Saturday, December 31, 2005

Leaving a Good Impression

Sooo....

Have you ever wanted a job? Like, yeah, sure, there are lots of jobs out there, but you want one in particular... Maybe cuz its convenient... Say a gas station nearby to your home...

If you want a job, you really need to makea good impression. Even if the person hiring you is not the person who you dropped your resume off to, work might get back to them... and thr ass you made of yourself may afect your ability to get a job...

Point and case... We may not be hiring the girl who dropped off her resume tonight...

She came in at 445am (so towards the end of my shift) to drop of her resume...

It was raining out, so the resume was a little bit wet... by little bit, I mean, almos completely...

She asked if we were hiring, I said I didnt know but I could take her resume and put it in a place my boss would get it...

She proceeded to tell me that she hated the 'bitchy one with the beard' who usually works graveyards (the lady she is reffering to, assides from having a slight facial hair problem, is the best working, friendliest, and most productive employees at petro the store... Complaining about such a person is not recomended... usually it implies you are doing something wrong to make her treat you like a bitch)...

She then proceed to tell me all of the hours she would not be able to work... I stopped listening pretty much after it became a full out schedual rather than just "church on suday mornings, dance on wednesday evenings"...

Then she started talking about how much she had been drinking tongiht... Apprently quite a bit... because she then excused herself to the washrom because she was feeling nauseous...

After comming back from the washroom, she cut me off from serving another customer, to inform me that she wanted to ehar back from my boss as quickly as possible, because she had just been fired from her former Mc.Ployer... Proving that she was a lovely emplyee, who was a real team worker that was never late for a shift...

Some peoples children...

Friday, December 30, 2005

Easy on Me

Thank god for annoying family members...

now I dont have to worry about telling them about not comming back for the summer... as things tend to slip out when you're angry at being harassed

Thursday, December 29, 2005

Spaced Out

Why?

Why do I do this to myself...

I hate working in retail... I know I do... well... at least I hate working in retail where normal people can afford to shop...

I want to work at a place where people who have been taught how to behave in public shop... I want to work at a place that people are excited to go to... where shelling out cash for my services is a blessing and not a requitement...

I think I want to work at starbucks...

No one goes to starbucks cause they have to... no one expects to save money at starbucks... everyone walks out of starbucks happy with their purchase and without having annoyed the barista...

Okay... mayeb I lied a bit with that last one...

But regardless...

Today might not have been such a bad day if it wasnt so boring...

I had finished the menial tasks of stocking and sorting and cleaning by about 2 hours into my shift... leaving an additional 6 hours fo rme to stad around and watch dust collect on the counters... so i could clean them again...

And to add insult to injury, the people that came in tonight were FAR from what I would consider intellectuals...

"um... i was umm... wondering... umm you know if... um... you know... umm... you sell oil here?"

Was that even a sentance... seriously... I was barely able to stay focused long enough to follow his pseudo sentance... Combined with the fact that he was standing less than a foot away from the oil display (128 oil containers with everything from 5w20 to 20w50)

Then a lady who just dropped her credit card on the counter and walked away...

She came backa few minutes later... stuttered a few syllables about export a light... and then stood in the candy isle staring at the mike and ikes for a good 15 minutes... (I asked what she was looking at)...

and then theres the guy who pulled into full serve...

I greeted him outside, informed him he was in full serve, that the price was more expensive, and that I would be mroe than willing to pump his gas if he so desired...

He didnt even aknowledge me...

I reiterated, as he got out of his car, that gas was more expensive, i cannot override the price difference, that i would b willing to pump his gas... and then I added that he can also just pull around to one of the other pumps...

he ignored me some more...

I stood there, waiting for him to respond... he just continued like it was any other gas station...

I started explaining the situation a third time and he interrupted me to tell me that i might as well just start the pump (until i give the word, the pump is halted inside) because his wife was already inside waiting to pay...

just then, the passenger door opened, and a lady exited, walked past me, and into the store...

I stared blankly some more...

Then I went inside...

If there was a way for me to tack an extra 10 cents onto his gas, I would have done it...

Oh well...

My feet hurt...

My head hurts...

My stomach is empty...

I think im done writing for the night...

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Dropped the bomb...

Thankfully people are not near as dense as my worst fears would have them...

I'm starting to let my secret out... poeple are taking it well...

*phew*

Tuesday, December 27, 2005

'Excuse Me' Does Not Make You polite

So I'm working today... and I mean really working... (it was so dead so maybe working is a lie... 'really working' is most definately a lie... but I digress)

Anwyays... So I'm earning a pay cheque standing around and occasionally taking money from people...

Then all of a sudden, theres a line of people... SoI'm serving customers (surprise)... In the middle of a transaction I hear a loud, slightly SE asian accent, say "excuse me"... I look up to see a guy kinda half pushing his way past the people in line... I of course, ignore him... If it's not important, he can wait his turn.. if it was important he would have been a little more forceful in his attempt to garnish my attention...

I continue couting the handful of change thats been handed for me (it always seems that right after christmas, more people pay for cigarettes with change from the cars)...

Again I hear "excuse me" followed by "do you have matches"...

So now I know its not important... and although we do have matches, they were not within arms reach, and I would ahve had to temporarily discontinued the transaction I was in to walk over and grab the matches and walk back to hand them to the guy... Now I don;t know about you, but when I'm being served I don't like it when employees drop what they're doing with me in order to serve some beligerant prick... Did I spell beligerant right... i dont think I did...

anyways...

