word clusters 

A letter from a friend.

I was speaking with the bat people about the later induction, which was an odd fervor of never realities spinning like tops into the afterglow of an ancient toll booth guarding a passage to illinois. Seven times i laughed about that spent remembrance, it was so sudden. I ate the interior room of salad stories on the boat over to london's finest restaurant, and mark said nothing about the fine selection of karate flavoured diamond snaps. As The Murky Flask was measuring a mastermind for his garden he spelled the phrase "I've never been soup" into the reiteration of dirt swaying platter stands. Nub swats are landing at 4 am pacific notion. If you recieve a plentiful bland hat, mask it off with ribbing for a tiny little digit, perhaps seven or maybe discrimination. The greatest dance is not loading the silent beeping of a Howard Stern re-run cranking a lever alone in the inky limelight of prosperity. Or is it posterity? 4x7 is the various foghorn merriment not intended for children under cerebral "ifs" "ands" and "buts", swelling greedily, rather like receding hairlines in the golden age of reticence. A single wire passed under the potato skyline catches matrimonial servitude, kicking higher and higher, malt liquor, banana, and why the ketchup angered by the petulant day of your money changing transforms into three simple words - Fozz. Bluv. Gleertific sunrise. I was totally unprepared for dismal structures betraying the breath of cascading filters like gray and pink kittens hugging in the space between the language i'd never heard before and the crack in Mount Everest.

sea change

I should really be sleeping right now.
Work tomorrow is going to be so rad, I just know it.
But I have too much energy, so I will recount my adventures of the day.

It was one of those bad days, or so it seemed.
I was feeling grumpy, and then guilty for my grumpiness, followed by more grumpiness and guilt... and so on.
I had quite an uneventful day - I slept in, went for pho with my mom, fought with my printer.
Then I went to work.
And I got a new shirt!! I am rather sick of wearing dark pants and white dress shirts. Mostly I'm sick of washing and ironing white dress shirts.
But they gave us long-sleeved teeshirts that are super comfy. They even say Bell on them. Yay.

Then we (Kristian, Jayce, Nathan and I) headed downtown to say adieu to Reid in the form of a sushi party. We met up with Serena, Blake, Brandon and Jord. Oh, and Reid. I was receiving a lot of opposition on the whole sushi idea, which was disappointing.
It was great though. Ha. Everyone had to admit that it was great.
We had these huge boats of sushi and the staff sang and drummed for Reid. We all sang "Leaving on a Jetplane". Then they made Reid and Serena wear these japanese costumes and dance. They even took a picture of it. One day I will get a copy of that picture (Reid has it) and I will post it. Cutest picture ever.

After we all went to Serena's house and hung out there until 3. Her parents are away right now and when they are out of town, she really likes to rearrange her furniture. Basically, her living room was in her kitchen and her kitchen was in her living room. And one chair was at the top of the stairs. It made me really happy.

Well, now I'm feeling a little tired.
Plan for tomorrow:
-Go to work
-Work (or is that included in the above?)
-Sleep
-Go to Renee's for gt's.

Oh, and I'd just like to take this time to appologize for the lack of depth in my posts. No startling revelations here.
Adieu. To yieu and yieu and yieu.

translate this inspiration into something tangible

I have to stop this money-spending madness.
So, the last two days I have been trying to get my passport photo. The trouble is I get sidetracked and completely forget my whole purpose. I have bought a lot of stuff, yes. But no passport.

Anyway, I just got back from my meeting. Well, we went for coffee after. The place we wanted to go was closed so we had to drive around looking for a different one. It's annoying trying to coordinate six vehicles.

Reid is leaving on Saturday. Somehow it feels like we've been having goodbye parties ever since he moved here. Tonight was the... fourth I think? And Friday night we're having another. There was talk of sushi and karaoke. An odd combination - I'm not sure if it will work out.

Tomorrow night I am not going out - I don't have plans so if I can keep it that way, that'd be great. I am going to go to bed early. That way I will save money and energy.

