Worried Sick

I am not really in the mood to blog today, honestly. I slept on a very good note yesterday after watching Dwayne Johnson's heroes, and was very inspired by Charles' selflessness when he walked away from a whopping $610,000. That money could have changed his life but as he put it, "I am walking away from everything I have always wanted". I found that really thought-provoking and was deeply touched. 

That was last night. Today is a different ballgame entirely. 

This morning, I woke up to a phone call from my mum and I guess she basically wanted to tell me that she was going to her friend's daughter's graduation ceremony in another city. I didn't like that. It unsettles me anytime my mum tells me she is travelling to another part of Nigeria by road. Not trying to paint a bad picture of my country here but let's be honest, Nigeria, like many other places, is not the safest place on earth's surface. I prayed inwardly and committed her into the hands of God. She shall return home safe and sound by God's grace and no evil shall befall her.

 I couldn't go back to bed after she called me so I picked up my iPhone to track my Visa application package via Canada Post. The Embassy has still not sent my visa. I am really beginning to get worried here. I sent them an email yesterday and they haven't replied. I hate more than anything else to be in limbo. To not know what's happening in regards to any issue that concerns me just bothers the hell out of me. I really want to go home this year but this whole embassy thing and their strike action is just stressing me out. I am hoping something changes soon. Or at least, let me hear back from them. I need to go home! I wanna see my mama!!!!!! Argh! lol. 

Anyways, time to go and start getting ready to work. Hopefully, the rest of the day would be much better than the way I am feeling right now. 

5/365: Saying Goodbye

I don't know if there is anyone who does well with good-byes, but what I do know is saying good bye is one of the most effective ways to reduce me to tears. I don't do well with good-byes at all.

 Yesterday, we had to wish a co-worker good luck on his new journey. He would be leaving Canada to be with his family in the States. Work is definitely going to be less interesting without him - that's a given - but there's nothing we can do. People who come into our lives must leave at some point whether we like it or not. 

Wishing Colby all the best and good luck in his future endeavors. 

My Mini Heart Attack

I applied for a re-entry visa recently so that I could go home (Nigeria) this summer and not have to apply for a visa when I get home. The kind of person I am, I get mini heart attacks easily. I am very panicky. If I ever for one second lose sight of my wallet and not remember when or where last I saw it, my heart starts to thump. If my bunch of keys is not in in the left pocket of my purse or anywhere else where I can see it easily, my palms start to sweat and I get all jumpy. This very reason is why I like to take care of my business early. 

Anyways, as I was saying, I applied for my reentry visa on the 13 of June only to find out that the people who handle visa processing at Citizenship and Immigration Canada were (and still) taking strike action. This meant that visa processing times would increase and there's a chance that I might not be able to get the visa in time to travel. 

Uh.. excuse me? Not be able to travel to see my family this year?

 OH-MY-GOD. Why in the world did I not apply earlier? That was all I could think about when I saw the strike action notice on the CIC website. In all fairness to myself.. I have a legit reason for not applying earlier. I had a visa already.. but it was going to expire at the end of March.. so I had to wait for it to expire before applying for another one. 

So why didn't you apply for another one immediately the one you had expired?

I am as baffled as you are. I just don't know why! It had crossed my mind a number of times to get all my documents together and send the damn application (heck! Canada Post is just three blocks away from where I live) but I didn't! Now I'm facing the consequences, praying to God almighty that this visa shows up so that I don't lose the money that was used in booking tickets. 

Speaking of tickets.. okay. My journey to Nigeria is going to be three-legged. First, I'd have to take a flight or bus from this city where I live to Toronto. Then from Toronto, I'l take another flight to Germany and fly from Germany to Lagos. Guess what? The ticket for the first leg of the journey was still not booked as of the early hours of today.  I can't even put to words the way I felt when I remembered that I had not made the reservation. Frantically and with shaky hands, I headed to Air Canada's website to try to book a seat. Surprise.. all the seats were taken. Now, I'm starting to panic even more.

What am I going to do? Why did I have to wait until now..

..were the words floating in my head upon realizing that  I might have just killed the dreams of seeing my family this summer. I started trying different dates to see if I could get seat for any day else,  and maybe find a place to stay when I get to Toronto, but when I found out there were no seats available for even those dates,  frustration started setting in. I began to think hard! The thinking paid off. It finally occurred to me that I didn't necessarily have to fly from my city. I could go to a neighboring city and just catch a flight there! I started exploring other cities and  I was able to make a reservation for my intended date of travel! *Sigh*.

But right now, I am faced with another challenge. I'm brainstorming on how I'd get from here to that other city. Right now, my only option is to go by bus.. which I don't want to. 

We'll see how it goes. 

Take home message: Don't wanna have a mini heart attack? Then don't procrastinate like I did. 

Phew!

