I don't know what it is about my new apartment, but everytime I come in here, all I want to do is crawl into bed and sleep.

Is it my new bed? It's a regular bed. And I still haven't gotten around to buying the bed foam (?) that goes on top of the mattress.

Is it because it's super comfy? I still have to get my A/C installed.

Maybe I'm just bored, and because I don't have cable TV yet (and I can't put up a satellite dish, unfortunately), I've gone from TV-addict to sleep-addict.

Or maybe I'm just really exhausted. It has been THAT kind of week...

Now I'm about to doze off again...

I hope I don't miss our dinner/get-together for my friend Foni.

For the July 4th weekend, I took all the guts I have in me, packed up my car, and drove up to Canada. By myself. Jasleen and I originally planned to drive up together, but Jasleen had tons of work and decided to stay. On the other hand, I do have tons of work as well, but I needed a b-r-e-a-k.
Harmeet, her husband and their two kids were going up as well, and offered to give me lift, but because I needed to take my car anyway, we decided to drive up together. For the first 5 minutes, that is. We got separated on 490, and decided to meet up at the Duty Free instead. Harmeet's husband can't drive any slower, and I was determined to be law-abiding and stay on the speed limit. Despite it, I beat them to the border by a good twenty minutes. :p I think it was because they had to stop for bathroom breaks (with two kids in the car, that is pretty much a given) more than my driving skills, although Harmeet says otherwise. ;)

I also made the decision to move to a different apartment. Moving almost killed Rey and me. We moved most of my furniture earlier when Rey was here, so he could help me move things. Despite that, it still took me three trips and three carloads of stuff before I was finally able to get all my things moved out over the weekend. The last load is still in my car. I haven't unpacked everything yet. Moving itself is an exercise in emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion, but it's worth it. It might be premature to say this, but I love my new apartment. :) If only I can find one box of stuff (that I might have misplaced), life would be perfect.

We have a rabbit! Or as Elmer Fudd would say, "We have a wabbit!" Well, she's not really mine, but who cares? She's sooo cute. She hops around all over the apartment, and then lies on a corner to rest, and then hops around some more when she's let out of her cage. I love her already. I also learned something new today...rabbit poop looks like small, hard pellets. Lol.


Coming up this week:

• dinner with Foni on Thursday before she goes back to Greece (I can't wait to have more chicken wings. Yum!).

• dinner with some classmates to catch up since our Spring class ended (Can't wait to see everyone, and hear about Megan and Daniela's wedding plans!).
  

I'm going to let you in on a secret.

Today, while telling the story of how I drove up to Toronto and back (by myself -- gasp!), I accidentally banged my hand on one of the chairs in the residents' room. It hurt like crazy (it made my eyes sting), and the result is a lovely bruise by the side of my pinkie (close to the knuckle). And I'm guessing, tomorrow, it will look even lovelier in various shades of purple with some yellow thrown in.

I always tell people I'll beat them up (even if they're twice my size) if they make me upset. The truth is, I probably won't end up doing any beating -- just because my hand is still sore from hours before. And this was just from hitting my hand while gesturing.

I'll let you in on an even bigger secret.

I'm willing to make exemptions for you-know-who's (and you-know-who-you-are's) who mess with me and those whom I hold dearly. :p

Just when I thought I've had enough of the upheaval that is my life, I decided I wanted to throw more chaos into the mix.

Who cares that the summer mid-terms are coming, right? And who cares that I am sleeping less this summer (when I thought things would be more relaxed, when I would be "chill" since I passed my boards, when I thought the hardest part is over) than I used to sleep last semester (which was the most harrowing semester of my life, to date).

Just when I started counting down the days to my 2009 graduation, our program director decides throw me a curve ball.

Program Director: (Intercepts me in the clinics) Do you have a minute?

Me: Oh, for you, Dr. ______, I have TWO minutes (which was all I could spare, really, since clinics were so busy that day).

Program Director: How do you feel about a Ph. D.?

Me: (My mouth drops open) No, thank you, Dr. _______.

Program Director: I had a meeting with Dr. ________ (the DIRECTOR-DIRECTOR), and he might be able to get a grant for you to get a Ph. D...

