Good news! I am starting to hear back from some of the universities I've applied to! I'm so excited! I just got a letter back from UCFV syaing that I have met all their requirements and passed their first wave admittence! I'm psyched. I also finally got my application papers for the University of Toronto. I know, I know. That one is far far away from home and in the complete opposite direction of the Pacific, but who knows? My Dad went there, all my family is down east; Victoria College on U of T campus has an excellent and rigerous Arts program, like UBC, and both can give me a great education. However, I feel like I have to read through a novel to fill out the OUAC application form. Seriously, it is about 85 pages of bilingual nonsense. I think it was written by lawyers.
I was starting to get a little nervous about not hearing from any schools. I will not know exactly where I'm going until probably May or June, but maybe as early as the end of Feburary. I've been struggling with the whole waiting thing. I'm a rather active person and my heart feels somewhat nomadic. I like to move around, make new friends, see new places, be faced with challenge; I need to feel like I'm learning something. Right now though, I honestly feel like I'm in a rut. I work all day every day, make no money, see the same people every day, say the same things every day, hear the same music--I can not stand it! I hate waiting for something greater to come along, but I know it has to be coming.
Don't get me wrong or anything. I care about the people in my life, I really do. My family means more to me now that I'm out of the house and my some of my friends me more to me now that I never see them. But to be honest, I haven't really found home. Several of my friend's families have "adopted" me (though I didn't really know I was up for adoption), but even they just don't feel like home. I just don't feel that attached to anyone or anything right now that would keep me in one place. I am nomadic. I am only where my feet are. That is what I consider to be my own. I really think that leaving everything I know behind will be a good thing for me; it might make me value what I have, and what I had, more. It might help me feel more connected to people.
Anyway, that was one big long rant.
Today was a bitter day of blizzarding snow and -37 wind chills. I'm sittin here at work with gloves on and a door that is partially frozen shut. There are four foot drifts on our deck and in my back yard, and sadly it it too cold to take my board out tonight. Feels like winter though. Fa-la-la-la-laa!
Monday, November 27, 2006
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Shake Your Bon Bon
After yet another busy, boring week of work, I was happy to see my shift end on Saturday. I have realized how strict of a routine I have lodged myself into; I hate routine. I get up early every morning, work for a while, rest, go back to work, come home and go to bed. I see the same people almost everyday--there is so little varience in my life that it is beinging to get to me again.
Rather randomly, I found myself at the church on Saturday night, ready to take a belly dancing class. I had so much fun! I had a veil and learned to shake my booty! Zaira and I both went, and I think we both found it great to just be a little silly. We were all wearing veils and sari's and having a lot of fun playing with the chiffon.
Honestly though, belly dancing is hard! You have to isolate all of these different movements for different parts of your body: only your hips, or knees, or shoulders, or neck, or ribs can move at one time. Your arms are above your head half of the time and you have to walk with your hips shaking. It's a lot of fun though. I definatly want to do that again.
The class was part a new thing starting at my church called: DEW (Dance, evangelism, worship or "Dance for every woman"). Or at least, prospectivly starting up. I love the idea, because I love to dance (I can't, but love it) and the mind frame of the churches and most people around here is that dancing it not "holy," and especially not belly dancing. But it was a great way to release. There were about 15 women there, all of which who were a little bit hesistant to have fun at first. But then we all got into it and just had a blast! I couldn't move all of my body the way I was supposed to and just burst out into a fit of crazy-dance.
Then there was a short break with food and such, and then a little explaination of what the plan was for the class. The lady leading it said one of the coolest things at this time: "God created all kinds of dance." He did. It's true. Only Satan is what makes dance bad; he is the one that takes something beautiful and twists it, distorts it into something ugly. Her point was something like, "Why can't someone worship God with belly dancing? He created that too." I thought that this point was so cool.
After the little devotional thing, they turned on some worship music, turned down the lights and went at it. I am telling you, it was amazing! I saw women I have always known as stoic "church women" dancing their hearts out. No one told them to dance, no one told them to grab a veil and play with it like they were a little kid again, no one told them to sing; there was just so much freedom in that place. Everyone was just wrapped up in the presence of God and there was no way they could not hold their heart back from taking over. There were two woman dancing together in a jive, some on their own, some on their faces, and some just tapping their feet. There were mothers, daughters, grandmas, wives, young woman, boistrous woman, and timid woman and all were just letting themselves go. I tell you, I have never felt so much freedom in my life. It was beautiful. And it all came about by opening up with belly dancing. Amazing!
Rather randomly, I found myself at the church on Saturday night, ready to take a belly dancing class. I had so much fun! I had a veil and learned to shake my booty! Zaira and I both went, and I think we both found it great to just be a little silly. We were all wearing veils and sari's and having a lot of fun playing with the chiffon.
Honestly though, belly dancing is hard! You have to isolate all of these different movements for different parts of your body: only your hips, or knees, or shoulders, or neck, or ribs can move at one time. Your arms are above your head half of the time and you have to walk with your hips shaking. It's a lot of fun though. I definatly want to do that again.
The class was part a new thing starting at my church called: DEW (Dance, evangelism, worship or "Dance for every woman"). Or at least, prospectivly starting up. I love the idea, because I love to dance (I can't, but love it) and the mind frame of the churches and most people around here is that dancing it not "holy," and especially not belly dancing. But it was a great way to release. There were about 15 women there, all of which who were a little bit hesistant to have fun at first. But then we all got into it and just had a blast! I couldn't move all of my body the way I was supposed to and just burst out into a fit of crazy-dance.
Then there was a short break with food and such, and then a little explaination of what the plan was for the class. The lady leading it said one of the coolest things at this time: "God created all kinds of dance." He did. It's true. Only Satan is what makes dance bad; he is the one that takes something beautiful and twists it, distorts it into something ugly. Her point was something like, "Why can't someone worship God with belly dancing? He created that too." I thought that this point was so cool.
After the little devotional thing, they turned on some worship music, turned down the lights and went at it. I am telling you, it was amazing! I saw women I have always known as stoic "church women" dancing their hearts out. No one told them to dance, no one told them to grab a veil and play with it like they were a little kid again, no one told them to sing; there was just so much freedom in that place. Everyone was just wrapped up in the presence of God and there was no way they could not hold their heart back from taking over. There were two woman dancing together in a jive, some on their own, some on their faces, and some just tapping their feet. There were mothers, daughters, grandmas, wives, young woman, boistrous woman, and timid woman and all were just letting themselves go. I tell you, I have never felt so much freedom in my life. It was beautiful. And it all came about by opening up with belly dancing. Amazing!
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Dear Mr. Howard
So, I guess this is pretty cool. I'm now being published three times. Twice in a book and once on some editor's choice cut CD's. I guess that is pretty cool. The CD's are only a compliation of 33 authors. I'm one of them. Mr. Loewen is going to be so pround of me!
If you're wondering what exactly I'm getting published, I promise you, it isn't that much. In fact, I am very suprised to be recieving as much acclaimation as I am for this particular poem. If you're interested, take a look: (This is all my own original work and is copyrighted)
If you're wondering what exactly I'm getting published, I promise you, it isn't that much. In fact, I am very suprised to be recieving as much acclaimation as I am for this particular poem. If you're interested, take a look: (This is all my own original work and is copyrighted)
The Journey
(c) Rebecca Tomlinson
And at the end of the Journey
We will finally see:
Words have no meaning in eternity.
So take me from here
To that Higher place
To where my fears will leave no trace.
I will sprout my wings and finally see
That from my Journey,
I have at last been made free.
That's all. I have better things! Unfortunatly, they exceed the 24 line limit.
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
What is the Rush?
Linden is a good place. It is safe, the people are more or less polite and nice, the food is yummy and against all diets, it's quiet; yet itis driving me insane.
