Sunday, May 2, 2010

The Return

Return To My Mountain Home

Yes that's right folks I have returned to Waterton once again. It was a bit of a struggle to decide and after a hundred pros/cons list (you know I love them) I finally made my decision and I'm here once again. So far, it has been amazing just being back in the mountains. Of course, Waterton is still Waterton. My first day here I was welcomed with three feet of snow and a three hour power outage, but a chinook came through the next day and the storm and snow has now passed. I was all game for an epic snowball fight but my friends were not up for it, but I still managed to get a few shots in.

Right now I'm in an apartment across the hall from my old apartment. It's bigger and it has a super nice shower but there will probably be four of us, or even five stuffed in here. For now it's just two and so there's lots of space. I'm super lucky on the roommate front this year. Most of my roommates are members so I wouldn't be worrying about any major partying. My current roommate is from Ontario, loves show tunes, and youtube blogging. She's been a lot of fun so far and Megan is especially excited to meet her and sing some show tunes.

So that's about it for Waterton now. I'm back to front desk and I'll even be back at the Aspen Village so nothing has really changed there. The first couple days here I've just been adjusting. Nothing too major because of all the trails are still closed so I've just been hitting the gym, working, or cleaning the apartment. Last year this apartment was party central so bleach has definitely been used on almost every surface, and one major nasty, huge, hairball was pulled out of the shower drain, and I almost vomited.

The Rest of The Semester...
Well I survived the end of school. It was dicey there for a couple of weeks especially when my dell computer finally gave up the ghost in the last two weeks of school. Luckily I rescued almost everything (except the assignment I had spent six hours on) off it. Eventually this lend to my newest pride and joy, my Macbook Pro. Yes that's right people this blog is coming to you off the slim, the shiny, the sexy, and all mine MacBook Pro. And not the old one, the brand, spanking, new, fast processor one!

This semester was probably my favourite so far. I loved my classes and I did really well. I got two A-, two A's, and one B-. It was really enjoyable and I'm really looking forward to next year after my summer break.

Oh yeah, the cliffhanger
So I forgot about the last epic event of the semester my Muse concert. It was completely amazing and so deafening! I had a super bad cold a couple of days before and my throat was just starting to heal up and needless to say it did not fare well in the days after the concert. Even if you didn't enjoy their music you would have loved this show. The effects, the sounds, and the passion of the band was so incredible. I was just in awe the entire night of the whole spectacle. I think it will be a long time before I see another concert as incredible as that.

Well...
Well folks it's time for me to head back to preparing my dinner because I have to do it all myself. At the moment I'm living off of asparagus which is good but I'm looking forward to heading into town to get a little more variety going.

As always...
I've been jamming to the new Norah Jones cd, and it's quite good for my older readers. But for the young at heart I have recently rediscovered my love for the Violent Femmes. It's all I've been listening to and I swear even though I've heard it a million times I could put Blister In the Sun on a rotation and listen to it over and over and never get bored. It's that good.

Until next time...

P.S. As I am now back in Waterton and trying to avoid the daily houndings of my mother for my well-being this blog will most likely be updated more currently, so stay tuned, tell your friends, and comment!!!



Friday, March 5, 2010

Appeasing the Masses

Well gang I'm back to appeasing those who have still continued to read this blog, namely my mother. I promise no matter how long it takes me to blog again I will not open another blog with an apology, after I'm done writing this one of course.

Lived a Greatest Day

As I mentioned in my last post this semester features three amazing events and two of the them have already happened. The first was the future of story conference at my school. This was an amazing day. It was a two day conference (though I only went to one day because of work) that featured a bunch of prominent authors, screenwriters, comic book authors, producers, editors, etc. from the Albertan and Canadian community talking about the future of the story. Of course for me the main attraction was Hart Hanson, the creator and executive producer of Bones! Yes, that's right I met him! It was absolutely amazing. My friend and I were volunteers for the event and we got to go back stage at the school and help out there. It was a great experience. We got to play seek and find in our school and found so many sweet new hallways, rooms, and workshops. I love my school it's a crazy little funky maze and it's always fueling creativity. Anyway back to Hart Hanson. We thought that we weren't going to get to meet him but because we had been helping back stage we ended up getting to talk to him there. This was the first time that I really met someone I truly admire and I have to admit I did not hold it together as well as I thought it would. I can completely hold my cool like an icicle around a boy I like, but man around anybody remotely famous apparently I lose it. I told him in a much more girly voice that we were huge fans, after I shoved my hand in his face to shake his hand. It was a little embarrassing but it didn't even matter because I got to meet him!!

