Which brings me to Canada. I moved with my family (much against my wishes) to Grimsby, Ontario. Why Grimsby? Yah...once again, not my idea. My first impression of actually living in Canada, rather than just visiting it, was realizing how much people enjoyed their coffee. Not just any coffee but Tim Hortons Coffee. Now, I understand that this is more of a small town thing, even possibly just a Grimsby thing. Tim Hortons in Grimsby is NOT just a coffee place, its an institution, everyone goes there, at least once a day. As a teenager you really have no other option besides hanging out at one of the uh..6 Tim Hortons in town.
It didn't take me long to start making Grimsby my home. People were not as friendly as I remember people in the South were to outsiders. My parents probably still feel as if they get the shaft from Grimsby-folk (good thing they are finally moving this summer to Toronto).

There are really only three types of Grimsby-folk.

1) The "born and raised in Grimsby" folks who believe there is no other world outside of Grimsby, that will NEVER...ever...leave....
2) The "born and raised I can't wait to get the hell out of here" folks.
3) Those who are outsiders who never really wanted to live in Grimsby in the first place...

I have no real beef with Grimsby. I think its a clean area but not the greatest place to bring up your children because unless they are reasonably gifted they will probably wind up being small-minded, ignorant assholes. There are a lot of things I loved about my teenage life there. I had a fun group of girlfriends for the early portion of my high school life and then as I got older my geekier tendencies started to seep out more.... and more and It quickly became less appropriate in my ultra-girly world...so I found newer...much geekier...much *leeter* friends. There was nothing wrong with my old ones but it was what I needed at that time. Chances are I have more in common with those girls NOW than I ever did then.

Skipping past the bad years - grade 11-OAC....concluding that I turned out okay and survived my "rebellious stage". I then made the bad decision of making York University my school of choice. Yah...still regretting that one today. Even though my program is amazing, its just the school in general, and the people who attend class with me that drive me absolutely nuts...and perhaps just a little bit too close to Woodbridge for my own comfort.

(did you know that people in Woodbridge go to the movie theatre to pick people up? Yah....its not your typical movie theatre. Usually you bring dates/friends there but in Woodbridge, you go to find your date to the movies.)

First year University was interesting...I don't think I did much other than play Counter-strike almost 9 hours a day on average and there were at least 4 days during the week, I would play anywhere from 10-15 hours a day. *No...I am not exaggerating*

Thankfully, after a few years I figured out the perfect balance between all the things I love. I still manage to get my 'geek on' in large amounts without it interfering in any way with my other activities. For example, when people come knock on my door, asking me to come out and play, I don't turn off the monitor, jump in bed, play sick and then go back to playing Everquest. Ohhh No. I will get my party on if need be. My excuse for doing the massive geek out for two years of University was that I got my "party on" a little bit too much in high school and needed a break ( I suppose that's usually the other way around?)

Oh..in between those years I wasted my summers away working for Aon Reed Stenhouse, downtown Toronto on Bay and QueensQuay. It is there that I learned the evils of Insurance and how everyone who seems to work in Insurance is either divorced, cheating, getting a divorce, thinking about getting a divorce. The last summer I worked there, I spent most of my time blogging about how much I hate Aon and some of my fellow co-workers (typing Aon or Nelia into the search box will probably bring up some amusing tidbits about Insurance life). There is only one truly cool person working for them and that is Andrew Coole. Yes, he's last name REALLY is Coole. Hopefully he too, will find a way out of Aon.

So thats about it. This is where I am right now. Not very exciting. Perhaps when something actually interesting happens (like killing a homeless man) I will include it here, on my life story page. I doubt it though...because if I kill a homeless dude I will probably need to keep in on the down-low...for at least...a few months.

OOh yah. I will soon be the very proud owner of a 2004 Yamaha Vino 125. Oh bebe yah. Which means coming soon to this site a 'tales of Christie and her Vino' section with tons of leet pictures and interesting Toronto stories.

Cheers,

Christie