SunBLOG

This summer I’ve decided (because who are we kidding, I’m the crazy one, not D) that we’re going to invest in organic sunscreen. I’m big on the idea of covering up and avoiding but my I know I need to loosen up a bit and let my kid see the sun.


Our pre-organic favourite sunscreen is Ombrelle Kids by L’Oreal Paris. We used it last year and we’ve mostly been using it this year (more on that later). All of my research has come from EWG.org who state that only 17% of sunscreens on the market effectively block UVA/UVB, remain stable in sunlight and contain “few if any ingredients with significant known or suspected health hazards”. I would highly suggest taking a minute to go and search the sunscreen brand you are using to see how it rates (0-2 Low Hazard, 3-6 Moderate Hazard, 7-10 High Hazard) because some of the most popular brands (Banana boat Baby (rated 6), Coppertone Kids (rated 3-5) and Aveeno Baby (rated 4-7)) are hit and miss. Our sunscreen wasn’t too bad at (rated 4) and I’m ok to keep it as our “primary non-organic brand”, at least for now. During pregnancy I did use Banana boat Sport which has recently had press stating it is connected to birth defects. Crazy, right? We SLATHER this shit on ourselves and our kids. It’s not a small amount of hand cream so it’s hard to read stuff like that.

So far finding an organic sunscreen that we like has been a challenge. We’re used to the feel and texture of non-organic and organic sunscreen doesn’t compare. We’re also used to pretty smelling sunscreen (Coconut!), and organic sunscreen.... bleh. It’s like wanting delivery and getting stuck with a frozen pizza.

After researching A LOT of the options, I’d narrowed down two sunscreens we’d try. I’ve looked at so many EWG (ewg.org) reports and most of the sunscreens I’ve investigated have rated a 1 or 2 yet they have varied when looking at certain chemicals and UVA/UVB protection. At the top of my list and the two we’ve purchased were Badger and Green Beaver. I liked these two because they both have an “Excellent” UVA protection when many of the others were ranked as “Good”. They also got major bonus points for being available at Whole Foods and as such, are readily available for me to test and buy.

Badger: (rated 1) This stuff is THICK. Sadie looks like she hasn’t bathed in days after a single application. My mother hates it so much that she has practically been dumpster diving at our house to find any sunscreen other than it. I’m not kidding, she’s actually retrieved sunscreen (Banana boat baby) out of the depths of our bathroom cabinet. We’re going to use the rest of the tube ( 87ml/$16.99) and future purchases are TBD. FYI – I’d used this on my friend’s foster son who has very very dark African skin and he turned MAUVE and glittered a bit. So if your kid isn’t fair like Sadie, don’t buy this, it doesn’t blend well on pigmented skin.

Green Beaver: (rated 1) I like this stuff, sort of. It isn’t as greasy as Badger but it still has an odd consistency and it smells like a potato chip when you’re applying it. Also, it feels sticky on your skin when you first put it on but good after it’s been on for the 20 min before sun exposure. Overall I think this is our top choice so far (90 ml/$19.99).

Other brands we’ve looked at include:

Nature’s Gate – Lower rated so we avoided, rated a 2 when the other Organic Sunscreens we were looking at were rated 1.
Heiko – I couldn’t find a rating on this but it was a mud like colour, similar to a mud mask. It didn’t seem greasy but it was very hard to work in.
Alba – This is 3rd on my list for available lotions at Whole Foods it’s only downfall is that it’s UVA rating is “Good” instead of excellent.

I’m looking for feedback on the following I can't in Canada:
Earth’s Best
California Baby

Is anyone else trying Organic? What do you think?

Sooo Upset

I know this isn't "end of the world" but I have Pink Eye and I just woke up to my second eye being infected.
I'm upset by it because we are going away Thursday and now I'm a complete mess. Further, everything I'm reading says days 5-7 are the worst and that is when we're going to be at Sesame Place. Parent's are going to love seeing me at the park!
I'm praying Sadie doesn't catch it too but it seems impossible that she won't. I mean, she sleeps 2 inches from my face. I've been trying to get her to NOT touch my eyes but it's pretty hard. She's going to get it and then we're really screwed.
D has had Pink Eye as an adult and it seemed to clear up quickley but this is VIRAL so no antibiotic drops for me! Online it says it can take a month to clear up? WTF???
What am I going to do? The trip is NOT refundable. We have prepaid A LOT of money ($600 for hotel in NYC, alone).

