Weird

Today I worked for nearly fourteen hours, but it was nothing too hard, so I don't really mind too much. It's weird, I quit working in restaurants partly (largely?) because it was mostly evening work and I worked alot and I was just tired of missing everything. But this job takes me out of town so I miss just as much, or even more, than I did with the restaurants, and I'm working more than I ever did, but I don't mind (for the most part). I don't really know why. But I'm not complaining. I am going to bed though.
G'night

Guffaw

I just realised something today. I'm much happier when I am being creative. I was working on a project while I was in Langley and it was going well, and I was just finding things much easier to take. I was actually laughing at absolutely nothing while I was in the airport (well, it was more of a chuckle) just because I was amused at that moment. Now, does the creativity bring the happiness, the happiness bring the creativity, or is there an equal (or unequal) mixing of the two. I'm not sure. But I am sure that I like the TV show Due South, and if anyone wants to buy the DVDs for me, I would be greatly obliged.

Just a simple wooden thing

I wear a necklace. There has to be a better name for it. It doesn't have diamonds or pearls or gold or anything like that. Since I am not a female, a rapper, nor a cocky athlete, I am not the sort to be wearing anything shiny. Really, it is just a small cross on a string.
But whatever you want to call it, I like to wear it. It is not a fashion statement. Most of the time it is underneath my shirt, completely invisible (unless you notice the string around my neck, but even that gets hidden under my shirt much of the time). I don't wear as any sort of statement or to bring any sort of attention to myself. The reason I wear it is as a statement to myself of what I believe, a physical reminder of the sacrifice that set me free.
I have not worn it for about a month. Right now, the song 'Numb' by U2 just started playing, I that is an accurate description of my reason for not wearing it. I have just been numb lately. There has been no energy in my life. I am in a rut, and it has extended to my relationship with God. Some days I feel like nothing has changed in my life for years. Sure I live in a different city, and yet it feels like my life is the same as it was in Regina, I just pay more rent now. My entire life has worn me down to the nub.
I need to change my headspace somehow. I need to get out of this rut, into a new groove (heh). That is part of why I am applying for Black Forest Academy. It is a chance to see God working in other parts of the world, and see how He works in me in these parts of the world. It is forcing myself to have energy in new areas, to leap out of my comfort zone and find new ways to learn about God, about myself, about the world.
The best two weeks of the past few years of my life were this summer, working at an English camp in Switzerland. It wasn't the camp part that was so amazing, but being somewhere else and seeing God in creation, in people, in myself. I didn't work at a camp, I spent two weeks seeing God work in subtle ways and in grand ways, in small steps and in large bounds, in minor explosions and contained fires. I was alive!
There are those among you who may be smiling knowingly to themselves and thinking that I am on my way to being a career missionary. I still don't think that, even remotely. There are times when I wonder if the whole career missionary thing is even the best option at all anymore. It just seems to me that in my life I won't ever be someone who is just out there as a missionary, or even working full time in a church/ministry setting. But whatever I do, there will be a focus on helping people, whether it is physical needs, spiritual needs, emotional needs, or some combination. Doing something beyond my job, or incorporated into my work, but again, not in a classical ministry model. I just can't see it, I just can't see me being comfortable in it. But I don't know what exactly I am thinking would look like.
But maybe BFA is a good stepping stone.

Just so everyone knows, I am going to be out of town for the next week, specifically in Langley, working nights. I should be back on Friday (which means I might not be back for two weeks, the way things go with Home Depot sometimes).
Ciao

Who's move is it?

Well, I finally did it.
No not that.
No, not that either.
Woah, I don't know why you would think I would ever do that, that's just nasty. I like the way you think, though.
No, what I'm talking about is I finally sent in my short story to a magazine in the hopes of getting it published. I have no idea what my chances are, but I figure that I've got as good a chance as the next guy, so why not.
The story is called It's Your Move. At least, I think that's what I called it. Well, I guess I'll find out when they publish it (or, less optimistically, if they send it back saying they won't publish it). I had to print it out at the library and that is where I finally put a title on it, so I don't have it saved on my own computer anywhere. Ah well, the title isn't really that important.
Now I'm all excited. I hope I hear from them soon.

