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
Friday, June 30, 2006
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Overwhelmed...
So, this week has been a long one... It's Thursday at just after noon and all I can think is, "holy crap, I have a lot left to do this week!!!"
I have worked everyday since Monday and today I work at both jobs, one during the day, one in the evening. Sunday's Steering meeting was insanely long and then with work this week, it's been a long week. It's been an interesting week but I kind of feel like my brain is almost on overload. I have done training at both jobs and because of that, I am trying to process a lot of information at once. Different procedures, starting floats, opening and closing information and a ton of other random stuff that I have to remember and while I am incredibly good at details, I am so tired by this point in the week that I am feeling like I may be forgetting something. I don't want to screw up or do something wrong... I like both of my jobs and so far, I seem to be doing at least ok at both of them. I was asked by someone at Axe if I was going to burn out as I am basically working three jobs but I realized as she asked me that one of the locations I work at for Bentley may not need me as much and as bad as it may sound, the odd day off to do things as minor as laundry or going to an outdoor pool and sitting in the sun. I knew that this summer wasn't going to be a hang around and do nothing summer but on the other hand, I also don't plan on working myself so hard that I have no energy by the end of the summer.
I have to make cookies and such for this weekend and while I could just buy stuff from Safeway or whatever, I would feel kind of bad about it. What it comes down to for me is that if I am going out in the neighbourhood to portray TEC in some way, I would rather not be walking in with a few bags of Oreo's... I don't know, I'm probably too picky. But, when it comes down to it, I am frustrated that only a couple of people are donating baking to this. Also, I need to look into other churches to approach about running the next penny pincher and I have no idea who to approach. And Inez wants us to talk about TEC this weekend but I'm not sure what she wants us to say... *sigh*
Last night we had band practice and it went pretty well. I know that we aren't as "together" as some bands are and I need to talk to Sean about apologizing to the congregation all the time but otherwise, we are more prepared than we were two weeks ago. This THING, Emily and Ian are joining us and John and Sean are switching back and forth between guitar, bass and djembe. We were aiming to have a drum kit but at this point, we may mic the djembe and go from there. We have our song list picked and our set lists done and other than maybe cutting a couple of songs if they end up not working, we are as prepared as we can be for when we all get together on Saturday. All we need to do is get there together and set up, as well as sign the convenant.
I have pretty much no days off until the middle of July... *sigh* This whole two jobs thing is a good idea in theory but at this point, I am scheduled for at least one, if not both of my jobs for almost the rest of the summer. Yay for going back to school and a tiny student loan but boo on needing rest and having no social life. Oh well, c'est la vie.
I guess I could mention that I got an e-mail from Ben... Sounds like he is good and camp is going well so I'm happy for him. I know that some of us miss him and it will be cool to see him whenever he has a chance to make it home.
I am trying to figure out what to do for my birthday... It's exactly a month away today and I am thinking dinner is a good idea. Or maybe just lunch... I don't know. I need to think so I can let people who will be out of town prior to or after that know...
Anyway, I am going to go continue to look productive doing other things...
I have worked everyday since Monday and today I work at both jobs, one during the day, one in the evening. Sunday's Steering meeting was insanely long and then with work this week, it's been a long week. It's been an interesting week but I kind of feel like my brain is almost on overload. I have done training at both jobs and because of that, I am trying to process a lot of information at once. Different procedures, starting floats, opening and closing information and a ton of other random stuff that I have to remember and while I am incredibly good at details, I am so tired by this point in the week that I am feeling like I may be forgetting something. I don't want to screw up or do something wrong... I like both of my jobs and so far, I seem to be doing at least ok at both of them. I was asked by someone at Axe if I was going to burn out as I am basically working three jobs but I realized as she asked me that one of the locations I work at for Bentley may not need me as much and as bad as it may sound, the odd day off to do things as minor as laundry or going to an outdoor pool and sitting in the sun. I knew that this summer wasn't going to be a hang around and do nothing summer but on the other hand, I also don't plan on working myself so hard that I have no energy by the end of the summer.
I have to make cookies and such for this weekend and while I could just buy stuff from Safeway or whatever, I would feel kind of bad about it. What it comes down to for me is that if I am going out in the neighbourhood to portray TEC in some way, I would rather not be walking in with a few bags of Oreo's... I don't know, I'm probably too picky. But, when it comes down to it, I am frustrated that only a couple of people are donating baking to this. Also, I need to look into other churches to approach about running the next penny pincher and I have no idea who to approach. And Inez wants us to talk about TEC this weekend but I'm not sure what she wants us to say... *sigh*
Last night we had band practice and it went pretty well. I know that we aren't as "together" as some bands are and I need to talk to Sean about apologizing to the congregation all the time but otherwise, we are more prepared than we were two weeks ago. This THING, Emily and Ian are joining us and John and Sean are switching back and forth between guitar, bass and djembe. We were aiming to have a drum kit but at this point, we may mic the djembe and go from there. We have our song list picked and our set lists done and other than maybe cutting a couple of songs if they end up not working, we are as prepared as we can be for when we all get together on Saturday. All we need to do is get there together and set up, as well as sign the convenant.
I have pretty much no days off until the middle of July... *sigh* This whole two jobs thing is a good idea in theory but at this point, I am scheduled for at least one, if not both of my jobs for almost the rest of the summer. Yay for going back to school and a tiny student loan but boo on needing rest and having no social life. Oh well, c'est la vie.
I guess I could mention that I got an e-mail from Ben... Sounds like he is good and camp is going well so I'm happy for him. I know that some of us miss him and it will be cool to see him whenever he has a chance to make it home.
I am trying to figure out what to do for my birthday... It's exactly a month away today and I am thinking dinner is a good idea. Or maybe just lunch... I don't know. I need to think so I can let people who will be out of town prior to or after that know...
Anyway, I am going to go continue to look productive doing other things...
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
The last couple of weeks...
So it has been a long couple of weeks... I quit my job at the carwash for good, I applied all over the city before and after that, I went for a bunch of interviews and was hired on the spot at two of them, someone found my ID and was using it to get money and said they were me so I had to fill out a police report saying I didn't say they could, I have hung out with friends, gone swimming, led worship at THING, lost my voice, gotten it mostly back, called the police twice on different weird situations (can't say anymore), fought with the insurance company, spent some time in a graveyard, baked chocolate chip cookies and now, I am looking forward to the rest of the week and Tammy's commissioning for Vanning, starting at North Hill, worship practice, THING this weekend, baking snickerdoodles, making Rice Krispie squares, going out for coffee with some friends I haven't seen in a while and going to Didsbury this weekend.
To elaborate slightly... I am now working as a part-time receptionist at Axe Music. My first day was Friday and I really enjoyed it. The atmosphere is way more laid back than the previous environment which I really appreciated. I was hired full-time at Bentley and I am based out of Market Mall but I will also be taking some shifts at North Hill whenever they need me. :) I had my first day there today and the people I work with are really fun. It was a good day all in all and the only problems I had were with language barriers. I ran into three today... One with Cantonese, one with Italian and one with Hindi... But two of the three had people with them to translate and the other said he would come back... I tried not to do to that customer what I have done to me in places I don't speak the language (wave arms and speak louder...) as it doesn't help the situation, it would have made us both more frustrated.
As to my car... It is STILL in the shop! They have had it a week and a half and I'm told I'll get it back tomorrow. I'd BETTER get it back tomorrow is all I'm going to say.
I took roses out to my grandparent's plot and then I cried as I stood there... It was hard... This weekend was also hard... With it beign Father's Day, it was more obvious than usual that there was a gaping hole in our family... @---'--- :'(
Leading worship was good, I was frustrated with some sound-related stuff but it sounds like it will be fixed by this weekend when we play again. We are practicing this week and I am looking forward to it. I found out tonight that Breighanne might come to THING this weekend whick would be awesom as it is a couple of months since I last saw her! Also, Emily and Brityn are going to come... It's funny because they want to meet Jordan and Eckley (not sure if I spelled that right...) :D
I already wrote about the swimming... What I didn't write is that I have people who have already asked when we are going to do it again and others that have asked if they can come. I put it through on the account last time so I think I will have to make people pay at least part of their own way the next time...
Last night, my mom and I went and bought the makings for chocolate chip cookies, snickerdoodles and Rice Krispie squares. Tonight, Tammy came over and we made a double batch of chocolate chip cookies and over the course of the next few days I will be making the others for the trip out to Didsbury for the picnic between the parishes of Olds and Didsbury on Sunday.