Sadly, there is a mentality among the Holdemens and even several of the 'secular' girls around here that if you aren't married by the time you're 25, you are so screwed. I hate that. I know this woman: she is beautiful in every way, hilarious, an awesome cook--she has so much going for her, and yet she feels somewhat worthless because she isn't married off yet and over the age of 25.
Now, I am totally not against the whole marriage thing in the slightest. But, it does worry me when I see women, who are not that much older than me, freaking out be cause they are single or dating and not married yet. What is the rush? Even at 30, 40, 60, you're still young! I think you only really become 'old' when you think of yourself as 'old.'
The guys in the Bible lived to be 400+ years old. Now that, is old. Not mid-twenties.
Zaira was telling me about life in Mexico. Apparently, this frame of mind is carried on down there too, only, to a more severe degree. She has a friend who was married at 17. 17! I'm thinking back to what I was like a year and a bit ago, and believe me, there was no way I would want to get married. Not even now. I'm far too young and there is so much I need to experience on my own yet. Zaira is the same age as me and she has 3 friends, who are also the same age, who are married. Schnikee's. She told me that in Mexico, where she is from, if you are not married by 23, your chances of ever getting married are quickly diminishing and you really should start to worry. Sadly, it is thought that a woman can't really survive without a husband down there; that woman aren't as strong; they are passed over for jobs that they have all the qualifications for. Zaira tells me every day that she loves it here. She has so much more freedom here. It has really helped me to see just how blessed I really am.
Besides that, check this out. But only if you are having a stressful day. Trust me, it helps.
Sadly, there is a mentality among the Holdemens and even several of the 'secular' girls around here that if you aren't married by the time you're 25, you are so screwed. I hate that. I know this woman: she is beautiful in every way, hilarious, an awesome cook--she has so much going for her, and yet she feels somewhat worthless because she isn't married off yet and over the age of 25.
Now, I am totally not against the whole marriage thing in the slightest. But, it does worry me when I see women, who are not that much older than me, freaking out be cause they are single or dating and not married yet. What is the rush? Even at 30, 40, 60, you're still young! I think you only really become 'old' when you think of yourself as 'old.'
The guys in the Bible lived to be 400+ years old. Now that, is old. Not mid-twenties.
Zaira was telling me about life in Mexico. Apparently, this frame of mind is carried on down there too, only, to a more severe degree. She has a friend who was married at 17. 17! I'm thinking back to what I was like a year and a bit ago, and believe me, there was no way I would want to get married. Not even now. I'm far too young and there is so much I need to experience on my own yet. Zaira is the same age as me and she has 3 friends, who are also the same age, who are married. Schnikee's. She told me that in Mexico, where she is from, if you are not married by 23, your chances of ever getting married are quickly diminishing and you really should start to worry. Sadly, it is thought that a woman can't really survive without a husband down there; that woman aren't as strong; they are passed over for jobs that they have all the qualifications for. Zaira tells me every day that she loves it here. She has so much more freedom here. It has really helped me to see just how blessed I really am.
Besides that, check this out. But only if you are having a stressful day. Trust me, it helps.
Monday, November 20, 2006
Live Fast, Die Young
I'm alive!! Believe me, it was questionable for a while there.
I have spent the past five days or so in an alternate universe; seriously, this has been the weirdest head-cold I have ever had. It consisted of me losing my marbles and suffering from nose issues.
I'd like to take a moment to apologize here to Laura, Shari, Zaira, and Curt, who were all unfortunatly witness to my breaking point. For some strange reason, my cold climaxed on Saturday night with me in an insane laughing/weeping fit. I was euphoric and very sad all at the same time. I'm pretty sure that the break was induced at least somewhat in part by the NyQuil, which I'm thinking I should stay away from. I took two Friday night, passed out by 7pm, slept for twelve hours and felt very lucid the whole next day. I swear, those pills are flipping horse tranquilizers. The box say not to exceed 8 pills a day: I took two, slept for twelve hours and am pretty sure 8 would put me in a rather serious coma state.
Anyway, feeling a little bit better today; everything is less foggy.
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of going up to Edmonton and visiting a friend of mine attending college there. It was fun. I hugged him. He resisted for a while, but as always, I won him over. Sort of. He doesn't like people touching him very much. He jokingly attacked me when I tried booting him in the tush. Right in the middle of West Ed. I totally deserved it though.
I went up with my roomies and Zaira, so it seriously was a good time. It was Zaira's first trip to West Ed, andit ended with her saying: "I love that mall!" But ironically, it was because it had a big boat, wavepool, and most importantly, a roller coaster. I love that girl; I am better for knowing her.
I have spent the past five days or so in an alternate universe; seriously, this has been the weirdest head-cold I have ever had. It consisted of me losing my marbles and suffering from nose issues.
I'd like to take a moment to apologize here to Laura, Shari, Zaira, and Curt, who were all unfortunatly witness to my breaking point. For some strange reason, my cold climaxed on Saturday night with me in an insane laughing/weeping fit. I was euphoric and very sad all at the same time. I'm pretty sure that the break was induced at least somewhat in part by the NyQuil, which I'm thinking I should stay away from. I took two Friday night, passed out by 7pm, slept for twelve hours and felt very lucid the whole next day. I swear, those pills are flipping horse tranquilizers. The box say not to exceed 8 pills a day: I took two, slept for twelve hours and am pretty sure 8 would put me in a rather serious coma state.
Anyway, feeling a little bit better today; everything is less foggy.
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of going up to Edmonton and visiting a friend of mine attending college there. It was fun. I hugged him. He resisted for a while, but as always, I won him over. Sort of. He doesn't like people touching him very much. He jokingly attacked me when I tried booting him in the tush. Right in the middle of West Ed. I totally deserved it though.
I went up with my roomies and Zaira, so it seriously was a good time. It was Zaira's first trip to West Ed, andit ended with her saying: "I love that mall!" But ironically, it was because it had a big boat, wavepool, and most importantly, a roller coaster. I love that girl; I am better for knowing her.
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Why Did You Sing
Good morning all. I woke up this morning and realized I hadn't writen in here for a while; life is just really busy right now. And of course, being that life is busy, I'm getting sick again. Oh well.
This will be short because nothing much of any real interest has happened for a while. I bought some bed sheets and boarding boots. Oh, and I went swimming. And I worked a whole buttload. That's all. I'm putting up some Christmas decorations tomorrow! That's fun.
Oh, and I cut Curt's hair. Our garbage looks like Curt's head was thrown out. It's pretty funny. Not the cut; the hair in the garbage.
Question: Does anyone know of any limo services in Calgary?
This will be short because nothing much of any real interest has happened for a while. I bought some bed sheets and boarding boots. Oh, and I went swimming. And I worked a whole buttload. That's all. I'm putting up some Christmas decorations tomorrow! That's fun.
Oh, and I cut Curt's hair. Our garbage looks like Curt's head was thrown out. It's pretty funny. Not the cut; the hair in the garbage.
Question: Does anyone know of any limo services in Calgary?
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Humane Humanity?
Okay, yes, I'll admitt this: I am a nerd. I love reading the newspaper, finding out what the UN is up to and doing a crossword the odd time. I graduated from High school with honors in both English 30-1 and Social 30. I nearly wrote 100% on the essay portion of both subsequent Provincial exams. I know, nerd.
So I was reading in the paper's yesterday that Sadaam is sentenced to hang. His own people came to this verdict, to which I can say, he does deserve to be punished. However, this I do not understand: How can hanging Sadaam fundamentally be justified? Would hanging him not be the same sort of thing Sadaam himself would have done? Would this action not make him and his hangers one in the same?
I know that Sadaam was an evil man, corrupt in all respects, but what really makes him different from the rest of us? Yes, people were mercilessly killed by him, tortured andwho knows what else; they weren't given a fair trial and he was, though chances are, he was sentenced to death in the minds of everyone long before the verdict came down.