Knowing full well that if I campletely ignore him, he;s just going to continue being an annoying ass, I aknowledge him and say "yes we have matches"... I then go back to counting change...

"excuse me"

I ignore him

"excuse me"

I make eye contact in an 'oh no you didnt' kind of way... and then go back to counting..

"HELLO!?!?! Cna I get some matches?"

I'm thinking 'no' and I'm glaring at him like he;s the biggest asshole to evr step foot in the store... But I don't think he got it...

I finished counting the change...

And I start putting it in the register... coin by coin... every nickel, and every penny individually...

By this time, I thought for sure he would get the message... I mean, there would be no reason to do this unless you were trying to piss someone off... But he just goes back to "excuse me"'s like because I'm in retail I'm obviously mentally difficient, and he's used ot dealing with my sort...

I dunno...

some peoplem are dense..

I ended up giving him a pack of matches I know hada been wet at some point in the day (I accidentally spilled a bit of the water zi was using to clean and a few packs of matches had gotten wet)...

I hope that he didnt get his fix and was too embarassed (or too tired of dealing with my type) to come back inside...

Monday, December 26, 2005

Kinda Like Christmas

As it stands now, we have about 1 hour before I enter back into the wonderful world of retail...

Lets go throught he facts...

People who come through convenience stores are often miserable... their wives are forcing them, their children hate them, their jobs unbearable... The excuses are plentiful... So people come into gas stations/convenience stores, and lo and behold, there are people working at convenience stores who are conveniently there for these people to take out all their stress and anger...

fact two is that we are in a generally disagreeable season... The inlaws are in town, the christmas bonus never came, the eggnog spoiled, the cats knocked over the tree, the kids didnt like their presents, it's rainy and cold... Conveninetly there are people that work at gas stations who are paid to put up with these kinds of problems...

fact number three... all the enw employees know about me... As of yet, I dont know what they know about me... cuz god knows there are a lot of stories to tell... But whenever I phone in and someone new answers the phone I always get a "so you're Neal, eh?"... This means I either have a lot to live up to, or I have a lot to lie about... Cuz really, i don;t want to crush anyones dreams...

I forgot to bring work pants... Which should make this fun...

I do have work shorts... But considering the season they may not function to well...

Although today is warm... And I do like rain... I'll just dibs out on the full serve and focus onreaching whatever targets we need to reach... Although I dont really see the point of reaching the targets... I was one of the best target people over the summer... and I didnt recieve anything from it... Everyone else got a night of drinks and mini golf (or so I hear)... i got nothing...

Last time I try to sell that many slushies on a single day... (a two day quota was met in a 4 hour shift tyvm!!!)

Anyways.... I should get dressed and try to coerce my family into taking me to the mall to do all my christmas shopping...

Sunday, December 25, 2005

Reminder

I hate dial-up

I hate aol dial-up

I hate using aol dial-up on a computer that can barely support a modem due to its obvious lack of hardware

I hate using aol dial-up on a computer that can barely support a modem due to its obvious lack of hardware and its overabundance of spyware and viruses

I hate using aol dial-up on a computer that can barely support a modem due to its obvious lack of hardware and its overabundance of spyware and viruses while staring
at a freakishly small screen which has poor colour contrast

I hate using aol dial-up on a computer that can barely support a modem due to its obvious lack of hardware and its overabundance of spyware and viruses while staring
at a freakishly small screen which has poor colour contrast and speakers that are so static filled that you can't tell the difference between Paul Brandt and Pink

I hate...

Im Not Trying to be Ungrateful

There are a few things to be thankful this year…

Last night we had the first Christmas Dinner where there was no fighting… Sure it was only my mom, my step-dad, my brother, my gramma and I… But there was no fighting none the less…

Turns out they finally cut my coke addicted uncle lose… I don’t know how my gramma finally got the courage to do it, but she packed up her things and left him behind…

Of course that didn’t stop him from phoning everyone up to try to make them feel sorry for him…

“Aww poor baby… your life sucks? They cut you off welfare? What a terrible time for these things to happen?”

Am I really expected to make him feel better for the last 23 years of his life he wasted? I hope to god not, because I know for a fact the only reason he’s trying to get attention is so that he can siphon money to get his next hit…

I don’t care what anyone says (and I know some of you are probably thinking I’m being a little harsh) there is no justifiable reason to do heroine/cocaine… Not one!

I don’t care if you have a hard life… I don’t care if you’re predisposition to become addicted… I don’t care if it makes you forget about your problems…

If you take time out of your life in order to put those chemicals in your body the first, you will not gain sympathy from me for any problems that arise from subsequent usage…


On a lighter note, more proof that my family doesn’t know anything about me… A bunch of generic novelty gifts, and some clothing that is far to big for me… And I don’t mean “oh, don’t worry, this’ll shrink in the wash” big I mean “oh dear, where did neal find the circus tent” big…

Some of it is nice though, so I hope they’re not too offended when I ask them to downsize it…

And I did get a nice framed picture of San Francisco… So it’s not all bad…

Oh well… I am gonna go and drink… It is Christmas after all…

Saturday, December 24, 2005

Safe Arrival

So I am back in BC, a little worse for wear...

Let me tell you about my bus trip...

I arrived at the bus depot with plenty of time to spare, and stood in line so as to try to get a good seat (ie not beside children)...

