You see, I meant to blog way back when I got a fantastic pair of winter boots at Wal-Mart. They were on sale at $29 down from $90 and were lovely and warm with a twist: there are figure of 8 sections on the soles that you can flip up and turn around, so that when you replace them you have metal studs on the bottom to grip onto the ice and snow. Not only do they work brilliantly, but soon after I bought them I saw they were reduced further to $19. A few days later they were down to $9 - I complained to customer service and they refunded me $20. So brilliant AND the bargain of a century. But this momentous event passed unblogged.
I meant to blog when a chap got attacked by a bear just a short distance from where I live. It's a new experience for me living somewhere where there are things that kill you. Of course, many people say that I shouldn't be worried about bears since they're terrified of humans and anyway, moose kill more people than bears over here since moose are a) absolutely huge and b) driven insane by hallucinogenic plants they eat. But then again, I heard a moose making moosey noises from my back garden the other day. We regularly have raccoons on our back porch - we've named them Roger and Doug - and I can smell a skunk from where I sit in my lounge, so they must have been around here too. But all this has gone unblogged.
I meant to blog when I started back at Treetop Trekking at the end of May, which is STILL the best job I've ever had. I was worried that I'd had such a good summer there in 2008 that going back could only be a bit of a disappointment, but my worries were unfounded. A great crew still - some people still there or back from before - and I still can't get enough of climbing and zip lining for a living. But it still went unblogged.
And I also meant to blog when I applied to, and have now been accepted, to Ryerson University in Toronto, to take the International Midwifery Pre-Registration Program, which is my gateway to registering as a midwife over here. It'll take 6-9 months, but it turns out I'm eligible for funding from immigration for the course fees and I only have to be in Toronto (or TO as it's often known here) 2 days a fortnight for classes. Applications for the course were already closed at the end of April, but after forwarding a copy of my CV (resume here of course) and my dissertation, they agreed to making an exception for me. The entrance exams had been done already, but they ran them again just for me and I got offered a place. So I start in September and hope to be finished, all being well, in March or thereabouts. But not a dicky bird was heard here on my blog.
And finally my dad has just been over for a last minute visit and it was lovely to see him. He was only here for a week but we managed to cram a fair bit in. We went fishing - he caught his first smallmouth bass which was the biggest fish any of us caught this week - visited various local points of interest including the Big Chute Marine Railway, which is, to use the vernacular, well cool. And in a most unexpected move, I took dad to visit where I work and he actually rode the Big Zip, the 1000ft zip line and, what's more, enjoyed it thoroughly. The pics will no doubt very shortly be up on dad's Flikr account.
But going back to my original point, all these and many many more interesting things that have happened to me have remained unblogged because - and it shames me to say it - they have instead been reduced to pithy one-liners masquerading as my Facebook status updates.
It's hard to deny the power of Facebook, and I'm well and truly in its grip I fully admit. It's just so easy, and so quick to knock off a quick pun or obscure quote which may, or may not, lead to more explanation depending on if anyone asks. I have yet to fall under the Twitter spell - which is of course basically just a series of status updates as far as I can determine - in fact I've completely and totally avoided reading any Twitter at all, primarily because I think I'd probably like it, and since Facebook already takes up more of my time than it should, I want to leave a little bit in my life for eating, sleeping and going to work. But where I used to find myself composing blog posts in my head as events were unfolding, I now find myself thinking up status updates instead. Worse, now I have an iPhone (another major, and unblogged, event) I can update my Facebook on the go as and when I think of an update (though I try very hard not to update it more than once a day, unless something big happens). It's pathetic, isn't it? As though anyone's really that interested! I suppose the same could be said for this blog of course, but I've always maintained that it's really for me, to practice my writing, and for my family now I live so far away, so they can catch up with what I'm up to. With that in mind, this time I am REALLY going to try to spend more time here, and less time there. I promise.
p.s. Hope you like the new look.
