At 8am, I picked up Mina for her 3-day stay with me. We walked around the block and then retired for a morning nap. I was half-awake even after the brief walk. I knew I needed more sleep.

We then met with up a friend and her dog, Sammy, and went to the off-leash dog beach. We had lunch there and relaxed. As usual, Mina was on my lap facing out the front or side window. On the way back, she tucked her head under my elbow and took a nap.

Fueled by fish & chips and iced coffee, I was ready to study. I gave Mina a new toy, a sewing pin cushion. She tore it to pieces in 15 minutes. I didn’t know it was stuffed with sawdust. I unceremoniously threw in the trash bin. After whimpering for about 10 seconds, Mina looked for another toy. This time, she chose one of mine. It’s a squish, stress toy in the shape of the White House dome. I was good with it for a while.

I guess Mina’s internal clock told her that it was her hiking time with Bill. She whimpered once more. I called Bill and met up with him down the block. She is no doubt in sheer heaven this very minute. Bill takes her for about a 90 minute hike. She’ll then be really tired and can study some more.

Even with caffeine, I don’t feel focused. Perhaps, I can squeeze a few more pages of studying before I pick up Mina from Bill’s.

I bought local farm grown cherries yesterday at Granville Island. I’m going to pack some up for Bill. He has 3 different types of raspberry bushes in his garden. It doesn’t seem right that I take his raspberries for nothing.

My neighbour is busy mowing his lawn. It’s a tiny lawn but he’s been at it for so long. No more excuses, I need to resume studying.

Sometime between now and tomorrow 4pm, I need to chop vegetables into bite size pieces for the BBQ tomorrow.

I woke up this morning at 10:55am. It’s Canada Day. I feel unpatriotic as I’ve slept most of the morning away on such as auspicious day.

I was in no mood to study. I took a sleeping aid last night and felt groggy. I started a new book “A Rhinestone Button”. It’s written by a Canadian author and the story is set in a province called Alberta.

I decided to go watch a movie after lunch. The movie is “The Last Air Bender”. Then I went shopping for lots of salad dressing and last minute vegetables for salad that I’m making for a birthday BBQ on Saturday.

The pharmacy is closed today, so no Mina. But that’s okay, I’ll have her for 3 whole days starting tomorrow morning at 8am. Folks tell me that Mina clearly loves me. I love hearing that!

The Airbender and Eclipse movies were both good. They are both based on novels. As soon as this blasted exam is over, I plan to read the Twilight saga again and start on the Airbender books, too.

My studying after movie/grocery shopping was interrupted. A friend of mine, her son and his friend were heading down for some Canada Day festivities on Granville Island. It’s a manmade island that is know for its artisans, farmer’s market and general novelty shops.

We headed there by train and then transferred to an aquabus that took us to the island. The entire trip took less than 20 minutes. After we docked, we immediately headed to get some gelato. We then went shopping for some fruits and meat. We ate our dinner there and headed home.

The dinner wasn’t good. I dumped most of it. When I got home, I had corn-on-the-cob. I love quickly made foods!

I got down to some serious studying and wrapped up my 12th chapter a few minutes ago. If I keep to my current schedule, I should be able to review and cram sufficiently for this blasted exam.

Immediately after my exam, I will be heading off to a bookbinding class. It’ll keep me busy for the following 3 days.

I’ve been mulling over taking another insurance class this fall or not. I’ve decided to take it. There are 7 more classes left to take after this exam. There’s no point in delaying it, is there?

I’ve got to talk to Bill about this tomorrow. How about you? What’s your opinion?

The first showing today is at 4pm. Conveniently, the movie theatre is only 5 minutes from me by train. Tomorrow, I’ll be watching another movie called “The Last Air Bender”.

I finished the 10th chapter late last night. I started on the 11th chapter this morning. I’m about 1/3 through. I hope to finish the 11th chapter be well on my finishing the 12th.

