So I’m blogging from here in Calgary, Canada! My first post here from Calgary! Wooohoooo!!!

And yeah, those mid-year resolutions I made? Probably not gonna happen. =(

Well, things and situations changed pretty quickly the moment we got our visas, and we were rushing and preparing for so many things, and the moment we got here, we just had more to do! With finding a place to live in, getting our health cards and other important documents, signing up for classes, getting a job, buying winter clothes and everything else!

I haven’t had the time to cook! Much less cook vegetarian! =( Sad to say, we’ve been eating a lot more meat now than we did in Malaysia. Partly because it’s easier to cook, partly because I seem to be craving for more fats and oils, to keep warm, coz it’s really cold here!

It’s –18 degrees C now, and it’d been snowing the last couple of days! Which is really fun and exciting, except I wish we could have the snow without the cold! LOL!

There are a lot of other things going on, in terms of settling into our lives here, that’s made it pretty difficult for me to work on the other stuff I wanted to do, like NaNoWriMo and exercising.

I must say now, looking back at the last few months, I was quite naive, thinking that we could settle in as quickly as I thought we would. It’s 3 months we’ve been here, and I think from what we’ve experienced so far, it’s going to be at least a year or two before we actually really settle! It’s been a really HUGE change! And it’ll take a while for us to get used to the weather and being on our own and the lifestyle and culture here… Also finding out where to buy the things that we need and other stuff like that.

We’re obviously not going to be 80% vegetarian as long as we need to eat the meat for warmth! There *are* people who are 100% vegetarians thriving in winter though, so I know there is a way, but until it’ll take some time for us to educate ourselves about these info, and in the meantime, we’ll just have to eat what we can get. And like I mentioned before, because we’ve been so busy with work and studies and other necessary things, sometimes we don’t even have the time to cook, and we need to eat whatever we can find when we’re in a rush.

It will take a while.

But I am optimistic and loving every lesson I’m learning!

Things *are* settling, slowly but surely, and eventually one day, we’ll just suddenly realize that we’ve got everything finally, settled! I hope! LOL!

had thought that we’d be able to document everything from the time we got our visas until we get settled in, but obviously, we were so busy we didn’t get the chance to document as much as we wanted. But I’ll post and update as much as I can, when I can!

Loving every day! =D

It’s been a while since I last did this, but I really felt like doing this, and I’m of the opinion that we shouldn’t wait until the new year to get started on resolutions and improvement…

…so I made a list of the things I wanted to achieve before the end of this year:

1. Wake up by 6am everyday.
2. Get into the habit of writing everyday.
3. “Win” NaNoWriMo this year.
4. Exercise at least 20 minutes, six days a week.
5. Be 80% vegetarian.

There’s probably more, but this is all I’m thinking of right now. I’ll add more later if I can think of more. I’ll add the details later too. Obviously, most of these goals are more habit than one-time achievements, and it will take some time to get into them, but I’ll be fine as long as I follow my game-plan.

Of course, I’ll have to make a game-plan first. =D

Well, it’s a great start!

I finally had some time for myself and I thought I’d blog a little. I’ve been so out of the habit that it seems weird now, blogging about my thoughts, but since I’m here, I’ve got to say something anyway, right?

Truth is, there haven’t been much blogging lately because I haven’t had much to say. Every day was the same old story; we’re just waiting, waiting, waiting on the world to change. =P

Seriously though, there’s not much to say now, because what’s so interesting about telling people what we’ve decided to bring with us or give/throw away, or how I’ve spent hours pouring over the same books over and over again, wondering if I should keep them or throw them, or planning what we’re going to wear and what we’ll need to buy…

Obviously, there’s a lot on my mind now, but there’s also so much of it that I can’t express. I’m anxious and I’m excited too. There’s so many things to look forward to and then there’s the fear of the unknown.

Ok, truth is, I’m not *that* scared, because I believe that we’ll be able to handle anything, but of course, any normal human being will feel just a little nervous about moving to a completely new place where they don’t know anyone, wouldn’t they?

