Living in the Lower Mainland for most of my life, I should be accustomed to walking around at night. I grew up in Surrey, right around Guildford Mall. The area was peaceful, but always known for gang activity. My family kept me indoors at night unless we went out together. But still, I was never afraid really. Late at night, I could walk from our house to the Mac's store three blocks away without being scared. It was a breeze to me.

In 2012, I moved to East Richmond so I could be close to my college and my parents closer to their work. I started using public transit alone for the first time to get to class every day. I was always hyper aware on transit, protecting my bag and keeping an eye on those around me. When my classes ran late and I had to take transit at night, I began to feel nervous. Thank goodness my college was right next to a SkyTrain station. The only worrisome part was waiting for the bus home from the SkyTrain station nearest to my neighbourhood. But it happened to be well-lit and often transit police hung around that station since it was such a popular stop.

Now that I'm taking French night classes in Vancouver though, I have to walk quite a few blocks to the SkyTrain long after dark. The people look different without daylight to reveal their features. I'm sure most of them aren't bad, but you can never tell a person's intentions especially in the dark. My route is not really well lit despite being in the downtown core. I walk by quite a few bars and their rowdy patrons too. I feel as if each passer-by gives me a strange look, their faces distorted by the shadows. My fears seep in and suddenly all those people who seemed normal in the day could be potential threats. Is it the darkness that creates these monsters? Is it my own mind? I know to be aware in general as anyone can be bad. They could steal your belongings or hurt you for the sake of it. Overall, though, I should not fear all people because you can't live like that. Besides, even though we all have the capacity for evil, I doubt the majority are any different from myself. Still, late at night on my way home, I feel the hairs on the back of my neck tingle. My stomach flip-flops and I hug my bag tighter. I guess I'm going to have to start walking with my keys between my fingers, just for peace of mind. Maybe I'm paranoid, but I was sure thankful one of my friends lives near by and is willing to take me part of the way home some nights. The shadows might be in my mind, illusions of the dark, but I would still prefer to be safe rather than sorry.

Dana~

So job hunting is never an easy task. I mean, with my skills and experience I could enter a variety of fields... It's just that my resume competes with 2000 others every time. Too few jobs here for way too many job seekers. So after almost a year and a half without steady work, I decided to step my game up. Time to learn a new language!

As a writer and professional communicator, second languages are always a bonus on your resume. Especially since I live and hope to work in Canada, where we have a diverse population and businesses that must communicate on an international level. While I have always had a particular interest in other cultures and I've pick up a few words in Japanese, Korean, Russian and Spanish from my reading addiction...I am not fluent in anything other than English. Like most Canadians though, I studied French in school. I wish I had kept it up, but the skills I did keep allow me to read most French writing and understand the concepts. I figured that was my best bet to learn a second language since I already had a fairly good grasp of the basics.

Next I had to decide on how I wanted to learn. Should I pursue a university degree in French? Should I hire a private tutor? Should I move to France and immerse myself in the language? Well, all of those were great ideas and sounded like wonderful learning experiences...However, I am broke. First of all, student loans aren't a good idea considering I can't guarantee repayment after I graduate. As for private tutors, they charge high fees for each individual lesson. Finally, a second move abroad is not only expensive up front, but dangerous as I have no connections or people to stay with over there. With all my French fantasies quashed, I had to look elsewhere for a solution.

After hours of research, I happened to discover adult education courses. They ran at a community college in the city at night and didn't use a regular grading scale so I could learn at my own pace. They also had a low one time fee that I could afford. Each course came with a certificate of completion as well. It's perfect. I start in a few days and I can't help it... I am practicing on my own now too. My conversation is clumsy but I have the passion and drive to improve. I will get this right and be able to put French working proficiency on my resume one day.

Dana~

Since I was very small, my parents and I have always taken quick trips to Edmonton to visit extended family. Both of my parents were raised in Northern Alberta and only moved down to Vancouver in the early 90's. I was born a few years later and they decided to stay put. However, we still wanted to be a part of our extended family's lives. Therefore every few months Mom would schlep us and a weekend's worth of luggage to the airport. It was usually on holidays that we'd fly to visit my grandparents and cousins. My elder sister and her family live there too, so there's always plenty of people with whom to catch up.