The line behind me started to grow, and grow... Eventually making a critical mass... Critical mass in a bus depot is defined as the point where it becomes apparent that there are far more people than bus seats, and an orderly line disintegrates to form a mob of people massed around the ticket kiosk...

but god bless their hearts, those greyhound employees, for an extra $45 you could purchase preferred seating... Merry Christmas, Everyone!!!

For an extra $30 on top of their prefferred seating I could still get a plane out to Vancouver...

And this is regardless of the fact that at this time, I have a ticket which says I am on the 8pm bus leaving from edmonton... There was going to be hell to pay if I didnt make it on that bus... Well... I wasn;t gonna tell them that i had offers for christmas in the city and that it would have been a dissapointment to not make it home, but not a major upset... For all they were gonna know, my dying grammas last wish was for me to be sitting at her deathbed at midnight on Christmas when they pulled the plugs to her respirator...

So they start letting the people who purchased the prefferred seating onto the bus, while the rest of us are shaking our fists angrily...

Then they come up with the bright idea of adding a second bus at the same time... where the second bus came from I have no idea... but it's not 45 minutes after the schedualed departure time, so I can't really say that this whole thing was planned out... I mean, 45 minutes is almost enough time for them to drive in a spare bus from calgary...

Anyways... It's a mad house... And I get the clever idea to act really gay, so as to provide reason for parents not to let their children sit next to me...

This is the second time that acting gay has saved me, the first being that time at montanas when 'man voice' tried to seduce me with jiggly dancing and beer...

But yes... no children sat next to me... thankgod... At this time, both buses are full... But there are still 20 VERY ANGRY people yelling outside the doors of the buses...

I ignored the... I had my seat...

So I played my game boy, and went into and out of reality... When I awoke from my first slumber, I realized that the older asian lady who had sat next to me was caressing my leg...

yes...

caressing...

her eyes were closed... so I think she was 'sleeping' but oh god was it creepy...

in edson I made a dash for the washroom and tim hortons... I used the food as a reason to angle myself slightly more away from the asian lady (switching seats awasnt an option due to the fact that the buses were PACKED)...

i played a little more gameboy, and then had another nap... Woke up again with hr hand on my thigh... Not caressing, and not particularly close to the goods, but creepy nonwe the les...

Scenes of Euro Trip flashed though my head...

I adjusted my seating position, while in the process removing her hand from my leg... And then placd my hand on my leg as a buffer should she start exploring again...

Thankfully she got off at Kamloops...

We almost hit a deer... The bus driver was already meandering in and out of the lines on the pavement as much as I could bare... Maybe he was doing it to keep himself concious... But regardless, we're barelling along when a deer jumps across the road... He brakes very suddenly, and we're all heaved forward...

Then a second deer starts walkin across the road in front of the bus...

He brakes harder, we're now lurching forward, almost skidding... he lays on the horn as the deer appears not to be moving anywhere

Then the third and forth deer jump out of the bushes, startled by the horn...

We're still trying to stop...

Then a handful more deer go running... We are not able to come to a complete stop, ad they're all across the road... They're probibly thinking "pedestrians have the ROW, idiot"...

Oh... did I mention that there were a few crying babies... They didnt go for the whole trip... but they were there...

And a mentaly disabled person who felt the need to tell me his life story... but he needed to tell every thing in triplicate

"did I.. Did i tell you... Did I tell you about... tell you about the did I tell you about the time I..."

Doesnt make for a captivating story...

Or the old guy who smoked a cigarette at EVERY STOP!

spruce grove, wabamun, entwistle, ninton, edson, obed, hinton, jasper, valemont etc etc etc...

And he was smoking every time with the bus driver... so it wasn't like there was gonna be a threat "stop smoking so much or we'll leave you behind at the next stop"

I cannot believe there as enough room on the bus to store that many cigarettes

So in conclusion...

No more bus for me ever...

Now Im gonna go play in the heavy rain...

I missed rain!

Friday, December 23, 2005

Next Christmas...

... you're all comming to edmonton, and not the other way around...

Yay!!

Thank god for seat sales and noticing them early...

I will not have to bus back to edmonton... And for those of you who have taken the 15 hour bus ride from edmonton to vancouver, you will understand why this is a good thing...

came to the realization that i am not going to have a lot of free time in the 12 days I am home... What with work and friends and wedding of friend (speaking of which... I should probibly buy a wedding present eh?) combined with family and holidays and more work (Im working a 12 hours new years eve shift... check back here for stories for sure...

I also need to petition my church for mission trip money... i hate petitioning... Especially since I've been there so little in the last 4 years...

"Hi everybody... half of you don;t know me because I've been gone for far longer than you've been comming here... but how would you like to give me money so I can go on a trip that you know nothing about!!!"

Yes.. thats sounds great...

Not to mention that I will only be in town for 1 sunday (yes... 1 sunday) so my new speech will have to sound something like this:

"Hi everybody... half of you don;t know me because I've been gone for far longer than you've been comming here... but how would you like to give me money so I can go on a trip that you know nothing about!!! Oh, and if you could all write your cheques now that would be great cuz I hae no interest in staying here any longer than I have to, but i need the money before I go back to Edmonton"

I have no problem paying for the trip out of my own pocket... But there seems to be this idea that i have to put in an effort to fundraise... I mean i can't let the team down... or something...

Somehow the cohesiveness of the team is based solely on my ability to syphon money from my home congregation...

Don't they realize how good Zion has been to me in the past, and how long I've been gone?

