I'm starting to believe I'm an early bird. I woke up at 7 this morning for no reason. I was just...awake. I find that my quality of sleep goes down once Nate gets up and goes to work anyway. Only this time I had no desire for a lie in. I just wanted to get up and...do what exactly I'm not entirely sure. But on any day that I have to get up early for work I don't have trouble doing so. Obviously if I go to bed at midnight and have to get up at 5:30 I'll want to sleep some more, but once I'm out of my bed I'm okay. I find this quality handy. I also just prefer it. I wouldn't want to be one of those who always sleep until noon on a day off. 

I'm on an ipad and I feel much inspired. I'm torn about whether I want to buy one.

This is my brother in law. If you like what you see AParrotrecords is his youtube channel where you find more of his awesomeness. 

So I've decided that this whole temping this isn't working out. I'm still going to use their services to help me find something permanent, but honestly I have to go back to London Drugs fully part time (what a paradox) out of necessity. This vacation to Mexico has really hurt me financially and I've fallen behind on several bills. But despite Mexico I've been spending weeks hanging around at home, hoping I'll get a phone call, bored out of my mind and limited to what I can do in my free time because I'm so broke. I'd may as well be on welfare at the rate I'm going. I just might get more money if I were on welfare. It's a joke. My whole situation is a joke. I've even applied for jobs on craigslist and I haven't even had any responses to those. I'm sure my resume is starting to look pretty lame since I still don't really have any experience to speak of. What I'd also like to do is sort out my CDABC membership because then I'll have access to more job postings and also get access to free CE courses and I have to do those just in case I find work, otherwise ignoring it for a year could really bite me in the ass later. 

Anyway, I'm done waiting around for the temp agencies to do anything for me. I'm going back to LD. Besides I'm only several hours away from a raise and with one of the Service Specialists getting into corrections there might be some hours opening up on the desk. 

And I just looked at my schedule and it appears that my prayers have been answered. Our scheduling supervisor has changed and he's scheduling me as if I've already changed my availability. This is such a relief! 

Too much time off is literally a headache. If I had a yoga or gym membership I wouldn't have reason to complain, but I'm even too broke for that. But whatever. I'll be working more so it won't matter, although even just a community gym card would be nice.  

Oh, and for the record I'm giving this CDA thing another year and if I don't have anything solid, whether it be part time or full time, by the time my certification renewal comes around for 2012 I'm giving up. I've always thought about aiming for supervisor within LD anyway. 

Wow! Two weeks goes by really fast. I had a good trip. My tan is the darkest it's ever been, I've got some mosquito bites that are still itchy and I even lost a toe nail. There were some family politics that got in the way, but as long as we go down there to visit my father in law that will always be the case. It also becomes a bit tiresome hanging out with people in the their 50's and older. We had our friend and Nate's brother with us, but even then I was surrounded by guys. There was one night where I stayed home from a party and had the house to myself until 1:30 in the morning. It was nice, I could listen to my music, watch whatever movie I wanted and just enjoy the calm of a tropical evening. The next day I was told I was smart to stay home because it was a bit much in terms of drunkeness. 

So speaking of drunkeness... We went to a Mexican style joint called a botanero. It's like a restaurant except you just order buckets of beer and they bring you food. The idea is that if they feed their customers they'll stay and drink more. Of course, tequila is always involved, and I gotta say I got shitfaced on the stuff. I used to not like the taste of tequila. I couldn't get it down, but like most alcohol it's an acquired taste and I'm acquiring it. So first off, I'm getting drunk and tequila creeps on you quickly...at least that's what I find. I danced with Carlos and chatted (though I cannot remember what about) with various people. I went back to our table and my purse was sitting on the end of it with the strap stretched over it like it was diliberately placed there. I thoguht it was kind of strange so I checked inside and all but my CareCard is missing. At first I find this funny and I'm going around showing people and saying that it's weirdest thing. Then the reality of my wallet missing hits me and I run out to the parking lot and start balling my eyes out uncontrollably. I felt so victimized even though it was just a stupid wallet with cards that could easily be replaced when I got home. I really think it was the tequila that made me overreact that way. Anyway, all my Mexican friends that were with us came out to try to help me. They were going through my purse double checking and my wallet magically appears. So I'm looking at it totally confused and realize that my bank card is still missing. So I'm freaking out about my bank card now. Then they find my bank card and pull it out of somewhere and I'm relieved, but oh so confused. So someone takes it and locks in the car for the rest of our time there and I go back to the table feeling a little silly that it was a false alarm and that I had reacted that way. But I had found it so stressful that I look at my friend from across the table say, "Let's go for a smoke." Even though I don't smoke anymore I still had one and it helped me forget about the incident. 