Anyway, we’re still in the midst of preparations, and there’s still a lot to be done, but I think we’re pretty much ready for everything. =)

I can’t wait until we’ve got so much more to share with everyone. Every day will be a brand new adventure, and I’m definitely going to tell you all about it! =)

Top 10 signs you’re about to be dumped:

7. She stops criticizing you. This one may sound counterintuitive, but, as Py Kim Conant says, “if she stops complaining about you leaving the toilet seat up, it may mean that she’s given up on the relationship and has no energy to put into further criticism of you. In fact, she may not even notice the toilet seat any longer, since her focus is no longer on perfecting you.”

I was reading this article online, and this jumped out at me, because out of the list of 10 things, #7 is the *for-sure* sign that I’m about to dump you.

I like improvement. I like improving. I don’t expect perfection and I don’t expect overnight improvement, but if you’re not moving forwards, you’re moving backwards, and to me, that’s a relationship deal-breaker.

I feel a little sorry for Lone that he has to put up with my constant ‘criticizing’ on his minor flaws (I don’t really criticize, I just remind him to improve a little every day), but the really wonderful thing is that he realizes that when I ‘criticize’ him, it means I love him, and he always knows that it’s for both our benefits for both of us to improve every day.

The interesting thing is that for a couple of my exes before Lone, the tell-tale sign that the relationship was over was when I stopped criticizing them. I spent months nagging and nagging, and in some cases crying, screaming and throwing things (ok, not really, but it sounds satisfyingly dramatic, doesn’t it?), and sometimes things will improve for a while, and then they’d go back to doing what they’ve always done before.

Then one day I'd just had enough. You think I like to keep on nagging and screaming at you, hey? I don’t enjoy having to do it any more than you enjoy me doing it.

So I stopped doing it, because I realized that they were never going to improve anyway, and I was just wasting my breath. And the moment you realize that nothing’s ever going to improve in your relationship, that’s the moment that you know the relationship is doomed.

So I’m glad Lone appreciates it from me, he really does! He tells me constantly that he appreciates me helping him improve (and vice versa from me to him as well), and that his ultimate goal is to be such an amazing husband that I’d have nothing to criticize about him. ;-)

How did I ever get so lucky? =)

Disclaimer: I don’t really like using the word ‘criticize’ here, because I believe the word ‘nag’ would be a lot more accurate. For the sake of keeping to the article though, I’ve used ‘criticize’ but I really mean ‘nag’. =P

The internet has been really slow the last couple of days. It’s so frustrating! Why aren’t the people at the internet company doing something about it?

Grrr….

Well, at least this morning it’s looking better…

Anyway, I still haven’t gotten pix of my new haircut. Lone hasn’t bothered to take pix… I guess he doesn’t like my hair. =( =P

On to more important things; was the match between South Korea and China for the Uber Cup yesterday exciting or what!!

I’m really glad Korea won. China has been hogging the cup for the last 6 rounds, and I think Korea played really well and deserved to win. I felt so moved when they won in the end and everyone was so happy and celebrating, and especially when I saw one of their coaches cry! It’s a good win.

Congratulations, Korea!!

I can’t wait for the Thomas Cup match today!!

In an impulse (as usual), I chopped off my long hair yesterday!

I’d had really long hair for many years now, maybe 3-4 years or so, and I’ve gotten really bored of it.

I did think of cutting it earlier this year, but felt lazy and was thinking that I should try growing it to waist length first, since I’d gotten so far already.

The truth is, it took ages for my hair to grow. Although I’d had long hair for years, it never really grew that much longer because I had to keep cutting the split ends.

My hair was dry and damaged, and frankly, I’m too lazy to maintain it everyday.

I thought recently, when I saw so many split ends, of trimming the ends again, but then I thought also, it’s never going to end (pun intended), so I just decided to cut it all off.

It’s now *really* short. And I mean, *really* short.

Maybe I’ll post a pic soon, if Lone would get his camera out. =P

Firstly, as you can see, I changed my look! =) I mean on the blog!