His talk was amazing and the rest of the night was great because we worked coat check. Coat check turned out to be the place to be, and everyone talked to us, offered advice, or listened to the ideas that we had. It was amazing and the whole night was just an incredible high.

The Best Week

Well I also had the chance this semester to expand my horizons. Yes, on Feb. 16 I boarded a plane and made my way all by myself to California. I spent a marvelous week there with my Aunt Jenny and my Uncle Ken. They showed me all the sights of Fresno, and Clovis and then we packed up the car and made our way to San Francisco for the week. San Francisco was amazing. The buildings, the bridges, the overpasses it was all so incredible. It actual looks like it does in the movies, it is literally up and down. It was freaky and so weird especially driving up a hill that steep it just doesn't seem right.

In San Francisco we went to Fisherman's Warf which is one of the big tourist attractions. It's mostly a collection of tourist shops, spots, attractions, and whatnot located along the pier. It was amazing and really cool to see everything. There was a crazy sour dough bread factory that made bread in the shape of animals like crocodiles, a crazy jungle restaurant with a fish tank arch, crazy hippies trying to score money for dope, and of course creepy magicians. My next post I'll try and upload pictures for you to see what I'm talking about because most it I can't describe.

Of course we drove across both the Golden gate and the Bay bridge. Halfway across the Bay bridge (it's a twenty minute drive across) my aunt mentioned that it collapsed a couple of years ago. Yeah that really calmed me down. I almost passed out in sheer terror. It's really weird there because for a region that is plagued by earthquakes they have all these crazy high overpasses and bridges that seriously look like they will just collapse like toothpicks if an earthquake hit. I don't get it but it was cool to see them.

The rest of the week was spent chilling out with my Aunt and Uncle. I had a ton of fun with them and I did a lot of shopping. I'm officially poor for the next two weeks. Holy man.

School....
Well, school is beginning to get intense again. Honestly this next month I have three or four assignments due every week so don't expect an update for awhile. My project lead class is going really well. I really lucked out my first project I had an amazing group and we got 93% and then 95% on the assignments. Now I'm a leader of a new group so wish me luck! Hopefully it will all work out.

My other crazy classes are screenwriting and writing for the ear. Screenwriting is not that bad, it's just a lot of writing. This semester we have to write a 24 page screenplay. We've already finished all the outlines for it, and this week I'll be starting on the first draft of my screenplay. Next post I'll try and provide a quick synopsis for you, so far it's kind of a boy meets girl/ corporate espionage kind of thing.

Writing for the ear is my speech writing class which seems to be going well. Most of my classmates tell me that I'm really good, but I'm just talking it up to all of my experience talking in church and my crazy maniac personality. Today actually we had to do a debate in class. I was against the best girl in the class and my topic was opposing the withdrawal of the Canadian forces in Afghanistan. It was a brutal topic but I think I did really well on it. It was just tough because I'm pretty for the soldiers getting out of there. Anyway...another time for that.

Life is getting a little stressful lately but I'm just going to keep on trying. I'll try and update this blog and let you in on the decisions that will come in the coming weeks. Spoiler alert: I'll eventually decide whether or not I'm heading back to Waterton this summer.

You Know I Can't Resist:

First off everyone reading this is obliged to let a congratulatory cheer Smallville was renewed for a tenth season!! It has been amazing this year and I'm not just saying that because I'm a mega fan. They've really found the groove of the season this year and they've been writing some amazing television. I love this show, and I love that it seems to get better every year and I don't have to ever let go it because it keeps getting renewed. It's been my favourite since I was 11 and I absolutely love that!!

Also Jamie Cullum, you might remember him as the groovy, jazzy, funky, beast of my laundry folding listening in Waterton last year has come out with an amazing new album. Check it out, it will blow your mind, as it is blowing mine now!! I absolutely love it! The vocals, arrangements, horns, piano everything is louder and faster. The best tracks for me so far are: Wheels (an amazing epic little ditty about the wheels of life), Mixtape (epic horn and string arrangements), and Don't Stop the Music (Done tens times better than Rhianna ever imagined) Check it out I promise you will love it!!

I'll see you on the other side of a dozen essays, two drafts of a screenplay, project leadership, and speeches!!




Tuesday, January 26, 2010

I Want To Go Down in Celluloid History

Well, Well, Well

To make this official it has been more than a month since my last blog update. I'm pretty sure that the few readers I had, I have now lost. So I must reclaim them. Life is getting crazy again and I'm starting to believe that it may just always stay that way. Which, if it stayed as happy and awesome as it is, would be just fine.

