Turn it on, turn it up, turn me loose

I have a new appreciation for men. I have no idea how they put up with women.

I have some catching up to do.

I did very little on Friday. People were either busy or not home. I ended up staying home and watching TV. Saturday, I spent the day cleaning because my sister and her roommate were coming into the city for overnight. They went to a matinee of Les Miserables. I was supposed to meet them for supper. Well I met them for supper but never had supper with them. The restaurant we were supposed to met at was too busy so we decide to go to another one. The food was taking so long at the other one I had to cancel my order. I had to open the church for the youth group I am a leader for. I quickly went through A&W drive-thru and barely made it in time.

I called the city school division today concerning when I can begin subbing. The person was gone for the day already (I called before 3). I was told by a secretary that she is incredibly busy and does not know when she will get to processing my paper work. Ugh.

I caught up with my friend Twila on the phone today. We have lived in the same city since August and we still have not seen each other. We were speculating since a friend let slip that someone I know is pregnant but she couldn't tell me who. Twi and I were trying to figure out who it could be. I'm a little stumped since I already have 6 pregnant friends. That doesn't leave too many people it could be.
I also found out my friend's younger sister is engaged. For that I am including a song my friend Sharon wrote on the occasion of my sister's engagement. It needs to be revisted...


"Everyone's Engaged"

So it seems, to me, that everyone has a ring (this is a ballad)
It's all so sudden and crazy, that's why I must sing

Of these people who are deluded
There life seems so concluded

But don't worry, because I'm not bitter! (this is where the song really takes off in pitch)

Chorus:
I'm not bitter about being alone
I won't grumble and moan

about being single and hot
the world's my meat pot

I'll get through without them
There so like Barbie and Ken

Everyone's engaged

Second verse
So what if they're happy
There lives will soon be crappy

When they wake up beside the person they thought they knew
Who's turned into a fat mess of goo

They've let themselves go
They run a freak show

Yet I'll still be there, thin and oh so beautiful
No I am not bitter

Chorus:

Refrain:
Quit touching each other and looking with googly eyes
Quit making plans and laughing at me as though I'm the ridiculous one (the tempo has obviously picked up)

Quit saying you'll find someone it only takes one day
Because maybe I'm just happy with myself and don't feel the need to have somebody else validate my life just because you do, and just because you think your partner is so great, doesn't mean I'm not going to find someone ten times better who has killer abs and broad shoulders, who makes me dinner and actually does ironing and finds time to write me little notes about how great I AM and so....

Chorus:
Last bit:
No i'm not bitter, not bitter.....at......aaaaaaaalllllllllll.

I hate it when people make plans involving you without first asking you if it is alright. So right now I'm seeming like the "jerk" because I am messing up people's plans.

A couple nights ago I saw a repeat of The Daily Show. The guest was Tom Wolf where he was wearing white spats. It was so awesome. I think guys should start wearing two-toned wingtips and spats again. It would be the cat's pajamas.

Free at last

I finally got a call for subbing today. I was completely shocked. I figured I wasn't going to get any calls until I was officially added to the Saskatoon Public list. It was for Allan Composite School.

The day went well for the most part. The day started a little shaky. I left later than I should have. My gas light was on so I was praying that there would be a gas station open on the way. You never know with really small towns. All the classes went well. During the teacher's prep period, I taught grade 2 reading. Good times. They told me they had fun. All of the math classes told me they were glad to have a sub that knew math. I told them to make sure to tell their teacher how much they liked me. I even caught a couple mistakes the teacher made in her notes and assignment. I don't blame her though. She is a first year teacher and has lots to learn. I was like that too.

I'm off to make supper.

Between the Bridges

It was a strange day in our household yesterday.

A couple days ago, my friend Mike email me and asked for our address because he wanted to "surprise his wife with something". His "wife" of course being my cousin and roommate Ang. Since May long weekend they have been joking that they are married, though they are not. I cannot believe they still joke about it. Mike does not seem to tire of his joke too easily. (He has been calling me "man" for over a year now).

Yesterday, there was an anniversary poem posted on my blog. A little later, I got an email from Mike asking me to make sure that someone would be home after 5. He sent another email later to find out our phone number. By this point I figured out what was going on.

After 4, I received a phone call from a flower shop making sure someone was at our residence for a delivery. About an hour later a delivery guy arrived with flowers wrapped with paper addressed to "Angelaroo". Man, Mike sure can take a joke far.

