It has been some months (3 and a half) since I last wrote anything. A lot has happened.
• I took a course for work and failed.
• I started playing Dungeons and Dragons.
• I started going to the gym and working out.
• I celebrated my 37th birthday.
• I read about a bazillion books.
• I had a vehicular mishap that cost me a lot of money
• I stopped and then started drawing again.
• I stopped working on my book and started again and stopped again.
Let's talk about it. In order of mention.
There is a designation in Canadian insurance that you can obtain called the CIP (Chartered Insurance Professional) destination. It looks good having it when you work in the industry and you get to put letters after your name. I have been working to obtain this since 2016. There are a total of ten courses one must take, and I have only the final one left. I took the course as independent study in 2019 and failed miserably. I decided to take it again this past winter, and worked my ass off. I still failed. I can assure you it wasn't lack of trying. My life was almost completely put on hold while I took this course and studied for the exam. I guess the plus here is that I, at least, did not fail miserably this time. I was SO CLOSE. This time I qualify to rewrite the exam rather than having to take the course all over again. It was disappointing to learn that I had failed a second time, but I am trying to focus on the small wins. And failing with a grade in the 55-59% range rather than <40% is a marked improvement and therefore a win. I'll leave it at that. Once I am able to I will be signing up to rewrite in July. I'd really like to have it by the end of the year. Wish me luck.
My friend Alex had been pressuring me (not in a bad way) to play D&D with him. He even said he would set up a mini game just me and him so I could try it out. I was hesitate, as I always am with trying new things. But he finally talked me into it and we dove into character creation. That took way more time than I ever expected it to. I did not realize there was so much detail that went into it! But after a couple weekend days of working on it, my character came to be. There is even a portrait drawn of her, which makes me really happy. We have been playing off and on since about mid-March and I am really enjoying it. I'm looking forward to playing a game with more people in the future.
In late January, I decided that since I seem to have my mental health mostly in check, it was time to focus on my physical health. As a result of medications, and being unsure of what could exacerbate my pain conditions, I gained weight. And in the beginning, it was a significant amount. 60lbs or so, mainly due to my antidepressant meds. My body image went into the shitter and I had to focus on accepting my body as it is, because it was unlikely it would be changing any time soon. That was 5-6 years ago. Fast forward to now: I know my diagnosis, my weight has been steady and I also know that physical activity can help with managing the symptoms. I decided that it was now or never, taking back control over my body. I worked hard over the past 5-6 years to get okay with my body as it is. I decided that my goal was not necessarily to lose weight, but to get stronger and feel better physically. There was a gym in my city offering the first month free and an affordable monthly rate. I jumped on it. I walked in and the people at the counter were immediately kind and helpful. They gave me a tour and got me all set up. This went a long way toward feeling comfortable at the gym. In the past, I had always felt very intimidated as all the staff wanted to do was get more sales. That's not the case at my gym. I'm set up to go three times a week now, and while I stopped during the study period for my exam, I am getting back into the routine again now. Every time I go, I leave feeling great and it is the greatest motivator I have encountered so far when it comes to getting more active.
I'm 37 now! I have been for about 2 months now. As has been the going plan for birthdays at Chez Dave & Linds, we host an afternoon open house-type party where people can just drop in and stay as little or as long as they'd like. I had a number of people cancel the day of due to illness, but there was still a pretty great turnout. I feel like I was spoiled with incredibly thoughtful gifts this year. David cooked the food for my birthday event which was delicious chili, Alex got me coffee (the lifeblood!) and pens and pencils in a really cute little case. Oh, and he gifted me back my phone charger I had left at his house too, which I found hilarious. Steph gave me another wonderfully thoughtful gift including coffee, a bookshop gift card and a wee ollection of unique rocks in a container labeled "You Rock!" I got a bit teary eyed. It was a good day, and the celebration was great. I felt very loved.
Books, as y'all may recall, are my escape. I read to avoid class work and studying and any time I found free time. What a surprise! I gave my myself a goal of reading 80 books this year and I am pretty sure I am well on my way. I also enrolled in Book of the Month, which has finally arrived in Canada! As a result, despite all the reading I've done, my TBR is obscene. But that's okay. I'll get through them. And I'll just keep adding more as one does when an avid reader.
On my way to my final exam for the class I was taking, I hit something on the road that bent both of my tire rims on the passenger side, and wrecked both of my tires as well. I was hysterical. I panicked. I called right away to advise the Insurance Institute (the organization that administers the course and exams) to let them know what happened, and then roadside assistance because I wasn't going anywhere with two flat tires on one side. Then I focused on calming myself down. It took a while! What I didn't realize was I didn't have coverage with Hyundai anymore and they didn't tell me, so I sat there waiting for a tow when there was no tow even on its way. When I called to follow up, they finally told me this and then redirected me to CAA. CAA won't do anything for you unless you have a membership (which I, of course, did not have). So I signed up for one over the phone, and they had a tow on its way to me and it arrived within 15 minutes. After the adventure of changing the rear tire so the wrecker could pull my car, the adventure of getting to a shop ensued. Slowest drive across the city ever. Thankfully the shop I was towed to was fantastic and had me all fixed up by the following morning. They even gave me rides home and then back to the shop. I was also lucky that my mom could help me out with covering the cost of the repair. It would have been a couple weeks before I could, otherwise! All is well now. And hopefully no more mishaps!
I have always found it difficult to be able have more than one hobby on the go at a given time. And yes, at this point, because I have a full time job, writing my book is a hobby. While I was taking my class, everything but reading fell to the wayside. I didn't draw or doodle anymore, and I most certainly did not write. As also evidenced by lack of posting on Substack. I finally picked up a pencil and doodled some again for the first time yesterday and it felt great. I can spend hours drawing, I find it so relaxing. I wrote a bit during a studying lull too, but I haven't written anything else since, until today. Another thing I missed.
Things are finally getting back to "normal" again. My social life is starting to come back and I didn't realize how much I missed what small social life I do have. Went to see a live show one night this week and I loved it and was happy to be back at it. "Normal" life is good to me, no more shaking it up for at least a little while.