Exhausted

The weekend is finally over and I’m absolutely, completely, exhausted.  Was it worth it?  Without a doubt!  I’ll start with the wedding.  Aside from being the most amazingly beautiful wedding I’ve ever seen the wedding was utterly incredible.  Nothing and I mean nothing went wrong or sideways the entire day… Well aside from the wedding party’s limo dying on them!  

True to form Marcie was the most incredibly beautiful bride I’ve ever seen.  Just like a movie as she walked into the church the sun was streaming through the doors behind her obliterating her and her father’s faces.  As they made there way down the aisle they slowly took shape and your breath was taken away.  The ceremony, like all other wedding ceremonies, was pretty dull and the church was insanely hot but absolutely gorgeous.

The reception was completely unbelievable.  Just like a movie wedding everything was thought of.  The drinks were endless, the appetizers more than plentiful and the food was exceptional.  Perhaps it was because of the wine we’d all been drinking but when the salad portion of the buffet was put out none of us realized it was the salad (even though there were menu cards on all of the tables) so we loaded up.  It was after the Head Waiter came over to the table to tell us we could go for the second course did we realize our mistake.  We loaded up again and continued on our merry way!  The dessert buffet and the open bar were definite hits.

The dance was an absolute blast and the picture of the Bride double fisting while holding her arms over her head and grooving on the dance floor is definitely going to be a treasured family picture for many years to come.

Without a doubt the wedding was one of the highlights of the year for me and I’m sure that it’s going to be the bar that all future weddings are going to be measured by.

Last night we went to Cirque Du Solie – Verekai which was possibly the most phenomenal event I have EVER seen!  The experience almost defies words so I’m not even going to try and explain it.  There were two aerial acts that absolutely blew my mind and the precision and skill the performers displayed made the event worth far more than the $95 ticket.

Now that I’m back home I’m going to try and relax a bit and catch my breath before I go back to work in a few days.  Tonight one of my friends is coming over and we’re going to watch a movie.  Tomorrow I’d really love to spend some time at the lake but with the weather in the 30’s I think I’ll probably wait until the evening before I go anywhere.  

As is typical of any major event weekend I’m really struggling right now with keeping my emotions in check.  The let down after this kind of thing is always really hard to take.  Such an amazing weekend is always fantastic but seems to come with a price.

It's Wedding Day!

It’s finally the big wedding day!  Last night Sister and PD crashed my hotel room so we went out for dinner and then got some drinks and brought them back to the room.  It turns out that Sister works with Marcie’s cousin in Vernon and the whole family is staying in our hotel.  Well after a series of text messages back and forth I ended up with 10 people drinking in my hotel room.  So it was a much later night than originally planned.

Well I’m off to pick up MC!  Will update about the actual events soon.

F-Off!

Damn am I CRANKY!  I’m having such a hard time hiding my irritation with people today that when I was helping at the front window today my co-worker told me to “Go sit at your desk, I need to protect these people from you today!”  So I happily (well as happily as I can muster) walked back to my desk in the corner and started working on some things.  Even my hour work out at the gym didn’t help.  Usually by the time I’ve left the gym I’m in a great mood.  Well today I didn’t really want to go there and even now that I’m done I’m tired.  I think I’m overtired, which hopefully means that I’ll be able to fall asleep quickly tonight.  One more sleep and it’ll be all over.

How Drunk Was I?

One of my co-workers and I went out with two friends of ours from another company last night.  We went to Moxie’s in Fort Mack and got absolutely smashed!  The final drink tally for three of us was 17 Martini’s (we were trying to get through the whole list but our DD cut us off) and 7 double rye and cokes.  

The pictures of the ride home are PRICELESS!  We had the absolute Best time.  It’s great when you get to blow off some steam.  I had to be up for a 0500 check in this morning and when my co-worker walked in still drunk I sent her back to her room to sleep for a while.  All in all it was a fantastic experience and we all had lots of fun!

The below pic is JG wearing the painters coveralls (we found 'em in the truck so of course everyone had to have a picture wearing them) hanging out the window of the truck. AWESOME!