The updates (short version):

Christmas/New Years was spent with family and friends. There isn't much more to that, because that is the absolute best gift I always seem lucky enough to get. It was enjoyable, there was plenty of food, and far too much laughing. This year was the first year that I felt confident enough to make my own separate New Year's plans from my family. I spent my evening in the company of good friends, in satin, drinking fake bubbly. If New's Year's Eve defines how you spend the rest of your year then I'm feeling pretty confident that this year will be a great one.

School: Well, I got a B in my grammar class! And I don't have to take another grammar class for the rest of my degree! Life is absolutely grand, and I did far better this semester than I thought I would. This new semester is shaping up to be very exciting. I'm taking project lead (which focuses on group work and taking a project from start to finish), writing for the ear (essentially a speech writing/delivering class), professional prose (just the 2nd half of the course I started in sept.), Applied Rhetoric (the 2nd level of a course I took last year about the ancient method of arguing. It's weird, it's intersecting, it gives me mad skills), and screenwriting two (essentially the same as screenwriting one except I have to write a 25 page script this time), and that's it!

Life: Well, probably the biggest change is that I turned twenty and now must reconcile myself to the fact that I no longer can use the excuse of technically still being a teenager. It's a really weird age, and I'm not going to lie I did have a one day freak out about it but it's been two weeks and I think I'm cool with it. My birthday was really awesome and fun, again surrounded by family and friends. I think the weirdest thing about this birthday is remembering what I used to think turning twenty would feel like. I thought I was going to be a scientist (no lie) and have my own car, live someplace warm, and spend all my time with my friends from elementary school. Well, you guys know the truth. I'm not there, but I don't think I could have imagined how great my life is now. There still is some grey days but the sun is always shining if I want it to!

Anyway that's the update. I'll try and keep it up.

On the other note, my personal ramblings need to take a back seat because I believe my pop culture leanings have not been discussed in some time. There are three things everyone needs to know (in my opinion): one, Smallville keeps getting better and better and I'm seriously considering starting a pray group to ensure a tenth season (is that sacrilegious, oh well the Lord knows how much I need it), two: I discovered Phoenix over the holidays and everyone should check them out as well as buy the new Vampire Weekend album!!, and last but not least: I have come to the realization that my psychological well being is severely bettered when I consistently play brick breaker on my phone, and I will always love blackberry for that!

This week I'm having a Smith's reunion so you should check out: There is a Light that Never Goes Out, and Cemetery Gates!


Sunday, December 20, 2009

The Coup

Liar, Liar, Pants On Fire

Well, I lied. I was not able to keep up with the blogging. Honestly I did have the time on Sundays like I said but my brain was so fired from all the writing I had to do for school that the last thing I wanted to do was write about myself. But it's almost the new year and I'm starting early on my resolutions.

Since the last time...
Well, a lot has happened since my last post, and before that I didn't mention. So, I'll just give you a quick highlights reel of my first semester this year.
The Top 10 of this semester:
10. Getting Home from Waterton and paying my full tuition!
9. Getting my credit card (not that I'm wildly spending its just a milestone of adulthood)
8. Dances, and Dances (I've been dancing like crazy this semester with the busyness of ysa but its been a ton of fun.)
7. Discovering Glee/Glee Finale (we discovered it this year as I mentioned in earlier posts and every week we became more and more obsessed, resulting in our glee finale party at my house, which was was really just us but still awesome!)
6. Scoring a 71% on my grammar midterm (still waiting for the final mark), an A- in short fiction forms, B- in editing (which is higher than I thought), and that's all I have so far.
5. Jason Mraz concert (it was amazing and like a tween I was so nervous to see my idol but it was the best concert I've been to yet!)
4. Return of rockband (well it was only one night but we all played some rock band and though I'm sure it wouldn't be as often, it was super fun! Even though I sucked!)
3. Stagette/Bridal Shower: My good friend got married at the end of november, so we had some parties to send her off right. It was a real fun time and so exciting for her!
2. Preference: My friend and I went together and were brave enough to ask some boys out on date! I asked a good friend from school and we had a lot of fun.
1. Wedding: it was one of the coolest things to see two of my really good friends get married. It was wonderful to see them so happy and it was so much fun!

Some of the downer/stupidly dumb moments:
- shutting my finger in the car door. I don't even know how it happened but the next thing I know my hand is caught and I was screaming. My finger grew to the size of a Bratwurst sausage and was weirdly twisted but has since healed. It was definitely one of the more embarrassing of my many injuries so far.
- it was -40 for a week and half. We have gotten so luck this semester with the weather until the end of november/beginning of dec. It got so cold and the worst part was I kept thinking of my friend JT at school in Hawaii. He made it so much harder to accept the cold this year. In other news, I have set a goal to move to a warmer climate.


