sitting in my home office, i'm patiently waiting for the telecom agent to write back to me.
i'm on a "chat hold".
from time to time,  the bottom of the chat screen reads Agent is typing.

i don't want a data plan on my phone...i'm strictly a talk and text gal, and agent sherwil is investigating and providing me with explanations. turns out the telecom giant changed my plan without my consent to a plan with a built-in data-provision.

hell no! those bastards!
thinking to lull me into using their data plan unknowingly and BAM...charge me extra fees to line their pockets...or worse, the thieves charge me the data-provisioning fee even though i don't use their data.

fuck you!

if i wanted the service, i can make my own decisions and choices thank you very much! i'm seething, but it's not agent sherwil's fault - and so i remain polite and mind my p's and q's, addressing him by name as often as i can. that's what a negotiator does right? try to make a connection to make the other person feel at ease? i accept the explanation he provides me and the reassurance that the data-provision is now blocked from my plan.

though a part of me wants to fight the $10 charge, it's really not worth my time and effort. my energies are needed elsewhere.

the emotions from this betrayal from my service provider is helping to keep me distracted from other thoughts and feelings. i want to ride this out a little longer...a mix of vindication and consumer righteousness. i found purpose and achieved it. (yeah!)

but it's all classic avoidance though from having to face the real issue at heart. earlier today, on the car ride home, i let the feelings of unworthiness, jealousy and disappointment wash over me. car rides and tears...there is something about driving alone in the car that often triggers me, and i don't know why. perhaps because being in a car alone i ironically feel safe enough to permit myself to be vulnerable, despite the potential risk of being in an accident if simple tears should turn into blinding tears and gasping sobs. 

and lets not forget, the odd looks i would get from the other drivers...cuz as humans, we're drawn to staring at things we have difficulty processing. i know i would be curious as hell and wondering from inside my car..."why she crying? what's got her down?" and for the rest of the car ride home, i'd be directing a whole hollywood storyboard and netflix production in my mind. yes ma'am...i am the showrunner of my imagination. but i digress...

it's mother's day this weekend. but i'm not a mother. i have never been a mother. i have no dependents. so on such a weekend...women like me, what are we to do? how are we to be celebrated? especially those of us who have been trying without success. where's our hallmark consideration? and how do we voice it...voice our pain of not being able to celebrate being a non-mother and still acknowledge our desire for motherhood and to love as mother's love their family.

in recent years, on social media, i've seen more and more posts acknowledging how mother's day is not easy for all women, but it hasn't gone mainstream enough. and certainly, businesses and consumer economic drivers are clueless in their role in propagating the standard messages. my own mother isn't aware of my own struggles and desires for motherhood - her longstanding position being that should i become a single mother, it would be a problem. i've long accepted her disapproval on my choices to go it alone - but neither have i shared with her my attempts at trying to get pregnant over the past year. i'll be celebrating mother's day with her, all the while, working on holding it together - because either the day i do become pregnant, or the day i stop trying - only then, would i consider letting her in on everything i've done or tried to do to become a mother.

so to the women out there without children of their own...i wish you a happy non-mother's day and may you still be celebrated and acknowledged for being a strong female presence within your family circle.

the nurse returned my call.
i have an appointment with the doctor later this month and as a result, she doesn't think it would be appropriate to pursue any treatments this month. wait and see what the doctor prescribes, she says.

my heart tightens and i close my eyes to stem the tears.
waiting...again.
stupid blunted surges. fuck!

i'm angry and frustrated. the polypectomy this past summer hasn't resolved my heavy menstrual cycle and i can feel my flow gushing freely. wearing the heavy pads and using the ultra absorbent tampons isn't stopping the blood from soaking through my pants either. lovely. just lovely.

and now, my ovulation cycles aren't firing off, though a common reality in women my age.

but, one more month? i've come this far, having taken the tests, completed the recommended surgery, selected and ordered my donor sperm...and yet, i'm still in a holding pattern. i had hoped that i would have at least had a few treatments by now, but obviously the universe thinks otherwise. 