Really, it's like beating a gift horse... I know some of you from zion are thinking "but we <3 you neal" but it still remains the case that i have lived in edmonton for 4 years now and don;t havea church i would consider my home congregation here yet...

Oh well...

Maybe I'll just make up names and donations... Don't be surprised if you get a tax deductable receipt in the mail... maybe I'll make those some surprise X-Mas presents... A month later "hey lookie here... I get another $20 off my taxes this year!!"

They cut off internet from my room yesterday...

That makes me sad... i <3 my internet games so much... perhaps too much...

Oh well... I'm not going to complain about it anymore cuz theres nothing to be done and I do leave in a few hours...

I think I'm going to hire poor students to clean my room every so often next symester... They like money, and I like not having to clean...

plus they do a more efficient job than me...

Here's an example of them cleaning:

"this is garbage... this is garbage... this is garbage... this is clothing... *fold fold fold*.... this is garbage... this is boardgame... *stack*..."

this is me cleaning:

"this is... aww i remember that night... so much fun!... i should email her and ask her how she's doing... i wonder if anyone has posted anything on skyscraperpage.... wait... back to cleaning... this is boardgame... I havent played this game ina month... I wonder if anyone wants to play.... *goes three rooms down* annyone wanna play??? sure.... I'll explain it to you.... (hours go by).... okay... abck to cleaning... garba... wait... aww... this isn't garbage... i used to really like this... how did it get broken... I wonder if I can fix it... *tries fixing it*.... that didnt work... i better blog about my day... *blogs*... i wonder if anyones on nexopia... nope... better leave a bunch of random messages on peoples accounts... oh someones hre? sure I'll go ou for lunch..."

coincidentally... this is also the proceedure for studying for exams...

We have two new potential dormies next symester for guys dorm... Its exciting... one from saskatchewan... And one from Syria...

I was reading through their dorm applications... they seem nice enough...

Apparently the one from syria always says the same thing when he phones (according to my boss)

"Greetings from Damascus"

The one from Sask should fit in pretty well,,, He plays badminton... I think every guy in dorm plays badminton (except me of course... eww physical exertion)...

The syrian will be the new immigrant... Immigrants are always fun... Ilike when they try to adjust to canadian culture... until they learn there isnt really culture... just be polite, and you fit in...

That seems to be one of the things people from out of Canada seem to notice... A lot of people do not have english as their first language... Sure its a little skewed living in dorm... there a re a lot of international students... But I think I'm starting to speak a little bit of engrish as well...

I heard a really funny racist against natives joke today... But it requires being able to hear it... So remind me about it... The way to remember is "passionate" that should remind me...

I thinkn I'm going to try to find someone to go out for lunch with today...

Everyone seems so busy though... So I'm not too sure how this is gonna work... If you're reading this,a dn thinking to yourself "i know an exotic restaurant that neals never been to and would like to go to lunch today" give me a call.. of course locals only please... I'm not in surrey yet...

Such is my life...

I <3 starbucks... I think I want to live next to a starbucks next year... so that i can work part time as a barista...

That would be wicked cool... very wicked cool...

And then I could have all of my starbbucks customers who i run into on street corners and they'll all be like "arent you that hawtt guy that works at starbucks" and I can be all like "oh yeah... youre tall low-fat 3 pump vanilla latte girl, arent you" then we'll laugh and date and get married...

Hmm... maybe I should go have a nap,,,

Thursday, December 22, 2005

Cajun Cuisine

So tonight I went out for cajun food with some friends...

The name on the outside of the building was Cilantros... I was expecting fancy Itallian... or maybe Mexican... I am no food expert, so Cilantro doesnt stir the imagination... But it looked class enough, and I decided tyhe other day that I would like to eat there...

I entered the restaurant with my aforementioned friends, to find that the name on the menu is Louisiana Purchase... And that all of my hopes, dreams, and desires that were directed to a nice italian dinner would now be directed to a food type classified by a bunch of words that I can't even begin to say properly...

Needless to say, I looked through the descriptions of food until I recognised animals that I would normally enjoy eating...

Alligator? nope
Catfish? nope
Mussels? nope
chicken? chicken is safe and non-offensive... chicken it is...

And so I settled on the blackened pepper chicken with chilli sauce served with steamed vegetables...

I'm kinda sorry that i didnt get the alligator... Cuz the chicken was really good, and more or less as soon as I realised how good it wasm i wanted to try something else...

Yes yes, I have commitment issues... Sue me...

Food was so good I ended up ordering dessert...

I wish I hadn't...

I ordered the bread pudding with butter-rum sauce...

I got rasins with ass-rum sauce and a side of warm soggy bread....

I like talking about food... I wish I could be a paid food critic... but then again, I would probibly have to be accountable for the things I say.. . And then i'd probibly change my mind about the pudding when i found out that the chef is a 500lb body builder with biceps as large as my waist...

So two things...

Some people need to learn that the things that they do with their girlfriends/boyfriends need to stay private =P

I must confess, sometimes I'm guilty of the TMI moments... But really... eww eww gross eww shut-up eww gross!!!

I think some people think I'm joking when I make the gag face... I actually throw up a little each time...

Sure sure, whatever you do in a concensual loving matter is right and beatiful and blah blah blah... But honest to god, do you need to tell me?

probibly not eh?

Oh well... my venting of the day...

Oh... and I think new years is gonna be entertaining... spread the news, neals working at the petro can..

party it up people...

just make sure you bring a DD...

