Life has changed a lot since I got my license. I have driven alone finally. I drove my friend Laurel around. I drove my mom to work and drove home and drove back and picked her up. Today I drove my cousin and our propane tank to the Co-op to get filled. And every day when I have suspected I might drive, I avoid alcohol altogether. It’s been pretty decent, it might help me reduce my drinking, hurrah! I’ve been very serious about not drinking and driving, losing my new found independence would be terrible. I am really liking that I don’t have to depend on my Mom giving me a ride somewhere, now I just depend on her lending me the car!

I finally got my Final Report done for Canada Council for my travel grant I got last summer. I mailed it away yesterday. It was pretty basic, I didn’t write eloquently or anything, I just said the things it did for me and how I used it. Now I am working on a grant in Aboriginal Media Arts for my ultra low budget feature “film” which is actually a video but that doesn’t matter anymore since everything is being screened digitally now anyway. Plus I am shooting in HDV. I finished the production budget today and it adds up to EXACTLY what I can ask for before my living allowance is factored in.

I rewrote bits of Bunnyhug, I found a totally alternate script while I was looking for the most recent version, and I added bits of it to the final draft I had finished, because I think it adds to it. Of course when I am editing I can leave out what doesn’t work. And the parts I added aren’t going to add a whole bunch to the production budget. Just a couple scenes in the apartment and a scene on the street and a scene in a bar. Not a whole big change, I can add them to the other bar/street/apartment location shots I do. I am going to try and shoot in May/June of 2013. That’s a ways away. I also had to rewrite things so that it would be located in Saskatoon instead of Vancouver, because I can’t afford to shoot in Vancouver that is for sure. Some of the things would make more sense in Vancouver, like when two characters mention meeting at a lesbian strip show. But why not pretend Saskatoon has Lesbian strip shows?? May as well, it’s all fictional anyway!

I worked on my grant today, I got a substantial amount written, I am feeling good about it but looking for another pair of eyes to look at it. Just for confirmation of if I am on the right track or not.

Ha ha, my friend’s 2 year old, when she catches him doing something bad like dumping all the flour on the floor, will say “Mum, walk away.” Ha ha ha, that is the best thing I have heard ever!!!! So cute, that’s something I can imagine her saying when she was little!

My dating life has picked up a bit, I had one date and might have another date with someone else and might go on a date with the first person again and basically I am starting to get my feet wet in the local-ish dating pool. Actually one of my potential future dates lives in a different city, which is kinda sucky, BUT it’s in the same province and not that far away, which is bonus yay points! Which makes her local-ish. Not in a different province, and not in a different country on a different continent! Although I do still want a date with someone who lives rather far away. But some friendly hanging out is cool too, I’m not that fussy, I just like spending time with her. Anyway, no commitments to anyone yet, just hanging out and seeing where life takes me. Supposedly in eight to seven months I will end up in a serious relationship for a while, according to my psychic. Which would be nice.

I have something to confess! I have been sneaking smokes! :O I am climbing back on the no-smoking wagon. It’s not worth all the bad things I noticed about being a smoker. And one of my dates quit smoking and I would like to be equally quit and nice tasting if we kiss, so I want to stop again. Along with the fact that I am sitting in the waiting room of the cancer clinic everyday this week with my Grandpa, seeing all those people who used to be smokers and are now really sad and worried and unsure of their futures. It’s a wake-up call. Plus my great grandma on my dad’s side lived to be 99 or something like that, and my maternal Grandpa is 93 and my Grandma is 92, so I have the genes to live to my 90’s easy, and I should be careful of my body so I can make it to a great old age.

BUT I still haven’t smoked weed, even though yesterday I was around a friend who was puffing away and who probably would have smoked me down if I had said I was back to smoking up. But I really thought hard about my withdrawal period and how hard it was and knew if I took a puff it would lead me straight back to being a chronic.

I passed my Road Test!!! I am the proud holder of a Novice 1 Class 5 Driver’s License!!! 😀 I was so nervous before my instructor picked me up, but we drove around and then did two different possible routes that the examiner could take me on. When I would make a mistake we would go around the block and do it again. Then at about 3:15 he said we could keep driving or I could go get registered, I decided I was ready and registered. So he and I sat in the waiting room until the examiner came out and called me by my last name. Then we did the signal check and brake check and horn check. And we went for a drive!

And I did really good. I must have because I passed! My parallel park was good, and in the end she just told me to slow down on my turns and to brake a little sooner so that it wasn’t so jerky when I stop. But I passed!!! 😀 I went and paid my ten dollars to upgrade my license until the end of April (my birth month, when all the licenses normally expire). And they took another photo of me without my glasses for the photo id. I should get my new license in 10 days.

So now I am kind of stunned and excited! It wasn’t even as hard as I thought it would be! I’m glad I know exactly how to parallel park. My instructor told me he loves how I parallel park!

Such a good driving instructor, when I told him I passed he clapped and then told me “That’s three for three!” All three of his students taking the test today passed! That’s pretty good!