This looks really good and I’m really loving it, but let me tell you it wasn’t easy choosing this! There were so many great templates to choose from!

I guess I could always change it again later if I want to, Blogger.com has made it a lot easier now that they allow you to keep your widgets when you change templates. It used to be a lot more tedious, having to manually move all your widgets to the new template.

Now that it’s easier, I might change my template more often. =) Or not.

Anywayyyy…

I took up Yoga classes!! =)

And Lone took them up with me!! =)

I’m so happy that Lone decided to join me, and we’re having lots of fun together, and learning so much together, and the good thing is that having him with me in class pushes me harder.

As most people know, since it’s so very obvious, I’m really out of shape. I wanted some sort of exercise that could help with my various physical problems, and I don’t mean just regular exercises like badminton or jogging that makes you sweat, but something that would *really* benefit the energy of the body.

My first choice was tai chi, actually, but it wasn’t easy finding a good teacher and convenient classes.

After months of looking and not finding, I guess yoga started seeming like the better choice.

And I’m really loving it!!

Lone and I signed up for 3 months of unlimited classes, and we’re going 3 times a week for now, because we need to condition the body first, so we need to rest in between classes. Once we’re used to it, we might perhaps go 5 or 6 times a week, depending. =)

So far we’ve had 2 classes, and I can already see improvements on my body. Not huge improvements or anything, but I can see a little, and obviously, being out of shape, there’s a lot more improvements to be seen!

I can’t wait for the next class!

You know, I used to keep a diary.

A private, physical one, where I handwrote all my thoughts and my secrets in.

Sometimes I wonder why I blog instead of write in my diary. The thing is, I can write more details in my diary, and say as many bad things about as many a**holes as I want, and fully disclose their names as well.

So why do I choose to blog where I have to censor certain details, instead of letting it all out in a diary.

Heck, why does anyone do it?

In the hopes of getting heard, I think.

Many times, even while I was writing in my private diary, I always thought, wouldn’t my great-grandchildren get a kick out of reading their great-grandmother’s diary? ;-)

I want them to see how I was, that their boring old great-grandmother had a life, had feelings, had thoughts…

We all want to be heard. We want people to know who we are, to understand us, to feel like we’re not alone.

Blogging gives us that.

We may have many readers, or just a few, we may have a lot of feedback via comments or none at all, but putting it all out there on a blog at least let us think that maybe, just maybe, someone is listening to us.

So recently I was offered a credit card from a bank.

Ok, not really “offered”, but the representative asked me to sign up for it since it was free, blah blah blah, the usual sales pitch they do to get you to sign up for credit cards…

I already had one, so I didn’t need another one, but I thought, oh well, why not. So I signed up for it,

The representative said it would take a little while for them to do the basic required background check on me to see if I was eligible for the credit card.

I understood, of course, they’d want to see if I was earning enough money, or if I had any unpaid debts, or etc.

I was very confident that their background check would be very favorable for me, because I earn reasonably well, and I’d *never* owed money to my other credit card provider.

*Ever*.

And I do mean ever. I’d had that card for at least a couple of years, and I’d always paid back every single cent every single month. Not the minimum amount, but the full amount. Every month. Never fail.

I seldom use my credit card, you see, and I put small amounts of credit on it, and I never spend money that I don’t have.

So I was kinda proud of myself, I felt as if I was like a model citizen, always paying back anything I owe. I was so sure that this second credit card company would definitely approve my application.

Imagine my surprise when they told me my application was declined!

I wondered what skeletons in my closet did they dig up while doing the background check that they would decline my application… I really was confused!

Then it hit me!

The exact reason why I thought they’d surely approve me, is the exact reason why they declined me!

They can’t make any money out of me!

Because I pay back every single cent I owe, rather than just the minimum amount, and allowing the rest of it to be subjected to the interest, they can’t make money out of giving me a credit card!

And in fact, I think they might even lose money because they wouldn’t even be charging me for the service! (Because the representative said no charge for first year, etc.)