Friday Night Freedom

It’s Friday night and I’m exhausted.  Completely exhausted, why am I still up?  Good question.  Only four more days and I’m out of here!

Things are really starting to calm down around here a lot.  The new GM seems to have realized that the people she’s got left are good people and she’s in a much better mood towards us.  I’m keeping busy, but it’s a good busy.  The GM seems to believe in giving people a job and trusting that they are going to do it.  That means she leaves me alone and that makes me happy.  I hate it when people hover over people they’ve delegated jobs to.  Come to think of it I have an astonishing amount of freedom up here.  That’s likely why I actually enjoy work so much.

Life's worth laughing at.

Today was a good day.  Even though it started off fucking terribly I chose to have a good day and that made all the difference.  The girls at the Airline were really funny this morning actually.  My MSN screen name was something like “FUCK OFF YOU GOD DAMNED MORONS” and they were immediately popping up trying to make me laugh and smile.  Of course they succeeded and by the time I got back from the gym I was in a stellar mood.  N is back in the office from her turnaround (the older lady) and I’m SO glad to see her.  She always makes life so much more interesting.  She entertained us with a few stories tonight and then my Buddy from one of the other companies and I went to the bar and had a couple drinks.  Just sat around and laughed at the insanity around us.  By the time one of the female coordinators stumbled over to our table, absolutely smashed, I decided it was time to go.

Life’s a blast at camp!  You just can’t make it though a full day without laughing your ass off at something.

Don't let them know you can handle more!

Words to live by “Never let anyone know that your job is less than you can handle”; if you don’t heed these words then what has happened to me, will likely happen to you.  I was called into the GM’s office today and now I’m going to be learning parts of Accounts Receivable on top of my people moving responsibilities.  I’m still not really sure how I feel about this because Accounting and numbers have never been a strong point of mine.  I am looking forward to the challenge though, after all I am up here foremost to get experience.

Update

Well I didn’t get to the movie because the line was four blocks long.  I did get a large Pizza Hut pizza though!  It was fantastic.

My Dad always claims that I always say there isn’t really much going on up here… and then I talk about all the things that are going on forever.  So with that in mind I have very little to update at the moment.  I’m sitting here watching TV because it just feels like a TV night.

As we’re losing two of our friends from the office on Thursday I decided that we should have a little good bye get together.  I ordered the cake and am getting the driver to pick up some supplies in town.  Come to think of it that’s something new… I’m in charge of ground transportation for the camp now as well as air travel.  I’m actually pretty happy about this as it’ll add to the experience I’m getting here.

Funked...

I’ve been feeling somewhat out of sorts the past while.  Maybe it’s all the change that is going on around me.  I think that it’s good change but it’s still change and it’s somewhat disconcerting.  I really hope that I’ve snapped out of whatever this funk I’m in by the time I go on turnaround.

We have been getting some absolutely insane storms up here the past few days.  Standing on the front porch of the lodge and watching the thunder and lightening crash and boom over site today was quite the impressive display.  Not to mention the insane amount of water that fell from the sky.  That should definitely put an end to the forest fire that’s been filling the lodge and area with smoke the past number of days.

I may get to go to Ft. McMurray tonight to see Pirates of the Caribbean!  I don’t really care about the movie but it would be nice to get out of here.  Hopefully I’ll be able to go.

Talking throught the fat.

Well another day is done and here I sit in my room.  I’m actually contemplating going to the gym because I didn’t make it there today as a result of an appointment with my Counsellor.  It was good talking to him and I feel quite a bit more grounded than I have been in a while.  I always find it amazing how just talking with someone, who is completely unbiased about your situation, can really help to ease my mind.  I’m feeling very much at peace with myself at the moment and could very easily fall into bed right now.  Why I’m not doing that is because I can feel my stomach fat getting dangerously close to my belt and that’s just never a good feeling.  It’s time to go do my half hour of cardio.

