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goodlucktkachuk · 4 years ago

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Frantic -- Matthew Tkachuk Pt.8 (Final)

a/n: After way too long, here is the final part of Frantic. I had a blast writing and I want to write more going into the future. (Maybe not another series for a while). So please request stories or just send in randome ideas/ players. I never thought so many people would like my story so thank you so much!!

Read the whole story here

It had been a few weeks since your trip to Calgary and you were back in Toronto working steadily away at school. You and Matthew were still more in love then ever. Even though the distance was hard, you saw each other when you could and facetimed every night even if it was just for a few minutes. It was truly the best of a shitty situation and he already invited you home to St.Louis when you were done school and his season was over. Thinking back, that was just as much his moms as idea as it was his to have you there. You had alright brought the idea up to your mom about inviting Matthew’s family up at some point.

Everything was perfect, except you haven’t exactly told Mitch yet. Yeah, you had told your parents but it had slipped your mind to mention it to your brother that you were dating his old teammate. You had begged your mom to tell him for you but she wouldn't budge. That meant that this had to be settled today.

You were fiddling with your hair in the mirror as your phone started to ring. Picking it up without looking you barked that you’d be down in a minute. You pawed at your skin, pulling near your eye because your makeup just didn’t look right for some reason. You were pulled out of your self-conscious daze when you heard who was on the call.

“Geez babe, I didn’t think you missed me that much” Matthew chuckled from the other end of the line and your shoulders loosened.

“I’m sorry bubs, I thought you were Mitch.” Your tone is much softer than before.

“If I had a dollar for everytime I heard that in the OHL…” He says with a hearty chuckle.

“Matthew!” you screech at your boyfriend.

“I’m kidding, princess relax. I assume you’re telling him today.” His voice softened.

“Yeah, I know I’m nervous for nothing but it’s still a weird conversation to have. I-” Before you could finish you had another call coming through. This time it actually was your brother.

“He’s here I gotta go. I’ll call you later bubs.”

“Bye Princess, let me know how it goes.” you quickly transfer over to the other call and try your aggressive ‘i’ll be down in a minute’ again.

“No need to be hostel mini, but you better hurry up, I need to feed Auston on schedule or he gets cranky.” You could hear the other forward protest from the passenger seat and it just made you laugh.

When you came back from Calgary Auston reached out to you and asked to get coffee so he could apologize for how he was acting.

You stood in the same spot in the same coffee shop down the road from your apartment that you had reunited with Matthew in just a short while ago. This time was different though, this time you wished it was 7am and you could soon be running home to Emily and Nick. This wasn’t about you though, this was for Mitch. You and Auston both mean alot to him and to see you hate was really affecting him, He was more aggressive and you weren’t seeing him as much as usual due to him always being with his teammate. So when Auston reached out to reconcile you knew you had to hear him out.

“Order for Y/N!” You walk up and grab the two coffees before muttering a quick ‘thank you to the barista’ before returning to the corner both where a nervous Auston waits.

“I really could’ve paid for those mini.” He protests with a tight frown.

“I used Mitch’s card so let's consider a gift for both of us.” You flash him a soft smile to let him know he’s allowed to relax. Neither of you speak for the first few minutes and you begin to think this was a bad idea. As you go to talk, Auston cuts you off and you happily stop to let him say his piece.

“So after a lot of consideration, I have come to the conclusion that I might have totally been way out of line in how I was acting.” A grin breaks over both your faces.

“Really? What made you figure that out?” Your sass makes the two of you laugh even harder.

“In all seriousness, Y/n, I didn’t mean any harm to you or Chucky. I was just worried about you.” You could tell he was sincere in his words and you knew you couldn't stay mad at him. The rest of the afternoon with Aus was actually really nice as you caught up on team drama and sent a million annoying snapchats to everyone you knew. It was nice to have your second brother back. No matter how stupid he was, you could never stay mad at him.

You threw yourself into Mitch’s backseat and quickly wrapped your arms around the seat and draped them over Austons chest as you and Mitch argued how long it always takes you to get your shit together. The rest of the ride was pretty smooth, not too much bickering and not too much traffic. Soon the three of you were sitting in a neon 50’s themed diner just outside the city close to Vaughan Mills. It wasn’t anything fancy but they had the best onion rings and the right amount of charm. You guys only came here for special occasions so you brother was patiently waiting for whatever news you had to spill to him. You were on the fence on if auston should stay for the news but decided it was best if he was a buffer between you and Mitch. The waitress had come and gone getting our order so it felt like the perfect time to bite the bullet.

“So Mitch… I have something to tell you. And before you say anything, I’m almost twenty and I’ve thought about the repercussions of this decision a lot but I think I’m ready for this kind of commitment…” Your brother's nostrils flare slightly as you speak and you brace yourself for impact.

“If you’re telling me what I think you are then I’m going to kill him!” His voice rough but not yet at full anger.

“It’s just dating Mitch, you’re being dramatic!” you bite back as the waitress comes over with your food. You all pause and aid her a quick thank you before the conversation continues. Auston sits patiently slowly eating his fries as he watches the two of you.

“Wait you’re not pregnant?” Before you know it the tension lifts off the table and Auston chokes on the food he’s eating as a laugh escapes his lips.

“No Mitchell! I am not pregnant! Why would you even ask that?” You flare, making Austin laugh harder.

“I don’t know! Just how you phrased your announcement and you brought me to the diner. You and Chucky have been together for a bit so it's possible!”

“You knew about me and Matthew?” you say surprised.

“Yeah Auston told me.” You quickly turned to the man shriveled up in the corner laughing nervously. “Sorry mini!” Auston pipes up nervously.

“You knew this lunch was to tell Mitch about my relationship and you already told him!?”

“In Auston’s defense, you should’ve told me before he had the chance to tell me.”

Nodding his head in agreement, Auston continues after Mitch “I told him in Calgary because you called Matthew your boyfriends so I just assumed he knew.”

“Fine, fine I’ll admit it took me a while to tell you. Are you okay with it though?” You ask softly, scared to meet your brother's gaze.

“Of course I do y/n. You need someone just as frantic as you are.”

#Matthew Tkachuk #calgary flames #mitch marner #matthew tkachuk imagine #nhl #nhl imagine #calgary flames imagine #fanfic

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panelphysiciantorontofirm · 3 years ago

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I have completed my Immigration Medical what are the next steps?

When I completed my Immigration Medical Treatment, I had one goal for myself and that was to become a permanent resident. I completed my treatment and now I live as a permanent resident in Calgary, Alberta. What are the next steps?

When you complete your treatment as an eligible immigrant, you will complete an application for a Canadian immigration certificate. To be categorized as a good immigrant, you must successfully complete your Immigration Medical assessment.

I have completed my Immigration Medical Treatment, what are the next steps? As an eligible immigrant, you will now go through the health assessment process. The purpose of this assessment is to determine if you and your family are healthy enough to become citizens of Canada. If you are healthy enough, you are eligible to become a permanent resident. Your next step is to enroll in an approved Immigration Medical Program.

As an eligible immigrant, you will sign an application form. Once this form has been submitted to the government agency in which you applied to obtain your Immigration Status, your application will be further examined. The panel physician services in Canada will be assigned to examine your application and provide any required information.

The panel physician services in Canada will verify the information you provided on your application form and if it is accurate, the results will be used to determine if you meet the immigration medical eligibility requirements, panelphysiciantoronto.ca.

Once you have met the eligibility requirements, you will be assigned an immigration medical advisor who will assist you with the application process. You can call the advisor or visit the website for more information.

Once assigned, you will work closely with the physician services in Canada to complete all necessary documentation and requirements. These documents include a completed application, passport if applicable, and any other needed pre-requisite documents.

You will also need to schedule appointments for various tests and doctor visits. These appointments are necessary for the immigration services to determine whether or not you are eligible for admission. Once all documentation is submitted, your application will be reviewed.

If your application is approved, your physician services in Canada will assign an immigration medical advisor to handle your case. Your advisor will advise you of all necessary appointments, as well as any additional documentation you may need.

If your advisor determines that you are eligible for admission, the approval will be published in your file. You will then become eligible to apply for immigration.