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Yuppie

Ever heard of the term Yuppie? [(yp)]

Ever wondered what it meant?

Well, officially, its an acronym meaning "young urban professional" with pie added to the end... They are the echo-boomers, the offspring of the baby boomers... But more specifically they are the well dressed officeworkers who you see at sushi bars talking about the latestest artistic movies...

I had the privilage to eat at a Yuppie restaurant yesterday...

And by yuppie, I do mean pretentious, self-absorbed, and pseudo-evironmentalist

I had the free-range chicken stuffed with organic basil and pomegrnats...

I also had earle gray tea made with life water... bottled water where the profits go to fund providing clean drinking water to third world countries...

My company had the portabello mushroom served with something or other... It looked yummy... but it was mushroom...

For dessert, she had the amaretto creme caramel and I had the chocolate from the east (chocolate pie imbued with coconut and lychee)

The sizes appeares severely small... But we we're pleasantly surprised that it cost a simple $49 for the casual lunch...

The atmostphere was so fake... The food was good... but fake... I really don;t care that my chicken was free range... and I dont care that my pomegranats didn't get doused with chemicals before they were put on my plate...

But other than that, It was an enjoyable experience...

Monday, December 19, 2005

A Few More Days

It's only a few more days before I go back to Surrey...

Tomorrow I have nothing planned... so I'm hoping things will happen...

Well, I have coffee in the morning (which is why Im wiritng this now instead of at 430 like I normally do)...

Other than that, there is nothing planned...

I'll probibly convince some friends to come play board games...

The high school kids have been playing a lot of board games the last few nights...

Monopoly and Risk!!!

EWW RISK!!!

I don't mean to offend anyone, but my opinion of you drops exponentially based on your enjoyment of risk...

And heaven forbid you say something stupid like

"[amazingly well balanced and entertaining game] is good but risk is better"

Anyone has said that and walked away from me unscathed is lucky to be alive...

Way worse than that time MattyK called Squee 'the bear'...

Oh, and by the way, Odesa and others, when you make those jokes about games being "just like monopoly" or "just like risk" or "just like a cross between risk and monopoly"... I laugh and pretend I'm in on the joke... But really, I'm thinking "how much of an inconvenience woulld it be for me to socially detatch myself from you for the next quater decade?"

Anyways...

I should head to bed... I'm getting sleepy (oh god... Im getting sleepy... just like the infidels i make fun of mercilessly)

Saturday, December 17, 2005

Is It Wrong to be Sad?

I miss my dormies...

Oh well...

Today was a good day... I helped out with Santas Anonymous... Think non-profit organization intended on making less fortunate families have a present induced Merry Christmas...

We joined in with several hundred other do-gooders, lining up outside the warehouse which temperarily houses the Santas Anon. presents and staff...

I learned VERY quickly four important things...

1) At -20C, it is important to wear gloves

2) At -20C, it is very important to wear a touque

3) At -20C, it is very important to not think that "a long sleeve shirt will be warm enough"

4) At -20C, sandals are NOT appropriate

So needless to say, I looked a little out of place... You could spot me in the crowd very quickly...

I was the one jumping up and down and rubbing every appendage together so that I might prevent them from freezing and falling off...

The line moved quite quickly... Usually when you get that cold, time slows down, as a funny way for God to say "Clothing was invented for a reason"... Oh wait... the snake... Does that mean there wasn't snow in the garden of eden? I suppose that would make sense... Then are clothes a tool of Satan? I knew my lack of underwear had scriptural support...

I digress...

We signed up to delived bags of presents to 20 households... Not a small undertaking, especially when you consider that carrying four of the bags out to the van almost killed me...

And by killed me, I do mean that some of the children might get dented boxes cuz theres no way in hell my arms were gonna let me carry those bags all the way to the car in one go...

About half way back, my left arm was just like "screw you buddy, you can do this yourself"...

Anyways... After getting chased through the parking lot a little bit (not an important story, really), we were off in order to start delivering the gifts...

Some houses were really good... You give them to the mom or dad and they're so thankful and what with ll the "merry christmas"'s and the "god bless"'s... But then some houses, the kids would answer...

And I'd be standing there thinking to myself "okay... two options... I can hand this kid the bag, he might look inside, realize what these are, realize there isn't a santa, become jaded and depressed, bottle it up inside, and kill 30 people in a postal shootout when he turns 34 OR I could turn around with the bag and run to the van...

Of course I always chose the postal shootout option, but there was always that half second of contemplation...

Oh... And this is your warning... There may be a rash of shootouts at edmonton post offices in 25-30 years....

After delivering about 4 bags, we decided we needed a break, and went for lunch... Which ended up being soup... Which endedup being appetizers and soup... Which ended up being appetizers soup and sandwiches... Which ended up ebing appetizers, soup, sandwiches, and tea... Which ended up being appetizers, soup, sandwiches, tea and a board game...

So... Now the days almost over, and we still have a van full of presents to deliver...

Needless to say, we kicked it into high gear, and got them out as fast as we could...

I then came back to dorm and have veg'ed out every since...

I miss my dormies...

Friday, December 16, 2005

Symester is Done

So I finished all of my exams, all of my assignments and I am now free for the winter break...

Sorta...

It kinda dawned on me at dinner time just how boring this next week is gonna be...

There is NO ONE here...

Well, theres the high school kids, and they're all fun and stuff, but they have curfews and studyhours, and school...