Tammy's commissioning for Vanning is tomorrow night at St. B's and I am looking forward to it for various reasons that I will write about later!
I think that's all for tonight, I'm getting more and more tired as I write.... night all!
On a final note, yay for weeks that went from sucking to rocking and for an amazingly diverse group of friends that drive from all over Alberta to come and visit you and eat Chinese food and watch the hockey game! Also, yay for Apples to Apples!
To elaborate slightly... I am now working as a part-time receptionist at Axe Music. My first day was Friday and I really enjoyed it. The atmosphere is way more laid back than the previous environment which I really appreciated. I was hired full-time at Bentley and I am based out of Market Mall but I will also be taking some shifts at North Hill whenever they need me. :) I had my first day there today and the people I work with are really fun. It was a good day all in all and the only problems I had were with language barriers. I ran into three today... One with Cantonese, one with Italian and one with Hindi... But two of the three had people with them to translate and the other said he would come back... I tried not to do to that customer what I have done to me in places I don't speak the language (wave arms and speak louder...) as it doesn't help the situation, it would have made us both more frustrated.
As to my car... It is STILL in the shop! They have had it a week and a half and I'm told I'll get it back tomorrow. I'd BETTER get it back tomorrow is all I'm going to say.
I took roses out to my grandparent's plot and then I cried as I stood there... It was hard... This weekend was also hard... With it beign Father's Day, it was more obvious than usual that there was a gaping hole in our family... @---'--- :'(
Leading worship was good, I was frustrated with some sound-related stuff but it sounds like it will be fixed by this weekend when we play again. We are practicing this week and I am looking forward to it. I found out tonight that Breighanne might come to THING this weekend whick would be awesom as it is a couple of months since I last saw her! Also, Emily and Brityn are going to come... It's funny because they want to meet Jordan and Eckley (not sure if I spelled that right...) :D
I already wrote about the swimming... What I didn't write is that I have people who have already asked when we are going to do it again and others that have asked if they can come. I put it through on the account last time so I think I will have to make people pay at least part of their own way the next time...
Last night, my mom and I went and bought the makings for chocolate chip cookies, snickerdoodles and Rice Krispie squares. Tonight, Tammy came over and we made a double batch of chocolate chip cookies and over the course of the next few days I will be making the others for the trip out to Didsbury for the picnic between the parishes of Olds and Didsbury on Sunday.
Tammy's commissioning for Vanning is tomorrow night at St. B's and I am looking forward to it for various reasons that I will write about later!
I think that's all for tonight, I'm getting more and more tired as I write.... night all!
On a final note, yay for weeks that went from sucking to rocking and for an amazingly diverse group of friends that drive from all over Alberta to come and visit you and eat Chinese food and watch the hockey game! Also, yay for Apples to Apples!
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
"Swimming, swimming, in the swimming pool!"
So, tonight a bunch of us went swimming. It was a rather random group of people and we had fun! I kind of sent out a random text message and people showed up... :) The group consisted of: Tammy, Lysa, Vanessa, Andrew, John Trevor, Ken, Sean, Matt, Janna, Meghan, Emily and I.
I picked Emily up and then went to get John and as we were driving to the Winter Club, my phone rang and it was a Constable from the Calgary Police Service calling to let me know that they had found my driver's license and HBC Credit Card. Apparently, some woman was going door to door asking for donations for the Cancer Society and was using my ID as "hers"... *grrrrrrr* So, I need to go downtown and fill out a report stating that I didn't authorize anyone to have my ID in their posession, let alone use it. I'm not exactly impressed to say the least. The person who had it is being charged with fraud but apparently didn't have any of my other stuff on her as she "found" those two cards. I'm not sure what to think/believe anymore but I have to say that my trust in basic human goodness is severly diminished right now...
Anyway, after I got off the phone and called and explained the situation to my mom, the three of us grabbed dinner and then met everyone else. We swam and then went to Denny's and hung out there for a bit. I haven't ever been to that Denny's I don't think... (McKnight and 4th N.E.) It was kind of odd being at a Denny's without Ben there... Normally, we hang out after LiFE NiTE or smll groups at Denny's so... Anyway, I drove Emily and Tammy home and hung out and talked to Janna for a bit and now, I'm going to bed. With so little sleep last night, I am going to try and get some sleep tonight.
Tomorrow, I am going to write that statement and then go hang out with Kristyn and Kylee for a while! :)
I picked Emily up and then went to get John and as we were driving to the Winter Club, my phone rang and it was a Constable from the Calgary Police Service calling to let me know that they had found my driver's license and HBC Credit Card. Apparently, some woman was going door to door asking for donations for the Cancer Society and was using my ID as "hers"... *grrrrrrr* So, I need to go downtown and fill out a report stating that I didn't authorize anyone to have my ID in their posession, let alone use it. I'm not exactly impressed to say the least. The person who had it is being charged with fraud but apparently didn't have any of my other stuff on her as she "found" those two cards. I'm not sure what to think/believe anymore but I have to say that my trust in basic human goodness is severly diminished right now...
Anyway, after I got off the phone and called and explained the situation to my mom, the three of us grabbed dinner and then met everyone else. We swam and then went to Denny's and hung out there for a bit. I haven't ever been to that Denny's I don't think... (McKnight and 4th N.E.) It was kind of odd being at a Denny's without Ben there... Normally, we hang out after LiFE NiTE or smll groups at Denny's so... Anyway, I drove Emily and Tammy home and hung out and talked to Janna for a bit and now, I'm going to bed. With so little sleep last night, I am going to try and get some sleep tonight.
Tomorrow, I am going to write that statement and then go hang out with Kristyn and Kylee for a while! :)
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Bouncing off the walls...
Ok, so today I had two interviews! One was at Kinko's and the other was at Axe Music. Both went extremely well and Kinko's said they would call me in the next day or so and I start training at Axe on Friday. I am SOOOO pumped! The people seem nice and it is a good environment (especially by comparison to my old job)!!!
Yesterday was a pretty eventful day...
I had some stuff I needed to take care of, including officially resigning from my old job so I went down and did that in person. As it turns out, when I got there, the officer who has been handling my case was there as my former boss hadn't put the outside and inside surveillance footage on the CD, just the outside so he had come back for the inside stuff. It's hard to make a poster of a person't face without a face shot. *rolling eyes* When I got there, the carwash was closed... apparently the chain on the track had broken in 4 spots... Sorry, I laughed! *rotflmao*
I ran some other errands, including finding out about exchanging my djembe, dropping John off lunch, meeting Brian (Bryan?) and Porkchop and then stopping by my mom's school. I had a package for Holly that is a grad gift that had been sitting here for a long time but I finally took it over to DHL to send it to her. I also went and put gas in the van and got groceries.
I ended up having a drink (I had Sprite... I'm crazy...! :D) with an old friend and we spent a few hours talking... I got the chance to see where he is living and hear about what has been going on with him. It was nice to see him, I have missed spending time with him.
I got home really late and went straight to bed and then got up this morning for my first interview. After the interview, I picked Adrienne up from school and we drove around and talked for a while about life. It has been a while since we have had that chance and it was good to see her and spend time with her with no major distractions. We came back home for a bit and I showed her some of the random photo's from TEC, Ben's birthday party and her grad (which I attended because she asked me to be there... I was SO flattered...) and then I dropped her off on my way to my second interview. After the interview, I exchanged the djembe and then came home... Now, I am watching Glory Road and I am trying not to bounce off the walls! I am going swimming tonight and I think I might try to have a nap for an hour before I go out... :)
Yesterday was a pretty eventful day...
I had some stuff I needed to take care of, including officially resigning from my old job so I went down and did that in person. As it turns out, when I got there, the officer who has been handling my case was there as my former boss hadn't put the outside and inside surveillance footage on the CD, just the outside so he had come back for the inside stuff. It's hard to make a poster of a person't face without a face shot. *rolling eyes* When I got there, the carwash was closed... apparently the chain on the track had broken in 4 spots... Sorry, I laughed! *rotflmao*
I ran some other errands, including finding out about exchanging my djembe, dropping John off lunch, meeting Brian (Bryan?) and Porkchop and then stopping by my mom's school. I had a package for Holly that is a grad gift that had been sitting here for a long time but I finally took it over to DHL to send it to her. I also went and put gas in the van and got groceries.