my body is simply not in its optimal state - that's the reality. too many years of stress, emotional eating, trauma and recovery, have taken its toll and in truth, i'm a bit of a mess. and like many woman in my situation and age, the ticking clock is loud, which doesn't help our anxiety levels. patience isn't an ally in this case.

as i flip through my photo album, i find a picture that i took a few summers ago. in my parking spot, a lone plant grew from out of the pavement. despite the harsh urban setting, nature still found a way to adapt, grow and flourish. i remember, at the time, being in awe of the seed's resilience to set roots and its audacity to thrive alone in concrete.

so let's look at this from a different perspective, i tell myself. yes, the odds are against me, but it gives me one more month to continue with my commitment to do better by my body - focus on my physical health. eat cleaner, lose some weight, and lower my blood pressure. and yes, the doctor might have some other recommendations to help things along and those are all positives. 

so, what's one more month?
it's a gift in time to set the stage for adaptation.

i can do it.
i have to do it.
and i'm not afraid to do it.

because i'm a priority in my life.
for the first time in a long time, i want something badly enough to make it happen.
because i have to believe that in making this choice, miracles will happen.
and...i just want the one miracle.
.

"you must make a choice, to take the chance, or your life will never change."

"intentions can change reality."

"be a priority in your life."

"stop waiting. life moves faster than you think."

friday night - out with my girlfriends to celebrate my birthday. checked out a new restaurant, later, crossed the street to a check out the sex shop, then finished the night playing a game of pool. the outcome, i made a purchase at the sex shop and i really suck at playing pool.

saturday - left home early in the morning with my westie to cheer my parents off as they participated in the ride for dad motorcycle parade. the rest of the day, i was laid up on the couch or floor in utter misery, trying to comprehend how i've developed seasonal allergies at my age. passed out by 8pm.

sunday - caught up on coronation street (my little vice and the only soap opera i will admit to watching), followed by an hour of work as a teaching assistant for a basic obedience training course at the canine school. finished the day working on a blog post.

monday - woke up at 4 am today and dragged myself into work. on the car ride in, i plan and visualize my day and what i will accomplish. but then life steps in. it's waving a huge red flag. soon as i get on the elevator, my colleague starts asking me about a former colleague of ours. we gather into the office of another colleague and learn...our friend and former co-worker was found murdered on saturday night.

saturday - while i was laid up on the couch in the afternoon, trying to find allergy remedies, my friend's body was discovered.

sunday - while i was watching coronation street, the police were questioning my friend's ex-boyfriend where he confesses his crime.

monday - while at work today, through social media and phone calls, we reconnected with former colleagues to share the tragic news, hugged our friends, shed some tears, and remembered our vivacious, funny and wonderful friend.

it's been raining for most of the day - a consistent and persistent rain. i imagine rain droplets as little molecular soldiers, all with a mission to land and penetrate the soil. there's a respite at the moment...the rain on pause. despite the rain, lady humidity lingers about making herself at home. lady humidity and i aren't friends...i find her presence annoying. for now, i'm willing to tolerate her presence...better her than the hoards of unwanted pollen that have been dancing about in the air for the past few weeks.

i look at my list of draft posts, debating whether to finish one of the dozen or so blogs that I've started or to start a new one. i'll be honest, i'm not feeling particularly inspired at the moment. but i do have the urge to do something...to unleash myself and feel the rawness, to be humbled, and to fall forward. i also have an urge for a coffee and cigarette.

i'm single and i struggle with depression and personal demons. on a rainy day like today, it would be so easy to fall into myself. but i look over to my wall of post-it notes and i'm reminded of the goal i set out for myself on my 40th birthday last year - to do 40 remarkable things, big and small. it's not meant to be a bucket list, but a reminder to myself that i don't live in a rut. i'm reminded of a recent The Time of My Life by cecelia ahern, where the protagonist lucy silchester has an appointment with her life and she has no choice but to meet it face to face. in the end, lucy sums it up quite nicely:

"as long as you're around, your life is too. so just as you shower love and affection on the husbands, wives, parents, children and forever friends who surround you, you have to do so equally with your life, because it's yours, it's you, and it's always there rooting for you, cheering you on, even when you feel like you can't do it. i gave up on my life for a while, but what i've learned is that even when that happens and especially when that happens, life never gives up on you. mine didn't. and we'll be there for each other until those final moments when we will look at each other and say, 'thanks for staying until the end.' and that's the truth."

i've done just that this past year - found ways to invite life back into my life - to celebrate with it. in other aspects, i removed things that no longer had purpose or were hindering my life. i didn't reach my goal of 40, but that's not important - i tried, and along the way, learned things about myself.