So that leaves me, Holly and some of my friends who live in edmonton (but who will probibly be too busy to come and play with me

='(

So I will probibly be blogging a lot, and most of it will be about how bored I am and about how you should all come visit me...

Although I am aware of several people who plan on stopping by in the next week to game it up!!!

Thats something to be excited about...

On the plus side, my room is starting to look slightly more presentable.... By presentable, I do of course mean that I can see parts of the floor and there is little to no stickiness on any of the surfaces around my room...

And the smell is gone....

I still have no idea what the heck the smell was, but god was it putrid...

I tore my room apart looking for the source, to no avail...

But regardless, its gone...

I'm getting tired of the cold weather... Some days I just don;t feel like socks, but apparently sandles arent supposed to be an option... The two minutes it takes to walk to the library can be quite painful when its windy...

Theres supposed to be fog tonight... That might be enough to convince me to wake up early tomorrow...

I love fog in the river valley... You know how some people like sunsets on the beach? and some like sunrises in the prairies?

I <3 Fog in a winter forest...

Eat it up girls, this is the closest I'll ever get to admitting I'm a hopeless romantic...

Almost as good as a starry night on the bluff overlooking downtown... That is enough to give me wet dreams at night...

I havent made the trek out to the bluff in a long while... I suppose its ssafe to say that school, videogames and hermit-ness have taken over my life (not necessarily in that order of course)...

My glasses are still mangled to hell...

I have been meaning to go and get them fixed ever since that incident where I dropped them under the desk, stepped on them, popped the lenses out, and bent the arm almost completely back...

but I managed to get them mangled into a semi-respectable looking fashion... which is good enough for me I guess...

Dan left today, I think MattyK is leaving really soon... That makes me sad... They're like little brothers... And I have a gross feeling in my stomache like they're going off to war, and I'll never see them again....

Jenn understands, really she does... Going home-home is bitter sweet... You get to return back to your life, whats comfortable and known... But you have to leave so much behind...

I mean, it's not that I don't like being in BC, and I miss Zion terribly, but I spend 8 months a year building friendships and relationships here as well...

And as much as I'd hate to admit it, I'm a different person here... I think Jenn can attest... (it's really convenient having Jenn around btw... she verifies all the stories so no one can accuse me of lying... and as we all know, some of my stories sound pretty outlandish)...

Anyways... I think I like the person I am here... Sure I'm still typical college student trying to find and define myself, but I've made progress towards a goal...

But when I'm back, I can revert back to the old me, and its so much easier...

I hope that i'm not completely two faced... and that the person I'm becommming out here is present in BC...

Ugh... this rant is getting stupider and stupider...

I think I'm going to lie down and havea nap...

gnight

Thursday, December 15, 2005

My Darkest Secret

> Take'>http://www.quizgalaxy.com/quiz.php?id=38">Take this quiz at

Your darkest secret is:
You stole a homeless person's gloves

http://www.quizgalaxy.com/result_images/shh.jpg">

Definition of a Heart Attack

Heart Attack: noun

starying up all night to study for an exam; lying down to review some equations which you know fairly well, but you justw ant to be sure you completely recognise and know how to manipulate in case they are given to you in a weird from on the exam...

and then WAKING UP!!! right before your exam...

I AM THE KING OF POINTLESS POSTS!!!

I Am!

I am godd to the peons of dorm...

My level of slackedness has reached epic proportions...

In a thousand years, grandfathers will tell their children stories about my life...

Feel free to worship me in your own special way...

Exams

BAH!!!

Okay, i know pretty much everything that I need to know for the exam tonight....

Hendersson-Hasselbach, so help me god, if I find out where you two are buried I'm going to dance on your grave...

Wish me luck, I think I might just pass =P

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Who?

Just a roll call:

Who is here simply for the sake of procrastination (I know I don't want to study any more)?

leave a comment... And maybe a funny anecdote

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

[Insert Prophetic Revelation Here]

So today has thusfar been as productive as anything else...

And by anything else, I mean absolutely nothing...

I have done nothing...

And by nothing I do of course mean that this is the most thought provolking thing I've done all day...

I went to starbucks this morning, and ordered my summer frappaccino drink... The barista seemed as confused as always, but it ended up tasting alright (even if the mocha drizzle was underneath the whipcream... honestly, who drizzles chocolate under the whip cream... really)

Anyways...

Saw a guy with his pants pulled up to his armpits... He wasn't as old as people normally are when they do that...

Well.. Actually, this is second hand information, as the person who I went out for coffee with is the one who notices the pant/armpitness... I turned around just in time to see that he didnt look old enough to be dressing like an old guy... but not to actually witness the pants (damn you service bar, damn you to hell!!!)

Then we got into the issue of 'Mom Jeans' a skit/faux commercial from SNL that made me almost die laughing once upon a time...

Mom Jeans

So despite having a completely unproductive day (damn do I ever have a lot of these) I did relearn my love of Sim City 4...

Now before you all think "OMG he's gonna revert back into angry hermit neal" just know that Sim City is not as intensive as the other games I play, and can be saved and quit at any time...

So I shouldnt have too many excuses for being a jerkface...

But so help me god, if you interrupt me in a game of DotA you WILL suffer the concequences...

Umm...

So I need to go to greyhound and make sure that i can make it home for christmas... Should be fun...

I think thats about everything that has been happening in my life...

Like I said, completely unproductive...