Coming Soon:
Well this next semester is really shaping up to be really awesome. I have some exciting classes this next semester, which I am really looking forward to. I also have some exciting events coming up this semester. First off I will be turning twenty which is a big milestone birthday and weirdly old for me. Don't shoot me, older readers it just seems very adult. And I definitely do not feel like an adult. In February I will be volunteering for a writing conference. One of my teachers is organizing it and a bunch of Canadian authors, and industry leaders are speaking and manning panels including one of my personal heroes Hart Hanson, creator and producer of Bones! That is pretty much the reason I joined!

Also in February I will be flying to California to visit my Aunt Jenny and Uncle Ken in Fresno. Hopeful we will be able to work everything out and go visit San Fransico! I'm so excited, because even if its cold there it will still be warmer than Edmonton! I cannot wait for reading week!

Then in March my friends from school and I will be heading to the Muse concert! It will be epic to say the least, and I'm more excited than I thought I could be.

Final Note:
I can't guarantee that I will keep up with this because the evidence against me is overwhelming but I'll try and give it a shot. It's fun to share what's going on in my life with everyone who reads this and get psyched up for what's coming next. Till next time then!

Sunday, November 1, 2009

The Return

Trying To Be More Than A Flash In A Pan

Well, readers I'm going to try and give this blog thing more of a concentrated effort. Life is really busy but people (namely my mother) seem to miss what I have to say, and truth be told, I miss writing it sometimes. So I will be trying a little harder from now on, my plan is to try and update it on Sundays when I can't work on school stuff.

So as I said life has been pretty busy but in a good way. For some reason I thought that putting almost all of my classes on thursday, and friday was a good thing last year but it is not. It's nice in the days leading up to it, but I find myself dreading those days now. It makes the weekends so much busier but I have all these assignments and I'm usually not home Friday and Saturday night. This past week was crazy like that and pretty much the next month will be insane with the projects I have to do, my fingers are going to be sore from typing!

School, School

As I said school is getting really busy but I'm really enjoying it this year. I have five class this year, short fiction forms, applied editing, advanced composition, professional prose, and screenwriting one. Short fiction forms is probably my favorite class, despite being taught by one of my least favorite teachers. We get to study short stories and then work on writing our own. It's a lot of reading and writing but I think I'm starting to come with some really good stories and I've been really enjoying most of the short stories we get to read. The stories in my last post were from that class, but some of the stuff I'm working on now is a little more different so I'm not sure yet if I'm confident enough to post them here. It's one thing to have a relative stranger read your stuff as opposed to people who know you.

Advanced Composition is my toughest class probably yet. It's an insane grammar class, we are literally mapping out sentences. I'm really trying hard to stay on top in class, and read the chapters so that I have at least heard of the concepts we discuss. Then I found out I was reading the chapters in the wrong order, so after the midterm on thursday I'm totally ahead on my reading! Wish me luck on that test, I'm looking for a pass!

Applied Editing is by far the most work. My teacher is very ocd, and because the class has no final she seems to think we have to be completely over run with homework. In addition to the chapter readings, she gives us weekly assignments that routinely take two hours to do, and there is an essay or project due every three weeks. It's tough, I could probably spend most of my time just working on the homework from that class. I do like some of it though, because in this class we look at more of the theory of editing as opposed to the technical aspects that we looked at last year. Plus the textbook is really awesome if you like writing and want to improve your writing, its called Spunk and Bite by Arthur Plotnik, and it's definitely got spunk!

The biggest disappointment so far has been my screenwriting class. I really was looking forward to it and it has turned out to be really boring. It's really basic screenwriting stuff (easier than the stuff I did in high school film class), and we don't apply to it many movies. Each class begins with a 30-45 min presentation from a group on the assigned reading and then the teacher just lectures on what they talk about. The presentations are defintely the highlight, the lectures are the worst. at MacEwan the teachers let you go 10-5 mins early so that if you need to catch a bus you can make it. This teacher is new to the school and has decided that the because the website says we are in class until five he will keep us till then. It sucks, especially when he just repeats himself for 2 hours.

I've Got A Social Life
Besides school I'm trying to iron out some sort of social life, since I've gotten back there has been dance, after dance, after dance. Don't get me wrong, i don't necessarily mind dances but they are not exactly my cup of tea. You can't really get to know people at them, and even if you meet new people its dark and loud so you're never a hundred percent sure if thats the person you met if you see them at church. It's been fun though because I've got a really good group of friends so we all go together and have a great time.

