Thank you

Over the past 24 hours my life has hit a pretty big speedbump that i didn't quite see coming. Well looking back I knid of did but I avoided the signs and convinced myself otherwise. However hindesight is 20/20. Its in these moments experienced in life you find out who the people who matter really are and how supportive the people you are surronded with are.

I want to take this moment to thank all the people who supported me while at the Bomber game, all my friends who have taken the time to try and distract me and to my family for always being on my side, regardless. I was pleasently suprised by how many people in my life were able to be there for me as my world came crashing down. It truly means so much to me.

Thank you all so much!

My Sanctuary

I have travelled every summer since I can remember. My family has been all across the United States, most of Canada, a little bit of Mexico and I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to travel to Europe. Every year we pack up and go, trying to jam in as much as humanly possible, often causing us to drive all through the night to reach our destination. Although I love these trips, they are filled with fun, adventure and learning, they are far from relaxing. It wasn’t until I met my boyfriend, Dave that I actually discovered first-hand what a relaxing vacation really was.

My First Relaxing Vacation

Dave and I had been together for about six months and we decided it was time for me to go visit his family and see where he grew up. This adventure was taking me to the small town of Roblin, Manitoba. If you have no idea where this is, its about four and a half hours north of Winnipeg, between Asessippi Ski Hill and Yorkton, Sask. Don’t feel too bad, I had no idea this place even existed until then.

Now I just want to take a moment to mention that I do realize that meeting your boyfriend’s family doesn’t sound very relaxing. The meeting the family part, I will admit was not relaxing at all, in fact it was nothing short of terrifying. But once you see the farm you have no choice but to be relaxed. It is pretty much like magic.

But anyway, back to my story. For me, a self-proclaimed city princess, the middle of nowhere didn’t exactly seem like my cup of tea. In fact I was actually smart enough to wear flip-flops and a skirt to the farm. I quickly learned that jeans and runners were a requirement not a suggestion. On the drive out to the middle of nowhere I couldn’t help but wonder what could posses people to live out here, so far from my kind of civilization. Then I finally saw it, Dave took me to the scenic field.

The scenic field is by far the most beautiful place I have ever, and maybe will ever see. I found myself lost looking into the distance, surrounded by nature, the sky glittering with stars. I could suddenly understand the magic, the draw. I knew now why so many of Dave’s stories center around this field. This was something one can never experience in a city; the city doesn’t have this kind of magic. This place gives you the most incredible feelings of hope, joy, inspiration and love. Sitting next to Dave in the tall grass, I felt so free and I was finally able to understand why people settled here, why they wanted to start building their lives here.

This is the moment, the feelings I relive when I am so stressed and the world feels like its falling down around me. This moment in time, just me and Dave, sitting without a care in the world reminds me that there are more important things in this world and happiness is possible, not just possible; real. It helps me to realize that whatever I’m stressing over is simply minor and that gives me the strength to move through it. This moment is my true sanity saver; it is my sanctuary.

Nobody Puts Baby in a Corner

Today I write my blog with a heavy heart, as I am sure most of you already know Patrick Swayze died on Monday after his battle with pancreatic cancer. His career not only took on movies but also musicals. He was in a number of movies over his career but I believe his most well known works were Ghost and Dirty Dancing. He was nominated for three Golden Globes but never won one. He kept busy until his last days working on a memoir with his wife, Lisa Niemi, whom he married in 1975.

Ghost is one of the most emotional movies I have seen. I've watched it countless times and still cry everytime. I think the song on the soundtrack, "Unchained Melody" by The Righteous Brothers, fits the movie perfectly. It also adds even more emotional value and speaks right to your heart. This song is on my iPod and I listen to it when I need a break from life and especially when I need to believe in love again.

Dirty Dancing was my first introduction to Patrick Swayze and left me with a huge school girl crush on the man. When I am having a bad day this movie is the one I'm most likely to pop in my DVD player. It has the ability to make me smile everytime, not to mention get out of my seat and start dancing along. My favorite part of the movie is right at the end when Swayze delivers his famous line "Nobody puts Baby in a corner" and then they go on to prove their love to the world through their final dance. A few years back I was sleeping over at my friend Megan's house and we stayed up all night trying to learn this dance. Suprisingly I still remember most of it. Dirty Dancing has saved my sanity many, many times.

