people to sign up for the credit card to earn PC Points at Zehrs.

I understand this is her job but how she was approaching customers was borderline harassment. She was in their personal space, berating the one lady because she wouldnt sign up. From what I overheard, her tone was quite harsh responding to questions, as if she wanted them to sign without even thinking about the contract. (duh)

We made eye contact a couple times, but I steered clear of her so she wouldnt harass me too. I already have the Mastercard, but I wish I had read the fine print before signing up because PC Financial proceeded to call me on average 3x per day. A quick google search found they were calling to offer balance protection insurance.

The whole situation made me feel sick. It is one thing to have a representative standing at the door, but I do not believe these credit card companies should be allowed to be in the GROCERY STORE, circling around your cart, while you are trying to finish day-to-day errands.

Needless to say, I am going to make the extra effort to haul my groceries back from Food Basics. It may not be the neatest store, but at least I dont have to worry about being harassed or overhearing other people being harassed.

I bought a new laptop! The HP laptop I liked went on sale, so I made a semi impulse buy and purchased it. It's pretty sweet. 320 GB harddrive, dvd burner, full keyboard, Windows Vista (with Windows 7 upgrade in Oct), built-in webcam and mic, and other things I will never use. haha

I was trying to do some work yesterday on my old laptop and realized I was spending more time trying to get an ounce of power than being productive. I was holding my power cord with one hand, meaning I only had one hand to type. And it was STILL cutting out literally every 2 seconds.

Needless to say, I was FED UP!

Considering how much I used my old laptop, I'm surprised it lasted the full 3 years. I put it through the ringer and back.

I'm just about done copying my files from my external HD to my new laptop. I have a few more programs to download, but it's mostly up and running. :)

My mom bought me the shower curtain for my bathroom set this weekend:


It's so overkill, but I'm kind of in love with it. :D

I'm going on a summer hiatus. I have been feeling like I have nothing to write about and work is going to get busy. If I'm not around as much, don't worry. I'll be here off and on reading your posts. :)

There was a HUGE double rainbow a few days ago. I couldn't get it all in one pic!