This weekend was Halloween and we spent it at the dance on Friday, and then on Saturday we went to a family friend's party. I resurrected the gangsta costume, so I was dragging my drawers, and wearing some bling! I love that costume, but this is the last year that I will be ballin! I'm too old for that now I guess, plus I don't think its going to earn me anymore dates, unless they are pity dates.

Well, I think this is a good enough start. I'll try and remember intersecting things that happen in my life to share now that I'm home in E-town. It's weird I've been home two months now, but it still feels like I just got home. The good thing is, Waterton is already under snow so I'm not really missing anything!!

I've Full of Glee!
Well, its finally happened. Show tunes have wrangled their way into my heart, well not really. My friends and I have started watching this new show Glee about a high school Glee club and the music is awesome. I love it, I listen to it all the time, especially when I'm running. My favorite songs are Somebody To Love, and It's My Life/Confessions Mash Up, closely followed by my newest guilty pleasure, the glee version of the Thong Song! Ah, I always knew that song would come back in style!

P.S. My browser is American so it has changed all the spelling to american, so I'm not anti-Canadian, just forced by technology. It's taking over.


Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Now What?

Home

Well I am happily at home now, after my summer away. I've been informed that I need to continue to update this blog to pacify the people who read it, namely my mother. So, here it is. I have been very busy since I got back. I forgot how busy life is, with school and ysa activities. School is going great so far, I paid off my entire tuition for the year so yeah! And as of yesterday I am officially back at superstore, so drop by and visit because it is still exactly the same. Anyway I don't have much time for detailed description of my life right now, as I'm too busy writing other things. So I thought instead of boring you with my non-fiction, I could maybe entice you with some of my fiction. This is two short stories I had to write for class, and I'm looking for feedback so don't be shy. Spoiler warning, one of them is fairly black humour (as in death and stuff) so if that bugs you just skip over it.

The first piece is inspired by a current events issue that I'm sure will be made clear as soon as you start reading it.

Kanye West – The Housefly

Once upon a time there was a housefly named Kanye. Kanye believed he was a different kind of housefly, born with extra long wings that allowed him to fly higher than all the other flies. Like the other house flies on his block, Kanye flew with ease in his backyard, happily fed and shelter while, other flies struggled in outhouses and farmhouse for a meagre piece of dung, Kanye didn’t have to hunt for his dung he was happily fed everyday by a terrier name Charger. No other flies ate Charger’s dung, due largely to the pesticide dutifully sprayed by Charger’s owner which Kanye just happened to be immune to. So Kanye grew fat, and convinced of his own glory. Everyday he’d fly down to the steaming, fresh, pile of crap dutifully left for him by Charger convinced that no other fly flew as well as him

Now the other housefly’s recognized Kanye’s talent. Some when they first saw his would buzz that there had really been no other fly like him that zoomed and buzzed quite so effortless, so loudly, so poetically. Some said he was one of a kind and every night when the houseflies had their buzz wars, over the Miller’s barbeque they watched Kanye beat housefly after housefly down with his wicked buzz’s and wuzz’s. But not all flies liked him, especially the horseflies. The horseflies were the real deal. Bred in the country, in mile high piles of dung they were forced from the moment of their birth to build the hardest exoskeletons to dodge the horse’s violent tails that waved back and forth in an attempt to eradicate them. The violence that had surrounded them from birth hardened them, and they were notoriously fickle. Alliances were made and broken everyday over the biggest pile of dung. The hardest horseflies didn’t even blink their many eyes when their comrades were crushed beneath the weight of a horse tail. Instead they buzzed louder and more convinced of their superiority they flew right into other flies territory for the best dung. This started the great horse fly wars which lead to the loss of many flies. The horse flies answered to no one and respected no one, especially houseflies.

Kanye knew he was the best, because everyone had told him so. And if everyone tells you then it must be true right? He never questioned himself or his flying ability; he was convinced just like a child who believes Santa is on his way. The horseflies watched Kanye with a righteous anger. Who was this wussy housefly from the suburbs? Why did he fly so well? Their rage grew as they watched him circle and twist buzzing along through the air using the moves they had developed out of survival for his own pleasure. He was disrespecting them! But that was not Kanye’s worst crime, his worst crime in the horseflies mind was his attitude. This fly, thought that he was fly he didn’t need to hunt for dung. His so called fans brought him it! He got the best dung, buffalo dung (the Cristal of the fly world) handed to him on the backs of flies that had risked life and limb just to get it, in the vain hope that he would teach them his signature moves. Their fury could not be contained; the horseflies had to do something.

