Wednesday, June 24, 2009

What, A Crazy Day

My Mom Said To Have An Adventure, So I Did
Well, Well, I don't even really know where to start with this posting. Its been a crazy day. Today was my day off and my friend also had it off until three so we decided to go and rent mopeds and drive up to red rock canyon for a couple of hours. I was so excited. I had been waiting to do this for awhile so I was really pumped. We got the mopeds and started off. Coming out of the town is a large hill and at the top is the historic Prince of Wales hotel which sits on a bluff and has amazing views. We had planned to stop there and take some pictures. The moped doesn't go to fast, the fastest speed is about 40 km/h so we had to gun it to make it up the hill. I was still a little shaky when we got to the turn off and I took it a little faster than I meant to and I crossed into the other lane where there was a car coming. The car just honked at me instead of slowing down so I decided to get as far over as I could and consequently smashed my knee into the guardrail. It hurt so incredibly bad, probably worse than anything I have ever done so far. Somehow I made it across to the other side and my friend helped me get off the bike. The car, that caused me to hit the rail just drove away. So there we are, on the side of the road and I was incredible pain. I could see that it was bleeding a bit so we decided to check it out. I think both of us wished we hadn't. Where my knee used to be, there was a 3 inch deep hole, that was at least 3 inches wide. It was disgusting. We both almost threw up right there. My friend didn't know what to do because 8 or more cars passed and no one stopped to help. He didn't want to leave me but he had no choice so he ran to the visitors centre to get help and then ran back. Then the fun really began, because the ambulance came. I had my first ambulance ride today and it was not enjoyable. I was in so much pain but the EMTs were so good. They kept me awake and alert, and calmed me down. They looked at my knee and just said we are going to a hospital. So I was taken to the Cardston Hospital in the back of a speeding, siren blaring ambulance. I was freaking out the whole way there, I thought I had ruined my entire summer and my chance to make my tuition money. I was just praying that it was nothing serious. The EMT told me that worst case scenario I had broken my femur and would need to have surgery. I freaked out. I did not want to have surgery. It was horrible. The whole way to Cardston they were trying to get an IV started to get some fluids in my system in case I did have to have surgery but they couldn't find a vein on either arm. I personally will always believe that I subconsciously would not allow my veins out, and so I never got an IV!!

Cardston Hospital
So I arrived at the Cardston hospital and I was immediately taken for X-rays which hurt like crazy because they had to transfer me to the x-ray bed and then contort my leg. It hurt like crazy but the x-rays showed no broken bones or fractures of any kind so my many, many prayers were answered. However my ray did show the 6 dollars in changed I had in my pocket. Then it was time to sew me up. I had an excellent doctor, Dr, Taylor who was very kind and nice as he was sewing me up. The lovely waterton EMT ladies stayed with me the whole time and held my hand. It took about half an hour to sew my knee up. I have 19 stitches on the top and probably triple that many in the three layers below my knee. Apparently the EMT told the hospital on the way there that my knew wouldn't sew up nice at all, but it's going to be ok I think. My scar will be a perfect capital C. The doctor and nurse kept telling me that meant I was going to marry someone with a last name beginning with C because of my scar. So my summer short wearing is ruined because I'll have this nasty knee healing.

The End Jist
In the end, I was very lucky. I was definitely protected today, everything seemed to work out even if it was a little crazy. My mom was able to call some family friends to come and give me a blessing and I feel pretty good now. My knee is, of course, throbbing, but I'm home, and I'm alive and fairly well. However I did lose a pair of jeans because they had to cut them up to get to my knee. But I didn't want them anyway, because there was chunks of my knee in them. I had to ask the EMT to cover my pants up so I wouldn't see it. It looked like ground pork. It was so gross. Ugh! I'm thankful that I'm relatively ok, and off work for the next little while. I'm glad that it wasn't to serious. It was only about 19 top stitches and about triple that many in the layers underneath. I think the doctor said that there was three layers of stitching. So, now I'm on couch rest for the next couple of days until I heal up and feel better. In about two weeks I will have to go back into Cardston to get my stitches out and hopefully I will be as good as new, just with a wicked scar. So I hobble and gimp now, my friend calls me Terry Fox, but I'm ok, which is great. I'm lucky because I have some good friends that are taking care of me, they brought me dinner tonight and phoned in my health care information for me. So I guess I had my adventure.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