Uncertain Times

One of my friends in the office, a lady in her mid-40’s, has been doom saying since everything that has been happening with Management started.  She’s completely convinced that along with most of the Management staff we, the office staff, are going to be let go.  Personally I think that she’s blowing things out of proportion and that we shouldn’t be worried; but she is pretty wise and has been through situations like this before.  The fact that I’ve been in a precarious job position before also gives me a bit of perspective on what’s going on that does make me feel slightly uncomfortable but I’m choosing to ignore it… for now.

It's funny how things tend to all pile up and then slam down on you all at once. Today that happened to me. Not even the fact that all the Managers either left or were fired today really effected me. No my issues were all to do with stupid people.

I've mentioned before that it's very hard to get away from these people. They always want something or want me to check something. Usually I find it funny. There are times when I don't. I truly thought I'd seen it all when people started asking me questions while I was in my pj's brushing my teeth but alas I haven't. In the past few days I've been asked work related questions while I:

a. Walked down the hallway in my housecoat after having had my morning shower.

b. Was on the stairmaster in the gym (that was rather funny actually cause I glared at the person with distain and said "sure let me check that for you" and pounded away on the stairmaster's display screen).

c. Walked all the way down the hall from my office to my dorm (a really long way, I kept walking faster and faster and the short guy trying to keep up was running by the time I finally got to the dorm).

d. In the lunchroom while I got my lunch.

These irritants I can somewhat put up with but today after I'd finished my workout and showered and was lounging in my room my phone rang. Somewhat surprised that anyone would be calling me mid-morning I answered and hear... by this time I'm sure you've got a good idea as to what the caller wanted. When I did finally get back to the office I kicked open the door and yelled "WHO GAVE OUT MY FUCKING PHONE NUMBER?!" Once the culprit had identified herself I let loose with a tongue lashing that I'm sure will ensure I don't get called in my room by any of the staff again. So help me God it had BETTER not happen again. They've invaded every other sanctuary but my room is off limits.

To top that off I had the airline call me today and tell me that anyone who had been on one of the Friday planes had been completely banned from flying on any of the company planes. It seems that some of the more enlightened fellows had smuggled beer and chewing tobacco onto the flight and spilled it all over the seats and carpeting which ment the seats and carpeting had to be completely replaced! As I had 8 staff members on board I had to call all of them today and tell them that they needed to make alternate arrangements to get back to camp. As you can imagine none of them were pleased at all. I for one was not pleased either because all 8 of them were actually decent people. Although I 100% back the airline in their decision it won't make my life easier.

The final thing I'm going to rant about tonight is the fact that certain members of the staff are complete morons and can't seem to fill out a form correctly. Twice today I've had to deal with people who didn't fill out their forms properly and now want to evade the consequences (monetary penalties). How is it that people can be so incredibly stupid and still survive. I swear it's incredible to me that none of them have wandered out into traffic and been killed because they didn't understand a don't walk sign.

The End.

Dolly Parton walks out of Cirque Du Solie!

I’ve always loved Dolly Parton’s music and have had a number of songs on my iPod that get played infrequently in the office.  Well since I’ve been here everyone else in the office has started to download Dolly too!  Seems we have our own little fan club started here so, Dolly if your reading your welcome to come up to site ANYTIME and do a show for us.  In fact we should even have enough musical Newfies to have a fairly good backup band.

In other not so interesting news it seems that our Management is planning a walkout for the 14th.  For some reason none of them are happy here.  We can’t really seem to figure out why because they don’t do anything!  Seriously they’re lucky that ‘the little people’ support them so well.  So we’ll see what’s going to happen here.  It’s been an interesting ride so far.  Our Safety Manager walked off the job yesterday and the Business Manager was terminated as of Monday.

I don’t think I have mentioned it so far but I’m really looking forward to my next turnaround.  I’ll be arriving in Vernon just in time for the annual Mid-Summers Eve Art Auction, Then the next day the fam is heading down to Vancouver for Macie and Franks wedding, which is sure to be talked about for years.  The day after the wedding we got tickets for Cirque Du Solie which is putting on their final show in Vancouver!  After that we’re heading back to the Okanagan where I plan to spend a lot of time drinking wine and being at the beach.  The whole time is going to be more than fantastic.  Yay Summer!

It's oh, so quiet! Shhhh, shhhhh!