Me: (Still sputtering) No, Dr. ________... I really can't... I... thank you for even considering me... I'm not getting any younger... I am 28 years old... thank you (I think I just proved my point that I am not a good Ph. D. candidate. I couldn't even manage a firm but polite refusal. Now, imagine me defending my disseration -- amazing, I'm sure).

The end result: Program Director managed to get me to agree (no, promise) to set up a meeting with THE DIRECTOR-DIRECTOR himself, just to find out "what I'm turning down."

Gahd. When did I turn into such a wuss?

I am flattered -- make that honored -- that they would think I'm Ph. D. material. Out of the 80 residents in the building, they offered me a chance for a Ph. D.

It is a really good opportunity. But didn't I just start counting down to my graduation, and to "No more classes, no more books, no more teachers' dirty looks?"

To be considering a Ph. D. at this time is insane.

Nice curveball, Dr. _________.

---

Twenty-four hours later, my roommate was telling me she is going to cut the cable TV and phone service we have, because "we're trying to cut costs...M (our other roommate) is moving...and we're trying to survive until December..."

At least, that was what I understood. In my head, all I was hearing was, "No cable? How will I study? No phone? How will I call Canada and not be charged exorbitant fees?"

"...And if you wanted to keep those services, you will just have to pay for them yourself."

"...Oh, and we have to give back the cable box on Monday. Since I am leaving on Wednesday, or else the new billing cycle will start..."

Did I mention that this happened on a Friday, at 5:00pm? I had less than 72 hours to decide if I could live without my cable (goodbye, "Next Food Network Star"), and less than 24 hours to see if I can get a cable guy to install the cable and phone service to my room to avoid service interruption.

I am flabbergasted, because a few weeks ago, she talked to me about increasing the rent by around 12%.

It's time to make my move...and my move is to blog about it, instead of frantically trying to wheedle the cable company to make their home visit to our house to install cable in my room on Monday.

Go figure.

While cleaning up this blog, I realized that:

• I don't get to blog as much as I would like -- which is pretty much a given, considering the 20,000 things that I have to do in 24 hours each day.

This thought brings me to my second point,

• Most of my blog posts (the very few that I've managed to write) are mostly about stress. Gasp! H-h-how could this be??? (The preceding sentence was infused with sarcasm).

Which brings me to my next point -- that this is starting to sound like the beginning of another stress-laden post. So, let me start over.

I read Pollyanna in my freshman year in high school (it was in our required reading list), and in case you don't remember, it's a book about a young orphan who was sent to live with her stern aunt somewhere in Vermont (I can't believe I actually remembered that), and who is very optimistic despite everything, that she plays what she calls "The Glad Game."

The object of the game is to find something to be happy about in any situation. Simply put, the crappier the situation, the more difficult it is to find something to be happy about...and if you still find something to be happy about despite the awful circumstances, then you're an awesome player (and a VERY OPTIMISTIC PERSON).

To put a positive spin on things, I've decided to play "The Glad Game" but modify it a little bit...and instead list down five things I've been happy about lately:

1. Passing my clinical boards -- this is a definite happy thought.
2. Hershey (Lea's dog) - she's always happy to see me when I get home (no matter how late it is), and she would run to me and get her pats and hugs
3. E-mails from my family, whom I miss very much, and conversations with my sister Chaui
   
4. Cheesecake recipe from Dorie, one of our assistants, which I will try to make this weekend :)
5. Having installed the A/C unit in my room all by myself! Granted, the unit weighed as much as I do, and I had to carry the darn thing from our basement all the way to my room's window, and I was sweating like a pig after all that effort, but all of that went away as soon as the first blast of cold air escaped from the vents and cooled down the summer heat.

Okay, that wasn't so bad. I guess I could write about hapy thoughts as well. :p

My (former) roommate picked up Trent the other day. I KNEW she wouldn't (couldn't) leave him behind (insert huge sigh of relief right here).

That was a close call.

Speaking of close calls, there was an electrical fire at our workplace two nights ago. The fire was contained to the basement of the building, where it apparrently started, but there was enough water and smoke damage to the area that we were told not to go to clinics on Friday and Saturday. The other areas and floors were not damaged, thank God. It was really scary, even if I wasn't there when it happened.

I had been thinking of going back into the building after clinic hours that night, to continue working on data analysis for a project, but my procrastinating self won out over the pressing deadline...and my laziness probably saved my b*tt.

Thank God for procrastination.