Anyway, tomorrow night I am borrowing the car for the first time to take me and a friend to get some ice cream! Ha ha, also I think it is snowing a shit ton tonight, which might make my plans change.

I’m so tired of being so stressed! I was so nervous about that damn test! Now it’s over, but I still have to be a good driver. I am going to keep practicing. There is a giant blindspot in my mom’s car, which kinda sucks. When I get a car I am going to be aware of that.

I have to think of other things I want to improve in my life. I quit smoking cigs and pot, got my driver’s license, now I just have to get a stable income and move out of my Mom’s house, eventually. Oh and get a wife. And a car. And a house. Mom says I am not a Neverbloomer I am just a late bloomer. Actually she says I am doing really well.

The next big tasks are to write a grant and first I have to write a final report. And that all has to be done by the end of the month. I also have to get some more contracts so I can get some cash for when I am in Germany this June and July! And when it warms up a bit I have to start working on my video about being butch.

I should really make another list of things to do. I love lists. I write them all the time! I need to do some writing in my private diary again.

This week I should be getting the Lifering Workbook, and on Sunday I am driving down to the Avenue Community Centre for the Secular Sobriety meeting. My first time! :O I hope it’s good.

So that was my day! I drove Mum and I home from Sky’s house, I don’t trust Mum’s directions anymore because she keeps mixing up her left and rights.

I have finally passed the six week mark of not smoking pot!!! I can pee in a cup and pass a drug test! 😀 I have no reason to pass a drug test, BUT I could! I went to my concurrent disorders group today and had a good session. That was good because I missed last week.

I have had another session with my driving instructor and learned FOOL PROOF parallel parking! I am really good at it! I used to SUCK at parallel parking but now I have learned! 😀 YAYYYYYY! A new skill! And that is what used to get me during my road tests! Mom and I practiced driving for an hour tonight all around downtown and at various places they take you on the road test. My turns are still too wide. Several times my mom was yelling “Right right right! Tight tight tight!” I’ve gone and parked in various parking lots, and I am excellent on the freeway (although I follow the speed limits which isn’t fast enough for most!).

My road test is on Monday at 3:45!!! Eeeeeeeeee! People have told me not to feel bad if I don’t pass it the first time, but my instructor and I feel like I can pass it, I just need to practice lots. Today when I was driving us home Mom went through the rules of borrowing the car. Put gas in it, pay all tickets, that kind of thing. When I get my license I am going to give up getting a bus pass and only get bus tickets. For those nights I am drunk and need to catch the bus home! I’m never going to drive if I feel like I am going to drink, and if I do ever fall off the weed wagon (god forbid!) I am not going to drive either. Only sober driving! I’m excited, some of my friends have already asked me to drive them around and we will get ice cream when I get my license. I want to go on a road trip this summer, although I will have to go with only my Mom and one other non-immediate family member the first six months. So maybe I will drive with one other person to a music festival in Winnipeg or something! I am losing my nervousness when I am driving, which is really nice. I feel a lot more confident, which is good for my upcoming road test.

If I do fail it I can keep practicing and try again in two weeks. Not the end of the world. BUT I really want to pass it, because I tried at least three times when I was a teenager before giving up. I am going to try every two weeks until I get it!

Even though that will suck up a lot of money. Well, to be honest it’s only 22 bucks or something like that for a road test. Not a lot of money. I can drink that in a night! I can cut back on drinks while I attempt to achieve freedom and being a grown up.

I used to feel so deficient not being able to drive. I used to have dreams about driving, where I knew I was doing something illegal because I wasn’t licensed and just drove off with my Mom’s car. Sometimes I would be driving from the passenger seat or the backseat, not IN the driver’s seat and so wildly out of control. I always felt guilty about my driving dreams because I knew I wasn’t supposed to drive.

BUT if I can get my license that will all change. Maybe I will even be sitting in the driver’s seat in my dreams, maybe I will feel in control and free!

I’m already getting confident driving. And I understand the dimensions of the car from the perspective of the driver’s seat now. I’m still not PERFECT in my lane alignments, but I am getting better. I realize I can be further left in a lane and still not crash into oncoming traffic.

I’m excited. My life will totally change when I get my license. I will be eligible for all kinds of jobs that require a driver’s license. I will be able to do errands on my own instead of roping my mom into driving me across town to fix my camera or whatever. I’ll be able to go take a drive and run errands for my grandparents. I’ll be able to take on half the driving when we go on road trips. It’s exciting!

When my Mom leaves town I can drop her off at the airport and do my driving and pick her up when she comes back from her trip, no more taxis or parking fees. Last time she parked we had to look all over the long term lot because she forgot where she parked! If Grandma needs something Mom can send me out to get it!

That all being said, I still love being a passenger. It’s nice to googly eye all over the place and not have to worry. But driving is fun, and I am sure the more confident I get the more I will want to drive. Mom is really liking being a passenger, although she fussed tonight when we were driving.