The Worst Day and The Best Day

Sunday is again my favourite day
This will be just a quick post, but I felt liking writing today. I just got back home from church, my first time attending here in Waterton. It was lovely, I mean I don't really think I realized how much I missed going to church each week. I felt like a fool because I had a smile on my face the whole time, and I was sitting all by myself. It was really nice though, an older missionary couple talked. They had just returned from serving in Ghana, (I hope that's spelled right). It was really nice to hear their stories and feel of their enthusiasm. Its funny how a couple in their sixties or maybe even seventies can inspire me, and captivate my attention. That's one of the things I love most about going to church, is hearing peoples stories, and how they learned from their lives and experiences. Every since I was little that has always been one of my favourite things about going to church. Its like the best story hour you'll ever get.

Life's Starting To Get Crazy
So, with the recession things have been a little slower here in waterton, than they normally are this time of year. There just hasn't been too many bookings at the hotel or anything like that. But this weekend it really picked up. Yesterday we had 59 checkouts and 54 stay overs to do, and at the start of the day we had three housekeepers. Our team eventually expanded to ten but that is still way to few housekeepers to get the job done. Somehow we did, but we were all exhausted at the end of the day. I ended up having to work from 9-6, and then head over and work at the chocolate shop at 7-9:30. It was a super long and hard day but I made it through. Hopefully we will soon be able to get more housekeepers so that our weekends are not so nasty. I'm off today, and if they coming knocking out my door for me to work I will not be there, I'm heading to the chocolate shop. It's funny, when I got to work at the chocolate shop yesterday my boss was stressed because it was busy, but it felt so calm to me. After housekeeping like that, any job seems like a piece of cake.

The Waterton Life
The only really sucky thing about living in Waterton is the nightlife. If you don't drink or go to the bar there really isn't a whole lot to do at night because that's all everyone seems to do. It's been driving me crazy and ruining my sleep. For the past three nights we have had stupid, drunk idiots screaming and swearing outside our apartment building every night at like three in the morning. Its so annoying, rude, and most of all pathetic. People ask me all the time why I don't drink, and you know what, even if I didn't believe what I believe I probably still wouldn't because I'm not willing to put myselfinto that kind of state for "fun." I think it is the most pathetic thing in the world. Its a simple as that. Sorry for my rant, I'm just really sick of drunks, and people telling me all the time that "I'm missing out." I'm not missing anything, in fact, they are missing their dignity.

The Rants Done For Today I Promise
I missed telling everyone what I am listening to at the end of the my last post. Well, with the current drunk idiot situation I've been turning my ipod on to some quiet music to drown them out and try (in vain) to get some sleep. Norah Jones is the girl to put you to sleep. I love Norah Jones, I love her voice and her instrumental arrangements. My favourites are Sunrise, Broken, Not My friend, Seven Years, and Those Sweet Words. Her music is just peaceful, calming, and wonderfully sad and melancholy. She is a great musician.

I'm Just really Grateful For Everything and Everyone That Loves Me, Thanks Guys!




Tuesday, June 9, 2009

A Sunburn, Snow, and A Human Popsicle

Though I'm Seven Hours South of My Readers, I'm actually in the North Pole

You know, I make such a big fuss about avoiding talking about the weather, but I do in almost every post so I should just get over my bias and move on from it. This weather news though is very exciting. June 5, 2009 is an important date here in waterton because its the first time in over forty years that it has snowed on that day. Yes snow, and not just a little, an entire foot of wet, cold, heavy snow. I was not impressed, esepcially considering it was my day off and I had just gotten a severe sunburn tanning for an hour two days before. It was not nice. The snow was absolutely miserable though on sunday night it cleared for about half an hour and I decided to go for a walk. It was really cool because the clouds were so low that they were covering the mountains and everything was crystalized. I got some really cool pictures by the lake of the cloudbank but the internet connection here is to slow to upload them. I had a great time though going for a walk by myself in the snow/rain!

