give me one more hour

So. Day 2 of the Bell Mobility/ExpressVu seminar today. I'm done with that for now.
They treated us very well. I think I might just like this job.

I was worried about some of the hours conflicting with my Sunday meetings and my two-day assembly but it's all looked after now. I changed the hours for Sundays and got the weekend of my assembly off.

This weekend was really odd.
This whole seminar was one thing. I was never interviewed by anyone and neither were the people from all over Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba that they flew in and set up at the hotel. These companies have invested a lot into people they know nothing about. Who does that?

The weekend was also odd in that pretty much all my plans fell through. Friday night I cancelled (mostly because it ended up being just some married couples) and just took it easy. Saturday night I did go to see a friend off (she's heading to Vietnam) but I was supposed to go to a different party. Now tonight things aren't going as planned, which is turning out to be a good thing because I'm not really feeling well.

Last night I ended up hanging out with people I don't normally and saying more than I do normally. I ranted a little about a mutual aquaintance. There are very few people I deem rant-worthy so I feel justified but, at the same time, I didn't really know these people.
It makes me sad when people bond based on similar bad feelings toward another person. It makes me even sadder when people seek that out ("What do you think about him/her? Do you even like him/her?").
The true test of a good friend is whether or not they make you want to be a better person. I think that is so true - I need to surround myself with great people who inspire me.

Or maybe I'm just a huge geek. Yeah, that's probably it.

Speaking of good friends:
I'm extremely jealous of a certain Erin who seems to be having a great time in Mexico right now. I can't wait to get down there.

Adieu.
I mean... Adios.

when you feel embarrassed then i'll be your pride; when you need directions then i'll be your guide

Even though I'm listening to super mellow music (Hayden, Julie Doiron, Nick Drake, M.Ward, etc.), I feel like I can't calm down - like I drank a hundred pots of coffee - so this won't be a long post.

I created a new photo album on my website of mostly really old black and white photos. You can look if you like that sort of thing:
www.geocities.com/assured_expectation

I hope you are having a really awesome day.

Open your eyes, put it in drive, get on the road and just go

Erin leaves for Mexico in two days.
Bon voyage, Erin.

As for me, I'll be remaining in good ol' Calgary for the next two months still.

Things are going well. Service, specifically, is going well.
I have yet to adjust to the cold, though. Who knows what I'm going to do when winter actually hits. Ugh.
Then - right when I think I can't handle the cold any longer - I'll go to Mazatlan!

I have to go to a training seminar for Bell Mobility this weekend.
Eighteen blissful hours.
All for a meager six weeks of employment.
It better be paid training, that's all I can say.

Well, I've got my meeting this evening so I better go finish studying.

Buenas noches.

Someone intelligent enough to know how small we really are

I'd just like to start off by commending myself.
I didn't get to sleep until well after three but I woke up at eight this morning and went in service. I even stayed out until four o'clock.
And I'm really glad I went.

Well, that's all for now.
Sorry if I got anyone excited by that "starting off" bit - I don't have anything else to say.

Everything I Long For

That was a fantastic night.
Hayden (the so-called "King of Mope-Core", whatever that is) was amazing and I was even pleasantly surprised by the opening band, Cuff the Duke. I might go see Cuff the Duke again in a couple weeks, if I can remember where and when that is.
The show last night (okay, so technically two nights ago, but I haven't slept yet last night so it doesn't count... uhhh) at the Brew Brothers was pretty good too. I knew a couple of people in both the bands that played, which was odd. One of them I hadn't seen in years.
It's funny to go to two shows in two nights that are so... opposite. Thursday night was all punk stuff and then... well, Hayden.

I saw a bunch of people at the Hayden concert. I mean people that I know. I ran into Marion who I haven't seen since July, so that was good. And Britt! That was totally unexpected. I miss that girl. And Serena showed up too even though she refused when I told her she had to come just the night before. There was a couple (we met them at the Brew Brothers) that gave us good seats that they were saving for their friends, so that was also good.