I ended up having a drink (I had Sprite... I'm crazy...! :D) with an old friend and we spent a few hours talking... I got the chance to see where he is living and hear about what has been going on with him. It was nice to see him, I have missed spending time with him.
I got home really late and went straight to bed and then got up this morning for my first interview. After the interview, I picked Adrienne up from school and we drove around and talked for a while about life. It has been a while since we have had that chance and it was good to see her and spend time with her with no major distractions. We came back home for a bit and I showed her some of the random photo's from TEC, Ben's birthday party and her grad (which I attended because she asked me to be there... I was SO flattered...) and then I dropped her off on my way to my second interview. After the interview, I exchanged the djembe and then came home... Now, I am watching Glory Road and I am trying not to bounce off the walls! I am going swimming tonight and I think I might try to have a nap for an hour before I go out... :)
Monday, June 12, 2006
"A Black Cloud"???
So last weekend, I called my boss on Sunday night and she asked me if I have a "black cloud" over my head. See, the past couple of weeks have been... Interesting.
So, I got to work and one of the days it poured midday, she decided to send some of us home. I had gotten stuck in traffic that morning and with my dark interior, I leave the windows on my car open a tiny bit so a little bit of air can circulate. That day, I parked, realized the wondows were shut, opened them a bit and ran to be on time. After it bucketed, I ran to my car and the doors were slightly wet. I figured the sluggishness of the windows could be attributed to that. Then I looked in the ignition. In the process of rolling up my windows, I had left my keys in the ignition and the key turned to the "on" position. Not started but "on" so that I could roll my windows down. Boy, did I feel dumb. Even more so when I had to call AMA to come and boost my car. (I'd like to point out that I own booster cables but John borrowed them and they are currently in our gp's car which is in having the transmission replaced...)
So, later that same week, my alarm didn't go off and I was late for work (not sure why it didn't go off, my clock was flashing 12:00 but the rest of the house seemed to be fine :S ???)
On the Sunday, I showed up at work to be greeted with, "it's SO good to see you!" (I'm almost positive this person hates me...) "You aren't scheduled to be here but I'm glad you are because now we can open!" (For anyone who doesn't know, I HATE this job...) I worked the entire shift while waiting to hear from a good friend who I had told to call me if she needed me because she was dealing with some stuff and at the end of my shift, as I went to finish my cash out in the store, I dropped my stuff off at my car and then ran inside the store. I was gone less than five minutes and when I came back out, my bag of stuff and coat were there but my purse was gone. Now, I am going to point out that my windows were down on my car (as per usual at this point) and the doors were most likely unlocked... But the purse was the only thing to go missing. However, my entire life was in that thing. And the things that upset me the most were the purse and wallets were pretty much brand new (I'd had them less than a week so they were brand new...) and my digital camera was in there as well (I had been taking it everywhere with me) as well as a pin that Tammy had gotten me at YC that said, "Someday my Prince will come Acts 1:11." I called the police and it took them 3.5 hours to get there but my mom didn't want me driving without a license or something saying that my I.D. had been stolen. The officer I spoke to seemed surprised that I knew my driver's license number but... whatever. I have always been good with numbers that are important to me. Anyway, I was off work at 5:15 that night and finally left at just after 9. After, I met up with Ben (he'd been away at a retreat and had just gotten back) and we kidnapped Tammy and went to BP's and hung out for a bit. Ben was really patient with both of us as neither Tammy or I had had a very good day. It was cool to hear about what he had been up to while he was gone. :)
Over the course of the past week, I have had to cancel all of my credit cards (I did most of that while I was waiting for the police to arrive) and go get a new debit card, replace my I.D. (driver's and birth certificate) and deal with the insurance company on many different days and for hours on end. The short version of the rest of it is that I am having my locks redone on my car, I have replaced as many things as I can and I am still waiting for some other things to come in the mail. For now, I am pretty upset about the lack of support from my boss and she is the one who commented about the "black cloud" over my head which honestly, upset me. So, I am thinking that if I can find other job soon, I will quit my current one...
So, I got to work and one of the days it poured midday, she decided to send some of us home. I had gotten stuck in traffic that morning and with my dark interior, I leave the windows on my car open a tiny bit so a little bit of air can circulate. That day, I parked, realized the wondows were shut, opened them a bit and ran to be on time. After it bucketed, I ran to my car and the doors were slightly wet. I figured the sluggishness of the windows could be attributed to that. Then I looked in the ignition. In the process of rolling up my windows, I had left my keys in the ignition and the key turned to the "on" position. Not started but "on" so that I could roll my windows down. Boy, did I feel dumb. Even more so when I had to call AMA to come and boost my car. (I'd like to point out that I own booster cables but John borrowed them and they are currently in our gp's car which is in having the transmission replaced...)
So, later that same week, my alarm didn't go off and I was late for work (not sure why it didn't go off, my clock was flashing 12:00 but the rest of the house seemed to be fine :S ???)
On the Sunday, I showed up at work to be greeted with, "it's SO good to see you!" (I'm almost positive this person hates me...) "You aren't scheduled to be here but I'm glad you are because now we can open!" (For anyone who doesn't know, I HATE this job...) I worked the entire shift while waiting to hear from a good friend who I had told to call me if she needed me because she was dealing with some stuff and at the end of my shift, as I went to finish my cash out in the store, I dropped my stuff off at my car and then ran inside the store. I was gone less than five minutes and when I came back out, my bag of stuff and coat were there but my purse was gone. Now, I am going to point out that my windows were down on my car (as per usual at this point) and the doors were most likely unlocked... But the purse was the only thing to go missing. However, my entire life was in that thing. And the things that upset me the most were the purse and wallets were pretty much brand new (I'd had them less than a week so they were brand new...) and my digital camera was in there as well (I had been taking it everywhere with me) as well as a pin that Tammy had gotten me at YC that said, "Someday my Prince will come Acts 1:11." I called the police and it took them 3.5 hours to get there but my mom didn't want me driving without a license or something saying that my I.D. had been stolen. The officer I spoke to seemed surprised that I knew my driver's license number but... whatever. I have always been good with numbers that are important to me. Anyway, I was off work at 5:15 that night and finally left at just after 9. After, I met up with Ben (he'd been away at a retreat and had just gotten back) and we kidnapped Tammy and went to BP's and hung out for a bit. Ben was really patient with both of us as neither Tammy or I had had a very good day. It was cool to hear about what he had been up to while he was gone. :)
Over the course of the past week, I have had to cancel all of my credit cards (I did most of that while I was waiting for the police to arrive) and go get a new debit card, replace my I.D. (driver's and birth certificate) and deal with the insurance company on many different days and for hours on end. The short version of the rest of it is that I am having my locks redone on my car, I have replaced as many things as I can and I am still waiting for some other things to come in the mail. For now, I am pretty upset about the lack of support from my boss and she is the one who commented about the "black cloud" over my head which honestly, upset me. So, I am thinking that if I can find other job soon, I will quit my current one...
Friday, June 02, 2006
Fun times!
Ok, so I have had an interesting week...
I officially hate my job. Every day this week (except today, oddly enough) I have been told that I am doing something wrong or have been yelled at for something either by the manager or the owner. See, the thing is, most of the stuff is the plural "you" but they have been addressing us about the things that are going on each individually, whether they apply to us or not. Some of it is random... The owner told me that we need to make sure we don't put the e-brake on when we move cars... I don't drive a stick but I'm pretty sure that if the car is left in gear or is left in neutral on a slant, no e-brake could be an issue... I dunno... He said we had left the e-brake on when we moved an automatic but... I don't leave my e-brake on unless I'm parked on a major hill so I have no idea... Other stuff like checking for auto locks because otherwise we have to get AMA or a locksmith out to open the car... and generally the car is running.