They sent a suck up suburban fly to fetch Kanye, with a message of congratulations. Of course, like all house flies Kanye secretly carved the approval of the horse flies so he returned with the messenger to greet them in person. The head horse fly, 50 cent (so named for his survival against some little boys and a roll of quarters) buzzed his greeting to Kanye. Kanye, eager to impress, buzzed back with as much vigour and enthusiasm as he could muster, and the two flies began a buzz war. Gyrating back and forth, shaking their wings, they buzzed each other. One would buzz a tune, and the other would try and out do him. The fight grew fierce, until 50 cent buzzed so loudly, and wuzzed so fast, that Kanye had to concede. Humbled (but still secretly proud of himself) Kanye bowed to the horse flies. Out of appreciation for his talent the horse flies led Kanye to their special place, on the back porch of the farmer’s house. There just hanging underneath the awning was a light more beautiful, more heavenly than Kanye had ever seen. He watched it in wonder, as he buzzed around each time getting closer and closer to the light. The horse flies explained that the light was their hood, their special place that they had earned when they had survived attacks from the horses, fly swatters, and children. They buzzed Kanye in, encouraging him closer and closer. Kanye could not resist; all 80 of his eyes were wide in delight. It was so beautiful, so bright, and wondrous, and the closer he got he could see a little bar for him to rest on and bask in the beauty of the light, and his own power. He was the best, the absolute best.

The other houseflies circled with him, and then they saw his eyes widen in delight, and his wings buzz happily, and faster they backed away to the top of awning. There they sat and watched as Kanye circled closer and closer, until they were finally convinced that the light had him in its spell and then they turned away, until the heard Kanye’s final buzz as he hit the light and fell to the porch beneath. They didn’t even look down to check; because they were absolutely convinced he was gone. 50, tired after a long day took one look around at his gang, shook his head, and said “that was easier than T-Pac,” before he curled up and went to sleep.

Like all great flies Kanye’s popularity only increased after his death. Little suburban houseflies copied his moves and mourned his death like the death of their brother. Of course, no one blamed the horse flies because well, no one could prove it. The horseflies’ recognized the inevitability of Kanye’s post humongous fame, cashed in and began giving classes on Kanye’s moves. 50, though arrogant, was really pragmatic enough to realize that you couldn’t beat the life out of Kanye, but you could keep order and proper respect through a steady environment of intimidation and fear. The horse flies ruled the roost, convinced of their cred, and strength. The house flies watched from their porches, hoping in vain that someday they would be as tough and as buzz worthy as the horse flies. And in the space of twenty four hours, that generation died and another sprang up; ready to buzz and wuzz like no other before, because a little suburban housefly Kanye had buzzed and wuzzed just like the horseflies.

And this last piece is my favourite, it might become more, but I think its off to a good start. Let me know!

Reason #101 To Get An Education

Name of current employer. That one little unholy line will be the death of my future career. I can’t fill it out, I just can’t. No employer in his right mind would hire me; they’d probably hire a seasoned drug lord over me. My job is just too weird, too uncomfortable for the general public. I’m doomed; I’m absolutely doomed to spend the rest of my life as a chauffeur for the dead.

Now of course that’s not my official title, officially I am an employee of the Minister of Justice, who specializes in the transportation of delicate materials, which have already been dispatched. How did I even come here? Well, despite popular belief the ME’s office, (medical examiners for the layman) actually advertises openings in their fleet. I was simply looking for trucking work when I spotted an ad for driving in the city, good wage, handling delicate materials, and a number to call. Government advertisements shouldn't be that sketchy. And now, here I am in the middle of a September heat wave, picking up yet another decomposed body. Yeah, that’s exactly what future employers are looking for.

I don’t hate my job, I don’t like it, and occasionally I don’t mind it. It’s actually really easy, the ME’s office is really looking for a license and a pair of hands that can put on some surgery gloves and bag all the pieces. Occasionally my job can even be pretty sweet. I don’t have standard office hours, just a van and a cell phone, and when I get a call I drive out to pick up the body. The office even paid for a sweet suit for me, so that I looked less like an under qualified college drop-out and more like a sober, professional employee of the state. The worst part of my job is the questions. Every time I show up at the scene there is always some rookie cop or should have been retired ten years ago cop, watching the scene, like it’s their job to make sure that nothing goes wrong. They’re always bored out of their mind, and somehow think chatting up the “chauffeur” as they like to call us will pass the time. One rookie cop, Jim seems to be at every call I’ve gotten in the past two weeks. Every time he saunters up to me, thumbs hooked in his belt like he’s Clint Eastwood, shaking his head and chewing on a wad of gum. “I’ve never seen one this bad, yep, this is a doozy.” Every single body is a “doozy” to Jim, even the old guy who died in his sleep and looked like he was going to wake up at any second. He compared that body to the body that was found in the tub after being in there for two weeks. Somehow to me, a body that had basically disintegrated, and a still intact, hardly looks like he is dead guy, don’t really compare, but that’s just me.

