So I’ve finally made it to Canada. I arrived early on the 13th after an 11 hour trip from Santiago, gaining one hour and feeling very stiff due to the lack of stretching and moving on the cramped flight. That same day I was tottered around Hamilton due to a friend of my aunt’s being on her deathbed.

The next day we went to try and get my papers done for my Social Insurance Number and the OIP, Ontario Health plan. Only to discover I couldn’t do either of them because I don’t have my Canadian Citizenship card.

That’s the one that got lost ages ago by my mother. The replacement can take up to 10 months, even a year. And I can’t work without it. I am now facing the possible outcome of having to leave Canada for Chile again, work over there till I get that paper back and then come back.

But I definitely don’t feel like doing that. I’d feel like I had… lost before I even started.

My secondary backup plan is to work ‘under the table’ or on the net to make enough money to pay my aunt for my maintenance while the papers are looked into. I’ll need I’d say at least 300 dollars a month to help out with expenses, plus some money for myself.

You know, I really don’t get what people LIKE about summer. It’s hot, sticky… hot… there’s a lot of sun, it’s dry… I hate the sun, I really do. I don’t like sunbathing (my skin is too pale for it to be healthy), I hate the sand, and the ocean here is too cold, so I don’t do swimming either (not to mention I dislike being in swimsuit).

A bunch of people ask me how I’ll cope with Canada’s extended, cold winter months. Mostly because I am really bad at extreme temps, and I get cold easily. But GAH I hate being hot! Heat nullifies me like Kryptonite does to SuperMan! I can’t do anything but hibernate when the temp goes up and that’s not productive at all!

I hate Paperwork too

So dad’s been pulling my ear (over Skype) lately because I’m so slow in getting paperwork done. I gotta renew my passport, but University so they give me my title, go to the doctor, yadda yadda. My greatest problem for all this is it requires leaving the house.

That, for me, is an ordeal.

Doing regular-life stuff, the thing that is considered ‘normal’ for me is a nightmare. A nightmare that is augmented by heat and a shitty local transportation system.

So my dad’s response is to get up earlier “like normal people”. Heck when have I ever been normal? I frankly can’t get up any earlier than 10am without a struggle, and if I did get up earlier, I’d be going out at rush hour, which means no seats on bus or subways, and being pushed and squished and probably mugged on my way to wherever it is I need to go.

So yeah, I hate summer… I hate paperwork too.

It’s really common among artists I’d say, but in my case I feel it’s just a bit… easier to pop up due to me having EDS-3. Basically, when I draw too much, my arm/shoulder or hand palm start hurting due to muscle strain. Last time I had to stop drawing and using the tablet at all for three days and even grabbing a fork would be painful. This time around it’s more my arm that hurts, the back of my shoulder burns from excess work.

I try to pace myself and keep good posture but it’s hard when you spend around 17 hours a day sitting at the chair doing things on the computer. I use my tablet as a mouse usually, so I’m always in ‘drawing’ position as well. The past three days I’ve been pretty active on iScribble and that hasn’t really helped. I’ve drawn more and more detailed than I usually do in a week, all in the space of 2-3 days.

Not that I’m saying that’s BAD, it’s been amazing practice and I feel I’ve improved a lot in a very short period. I’m working to get accepted as a regular member and all. But it has meant my shoulder’s paid the price.

Well… hopefully if I take it easy for a couple of days it should get better. But I have two project images half-done on the site I want to finish up before the days stretch on. Though, my time is almost up now, and I still have a lot to get done XP

Following links from Boing Boing today, I discovered that the CNN News has declared the Yangtze Baiji Dolphin has been declared extinct. It’s the first known cetacean to die out completely, and that was a pretty sad thing to read. Then I read some excerpts from Douglas Adams’ only Non-fiction book, Last Chance to See. He writes about many endangered animals in it, including this dolphin.

As I watched the wind ruffling over the bilious surface of the Yangtze I realized with the vividness of shock, that somewhere beneath or around me there were intelligent animals whose perceptive universe we could scarcely begin to imagine, living in a seething, poisoned, deafening world, and that their lives were probably passed in continual bewilderment, hunger, pain and fear.

[…]

At the end they said, ‘The residents in the area gain some profit – that’s natural – but we have more profound plans, that is to protect the dolphin as a species, not to let it become extinct in our generation. Its protection is our duty. As we know that only two hundred pieces of this animal survive it may go extinct if we don’t take measures to prevent it, and if that happens we will feel guilty for our descendants and later generations.’

Source

Sadly, not even the Chinese efforts were enough to save this animal, who lived it’s last years in a world of static noise and disorientation, starving to death due to inability to find food, and dying at the sharp hands of boat propellers and fish hooks. Hopefully this serves as a warning to help other similarly endangered species.

Thanks to those who’ve given me internet hugs and worry about what’s going on. I’ve had a good lunch with the family I live with here and it’s helped a lot.

Last I heard my sister was sleeping still, at least she’s alive and with my dad. I’m sure I can trust him to help her as much as humanly possible and I know he’s even more worried than I am for her. He promised me he’d ask for vacations at work to spend as much time as necessary with my sister. I just hope we can contact my mom and that she’ll come to her senses and bring back my brother.

There’s not much I can do from here except hope she’s okay and will get better. Dad knows that if I’m really needed I’m willing to grab my bags and go there at once. But there’s not much I could do there either right now, though I’d give anything to just hug my sister and tell her I’m there for her. I’d also love to scream at my mom for what she’s done to her family. But no can do. I’ll just wait to hear more, and hope everything smooths out.

As it is I’m exhausted already. A morning of crying has me ready for sleep. And with my back aching this much it’s probably a good thing to do. Hopefully sleep will help.