Work and the Christmas Season..

Work...

All in all, I love the people I work with. The only problem being that many times they smile at each other and then complain as soon as the other person leaves. It's SO frustrating! Then again, it hasn't changed much from one job to another... Although, when I worked at the pool, we had separate change rooms from the guys and a 3:1 ratio (times 4 or so...) instead of a 7:1 ratio.

Christmas season...

So, I love Christmas and all but what it comes down to is that by December 28, I am really sick of the overcommercialization of this holiday, as well as the "tin can Christmas Carols" that are STILL being played in the mall. The other thing is that when you work in retail and you put up a sign saying "No refunds or Exchanges on December 26 or 27th. Thanks, Management." you would expect the crap to hit the fan. Surprisingly, we didn't have too many complaints... We did have a couple of customers who came in, screamed at us, threatened to call head office and stormed out... But really, no major complaints. *rolling eyes* We had staff snapping at each other, complaining about switching (or not switching) shifts, stupid customers, large sales, etc... Gosh, it was retarded!

So, the nice thing about this time of year is that hopefully people are almost done with their petty, stupid attitudes and soon people will go back to their normal selves because lately they have been acting ridiculous!

Post Open House...

The open house went pretty well! We had a good time overall and at the end of the night we had some... interesting adventures. We ended up going to Wal-Mart and then driving all over the city and taking photo's with the stuffed cow we bought and random people. I think the best picture is with the bouncers from Coyote's! :) Although, my brother and the cow on the back of the police car being "arrested" is pretty good too. (The pics are on Adam's Facebook and possibly his Nexopia as well.) We ended up back at my place after hitting Timmy's for doughnuts and made tea, hot chocolate and coffee. We didn't go to bed until 7am but it was a ton of fun! :) All in all, I think everyone had fun!

Before the Open House

So, last year I had an Open House. One of the reasons for it was my grandpa telling me a story of his parents inviting all of his friends over to their house at random times for parties and such. Most of my friends had been to or through the house and had met him but not all at once.

So, we planned it, bought the food, tidied the house, decorated and it was all in order.

My friends came, we played games, watched movies, drank a bit, ate, went for a walk at around 2am and went to the park. Many people crashed in my living room on the floor, chairs, love seats, etc. and it was like a large sleepover. :)

It was a fun evening for everyone... My grandpa said he liked having my friends around and my mom said she liked seeing everyone.

Tomorrow we are doing somewhat of a repeat... The thing is, there is no grandpa this year. I have to admit, that makes me very sad but there is nothing I can do to change it. I'm looking forward to my friends being here but I'm kind of apprehensive about it at the same time. Oh well, I will have to see how it goes...

Christmas is coming

So, with Christmas less than a week away, many people around me are asking, "what did you get me?" or "I wonder what I'm getting for Christmas?" It doesn't surprise me as much as it used to that many people look at Christmas as a time to get "stuff" from their friends and families. Anyone who knows me knows that I love giving people presents. There doesn't have to be a reason but I was told by someone once that I was trying to "buy people's affection" and ever since I have been very careful about what I buy and when I give it to a person. With Christmas literally just around the corner, I have bought small items or made small items for most of my friends. As per usual, my theory being that it's the thought that goes into the gift that counts, not its overall monetary value. So, for anyone who was hoping for diamonds or pearls from me, probably not this year.

One of the aspects of Christmas that I love is spending time with loved ones. I had an open house last year so my grandfather could meet my friends, we could see each other before Christmas and just to fill the house with "holiday cheer." One of the main differences between last year and this year is that neither of my grandparents will be here and that is upsetting but something we are all trying to deal with. We each have our own ways of dealing... My mom has said that any of my friends who don't have somewhere to be on Christmas Day can come to our house for dinner, my brother is throwing himself into his D.J. stuff and contemplating playing Christmas and New Year's parties and I'm planning another open house. It will be odd without my grandpa there but it will be good to see my friends. I just know that thinking about last year is hard...

Christmas Day last year was kind of a gong show. My grandmother sisn't remember where she was and why she was there, nor that it was Christmas. My grandfather spent a lot of time that day convincing her to come home and then trying to get her to feel comfortable while at home (which was tougher than any of us thought). My dad didn't get up all day, he wasn't feeling well and he slept all day. My brother and I helped my mom and grandfather make dinner after opening presents and then helped clean up at the end of the night. My mom spent most 0f the day making sure everyone else was okay, especially my grandmother. Dinner didn't get any better and by the end of the meal, most of us just wanted to curl up and ignore what was happening. By the time my grandpa got back from dropping my grandma off, we had most of the place clean and he was exhausted. It was a good day to spend with family but it was tough on all of us.

This year, my mom has told me that all she wants for Christmas is my brother and I to be home. My dad "doesn't want anything" which is the same thing many of my friends told me. My brother and I have done a lot of our shopping together so that everyone is covered and they should like what they got. I am a little sad though... I walk through shops and see stuff that reminds me of my grandparents and I think, "they would love that!" and then remember that they won't be around to enjoy it. *sigh* I am in a melancholy mood today and I think it's ok. Sometimes people need to be a little sad to appreciate all of the good things that are going on. :)

So, on that note, I need to go sleep... I have an exam tomorrow and I need to rest and take a break from studying (which is what this is!) before I write it.

Random things.