Well I know they missed me!  I don’t think I’ve ever seen more Union people so happy to see me as I did today.  It’s interesting how all you have to do is go away for 7 days and leave them in the hands of a hastily trained person to have them really begin to appreciate you.  Today was filled with the usual laughs and stories.  I’m told though that the whole office really quietens down and is somewhat staid when I’m not around.

Well I’m trying to spend less time online when I’m in my room because I spend SO much time on the computer at work.  That means that I’m going to put this computer down and actually read a book now.

A Celebrity Returns Home

Well I’m back and for some reason for the first time since I left I’m wearing my glasses again.  It’s really weird but I don’t seem to need to wear my glasses in the outside world.  Here I seem to need to, maybe it has something to do with the dry air or the fluorescent lighting.

Leaving home today I had a mix of emotions going on.  On one hand I was relatively pleased that this last week off had gone so well and that my time at home was pleasant and relaxing.  On the other hand, likely as a result of the aforementioned reasons, I was quite despondent at the thought of leaving.  Emotionally I was quite sad at the thought that I would be missing out on things at home.  Now logically I know there’s really nothing that I’m missing that’s all that exciting but… those pesky emotions are quite hard to ignore.

While waiting in the Kelowna airport I spotted a tag on another traveller’s luggage that indicated he was coming here to camp as well.  Naturally curious I asked him if he was indeed coming to camp and he said that yes he was.  We chatted a bit and he’s a rather pleasant fellow but of course he couldn’t help but ask a number of questions about things happening here at the lodge.  Now I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it en-blog before but I’ve laughingly been referring to myself and the other people that work in our office as ‘Local Celebrities’.  Everyone in this place knows us and they all want and need us to help them CONSTANTLY!  There are times when the whole situation gets absolutely outrageous.  When I am off work I generally cloister myself in my room because anytime I go out into the hall someone invariably wants me to do something for them.  One night before I went on turnaround I was standing in our bathroom, in my pyjamas, brushing my teeth and a Gentleman, that doesn’t even work for my company, was happily asking me if I knew any information about his upcoming turnaround.  This is the type of harassment, only magnified 1,000 times, that I believe makes real celebrities act like horrible people (or as refugee’s in other countries).  It’s absolutely draining to be on the job all the time.  Usually my response to most requests while I’m obviously not working is “sure after you go dig me a ditch / weld me something / do whatever the hell it is while your on the job I’ll be more than happy to do that for you”.  Generally that works but sometimes you just have to acquiesce to their demand / query and do what they want because some of these guys are just that much of a pain.  So with that said I’m back in the public light so “what’s your question?”

Winding Down

I’m wrapping up my time in Vernon and it’s been really good.  There are still a few things to do and a few people to see, which will keep me busy until I leave.  Reflecting upon this time I have come to the conclusion that there truly is not a better place to spend summer time than the Okanagan.  In the past few days I’ve gone from Summerland buying wine to Salmon Arm having dinner with a friend from Prairie.  Partied with Sister, walked with Mom, played racquetball with Dad, had lunch with Uncle.  It’s been a very busy time.

Of course the first day out of camp I spent on a whirlwind shopping trip through Calgary with S.  I have NEVER spent as much money on two items of clothing as I did that day.  Unfortunately I needed a blazer and after trying on different ones at every store in Chinook mall I finally went to Harry Rosen and of course the first one I put on was perfect.  Now I’ll just need to buy a suitable shirt and we’re set for the July wedding.

Now I’m off to spend some more time in the sun.

Just another gorgeous couple days in the Okanagan.

Sunny and Drunk

It’s been a pretty busy couple of days.  I’m writing this from Vernon, where I am on my turnaround, and the weather is exceptional.  Blue skies, sunny and warm.  I’m currently off to Thornhaven Estate Winery where I’m going to buy a case for a wedding present.  

Father's Day and eBay.

I called my Dad for Father’s Day, and true to form my Dad thought that it was next weekend…  Anyway, I love you Dad, happy Father’s Day!

In other news, I bought my first item off of eBay today!  I bought a Penguin shirt and it turned out to be much cheaper than if I had paid for it at the mall.  Now I’m eagerly awaiting my shirt.

