So.
I got a giant mole removed from my thigh yesterday. It was a super short, totally non-traumatic procedure. My doctor, this beautiful blonde from South Africa, when she found out I was from California, actually stopped excising and said, deadpan:
"Why on EARTH would you live here if you could live in California?"
I got a few stitches, got bandaged up, and came home. No biggie, right?
WRONG. Enter The World.
In case were wondering, here is the super official, totally legit definition of The World, according to authorities:
The World: A douchebag entity that send problems, illnesses, inconveniences, traffic, paperwork, car repairs, and other negative experiences when you can least handle it.
So. Today? I was going to take it easy. Do some paperwork. Schedule some stuff.
BUT NO.
Today, of all days, there were 2 seperate water leaks in the same building. There were notices to post. There were door handles that broke off, with people stuck inside their apartment. There were clogged sinks, and smudgy windows, and spilled slurpees.
There were tenants doing unauthorized moves, commandeering the elevator, forcing little old me to take the stairs. With brand new, burning, stinging stitches in my thigh.
There were Canadian banks refusing to serve me over the phone, because I'm "multicultural" (as my ignorant Canadian phone representative informed me) and have to visit a branch to get anything done.
There was a staging company sitting outside my house, waiting for credit card authorization, to go in and set up. While I was trying to get this bank to help me.
Now, it's 4:36 PM. I'm in my pajamas. And I'm NOT GETTING UP AGAIN, except for food and toilet. Because my tiny, no-big-deal, itty bitty little wound? It's bleeding again.
So, I send out this message to that douchebag entity: The World. SCREW YOU TOO.
Sincerely,
Leah
Tuesday, August 30, 2016
Monday, August 29, 2016
On Compliments
When I was a missionary in Armenia, I would constantly compliment people I met.
"I LOVE your hat!"
"What a pretty scarf!"
"Your eyes are so pretty!"
To be fair, since I was just learning Armenian, it was probably more like:
"Your hat much pretty me!"
"Scarf very nice!"
"Eyes very pretty you!"
But the sentiment still probably came across.
I feel like, sometimes, we hold back praise because we're afraid of someone reacting poorly or strangely.
I even remember dating a guy who told me it was weird to give compliments to strangers, and that "I'd grow out of it".
Guess what?
I haven't.
I STILL think that, even if someone thinks I'm weird, or hitting on them, or unbalanced, I'm going to tell them that I think their pants are cute. Or that their hair color flatters their skin. Or that their earings are just to die for!
Why do I persist, you may ask?
Because that tiny, itsy, bitsy, teeny act of just speaking your mind can change the course of a person's day.
Because it is almost no effort at all - you thought it, so say it!
And because, although this sounds selfish, if someone thought something nice about me, I wish they'd tell me.
Too many times, we look at ourselves and see only what should change. We don't notice how our eyes light up when we laugh, or that that salmon colored scarf makes us look SO BEAUTIFUL (I'm looking at you, Lauren!). Too many times, we just see the same old face, the same old hands, the same old flaws. And we miss the little things that make each one of us so lovely.
So here's a challenge for you: get out of your comfort zone, and speak your mind! Even if you're not comfortable telling a perfect stranger that her eyes are a gorgeous color, tell a friend. Or a family member. Tell them the little things you love about them. Tell them they look SO GOOD in those boots. Or those jeans make their butt look nice.*
Because, in the end, people like feeling appreciated.
And, at least in the case of strangers, who cares if they think you're weird? You'll probably never see them again.
*I would not recommend telling a perfect stranger that their butt looks nice. Side story: one time, when I was 18, a girl at church had 2 buns on the side of her head, almost Princess Leia style. She and I were acquaintances, and without thinking of the double meaning in the statement, I asked her if I could poke her buns.
It took me a few minutes to realize why she had moved seats to get away from me. :-)
"I LOVE your hat!"
"What a pretty scarf!"
"Your eyes are so pretty!"
To be fair, since I was just learning Armenian, it was probably more like:
"Your hat much pretty me!"
"Scarf very nice!"
"Eyes very pretty you!"
But the sentiment still probably came across.
I feel like, sometimes, we hold back praise because we're afraid of someone reacting poorly or strangely.
I even remember dating a guy who told me it was weird to give compliments to strangers, and that "I'd grow out of it".
Guess what?
I haven't.
I STILL think that, even if someone thinks I'm weird, or hitting on them, or unbalanced, I'm going to tell them that I think their pants are cute. Or that their hair color flatters their skin. Or that their earings are just to die for!
Why do I persist, you may ask?
Because that tiny, itsy, bitsy, teeny act of just speaking your mind can change the course of a person's day.
Because it is almost no effort at all - you thought it, so say it!
And because, although this sounds selfish, if someone thought something nice about me, I wish they'd tell me.
Too many times, we look at ourselves and see only what should change. We don't notice how our eyes light up when we laugh, or that that salmon colored scarf makes us look SO BEAUTIFUL (I'm looking at you, Lauren!). Too many times, we just see the same old face, the same old hands, the same old flaws. And we miss the little things that make each one of us so lovely.
So here's a challenge for you: get out of your comfort zone, and speak your mind! Even if you're not comfortable telling a perfect stranger that her eyes are a gorgeous color, tell a friend. Or a family member. Tell them the little things you love about them. Tell them they look SO GOOD in those boots. Or those jeans make their butt look nice.*
Because, in the end, people like feeling appreciated.
And, at least in the case of strangers, who cares if they think you're weird? You'll probably never see them again.
*I would not recommend telling a perfect stranger that their butt looks nice. Side story: one time, when I was 18, a girl at church had 2 buns on the side of her head, almost Princess Leia style. She and I were acquaintances, and without thinking of the double meaning in the statement, I asked her if I could poke her buns.
It took me a few minutes to realize why she had moved seats to get away from me. :-)
Sunday, August 28, 2016
Our new dream!..... at least, for now....
Anyone that knows me, or has read at least 2 of my posts knows that there are 2 main facets to my personality.
1) I do what I want
2) I craaaaaaaave change
This post is about number 2. (Not about THAT number two. Get your mind out of the bathroom.)
Most people I know like stability. Like, know where you're going to be in a month, don't run out of gas, can predict what their bank account looks like stability.
That kind of existence stifles me.
I can't tell you how many times I would wake up in the middle of the night (or, as an insomniac, a more accurate statement would be "Get up", as most nights I was already awake) and decide I needed change. Here are some of my more random, middle of the night "I NEED CHANGE" decisions:
1) Cut bangs in my hair. With poultry shears.
2) Dye my hair
3) Google 1 million ways to cut up T shirts so they still kind of look like clothes, but not really
4) Sew something random (like a dress made out of fabric that is a map of the world, maybe?)
5) Find random jobs somewhere new and apply for them (and wake up to a baffling call from a hotel in Florida wanting to know more!)
6) Rearrange all the furniture
7) Re-organize all the shelves in the kitchen (my roomates LOOOOOVED this one)
So, needless to say, my favorite type of decision is the one that can most easily be changed.
Norman and I recently just accepted a pair of positions for a company on Vancouver Island. Partially to get away from the slummy, drug-ridden, human-feces-cleaning job we had before, but also because I CRAVE CHANGE. And as we were lugging all this STUFF up to our new apartment, we both had a thought.
Wouldn't it be GREAT if your home could come with you anywhere? With all your STUFF???
And, so, now we are obsessed with RVs.
I even went so far as to make a chart of all the ways RVs are better than houses. Here it is:
RV House
- All furniture included! -When you buy it, its EMPTY! AKA more stuff
- Makes you minimize - Encourages you to fill empty rooms with stuff
- You can take your house anywhere! - House is stuck in one place
- No one wants to stay with you! * - If you have a spare room, people want to stay*
- Need space from someone, drive away! - People can always "drop by"
- Cheaper than a house payment - NEVER ENDING EXPENSES!!!
- Upgrades are smaller and cheaper - Multi-thousand dollar renovations
- ULTIMATE FREEDOM!!! - ULTIMATE STUCKNESS
Yeah.... I can get a little over the top.
But seriously! When you buy an RV, it comes with a TV, all your furniture, and some even come with a central vacuum and are solar pannel ready! Show me a house with that price tag that can do that, AND be driven around!
Also? Your backyard is wherever you park it! So we can have oceans, lakes, snow, national parks, mountains, cities, swamps, parking lots.... whatever we want!
Can you tell I'm excited? So many exclamation points.
Next time, on "Leah changes her mind"...... which RVs are we choosing between? Why? And then, best of all, you can look at pictures of all the HUGE, obnoxious swirly designs on the outside of our new dream home! JOY!
* A small note: I don't like house guests. ESPECIALLY uninvited houseguests. If you've ever been invited over to my house, it means I like you. A LOT. Because, in my experience, I'm done with visitors far before they're done being in my house. And there is NO polite way to say "Please leave because I'm sick of you."
Another note: If you want to learn all about why RVs aren't just for hobos, visit gonewiththewynns.com
1) I do what I want
2) I craaaaaaaave change
This post is about number 2. (Not about THAT number two. Get your mind out of the bathroom.)
Most people I know like stability. Like, know where you're going to be in a month, don't run out of gas, can predict what their bank account looks like stability.
That kind of existence stifles me.
I can't tell you how many times I would wake up in the middle of the night (or, as an insomniac, a more accurate statement would be "Get up", as most nights I was already awake) and decide I needed change. Here are some of my more random, middle of the night "I NEED CHANGE" decisions:
1) Cut bangs in my hair. With poultry shears.
2) Dye my hair
3) Google 1 million ways to cut up T shirts so they still kind of look like clothes, but not really
4) Sew something random (like a dress made out of fabric that is a map of the world, maybe?)
5) Find random jobs somewhere new and apply for them (and wake up to a baffling call from a hotel in Florida wanting to know more!)
6) Rearrange all the furniture
7) Re-organize all the shelves in the kitchen (my roomates LOOOOOVED this one)
So, needless to say, my favorite type of decision is the one that can most easily be changed.
Norman and I recently just accepted a pair of positions for a company on Vancouver Island. Partially to get away from the slummy, drug-ridden, human-feces-cleaning job we had before, but also because I CRAVE CHANGE. And as we were lugging all this STUFF up to our new apartment, we both had a thought.
Wouldn't it be GREAT if your home could come with you anywhere? With all your STUFF???
And, so, now we are obsessed with RVs.
I even went so far as to make a chart of all the ways RVs are better than houses. Here it is:
RV House
- All furniture included! -When you buy it, its EMPTY! AKA more stuff
- Makes you minimize - Encourages you to fill empty rooms with stuff
- You can take your house anywhere! - House is stuck in one place
- No one wants to stay with you! * - If you have a spare room, people want to stay*
- Need space from someone, drive away! - People can always "drop by"
- Cheaper than a house payment - NEVER ENDING EXPENSES!!!
- Upgrades are smaller and cheaper - Multi-thousand dollar renovations
- ULTIMATE FREEDOM!!! - ULTIMATE STUCKNESS
Yeah.... I can get a little over the top.
But seriously! When you buy an RV, it comes with a TV, all your furniture, and some even come with a central vacuum and are solar pannel ready! Show me a house with that price tag that can do that, AND be driven around!
Also? Your backyard is wherever you park it! So we can have oceans, lakes, snow, national parks, mountains, cities, swamps, parking lots.... whatever we want!
Can you tell I'm excited? So many exclamation points.
Next time, on "Leah changes her mind"...... which RVs are we choosing between? Why? And then, best of all, you can look at pictures of all the HUGE, obnoxious swirly designs on the outside of our new dream home! JOY!
* A small note: I don't like house guests. ESPECIALLY uninvited houseguests. If you've ever been invited over to my house, it means I like you. A LOT. Because, in my experience, I'm done with visitors far before they're done being in my house. And there is NO polite way to say "Please leave because I'm sick of you."
Another note: If you want to learn all about why RVs aren't just for hobos, visit gonewiththewynns.com
Thursday, August 25, 2016
Canada: An expensive, inconvenient, inferior alternative to the US
Have you ever been so surprised by someone's inability to see another side of an argument, that you have no reaction? No witty retort, no thought out reasoning, just.... silence. And shock. And dumbfounded confusion. Recently, an acquaintence of mine on Facebook reacted violently to rather harmless (or so I thought) post. A post where I was expressing (perhaps inappropriately) my inability to choose a political candidate I felt represented my desires, and beliefs.
Because this "socialism" movement, where people like to claim that even the poorest of society DESERVE something just for being alive? I can't get behind that. Partially because I've SEEN, firsthand, how socialism and its bedfellows play out in most places. Armenia is a stark reminder to me of the absolute bleak uselessness of making everyone the same. That it removes the drive, the spark out of the human spirit. Canada, where I currently am, is a smaller version of that - where I see drug addicts, who have admitted to choosing to be homeless, get rent subsidies and have an iphone. But me? My paycheck gets a 25% cut before it even gets to me. So that guy can smoke crack and wear pajamas all day.
It is infuriating, in a way that makes me want to cry.