4/365: Happiness In a Cup

To tired to make lunch for myself yesterday, I decided to stop at Subway to get a sandwich instead. I got a steak and cheese sub on n foot long Italian herbs and cheese bread. I'm quite sure the attendants at the Subway I go to think I'm weird since anytime they ask me what veggies I want on my sandwich, my answer is always a very certain "everything". Sometimes they pass me the is-this-girl-for-real look and all I do is just stare them dead in the eye.. nod slowly and reiterate my previous reply - " lettuce, spinach, hot pepper, jalapenos, the kitchen sink, everything! I just want everything".

Yesterday, I got the meal deal. The one where they give you two cookies and a bottled drink or a drink from the fountain. I opted to have a fountain drink and my choice was Fruitopia~ the pink one. Except it's orange, pineapple or apple-flavored, I'm not a champion at telling what was used in flavoring a drink. I'm not quite sure what's in this very Fruitopia or what flavor they were trying to make an artificial version of, but boy is it good. It tastes AMAZING. Lots of calories.. but SO GOOD. Sipping this on a steaming afternoon just makes half your worries disappear.. at least for a while. lol. 

So that was how I spent my afternoon yesterday.. eating a sub and drinking this happiness in a cup!

How did you spend yours? 

Not Taking Life For Granted.

My 3/365 picture was that of a street wet with rainwater- the view from my front door. I was so happy it was finally raining and everything did not have to be so hot. A great relief from all that heat of the last little while. The overwhelming happiness I felt led me to act impulsively, however. Usually, when it's raining, I take a cab to work.. since I don't have a car yet.. but yesterday was different. I decided I would walk, after all,  it was only a 20 minutes walk and about 5 streets away. So I took out my umbrella and made for the door. The mistake I made though, was, I did not look at the weather report before leaving the house. All I knew was that it was raining and the ominously dark blue sky didn't look like it was inviting me out for a cup of coffee.I did not check to see how strong the wind was and if I was going to get blown away into an unknown world by what I would find out  could almost pass for a grade one hurricane. 

I made it past the first street okay.. but my umbrella was struggling. And because my umbrella was struggling, I started to struggle too. The wind was blowing us in all directions. And I found myself fighting to remain on the sidewalk, and not get thrown onto the main road. My umbrella at this point was still holding its own~ it wasn't quite doing it's job in the way that an umbrella is expected to, but at least it was shielding my hair and face from the rain.

After I had successfully made it past the second street and about crossing to the third, a fierce wind came that blew the canopy of my now-tired umbrella to the heavens. At this point, the "walk" sign came on and I had to make my way across the street. Embarrassed does not even begin to describe how I felt waking before all those cars and their owners. Only God can tell what they must have been thinking in their minds:

Oh, poor thing. I wish I  could give her a lift, but it's against the law in Canada to do so. She'll be fine.

So with me holding my umbrella pointing forward at waist level, I made it across the third street. Once I was able to collect myself and recover from the mortification that had just befallen me, I stopped on street 4, still under the pouring rain, to fix my umbrella.

I did a pretty good job. I got it fixed and continued on my journey. However, the fix did not hold for too long. My umbrella lost it again. By this time, the rain had gotten heavier and I was directly under it. I couldn't stop to take shelter anywhere because I'd be late for work, so I had to suck it up and keep going. Need I say that by the time I crossed the fifth street and made it to the front steps of my workplace, I was drenched silly. And everyone at work got a good laugh out of both my drenched self and my umbrella. 

It was quite the experience yesterday. But it was okay. I got a sense of what it feels like to be under the rain without having anywhere to go, and now I appreciate having a house to live in even more.

Now I know never to take life's little blessings such as basic shelter for granted. 

3/365: Showers Of Blessing

You know how I have been complaining about how incredibly hot it has been over the past few days? Well guess what? Nature decided to surprise me with unexpected showers today! It's drizzling outside as I type this and the streets are quiet. There's a 16 degree centigrade wind blowing outside and for the first time this summer, I am promised a cool night. And a wet walk to work. :-)

2/365: Attachment To The Inanimate

When I heard it vibrate, I was very excited. I was excited because I knew it was my mum calling. I always look forward to hearing from her. I searched around me for it and it wasn't in sight, but it was still vibrating.  I looked under my duvet, still no traces of it. Then I felt something on my leg. And I felt it move away from my leg, as though my leg had kicked it or something. Then came the loud sound of it hitting the floor. I followed the sound to its source.Alas the sound was my phone. It had landed face down and its screen was shattered. 

I shed a tear. I am sure my mum did too when I told her. My phone was broken. My technological partner was scarred. Needless to say, I am not getting rid of it. Right now, it has a tape that's keeping it together. In the near future, I'm gonna fix it. But for now, I am using it as is. Never knew I was attached. So attached to the piece of technology.