Reflections

Well Happy New Years to you all, may 2009 bring you peace, good health, and lots of new adventures.

2008 was an interesting year. Like most of the years of my life it was fraught with many changes and challenges.


The marina where I live underwent a ton of changes. Lots of boats and people had to leave and the whole energy of the place shifted dramatically. It was a time of high anxiety and sadness. Things have mellowed out here alot lately buts its very quiet and I miss the company of the people who lived down here.

I lived on my boat for half the year, then hauled it out into the shop for the other half. I didnt think I would be a landmonkey for this long. Working on the boat has fluctuated between being exhilerating, boring, optimistic, overwhelming and a whole host of other feelings. I had hoped to have it all done and back in the water by the end of the year but at this point I am nowhere close to that.

I didn't do a single thing to the boat all of December. Between work, the holidays and the weather especially, I didnt have the time or motivation. Hopefully January brings me a new surge of energy and optimism so I can get on with things. I was looking over my posts from 2008 and it reminded me how much I had already accomplished and how much love and energy I put into it. Not the time to quit now!

Work was good this year, I had lots when I needed it and time off when I needed it with always enough money to do what needed to be done. I enjoyed working at the clinic, it was alot less stressful then working on-call. It was awesome to have a steady paycheck and hours for a change.

For years now I have wanted to teach a course and/or use the material to write a book about all I've learned about health care and life. For some reason I never felt ready before but suddenly I do. Ive been going over my notes and references and putting it all together. I need a place to teach from but am sure it will manifest itself when the time is right. I am excited as Im sure this is what Im meant to do, but have been putting it off forever. Time to make the shift and watch it happen.

Physically it was a good year. My tendinitis finally cleared up after 6 months of hell. Ive gained some weight which doesn't please me, so will try harder to incorporate some regular exercise into my life and cut back on the junk food at night syndrome.I also vow to try and get at least one massage a month and take better care of myself.

My asthma has had a rough time of things between smoking like a chimney and living in this dustbowl, so to that end, David and I will try to quit smoking. The other day I bought an electronic cigarette. It looks like a cigarette, the white part is a battery, the filter area holds a vial of nicotene which sits on a vaporizer. When you take a drag on it, the vaporizer gives you a dose of nicotene ( it comes in flavors of Marlborough tobacco, cherry or mint). The end of the cigarette glows red when you take a drag and you breathe out a puff of water vapor. So it looks ,acts and tastes like a cig,but no harmful vapours or smoke to bother others. Wish us luck, Ive done this twice before, quitting once for a year and another time for eight years. Hopefully third ones a charm!

My relationship with David went through some ups and downs but we are still here and stronger for having worked through some issues. He has been a real inspiration to me to take life by the horns and think positively. Nothing is impossible in his eyes and his ability to get things done has made a big impression on me. I continue to learn and grow in this relationship.

For many of my family members this was a year of loss. We had uncles, cousins, life long friends and most recently my brothers mother-in-law who lost her battle with cancer on Christmas Eve, leave us this year. May their souls rest in peace, you are all loved and missed.

I wasnt sure what to expect at the beginning of 2008. It didn't go quite as expected but all in all a good year. I think 2009 will bring many more changes. I'm hoping they will all be postive ones. For this year I want to manifest my teaching career, a healthier body,and a reconnection to spirit. I will strive to find more balance in my life by making time for friends,the gym,and my creative side. May the universe give me the focus to accomplish this.

Best of luck to all of you for the New Year, may all your dreams come true! xxoo Rhianna

Lost and Found

I tried this blogging thing back in 2005. I had spent 2002-2003 travelling around the world. I started by going to work in an isolated fishing resort for the summer, then spent 6 months exploring China, Hong kong, New Zealand and Indonesia. At that time I was way more computer illiterate. I was just learning how they worked and trying hard to master the keyboard. Typing was a time consuming, laborious process and internet connections were usually dodgy or outrageously expensive. I kept in contact with friends and family by posting an online diary of my travels and experiences. When I found out about blogging, I copy and pasted all my emails to a blog which I then immediately lost track of.

I often wondered where it had gotten to, and stumbled upon it tonight. So I present to you ......the Adventures of Cyberangel

http://theadventuresofcyberangel.blogspot.com/

Im sorry but apparently the concept of paragraphs didnt occur to me when I was writing it, if I can get back into it I will try and edit it to make it an easier read. I lost thousands of pictures that I had taken on my travels when my computer caught on fire about 2 minutes after I finished downloading them all( and yes, I had already formated the camera :( ).I think I still have a few kicking around on cd,s somewhere, so will try and track them down and add them to the posts .

