Eventful Return

Well, it's been an... eventful... return in both good ways and bad ways.

The good?

I've been able to spend time with a lot of friends and family. Friday night when I came back I immediately called Ceci and she, Vicki and I all went out to Tim Horton's to hang out. Saturday I got my license renewed and went shopping with my mom and Diana. Sunday was breakfast at Cora's with Ceci and Vicki; church; a little shopping with Ceci and Vicki; a late lunch with Ceci, Vicki and Joeie; then playing Cooking Mama and watching Kiki's Delivery Service with Jen, Ceci and Vicki at night. Monday to Friday was WAY Camp.

Even though (or maybe because) there were fewer kids than usual, it was a lot of fun. I was glad to see all (four) of the twelfth graders there, and it was good to meet some of the (soon to be in grade ten) niners. *sigh* Being back reminded me that I really do miss the WAY kids. Before I left there were times when I felt really drained by my commitment as a WAY counselor, and I wondered if I'd really re-join them if I stayed away for longer than a year, but now I think I'll still want to come back to the WAY when I'm back in Canada for good.

Anyway, Friday night (after getting back from camp), I went out to Cafe Hollywood with Jen, Ceci, Grace, Jon Tang, Benson, Joanna, Vince and Vivian (hope I'm not forgetting anyone!!). Saturday I went to the Woodlands Library (you have NO idea how much I've missed English books!) and EK (where I spent pretty much all of the money I got from my parents on manga). For dinner my parents and I met up with a family friend to have peking duck (yum)! Sunday was church (including Life Long Learning) and lunch with Bettina and Ken, Alan and Liz, Ivy, Brenda and Ceci. Then another Chinese dinner with family friends. I'd never actually met these family friends before, but my parents wanted me to meet them since the daughter will be a frosh at UT this September and is also interested in anime/manga.

So that was the good. The bad?

Well, the day after I came back (Saturday) before getting my license renewed and going shopping, I went to a viewing at church for a parent of some of my WAY kids (former and current). He had been sick for some time, so it wasn't a sudden or completely unexpected passing, but I'm sure that didn't make it any less painful for the family.

A less serious, but still not so great thing was the amount of rain we had at WAY camp. Certainly we were lucky that, with the exception of one day, the rain mostly came at times that didn't interfere with our schedule (at night, during Bible study, etc.), but that one day was pretty bad. Alan, Liz and I were out grocery shopping when it started, but it was still going strong when we got back to the camp site. The kids were real troopers and all pitched in to move flooded tents and to get wet stuff to a place it could dry, but it was still a pretty miserable day.

Even though Alice and I dried and moved our tent, it ended up getting wet again. On Wednesday night (Monday and Tuesday I went home with my dad after lights out and returned before 7am) I slept in the tent and woke up with a wet back in the morning! Alice was fine since she had a mattress thing so the water didn't get through her sleeping bag. Luckily Thursday was the all-nighter so I only spent that one night sleeping on a wet spot in our tent.

Today (Monday) was the "most bad" (yes, grammatically it should be "worst") day, though. I learned first hand the truth in the saying "haste makes waste." I had a doctor's appointment at 10am and even though I had enough time to make it, I was cutting it a little close so I was driving pretty fast. And wouldn't you know it, at the bottom of Mississauga Road (at The Collegeway) there were two police cars waiting for speeders.

Yes indeed, today I got my first ever speeding ticket. ^^;; I was lucky, though, because the cop was really nice about it. He gave me a reduced ticket (15 km/h over the limit, instead of the 20km/h I was actually clocked at) and he didn't give me an additional fine for not having the car registration in the car (it was in the car, but I couldn't find it). So even though having to pay $52 sucks, it could've been a lot worse: $120 and 3 points on my license. What makes me feel even more lucky is that I actually did see the cop cars before I crossed the intersection and managed to slow down some before they got me: I was actually going 80km/h (30km/h over the speed limit) but had enough time to slow down to be clocked at 70km/h.

Anyway, I definitely learned my lesson. I mean, I would've been on time and saved myself $52 if I'd left a little earlier, or if I'd even just been feeling less rushed and driven at the speed limit. Indeed, "haste makes waste."

The other bad news for today was that my dentist discovered a cavity when I went for my cleaning!! How sad is it to still be getting cavities at my age?! To be fair to myself, though, at the last check-up before I left my dentist did say there was a tooth with potential to develop a cavity, so it wasn't a completely new development. (Although I guess it doesn't say much about my tooth brushing since I knew about it but didn't manage to prevent it.) So now I have to go back on Monday for a filling. And of course I don't have any insurance to cover dental expenses, so I'm going to have to pay for it on top of the cleaning. @_@

Oh well. I guess I'll just have to be more diligent about my brushing from now on--and maybe lay off the sweets a bit.

Actually, I almost forgot, but there is some good news from today (so I can end on a positive note). At my check-up, I learned that I've actually lost about 14 lb since last year! I knew that I'd lost about 4-6 lb when I was moving into my apartment in May, but I didn't realize I'd lost more before that! Guess that explains why everyone was like "Did you lose weight?" I really couldn't understand why a mere loss of 4-6 lb was so noticeable to everyone... Another good thing is that the problem I had last year with my feet swelling seems to be pretty over. I wonder if it's another benefit from my healthier, less processed food diet in Japan?

But yeah, I've still got one more week at home, so I hope I won't have anymore unfortunate surprises and can enjoy meeting up with everyone I haven't had a chance to see yet.