Now, apparently tequila makes your body go numb, moreso than I've noticed with gin or vodka, because the cigarette I was given was a super harsh American Spirit. I had tried a mild Malboro our first day there and gagged and yet I smoked this thing no problem. Which also leads us to the toe nail. We go for dinner in Barra de Navidad and come home. As I'm getting out of the car I stub my left pinky toe. It was either on the car tire or on the concrete step, but I didn't even notice I thought I had hit something hard, but it didn't hurt so I didn't think anything of it. We get into the house, I'm hicupping (or so I've been told) and someone comments that my foot is bleeding. I look down and it takes me a few moments to register what I'm looking at and then I clue in that, yeah my foot is really bleeding. So I take my flip flop off, leave a blood patch on the floor and walk over to the kitchen because someone was saying I needed to disinfect it. So it was getting dabbed with a cotton ball and I had this faint thought that if they touch it it's going to hurt and yet I didn't feel a damn thing. I suddenly felt like I was going to throw up so I casually walk over to the bathroom, sit on the floor and wait for it. Meanwhile my toe is still bleeding and everything seems to think I'm throwing up from drinking, but honestly I think it was from the shock of my injury. 

Anyway, I go to bed and I'm awoken by the throbbing in my toe, which I expected. In the morning I had no hangover, but a really sore toe. I soaked the cotton ball off and had a look. The toe itself was bruised and swollen, but when I looked at the nail I thought, This is going to fall off. So sure enough after about 5 days I was swimming in the pool (which I think did most of the work) and it came off. It's still too sore to wear closed toed shoes so I had to come home to freezing winter in flip flops, but whatever I lived. Now it's not even that sore anymore, the nail bed is just a bright red with a very thin protective layer it seemed to built for itself over the hours.

And that was really the highlight of my trip.

Still in Mexico, though as hard as I've been trying to avoid the internet because I'm on holiday my head is full of nonsense that's Facebook worthy. I go home on Friday and to be honest I'm looking forward to it. There's nothing like spending a couple of weeks in a different country to rekindle an appreciation for home. I'm not not enjoying my time here. In fact I'll be sad to leave, though they are for petty reasons...like the weather. Truth be told, I get bored and even irritable. There's always people coming over or joining us on the beach. It sounds antisocial to say this bothers me, but I'm telling you, during the day I'm hard pressed to find quiet time. Even what little alone time I had with Nate was spent with both of us reading and him blaring his drum and bass music. Nate would get on my case about "suffering in silence" if I mentioned to him that that drove me crazy, but honestly if I were to speak up about every little thing I wanted people to not do or whatever I would be a serious killjoy and I don't want to be "that guy". 

Anyway, this trip has been pretty up and down. I'm outside of my comfort zone and zone I'm not in charge of. I'm surrounded by people older than my parents and those who are my age are all men. I don't have a single female friend my age here and it would have been nice to take that friend, say "adios" and just go do our own thing. But sadly, it's not something I can do. 

Ack! All this isn't helped by the fact that my cycle reset while I was down here so I was bothered by general grumpiness and ridiculous pangs of guilt over nothing...well, over feeling like I was making a nuisance of myself. Oh, and the fact that Nate and I have been sharing our bedroom with his brother so we haven't had any proper alone time. 

Don't get me wrong. Despite my deflating here, I've had a good time in my own way. But I am excited about sleeping in my own bed, seeing my cats, and even going back to work. I'm also excited about going back to speaking English. This language barrier gets frustrating sometimes. 

Anyway, time to get back to sunshine while avoiding getting burned  

Well not much as been going on. My last dat at work was Monday even though I could have worked another two days. I've been a little bored, but at least I don't feel rushed about getting things done before we leave for Mexico on Friday. Last year I made sure this place was spic and span because my aunt wanted to stay at our place for the Olympics (we wanted to get the hell outta dodge for that). This year we don't have anyone house sitting or staying at our place, though our neighbours from across the hall are looking after our cats. So at least I don't have to d anything above what I usually do to keep this place clean. 

So in the wee hours of tomorrow night we'll be heading to the airport. I'm so excited about going somewhere warm and sunny. It's my third time going, Nate's fifth. We have friends down there that we really only get to see when we're down there, and the funny thing is that I've never given them a second thought. I feel kinda bad about it, but I've been so caught up in being excited about taking a break from winter that I've forgotten about the people I'll be spending my time with. In my head I picture myself on the beach drinking beer or suntanning by the pool at the casa or eating dinner at the Maya that I've forgotten about everything else. I think it's quite obvious (to me at least) what I want to get out of this holiday. I'm not saying the people are not important, but these past few months have been stressful and not so great with the whole...job situation. Anyway, I'm excited and right now that's all that matters. 

I love tea. Well, not ALL tea as I'm not a fan of fruity teas. It doesn't taste good when it's hot and should be sweet and it's not. Fruity teas are a let down to me. I have some favorites, though, including Orange Pekoe, Earl Grey, Zen from Tazo, Awake from Tazo, Sleepytime from Celestial Seasonings, and peppermint. Tonight I was hit with the curiosity of tea as a diuretic. Sometimes I need to go to the bathroom right away, and other times it's like I didn't drink anything at all. So I did some quick online research and found an answer I'm happy with: tea has diuretic properties from the caffeine it contains, so you have to consume enough tea to really get the diuretic effect. I don't think one cup of tea is enough. So I guess it's just the water content my body is reacting too. 

I found this page on Wikipedia about the health benefits of tea. I know Wikipedia gets its information from the public, but I would think they at least have editors on their end to check sources and what not. Anyway, I knew that drinking green tea was good for you what with all the polyphenols, but it's a lot better than I gave it credit for. In fact, I'm so pleased with this new information that I'd like to try to increase my green tea consumption. And no, it's not because I'd would just love to lose weight. That would be a perk. It does contribute to weight loss by increasing metabolism, but that's not all. It can prevent diabetes and cancer, fight bacteria and fungi, lower stress, boost the immune system, boost mental alertness, reduce intestinal inflammation, and prevent halitosis. Who'da thunk that such a mild beverage could be so powerful? Now I'm sure you'd have to drink it at least once day, every day to reap the benefits of this tea, but why not substitute a mid-day coffee with a green tea instead? If you think it boring, why not try it blended with a black tea or with another herbal ingredient. It's what I like about Zen by Tazo. It's not just green tea. It's blended with spearmint and lemongrass making it light and refreshing. It would probably taste amazing on ice, though I've never tried it. 

Right now, however, I'm trying to use camomile tea for it's sleep aid quality and I think it's working. I feel about ready for bed. *yawn* I don't just drink any camomile though. I had heard good things about Sleepytime by Celestial Seasonings so I checked it out at the grocery store not too long ago and discovered it's camomile blended with spearmint. Well that made my day. I find spearmint in tea to be so yummy I could gulp it. It goes well with the flavour of camomile too. 

Anyhoo, this tea seems to be working so I think it's bedtime. Goodnight. 

Well today was a really boring day. I worked from 7-11 this morning and then that was it. I picked up some things for dinner, and then had no desire to go anywhere or do anything else because I got less than 4 hours sleep last night. I thought getting up this morning would be hard, but I seem to be more awake in the early morning once I give myself a few minutes to get the sleep out of my eyes. I think I'm more of a morning person than I give myself credit for. If you asked my mum she would laugh and say I am NOT a morning person, but she remembers me from my teenage years and it wasn't just me. All teenagers are like that. But I enjoy getting up early so long as it becomes a routine. It puts the kaibosh on sleeping in on days off, but I hate sleeping until 10 no matter what my schedule is. I feel like it wastes the morning, but I refuse to use an alarm clock on my days off because I associate alarm clocks with going to work and if it's a weekday I always have to put up with Nate's alarm and he likes to snooze for an hour at least. 

Anyway, it's caught up to me now. I feel tired but restless because I did nothing all day. I've started making dinner, but I'm really just boiling the rutabaga now because it takes forever to boil. The last couple of times I've been impatient and took it off the stove early. Try mashing still-hard rutabaga chunks. It sucks.