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Lasagne for Dinner

WWYD?

Opinion please, not sure what to do about this situation.

Background: My Aunt, who is 45, recently travelled to (insert North African country) to meet and marry a younger man who had courted her over the internet. I am under the belief that this man is committing marriage fraud. If you are not familiar with marriage fraud it is when a foreign national marries for immigration. In Canada, landed immigrant status is given when you “step off the plane”, which means it’s possible for an approved spouse to enter our country as a landed immigrant not ever live or speak to the person they’ve married. Enter broken heart if the person they married is that naive.
My Aunt is under the impression that rules have changed and her new husband will need to live wither under conditional immigrant status for 2 years before officially obtaining landed status. Try as I might, I’ve only found the proposal for this change and not that it has taken effect. I think that our family has been using this fact to comfort the blow of what has happened. You know, “he has to live with her for 2 years so it can’t be marriage fraud”.
I’ve talked this over with a few people IRL and they all think I’m being a bitch about it and need to open my mind to the possibility that it is true love. I can’t and for many reasons.

This is where I’m asking for advice. My Aunt has been hounding me for our new address and she finally said it was because my Grandmother was sending out shower invitations. I don’t want to go and I certainly don’t want to be forced into a situation where I need to congratulate her on something I have such strong feelings about.

Am I being a judgemental bitch? Do I suck it up and go, or do I make an excuse and respectfully decline? If I do that, do I still need to send a card/present or can I just forget the whole thing exists?

Back to the Challenge

Day 16 – Friends
D and I used to have a close group of friends. We’d celebrate holidays with them like they were family and even travelled on vacations together. Then about 6 years ago things started to change. We started to move, break up with partners, find new interests and do grown up things like buy homes and get married. We were the first of our friends to buy a condo, the first to get married, the first to have a kid and the first to move to the suburbs. In terms of relating to those friends, we have very little in common with them now. Still, a few have remained good friends, the kind of friends that would do anything for you (See Day 20 response). Since our move I have fallen in with a group of moms and that is where Sadie and socialize. Also, being back at work, I have my BFF there. We’ve known each other for 10 years and are very close, talking every day and I’d say for about 8 years straight we’d have lunch every work day. Even on mat leave we’d talk weekly.
Otherwise we feel a bit in limbo when it comes to friends. We’re in a new town and much to our disappointment we still feel excluded due to where we live. I say that because a lot of people from where we grew up (family/friends) abhorred the idea of driving into Toronto (highways, traffic, paid parking – oh my!). We were always travelling to them and not much has changed other than the fact that by moving out of the city we have become "invisible" to friends we would hang out with there. I honestly wish people wouldn’t decide for us if it’s worth our time to drive somewhere to visit them. Seriously.

Day 17 – Parenthood
So far Parenthood has been a giant cluster fuck of emotions for me. That would be what I have least enjoyed. What I have enjoyed most is everything else. I love watching Sadie. I love watching her eyes when she’s intently watching her favourite TV show or seeing how she smacks her lips when she eats. I love how sleepy she looks when she wakes up and how her hair is wild and out of control. I love the way she runs down the hall, or plops in her chair. I love hearing her voice when she screeches MAAAAA or the cute little coo of Maaah in the middle of the night. I love seeing her smile and wave through our front window when I get home from work. I love everything about her.

Day 18 – Astrology
Meh.I’m a Taurus.

Day 19 – PDA
Despite living in a queer friendly neighbourhood in Toronto for half a decade D and I have never really embraced PDA. We equally gag when we see it in front of us.

