Celebrate the Small Things - July 26 (3 week back log)

Yikes, folks! I haven't written a blog post since July 5th when I Celebrate[d] the Small Things with VikLit and the other blog hoppers over at Scribblings of an Aspiring Author. That means I have three weeks of celebrations to catch up on, but I'll try to keep them brief.

On July 6, the last day at my sister's in Leduc, Alberta, she and I, and a friend of hers did the Colour Run in Edmonton. I did it for fun and to raise a few more funds for the Student Refugee Program. It's an ongoing effort of mine, so if I can twist your rubber arm...click HERE!

I thought I would be celebrating handing in the final version to the committee on Friday, July 12. I was wrong. My advisor had other plans for me the likes of a third extensive edit. Those edits along with packing for my trip on July 13 are the reasons I didn't post that week. I can celebrate, however, the completion and handing in of my third massive edit!

Friday, July 12 was also my last day of work before heading out on two weeks of holidays! Now that is really something to celebrate!

Sometime in that week between July 6 and 12, we welcomed Memphis into our home. He's an adopted 5-year old Chihuahua from a local animal rescue organisation in our city.

The whole next week, July 13 to 19, was just one massive celebration. Farmer Joe, who I have now taken to calling Cowboy Tex since we moved from the farm into the city, and I started out on a massive 3500km road trip from Brandon, Manitoba where we live, to Fredericton, New Brunswick where I will be starting my Master of Arts in English this fall. I even enjoyed the driving. The main points of smaller celebrations within this major celebration are:
-Spending two nights and a full day in Montreal with my beautifully brilliant friend, Haley.

-Spending three nights and two full days in Fredericton familiarising myself with the university and the city.

-Getting a tour of the campus (especially the library) and meeting my grad school advisor.

Other celebrations that occurred from July 13-19 include:
-finding out that I got into the mature student residence for the fall and connecting with my roommate to start planning our living arrangements.
-finding a UNB Mom t-shirt at the campus book store to bring home for my Mom.
-being offered (and, of course, accepting) a position as a Regional Coordinator for WUSC starting in September. This volunteer position comes along with two trips to Ottawa, Ontario! I am really excited about taking on this leadership role with an organisation that means so much to me.

We started the trip home from Fredericton on July 20. The biggest celebration on the return trip, short of actually getting home, snuggling with my dogs, and sleeping in my own bed, was staying in Kingston, Ontario with another brilliant friend of mine. After 5 days staying places without air conditioning when the temperatures were 35 degrees Celsius above, Yvonne had central air and provided me with my first excuse to have a hot shower. It was heaven.

All of that brings me to one more celebration for this week, July 20-26. On Wednesday, I met with my thesis advisor again and despite a few, ok a lot, more edits, she did say that this time (the fourth time) she didn't need to see the entire document again, only a few short pieces! That, my friends, is celebration worthy indeed!

Cheers, everyone! Now, to try and catch up on visits and comments! See you and your blog soon!

Random Acts of Kindness (Days 51-60)

Ok, I am almost caught up. Today (April 26) is Day 64. I suppose it isn't all that random if it's planned, but I am planning to have one of my acts on Day 70 be to start pulling inspiration quotes from the gift Ang gave me on Day 50 and to start blogging about my Random Act, themed after said quote, everyday.

DAY 51

Friday, April 13 - I planned one volunteer event, executed another volunteer event, delivered an invitation from the university to the home of a colleague to ensure she received it on time & sent a best wishes message to someone I had a falling out with. 

World Fair Trade Day is May 12. I met with the manager of Ten Thousand Villages today to organise a collaborative event between the store and WUSC. We'll have entertainment and a small percentage of the day's sales will be given to WUSC. Today was also, Band-AIDS. WUSC raises funds for the Bike for AIDS (that's the AIDS part) initiative every year by holding a concert (that's the Band part). We held it on campus in SUDS and raised just under $300. I have to thank Shannon for helping organise the whole thing, Eddie from Hudsy for letting us crash his social and performing for us, as well as Misty Street and The Heavy Souls for performing for us. Natasha is the coordinator for the Psychology Nursery at BU and since she only works every Tuesday and Thursday she tends to get missed during important events. The senior administration at the university was holding an Employee Appreciation Breakfast on the 17th so I dropped off the invitation at her apartment so she'd be sure to get her chance to take advantage of the free breaky. As for the friend I had a falling out with, I'll spare the details because they are quite personal, but it was his final performance for his undergrad degree and I figured the least I could do was send a little token of kindness his way despite our differences.

