• My job – I’m discovering that I’m really catching on to the things I need to do for my job, and I’m really loving every minute of it. It doesn’t feel so much like work. In fact, I tend to get there at least an hour early just to settle in, even though I live right next door.
• Side projects – I’m one of those people that hates to sit idle at work and do nothing. If we’re not busy (and we’ve had many days in the last week without systems at work, so busy work is a must!) I make my own projects. I’ve been making documentation for the other people in my group (and myself) to use while troubleshooting, helping customers, or even setting up their own systems.
• Writing – I’ve been doing some writing for a few different places here and there, and I love it. Sometimes the creativity doesn’t flow so well, but sometimes it’s easy to get out what I want to say, and that’s when it’s best!
• New friends – I’ve discovered that there is nobody where I work that isn’t fabulous, and that I don’t get along with. These are people that I willingly would (and do) spend time with outside of work. It’s nice, because I feel like I belong.
• Rediscovering old hobbies – Because of these new friends from work, I’ve picked up an old hobby of mine again, and am relearning how to play a certain game. Things have changed in the 6 or so years since I’ve played, but since we play on our breaks at work (and I even went to an actual event last weekend!) I’m picking things back up again.
• The Speed Gamers’ Final Fantasy marathon – They’re playing games for a good cause! I have watched their marathons before, and they never fail to be entertaining. Watch it, donate if you can, and if you can’t, promote it!

These are just a few things that are lighting up my days right now. What about you? What’s making you smile?

My first fear was that I was going to answer the phone wrong. Nothing could be worse than answering the phone with the wrong company name! I managed to get through two phone calls without that problem, though, so I think it’s a bigger fear in my mind than an actual possibility. Thankfully, the call queue is pretty empty these days (what with school being out and all) so we were able to settle in one phone call at a time.

If we weren’t so slow, we’d have been screwed, to be quite honest. We keep finding things in the systems that are hindering our performance. Network connections are slow between us and the main office and we don’t have permission in the system to do certain things that we need to do.. I can’t fault them for any of this, because we’re going to be able to get through this fine, and there are bugs to be expected. Our trainers have been (and continue to be) absolutely fabulous, and they’ve done so much to get us ready for this. I think we know more than we think we know.

Enough of that, though. I’m trying to think of what else I’ve been up to and it’s honestly hard to say. Every day melts together in a way, but that’s alright with me. I’m still tutoring – or trying to. The people keep standing me up and to be truthful it’s getting a bit annoying. I can’t hate them for it, but it is very frustrating to spend 45 minutes of my time walking somewhere and waiting for them to show up, only to go home because nobody is around. But that’s life, I guess!

I’ve also been trying to spend more time with friends and be social. Last week was the wonderful Halifax Chicks meetup – though I hear we’re now being called Halifabulous! It’s so nice to be able to go out after work (!!) and have a drink or two, spend time downtown, outside, chatting and giggling. It’s like the life I’ve always wanted.

Life is so fabulous sometimes, isn’t it?

- I got a new job! I’m doing customer support/tech support on phones for a product that I’m not going to name here. Trust me, though, it’s a very cool job and I’m super psyched.
- I’m in training for said new job. I started training today (last Friday was orientation) and will be in for five weeks. Long training program!
- I’ve joined Curves. My fitness study ended and I’ve got more energy and confidence than ever, I’ve made friends there, and it is really showing me results on my body. It’s the first time in a long time I feel like I can finally beat the weight monster into submission.
- My mom and grandma came to visit. Before this past weekend, I hadn’t seen my mom since 2006, when I moved here. It was so exciting to have her here and be able to show her the city that I love so much, and I was so sad to see her go. Hopefully next time there will be better weather around here, though. Rain didn’t give her the best impression of it all.
- My room is finally clean. Mostly. I’ve got some laundry to move around to make room for some of the new (to me) clothes that I got this weekend, because our tiny closet has reached full capacity.

So, that’s my craziness in a nutshell. If you see me around the internet in passing while I adjust to this new nutty lifestyle, say hi! I feel like I’ve lost touch with people in my search for a moment to myself!

However, this leads to my current annoyance: Sites without favicons.

I have, at present, thirty-three sites on my toolbar. Of these thirty-three, twenty-three of them had favicons. For the other ten, I had to figure out what to do. I can’t just have the plain bookmark icon up there! Thankfully, there’s another addon that helps with this problem. Favicon Picker 3 lets you pick a favicon for your bookmarks, saving you the trouble of guessing which bookmark is which!

Of course, this could all be avoided if every website had a favicon. In the meantime, I’ll be off finding little icons to use!

I’ve recently made a death knight. I didn’t see the point in making one when they first came out, because everyone else would, and I was in a rush to get to 80. I’ve done my research, found out the stat weights for her gear, and now get to combine two things I enjoy – spreadsheets and World of Warcraft. With the spreadsheet and Questhelper, I’ve found leveling her to be much easier than before.

Now, with the Secrets of Ulduar content patch (3.1), I’m finding myself more interested in my only, lonely 80. There’s the Argent Tournament, a new fishing daily, and most of all, Ulduar.

Ulduar, so far, has not disappointed. On Tuesday, after the patch, my guild decided to head in and see what it was all about. We killed Flame Leviathan that first night, getting Heroic: Shutdown in the process. Of course, being patch day, it couldn’t all be great. The server locked most of us in Ulduar as the instance server appeared to crash, bringing our Ulduar adventures to a close for the night.

