oh 2006, how glad i am that you're gone. too many mistakes, misdecisions, indecisions - i'd like to leave them all behind with you. i know that the year makes no difference, and the transition from 2006 to 2007 means nothing, but i am strangely glad that the year is over. 2005 was emotionally one of the hardest years for me, and i didn't think it could get worse. but then 2006 came along and proved me wrong. i learned that physical pain can be just as bad and most often worse than simple emotional pain. i really am a glutton for injury - first the battered tailbone from snowboarding that lasted for a good month (and still comes and goes). then sprained pinky from a car door falling on it during co-op. last week i also slammed a car door on my thumb which is now a deep shade of indigo. and of course, the mother of all pains - my herniated disk, which was initially diagnosed as nothing more than a stupid pulled muscle. it's amazing that after 2 doctors, 3 chiropractors, 2 acupuncturists, 1 physiotherapist, all over the course of 6 months - i'm still not fixed. i am so sick of it and i just want my damn life back. i feel like i've lost myself through the whole mess of this. all the confidence i once had, be it in myself or in others, seems to have been obliterated. gone are the days of showing off my macho strength (carrying water cooler bottles, one in each hand..dumb things like that). gone are the days of physical activity OTHER than physiotherapy (no snowboarding, no rockclimbing). gone are the days of being laid back and easygoing. one thing that bothers me the most about this stupid injury is how irritable i've become. the stupidest things will piss me off, and i'm SO short tempered and edgy. it's like having pms 24/7, and the cramps are all over my body (the left side anyway), multiplied by 1000. it's so frustrating because there's not much i can do to alleviate it. i keep hitting plateaus in my therapy and it's so discouraging. people don't even realize how bad it is because i try to do as much as i can to keep things 'normal'. i'm supposed to be in the prime of my life, running around and enjoying myself. i try to do as much as i can, when i'm not spending countless hours with doctors, or lying down and resting at home. and of course my stupid need to please everyone makes me do more than my body can handle. i try not to but there's been so many instances where i feel like i'm being selfish, or at least that i'm being perceived as such. something's so screwed up about that - i can't even take care of myself without feeling guilty. anyways, that's my back. i'm not even gonna talk about the OTHER crap i had to deal with. i didn't make any resolutions last year because i thought i'd be able to just figure things out along the way. that was apparently a big mistake. i don't want to coast through 2007 with no plans, no goals. i've already wasted so much time and life's too short to waste it all away. no more mistakes, no more regrets. time to move on and don't look back. anyways, enough of the bad, here are some pictures from good times in 2006. :: JANUARY - COSTA RICA 1. ziplining
2. jaco beach (surf city)
3. arenal volcano hot springs (paradise)   
:: FEBRUARY - BLUE MOUNTAIN (not Tremblant...those pictures are below) i hadn't perfected boarding at this point (heck i couldn't even carve) but this was probably the most fun i'd ever had. 
:: JULY - CAMPING 
:: AUGUST - EUROTRIP 1. PARIS jardin des tuilieres
2. BARCELONA casa batllo
3. SANTORINI (oia) sunset
4. ROME pantheon
5. the girls 
 
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