Besides, killing Sadaam will not solve problems. Agreed, a horrible man will be dealt with, but what of his followers? His friends? They will continue to oppress those whom Sadaam had a foot-hold over. What of the other corrupt world leaders who oppress their voters, and not just in murderous was, but in stereotypical ways: ethnicity, skills, handicaps, age, gender? Does that not make all world leaders corrupt? Should all leaders be hung for oppressing their nations in one way or another? What of the average Joe? He holds judgements and hatred. Should he also be killed? What really make Sadaam so undeniably different from the rest of the world?
I don't agree with capital punishment, basically, and I never have and likely never will. I don't care how horrible a person is, how many lives they've taken, atrocities they've committed--murdering them makes us just as guilty as they are. Why then do we not get punished for our downfalls?
I always thought democracy was based on some principle Christian morals. Does the Bible not say "...let he who is blameless castthe first stone..." ? Who appointed a man, suseptable to all, to deem that taking another man's life is the "right thing to do?" Man vs. man is always a lose-lose situation because we are all dumb! Every single human being on this earth, now and forever, is guilty as the same flaw: we have all hated something or will hate something at some point in our lives!
A couple years ago there were some Mounties murdered up around Edmonton. The guman turned the barrel to himself when he was finished with the masacre, and everyone was thankful he had done so. Everyone hated him, and still does. But, by hating that man, are we not all guilty of the smae crime as he was? Everyone wished him gone, glad he shot himself--deemed him too vile and undeserving of life--they mentally took his life away from him. The way I see it, the only thing that makes the killer any different from the rest of us is that he actually pulled a trigger; though always preceeds action and is therefore the root of the downfall.
So I was reading in the paper's yesterday that Sadaam is sentenced to hang. His own people came to this verdict, to which I can say, he does deserve to be punished. However, this I do not understand: How can hanging Sadaam fundamentally be justified? Would hanging him not be the same sort of thing Sadaam himself would have done? Would this action not make him and his hangers one in the same?
I know that Sadaam was an evil man, corrupt in all respects, but what really makes him different from the rest of us? Yes, people were mercilessly killed by him, tortured andwho knows what else; they weren't given a fair trial and he was, though chances are, he was sentenced to death in the minds of everyone long before the verdict came down.
Besides, killing Sadaam will not solve problems. Agreed, a horrible man will be dealt with, but what of his followers? His friends? They will continue to oppress those whom Sadaam had a foot-hold over. What of the other corrupt world leaders who oppress their voters, and not just in murderous was, but in stereotypical ways: ethnicity, skills, handicaps, age, gender? Does that not make all world leaders corrupt? Should all leaders be hung for oppressing their nations in one way or another? What of the average Joe? He holds judgements and hatred. Should he also be killed? What really make Sadaam so undeniably different from the rest of the world?
I don't agree with capital punishment, basically, and I never have and likely never will. I don't care how horrible a person is, how many lives they've taken, atrocities they've committed--murdering them makes us just as guilty as they are. Why then do we not get punished for our downfalls?
I always thought democracy was based on some principle Christian morals. Does the Bible not say "...let he who is blameless castthe first stone..." ? Who appointed a man, suseptable to all, to deem that taking another man's life is the "right thing to do?" Man vs. man is always a lose-lose situation because we are all dumb! Every single human being on this earth, now and forever, is guilty as the same flaw: we have all hated something or will hate something at some point in our lives!
A couple years ago there were some Mounties murdered up around Edmonton. The guman turned the barrel to himself when he was finished with the masacre, and everyone was thankful he had done so. Everyone hated him, and still does. But, by hating that man, are we not all guilty of the smae crime as he was? Everyone wished him gone, glad he shot himself--deemed him too vile and undeserving of life--they mentally took his life away from him. The way I see it, the only thing that makes the killer any different from the rest of us is that he actually pulled a trigger; though always preceeds action and is therefore the root of the downfall.
...
I seem to have been having a series of bad days;gradually getting more and more grumpy. I'm not entirely sure why, but I am. I punched Curty in the nose last night in self defense and out of frustration; he didn't really deserve it probably and being me, I feel horrible. It bled and everything. I'm so mean. I should be hung!
Sunday, November 05, 2006
Boone was a Hottie
The past couple of days have been...interesting to say the least.
Nothing to vital or amazing has happened; just feeling a lot of growing pains is all.
Saturday morning came all too soon. I was completly unprepared for the Fall Fair; "Yo Beck!" had about half as merchandise as I had wanted to have prepared, but we did alright anyway. But hey, I woke up and did something I haven't done in quite some time: I prayed. That was cool. I think I'm starting to mature.
But anyway, Fall Fair went well. Mom stopped by the table and raised a big stink about my hair and it's low lights. "She's ruined a perfectly good set of hair," she said, "Everyone knows her by her hair. Everyone has always commented on how beautiful her hair is. Or was." This was while I was help one of my friend's Grandma's buy some coffee. Grandma was so sweet; she leaned in and said, "You're beautiful." Thanks Gran! Oh well, I like my hair anyway.
Besides that, not too terribly much has happened. Still working on fighting bouts of some serious lonliness, but I think life is really starting to suck less and less. Most of the time anyway. Having set goals for myself and such have really helped me stay distracted.
Today I have spent about 6 hours watching "Lost" season 1 with Curt and Megan. Such an awesome show.
Nothing to vital or amazing has happened; just feeling a lot of growing pains is all.
Saturday morning came all too soon. I was completly unprepared for the Fall Fair; "Yo Beck!" had about half as merchandise as I had wanted to have prepared, but we did alright anyway. But hey, I woke up and did something I haven't done in quite some time: I prayed. That was cool. I think I'm starting to mature.
But anyway, Fall Fair went well. Mom stopped by the table and raised a big stink about my hair and it's low lights. "She's ruined a perfectly good set of hair," she said, "Everyone knows her by her hair. Everyone has always commented on how beautiful her hair is. Or was." This was while I was help one of my friend's Grandma's buy some coffee. Grandma was so sweet; she leaned in and said, "You're beautiful." Thanks Gran! Oh well, I like my hair anyway.
Besides that, not too terribly much has happened. Still working on fighting bouts of some serious lonliness, but I think life is really starting to suck less and less. Most of the time anyway. Having set goals for myself and such have really helped me stay distracted.
Today I have spent about 6 hours watching "Lost" season 1 with Curt and Megan. Such an awesome show.
Friday, November 03, 2006
O.C.P. Rebecca Tomlinson
So, I guess I was rather bored yesterday at work. I'd done all of the crosswords, played as much Sudoku as my brain could manage and there was still nothing to do. As a result, I got myself ordained. As far as the internet now knows me, I am part of the clergy.
However, I am not planning on officiating anything as I'm not thinking of my ordaination as legit (though the website boasts it!). I just wanted to see just how easy it was to get ordained on the internet. Turns out it is incredibly easy.
Other than that, yesterday was a wee bit of a wierd day. I got my hair low lighted so now it is pretty much a rather dark auburn; looks really gorgeous though. Then today, about a hundred pounds of 5 Blue Heron bath salts fell to the floor at Global, and random other chaotic events have occured in prep for the Linden Fall Fair tomorrow.
I just had a rather uncomfortable situation happen to me here at work. Some Holdemen lady just came and asked me when the wedding was. I was like "What wedding?" She replied, "Oh, aren't you the one getting married?" "No, not that I know of. I'm just out of high school." There was one of those classic akward pauses. "Who was I getting married to?" "Brady," she said. Yep. Great sweetie. Thank you. I feel like I have just run head on, full speed, into a brick wall. "No...no." I said. "We broke up in July." The woman's face turned all shades of red, "Oh, well then I guess you're not getting married. Well at least not now anyway. I'll have to tell 'them' to stop spreading the news then." She then proceeded to run out of the store. Great. Thank you so very much.