Day 20 – Nicest thing anyone has ever done for us
A year ago, at this time, we were “homeless” thanks to a verbal agreement gone wrong that left a 10 day gap between the closing dates of our condo and house. A number of people helped us but one friend went above and beyond. That friend was incredible. He emptied our already packed 10'x10' storage locker (that we thought was for staging only) and reorganized it so all of our 2 bedroom condo would fit in it. We had boxes stacked to the ceiling of the unit, carefully loaded with the heaviest items on the bottom. Our dining room table ended up in the rafters as well with all of the furniture fitting in like a jigsaw puzzle. I don’t know what we would have done without him and we’re still not sure how to fully repay the kindness!!! A lot of people came together during that time. Another friend let me sleep over at her house for 10 days. I think she loved having Sadie there so it was a treat for her. Yet another example of above and beyond!

Weekend(s) recap

I’m taking a break from the non-challenge to catch up on our "exciting lives". We’ve had a run of staying out too late and running around all weekend long. Weekends aren’t the same when you have a kid. There never seems to be enough time anymore but we try to get a lot done.
Last weekend (11/12) set us up to be tired (and sick) the rest of the week. On Thursday night we went to the NKOTBSB (I can see you laughing, except Shannon of course) concert in Toronto and then on Saturday night we saw Glee Live. I think in retrospect, if we had known Glee Live was coming we wouldn’t have purchased the NKOTBSB tickets. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case and we cautiously had to ask my mom if it was ok for her to baby-sit two late nights almost back to back. She agreed but it still felt wrong as we were doing it. She’s been a good sport about baby-sitting off-work hours but we don’t want to abuse it. Both shows were great!
For the Saturday show (Glee), we went in a bit early (around 4:30) to grab dinner and go shopping. We almost reverted to our old 20-something/pre-baby selves and hung out at the tour buses waiting for the cast. After being there for about 15 minutes we decided it wasn’t worth it. I can’t believe it! We gave up a celebrity stalking experience to go to Old Navy!??!What’s happening to us?? Are we “old” now?? It felt like it.
On top of this we still managed to have a full weekend with Sadie including The Little Gym, shopping and trips to the park. It was exhausting.
This weekend (18/19) was going to be a bit more relaxing since it was all about swimming (which Sadie LOVES). On Saturday we went to a BBQ/pool party. The pool water was so warm thanks to solar panel heating (I wish my dad would invest in that!) and my friend’s back yard was nicely shaded. I love swimming outside but keeping out of the sun is always an issue. I was very happy.
Unfortunately, Sadie was an insane toddler. She wanted in the pool, she wanted out of the pool, she wanted to chase the dog, and chase the dog and chase the dog and go back in the pool, with the dog. When she didn’t get what she wanted she’d cry a sad cry that made everyone ask what was wrong. I was essentially run off my ass the entire time. Socializing is hard when you have a baby and extra hard when there is a gigantic temptation taking up 80% of the backyard!! Oy vey. I fell sound asleep at 7:00 pm I was so tired!
On Sunday, after seeing how well Sadie slept on Saturday (very very well), we decided to check out the pool where Sadie will start swimming lessons this week. We lasted over an hour in the pool with our crazy daredevil child. Does anyone else have a fearless kid? Sadie was having a blast jumping off her floatie (giant foam butterfly) into the water. She LOVED sinking to the bottom. Of course that only happened twice when our guards were down. The rest of the time we were able to catch her before she made it too far and as soon as we get to NY she'll have her new puddle jumper (like water wings). She’s going to give her Momma a heart attack!
This coming weekend we’re going to Canada’s Wonderland (like 6 flags) and the next weekend we’re going to Sesame Place followed by a week on Long Island visiting Sadie's BFF Ryan and his awesome moms. I have to admit that I am very nervous to see what travel with an 18 month old is going to be like!!


Pictures of Sadie:

Sitting and reading a book while we make dinner.

Picking flowers (yes, that’s a RL polo shirt but I got it on sale, new, for $9.99 so it doesn’t count as expensive)

Day 15 - college

I'm wasn't sure if I was going to write this or how I would make it sound less pathetic. I'll skip right to the end:
I spent my final exams before graduation running like a wild child through Manhattan, racking up credit card debt, accepting nightly accomodations with people I barely knew and trying to find under the table work.
My parents were SO proud that I had to pay ALL of the tuition I'd wasted.
When my credit cards finally gave up I had no choice but to go home and face the fact that I had essentially dropped out of school.
Do I regret it? Not really.
Has it impacted where I am now? I honestly doubt it because I'm not doing anything near what I was studying. Who knows? I just hope Sadie learns from my mistakes.