At some point I turned on "comment moderation" which is good. However, if you commented on my blog and it wasn't posted, check again, it will be now. Also, if your comment was inappropriate, it will not be posted.

If I feel the need to express something by use of punctuation instead of profanity as an example, I will do so and if people don't like it, they don't have to read or comment upon my blog. If I make a comment about something, it is probably because I want to remember it for later. If I refer it to something else that other people in my social stratosphere can understand, so be it. Therefore, whoever was leaving me sanctimonius comments with atrocious spelling mistakes, don't bother. If you want to refer to someone as "uneducated" I suggest you take a look in the mirror.

As an aside: whoever posted the song lyrics (I know who you are)... I love the song "Needs" and I love that there is hidden meaning in that and that you chose that song for specific reasons that pertain to you in the first place. I'm sure you did the same with the other that you posted. However, I don't need people taking shots at me on MY blog so I posted them but I read very different things into both songs than you do. Also, I tried "searching" my Russian name and this blog doesn't come up so thanks for lying about that as well. The only way to find it would be on the SproutWorks search, which I found by searching the entire name of my blog. I'm not sure why I was surprised you lied. You tell me people change but I guess you haven't as much as you'd like to think.

Sick... and Exhausted....

Ok, so I'm just writing because I'm sick and exhausted but I slept for part of the day and I have some energy to burn.

The highlight of my day was getting a phone call from Shannon and it was SOOOOOOO great to hear from her!!!

The TEC pizza making day was this past weekend and the day as a whole went pretty well. Other than a minor snafu with the orders (freaking computers! I'm glad my laptop is in being fixed!) the day ran pretty smoothly. There were a lot of people that didn't show up for random reasons but it worked out okay in the end.

THING on Saturday was good. Anne is back from Germany and it was the first time I had seen her since she got back. My small group is an odd combination but fun now! The people that were there on Saturday were Andrew, Jordan, Matt, Anne, Amy, Amanda and I. We had an interesting discussion... Bethany was the speaker and I liked what she had to say. After THING, a bunch of us went to Moxie's and it was interesting. We ended up with two large tables and at one was Andrew, Amanda, Alessa, Cory, Meghan, Kateryna and Adam and at the other was Jordan, Emily, Minetta, Sarah, Matt, Amber and I. Fun times were had by all and there was a ton of food sharing going on... I'm not sure which was funnier though, Amber stealing Jordan's salad before he got any or Cory and Adam licking the dessert plates clean... *lol* It was amusing either way. :)

Sunday was pretty uneventful... I got to work and my knee was killing me so the DM ended up sending me home early. My mom and I hit Costco to pick up a few things and I got these great pink fluffy pillows and then she and I went out for vietnamese food for dinner. Afterwards, I went to Chapters in search of something very specific, had to go to two different Chapters stores to find it and then went home to hang out with Tammy and update my Nex and MySpace.

Monday I worked and then I wasn't feeling very well so I went home and had a nap and then hit Ikea on my way out of town and picked up two dining room chairs (we bought this gargantuan dining room table at the thrift store and only have two chairs so I've been sitting on my yoga ball at the table when Holly is over for dinner) and a dresser. I needed 2 but the tall one I need was out of stock so I need to go back. I got back here quite late and was exhausted but ended up being up most fo the night sick. :(

So, now I'm up, I have helped John and Holly fill a 10 gallon fish tank. Yes, we are apparently getting fish... And now, I'm blogging before I try to get some sleep. Tomorrow I need to finish off the stuff for my new parking pass (for anyone who hasn't heard, I screwed up my knee to the point that I'm not supposed to walk long distances or carry anything over 20pds) and go downtown to "run" (lol, riiiight... *rolling eyes*) some errands.

For those of you who are also sick, I hope you feel better soon! And for those of you I haven't talked to in a while, know I'm thinking about you and we should hang out soon!

For now, goodnight to all...

Uplifting.

Yay for friends!

This weekend, I was dreading going home... I knew that I had a ton of stuff to do for work, TEC, school and life in general and I didn't want to go home. Then again, when I leave to come back, I don't want to come back either so it seems like a tough choice either way.

So, I decided that hanging out with my friends was something I needed to do this weekend. I needed a break and I keep getting told that I don't make enough time just for me in the week. It's weird because I have had people in the past tell me I'm selfish and think about myself too much and then I had a few people tell me to take more "me" time. :S Anyway, I got the chance to hang out with Emily and Jordan a lot this weekend. We had movie nights at my house both Friday and Saturday and tried to go swimming when I was off work Saturday but the pool was closed. We watched "Grease" and "Serendipity" on Friday (Em and Jordan wanted to see the first and I had just bought the second) and Matt hung out for the first and left before we started the second. On Saturday we rented movies and I let Em and Jordan pick and they chose "Rent" and "Transamerica." I'm not sure if this was a "musical" weekend or if Saturday was a "gay themed night" but they were an interesting choice. I love Rent and I was amazed they chose it. Transamerica was interesting... The actress who plays the "father" did an excellent job. Matt and Meghan joined us for those two and it was nice to have people around. I often feel like there is no one around when I'm in the Bridge and I can't do things like this weekend all the time but sometimes it makes for a nice change of pace. I love hanging out with Jordan and Emily... Every time is completely different! We always have a ton of fun, whether we are completely serious or insanely silly and I love it!