The worst part of my job is the gradual loss of any empathy that you feel. I can walk into a suicide scene with blood and guts all over the wall and feel nothing. Somehow that doesn’t seem quite right in my mind, but I guess it goes with the territory. I’m not nearly as bad as some of the guys. Roger, has been with the ME’s office for twenty years, and he loves the job. If there was ever a guy who believed it was his destiny to pick up dead bodies, it’s Roger. He has routinely gets tickets of over a $100, because he cannot be late to the scene. I think it’s his secret dream to someday find a body all on his own. He’s got these buggy eyes, and Dwight Shrute glasses that scan the scene like a warrior surveying the battlefield. He loves the messy cases, (which is just fine with me) and he’ll stay forever just to make sure he’s got every last piece. He’s completely death obsessed, and the few times I tried to chat with him, all he would talk about was the newest burial method he was most interested in. So, obviously, I don’t spend any time with the guys I work with off hours.

It’s not like job is going to be the highlight of my career just a means to an end, until something better comes along. I mean, a mini-van is not exactly a hot-rod to the ladies. Especially if the take a look in the backseat. And the smell is just so unholy. Especially this week with the heat wave, and there is absolutely nothing you can do to cover it up. Believe me, I’ve tried. I once spent an hour in a grocery store checking every single air freshner for maximum strength, and nothing worked. The worst part was when I came out I saw this lady pushing her kid in a stroller glance in my back window and then literally run away when she saw the bag. After that I requested the van with the tinted windows. After all, I’m a single man; I can’t have people thinking I’m some serial killer or something, that wouldn’t do my dating life any good.

So here I am in another employment agency office, scanning every single ad that even mentions driving, because seriously, can there be a job lower on the totem pole than me? Maybe a pizza hut delivery guy, but that’s about it. But the problem is, I just can’t write down the name of my current employer, because than everywhere I go, I’ll be the guy who picked up dead guys. I’m branded for life! Maybe that’s how Roger got stuck at the ME’s office. I’ve got to find another job. I should’ve gone to school.


So let me know what you think people because this kind of stuff is all I'm really working on besides essays and stuff!

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Suit Up Thy Man Suit!

Well, well its Finally September 1st!!!

That means I go home in 6 days, I cannot wait. I am so excited to get home to my old life and I'm excited to be out of Waterton. Don't get me wrong I have enjoyed this summer immensely but my time here is done. Especially now that all the freaky, weird, hybrid, mutant bugs seem to be coming out. Seriously, I have never in my life seen bugs like this. They have massive antennas, and then a body like a horse fly with the head of a dragonfly, and they are huge and everywhere. I tried to tan by the beach the other day and gave up because all of the flies!!

The Last Hurrah

So, though this summer has been incredible I felt that I haven't got to spend enough time playing. So we decided to take a couple of days off and head off on a little road trip. We left early, early Wednesday morning and drove through the Crows Nest Pass. I've never driven that way before so it was a wonderful drive. It's so beautiful. One of the coolest things we saw was the Frank Slide. The highway literally carves through a graveyard of massive boulders. It was insane and the weirdest thing was that the whole town that was demolished by that rock slide is still underneath it. It was very cool.

Then we entered B.C. which was very cool for me because I haven't been to B.C. except hiking two km into it. We drove through Sparwood, home of the world's largest truck!, on our way to our destination Fort Steele. Well, Fort Steele is basically like Fort Edmonton park. Its an old town that has been restored as a tourist attraction. We had planned to spend the whole day there but there really wasn't much to do and we left after an hour and a half. We did get some good pictures, even though we weren't supposed to take them! I'll upload a couple when I get home and my internet will allow me.

Our journey continued through B.C. to the border. We passed through some cool places, like Cranbrook, Fernie and my personal favourite Yahk! Yahk is basically three little shops alongside the highway but its really cool. There is a little soap shop where they have built a small ramp up to the roof which has sod planted on it, and their goats, and baby goats head up there and chill. Totally hiliarous. Yahk also had the best ice cream I have had this summer and considering where I am live, thats saying something!

