changing traditions

This was my first Christmas not going home to Winnipeg, or spending it with family wherever they be. All in all, it's been a good one, even without those things I'm used to.

The reality is that even if I were in Winnipeg, many of those traditions wouldn't be there anyway:

My sister and her husband are off traveling the globe this summer, so I would only have seen them one evening, in passing. We exchanged gifts through the mail this year, hopefully I'll be able to convince her to make a visit out to Vancouver sooner than later.

The traditional Christmas-eve celebration at my grand-dad's was downgraded this year to an afternoon stop-in; this tradition, I'll miss the most - it's the only time each year when that whole side of the family gathers together at the same time. We did have my grand-dad's 90th birthday this last fall, it's just sad to think that such a long standing tradition (about 30 + years) has come to an end and there's no-one in the younger generation that will keep it going.

This year, my friend Tia and I had a wonderful movie night! We started by going for Greek food, the service was terrible, but it was decent and filling. Next, we went to a wonderful dessert place and got a selection of... 6 cakes, pastries, etc. We picked up another friend of Tia's (also a Christmas orphan) and watched Centurion and Amélie at my place - neither of these were Christmassy at all, but that's ok!

Today was pretty traditional, actually. I made my Christmas calls in the morning, while making an apple crisp. In the afternoon, I went over to my friend's house for dinner - he has a 9-month old and a 3-year old, so the joy and magic of Christmas was wonderful!

Tomorrow is boxing day, which is always a big deal in Winnipeg. Here, it is not. I think the malls have big sales, but I didn't get a single flyer for boxing day/week sales... That's another Christmas day tradition for my family - looking at the boxing day sales and figuring out what shopping you want to do on the 26th. Tomorrow, I won't be shopping because there's no-one to shop with, and there's nothing I particularly need.

I've been pretty productive this week, but I still have a mild-to-moderately overwhelming amount of work to do on my piano piece. My sleep schedule is pretty ridiculous, but it's working relatively well for me. I'm in bed around 5 or 6am and I wake up in the early-ish afternoon. I've been pretty social in the afternoons/evenings, and then I work until the wee hours of the morning when everyone else is sleeping. It's also helpful that the internet is EXTREMELY BORING after about 1am - there's literally nothing new on facebook until around 4 or 5am, when the early birds on the east coast start their days.

Long story short, I've quite enjoyed my holidays this year, even though they've been quieter and different than normal.

Hopefully, everyone has been having wonderful holidays themselves!

Enjoy the rest of the year, and hopefully I'll remember to post again before 2011!

Stupid spinning, mumbly stupid

There are not too many things or people that frustrate me to point of contemplating violence, but this is one of them:

I frickin' hate this bitch!

How is it possible that she combines two things that I love (spinning and dancers) and make me hate them so much?!?

Apparently there is actually some discussion on which direction she spins, but for the life of me, I can't even conceive of how she would spin in the opposite direction.

Let's start off with how stupid it is to use the words "left" and "right" when they clearly mean clockwise and counterclockwise! Regardless of what direction she appears to be moving, 50% of that motion will be left and 50% will be right, on the 2 dimensional plane.

Next, and well... really my only point is that I can only see it spinning clockwise. My roommate claims it spins the other way, but then it changes. Poeple online say that it can spin either way based on your right or left-brainedness, and that most people can change the direction.

I've tried everything, but it won't do anything else!!! ARRGH!

What about you, my loyal readers - does she spin clockwise or counter-clockwise, and can you change the way she spins?

A new toque

It's super-busy times here in Vancouver. Papers to write, music to write, fun times!

Because of the deadlines, I've been procrastinating with knitting...

I'm currently working on a pair of socks and a pair of thumb-free mittens. I finished the first sock, and then started the mittens, eventually I'll finish the pair and have warm toes!

I wanted to knit a big floppy hat, so I did:

It looks kinda gangster, but I'm not badass enough to be a gangster, so I end up looking more hipster-y. I get confused when I try to understand social groups, so I decided I would take an emu picture, you know those quasi-goth members of that hipster sub-category...

In conclusion, this is me trying to be sad while wearing an otherwise jolly hat!

Anyhoo, I need to get lots of work done tonight, so I'll go back and stay focused, stick my head in the sand or whatnot...

Insulin-pump industry, my, how generous you are!

After having voiced my concerns about the marketing used in and around inter-pump compatibility issues, I received a sample package to the value of $1,160 at my front door today.

Ten boxes of ten infusion sets will last me 200 days - that's more than half a year. Diabetes companies do not fool around when it comes to potentially gaining a customer...

In not-unrelated news, I just removed a rant I had previously posted from a few weeks ago.

In conclusion, yes, I can be bought, and now you know my price!

Goodbye NaBloPoMo!

Well, November was a massive failure for blogging...

Oh well!

While I mentioned it in passing the other day, I should make a grander statement and explanation about the revelation that I had this Diabetes Month:

My insulin-pump infusion-set problem is fixed!

As with so many things in medicine, the solution to my problem was $MONEY$.

Long story short, infusion sets only last 2 days (at the most) in my body, if I leave them in longer, they work less and less. The problem I had been having was not caused by the new infusion set, but the fact that the previous set had not been working well for the last day of it's life.

When I was in Ontario, I got $200 a month in funding for all pump supplies - which is pretty much exactly what it cost to buy one box of infusion sets and reservoirs per month. That means that I had two choices:

1) make the sets last 3 days each

or

2) spend money out of pocket

I was often spending extra out of pocket because of screwed up sets anyway, and I tried wearing them for a shorter period of time, but I didn't get the conclusive proof I was looking for.

In the end, as an Ontarian, I could not afford to use the pump the way I needed to.

That year on the pump in Ontario was unbelievably frustrating, but it wasn't all for nothing. I learned more about the pump in that year than I would have in a few years of using it problem free. I am, as a result, well versed in pump problem solving! Also, I've been humbled (which I do see as a good thing) and totally see that I was wrong with my claims during that whole year of complaints. I apologize for being so stubborn. I wasn't allowing myself to accept the short-life of the sets because I knew that meant I couldn't afford to be on the pump, and for some reason, my mind felt that being unhealthy was a better option than being extra poor (or even just accepting the reality of my financial situation. Sure, we might say that money doesn't matter when it comes to health, but it does - it really does.

Fast forward, and I am loving being poor in BC. Now that I've met my yearly max on drug spending, everything that is covered is free! Once I get the ordering sorted out with the pharmacy, I'm going to stock up on infusion sets and reservoirs.

I am grateful that everything worked out in the end, so now I have a new beginning ahead of me. I am now loving my pump, ish. Finally, I can start taking full advantage of the pump and what it can offer!