Last night, we hopped back in and killed Razorscale, spending the rest of the night messing around with XT-002 Deconstructor. It’s an interesting fight, and one we almost got, but in the end the last one or two percent eluded us. I have to say, after seeing these fights, I’m in awe of what they’ve done with the game. The mechanics they’re playing with on these new bosses are amazing. It’s nice to have to be on our toes again after 8 million Naxx clears. Not that I minded Naxx, it just got boring after a while. Well, except for pursuing Immortal, but that was just frustrating!

The biggest two focuses in my life right now are going back to school and finding a job. It’s weird, because while I’m still only (almost) 24, I sometimes feel as if I’ve missed out on the opportunity to get a good post-secondary education. Everyone I know (including Matt) has graduated from college or university and is on their way to a career rather than a job. I need to realize that I’m not as old as I feel, and that if I take a two year program now, I’m not going to be that far behind the curve.

Right now is all about finding a job, and seeing how I can work school in around that schedule. My family misses me back in Michigan, but I don’t have the money to go visit them. I need to have a purpose again, and to feel as if I’m actually worth something, I guess. It’s not really getting me too down, but it is frustrating when I feel as if I don’t know who I am. However, I’ve got plenty of things to help me feel more comfortable about this whole thing. Matt and his family have been wonderful. His sister has helped me find jobs and work on my resume, as well as giving me a boost when I start doubting things.

I think sometimes, you just need some support. Someone to keep you going when you feel like quitting, or to make you realize just how fabulous you are.

Of course, when she does finally come into the bedroom (pushing the door wideperfected.

Of course, on days when I’m tired, it tends to be a bit more irritating than most normal days. Take today, for instance. Today, I am exhausted. What I wasn’t telling you, oh lovely blog readers, is that this month is a new-habit-forming month for me. I’m trying to be more active – every day. It’s no secret that I’m very out of shape, but I’ve also got issues that make things that other people may find easy (like walking long distances) more difficult for me. I deal with it already, but I want to deal with it in a better way. I’m a bit tired of feeling the way I do and I’m hoping to improve these “issues” so that it’s not so bad for me, but it’s worse when you have people assuming that you’re just lazy, instead of dealing with something real. That’s not the point of this post, though, so let me get back on track.

After a lot of walking this weekend (and I do mean a lot) and doing a few days of the Sparkpeople 7-day Boot Camp, I’m feeling like I can keep this up. That’s why I’m posting it here! I wanted to be sure I was going to do it, and not just say I was going to, before I told everyone I would. This way, I’m accountable for something I know I’m capable of!

It’s been a long time since I posted a grammar or spelling rant. In fact, it seems the last one I posted was in JULY! That’s months and months without my grammar snark… What’s wrong with me?

Today’s rant is one I’ve brought up (ever so briefly) before. Ridiculous. Why is it so hard to spell? Am I the only person who pronounces it as it’s spelled?

I just saw someone type “That’s redic.” It’s bad enough that they’re shortening the word, but they threw in the E where an I should be. I can’t figure it out. I’d say it’s “ridiculous” but that would just be another bad joke…

What have I been up to, you ask? Well, for starters, I’m no longer sick. Hooray! This is great, because after I got sick, Matt caught it (or at least part of it) and it was just a disaster in here. Our bedroom felt like quarantine, only escaping to get food and drink. Let’s face it, there wasn’t much of the food thing, either, because I lost my appetite. In the time I was sick, I lost 5.5 pounds. The minute I ate anything I gained back two of them. I didn’t mind the weight gain though, since once I got my appetite back I was so hungry I could have gained ten pounds and just been glad to have nourishment again!

I visited the doctor and told her how my medicine was making me feel. So far I’ve had zero negative side effects and all my body is doing is reacting fantastically to it! I’m happier than I’ve been in years and it’s awesome. Even when I am feeling down or irritable (since everyone has ups and downs!) I seem to recover from it much quicker than I did before. I’m so glad I finally went in and started these, because I can’t imagine feeling the way I was ever again.

I finally received my permanent resident card in the mail! This means that I can take the trip (again) to go get my SIN, and then it’s off job-hunting for me! I’ve found a few interesting jobs, but I have to see how it all plays out. I don’t know how long it will be before I can actually work, and I don’t think I want to dive right into full-time, so I’m trying to find the perfect fit. Also, I want to start school again in the fall, so I’m hoping that works out. I’m tired of not having a “real” education. I have all the skills but no papers to prove it, so it’s time to fix that! The past few years have all been about everyone and everything else, so it’s time for me to take my life back into my own hands.

On Saturday, I threw a Rock Band and board game party. This was the most fun I’ve had in such a long time! I have some photos that I may be putting up later, but I may just keep them for myself. It depends on what the other guests think. Thankfully, nothing embarrassing was on them! The party was almost a disaster when the hub for my Rock Band controllers died and I panicked, but Matt saved the day with his actual USB hub for his computer, and we were back on track. I’ll definitely be doing this again someday – probably when Matt’s parents are gone again (or when I have my own place!). It was too much fun not to!

I’ve also put up an April theme for the site, if you haven’t noticed. I like this one much more than the last, and hopefully May’s will be just as fantastic. I actually had this done halfway through March but I’m glad I was prepared early, because without my computer for a bunch of days, it would have been bad!

So, what have I missed? Anything new out there in blog-land? Are you pulling any pranks for April Fool’s Day? (If you are, trust me, I’ll be staying FAR away from you!)