We made it across the border and continued our journey through Idaho. We travelled on the I-95 which is one of the weirdest highways I have ever been on. Its two lanes the whole way and it cuts through residental areas in three towns. We drove across this massive 1 km long bridge over a lake that was huge. Finally we made it to our destination for the night, Bayview, Idaho where we had booked a campground. Our campground was beautiful and Bayview was a cool little town. It was on the edge of that huge lake I mentioned so there was a huge marina that we walked down to. We set up camp and then headed into Couer d'Alene for dinner. While we there we saw G.I. Joe, and you know what, its not even worth a comment. That tells you just how bad it was.

Well, what was the point of this whole trip? Silverwood theme park, in Athol, Idaho which is basically Couer d'Alene. Somehow this was my idea. Anyway Silverwood was intense and a lot of fun. I personally hate rides (then why did I suggest it?) but I still had a lot of fun. We started the day off with the roller coasters which were jittery and unpleasant for me, but still somehow fun. The worst one is called Tremors. Its an old wood coaster that is literally designed to make you feel like you are going to fall off. It goes at least 65 mph, if not more, through tunnels! Its really freaky because no matter how tight you do your seat belt (and trust me, my seat belt was tight!) you still lifted off your seat, especially when you were heading down into the tunnels. It felt like you were going to smack your head every time, so in the roller coaster photo I was leaning forward! Anyway I made it through that one, and for some reason we went on it again at the end of the day and sat at the back. Normally the back is safe, but not on this ride. The back is ten times more rough and our car literally lifted off the tracks. I'm not even joking it was literally off the tracks!!

Anyway I passed one important test, sitting in the very front of a roller coaster which I have never done before. Now it was the easiest coaster we did, but it was also the first one and I survived. I was fairly proud of myself, which kinda shows you just how much of a wimp I am. After the coasters we headed to the log ride (which I normally love) but this one was lame and totally not underrated, so that was disappointing. However their white water raft ride is amazing, I got more wet on that ride then I did on the one at California adventure!!

We played two arcade games and the first one, we won buckets of ammo for this other game/ride. It was so sweet. They had these little boats that you could ride in like a submarine and shot water and balls at your opponents. We traded in our buckets of ammo for the boat ride and had a total blast spraying each other through the cracks in the front. It was awesome, and I got totally soaked. When the balls hit the boats it was so loud because of the covers. My gun stopped working halfway through and by then my competitive side had come out, so I was screaming and hitting my gun trying to get it to work so I could defend myself. Sadly, it never worked.

After the boat ride and when we were good and wet we decided to head over to the Water park. Yes, Silverwood has a waterpark too!! I loved the waterpark, the slides were fun, nowhere near West Edmonton Mall standards but still fun, and it was nice to chill out in the sun. We had a great time!!

Well there was only one ride I wimped out on. Its a roller coaster called Aftershock. Look it up online, it is seriously insane. Everyone else went on it, but I was too afraid. For good reason. The aftershock has two huge poles that go up at least 150 feet into the air. The car rides up the poles, like the drop of doom at West End, and then drops and speeds, essentially upside down the whole way through a series of twists and turns before it goes back up the second pole and drops you again. Finally you go up one more time, and then head home. There is no way I was doing that. Seriously, look it up and you will see what I mean. I already have my sign that roller coasters are not for me, (three times strapped into the Mindbender at West Ed, and never ridden it, thanks to mechanical problems, and many many prayers!!) so despite my companions protests, I'm still not feeling the sting of regret!!

We ended our day and began our drive home. This trip was a lot of fun and a totally awesome way to end the summer. Now I'm just twiddling my thumbs until I head home and get to party with all my friends!! I'm very excited to head home and start school and my old life again. I've really enjoyed my summer here and I think I've accomplished a lot. Now I've got to make it just a couple more days!!

Guilty Pleasure
Ok, road trips are always about turning the music up loud. Now my companions and I have widely different tastes in music but we still managed to have a good time for the twelve hours we spent driving. I've discovered things though that disturb me. My guiltiest taste of music. Oh gosh, I am a sucker for Lady Gaga, why?! I have no idea how this happened but my the third time we listened to lovegame (and the first time I asked for it) I quit fighting it and just sang along to the disco stick song. It hurts my brain and heart but my toes cannot stop tapping. I think I lost a little respect for myself on this trip. Don't worry though, I'll still keep trying to fight it, because I just won't be maddy without my pretentious music.