Thank you Patrick Swayze for being my sanity saver over the years. My thoughts go out to your family and those who were close to you. Rest in Peace. You will always be remembered.

Sanity Saver

Today's Sanity Saver is a quote I saw on a church sign while on my way to work.

"The worst moment is when you are in the middle of an arguement and you suddenly realize you are wrong."

At first glance this made me laugh, then I stopped to think about it and its very true. That feeling when you are so sure you are right and you get into such a heated arguement with someone over that topic, only to realize half way through that you are wrong is just awful. Especially when you have to admit to the other person that they were right.

So next time you get into such an arguement take the time to make sure that you really are right so you can avoid this feeling.

Lasting Impressions?

Everybody in the world has made an impression on someone or something at some point in their lives. These past few weeks have been huge (in my world anyway…) for making impressions. So I propose the question once you’ve made your impression on someone’s life can you ever really change it?

The first few days of school, no matter where you go, everyone is trying to make a good impression on all their fellow classmates and especially on their teachers. This makes sense seeing as you are about to be forced to spend at least the next year or so with these people and you don’t want to be that one person nobody really likes. But as the week goes on the people start to change and you start to see their true selves coming out, everyone had been all dressed up for the first few days then jeans and sweats start to make their appearances. We all seem to feel the need to be our absolute best at the beginning but then it starts to fade. Does all that dressing up and stuff we do to make us appear to be who we want others to think we are really last?

A few weeks ago I would have said that people are going to remember who you have been and that impressions can be changed, but I’m starting to reconsider my answer.

I along with everyone else get all dolled up to try and make a good first impression. I spent hours trying to figure out what to wear that first day and if my hair was good enough. I mean what would people think of me if my make-up wasn’t quite right? But I also very quickly decided that after a few days I was done dressing up and I was going to pull out the jeans and sweater. Hoping that I had already made a good enough impression that I could now become the comfortable student who doesn’t have time to put on her make-up in hopes of a few extra minutes of precious sleep.

I have started to realize that my first few impressions of people do not seem to change that much. If the impression is good I seem to make excuses for them when they do something mean or wrong. They must be having an off day. But if they make a bad impression, I have trouble ever really liking them regardless of what they do. I mean of course there are odd cases where I have changed my mind but actually taking the time to look at it impressions seem to be a big deal…. At least for me.

Now here’s the other part to this, can you ever really change your feeling after a really bad situational impression has been impressed on you?

A while back I was driving with my boyfriend, Dave and we were having on of those serious type talks about actually moving in together. Now first I just want to point out that he started this conversation. Anyway so we start seriously discussing it and decide that seeing as it really is a big decision we should both take some time to think about it. So we both give it a few days and then the topic comes up again only this time the conversation has a completely different tone. We both had decided that it was not the right time for either of us, me just starting the CreComm program and he had some issues to work out. A few years ago he had moved in with his girlfriend at the time and they broke up not long after they signed the lease, causing months of problems for the both of them. He said that he didn’t want that to happen again if we moved in together.

Now I am left thinking back on it and wondering if I have trouble getting over first impressions about the people I meet, how does one get over situational impressions such as that one? Is it even possible to fully get over impressions or do they last a lot longer then even we thought they do? Maybe to some effect people never fully get over impressions, I mean I know you can push them aside and move on but maybe your first few impressions really do leave a lasting mark.

Sanity Saver

So I find that music is key to keeping myself from going crazy so today I want to share with you a song that I heard on the long drive home today that made me smile. This is Darius Rucker's song "It won't be like this for long". Enjoy.

What I'm About

So I'm not sure how to start this so I guess I will just begin with the basics. I'm Samantha Pitsanuk. I'm a 21 year old student in the Creative Communications program at Red River. I'm currenly loving it, but I'm also living in fear of what is to come with this program. My goal is to come out of this program with a diploma and hopefully my sanity. I decided that that is what my blog will be about, my constant struggle to keep what I have left of my sanity. I hope to be able to write about issues that come up during these attempts and of course struggles with the CreComm course. Hope you all enjoy reading this.
Cheers!