Wowzers

There were many TV shows of which I was fond during my childhood.
ProStars: I have a DVD that collects three episodes, and I had forgot how silly it was. The show follows Michael Jordon, Bo Jackson and Wayne Gretzky in their adventures as a team of crime fighters dedicated to helping kids. They would have fancy gadgets every episode and go around the world fixing problems for children. In reality the show was completely ridiculous with sub-par animation and completely ridiculous plots. The three characters neither looked nor sounded anything like their real life counterparts. I could keep going on about how bad it is, but I like the show too much to pick on it. The show reached a plateau of silly that makes it so worth watching. There are a few things I find interesting/amusing about the show. First, Michael Jordon is clearly the leader of the group. The kids all address their letters (actually videos) to him and he seems to make the decisions. Bo and Wayne are characterized as being really good friends, the kind that are usually making fun of each other, but are the first to defend each other. The best part, though, is that Wayne is constantly eating. That seems to be his only concern besides helping kids. It's like the only reason he joined the ProStars was so that he could take trips around the world and sample the cuisine.
This is a picture of Wayne eating, in this case some popcorn, but in other episodes it is stuff like haggis and pizza. He's always eating. This show was one of those shows that has the sole purpose of teaching kids lessons, avoiding drugs, staying out of gangs, persevering, etc. It had its problems, but the end result was a goofy little show that was fun to watch. What more could you ask from a Saturday morning TV show.


Inspector Gadget: If you have never seen the cartoon but you have seen the movie, well then I pity you. The movie was a travesty and a disgrace. The TV show was goofy and clever and just plain fun. It follows the exploits of a man who is basically a cyborg. He has gadgets implanted in his body, such as helicopter blades in his hat, roller skates in his shoes, and telescoping legs and arms. Naturally he is an inspector on the police force. He is also about as incompetent as you can get. He is clumsy and clueless and not very bright, but extremely confident and dedicated. He won't stop trying, no matter how hopeless a situation is, but that is as likely a product of the fact that he has no idea how hopeless the situation happens to be. His success rate, though, is extremely high, and that is thanks to his neice Penny and their extremely smart dog Brain, who can almost speak. He never really spoke, but it was close. Think of Scooby Doo, only slightly less actual words, just growls and barks that sound very much like words. Penny had her computer book that she used to actually solve the cases. Gadget, meanwhile, was just as likely to be helping the bad guys because they told him that they were the good guys and he is naive enough to believe them, but his incompetence actually does more harm to them than he would have if he were trying to stop them. The show is just full of silliness and explosions and bad jokes and slapstick. I love that cartoon so very much.

Teddy Ruxpin: This show follows the adventures of an Illiop. Basically it's like a typical cartoon bear. He hangs out with an absentminded um, er, scientist named, er, uh, Dr Newton Gimmick who would always interject his, um, uh, speech with little 'ers' and, er, um, 'ums', as well as Grubby, an octopede. Grubby was an eight legged insect like creature with a humanoid torso. Think of a centaur (half horse/half human), but instead of a horse back it is an insect back, and instead of a human front it is a humanoid front. Got it? If not, 'sall good. The show was in many ways a good fantasy/adventure story. It involves a great deal of treasure hunting and being chased by villains. There is a whole sub-plot about some crystals that have different powers, and along the way Teddy finds his long-lost father who had had his memory erased by one of the crystals. With a flying air ship (it was like a sea-faring vessel with a hot air balloon attached instead of a mast or sails) and exotic lands, it really intrigued me. I would like to collect the entire series and watch it from start to finish because I want to know the whole story.

Care Bears: I like Grumpy Bear. And Beastly. It was fun, and who wouldn't want to live in the clouds with Grams Bear? Seriously.

So those are some of my childhood favourites. What are some of yours?

Red Green, we miss thee already.