1. attended the rcmp musical ride - i've never been on the grounds of the rcmp stables to see the musical ride - i've toured the facilities and will often try to go out at dusk while the horses get some freedom to roam the fields. but it was impressive to see the riders in unison. bonus: my neighbour was performing as one of the riders.
2. tried a new recipe - can't remember which one prompted me to write this, but i started a pinterest board of the recipes i have tried and liked. 
3. got rid of my landline - i'm now living the cellular life. this was an exercise of letting go.
4. met my idol rebecca caine -  i fell in love with her voice as christine in phantom of the opera and cosette in les miserables. i fell in love with rebecca even more when at the concert, she performed a song that was once performed by deanna durbin, my ultimate idol. i belted out showtunes on the car ride home. 
5. said good-bye to my honda civic, welcomed a toyota yaris - another exercise of letting go. my honda civic and i had a 17 year relationship and to let her go, that was hard. 
6. finished the book "saved by a poem" by kim rosen - i had had the book for over a year and finally was able to return it to its owner. bonus: a few months later, through serendipity, i ran into its owner, my former counsellor.
7. saw spiegelworld, an adult only circus show - i've seen circus shows, hell, i even dated and slept with a clown, but this show was funny, sexy, sensual and mildly dirty. 
8. i went camping - solo car camping in fact, with hewey. i wasn't sure how hewey would do so we slept in my new toyota yaris, and as a little bonus, we car camped in a walmart parking lot too. 
9. went to the CNE - i didn't try any rides as i was there for work, but it was an experience unto itself. 
10. enrolled into a dog trainer certification program - it was an intense first semester and i still feel there is so much to learn about dog behaviour, cognition and training. unfortunately, i had to postpone the second semester to the following year. 
11. went through jury selection process - i did my civic duty and presented myself at court. i was excused as i had a business trip scheduled. i do however still wish to be part of a jury one day - as long as its not a sexual assault case. 
12. attended the scotiabank nuit blanche - from 6pm to 6am, i ran all around toronto to see the various works by artists. i'll never attend this event again. i simply wasn't impressed with the thematics nor the curation, and each year it gets worse.
13. got rid of my office shelf - another exercise in letting go, but happy that it has found a new home and used to keep all my nieces toys organized.
14. cancelled a credit card - another exercise in letting go, and a continued effort to declutter and simplify my life. 
15. held a stag beetle - it was quite remarkable to be holding such a large bettle and have it crawl up my arm. stag beetle i can handle. spiders crawling up my arms, no.
16. ate a chocolate covered cricket - the best comparison would be, it was like eating chocolate covered rice crispies, only a better protein option! i doubt i'm ready to eat slugs though *shudder*
17. submitted my cv and resume - i seek new challenges and new opportunities at work. to keep my options open, i need to keep my resume in circulation. 
18. hired as a dog trainer teaching assistant - an opportunity to work with clients and their dogs, while at the same time applying what i've learned. 
19. held a snake and i liked it! - i understand the fascination of snakes now that i've held one. it was an amazing experience to feel their muscle contractions as they moved, as well as feel the delicate flicker of their tongue on my skin. 
20. attended my first meet-up event - a friend and i challenged each other to attend 1 social gathering a month and to expand our network. so as my first meet-up, i picked an introduction meet up sessions for we are the ducklings. it snowed 50cm that night and i still made it out. 
21. signed up to be a we are the ducklings member - in a future post, i'll write about this group and why i joined. 
22. attended my first art battle - it was an amazing experience to watch artists create a painting in 20 minutes. bonus: i bought a painting!
23. volunteered with habitat for humanities - not wanting to give up using my volunteer day, i signed up with habitat for humanities - used a drill, sawed and painted walls/ceilings. all in all, a great day!
24. groomed a horse - well a pony really. i could have spent the whole afternoon brushing its mane.
25. de-boned a leg of lamb - i had watched a number of videos on how it's done, but in the end, a one-on-one tutorial with a chef is so much better. 
26. attended nature nocturne - it was an adult night at the museum with really expensive drinks, dj music and poorly lit fashion show. i doubt i'll ever attend another nature nocturne event. 
27. made cold-pressed soap - it was a group event, but now that i'm using my hand-made soap, i'd love to try it again with different essential oils. 
28. accepted a new work assignment - i've been given the chance to challenge myself, finally!
29. found a lost dog - put to use all the lessons i've learned about dog behaviour and watching dog rescue videos.
30. attended my 1st canine seminar - while much of the presentation repeated things i've learned in class and through the reactive rover classes, it was still a great opportunity to be in a room with so many other dog trainers, rescue works and pet owners. 
31. visited an organic farm - well a commercial organic farm, cuz lets face it, my parents garden is a fully organic farm as well. but they don't have a pen with 100 chicks!
32. donated blood - well, i gave a pint of my blood and still waiting to hear if my blood is usable. along the way, i got to meet and interact with network of friends.
33. attended a school of sex workshop - it was part of a we are the duckling event. as an event planner, i was disappointed. but on a personal front, it challenged me to meet and talk with other men. the resulting experience will most likely be a future blog post.
34. signed up for sex therapy workshop - the subject is on body image and it finishes with a boudoir photo shoot! Time to add some new articles of clothing to my wardrobe!