It was another time of transtition for me. I had just gone through a bancruptcy after BC medical took massage therapy off the plan. Just when life seemed totally bleak, the universe stepped in and gave me the time of my life.Im glad I documented it and wished I had this technology when growing up as I have had many adventures in life. Oh well never to late to start and Im sure I will have many more adventures to entertain you with.

Happy travels, Rhianna xxoo

Global Warming??

Not here thats for sure! We are breaking winter records of all kinds these days. Victoria had the most snow in all of Canada? Victoria... who would of thunk?

This is the first time in ages that all of Canada has been under snow all at the same time. We have been getting walloped in Vancouver. Three major dumps of snow in one week.

Snowy Docks



Huge avalaches of snow slide off the roof of the shop every now and again with a thundering crash. One of the areas it likes to let go is right in front of the main gate to the property. I would hate to get caught under it as it is enough to break your neck if it hit you dead on.

David has been out every day trying to shovel the snow off the roof of his floathome. The extra weight was pushing the place down very close to the water. With 2 feet of snow on the roof and another 2 feet on the way,he spent a precarious two days perched on a ladder trying to dislodge as much as he could. It did the trick and he is up about 3-4 inches from yesterday. There is still alot of snow left up there but the immediate danger is over.






Unfortunatly one of the other tenents here wasn't so lucky. He left for a few days to do some visiting over the holidays. We woke up this morning to find his boat at the bottom of the river.



There is so much snow and ice, that trying to salvage it at this point would be dangerous and extremely hard work. I feel for the guy, it was his home with all his possesions on board. Im sooo glad my boat isn't in the river. The danger from the ice and snow is great right now. My 18 ft boat is still in the water and Ive had to go out every day and shovel all the snow off it. The back bilge area is full of frozen water. I will have to keep a close eye on things as it starts to melt.

My boat had been completly cleared of snow yesterday, this is what I woke up this morning



We took a break from shoveling last night and went to Watermania, a nearby swimming complex. We spent a few hours soaking in the hot tubs and taking turns in the steam and sauna rooms. Took a few breathtaking rides on the water slides and finished the night by going to see "The Yes Man" at the movies. It was a good laugh and a good reminder as to how we miss opportunities in our lives by turning down offers and opportunities that come our way.

I turned down about 20 party invitations before I finally said yes and went to the party where I met David...and look how much that decision changed my life! So next time you are offered something and go to automatically say no...take and chance and say yes...something wonderful might happen.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all. xxoo Rhianna

Things I'm Grateful For

1. That Im not living on my boat at the moment. Its seriously cold here. I never thought I would see this.....

The Fraser River filled with ice.







We went down to check on things last night and were shocked to see how much ice had come down the river.The sound of it grinding against the shore and the boats was seriously spooky. Tana's video of it crashing into their marina was terrifying to watch

2. All the water hoses have been frozen for a week.David keeps taking them apart and thawing them out, but they refreeze overnight. I am so grateful we still have running water in the shop.

3. My friends Shelly and Todd have invited us over for Christmas dinner. Yahoo, she is an awesome cook and has a wonderful cozy home, I can't wait to be there. My favorite part about Christmas is the decorations and sharing food and good times with friends and family.Im grateful to Shelly for providing that for us, I dont have it in me this year to transform our pile of half-finished projects into something that looks festive.

4. My awesome cat that has been braving the subzero temperatures ,to spend the night in the living room and do battle with all the wild creatures trying to get in here.
Racoons, squirrils and a host of rodents have had to do battle with him , but the food stash is still safe.

Bah Humbug

I dont know whats the matter with me lately, Ive been in a real funk. Maybe its my imminent 50th birthday looming, or menapausal hormones or maybe its just a bad case of SAD (seasonal affective disorder)but I cant seem to get excited about much these days.

I love my boat but the extensive repairs needed on it are sucking the life out of me. More and more I picture myself chopping it up for firewood and moving back into an apartment or something. I really want a home of my own,one thats everything I ever dreamed of but as I took the grasshopper role in the drama of life, I am ill prepared finacially to accomplish that.

I dont know why this is so important to me. It must be all the moving I did growing up. The sense of constant instability has made me crave that which I could never have,a stable home that I could retreat to and feel nurtered within. I can picture it, just cant seem to manifest it.

I feel like I live in a paralell universe where I look through the windows of peoples lives and see them in their own home surrounded by family, children,friends,contemplating their retirement with winters in the tropics and wonder how did I manage to miss it all?