Angela wasn't supposed to come home until late but I called her and told her she had a delivery that was time sensitive. She got home and I gave her the flowers. It was half a dozen red roses. The card inside said "Happy 6 Month Anniversary". She laughed then kept on shouting "That turd!" So I wasn't too sure of what she thought until later.

Later that night after Ang returned from her parents' house. She talked to Mike on the phone. Apparently, we are supposed to tell girls what a nice guy he is. The idea is of he is that sweet to a fake nice, imagine what he'd be like for a real girlfriend or wife. Hear that girls, Mike will be nice to you if it is to his benefit. (Just joking). He's a little weird but a nice guy.

That brings up an interesting topic of conversation. I am very suspicious about people who call themselves "nice" or "creative". I often think they are the opposite. I'm starting to believe that people who are nice or creative don't tell anyone they have those characteristics. It is something people just know. I am more willing to believe people who claim are trying to be these things. Discuss amongst yourselves...

bah-humbug

I found out my arch-nemesis is pregnant and going on maternity leave in January.

Bury the Shovel

Last night I had planned a Clue night for the youth group I am a leader for. Instead of a game board, the teams had to complete tasks to get get clue cards. sometimes things were a little chaotic but overall everyone had fun. People even told me so. It feels good to be appreciated. I'm a little worried though. For the next two weeks I have to lead the group all by myself.

After the meeting, a group of us went to Boston Pizza. For the most part I had lots of fun. I laughed harder than I had in a long time. I found out there is a rumour going around about me. My dad's cousin, a part-time resident of the town I just moved from, heard I was fired from my previous teaching position. Apparently I called a student stupid. This is so far from the truth. I resigned because I was living too far away from my close friends and family. I left with glowing letters of recommendation from the director of education, my principal and vice principal. Why would anyone think or say anything like that about me? People in town knew why I was leaving. Was not the best way to end off an evening.

One definitely positive thing about the evening, I ran into a friend that I had not seen in over a year. We exchanged phone numbers (we have both moved since we last saw each other) and made plans to see each other again.

An Arguement for Hermia

I was thinking recently about what Shakespeare character I most identify with. I think most women would choose Ophelia from Hamlet. It is understandable why; he used to seem like a good guy until he started acting like a something he wasn't, he couldn't make up his mind about anything and kept comparing her to his mother. Something many women can relate to. I find Ophelia to be the cliched choice.

I find I much more can relate to Hermia from A Midsummer's Night Dream. I am falling for a guy who want nothing to do with me. Even when he treats me poorly, I make excuses for him convincing myself he really does care.

Here is an example:
DEMETRIUS
Do I entice you? do I speak you fair?
Or, rather, do I not in plainest truth
Tell you, I do not, nor I cannot love you?

HELENA
And even for that do I love you the more.
I am your spaniel; and, Demetrius,
The more you beat me, I will fawn on you:
Use me but as your spaniel, spurn me, strike me,
Neglect me, lose me; only give me leave,
Unworthy as I am, to follow you.
What worser place can I beg in your love,--
And yet a place of high respect with me,--
Than to be used as you use your dog?

(Act II, Scene I, 204-215)

i'm such a doi-yoi

I've had quite the frantic day.

I was in a rush to get groceries before I had to tutor today. I picked up the mail and found a package from Saskatoon Public S.D. telling me I have been accepted as a secondary substitute teacher. Hooray! Finally! They had some forms they needed me to fill out and some I.D. to show them before I could begin. I checked the time and realized I could run down to their office and get it all down today before it closed. I had to postpone my tutoring session but it was not a problem.

I got downtown and the secretary was photocopying my criminal check when she noticed the date on the letter. I received the letter on August 18. They do not accept criminal checks that are more than 3 months old. Three months ago was yesterday. Oi with the poodles already! Can I never win! The date on the letter they sent me was dated November 5. Since when does it take 2 weeks to send a letter within the city? The secretary told me that they may accept it but I should go apply for another one today just in case.

I arrive at the police station about 7 minutes before closing. It takes a couple minutes before an officer is able to let me go to the second floor to apply for the criminal check. He was arguing with a woman about a subpoena that does not exist but she swears it does. This other lady and I arrive at the office and it had just closed. Boo. We are given a form from the lady at the finger printing office and were told to come back on Monday.