Anyway, UM! What else? Well, I have been stable since late 2007. That is a good thing to say. I haven’t been in the hospital since 2007 and that is pretty good. Five years this may! 😀 I haven’t been in a group home since August of that year either. SWEET! Being in a group home sucked, mostly because there wasn’t enough room for all my stuff, including my computer, which I am super attached to. I had to go to my Mom’s to use the internet, and I don’t think that’s very fair. I think everyone should have internet access. So yeah, hope I don’t have to go to a group home again.

Next week I see my psych nurse, a few days after my road test. I am hoping I will have super good news to give to her. I passed my six weeks, that was one thing I wanted to talk to her about. I had originally planned just on doing the six weeks clean, but now I want to go further. I feel like so much has gotten better. I want to see how much better it will get. I realize there are still gains to be made in being clean from weed, 3 months is better, and 6 months is even better than 3 months. And someone told me even a year later is loads better than just six months. So I am going to see.

I still feel kinda lonely. I still want a girlfriend. And I still only have one crush, which is rather hopeless even though I will see her again this summer. I don’t think I could get rid of all my crushes, it’s kinda sweet to have someone who’s pictures you like to creep on facebook and sigh at how cute she is. She is cute. I’d totally be down for something serious if only it wasn’t so hopeless. Who knows though, maybe someday circumstances will change for us and it will be a possibility.

On Wednesday I will make it to six weeks without a puff!!! 😀 I am excited! Although apparently it will still be another month and a half or so before my withdrawals are really over. And it will take a year altogether to get over being a chronic for so long. Tuesday will be twelve weeks without tobacco, so that’s cool! I was tempted to ask for a puff tonight, a puff of the green stuff, but I resisted and felt decent afterwards. Going through that withdrawal period sucked, I don’t want to go through it again.

I ordered a workbook from LifeRing, the secular sobriety organization. I should get it in five to ten days. I hope I get it Friday. I’m ready to work through my addiction issues. I think it would help me. I also have a book somewhere with exercises I can do as someone with concurrent disorders, but I don’t know where it is.

I have a new Tarot deck!!! 😀 I am going to try it tonight, I want to see if it being in my purse ever since I got it will make it have aligned itself to my particular vibes or whatever. I’ve had it for a while now, my Mom got it for me! My last Tarot deck fell apart after almost 30 years, it was all bent and then my mom’s dog ate a couple cards! GULP! Oops. But I will take good care of this one, it will last another 30 years! It’s a Rider Waite deck, which is my favorite one and the type the last one was too. I like it because I understand the symbolism of it the best out of all the tarot decks I have seen.

I’m doing better at driving, tomorrow morning we are going to go drive some more, all the way on the freeway to my old neighborhood where we will do some turns on residential streets and practice parallel parking. I really need to practice parallel parking because in the other road tests I did that was always where I fucked up and they would make me turn around and drive back to SGI.

I am getting lonely again. I know I still have a lot to personally work on about myself, but I really do wish I could find a lover who lived in Saskatoon or who even wanted to live in Saskatoon someday. I’m tired of being single. I miss sex and intimacy, and I miss parts of a relationship that I feel I’ve never even been able to have, like making plans for a future together and the comfort of sharing a home and building a home together. And all kinds of things that people in long term relationships take for granted. I really wish I had someone I could cuddle with, and kiss for hours. Someone I could fall asleep snuggled up with.

Someone DECENT! Someone who won’t rip my throat out all of a sudden like so many of my other exes. I need something really different this time.

The key, according to my psychic, is to align my soft hearted inner self with my external self. I’m not sure how I’m going to do that. What do I do? Cry more freely in front of people? Give more hugs? Talk about my hopes and dreams? Either way, she says if I can do that then I will finally start attracting people who are better suited to me. Quitting pot is helping, because it is making me more in touch with my emotional reactions to stuff. No more numbing out.

I dunno. I have a lot to think about still. And I don’t even think I have met my next girlfriend yet. I think she’s still a total stranger somewhere out there in the world.

I’m glad I am over my last girlfriend. She was such a jerkface. Jerkface jerkface.

I’m not sure what else to tell you about. This week I have to write two reports, one for Saskatoon Tribal Council talking about what I have done for my business, and then another Final Report for Canada Council about my trip to Germany last year for my retrospective. I need to get that in this week so that I can start working on my grant for Bunnyhug production funds. I’m asking for the top amount, which they don’t like giving out very often. I’m not sure if I will get it but I have to try, because if I do get it and can make a super low budget feature film, then I will be eligible for future funding from Telefilm and the Harold Greenberg Fund. It would be really good for me, it would open up my options that is for sure.

I just want to be a filmmaker! It’s so ridiculous, I feel like getting diagnosed with bipolar disorder and getting so sick twice in the last decade really kicked the shit out of my career. It set me back and made me less able to create for a long time. All that shame the psychiatric hospital instilled in me really subdued me for a long time, and the shame that other people heaped on me for losing control and acting in such strange ways that they didn’t understand. It really fucked me up. And I see contemporaries of mine who have already done things I wanted to do but couldn’t because I was fucked up and/or overmedicated. That one Zyprexa year fucked me up, I was a total zombie. Sure I made Love & Numbers, but that was it!