I also read a bunch of my friends blogs in the past couple of days. I ahven't been able to keep up with them very well because I have been without internet access. It's cool to read what is going on in people's lives...

Random things... I'm not sure what to make of these two guys I talk to on MySpace and Nex occasionally. They seem to be flirsting with me and I'm considering it harmless but... One's display pic is of him cuddling a teddy bear and the other keeps commenting on my eyes. :S Guys are strange creatures!

Speaking of strange creatures or circumstances I guess, my mom has decided she needs a part-time job and has decided to go apply at DHL. She figures if she can carry an 8 foot long box by herself, she could turn it into something profitable. I laughed my butt off when she called me to tell me that. I know she's kidding but it was definitely amusing!

I posted about TEC on the Nexopia Christian forums and it would be cool if people come check out THING and such. It would be cool to know that my posting an itty-bitty topic made people notice that there were things going on.

Anyway, I'm going to bed. I have pent-up energy... I spent the last hour and a bit working on a theory assignment for my conducting class. I now have the instrumentation for "O Canada" written out for something like 14 different Wind Orchestra instruments. Why? Because my prof thought it was a good idea apparently! Night!

Randomness...

Ok, so I know that a blog is supposed to be a type of online journal of sorts. I have a few people who read this and that's all good. I haven't updated it in a while because I've had a lot of stuff on my mind...

I guess part of what has been going on is that while I don't hate Lethbridge anymore (I did my first year) I am just sick of school. I want to be done and I have done my classes in the order they need to be done in and I have this year and I should be done my degree as long as the University doesn't throw some stupid rule at me that I haven't yet heard... I'm also sick of the driving and the dryness and the lack of people and things to do.

My classes this semester consist of two history classes, a conducting class and orchestra. I am trying not to kill myself with school work while at the same time keeping my GPA up and my energy and enthusiasm about school up as well. It's tough but I'm hoping to make it work.

All I know is that right now I am feeling pretty bummed and I hate that. I have become such a "glass half full" kind of person that feeling like this is awful. My mom says things will get better when I get back into the swing of school.

I am enjoying my classes thus far, we have covered a lot in just a few days and I feel like I know my stuff but it's only the second week. The hardcore stuff is still coming. On a bright note, I'm pretty sure I have narrowed down what I want to write my history essays on and if I can get a thesis and opening paragraph done, I can get the topics approved and get the paper done sooner rather than later.

On another topic, the pizza making day is in a week and a bit and the deadline for orders is in less than a week and I have no orders at all yet. This worries me a bit. Some people have said that maybe if we don't sell enough we could try something else next time and it would prove it has been overdone. However, as a fundraiser, it would be nice if it did just that. The money goes towards helping people who wouldn't be able to afford it otherwise come on the weekend and that's important! I'm just feeling impassioned towards the TEC community lately. My vision of the future (while people are talking about full TEC weekends, which would be awesome) would be for not only that but for us to be better known and for the fundraising to end up paying for almost everything so that participants and team pay very little or nothing to be there... I know, "ideal world" but it would be nice if it worked that way.

Anyway, I'm tired and I'm not sure what else to say... I've had kind of a bad day and I normally try to keep this blog all peppy and positive but I'm just not feeling it right now.

John and Holly...

So yesterday I was at work and I randomly called my mom because we were supposed to be meeting up after I was off work. She told me, "John wrecked his truck, I'll call you back!" and hung up on me. I was shocked!!! I called John and he told me he was in the process of being loaded into an ambulance but was feeling ok considering... All he knew about Holly at the time was she was in a different ambulance and he would call me back with updates. Needless to say, I was rather upset. My mom called me back to say that they were waiting to hear whether the injuries were severe enough to warrant airlifting them to Calgary as there would be no point in driving to B.C. if they weren't there. She called me at work to say that they were going to be kept in Cranbrook and I needed to meet her ASAP at my house so we could leave. John kept us updated throughout the trip about how they both were!

So, Praise God for John and Holly! And Praise God that they are relatively unscathed!

They were driving into Cranbrook, B.C. and were broadsided by someone who was trying to turn left across the highway. John tried to swerve but the momentum with which he was already going and the movement of the other vehicle caused his truck to roll. It rolled at least twice they figured and then slid on its roof for about 150-200 meters. It sheared off the metal toolbox that was bolted to the back and squashed it as flat as a pancake (a large one but a pancake none-the-less) and broke off both of the doors of the box, the back and front windsheilds both broke, the back one smashed out completely and the front one looked like it was caving in, the doors were sealed shut from the impact, John crawled out through his window and someone smasked in the window on Holly's side so she could get out... There are marks from where it slid all over the vehicle and the gas cap looks as though it is closed, only it is facing the wrong way. John found one of the stickers he had on his window with part of the window still stuck to it when he showed us the scene in the dark last night. We cleaned up the truck and took all of their stuff away from it today... Most of it is covered in glass or rocks or oil but most of it is still usable. The digital camera Holly got for grad didn't make it and John's laptop was thrown and is smashed in the case and all of the lights that John added are broken and many of the things they had in the back is mangled and most of the camping stuff is ruined. My mom and I looked at the truck today and John and Holly stood and held each other while they both cried.