So, yesterday, after being told that we had closed too early on Wednesday (after we had been TOLD to close *rolling eyes*) I walked into the office and told both my boss and her boss that I am frustrated. I said that I have been feeling lately as though I do not know what I am doing and that what I have been doing is wrong. I said if that is the case, should I still be working there or should I quit now because after 7 or so weeks already, I would have thought I wouldn't be making as many mistakes over and over as I seem to be. I don't know if they were more shocked by the fact that I asked if I should quit or that I asked if I do anything right. Seriously, I hadn't heard about anything I had done RIGHT up until then... My boss told me I was fine and the owner just kind of looked at me... I went back outside and later she came out to tell me that I had met my "quota" for Petro Points sign-ups for last month and I got 5000 points. (I think this was her way of saying that I don't completely suck...) Apparently there are points that we can accumulate and put towards buying stuff or something... Anyway, she said that my "quota" for this month is 10. So, here is what I find kind of funny... I had something like 25 sign-ups last month. The most I had ever had in one day was 6. Today, I had 7 so I beat my best! Plus, it is only the second of June and I already have somewhere between 10 and 12 already... :) Looks like giving me a "quota" doesn't really mean much. The other thing is that there is a girl who has been there for almost three years and her quota is the same as mine... *rolling eyes and sighing*
Anyway, the fun parts of this week...
Monday, I went and visited Tammy at work and got a new wallet and purse. :) My cute one with the flowers on it has been shedding sequins and I don't want it to completely fall apart (and I am completely inept with a needle and thread on small picky details!) so I bought something a little sturdier. So, I got it home and it turns out, it has like a million pockets! So, I can carry stuff and not end up losing everything into the abyss that is my purse! That means I'm actually going to be (partially) organized! My mom likes my purse too and I am thinking of getting her a similar one... The problem is that if I get her the identical one, we may get them mixed up and that could be disasterous!
So, Tuesday I had physio and Jeff zapped my knee for 30 minutes straight... I couldn't feel my foot afterwards... It was SO weird! Afterwards, I went to the Ladies Compassion Small Group and then after Tammy got off work, I kidnapped her and we went to the Cheesecake Cafe. She had never been there! :O The funny thing was... Neither of us ordered cheesecake! *lol* :D She had a Fruit Flan (she didn't realize it wasn't cheesecake) and I had the Peach Cobbler. We decided that next time, we will get cheesecake... :) Afterwards, she came over and we hung out for a while and talked. My bro joined us for a bit too and it was cool to just chill. I drove her home and then finished uploading the photo's onto my new photobucket site. :)
Wednesday, I had a weird day at work... There is this guy who is a regular and reminds me of kinf of a Mafia Don type... He's Italian and always wears a suit and pays with $100 bills and such. He told me that his "girl" was going to come in and I was to "make sure she was taken care of." He and I ended up chatting for a few minutes (there were no other customers around) and we talked about what I'm studying at school and it turns out his mother was a concert pianist and he plays piano. We ended up talking about classical, opera, jazz, movie scores and some other random things. So, when she came in, we made sure everything went smoothly and she was "taken care of." He asked me if I like movies and I said yes... I was thinking, "dude, you're old enough to be my grandfather... what???" He asked if I would be interested in going to a movie premiere and gave me a pass to go see the premiere of "The Break Up" at Sunridge Spectrum that night. Turns out, he says he works for Universal and told me to take a friend... I'm not about to pass up a free movie! Especially one I was planning to see anyway! :D I called Matt to see what he was up to and we ended up going to the movie which was freaking hilarious! Seriously, Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston were great together... I knew it would be funny but the actor who was actually the funniest was Jon Favereau... It was really bugging me as to where I knew him from! I looked him up on www.imdb.com and he was Pete Becker, one of Monica's love interests on "Friend's." No wonder he looked familiar!!! Normally Vince tends to be the wisecracker of the group but in this case, it was more Jon than anyone. :D I laughed, I almost cried... Definitely one I will see again, either in theatres if someone wants to see it or on DVD. I'm going to buy it when it eventually comes out! :D Afterwards we went to Chapters and bought some books and I hit Starbucks (I've been drinking the new Blackberry Green Tea Frappuccino) and then sat and talked for a while before heading home.
Thursday at work it was interesting... I had this random guy who was hitting on me... *shaking head* He was Jamaican and he kept talking to me about how he could drink all of the water in the case he got from us so he could keep up with the ladies... *rolling eyes* It was a looooooong day... That night I had physio again and after being a human pin cushion for a while, I went to the graveyard to leave flowers and then went to meet my mom and my brother. After, I met Tammy, Matt and Shauna at BP's and we sat, got food and talked and overall, just had a good time hanging out. It was cool to get to spend some time with them and I don't get to see Shauna very often so it was cool that she came out with us!
Today at work... It was a loooong day again... The computer was being stupid and at one point the entire wash shut down due to a problem Enmax was having and we had to close for a little over an hour. After all that went on, I didn't get my break until 2 (it was supposed to be at 1). I got home pretty early though and I was so tired that I just had a shower and ate dinner and chilled at home. Tonight, Tammy and I went to Safeway to pick up some groceries (I'm surprised she's not sick of me yet!) and I dropped her off pretty early. Now, I'm going to go do some more laundry and get some sleep...
Tomorrow I work all day and then it is the TEC 43 reunion in the evening. I am SO looking forward to it! :D More about that after!
I officially hate my job. Every day this week (except today, oddly enough) I have been told that I am doing something wrong or have been yelled at for something either by the manager or the owner. See, the thing is, most of the stuff is the plural "you" but they have been addressing us about the things that are going on each individually, whether they apply to us or not. Some of it is random... The owner told me that we need to make sure we don't put the e-brake on when we move cars... I don't drive a stick but I'm pretty sure that if the car is left in gear or is left in neutral on a slant, no e-brake could be an issue... I dunno... He said we had left the e-brake on when we moved an automatic but... I don't leave my e-brake on unless I'm parked on a major hill so I have no idea... Other stuff like checking for auto locks because otherwise we have to get AMA or a locksmith out to open the car... and generally the car is running.
So, yesterday, after being told that we had closed too early on Wednesday (after we had been TOLD to close *rolling eyes*) I walked into the office and told both my boss and her boss that I am frustrated. I said that I have been feeling lately as though I do not know what I am doing and that what I have been doing is wrong. I said if that is the case, should I still be working there or should I quit now because after 7 or so weeks already, I would have thought I wouldn't be making as many mistakes over and over as I seem to be. I don't know if they were more shocked by the fact that I asked if I should quit or that I asked if I do anything right. Seriously, I hadn't heard about anything I had done RIGHT up until then... My boss told me I was fine and the owner just kind of looked at me... I went back outside and later she came out to tell me that I had met my "quota" for Petro Points sign-ups for last month and I got 5000 points. (I think this was her way of saying that I don't completely suck...) Apparently there are points that we can accumulate and put towards buying stuff or something... Anyway, she said that my "quota" for this month is 10. So, here is what I find kind of funny... I had something like 25 sign-ups last month. The most I had ever had in one day was 6. Today, I had 7 so I beat my best! Plus, it is only the second of June and I already have somewhere between 10 and 12 already... :) Looks like giving me a "quota" doesn't really mean much. The other thing is that there is a girl who has been there for almost three years and her quota is the same as mine... *rolling eyes and sighing*
Anyway, the fun parts of this week...
Monday, I went and visited Tammy at work and got a new wallet and purse. :) My cute one with the flowers on it has been shedding sequins and I don't want it to completely fall apart (and I am completely inept with a needle and thread on small picky details!) so I bought something a little sturdier. So, I got it home and it turns out, it has like a million pockets! So, I can carry stuff and not end up losing everything into the abyss that is my purse! That means I'm actually going to be (partially) organized! My mom likes my purse too and I am thinking of getting her a similar one... The problem is that if I get her the identical one, we may get them mixed up and that could be disasterous!
So, Tuesday I had physio and Jeff zapped my knee for 30 minutes straight... I couldn't feel my foot afterwards... It was SO weird! Afterwards, I went to the Ladies Compassion Small Group and then after Tammy got off work, I kidnapped her and we went to the Cheesecake Cafe. She had never been there! :O The funny thing was... Neither of us ordered cheesecake! *lol* :D She had a Fruit Flan (she didn't realize it wasn't cheesecake) and I had the Peach Cobbler. We decided that next time, we will get cheesecake... :) Afterwards, she came over and we hung out for a while and talked. My bro joined us for a bit too and it was cool to just chill. I drove her home and then finished uploading the photo's onto my new photobucket site. :)
Wednesday, I had a weird day at work... There is this guy who is a regular and reminds me of kinf of a Mafia Don type... He's Italian and always wears a suit and pays with $100 bills and such. He told me that his "girl" was going to come in and I was to "make sure she was taken care of." He and I ended up chatting for a few minutes (there were no other customers around) and we talked about what I'm studying at school and it turns out his mother was a concert pianist and he plays piano. We ended up talking about classical, opera, jazz, movie scores and some other random things. So, when she came in, we made sure everything went smoothly and she was "taken care of." He asked me if I like movies and I said yes... I was thinking, "dude, you're old enough to be my grandfather... what???" He asked if I would be interested in going to a movie premiere and gave me a pass to go see the premiere of "The Break Up" at Sunridge Spectrum that night. Turns out, he says he works for Universal and told me to take a friend... I'm not about to pass up a free movie! Especially one I was planning to see anyway! :D I called Matt to see what he was up to and we ended up going to the movie which was freaking hilarious! Seriously, Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston were great together... I knew it would be funny but the actor who was actually the funniest was Jon Favereau... It was really bugging me as to where I knew him from! I looked him up on www.imdb.com and he was Pete Becker, one of Monica's love interests on "Friend's." No wonder he looked familiar!!! Normally Vince tends to be the wisecracker of the group but in this case, it was more Jon than anyone. :D I laughed, I almost cried... Definitely one I will see again, either in theatres if someone wants to see it or on DVD. I'm going to buy it when it eventually comes out! :D Afterwards we went to Chapters and bought some books and I hit Starbucks (I've been drinking the new Blackberry Green Tea Frappuccino) and then sat and talked for a while before heading home.
Thursday at work it was interesting... I had this random guy who was hitting on me... *shaking head* He was Jamaican and he kept talking to me about how he could drink all of the water in the case he got from us so he could keep up with the ladies... *rolling eyes* It was a looooooong day... That night I had physio again and after being a human pin cushion for a while, I went to the graveyard to leave flowers and then went to meet my mom and my brother. After, I met Tammy, Matt and Shauna at BP's and we sat, got food and talked and overall, just had a good time hanging out. It was cool to get to spend some time with them and I don't get to see Shauna very often so it was cool that she came out with us!
Today at work... It was a loooong day again... The computer was being stupid and at one point the entire wash shut down due to a problem Enmax was having and we had to close for a little over an hour. After all that went on, I didn't get my break until 2 (it was supposed to be at 1). I got home pretty early though and I was so tired that I just had a shower and ate dinner and chilled at home. Tonight, Tammy and I went to Safeway to pick up some groceries (I'm surprised she's not sick of me yet!) and I dropped her off pretty early. Now, I'm going to go do some more laundry and get some sleep...
Tomorrow I work all day and then it is the TEC 43 reunion in the evening. I am SO looking forward to it! :D More about that after!
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Pictures...
I have had people asking when my photo's from various things are going to be up...
After approximately 16 hours of uploading, editing, more uploading, naming and renaming....
Some are officially ready to be viewed!!!
For the Photo's from TEC 43 and Montana's on the Monday night go to:
(There is a password, e-mail, IM or call me for it...)
COMING SOON:
Photo's from THING on Saturday May 27, 2006 and Moxie's afterwards...
Photo's from Ben's Birthday Party...
Other random Photo's...
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Perspective.
I have a couple of good friends (and my mom) who have told me a lot that if you don't let people treat you poorly, they won't get used to it and therefore, won't get away with it. For the past few days, I have been letting someone I considered a friend walk all over me. She has been treating me like crap and upsetting me all because she was in a bad mood on Saturday night and was taking it out on the people around her. Now, I thought this was just my impression so rather than say something to her (I asked if she was ok and almost got my head ripped off), I left her alone. I let the things that she said or did slide, came home and prayed about them and the next day, I blogged about how I had been feeling. Apparently, this was seen as a personal attack. So, in as public a place as I can, I apologize for whatever it was exactly that I said and did. However, the slander that has been going on behind my back should stop. Because as it currently stands, I am fed up with being treated like some stupid POS that isn't worth anything because I know that I am worth something and that's not fair to me.
Sunday, May 28, 2006
Feeling Fragile...
Today had it's ups and downs...
My boss called this morning and told me we wouldn't be opening (and we are closed tomorrow because of the Lilac festival) so have a good weekend and she would see me on Monday. (Yay! UP!)
So, no work means I got to sleep in! (Yay! UP!)
My mom called and said she was going to come over for breakfast and then when she showed up she had brought Timbits and I had already had some raspberries and juice so we got organized to go out and ran some errands. We went to Ben's house and picked up a cake, the mall to go to Sport Chek and got matching Croc's, to Booster Juice for a smoothie and banana bread, to Co-op for milk and then to the Winter Club to drop off an envelope. (Yay for time spent with Mommy! UP!)
I got home with enough time to start a blog and then Matt showed up to pick me up so I had to "save draft" and leave and we went to pick up Dana and I got to see her apartment. We stopped at Wendy's on the way to the church and then got to St. Phil's around 6:20pm. Dana and I quizzed Jordan on how he enjoyed TEC and how his week had been in the car on the way. :) (UP!)
When we got to THING, people seemed stressed, the hall was set up for something that is going on at the church tomorrow so we couldn't use it, everyone was talking about their summer plans - some people are leaving and they were talking about it, random things kept happening (water on the floor from the radiator leaking...) and it was generally kind of chaotic... (Sliding Down...)
People I hadn't seen in a while were at THING tonight (Nick Van Hooft, Dawn, Cassidy, etc.) and Ekklesia was playing. :) Something like 7 or so of the participants from this past weekend were there tonight! Out of 16, that's awesome! (UP!)
It hit me hard tonight that I have less than two weeks until Ben leaves for the summer. I have known it for a while but it didn't really hit me until tonight... I'm not sure exactly how I feel... Or, I know how I feel but I'm not sure how to express it. And I spent a lot of time in prayer about it... (Up and Down...)
Jackie was the speaker and her topic was Spiritual Mountains and Valleys and I thought her talk was very well done. She read the book "You are Special" by Max Lucado and I love that book! I wish I was more like Lucia who only really cared what Eli thought of her and didn't let the dots or stars stick to her... (Up!)
We brought out the cake when Dana was announcing the small group leaders and has Amber (Birthday = May 23), Ben (June 11), Jordan (June 12) and John McMechan (Today!!!) come up and we sang them all "Happy Birthday!" It was a ton of fun and that way everyone felt loved and the birthday cake was enjoyed by all! :) (Up!)
We had a minor snafu at the beginning of small groups that I don't want to go into... (Down...)
As the night wore on, I was getting frustrated with the lack of help and support from certain people. I am at the point where I am only one person and I can only do so much. My mom uses a phrase... It's "this too shall pass" and I use "breathe" instead... My theory is, if it's not something you can directly fix, why bother stressing? But tonight, I was in trouble numerous times for just being there... I'm not honestly sure why I bother. I said to someone that if I wasn't there, I don't think anyone would honestly notice. Someone else would do what I was supposed to and that would be all that matters. (Down!)
One of the bright spots of the night for me was when Candace, Justin and Jon got there. I came into the foyer of the church just after they had gotten there and I got hugs from all of them and I love hugs! When they left a little later, I also gut hugs which was nice. :) When Randi and Adrian showed up all dressed up for grad, it was sooo cute! They were colour-coordinated! I think their outfits were almost as nice as David's kilt! :D (Up!)
At the end of the night, everyone was getting shooed out of the church and I found it frustrating because I cleaned up the entire kitchen by myself... I finally had people come offer to help me carry stuff out when I was finished everything else and it was tough for me not to be like, "thanks for your help when all of the other stuff is done." :P (Down...)
All in all, it was just a loooonnng day. I'm going to go spend some time with God in prayer and then listen to my new Third Day CD's as I go to sleep... I think they may help me sleep tonight...
My boss called this morning and told me we wouldn't be opening (and we are closed tomorrow because of the Lilac festival) so have a good weekend and she would see me on Monday. (Yay! UP!)
So, no work means I got to sleep in! (Yay! UP!)
My mom called and said she was going to come over for breakfast and then when she showed up she had brought Timbits and I had already had some raspberries and juice so we got organized to go out and ran some errands. We went to Ben's house and picked up a cake, the mall to go to Sport Chek and got matching Croc's, to Booster Juice for a smoothie and banana bread, to Co-op for milk and then to the Winter Club to drop off an envelope. (Yay for time spent with Mommy! UP!)
I got home with enough time to start a blog and then Matt showed up to pick me up so I had to "save draft" and leave and we went to pick up Dana and I got to see her apartment. We stopped at Wendy's on the way to the church and then got to St. Phil's around 6:20pm. Dana and I quizzed Jordan on how he enjoyed TEC and how his week had been in the car on the way. :) (UP!)
When we got to THING, people seemed stressed, the hall was set up for something that is going on at the church tomorrow so we couldn't use it, everyone was talking about their summer plans - some people are leaving and they were talking about it, random things kept happening (water on the floor from the radiator leaking...) and it was generally kind of chaotic... (Sliding Down...)
People I hadn't seen in a while were at THING tonight (Nick Van Hooft, Dawn, Cassidy, etc.) and Ekklesia was playing. :) Something like 7 or so of the participants from this past weekend were there tonight! Out of 16, that's awesome! (UP!)
It hit me hard tonight that I have less than two weeks until Ben leaves for the summer. I have known it for a while but it didn't really hit me until tonight... I'm not sure exactly how I feel... Or, I know how I feel but I'm not sure how to express it. And I spent a lot of time in prayer about it... (Up and Down...)
Jackie was the speaker and her topic was Spiritual Mountains and Valleys and I thought her talk was very well done. She read the book "You are Special" by Max Lucado and I love that book! I wish I was more like Lucia who only really cared what Eli thought of her and didn't let the dots or stars stick to her... (Up!)
We brought out the cake when Dana was announcing the small group leaders and has Amber (Birthday = May 23), Ben (June 11), Jordan (June 12) and John McMechan (Today!!!) come up and we sang them all "Happy Birthday!" It was a ton of fun and that way everyone felt loved and the birthday cake was enjoyed by all! :) (Up!)
We had a minor snafu at the beginning of small groups that I don't want to go into... (Down...)
As the night wore on, I was getting frustrated with the lack of help and support from certain people. I am at the point where I am only one person and I can only do so much. My mom uses a phrase... It's "this too shall pass" and I use "breathe" instead... My theory is, if it's not something you can directly fix, why bother stressing? But tonight, I was in trouble numerous times for just being there... I'm not honestly sure why I bother. I said to someone that if I wasn't there, I don't think anyone would honestly notice. Someone else would do what I was supposed to and that would be all that matters. (Down!)
One of the bright spots of the night for me was when Candace, Justin and Jon got there. I came into the foyer of the church just after they had gotten there and I got hugs from all of them and I love hugs! When they left a little later, I also gut hugs which was nice. :) When Randi and Adrian showed up all dressed up for grad, it was sooo cute! They were colour-coordinated! I think their outfits were almost as nice as David's kilt! :D (Up!)
At the end of the night, everyone was getting shooed out of the church and I found it frustrating because I cleaned up the entire kitchen by myself... I finally had people come offer to help me carry stuff out when I was finished everything else and it was tough for me not to be like, "thanks for your help when all of the other stuff is done." :P (Down...)
All in all, it was just a loooonnng day. I'm going to go spend some time with God in prayer and then listen to my new Third Day CD's as I go to sleep... I think they may help me sleep tonight...
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
I had an awesome weekend...
This weekend was TEC and it was amazing!!!
I worked on the Conference team which means that the people who are coming for the first time (the Participants) are split into table groups and they spend the weekend in a small group format with us. I was pretty nervous having never worked this team before! We were told that we all bring different strengths into the team so I wasn't completely freaked but it was close! :)
Friday night arrived and I headed out to Entheos. We did some set-up, ate dinner and hung out as a team and had a reconciliation service. I went up for prayer to calm my nerves and because I had been dealing with some stupidity at work all week that I felt was pulling me down (I don't like that feeling).
Here's what has been going on...
There is this woman that I work with... She is in her mid-forties and is doing the same job I am and she asked me the first time we worked together how long I have worked there and I said about three weeks. I went on to explain that I am a University student and this is a summer job for me. She said she has a $60,000 degree and look where she is working... So, all week, all I have heard is that she has a degree and is working with me. Apparently she also used to clean houses... I'm not saying either of these is a bad job but if she has a degree, why isn't she using it would be my question... whatever. Anyway, she is on the bigger side and all week has complained about her knees, back, ankles, feet, etc. hurting from being on her feet all day. Now, I will point out that I know based on what she has said that I outweigh her but I am also quite a bit taller than her (at least 6") and one of the guys we work with pointed out that the shoes she is wearing are so worn out that it's no wonder that she's in pain. We are on our feet for 9 hours a day... Your feet are bound to hurt after that (I need to buy a foot spa thingy as an aside... maybe I'll ask for one for my birthday... hmmm...) but our boss who outweighs me by what I outweigh this woman by is shorter than her... It's a complicated situation... Anyway, after the first two days of complaining, she started making comments about MY size. Now, I don't know this woman from a hole in the ground and honestly, I was offended. My build is larger based on genetics (having a 6'6" grandfather will do that to you!) and it has taken me a long time to become comfortable with who I am! I wear black a lot as it's supposed to be slimming and also because if I wear black, no one can make any comments about whatever I am wearing. So, I finally buy clothes in (I know, this is going to shock some people) colours and then this woman starts in on me about my size. Because it's sooooooooo helpful. *rolling eyes* So, any self-esteem I had, is *poof* gone. Well, maybe not gone but is lessened.
So, I went for prayer, I explained how I have been feeling to the prayer team and part of the situation and we prayed. I had people come and lay hands on me and the support from my friends was amazing... When I got up, I had cried (shocking, I know) and I got hugs from a bunch of people (which I totally needed) and then I went and spent some time alone thinking and doing my own thing. My only concern with going back to work on Tuesday is that I will have to deal with it again and I'm at the point that if she keeps making me feel this uncomfortable, I may have to go talk to my boss who I know understands about people making her feel uncomfortable in her own skin...
Back to hapier things... Saturday morning dawned early and we got up for morning prayer and had breakfast and began to prepare for the participants to arrive. I knew who was going to be at my table and I had sponsored one of the girls to come to the weekend (this means I had told her about TEC, told her what she could and couldn't bring with her to the weekend, had been praying for her before the weekend and had talked to her parents about the weekend in general), another I had met when we did a PR church visit and the boy at our table is the younger brother of a friend. I was still nervous tho. I prayed that God would calm my heart.
All of the participants arrived early and we started the day about 15 minutes ahead of schedule. Now, we don't wear watches while we are at TEC so from then on, we were pretty much completely in the dark time-wise.
The rest of the weekend overall was amazing... The participants at my table are awesome and we bonded really well as a table group. My co-table leader is my bestfriends fiance and it was awesome getting to know him better. :) As the weekend progressed, our discussions got deeper and deeper and I know that I learned more and more about the participants, my co and myself.
The participants at the other tables were also really amazing. At meal and break times we got the chance to hang out and talk with them as well and the bonding we did as a conference team with all of the participants was amazing. The maximum capacity of a TEC weekend is 36 and while it would be cool to have a full TEC, the participants wouldn't be able to have the amount of individual attention they got this weekend (there were only 16).
So, from there, they go back out into the world. I found it kind of daunting after my TEC weekend. The love, caring and compassion that surrounds them in the TEC community is amazing and many times, people at work or school don't understand. Especially if they aren't Christian. One of my friends put it best... He said, "I have to go to work tomorrow and I'm not sure what my boss would do if I walked up and hugged him. In fact, I'm not sure if I would be going to work Wednesday if I did that!" I just hope and pray that their families are supportive and caring and that whatever they go back into today, they are able to hold into the way they were feeling as they left yesterday and can return to THING this weekend or Reunion next weekend and still have the joy they were filled with...
I worked on the Conference team which means that the people who are coming for the first time (the Participants) are split into table groups and they spend the weekend in a small group format with us. I was pretty nervous having never worked this team before! We were told that we all bring different strengths into the team so I wasn't completely freaked but it was close! :)
Friday night arrived and I headed out to Entheos. We did some set-up, ate dinner and hung out as a team and had a reconciliation service. I went up for prayer to calm my nerves and because I had been dealing with some stupidity at work all week that I felt was pulling me down (I don't like that feeling).
Here's what has been going on...
There is this woman that I work with... She is in her mid-forties and is doing the same job I am and she asked me the first time we worked together how long I have worked there and I said about three weeks. I went on to explain that I am a University student and this is a summer job for me. She said she has a $60,000 degree and look where she is working... So, all week, all I have heard is that she has a degree and is working with me. Apparently she also used to clean houses... I'm not saying either of these is a bad job but if she has a degree, why isn't she using it would be my question... whatever. Anyway, she is on the bigger side and all week has complained about her knees, back, ankles, feet, etc. hurting from being on her feet all day. Now, I will point out that I know based on what she has said that I outweigh her but I am also quite a bit taller than her (at least 6") and one of the guys we work with pointed out that the shoes she is wearing are so worn out that it's no wonder that she's in pain. We are on our feet for 9 hours a day... Your feet are bound to hurt after that (I need to buy a foot spa thingy as an aside... maybe I'll ask for one for my birthday... hmmm...) but our boss who outweighs me by what I outweigh this woman by is shorter than her... It's a complicated situation... Anyway, after the first two days of complaining, she started making comments about MY size. Now, I don't know this woman from a hole in the ground and honestly, I was offended. My build is larger based on genetics (having a 6'6" grandfather will do that to you!) and it has taken me a long time to become comfortable with who I am! I wear black a lot as it's supposed to be slimming and also because if I wear black, no one can make any comments about whatever I am wearing. So, I finally buy clothes in (I know, this is going to shock some people) colours and then this woman starts in on me about my size. Because it's sooooooooo helpful. *rolling eyes* So, any self-esteem I had, is *poof* gone. Well, maybe not gone but is lessened.
So, I went for prayer, I explained how I have been feeling to the prayer team and part of the situation and we prayed. I had people come and lay hands on me and the support from my friends was amazing... When I got up, I had cried (shocking, I know) and I got hugs from a bunch of people (which I totally needed) and then I went and spent some time alone thinking and doing my own thing. My only concern with going back to work on Tuesday is that I will have to deal with it again and I'm at the point that if she keeps making me feel this uncomfortable, I may have to go talk to my boss who I know understands about people making her feel uncomfortable in her own skin...
Back to hapier things... Saturday morning dawned early and we got up for morning prayer and had breakfast and began to prepare for the participants to arrive. I knew who was going to be at my table and I had sponsored one of the girls to come to the weekend (this means I had told her about TEC, told her what she could and couldn't bring with her to the weekend, had been praying for her before the weekend and had talked to her parents about the weekend in general), another I had met when we did a PR church visit and the boy at our table is the younger brother of a friend. I was still nervous tho. I prayed that God would calm my heart.
All of the participants arrived early and we started the day about 15 minutes ahead of schedule. Now, we don't wear watches while we are at TEC so from then on, we were pretty much completely in the dark time-wise.
The rest of the weekend overall was amazing... The participants at my table are awesome and we bonded really well as a table group. My co-table leader is my bestfriends fiance and it was awesome getting to know him better. :) As the weekend progressed, our discussions got deeper and deeper and I know that I learned more and more about the participants, my co and myself.
The participants at the other tables were also really amazing. At meal and break times we got the chance to hang out and talk with them as well and the bonding we did as a conference team with all of the participants was amazing. The maximum capacity of a TEC weekend is 36 and while it would be cool to have a full TEC, the participants wouldn't be able to have the amount of individual attention they got this weekend (there were only 16).
So, from there, they go back out into the world. I found it kind of daunting after my TEC weekend. The love, caring and compassion that surrounds them in the TEC community is amazing and many times, people at work or school don't understand. Especially if they aren't Christian. One of my friends put it best... He said, "I have to go to work tomorrow and I'm not sure what my boss would do if I walked up and hugged him. In fact, I'm not sure if I would be going to work Wednesday if I did that!" I just hope and pray that their families are supportive and caring and that whatever they go back into today, they are able to hold into the way they were feeling as they left yesterday and can return to THING this weekend or Reunion next weekend and still have the joy they were filled with...
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Sick... Tired... And sick and tired of being sick and tired...
So for the past two weeks I have been sick. I have done the ear infections in both ears, strep throat, possible bronchitis and sinus infection thing all at once... I have been on what seemed like handfuls of meds... It has sucked...
Now, almost two weeks later, I still have a sinus infection and minor ear infections and possible bronchitis. I saw the third doctor in two weeks today (my family one finally...) and he changed my meds. So, he said I should be feeling MUCH better by Saturday. I have to say, my fingers are MAJORLY crossed and I am praying hard that it happens because I feel awful right now!
Yesterday I felt like someone had socked me in the eye... I felt like I had a black eye and it was swollen. It didn't look swollen but I could feel it... My head hurt, I couldn't sleep, my sinuses were still plugged, and so on.... My mom came over and I called the Health Link line and the nurse told me to do hot compresses on the side of my face/head that hurt and try to get some sleep. If I couldn't sleep and my head still hurt, she told me to go to the hospital and otherwise, go to my family doctor within 24 hours.
This morning, I woke up and my eye on the side that had hurt yesterday was still killing me. I had tossed and turned for most of the night so I called in sick to work and told my boss that my eye was swollen and it was pretty much glued shut (which it was) and that I was going to go see a Dr. (which I did). I called my mom but she was in meetings all morning and my brother said if I needed to get somewhere I could call a cab or an ambulance and then he hung up on me. Laurel was busy with work and I thought about calling Sandra or Matt or Ben but I didn't know about gas, vehicle and work schedules respectively so I gave up. I drove myself and the 20 minute trip took me 40. I pulled over anytime I felt light-headed or dizzy. I probably wasn't the safest person on the roads but I found myself behind a dumptruck that was doing between 30 and 40 for most of the trip across town so I followed it as it was a good speed for me today...
My doctor basically said that as I have been on the other meds for 10 days and I am still sick, I should be on something else, not the same stuff. Also, the stuff I was on is fine for strep but not so much for sinus related stuff. So, he changed my meds and put me on an aqueous nasal spray as well. (Gotta say, it tastes horrid!!!) I hope that his prediction of feeling better by Saturday holds true because my weekend is looking pretty busy right now....
After I was done at the clinic, my mom called to say she would meet me so I could get my prescriptions filled. She met me at London Drugs and brought me a Booster Juice which was a nice surprise/treat. She had them make it without the yogurt so I could drink it. :)
I came home and had a nap for a while and then just after I got up, Ben called... It was nice to hear from him... I haven't talked to him since he picked up his pizzas on Saturday (I wasn't at small group on Sunday) and it was cool to talk to him.
I watched T.V. for a bit and my mom and bro stopped by and dropped off some more Kleenex (a case) and two DVD's ("The Family Stone" and "Last Holiday") and now I'm blogging before I head to watch a DVD and bedtime.
It's been a busy-ish day... Tomorrow and Friday I'm not working... I was told to rest... So I will be at home, resting, possibly working on Wheat, otherwise doing nothing... If anyone wants to hang out or talk or whatever, y'all know how to reach me...
Night.
Now, almost two weeks later, I still have a sinus infection and minor ear infections and possible bronchitis. I saw the third doctor in two weeks today (my family one finally...) and he changed my meds. So, he said I should be feeling MUCH better by Saturday. I have to say, my fingers are MAJORLY crossed and I am praying hard that it happens because I feel awful right now!
Yesterday I felt like someone had socked me in the eye... I felt like I had a black eye and it was swollen. It didn't look swollen but I could feel it... My head hurt, I couldn't sleep, my sinuses were still plugged, and so on.... My mom came over and I called the Health Link line and the nurse told me to do hot compresses on the side of my face/head that hurt and try to get some sleep. If I couldn't sleep and my head still hurt, she told me to go to the hospital and otherwise, go to my family doctor within 24 hours.
This morning, I woke up and my eye on the side that had hurt yesterday was still killing me. I had tossed and turned for most of the night so I called in sick to work and told my boss that my eye was swollen and it was pretty much glued shut (which it was) and that I was going to go see a Dr. (which I did). I called my mom but she was in meetings all morning and my brother said if I needed to get somewhere I could call a cab or an ambulance and then he hung up on me. Laurel was busy with work and I thought about calling Sandra or Matt or Ben but I didn't know about gas, vehicle and work schedules respectively so I gave up. I drove myself and the 20 minute trip took me 40. I pulled over anytime I felt light-headed or dizzy. I probably wasn't the safest person on the roads but I found myself behind a dumptruck that was doing between 30 and 40 for most of the trip across town so I followed it as it was a good speed for me today...