Adieu.

Sunny with cloudy periods, High -4

I really hate Mondays. For no reason, really. I don't work Monday-Friday. I work Friday - Sunday. So really, I should love Mondays.
Mondays are my Saturdays.
But service just didn't happen today. Again.
However, I did have a fantastic dream about a huge rabbit that could talk. She explained to me the benefits of an all-salad diet.

Last night was good. Another odd mixture of happenings.
I went to my meeting. Actually, it was quite an interesting meeting.
A man from Ottawa came to our congregation and gave a talk totally in American Sign Language and it was translated into English for us. It was so mesmerizing; he was such a good speaker. Uh, I mean signer. So many deaf people from in and around Calgary came in for it. The hall was packed - they added a whole bunch of extra chairs and I still had trouble finding a seat.

After the meeting, we couldn't decide what to do. I hate being an indecisive person. I finally invited Serena, Brandon and Blake over to my house for supper. Then some other people (Reid, Scott, Dean and Caleb) showed up to go go-karting. Ugh. That go-karting place by Crossroads is the most depressing and creepy place ever. Then we went for coffee (mmm... chai latte) and then back to my place.
Serena really wanted to go see The Take at the Uptown. I was worried that it would feed my already-anti-corporate tendencies. Maybe we'll go see it tonight.
When everyone left last night, I went to see if Nathan and Jay were still awake. They were. And Levi and his friends were still there. They hadn't bought their horse yet and were staying over again. So I hung out with them.

Which is why waking up this morning was so difficult.

Well, I'm off. I have to go get my passport photo taken.

Steeped tea?

Today was a day much longer than I'm used to.

I woke up just after six. Early morning service, even though my bed was so warm and comfortable.
Went to work at eleven - much better than the Friday shift.
Friday I think I was getting delirious due to the absolute boredom.
Came home, cleaned, and went to Marla's for a fun-filled evening with Serena, Scott, Dean, Blake, Jared, Morgan, Kristy, Reid, and Brandon.
Meaningless names to anyone else, I know.

Came home at 12:30.
Levi is here, with two of his friends, from Kelowna.
He's buying his wife a special horse of some kind. He hates horses.
I hung out with them for a bit and now here I am.

That was my day. Much longer than usual.
And now I'm really tired.
And now I'm really not sure if any of this makes much sense...

I taught Katana how to use my camera today. This is the best she could come up with - a close-up shot of her sweater. Granted, she is fourteen months old. 

streetlights at dusk

T'was an evening of juxtaposition, as Serena would say.
We ordered in large quantities of East Indian food, drank red wine, listened to Bjork and weird seventies music, and watched "The Way We Were" (Streisand and Redford TOGETHER!).
Juxtaposition, indeed.

Prior to this, I spent eight hours out in service. It was deceivingly sunny out today. It looked so warm out, but that wind was pure evil.
Or maybe it has something to do with my stubborn refusal to start wearing a winter jacket. Yeah, that could definitely be it.

I am also having a hard time adjusting to this new time. I know it has been several weeks now but I have two alarm clocks (one on either side of my bed), one of which is still set to daylight savings time, that keeps my constantly aware of this shift. I know there are plenty of places that don't use daylight savings at all but has anyone tried staying on daylight savings time? It would be neat to, as an individual, refuse to go off DST for a whole year. Well, I think so, anyway. It gets dark much too early these days.

Au revoir.

from a basement on a hill

I just got back from the airport - picked up Rebecca. She had gone to Vancouver for a week to visit some old friends and see Death Cab for Cutie.

Nothing much new with me. I had an unproductive day. My plan was to go in service but I spent the morning on the phone, relaying messages.
Here's the story:
My Aunt and Uncle (and various other family members) were in New York to see Bethel and visit family there. My Uncle had a heart attack and they had to extend their stay because of it. Then last night, in the hotel, he had two more attacks. Now he will have to have open-heart and bypass surgery there but not for four or five days because he has been on blood thinners.
I hope everything works out...