Still, I did go back to school and finished my bachelor’s degree. And I did write a feature screenplay. In fact that is what made my creative output so limited those years, because creatively I was focused on telling the story of my first manic episode, fictionalized of course. But based in a real event. It kind of pissed me off that I did all that work but didn’t get any attention or recognition for it because it is still unproduced.

Anyway, blah blah blah, Sunday thoughts.

I tried to find Blogger under the list of services Google offers in my account, but it looks like it has all been “streamlined” and so it wasn’t listed. I had to google Blogger like a schmuck!

Disappointing!

Today I went driving in traffic for the first time since High School! :O It went better than I thought, although I can’t for the life of me figure out why my turns are so rough! I kind of drift and don’t let it straighten in time and stuff. But I guess I will get more practice. My test is set for the 5th of March! OMG! That is SO SOON!!!! Less than two weeks~!!! WTF?? I hope I pass because I have to help drive someone for medical appointments starting then! We’ll see.

I bought my ticket for Hamburg! 😀 I am pretty stoked about that. Now my grant is all gone. I have to save up a substantial sum for living on while I am in Germany, at least enough to pay for eating and transit and traveling to Berlin a couple times. I think I can do it. I should be able to. Hopefully some decent artist fees will come in soon.

Tomorrow I am renting the super 8 projector for a night to shoot my film and make it into a video. I’m excited about it! Yay! I’ll be able to send it off to my distributors and get some screenings!

My crushes have dwindled down to one rather hopeless crush that I just nurture because she is so darned cute! I can’t help it. Oh well. I really need to start meeting more people. I know I am gonna meet more folks, it will happen. And eventually I am gonna get involved with my future wife. La la la. I wonder what she will be like. My psychic says it will be good. That’s nice to hear.

My Mom is behind me critiquing my blog and watching Survivor. I was done with Survivor a few years ago, I got bored with the formula. I’m also done with Desperate Housewives. In fact there isn’t much tv I watch anymore. Maybe the Simpsons, but Mom is always watching The Amazing Race when the new Simpsons comes on. I am gonna start watching RuPaul’s Drag Race because I want to win the Out TV contest.

Anyway, this little dog is sitting on my knee. Earlier today she kept nosing my hand so I would pet her little head, and when I would stop she would nose me again.

I did the First People’s Survey with Statistics Canada. I DO speak Cree according to them, but only a few words. Still it was enough to count for something, which made me feel pretty good.

I got defriended by my ex and past big love. The funny thing is what really pissed me off about it was that I didn’t do it first, because I really was seriously considering defriending her. I was ready to cut my ties to her and jettison her over the side of the boat that is my life. But she did it first! Shitty. Oh well, I mean clearly it had to happen. I was boycotting her, I refused to like anything or comment or ANYTHING on her profile ever since she got all snarky over what I thought was an innocent joke pic. At first I thought she was just touchy about witch jokes (it was a computer screen of “Wiccapedia” which I thought was funny but she declared was “less than funny.”) But then she posted a pic about how women ride broomsticks and I was like “Wait wait wait, what? It’s okay for her to say a witch joke but not me?” Oh well. So I got annoyed with her and started boycotting her profile and then she defriended me.

It was gonna happen. I knew it was gonna happen. It had to happen. I need to not have her in my life whatsoever. She just makes me go around and around in circles waiting for, as my psychic said, her to have an “Ah-ha!” moment. But she never will. I hope she finds some boring guy to be with. She seems to prefer men anyway. She’s always given them more respect and attention. She’s one of THOSE bisexuals.

And she always treated me like garbage. Like some mega loser who isn’t worth anything. Pissed me off. I’m sick of that treatment. She can go to hell! She probably will anyway she is so mean. Naw, I don’t even believe in hell. I don’t think there is anything that punishes people after death, just karma in life before death. Maybe she will end up in a loveless marriage, that would be nice.

Either way I know I am going to end up with someone else, someone nice, someone who deserves my love and attention. And getting rid of her is a good thing, because it opens up space in my heart for someone new. And I really think no one new has come into my life thus far just because I kept being so damned mooney over her.

I didn’t even wish her a happy Valentines Day. I was so done with her. I had all these thoughts before of romantic things I was gonna post, but then she was a jerk and it all faded away in seconds. And it’s not even like she just recently started being an asshole, she’s been an asshole to me for a long time. Too long.