I got home and had enough time to wolf down supper before I had to go out again. I needed to borrow a friend's scanner so I took my laptop over. When I got there I realized I left the things I needed to scan at home. What a day! As I left and got to my car I realized I left my purse at his place. As he returned my purse I assured him that I was like this all the time.

Just as I got home I received a message from my roommate that friends of ours had invited us to a movie. My one roommate and I went to Bridget Jones. It was peelarious.

Time for sleepy.

"It only hurts me when I cry"

I had a strange evening. I came home from tutoring, returned some phone calls, made some thing to eat and was getting ready to watch the tape of the shows I missed tonight when the doorbell rang. I was a guy name Merv looking for my roommate. He had been calling all day so he could drop off some paper work. Ang was at a candle party but expected home soon. He wanted to wait for her to come home. I quickly called Ang on her cell and told her "The dude is here and is staying until you get here." It was not my finest oratory moment but it got the point across.
The strangest thing about this man (besides the constant burping) is his glasses. His glasses are pretty well only glass. They have a bridge across the nose but no arms. It mesmerized me how they stayed on.
While he watched me eat and watch TV, there was a phone call from a man named Clint. As I was writing down the message, Merv started laughing and asked if he could talk to Clint. As far as I knew he figured it was a good joke to talk to a complete stranger. It turns out this was someone he was trying to get a hold of. "Its a world of laughter, a world of tears..."
Ang finally arrived home. I was watching Survivor and he told us a story about while he was in Africa a man slit a goat's throat and drained the blood right in front of him. I'm convinced I am going a have nightmares tonight about Merv and goat's blood.

I'm off to make caramel brownies.

It turned out that I was able to get my application in for the job I wanted. I called the human resource office and I was told that the person had not picked up the applications yet. I quickly got my resume together, filled out the application and rushed over there. I got horribly lost on the way there but it was still enough time to hand it in. Now I will just wait and see what happens.

Last night was the first night in a looooooooooooong time that me and all my roommates were home for supper. I made baked salmon, rice and steamed vegetables. We played canasta for most of the evening. We have lots of fun. I was thinking about going to prayer meeting but thought it was more important to spend time with my roommates. As much as I can complain about them, I appreciate that even when we do not see each other much we still communicate.

I tutor tonight for 2 hours. I should be thoroughly brain drained afterwords.

The way things used to be

My apologies for not updating my blog in awhile. I've either been too busy or not in the mood.

This past weekend I took a road trip with some friends. We all went down to Washington state for a church camp. It was amazing that with seven people in a mini-van there was not a single fight.

The meetings at the camp where really good. Every single message I felt like the speaker was talking right to me. For that I am glad I went.

Socially speaking it was OK I guess. It was a good weekend for girl talk and good times were had. I got to know some new people. I had so much fun playing football one afternoon. What made the camp kind of suck for me was the awkwardness around someone who used to be one of my closest friends. This person was one of closest friends up until about 5 years ago. This past January we both expressed desire to rebuild our friendship. Easier said than done. We email each other but can't seem to carry on a decent conversation face to face. During the camp I was treated like I didn't even exist. He would not even look me in the face most of the time if we were hanging out with the same people. There were times that if I joined a group he was in, he would take off. Just about a month ago we had decided to leave the past in the past. That apparently has not happened. I am not going to email him anymore. I've been fooling myself that we are friends. We are at best pen pals. If he wants to know what is going on in my life then he ask me to my face.

The trip home from the camp was a little strange. WE stopped in Cranbrook, BC for lunch and watch the CFL Western final. We left with 1 minute left in the game and the Riders were winning. When we got to Calgary where we were staying for the night we found out they had lost in overtime.

Later that night we went 10 pin bowling which I had never done before. I wish we could have done it for longer but we were limited on time because we got there a half hour before closing. I stayed up way too late that night. I got less than 3 hours of sleep. On the trip it was amazing what you find funny on little sleep (like the town of Balzac).

We got home around 4 pm on Monday. I didn't really want to go to choir that night but I knew as soon as I got there I would be glad that I did. I had to go to the grocery store as soon as I got home so we would have something for supper and the next day. As soon as I got into the car I realized that my roommate who had stayed home used my car. She did not have permission to use my car at all. I was so mad. I was already mad from the weekend but this made it way worse. I was out of the country with the car registration, if something had happened she would have been big trouble. I would have been understanding if it was for an emergency but it wasn't. Members from my own family are not allowed to borrow my car without permission. Later that night when I picked her up from work she apologized for missing a couple minutes of a show that I was taping and a mark she made on the bathroom floor. I told her I didn't care about those things and told her what really made me upset. For someone who talks a lot, she sure was quiet.