Anyway, enough of that.
I need to focus again. Focus, focus, focus.
And I need to sleep now.
G'nite.

times like these

So I was thinking of going to Fernie this weekend but it isn't going to work out. My parents are going to Castlegar so I thought I could get a ride with them. Oh well.
Then I was thinking I had no idea what I was going to do this weekend now that I'm not going. But I didn't have to worry.
I just got home from my bookstudy, and I'm going to Brew Brothers tonight because my friend's band is playing. Tomorrow night is the Hayden concert. Saturday I have service arrangements in the afternoon with Serena and then we're going to hang out.
So I'm hoping it won't be too bad, after all.

Well, I should go change. My clothes, I mean.
I'll be needing something warm...

Silent Films Are Full of Sound

I had a good day today. I'm even feeling much better.
Last night went just fine. My head sort of cleared when Serena showed up (sure, I'll give her the credit).

I started service at seven this morning.
But I woke up at 6:50. Stupid alarm clock.
It was really beautiful out at seven, although it was still mostly dark.
Everything was just so white and still.

I just finished going through my notes from the convention in June for the review tomorrow night. It made me wish my two-day assembly was sooner than the beginning of December.

Well, I'm off to figure out how to make my alarm clock work.
Adios.

Hibernation

This is so not good.

I feel horrible. Maybe I'm getting sick.
My whole body aches, my brain is just not working and I'm shakey and anxious.

And I have a whole bunch of people coming over tonight.
Oh good.

I want to bury myself in the snow (if only it was deep enough and not so... cold) and hibernate.

"I arrive through a window, I leave through a hole in the wall"

It was a beautiful day.
Calgary doesn't have nearly enough gray rainy days. T'was fabulous.

This afternoon I went with my mom to study with Jillian, as I do every week.
The kids (ages four and five) were hilarious, as usual.
Jillian is looking into getting a hip replacement. She is 27.
Twenty-seven!
Her diabetes is so bad. She goes into lows sometimes several times a week and has to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance. Any one of these times, she could die. And now she is getting her hip replaced.
She has such a good attitude about it all though.

I just got back from my bookstudy, feeling a lot less irritable than before I left.

Well, I have to go. I promised Annika I would hang out with her when I got back.
Heh.

"You'd be surprised how little I knew even up to yesterday."

Aloha.
I had a really good day in service today, about 9 hours straight. Usually I stop for a half hour or so at some point in the day, but not today. It went by so fast though.
I had some really interesting discussions. One guy I spoke to is convinced that the media is a powerful form of mind control. Which it is.
Another young girl we were talking to near the end of the day said she had no hope for the future, or rather, "there is no hope for the future". She just sort of shrugged it off.
So do people like her believe that this is really it?
I don't know what I'd do if I felt that way...

Well, I'm pretty tired.
I was hoping to come home and relax this evening, but a bunch of people were here, so now I'm more tired.
But I think it's a good kind of tired.

elk lake serenade

Not a whole lot to report here.
I went out in service until 3.30 today. My afternoon was spent with the ASL group doing deaf service. Driving all over the city like that reminds me of my old days with the Vietnamese congregation. We went all the way down to Douglasdale, then to Westhills and at some point we were in Marda Loop and Altadore. It is tempting to get involved with the group. But, then again, I left Vietnamese to improve my English service so I shouldn't really join a different language group.

We had a bonfire out at Bowness again tonight, probably the last one of the year. It was really relaxing, except for our little run-in with the police. Just as we were getting there we got pulled over - just checking up on us, I guess. Landon told the officer he was handsome, which made us sound even more suspicious.

Well, I should really go to sleep. It's almost two
...although I do really want to finish reading Jack Kerouac's "On the Road"...

Half a mango

Ah, yes.
You know who else is super awesome?
Britt B.

She also comments
...and is a really rad person.

Three days of laughter

Here I am, drinking Red Bull, after vowing not to.
I just got back from my meeting and I'm going to help Nathan and Jay paint their living room.
I really owe them.

Oh, and I'd just like to say that Erin is the greatest, as she is the only one who comments on my posts.

