There are a lot of times when I fall into one of those funks where I start to question everything I'm doing. I think these situations are somewhat valuable because they get me to think and question what I'm doing. I think about the fact that I'm up here and that I'm very much alone. I think about the money that I'm making and I ask myself what do I have to show for it? Then I think about the experience I'm getting and I ask myself what the hell are you going to do with the type of experience you're getting right now? I suppose I'm being hard on myself as usual but the future is a scary place to be when you're in the present. It's even harder to be there when you're alone.

Check this interesting little thing out.

Hello all you Happy People! Well things are still going along well. I'm starting to get the rythym of how things in this new company work. Overall I'm enjoying it and I have to say that even at this early juncture that I think it was a good move. I'm busy, the girls in my department (yeah, I am in charge of a department of women, what a surprise) are a lot of fun. Management is supportive, if not somewhat overbearing at times but overall they leave us alone. Yes, I'm rather pleased with things at the moment. Although there's a huge amount of work to done I know it's only a matter of time before I get things working.

Had a very good day today. Things are going along swimmingly. I do have one hell of a headache though so I'm going to bed. Like now.

I'm sure you may have heard about the fatalities up here. Apparently a roof collapsed on one of the giant boilers and two people were killed immediately, 4 were rushed to hospital where one died today, and there are rumours that 14 are still missing. I think the site was where the Chinese Nationals were working so can you imagine the reaction when the full story gets out?

I've been with the new company since Monday and yesterday was my first full day. Right now I'm in that phase that you get when you begin a big project or something like that. You know the one when it's the first day of class and the instructor is finished going through the course and your sitting there thinking 'how in hell am I going to get this done?" That's pretty much me right now. The difference is that I know that I'll be able to do it and that it's not really all that big of a problem. Doesn't make me feel all that much better though in the short term.

The fact that I've moved out of the camp I was in for a year and had lots of friends at and moved to another camp is kind of magnifying the problem too because I don't have any friends at this camp and I don't really know any of the people that I work with yet. Combined with the fact that they have their own little cliques and groups with their own schedules doesn't help because I can never seem to find them. Makes the loneliness that much more pronounced.

I am LOVING the suite that I'm in though. My own bathroom never seemed like such a big deal before but once you've got one it's great!

My new schedule is going to take some getting used to...

It's been a really exhausting week since I posted last. Tuesday I returned to site to finish off my last three days with the last company. Finishing those three days involved things like making sure that my replacement had the information that he needed and some other final administraitive details (my replacement has already called me once this morning... I didn't answer though). Friday I cleaned out my room and moved over to my suite at my new camp. All I have to say is this new room puts just about ALL of the hotel rooms I've stayed at over the years to absolute shame. I have my own washroom, the floors are carpeted and the bed is a double! YAY!

Late Friday night I touched down in YEG and The Baron and Raph were at the terminal to pick me up. After cajouling them into stopping at McDonalds to get me some junk food we went to Raph and Wifey's where I proceeded to eat my McDonalds AND the left over cornbread and soup from their dinner. After I'd finished eating everything in sight it was time for bed.

Saturday was lots of fun! In the morning I argued with Wifey about a number of topics. Then I got to go for lunch with Mr. G and T where we sat around, ate and generally enjoyed life. After lunch Mr. G took me back to Raph's and he and I went for coffee at The Second Cup. Well let me tell you, there'll be no seconds from that place! Terrible coffee and the brownie was a dried out brick. If it wouldn't have been for Raph's excellent company I would have been really upset. Once we'd returned home I waited for L and her boyfriend to come pick me up for dinner. We went to a place called 'New Asian Village' for Indian food which was delicious (the next morning I was having some issues with it though) then L and I started to work our way around town looking for Martini's. We started off at Earl's Tin Palace where the drinks were okay but way to pricey. Next walked down the street to Suede Martini bar which had pretty good drinks for a decent price then moved on down to Caelyes (sp?) Irish Pub to finish the night with some good ol' shots and dancing. I for one had a great time! Had I been able to figure out how to get into the condo faster upon being dropped off though that would have been nice.