It's Been Awhile
Honestly, I apologize for my lack of updating, I've been too busy. We recentyly had our hours changed from 9-5 and somehow that wears me out way more than 8-4, it just makes the day go longer. Not much has really happended in the past week with work, I just been a basic slave, cleaning rooms like crazy. They are trying to train us to get 10 rooms done everyday so they overload us with work and then push us to get it done. I'm getting much faster, but its still really hard work.

Party Hard, Or Go Home
So, I sort of made a commitment to myself to try new things when I got out here. Like climbing bears hump by myself (though that was not pre-meditated). One of the crazier things that I thought I would try was jumping in the lake. For those of you that don't know, Waterton lake is a glacier lake, so it is always freezing cold even in the summer but especially now. Last night it was probably about 22 degrees and after having dinner at my friends we went for a walk when I proclaimed that I wanted to jump in the lake tonight. Their roomate, is a crazy guy who runs 100 km races, and he jumps in everyday and has since may. He agreed to show me the ropes. So I did it and it was insane. As soon as I hit the water it was so cold it felt like all the air was sucked out of my lungs. All I remember thinking is surface and dock. My friend taped it on my camera and you can see me break and surface like two feet high straight out of the water and swin madly for the dock. I couldn't breathe even after I broke the surface until I was clinging to the dock. It was so fun and intense. The guy that jumped with me said the water was probably about 4 degrees warm. It was so cold. As soon as I got out though I started warming up, probably from adneraline. It was intense and I definately want to do it again. The best part is, that my very supportive friend invited to neighbouring tourists to watch, so two complete strangers saw me jump off the dock and climb back on. Luckily I was too busy, focusing on getting out of the water to care.

In other exciting news
I will be getting another roomate on the 25th and this time I will be sharing a room. I'm pretty excited because my other roomates were friends with her last year and they said she is alot of fun! Then are place will be offically full and we will offically have absolutely no room in the freezer!

I Haven't Written A Witty In So Long
So, as you have probably read my other witty stories (I just like to think they are witty) you know that I enjoy and recongize the need to laugh at myself regularily. This time is no exception. When we are cleaning rooms we do what is called stripping. You go in and strip the sheets off the beds and grabs the dirty towels. Then you tie this all together and make a sling type bag to carry it. It looks like a giant baby slinger bag that you see new moms carrying their kids in now days. Anyway I was cleaning at room at the Crandell which is a small hotel (only 18 rooms) that is more old-fashioned and quaint. Its supposed to be like a b and b. The room I was cleaning was a kitchenette suite with a double bed, two single beds, a double hideway bed, and six sets of towels. So my bundle was the size of three small children. I set it down my the table as I was finishing wiping out the fridge, and microwave. As I got off the chair I was standing on to reach the microwave above the fridge, I stepped right into my bundle. Most normal people would simply step right out but for some reason I turned and next thing I knew I was falling in slow motion to the floor completely tangled up in dirty sheets. When I landed I lay there for a moment, reflecting on my self-defeat and being grateful that I was working alone when I realized I couldn't get up because my legs were completely tangled in the sheets. It took me ten minutes to untangle myself. And they wonder why I'm slow at cleaning rooms.

I converted another ipod touch user.
For those of you that know me, you know just how much I love my ipod. Especially my ipod touch, which is really a mini computer and tens times easier to use than a pda or blackberry. Anyway I was singing the praises of my ipod touch and someone listened to me, my roommate. Yes, she proudly bought an ipod touch and so last night we set hers up and I and my other roommate watched as she played games for the next hour. Seriously, apple should reward me as a faithful consumer and promoter of their products!

Thats it for today!