So apparently, the Holdemen community here has been gossiping about my wedding to Brady, a guy who broke up with me months ago. I don't have the slightest idea of where they got that incredibly false information; even when we were dating, I didn't seriously think of marriage and most certainly didn't talk about it. For Pete's sake, I'm only 18! Hmmmm. So now I feel incredibly akward and am distastfully reminded of how much I miss Brady.
Oh well, I've survived thus far and I'm only getting started. Besides, I'm in with the Big G being ordained and all. That's not something EVERYONE can boast now is it?
Oh my.
However, I am not planning on officiating anything as I'm not thinking of my ordaination as legit (though the website boasts it!). I just wanted to see just how easy it was to get ordained on the internet. Turns out it is incredibly easy.
Other than that, yesterday was a wee bit of a wierd day. I got my hair low lighted so now it is pretty much a rather dark auburn; looks really gorgeous though. Then today, about a hundred pounds of 5 Blue Heron bath salts fell to the floor at Global, and random other chaotic events have occured in prep for the Linden Fall Fair tomorrow.
...
So apparently, the Holdemen community here has been gossiping about my wedding to Brady, a guy who broke up with me months ago. I don't have the slightest idea of where they got that incredibly false information; even when we were dating, I didn't seriously think of marriage and most certainly didn't talk about it. For Pete's sake, I'm only 18! Hmmmm. So now I feel incredibly akward and am distastfully reminded of how much I miss Brady.
Oh well, I've survived thus far and I'm only getting started. Besides, I'm in with the Big G being ordained and all. That's not something EVERYONE can boast now is it?
Oh my.
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Dead Silent
We're home! Yeah! Sort of! No, just kidding, it is good to be home; I was quite pleased tobe sleeping in my own bed again last night.
We, by the grace of God, made it home around 8pm yesterday (in time for Lost!!!). We almost weren't able to leave Quesnel yesterday though. Curt fell quite ill the on Halloween night (and no, not from candy. He didn't even get to go trick or treating with us!!!) and we weren't sure if he was going to be able to drive home. Then, later that night, Laura got quite ill too, so things were looking kind of precarious. Fortunatly, Curt was feeling good enough to drive home yesterday, and we booked it straight to Linden. Seriously, we came home through Jasper. There were all of two towns to stop in: McBride and Nordegg. Nordegg makes me laugh. I will always remember it as redneck central. The gas station had little hunter G-I Joes and a huge shot gun mounted on the wall; at the town's entrance, they had a sign "Hunting within town limits is prohibited." No kidding.
Anyway, it is a bright Thursday morning and I'm finding myself back at work already. There is a fall fair in town this weekend, and two of my three jobs are sharing a table at the fair. This means I have a buttload of painting and sewing to be doing in the next two days! But first, I'm going to put low lights in my hair or something.
So yes, I send huge thank-yous out to all who blessed the three of us on our road trip. And what a road trip at that! We pulled up to our house and were a whole 40kms away from 3000kms travelled. Too bad we were sick of being in the car or we could have driven up to Three bumps and back to top off the odometer. Next time I guess.
It was really cool though. Coming down the Icefield Parkway, we suddenly found ourselves at 7000ft. This is really funny because on our way to Abbotsford, we hit an awesome low of -2ft. Anyway, we stopped at a viewpoint and took a quick walk. The snow there was pure crunchy powder and there was nothing but silence. Absolutly nothing. We were the only car on the road too. Even the ringing in our ears was gone. It was so cool. An awesome way to wind down a trip; you know, spending a moment in pure silence, finding some sort of clarity. Well, at least that was what it was like for me. We took a couple of pictures of that beautiful place. I'll put them up sometime soon.
Nothing else really happened on our way home. I lost my sanity after not getting out of the car for more than 6 hours straight. That was fun. Our tushies were completly numb. Oh, and we nearly killed all of the wildlife around HWY 11. There were deer, moose, and moutian goats all over the road. I was happy to have finally seen some mountain wildlife. The roads were more than a wee bit icy, so stopping before hitting them was presumably rather interesting.
We, by the grace of God, made it home around 8pm yesterday (in time for Lost!!!). We almost weren't able to leave Quesnel yesterday though. Curt fell quite ill the on Halloween night (and no, not from candy. He didn't even get to go trick or treating with us!!!) and we weren't sure if he was going to be able to drive home. Then, later that night, Laura got quite ill too, so things were looking kind of precarious. Fortunatly, Curt was feeling good enough to drive home yesterday, and we booked it straight to Linden. Seriously, we came home through Jasper. There were all of two towns to stop in: McBride and Nordegg. Nordegg makes me laugh. I will always remember it as redneck central. The gas station had little hunter G-I Joes and a huge shot gun mounted on the wall; at the town's entrance, they had a sign "Hunting within town limits is prohibited." No kidding.
Anyway, it is a bright Thursday morning and I'm finding myself back at work already. There is a fall fair in town this weekend, and two of my three jobs are sharing a table at the fair. This means I have a buttload of painting and sewing to be doing in the next two days! But first, I'm going to put low lights in my hair or something.
So yes, I send huge thank-yous out to all who blessed the three of us on our road trip. And what a road trip at that! We pulled up to our house and were a whole 40kms away from 3000kms travelled. Too bad we were sick of being in the car or we could have driven up to Three bumps and back to top off the odometer. Next time I guess.
It was really cool though. Coming down the Icefield Parkway, we suddenly found ourselves at 7000ft. This is really funny because on our way to Abbotsford, we hit an awesome low of -2ft. Anyway, we stopped at a viewpoint and took a quick walk. The snow there was pure crunchy powder and there was nothing but silence. Absolutly nothing. We were the only car on the road too. Even the ringing in our ears was gone. It was so cool. An awesome way to wind down a trip; you know, spending a moment in pure silence, finding some sort of clarity. Well, at least that was what it was like for me. We took a couple of pictures of that beautiful place. I'll put them up sometime soon.
Nothing else really happened on our way home. I lost my sanity after not getting out of the car for more than 6 hours straight. That was fun. Our tushies were completly numb. Oh, and we nearly killed all of the wildlife around HWY 11. There were deer, moose, and moutian goats all over the road. I was happy to have finally seen some mountain wildlife. The roads were more than a wee bit icy, so stopping before hitting them was presumably rather interesting.
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
"This is Halloween..."
I love halloween, serioiusly. I love it. I mean, people giving out free candy and getting to dress like an idiot for one day? How much sweeter can it get?
Tonight I'm going trick-or-treating in Quesnel with the Downey's and then we're heading off to a Fall Fun Fest. There will be games and fireworks. I love fireworks! I have learned that people in BC have fireworks for everything; to this I say: No fair! Why doesn't Alberta embrace pyrotechnics? I love exploding colours.
Holidays, however, have been great. Kicking around Quesnel has just been a great way to relax and catch up with some good friends. I love the three mini Downey girls too, so fooling around with them has been a blast. We've already been to one Fall Fun fest since getting here, and I was almost just as into all of the little games as th kiddies. I ended up squirting some stranger, who was also a pastor, in the face with water. I felt bad. I should apologize.
Tomorrow morning, bright and early, we head home. I'm not ready to head home; the three of us just want to head back down south and once again enjoy the lower mainland. It is such a beauiful place. We missed out on seeing one of my old classmates when we were on CBC campus, which kind of bummed us out a little, but hanging out with Jess more than made up for it. We want to go back sometime. We're thinking mayber New Year's in Vancouver. Fun fun fun!
But yeah, so, when I end up back in Linden (we're planning on making it back in time to watch the beloved Lost show), I'll try to upload some more pics. I've got them coming out the wazzu--it's just a matter of finding the best ones.
Tonight I'm going trick-or-treating in Quesnel with the Downey's and then we're heading off to a Fall Fun Fest. There will be games and fireworks. I love fireworks! I have learned that people in BC have fireworks for everything; to this I say: No fair! Why doesn't Alberta embrace pyrotechnics? I love exploding colours.