So that’s that. I am doing okay otherwise. My energy level is still kinda low from detoxing. I made it to 30 days yesterday, I can go get my chip at NA on Sunday. So close to six weeks! I was around some weed recently, and I looked at it and kinda wanted it but I didn’t have any because I didn’t want to go all the way back to day one. I also wanted a cigarette, which surprised me because I have been doing good and it’s been ten weeks and four days or so since I quit. I didn’t have a cigarette. It was hard because my friend who was smoking still enjoys it because she really hasn’t been a smoker for very long, not as long as me anyway. So seeing her enjoying it made me miss it a bit. I don’t even know how I didn’t have a smoke, I guess I didn’t want to get sucked into it again. I don’t know how long it would take me to quit again. This is the second longest I’ve gone without smoking since I started at 22. This is also the longest I’ve gone without pot since I moved here and didn’t have a dealer.

Well it’s late, my beer is done. I should really go to bed. Tomorrow we set off fireworks for my late cousin Christopher, I get my 30 day chip, we see Grandma and Grandpa. And??? I dunno what else. It will be a relaxing day I think. I am excited to see the fireworks! Christopher loved fireworks.

I’m addicted to my breasts. I love them just like they’re my kids.

Ha ha, no I’m not, that’s just some woman on the next episode of My Strange Addiction. My kids are Little Mister and Beatrix Kitty. Who are both sitting on the couch with me, Beatrix is meditating by the looks of it and Mister is having a snooze.

Today was a decent day. I went on two bus rides just to get out of the house and went to NA for half an hour (I forgot the meeting started at 8, I thought it started at 8:30 but that is the SOS group!). Next week I can pick up my 30 day chip. That’s pretty exciting, because so far I just have two “Just for Today” keychains. Today is day 25.

I have to admit, I am depressed. I am super bummed out and it feels like it’s always gonna feel this way (because that is what depression is like) and I know based on what I have read that I just have to grit my teeth and get through the next couple of weeks or so and then it will lift. It’s the withdrawals. If it doesn’t lift in three weeks I might make an appointment with my psychiatrist and ask if I need my antidepressant upped. She would know what to do. I see my psych nurse on the 27th or 28th, and I will talk to her about it and how I am feeling.

I also haven’t worked out as much this last week. That could be contributing to my lack of zest for life. It was really helping me before. I need to get back into it.

My psychic says I need to focus more, and that is true. I am working on it. Sometimes it seems really impossible, my brain is just all over the place. I have a desk and chair now, so I can actually set up my office. I am gonna devote an hour to that at the end of the day tomorrow so I can work down there, because while I have been working in the living room while Mum was away, when she comes back she is gonna want to watch TV again and will chase me away.

Wow, this woman is smelling mothballs all day. And this dude before was having a relationship with his car and actually had sex with it. What’s he gonna do when his car is dead?

My psychic says I have to get picky and find someone who’s decent, someone who can be my best friend. That makes sense. I think someday soon, when more of the withdrawals have gone away, I am gonna make a list of what I want in a partner. Aw crap, and I have to write my five year plan too! Although really she says I should just focus on my career right now and the rest will be ready to happen very soon.

I do have a big grant coming up that I have to work on next month, I am applying for funds to make Bunnyhug. I’ve only been talking about it the whole time I have been writing this blog. If I can’t get cash to make it I am not sure what I will do. BUT hopefully because it is so meticulously thought out I will be a shoe in.

Where does that phrase “shoe in” come from anyway? Like a shoe in the door? Probably. Actually that makes the most sense.

Is it bad that part of me worries that NA folks are lowlifes? I know, I am being prejudiced. It’s just that my reasons for using were so different than some of theirs. Like they had abuse and stuff, where as I was mostly using to self medicate my bipolar disorder. Although I know probably a lot of them were self medicating too. I dunno, I have only been to three meetings, I can’t make assumptions about any of them.

I noticed that there are some notable babes out and about these days. I saw two girls on Saturday that seemed like hotties, and two girls at NA that were pretty hot. But I didn’t get any numbers or anything. I am just noticing. I think that’s a pretty good sign, it means I am starting to be open to someone new coming into my life. Before I was pretty wrapped up in being all moony over the past Big love. But now that I am sure it is never going anywhere, I feel like I can move on. No more waiting. No more feeling like garbage. No more asking for approval!

Although Mom still hasn’t told me she is kicking the bum out, I feel slightly better. It is funny who reads my blog, because at least three people came up to me today to tell me not to stab my alcoholic roommate. I won’t. I promise. His pathetic life is not worth me going to prison. If shit happens again I will simply check myself into the hospital until I can find better housing. And I will forever hate my mother for putting me in this situation where I had to commit myself in order to keep my life together. It’s just what will happen.

If she chooses him over me then she is not a good mother.

That is a FACT!

I went to see the live music night of Eat Your Art Out Judy Garland, it was really good! I came home early to give the pups cuddles and kisses and snacks and let them out to pee. Some weirdo who said he was from Vancouver tried to follow me when I was walking to the bus downtown, I walked fast and he started yelling “Hey! YOU!” Arg! This is the second weekend in a row I have felt threatened by a man on the streets. I consider myself to have street smarts though, I walked to the bus mall and was prepared to yell for the security guard and I put a key in my fist so I could punch him in the face and have a stabby thing to hurt him. But luckily he didn’t keep following me.