Sleepless in...(?)

As I get closer and closer to my break I find it harder and harder to sleep.  This happens every time I leave this place.  For a weekend this one has been relatively good here.  Usually we’re bored out of our ever loving minds but it really hasn’t been all that bad for some reason.

A big slice of casual letdown.

Today was supposed to be casual and pizza day.  The casual part of it went off without a hitch but for some reason our driver wouldn’t get us pizza from Fort Mac (Fucker!).  I was really tired today and I’m looking forward to going to bed tonight.  It’s been really hot here so I’m really glad that my room is so comfortable right now.  True I’m wearing flannel pj’s because the A/C is so high but that’s just the way I like it.  When our Office Supervisor left I inherited a humidifier from him which helps to keep the humidity level in my room really high to (which makes me happy) so I’m pretty happy environment wise right now.

Only four more day’s till I’m out of here!  I’m SO beyond excited.  Now if I wasn’t so damned tired everything would be great.  I’m starting to make stupid mistakes at work as a result of the tiredness.  Not good.  Four more days… four more days… four more days…

Let's get this week over with!

Well this week has been somewhat of a wash-up.  I can’t wait for it to be over and for me to get out of here.  Starting off the week by being shit on by my so called friend, getting sick, losing a friend in the office, having one of the other staff members go on turnaround early, and being short staffed and stressed has just made it a bit of a tough couple of days.  Overall, I have been able to keep my spirits up.

I decided the other night that I would get a web-cam and it arrived yesterday… now that I’ve got it I just need to figure out what to do with it.  Quite honestly the web-cam has been the most exciting part of my week.

Sweet Toxicity

I learned something new today.  An excess of sugar in your diet makes your immune system go down, because your body is working so hard to get the sugar out of your blood it doesn’t have the energy to focus on making sure the viruses and other nasty’s don’t get a foot hold.  This very likely explains why I’m sick again.  I thought I was just run down but it could be the cake and cookies that I eat everyday!  Stupid bakery (because it’s the bakeries fault, not mine)!

I chatted to my “friend” in Van again briefly tonight and he further explained that it was because I was so negative while I was there that he’s been keeping his distance.  Seems he doesn’t need to be dragged down… I guess I didn’t realize that I’m still such a toxic personality.  Here I thought that I’d been doing really well in that respect.  I suppose that this is another of life’s lessons learned.  Someone else’s perspective of you is always going to be entirely different than yours.

C.R.A.Z.Y

I’ve been going over why I was so upset by my friends comments this morning and I think it’s because I feel like I have so few friends right now that potentially losing one is a major scar.  Ugh, I have to get out of this mind-set.  Fuck him.  

Some People Suck.

So I’ve been wondering why I haven’t heard from one of my friends from Van since I had visited there months ago; I finally got him on MSN today and he told me that he’s been distancing himself.  When I asked him why, he told me that it was because I had seemed so unhappy when I was there.  Apparently a number of people had commented on it.

So right now I’m feeling really hurt and fairly upset but mostly confused.  I don’t understand what I had done or said that gave off the impression that I was ‘unhappy’ but the fact that his reaction was to distance himself hurts.  I really don’t need this right now.

.

I’m lonely.

MUCH Shame

Sitting here watching Much I’m constantly being bombarded by advertising for the 06’ MMVA’s.  While I don’t ever remember being excited for the MMVA’s this year I’m extra unexcited.  The over promoted list of promoters includes such *ahem* luminaries as Paris Hilton (who’s just released her first single in which it seems that Gwen Stephanie is singing), Nick Lachey (who? Wasn’t he married to Jessica Simpson?), Tori Spelling (SERIOUSLY PEOPLE!), Jesse Metcalfe (so you made out with Eva Longoria on TV, congratulations… your famous), Tricia Helfer (well that’ll keep the Sci-Fi geeks happy, oh and apparently she’s got a low budget show called Canada’s Next Top Model going to), Jay Manuel (God I actually had to google this guy to figure out that he was one of the people on America’s Next Top Model).  Personally I think ‘The Nation’s Music Station’ can do better; a good place to start would be by cutting out some of the laughable guest presenters who are famous for being famous and have 0 to do with music.  I’m predicting that they’re going to have to start or MTV Canada is going to eat their lunch.

