The Past Decade

A couple blogs I follow have been doing a little post about the past decade of their life. I'm terrible with remembering past things, especially when I'm swamped with working on a show, but I thought this would be a little fun experiment to try and see what I can come up with.

2000: (Age 15) Had what my school liked to call a "Grade 9 Grad" which was pretty useless considering we were all relocating to the only high school in town for grade 10. Had my first "social" drink of beer at our grade 9 end-of-the-year girls only sleepover, which took place at a bonfire after our formal dance. I also admitted to my friends who my first major unrequited crush was, which sadly would carry on for another year.

2001: (Age 16) Went through the trauma of having the same unrequited crush as my more out-going best friend, which resulted in many angry diary entries involving swear words I would not say out loud until much later. I later got a new crush that continued to haunt me until well after high school ended. I attended my first drunken party, where my parents later found out but I didn't get in that much trouble. Our school's drama production went to provincials in Regina, where we were creamed by much better actors and I almost flashed the audience in my toga costume. My family also ended up moving from Saskatchewan back to my childhood city in Ontario, much to my teenage angst. I attempted a French immersion high school for grade 11, based on my preschool friend going to the same school, despite my hatred for all things languages.

2002: (Age 17) Saw my first concert "Wave" (whatever, it was awesome at the time) and received my lifeguarding course certificate after 6 painful weeks of training, for which I worked my first job at a hotel pool with a waterslide. Took a co-op class where I worked at a graphics making t-shirt printing shop, where I did nothing cool except take customer orders and burn myself on the t-shirt press. Oh, and due to my teenage sulkiness/angst, I moved back to Saskatchewan by myself to finish grade 12 with my friends.

2003: (Age 18) Graduated high school, attended many drunken parties (I even got sick in front of my unrequited-crush-to-end-all-crushes that still remained from grade 10) and got my first "boyfriend" (not the crush). I also lamely had my first kiss, then my first break-up and moved back to Ontario to spend the summer with my family. Experienced the loss of Rachel, my life-long pet dog and then moved to Regina to start my first year of film school.

2004: (Age 19) Finally was old enough to buy alcohol and go to the bar, which I barely did because I was poor. I crapped through my first attempt of getting into the 2nd year of the program, so I decided to take film studies classes and try again the next year. I moved into the new residence buildings oncampus and got two female roommates from Mexico. I then got a easy job as a small part of the campus security walking program, where I basically got to hangout on campus and talk to people at night. I also experienced my first university "relationship" and joined Drama Society, where I made a good chunk of friends, first met Trevor and started my first university unrequited crush (not Trevor).

2005: (Age 20) I finally got into the film program, ended the year with getting drunk with some friends (including Trevor) and went to Ontario for the summer again. My grandfather has a heart attack while visiting family in Japan and has triple-bypass surgery to which he miraculously recovers and is able to come home. Started school again where I did my last year of Drama Society, while also juggling taking film production classes on top of film study classes (plus the dreaded Japanese class). Probably went to the bar alot.

2006: (Age 21) Started dating Trevor, moved out of residence and into an apartment with a guy friend for my first summer staying in Regina and worked at a bakery all summer to pay the bills. Ended summer with an Alaskan cruise with my family and started my 4th year of school (3rd in film). Trevor moved in after his roommate left him and I spent most of the year broke.

2007: (Age 22) Finished school for the year, Trevor and I got our first film jobs in the city. I worked at a dollar store for the rest of the year to pay for my final year of school. Had a couple mental breakdowns over what I was going to do with my degree once I graduated and figured out that making films wasn't for me, but I was going to suck it up and finish my degree.

2008: (Age 23) Started working my first full-time job in the Regina film industry, graduated university after 5 years and got my first car. Trevor and I moved to our own place closer to downtown and we worked for 6 months straight before having 6 months off. Learned the beauty of EI and jumped on that wagon to pay the bills, also managing to pay off my student loan 2 years earlier than planned. Trevor and I also did our first vacation together, a trip to Vancouver. My family built their dream lake-house in Northern Ontario in time for Christmas and I got into my first "accident" when someone rear-ends my parked car one winter morning.

2009: (Age 24) Worked on a few shows here and there in Regina and Saskatoon. Trevor and I drive up to visit my family for a few weeks in the summer to attend my brother's high school grad. Bought our first mutual purchases, including a flat-screen TV, a couch and a PS3. Moved to a better apartment in the same area. My grandfather passes away just after Christmas at the end of the year, 4 years after his surgery in Japan and 3 years after the life-deadline that the doctors had predicted for him.

2010: (Age 25) Met a lot of family I hadn't seen in almost 15 years and worked on a few more shows to pay the bills. Went to Mexico with my family for a week and am now planning a Las Vegas trip in a few days with Trevor. In a little over a month, I'm going to attempt my first 1/2 marathon, after 6 not-so-intense months of training. Getting ready to move my brother to Waterloo for school in a few weeks and now my younger sister is about to start high school. We're also anticipating a lot of change in the next few months, so this will be an interesting year.

That was a lot more than I thought I would remember and its interesting how much came flooding back as I kept typing. Maybe I'll try this in another 10 years to see how my life changes from 25 to 35. Hopefully by then, I'll have life more figured out.