Many of you are probably wondering where I've been lately. Well, as a matter of fact, so am I. I have no idea. I just woke up one day in a bathtub full of ice with a note pinned to my chest that said something about my kidneys being gone, or there being no kidney pie left, or something. Maybe it was about a kidney shaped swimming pool. Anyway, I tossed the note, it didn't seem important, though you have to wonder about people who would pin a note to someone's chest. What, sticky tack or tape isn't good enough? Sheesh.
Oh wait, that might have been a dream, now that I think about it. Yup, definitely a dream. Although I might be going to the doctor, just to be sure...
So about three weeks ago I decided that KalTire wasn't the place for me, so I quit...wait, let me ammend that statement. About two months ago (we'll say three days after I started working there) I decided that KalTire wasn't the place for me, so I spent some time there making some much needed money while I looked for another job. About three weeks ago, we'll call it 17 days, I had my last day there. Now, I am working with the Sign Guys again, that crazy job where I spend my time in Home Depots doing signs and the such. They immediately shipped me off to Edmonton, where I spent about two weeks. I left on a Monday and returned home on a Friday, so that would be 12 days. In there I went home for a couple days over the Thanksgiving weekend. It was actually a pretty good day. This week we are starting to do some work at Zellers in Calgary. Don't know exactly what yet, we'll find that out tomorrow.
Now, some of you may have heard me rant about Home Depot before and may be wondering why I would go back there. Well, the pay is much better than KalTire, and I actually do enjoy the work for the most part. And this time I go in knowing what the deal is, so I am completely unconcerned about it. I don't have to worry about the stupid stuff, I just have to do the work. I'm not the one that has to deal with the lunacy that is Home Depot.
I want to give some examples of silly things that have go on at Home Depot. Let's see - we put up aisle directories, and at the bottom of the directories is a panel, 3' wide x 2' high (maybe only 18", not 2', I can't remember). These panels are filled with a variety of orange signs that advertise some permanent Home Depot things (Low Price Guarantee, Truck Rental, Gift Cards, etc). Some aisle directories are only 2 feet wide, and they know this. But they don't send us any directories that are 2 feet wide, so we have to cut down the 3 foot ones. And then they don't provide any signs that are only two feet wide, so those panels have to remain empty, even though they want them all filled. But there is nothing we can do.
At the Edmonton store, someone randomly threw out some of our signs. Not all of them, just a few that we had on a cart. They had to take some other signs OFF of the cart so that they could throw out the rest, and they completely ignored some of the stuff that was relatively haphazardly strewn about, and just threw out those specific signs, the ones we needed to finish our last night. Why? We don't know. We were just lucky that nothing had been thrown on top of them before we got there.
But this is my favourite thing that I have seen. At each store they have one of those height measuring strips that you see at convenience stores so that you can tell how tall the armed robber is when he is running out of the store. But Home Depot's is a little odd, and in some ways useless. You see, it is in feet and decimal points. What I mean is that I am 6.17 feet tall, or something around there. I can just see the conversation now...
Home Depot Guy (HDG): We were robbed officer!
Police Dude (PD): Can you tell me how tall he was?
HDG: Yeah, he was 6.42 feet tall.
PD: 6.42? How tall is that?
HDG: I'm not really sure. Less than seven feet for sure.
PD: Well, why don't you have inches on your measuring thing?
HDG: We are in Canada you know. We use the metric system here.
PD: Okay, then shouldn't it be in metres? Wouldn't the guy be something like 250 centimetres tall, or 2.5 metres?
HDG: Don't be ridiculous. No one knows how tall 2 metres is. That's just silly.
PD: I hope they come back and rob you again (walks off shaking his head, hoping he gets transferred to a more sane case, like the sighting of Elvis, Benjamin Franklin and Elmo the muppet robbing the convenience store before getting away in the UFO flown by Handy Smurf).
This is the sort of decision that Home Depot makes all the time and just doesn't seem to make much sense if you think about it for longer than a second. But hey, whatevs. I get paid either way. Maybe Zellers will make more sense...
Oh, one other thing. If ever you see that I have written a story on my BLOG, please comment. Us creative types are completely useless without some sort of feed back. Even if you didn't really like it, just post 'Meh'. At least then I know you've read it.
That is all. So until next time, keep your stick on the ice.

Salmon of Doubt

I just watched The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It is a hilarious movie based on a hilarious set of books (based on a hilarious radio play...there is also a TV mini-series, video game, stage play, and a towel). It makes me a little sad every time because Douglas Adams (the creator) died sooner than I wish he would have. I didn't agree with all of his views on everything, but he was an amazing creator and it is sad that he is gone. So watch the movie, read the books, see the TV show, get the towel. It's some good stuff.

