This is a bona fide rant!

Sometimes, not often, thanks be, things go so seriously off the rails in so many ways at so many junctures that a person is left reeling, sleepless and drained. Thus was my January/February.

In late December, my gorgeous kid, Alex, came home from three months abroad. I tell yah, she's the greatest kid and I missed her too much for words.

It was apparent, however, that she was bored and frustrated and hadn't exactly landed, so I was not surprised -- gutted but not surprised -- to find out that she was doing everything she could to get herself back to the UK as soon as possible.

By mid-January, she'd found several Au Pair opportunities, one of which was in Leigh on Sea, about 40 minutes east of London. My cousin lives there so I had some peace about Alex going there, as she'd be around family. In the end, She didn't go there. She went to Inverness, in the wild, beautiful highlands of Scotland.

By the beginning of February, I'd begun to get my head around her leaving again. Just around that time, I met by phone with a realtor, one with whom I wanted to develop a professional relationship with. I had called her once and she immediately began sending referrals my way, about which I was thrilled. Not to pin it all on her, but it seems that was where life curved in a big way.

The first client the realtor sent me was a person from another country - a civilized country, which I why I think this person left; lack of civility. My boss describes the client as a 'director' personality, which is bang bloody on.

Suffice to say, that deal went sour when the client found he had to negotiate - just a bit, mind you. Sadly, the realtor chose to farm the client out to another broker just when my deal was complete.

That blew me apart. I was super disapointed as was my manager, as we'd been nursing the budding relationship with the realtor's brokerage, but "onward" we thought.

That was a tuesday. Saturday night, my lovely spouse and I went to a great restaurant we go to a lot, followed by a couple hours great skating at Calgary's Olympic Oval. I had my skates sharpened while there and was having a hard time with them but put it down to a new feel. By 10:30 p.m. I was feeling crappy.

Sunday morning I woke up to my first ever bout of food poisoning! It sucked and that's all there is to say.

By Monday afternoon I was feeling good enough to go into the office so headed out about 1:00 p.m only to find some idiot had used my car for target practice. My driver's side window wasn't shattered yet, but the small hole in its centre and the huge striations made it pretty clear that any sudden movement would immediately send glass flying everywhere. I enlisted the help of my still-home Alex to sweep up the glass, called the city police (who said there was nothing they could do), called the insurance co and booked in with the glass company for the next day. Didn't get to the office.

The next day I got the car in for window repair. The gal at the desk said the window would be in by 2:30 but called shortly thereafter to say the part they had ordered for me was defective. She said they'd have it done by 5, which they did, but while repairing the window, they broke the door lock!

The following Friday, thinking that my luck had finally turned, I had lunch with my lovely friend Laurie. It was a bit rushed due to a client Laurie had referred me to and who wanted to see me right after lunch. No real problem. We ate and I took off with plenty of time to spare.

As I tried to pull away from the parking lot I realised that my driver's side tire wasn't doing well -- really not well. It was totally flat. I quickly decided to drive to the gas station one block away, only to find their air pump out of order. The next station was three blocks away but by the time I got there, my tire was quite gouged. I filled up and took off to meet my client, who'd given me the wrong address and who's address is not on the map as their community is very new. I stopped to call them but in that short time, my tire again decended.

The short story is that I never made it any closer than 10 blocks from the client. I had to get the tire repaired or I'd be stuck up there and I had another meeting later that day.

Needless to say, following missing the meeting and having to get a tire repaired and then rush to another meeting, I was worn out by 5:30. We'd been invited to my spouse's mom's for dinner, which was perfect because I didn't want to cook.

We left her house at 11:00 and by 11:45 p.m I was leaving the house again to go to the hospital. My great friend, Barry, called to say his mom was in hospital and had had surgery that morning. Something in his voice caught at me so I went to be with him.

Sadly, his mom, also my friend of 16 years, died while we were there with her.

The following day, as sad as we were, we welcomed our family from England. We were to spend three days skiing with them at Lake Louise. Wouldn't it just be like Calgary: no winter to speak of until the English family steps off the plane, then? 30 below! Man.

We did ski one day but the next day was far too bitter so we spent it wandering about Banff. Friday, my spouse and I rushed back into town to attend my friend's funeral.

Meanwhile, one of my client deals was slowly cratering -- a deal sent by the realtor from above. I was desperate to help this client but there wasn't a thing I could do for her over the weekend. To make matters worse, I was leaving for Toronto on Sunday and there was a proincial holiday on Monday.

That didn't go well, nor did the other file -- the client I never met -- and by the end of the week in Toronto, by which time Alex had left for Inverness in my absence, I was completely cratered and on the so-called watch list at work! OI.

I read my Chinese horoscope last weekend. It seems this year of the dog is not going to be my year, but a year of pushing stones up hill. There were many feng shui 'cures' suggested in my horoscope, to which I would not normally the least attention. Given the events of the last month however, I think my Karma is kicking me in the butt a bit.