...And because she is leaving for Mazatlan on the 28th of this month and I will be meeting her down there in January and we are going to have so much fun!

my city's still breathing (but barely it's true)

I am now only moderately unemployed.
(Maybe I should let that whole degrees of employment thing go...)

That's right, I got a job. Sort of.
Starting in the middle of November (yeah, it's a ways off) I will be working for Telus. It's part-time and seasonal (meaning it will be over after Christmas and I will be able to go to Mexico!).
Just six weeks.
$14 an hour, though.
The greatest thing is that I'm not sure how I got this job. Jayce was telling me about it (there are two positions and we will be working together) and I asked if I should send in my resume.
She said, "No, you have the job, if you want it."

Now I just have to find a way to make some money until then.
Liquor demos, probably.

Well, I'm going to go eat some celebratory grapes.

"sand is over-rated. it's just tiny little rocks."

Service today. All day. 9.30am-8.00pm.
T'was a good day.

Then I watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind with Serena.
It was pretty rad to hang out with a girl, for once.

Yeah, that's right, boys suck.
No, really.

G'nite.

"Red Bull gives you wings"

I have had the most intense last couple of days. Insane.
First off: Friday night
It started off quite well. Gomez was quite enjoyable. We came home and it seemed a shame to just go to sleep so we met up with some people and went out for coffee. Bad, bad decision. Little did I know one of those people had decided to hate me.
Background: This guy has liked me for the past while, making things quite awkward. He knew that the reason that I broke up with Ryan was because I didn't want a boyfriend now or in the near future. I had thought we could have a platonic relationship. Apparently not. Anywho, I had backed off the last couple of weeks. Turns out, he was really mad.
So we went out for coffee -- I have never been so humiliated and hurt in... well, I don't know, a long time. He and his friend decided to either disregard or bash every single thing I said and did. I was furious by the time I got home at about 2. I was ready to write my first real angry post. But, to my dismay, the internet was down.

Saturday:
I was still pretty upset about the night before, so I was feeling a little down.
However, the guy (some of you will know who he is, but for whatever reason, I hesitate to use his name) ended up coming over in the evening, bearing gifts and he apologized profusely. He said if I didn't want to go out with him, he'd still rather be friends than nothing. I'm still not too sure how serious he was about that.
We ended up going down to Prince's Island park around 11. Everyone else was really hyper because they had been drinking Red Bull. We ran around and then went out for coffee.
Oh, one good story came out of our running around. Jord was rail-sliding with just his shoes on (does that make any sense?) and some guy came up to him, very impressed, asking if he had special shoes. Jord assured him his shoes were quite normal and did another demonstration for this curious (and slightly drunk) man. We encouraged the man to try it. He did. But he fell backwards onto a bike rack! I thought he broke his back. He didn't move at first and I thought he was seriously injured. When he got up, we all had a good laugh.

Okay, back to the coffee - I had a gingerbread cookie that I think was supposed to look like Miss Piggy. It was pretty creepy. We were all about the head home but a few of us decided to go back to Jord's place to hear some new stuff he recorded on his reel-to-reel player (that thing is incredible). All of a sudden, it was four in the morning and I was begging to be taken home. They refused. Then because I was whining so much, they made me drink a Red Bull.
That stuff is insane. Has anyone else tried it yet? I don't know how long it's been legalized in Canada, not long. I was out of control. Anyway, there was a lot of driving around after that. We finally ended up going for a super early breakfast.
Then I went to my parents' meeting, where I thought I was going to pass out. I actually just got home. So I haven't slept in a really long time. I thought I had outgrown that whole All-Nighters-Are-Novelties stage, but I guess not.

I'm supposed to go to karaoke tonight. So my plan is to sleep for the rest of the day until I have to go to that. Ugh.

The interesting thing about the last couple of days is the range of emotions it encompassed. I don't think it's healthy to do that to yourself.

Wow, this was quite the convoluted post.

Well, good night.
I mean... uh... good afternoon....
I'm going to sleep.