I think babysitting at 6:45am yesterday really screwed up my sleep cycle. But with the help of extra coffee, I managed to get through it rather easily. I hope today will prove to be the same.

Since I’m on vacation and my friends aren’t, there is no one who wants to go see the movie with me today at 4pm. I figure by 7pm, the movie theatres will be packed so I’d rather see an earlier showing. As it turns out, NONE of my friends want to see Eclipse! Many thanks to my time in NY, I’m okay about going to see movies on my own. Some of my friends think that’s either weird or brave.

I’ve got a small list of to-do’s today. I need to return library books and buy vegetables for my colourful salad for a friend’s birthday BBQ this Saturday. Which reminds me, I need to by lots of different salad dressings, too. All this can be done plus the movie all in one afternoon and in one area and without a car.

God! Is it 2 hours until the movie? It’s feels like time is dragging by!

I finished reading “Kite Runner” yesterday. What an excellent read. I highly recommend it. My next book I would like to read is “Book Thief”. If you have book suggestions, please let me know.

I woke up at 6:00am today. As a favor for a friend, I would head over to her place by 6:45am and take her son to school. Today is the last day of school. Since I’ve volunteered in Oliver’s class, I got to know his teacher well. Since October, I’ve taken half-days off from work to volunteer. I love it. I had to stop in April due to pneumonia.

So this morning, I got to say “Have a Great Summer” to the teacher and to some of the kids that I helped with. Some of the kids have grown at few inches just in 2 short months since I’ve seen them last. Most remembered my name.

After dropping Oliver off at school, I went to get breakfast. I ordered eggs benedict with slices of beef over toast. It also came with hash browns and a salad. I washed it ALL down with ice water. On the way home, I bought a large iced coffee to fight off the sleepiness.

When I got home, I realized my manageable headache was becoming a little too much to handle. I laid down to rest. As I was getting up, my boss called me. We had planned to meet for lunch along with my co-worker. I felt disconnected from them since I haven’t seen them for over 1 1/2 weeks.

The lunch was great. I needed to see them and talk to them. I felt a lot better after the lunch. I headed back home to study. I stopped by Nellie’s (Mina’s owner) to buy some beef jerky and grapefruit juice.

I studied for about 45 minutes and headed over to get Mina. Another neighbour, Bill, walks Mina in the afternoon. I was hoping that she was pooped and that she could relax as I studied.

She laid down on the table and took turns staring at me and then outside. Whenever I felt my headache coming on again, I stroked her or massaged her neck.  After a while, I took her for a walk to visit Bill. We talked about plans this weekend about Mina. We both didn’t want her to miss her afternoon walks.

Mina and I did more studying and took more walks. By 5pm, I was getting sleepy again. I hadn’t recovered from the extra early wake-up time. So we napped until 7pm. She naps well. I napped with my hands wrapped around a paw. When I woke, her head was on my outstretched arm. She was in deep sleep. She snores by the way.

I took her back to Nellie’s, helped her close the store and headed back home to study more. The 10th chapter isn’t particularly difficult, but is dry.

I doubt that I’ll be able to finish the chapter tonight. The next couple of days will be tough. I need to catch up if I’m to relax for a few days with Mina.

The visit to the lab took no time at all. I stopped by a restaurant nearby to have my brunch. I had cranberry juice, 2 eggs over easy, hash browns, 2 sausages, 2 bacon and 4 pieces of french toast. I ate it all up without syrup and couldn’t manage 4th french toast. I ate so quickly, that I felt bloated.

I waddled home and hung out with Mina and her best friend Martini for about 30 minutes. I bought 2 grapefruit juice bottles to aid me in studying. Once I got home, I got down to studying.

You know, since Study Day 1, my study breaks are getting longer and longer. This afternoon, my study breaks meant reading “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini. Excellent read. I’m more than half-way done with it. I wrapped up “One Step Behind” by Henning Mankell last night.