Fools Of Us All - Chapter 3 (See August 20, 2006)

I ducked behind a row of garbage cans, holding my breath as the cop car drove slowly by. I don't think they were looking for me specifically, more that they were doing a random search, hoping to round up some 'undesireables'. I definitely would have qualified in that category. All of this trouble over one hijacked broadcast signal. I'm curious to know what will happen after our next strike.
The past month had been pretty hard to get through. I had realised that the country was in bad shape, but that meeting I had attended really opened my eyes.
Just then a loud crash came from behind my head. Immediately the cop car stopped, its spotlight coming to a rest on my hiding spot, casting weird shadows around me. The garbage cans still hid me from their view, but if either one of them got out to check out the noise, I was in serious trouble. I reached down to my ankle holster, silently cursing the decision to leave my large knife at home. A door on the car started to open, but just then a large black tabby jumped out of the garbage can it had been hiding in, rushing off with a startled yowl. The cop car slammed shut and it drove off, leaving me alone in the dark once again.
Not wanting to take anymore chances I hurried down the alley, turning into a doorway, knocking gently on the boarded up door. A small knothole opened and shut, quicker than most people would have noticed if they weren't looking for it. A small click came from one side and the door slid open. I walked in, feeling the air in the enclosed entrance settle around me in that peculiarly stifling manner that it had. A bright light shone along the length of one wall, floor to ceiling. It started to move, spinning around the room, circling me a few times. When it was satisfied that I wasn't carrying any tracking devices or anything else that I shouldn't a door on the inner wall slid open. I stepped through into a dark room full of computers and largely devoid of people. At one of the computers sat Dar, his shaved head glowing in light of the monitors. He glanced up and offered me a strained smile before going back to his work.
From behind a hand grabbed me on the shoulder, spinning me around. Instinctively I leapt back and landed in a fighting pose, my heart thumping heard in my chest. The deep chuckle coming from the man before me helped me to relax. Dun was a large man, roughly six and a half feet tall, built like an angry muscle. He had been teaching me to fight and seemed pleased at my reaction, as well as amused. "You need to relax a little, girl. This is a safe place."
Taking a deep breath I calmed myself down. "Sorry, I just about had a run in with the cops. I'm just a little worked up, that's all."
Dun merely nodded and then motioned for me to follow him. We walked down a small corridor, one that barely allowed his broad shoulders to pass, and entered his office, a cramped room with a desk and two chairs. He sat down heavily and waited for me to do the same. For a moment there was silence as he regarded me with a critical eye, as though he were sizing me up for something. The feeling was vaguely creepy and I was startled when he spoke. "Caz, why are you here?"
There were many questions I had been half-expecting, but none of them had been along these lines. "You wanted me to come with you," I replied, unsure of what he meant.
His laugh was short and without mirth. "Funny. I mean, why are you with the organisation?" It had been a month, and I had yet to hear anyone call it anything but the organisation.
"Well," I started slowly, "as you know I was at that meeting last month, and I found myself agreeing with everything that was being said. The corporations taking over the governments was bad enough. But now they are trying to do away with the government alltogether and merge into one large intercontinental country just seems wrong. I want to do my bit to help and let people know the truth." I was feeling pretty good about that goal too. I had been part of the crew that had hijacked the newswave broadcast, sending out what the officials called 'harmful propaganda', but which really was truth. It turns out that my skills in communication technologies weren't completely useless after all. Briefly I wondered why Dun seemed so uneasy.
I didn't have to wonder long. "Listen, Caz, there's something you have to know." He paused and picked up a sheet of paper in front of him, studying it carefully. I waited in silence, finding it odd when he muttured "I told them she wasn't ready yet," under his breath. Finally he raised his head. "We've been watching you for some time now, longer than a month. We think that you are going to be the key to a problem that has been brewing for some time now. I need you to trust me and to listen closely. I don't think you are going to like what I have to say, but I promise you, it is all true."
Fortty minutes later, he left the office. I sat there for most of the night before I got up and ran out the door. This changed everything.