Holidays, however, have been great. Kicking around Quesnel has just been a great way to relax and catch up with some good friends. I love the three mini Downey girls too, so fooling around with them has been a blast. We've already been to one Fall Fun fest since getting here, and I was almost just as into all of the little games as th kiddies. I ended up squirting some stranger, who was also a pastor, in the face with water. I felt bad. I should apologize.
Tomorrow morning, bright and early, we head home. I'm not ready to head home; the three of us just want to head back down south and once again enjoy the lower mainland. It is such a beauiful place. We missed out on seeing one of my old classmates when we were on CBC campus, which kind of bummed us out a little, but hanging out with Jess more than made up for it. We want to go back sometime. We're thinking mayber New Year's in Vancouver. Fun fun fun!
But yeah, so, when I end up back in Linden (we're planning on making it back in time to watch the beloved Lost show), I'll try to upload some more pics. I've got them coming out the wazzu--it's just a matter of finding the best ones.
Monday, October 30, 2006
Home Sweet Home
Okay, so my vacation isn't over yet, and I'm sorry for taking so long to blog our progress. Until, there hasn't really been any chance to, and I've been too busy taking a million pictures.
Quick progress report: We have been having an absolute blast! Right now I'm sitting in Kevin's house, on his computer writing this. We have already spent our time in Abbotsford with Jess. Wow, does time ever fly!
Our trip has been exceedingly eventful since the get-go. Three seconds after we left home (at 6am!!), we found that we had run over Curt's camera; an unfortunate way to start the trip, but it didn't really do anything to hinder our fun. We got to Abbotsford around 5pm on Thursday evening and checked into a Best Western with an unprecedented amount of ease. I must say, we have been unbelievably blessed on our journey; we have been so taken care of.
The hotel was awesome; there was a jetted hot tub which soothed our stiff muscles and a the rooms were actually really nice. The ladies that work there were a blessing to me, just simply being nice and letting us have their very last room!
Friday we headed off into Vancouver!!! I love it there and can't wait to go to school there. We took the sky train to the waterfront and wandered around the harbour for a while. Awesome! In the evening, we booked back to Abby and finally connected with Jess and went to a comissioning service at CBC. That was cool. Jess took us home and we spent the next couple of nights there. Saturday was spent with Jess. We went to Mission and to the Abby there; talk about gorgeous! Sunday came way too quickly and we found ourselves leaving for Quesnel to suprise Kevin and Brenda.
Our trip up north here was sketchy. There was a lot of ice and snow and we had to take it really slow. I mean really slow. It felt like it took us longer a than a day to get up here. And it was really funny: we literally drove through all of the seasons to get here. We started off down south were it is still summer or just the begining of autumn, then we hit late autumn and then dead winter and now we're back in mid-fall. I'm so confused.
But anyway, the suprise went well and as soon as we walked in the door we found lodging. We were prepared to spend the days in a hotel, but the Downey's just immediatly opened their house to us. Sweet!
Life has been random and a blessing so far; everyday has been so much fun. Well, with the exception of the trip up north yesterday. That was long. But, Curt's car is now "Home Sweet Home" to me.
Jess and the three of us running up some cool stairs at the Abby. 
Also at the Abby, we found some huge leaves. Seriously, they're bigger than my head.
This is the Mission Westminster Abby, built in 1900, bearing water that I took a picture of and de-holyized.
This is yesterday when we suprised Kevin and Brenda. It was funny. She sceamed.
Laura and Curt at Canada Place in Vancouver, on the harbour. It was raining when we were in Vancouver, by the way. Big suprise.
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Vacation Here I Come!!!!
So this week has been really slow and rather boring so far, thus the reason there haven't really been any entries recently. But hey, I finally added a display picture! I think I did it wrong though.
Today is may last day of work for a whole, hopefully blessed week. I am so tired. I always find it funny that my pay check either never changes or goes up frm pay period to pay period, even whenI take a whole week off. This is nice.
Um so yeah, fun things that have happened--anything that has happened. Hmmm. Huh. Hum. Well, I was cuddling with Shari and Curt last night as we watched the classic Shrek movies. Oh yeah, then Curt and I got involved in yet another violent throw down. Lost is on TV tonight, which means : Party at BECCA'S! Oh yeah, that was cool. Someone actually referred to the house I live in as "Becca's" and it was not one of my girlfriends. Nor was was it even one of my closer guy friends, but dear James, who just became my favorite person in the whole wide world. See, I live with Curty and Laura, and everything has alwats been Curt's, ie. Curt's house (his parent's house), Curt's car (actually Laura's now), Curt's shop (his dad's), and so on and so forth. But the house is officially mine to someone other than me! I'm happy. Sorry Laura, one daysomething will be yours, I promise.
Today is may last day of work for a whole, hopefully blessed week. I am so tired. I always find it funny that my pay check either never changes or goes up frm pay period to pay period, even whenI take a whole week off. This is nice.
Um so yeah, fun things that have happened--anything that has happened. Hmmm. Huh. Hum. Well, I was cuddling with Shari and Curt last night as we watched the classic Shrek movies. Oh yeah, then Curt and I got involved in yet another violent throw down. Lost is on TV tonight, which means : Party at BECCA'S! Oh yeah, that was cool. Someone actually referred to the house I live in as "Becca's" and it was not one of my girlfriends. Nor was was it even one of my closer guy friends, but dear James, who just became my favorite person in the whole wide world. See, I live with Curty and Laura, and everything has alwats been Curt's, ie. Curt's house (his parent's house), Curt's car (actually Laura's now), Curt's shop (his dad's), and so on and so forth. But the house is officially mine to someone other than me! I'm happy. Sorry Laura, one daysomething will be yours, I promise.
Friday, October 20, 2006
Flat-liner
Holy flipping tush-monkeys! I just got the strangest thing in the mail, and I thought I should share. Apparently, I am going to be published!
This is where I say a humungoid thank-you to my dear sweet Mel. She told me that I should enter something in on Poetry.com, and I did. I entered a poem that took me all of five minuets to write, and was one of the shortest things I've ever written. Somehow, the people on the same website publishing Mel thought that something I wrote should be in this book they are putting together. Amazing. I think my heart pretty much stopped. I couldn't figure out why I had a letter from Poetry.com; I entered my poem just because. I hardly ever think that anything I write is worth publishing. But holy man! That made my day.
So there you have it; I have officially reached new levels of nerdiness. Dad, are you proud of me yet? I'm going to be in a freaking book!
This is where I say a humungoid thank-you to my dear sweet Mel. She told me that I should enter something in on Poetry.com, and I did. I entered a poem that took me all of five minuets to write, and was one of the shortest things I've ever written. Somehow, the people on the same website publishing Mel thought that something I wrote should be in this book they are putting together. Amazing. I think my heart pretty much stopped. I couldn't figure out why I had a letter from Poetry.com; I entered my poem just because. I hardly ever think that anything I write is worth publishing. But holy man! That made my day.
So there you have it; I have officially reached new levels of nerdiness. Dad, are you proud of me yet? I'm going to be in a freaking book!
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Dirty Mop Water
Have you ever had a day where people simply frustrate you? I don't know why, but today has not been fun. People keep making me angry. Argh. It started when I got to the coffee shop and was greeted with smiles and all, but as soon as I got here I had to start working. I'm so tired of this, but for some very strange reason, one of my co-workers either leaves bags of garbage just sitting around the back or just doesn't take it out. Argh. There were like 30 boxes just sitting outside that back door that I didn't get a chance to take out yesterday, and they were still there today. How hard is it toake them to the bin when you take out the garbage. I mean seriously! It took more effort to walk around them and not trip on them. Grr.
On top of that, every time I work, it seems like my to-do list grows two-fold, no matter how much work I get done. I feel like I'm being held responsible for the proper running of this place, whether it's clean or not, and have to pick up after my co-workers. I get customers getting angry at me because there is no coffee made; they come at the end of a rush and I'm frantically trying to get caught up, clearly, and they still freak out at me. I'm inconviencing them. They're always getting angry at me for inconviencing them. Erg.