For dinner, I wanted to eat something really healthy. A friend of mine keeps reminding me to eat fish at least 4 times a week. I popped over to pick up some sushi. On the way, I stopped by to say hello to Mina again. What a cutie. My unscheduled visits is confusing her, I think.

My sushi dinner was good. I wasn’t that hungry after all.  I called a friend to see how her mother was doing. She’s the one who fell down the stairs. She’s bruised and battered but no broken bones. Very lucky. My friend was on her way to pick up her new car. She’s getting a transmission flush done.

Rest of the evening, my plans are to finished the 9th chapter and start on the next. I need to rev up my pace. Mina will be staying with me for 3-days this weekend. She’s a delight but a study distraction. I’m thinking about taking 3-days off to relax with her. After a sluggish studying pace this weekend, I think I could for sure use a break by end of this week.

Weather turned out a little better this afternoon. After another cloudy sky with drizzle for most of the day, a little bit of sunshine is peeking through. Tomorrow should be about the same.

I can’t believe that I’m 70% done. It’s been a painstaking process. Somehow I’m going to have to manage my studying better. Maybe I need to devote just one full day to studying rather than a little every night.  By the time mid-term comes around, I am about to keel over with fatigue. The second-half of the semester, I’m fighting to keep an interest in the class. My health starts to dwindle around then … insomnia kicks in. I need really need to break this vicious cycle.

Tonight will be an early night. I just got a call. Tomorrow, I will be taking my buddy, Oliver, to school! His dad who usually takes him to school in the morning is traveling due to work and his mum must get to work at a certain time in order to be back to take him to soccer practice. I’m heading over to his house by 6:45am.  I think after breakfast tomorrow, Oliver and I will toss some baseballs until school starts at 9am. Cool!

The weather is cloudy with a little bit of drizzle. It’s a good day to stay indoors and study. I’ve read a few chapters of “One Step Behind” by Henning Mankell this morning. It took me a while to wake up. After I got the text, I went back to sleep. I took a sleeping aid last night after much tossing and turning. I was still groggy from it.

I eventually woke up 10:45am. Geez! At this rate, I’ll be starting my day at noon!

Yesterday’s “Toy Story” movie and ice cream with Oliver was fun. We didn’t have time to get dinner as the movie was finished by 8:45pm. Oliver and I headed back to his house. I hung out with his mom and a friend of hers until 10pm.

I went home and studied a bit more and then went to bed.

Aside from going to the hospital later, I have no other plans. I’m not particularly hungry so I noshed on some cherries I bought yesterday and a peach. I have to remember to fast for 12 hours for my blood test tomorrow.  That means, no food after 8pm. No problem.

There’s some good movies coming out next week such as “Air Bender” and the new Twilight movie. It’s going to be a fun week. Canada is celebrating its Independence Day on July 1st.  The next day, I’ll have Mina all to myself for three whole days.

I do want to get a lot of studying done because Mina is a big distraction for me. She’s hard to resist playing with. I’m wearing my new capri pants that I bought yesterday. Very comfortable.

I’m considering getting a body massage next week or should I put the money towards furniture?  Hmmm dilemma!

Okay. This morning. I woke up at 10am! Another sleepless night with some intense dreams that I no longer can recall. I do get a vague sense that I am glad that the dreams were not real.

I got up and had beef jerky with grapefruit juice. I groaned over the mess in the living room where my study materials and general household items were strewn everywhere. I have orange juice bottles all over the place! There little bits of eraser floating around.

My one thing to do today is to return two library books. Perhaps I would by some fruits and vegetables, too. While on my way to do this, a friend called to for some spontaneous lunch plans. We decided to meet at the library. While waiting for her, I bought 3 tops and a pair of black capri pants. I also picked up 2 bags of cherries and 2 bags of different colored peppers for salad.

After dropping off my groceries, we headed over for some crepes for breakfast. After a stroll down to the nearest Starbuck’s, we parted ways. Me … to study; her … to take a nap.