Sunday was another excellent, albeit much more low keyed day, we tried to get The Baron to make us a cake (he wouldn't) so Raph and I went for tea. The tea place was closing down for a special event or something so we walked on down to a place called Vi's Pies (or something like that) where I had one of the most fantastic pieces of cheese cake I've had in years. White Chocolate Raspberry! Tres Bien. To top the day off we went to 'The Sugerbowl' for dinner where I had one of their incredible lamb burgers with goat cheese and garlic mushrooms. Truly a day of gastronomical sucesses.

This morning I left my hotel and went to my new companies works yard where I pee'ed in a cup and went over a bunch of administraitive things. Then because I was finished there WAY earlier than I thought I would be I get myself transported to the airport where I'm now sitting killing time. Mr. G was supposed to get in touch with me and we were going to hang out for a while but I'm not sure if that's going to happen now as I can't seem to get a hold of him.

Still not really sure what's happening tomorrow, work wise, but I guess we'll see. I'll keep you all updated when I have time.

It's probably bad that when the other team scored the winning goal with 30 seconds left in the third that I almost cheered. The mere thought of overtime just about made me sick.

Well I'm off to do my least favourite thing. Hockey playoff game. I really wish Dad would just listen to me when I tell him I'm bored out of my ever loving mind sitting there watching a game. I'm thinking of taking my iPod and a magazine tonight.

Vancouver was a blast! I spent WAY to much money but it was oh, so worth it. I drove down on Friday and Marcie and I went shopping on 4th for a few hours before we headed over to Commercial for dinner at Marcello's. We hit Lulu Lemon pretty hard and even went to the "Hidden" outlet store where I got a good deal on some pants. Marcello's saw us goarging ourselves on amazing food and some good wine all served to us by the 'highest' waitress we'd ever seen. Amazingly though her service was awesome!

After dinner we were to meet up with one of Marcie's friends at a club downtown. Well we went and the club was, perhaps, the most tragic club I'd ever been in. It just sucked. So I called up my friend The Russian and requested that he save us from the aweful straight club. He very happily obliged and swung by to pick us up on his way to a houseparty. Well we walked into the houseparty with no forwarning that it was a "Cops and Robbers" theme party so Marcie and I were somewhat taken aback that everyone was dressed in costume. Didn't stop us from having an interesting time as most of the people were really nice. There was this one gay that kept "shushing" me everytime I said something (he was a cat burgler and you had to be quiet) that I wanted to punch but it was no big deal. An hour or so after we got to the point where the partiers were drunk enough that they didn't care if we left so we did and went to 1181 on Davie St. which is a very "swank gay martini bar" as The Russian said. I think it was the Martini at 1181 that pushed us over the edge because my Lord the next thing I remember is doing Zoolander poses on Davie St. with The Russian and Marcie. The night finished off as per our usual dancing on a stage at The O. The theme song of the weekend was Pink's - 'U & UR Hand' which when Marcie and I read the lyrics online were somewhat scandalized by but it's still a great song.

So after waking up Saturday morning Marcie and I went to meet my friend Chris for brunch and Matthew came in from Coquitlam and spent the day with us. Poor guy ended up getting dragged around downtown Vancouver shopping all day. I felt kind of bad for him but he kept insisting it was ok so I'm going to belive him.

Our original plan had been to party our asses off on Saturday night too but as luck would have it all of my friends ended up with some sort of drama so they couldn't come. The fact that Marcie and I were still somewhat exhausted from the night before ment that when the opportunity came up to go to Coquitlam for dinner with Matthew and his Fiance it was more than welcome. So that's how we ended our night. A fabulous Greek dinner with awesome company. I really couldn't have asked for more.

I've been home for two days now and I have to say it's been nice. Yesterday after I got off the plane my Mother dragged me around Kelowna for a few hours. The experience wasn't completely painful but I was exhausted already and she just would not go home, so I comprimised and we went to Quail's Gate for lunch. All I have to say about that is... don't. Don't get me wrong the food was good and the restaurant is beautiful but the cost was completely unreasonable for the amount of food you actually got. I'm talking outrageous. Cost me $40 not including tip for a sandwhich and salad. We didn't even have any wine! I did end up buying a case of Gwerts though :)

I'm getting super excited about my trip to Vancouver this weekend. We've decided that we're getting a hotel room for Saturday night because we figure that we don't want to face the wrath of Frank when we stumble in drunk in the middle of the night. I'm hoping to see a good number of friends while I'm there and expecting to spend some time with Matthew.