Well, I should get to bed.
Tomorrow I'll make up for the time I lost today.

pedantic banter

My brain hurts.
This job is so odd. Other associates have been introducing me to customers as "the Bell expert".
How intimidating. And misleading.
Even though my wage is not commission-based, I really feel like I want to represent Bell well. I have no idea where these feelings of loyalty are coming from. It is quite frustrating feeling this inadequate. I'll get over it, I'm sure.
I just have one more shift, tomorrow, and then I have all week to research and hopefully I'll feel better equipped for next weekend.

In other news, Tanys left today. She came over last night after I got off work and we went out for drinks with a few other people. It was such a disjointed visit - I feel like we still didn't get to catch up.

Then tonight I decided that I am the worst friend ever.
Marion called and wanted to do something. I said I would call her back and then proceeded to curl up in the fetal position on my kitchen floor. She is an awesome person - really strong, and I admire her. But she is also very intense. I just wanted a mellow evening.
We ended up going for supper and then wandering around Chapters. It was fine. I think she sensed my lack of enthusiasm, though, and I feel really guilty. Next time I'll make it up to her.

I'm looking forward to sleeping so I'm going to get right on that.
Chao.

"Our contemporary Western society, in spite of its material, intellectual and political progress, is increasingly less conducive to mental health, and tends to undermine the inner security, happiness, reason and the capacity for love in the individual; it tends to turn him into an automaton who pays for his human failure with increasing mental sickness, and with despair hidden under a frantic drive for work and so-called pleasure." --Dr. Erich Fromm (quote written in the 'fifties) 

a struggle eternal

I was just getting comfortable after my meeting tonight... and I was kidnapped!
Okay, so not really. But Tanys and Janet showed up at my house and we went downtown. Janet was dying for sushi. I was really full still from supper but managed to eat a respectable amount of the huge boat platter ("the loveboat deluxe") of sushi.
After - at around midnight - we invaded Janet's old house (by invaded I mean knocked on the door and were kindly let in) so she could reminisce.
Well, I have to go to sleep. Janet and Tanys already bailed on our service plans for tomorrow. Now the question arises: Will I be able to wake up tomorrow?
Ah, the eternal struggle.

"tangled in the mechanics"

The above title is a quote from Serena.
I went out in early morning service with her. Well, I did and I didn't.
She picked me up and we were on our way to pick up Brandon when her car broke down.
(Translation for Erin: Morton Gunther's cousin got sick.)
When she was checking her oil, she was worried about her scarf getting "tangled in the mechanics". I thought it would make a good name for a song. Or title of a blog.

Anyway, we ended up just going home. It was a toss-up between precious extra minutes of sleep and going for breakfast.
I didn't go back to sleep. But I did have some ice cream.
And now I'm cold again.

Well, I better start making my morning more productive.
Hang gap lai.

social engineer

Out in service today I was.
(Determined to not start the first sentence with 'I' I was.)
There was a lot of frantic following of Julie until about 2:30 - she walks really fast and I'm never quite sure where she's headed. She's really sweet though. Then I met up with Teresa for the evening.
It was cold today. Bitterly cold.
I came home half-way through the day to put on another three layers of clothing (who's jealous now, Erin? Oh, wait... still me).
It's that wind. I do not like that wind.

When I came home for my little break - to eat something and bundle up - I didn't have my key. And no one was home. So I broke into my house.
Later I found out that one of the doors was unlocked.

It was a really great day. It was cold and miserable outside but I felt good (I mean besides the fact that I was hurting from the cold... I guess it was more of an inner thing). I love those days when you can appreciate the little things.

Sounds like Jayce had a day like that too. Her car ran out of gas. Then later she got a flat tire.
But she did get to take a ride in a big yellow school bus (the man who stopped to help her went to get his car, only to realize that he didn't have a car today - only his bus) and she was pretty psyched about that.