i have a bieber song in my head. it's been stuck there since the morning with the refrain "sorry" repeating itself like a broken record. i give credit to the kid - the song has a catchy tune, but i'm no bielieber. and with the mood i'm in right now, it's not improving my emotional state.

i think of poet Kim Rosen and her teachings. i suspect there's something in the lyrics that has nicked my nerves. a quick google search for the lyrics drums up hundreds of web results and i choose one, skimming over the words - literally, a fast read. i make sure not to connect with the words - i have the tune stuck in my head, i have no desire to have the lyrics "written on the bones," as Kim would say. no, i'm in no mood for either forgiveness or second chances - these being the words that pop out from the screen. i keep the veil of cynicism cloaked around me, guarding all my supressed frustrations and annoyances. it forms a slick layer of grease on my skin and it irritates me further.

it's february and the weather is fucking gorgeous. the sun shines brightly outdoors - the light bouncing off the white snow. it's a scene that is postcard perfect, and yet, i feel like it's mocking me. i imagine all the people outside soaking in their required vitamin D, and a battery symbol with the percentage of the charge level above each of their heads.

who is at full?
who is maximizing their efficiency for their charge to last?
who is running on empty?
and their charge level, is that indicative also of their level of happiness?

i want to be happy. i often pretend i'm happy - the mask goes on and i resemble someone who has their shit together. but i'm on the verge of cracking. i slip - i keep forgetting to lock my door at night. i gorge on food and smoke cigarettes. i wring my hands and clasp them tightly. i sink back into the hole in the sidewalk. i disconnect. and this all irritates the shit out of me too.


distractions - i seek them out. i'm on edge and the bieber song isn't helping me - it's like chinese water torture. i want to drown out the song - avoidance is flashing like a warning signal, its message coursing through all the neuro pathways. i pick a romantic comedy from my on-line library - happythankyoumoreplease. i have no idea what the film is about - i simply need an escape. if i get a few laughs out of it, bonus.

but then i freeze. pablo schreiber is in this film. shit.

