They. Chopped. Down. The Tree.
Our. Tree.
Well... the tree in our front yard.
I was walking back with a bag full of groceries, and realized there were traffic cones around the part of the road where I would have to pass to get home. I was looking at that and was thinking, "I just walked down the slope here, there's no way I'm going back up, crossing the road, then walk down to the next lights, crossing and walking back up - I would dieee" But as usual, I give up, I was about to start walking, when I realized the other side was blocked too (by construction).
Screw this.
I start walking.
And then I look.
Wait.
I see the apartment building one house down from my place. Okay, something's not right. I must have gone too far.
But I haven't passed all the traffic cones yet.
And then I look at the workers. They're cutting branches.
Branches? What tree are they hacking at? I know there's one in front of our place, but our tree's still there.
Then the worker working in the front lawn stops and asks me: Do you live here?
Good question. Did I live here? I see a sign on the house 326. That house and number does look awfully familiar.
Oh crap, what the heck. That's where we live!
I've paused for two seconds: Yah (tiny voice: I think) I live here.
Getting in was no easy task, two lawns and the path in between were crammed with branches.

That was Monday.
Today's... Wednesday, they're still clearing up the mess. And what used to be a huge tree is now... a stump.

This week has been such a ef-em-elle week. I don't think I've ever been this stressed in a while, this under prepared for a midterm, and swearing at the slightest thing. Extra thick dark brown gooey fudgeeeeee.

Studying finance has gotten so bad I'm actually reading online papers about certain topics.

I nearly forgot how physically demanding it would be in kendo
Just nearly, because today's class reminded me
Today was light, actually, but then I ran all the way from King to campus because the bus didn't come
And... Somehow in and between I forgot to have dinner before I left
Thank me lucky stars my stomach didn't growl in the middle of class!!!

A few things happened in the past few weeks that I wanted to list:
1. American's funniest home videos
You know those people on the show that look so unbelievably... stupid? I remember a time when I laughed at those videos, then snort, then looked on amusingly, and finally just got bored from it (oh hey look, it's just another american doing something stupid.... typical - and yes, i'm talking about the stereotypical Canadian view of our southern counterparts).

Now I was in my room practising kicks. And if you've ever crashed my place at waterloo.... which most of you haven't, but let me tell you anyway - it's those fake wood floors. They're slippery. Really slippery. ESP with socks. With my socks on, I do a few kicks... I find that I'm slipping a bit so I thought "It might be a really good idea if I took these socks off BEFORE i continue" but then before I knew it, I did another kick... and pulled an america's funniest home videos' moment.  My supporting foot um slipped more than just a bit, and I landed sideways on the ground with a decently big sounding, well, crash.

My window had blinds up as usual - clear picture for those who happened to pass by... which thankfully, or more likely hopefully was no one (I didn't know).

Awesome work, Charlotte. Nicely done.

2. Regina and University
You wonder why people stop in their tracks when they see a vehicle or anything forceful enough to kill them running towards them? I do. I most certainly do. Every time this scene comes up in any of the soaps, I just think "Just the fooses out of the wayyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" (Yes, that's another made up syllable) and then "youch" when the "accident" happens.

Last week, I was crossing on the road, not on a red light, just normally ~~ and it was raining that day. Suddenly I see this car just trucking on to turn left... right into me. Freeze? Me? Nah, not due to fear at least. I thought "I think I should get out of the way..." but then the driver was looking so frightened that she nearly hit, I felt so bad for her and sorta stopped. But then I remembered it wasn't like I could tell her it was okay because she wouldn't really have heard me. To think... To have to make a trip to the hospital just because I felt bad for someone? Clearly, I wasn't thinking straight.

Just another question that's come to my mind:
Do good friends always diss/constantly criticize each other? (Probably because they know each other so well?) Being a mutual friend of these two people, I've recently realized how much negative things come out of their mouths whenever they mention each other.... or even laugh at them. I do that to friends once in a while I admit, but do I do that that often as well? Friends are made to support, help, love each other. And are we, as human beings of the 21st century, doing just the opposite?
From laughing with them to laughing at them... is this the new way of showing that someone's close to you?

It still feels pretty unreal, but I think all the work and running around town has brought me back closer to the ground.
Woke up naturally... right before the alarm sounded. So aorund 0720 and headed out to Mac's for breakfast.
First day back, I promised myself a good breakfast to start off the term. Personally, I find closes and beginnings very important. I don't know why though. On Saturday, even though I knew I wasn't going to make it to class, I still insisted that I go to the Y, when if it were to do a few kata's after the adult class to end off the term. I needed that. Same thing with today's breakfast. Okay, fine, it's also partly due to me not having brought much food - I got myself here by greyhound so it wasn't like I could haul a lot of stuff back.
After class, I went over Trimaan to the bookstore and "Write Stuff" and got a few pieces of stationary and we headed over to SLC which was on the north side of campus. We checked the books at the feds bookstore, couldn't find good ones, and then took a break at Timmy's.
After that, we went back to the south side so Trimaan could catch her bus and I went all the way back to SLC to activate my credit card.
Did I go south again? You bet. I went to get my AFM231 book this time and then got on the bus to King and Weber to the computer equipment store. Halfway there, I agreed to pick up my books on Regina and University so I made a stop at King and walked to Regina, then walked to Weber, got my stuff (external CD drive and mouse), walked back to King to 7-11. Breaking there, I got my envelope to file my taxes, and headed off again. Made a stop at home, going north, dropped off the stuff I had and walked over to Dollarama... on Albert and... I don't even know - I'm pretty sure it was a 30 minute walk though.
Coming out of Dollarama, I thought to walk towards Connestoga so I started walking for 5 minutes... started to only see houses with no people nor buses... decided not to risk it after all (big mistake) and walked back to Columbia. Guess what? I saw the bus on the way back. UGH. I was right after all.
Got to Conestoga, did groceries... and hopped on the bus back home. Except the bus was pretty full, so I had to stand and put a bag of groceries on the ground. When the bus was arriving at the station I was going to get off at, it nearly hit a car, and it braked really hard so that the bus jerked hard. As luck goes, I was bending down to pick up that bag of groceries. So I crashed head first, against the back of the driver's seat. Good thing I turned my face in time... and it got the side of my face. But still... it was sorta embarrassing. Hah!
I'm glad I did all that stuff today though. I even cleaned out my room and everything. This means tomorrow I can get cracking on my homework. Yes, I already have homework and I'm already behind readings AGAIN.
Such is the life of a student.
Yet all this work is making feel like I'm on the ground once more.
And I missed Waterloo... more than I thought. I didn't think I would miss it much,  but when I got back... it felt so familiar, so like... home.