How many things can happen in 6 months?

Well, it's been a while since I made any additions to this blog that I was once so excited about. In merely 6 months, a number of life-altering, reality-shifting things have occurred. And so, to summarize, I shall make a list!

1. We got kittens! Diva and Doolittle, two amazingly energetic and horribly affectionate little fluffballs that make life happier and softer. They're orange tabbies and quite good-looking, if I do say so myself. ^_^

2. School ended for the year, leaving me with a pleasing grade report for my second year at University. This is possibly the least life-altering of the list, but with the shifting of a few close friends (Crystal is now in Concordia, Sara is now at OCAD) it has managed to fit itself in.

3. My sister graduated! For the first time since... well... kindergarten, she will be facing September without also facing school. Of course, because she's Valerie, she graduated with "Highest Honours" in her art history degree. What she's going to do next is still up in the air, but whatever it is will be done well, thoroughly, and with a great deal of passion.

4. Now this one is truly mind-boggling. On the day I was going to be leaving to see my sister's graduation ceremony, I recieved a telephone call. "Guess who it is?" said the american-sounding voice on the other end of the line. I ran through my list of middle aged men I knew with strange area codes. Of course I had no idea. "It's your Old Man!" What. The. Fuck. A bit of a back story for those unfamiliar with my family situation: I grew up without a father in the strictest sense, my mom and dad having divorced around when I was one or two years old. My father had moved to the US, and I heard from him only once, when I was six. My aunt and uncle had stepped in to help, and my Uncle was my father figure (and still is). I had a tremendously happy childhood thanks to the two of them and I grew up complete and full, thinking about my real father only briefly, only at times when I might have needed one or been socially expected to have one. So when, shortly after I turned 20, I got this telephone call... it floored me. I had been sorting socks at the time- how very ordinary- and all of a sudden a father, a "father's side of the family" blinks into existance. We talked for about an hour, myself pacing around the apartment with quick-beating heart. I have three half-brothers, curly haired like me. I have a step-mother. I have aunts, uncles, recently deceased grandparents. I have a family history of diabetes, a long french ancestry that includes Charlemagne. So yeah. Weird. I don't know where to go with this, for now I think I'll take it as it comes. He's not trying to be a part of my life or anything just yet, and he hasn't really asked me about myself at all, but it's weird knowing about him now. Yeah. Man.

5. On a completely different note, the moment Steven and I have been waiting almost 9 months for has arrived. He is now, officially and fully, a permanent resident of Canada. Backbreaking paperwork and bending-over-backwards to get documents has paid off. As soon as they opened the envelope (8 months after it was sent) things went quickly and efficiently. Sign here, here, and here, stamp this, sign this. There you are: Residency! He can now attend school, recieve the benefits of OHIP, work without a permit, travel out of the country, and vote if he desires. Simple as that.

I'm going to say that that's about it for my big news. I know, it's alot of stuff to pack into one entry, but I needed to purge. Now that this is all out, said, and summed up, I can move on to my regular boring entries.