Then, today, the espresso machine was somewhat hurt by yesterday's fluctuating water pressures and is leaking everywhere.The machine was down and I couldn't make anything; just serve the coffee that was already made and the pop in the cooler. I made so many people angry. That was a real fun time for me.
If I could, I would likely scream at a customer: "Take a deep breath! I am doing the best I can, can't you see that? I'm sorry things aren't working right now, but you laying it on m is not going to fix things! Just back off!"
Do you think the person would come back if I shorted out on them like that?
I went to start mopping then, and found the mop water to be pretty much black. Joys. CAn't anyone else ever change it?
I'm just burned out. Maybe a week in solitary confinement would be a good thing for me.
On top of that, every time I work, it seems like my to-do list grows two-fold, no matter how much work I get done. I feel like I'm being held responsible for the proper running of this place, whether it's clean or not, and have to pick up after my co-workers. I get customers getting angry at me because there is no coffee made; they come at the end of a rush and I'm frantically trying to get caught up, clearly, and they still freak out at me. I'm inconviencing them. They're always getting angry at me for inconviencing them. Erg.
Then, today, the espresso machine was somewhat hurt by yesterday's fluctuating water pressures and is leaking everywhere.The machine was down and I couldn't make anything; just serve the coffee that was already made and the pop in the cooler. I made so many people angry. That was a real fun time for me.
If I could, I would likely scream at a customer: "Take a deep breath! I am doing the best I can, can't you see that? I'm sorry things aren't working right now, but you laying it on m is not going to fix things! Just back off!"
Do you think the person would come back if I shorted out on them like that?
I went to start mopping then, and found the mop water to be pretty much black. Joys. CAn't anyone else ever change it?
I'm just burned out. Maybe a week in solitary confinement would be a good thing for me.
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Breaking News: Coffee Crisis!
This town lives on coffee, or so have come to realize. The power had some rather serious issues with working this morning, and it just so happened that Global Grounds was the only place in all of Linden to have full power. I was working. Country Cousins was unable to funtion, and everyone wanted their coffee. Mr. Mayor was in the shop just as the power flickered and first thing he asked me was: "Do you have water." The answer, a rather unfortunate "no". I had just filled the pots though, so I was praying that I would be okay until they got the pump house pumping again. A rush came through and everything was okay. There was a lull. The water came back and I restocked the coffee. Then another rush, a bigger rush. As the first four customers were placing their orders, the power went completely off, all over town. I was so screwed. Everyone ordered plain old drip coffee, which vanished in a matter of seconds (6 liters of coffee) and the till would not open so making change was a fun experience.
The coffee shop is creepishly quiet when all the machines are off.
Anyway, things are back in working order again and the coffee is all topped off. I, however, have realized that I will never have a "normal" day of work here. I rather enjoy this job.
I applied to my second, and much favored university yesterday: University of BC. The whole filling out applications thing is really weird for me; it doesn't phase me as much as I expected it to. I'm just really excited to be applying to places and having goals and such. I never have goals.
Last night was fun. For some rather odd reason, my one roomate was feeling playful/abusive last night. I don't know why he thought that hitting me would not result in a flogging. Fun times. We met in the landing of my house and basically tried to drop each other. I think I walked away "victorious??" but with a buttload more pain. Everything hurts. Good times though.
So there you have it. My new board. I love it. You can't really see the top picture too well, but on the top right hand corner is the Spanish phrase, and on the bottom left corner there is the Chinese character for courage. Oh, and my initals of course. I've learned that designing snowboards is uber fun.Monday, October 16, 2006
I Did the Macarena with my Dog because I'm a Ninja
I miss weekends. Either that, or I simply miss having more free time. See, being in school, employers were easier on me because they wanted my schoolwork to take proity. Now they want my serivces all the time. My evenings aren't always free anymore; my mornings are spent at my house alone; some days I don't see Curt until uber late if at all. I think we're all just getting more and more busy. At the end of this month though, The three of us are taking 6 days off of all work and everything together and are going to be spending a great deal of quality time together. Hopefully it remains "quailty," however, and we don't end up hating each other. Eith way, I can not wait!
Life has been good. I'm really enjoying being a happy person again. I've really started to realize how much my life became about me. Not necessarily the "me first" sort of thing, but definatly concerned about myself more than others. Wow, that is so different than the person I really am. I love making other people happy. I get this cool little high off of other people's smiles. Shari and I are trying to start organizing a team to go into the city and sort shoeboxes for Samaritan's Purse again this year. I can't wait for that! It is always so much fun. I recommend it to everone! But anyway, I think this whole thing really has helped me realize how "off-track" I've allowed myself to get.
On Thursday, Laura, Bailey, and myself went down to our old high school to visit two ladies we love and miss dearly: Mrs. Senft, and Mrs. Hemple. At the school, our old teachers continued to make fun of me, especially Mr. Cameron. He's awesome. I miss him. I helped one of his Physics 20 kiddies, and did a great job, but he enjoyed bugging me about it.
Friday, I don't know what I did; had pie with Dave, Shelly, Zaira at 11pm. Saturday, work as per usual. Well, "usual" used loosely. It was the busiet day I have ever seen at the coffee shop. It took two of us to work and we were still overwhelmed and swamped. I spent nearly my entire day there; boy was I tired by the end of the day. Thanks to Laura though, the shift was made easier and not quite as stressful. Oh! And I went to an Epicure party. I ordered some yummy stuff, but mostly went and ate all of the food. And I mean all. I was so sick after that. Yummers!
Yesterday was finally kind of "normal" again. I went into the city with the guys and my girls for supper at the delightful Cactus Club, and a movie at Silvercity. We saw "The Marine." Terrible movie, but great for poking fun at. Well, jabbing fun at more likely. I realized just how much I miss hanging uot with guys. Guys, please take no offence if you are one, are far less emotional than girls, and they enjoy simply having fun. They don't talk around Ex's, and if they do it is not the same as a girl moping about one (I'm the Queen of this), they don't complain about things as much, and they are hilarious. I miss guys. I spent so much time with them in the past few years and now I'm down to pretty much all girl-friends. It's wierd; I feel rather unbalanced.
Today, I woke up and there was snow on the ground. I was so happy. I also got my board back from the paint shop today! Awesome timing Jim! It is gorgeous. As soon as I get home from work I am going to put my bindings on it and take it out to the hill in our backyard. Just for fun. Hopefully there will still be snow at that point in time though. I'm going to post a picture of it on here in a couple of days. It is so pretty, and it ended up costing me nearly half of what I had budgeted for it. Beans!
I suppose there is nothing more to write about. My life is a wee bit more mundane than I like right now. Yes I'm busy, but there is a difference between being busy and enjoying life. Hopefully things don't get to be too routine.
Life has been good. I'm really enjoying being a happy person again. I've really started to realize how much my life became about me. Not necessarily the "me first" sort of thing, but definatly concerned about myself more than others. Wow, that is so different than the person I really am. I love making other people happy. I get this cool little high off of other people's smiles. Shari and I are trying to start organizing a team to go into the city and sort shoeboxes for Samaritan's Purse again this year. I can't wait for that! It is always so much fun. I recommend it to everone! But anyway, I think this whole thing really has helped me realize how "off-track" I've allowed myself to get.
On Thursday, Laura, Bailey, and myself went down to our old high school to visit two ladies we love and miss dearly: Mrs. Senft, and Mrs. Hemple. At the school, our old teachers continued to make fun of me, especially Mr. Cameron. He's awesome. I miss him. I helped one of his Physics 20 kiddies, and did a great job, but he enjoyed bugging me about it.