The last step involved in becoming approved for admission into the United States is to appear at your immigration hearing. This hearing will be held in the Federal courtroom in your area. It will involve a consultation with a judge who will review your application.

If your application is approved you will be permitted to become legally eligible to live and work in the United States. The physician services in Canada will continue to handle your case until you have become legally settled in the United States.

As was stated previously, once your application is approved you will be able to begin the procedures of gaining citizenship. When this occurs you will be considered an American citizen by virtue of your status as an immigrant.

In order to assist you further in achieving this goal, many physician services in Canada will offer free seminars teaching immigrants how to become citizens. If you are unable to attend one of these seminars, but are interested in achieving citizenship through the aid of a physician, it is recommended that you utilize their services.

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atlanticcanada · 4 years ago

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WestJet to refund some passengers whose flights were cancelled because of COVID-19

WestJet says it will begin providing some refunds to passengers who had their WestJet and Swoop flights cancelled by the airlines as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The company says the refunds --the first offered by Canadian airlines -- will be in the original form of payment rather than a credit for future flights as it had been previously offering.

The refunds won't apply to those who cancelled their own flights or who purchased non-refundable basic fares.

WestJet said the refunds only apply to flights it cancelled because it is focusing on reinstating the practice "in line with its regulatory tariff and booking conditions that were in place pre-COVID."

It added that it has never offered the ability to refund the original form of payment for basic fares.

The Calgary-based company said it will begin on Nov. 2 to contact eligible passengers, starting with those whose flights were cancelled at the onset of the pandemic last spring.

"We are an airline that has built its reputation on putting people first," said Ed Sims, WestJet president and CEO.

"We have heard loud and clear from the travelling public that in this COVID world they are looking for reassurance on two fronts: the safest possible travel environment; and refunds."

It asks passengers not to contact the company to avoid overloading its contact centre.

Refunds are expected to take six to nine months.

WestJet Vacations guests are to continue following the process it already established.

The company said it would not raise fares to pay for the refunds.

"It is our intention to remove barriers to travel, not create further affordability challenges for hard-pressed travellers," it said on its website.

WestJet had started to bleed money from advance ticket purchases even before Wednesday's announcement.

Of the nearly 16,300 guests who requested chargebacks from their credit card issuers between March and Aug. 19, only 11 per cent were denied, according to an affidavit WestJet regulatory affairs director Lorne Mackenzie filed to the Federal Court in August.

Within the same period, however, 39 per cent of chargeback requests on WestJet Vacations trips were denied.

The refund change comes days after opposition parties demanded the federal government ensure that passengers receive refunds as a condition of any airline bailouts.

Canadian airlines have seen their revenues crater because of a collapse in global travel, with passenger numbers in Canada down 90 per cent year over year in July and little improvement since.

WestJet said it has faced a 95-per-cent drop in demand that forced it to park more than 140 of its 181 aircraft and lay off more than 4,000 employees.

Airline requests for financial assistance from Ottawa have failed to materialize in funding while the United States and some European countries have offered carriers billions in financial aid, with strings attached including partial government ownership and emissions reduction commitments.

"Despite the lack of sector-specific support from the government, this now puts us in line with refund requirements in every other jurisdiction we operate, particularly the U.S., U.K. and EU," WestJet added.

Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc left the door open to a bailout, including the purchase of airline shares by Ottawa, in an interview with CTV's Question Period on Sunday.

LeBlanc said Canadians expect stringent conditions on any federal airline funding, such as addressing the issue of travel vouchers.

Passenger rights advocate Gabor Lukacs said the six to nine months WestJet estimates it will take to process refund requests is excessive, calling it "ridiculous" and a "non-starter."

He also said the refund exclusions violate consumer rights.

"It doesn't matter whether it was a business class elite fare or a basic fare, they have to refund it equally," Lukacs said, citing provincial consumer protection legislation and Alberta's Internet Sales Contract Regulation.

Certification hearings on a class action against WestJet, Air Canada and Transat A.T. are to begin in Federal Court on Nov. 2, the same day WestJet's policy goes into effect.

-- With files from Christopher Reynolds in Ottawa.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2020.

from CTV News - Atlantic https://ift.tt/2Hgf9gu

#new brunswick #prince edward island #nova scotia #news #politics #canada #CTVAtlantic

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blaugreen · 5 years ago

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In "High School," Tegan and Sara Quin reflect on coming out and hitting it big

Washington Post book review of High School

By Jancee Dunn September 17 at 4:37 PM

“If you enjoyed high school," the writer Jenny Lawson once wrote, "you were probably a psychopath or a cheerleader. Or possibly both."

All others should find plenty of solace in "High School," a coming-of-age memoir from Canadian musicians, twin sisters and LGBTQ icons Tegan and Sara Quin. A sort of anti-yearbook, it's not likely to make anyone nostalgic for their teen years.

Written by the sisters in alternating chapters, the book is divided into three sections -- Grade 10, Grade 11 and Grade 12 -- and details their teenage years and discovery of rave and grunge in the mid-90s.

Their upbringing in the suburbs of northeast Calgary, where temperatures can hit minus-20 degrees in winter, was fairly drab. Born in 1980 to childhood sweethearts who split when the sisters were in first grade, the girls lived mostly with their mom, Sonia, a plucky activist and mental health worker who worked long shifts. This meant, as Tegan puts it, that "Sara and I were free to kick the,' well, you know,' out of each other without a referee."

In 1990, Sonia and the girls move in with Bruce, a handsome, Camaro-driving hockey-playing construction manager who becomes a kind of stepfather and emerges in the book as a caring, endearingly complicated hero.

The Quins are skilled writers with an eye for detail. Here's Sara describing the scene as Bruce ferries them to school in his pickup truck: "The silver wrappers from the Wendy's burgers he ate daily were balled up near the pedals on the floor. The dashboard and seats were dusted with grit from the construction sites he managed, and the whole car smelled of onions and his musky cologne.î

Both women deftly capture the messy complexities of being twins. As acrimonious as their relationship could be, there was also an inexorable need. "We fought, mercilessly, for time alone," Tegan writes, "but I still felt a primal fear of being apart from her." They discover acid (they very matter-of-factly did a ton of drugs). They hit the mall. They brawl over whose turn it is to use the computer as the dial-up modem sputters to life, one of many amusing '90s-era details.

And both begin to realize, even if they can’t yet put it into words, that they are attracted to girls. Tegan attempts to date a guy named Spencer. ("Why doesn’t this feel right?" she keeps asking herself.) Meanwhile, Sara writes secret letters to her crushes. (”It was still a shock to feel desire for girls, addictive thoughts that stole hours of my time at school and in bed before I fell asleep.")

When she finally kisses her friend Naomi, she feels so much inner turmoil that she runs to the bathroom to throw up, terrified of revealing her sexuality in a place, and era, that isn’t particularly queer-friendly.

Music becomes their salvation. Sara discovers Smashing Pumpkins and howls along to the lyrics, imagining that a crowd, replete with her junior high bullies, is watching her. In 10th grade, the sisters unearth a guitar that Bruce has stashed under the stairs. They steal off to teach themselves to play (Tegan studying music videos of Courtney Love and mimicking how she holds her hands). "Slowly, I was able to start holding power chords that didn't sound half bad," she writes.

Eventually, Sara starts singing along, and writes their very first song, "Tegan Didn’t Go to School Today." Their fate is sealed when their mom buys them an electric guitar on their 16th birthday.

In 12th grade, they enter a contest called Garage Warz. The prize is gigs and studio time. "If we don't win tonight, our mom is going to make us go to college," Tegan announces to the judges. They win. Their fans know what followed: a million albums sold, a Grammy nomination, their emergence as outspoken advocates for LGBTQ rights.

By the book's end, the reader is nearly as eager to leave high school as they are. This is not a knock. They write so viscerally about the mundaneness and despair and occasional highs, chemical and otherwise, of being a teen that it revived, for me, some long-buried memories I had hoped to leave behind forever.

"High School" has the immediacy and intimacy of a diary, but it also suffers from the stream-of-consciousness verbosity of the form: a litany of drugs, crushes on girls, raucous parties at the pot-smoke-clouded house of an older dude named Rick.