Monday, December 12, 2005

20,000 page views!

Thats right!

20,000 page views...

What a way to measure self worth!!!

Bad Mood

So, what is it about finally being in a good, non-depressed, mood that makes everyone feel the need to tell you that you've been in a terrible mood for such a long time before...

I mean, now that I am in a good mood (which might not last due to finals and all) I can look back over the last three weeks and be like "yup... I'm an ass"...

But everyone seems the need to tell me, like it is the most secretive thing in the entire world...

"neal... did uh... you know... uh that uh... you were in a terrible mood the last week or so?

Yes... yes I do... Because there were 15 other people lined up before you to tell me the exact same thing...

And kudos to the people who tried to cheer me up... I think the advent calender is what did it... I <3 Chocolate...

So yes... Neal => Good Mood... Don;t mess it up by giving me bad news or telling me that I'm grumpy, lest you want another 3 weeks of the grinch....

Today is my first final... Scary thought...

I should really be studying right now... but you know...

Study?

Write in blog?

Study??

Write in blog??

Study?!?!

Write in blog!!!

And here we have it...

It saddens me that we are almost done the symester... I like living in dorm, but the guys will be moving out soon (for winter beak) and I will be left here all to my lonesome self... Well... with the high school kids anyways...

Not that they're much fun... Especially Allen... He's such a jerkface...

I'll probibly just end up drinking a heck of a lot of coffee... and monitoring a lot of study hours...

If anyone lives in the edmonton area and will be here for the week preceeding christmas, feel free to stop by for board games... Lots and lots of boardgames...

Pedrhaps I'll even make espresso.... i havent used that espresso machine in the longest time...

Hmm, I'm rambling now... I think it's been a while since I blog rambled... I'm sure you all missed it to death... what with my random jumping for boring topic to even more boring topic... the best of course being when I realise Im rambling and then make paragraph aknowledgements to my rambling ways....

Oh!

So we went to a pool hall/sports bar yesterday for my friends birthday...

I have an exam today... So I didnt drink much at all (two drinks and I switched to pop... arent you proud!!!)

ANyways... THey were playing pool... most of them were playing better with drinks than I can without them... but thats besides the point....

The the birthday girl decides that since I'm not playing, that we should spice things up a bit... Next thing you know everytime the birthday girl or her teammate sinks a ball, I have to remove an article of clothing...

Oh... And I was wearing sandles... So I couldnt even use socks as a buffer...

*sigh*

the game of course ended very quickly after I refused to take off any more clothing...

And such is the life of me

Saturday, December 10, 2005

Damn It Feels Good to be a Gangster

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So this post is completely of the copy and paste variety... So just so that there isn't any type of miunderstanding, none of the words (other than this preamble) are of my own thought. Neither are the images. They have been taken, more or less directly (to avoid bandwidth problems, I'm hosting them on my own PBucket account), from the Nexopia page of DaveCoulier. I thought these were amazingly funny, and needed to be shared with the world...

Enjoy (I know Share will)

"Tired of being a no-body? Tired of nobody taking you seriously because you're just a nice boy?

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With these easy steps you can become a bad ass gangster like Fiddy Cent and Tu Pac (No folks, Tu Pac is not a Pokemon, he is apparantly a "gangster") Follow these steps and you will find yourself barking at the bro's dat be hittin on yo hoe's.

Step Wizzle
-Find yo-self a purr of CLEAN boxer briefs (yo not gonna scare da kids wit a buncha skids) and place them on yo head wit da ass end towards da front of yo face

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Step Tizzle
-Grab an elastic band and tie the legs of the drawers tight around yo head so it hangs out the back. Now you have yo own bad ass doo-rag

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Image hosted by Photobucket.com


Step Tree
-Y'all need a bit of dental work hurr. Who ever said that chocolate is bad fo yo teef

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Image hosted by Photobucket.com
Image hosted by Photobucket.com


Step Fo'
-et yo ass to da local Shoppers Drug Mart and find yo-self some bandaids. This can be used to cover up yo acne or hairy ass mole that people may not find vurry threating

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Image hosted by Photobucket.com


Step Fizzle
-Y'all don't want too many bandaids on yo face otha wise y'all look like ya'll been losin da fights not popping some caps in otha gangsta's asses. Now I recomend that y'all axe yo dad fo some electrical tape for any remaining acne or moles

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Step Sizzle
-Y'all gotta get yo daddies watch and attach it to yo neclace so you got some bling bling. Gangstas love to know what time it is and love lookin at thurr chests to check da time. If y'all really want something special, get yo old ass Boy Scout uniform outta the closet and get yo gold chain and wear dat as yo bling bling

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Image hosted by Photobucket.com


Step Sezzle
- Finally y'all need a bad ass Gat. Now, wit da gun registries and all it may be hard to get one, but you can use any ol' gun round da house for dis. I found dis ol' water pistol and all y'all gotsta do is tell da G's you got vinegar loaded in dis gat and y'all will bust a cap in thurr eye's

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Now dat is how y'all become a gangsta like me. Hope y'all payed attention hurr today. I'll be seein y'all on da streets. Payce"

As I said, not my own idea, and I will not try to pass it off as such... They belong to the person under the profile name DaveCoulier on Nexopia

Friday, December 09, 2005

Types of Drinking

So there are various types of drinkers in the world, and I'm not talking about heavy drinkers, social drinkers, or alcoholics...

I'm talking the personality types of people who drink...