DAY 52
Saturday, April 14 - I attended a high school play & sent a congratulatory email to the play's director.
Urinetown was performed by students from Neelin High School. $1 from every ticket purchase went towards Compassion Canada's efforts to build sanitary latrines in developing countries. The play was fantastic and like I've said before, it's important to me to give credit where credit is due so I emailed the director of the play and let her know how great I thought the play was. I also took the time to highlight some of the more spectacular performances by specific students. I received a very thankful response from her and a request to post the email on their public display board.

DAY 53
Sunday, April 15 - I took my Mom out for a birthday dinner and surprised her with a candle when her dessert came out & wrote a letter of support for a professor's nomination for a teaching award. 
My Mom turned 54 today! I took her out for dinner and made sure that we ordered dessert. When her's came out, I quickly grabbed the candle and lighter I had stashed in my pocket and made her yummy treat just a little more special. As you can see, the look on her face was priceless. I love you, Mom. One of my favorite professors was being nominated for the BU Alumni Excellence in Teaching Award and I was asked to write a letter of support for the nomination. Of course I did it, with the utmost pleasure.

DAY 54
Monday, April 16 - I posted a song to a grieving friend's wall.
The nature of the loss and the person's identity is best kept discrete. What I will tell you though, is that Angels Among Us is a song that has gotten me through a lot of trying times in my life and I thought it was fitting to share.

DAY 55 
Tuesday, April 17 - I helped a friend register for classes & attended a creative writing reading to support my friends. 

'Tis the time of year to register for 2012-13 classes. It's not really the easiest thing to do, so I helped Abraham out. Now he's all set to get his learn on come September. The creative writing reading was really for my own good. Hearing Kirsty, Johnson, and Ryan (among other students) read their fantastic work made me miss writing so very much. These types of events always reiterate to me the abundance of raw talent we have at BU, my friends being some of the best of the bunch!

DAY 56
Wednesday, April 18 - I helped a friend put the finishing touches on a powerpoint presentation & mailed an application for name reservation for a not-for-profit.
Barbara was getting ready to do a presentation at the Senior Colloquium (another display of phenomenal student talent) and she needed help getting some videos onto her slides. Yours truly, to the rescue! Friends for Development is the name of the not-for-profit that Immaculate and I (mostly Immaculate) are working to get recognised so that we can start doing some official work. We've been trying to get it underway for some time know, but hopefully now the name will be officially approved and filed by the Manitoba government and we'll be set.

DAY 57 
Thursday, April 19 - I paid for the friend I mentioned on Day 40 to take the class, attended a potential board members meeting for The Marquis Project & chose WUSC's SRP student for 2012-13.
I'm pretty sure paying for Abraham's class made my day almost as much as it made his. I cannot express the kindness that Abraham embodies and I am happy to be able to help him. A big thanks also has to go to Tina for suggesting we do this. A few weeks ago I was asked if I was interested in sitting on the Board for The Marquis Project. Today was the meeting for potential new members. It looks like I'll be taking a position on the Board, I'm just not sure what that will be quite yet. One more project = exciting! Every year as part of WUSC we go through files of potential students in refugee camps that have qualified for WUSC sponsorship. As part of the selection committee, I read the files (try not to cry) and rank the candidates in terms of who I feel is best fitted to come to BU for a post-secondary education. I wish we could bring them all.

DAY 58
Friday, April 20 - Attended a friend's presentation at the Senior Colloquium & facilitated a session later on. 
Remember Barbara on Day 56? It was her presentation on the exploitation of women in advertising that I attended. There are few things more rewarding than presenting work you've poured your blood, sweat, and tears into. Having friends to support you, is just an added bonus. O, and, of course, Barbara rocked it! Later on, I was the facilitator for a session on cross-cultural education. I was honoured to be asked to facilitate and happier to do it.

DAY 59 
Saturday, April 21 - I held the door open for people at the theater & let a family go ahead of me in the concession line.
American Reunion was the movie and I realised that it was 9:30 p.m. and I still hadn't done a random act. I held the door open for a few people exiting the theater and then as I got to the concession line, allowed a family that arrived at the same time as me to go ahead.

DAY 60
Sunday, April 22 - I spent time with a friend I haven't spoken to in a really long time. 
Every time I saw Tegegn on campus I felt guilty for losing touch with him. We had a tentative 'date' set for today and I almost cancelled because I felt like I should be studying for my exam the following Wednesday. I'm glad I didn't cancel because we spent nearly four hours just talking about life and it was great!

Almost there folks! One more 10-at-a-time post and I'll finally be posting my random act on the actual day that I do it!

Random Acts of Kindness (Days 31-40)

Chuggin' right along...