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Day 14 – How do you like to dress your kids?

I’m going to skip right to Sadie for this one since she’s the one with the nice clothes in our house!

My view on buying children’s clothing has changed a lot over the past year. There was a point where I may have bought into the idea that more expensive was worth it, better quality, blah blah blah… but I’d given up on that idea after last summer. Kids grow too fast to spend a lot of money on any one item. The most “expensive” items we have now are used Gymboree dresses and each of those adorable little velvety ensembles have only been worn once. I’m thankful I didn’t pay full price.

Most of Sadie’s fall/winter clothing was second hand or from Walmart (sleepers). Now that the summer is here again we’re buying new since there isn’t the same savings for shorts and t-shirts. I’d found it hard last year and I’m finding it hard again this year since little girls clothing is very revealing. We will not dress Sadie in tank tops, halter tops or spaghetti straps so this means that 99% of sundresses are out since they rarely have sleeves. We’ve found that Carters has some great options but you have to shop early to grab the Spring/Early Summer items before they all turn skimpy. Of course, this isn’t the same on the boy’s side of the store. Try buying a bathing suit for a little girl. Shop early for that too so you can grab a bikini that has a rash guard top. Otherwise, go to the boys section because apparently sun protection is important for boys while little girls can wear “barely there” bikinis. We were able to buy a few rash guard swim suits this year.

So what if she looks like she’s from the 1920’s? I’m serious about sun protection.

Anyway, we have two drawers busting full of clothing that needs to be packed away and I’m saddened every time I do it. The reality is, even if we have a second, we only have a 50% chance we’re gong to have a girl. Holding onto Sadie’s clothing is an emotional crutch. She’s growing too fast and it makes me want to cry (even the Walmart sleepers get me teary eyed).

Ketchup

Day 7 – Skip

Day 8 – If you had to teach something, what would you teach? I’ve often thought of how sweet it would be to be a school teacher and have the summer off but I’ve never once imagined myself teaching children. I couldn’t handle more than 10-12 kids. I probably wouldn’t want to teach adults either. I have a very low tolerance of stupid people. I can’t stand going into a training session and needing to deal with that person who tries to enter URL’s into google.

Day 9 – What is the most important lesson you learned from your own Mother? Honesty, I suppose. My mother is a very honest person (to a fault) and always put a great emphasis on being honest. I may be a rule bender now but I can’t lie without feeling extremely guilty.

Day 10 – Skip

Day 11 – In what ways does being a 2-mom family impact your experience of parenting? So far I don’t think it’s impacted our parenting at all. I feel like we’re exactly the same as a heterosexual family. I don’t think we’re going to feel the impact until Sadie is old enough to understand that her family is different.

Day 12 – Tell us about the first time you got drunk. On my 19th birthday (legal drinking age in Ontario, Canada) I went out with friends to a restaurant that was known for extremely large cocktails. The one I ordered came in a fish bowl and my friend’s came in a flower vase. I was so scared I was going to be sick after finishing the drink that I made myself throw it up. Smart, right? I can be tempted by fancy cocktails occasionally but I’m usually too cheap to pay for them. I’ve never had a glass of wine or even a taste of beer. I don’t feel I’m missing out on anything.

Day 13 – Best Job/Worst Job – My Best job was working as a camp counsellor. I absolutely loved camp and looked forward to it all year long. I spent 11 years at the same camp between working, volunteering and being a camper myself. My “worst job” was at a fast food mc “burger joint”. I started out as a part time employee while still in school and after 6 months was offered an Assistant Manager position (Corporate, not Franchise). I loved the job literally as much as I hated it. I say that because the people I worked with, the kids I managed, were great. The company treated its employees well (overnight retreats, big parties, good compensation and vacation) but it was the customers that SUCKED. We were treated horribly, constantly and there was always the big "threat" of complaints to head office (I'd gladly give out my business card so they could reference my name). I don’t know why but people felt so entitled when they came into our restaurant, but they did.
Anyway, I quit after a little over 1 year in the position. I’d had my limit of calling police over fighting, homeless sex in the wheelchair washroom (referred to as bum sex but that confuses people haha), scam artists lying about food they never purchased and demanding refunds and the cleaning up of vomit. On my very last shift my first phone call of the morning was the Police Department calling about “the robbery at our restaurant” the night before. I was sooooo happy to get out of there. Sooooo happy.