So back in my apartment, I was in no mood to study. I decided to tackle some recycling and tidying of my apartment. I put my new clothes away. By the way, Talbot’s had a great sale and I spent $150 on my 4 pieces of clothing.

After all the immediate tidying was done, I sat down to study. I’m about 1/3 way through the 8th chapter. It’s about optional insurance in BC. The varies parts relating to Own Damage coverage … repairing your vehicle because the accident was your fault. Lots of memorizing is involved. For example, what does collision cover versus specified perils? I know you don’t care, but have a heart and pretend that you do.

You know I bought the small size iced coffee and it is giving me just the right amount of alertness to keep me concentrating on studying. So that I won’t be addicted to coffee again, I’m drinking it without milk or sweeteners.

It’s 4:30pm now. At 6pm, I’ll be picking up Oliver to see the “Toy Story” movie. It’s in 3D. Due to his busy schedule, the 7-year old Oliver won’t be joining me for dinner. Our “backwards meal” where we start with dessert and then work our way backwards to the main meal, will not be happening today. We’ll have to do with a double-scoop of gelato … a sinful delight as I shouldn’t be having sugar and Oliver is generally allowed only one scoop.

After the movie, I think I’ll pop by for another small sized iced coffee. I want to finish up the 8th chapter tonight.

I’m already thinking about taking the next insurance class which would start after Labour Day. I know you think I’m nuts but I’ve come to realize that becoming a Chartered Insurance Professional (CIP) is important to me.  After this class, I’ll have 7 more courses to go. That very thought makes me crumble at the knees but I’ll feel really good once I get my CIP designation.

Nothing so far has motivated to blog so regularly as me studying for this class. If I take a class every semester (3 times a year), I would be able to keep you up to date on what I’m doing very regularly.

Awwww … I think the caffeine is wearing off. I’m getting tired again. Well I’ll attempt to resume studying.

I have a new next door neighbor and he/she was arranging furniture or moving stuff about. She must think the building has thicker walls.

I studied for a bit then went to see Mina at 10am. The spackle and painting of the hole/wall was completed yesterday. Dave did a good job.

I took Mina for a walk and then to my place. She was restless. It’s most likely because she hasn’t had her walk yet so she’s full of energy. She played with her toys and then after looking outside the window for a while, she decided that I need to join in the play. We played “hiding my head” game. I lying down on the floor and hide my head with my hands/arms. Mina tries to lick my face. I usually toss and turn and Mina jumps over my head to find a place on my face to lick. Really cute but the game gets old really fast.

I took her for a walk again and during the walk, returned a DVD “The Wolfman”. It was okay. Unless you’re into werewolves (which I am) or actors in this movie, you may want to miss it.

I bought caffeinated iced coffee (tall) at Starbuck’s. I’ve been feeling so tired lately, I felt I had to drink the real thing. After dropping off Mina, I went to see a doctor’s. It’s conveniently located next door to the pharmacy where Mina’s owner works.

I was worried that I may be pre-diabetic again. I was about 4-5 years ago. My doctor then put me on the right track. Since I’ve been slacking off on exercising and eating right, I wasn’t sure that I didn’t regress.

My urine test came out negative for sugar. But I’m heading off to a lab Monday morning to get the blood test done. I have some of the main symptoms of diabetes i.e. lack of concentration, drowsiness/fatigue, frequent urination, dry mouth/thirst.

Hopefully, I’m not in any danger of having diabetes. It’s a lifetime commitment I could do without.

Anyway, I’m almost done with the 7th chapter. I feel like I’m dragging a boulder up a hill. Who was that in Greek mythology? Sisyphus? Isn’t syphilis named after him? Can’t be sure. It’s 7:30pm and I am really tired. My voice is doing that deep sore throat thing.

I’m going to try to drag myself into finishing this chapter before I turn in tonight.

Here’s a photo of Mina. She’s giving me her “signature” looks.