DAY 31

Saturday, March 24 - I hung clothes back on hangers that I noticed had fallen off while shopping.

As I searched for the odd treasure among the abundance of clothing articles residing on the racks in Winners, I fixed any shirts, pants, dresses, etc. that were falling off the hangers.

DAY 32

Sunday, March 25 - I edited an application letter for a friend.

Honestly, I do this for so many friends, that I have no clue who I did edited this particular letter for. Maybe Ang? Maybe Haley?

DAY 33

Monday, March 26 - I paid attention in class, did a workout (RAoK to myself), wrote and sent a letter of support to a friend struggling with immigration, and sent e-cards to people I haven't appreciated enough lately.

The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation said that paying attention in class counts as a random act, so there. I included the workout because I used to work out all of the time...and then...I got sick and busy and stopped. It feels so good and I feel so proud of myself afterwards, so why can't I seem to make myself do it more often?! Sara is living my dream in Botswana right now. Motse wa Tsholofelo (Village of Hope) is just one of the wonderful causes she is working to support. What aren't included in my dream though, are the number of issues that arise with immigration when one is not a citizen of the country in which one is trying to do so much good. I wrote a letter of support for Sara and the incredible work she does. They better listen, or else! Suzi and Karen are two efriends (people I've never actually met in person) that have made a significant impact on my life. I sent them "thinking of you" e-cards to remind them of their importance.

DAY 34

Tuesday, March 27 - I paid forward the RAoK coffee I was given and brushed the snow off of another person's car.

I already had a coffee when Shelley brought me a Timmy's. I've been meaning to bring Glenys a coffee for some time now, but can never seem to get myself out of bed in a timely fashion to enable myself to get to Tim's before work. Today Glenys got my coffee from Shelley. Yes, snow. Wet, heavy, snow. I had to brush my car off, so I brushed off the car that was parked behind me too.

DAY 35

Wednesday, March 28 - I made and brought Reeces Stuffed Oreos to work and shared.

Ok, everyone who ate one of these will attest to just how freakin' amazing they were not to mention the sugar high they provided. YUM!

DAY 36

Thursday, March 29 - I shared "Gratitude" on facebook.

This video is incredible. Too often we take our existence for granted.

DAY 37

Friday, March 30 - I helped a friend with school work and finished putting together a slide show of my random acts to submit to SAARA to try and win some money for charity.

Abraham is a Math and Science genius. He's really good at English too, but it's just not his expertise so I helped. This video of the slide show is really amateur, but it does the job. I submitted it to the SAARA awards in the hopes of winning some money for charity. The winners were announced today and, sadly, I was not among them. Maybe next time!

DAY 38

Saturday, March 31 - I shared a classical music playlist perfect for studying.

I studied all day today with the occasional facebook break. I noticed that a few other people were engaged in similar activities so I decided to share my study playlist. 

DAY 39

Sunday, April 1 - I bought a friend coffee and baked cookies for another friend's fundraising bakesale.

Again, I really don't know who it was that I bought coffee for, Tina, maybe. Yes, I think we went to Starbucks. As for the bakesale, Pumpkin Spice Cookies for the win. Ang was having a fundraiser for her Relay for Life team so, of course, I helped out.

DAY 40

Monday, April 2 - I committed to continuing on with this challenge, made a donation to a friend's Relay for Life team & told a friend that I would help pay for him to take the class he wants to take in Winnipeg this summer.
Today was supposed to be the end of my kindness challenge, but this guy is on day 112 of 366 Random Acts of Kindness, so my measly 40 days seemed trivial in comparison. With that said, onward we go. Another friend, Shelley, also has a Relay for Life team, so today I gave her a $20 donation. The last one on today's list is the big one (the one I do every ten days). Abraham has the biggest heart of anyone I know. He came to Canada from a refugee camp in Kenya only two short years ago. He's in university with aspirations of becoming a doctor and there is a summer class offered at the University of Manitoba that he needs in order to graduate. He could wait and take it at Brandon University, but that would mean a longer study period. He sends a lot of his own money home to help his family back in Africa, so when the opportunity came up to take this class he couldn't afford it. Tina and I are helping him. You may be asking yourself why we would be willing to use $500 of our own money to help our friend. Abraham has been through more in his life than Tina or I or even you can imagine. He is the essence of humility and all that is good in this world. The look on his face when we told him we would pay for his course was magical. We couldn't ask for any greater reason than that to help him.

**BREAKING KINDNESS NEWS - Today Maureen brought me a special Easter treat, two chocolate cupcakes and a bunch of mini eggs - YUM!**

Days 41-50...up next!