Hey Wifey! We got 87% on our first assignment! Great work!

I GOT THE JOB! April 20th is my last day with the current company.

I'm depressed. It's Easter weekend and I'm sitting here in Camp doing NOTHING! I'd much rather be with my family. Today I didn't even leave my room more than twice. I went to the gym and went for a run this morning (new insoles make running capable once again) and I went for dinner this evening.

I've been contemplating withdrawing from the course I'm taking for a while now. I think it's the fact that I'm so stressed out but I just have zero motivation to work on it right now. I was chatting with Janet this morning and mentioned my thoughts of withdrawing to her. Her response was "that's not like you". So of course that made me realize that, no, that was not like me so I wrote up a works-cited page for my first assignment and submitted it. Thanks to Wifey's amazing editing skills I shouldn't have to much problem with spelling, flow or comma issues. Now I just cross my fingers and hope the damned thing makes sense and I get a decent mark. I forgot how much I disliked writing essays throughout school.

I feel sick. I'm shaking and my lunch is having a hard times staying down. Everything's kind of gone to shit but theres a good chance at salvage. This morning the other company called again wondering what the hell had happened to me and this time I just couldn't not answer. So after telling them that I still couldn't give them an answer they told me they were sorry but they guessed they'd have to start looking elsewhere.

I decided to stay calm and wait for Big Bosses reply as he'd promised me an answer today. Well he called about an hour ago and told me that he was sorry but despite his best efforts there was nothing he could do as his Vice-President couldn't grasp what he was talking about. He then told me that I would probably do well at the other company and that he knew where to find me in a year or so if I'd still be interested at that time.

My blood ran cold.

I stood in my room in shock trying to figure out what my next move would be. I called my friend at the other company and asked her if she thought it was to late to still go for the job. She said that she didn't think so but that the Boss who was to do the hiring had just left to get on a plane. I called his cell and he said that they were just closing the door and that he couldn't meet with me until Monday now. So thank God he was still willing to talk to me.

This game of playing companies against each other is very dangerous and the stakes are high. I seriously don't recommend it to anyone... unless they're going to come out with a much higher paying job that is!

Pray for me!

Really, really weird how two years ago on this day I got the job with 1-800-Got-Junk, the next year on this day I was just starting my time up here with my current job and now I'm waiting to hear about another job. April must be new job month!

Called Big Boss just before 5 and he said that he needed one more day and that he would have something for me before dinner time tomorrow. We're waiting... Problem is I'm dodging phone calls from the other company. Feels like the title of that Garth Brooks song "If tomorrow never comes"

Big Boss is back unexpectedly! As soon as I found out this morning I marched into his office and told him we needed to talk. Then he worked on convincing me that staying would be a better option than going. He laid out all of his points, I aired my concerns with him, and he made some promises. I gave him to the end of the day to give me an answer before I called the other company back and accepted or declined.

The clock is ticking...

The tension and stress of the situation is just about making me sick. There's a whole lot riding on this job move right now and while everything looks good so far it's a day late already. I was promised an answer yesterday and was supposed to give the new company my response at that time. This morning I left a message with Big Boss who still hasn't returned any of my e-mail's or voice messages. I'm not sure if it's because he's pissed off about the whole situation or if it's because he's so busy. Likely a combination of both.

So this morning the other company (sounds like I'm having an affiar!) called wanting my response and I had to put them off another day. I hate that I had to do that because I totally and completely want the job but I'm waiting on the current company to give me the final sign-off. So one of my many bosses at the current company told me he'd give me his word that he'd have an answer for me tomorrow.

So as far as I'm concerned I'm giving my notice tomorrow.

I've found a replacement show for 'The OC' I recently started downloading Brothers & Sisters and I'm LOVING it. Great show with an incredible cast, although Sally Fields character drives me crazy, so I highly recommend it to anyone desiring to get caught up in the lives of some fictional television characters.