Those banks are real crooks, I tell you. Not giving me a credit card coz they can’t make money out of me… *sheesh*

But then again, they probably figured I really didn’t need one anyway, and they’re right. LOL!

But they’re still crooks! Think of the amount of interest they charge us when we take loans from them, and then think about the amount of interest they give us when we put our hard earned money in their banks, for their use!

Crooks!

Hmmppphh…

I’ve been really busy the last couple of days getting things done that I should’ve gotten done a long time ago.

It feels good to finally get some of them out of the way, but the more I work, the more work I realize I have!

And as with everything, I need to make a choice. I know I have a lot to do, and not enough time to do them all. I’m not superwoman, that I can do things in superspeed and with super efficiency, or Hiro, that I can manipulate time.

So sometimes I wonder if I should continue blogging, because I realize that I blog mostly for my own indulgence. At the same time though, I think my blogging is important, because it’s an outlet for me.

Then I think again, that I have so many blogs, and surely I could give some of them up? But then again, no, because this blog is important for expressing my thoughts, and my book blog is important not just for expressing my thoughts on books but also because I’ve made so many new friends from it!

Every blog I have, I have for a reason, and I don’t want to give them up. They are worth maintaining for various reasons.

So I think about my studies; obviously, I can’t give up my degree program in Holistic Nutrition, because this is the ‘official’ course I’m taking. I’m also ‘un-officially’ studying religion and spirituality, crochet and knitting crafts, various computer skills, and so many other stuff I’m interested in.

I’ve given up on some of them, *for now*, but even so I still have a lot on my plate, and am not willing to cut down on some of them.

I live for learning, and I live for growth, and I’m loving learning something new everyday!

Do I even need to mention the other stuff I need to get done everyday? My music practice, freelance work, cleaning house, correspondence, etc… 

So yes, I do have a lot on my plate, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Life is fun!

More than a year since I moved to BettyNLone, I decided to move back here.

I weighed my options about moving back here, and I think it’s for the best.

Recently, I re-read some of my old post here at Just Betty, and I miss having and writing those thoughtful (I think) posts. I enjoyed reading back what I wrote and giving myself food for thought that I’d forgotten. I realized that I didn’t really post much over at BettyNLone, and that a lot of the posts were superficial.

The reason for that is because I don’t feel good about ranting on a blog that Lone and I share, because I feel like that blog is supposed to be about *us*, not about *me*, and when I rant, or post stuff unrelated to him, I feel like I’m stealing the limelight away from *us*.

So it ends up being superficial (not a bad thing, just that I miss having an outlet for other stuff), as in we only post about where we’ve gone, what we’ve done, etc. Obviously, we don’t post about our arguments because we mostly settle them as fast as we have them, and we’re not going to share intimate details as those are personal. Watch your Korean drama if you want drama! =P

Anyway, since then Lone and I have gotten married, and we’ve again moved to another blog, The Lone Family, because in the future it’s not going to be only me and him anymore. And no, before you ask, I’m not pregnant, and I’m not planning to be for a while. We just like to think ahead.

The Lone Family blog would also, obviously, be a blog about us and our family, so I won’t be posting my own personal stuff there either.

I thought about posting my personal thoughts over at Betty’s Books instead, but I felt uncomfortable about that too, because it’s where I share my thoughts about the books I read, and I think it would be weird if I also posted negative stuff about the people I know in real life!

Oh, trust me, I’m no saint. I love bad-mouthing some of the people I know in real life! =P

Ok, not really. I don’t really “bad-mouth” them as much as I just tell truths that they don’t wanna face, but even so, I wouldn’t “bad-mouth” them here if I could do it to their face, and trust me, I *have* tried doing it to their faces, but they always shout me down, coz they’re too afraid to see the truth, and I just get tired of getting nowhere.

So I want to write it on my blog, to get it out, but the other blogs weren’t the right place to do it, so I’m back here again. =P

All jokes aside though, I’m really happy to be back! I realize that it’s important, while being part of a couple and of a family, that I hold on to my individuality as well, because that’s what makes me, me.

So I’m back now, and as before, it’s Just Betty here. =)