Friday, I don't know what I did; had pie with Dave, Shelly, Zaira at 11pm. Saturday, work as per usual. Well, "usual" used loosely. It was the busiet day I have ever seen at the coffee shop. It took two of us to work and we were still overwhelmed and swamped. I spent nearly my entire day there; boy was I tired by the end of the day. Thanks to Laura though, the shift was made easier and not quite as stressful. Oh! And I went to an Epicure party. I ordered some yummy stuff, but mostly went and ate all of the food. And I mean all. I was so sick after that. Yummers!
Yesterday was finally kind of "normal" again. I went into the city with the guys and my girls for supper at the delightful Cactus Club, and a movie at Silvercity. We saw "The Marine." Terrible movie, but great for poking fun at. Well, jabbing fun at more likely. I realized just how much I miss hanging uot with guys. Guys, please take no offence if you are one, are far less emotional than girls, and they enjoy simply having fun. They don't talk around Ex's, and if they do it is not the same as a girl moping about one (I'm the Queen of this), they don't complain about things as much, and they are hilarious. I miss guys. I spent so much time with them in the past few years and now I'm down to pretty much all girl-friends. It's wierd; I feel rather unbalanced.
Today, I woke up and there was snow on the ground. I was so happy. I also got my board back from the paint shop today! Awesome timing Jim! It is gorgeous. As soon as I get home from work I am going to put my bindings on it and take it out to the hill in our backyard. Just for fun. Hopefully there will still be snow at that point in time though. I'm going to post a picture of it on here in a couple of days. It is so pretty, and it ended up costing me nearly half of what I had budgeted for it. Beans!
I suppose there is nothing more to write about. My life is a wee bit more mundane than I like right now. Yes I'm busy, but there is a difference between being busy and enjoying life. Hopefully things don't get to be too routine.
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Her First Snow
Though I thought life would settle down a wee bit after Thanksgiving, I'm quickly realizing that I was terribly wrong. Let's just say, I can't wait until my 6 day vacation at the end of the month; it will officially be the longest holiday I have ever taken, and most likely, a shear buttload of fun.
Anyway, yesterday was a good day. My cold is disappaiting, thank goodness, and I'm finally getting back to my old self and having some fun with life again. For the past eight or nine months, I've been gradually getting more and more unhappy, feeling pressured by worries and the whole "growing up" schpeel; worried about goodbyes, about being forgotten, about getting stuck. The past little while has been rather muchly extremely difficult, but now I see I am okay; I see thatI will actually be okay. There are so many people in my life who deserve unending thanks for helping me figure stuff out, cry a bunch, sit and ramble on about what I think is wrong, and justhuggin me and not asking questions when I was feeling blue. Y'all rock and I'll love you forever. Except Curty maybe; last time he hugged me my rib cage ended up caving in and a giant bruse developed in a somewhat unfavorable location (this from the guy who didn't know how to hug three months ago??!!).
As I've said before, one of my jobs is cleaning. I clean a restaurant with another girl six nights a week. We have a lot of fun with this job; so far, in the month that we have been cleaning it, we have had perhaps a week where nothing strange or unfortunate has happened (see "Becca! Why is it Raining in the Kitchen??" post). But anyway, though cleaning is not my forte and not exactly something I want to do for an extended period of my life, I'm having a lot of fun. Especially because of my cleaning mate, Zaira. She has been such a blessing to me and literally came out of no where. She didn't even plan on coming up to Canada, or think about it, or want to, until two or three days before she caught the plane. She was supposed to move to the city with her friend and go to college. I can't believe how drastically her life changed. She has definatly been a blessing to me, so I'm truly not complaining that she made that decision, but wow. That take a LOT of guts. I truly admire her; she has been such an inspiration and encouragement. She is even teaching me Spanish and I am teaching her English. It is actually working well. I've learned a lot more Spanish, primarily because Zaira often stops speaking English so I have to learn some Spanish. We have fun. Fewer and fewer things are being lost in translation.
But anyway, yesterday was an important day for Zaira. It was her first snow. Even though there wasn't much snow, it was her first. I wanted to share this with people, because I thought it was so cool, so abscure, that someone whouldn't even know what snow was if it fell on there face. There was white stuff on the ground, not much, but enough to astonish her. She was astonished by snow! I just take it for granted. Laura and I had to tell her that it was snow because she honestly had no idea what it was, though we have been joking about it since she got here in July. Poor sweetie though, she has an old winter jacket her Grandma gaveher; it goes down to her knees and is this great, horrible white monstrosity. She sobbed "Becca, estoy muy muy muy muy gorda (Becca, I am very very very very fat)." She thinks the coat is too fluffly and huge. She is so cute. I'm going to post a picture of her on here as soon as my upload starts working again.
Anyway, yesterday was a good day. My cold is disappaiting, thank goodness, and I'm finally getting back to my old self and having some fun with life again. For the past eight or nine months, I've been gradually getting more and more unhappy, feeling pressured by worries and the whole "growing up" schpeel; worried about goodbyes, about being forgotten, about getting stuck. The past little while has been rather muchly extremely difficult, but now I see I am okay; I see thatI will actually be okay. There are so many people in my life who deserve unending thanks for helping me figure stuff out, cry a bunch, sit and ramble on about what I think is wrong, and justhuggin me and not asking questions when I was feeling blue. Y'all rock and I'll love you forever. Except Curty maybe; last time he hugged me my rib cage ended up caving in and a giant bruse developed in a somewhat unfavorable location (this from the guy who didn't know how to hug three months ago??!!).
As I've said before, one of my jobs is cleaning. I clean a restaurant with another girl six nights a week. We have a lot of fun with this job; so far, in the month that we have been cleaning it, we have had perhaps a week where nothing strange or unfortunate has happened (see "Becca! Why is it Raining in the Kitchen??" post). But anyway, though cleaning is not my forte and not exactly something I want to do for an extended period of my life, I'm having a lot of fun. Especially because of my cleaning mate, Zaira. She has been such a blessing to me and literally came out of no where. She didn't even plan on coming up to Canada, or think about it, or want to, until two or three days before she caught the plane. She was supposed to move to the city with her friend and go to college. I can't believe how drastically her life changed. She has definatly been a blessing to me, so I'm truly not complaining that she made that decision, but wow. That take a LOT of guts. I truly admire her; she has been such an inspiration and encouragement. She is even teaching me Spanish and I am teaching her English. It is actually working well. I've learned a lot more Spanish, primarily because Zaira often stops speaking English so I have to learn some Spanish. We have fun. Fewer and fewer things are being lost in translation.
But anyway, yesterday was an important day for Zaira. It was her first snow. Even though there wasn't much snow, it was her first. I wanted to share this with people, because I thought it was so cool, so abscure, that someone whouldn't even know what snow was if it fell on there face. There was white stuff on the ground, not much, but enough to astonish her. She was astonished by snow! I just take it for granted. Laura and I had to tell her that it was snow because she honestly had no idea what it was, though we have been joking about it since she got here in July. Poor sweetie though, she has an old winter jacket her Grandma gaveher; it goes down to her knees and is this great, horrible white monstrosity. She sobbed "Becca, estoy muy muy muy muy gorda (Becca, I am very very very very fat)." She thinks the coat is too fluffly and huge. She is so cute. I'm going to post a picture of her on here as soon as my upload starts working again.
Monday, October 09, 2006
Stalling Out
So today is officially Thanksgiving. I'm heading home for dinner at about 4pm and am currently hoping and praying that all goes well. Apparently my mom even made pie. This is a new development.
Yesterday was also filled with a great deal of food. First it was out to Dick's for yummy ham and pie, and then to the Robinson's for turkey and cake. I was only able to down a wee bit at both places. But all was simply delicious. After dinner at the Robinson's I was able to play some Xbox with about 10 other people. It was awesome; the Big Room became nerd central and I was in the middle of it all. It was nice to game again. I had so much fun with everyone. These people are all my family, and yet I belong to none of them. I love them all. They keep me.