My doctor basically said that as I have been on the other meds for 10 days and I am still sick, I should be on something else, not the same stuff. Also, the stuff I was on is fine for strep but not so much for sinus related stuff. So, he changed my meds and put me on an aqueous nasal spray as well. (Gotta say, it tastes horrid!!!) I hope that his prediction of feeling better by Saturday holds true because my weekend is looking pretty busy right now....
After I was done at the clinic, my mom called to say she would meet me so I could get my prescriptions filled. She met me at London Drugs and brought me a Booster Juice which was a nice surprise/treat. She had them make it without the yogurt so I could drink it. :)
I came home and had a nap for a while and then just after I got up, Ben called... It was nice to hear from him... I haven't talked to him since he picked up his pizzas on Saturday (I wasn't at small group on Sunday) and it was cool to talk to him.
I watched T.V. for a bit and my mom and bro stopped by and dropped off some more Kleenex (a case) and two DVD's ("The Family Stone" and "Last Holiday") and now I'm blogging before I head to watch a DVD and bedtime.
It's been a busy-ish day... Tomorrow and Friday I'm not working... I was told to rest... So I will be at home, resting, possibly working on Wheat, otherwise doing nothing... If anyone wants to hang out or talk or whatever, y'all know how to reach me...
Night.
Monday, May 01, 2006
What to say today...
It's been a while since I wrote anything on here... I have thought a lot about writing on here but I haven't been online all that much and I have been busy. Well, I had been keeping myself busy and then I have been busy ever since.
So, after my final concert at school and moving back here and my grandmothers funeral, I spent pretty much everyday hanging out with Matt and Ben. I love those two guys a ton... They are two of my best friends and I appreciate the fact that they have been there for me through thick and thin in the past few months. Honestly, if it weren't for the two of them, I don't know how I would have handled it all.
So, they were both working and during my third week home, I was finally like "I'm bored out of my mind... I need to DO something!!! Other than sitting around doing nothing and then hanging out with friends at night!" I applied for some jobs and got a few interviews and was hired on the spot for one of them. So, the past week and a bit, I have been working at a Petro Canada car wash. It's not a bad job, the people are pretty nice and I get to be outside. It's definitely not what I want to do for the rest of my life but for now, it's not a bad summer job. The hours are consistent and the money's not bad.
So, otherwise, I am working the upcoming TEC (I am on Conference!) and have been doing a ton of stuff for fundraising... We sold over 300 pizzas!!! :O :) :O :) :O :) I am SO happy!!! We beat the total number of pizzas sold at the last two sales that I was coordinator for!!! Also, a few of my friends from camp are going to this TEC as participants and a few others from choir are thinking about going... I am looking forward to it!!!
This past weekend, I was REALLY sick but I was at a 25th year reunion for the Mount Royal Youth Choir. It was cool to be there and having Mr. Ferguson as a guest conductor for the weekend. We sang a bunch of pieces from various years throughout the past 25. I was kind of frustrated that two of the songs we skipped were pieces we did when we toured to Scotland and the ones we did weren't anything we had technically sung when I was in the choir (January 2001 - August 2003). We did "Witness" though which I sang when I joined them for Spring Song in 2004 and I LOVE that piece!!! We also did Mozart's "Ave Verum" which I did in High School. The Arioso did "Ching-a-ring-chaw" and the Youth Choir did "Psalmo 150" and "Voice Dance" which I have also sung. All in all, the weekend of singing and meeting choristers was really fun and the concert at the end of the weekend was cool to watch. It was great to see people I used to sing with and meet people who sang in the choir long before I did. On Saturday after singing all day (I had no voice left...) we went to BP's and I got the chance to hang out with Liam, Elisa, Justin, Breighanne, Skye, Roy and others and meet people like Pat... It was an interesting group. :P :D
Afterwards, I went to the doctor's and it turns out I have a sinus infection, throat infection (possibly strep), ear infections in both ears and possibly bronchitis... No wonder I feel like crap... So, that explained why I felt like I had I head cold. But now, I am not feeling any better and I am trying to get as much rest as possible...
I have been working M-F, 8-5 and I haven't had as much time to spend with my friends... I am finding that hard because it was cool to have a social life for once... Ben leaves for camp in a little over a month, Matt is working full-time and is in a new relationship, Britney has already left to live at camp and work at Greenview, I never see Meghan because I am at work all day and I'm tired at night, I see Sandra now because she and I started working together (she started on Friday!), I don't see Laurel all that often because we are both so busy and Kristyn is busy with Kylee and Ryan and we never see each other... I guess when I take a step back and look at my life right now, I'm glad I'm busy and everything but I'm sad that it has come down to seeing my friends when I have a few minutes to spare...
I have been taught to be happy for what I have. Lately it has hit me that I am living pretty much alone in a house that I have lived in off and on for the past few years but there was always someone else around. I have my own car but it needs a few improvements as it isn't in top running condition... and I have spiritual gifts that I don't have the chance to use... I need to find somewhere I can serve that I can use them...
I'm tired and I have a headache so I'm going to go rest...
So, after my final concert at school and moving back here and my grandmothers funeral, I spent pretty much everyday hanging out with Matt and Ben. I love those two guys a ton... They are two of my best friends and I appreciate the fact that they have been there for me through thick and thin in the past few months. Honestly, if it weren't for the two of them, I don't know how I would have handled it all.
So, they were both working and during my third week home, I was finally like "I'm bored out of my mind... I need to DO something!!! Other than sitting around doing nothing and then hanging out with friends at night!" I applied for some jobs and got a few interviews and was hired on the spot for one of them. So, the past week and a bit, I have been working at a Petro Canada car wash. It's not a bad job, the people are pretty nice and I get to be outside. It's definitely not what I want to do for the rest of my life but for now, it's not a bad summer job. The hours are consistent and the money's not bad.
So, otherwise, I am working the upcoming TEC (I am on Conference!) and have been doing a ton of stuff for fundraising... We sold over 300 pizzas!!! :O :) :O :) :O :) I am SO happy!!! We beat the total number of pizzas sold at the last two sales that I was coordinator for!!! Also, a few of my friends from camp are going to this TEC as participants and a few others from choir are thinking about going... I am looking forward to it!!!
This past weekend, I was REALLY sick but I was at a 25th year reunion for the Mount Royal Youth Choir. It was cool to be there and having Mr. Ferguson as a guest conductor for the weekend. We sang a bunch of pieces from various years throughout the past 25. I was kind of frustrated that two of the songs we skipped were pieces we did when we toured to Scotland and the ones we did weren't anything we had technically sung when I was in the choir (January 2001 - August 2003). We did "Witness" though which I sang when I joined them for Spring Song in 2004 and I LOVE that piece!!! We also did Mozart's "Ave Verum" which I did in High School. The Arioso did "Ching-a-ring-chaw" and the Youth Choir did "Psalmo 150" and "Voice Dance" which I have also sung. All in all, the weekend of singing and meeting choristers was really fun and the concert at the end of the weekend was cool to watch. It was great to see people I used to sing with and meet people who sang in the choir long before I did. On Saturday after singing all day (I had no voice left...) we went to BP's and I got the chance to hang out with Liam, Elisa, Justin, Breighanne, Skye, Roy and others and meet people like Pat... It was an interesting group. :P :D
Afterwards, I went to the doctor's and it turns out I have a sinus infection, throat infection (possibly strep), ear infections in both ears and possibly bronchitis... No wonder I feel like crap... So, that explained why I felt like I had I head cold. But now, I am not feeling any better and I am trying to get as much rest as possible...
I have been working M-F, 8-5 and I haven't had as much time to spend with my friends... I am finding that hard because it was cool to have a social life for once... Ben leaves for camp in a little over a month, Matt is working full-time and is in a new relationship, Britney has already left to live at camp and work at Greenview, I never see Meghan because I am at work all day and I'm tired at night, I see Sandra now because she and I started working together (she started on Friday!), I don't see Laurel all that often because we are both so busy and Kristyn is busy with Kylee and Ryan and we never see each other... I guess when I take a step back and look at my life right now, I'm glad I'm busy and everything but I'm sad that it has come down to seeing my friends when I have a few minutes to spare...
I have been taught to be happy for what I have. Lately it has hit me that I am living pretty much alone in a house that I have lived in off and on for the past few years but there was always someone else around. I have my own car but it needs a few improvements as it isn't in top running condition... and I have spiritual gifts that I don't have the chance to use... I need to find somewhere I can serve that I can use them...
I'm tired and I have a headache so I'm going to go rest...
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