Chaos

Last night Sadie and I went to a potluck dinner with my “Mommy Group”. It was chaos enough to make me laugh about what I had written about being one and done. There were four sets of sibs (4 & 2, 4 & 20 Months, 5 & 3 and 3 & 5 months) and one other only child who was the same age as Sadie. The theme of the night was hitting, fighting, tattling, screaming and crying. The other moms were all losing their cool on the kids and I was sitting back thinking “OMG...this really sucks, get me out of here”. Sadie was far from innocent in the toddler melee. She was at the centre of it and most often the cause as the other 17 month old (2 days older) was quiet and cautious.
Sadie is “active". Actually, she is very active and is way more active than any other toddler in her Little Gym class. She was even outshining some of the older kids with her gross motor skills last night (showing off by climbing on things and standing up). It’s exhausting and I don’t want to end up one of those moms who has the kid that everyone knows is a troublemaker. In her defence, her behaviour is that way because she gets really excited around other kids, I think.
I don't know, should we start to worry that she is overactive? Or is this just toddler hood? Should I mention it to her doctor? I mean, I do have a history of ADHD. I was a wild child.
Don’t get me wrong, Sadie is PERFECT and I see nothing wrong with her personally. I’d rather her be this way than a kid that cries all the time and has no confidence. The thing is that I do see how other people react to her and I hear their comments, “is she always like this?”, “is she like this at home?”… lovely. They’re laughing and think she’s adorable but I don’t want her to be known as Sadie “the hyper kid”. KWIM? I know they're secretly happy their toddler isn't as craazy.
Am I overreacting? Is this totally normal?

Taking a break....

I’m going to take a break from the “non-challenge” to write about something else that has been on our minds lately. Basically we’ve been talking a lot about being “one and done”, Sadie as an only child. Crazy, right? I’d come to the TTC table saying 3 but no less than 2 and now we’re seriously thinking that we’re happy just the way we are.


I don’t know what to do. I’m feeling a lot of pressure to perform this time. I feel pressure that we need to “get this done” by a certain time so that our kids are X number of years apart or before I’m 35 (because I did a shit poor job of getting pregnant before 30). I worry about going through another high risk pregnancy or not being able to get pregnant. I feel like we’re just getting our lives back and I’m not only talking about being over the pregnancy and newborn stages. I’m also talking about the void of September 2007-April 2009 when we existed only to TTC. Right now I don’t feel at a loss not having a second but I know that when we start trying again it will be all consuming just like the first…. and if it doesn’t work… will I be broken forever? Will it ruin the good that we already have? Can’t I just enjoy Sadie and do this again in 10 years?

We’ve agreed not to talk about it again until October but it will be on my mind constantly, I know it will be.

Day 6: Something New

My something new is actually a something old that will be new again in 96 days – FLYING.

It’s been approximately 9409 days since my last flight and during that time I have endured endless criticism from people who (mostly) have no idea what it’s like to have a fear that is so strong that it prevents them from experiencing life. We’re not flying because someone has “finally” convinced me. We’re not flying because “driving with a baby would be crazy”. We’re flying because I feel like I’m ready. It’s like the time we took the BUS to Florida. After 36 hours there and 36 hours back I finally felt ready to get my drivers license. Now, after 16,840 km (10,464 Miles) of driving to Florida, I feel like flying.

We’ve had non-refundable tickets purchased for a while now and for the most part I’ve been OK. There was one small issue involving switching our seats closer to the emergency exit (for my peace of mind) but other than that I’m feeling pretty good about our decision (not that I have a choice now).