Mina: "Whaaat? You're going to leave me so soon?"

Back to the textbook I go!

I awoke at 8am and delved immediately into studying. I was woken by a text from a friend who wanted to go car shopping this morning. She went last weekend with no luck. For 2 days in a row, I headed to Burnaby to a dealership that she found on craigslist.

That particular car was sold yesterday as it turns out, but there were 2 other cars in the same price range. After pros/cons discussion about the car over lunch, she decided to buy it. It was a fair price for a used car. She drove her new car home and I drove her old one to my place. Tonight, I’m bringing it over to her.

Although it’s not hot here, under the beating sunshine with no air conditioning, I was sweating. My friend, I’m sure, enjoyed her air conditioned ride. I had to hop into a tepid shower to rinse off the sweat.

Yesterday’s 5K went very well. I was fine until the end of the 4th kilometre. I started to feel sharp pains in my butt. My face was tomato red. I was lucky that it was a somewhat overcast day. I don’t know the exact time I finished but my pace was about 1km per 10 minutes. The walk was 5.4 km.

By the time I got home with my take out sushi dinner, it was 9pm. I feel great thanks to Susan’s mandatory stretching. I slept well and feel a sense of accomplishment.

I’m going to start in mid-July as soon as this blasted exam is over. By the way, the exam is in the morning of July 9th. How I dread that day.

Immediately after the exam, I will be going to a 4-day bookbinding class. I am looking forward to it. I have all my supplies ready to go.

For the rest of the day, my plans are to start on the next chapter, have Mina over and then drop of the car at my friend’s.

Plus, many thanks to my employer, I am going to consult a therapist over the phone. My goal is to find ways to cut down on stress. I’ve so far drastically reduced the hours I volunteer. I went from volunteering in 3 places to just 1. Even the one remaining, I’ve cut down the # of hours by half.

So, let’s recap. I have this stupid class that I’m studying for … this stimulates my brain and produces stress. I volunteer so that stimulates my emotional need to be helpful and in return be fulfilled. My job challenges my brain which unfortunately results in stress. I need to combat the stress with lots of walking and better eating. I read books to escape. I do hobbies to stimulate my creative side. What else is left?  Men? … bah!  I still sputter in utter disbelief in how much I fell for each and every one of them.

Anyway, here’s a photo. It’s what I look onto when I’m studying.

View from my living room

Now, I’m off to collect Mina!

I woke at 10:00am this morning. I started reading another book by Henning Mankell called “One Step Behind”. It’s one of his “Kurt Wallander Myster”. I think BBC did a TV series on this, too.

Dave came to add another layer of “mud” to the wall. He’s going to paint tomorrow.  I thought patching a big hole would take 2 days. But a quality job seems to take longer than I had anticipated.  After he left, I continued to study. I took a lunch/icecream/get a video/get iced decaf coffee break at 12:30pm.

When I got back, I took a shower and relaxed with a few more chapters of the “One Step Behind” book. It’s about 4:45pm. I just got dressed for my 5K walk this evening at 6:30pm. I’m taken public transit to a borough called “Burnaby”. There is a “Running Room” there and whole bunch of people will be doing this walk. I will be joining a friend from work, Susan. I am looking forward to the walk, but not the sweaty, tired after affects. After all, I will have to get back on public transit to go home. I already feel sorry for those who will be sitting/standing around a sweaty me. There’s only so much a deodorant can take before giving up entirely.

No Mina today. Today’s schedule is different because of the 5K walk. I will have to make it up to her. I bought her some treats and toys this afternoon during my long break. I hope she likes them.

I’m not sure if I’ll return to studying today. I did rent a video. It’s the new “Wolfman” movie. If I can manage to get an extension cord long enough to reach the bathroom, I’ll watch it while soaking in a long hot bubble bath.

If I’m sore tomorrow, I’ll go for a body massage. Wish me luck on my 5K walk.