(a little context - up to this point, i've only ever seen schreiber in Law and Order SVU, where he plays a very convincing serial rapist, william lewis. his portrayal of this character has plagued and challenged my anxieties over the years - he embodies and reminds me so vividly of my own rapist - manipulative, controlling, expressionless, a predator.)

there are clearly messages that the universe keeps leaving at my door step, and no matter how many distractions i put up as obstacles, that knock on the door isn't going away. it's schreiber's character in the film, charlie, where i gain a bit of insight:

“Did you play sports when you were a kid? D’you remember ‘walk it off’. No matter what happened right? I mean your eye-ball could be hanging out of its socket, coach would run over, scoop you up; ‘Hey you’re alright kid just walk it off.’ And I’m sure a few of those times I was legitimately hurt, but just having this concept, walk it off, as a way to, I don’t know, heal myself, it worked. I just walked that shit off.”

walk it off. it's as simple as that. it's not about running to escape, but walking it off to heal. i do just that. it feels good to get the legs moving and breathing in the crisp winter air. i have no destination in mind, so i head to the local mom and pop shop to check my lottery numbers. i don't win anything, but i buy another set for the following draw. who knows, maybe with a little thank you, more please, i might win something more.

as i continue on my walk, i sense a lightness - i seize the chance and face the yet undefined thing that is causing me distress. the blurry edges come into focus and hones in on my anxieties. ghomeshi. there's a whole media storm going on right now. i cringe when i read the onslaught of questions posed by defence counsel to the victims. the chatter around the trial is everywhere and it overwhelms me. but ultimately, i hate how defence is painting a picture of "you liked boy, you sexted with boy, you wanted boy" with a timeline detailed and outlined for all to see. i acknowledge defence counsel is doing her job, but i find it hard not to take it personally - with each question, i find myself reflecting back to my own actions or inactions. did i do/say something that could be perceived as consent to cause the outcome of my rape?

i remind myself that this isn't my trial and i'm not on any stand to be judged. the debates, the dialogue, the comments - these are needed to effectuate change, and though it may at times make me uncomfortable and vulnerable, i need not fear it. and if it does, well, i just need to buy a pair pf new runners so that i can walk that shit off.

he reminds me of james franco.
his picture has been in the newspaper for the past month.
but james franco he is not.

i met him about five years ago - deepak - not james franco. he was part of the group celebrating the birthday boy and i was a tag along.  he was very charismatic and charming with an easy smile. he had beautiful dark curly hair, hidden under a grey beanie and though it was late and we were inside, he wore these large sunglasses. deepak had his own style and he seemed at ease and comfortable with his surroundings.

he asked what i did and i explained the events i produced. he confessed that he and his cousin had taken to "ice climbing" the large ice sculptures of a boat my event had created one year. the event producer in me was shocked and angry, but i silently admired his guts and sense of adventure. the night went on with amusing stories of his wild adventures as well as some serious discussions about life.

this was the only night i encountered deepak, but he left a strong impression - he had a vibe and presence about him that endeared him to others. he was so full of energy and easily drew in and connected with people, i thought to myself, "he reminds me of a younger james franco". and with each passsing winter, i would often wondering if i would run into him again, perhaps late at night climbing another ice sculpture.


a month ago, the news reported of having found a body. i would have dismissed this as another tragic story of a drug addict and moved on, but the young man's name triggered my memory rolodex. it was deepak. it was his tragic story i was reading.

on learning of his struggles with mental illness and addictions, it jarred with my initial impression of deepak - the happy, smiling and charming young man at the bar. i grieve for this deepak, but having struggled silently with my own depressions and anxiety, i have compassion and empathy for the other deepak i never knew and his sufferings.

at this point, i'm torn. i want to honour deepak's memory...the young man so full of life and adventure...but my only memory of him is of that one night at the bar celebrating his friend - the birthday boy. i didn't know it at the time, but that night set in motion a series of poor choices on my part that would later engulf me in regret, shame and guilt. if we were to play the six degrees of separation game, the only connection between deepak and i is the birthday boy...the birthday boy would eventually become my rapist.

i don't want to remember deepak this way, not linked to my feelings and memories of my rapist.

i want to honour deepak's spirit, and his desire to live as he would have wanted to - at peace and happy. so, in february, on a clear night, next to the large ice sculpture, i'll create a candle holder with coloured ice blocks, light a little candle and imagine him climbing upwards and being free. this is how i want to remember and honour deepak.