My mom said that it's amazing that they both came through it with so few injuries. John's pretty shaken up, he has some bruises and scratches and is achy and other than he is refusing to drive, he seems pretty normal. Holly on the other hand has scratches all over her feet and her hands, road rash on her wrist, stitches in one hand and some bruises. They gave her morphine for pain and had her on I.V. because she fainted at the scene. They will both become more sore as time goes on... It goes with the after effects of the accident. Holly said that her dad won't believe her so we took a ton of pictures of the truck which I need to go get developed soon.

The one thing that came through the entire ordeal without anything more than a little dirt on it was a framed picture of the two of them that John always takes with him...

Hectic!

The last couple of weeks have been hectic for me! I had a crazily busy week of nonstop work and then my birthday hit. Then I went on a roadtrip to B.C. and spent some time soaking up the sun and shopping in Washington.

On my birthday, I had a pretty good day... I had breakfast at Shaun's and then went to the mall and had my hair done and picked up a few things that were last minute things to go with a couple of things I had gotten for my birthday from my family and stuff I needed to go away for the week. Then we went to the Mongolie Grill for dinner (My Mom, Emily, Matt, Laurel, Shaun, Mike, Chris, Jordan, Dana, Tammy, John S., Trevor, Britney, Meghan and I) and then to THING. THING was interesting... I was on the prayer team but also ended up helping with games... Part of what made that interesting was that it was a WILD and not a NEW THING and there wouldn't normally be games. :) We had fun though. Afterwards we went to Moxie's at Westhills (Matt, Emily, Tammy, Adam, John S., Brian G., Jordan, Shaun, Chris, Mike, Lisa, Meghan, John and I) and Shaun tried to make me drink and entire tray of drinks. I passed a couple of them off to friends and was glad I wasn't driving either way. :)

Emily and I embarked upon our roadtrip to B.C. and Washington later in the day on the Sunday and we had a ton of fun! We spent our first night in Cranbrook and then went on to Grand Forks where we spent most of our trip. While we were gone we spent a ton of time in the water! Between the hotel pool on the way out, Christina Lake and going down to Riverside or tubing down the river, I was feeling pretty water-logged by the end of the week. :) We had a ton of fun though and got great tans! We also went down to Colville one day and spent some time perusing the shopping selections at the Dollar Giant or some such store as that, Payless Shoes and Wal-Mart (which is open 24 hours there!) and another day we went to Spokane. My mom wanted to go to Chico's and I wanted to hit Lane Bryant. We also went to the Fashion Bug, TJ Max, Macy's and Nordstrom's. We had a ton of fun shopping and "playing Barbie" with each other and we all came back (Em, my mom and I that is) with some fun new clothes! We also picked up a ton of pop for a bunch of random people!

I'm glad to be home but on one hand, life is hectic, I am working at least 38 hours for the next few weeks! For anyone who needs anything for back to school, come see me!!! I'll appreciate the company and I'm pretty much always at my home store!!!

Stampede!!!

So, I hadn't been to Stampede in a few years. With being at camp and such, I didn't have a ton of time off and I decided that this year, I would take the time to go. I ended up going three times!!!

The first time, I worked until 9 and Matt came to meet me and then we went down and met up with my mom and Holly and wandered and tried some of the food and the games. We wandered through the Round-Up Center and checked out the various booths and then watched the fireworks before heading home.

The second time, I worked until 5 and I was supposed to be meeting Dana, Matt, Nick, Kevin, Graham, Josh, Jon, Justin and Candace down at Nashville North. I got there around 6 and waited in line for two hours. At the point I was almost at 2.5hours and was feeling faint from lack of food (I hadn't eaten since 11am and it was 8:30pm) and I needed to use a bathroom, I gave up. I was still an hour away from the door and the people ahead of me were drinking anything alcoholic they could get their hands on and the people behind me were smoking anything they could get their hands on so I left. I had been receiving text messages about what the people inside were doing (apparently standing around doing not much at that point) so I sent a message saying I was going to go my own thing and I did. I hit the washroom, grabbed something to eat, wandered the midway and played some games, rode the skyride one way, listened to Lillix and Headley, shopped in the Round-Up Center, played some more games, checked in with my brother and ran into a bunch of people I know from camp and such! I saw Mary, Brityn, Seena, Mark, Orin, (and by camp names) Spam, Splash, Aurora, Fluffy, Waldorf and Tinkerbell. I was on the verge of leaving when Matt called me to say that everyone else was heading home and he was going to come meet me. We met around 11pm and did some more games and such and then took the train home.

Sunday was the last day of Stampede as well as the day of the Third Day concert! :) :) :) :) :) :) Emily and I went to the concert and ran into many people on our way into and our of the concert... We saw Andrew and Nancy, Scott, Chris, Trevor and Michelle, Jon, Justin and Candace, Matt, Dana, Elaine, Selena, Nick and Sarah, and Shannon. The concert was amazing!!! Emily and I were just above and to the left of the stage and we had a great view! It was awesome to be able to worship along with all three bands! I loved Starfield and Chris Tomlin was fabulous!!! We jumped up and down and danced as we sang along! Emily wasn't sure at first if she had heard of either of them but she knew more songs than she was originally aware! :) Third Day rocked!!! They did "Thief" and I cried... It reminds me of the Stations Team Fiesta skit from TEC 38... I texted Dana about it and bawled... They also did "Cry out to Jesus" and I cried during that one... Emily and I both bought Third Day t-shirts and I got a guitar keychain as well as the new Starfield CD. After the concert, we met up with Matt, Dana, Jon, Justin and Candace. We went to the midway and went on a few rides (well, they did, I went on the "Skyscraper" or whatever it's called with Emily...) and then we sat on a grassy hill and watched the fireworks. Afterwards, Emily and I went on the Ferris Wheel and then on these huge slide things and played a game each and picked up some random food and then headed for home.

