Lots of Time in Advance

September 11, 2006 will mark the 5-year anniversary of the attacks that killed 2,996 innocent people.

D. Challenger Roe would like 2,995 blogging volunteers to help him with a tribute to the victims of 9/11. If you’d like to participate, you’ll be assigned the name of someone who was killed on September 11, 2001. Then on September 11, 2006, you’ll post your own tribute to that person. It can be anything you want it to be ... a photo tribute, an essay, a remembrance, a poem … it’s up to you. Then link back to a page he will create which will give the names of all 2,996 victims and links to the blogs that will remember them that day.

I have submited my name as a participant (exciting, I know)... leave a comment if you plan on doing the same, cuz I'm an attention whore who likes to know how many people follow me like sheep =P

O Rly?

Ya Rly

So I went into ritualistics today...

There is now a new person on the job for the tattoo I wanted to get back in October... So hopefully by the ned of summer I'll be able to afford it

=)

woot woot (my life is a little more exciting already!)

My Life in a Nutshell

So I went out for cafe beverages with some friends last night... and after an hour or so of talking, it became blatantly aware just how boring our lives are...

All we talked about was work... and school... and both...

I like my life, really I do, I'm quite happy with how things are going...

But just... damn...

It was like nothing exciting had happened in my life in the last moth (assides from almost buring the house down... but they were both there)...

That also seemed to be the highlight of their summer as well (I could be wrong but they didn't mention anything more exciting... assides from a set of stairs...

Woah is me... Woah...

My 300th Post

I just had a revelation...

You see, my roommates put up witha lot... I'm messy, I'm loud, I can be quite inconciderate, and I don't think many would disagree if I said I had the occasional bout of obliviousness...

Another thing I just realised: I <3 potatoe skins...

I complained the other day because they took the skins off of the roast potatoes...

And now I just noticed that i'm making mashed potatoes with the skins on... cuz thats the way I like them...

Anone else here notice they make their roommates put up with something unusual?

Sheep

have you ever thought to yourself...

"I wish there was a place for me to go and find 10000 unique handdrawn sheep that I could buy!"

Well, have I got the website for you

http://www.thesheepmarket.com/

The sheep were supplied by online workers, and are all unique...

I thought it was cute...

The Plan

So I attended a wedding last night, which was an experience...

I did not know the bride, I did not know the groom... Well... apparently I've met the bride before, at Montanas for Hallowe'en... Who remembers that night (Cuz I don't remember too much of it)

Anyways... I knew only one person... and she was tied up for a large portion of the night due to her being in the wedding party... And two other people I artificially met because they drove me to the wedding...

So needless to say the highlights of my night we're few... cuz I felt like an outsider... But I was exposed to a huge amount of lutheran imbreeding... And not just LCC... The lutheran shallow gene pool spreads FAR into the ELCIC church as well...

Anyways...

So my plan is to formulate the worst possible wedding for Morgan to have to attend... Once everything is planned out I will seek to make it happen...

(don't get me wrong the wedding was beautiful, it was just missing a lot by me not knowing anyone, so I want to extend the akwardness 10x to morgan)

Here's what I got so far:

My bride is going to be someone that Morgan cannot stand... like, I want Morgan pulling her hair and gouging her eyes whenever she is around (And in an MSN conversation morgan admitted to being really fake, so it has to be someone Morgan cannot fake her way through)

Morgan is going to be the maid of honor (really, my bride is going to have to accept that, because really, the only reason we'll be getting married is to spite Morgan)

It will be a long engagement in which we will seek plenty of pre-marital counselling.. which morgan will attend to help mediate...

I will be sure to talk about my feelings a lot... crying will also be a necessity... lot's of crying...

If you can think of anything else, feel free to add it... I have a feeling an inside wedding on a hot humid day would be nice... but you can't plan those to easily...

Rebuilding

So after the mighty FF'06 I have spent many a night rebuilding and am now comfortably sitting at a point one would call 'life' again...

Work is progressing well (I haven't had to do the job I hate in a week now) and as I found out today, I can still use the "I didn't know any better" excuse... even though I have been there for a month (I actually didn't know... so it wasn't a lie)

Yes...

So tomorrow is money day... and yet another paycheque that is more or less spent before I get it..

soon... very soon... I won't be living paycheque to paycheque...

There are no really exciting stories... from work or real life...

I got a letter from Jenn... you have to see it to understand but it's pretty much the funniest thing I have ever seen...

And I hope to get a picture or two of the damage onto the blog... but someone put up a sep field and I can't seem to find it... I'll see what I can do...

Four Alarm Fire

Ah yes...

So I lit the house on fire... and let me share with you, more or less how it happened (I say more or less because I know for a fact that if I stray from the truth even slightly, morgan and regan will pounce on me)...

Tonight was the mighty fondue night... which i would say was quite the success...

But after an hour or so, the fondue torch ran out of fuel, so I needed to refil the apperati... Which went sort of well... assides from the fact that my shaky hand spilled some of the fuel... so when we ignited the torch, my hand went up too...

and the carpet...

and the table...

and part of the wall...

and a napkin (oh lord, not the napkin)

I suppose I'll let it stand as that for right now... I will open my comments to interperutations of the ff'06 (fondue fire, 2006)... Perhaps I will give prizes based on the best told (without lying) story...

yes... perhaps prizes indeed...

I just lit the house on fire...

story later...

Stolen Sidekick

So, I've been following the story of Evan for a while now...

first the link: StolenSidekick

Summary... his friend left her Sidekick in a taxi, and some kid found it, and refused to return it... Theres a lot more to the story, including a rewrd for it's return, some threats, and a fake address...

Now the funny thing about a sidekick, is it can be set up to automatically download any pictures you take onto the internet...

ladies and gentleman, I present to you the face of a thief:




















and her accomplice (the boyfriend or borther... or something)




















Evan (the freidn of the person whos cell was taken) has dedicated his life to making sure that the cell thieves are humiliated for being selfish... So he created the website at the top of this post... It;s a really funny read. It includes both the myspace accounts of all the people involved (my undersanding is that since this story became so well known, people have been able to recognise them and have revealed a lot more information than Evan feels comfortable posting), a song written to commemorate the event (and a promised music video if enough hits are generated), as well as a list of sites that have currently connected to him...

Now... I suppose you wonder while I'm writing all of this...

You see, I checked ou the forum (they've crashed several forums thus far... it's been quite fun) and there is a photoshop section...

I laughed sooOoOOooo hard...

Happy Birthday

So I missed the actual day, because of silly blogspot problems... But yesterday was my blogs second birthday...

yup...

I'm too tired to write anything of interest... perhaps later...

Calgary?

Hello!

I need any of my calgarian friends to contact me (if you're living in Calgary currently)

that is all

Famers Tan

I am well aware that I am developing a farmers tan...

I suppose it comes with the job...

I <3 my farmers tan... So you can make fun of me as much as you want...

It's Good to Be Happy

What is the making of a good day? I ask of you, how does this sound?

a good meal (today I made myself an amazing tomato soup and cream cheese combo... although morgan was right, the appearance left something to be desired... I suppose she's allowed to be right every once in a while)...

debt removal (with luck and a little be of wise spending I should be very close to being debt free in the next two weeks (yay)... well.. assides from student loans)

a job you love (My job has some really sucky parts... But even video game testing requires you to repeat the same things over and over trying to reach a desired outcome (even if you could move on, you need to try to replicate those bugs, you know)... But I love the people I'm working with, even if most of them are jerkfaces... My bosses hasn't given me the "wtf did you do that for" look in about a week, and I managed to talk myself out of two shifts of the job I hate... Oh, did I mention that we were let out half an hour early today so our boss could buy us beer (on account of efficient work leading to a sodding job being dome in less than half the time they tought)... Oh... and tomorrow we get out early so they can cook us hamburgers... and I hate to look too far in advance, but August is comming up with the all you can drink staff party... I tend to test out the limits of the all you can drink... mwahahaha...)

A tan (I havent felt this healthy in a long time... maybe my body i catching up on all the sunlight I missed out on in the last few years)

praise (my boss has said that he respects how quickly I learn things, and the efoort I put in)

air conditioning (after being out in the sun all day, nothing beats comming home and sitting in a house which is a nicely controlled temperature)

good friends (did I mention I <3 you guys... all of you... no exceptions this time (I won't even be mean to morgan))

yup... I'd say it's been a good day...praise God!!! only thing thats gonna make it better is some sleep... I have to save my energy for all the eating I'm going to do tomorrow...



gnight

Golfing

So as I said, I tried my hand at golfing... It was an experience if I've ever had one...

Went with MattyK and Darren (ex-Boss) which was a treat in and of itself (<3 u mattyk!)...

Now I have never golfed before... Matt and Darren both have minimal experience... So I assure you, it was a sight to behold (for the entertainment of it... not just because we're stunningly good looking... although we are stunningly good looking)

It took me two balls to get off the tee... I kid you not... My first shot went straight into the bushes... Which is quite sad, but few of you know the layout of the course... so just accept this... there are no bushes for you to shoot at... unless you're a terribly bad shot... *raises hand*

So my second ball is somewhat less pathetic... It was a grounder (which is amazing since the first tee is off a cliff/hill)...

Matt and Darren were filled with helpful advice like "ha!" and "*laugh*" and "bwahahahha" even though they didnt do much better... They're balls, really, only went about as far as mine did...

Needless to say, my first hole didn't go so well... Live and learn, I suppose...

But I didn't learn, or so it seems..

My second hole was, by far, the most pathetic of the night...

It was a par 5... I stopped counting at 15 hits... Really, I would have done better to just kick it with my foot...

And the green KILLED me... I would hit the ball and it would go flying across the green... I would lightly tap it, and it would roll to the other side... The wind changed, and I think it rolled halfway back down the fairway...

*sigh*

I did get better though... There were a few times where I was within about 30' of the hole and able to say "this is for par"... well... actually, that was just once... and then Neal's curse of the green kicked in...

On the plus side, I did manage to not get a ball stuck in the water hazzard... I use the word stuck because although i hit one dead centre into the water hazzard, it bounced out and into play...

Oh, and the play of the game was a tie... betwen the bank-shot off mattys foot for 1-over-par... and Darrens swing of death (which somehow managed to detatch the head of the club, sending it flying down the fairway further than the ball it hit... He's lucky no one was killed)...

yes... so that was my golfing adventure...

(and some clarification... I will not delete your blog unless you have not updated it sometime between june 1st and june 30th...)

Two Things

First off: I tested out the golf course today... It was good fun, and I think I can make a story about how we turned a par 5 into a par 15...

Second off: I haven't pruned my "other blogs" section since last year... If your blog is listed and you would like to keep it listed I would like to see a post, of any sort, in the month of june... THat's all... Even if the post is 4 words... 'Please don't delete me' or 'I love you Neal'...

Any blogs that don't have a post by the end of june 30th will be cast from my memory...

Also, if you would like your blog added to my list, leave a comment... I'll review, and add (please no spam though... I don't care if my friends write about boring things... but if some stranger posts 100 comments about cheap vaccuum cleaners, you can be sure it's not gonna make it....)

Choir Boy at <3

*sigh*

I probibly shouldn't have been as entertained by this as I was... so hopefully this workes...

Sleep

This whole sleep thing is getting lame...

oh well..

It's only a few more days till payday... and then I can afford rent... and food... and god only knows what else I can do with money and free time (I'm assuming that i'll develope free time once money provides sufficient reason to stay awake)...

I am determined to attempt golfing... I'll let you know how that goes... it might end up being quite the story...

I really shouldn't be awake right now... goodnight

Fight

Todays work experience was sizing up to be quite boring... and for the most part it was... assides from the fight I got in...

I was cleaning up my machine (cuz you do that when you're done your shift) and I headed over to the wash basin in order to hose it down...

I turned on the hose, and thats when the fight broke out...

The hose started flying madly throughout the area, hosing me down intensely (although it looked like it only hosed down my crotch)

I was absolutely stunned by the first wave of frigidly cold water that I was in no way prepared for the second wave that hit me moments after.,..

It t0ook a good 15 seconds of the hose flying around and sraying everything before I finally pulled myself together and turned the hose off...

Thankfully only like 1/2 the people working managed to see the spectacle...

He Said

So my boss looked at me (well... two of us) and said

"You guys impress me!"

Very sincere, looked us in the eye's, no laugh afterwords (or "just kidding" gestures)...

And then he put us back on weedwhacking...


On the plus side, starting work at 530 in the morning makes the day go by a lot quicker (plus it allows me to finish my other duties faster - due to the lack of golfers in the way - which allows me to start weedwhacking even earlier...)

Now I know weedwhacking is a major part of the job, and I knew that before I started working here... but seriously, I've logged about 10 hours of carrying those things in the last two shifts...

and my arms are tired ='(

On the plus side, it gives me something to complain about... and we all know how much I likfe to complain (and bug morgan about being on the 3100)

Tidbit About Me

Turns out I don't like having little pebbles shot up my nose as unbelievable speeds...

I'd like to thank weedwhackers for providing this revelation...

Adverse Effects of Work

So I have come to the realization that although i appreciate consitet work, there are a few things that are left to be desired...

1) Bed starts calling my name at 9pm... by 10, it's screaming my name... by 11, it's having little tantrums...

2) I cannot sleep in past 5... I've tried... If I set my alarm for 5:15, I'm awake by 4:45... eww... I didn't even know there was such a thing as 4:45 in the morning...

3) I do not appreciate rain as much as some people (yes yes, rain is good... I will give you that... but seriously, you have to admit walking around in the pouring rain (with thunder in the distance) carrying a gas powered lightning rod is not cool)

4) I tire of doing weedwhacking... I mean, it's not a particularly difficult job, but I'm not really entertained by it in the slightest... Although the idea of having to do the 'girly' jobs is far more frightening than being forced to carry a weed whacker around all summer...

5) Shorts and weedwhackers are NOT a cool mix (why I was wearing shorts in the rain, I will never know)

6) Soup is not a valid lunch option, in and of itself... I need something more... One of the guys was eating peach yogurt... and I wanted some... thats how hungry I was...

yup... such is my life...

Bunkers

(bunkers are the sand traps on a golf course... I had someone ask me that, so I thought maybe I should clarify)

So far my job has mainly consisted of bunker detail, which is fine and dandy, and I enjoy it quite a lot... Well... asides from the fact that my back feels like ass afterwards...

Anyways...

Bunkers are fairly easy to do so long as you remember three simple things:

1) Old rich people like to complain, so try not to leave anything they can complain about

2) Old rich people like to complain, so try not to make any distractions to complain about

3) Always enter and exit the bunker from a low point in the border

Now as I said, these things are very easy to follow... mostly... Sometimes it's harder to gauge where places are sufficiently low enough (since I've been told to try not to always enter or exit from the same spot... since the grass gets worn away)

Now, before I get too far into my mistakes: REGAN DROVE OUR CART INTO A TREE!!!

My first story happened way back on day two... I had, more or less, just learned the jist of being a bunker rake driver... and I was getting quite proficient at my swirly-swirls and my double backs... My boss is sort of a geek, so I take it when he was making victory arm jestures and 'woo' sounds, that my skills were becomming quite admirable...

Now, as I said, it was day two, and I hadn't quite yet picked up on the entirity of the capabilities of the little tractor rake... They seem to have a lot of power, and the tires have a lot of tread (indicating a lot of traction)...

So whilst finishing my last swoop of one of the bunkers, I begin eyeing up potential exit sites... trying not to make it the same as my entrance... I notice a spot along the east side that looks quite fitting so I drive right for it...

everythig was fine and dandy... until I realised that I had left the rakes down...

Not a problem, I stopped just in time to avoid doing some serious rakage damage to the well manicured lawn... I lifted up the rake and proceeded on my way... But not quite...

Although the lip was an acceptable height, the hill on the other side required a little more momentum than comming from a dead stop... The tread on the tires, rather than acting as traction to get up the hill, we're acting as graters tearing their way into the grass... not cool...

So I throw the thing in reverse, back into the pit and clamour onto the hill praying to god my boss doesn't come around the corner to see how I'm doing...

I try my best to make my mess as disguised as possible (really it looked like a divet... just in a place a ball wouldn;t naturally come to rest) then fixed up the bunker, and drove off like nothing happened...


My next story was today... I was, again, on bunker detail... And after my experience two days before, I was trying to be quite careful as to where I entered and exited... Not a general rule of thumb is wherever there is quite a bit of sand is most certainly the spot there the tractors come out... This is because residual sand is usually knocked off when you hit the bump of the lip...

Turns out there are lots of other reasons for there to be sand on the outside edge of a bunker...

So whilst driving towards my new bunker, I eyed up the spot I would enter... I was downhill a bit, so I couldn't see how much of a drop, but there was plenty of sand, so I figured I was safe...

There wasn't even time for me to brake when I realised how much of a drop it was going to be... And I had to wait a good 5 minutes before one of the mower people came around to help me get my cart off of it's recarious position (I had bottomed out and neither the front nor the back tires could get enough traction to go anywhere)...

Thankfully, no one important was around so I don't owe any beer... But yes...

Karma

The world is starting to even itself out... well.. as far as my job is concerned...

a fricking rock was in one of the bunkers today... So my tractor raking was all f-ed up... cept the rock wouldnt come out of the sand so I didnt know what the problem was... after three sweeps (and about 6" away from a nervous breakdown) it appeared, and I kicked it... hard...

no more rock (I kicked it in a direction that made it a problem for no one)

so to even everything out (including the act that I had to do another 2 hours of weedwhacking, and 2 hours of pushing a lawnmower up a hill) there was beer!

Apparently someone was supposed to glue something... and didnt... And the rule is, if you screw up you buy a 12pack of beer...

I like beer now, btw... mmmMMmmm beer...

that is all

New Job Begins

So today was my first day at the golf course... EXCITING!

today I got to rake EVERY bunker on the property (well.. except the few holes that are out of commision...) but I was put on manual detail.. meaning I was actually in there with a rake in hand pushing sand around until someone came to drive a tractor over it...

I did get to try out the tractor though... fun!!!

After dodging golf balls for a few hours (something it appears my co-worker isn't very good at... judging by the welt left on his leg at hole 16) it was time to weedwack... Everything...

Now, it's been a while since I've weedwacked... but I forgot how absolutely wretched those things are on your arms...

So, between being hunched over bunkers with a rake, and carrying a gas powered "I hate you arms" machine... I can officially say everything is sore.

But I still enjoy my job... good times!

I hope I get to sit on a tractor all day sometime soon

Bacon

Ladies and Gentlemen (not that I expect many of you to be either) I present to you the newest (and greatest) Turf, Alluvium, and Sanitation Engineer for the exclusive Highlands Golf Course...

Okay... I tried to make that sounds prestigious...

Anyways... I'm the maintenance staff... well.. a member of the maintenance staff...

So expect me to be well tanned and in bed by 10 for most of the summer...

I wish I could say I was proud to have achieved this job, but really, the first question was "when can you start?" so I oppose they don't have the highest expectations for their employees (the person who hired me had also never seen my resume, so he had no idea of my work experience, references, name, etc)

Ah yes... summer employment...

Just think... soon I'll be able to afford all the luxuries of life... food, rent, a table mounted usb air dart system for my computer (in action)

So yes...

adios

Gah

Just when I think american people are FINALLY beginning to see what the rest of the world has seen since November 2000 (bush's approval in the US now sits at about 29%... which is around what I remember the worlds approval rating being quoted at not too long ago) I get proof that the american people are just selfish twits (collectively... I know a lot of really decent american individuals)

If I could present to you, image number one...

please note that the gas price is reciprical... meaning that the higher the number, the lower the price...

so yes... bush's popularity is tied to gasoline prices (although other things are affecting it as well)...

Happy Birthday MattyK

So today was mattyk's birthday... you would have thought it was mine...

Everyone visited me tongiht... well.. not everyone... But everyone that counts...

Oh, and I didnt have to eat peanut butter or noodles tonight... Such a nice change...

Actually, come to think of it, I love peanut butter... I really shouldnt complain about it... It could be worse...

Yes...

I wish i could desribe to you just how boring it can be when my roommates are out of the house...

Needless to say, if you are reading this, and in the edmonton area, give me a call, and come hang out... I have board games, you bring the beer =)

And if you don;t know how to contact me, you're probibly some creeper who has no idea who I am, and you;re just reading my blog in a selfish desire to be closer to me...

No thank you... I have enough nuts already (peanuts! hahahhahhahaha!!!)

yes... I should go do something else...

Yup

So needless to say, this whole living out of dorm (or my parents house) thing is quite novel to me... And needless to say, there are quite a number of things that you just never learn when the only places you've ever lived were a dorm or a farmhouse...

First things first...

The dishes don't clean themselves... Holy dear... I think I may have thought that my parents bought new plates every week... but now I think I may no different =)

(oh, btw... if my 'rents really wanted me to do dishes, they should have bought a dish washer)

Second, I've learned that furniture doesn't come with the room... Dorm really spoiled me there... Well... thats not to say that i didnt ahve a lot of furniture back home as well... but being an ra allows me furniture for two... which was nice... But alas, no longer...

And the third and most important thing I've learned in my day of being off on my own...

If you run a load of dishes and a load of laundry at the same time, DO NOT TAKE A SHOWER! I cannot stress this enough... After fiddling with the knobs to get a constant temperature, i hoped in... only to be scalded and ice blasted at the same time (dont ask me how it's possible)... I can honestly say this has not been one of my brightest mornings... But in my defense, dorm has enough water to run 8 showers and 2 washers at the same time and still keep a nice temperature... and my 'rents house has never had a washer or a dryer...

Yes...

So today, I'm going to try to track down those cheques I should have gotten... and hopefully find a way to feed myself =)

adios

Postcard Competition

So last year was the first year of the international ugly postcard competition...

Many of you may have heard of it, many of you may have... One of you has sent at least 10 of them for me (which, apparently is the reason i didnt win... because I sent to many... or something lame like that)...

Anyways...

This years competition officially opened a few weeks ago, and the first post cards have come in, so I figure I'm game to put this on here...

Please send postcards to:

A. Vanweerden
11158 65th St
Edmonton Ab
T5W 4K1

A little bit about this historical competition...

It was started may years ago by a creepy old man, named Scott, who ended up being shipped off to colorado for the summer as a job placement (fun!)

He made the request, and his friends complied, and out of this came the ugly postcard competition (if any of you would like to add to the histry of this, feel free to do so in the comments section of this post)...

Anyone can participate... Just send in an ugly post card... You don;t actually have to know any of us, or anything about Edmonton, or Canada... if you are reading this, you are eligble...

Prizes are awarded (as first runner up last year, I can attest to the joy I recieved in knowing that my prize was as ugly as my postcard)

So yes...

Send now, send often...

Moving

The worst part about moving, by far, is packing...

I suppose looking around and thinking "this isn;t my room anymore" is pretty hard as well...

Not to mention that foundershall has been a defining part of 'Neal' over the last four years...

For 4 years i have endured people who have sleeping habits completely opposite of my own (for the first year, the people that went to be after 11pm were the ones I hated... now it seems that anyone that can do anything before 2pm are the ones i've hated)...

You should see my room... it's depressing... Well... I suppose to the untrained eye it doesn't look all that different that it did two weeks ago... But let it be known that before everything was on my floor... now only stuff that i don;t want (and thus, haven't packed) is on my floor...

I can;t really speak from experience, as i am reluctant to go off and view the 'other side', but I know a few things for certain.

1) Regardless of what kind of budget i need to keep myself on, I will not regret cafeteria food...
2) My life and happiness has not been well served by the excessive amount of rules required to live in dorm
3) This has been a long time comming, and I am very thankful for the support I have recieved (espeially those who I am constantly pestering to drive me everywhere... you know who you are and I hope you know how much i love you)

Yes...

So i packed my towels... and thus I have no towels still in dorm...

Thankfully theres no one else in dorm, otherwise it might be a little akward walking naked...

"why hello... I'm naked and wet"

yes... thats a pleasant conversation starter...

I have since put on pants and proceeding to air dry as we speak... erm... type... as I type...

Sometimes i wish this wasn't sucha public forum... I can think of a million things I want to say, but only a handful of people i want to read it... I read about it all the time in other blogs... and it's true to me as well...

I want desperately for someone to ask me just the right question that starts me off on this big long tangent in which everything that I desire to talk about gets discussed. And the sad part is, I have AMAZING friends who are asking just such questions, but I ignore, simply so I can go on thinking that no one cares about what i think...

I suppose thats the one good thing about alcohol. Inhibitions, although sometimes very benefitial, are often very VERY annoying.

but throw in a little dash of the "truth serum" and I am able to speak freely (although not always about the things I should be talking about...)

*sigh*

Yes...

And thus begins my summer vacation...

I hope i can figure out my paycheques soon... I don't know where they're being sent to... I have one address in the school computers, one address which i specifically requested things being sent to, one address which i used for many years, and one address which is dorm...

And since it took a phone call to say i wouldn't be able to be in edmonton in person in three days notice (from surrey, back when I first got accepted to concordia), and it took 5 months before they aknowledged I lived in dorm (because commuting from surrey is a very valid option) and since my name is spelled wrong more often than right (and i could have sworn computers did most of this), I figure I'll just throw this out there...

If a paycheque from concordia with my name ends up at your doorstep, please hand deliver it to me (and do not return to sender)...

Yup yup yup...

I think my ramblings are done for now...

The rest of days

okay...

so big scary guys (about 350lbs)... with calloused fingers, buzzed hair, and fire marshal jacket... can listen to euro trash pop... SooOoOOoOo odd... (seriously he was bobbing his head to some funky rythyms)

Sunshine only comes out when you don't need it (tour boats up galcial river = sleet... day off = sun)... but still enjoyable...

Did I mention I <3 vince (sorry about the wakeup, pookie)

Concert Saturday:

McDougal United Church (downtown edmonton)
I've said it before to some of you... but I'll say it again...

It's saturday at 730, and if you're not there, you're not my friend =)

(just kidding of course... but seriously if you can be there. you should, it's gonna be wicked cool)

adios

note to self...

threat of silence time works as well...

note to self...

I <3 vince: bringer of booze!

Day 3 4 5

well...

rhubarb pie is good when the pie is still cooling (and the vanilla icecream has white chocolate chunks...

rednecks tell innapropriate jokes about natives (surpised much?)

children can behave properly and can be quite cute when given the chance....

more to come...

Day 2

Just because it's on the official website, doesn't mean it's open...

On a side note, if you tell people it's 2km, and it actually ends up being 8km, only about half the choir members will complete it...

Tour: Day 1

just a quick update before bed...

calgary sprawl = bad

house with jacuzzi = good


I'm gonna sleep well tonight...

Done

So today, my exams finished (yay!!!)...

SO hopefully everything I've had to put up with over the last two weeks can be put behind me (actually, Im pretty sure they will not be in my mind for a while at least)...

I'm writing this blog post because I'm being forced to... not because I want to... because some friends are too nosy... that's right, I said it... just because I can't see how often you;re on my nexopia account anymore, doesnt mean I don't know how much you want to control my life

=P

Yes...

So choir tour is in 2 days... I still have $80 on my meal card (I bought $70 worth of pop today... should last me a little while at least)...

Oh... and I have no idea what sort of games to play on choir tour... people keep saying they'll help (*hint hint*) but no-one is helping... Come now, people, even when you put a paper off till the last minute, you at least take the books out of the library in advance...

I know 2 of the things I want to do... I would like to have 5 more... So if you can think of a challenge (preferably group orientated) that can happen on a bus that is moderately competetive (I like competing almost as much as I like making people compete...)

Requirements for bus activities usually include:

1)no mess
2)moderate to little noise
3)not a lot of dexterity

I know!!!

Bus surfing... that'll be one (a very popular one if I do say so myself)....

I'm sure I can pick one person from each artificially created teaem to participate in bus surfing...

And then there were four...

Four more activities guys... I know there are at least 4 vice president choir people that read this forum... So hurry it up...

Yes...

So...

the end

Easter

So today was nice...

Went to church... Saw people from there (that I haven't seen since last summer since I didnt attend church over xmas)... Surprised to find out that the rumour mill had not yet left people knowing that I had made the switch to edmonton... I suppose if I had knocked some girl up, everyone would have heard about it by now... But I can't really be angry because gossip didnt get around, can I?

I suppose not.

Tonights dinner was care of my brothers girlfriends mom. Beautiful dinner, but I didn't really take into consideration the "third wheel" complex... I entertained myself with the kitten named patches... Mostly I just made the cat chase things, and made fun of my brother... partly because it's all I know how to do (what is a family get together without trying to start a fight) and partly because it was the only socially acceptable thing I knew how to do (everyone seemed to make fun of the step dad as well, but I didnt feel comfortable since he was three times my size and quite the red neck... I'm sure my choice of piercings was already testing the limitations of his acceptance...

Yes...

So dinner was fun...

Hmm...

I can go back to edmonton soon... That's nice.

Maybe I just miss video games... if I had known that we had high speed net access, I would have brought my games (and would have missed out on church this morning)...

I suppose it's for the best...

Oh yeah. I came to a realization today. Since it's really really official now, that this is no longer home, it is most likely right that I stop calling Zion my home congregation. Which almost certainly ends the chapter of my life as being 'lutheran' Neal...

Yesterday, Neal with a bedroom at his parents place died. Today, Neal as a lutheran died.

I have not made it a secret that I have several issues with the lutheran church. Please let it be stated that my decision has nothing to do with 'lutheran theology', but simply that I see shades of grey where I am told there is only black and white...

Yes... so...

I'm having my first guest crash at my house in years...

I can see it now (as I've seen it before):

puzzling stare at house
puzzling stare at Neal
puzzling stare at barn
puzzling stare at Neal
puzzling stare at tractor
puzzling stare at Neal
puzzling stare at cows
puzzling stare at Neal
puzzling stare at hay
puzzling stare at Neal
puzzling stare at mud
puzzling stare at Neal
...
puzzling stare at Neal

Really, when you consider how redneck my family is (and I'm not talking "lets go to Calgry Stampede and buy sily hats" redneck, but "how many non-fuctional cars can we fit in our front yard" redneck), it really is a wonder that i turned out the way I did.

I can count no less than 6 cars, 3 trucks, 2 vans, a motorhom, a school bus, 2 boats, and enough tires to keep the springfield tire fire burning for another 30 odd years.

Not to mention my house which (prior to having the vinyl sidings added) was slated to be the site of ghosts or aliens or something in a TV show (does anyone remember the show 'millenium'?) due to it's delapitation and grunge-i-ness.

Then theres the family (bless there hearts) who still think the alex fraser bridge is the longest bridge in the world (becasue it connects india and china)...

I'm pretty sure they couldnt find india on a map (unless it was a map of india, of course)...

Yes my friends, this was my childhood...

But before i say something offensive, I think I shall sleep...

gnight...

Official

So it's official

Before I get into my story of the day, I'll do a little bit of explaining..

Im in BC as of the time being, for easter. Came down with friends for a wedding (well, they came down for the wedding, i came down for easter).

Yay BC fun.

But yes. Back to the story.

Home is officially not home anymore. How do I know this?

Well, it's simple you see. I have come home to the house that is no longer my own. None of the horses are the same, most of the cats aren't the same. The truck isn't the truck I left my parents with. There is city water coarsing through the pipes in the washroom. As I type this, i am typing at a computer which is connected to high speed internet access.

And the final nail in the coffin. My room no longer exists.

The bed is gone, my posters are gone, everything that comforted me for 13 years of my life is missing.

I can't really say I'm overly saddened or surprised. My decision to leave was made first, so really, I only have myself to blame.

But over the last 4 years, there was always this room. My room.

I suppose in my own naiivity, I thought it would always remain as I left it. An eternal shrine to my former self. Always waiting for the next time I would come home to play videogames after staying out all night to avoid my family.

I haven't played video games in here since I graduated from high school.

All the CD's left on the shelf are embarassing (although, perhaps i should take them with me, i mean, they're probibly cool-retro cd's by now)

There are remnants of my trip to europe covered by a layer of dust. There are remnants of my baptism, covered by a layer of dust. Remnants of fish i havent had since grade 9, covered by a layer of dust.

Dust covers traces of last summer, in the form of a pack of cigarettes and a "lighter for a loonie" petro can scripto piece of crap.

The books gramma bought me in grade 8 (most of them read) now sit in a cupboard. I don;t suppose it will be too long before they go the way of the bed and the posters.

Such is the life of one who is growing up, I suppose. If i was more poetic, I'm sure I would write an ode to loss of innocence. Memories of that fill this room as well. Things I suppose I would long to forget, were it not for the room blaring the memories back to me as I type this.

What can happen in 13 years? It's a lot of time. I can't even fathom the amount of time I've spent in between these walls. How much time I wasted doing the things I love. How much time I spent doing things that bored me. This room was my childhood.

It isn't anymore.

Easter 2006: Neal has proof Surrey isn't his home anymore.

When can I go back to Edmonton so i can lock myself in my room (and cry)

All About Alyson

I don;t think I've ever dedicated an entire post to a person before... Well... not in a positive way (but customers don't count) But here goes...

explaination, me and a friend agreed that tonights post would be dedicated soley to the other person (so i can't tell you about my crazy day... hint hint read my post on wednesday march 30th 2005)

So here goes nothing...

My first concious memory of Alyson was well after the beginning of the year and well into the practices of suessical. I was approached by a (for lack of a better word) chipper person, and witha smile on her face she proclaimed that I must (not 'can you' but 'you must') write "hi from Alyson" on Scott's door... She appeared to know my name (I mean, how many Neals are there?) so I was obliged to pretend that I knew her, and knew everythig about her, lest I be the insensitive person whom forgets their friends over the summer... Cuz in all honesty, it's not like it has never happened before...

Well... Needless to say, I think my ploy worked, and after a week or so of someone having to remind me what her name was (thanks scott) me and Alyson started off on what is now a beautiful (if not sleep filled) friendship.

Over the last year, we've shared a lot. Laughs, games, fun, perhaps some hugs that were umm... A little too personal (happy birthday BTW)...

I've learned a lot from Alyson. She is the shining example of seeing the best. She handles situations that would stress me with the greatest of ease. She sees perfection in the flaws and rejoices where others would rather hide away.

And beyong all else, she is the pinnacle of the unwaivering faith. Don't get me wrong, she has her off days just like everyone else, but she NEVER ceases to praise God for everything, something I have always respected (and admired).

She's knowlegeable and determined, and thats how I know she's going to succeed no matter where her life takes her.

And could we talk about alyson without mentioning her heart of gold? (gahk... cliche... so so sorry). She genuinely cares for each and every person, and she shows it. If you want to know love, listen to her talk about one of her kids; if you want to know about friendship, listen to a story about one of her friends. If you want a story that'll brighten your day, just ask her (it will be well told, and mostly acted, and certain to warm your heart)...

Fin

Daylight Savings

As I sit here downloading the newest version of my favourite videogame, I take note that it is 4 in the morning...

yes people... 4 in the morning..

I despise daylight savings... well.. I hate the spring forward part of it...

If only there was a way to speed up all the clocks in the world, so that every month we had a fall back...

Oh dear, I'd be in heaven..

Alas, no... i am left here trying to convince my body that the new time is the correct time... And in doing so, creating more stress on my already pissy body... which in turn, is going to keep me up even longer...

At least I can be productive...

i can...

umm..

yeah..

never mind...

no productivity here...

Yes...

So no progress was made of choir tour this weekend..

Thankfully most everything was already planned (woot) but I didnt hear back from the company in williams lake... which is dissappointing... as I need to discuss things before I present them to the choir...

And although I expect the discussions to go well.. it would be nice to be able to haev them about a topic... rather than me just sitting there going...

"so... umm... yeah..."

And as much as I LOVE looking like an idiot, a semblence of productivity would be nice to show off...

Speaking of which... I think I might need to go to the dollar store in order to plan prizes for the choir awards (since I can't forsee stumbling upon a everything is a dollar mart in Peace river...)

alas...

I suppose I should try to force myself to sleep...

=/

gnight...

Choir Tour

I'm pretty sure I'm a bad person...

The evidence keeps piling on...

But I suppose that's all I have to say about that...

Went out for dinner with a friend from back. That was fun... Too bad I was so sleepy...

Oh, and I have been encouraged to persue a particularly fun Choir Tour activity... I'm really excited (and hopefully everything turns out and the price is right... we'll see)

I'm actually kind of excited that choir tour is almost completely finalised... We're leaving early some days to do the planned activities (yay), and the activities planned are gonna be so much fun!

Yes...

One thing I'm not looking forward to is choir awards... eww choir awards...

For those who don't know anything about choir, each year on choir we give out awards to each of the choir members... They go from the most coveted (BFP, and Choir Hottie) to the less desirable (Narcalepsy, BFP, I Look Like Muffin)...

(clarification, BFP is "Big Fat Pig" and goes to the choir garbarator... sometimes its highly desireable... sometimes it's unflattering)

Now, for those of you in choir, but have never thought about it before, choir awards is DISGUSTING hard...

We try to give out applicable awards to everyone... But sometimes people go to great lengths not to stand out in anything...

And really... as unflattering as I see it to get the "I'm an introvert that hasn't done anything over the last 8 days that sticks out in neal's mind" award... I think it would be even more unflattering to be number 3 of 7 to recieve that award...

alas... I will, of course, ask the choir for suggestions... And for the most part the choir is productive and helpful... But on occasion you people who don't play nice... and no matter how much I might agree... or how many people may suggest it... I am NOT going to be giving away the "Choir Cunt" award... or the "Biggest Bitch"... or "Sloppy Snatch"... Or whatever nasty aliteration people can come up with to describe the people in choir they don't like...

So yes... thats my rant of the night...

Maybe I Am A Whore

Some people will do anything for money... We tend to call those people whores... right?

Cuz when you think about it, a person who is willing to give up sex in exchange for pieces of paper and metal that (only by shared acceptance) represent some sort of abstract value...

Without diving too deeply into the history of currency, I'd like to give you just a general understanding...

Back in the day, if you wanted some cloth, you gave a person who had cloth some milk, and they shared you their cloth.

If you wanted some cloth, but the cloth guy didnt want milk (perhaps he already had a cow) but he wanted some beads, and the bead guy wanted some milk... so you got some beads from the bead guy (by giving him milk) and then took the beads to the cloth guy...

But say the bead guy had 6 cows (and as such, offering him milk is an insult) so you would need to find someone who has papyrus and wanted milk... and so on and so forth...

Enentually it got to the point where people would use intermediaries...
"I O U six shiney black beads" rather than actually having to always carry six black beads around... And then, eventually, people becan to accept a more common exchange rate... Everyone knew that six black beads gets you a full glass of milk... So if you have something worth twelve black beads, you know you can get enough milk for you and your spouse for dinner...

blah blah blah... we have money... Which, when you think of it is almost completely valueless EXCEPT everyone accepts common barters for the value of this worthless piece of paper...

I know that roughly 150 abstractly dictated values of canadian earth monies can be exchanged for bottle of pop...

Now we get to the fun part...

Is Neal a whore (shut up Shannon... Jenn... Sharon... Justin... Morgan... Everyone else... jeez... who asked you)

Well... I do stupid things... Not for money, but for an equally abstract system of valuation... Cool points...

What are cool points? they're points you accumulate by completing tasks (based on the complexity of the task, or the 'pain or grossout' factor)

As I've learned over the years... Licking the sweaty armpit of a guy = 142 cool points...

Peeing in a particularly akward public place 11 cool points...

and... now to add last nights aquisition... squirting a lemon in your eye (whilst mostly sober)

500! Cool points!

Woot!

Board Games

I think I finally found it...

I am at a happy state of board games... I have enough of a social life to keep me busy so i don't notice that I haven;t been playing as many board games as I used to... And then I have people asking ME if I want to play board games...

yes, thats right... people want to play board games more than me!!!

And to top it all off, people haven't been afraid to try new games (as much as I <3 ticket to ride, there are other games... and these people accept that)

So far, I've broken out my more 'intense' games... Games that have more than three pages of instructions (not including diagrams)... Games that take more than an hour to play... games where completing actions, like establishing a grid of electricity across germany, take almost as long as they would in real life...

And people are reading the instruction books under their own influence... and understanding what it says -- rather than sitting back and waiting for me to summerize the rules... only to blame me for not explaining things clearly when they get trounced =)

I had someone tell me that I taught them the wrong rules of a board game today...

Now I'm sure you're all thinking "OMG! SOMEONE TOLD NEAL HE'S WRONG!"

and believe me, I was as surprised as you are...

and so after I smacked her about a llittle bit, I shed a tear of pride... not only did she understand the rules, but she actually understood them well enough to determine that I was, in fact, very very wrong!

yay

(not that it needs to be explained, but I wasn't really wrong, I was using an accepted variation, and since no one really reads the rules, and since it made the game play more difficult and competetive (and thus more enjoyable for myself), and since it my game, I implemented it without informing them it wasa vairation)...

So yes...

that is my life of board games...

And just incase youre thinking "I play board games with neal" or "I've played a lot of board games with neal in the past" I have news for you...

Not one of you has ever played every single one of my board games...

This I can assure you...

As there are (right now) about 5 games that I haven't played yet =D

Who wants to learn the rules and explain them to me ;)

Pandora

I may have plugged it before, but I really can't get over how amazing this site is...

PANDORA

As an example... I entered in a band which I have just recently noticed that i enjoy (Panic! at the disco)...

As per usual, the first song is by the artist I chose... and the next few songs, it attempts to isolate my musical tastes... So for three songs I make sure to tell the program what i think of the songs... If I like it or not...

So the program tries to figure out what aspects the songs that i like have that the songs that i don't like didnt have...

This never takes very long (maybe I'm predictable)... But tonight it was particularly accurate...

After the initila widling period, the artists provided were:

-the arctic monkeys
-fallout boy
-the killers
-gorillaz
-bedoin soundclash
-franz ferdinand
-postal service

(with no crap in between)

But not only was it able to pic out the artists I would like (all being cd's I own) the program managed to go for the songs from each cd which i like... and with the exception of franz ferdinand (I prefer 'dark of the matinee' over 'you're the reason I'm leaving') it managed to pick out the 'favourite' by each artists...

If you havent had a chance to fiddle around with pandora yet, you really should...

It's really great for finding new and obscure bands... I mean, if it can pick out the popular bands for me with such accuracy, it should be able to produce a few unknowns that I have never been exposed..

Mindless Entertainment at its Best! 123/190

Cuz I have nothing better to do:

There are 190 movies on this list. Put your score in header:

(X) Rocky Horror Picture Show
(x) Grease
(x) Pirates of the Caribbean
(X) Boondock Saints
(x) The Mexican
(x) Fight Club
(X) Starsky and Hutch
(X) Neverending Story
( ) Blazing Saddles
(X) Airplane
Total: 9

(x) The Princess Bride
(x) Young Frankenstien
( ) Anchor Man: The Legend of Ron Burgandy
(X) Napoleon Dynamite
(X) Labyrinth
(X) Saw
(x) Saw II
(X) White Noise
( )White Oleander
( )Anger Management
( )50 First Dates
(x) Jason X
Total: 8

(x) Scream
(x) Scream 2
(x) Scream 3
(X) Scary Movie
(X) Scary Movie 2
(X) Scary Movie 3
(x) American Pie
(X) American Pie 2
(X) American Wedding
Total: 9

(x) Harry Potter
( ) Harry Potter 2
( ) Harry Potter 3
( ) Harry Potter 4
(x) Resident Evil I
(x) Resident Evil 2
(x) The Wedding Singer
( ) Little Black Book
(x) The Village
(x) Donnie Darko
( ) Lilo & Stitch.
( )Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch has a Glitch
Total: 6

(x) Finding Nemo
( ) Finding Neverland
(x) Signs
(x) The Grinch (jim carrey)
(x) Texas Chainsaw Massacre
(x) White Chicks
(x) Butterfly Effect
(x) Thirteen Going on 30
( ) I, Robot
Total: 7

( ) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
( ) Universal Soldier
(x) A Series Of Unfortunate Events
( ) Along Came Polly
(x) Deep Impact
( ) KingPin
(x) Never Been Kissed
(x) Meet The Parents
(x) Meet the Fockers
( ) Eight Crazy Nights
( ) Joe Dirt
Total: 5

(x) A Cinderella Story
(x) The Terminal
( ) The Lizzie McGuire Movie
( ) Passport to Paris
(x) Dumb & Dumber
( ) Dumb & Dumberer
(x) Final Destination
(x) Final Destination 2
(x) Halloween
(x) The Ring
(x) The Ring 2
Total: 8

(X) Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
(x) Practical Magic
( ) Chicago
(x) Ghost Ship
(X) From Hell
(x) Hellboy
(x) Secret Window
( ) I Am Sam
(X) The Whole Nine Yards
Total: 7

(x) The Day After Tomorrow
(x) Child's Play
(x) Bride of Chucky
(x) Ten Things I Hate About You
( ) Just Married
( ) Gothika
(x) Nightmare on Elm Street
( ) Sixteen Candles
(x) Remember the Titans
( ) Coach Carter
( ) Bad Boys
Total: 6

( ) Bad Boys 2
( ) Joy Ride
(x) Se7en
(x) Ocean's Eleven
(x) Ocean's Twelve
( ) Identity
( ) Lone Star
(X) Bedazzled
(x) Predator I
(x) Predator II
TOTAL: 6

(x) Independence Day
(x) Cujo
( ) A Bronx Tale
( ) Darkness Falls
(x) Christine
(x) ET
( ) Children of the Corn
( ) My Boss' daughter
(x) Maid in Manhattan
( ) Frailty
Total: 5

( ) Best Bet
( ) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
(x) She's All That
( ) Calendar Girls
( ) Sideways
(x) Mars Attacks
(x) Event Horizon
(x) Ever After
(x) Forrest Gump
( ) Big Trouble in Little China
Total: 5

(x) X-Men
(x) X2
(x) Spider-Man
(x) Spider-Man 2
( ) Sky High
(x) Jeepers Creepers
(x) Jeepers Creepers 2
(x) Catch Me If You Can
(x) The Others
( ) Freaky Friday
( ) Reign of Fire
(x) Cruel Intentions
(x) Cruel Intentions 2
(x) The Hot Chick
Total: 11

( ) Swimfan
( ) Miracle
(x) Old School
( ) The Notebook
( ) K-Pax
(x) Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
(x) Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
(x) Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
( ) A Walk to Remember
(x)Boogeyman
Total: 5

( ) Hitch
(x) The Fifth Element
( ) Star Wars Episode I The Phantom Menace
( ) Star Wars Episode II Attack of The Clones
( ) Star Wars Episode III Revenge of The Sith
(x) Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope
(x) Star Wars Episode V The Empire Strikes Back
(x) Star Wars Episode VI Return of The Jedi
( ) Troop Beverly Hills
( ) Swimmig with Sharks
Total: 4

(x) Air Force One
(x) For Richer or Poorer
(x) Trainspotting
( ) People Under the Stairs......
( ) Blue Velvet
(x) Sound of Music
(x) Parent Trap
(x) Parent Trap Re-make
(x) The Birds
(x) The Terminator
(x) Terminator-2
(x) T-3
Total: 10

(x) Empire Records
( ) SLC Punk
(x) Meet Joe Black
(x) Nightmare Before Christmas
(x) The Silence of the Lambs
(x) Sleepy Hollow
(x) I Heart Huckabees
( ) 24 Hour Party People
( ) Blood In Blood Out
( ) Nowhere
Total: 6

(x) Thirteen
(x) Manic
(x) American History
(x) Deep Blue Sea
(x) George of the Jungle
(x) Canadian Bacon
( ) Big Black Titties
( ) How High
( ) The Jacket
( ) My Little Ponys Grand Adventure 2
Total: 6

65% is a C!!!

JKNFlblna

So much going on right now... I should be a lot busier than I am... really I should, and I can aknowledge that...

I should teach classes on how to procrastinate... I could write a masters thesis on being lazy...

Apathy? I have enough to share... I could offer you a glimpse of my apathy and you wouldnt care about a thing for a month**

**disclaimer** not medically proven, please don't sue..

So yes...

I wish I had funny stories to share... But pretty much all I would talk about is how glad I am going to be to not live in dorm anymore

I want to eat real food
I want friends to stay over past 11
I want to drink wine while I watch TV
I want the feeling of living in a fishbowl to dissappear
I want to completely avoid assholes that I can't stand but I am paid to be nice to
I want my sleeping hours to be dictated by my own responsabilities, and not by the last person to watch TV at night and the first person to watch TV in the morning
I want to be able to hang art on the wall... and by art, I mean stuff that I would not be able to hang with sticky tac
I want a bathroom that doesnt have piss on the seats, shavings in the sink, and puke on the floor
And most of all, I want a place to call my own... Not the RA's room, not the first bedroom on the left, not the room with all the computer gadgets... Neal's place...

yes... so that's it...

You Are Dr. Pepper

You're very unique and funky, yet you still have a bit of traditionalism to you. People who like you think they have great taste... and they usually do. Your best soda match: Root Beer Stay away from: 7 Up

What Kind of Soda Are You?

What Makes Me a Christian

There is one thing I believe wholeheartedly that I believe makes me a Christian.

Jesus Christ died as a sacrifice to forgive me of all my sins. All of them.

And when I go up for communion, I ask God to forgive me for all of my sins, all of them... not just the ones for which I'm conscious...

But lets face it, I live in a fallen world, in a fallen body, and as much joy as it would bring God for me to live a completely sinless life, it's only happened once since creation...

Now that's not to say this is justification for my sins (there are chapters in the bible dedicated to the topic, and why it's wrong), but an aknowledgement that I am a sinner.

I will swear, I will sleep through the occasional service, I will cheat at the occasional board games (otherwise I might lose), I will drink too much, I will fantasize, I will lie... The list can go on and on. These are things I need God's help with because, for me, they're hard...

But one thing I will not accept is an ANNONOMOUS PERSON LEAVING REMARKS IN PEOPLES BLOGS TELLING THEM THAT THEY ARE HYPOCITES!

If you want to help a person, confront them in person. If you don't feel comfortable approaching them that's probably for one of a feew reasons

1) You don't know the person well enough and you realize that whatever you say has no bearing whatsoever [and I hope that makes you feel like a bigger person]

2) You realize that you're stupid as fuck but still want to pass judgement on others as they try to sort their lives out (as a sad and desperate attempt to feel better about yourself) [and I really do hope that makes you feel like a bigger person]

3) You don't like the person whos page you are commenting on and are hiding behind the fact that you can post annonomously so that you can hurt them [are you a bigger person yet]

And please, mr or mrs annonomous, remember this:

Romans 14: 1-13

1Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. 2One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. 4Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
5One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. 8If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.
9For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. 10You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat. 11It is written: " 'As surely as I live,' says the Lord, 'every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.' "[a] 12So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.
13Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way.

Matthew 7:1-5

1"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
3"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

(wow... it's like Jesus himself is telling you to stfu)

I will follow Jesus example... please, mr or ms annonomous, stfu!

GAH!!!

You asked for my advice... No problem; I gave it to the best of my ability...

You asked for it again... I repeated the advice I had given you earlier, most likely indicating I knew what I was talking about and that my advice wasn't going to change. So either accept it or ask someone else.

You asked a third time, I quickly paraphrased my advice and proceeded to ignore you for anything else you were saying.

You asked a fourth time. I flat ou ignored you (and secretly wished you to have an allergic reaction palladium)

Why? Why can't you go one day without being annoying?

Ha-ha! Grapes are fun!

SO today was an uneventful day... Well.. for me at least...

If I were to say nothing, I would be only slightly lying... I entertained friends by providing them with a game for them to stare at while I played it...

Oh... and I was supposed to kick someone out of dorm today (that didnt go so well)... Thx Darren... She's really scary...

and I showered... showering is fun...

I attempted to find activities to do on choir tour... It might be going well... I can never really tell... but there is a stretch prince george -> dawson creek -> wembley -> peace river... if you will kindly look those places up on a map...

I have friends who live in and around those areas... But... when I ask them for suggestions on things to do... they laugh at me... Apparently, drinking IS the only thing to do in a small northern BC town...

but yes... thats my stress of the weekend...

Bell Choir Tour

Yes, thats right... It's time for friendly recap time with Neal of my friendly expedition to eastern alberta...

The tour itself wasn;t too bad... The places we went were well within the acceptable travel time (anymore than about three hours and I start getting stir crazy... but then again, so does everyone else)...

Our first stop was provost, and a visit with the kiddies at the local schools (we had a mix of the public and catholic students in our performance) which was somewhat good (although it could have been better). Afterwards the bells had a workshop with some of the kids... THis would have been nice if I had gotten one of the good children... but I never do. My child was the spawn of satan...

"whats this?" "please don't touch that, our conductor is explaining something"

"what does this do?" [clank] "put that down and listen please"

"I wanna play the mallets" "don't play anything right now, my conductor is trying to tell you something

"I wanna ring two bells at once" *grab* [clank] "those aren't mean't to be hit together"

"this glove is too big" *grab* "don;t play with the bells without your gloves on"

"why" "cuz it ruins the bells"

"how" "if you were listening, you would have heard my teacher explain why"

"i'm listening now" "the oils in your hands can..."

"what does this do" "put your gloves on please"

"why" "cuz you're going to wreck the bells"

"no I won;t" [clank] "here, play with the chimes"


It went on and on like this for the entirity of the workshop...

THen we paid a visit to the fudge lady... Oh god... Why god why does fudge have to come in so many amazing flavours? On the plus side, it's diabetic fudge, so I should be safe... sort of...

OUr concert that night was... well... special...

The gymnasium was a... less than thrilling... accoustic to perform in...

I tried my best, but when you can bearely hear yourself, let alone other people in bells or choir, there is only so much you can do...


Our billet that night was the fudge lady assistant... Needless to say there was fudge to be had by all... So much fudge.

I got to sleep on a hide-a-bed... which is always an experience... Every cross bar and every spring managed to dig itself into my back and side whilst I was trying to sleep... But I got the bed to myself, so it could have been worse...

We had another visit with the fudge lady in the morning for those who didnt get a chance to go the night before... And more fudge was stockpiled... And then we were off to lloydminster...

Lloyd started out for me dropping off the choir so they could work with the high school... I went with the bells to do a workshop with the bell choir from the united church... It was boring as snot (and I mean really boring)... I was so desperate for entertainment... but none was to be had...

Afterwards we went to pick the choir back up and we eaded out for some free time at a local pool hall (a last minute suggestion from the youthish person from the church we were performing at that night)...

It was good times... ALthough I think I actually preferred eating my deep fried goodies over playing pool, but noone else had to know that... well... except all the people that I've already told how much I hate pool... which is pretty much everyone...

Our concert that night went very well (if I do say so myself). I managed to do some things musically that I havent really had a chance to do (getting all the right notes in a particular song for example)... Bah... good times good times...

There was a lot of silence after our final song... SO it either means they were confused or in awe... I would like to think it had more to do with awe... but I have been wrong before...

Our billets that night were amazing... The force fed us nachos and beer and provided a most wonderous bed... It was a spectacular bed... I don;t think I could sing its praises enough... I really do love that bed...

We ended up watching reality bites on the way back to edmonton... A good movie, i think... But I don;t think i like Janine Garofalo...

meh...

so thats my weekend...

Same As Before

Same as before, but this one focuses on the downfall...

be honest guys ;)

The Other Test Here

Johari Window

Thanks Alyson for the cool link:

"The Johari Window was invented by Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham in the 1950s as a model for mapping personality awareness. By describing yourself from a fixed list of adjectives, then asking your friends and colleagues to describe you from the same list, a grid of overlap and difference can be built up."


If you're feeling up to it, fill this out for me... It'd be interesting to see how I am perceived by others... (answer honestly... and feel free to not disclose you're real name if it impedes your ability to be honest... I'm more interested in the results than finding out who thinks what)


Click Here If You Have the Time

Me? Coffee?

You Are an Espresso

At your best, you are: straight shooting, ambitious, and energetic At your worst, you are: anxious and high strung You drink coffee when: anytime you're not sleeping Your caffeine addiction level: high

What Kind of Coffee Are You?

You drink coffee when: anytime you're not sleeping <--- LOL!!!

Mission Trip Recap

So I havent been updating my site becasue I was on an extended reading week mission trip to the west coast of Vancouver for the last 10 days, or so...

10 days is a lot of time to recap... a lot does happen in ten days... so i will simply highlight the things I leaned over the week...

1) When riding greyhound, it is necessary to get a window seat... an aisle seat saves you cramped legs but does nothing to save your neck, which ultimate decides just how much sleep you get

2) always carry your deceased husbands head in a hatbag for comedic results and a lighter jail sentance

3) It's depresing to be 5 minutes away from the place you grew up, but not be able to stop in and say "hi"

4) Oceans are exciting to people who have never seen them before...

5) A gay comment gets you the bed when everyone else sleeps on the floor

6) Never tell someone you love that you hate them while they're trying to say goodbye... You end up regretting it (just a little)

7) Bagels are a necessity when you're stranded on a pile of wood in the middle of the ocean

8) Look for slippery wood before you start to relieve your bladder, do not wait until after you have began to relieve yourself torealise the wood you are standing on has the traction of an ice rink hosed down with melted butter

9) saying yes to one piggy back will mean you will be a pack mule for the remainder of the week

10) glasses are not a strong and noble creature... they are a fragile and will crumple at the sight of children (three of us had problems with our glasses this week)

11) If you leave a child crying long enough, someone else will handle them...

12) Do not leave children un-attended if theyre are throwable sized rocks around...

13) Quelch the game of "lets throw rocks at each other" before it has more than two participants

14) DO NOT EAT ALL THE CEREAL!

15) Some people do not get my sense of humour

16) I do not enjoy nature or exercise... Combining the two for my enjoyment is a waste of time...

17) A tree is only as strong as the person climbing it...

18) Children can be entertained for hours on end by making them run from one end of a gym to another

19) You do not need to understand old people so long as you smile lots and repeat important words you can pick out...

20) Never try to get the last drops of water out of the spagetti pot...

21) potato skins are your friend, not your enemy

22) always set your alarm to 5 minutes before your teammates return

23) pretending you have had a productive day by yourself is a lot easier if you awaken 5 minutes prior to your team returning

24) Never underestimate the power of harmonics (we don;t need know stinking guitar)

25) children clapping to rythym sounds more like guerrilla gunfire than rythym

26) people are FAR more attractive when they're not single

27) finding nemo is not the movie for me when I am deathly tired

28) crab is always better when it goes (almost) directly from the ocean to your stomach

29) just because its like a raspberry, does not mean it is enjoyable

30) snowstorms in BC are fun in that there are more emergency vehicles on the road than personal vehicles

31) Not yelling at people is easier than I thought...

32) Never wake me up 10 mintues before I need to get up... Especially when I am told I can sleep til a particular time

33) Taxi drivers in small towns do not always know where theyre going

34) sunchips are fun chips

35) sleeping bags can do more damage than you think

36) Yahk has never been more important than in the game of place names

37) ganging up on neal at hearts isn;t fun... for me...

38) a boat the size of a volkswagon beatle is not a cool place for 7 people to spend hours at a time...

39) sour cream is not meant to be frozen

40) (and most importantly) no one has to understand any of these in order for them to be meaningful to me.

Sorry

Krysta, Kristin

I'm sorry for calling you at 1230, waking you up, simply to tell you I wasn't able to work out...

='( please forgive me ='(

Oh...

And I will not be manipulated anymore... (message for other people... not K&K)

Korriki is My Hero

Oh My...

Catchy, but oh so weird (thanks Holly)

Sprawl is Nasty

Ok, so Sprawl is ALWAYS nasty, even when its done in efficient forms...

Sprawl!

Did I ever mention that Urban Sprawl is Gross?

Politically Incorrect

I have never made it hidden that I havea dark and somewhat distatesful sense of humour... But I'll spare you the morbid jokes and enlighten you on the horribly offensive Tv show that I have come to love (on the DVD there is a special feature that lists some of the most offensive comments... And that is what i wish to share with you today...)

**please note that this post is because I feel I have been lacking in the posts in recent weeks and adding to my post count makes me feel better about myself**

"I'd nail any one of these broads like the son of God to the cross.." C. Hero
"Then a man and a woman do a special hug, which feels good depending on the size of the man's hands wrapped consensually around your neck" F. Love

"Sorry Clara, but your vagina is dead meat... flaps" C. Hero

"Just stick it in me already, even if you're just looking for a place to pee." T. Braunstein

"Foxxy love played at the special olympics and those kids have hearts as big as their oversized foreheads." F. Love

"She was more useless that a mexican in a work-ethic powered car." P. Clara

"And now we've arrived at the most important rose ceremony since the jews voted to crucify our lord and savior." S. Hamm

"There's lots of ways to make a baby. There's kissing, there's sex, and there's finding one in the dumpster after prom." T. Braunstein

"We'll always have paris. Which is what we called it when I smashed his penis with a lead model of the eiffel tower." F. Love

"I don't speak blackanese." C. Hero

"Well, that's just dangerous. As dangerous as denying the holocaust, or slavery, or the playful advances of your shop teacher." S. Hamm

"Really? That's how people get tumours? I thought jesus gave people tumours for marrying outside of their race." P. Clara

"Boy those muslims are kooky. Have you read that koran? It's mostly just knock-knock jokes." C. Hero

"What do you people like to be called again? Mammy, topsy, shvartza, african-american?" P. Clara

"Thanks to anorexia, everyone's a winner." X. P. Wiffelbottom

yes...

thats all of em... such a funny show (funny in the offensive way... I can't stress that enough...)

Bleh

Soooo...

Just to get it off my chest:

Choosing between friendship and work. I know I would like to think "friendship is much more important" and in most cases it is. But in the case of something really trivial friendshipwise, but quite important job wise, I can assure you preference is going to be towards work. Now, when you combine the fact that it's a much more important work issue with the fact that my job isn't the one making me choose, the chances of me choosing the friendship side are slim to none...

So if you're reading this, this is the answer I jumped around: I will not look the other way and risk my job, and I resent the fact that you would even ask me to do as such.

*phew*

So this week is ending up being rather uneventful. I adopted a new high school student so he could sign up for a gym membership (his parents and/or guardians are out of town and he needed someone over the age of 18 to sign for him)...

That was a fun trek across the city...

Drunk people are as drunk as ever... Some more than I've seen in a long time...

but at least they weren't loud tonight. Rod will be happy I didn't feel the need to wake him up (we decided as an RA team that Rod should be on the next drunk patrole, in order to instil the fear of god upon their mortal souls)...

Yes... So now Im just wasting time before class... I slept too much yesterday, and am done sleeping for tongiht, me thinks... So here I sit...

perhaps I shall sleep some more... I'll probibly just end up playing games until class...

I'm hungry...

see below

I finally did my birthday post...

its included a ways below (where t should have been)

Who's the Next Hitler?

I try to keep myself read up on world news... and i found this quite humourous... But it left me confused...

Who is really the next hitler?

Is it the socialist leader of an anti-american government?

Rumsfeld compares Venezuela's Chavez to Hitler

Or could it the the facist leader of one of the most corrupt governments in the western world?

Chavez says Bush worse than Hitler

Or there is always the ever popular pseudo-theocracy posing as a legitimat government?

Iran threat like Hitler: Merkel
(the chancellor of germany might have made a mistake comparing a ruler of another nation to Hitler to THE PEOPLE OF GERMANY!!! Can someone say BAD TASTE!!!)

I can't really say whos right... But will the real new hitler please stand up...

Tagged

I've been tagged...

(birthday post/review is still in production)

Four Jobs I've Had:

Dishwasher
Biological Analysist
Gas Jockey
Residence Assistant

Four Movies I Can Watch Over and Over Again:

Requiem for a Dream
Saved!
Run Lola Run
Man on Fire

Four Shows I Love:

Drawn Together
Invader Zim
The Brendon Leonard Show
The Daily Show

Four Places I've Vacationed:

Germany
France
UK
Disneyland

Four of My Favourite Dishes:

Cheese Stuffed Tortillini
Chicken Parmesan
Well done steak w/ baked potatoeses
Pirogies (and I dont mean the crap they serve at the cafeteria)

Places I'd Rather Be Right Now:

Madrid
Melbourne
Boston
Montreal

Four Bloggers I am Tagging:

Jenn J
Shannon
Evan
Sharon

My Bithday (overdue post)

So my birthday was over a week ago... (as in it ended a week ago, not that its been more than a week... yet) so i figured I should get around to writing this... so you all can keep up with my exploits and revel in my humourous jaded view on life (numerous people have come up to me and asked me why I'm so jaded towards life... I don't think I'm jaded... but they might be right)

Anyways

We decided to go out on tuesday to 'celebrate' my birthday (in as drunken a fashion as possible) so we decided to go to the local 'cheap beer that tastes like donkey ass' joint here in Edmonton... We like to refer to her, affectionately as Ezzies... Don't let the cute pet name trick you... she can be a real bitch when you're drinking...

Anyways...

We arrive plenty early (because it's my birthday, we get a reserved table and free cover...) and I proceed to drink and drink and drink...

I subsequently begin whoring it up in as much of a fashion as I can without doing anything I'm going to regret in the morning (I'd like to think I did a good job, and there was a strong lacking of hand-slap-prints-on-the-face in the morning...)

Yes...

So more drinks, and I pseudo puke (DAMN YOU TEQUILA DAMN YOU TO HELL!!!)... I'd like to think I know myself and my limit, and so I can tell you by the time that tequila shot almost killed me, I was nowhere near my limit... Tequila just doesn't agree to me anymore...

So i head off to the washroom, in preperation of any impeding porcelain goddess worship, but settle on some cold water splashed on the face...

I return just in time for my FAVOURITE part of th night!

LINE DANCING (WOOT WOOT!!!)

I'm not gonna lie, I knew all the moves to al of the songs (except cha cha shuffle or whatever... but he gives the instructions as you go... so I can;t be blamed)

But yes... high light of the line dancing... As I know all the steps, it becomes quite easy to ad lib, or even vary, a few of the steps in order to make the dance slightly more comical... During on of the dances you, hand by hand, touch your own buttocks...

Now... whilst dancing, I notice a friend of mine, with a sense of humour (I mihgt add) is standing in front of me... So when the timing in the dance is such that i am to touch my bottom hand by hand, I in turn touch her bottom, hand by hand...

We laughed... well... I laughed... She might have laughed simply because it was my birthday...

Wehn the dancing ends, and we return to the table, I am informed by one of my friends that I should refrain from doing that move, as another patron of the bar thought my alternative steps were socially acceptable and was performing it on other female patrons...

live and learn I suppose...

The rest of the night was severly enjoyable... including having to scraped one of my friends off the floor (and sending him home in a cab), having one of my friends discover puke on his pants (from an unknown source), random strangers buying me drinks (my liver still appears to be working... and nooone took me home), as well as being able to ring in the start of my b-day with a large group of friends...

Wednesday was pretty uneventful... I never realised how akward it is to stand there while 30 people sing happy birthday to you... Meh...

We went out for dinner that night (after everything had been said and done)... it ended up being a lot pricier than it could have been... And I felt really guilty... I would have paid... i swear...

meh... jerkfaces and their "it's you're birthday!!"

dinner was very enjoyble, and I can revel in the fact that i now know how to get clear blue skies in between my vertibrae....

The rest of my week went by relatively well... I am now doing exercise and yoga every m/w/f... I was really sick and horribly irritible for the weekend... But I would like to think I mostely hid that well...

Oh.. and I stood my ground, and came to a resonable and acceptable agreement in regards to something i believed in...

And now I can officially go on the mission trip...

but yes...

the end (happy belated birthday to me...)

Bells of the Hand Variety

So it turns out a lot of people read my blog that I had absolutely no clue of...

And some of them may have had a few things to say about my posts of recent... Meh...

I'm slowly getting over the fact that the conservatives are in power, and I have resigned to the fact that they won't be able to get anything too crazy through thanks to the fact that they would need to convince either the bloc or the liberals to vote with them... *phew*

Anyways...

I have been, as of recent, making my stand in what I regard as an injustice. I'm not going to back down, and I may lose out on something I've really been looking forward to, but I already had quite a long meeting about it today and wish not to discuss it further...

This last weekend was handbell retreat... It was actually quite a bit of fun as far as ringing 4 bells and 1 chime can be...

Apparently my weaving and ring-clapper-grab-to-thingy are looking quite well... Our first 'performance' is this weekend... It should be fun...

Man oh man did my forearms hurt after ringing bells for so many hours though...

And the people in bells are nice enough... No complaints as of yet...

It was quite humourous, because someone brought up how much I used to hate bells (ha ha... used to... right guys?)

I quickly did a redirect...

Now, I would like to point out that I do not and have not ever hated handbells... I just don;t find them particularly entertaining for more than about... I don't know... ten minutes at a time... but there a lot of fun to play... And a lot of the things I've ever said about bells have been reactionary to annoying people or annoying actions carried out by people in the handbells ensemble... and not necessarily the handbells themselves...

Anyways... Tonight is my B-Day bash... At Ezzies... No personal invites, but if you can come, you're welcome to!

My goal is to make it to midnight... but ezzies has not been kind to birthday revelers in the past... So wish me the best!

gnight

A Progressive World?

A proposal to ban interracial marriage in Colorado would do so with the simple phrase, "only a union of one white man and one white woman shall be valid or recognized as marriage in this state."

The phrase would be added to the state's constitution if a proposal by a coalition of religious and conservative leaders is passed by voters in November, according to a copy of the language obtained by The Denver Post and published Thursday.

A purpose statement that makes a case for the amendment says marriage between one white man and one white woman is rooted in centuries of tradition, is best for children, and protects Coloradans from "activist judges."

"People have the right to form relationships that are meaningful to them as they may choose; however, they do not have the right to redefine marriage for all of us," the statement reads.

It also says the amendment would not discriminate or prevent anyone from receiving benefits available under current law, or prohibit laws.

Tom Minnery, senior vice president of Colorado Springs-based Focus on the Family, predicted the anti-interracial marriage initiative will not be easy to pass.

"I do believe it will be divisive, and I do believe it will be high-profile," Minnery said. "But the fact is that God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix."

Focus on the Family, the National Association of Evangelicals and the lobbying arm of the Roman Catholic Church in Colorado, are part of the coalition. They'll need 68,000 signatures for the proposal to be placed on the ballot.

Sean Duffy, former deputy chief of staff to Republican Gov. Bill Owens, is coordinating the campaign to fight the initiative. He said he has been contacted by numerous conservative Republicans "who are concerned about discrimination and who also feel that there are other issues that Colorado really needs to focus on at this point, and feel that a constitutional amendment to put discrimination into the constitution is not the best use of everybody's time."

In related news, the state of Virginia moved a step closer to amending its 230-year-old Bill of Rights to ban interracial marriage on Wednesday when the state Senate voted 28 to 11 to follow the House of Delegates in approving the measure. A referendum on the matter is expected in November.