However, as I got older and my parents got busier, those visits were few and far between. Maybe once a year, if at all. I thought nothing of it, we just didn't have the time. There couldn't have been any other reasons, right?

Recently, I'd been promising my sister I would come to see my niece around her birthday. When I asked my mom if we had the time, she agreed to organize it. Granted, it wasn't as easy as I remembered. Our schedules were all different, people had work and slept during the day... It took my mom a month to find two and a half days where we could see my sister. Also, while we chose not to stay with my mom's family this time because they were out of town, we found we all slept rather poorly in the hotel. Yes, it had a nice ambiance and comfy beds, but both my father and I are fan-sleepers. We need the white noise and cool air, which neither of us got while in the hotel. Our tossing and turning kept mom awake, resulting in lack of sleep for all of us. Then there was the heavily chlorinated water. At least, I think it was chlorine. All I know is that taking a bath felt more like going for a swim. The water was bright blue and made my hair both stiff and frizzy. Then there's travel food. Hotels don't have in-room kitchens, so we ate out most of the time and as we all know, it's faster to grab a bag of chips for a flight than to sit down for a meal. Sure, everything we ate was edible and most of it was tasty, but after three days of restaurant meals and junk food I was bloated and nauseous. Everything needs to be done in moderation...

Once we made the trip home, I collapsed onto my bed and napped. Well, I closed my eyes for five minutes and then sent out an email with my resume for another job opportunity. Either way, I was exhausted. I used to love those short trips, but they really take a lot out of me. It always seemed so easy to close the gap between me and the rest of my family, but not anymore. That hop, skip and a jump leaves me feeling drained and often times sick. Still, they are family. I wouldn't give them up for the world. So I will continue to make these trips, frizzy hair and nausea be damned.

Dana~

Money doesn't grow on trees, especially when you're job hunting. So when I'm given a gift card or even a small bit of money, I save it like crazy. Okay, more like unhealthily hoarding it.

For example, I got a Steam gift card the other week. Now, I've wanted to purchase new games for ages to pass the time between writing job applications. There are so many good looking games out there. Unfortunately, I'm picky when it comes to my games and money nowadays. I only spend money on games with replay value. That's it. If I can't keep coming back to a game and enjoying a new experience, it isn't worth the money to me. Especially if it's over $15.

So when I got home and entered my code into my Steam account, I excitedly surfed the shop for something new to play. I referenced my wishlist and looked at all recommendations. I was even about to buy a few. Then that damn little voice in my head said, "Wait! You'll regret it."

"But how could I? It's got great reviews!" I contested.

My conscious was unwavering, "No, you'll be bored of it in a day. Forget it."

Thus, I didn't buy any games. It's always been like this. I save all my money for a day where I desperately need it, even though it's usually money I've been waiting to use for something specific. I remember saving my lunch money in college thinking there'd be a day when I really needed it to go out or something. This was despite the fact I was starving between classes all semester and that I never went out on the town anyways.

So the gift card sits unused and unloved. I still return to games I love with replay value. The Sims 3 is always a favourite and can be different each play through. I've also found myself a fan of Kitty Power's Matchmaker on Steam. The British humor and slang gives me waves of nostalgia.

Still, I wish I weren't so prudent and responsible with my money. It'd be nice to have fun for a change.

Dana~

I find life has a way of surprising me. It can be something very simple too. Something I noticed in a book, an advertisement on a bus bunch or even something I hear over the radio. This time it was an early morning re-run of "Steven & Chris" about a week ago.

I had a rough night, arguing with my partner and generally not sleeping well. I woke up at 3 a.m. decidedly frustrated with constant nightmares. I was playing on my 3DS until about 4 a.m. when I heard my mother knock on my door. She had fallen asleep just after dinner due to jet lag and was blearily staring at me from my doorway.

"Why aren't you asleep?" she grumbled.

I barely looked up from my game to respond, "I slept a little, now I'm awake. Are you ok?"

She nodded with a huff and plodded down the stairs in search of coffee. I closed my game and followed my mother. We hadn't spent much time together since she returned from her last business trip and I really needed the company. After about thirty minutes of making coffee and taking turns in the washroom, we settled into the living room and turned on the TV. Mom flicked it to "Steven & Chris" so we could have cheery background noise while we spoke.

I lamented to her about my situation and asked for advice, she explained I was doing the right thing. She expressed the fact that she didn't know what else to do to help me. I said all I wanted was hugs. In general, it was a normal mother-daughter conversation. However, as we were chatting I found myself constantly interrupted by a loud, effeminate voice on our TV.  It was the talk show host, Chris. He was going on about yoga poses and making silly comments. His laugh though, caused my mother and I to burst into fits of giggles. His charisma was infectious. We laughed about him and noted how him and his partner were such a good match. My mother commented on his happy and sweet demeanor. He was sassy and lovely. We both agreed that he belonged on television.

That memory stuck in my head that day because it was one of the first honest conversations I had with my mother about my love life, and we shared that moment over an episode of "Steven & Chris". If anything, the program added to our moment and gave us little bits of laughter and joy.

So it was very sad for me to hear of Chris Hyndman's passing today. I was shocked. It hadn't been even a week since I saw the program and shared that time with my mother. He was young, healthy and happy. I couldn't believe it at first, even thinking back to the date on the program we watched.  I had actually grown up watching Chris on all of his and Steven's various shows, specifically "Design Guys". It was unbelievable to think he was gone. But it was true, and a little piece of my heart broke off. All I could think of was how much Steven and his family must miss him...

This news surprised me as it meant the loss of someone who made even the smallest difference in my life. It was his laughter and amazing persona that solidified that moment in time for me. I remember the giggles and conversation I shared with my mother at 5 a.m. because of his wondrous way with words. All I can say is thank you and I hope Chris is in a better place.

Dana~

I'm not sure what changed, but all of the sudden my lovely desktop gave up on me. I first noticed that my security software wouldn't load... I could click on McAfee all I wanted, it did not want to open. I thought that was weird so I opened my task manager. Task manager wouldn't open. I got very scared. Extremely so. Thus, I rebooted hoping that would fix things as it usually does (Windows memory leak and what not). Everything looked fine, booted to my desktop like normal. However, task manager still wouldn't open. Neither would McAfee. Uh-oh.

Now normally if a piece of software stops working, I write it off and uninstall. You can't do that with security software or the task manager. One is important for protecting my computer while the other is literally a part of my computer's OS. I knew I was in trouble, so I Googled like crazy. Many people said it might be a virus, just run your security software. Well, McAfee wouldn't open so I had to solve that problem first. The online consensus was that my Java needed to be updated. So I tried that. It spent 10 hours installing before I gave up. For hours after that I tried to do basic trouble-shooting until I decided I would have to run a System Restore. I've done it before, and in general it works like a charm. So I selected a day that it was working and let it do it's thing. I waited and waited. My computer wouldn't finish logging off. It was in a loop for three days. I finally gave up, forced it off and rebooted to the desktop. It didn't finish the System Restore, but it hadn't changed anything either. I realized that I would need professional help. And no, I didn't need a therapist.

I figured it would be a virus removal or something simple. Maybe the hard drive might need to be wiped. So I tried to pop my 32GB USB in to back up files. Uh, nope. It wouldn't recognize it. I started to sweat now; there were files I hadn't backed up in a while. Important writing. Game saves. Gulp. Then I realized, I still had access to my web browser. Google Drive was my saviour. I uploaded anything and everything I could find that was of any importance. However, after about five minutes of uploading, my Windows Explorer would crash. No, not Internet Explorer (I was using Chrome to upload), but the file explorer that allows me to view my documents and pictures. The task bar and start button vanished. Double uh-oh. Was this going to be more expensive than I thought?

To rescue my files before my computer completely died, I had to keep force rebooting every five minutes. Once Windows Explorer crashed I couldn't access the files. It was a pain in the butt to say the least. Eventually I salvaged my files and called a repair company. I dropped my tower off a day later and prayed that they could save it. I couldn't afford a new $800 desktop.

The very next day, not even 24 hours after I dropped it off, the tech called saying he'd fixed everything! He even replaced my old security software, gave me a bunch of new protection and computer health programs as well as updated all my installed software. He even got my computer to finish all pertinent Windows updates, ones that I couldn't do for years as it'd force my computer into a death loop. When I got it back, he showed me everything, talked me through the new software and showed me that my favourite game was still operable. He even opened the hard case and explained where everything was and what I would need to do when I was ready for a hardware upgrade. This tech went above and beyond; the service was exceptional and very reasonably priced! After about five days of using it, he even texted me to check up on it and answer any further questions I had. Honestly, if you have any computer problems and live in the Lower Mainland, call TSG Computer Services.

My much loved desktop is running better than ever and I couldn't be happier.

Dana~

I admit it, I'm very spoiled. I've traveled all my life, been well-taken care of and received various expensive gifts. The latter of which includes my new tablet. Now, I know..."You already have various electronic things. Many of them with screens and Internet access! Why on Earth would I need another?" I sort of asked myself that question when my parents proposed the idea last month.

My parent's Kobo eReaders were on their last legs. Not to mention their last, proprietary charger that even the manufacturer refused to sell.  Dad loved his Kobo, he's been an avid reader his whole life. A trained speed reader to boot. I'm a speed reader as well, but no where near his capacity. He can finish a few hundred pages in a few hours. Before ebooks were a thing, we had an entire room in our townhouse devoted to books. Paperbacks and hardcovers were squished together and lined several floor to ceiling bookcases. Then one day, we had to move out of that house and downsize. Mom said the books couldn't come with us. Dad had to pair it down to one bookcase. My father was of course, devastated. But around the time we realized a move was in the cards, both Mom and Dad discovered Kobo. They purchased each other an eReader for Xmas and I have to say, that probably softened the blow of the move for Dad.

However, it's been more than three years since then and their Kobos, which were faulty and poorly designed to begin with, were finally dying. As house techie, I was tasked with the job of finding a replacement. My reward, Dad said, would be a tablet of my own so I had to pick carefully. I didn't really mind and I didn't need a reward; I was pleased to search for something to make my father happy.

I looked at the newest Kobos first, considering Dad wanted to keep his vast digital library. They all looked fancy and had similar features to the other competing ereaders. Unfortunately, they were plagued with similar or worse issues than the first generation models my family already owned. Mom wanted something that would last; she also wanted more capabilities. Also I had heard good things about the Kobo Android app, it functioned quite well and would let my father retain his library.  So I looked at Android tablets.


A year prior to this, I had done the research and helped my mom pick out new phones for all of us, going with the Google Nexus 5 as it was always one of the first to receive Android updates, something our prior smartphones lacked. So currently, my parents were both used to Android 5.0 Lollipop. They knew how to navigate it and make things work the way they liked. I figured a tablet on Lollipop would be the best choice for their comfort level. Eventually, we settled on the 8" Samsung Galaxy Tab A and we went to our local BestBuy to take a look. Mom went all out, after we all agreed it was the right tablet she pointed to the cases and then the styluses. She got the warranties and protective coating for all three tablets. The sales associate was ecstatic. He even gave us a discount for buying so much at once.

So now I have a tablet. I love the look of it and it's functionality. But I'm not quite sure what to do with it. My father said I should try the Kobo app, and I will. But I really think I can do more with it. It's got the power of a small laptop and I have a feeling that with the right Bluetooth keyboard, this could be my best friend for sudden writing inspiration.

Time will tell.

Dana~

So my dream of living abroad has come to an end. After much hesitation, I decided I just couldn't handle it anymore. I was sick all the time, jobless and stressed out. There was too much drama in my living situation that the normal stress of my poor health and my endless job hunt were amplified. So I packed my bags, apologized to my partner and flew home. I was uncertain where I stood with my partner. I told him I'd try to come back. But I don't know. I need to find myself and get well before any decisions are made.

For now I'm so happy to be home. I'm enjoying Canadian food that doesn't make me sick and spending time with my family. I get to retire to my own bed with it's soft memory foam mattress. Yes, I miss my partner, but I know I need this. My anxieties need to clear up and I must get my health back. I hated making this choice. However, my mood improvement already shows I chose correctly.

So, after only four months...My life abroad is over. Still, I learned a lot about myself and how to be independent. I can cook for myself and I'm comfortable doing so. I know how to shop efficiently and search out deals. I can manage all household chores and keep up with bills. This adventure has given me so many life skills. Better still, I found out what it was like to live with a partner for the first time as well as what it's like to live on very little money. I do not regret the move one iota.

Dana~