Last night, I was on duty... So I didn't get to partake in the evenings festivities... But I was still awake when the guys came home, and we were exposed to every type of drinker imaginable...

For you're amusement, and mine, let me run over the different types of personalities that we're present yesterday...

Philosopher: Insists on speaking in a manner of "higher" intellect... "higher" is in brackets due to the fact that stumbling through words you heard once on Dawsons Creek to the point that you can barely make coherent sentance, does not constitute higher inteleect... Also, arguing in circles and talking in metaphores should be avoided, especially when drunk, if you want to appear smarter than you actually are...

Crier: Every hardship in life culminates into this one evening... Your parents don't love you? start crying... You're not doing as well in your classes as you could be? cry harder... Someone stole you're favourite christmas pencile in grade 2? start sobbing uncontrollably...

Regretter: This is the person who, upon waking up in the morning, is thinking "oh god... I hope everyone else was aas drunk as I was"... Can someone say damage control?

Fighter: This person instantly thinks that at the slightest turn in a conversation, or a sudden body movement, is instigation for a fight... Usually this person usually has a vein that pops from their head every time someone doesnt agree with them wholeheartidly

Questioner: By far the one I dislike the least... This person asks STUPID questions... repeatidly! "Do you think I'm drunk? I don't think I'm drunk... but do you think I am?... How much do you think I had to drink tonight... I think I drank a lot, but how much do you think I drank?" ad infinitum... Usually these people are really hard to get into their beds because they question wether they are really drunk, or if they're just wanting to play videogames or if they're hungary... They will usually ask you if any of these conditions apply...

Puker: Everyone knows one of these... As soon as the rye, tequila, gin, amaretto, schnoppes, and the beer mix, it isn't staying down... Do they ever learn? Nope... Do they ever clean up after themselves (apparently not)

Slut: You know the type; as soon as they have a shot of vodka, theres a party in their pants and everyones invited...

Mr.Cheerful: Happy happy happy! (makes me nauseous nauseous nauseous) Honestly, I'm glad that you've been drinking, really I am, but I don;t need to hear about all the things I should be happy about from a drunk person... Especially not at 4am when you're waking up the other dormmates...

I think that about covers the people I'm getting used to dealing with...

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Coincidentally

Just when the cold dark season looms overhead, and the stress starts to over come me, I'm reminded about how great my friends are...

Your kind words are very much appreciated

Monday, December 05, 2005

A Concertful Weekend

So this weekend was the OCncordia Christmas Concert...

By all accounts it was a huge success, and the feedback has been mostly positive (I apologise for everyone who had to sit through the 20 minute community chorus song with the 5 minute amen ending... I apologise even more for those of you who sat through it twice)...

Thats all fine and dandy, but the fact remains, this is not the reason I am writing...

You see, something of interest happened at the concert...

The show started at 730, and relatively proptly... By the time we were into the first community chorus song, the show had been running for more than a few minutes...

The community chorus sits in the upper balcany (there are far too many to seat them all up at the front of the church)... It's kinda hard to understand if you've never been to McDougal, but take my word for it... The place where the community chorus is hard for the audience to see, but very easy for those of u sitting on the front stage to see)

Anyways, in walks a slightly confused looking man, wearing (from my distant view) a hobo looking jacket, jeans, and a bright red shirt...

He paces around the church during the songs for a bit, looking lost and helpless, carrying a plastic grocery bag with god only knows what inside...

He ends up in the upper balcany, whist the community chorus sings away...

I'm think "SECURITY!!!!!!" but I simply sit and stare as the scene before me unfolds...

The man meanders around a little bit, looking ever more puzzled by his current situation...

He paces back and forth a few times, walks up and down the balcany stairs a few times...

Then he sets his bag down on a pew, and reaches inside, pulling out a few crumpled pieces of paper...

He now shuffles in close to the soprano section of the choir (while in mid song)...

Staring intently at the paper he begins to mouth words which bear no resemblance to the words being sung...

He shifts between lloking at the paper and looing in the direction of the conductor.... Looking confused still...

He returns to his bag... Pulls out more paper...

The song ends...

He wanders around the choir... Finally finding a seat in the tenor section....

For the rest of the concert he proceeds to stare at pieces of paper he pulls from his grocery bag like they are the most inteeresting thing in the entire world....

I was breaking out into hysterics up until this point... I, honest to god, thought some random person had just wandered in and tried to join the choir...

But I have the truth, as told to me by a friend...

Turns out the guy is a music student at my school who needs choir participation in order to pass his class... He seemed to think that not going to any of the rehersals, and showing up late for a concert would somehow equate to him getting credit for the choir...

Sunday, December 04, 2005

Conversations

Soooo...

when you talk to your mom... does it sound like this?


12/3/2005
4:20:58 PM
sandra

neal

12/3/2005
4:31:51 PM
Neal

yes?

12/3/2005
4:33:19 PM
sandra

how is school going

12/3/2005
4:33:34 PM
Neal

meh

12/3/2005
4:33:36 PM
Neal

almost finished

12/3/2005
4:34:28 PM
sandra

so any fattys get out there

12/3/2005
4:34:37 PM
Neal

what?

12/3/2005
4:35:22 PM
sandra

u know fat women (fattys)

12/3/2005
4:35:32 PM
Neal

uh huh...

12/3/2005
4:35:37 PM
Neal

yes...

12/3/2005
4:36:26 PM
sandra

so its slim pickens