Earlier that night on my way to choir I almost got into 2 accidents at the same intersection. It was a 4-way stop. I waited for the 3 other cars that got to the intersection before I did. I entered the intersection when someone ran right through the stop sign. I slammed on my brakes and honked my horn then a truck that was right behind the car ran through the stop sign too. The guy driving the truck stuck his tongue out at me and gave me the finger. Way to make a bad mood worse. I had a very poor opinion of humanity that day.

Today I am a little sad about a missed opportunity. I checked an employment website this morning and saw I job I would love to have. It is for training people at the synchrotron at the university. They are looking for someone with an education degree with strong computer skills. I had a tour of the synchrotron a couple years ago and my immediate thought was I would love to work there. I even considered going back to school to get my B.Sc in physics so I could work there. The closing date was yesterday. :( Not much I can do now. I just have to trust that is where I am supposed to be they won't find someone for the position and post the job again.

I know how negative this posting has been so I'll leave it off on a good note. Last night I went to pick up from school. We had agreed to meet at a friend's apartment near the university. I got there a little early and had a good chat with my friend's Cory. We haven't seen each other in a couple weeks so we had lots of stories to tell. Since we saw each other I dyed my hair black and left parts of my natural hair colour as streaks. He noticed them and told me he thought they looked good. He is the first one to notice even though it was 3 weeks ago. It completely made my day. I had been having such a bad couple days that you have to appreciate the little things.

"There are plenty of fish in the toilet of love"

My time spent at my my parents' house was pretty easy going. I spent most of my time watching TV with my sister. I went to my brother's soccer game. I try to make it to as many games as I can. I know he really appreciated that I came. The men's division does not get many spectators.

I got a letter in the mail while I was gone from SIAST. It was inform me that I did not get the position teaching night classes. My fears were not unfounded since they went with a more "senior teacher". The letter also said if enrollment increased there would be another position.

Riders are going to the semi-finals in Vancouver! Ottawa here we come!

Me sleepy now, time for bed.

Golden Slumbers?

After being incredibly tired last night, I woke up at 2:30 am. It is now 5am and I am wide awake. I hate when that happens. It seems to be happening to me more than usual.

Yesterday I decided to come back to my hometown for a visit. It is a little more than a 2 hour drive from where I live. The short visit on the weekend wasn't enough. I had nothing else going on this week so I figured it wouldn't hurt. I plan to stay until Saturday.

Last night I arrived at my parents' house a little after supper. My mom had choir practice but my sister came over to visit. We watched TV for most of the night. My dad is away on a business trip until Thursday and my brother is off with his girlfriend (of course) so it will mostly just be Mom and I for the week.

Let's start at the very beginning...
Saturday I traveled to my hometown where my cousin was having a Halloween party. As previously mentioned I went as a swing kid. I have to say I looked pretty authentic. We visited, played some silly games and then topped off the evening with a viewing of The Lost Boys (aka that ridiculous 80s vampire movie). I had a good time but I was too tired and a little out of it. I was kind of quiet.
I was really sad to go home on Sunday. If I didn't have an interview today I would have stayed. I barely saw my parents and didn't even see my brother. I do not have much going on this week so I think I'll go back tomorrow for the rest of the week. What else do I have to do (being unemployed)?
Speaking of employment, my job interview went really well. The interviewer even told me that it went well. I will not know if I got the position until the middle of November. My one disadvantage is my age. This is a position teaching adult education in the evenings. They maybe worried since most of the students are a little younger or approximately my age. I am completely qualified for the job so I hope they can see past my age.
After my interview I stopped off at Saskatoon Public (where I had my interview on Friday). I had a new reference I wanted to add to my file. I was complete shock when I ran into my cousin (that I haven't spoken to in nearly 6 months). She used to work as a secretary there before she moved and was in town visiting. As I was talking to her, my friend's dad came into the reception area. He is teacher who lives out of town but was there for a conference. Weird, I guess it is a small world after all (especially in Saskatchewan).
I didn't have enough time to eat lunch before I took my car in for an oil change. I ate at Denny's while I waited. There was a cute guy there who was staring at me. I wished he would have come over to talk to me. Even though I normally do not like guys I don't know approaching me. Anyway, it was nice to get the attention.