'Twas a week before leaving, when all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even Gopal...

It's 11:28pm and I finally decided to put up that blog that I have been meaning to do for such a long time. I guess there is no time like the present. I have also just awoken from a three-hour nap, something which I won't be able to do much of pretty soon. I have all this energy (not to mention that my eyes are so itchy due to allergies that are acting up), so why not spend it on something as productive as writing my first post, right (which will attempt to take my mind off the idea of gouging my eyes out with something dull and then dousing them with a soothing liquid)?

This upcoming week, up until January 12th, is going to be one of the most hectic that I have had in quite some time. My brother, Hasit, comes tomorrow at 9:25am from Ottawa. He will be here in Calgary until Sunday morning. A whirlwind of a trip for him. It will be nice to see him again, as I don't know when I will be seeing him again (why is that the case? Read on a bit...). My parents are leaving on a 2-month sojourn that will take them to the United Arab Emirates, East Africa, and India. And I am moving to Brisbane, Australia on January 12th!

This is the final week of spending time with my close friends and family. God, I am going to miss my two younger cousins, Vinay and Bhavisha. I remember when I was growing up, my brother and I didn't have anyone else but each other. I know the importance of having an older sibling - and I don't want those two kids to miss out on that. I don't even know how I am going to be able to say goodbye. As for my friends that are still in the city, they have come to expect that I will never be quite satisfied by staying in one location. That being said, I guess I would be considered having commitment issues towards residing in one location (I am sure that Freud would have a field day with that one!). My friendships with these people are incredible. They are the sort of relationships that can be left unattended for long periods of time and when you do see each other, it's as if you haven't spent a single day apart. As for the family, I realized that I have too many. :) To say the least, these next few days will be a very tight balancing act between spending time with close friends and family. Oh...by the way, Gopal is the family pet. He is an African Grey Parrot - is too smart for his own good. :)

The past few days (and the couple of weeks leading up to this one) have been filled with running errands (got my international driver's license today, among other things), packing up my entire life in boxes so that my room can forever be a reminder of what it once was (oh god...why am I writing such melodrama?), and trying to sane during the process. Moreover, my parents are having a difficult time with my departure (fair enough, their youngest child is moving half way around the world). Since I am leaving after they are, their (this is to read as my dad's) level of stress is just a little more higher than it should be. As a result, there are times when the air in the house is filled with tension.

Not only that, but I am trying to get my head around why I am moving to Australia. Ever since I was 15, I have wanted to be a doctor. After having an interesting undergraduate university education and a couple of years of attempting to enter the Canadian medical school system - I am almost gave up hope...almost. I had realized (during my trip to Europe in August of 2003) that giving up on something that is such a big part of who am I really means giving up on myself...and I was not going to let that happen. After realizing what it most important to me in terms of a medical education and how I see myself within the field of medicine , I applied to universities in Australia. And now, it is no longer a matter of if but when. I am one of 250+ students at the University of Queensland School of Medicine for the 2005 intake. I am leaving on January 12th, and, by way of Los Angeles, Tokyo and Singapore, I will be in Brisbane on the 15th (may I just say that Singapore Airlines kicks ass!). I am scheduled to return back to Canada (as my ticket is a one year open ticket) on October 8th but I will have to change that to December.

Hmm...this seems to be quite a lot for a first post. Perhaps I should quit while I am ahead. Besides, I need to clean up the bathroom, put out the garbage, and packed up some more things in my room. What else is a person to do at 12:21am?