And while the book adeptly captures the searing pain of being a teenager, the sisters don't offer any insight as adults. Why did they do so many drugs, for instance? "Teenage boredom" and “Calgary winters” seem like reasonable explanations, but it would have been enlightening to hear it from them.

The most powerful moment in "High School" comes as they confront their sexuality. Sara writes movingly of realizing that she is gay. In a flood of tears after her first girlfriend leaves her, she stands at her bedroom window and looks at the moon. I’m gay, she thinks for the first time. "From that night forward, I carried the words in my mouth," she writes, “tempted to tell everyone and no one."

"High School" reminds us that even one compassionate adult can have an outsize effect on a teen struggling with their sexuality. When a boy in Sara’s sex education class asserts that only gay people get AIDS, she flees the class, sobbing, and blindly runs to her sympathetic drama teacher, Mr. Russel, who immediately takes charge. Afterward, when she thanks him, she writes, "I found that I couldn’t quite meet his eyes. I wanted to tell him that I knew he was gay, and that I probably was, too. But I couldn’t.”

His instinctive rush to protect her is one of the book’s most dramatic scenes. It’s been nearly a quarter-century since then. Maybe Mr. Russel doesn’t even remember his act of kindness that day. But Sara does.

#tegan and sara #sara quin #tegan quin #high school #book review #high school review #trq #skq #tns

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tinnitus21 · 25 days ago

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Understanding Hyperacusis: Causes, Treatment, and Coping Strategies

Hearing aids can be customized to suit different types of hearing loss and are available in various styles, including behind-the-ear (BTE), in-the-ear (ITE), and completely-in-the-canal (CIC). Modern hearing aids often feature advanced technology, such as noise reduction, Bluetooth connectivity, and rechargeable batteries, to enhance sound quality and user experience.

#hearing aids #hearing aids calgary #hearing health

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project-125 · 9 months ago

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If you're experiencing any of the symptoms of hearing loss, schedule a talk with Tinnitus & Hearing Health Calgary. We can help. CALL 587.316.9406 TODAY

#hearing aids calgary #tinnitus treatment #hearing aids

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burnxngslash · 5 years ago

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Misc Muses

Name: Nero

Age: 17-20

Origin: Devil may cry 4

Icons: Yes

Icons credit: Myself

About: Nero is one of the main protagonists of the Devil May Cry series. He first appeared as a playable character in Devil May Cry 4, and later in Devil May Cry 5. He is the son of Vergil who is raised in Fortuna and serves as a Holy Knight in the Order of the Sword, a religious group that worships Sparda and fights to protect the world from demons.In Devil May Cry 4, however, he is forced to fight against the Order after encountering Dante and uncovering a conspiracy to conquer the world using The Savior. In Devil May Cry 5, Nero is a more seasoned demon hunter that has since changed his operation to being a mobile Devil May Cry branch. He finds himself fending off a demonic invasion as he chases a mysterious figure (later revealed to be his own biological father Vergil at the end) that severed the Devil Bringer.

Note: For storylines outside of DMC I will portray him post DMC5 unless we’ve discussed something.

Name: Arthur Pendragon

Age: 30′s (Appears mid teens)

Origin: Fate/Prototype

Class: Saber

Icons: Yes

Icons credit: Myself

About: Saber's True Name is Arthur Pendragon, otherwise known better as King Arthur. Approving of the virtuous and correcting atrocities. A hero who is like a knight in shining armor that anyone would dream about as a child. Also called the wielder of the holy sword of the planet. His true identity is that of the “King of Knights” of a parallel universe, who reached this world by chasing after some sort of existence.

Name: Arthur Pendragon

Age: Eternally youthful

Origin: Fate/Prototype

Class: Archer

Icons: Yes

Icons credit: Myself

Note: I will portray him a little more tamed than the way he’s portrayed in UBW. Whilst he might still seem tyrannical, in his mind he is doing the world justice because that’s just how much he loves the world which is, of course, his garden.

Name: Frank Morrison

Age: 19

Origin: Dead by daylight

Icons: No

Icons credit: n/a

About: Frank Morrison was nineteen and had little to show for it. He'd stopped attending school after being kicked out of the basketball team for shoving a referee into the stands. Yet Frank was a man of potential, who could light up a room despite his bleak childhood. At six years old, he'd been taken away from Calgary to start a circuit of foster homes. No matter how many times he'd lashed out, threw tantrums and got into fights, they'd kept moving him to new, unfamiliar houses. His last move had been three years prior when his last foster dad, Clive Andrews, had picked him up from the adoption centre. They'd been on the road for seven hours before reaching a small bungalow in Ormond. It would be the longest time they'd spend together.

Clive was too busy trading cheques from Family Services for drinks at the bar.Ormond was a small, stale place; a remote town of six thousand inhabitants where grey winters drag on for most of the year. Frank did everything he could to get into another adoptive family, but he changed his mind when he caught the attention of Julie, a beautiful girl who was convinced that she deserved better than a life in Ormond, and Frank, as an outsider, was her ticket out. Frank attended the parties she threw where everyone was younger than him and easily impressed, which he liked. He met the impulsive Joey, who liked to show off, and the shy, naïve Susie, who was Julie's best friend.They would hang out at an abandoned lodge up Mount Ormond. Their time together was the perfect break from the boring conformity of their small, insignificant everyday lives. Frank saw it as an opportunity to shape their lack of experience into something powerful. He lined up nights of debauchery and rampage, testing their limits.

Bullying , vandalism, and theft were essentially their weekend plans. It came to a point where they would do anything he asked. Nothing was off-limits when they put their masks on. One evening, Frank dared Joey to vandalise the store that had recently fired him. They snuck inside easily enough, as the building was supposed to be empty after closing hours. But a cleaner who was still there grabbed Julie as soon as she came near. Hearing her stifled cries, a dark impulse took over Frank. He rushed to her aid, knife in hand, and without hesitating, planted the blade into the cleaner's back.As the group stared at Frank in shock, he ordered them to finish the job. Joey clenched his jaw, grabbed the knife, and stabbed the bleeding man in the ribs. Susie didn't want to do it. Frank shouted at her; they had to finish what they'd started. Julie closed her eyes and slid the knife into the man's chest. She handed the wet blade to Susie: they were all in this together now.

Susie stared at Julie in disbelief as Frank grabbed her trembling hands and inserted the knife deep into the man's throat. Frank told them to move fast; they mopped the blood off the floor, stashed the body in the trunk of Joey's car, and drove up Mount Ormond.All four were digging in the muddy snow to dispose of the body when Frank spotted something moving through the woods. He grabbed his knife and broke from the group to check it out. The Fog thickened around Frank, becoming so dense that he soon could no longer see ahead. He retraced his steps and stumbled onto an ominous trail. He followed the eerie path, as if called by the darkness. Julie, Susie, and Joey finished digging, but Frank was nowhere to be seen. Julie spotted his muddy footsteps in the snow and the three of them followed the trail, which took them deeper into the woods. When Julie, Susie, and Joey did not return home that night, their parents thought they'd run away with Frank. Each family came up with a different theory. The mood in the town changed, however, when a body was found by an abandoned lodge up Mount Ormond.

Name: Gohan Son

Age: 17-30s

Origin: Dragonball Z

Icons: No

Icons credit: n/a

About: Son Gohan is the elder son of the series' primary protagonist Goku and his wife Chi-Chi, the older brother of Goten, the husband of Videl and father to Pan. He is named after Goku's adoptive grandfather, Gohan.Unlike his father, Gohan lacks a passion for fighting (although, he does possess a strong power within him) and prefers to do so only when his loved ones are threatened. Nevertheless, Gohan fights alongside the Dragon Team in the defense of Earth for much of his life.

Name: Trunks Brief

Age: 17-40s

Origin: Dragonball Z

Icons: Yes

Icons credit: A friend of mine (proper credit later bruh)

About: Future Trunks is the Saiyan and Earthling hybrid son of Future Vegeta and Future Bulma from an alternate future. By the time Present Trunks was born, the timeline had been altered by Future Trunks' and Cell's trips to the past. Therefore, the two Trunks had completely different lives (as opposed to those who lived before the Time Machines arrived, they lived exactly the same lives as their counterparts until the point at which the two timelines diverge: three years before the androids arrived).

Well-mannered, serious and very cautious, Trunks hails from an alternate timeline in which Future Androids 17 and 18 murdered the Dragon Team and proceeded to create apocalyptic hell on Earth. Trunks is trained by Future Gohan as a teenager and become a gifted fighter, swordsman and a Super Saiyan; traits that aid him greatly in the battle against the Androids after traveling back in time in order to save his own future.

Years later, Future Trunks would return in Dragon Ball Super, this time fighting against a mysterious entity referred to as Goku Black (and later his partner-in-crime Future Zamasu) wreaking havoc in the future. In the end, Trunks (with the help of Goku and Vegeta) neutralizes the threat, though unfortunately, Fused Zamasu not only survives the ordeal, but his essence began to merge with the universe itself, to the point that Future Zeno had to erase the future timeline completely. Trunks himself is one of the three survivors and is currently living in another future timeline where another Future Trunks exists - created in the anime by Whis warning Future Beerus ahead of time to eliminate the soon-to-be rogue Supreme Kai, while in the manga Trunks and Mai travel to their timeline's past and prevent Future Shin's death with the blessing of Beerus as it will save his counterpart, thus eliminating the possibility of the Project Zero Mortals.

Name: Peter Parker

Age: Mid-late 20′s

Origin: Marvel Spider-man

Icons: Yes

Icons credit: Myself

About: While attending a public exhibition demonstrating the safe handling of nuclear laboratory waste materials, sponsored by the General Techtronics Corporation, the 15-year-old Peter Parker was bitten on the hand by a spider that had been irradiated by a particle accelerator used in the demonstration. Unbeknownst to him, after the spider fell from his hand, it bit a girl, Cindy Moon on the ankle before it died from the radiation. Making his way home afterwards, Peter was almost hit by a car; when Peter jumped out of the way, Peter discovered he had somehow gained incredible strength, agility, and the ability to cling to walls, spider-like traits that he immediately associated with the spider bite.

Note: I roleplay as Peter within Insomniac’s Spider-man canon. But always willing to world hop a great type of crossover/au.

Name: Vincent Phantomhive

Age: 20-30s

Origin: Kuroshitsuji / Black Butler

Icons: Yes

Icons credit: Myself

About: Vincent was the head of the Phantomhive household and acted as Queen Victoria's Watchdog. As a young man, Vincent attended Weston College with Alexis Leon Midford and Diedrich. He was the prefect of the Sapphire Owl dormitory. Vincent was idly reading a book on the lawn, while neglecting the preparations for the annual cricket tournament on June 4th, when he was approached by an exasperated Diedrich. Vincent made a snide remark that "everything German is pretty tough to handle," fueling Diedrich's anger. Diedrich swung his cricket bat, and missed Vincent, hitting his book instead. He complained that he was forced to handle all the preparations himself, and commented that since the leader is representative of the pack, the rest in Blue House must be awful as well. Provoked, Vincent proposed a contest: whichever dorm is the winner of the tournament will have the loser perform a free request for him. Later, Vincent led his house to their only triumph in the annual cricket tournament—this astounding event was dubbed as the "Miracle of the Sapphires." Afterward, at the Swan Gazebo, Diedrich accepted his loss to Vincent and asserted that he will carry out Vincent's one request. Vincent then told him to become his fag, much to Diedrich's alarm as they are from separate dorms; however, Vincent stated that he must keep his promise regardless and that whenever he is to call him, Diedrich must come without question. He added that their affiliation will continue past graduation and drifted on a boat away from Diedrich (though he was pursued by him), relishing in his success at finally attaining a "loyal German dog."

Note: Should I roleplay with anyone within kuro’s present canon I will simply use an au in which Vincent is still alive. The events that transpire still happens, he’s merely saved last minute and was kept away from London but relocated into Italy where he becomes the head of a mafia group that keeps the city safe from the shadows. Vincent, of course, is told that he is the only survivor, at the time of the murder the group that found him searched for his wife and child(keeping it spoiler safe just in case.) but none were found.

Name: Byleth

Age: 19

Origin: Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Icons: Yes

Icons credit: Myself

About: Born to Jeralt and his wife on the 20th of the Horsebow Moon 1159, Byleth lost their mother shortly after their birth. She was buried at Garreg Mach Monastery. Some time after her death, Jeralt left the Knights of Seiros, taking his newborn child with him to travel Fódlan, becoming a mercenary in the process and starting his own mercenary company.

During Byleth's childhood, Jeralt shared little information about the world, the Church of Seiros and especially his past. Byleth either forgot or never learned their true birthdate, Jeralt claiming they were born years after the fire to a woman who supposedly died of illness. Jeralt trained Byleth in combat, eventually joining his band of mercenaries and gaining a fearsome reputation for their unflinching courage in battle. They would soon be known as the "Ashen Demon" as a result.

Name: Cabba

Age: 19+

Origin: Dragon Ball Super

Icons: Yes

Icons credit: @startnone

About: Cabba is a Saiyan born in Universe 6 on Planet Sadala. Cabba was trained by Renso, and the latter was his captain. At some point in the past, Cabba fought alongside Frost to stop space pirates on the planet Mayonnai, a group Frost is the leader of in secret.

Name: Victor Frankenstein

Age: 25

Origin: Code Realize

Icons: Yes

Icons credit: me

About: Victor Frankenstein is a researcher who once had ties to the British Government. Though his knowledge and intelligence are unrivaled, he is genuinely humble and self-deprecating. In addition to being very sociable, he is easily swayed by others. After an unfortunate series of events, he is now a wanted criminal.

#tags tbd #musings

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ontarionewdemocrats-blog · 6 years ago

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A dreamed a dream in days gone by... a vision of your important news for May 7th, 2019

Ford’s plan to eliminate teaching jobs gets failing grade in new poll https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/2019/05/06/fords-plan-to-eliminate-teaching-jobs-gets-a-failing-grade-in-new-poll.html

Students say there’s a gap between their priorities and those of Ford government https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/2019/05/06/students-say-theres-a-gap-between-their-priorities-and-those-of-ford-government.html

Ontario to expand use of mobile crisis units to help first responders https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-mental-health-christine-elliott-1.5124230

Lyme Disease risk areas are up from last year: Public Health Ontario https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/lyme-disease-risk-areas-ontario-up-2019-1.5124944

Ontario municipalities unite over opposition to public health cuts https://www.thestar.com/ipolitics/provincial/2019/05/06/ontario-municipalities-unite-in-opposition-to-public-health-cuts.html

John Tory, Doug Ford spar over public health cuts https://globalnews.ca/news/5247739/john-tory-doug-ford-public-health/

Toronto mayor declares war on Ford government’s ‘ill-advised budget cutbacks’ https://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2019/05/06/toronto-mayor-declares-war-on-ford-governments-ill-advised-budget-cutbacks.html

Tory slams Ford over health, child-care cuts amid pricey plan to expand booze sales https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/tory-slams-ford-over-health-child-care-cuts-amid-pricey-plan-to-expand-booze-sales-1.5124689

Children with disabilities ignored by province, parents say https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/2019/05/06/children-with-disabilities-ignored-by-province-parents-say.html

Kids in poorer areas of Ontario face greater risk of getting hit by cars, study suggests https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-kids-cars-study-1.5124817

Alberta and Ontario premiers’ campus free-speech policies a ‘dog-whistle blow’ for the right: expert https://www.thestar.com/calgary/2019/05/06/alberta-and-ontario-premiers-campus-free-speech-policies-a-dog-whistle-blow-for-the-right-expert.html

Todd Smith defends secrecy about India visit https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/2019/05/06/todd-smith-defends-secrecy-about-india-visit.html

Ontario trade mission to India flies under the radar https://torontosun.com/news/provincial/ontario-trade-mission-to-india-flies-under-the-radar

Ontario hears from mining executives about electricity prices https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/mining-energy-prices-consultation-1.5124293

Rental housing providers say provincial plans to ‘fast track’ building could help ease apartment shortage https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2019/05/03/rental-housing-providers-say-provincial-plans-to-fast-track-building-could-help-ease-apartment-shortage.html

Toronto-area politicians rally against Ford’s housing-supply plan https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/toronto/article-toronto-area-politicians-rally-against-fords-housing-supply-plan/

Councillors warn developers will hijack city planning process under reinstated OMB https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/councillors-warn-developers-will-hijack-city-planning-process-under-reinstated-omb-1.4410821

Ontario tree-planting program dodges axe for a year https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/2019/05/06/ontario-tree-planting-program-dodges-axe-for-a-year.html

Tree nursery to destroy millions of trees due to Ontario cutbacks https://torontosun.com/news/provincial/tree-nursery-to-destroy-millions-of-trees-due-to-ontario-cutbacks

Growers hung out to dry after tree-planting program cut https://www.timminspress.com/news/local-news/growers-hung-out-to-dry-after-tree-planting-program-cut?fbclid=IwAR1Mkta7SGEg59RndyVaSlLnl6wDWPKMu253Pcjp_Zy9k-LPLipQSprHBek

Ontario and Quebec opt out of alert system test, citing concerns for flood victims https://globalnews.ca/news/5244902/ontario-and-quebec-opt-out-of-alert-system-test-citing-concerns-for-flood-victims/

Fare changes will make it more expensive to get to work, UP Express riders say https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/up-express-commuters-changes-1.5124887

Lawyers and doctors join forces to battle legal aid cuts for refugees, immigrants https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2019/05/06/lawyers-and-doctors-join-forces-to-battle-legal-aid-cuts-for-refugees-immigrants.html

LFP LONGFORM: Inside Ontario’s landmark justice-system overhaul https://lfpress.com/news/local-news/lfp-longform-inside-ontarios-landmark-justice-system-overhaul

Families who lost loved ones at Barton jail meet with minister to demand change https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/families-who-lost-loved-ones-at-barton-jail-meet-with-minster-to-demand-change-1.5124685

Hamilton’s Red Hill Valley Parkway repave will push 35,000 vehicles a day onto local streets https://www.thespec.com/news-story/9340713-hamilton-s-red-hill-valley-parkway-repave-will-push-35-000-vehicles-a-day-onto-local-streets/

Hamilton’s sheet metal workers walked off the job Monday https://www.thespec.com/news-story/9340289-hamilton-s-sheet-metal-workers-walked-off-the-job-monday/

‘He’s a very good kid’: York high school student was victim of fatal shooting at Whitchurch-Stouffville party https://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2019/05/06/york-high-school-student-was-victim-of-fatal-shooting-at-whitchurch-stouffville-party.html

7 public health units to ‘work together’ to adapt to climate change in northern Ontario https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/health-units-climate-change-1.5123891

Rickford not finished with northwest gas prices despite Competition Bureau findings https://www.kenoradailyminerandnews.com/news/local-news/rickford-not-finished-with-northwest-gas-prices-despite-competition-bureau-findings

‘The system is broken,’ Ontario First Nations firefighters say of fire protection in First Nations communities https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/ontario-native-firefighters-ki-fire-1.5124368

5-alarm fire breaks out at York Memorial Collegiate Institute overnight https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/york-memorial-high-school-fire-1.5124858

Doug Ford offers booze, speed and dangerous cuts – is that what Ontarians want? https://www.thestar.com/opinion/star-columnists/2019/05/06/booze-speed-and-dangerous-cuts-is-this-what-ontarians-want.html

Cutting research into problem gambling is not an adult move https://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2019/05/07/cutting-research-into-problem-gambling-is-not-an-adult-move.html

Doug Ford channels his inner Don Cherry on global warming and the Stanley Cup playoffs https://www.thestar.com/politics/political-opinion/2019/05/06/doug-ford-channels-his-inner-don-cherry-on-global-warming-and-the-stanley-cup-playoffs.html

Ontario is finally regulating the terms financial planner and financial adviser, to the benefit of everyone https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-ontario-is-finally-regulating-the-terms-financial-planner-and/

Christie Blatchford: On many unprotected First Nations, fire safety means nothing more than stand back https://nationalpost.com/opinion/christie-blatchford-on-many-unprotected-first-nations-fire-safety-means-nothing-more-than-stand-back

Andrew Coyne: Carbon tax ruling a victory for the planet, federalism and common sense https://nationalpost.com/opinion/andrew-coyne-carbon-tax-ruling-a-victory-for-the-planet-federalism-and-common-sense?video_autoplay=true

Lt.-Gov. Dowdeswell using her bully pulpit to better society https://www.thestar.com/opinion/star-columnists/2019/05/05/lt-gov-dowdeswell-using-her-bully-pulpit-to-better-society.html

Populism and History Revisited http://ontarionewswatch.com/onw-news.html?id=1278

#Ontario #Ontario politics #Canadian Politics #NDP #new democratic party

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ultimatesunset · 6 years ago

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Hey!

I hope that things are well on your end of the internet. Over here…

…well, where is here?

At the end of January I had a great opportunity in Calgary, so we decided to make the move back to Canada. From Chicago, to Calgary, in arguably one of the coldest winters in history.

With two screaming cats bemoaning how cramped their carrier quarters were. And honestly, who can blame them.

Although I’m excited to be starting a new chapter of my life working at a fantastic hearing aid clinic, I have a lot of mixed feelings about leaving Chicago. We made a lot of fast friends there, and found a community that we really clicked with. Leaving was tougher than I expected it to be. While I was in Chicago, I bought a small, funky piano at a Mt. Sinai Thrift Store for $30. It’s SUCH a gem! The resonator lay fairly low, so the height of the upright piano was only 3 feet, and it had such a warm, rounded sound. I recorded my new single “Runaway” on it, as well as several other songs from my upcoming album “Character Witness”. But once my time with those 88 keys ran its course, my friends Alec and Emily were kind enough to adopt it. I’m sure they’ll both make some beautiful music with it.

Back to “Runaway”. It’s a song about leaving. About having to make the move. Stepping forward in life.

The album is mostly from the perspective of other people, but I let myself through a bit more on it. The tenor sax was pulled out of the air by Fallon McDermott, my bandmate from Chicago’s Impulsive Hearts, a band I had the privilege of playing bass in. They also gave me free range in the studio, bless their…impulsive hearts.

Anyways, I gotta go. Thanks for reading, thanks for listening. It’s on bandcamp& all those streaming platforms. If you like the song, please pass it along or put it in a playlist. If you don’t dig it, don’t worry! I’ve got some fun tunes down the line.

love ya, Doug Hoyer

https://doughoyer.bandcamp.com/track/runaway

#doug hoyer #runaway #newsingle #newsong #piano #piano ballad #tenor sax #po33ko

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megbox · 6 years ago

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2018 Year In Review

Previous Posts: (2017) (2016) (2015) (2014) (2013) (2012) (2011)

2018 has not been a banner year for self care. It has not been a banner year for much of anything, to be honest. This year in review will be much less colourful and exciting than they traditionally tend to be. It has been a year of hard work, stress, and feeling the pressure of the less-fun parts of adulthood creeping up on me. It has been really hard, to be totally honest. I have spent the majority of the year in a deep state of exhaustion and distress. There are positives within it all, though. Big positives, such as:

I went on my longest trip ever away from home.

I have developed so much in the professional sense and have fallen so deeply in love with social work and my future career path.

I have made new friends who reflect these changing influences in my life, and the enduring friendships that have survived all of these years continue to strengthen and deepen as time goes on.

January:

Tell me - why does January always suck? 2018 began with an opening double shift on New Year’s Day, which I feel is strongly symbolic of the year as a whole because you have an exhausted Megan struggling to responsibly balance my professional responsibilities, self-care, and partying. On January 3rd, Alex and I booked our flights to Asia and in doing so, solidified that we were going through with a plan made drunkenly over the table last summer at a karaoke bar.

I did get to spend an awesome ski weekend with Alesta, Sydney x 2, and Shelby. It was especially nice because this particular group of people had never spent time all together - we were just united by being a group of girls who love to ski. We hit Lake Louise on Saturday, stayed overnight at a hostel in Banff, and Alesta and I hit Sunshine on Sunday. In Banff, we got a free jug of sangria because we are cute girls. We went to High Rollers and Sydney was drinking IPAs and porters like a pro. I went alone (like... what? Who am I? How drunk was I?) to Dancing Sasquatch after and made friends with some Nova Scotians in line. One of them paid for my cover and bought me not one but two of those infamous Time Machine drinks and extra bonus - Alesta and I got FREE lift passes at Sunshine.

At the end of the month, my mental health took a sharp nosedive into oblivion and I don’t even really know why. I started experiencing a violent resurgence of something I haven’t felt since the end of the 12th grade, having what I now recognize as panic attacks. The first one came when I was studying on a Sunday at Higher Ground and I had no idea what the fuck was happening, I’d been there for several hours when I suddenly felt the urge to throw up. I packed up all my shit and burst out the door literally gasping for air but ended up being fine. Just shaky and confused. They started happening more frequently after this, with no predictable trigger, and I started to feel the physical manifestations of stress. That was new and it freaked me out. This lent itself to a lot of strange patterns around eating (since I was constantly feeling nauseous, or I thought I was, I didn’t want to have a full stomach. I also thought I had a food intolerance, and because I’m me was 100% convinced I was pregnant because the stress caused me to miss my period).

February

Things started to get so bad in February that I had to plead my manager at Famoso for less hours. He was an idiot in general but also did not seem to grasp the severity of what I told him. He would frequently schedule me for these long swing swifts all weekend long, leaving no time or energy for the mountains of homework I had to do. It did not help.

February was especially busy with school. That’ll be a recurring theme throughout this year. It could honestly be a summary of this entire year - so I’ll spare you the details. But five courses at the University of Calgary is no joke.

I never needed reading week so badly in my entire life. I was beyond happy to just be able to take a long weekend and not be at Famoso. Shelby arranged for a giant group of her friends to spend the weekend at her friend Sawyer’s massive, absolutely beautiful cabin in Invermere. I got to spend some quality time with two of my favourite people on the planet - Emma and Sydney. From the minute we got into Emma’s car together, to having ciders at the Emerald Lake Lodge on the way, to eating A&W and sharing a bed and “she gon’ fuck the fridge.” Sydney and I spent one afternoon on homework while everyone else went skiing and I was with her when she got the news that she’d won this massive grant and we celebrated by sitting in this magical massage chair and just loving life. We played Drink, Talk, Learn! And I gave a drunken presentation on the history and etiology of pugs. Emma and I went skating on Lake Windermere to cure our hangovers on Sunday. A keg and a bonfire were involved. It was so Canadian, honestly LOL. And so perfect.

March

Although I was still struggling with this weird panic-nausea cycle, it lessened through March as more and more assignments were completed. I started to see the light at the end of the tunnel, to use a cliche. I gave three presentations in a week, I remember that being particularly awful.

I attempted Mellow March for the second time and once again failed. Mildly concerning. I caved on a Wednesday wing night with the Famoso friends. It was 27 days in. So close, so close. 2019 will be my year!

I started getting really into podcasts at this time because I started commuting using public transit. I got really into Guys We Fucked (which I still love), and This Is Actually Happening. TIAH is kind of fucked up though, and after a while it started to fuck me up. I would have weird dreams about the content and I started becoming paranoid that there was something wrong/extraordinary about me. So I stopped. I guess that is something I have learned about myself this year, is that even when it’s not overt, I am really deeply effected by some of the things I learn. Typically, people of this nature do not excel in the field of social work so allow me to flag this as a place for improvement in the future.

I ran the 5km at the St. Patrick’s Day road race, which was awesome and I won the draw that everyone was entered in and got a FREE pair of these super nice, hot pink New Balance running shoes that I now cherish with my life.

I had my first round of practicum interviews, which only ended up being one interview because I was offered the placement at CommunityWise before I could interview anywhere else. This is one of the best things to happen the whole year :)

And a special moment for me as well was on March 31, I got to see Alvvays live.

April

In April, I finished hell semester and immediately jetted off to Thailand.

From the get go, the trip was a bit of a shit show. This was my second time to Asia, and my first experience with really planning a trip including flights, hostels, and transportation from place to place without the aid of a tour guide or travel company. We had a time even getting to Bangkok due to an untimely snow storm the day of our departure that forced our flight to Vancouver to be late and causing us to miss our connecting flight to China. After two hours in line at the Air Canada desk, an agent produced a new itinerary for us. Calgary to Los Angeles to Hong Kong to Bangkok. He printed the sheets out and when I looked at the times on the paper, the mental math wasn’t adding up. With me, the mental math never really adds up but this time it seemed impossible that we could leave so much later than planned for our trip and arrive in Bangkok only three hours later than we were supposed to. I brought this up with him and he assured me it was fine. I wasn’t satisfied though, and asked a bunch of other airport personnel the same question. They all said we were fine but lo and behold, we land in Hong Kong and are waiting for the Thai Airlines desk to open so we can retrieve the tickets for the last leg of the journey when the agent there tells us, “They put you on the flight that left yesterday.” Anger and distress ensues. I call Air Canada from the airport in Hong Kong and the call drops. I’m straight up crying on the floor at this point. But in the end – we fucking made it.

In Bangkok, I was welcomed back to the stifling heat and humidity of Asia. We met American doctors-to-be who were at the end of their trip and were totally sick of one another and were very happy to have company. We ate massaman curry for every meal, partied on Khao San Road (those nitrous balloons!!! God, they’re so fun!!), and spent a lot of money on a single cocktail just for a photo op at the top of a skyscraper but the sunset was perfect and it was totally worth it.

In Chiang Mai we drank Sangsom and Coca-Cola by the pool and ate street food out of Styrofoam containers. We met these Americans who were teaching English in Chiang Mai and they took us to a night club on the back of their motorbikes. I did a drug I said I’ve never do in one of the bathrooms at this night club and ended up going home with one of the aforementioned teachers. It was funny to me because at about 3:00pm, Alex and I went back to our hostel to change and get ready for the evening and at that point I said, “I think I’m going to end up hooking up with Cory.” I fucking knew. I KNEW.

In Pai, I had the DIRTIEST hostel experience of my life. I was showering… just fully naked and vulnerable in this nasty ass shower when I saw a bug I did not recognize from my sheltered upbringing crawl out of a hole in the wall. I have never felt more small. It was also 43 degrees and we were staying in a tiny hut with a plug-in fan that only worked half the time and somehow had the effect of making the room hotter? Pai was also the first time we rented motorbikes. It’s honestly so dangerous… like, what the fuck, Thailand. We experienced our first flash rainstorm. We went to a place called Sunset Bar and took mushroom shakes and holy shit I’ve never experienced more potent mushrooms in my entire life. We met our Irish friends who we’d later see in Koh Pha Ngan, and I slept with an Israeli soldier on our second-to-last night and I’m almost 100% certain I took his virginity.

Koh Pha Ngan was alllll thunderstorms. We also decided to splurge a bit on food on this island and gorged ourselves with seafood and lavender Moscow mules at this nice restaurant down the road from our hostel. We partied so hard. We went to the pre-parties for the Full Moon – they have the Waterfall party two nights before, and the Jungle party the night before. I had sex with a total stranger at the Waterfall party up against a rock (when I recounted this story to Steven upon returning home he put on a redneck accent and said, “C’mon baby let me take you down to the fuck rock” and now that’s all I hear when I think about this experience in my head). The Full Moon Party was fun but not AS fun as the pre parties. It wasn’t as wild and the beach is so big but everyone concentrates in one little area. I took some kind of mystery pill (as you can see, I was very safe in Thailand) and had yet another sexual experience with a casual partner. I also witnessed a fight in the taxi back because one girl called another girl a stripper. It was bad.

May

Continuing on with our Asia trip.

We landed in Krabi and intended fully to chill out a little bit after the wildness of Koh Pha Ngan. The first night was chill, we were staying in the Muslim quarter of the Krabi area so there weren’t a ton of nightclubs to go to and the hostel had some kind of run-in with police and weren’t able to take us out on the pub crawl we signed up for (lame). We had a roommate from Vancouver on the second day who bought a bunch of Xanax from a Thai pharmacy and gave me one. I can never do it again because it was so. good. But of course, I took one pill and stopped drinking just in case. This bitch continued drinking and took six or seven Xanax throughout the night. I honestly don’t know how she lived. We went rock climbing and drank beers on a boat tour one day and it was soooo great. We had the hottest tour guide. I did a hike by my lonesome that I nearly died on.

On the ferry ride from Krabi to Koh Phi Phi is where I got the sunburn that will likely give me skin cancer in later life and kill me. 90 minutes on the outside deck of a ferry (because I felt nauseous as fuck and didn’t want to vom in the cabin) absolutely fucked. me. up. We stayed at another pretty fucking gross hostel in Koh Phi Phi, and my roommates were all male which was a new experience for me. I went on a solo booze cruise cause Alex was sick. We took mushrooms again with our Canadian friend Kelsey and god, I was laughing so hard I was crying and I could not stop. I was like rolling around in the sand laughing so fucking hard about Fisherman’s Friends candy. It was so blissful. So pure.

And then… the sickness. This is going to be TMI but… fuck it. A bit of indigestion and stomach trouble is expected whenever a white person enters Asia. Different microbes etc. etc. But this… this was on a new fucking level. I knew something was up because on the morning that we woke up to take our ferry from Koh Phi Phi to Phuket, I vomited. And I never vomit, and I wasn’t that hungover (especially in relation to much of the rest of the trip). I felt okay afterwards though so we soldiered on. Three hour ferry ride, totally fine. We board our bus that will take us from the ferry port in Phuket to our hotel and about halfway through this bus ride, I feel it. I am wearing overalls. My heart starts beating loudly in my chest, sweat begins to bead on my forehead. Holy fuck, I am going to shit my pants. I clench until we get to the hostel – which is, of course, the last stop. It’s like a solid 45 minutes of pain. My stomach is ROILING. I have never felt anything like it.

I honestly know nothing about Phuket because I spent the entire 72 hours we were there running from my bunk bed to the bathroom. I would go so far as to say every ten minutes. At one point, I just brought my laptop into the washroom with me and watched Netflix for a few hours. A roommate who was with us switched rooms (understandably… I’m sorry, Helen). I didn’t eat for four days, literally not a fucking thing. Just Gatorade and water so that I didn’t die of dehydration. Because we had an airplane to catch and I needed to not be shitting the contents of my body out, I saw a doctor. He prescribed me like five different medications and told me just to take like eight of these pills and to expect stomach pain but it would at least get me through the flight to Seoul and hopefully home.

It worked, and we spent the last few days of our trip in Seoul. What an absolutely fascinating and beautiful part of the world. With Kieun as our guide, we got to see the best parts of Seoul. People took photos with us and gave us free shit. I had the absolute best meal of my life (it was the first thing I’d eaten in like four days… I really risked it all with the Korean barbecue honestly…). All-you-can-eat thick fatty slices of pork belly, grilled in front of us and dipped in sesame oil and salt with garlic and spices. Spicy chicken feet on the side, corn with cheese. It was wild. I cannot believe I stomached it.

And on May 12th, we returned home back to our lives and school and work and all of that boring ass shit. I remained ill for a solid six weeks upon returning home. To a lesser degree, I still have not fully recovered. At this point, I am unsure if I ever will. I truly think that second-round Asia gave me skin cancer and permanently altered my gastrointestinal functioning. Worth it? Unsure. But it happened nonetheless.

June

My brother graduated from university and won a very prestigious award and it was very nice to watch him cross the stage and hear a nice speech about his accomplishments (he won so many scholarships that he basically had a free ride to school – I think it’s clear who inherited the brains).

I finished up my spring courses. Can I just say - spring courses are the worst? The two I picked were especially bad. The one about human sexuality was basically Sex Ed 101 which made for an easy A but I was hoping to investigate deeper on a number of topics. And the second one was way too hard for my tiny brain to accommodate and I got the lowest mark I’ve ever gotten on my paper and it brought me down.

I had a very random unexpected night where I slept with a really close friend of mine (like, friends for over a decade) who I used to have a little bit of a crush on in high school. We were very drunk and it was kind of a curiosity-satisfying move that has actually not resulted in a very big change to our relationship at all but I think it’s worth mentioning because younger me would have been stoked. This one’s for you, younger me!

We went to the High River Rodeo and Cabaret – another unexpected move but oh my god it was so fun. Matt, Steven, Amanda and I. You could buy as many beers as you wanted at a time and they were cheap because fuck the AGLC apparently. The rodeo was actually super fun. The cabaret was redneck af and I happened to see my roommate from the hostel in Koh Phi Phi and his buddies there? Although it was not a friendly reunion because I had unknowingly exposed him for cheating on his girlfriend when he was in Phi Phi (which he did. I shared a room with him, and the girl he loudly banged every night until 4am). Two-stepping ensued and I passed out in the car ride home. I have a great photo of Steven from this night next to a bottle of hot sauce. I do not recall why. I will include it below.

July

Okay, I am just going to preface this by saying July was a hot mess.

Myself, Madison, Maeghan, and Cayley were all single and messing around on dating apps so we decided to create Tinder bingo. It’s exactly what it sounds like. The rules were that you could only cross off two things per date (so that you had to go on a minimum of three to win), you got bonus points for going on a Tinder date with the same person someone else had gone out with, and the first to win got their drinks paid for on a night out. So, I went on exactly one Tinder date. Which is something I said I’ve never do and never really saw myself doing but I went for it on this occasion because I think that in this day and age, a Tinder date is an experience everyone should have. So I bit the bullet, and went for a drink with this guy James at the Oak Tree Tavern. And oh... my god? What a terrible experience? LAUGHABLY terrible. His only desired topic of conversation were the nationalities of people I had slept with and in what circumstances. At one point he asked me, “when was the last time you had sex? Was it good?” He also talked at maximum volume and I guarantee you everyone else at that bar overheard our conversation. Midway through the date, he asked for a review of how he was doing and I told him he seemed a bit nervous. This angered him. He said, “I’M NOT NERVOUS” and I was like, “you asked, buddy.” He asked me if I would pay for him. Cayley literally had to come rescue me and I ran out of his car where he had unbuttoned his pants and had his dick out and was literally on the verge of tears begging me to touch it so hard. I literally bolted out of his car and he yelled out the window, “CALL ME!” He still hits me up on instagram sometimes. I hope his life gets better.

I also moved again. This is my favourite living situation I’ve ever had. Great roommates who are almost never home. Cute house. Good location. A+ choice by me.

I got really obsessed with the Thai cave rescue. It was just such a compelling and unique STORY and I would literally come home from work and refresh the BBC live update feed for hours until I fell asleep, then I’d wake up and refresh hoping for good news. I cannot wait for the movie. I will go opening day. #Obsessions

Stampede!!! Oh my god, what a wonderful Stampede. The most memorable thing is that Steven and I went to the standing rodeo one afternoon and got absolutely. fucking. hammered. Whilst there, we met and befriended two Australian retirees named Lyn and Ken. They are rich and are obsessed with horseriding and rodeo stuff. They purchased many drinks for us and we convinced them to come to Nashville North with us, where they purchased MORE drinks for us and Steven attempted to show them how to two-step. They later invited me to go horseback riding in Banff and I accepted. They literally picked me up, drove me to Banff, we crushed two bottles of wine at the Park gin distillery, went on a three-hour horseback ride through the mountains, they drove me home and I paid for NONE OF IT. It was........ a day. I sat on my bed later and thought to myself, “that was fucking weird.” But now, if I ever go to Melbourne, I will hit them up.

It was Ali’s birthday and we went camping in Waiparous. We took mushrooms on Saturday and just as they were beginning to fully kick in, the RCMP rolled in and kicked us out of our campsite. What a wild time to be faced with an interaction with the cops. Also - no one could drive except for two people who had stayed sober and they had to shuttle us to a new campsite. Have you ever tried setting up a tent on mushrooms? Do you know how difficult and hilarious it is?

And lastly at the end of July, I went to Folk Fest. I saw Alvvays again. Front row! Like, against the barrier front row. It was awesome. It was folk fest that inspired me to cut my hair and get bangs again. No regrets. I love my bangs. I also experienced a level of street harassment that I didn’t know was possible from some random, innocent-seeming guy. It was terrifying. I called the police. No bueno.

August

In August, I got promoted at my job and basically became a baby manager. It was better in theory than in practice because my shifts got longer, I made less in tips (but more hourly), and the cash out for a restaurant is a long and frustrating process that depends on a lot of small pieces working together correctly in a big ass spreadsheet and I suck at math.

In happier news – August was also the establishment of podcast club. Podcast club is one of the best and dorkiest things I have ever been involved with. We pick a podcast each week to listen to, and get together on Sunday mornings at 10:00am to discuss the contents of the podcast. It was initially open to whomever wanted to come but has since whittled down to a core group and at this point, we’re all so close that it would almost be weird to introduce a new person into the mix. There is Kendal, who I go to school with and who started the whole club. Her boyfriend, Mitch. Lachlan and Maddy who are siblings. Matt, a YouTuber who was kind of a wildcard. Chad, also kind of a wildcard but who works as a youth counsellor – and me! Podcast club has made my life infinitely better and is probably the best thing to come out of 2018, in all honesty.

I also got obsessed with Harry Potter and read like almost the whole series and my new at the time roommates thought I was such a loser because I would literally post up on the couch in the living room with a HP book and they would come back five hours later and I hadn’t moved and all I wanted to talk about was Harry Potter.

September / October / November

I am lumping these three months together in this review because truly, they are lumped together in my mind and heart.

On September 11, I started my first practicum at CommunityWise. I really had no idea what to expect when I started there but looking back, I cannot believe how hard I lucked out. The U of C is VERY clinically-based when it comes to how it educates and describes the practice of social work. CW was the opposite of it all and day-to-day so much happens there that it is honestly impossible not to get dragged in at such a deep level that it literally forces you to care. When I was in practicum, I did a lot of reading and I came across this concept of a “disorienting dilemma” which is “an experience within which a current understanding is found to be insufficient or incorrect and the learner struggles with the resulting conflict of views. Such experiences often are those to which learners point as the beginning of the process of questioning their understanding and views and entering the transformative learning process” (Source). Truly, being in that space over the course of 300 hours created this for me. I was forced to confront a lot of racist and otherwise problematic shit that I have been brought up with and that comes up in small ways for me that I try and quash down for the sake of saving face. Poverty, addiction, mental health issues showed up LITERALLY on the doorstep and I was thrown into it all. The experience was a disorienting dilemma and it shook me out of my bubble and I have never fallen so deeply in love with social work. My supervisor and I formed a VERY close relationship that probably broke some ethical and professional boundaries and she was there for me to discuss social issues and experiences I was having in an honest way that really deconstructed things. I had my debit card stolen by a client on one occasion, had to call the DOAP team because I witnessed people in overdose more times than I can count, had to talk many a person down from suicide, befriended a very mentally ill person who suffers from delusions that they are an alien in a human body sent here to observe earth and report back to their master. We had to kick someone out of a workshop for being racist. It was a wild ride, honestly. There were many many positive things to come out of practicum. I built my professional network in ways I never would have been able to, I was able to move out of the “student” realm and step into the role of a social worker and advocate and professional. I did a lot of public speaking! I was out in the community talking to a million different people. I made videos and posters. And the best part of all is that even when my practicum ended, my connection to CW did not. They have hired me on as a digital storytelling intern (paid!) for the new year. Which is a major confidence boost and I just love CW and everyone there so much. I will literally be forever grateful to them for taking me under their collective wing and showing me I have the skills and abilities to be an effective social worker :)

Ahem. Now on to some not-so-good things...

The end of October was kind of difficult because I was attempting to manage practicum responsibilities, actual class projects and homework, second-round practicum interviews, and Famoso. I was very stressed out and it was not good, especially because I got a rejection from one interview and didn’t even get an interview at my top choice. I was feeling very sorry for myself and may or may not have cried at my desk at practicum. It all worked out in the end though, and actually I was offered a placement at the first place I interviewed – they just took a while to get back to me. She called me to let me know this while I was on a run and being idiot me, I picked up… panting and gasping for air in Nose Hill Park. She was like, “We’d like to offer you the place… wait, are you okay?”

I would also like to just slide it in here that I slept with my ex in October. Which wasn’t a particularly momentous occasion and was actually kind of funny because it felt so much like a one night stand. I am mostly putting this in here because I don’t think many people know that and I want to see who reads this far.

Along similarish lines – I PUT MYSELF OUT THERE AND ASKED SOMEONE ON A STRAIGHT UP DATE AND GOT REJECTED AND IT WAS HONESTLY SO EMBARASSING AND BRUTAL and it’s okay now but oh… my god. This also happened around the same time as the rejections from practicum placements and I had such a bad night where I got drunk on my couch alone and Cayley brought me burnt ends from her new job at a brewery because she was #concerned for me and I didn’t want to be alone. That’s a true friend right there.

December

December is only halfway done - but I feel I can summarize it accurately. It has been a nice, tidy wrap up to the year. A month of podcasts, cleaning my house and my car and my life up, a mysterious knee injury that is really fucking me up, working a lot at Famoso, finishing my practicum and school semester. One thing I am dreading is that my brother’s girlfriend who our family is not particularly fond of will be joining us in Saskatoon this year. But we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

In General

2018 has been very stressful for me. But despite the stress, and sometimes out of it, have come some very nice, beautiful things. I said last year in my post that I wanted to become more deeply involved in my community and in activism and social work and in that way I think I have excelled. I’m in it now, you guys. I feel capable. I feel motivated. I feel CONFIDENT. And I’m fucking excited to see what comes in the future.

I nearly doubled the amount of people I’ve slept with so that’s... a notable thing that happened this year.

It has been nice to feel a return to a sense of belonging with my old high school group of friends. In a way, I feel more united with them than ever. I guess not having a partner that they all hate helps. But also, I think I’ve just been feeling more and more like myself. But to Connor, Steven, Matt, Adam and the assortment of new(er) members that come and go - I am very grateful for you all. It has also been good for my heart and soul to become so close with people from podcast club. It’s actually like... really hard to make new friends. Podcast club made it easy. And I found myself on a Friday night in Maddy and Ben’s apartment, watching cooking shows and teaching them how to play card games, laughing until I cried and drinking wine. And it’s like... who else gets together on EVERY Sunday morning to discuss podcasts? For fun? I know relationships change and dissolve and grow from each year to the next but I just have a deep feeling that some of these friendships are the real deal. And I’m really lucky. It sounds so ~fake deep~ and lame but honestly podcast club is making me a better, happier, less anxious person.

2019:

I think 2019 is going to have to be the year that I really, truly grow the fuck up. I’m not mad about this. I look forward to crushing through 400 more hours of practicum, graduating and getting my degree. Hopefully entering the work force for real (this prospect is honestly so exciting to me... I creep the job boards every day daydreaming about what I might eventually do when I leave the world of waitressing) and making some adult money.

I also like... totally got fat in 2018 so 2019 will involve some activities to counterbalance this. AND I have a ticket to Big Valley Jamboree. Which is hilarious because I think if you asked 2015 Megan what she’d never do, it would be “go to BVJ” but here I am, ticket in hand, excitement mounting by the day. Boots on, bitches.

Some of my goals or things I’d like to work on in 2019 are to become less attached to social media and more invested in the actual moment/doing of things rather than recording them (ironic as I type this MASSIVE year in review post, yes), to get into a healthy and sustainable pattern of exercise where I don’t just like become obsessed with it for a little while and then slowly taper off and then do none of it for like six months... and honestly? I want to download a bunch of those dating apps again and just go for it. I think you can learn so much about yourself through dating and I’ve been such a recluse this year for the most part because I have been sort-of-but-not seeing someone since literally JULY but we’re not actually together and I don’t know what’s going on. I just need to get over my own insecurities and anxiety and just jump in with both feet. It’ll be fun. It’ll be crazy. I’m excited.

The rest of it, as always, is an open book. Who knows where I will be, what I will be doing, or who I will be doing it with by this time next year? Not I.

#text #personal #year in review #2018 #megbox

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