No long term marriage ,no children, no stablity, no home and no retirement for me.
I have had other blessings in my life like travel and many interesting experiences but now the grasshopper wants to come in and put her feet up by the fire.

It seems I am at another crossroad in my life but have no idea where or what to do next. Every time I try and take control of my destiny, it never goes as planned. I love the surprises the universe throws at me and try to not deal on my attachment issues but its an exhausting way to live. One foot over the edge of a cliff is what it feels like. I need/want/desire more balance in my life. A crystal ball would be nice too.

Im sorry, dont mean to sound like a moaner,I have lots to be grateful for in life,just feeling a little directionless right now and figured by getting this off of my chest I can shake this off and move on. I must make like a feather and see where the winds of change blow me next. Hopefully its a soft landing!

Have You Ever Wondered.....

..how Olympians in obscure sports get their training? Ive have always admired the speed skaters and figured if there was ever a sport I might have been good at, that could have been it. But not once in my whole life have I ever seen a speed skating rink... or a bobsled track or cross country skiers packing rifles.

How do the youth of our country get the opportunity to try their hands at these sports. When they choose the best in the country to represent us, how do they know they have the best if 99 percent of us never even got to try out?

The other day I attended the grand opening of the Richmond speed skating oval built for the upcoming Winter Olympics here in Vancouver. Its a beautiful building with a stunning roof crafted from reclaimed pine beetle destroyed trees.

A vast expanse of ice




A closeup of the roof




I stood in awe looking at the vast expanse of ice, picturing myself racing around it. Excited at the chance to finally have a go at speed skating, I went to all the information booths they had set up to see if I could finally find out how I could get some training in this particular sport.

Not one person had the answer. They are planning to allow public skating at the oval until the Olympics start but all the skating lessons are for traditional ice skating and the skate rentals are for regular ice skates not the longer blades they use for speed. Im am soooo dissapointed.

After the Olympics are over they are going to change the interior of the oval to accommadate a more traditional style rink with the rest of the space being used for basketball courts or other sports. I wish they would offer the general public a chance to try their hand at speed skating, who knows the next gold medalist could live right around the corner.

Still Dreaming

I stumbled upon a program my brother had given me years ago called Punch Super Home Suite. Its a program that allows you to design a home.You can make a blueprint, then see the framing stage and the completed stage.It gives you a menu of furniture,walls,floors,windows,doors,appliances, and outdoor plants to choose from so you can decorate it and see how things fit and how colors go together.The plants have an option that allows you see how big they wil grow over a selected amount of time. There is also a built in cost calculator that shows you how many 2x4 ect you need so you can figure out your material budget.

My favorite part is the 3-d visual they give you. You can walk through the place and see the furniture,walls,windows ect or you can fly over it as it spins around ,giving you an aerial view.If you do this before you put the roof on, you can see inside the rooms.
Lots of fun.

All my life Ive been planning my perfect house. Ive drawn a gazzilion rough scetches on scraps of paper. This is sooo much better! I really want a floathome.Much as I love my boat,when I said I wanted to live on the water, I had always pictured a floathome, not a boat.This boat was a bonus I never expected and it would make an awesome cabin to escape to, but for full time living, I want real size appliances,a workshop and some space to entertain.

The place Ive designed is for a 40x30 float with a 30x30 home and a 10x30 deck. I had orignally designed an attic bedroom and on-suite but this programs limitations would not allow me that option.Ive redesigned it to fit on one floor with the option of using the attic for some storage with a pull down ladder.Having a staircase to get upstairs was going to take up too much room.

With my space all mapped out, Ive been scouring craigslist for deals for the house.So far I have a jaccuzi tub, matching toilet,another toilet if I deside on an upstairs onsuite all for free and a gas full size stove and 4 beautiful interior doors for the grand total of two hundred dollars. Ive seen some good deals on gorgeous french style windows from heritage houses and am keeping my eyes open for deals on appliances and fixtures.

Kind of silly to be collecting all this stuff ahead of time, but it takes time to find the good deals and by the time I find a free float, Ill be ready.




















I wiped out on the docks last week and gave my self a huge bruise on my hip and wrenched my back and neck.

I was in too much pain to do much work on the boat, so I spent my time designing the floathome.

I find thats it good to put your dreams on paper,make them real,put a solid intention out there to the universe so it knows exactly what you want. I did that years ago,making a detailed list of my perfect man. David matched that list almost to the T.

So be careful what you wish for, be very specific and make it concrete(a list,drawing,model ect) Intention is everything! May all your dreams come true if its in the best interest of the universe.