Mornings and Evenings

 

Saying that this Summer has been hot and humid would be an understatement. Add in the poor air quality from the tragic amount of fires Canada has had the last few months, and it's been particularly brutal.

With respiratory problems and issues with temperature regulation, I've tried my best to avoid the sun and outdoor activity as much as I can. 

To cope this Summer, I've started to enjoy doing things around early morning and later in the evening.

An early drop-off at work provides a good excuse to go for a quick walk to Tim Hortons before the sun gets too high and early evening, probably about an hour before sunset, is just nice enough to go for a walk or do stuff in our garden.

Something to get used to, I guess.

Cheers!

Getting Out While I'm Out

 

The other day, I was looking at the weather forecast. Rain was predicted off and on for Friday and Saturday, so since Thursday looked nice and not terribly humid, I chose to push my pick-up from work back by about an hour-and-a-half, enjoy the afternoon and grab some lunch downtown.

I was originally planning on walking a ways to a popular deli, but it looked packed so I decided on a café I've been to before located just across from work. Nice place to just sit and read a book for a while, and a fun use of an afternoon.

Cheers!

Two Decades Later

 

It just dawned on me that this Summer marks three very significant twenty-year anniversaries for me.

First, the end of June 2003 was my graduation from North Dundas District High School. My mother shared a photo of a newspaper clipping from a Facebook page with me recently. There I was front row, eighteen years old, a little chunkier, and sporting a very regrettable moustache. The sight of some of my fellow graduates conjures up extreme reactions of "Oh wow, awesome!" and "Who???" with no real middle ground, reminiscence-wise. A great memory, for sure!

Second, it's been roughly two decades since I had to stop going to Taekwondo, mainly because classes would've interfered with my then-upcoming college schedule. 

And lastly, Summer 2003 was the end of my time at Camp Merrywood. My parents had the registration form earlier in the year, and I could've gone this last year before aging out, but because of college in the Fall, I had chosen to make the previous year, Summer 2002, my last session at Easter Seals Camp Merrywood. Sad, but I was on to other adventures and would be back to MWC years later for Open Houses and speaking opportunities.

It all seems like a lifetime ago, considering everything I've done and been through since then. Very surreal.

Cheers!

JS Conferences for Beginners

 

For various reasons, I won't be able to attend next week's Joubert Syndrome conference in Seattle, Washington.

Because of that, and also since this Summer marks a solid decade since my first conference in Minneapolis, I had an idea for a primer of sorts, a few things I've learnt from ten years of conferences that might help any first-time attendees.

1. It'll be intimidating

I've written before about how seeing so few adults and so many differences when I was first diagnosed with Joubert syndrome scared me a little, so it'd be an understatement to say that I was nervous in the time leading up to the JS conference in Minneapolis. This was also my first exposure to the community, so just the sheer amount of people was quite a shock. I was also asked to speak to said group, which probably didn't help things at the time either.

2. People don't bite

As a counter to the first point, within that large, new group were genuinely friendly, and all-around great people who made me feel welcome, made me see just how similar we all really are, and without knowing it, basically walked me back from a cliff of nervous terror. 

Since then, many of those awesome humans and more have become very good friends who I've kept in touch with and have looked forward to seeing every couple of years.

3. Experience as much as you can

I went into the Minneapolis conference with a lot of questions and very little knowledge of Joubert syndrome. There was also a lot to do. Luckily, I had a geneticist who pointed out what medical sessions to attend and which specialists to meet. When I was registering, the Foundation's president, a fellow Canadian who I had met the previous Summer, did the same for my father and I with the conference's social events. Over the course of the week, we each went to as many things as we could to get the right amount of info and get the full experience.

4. Enjoy yourself and have some fun

Yes, it's primarily a medical conference with a lot of information to share and absorb, but there's also a lot of fun stuff as well. There's usually something for every demographic, from little kids and siblings to grandparents, to provide opportunities for socializing, whether it's a Teen Room, Adult Meet-up, Mom's Night, or Dad's Night. And of course, there's the dinner and dance to cap off the conference. Very, very fun! 

If you're on vacation, the conferences also do a good job at making time for tourist opportunities. I've been to the Mall of America and eaten a Juicy Lucy in Minneapolis, taken a fun boat ride/architecture tour through Chicago, been blown away by desert scenery in Scottsdale, Arizona, and went to Hershey's while driving home from the conference in Baltimore. 

I'm sure I could go on for another couple posts, but this is the gist of what I may have benefitted from going into everything back when.

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I'll be missing folks next week, but I know it's been a long time coming (shout-out, Conference committee!) and should be loads of fun for people. 

Cheers