I think that all in all, I pretty much enjoyed this year more than I have the past couple that I have gone. I don't think it was the best year of Stampede ever but it turned out to be a ton of fun!!! I think next year I might try to do an entire day of it or something, rather than a bunch of small outings... Or, even a couple of late afternoon into evening forays into the crowds... :D

Either way, it's going to be an interesting next couple of weeks and last night was a good kick-off to it!!!

Ok, if bad things happen in threes, what is the third?

So, I had Saturday off... This is a rare occurance and I was really looking foward to going out to Christine's cabin. Matt and I got a late start on Friday due to when I got off work (and my having had "words" with one of the older guys at work) and then when we got out there, Christine, Ian, Laurel, Trevor, Ken, Elaine, Sandra and Bethany were already there. We hung out and roasted marshmallows and made Smores and took turns chasing off bugs with the "electric" bug zapper (it looks like a tennis racquet) and chatting. Around 10 or so, because Ken had to work fairly early the next day, Laurel, Ken and Elaine left. Trevor had his tent set up and the rest of us slept inside. The rest of us hung around outside by the fire until closer to 11 or 11:30 and at one point Ian and Trevor were talking about stars supernova-ing and the denseness of iron particles and how they are bad for computers. I could follow most of the conversation but it was amusing because as they were talking about it, almost everyone else stood up and went inside. :D We all went to bed around 11:30 and I could still hear Sandra and Christine giggling and talking until waaaay later.... We got up for breakfast the next morning around 7:30. Ian had made breakfast and there was scrambled eggs, bacon (of course!), cheese and fresh fruit. It was SO early to be up (I don't DO 7:30am on a Saturday morning normally...) but it was fun to have breakfast with everyone. After breakfast both Bethany and I went back to sleep for a while and then I just kind of hung out in the room and read and such while everyone else went for a walk and visited the llama's. The bad point of the day for me was when I was coming down the stairs with my stuff and I slipped... one of my feet slipped on the carpet and I started to lose my balance and I grabbed the railings on both sides. I managed to drop the glass I was carrying and it shattered all over the place which really upset me... Christine and Ian both said that they were glad that it was the glass and not me... I did manage to stop myself and I twisted my knee, ankle and foot and got my foot caught between the bannister bars. Trevor left earlier to go biking, Bethany had a wedding to go to and the others were going swimming but I had made plans to go shopping with Emily and Tammy and Matt was pretty tired so we left. I noticed as we were driving back into the city that my toe was slightly bleeding around the toenail on the big toe and after Matt dropped me off, I went to the walk-in clinic to get it looked at. I have a requisition for x-rays if my foot is still bothering me on Tuesday (I was told to give it a couple of days) and I'm supposed to keep my toe wrapped with guaze and polysporin and watch it for infection. (I hate doctors...:P)

I went shopping with Tammy and Emily and we stopped at Axe so Tammy could pick up a guitar stand and a couple of picks and so Emily could see where I work. When we got to the mall, we spent a little while in A-E and ran into Shannon, Stephanie and "Mom" and then we stopped at Bentley and said "hi" to my co-workers and got my schedule for this week and Em got a money belt for her trip to Turkey. After that we spent close to two hours in Old Navy. As Emily "played Barbie" with Tammy and I in A-E, I did the same with both of them. At the end of the day, Tammy ended up buying a couple of tank tops, a couple of strapless tops and a pair of jeans. (She also replaced her bubble machine while we were at the mall.) Emily got two new bikini tops and a new set of bottoms, a skirt, a pair of shorts, a shirt and a set of sunglasses. I got a couple of shirts, a new bathing suit, two pairs of flip flops and a necklace. We had a ton of fun and grabbed dinner at the mall before heading for THING.

THING last night was really good. Adrian's talk was really well done and touched on a lot of amazing points and many people could relate to what he was saying. He brought up the point that many people are Humans "Being" rather than Humans "Doing" and he made reference to the song "Jesus Freak" (I <3 that song!) and talked about judgment. The small group I was part of had a really good discussion and it was really well handled by Tammy (who I was coaching). I went for prayer with Tammy and Laurel as I have been feeling frustration about some things and I am in quite a bit of pain... Emily spent most of the night hanging out with Eckley and they seem to have formed a friendship of sorts. Afterwards, we went to Moxie's at Westhills and Tammy and I sat with John and Shauna. Emily sat with Matt, Kirsten, Eljse, Eckley and Jordan. At the end of the night, I drove Emily home and then stopped and put gas in my car and picked up gauze, polysporin, tape and ibuprofin. I came in and went straight to bed, I was exhausted. When I got home, my knee and ankle were throbbing really badly...

Today I woke up fairly early and finished the book I have been reading for the past week and a bit. (It was one of those two novels in one book things and it was a good read...) I had a shower, rewrapped my toe and wrapped my ankle with a tensor and went to work. Work was okay today, I vaccumed the store and wiped counters and such and called the lessons for tomorrow and got to hang out with the guys which was cool. The day went by pretty quickly which was nice. :) The guys commented about my "cute younger friend" and it was... weird... :P (Em needs a part-time job but I think she'd end up corrupted or hit-on more than she needs to be after working there.)

Tonight, I met my mom to pick-up groceries and because I haven't seen her in a week and a half and as we were in Co-op, some guy who works there came out of the stock room and wasn't paying attention and took the corner too fast and the boxes fell off and hit me. (There were three or four large boxes with toilet paper or paper towel or kleenex or something in them...) One corner of one box caught me in the small of the back and another caught me in the back of the neck. The guy said, "oops! Sorry!" and grabbed the boxes and continued on. (If I had been standing any closer to the shelf in front of me, I would have hit my head...) At that point, my mom had seen the whole thing and asked if I was ok and when I said I wasn't she told me to go say something at Customer Service. I did and they took down my name and phone number so they can contact me once it has been looked into and I talked to the manager and was told if I end up seeking medical attention to call.

I came home and planned to chill by myself but Matt and Laurel came over and we are watching "Glory Road" and I'm going to go to bed early. I work 12-9 tomorrow and I can sleep in which is going to be excellent! :)

"And the beat goes on..."

Ok, first of all, I have had this song stuck in my head all day... (I have no idea why!!!)

The beat goes on, the beat goes on.

Drums keep pounding a rhythm to the brain.

La de da de de, la de da de da.

Charleston was once the rage, uh huh.

History has turned the page, uh huh.

The miniskirt's the current thing, uh huh.

Tennybopper is our newborn king, uh huh.

And the beat goes on, the beat goes on.

Drums keep pounding a rhythm to the brain.

La de da de de, la de da de da.

The grocery store's the supermart, uh huh.

Little girls still break their hearts, uh huh.

And men still keep on marching off to war.

Electrically they keep a baseball score.

And the beat goes on, the beat goes on.

Drums keep pounding a rhythm to the brain.

La de da de de, la de da de da.

Grandmas sit in chairs and reminisce.

Boys keep chasing girls to get a kiss.

The cars keep going faster all the time.

Bums still cry 'Hey buddy, have you got a dime?'

And the beat goes on, the beat goes on.

Drums keep pounding a rhythm to the brain.

La de da de de, la de da de da.

Today, I worked both jobs... This is the second time I have done this and it was better than I had anticipated. I worked the opening shift at Bentley and the closing one at Axe. We were extremely busy during the morning at Bentley and I felt like I didn't leave the till for almost 2 hours... *sigh* My sales were high though (which is good!) but then I had to receive 73 boxes of stock and that almost killed me. Ok, not literally... But it just kept coming and the guy from UPS was looking more and more haggard all the time... We got through about 1/4 of it before I left... Shaun came and visited me when he got his lunch break so I took my lunch and went to hang out with him. I ran into Cat and she joined us as well. It was awesome to see her!

My last few days have been interesting... Canada Day I worked for most of the day and we had an... incident... at work, so I stayed until close. I went home for a bit and then Matt came over and we went out to Chestermere to visit Brit. It was awesome to see a bunch of people that I hadn't seen in a while! Sharla, Graham James, Adam and Lauren all jumped me and gave me hugs and I was really surprised to see Brent (H-Core... I had heard he wasn't going back!) and I visited with Ashley H., Ashley K., Brad, Emma and some others. It was really awesome that Lauren, Ashley K. and Sharla came up and gave me a hug... I've missed all of my girls from my HS week cabin last year and I don't get to see them very often. Graham was in my photojournalism class last year and the last time I saw him was a Moxie's a while ago... He's such a good kid! It was awesome to see some of the former campers there as CLTD's and counsellors! Collin is there, as well as Mike is back and the dramatic duo of Sheldon and Andrew. :) I was surprised by a couple of things... One was that Frank came up and gave me a hug from behind and then when I gave him a hug, he told me that I "still give the best hugs ever!" and then invited me to stay for worship... I wasn't sure how I felt about it at first but I did stay. The other was that Matt L. came up and gave me a big hug during worship... He said, "I tried to get over to talk to you but you were surrounded earlier. It's good to see you!" It was awesome to see him and I know that he will be one of the things about camp I will miss. It should be a fun summer out there. I have to admit, being there was cool but tough. I didn't realize how much I would miss the people. Honestly, being out there isn't what is for me this summer and I know that... But it would be fun to be out there, even if it was for a week, maybe Teens or something... I don't think I'd be allowed now, it's already after staff training and everything so... Anyway, Matt and I left and picked Emily up to go watch the fireworks. We were told that they were supposed to launch at 11pm so we were on our way towards the downtown area. But when we got down there, John called to say that they had launched at 10:30 and we had all missed them. So, we met he and Holly at BP's and hung out there for a bit. Em spent the night at my house and the next morning I drove her over to her bestfriend's house. I had to work so...

Sunday at work was pretty dead... I did the stuff I'm supposed to and when it came time to close, there was a miscommunication that kind of upset me and I did the closing in less time than I ever have. The problem is, I left kind of perturbed about it. Kurtis waited for me and made sure that everything that needed to get done was and we were out of here by 5:20... I then met Matt for something to eat and then I went and hung out with Jay for a while. He and I had a long conversation about a bunch of stuff that needed to be talked out... I hadn't really said much when we had talked before... I do have an opinion about certain things... I'm still kind of wary of his reactions to me... I have changed a lot in the past year... I don't think he realizes just how much. I want things to be "the same" as they were... but only so far as we end up being able to talk openly to each other and trust each other again and I think that is going to take some major effort. I am more than willing to try and salvage our friendship but I almost feel as though he isn't. That bothers me but... meh. *shrug* I can't change his mind.

Monday, I slept in a bit (which was nice!) and worked at noon. I had a really great day overall at work... The minor problem from Saturday was resolved, I met the district manager and she told me that I'm doing a good job and I should keep it up and Kelly and I had fun just hanging out and talking while we worked when it wasn't busy. Also, Shaun, Lisa and Matt all came in to visit. :) During the afternoon, Kelly came in with his gf Laura and I have heard about her from Matt but I hadn't met her (officially) so it was cool to meet her. After work, I hit Wal-Mart with Shaun and Lisa and I bought some containers for the stuff in my grandparent's closets... I need to clean them out and I should do it soon... My only issue is that I don't really want to be alone in the house when I do it... :( Afterwards, I dropped them off at Shaun's mom's and then went to Rip's to meet up with Matt. Turns out he and Laura had been hanging out and I joined them and met a bunch of other people and saw some people I hadn't seen in a while, like Katie and Chris. It was awesome! Katie walked in and I was thinking, "that looks like Katie... OMG! It is!!!" and then she came over and gave me a hug and told me how nice it was to see me. We chatted a biut throughout the night and we talked about going for coffee sometime. It was awesome to see her! At the end of the night, I went home and chilled for a bit by myself before going to bed. It had been a long day and I needed a bit of a break.

So, back to today... When I was driving from one job to the other, I noticed my car was still making a funny noise. I hadn't been thinking much of it but Matt had noticed it the other day and you can't hear it from outside the car, only inside... Weird... So I made a few phone calls and apparently the thought is that it may be the calipers (sp?) on my brakes. I'm hoping it's just the pads... All I know is that I can't afford to fix it so I need to take it somewhere that my parents have an account so it's no longer an issue because it could be dangerous to drive on... A screeching or squealing noise is worse I'm told so I'm being careful to listen for those...

So, tonight, I plan to get some sleep and go to bed pretty early... I'm getting up early to take my car in and get the oil changed, the tires rotated and the brakes looked at. Right now, I'm trying not to stress so I think I may have a bath before bed... Either way, I'm not exactly impressed with this current situation with my car... But, as the song says, "the beat goes on..." and I will too...

"This too shall pass..."

"There are some things that cannot be controlled..."

Amen to both!

I am slowly going crazy... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6...

Open... Close... F8, Shift F5, F2, F3, F6 then F8, Esc, F2, F2, Menu, 2, 4, 5, 1, 3... 2, 4, 6, 8... argh!!!!

Ok, so some days, my brain kind of feels like it's going to implode. But I think I am finally getting the hang of things to the point of which I am not going completely insane anymore. I am really enjoying both jobs although sometimes the cattiness of my fellow employees at the full-time one bugs me. We have sales goals as a store for the day and it is split between everyone who is working that day. I should point out that I am new and I know next to nothing about luggage, other than what I know from previous experience and what I have learned. Also, if someone asks me for my "honest opinion" I will give it to them. So, in sales, I may not sell many $300 pieces of luggage but I do sell a lot of $90 pieces with smaller, matching pieces. Someone told me this week that the two things I do well are interact with customers and sell sets. I have to agree with the sets and I love talking to and interacting with customers. It's awesome hearing people's stories, where they are travelling and what they are using the luggage for. I know we sold a bunch of duffel bags on wheels to a family who is in the process of moving overseas and I sold a set of luggage to a family who is on vacation and only brought minimal luggage but chose to shop while they were here and are taking WAY more back than what they brought here. I think the one customer I enjoyed the most was the grandmother who was looking for luggage for she and her granddaughter because they were going to Russia this summer so she could show her granddaughter where she grew up. We talked a bit about her ancestry and I mentioned mine and we talked about the Doukhobours. Turns out, she's from Creston... :) It was an interesting conversation... :D I like the longer shifts and yesterday I did double my budget in sales and this week, while I have had fairly low sales in smaller items, I have had awesome sales in luggage, to the point that my manager jokes about keeping me away from that part of the store and then I sell pieces that are by the bunks anyway!

I have decided to take a week off at the end of July so I can go spend some time at my parents property in B.C. Anyone who wants to join me is more than welcome to... I am leaving the Sunday late afternoon after my birthday (I think... or early Monday morning) and I plan to be back later that week. I can't really take any time off in August because I have some family things going on, my mom has to be back at work, some of my coworkers have vacations planned and it's back to school season at one of my jobs so vacation time isn't ideal.