I did take self defense but so far I haven’t had to go apeshit on someone. I am prepared to though, I am just waiting for them to take the first swing. Then it’s open season on their ass. I don’t want to tempt the fates though, but I am ready.

As Spongebob Squarepants says “I’m ready! I’m ready! I’m ready!”

I went to the Field House and worked out, did 30 minutes on the treadmill, going 3.5mph for ten minutes of it, went 1.5 miles, then I did 20 minutes on the elliptical. The elliptical works more of my body because I do the Mix3 mode and it has upper body exercises too, but it doesn’t burn as many calories for me as the treadmill, oddly enough. Then we did ten minutes on the recumbent bike, which was a nice way to end the workout. I gained a pound since the last time I weighed myself. I don’t know if it is muscle or beer.

Speaking of beer, I have begun to realize I don’t care so much about getting drunk when I am out. I had four bottles of beer last night and that was one beer too many, and tonight I had two pints and I was done. Came home with ten bucks still in my pocket. That’s good because it means tomorrow I can get some pop and chips, my original needs!

I used to tell my mum when I was a kid “I have needs!” And by needs I meant pop and chips. I guess when I was 18 those needs turned into beer and marijuana, which used to be fun but have long since lost their luster. Now I am ready to go back to the original needs. I used to have one small bag of chips and one glass bottle of coke everyday. Or rootbeer, or some other pop. I could get used to that routine again. It wasn’t so bad. I was a pretty skinny kid too, because I would bike for an hour everyday in the summer and when I had Wesley, my golden retriever, I would walk him for an hour everyday, even in the horriblest winter weather. And still I had sugary pop and chips all the time.

Once a day anyway.

I am glad to hear again about my future relationships. People keep saying “But you can change it right?” because my psychic said I would fall off the wagon and issues would come up again and I would have a breakup with my next girlfriend. But I dunno, it seems inevitable. And now I feel bad for saying my next relationship won’t last forever, because who’s gonna want to be THAT relationship???? The doomed one. No, it still might be a lovely relationship, and I am sure I won’t regret being close to someone again. Who knows, maybe I will get a girlfriend determined to prove my psychic wrong.

What was interesting was her saying it should have happened already, it’s just these “moths” that I have to stop paying attention to and waiting for. She also said I was going to face some tests, where these moths want to spend time with me and I have to say no because nothing is going to happen anyway. So strange! I hope I smarten up and don’t let myself get sucked into wishy washy thoughts of a future with someone who takes advantage of me and isn’t good enough anyway.

On the bus home the bus driver stopped and asked me if I could smell something burning. Then when I was about to get off he was like “Are you sure you don’t smell something? It smelled like marijuana.” I was so glad I haven’t smoked for 24 days, because I would be all paranoid that he could smell it on me. Speaking of smelling pot, I could smell it when we finished our workout in the Field House. Laurel says she always smells pot there. I have a feeling a lot of people get stoned and then work out. Ha ha ha, too funny. I remember being that stoner!

In my concurrent disorders group they have this thing where you have to play the tape to the end, and by that they mean you can’t just say something fun about doing drugs or alcohol, you have to go all the way through to the consequences of your actions. So yes, the consequences for me of getting stoned were losing jobs, a nice place to live, stopping hanging out with some friends who didn’t smoke up, losing my energy and motivation and having a dreadful lack of hygiene. I have to remember these things.

I don’t want to fall off the wagon. I hope I don’t. And even though my psychic said I would, I am not going to use that as an excuse to get ripped again. I’ve been doing pretty good but I am not going to be overconfident.

My roommate situation has worsened again. He got drunk Wednesday night and in true Steven Paul fashion kept us up most of the night with his loud music and intermittent screaming. I wrote a message to my Mom which she hasn’t responded to still that I had had enough and wanted him to be kicked out. The next morning she said she was going to tell him he had to get out or go to treatment, but that isn’t good enough for me. I don’t give a shit if he ever sobers up, he can die drunk in a gutter for all I care, I just want him out of my house for good. I don’t want to have any more sleepless nights, no more hiding my booze and my purse because if he is drunk he will do anything humanly possible to try and get more booze and get even more drunk. Anyway, then Mom went to Halifax, so I was left with the drunk for the weekend.

And he got drunk again last night on two litres of cider and talked to himself in the kitchen and turned his music up loud and was generally an asshole again. He tried to walk away with a nearly full beer of mine and when I took my last two beers to my room to hide he went around counting my empties and trying to find my other two beers, but he didn’t. It was really frustrating, especially since I am bipolar and getting enough sleep is SUPER crucial to my mental well being. So I sent Mom another message that said if she didn’t kick him out I was going to stab him to death, because I really do get violent angry thoughts when my sleep is being disturbed. I don’t want to have to stab him to death, I am mostly a pacifist, but it’s not like it would be a big loss to society anyway considering what a useless drunk he is. I am just SO MAD!

Okay, so I probably won’t stab him. Probably. But I make no guarantees. Either way I want Mom to finally grow a pair and throw the douchebag the fuck out of the house. It’s not healthy for me and she is pushing ME out of the house if she doesn’t get rid of him, because I simply cannot and will not live with the motherfucker anymore. I don’t give a fuck if he does go to treatment, he doesn’t give a shit when he falls off the wagon, he never has to deal with consequences of his drinking and it is not fair! He should go to brief and social detox and then treatment and then a sober living facility, we are not a motherfucking group home for wayward alcoholics!

Anyway, the good thing that happened this week is I did see my psychic. She didn’t say anything about the alcoholic cousin, hopefully because the obvious will happen and he will get kicked out or I will find a better place to live. But she did tell me my career would do well, I just have to reach out more and she gave me advice about how to get actors to be in my stuff and so on and so forth. And she also said this interesting thing about how she couldn’t figure out my relationship status because I had what she called “moths” who flit around and like getting attention from me, but she doesn’t like any of them and says I won’t get anything from them, it will go no where, and that I can’t spend time with them if they do want to hang out with me. She said I have to stop looking at people’s potential and see them for who they are right now. And she said I have to balance out my outward tough appearance with my inner soft core, because I am not attracting the right people the way it is now and I will finally start attracting the right people when I fix that. It makes sense. She says these people take advantage of me and I have to stop letting people do that. She also said I would get into my next serious relationship in roughly 8 to 9 months, and that it would last a while but end when I fall off the wagon and issues come up again. BUT then two years after that I will meet someone and it will be good. And it will last for the rest of my life. She also said this interesting thing about a fight with a female relative a while ago and how it left a big hole in my aura and that I need to talk with her and say what I mean. I know exactly who she is talking about, and hopefully we will have a conversation this weekend.

Last night I had a dream I was smoking cigarettes. The other night when Steven got drunk I dreamt I smoked pot. And I felt so guilty, I was like “Aw shit, now I have to start that three weeks again!” Clearly this shows that stress makes me think about my old comrades the cigs and weed. Dammit. I don’t want to think about them at all.

It is now day 24 without weed! 😀 I’m a little down, and I haven’t worked out much this week. That might have something to do with it. I know I am still withdrawing, it sucks. Withdrawals! Bleh. I want to be happy again dammit. Living with an alcoholic isn’t any good either, it has amped up my stress and anger and diminished my mental health. I am considering if it is time to go back to the hospital, because making a plan to stab someone to death, as annoying as they are, isn’t a normal thing. I probably won’t do it, but what if I do?? What if his stupid asshole drinking pushes me over the edge one night? Eeep! He needs to go live at the Salvation Army with his blind alcoholic brother if he wants to keep drinking. I’ve had it.

On Sunday I had my first driving class, everyone was like “Have fun driving!” but it was the in class portion where we just sat around hearing about the rules of the road and the Graduated Licensing Program and watched some gory videos about what happens when you text and drive and hitting deer on the road and some goofy drunks falling on their heads in front of the police. It was pretty good really, even though I already saw the texting video because it circulated on facebook a while back. Our instructor is going to Ecuador for ten days, so we won’t be doing any in car hours until after the 20th when he comes back, but then I have six hours with him. The last two hours are the two hours just before the road test which he is gonna schedule for us and so hopefully by the time we do the test we won’t be so nervous. It’s a really good idea. And we will get to use his car for the road test. Excellent! It’s First Nations Driving Academy, my Mum saw their car in town a while back and wanted me to try with them, but I couldn’t find them in the phone book. Not a surprise since the business is up north actually, but he comes down to work for Saskatoon Tribal Council, who is paying for me to take this course.

And since I quit smoking up I will actually be able to practice driving with my mom. I won’t be spending my days being intoxicated and thus unable to drive! Woot woot! I’m happy about that. The road test will happen before March 31st, so hopefully I will have my license in April! Awesome!

My new bra is irritating my back and I can’t find my old bra. It’s distressing me because now I have a sore on my back and it hurts. I’ve never had a bra make a raw spot before!!!!

Tomorrow morning I am learning Social Media for my Company at Praxis. I hope I wake up in time. After that I am going to see my psychic at noon. I am bringing my laptop so I can record the session with Garage Band. I’m really excited, I am hoping it will give me some direction and let me know if the decisions I am making now are the right ones. I am pretty sure they are, deciding to quit weed is fairly substantial and was necessary. It was long overdue, I just wasn’t ready until I did quit almost three weeks ago. I was waffling and wavering on it for a long time. I knew it wasn’t good for at least three years, but I didn’t have that inner consensus about quitting until nineteen days ago. I still have some weed left, but it’s in the vaporizer which is being given away soon to a friend of my mom’s. And my mom is holding onto it and it’s hidden in her room somewhere. Either way, I quit while I still had a titch left, and that actually felt kind of good, because I wasn’t quitting with absolutely nothing.

I had this funny dream last night that I was heading to the altar expecting to marry some blonde dream woman who I was supposedly in love with, but when I got there my past big love was waiting for me and I was happy to see her. It was kind of funny because when I woke up I was like “Wait, that’s not right! I’m trying to get over her!” And anyway, I don’t think it will come true, because she does treat me bad when I try to be nice to her. So whatever, it must just be some weird subconscious thing.

A brain fart.

Mister and Beatrix Kitty are on my bed all curled up and sleeping, the little sweeties. Beatrix isn’t pissing around on everything anymore, unless I don’t take the laundry out of the basket quick enough, but my friend Carrie who I have been hitting the gym with lots and I agree that it’s probably because she views laundry baskets as cozy litter boxes. She’s not doing it maliciously anyway. Little Mister still barks too much, but he wasn’t too bad tonight.

I finally got my grant cheque today! I was so excited, I went down to a Sasktel Mobility store to get my iPhone 4S and found out Sasktel wants a $500 deposit from me first! :O FOCK! So since most of my cheque has a hold on it, I am gonna wait until next week. I can wait a week longer. But I did get some gym runners, which are SWEET! And I got Microsoft Office for my laptop, so now I can read and write word documents, kind of a crucial piece of software for me, considering how much I like to write. PLUS I can now use Excel and Powerpoint too. Woot woot!

I’ve been having trouble configuring my email on my computer, first it would send emails but not receive any, now it receives but won’t send. WTF? Something about my password not being right. What the hell!!!!????? ARG! I can figure it out, I know I can, it’s just gonna take me a couple more hours. I have resolved to use webmail until tomorrow night when I will work on the damn thing some more. I gotta get it sorted.

Work is work. I have to really get cracking on it. I’m behind where I was hoping to be by now, but I can catch up.

The roommate situation has slightly improved, although the day I deleted my dealer’s number he was drunk and pestering me to get him some ecstasy, and of course I told him “I deleted his number” but still he assumed I got E or something because I had money. I didn’t though. There have been warnings about bad E going around that has meth in it and is killing people. So I’m turned off by it now. I wasn’t ever a hardcore ecstasy user anyway though, it’s not a major loss for me. Anyway, now he is talking about getting help for his addiction, and Mum is looking into a treatment centre in Lethbridge that was recommended to her by a social worker we know. The one here wouldn’t be very good for him apparently. But she said when he comes back we might have to have a dry house, which is a major bummer for me because drinks cost more money if you have them in a bar or pub. And I like sitting at home and surfing the net with a beer in my hand. Sigh. Not all the time, just sometimes it is nice to have a six pack in the fridge.

Anyway, I still want to move out. I was thinking of moving out in a year when my business has had enough clients that I have enough in my business account to pay a minimum of three months wages for me, more would be better. But to have a guaranteed cushion of money to fall back on if I don’t get clients for a while, that would be good.

I have to find the perfect place for Mister, Beatrix, my unknown roommate and myself though. A small house in a safe neighborhood with a fenced yard for Little Mister to frolic in. He really likes houses with yards, they make him happy. He’ll wander around with his little tail wagging for no reason when he feels happy and secure in his housing, he gets depressed in apartments.

My inactive going nowhere crush resigned from working at my sister’s group home, so I won’t see her anymore. Kind of a bummer, I like seeing crushes even if they are never going to go anywhere anyway.

What else? Ah, not much else, I should go to bed because I do have to get up early and go to school and then my psychic and then do work work work. And then later on go to the gym and then go to bed again I guess.

OOOOHHHH! Nope, there is one other thing. I went to NA for the second time in my life yesterday night. There is a meeting in my neighborhood every Sunday at 8, so I went and I mostly liked it because it was a lot less sweary than the meeting I went to on Broadway. The only thing that left a bad taste in my mouth was this guy blaming all the women at the meeting for not helping out this other woman who was having a hard time and left before the meeting ended. I felt it was a bad way to end the meeting and just bad form all around. I didn’t stick around for the birthday cake and I feel kinda weird. I might go back. I probably will go back. But the next meeting I am gonna try and get to is the SOS meeting, it’s a Secular Sobriety meeting for people who don’t feel they fit in with AA/NA etc. The only problem is it is only on twice a month, and I don’t know if that is often enough for me right now. I am also going to still attend my Concurrent Disorders group, because I like that one and it is really supportive and there are professionals who work with us, I think one is a psych nurse and one is an addictions worker. Either way, it is more my speed and I can relate to the people there the best. And that is once a week every Friday. I am also ordering the Lifering workbook, which is another Secular Sobriety program that people can do on their own or attend meetings. There are no Lifering meetings in my area, but I read Empowering Your Sober Self and liked it, and their workbook is their other publication and I read selected chapters that they have as PDFs on their website and found it useful. So I’m going to see if it helps.

Well GOODNIGHT! I hope I have some awesome dreams! Getting my dreams back have been nice, they are slowly getting more and more frequent and clear. I remember them a lot better. Tonight I talked with one of my close friends, Robin, and it was really good and she was happy about all the changes in my life and that I am off weed. The only crappy thing about our conversation was how much her phone cut out! Oh well.