My year of Chinook had a couple of significant occurrences. One thing that is really important is that I turned 18. I was dating the same guy, so he was 19 at that point. He was a huge drinker, and so I ended up going out with him and drinking every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. I was a lightweight, and was making a buttload of cash, so I could easily afford it. Our main stomping grounds was the old Cowboys. It's gone now (which makes me feel ridiculously old) after closing, reopening, and then closing again, so if you ever decide to take a tour of Kelli's life in Calgary, you'll have to skip that part. I liked the ability to dress up and look cute, because it made me feel like everything that happened to me didn't matter and I was fitting in like everyone else.
Around the same time, I found myself losing my thought a lot. By this I mean I would start driving home, would kind of space out, and then would come back a couple minutes later headed for Edmonton. This happened a few times, and I'm still not sure why it happened, but oh well. I didn't tell many people because I didn't want to freak anyone out. I actually mentioned it to my boyfriend of the time, who told me not to tell him about it because he didn't want to know. That was kind of a bad call (hindsight is 20/20). This problem will come back later, so sit tight!
Another thing that happened was I moved far enough away from my surgery that I was able to get a piercing! One day, Mom was like 'let's get your nose pierced!' and I was like 'ummmmm' and she was like 'yeahhhh!' so we got in the car and went. I was a little worried about it, because it's not every day you have a sharp metal rod punchered through your face (hopefully). So we went into the shop in Kensington that looked super sterile, and jumped up on the bed to get it done. Mom held my hand so I didn't start bawling, and she told me to shut my eyes. She punched it through and it barely hurt at all, I guess because I had had and was having enough pain to minimize all other pain. My eyes started watering like mad however, almost like I got punched in the nose. It looked great though! So we went home all happy. That was on January 7, 2006. I remember the date because it was mine and my boyfriend's one year anniversary, and I didn't tell him I got it. He didn't notice until we were going up an elevator somewhere that night and was like 'whoa! What is that!' It was awesome.
The second semester of Chinook started shortly after this. I was in Math 31 and Physics 30. I was worried about Physics 30 because I'd taken Physics 20 two years prior through a workbook only. I, by chance, was in this class with the girl that had the chest tumour, and also with a guy who I'd started calling my 27 year old friend (I'm pretty sure he was 27 at the time), both of whom were in my Chem 30 class the previous semester. The girl and I went up to the teacher shortly into the first week to tell her about our health problems because we would be away often, either from pain or from appointments. She asked us what we wanted to do after, and we told her (engineer for me, something for the girl, maybe nursing?). She gave us both a funny look, and then said 'you know, some people in life just can't do what they want to through no fault of their own'. We both went 'um. Okay.' It was so upsetting! She had no right to say it. We both decided to start hating her (because we were teenage girls).
Leading up to the end of the last semester at Chinook, Kyle and I discussed possibly getting tattoos together. We had gotten quite close as a result of my health problems, and we wanted a way to symbolize it. We chose the Red Cross because we had taken all of our lifeguarding courses. We decided to do it, so we booked it, and on the fateful day Mom, Kyle and I got in the jeep and drove down to the Smilin' Buddha, a reputable tattoo shop in Marda Loop. I got mine on the back of my neck, about a centimeter down from my scar, and Kyle got his on his left pec, right over his heart. I had gotten freezing from the nurses from my infusions, so I couldn't even feel it. They turned out great! We got them covered and went to get some beers at the Regal Beagle. A couple of days later, I was lifeguarding during lessons. A teacher decided they weren't going to teach that day (douche), so we needed a lifeguard to teach for them. Somehow, I was the lucky guard. I was worried about my tattoo, but wore my wet suit so I thought it would be okay (that makes no sense). Later that day, my family told me my tattoo faded terribly. I realized I'd have to get it redone. I went in a couple of weeks later, and he redid the entire tattoo for no extra cost. I had no freezing on, however, so I got to feel the whole thing. Though it was over my spine, it actually wasn't that bad. To quote my mom, "It's not brain surgery." It looked great after, and it's held it's colour beautifully, even now, 5 years later.
Sometime around now, I got my acceptance letter for early acceptance to the University of Calgary for Engineering in the mail. I was ecstatic! So was my family. They actually called me at work when the letter came in the mail. Kyle opened it and read me the whole thing, and the four of us were screaming and jumping up and down. It was awesome! I actually got in based on Extenuating Circumstances (or something... it was 5 years ago, give me a break). I had to get two letters from teachers (one teacher form Chinook and one from my high school) saying that they thought I would do well in University despite my health problems. I was pretty proud when I got in because I did it despite all my problems, and I saw it kind of as a middle finger to how my life had been so far. It was great!
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