Choices I did have:

1) I only wanted to fly out of a Canadian Airport. It seriously would have been hundreds cheaper to fly out of New York State but for my “first” flight I wanted to be at home.

2) Sadie has her own seat and we’re using her Car Seat on the plane (this was important for my feeling of Safety for her).

3) We had to rearrange our dates a bit to avoid September 11th, our original arrival date.

This is going to be HUGE for me so I’m sure you’re going to hear about it on the blog as September gets closer and any words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated!

Day 5: Birthdays

What do I like to do on my birthday?

Tough question. I am sooooo in the doghouse for D's birthday this year and I'm going to get in trouble for this.
I'm not a fan of Birthday celebrations and D loves them. Her Birthday is in the dead of winter and mine is in the middle of spring. This has resulted in several great birthdays for me (Walt Disney World, NYC, Disney Cruise, Miami, Montreal) because my Birthday is during a great week to travel (IMO). D is generally furious that I won't fly so we can go away for hers and I've done a great job of screwing it up year after year.
The reason I'm in trouble this year:
5 years ago when I didn't take D to Las Vegas for her 30th Birthday (we went to NYC) I promised her we'd go for her 35th.
We didn't...
.....and I went to bed before we had cake so she ate it alone.
Yes, I'm a terrible wife. Terrible.
Next year we're thinking about going to Puerto Rico so hopefully she can get an awesome birthday away. Your 36th Birthday is exciting too, right?
For Sadie, I'm looking forward to when she has her own little friends and then we'll do big friend parties where we'll present her with Pink Hummer Power Wheels. It's going to be awesome! I'm already planning her Bat Mitzvah, Quinceañera and SUPER Sweet Sixteen parties. (;

On the topic of celebrations, remember my "friends" baby shower where my "friends" all gave lame ass excuses to not attend and shipped gifts instead?

If you watch Modern Family:

"Cam: There’s nothing gays hate more than when people

Both: treat us like women.

Cam: We’re not. We don’t wanna go to your baby shower; We don’t have a time of the month; We don’t love pink."

Oops. Maybe that's why they didn't come?


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Day 4: Most Surprising Thing about Parenthood

ETA: I wrote this yesterday before others started to post theirs and, well, don't hate me.

Most Surprising thing about Parenthood:

1) How well I can function in the middle of the night. Seriously.
There have only been a handful of times when I've thought "I can't do this". I've generally found that I can get up, function as if it were daylight, and then fall back to sleep immediately. Sadie is still waking up in the middle of the night so I'm glad I can cope so well.

ETA: I think the reason why sleep hasn't been as difficult is because Sadie was formula fed. I'm hoping that someone else who FF can jump in and agree? I remember people saying they were BF every 1.5 hours when Sadie was FF every 3 hours (8 bottles/day).

2) I'm surprised that I am not a complete helecopter parent. I'm pretty relaxed. I can handle germs much better than I could before having her and I generally do not freak out that often. My mom is really bad with dramatic gasping!! It drives me nuts! She says my lack of a reaction (to falls/bumps) is just as annoying. The thing is, I don't want a whining kid so I try to keep a level head about it all. (:

3) I thought that there would be more equality in parenting. I think the split for us is more like 80/20 or 70/30 depending.

4) Everyone always said/says they can't believe how much they love their child(ren) and that's so true! I am amazed by my love for her. It's so strong.

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Day 3 What Are Your Guilty Pleasures?

90210 –I’m not talking about the original show; I’m talking about the re-make. It’s one of two shows on my weekly “must see list” (the other is Glee). I wish I had a good excuse for watching it but I don’t. I wasn’t even a fan of the original!! Back when it was popular I was in middle school and it was on past my bedtime.

My Birth Club – As much as I have complained about the crazies over at Baby Center I still love reading my “December ’09 Birth Club” message board. I also read “Debate Team” and a few other boards occasionally. Baby Center will never be as good as it was a few years ago when there was a great LGBT community but it entertains me nonetheless.

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts – Original Glazed – 190 Calories (100 Calories from FAT). Mmm Doughnuts…num num.