This facebook acquaintance reacted so violently to this post of mine, telling me how I wasn't even human, and how DARE I express these opinions. Basically calling me a terrible person. And even using the phrase "you're a terrible person". It was surprisingly awful. He told me that I'm a guest in Canada. That I need to appreciate it here. And how people like me are the oppressors, and how I'm awful.
The interaction was so jarring I quit facebook for 2 months.
And now, I'm just here to make a LIST of the CRAPPY things I deal with in Canada. I don't appreciate Canada. I think Canada is the worst. And if you think of it as left-wing mecca, feel free to come find out for yourself JUST how much it sucks here. Here is a short list of the things I hate:
Because this "socialism" movement, where people like to claim that even the poorest of society DESERVE something just for being alive? I can't get behind that. Partially because I've SEEN, firsthand, how socialism and its bedfellows play out in most places. Armenia is a stark reminder to me of the absolute bleak uselessness of making everyone the same. That it removes the drive, the spark out of the human spirit. Canada, where I currently am, is a smaller version of that - where I see drug addicts, who have admitted to choosing to be homeless, get rent subsidies and have an iphone. But me? My paycheck gets a 25% cut before it even gets to me. So that guy can smoke crack and wear pajamas all day.
It is infuriating, in a way that makes me want to cry.
This facebook acquaintance reacted so violently to this post of mine, telling me how I wasn't even human, and how DARE I express these opinions. Basically calling me a terrible person. And even using the phrase "you're a terrible person". It was surprisingly awful. He told me that I'm a guest in Canada. That I need to appreciate it here. And how people like me are the oppressors, and how I'm awful.
The interaction was so jarring I quit facebook for 2 months.
And now, I'm just here to make a LIST of the CRAPPY things I deal with in Canada. I don't appreciate Canada. I think Canada is the worst. And if you think of it as left-wing mecca, feel free to come find out for yourself JUST how much it sucks here. Here is a short list of the things I hate:
1) Weather - Just three weeks of BLAZING HEAT and then a really long, stupid, grey, rainy fall. Until blazing heat again.
2) Terrible banking. OH MY GOSH. I've actually cried over how stupid their banking is. REAL. SALTY. TEARS.
3) High taxes
4) Poor quality food - The other day, we got a watermelon. When Norman tasted it, he said "It's the best Canadian watermelon I've ever had!" And he was right. It was watery, and flavorless, and the flesh was pale.... just like most Canadians themselves.
5) High price of food - We spend $600 a month on food for 2 people. And we never have fish, or beef, or seafood. We eat chicken and pasta.
6) Stupidly inflated real estate. A one bedroom condo? 400,000 please. Maybe, if it was somewhere AWESOME like Hawaii, but CANADA???? REALLY????
7) Crappy amenities/high price of amenities (like utilities) - single pane windows +baseboard heaters+damp, awful weather = high prices.
7) Exorbitant, ridiculous cell phone plans - we pay $95 a month. We have 1 GB of data.
8) Lack of affordable distractions/entertainment
9) Lack of decent shopping
10) Health care is "fine"until you have to go to a specialist or have a family doctor, then get on a miles long waiting list - Ive been waiting since february for an appointment with a dermotologist.
11) ICBC (its the government owned vehicle licensing and insuring company - $200 a month to insure our car)
12) Lack of usable highways
13) Cost of fuel
14) Worthless currency
15) Attitude of most canadians - their only defining characteristic is that they are NOT American. As if that is something to be proud of.
16) Attitude towards most immigrants - someone actually wrote and issued a letter about how dangerous Norman and I are. Because we aren't Canadians. Because those Swiss - they're really screwing up the world.
17) That the dream of Canada being the U.S. but done better is a LIE
18) That Canadians allow themselves to be taken advantage of and overcharged, and no one ever does anything about it
I know the response to this will be "if you hate it so much, why don't you leave?"
Just know, we have been TRYING TO. For YEARS.
Now, I have a countdown to when we should hear back from US immigration regarding our application. And even though we have less than 150 days left on the countdown, some days, I'm so unhappy I feel strangled. I HATE THIS PLACE. And I NEVER want to live here again.
SO. To sum up? I don't appreciate Canada. Never have. Never will.
I know the response to this will be "if you hate it so much, why don't you leave?"
Just know, we have been TRYING TO. For YEARS.
Now, I have a countdown to when we should hear back from US immigration regarding our application. And even though we have less than 150 days left on the countdown, some days, I'm so unhappy I feel strangled. I HATE THIS PLACE. And I NEVER want to live here again.
SO. To sum up? I don't appreciate Canada. Never have. Never will.
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