Sick and on the Couch

I hadn't realised it had been so long since I posted. I kept meaning to check in here and would even be planning what I was going to write, but I never actually typed it in and hit Post.

So... Here, in a nut shell, are a few things from the last few months:

...

I did get in touch with some of the people I was talking about at the end of my last post.

I spoke to the mother of my god-daughter and found out how both of them are doing.

I got to visit with one of my brothers and enjoyed the weekend I spent there.

I went and played pool with one of my best friends, who also happens to be the first friend I made when I moved over 1000km away from home, to a new town in what was, for me, a foreign country. The move was for a job with a 6-12 month contract. That was over 15 years ago.

I have talked to others as well but there are still more that I have not spoken to and am looking forward to the time that I can.

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I resolved to lose weight. I have a goal in mind, and as of a couple of weeks ago I was 40 pounds above that goal. That is a lot of weight, it doesn't look as much on a 6'5" frame but it is still noticeable and I want to be rid of it.

In order to help me lose the weight I am getting out and walking. My normal walk, which I told myself I would do at least 3 times a week, is 2.2 miles according to my GPS tracker. More on this below.

...

I was deathly ill over Christmas. For several days I could barely keep water down and survived on Pedialyte because it was the only thing that wouldn't overtax my system. Can I tell you that it quickly gets pretty disgusting when it is the only thing you are consuming for several days. It took weeks before I started to feel even mostly myself. Then I came down with a sinus infection which lingered for a while and kept me down longer.

It was somewhere in there that I fell into a depression which I am still clawing my way out of.

All of this means that I have not been myself and I have not gotten out to do my walking.

So, I am still about 40 pounds from my goal weight and I have been only been doing my walk once, maybe twice, a week. There have been entire weekends where I didn't leave my apartment or only got out long enough to pick up some groceries. This is changing.

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There have been several nights that I ended up sleeping on my couch.

I would go to bed but couldn't fall asleep. I would get up and do ... whatever trying to relax enough to fall asleep, but would find that I just couldn't get to sleep. At least not until I laid on the couch to read. Eventually, I got to the point where if I couldn't get to sleep I would just move out to the couch and sleep there.

It mostly worked.

...

So this is the first of my catch-up posts. It covers a lot of things but not even close to all of it.

Like my walk tonight... But that is a story for another post.

For now... Goodnight.

Home In My Harbour

The Passport Office didn't go as well as I'd hoped, but it went OK. There were more rules changes than I knew about...

Apparently they can no longer mail your passport to you. And you have to pick it up at the same office where you submitted your application. That meant that I couldn't pick it up at the Canadian Consulate office in Boston either.

The good news... For an extra fee of $30 they can rush the process and have it ready for me Friday. {Today} However, since I had to pick up the passport this afternoon I couldn't leave this morning and will now be driving back down tomorrow.

Not too bad since it turned out there was a major wind and rain storm until the early afternoon.

So, I had to delay my heading back by a day. {Not the worst of fates.} But I have my passport in my hand for the trip back.

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I've had a chance to catch up with several people, some of whom I hadn't seen in about 8 years.

I've been able to get out to see McGinty three nights, and I'll be going back tonight.

Got to have a big turkey dinner with a lot of family. My mother cooked, and my sisters, aunt, and some cousins came out for it.

I need to stop it Customs and Immigration on my way back into the States for a new visa due to a change in status. {I'll need to check and see if I've written about that yet, if not you can expect it soon-ish.}

...

Anyway, I'm paying by the minute for access right now, so I'm going to go check some email and sign off.

Peace.

Heading for Halifax

Well, I'm in Halifax. I got in late Sunday night, or was it really early Monday morning? And I have been enjoying my time here so far.

Except for the time spent dealing with the passport application paperwork. Tomorrow I go into the Passport Office to drop off the application and let them make copies of my birth certificate and any other paper work they need.

I originally wasn't sure if I was going to drive up on Saturday or Sunday, but Saturday morning took care of that decision for me. Having to make an emergency dental appointment, on a Saturday no less, will kind of eliminate any other plans you might have had. And there is not much you can do to avoid the dentist when one of your fillings has broken and half of it fell out.

But the drive up on Sunday went well. There was a long wait, about 90 minutes, at the border, and all but 2 minutes of that was in the line waiting to get up to one of the booths.

The rest of the trip went quite smooth and the entire trip took about 13 hours start to finish.

I've gotten to hang out with, and get caught up with a few of my friends. I've been to The Lower Deck. Turns out McGinty was playing and so I was very lucky to get to see and hear them.

Oh, and my friend who went to The Lower Deck with me tonight was recognized from his job working at the airport and so we ended up having a drink with a couple of Finnish flight attendants.

Well, I've got to get some sleep before dealing with the government tomorrow.


Walk in Beauty.