Kanye West – Yeah, I know he’s an ASS but I don’t care, he’s my favourite Gay Fish. “I’mma disrobe you, than I’mma probe you, See I abducted you, so I tell ya what to do, I tell ya what to do, what to do, what to do…!!”

Jodi Picoult Books – I seriously love these books but I know they are all drama and no depth. Right now I’m reading “Sing You Home” which I’m going to warn you is NOT a book anyone reading this blog should probably ever read. SPOILER!!! It’s about a woman TTC who leaves her heterosexual marriage after a late term loss and ends up falling in love with a woman. They get married and they want to do a FET using embryos from her former relationship. Lawsuit ensues in typical Picoult fashion but this book has EVERY SINGLE TRIGGER a person TTC, PREGNANT and to a lesser extent PARENTING should probably avoid. Jodi Picoult books are like watching a train wreck… just can’t stop looking.

Edited to correct the wrong title of the book! I wrote "Sing Me Home"  but it's actually "Sing You Home". What can I say? I'm reading it on Kindle so I've never even seen the cover. (;

Day 2 - Describe you High School self

Who was I in high school?

I was an overachieving underachiever
I wasn’t popular but I knew a lot of people
I was weird, just like I am now.

I loved High School and I’m not just writing that because I haven’t been in 16 years and I’ve forgotten. It was a good time in my life. I didn’t have a lot of friends but that is kind of the same now. My High School self was constantly busy and I never felt left out. That hasn’t changed; I’ve always had a hard time fitting people into my schedule.

I was on a number of teams. I played Field Hockey, Ice Hockey, Tennis, Badminton, and Indoor Soccer. I was on the Girls Athletic Council, Grad Council and Yearbook Committee. I also volunteered as a “Peer Helper” and worked with students with Disabilities.

By far my favourite activity out of all of the above was being a Photographer on the Yearbook Committee. It was such a great opportunity to be involved in pretty much everything that went on at our school. I was the constant spectator. People would ask me to attend their events/games and would kiss up to me to take their pictures. I also never had to worry about a date to a dance or prom because I was there on “official business”. It was so great because I loved going but being a wallflower sucks. There was nothing better than purposefully wandering around with my camera and taking it all in (also taking pictures of the girls I had crushes on – haha).

Although I ended up graduating with a proficiency award (above 80% average) my high school academic career was shaky. I had a modified schedule of only 6 classes (3 per semester) because I have “an identified learning disability”, dyslexia. I also had/have ADD (which I think is a load of $&%, don’t get me started). Most people would probably think it would be more obvious that I was dyslexic but these days it mostly comes out with pen and paper communicating (I hate written forms). It’s also there when people give me directions verbally and want me to perform the actions immediately. When I played hockey (before TTC ) I had to wear a marker on my left glove to make sure I visually knew where on the ice to go for face off, and when we’d change sides. I’ve really adapted to using a computer, spell check is my friend, I can type well and I google worlds constantly. It was rough then, but it isn’t now. When I was in High School I spent a lot of time not going to class because I was in my own world.

Outside of school hours I had a part time job as a “Community Sports Leader”. I taught the red cross babysitting course (you need zero qualification to teach this, FYI), a cooking class and a craft class. I also worked basketball games on the weekend, eventually coaching my own team of 6 and 7 year old girls. It was pretty awesome. In the summers I worked as a camp counsellor and I also played field hockey on a recreational travelling team.

As far as dating during High School, I dated a couple of guys. I barely even want to talk about it. Guys are great when you’re playing basketball and rollerblading but the thing about dating a boy is they eventually want to hold your hand or kiss you and then you need to cut them loose. It didn’t work out well.

I think that pretty much sums up High School.

Where I Blog

I can't be alone, right?
In case you hadn't already noticed, I mobile blog 99.9% of the time, and THIS is my only sanctuary. That's right, sitting on the toilet is pretty much the only time I have to myself.
Before you completely recoil in horror you should know that I often seek santuary just to have a few minutes to myself. It feels like High School all over again when I'd excuse myself and go to stare out the bathroom window, count to 100, and walk back to class.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone