61. If you could change one thing about your spouse, what would it be?
I'm not married.
62. What is the greatest vacation you've taken and what lessons can you take from it?
I'd have to say our 10 day trip to Vancouver/Surrey a few years back. We recently went back there and the tranquil feeling was unmatched. Being with someone else's family is a little weird but it's nice to sit around a dinner table to an excellent meal and discuss dogs and all manner of things with people that genuinely care about what you have to say. When we went back in 2010, I had just started a new job as a hostess/busperson at a Chinese restaurant which I hated, and was told to take 2 weeks off while they "tried out" new people. This seemed a bit weird, but when I got home I had receieved a call from my supervisor saying they liked me and wanted me to come back to start training as a waitress. I was so pleased that they weren't trying out new people to get rid of me. However, a couple days before my first shift after my vacation, the owner called me and said it "wasn't working out". I was quite upset about this, as they had just told me how much they liked me and wanted to train me for more things. Anyway, I'm getting off the point here. When we were in Surrey in 2010, we spent a good 10 days there, went to the aquarium, shopped in Vancouver, rode the skytrain, all kinds of things that one does when they are raised in a small town and are unleashed into the city for 10 days. It was a lot of fun! The biggest thing I can take from this trip was that I may love Campbell River, and I may like visiting Vancouver, but Campbell River is my home, and I will always love coming home to it. After driving around in Vancouver a couple times now (to clarify, I was not the one driving) I can see how calm Campbell River roads are and why I love it here so much. I almost had a panic attack in the Metrotown Mall because there were so many people pushing and shoving by. It was terrifying! Here the most you get is a couple odd people in the store with you at the same time. Well, in the larger stores there's more people, but nothing near to the number in Vancouver. Yikes.
63. If you won a million dollars but had to give it away, who would you give it to and why?
If it was a person, I'd give it to my roommate and best friend, or to my parents so my mom could finally buy a little house in the country with farmland and a deck. If I had to give it to say, a charitable organization, I'd fund an animal-related society. Not necessarily the SPCA or PETA or anything like that, as they euthanize more than they adopt. Maybe something like WWF which focuses on conservation of endangered animals.
64. What was your first pet? Why did you choose this pet?
This can be misinterpreted. Technically the first pet in my home was our dog Ranger, who my parents had before I was born. But the first pet I bought for myself was probably a fish, and then my two beloved (but moronic) cats, Phoenix and Anubis. I did have a guineapig but it became the family's guinea. On a side note, my mom's current guinea pig recently passed away. :( But anyway, I've had a couple bettas on my own, and then my two cats, and now my snow cornsnake Stellaluna. I'm definitely an animal lover...and that doesn't include all the various pets we had growing up! I can list them all...Cuddles the pirana (my father's), the ever growing fish tank, Ranger the longhaired shepherdXgreat dane, Munroe the rottweilerXshepherd, Buddy the guinea pig, Friskie the hooded rat (my sister's), Mira the hooded rat (my sister's), Popcorn the hamster, Rosie the tarantula, Oreo and Fudgeo the guinea pigs we looked after for a couple consecutive summers for the school, Timbit the huskyXgerman shepherd, Trojan my sister's betta fish, Pffernusse the white and black guinea pig, Eoduin Augustus Theodore Grace my first betta, Ulysses Tennyson Wordsworth my second betta fish, hmm is that everyone? My mom also had a couple of rabbits before I was born...Dartanion and Buckwheat. Dartanion was gone before I was born, but Buckwheat lived to be 13! Oh shoot, we also had two birds, a finch named Patches and a yellow canary named Goldie, and now my mom has a red/brown canary named Ferris Nathaniel. She also currently has Rosie (who was a school pet but we eventually got to keep) still, and also some stick bugs named Bonnie, Clyde, Jeckall and Hyde (though one has since died and I don't know which one), and a praying mantis who I can't remember the name of. Okay, why did I choose my cats? Because we lived in an apartment and our friend's cat was having kittens. We wanted a dog but it wasn't practical. I love them dearly. <3 Why did I choose Stellaluna? Ever since I looked after an albino cornsnake named Leroy in grade 6 for a teacher, I've wanted one. She looks albino, so that's why I picked her.
65. If you could build a car customized just for you, what would it contain?
Oh jeez, I don't know. I love those little hatchbacks, they're so cute, and I bet they wouldn't be bad on gas, considering the only thing I'd use it for is driving to and from work, and groceries, and the occaisional road trip. XD But if I could customize something like that...hmm. I don't know much about cars, so all I can really think of is little add ons. Okay. So I'd want it to be in a color I like, one time I saw a coral car and fell in love with it for the split second I saw it. So I'd love a coral car. Or silver, black, white. Something simple, if not colorful. My best friend's car has an ipod thing in it, and that's practically essential, as all my music is on my ipod. I have a few cd's but I'd get bored of them soon enough. I also love sun roofs!
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On a side note, my washing machine just made a scary noise so I stopped it o.o
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66. What did you want to be when you grew up?
Ironically, a vet. And look where I am!
67. If you had to write your life story, what would the title be? Why?
Well, I've always thought of compiling a poetry collection, and since that's kind of like my life story told in poems, I guess I'll go on about that. I wanted to call it Surreal Paradise, which was the name of my first blog and would be the name of many other things if I had the motivation to do it. I don't know why Surreal Paradise. It's something I came up with a couple years ago when it was first suggested to me to publish a poetry collection. I don't know if I'll ever do it.
68. How do you feel when you see something beautiful? Have you ever seen something so beautiful it made you cry?
Yes. I have seen so many beautiful things, beautiful in their simplicity. A new flower, a newborn baby, a crisp blade of grass, a gathering of trees, the world that lies behind my cat's eyes. Yes, I have cried for beauty. I have a poet's mind. Everything seems more complicated than what it is, to me. I can look at a flower and see more than just a flower. I don't know if anyone else does - if you do, I'd love to know it's not just me. Sometimes I think I'm crazy.
69. What are you thankful for?
Where do I start? My roomate and best friend, her everlasting patience with my tsunami sometimes, her support, her love, her constance. I am thankful for my beloved animals, my pets. I am thankful I have all my family still. I am thankful that my grandparents are no longer in pain and are elsewhere enjoying their afterlife. I am thankful that I am working, steadily, and have more than enough to pay my rent and bills and get the groceries I want, to splurge on little things without worrying (too much). I am thankful for so much and feel I don't give enough to those who give to me. I can't always convey what I'm feeling. So many people ask me, "are you okay?" and I always reply, "yes, of course." I can't always show that I'm happy, that I'm having a good time, that I'm smiling on the inside because for whatever reason my face doesn't always smile too.
70. This morning, when I got out of bed, I....tonight, when I got to bed, I....
This morning, when I got out of bed, I dressed in a plain, too-long dress and did some much-needed cleaning in my house. It was getting bad! Now it smells like febreeze and swiffer fluid.
Tonight, when I go to bed, I will probably crash. Or maybe I'll read or go on the computer. I don't know yet!
And now that I've written this extensive entry, I'm off to shower so I can be presentable. Then I'll probably clean some more things. Clean ALL THE THINGS!
