Oops. Did I disappear off the face of the Web for the past week? I'm sorry, but I was SICK. After a few days with fevers, nausea, and other flu-like symptoms that just wouldn't abate, I headed in to the ol' doc. Thankfully, his office is only 2 blocks from where I now live, otherwise I may well not have made it! Turns out it's just (ha!) strep throat. I'm currently living on Penicillin and juice, but have somehow managed to get in to work today. Must have been the 4 days of no pay last week that encouraged me! My company has me on hourly wage, so no show, no dough.

You may be wondering why I don't just file it under sick time. Well, that would lead me into a long and convoluted tale about myself and my tonsils. A tale that stretches back into the dim mists of time. Suffice to say, thanks to these rather defective lymph glands, I have already used up all my sick time this year! And I've only been working here 4 months. Anyone else see the problem?

There were the 2 days at the beginning of April, 3 days (plus a weekend) in late May, and now another 4 days (plus another weekend). I have not been able to build up sick time fast enough to keep up with my ailing immune system. And it's the final straw - those goddamn tonsils have just got to go!

It's been a long slog with these two. While I was growing up, my doctor refused to take them out, just in case they dried up when I got older. When I got older, he started to change his mind about the extraction, but I was into "natural harmony" with my body and thought I could keep things under control. I did manage it for a few years, though many people still felt I got sick too often.

Now, however, with less attendance at my new job than my 08:30 classes at university (okay, a slight hyperbole there), I am raring to get these f*ckers out!

...Of course, that will be a nightmare of itself.

Monday again, and the cycle continues. The glow of the morning suffused me on the way in to work, but there it stops - blocked out completely by the windowless walls of my office. Another work week has begun.

It is not all bad, however. I can spend my "settling in" time this morning reflecting on a weekend less focused on a multitude of friends as I had anticipated, but more on quality time with a few. There was enough activity to make me feel that I really did something, and enough treats to feel like it was a weekend.

Life really does trundle on at such a pace. I recall hearing an "older" friend at university expound on how years go by faster and faster the older you get. Well, at the mere tender age of 25, I feel that my life is truly whizzing by at an incredible pace, and it is all I can do to keep a fingernail's hold on at all!

Question of the week: what do you guys do to keep your life at a manageable pace?

Actually, with a moment's ponderance, I guess the answer is just to empty your life of things. Well, not "things", but activities and people. I have relatively few things, especially for one who grew up semi upper middle class in a capitalist society. My primary desire for acquisition is people, friends. I seek out new life and new civilizations, and boldly go where I feel like.

Unfortunately (sort of), upon finding all these wonderful people who meet or exceed my high standards for friendship (yes, I'm a bastard, but we all knew that already), I must then spend time with them. And as they are all vetted past my personal filters, they require quality time, not just generic "hang-outerage".

So I guess the question has been answered, the riddle unraveled - I have too many really good friends, and those are what I would need to cut back on in order to slow my life's pace. I guess, then, I'm very lucky. Lucky, and on the OC-48 of life.

Now if only I could get that sorta connection to the Internet...

I'm sorry - I'd dearly love to give you some insightful (or so I always think) reading to brighten your day. However, I'm pretty damned bagged from past week's evening activities. It's been far too busy and exciting. Dinners, dancing, hanging out, meeting new people, renewing ties with others...

All in all, a good week, though exhausting. We'll see what I can do for you tomorrow.

Don't wait up...

*Grumble* [mumble] THUNK! The traditional sounds of me on a Tuesday morning, transposed to today due to the holiday. As usual, my week is filling with a lack of sleep and myriad of previous weeks' to-do lists going unfulfilled. Is there <i>any</i> way to break the cycle?

I have been noticing of late the remarkable changes in my social schedule since returning to Canada. My two-year stint in the USA was focused on work and little else. I gained few friends, though those I do have are very dear, and spent a very many weekends in (and travelling to and from) Canada. Of course, it was the people who I was constantly visiting that really encouraged me to return to my homeland. I suppose, what with my abundance of close friends here and major lack of sociality in Seattle, it is not hard to notice a change in my patterns, but it still amazes me.

My life fulfills me these days. Well, perhaps it is not fair to imply it didn't before; I was quite happy in Seattle. However, there is now more balance in my life - work and social life living in some sort of harmony. One thing about not having social commitments in Seattle was that I never came to work quite as consistently tired as I do these days. Oh well, life is full of compromises.

Play now, for tomorrow we die.

How are you today? I'm fine. I just found out that my old car insurance company in the US is still charging me for car insurance... 2.5 months after they agreed to cancel it. On the lighter side, I note that at least my rates have dropped this year.

The weekend was pretty good. I managed to grab a good though relaxing time. This is, in my mind, the best way to spend a weekend. A little fun, a little relaxation, a few friends, a little DQ Treatza Pizza. Mmmmm!

In other news, the purchase of a 5 disc CD/DVD player turned out for the worse, as it was only discovered after getting it home that it did not play burned CDs or MP3 CDs as anticipated. Oh well, I guess that's what you get from the clearance pile. I'm taking it back today for refund (I hope).

Oh, and I was given a bunch of presents this weekend! A number of spicy cooking ingredients (mango hot sauce, canned and "pickled" peppers) and rum, all products of a Sheena's Costa Rican summer vacation! Angie got me a wonderful present too: bright orange hair glue! Now I can wander the summer streets blinding all who have the misfortune to glance my way!

I guess if you were looking for some deep meaning in today, here is not the place to find it. The blog's turned out as random and unfocussed as I feel - not a particularly surprising revelation, I suppose.

Anyway, go on, go out, go enjoy the sun while you can. I'll sit inside and be mildly grumpy for you.