Thursday, June 4, 2009

Don't Shed A Tear, I'll Be Here When It All Gets Weird

Honesty is an Overrated Virtue
So, this update is a little late but in all honesty I haven't really wanted to update the blog quite yet. Everything that I have to write seems so much better tucked away in my head still and I haven't finished sorting through it yet. Normally when I write its because "I'm thinking like a cannon ball shooting out a cannon-Ryan Adams." As I've previously mentioned I've got to sort through things for awhile before I can get them out, but I guess I have some desperate fans.

Home
This past weekend was my aunt Cindy's wedding so I got to go home Saturday and Sunday. I was off work thursday and so my grandma picked me up and I got to spend a couple days in lethbridge before we headed down for the wedding. It was really nice to spend some times with my grandparents, aunts, and cousins. Its weird, but I haven't stayed at my grandparents by myself since I was twelve, and a completely different person. I guess its been awhile. Anyway we travelled to Edmonton on Friday and arrived in Edmonton at about 9: 45. It's a really weird feeling when you get on the Anthony henday after being away for so long, its weird to be travelling home. Anyway we arrived and I was assaulted with love by my puppy and siblings. Gus missed me and I know it because he slept on my bed that night. It was hilarious. Saturday was really busy, it started with breakfast at Haps which was amazing. Just another of the many things I miss about Edmonton, and then we got ready for the wedding. Finally I got to drive my Lumina, I missed it so much, so driving was awesome. The wedding was held at the Petroleum Club of Edmonton so we all made our way over there. It was a lovely ceremony and it was so awesome to see Aunt Cindy and Wally so happy and finally getting hitched. During the ceremony my sister was rubbing her eyes like crazy and I just thought she was crying but after the ceremony she really did start crying because her eyes were "burning from the flowers." And so we went on a quest for reactine, in downtown Edmonton. Fun times. The reception was tons of fun, it was great to be with my cousins and siblings even if a certain someone was a little too tipsy! We had a great time dancing and laughing. As the official "kids" we took it upon ourselves to decorate the honeymoon vessel (the Tahoe). Then the bouquet was thrown and I was outta there. I tried desperately after the ceremony to meet up with some friends but I didn't end up leaving until 10:30 so I never got to see them but that's alright, I'll be back in no time!

The next day I got to go to sacrament for the first time in three weeks and that really made my week. It was awesome and I feel much better this week than I have in awhile. And so, just like that my busy weekend was over and I was heading back to Waterton with my grandparents.

Home isn't where the heart is, its where your junk is, I guess
So, now I'm back in Waterton and I feel alot better. This week has gone way better than the week before I left and now that I'm back I feel stronger and more ready for the rest of the summer. It has been absolutely gorgeous here and today I even tanned on my friends roof! Not that I have any colour, but I absorbed some so a couple more weeks and maybe it will show! Nothing much has really changed here or at home. It feels kind of like I step in and out of two different versions of Maddy, the home version and then the Waterton version. They aren't that different I guess, just the surroundings they are in.

In more fascinating news...
I'm a spoiled brat! Seriously, I should have moved out years ago and started a blog because it seems to be working in my favour. I was handsomely treated to a wonderful surprise of a camera when I went home so next post I will definitely be uploading some pictures from an actual camera as opposed to a cell phone!

HMV is the place for me
I admit it, though I tried to avoid it I somehow managed to visit the world's biggest eyesore, annoyance, and shopping district the West Edmonton Mall. Of course, it would have been irresponsible of me to leave without visiting the HMV store! All I'm going to say is I picked up two amazing albums! Is It Ok By Serena Ryder and The Best Of James Taylor. Serena Ryder is amazing, she has an incredible and unique voice and she is THE voice of a woman scorned. I am not kidding, and James Taylor never did anyone wrong. And yes mom, I left Serena Ryder at home, its on my bookshelf, just don't scratch it please!

Love ya'll and I'll Be Back Before You Know It!

P.S. the explanation for the title of this post, Itunes is on shuffle again and its flogging molly, If I Ever Leave This World Alive, somehow that line seemed more than appropriate for this post!