Ahh, triumphs of the human spirit.

Yesterday was also good. I decided early on that I wasn't going to go out for coffee after the meeting because last week I didn't get home until one and Wednesday is a big service day.
But I went for coffee.
And I didn't regret it, which is always good.

This weekend:
Some friends from Fernie and area are coming up. Tanys got a new car so she's bringing Janet and Megan up for the weekend (unless the roads are bad). It will be good because I haven't seen Tanys since she got back from Paris.
I start work on Friday. Woo-hoo.
We're throwing a going-away party on Saturday for Reid I think (which is odd because he's not leaving until the end of the month. That would be fine but he has only lived in Calgary for two months so I think maybe we should wait for a couple of weeks).

Well, I'm off to bed. I'm exhausted and still a little cold.
And I start all over again at 7:00 a.m. tomorrow.

"...they were forced to feel strongly...." 

Soma

I hate television.
The other day I saw an ad for Toys R Us. Those clever marketers equate toys with joy.
Toy, joy.
They rhyme.
That's the end of the relationship between the two.
What is it going to take for us to realize that our happiness is in no way associated with the things we possess?
When are we going to stop telling our young and impressionable that money equals joy?
It makes me sick.

This rant has a lot to do with Brave New World in which the children are thoroughly conditioned. I highly suggest that if any of you decide to read this book, also read Brave New World Revisited as it helps to clearly define the issues and concerns of the author.

By the way, November 26 is Buy Nothing Day.

I hope I don't sound too cynical. I'm glad I feel like I have hope for the future.
So, my concern isn't really the problems I see... I think my concern is that people just seem so blind and complacent.

End rant... now.

"A distorted reality is now a necessity to be free"

This fog is so... elusive.
Environment Canada's weather office has been forecasting "freezing drizzle" the past few days.
Maybe they just thought of that one - got sick of "mix of sun and cloud", "chance of flurries", "chance of showers", etc...
I rather like it. Freezing drizzle.

This weekend went rather well. Although I accidently slept in on Saturday. I was undecided on early-morning service, which made it all too easy to shut off my alarm at 6:30. The plan was to wake up for the 9:30 group, but that just didn't happen. Ah well.

I went out on Friday night with Serena and various others. Supposedly the Friday night get-togethers are going to be an on-going thing. I'll be working Friday nights for the next six weeks, though, so we'll see what happens.

My musical horizons have expanded as of late. No, not really. It's not like I've decided to tune into Vibe 98.5 [*shudders*].
Rather, I have discovered new names in my familiar ridiculously mellow genre. I've been listening to Sufjan Stevens, Mercury Rev and Idaho. Hayden's "Skyscraper National Park" is mostly new to me because I just got it. Oh, and right now I'm listening to Elliott Smith's new album (released post-suicide) "From a Basement on the Hill".
Mmmm... good music.

I'm reading a really great book too - Brave New World (by Aldous Huxley). It was written in the 'thirties. I was thinking that it was reminiscent of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 and George Orwell's 1984, but really, it's the other way around since they were written in the 'fifties.
Anyway, all three are of a similar tone.
Perhaps I should lay off the conspiracy books for a while.

flashing the corporate tear

I had a nice - albeit unproductive - morning in service.
Jayce and I followed another group around and we did some of those perpetual not-at-homes. We were supposed to study with Kim around eleven but she wasn't home.
Then we went for coffee.
Yeah, one of those mornings.

I'm going on another study this afternoon so hopefully that will make up for it. And tomorrow will be a big day.

I had to go shopping (yes, "had to"- I'm one of those shoppers-by-necessity) yesterday for work clothes. I was placed in one of the very few stores that has a dress code. Any Calgarians who want to see my new exciting white shirt and dark trousers can stop by Best Buy. Scratch that. Don't. Really.

Well, I'm off. I want to prepare for the meeting tonight before the study so I'm not rushed after.

Auf Wiedersehen.