I have had a very anti-social week by comparison to some... Last week I was pretty social and I have hung out with some people this week but with work and everything, I have been pretty tired. I don't want to end up exhausted so I am trying to take it easy and sleep when I have time and keep my feet up when I have time. Friday night last week I was feeling pretty gross so I was up most of the night and I called in sick to work. I slept most of the morning and then ran a few TEC-related errands and then because I was part of the worship band, I went to the church around 4. The worship went pretty well, we had a few minor technical problems with CD and powerpoint related things but all in all the evening went well and Brit's talk was well done. Also, we voted on registering as a non-profit charitable organization (my mom asked me, "why didn't you do that about 10 or 15 years ago???) and afterwards went to Timmy's. Emily and Brityn came and had an awesome time and John was there and he played bass with us and it was awesome to see him enjoying himself! Sunday we went out to Didsbury and other than Tammy not feeling so hot on the way out and getting slightly lost (the last part of the directions said to turn left and we needed to turn right) it was a fun day! The picnic was cool and the people were really friendly! I hope Inez invites us out again sometime! Tammy and I agreed we would definitely go back! Five of us went and we took my car and it was a short but fun road trip. The five that went were: Matt, Tammy, Janna, Jordan and I. It was cool to hang out Janna for a while and to get a chance to spend some more time with Jordan. He seems like a nice guy. :) When we got back, I was pretty tired so I had a nap for a while and then went and watched Matt and Jordan play softball. Matt's team creamed Jordan's in the game they played against each other and then we all went to 7-11. I was home pretty early and I went to bed pretty early which was nice because I was still pretty tired. Monday and Tuesday I worked long shifts so I didn't really do anything with anyone... I slept in a bit, spent some time doing my own stuff, worked and came home pretty much just chilled by myself. Monday was an awesome day for visitors! Laura stopped by with Jack and Emma, my mom and brother both stopped in and my mom brought me dinner and John hung out and waited for me to go on break and then we sat and chatted while I had dinner. I dropped Kelly (my manager) off and then went out for pizza with Jay on Monday night and was home pretty early because we both had to work the next day... Tuesday I worked open to dinner or so and Christine stopped by to say hi! It was awesome to see her! Wednesday I was supposed to be off all day but there wasn't anyone to open so I opened and only worked 4 hours and then went and picked up Em and Brityn. We went back to Market and spent an hour or so there until the fire alarm started going off and at the point that they kept announcing they were "investigating" but the alarm was still going, we left. They made me buy colour (I apparently wear too much black) and anytime there was argument about what I was wearing or buying, I'd come back with, "get me the black one..." and the arguing would stop. :D It was fun (albeit odd...) to be the "Barbie" for once.... I got some cute new clothes and many of them are colours that I love. I did buy two new black tops but they are both on the dressier side. I also got a new denim skort and a set of denim capris. I think my favourite item is a blue lingerie-looking tank top. It's gorgeous and it brings out my eyes! ;) Hot!!! It was awesome out so we did spend some time outside but it was almost cloyingly hot so we went to the club for dinner... We went swimming at the Winter Club after picking up John S. and Sean-a-dude, Matt and Trevor joined us and it was odd being outnumbered by the guys. It was SO fun though! I missed my girls that couldn't make it but there is always next time! Afterwards we went to Denny's for food and then I drove Em, Brit and J.S. home. I stopped by Jay's for a few and then went home. I worked the next day and it was SO fun! I was working with Chris and we had a blast! Shaun stopped by to say hi as he was getting off work at Tip Top and was on his way to the liquor store and then Tammy showed up just after I had break. I took a "smoke break" and we went and grabbed a Jugo Juice and then she ran some errands and waited for me to get off work. I bought a cowboy hat for during Stampede and the rest of John's birthday gift as well as a card and wrapping. (As an aside, I can't believe my baby brother is turning 19 in less than 2 weeks!!!) I hope that what we got him will at least make him smile!!! Anyway, I had a pretty good day at work and dropped Chris off at the train station and then Tammy and I went to BP's. I went and picked up J.S. and he joined us for a while. They seem to be much better which is awesome because I have been praying for them and I love them both SO much! :) We had a ton of fun tying cherry stems into knots (which is apparently a "sexy" skill... I don't necessarily see it as such but whatever... I used to love amazing my friends by doing it!) and then as Tammy and I were heading home we got caught by a road that was closed and had to drive waaaaaay out of our way and we had a chance to talk and visit and such which was awesome!

Today, I am working and while I wrote most of this last night, I had to write about how my day has been because by the time I got home last night and wrote most of this, I realized it didn't make much sense... I had a crappy start to my day... I locked my keys in my car. Not only did that lock me out of my car but out of my house. The lucky thing was that I still had my purse on me. I called AMA (they were going to be over an hour), then my mom and then a cab. I was late for work but I still made it before we opened... My mom is going to pick me up from work but because I have to close my till, I will be done a little later than anticipated which is fine. I called Matt and postponed our plans for tonight because of no vehicle but I am so exhausted at this point that I wouldn't be able to drive all the way out to Chestermere and back and hang out with people without falling asleep at some point. Tomorrow night I am going to be hanging out with Matt and possibly Emily and after working most of the day, I am looking forward to it...

On a slightly melancholy note... I miss hanging out with Ben and this weekend Tammy leaves for the summer. On a brighter note, I am planning on doing something for my birthday though so that most of my friends can at least get together at some point. I was thinking of going swimming sometime that weekend, either at the club or at one of the outdoor pools in the area, depending on the weather... And dinner at the club before THING... I had someone tell me that they were sure I could miss THING that weekend and I realized, I could miss it, but I love being there and it's one of the few constants in my life right now so why would I miss it if I don't have to?

Anyway, back to the excitement of wiping down glass, labelling magazines and doing cash... Yay for "lunch"!!! :P