Unfortunatly, working early mornings and late evenings and not sleeping or eating enough for the past two weeks has made me sick. My head feels like a lead weight, my nose stuffed up, my stomach its usual unsettledness, and I had a terrible night of "sleep." I have't been sleeping well for a couple of months already, but last night, my stupid brain just would not shut off. I was dreaming about going to school all night, and Mr. H. was hunting my down, Brady was leaving again, Tiffany attacked me, and the gosh darn bus just would not come at the end of the day so it could all be over with. Oh man did that suck. Every time I woke, which was about every two hours on the dot, I had to redo my breathing excersizes just to doze off. Normally I only have to do meditations once right when I'm going to be in order to clear my mind enough to sleep, but holy cow it was not working at all last night!
Anyway, that's enough of that. The past couple of days have been evenful. Laura, Zaira, and I watched a movie called "Silent Hill." We knew it was supposed to be scary, which is why we watched it. The three of us girls ended up cuddling on one end of the couch in my house; there was screaming, choking, and ripping out of my hair, done mostly by Laura. It wasn't too scary. It just had a creepy little girl and an elevator plunging to Hell. Great times. Poor Curt came home to some seriously hyper girls, who also ended up cuddling with him. He is a man; he'll keep us safe right?
On Saturday I applied to my first Univeristy! Big step for Becca. This is great. It is called the University College of the Fraser Valley, and is located, convieniently in Abbotsford, BC. Shari and I were talking about moving there next year anyway. I'm no longer applying to Seattle, however. Apparently they offer zero financial aid to international students and I am not eligible for any scholarships if I am an international student. This is lame; I wanted to try for there, despite their ridiculously high tuitions.
Oh well, God closed that door but opened one for the University College, which I hadn't even been looking for; it just popped up. I have to make sure that I have faith that I'll end up where He wants me to be in the next year. My heart feels that my time in Linden is coming to a close for sure. I don't really know how to explain it, but when I think about really, truly starting my own, new life, I know that I won't be here. The thought of leaving feels like a warm sunshine on my face, like an awakening, like happienss.
I walk around this town a lot. Everything used to inspire me; God has given me eyes to see life and beauty in most everything, whether I acknowledge it or not. A year ago it felt like this place still held something greater for me. Now, this feeling has nearly dried up completely. I know that a small part of it comes from my heart being broken, but I've also had some sort of stubborness and knowledge of direction. I know, I can feel, that this place just doesn't fit anymore; I know that there is something far greater out there for me than what I'll recieve of I just stay put. I'll come back, of course, and I'm not wanting to dismiss how much I love my family, my dear roommates, my mentors, friends--everyone here. But this just doesn't feel right anymore. Besides, if I go away and things just aren't working out, maybe I'll realize I was wrong, or maybe the whole me going away is just a way of me finding strength in my faith again. Lord knows it is lacking.
Blah, huge ramble there kiddies, sorry about that. Like I said, I'm sick. My brain is expelling all the "toxins" (being the things I haven't been telling people). I feel completely unconcious right now. It's fun.
Good song to listen to: "Stalling Out" by Mute Math. They are a kick-freaking-butt band Daryl and Jess got me into. Even if you don't have an afinity for musical talents, the band rocks. This song makes me happy. I think this entry is long enough. G'day all. Happy Thanksgiving!
Yesterday was also filled with a great deal of food. First it was out to Dick's for yummy ham and pie, and then to the Robinson's for turkey and cake. I was only able to down a wee bit at both places. But all was simply delicious. After dinner at the Robinson's I was able to play some Xbox with about 10 other people. It was awesome; the Big Room became nerd central and I was in the middle of it all. It was nice to game again. I had so much fun with everyone. These people are all my family, and yet I belong to none of them. I love them all. They keep me.
Unfortunatly, working early mornings and late evenings and not sleeping or eating enough for the past two weeks has made me sick. My head feels like a lead weight, my nose stuffed up, my stomach its usual unsettledness, and I had a terrible night of "sleep." I have't been sleeping well for a couple of months already, but last night, my stupid brain just would not shut off. I was dreaming about going to school all night, and Mr. H. was hunting my down, Brady was leaving again, Tiffany attacked me, and the gosh darn bus just would not come at the end of the day so it could all be over with. Oh man did that suck. Every time I woke, which was about every two hours on the dot, I had to redo my breathing excersizes just to doze off. Normally I only have to do meditations once right when I'm going to be in order to clear my mind enough to sleep, but holy cow it was not working at all last night!
Anyway, that's enough of that. The past couple of days have been evenful. Laura, Zaira, and I watched a movie called "Silent Hill." We knew it was supposed to be scary, which is why we watched it. The three of us girls ended up cuddling on one end of the couch in my house; there was screaming, choking, and ripping out of my hair, done mostly by Laura. It wasn't too scary. It just had a creepy little girl and an elevator plunging to Hell. Great times. Poor Curt came home to some seriously hyper girls, who also ended up cuddling with him. He is a man; he'll keep us safe right?
On Saturday I applied to my first Univeristy! Big step for Becca. This is great. It is called the University College of the Fraser Valley, and is located, convieniently in Abbotsford, BC. Shari and I were talking about moving there next year anyway. I'm no longer applying to Seattle, however. Apparently they offer zero financial aid to international students and I am not eligible for any scholarships if I am an international student. This is lame; I wanted to try for there, despite their ridiculously high tuitions.
Oh well, God closed that door but opened one for the University College, which I hadn't even been looking for; it just popped up. I have to make sure that I have faith that I'll end up where He wants me to be in the next year. My heart feels that my time in Linden is coming to a close for sure. I don't really know how to explain it, but when I think about really, truly starting my own, new life, I know that I won't be here. The thought of leaving feels like a warm sunshine on my face, like an awakening, like happienss.
I walk around this town a lot. Everything used to inspire me; God has given me eyes to see life and beauty in most everything, whether I acknowledge it or not. A year ago it felt like this place still held something greater for me. Now, this feeling has nearly dried up completely. I know that a small part of it comes from my heart being broken, but I've also had some sort of stubborness and knowledge of direction. I know, I can feel, that this place just doesn't fit anymore; I know that there is something far greater out there for me than what I'll recieve of I just stay put. I'll come back, of course, and I'm not wanting to dismiss how much I love my family, my dear roommates, my mentors, friends--everyone here. But this just doesn't feel right anymore. Besides, if I go away and things just aren't working out, maybe I'll realize I was wrong, or maybe the whole me going away is just a way of me finding strength in my faith again. Lord knows it is lacking.
Blah, huge ramble there kiddies, sorry about that. Like I said, I'm sick. My brain is expelling all the "toxins" (being the things I haven't been telling people). I feel completely unconcious right now. It's fun.
Good song to listen to: "Stalling Out" by Mute Math. They are a kick-freaking-butt band Daryl and Jess got me into. Even if you don't have an afinity for musical talents, the band rocks. This song makes me happy. I think this entry is long enough. G'day all. Happy Thanksgiving!
Saturday, October 07, 2006
Pictures!!! I Love Paula
Yep, I have pictures coming out the wazzu here, and I would love to show you some. I guess I should have asked Curt, Shari, and Laura's permission before publishing their faces on the internet though. Oh well, I know they'll love me anyway!
This is Shari's cute little face creeping quite freakishly.
My dear's Laura and Shari were in the back of the car for the entire trip.
Most of the pictures we have are of Curt driving; he seems to be concentration very hard.
Preparing to go.
The three of us on the hotel bed. Curt was figuring how the self timer worked and then it started going off. So, I dive bombed the bed in front of him and Shari and Laura dog piled me.
This is Shari's cute little face creeping quite freakishly.
My dear's Laura and Shari were in the back of the car for the entire trip.
Most of the pictures we have are of Curt driving; he seems to be concentration very hard.
Preparing to go.
The three of us on the hotel bed. Curt was figuring how the self timer worked and then it started going off. So, I dive bombed the bed in front of him and Shari and Laura dog piled me.
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