The fish is spending the next 24 hours or so in his beach cottage while his regular home is cleaned.

Another One Bites The Dust!

Just found out that our current Office Supervisor as given his notice.  That’s two down since I’ve been here.  I’m actually pretty sad about the fact that he’s left because he’s a great guy and I’ve enjoyed the fact that there’s been another guy in the office.  I really hope they don’t hire another woman to replace him.  My entire working history has been FILLED with women.  I don’t know what it is about me but I seem to be the only male in history who is constantly surrounded by women and I don’t even try for this outcome.  It’s insane that I moved up to a camp of 2,000 men and I end up working in an office with all women and one other guy.  Now the other guy is leaving and it makes me feel slightly alone.  

Oiler fever has taken over the camp… at least for tonight.  As I sit here I can hear a roar coming from a number of different directions meaning that the Oiler’s have just scored.  Yay Edmonton *that was my most enthusiastic tone I swear*

Going B-a-n-a-n-a-s!

To much time to think is not a good thing.  I try and keep myself occupied on weekends when I’m working but fuck is it hard.  Even the fish is asleep!  So little going on here it’s insane.  The security guards in the cage across the way all look comatose as well.  Even though I bitch and complain about weekends here I’ve had far worse jobs and this is definitely the highlight of my working history so far.  Maybe I should eat a banana!

Do the hokey pokey!

Two steps forward and one step back… As far as we progress in this world there’s always this overwhelming feeling that there is still so much more that we need to accomplish.  Often I have found that these feelings that cause so much frustration and anxiety stem from talking to my parents about future plans.  At this moment in time I’m busy trying to improve myself and my situation so that things can only get better from here.  I think the problem lies when you try and plan to far in advance with no real idea of what’s going to happen.  Ultimately none of us do know what’s going to happen in the future so what’s the point of stressing ourselves out trying to figure out how we’re going to react to events that haven’t even occurred yet?

I feel that an update on my four days off is in order.  I enjoyed Raph and Wifeys fabulous hospitality and made an absolute mess of their home while I was at it.  It many ways it was the perfect time off as I was able keep myself entertained, or be entertained, for the entire four days but at a leisurely pace.  Thanks again kids!

I finished ‘The Great Gatsby’ last night and I really enjoyed it, again another highly recommended read.  

It’s a typical Saturday around here.  Totally dead and I’m here till 10!  Yuck.

Hopefully my next post will be made from the comfort of my room.  In room internet services have finally made it to camp which means that I’ll be back on messenger more often as well.  Hope to see you there!

At long last here is a picture of my desk. If you look in the fish tank you can see Blue swimming around. Arn't you glad you stopped by here today?

Easy life....

Vacation time is just too easy sometimes.  I’ve had a very enjoyable time with Raph and Wifey as well as L.  Things have been very good the only major problem has been the amount of money spent… as usual.  L bought a VERY sexy hat at a hat store on Whyte and I managed to pick up a few books.  One Karen Armstrong and ‘The Three Musketeers’.  Now we’re just killing time until Wifey comes home and then we’re going out for dinner.

While in the Birks at West Ed today with my high school friend L buying Sister her birthday present I was plesantly surprised and quite amused when the sales lady came up to us, looked at me and said "Your not from Edmonton are you?" Ummm "Nope" I said but was quite happy about the whole exchange. Thank God I don't fit into Edmonton. :P

WHAT A FUCKING AWESOME DAY! I just bought Mariah Carey tickets for her show in September and I'm leaving camp and get to spent time with Raph in Edmonton! Life could NOT be better!

Sunday

Although it was Sunday and Sunday’s tend to be very boring around here it’s been a rather pleasant day.  We’ve blasted music in the office for hours, had a number of good laughs, and tomorrow I’m going to Edmonton to visit Raph and Wifey!  I’ve also become friends with the girls that work for our airline and may end up going out with them at some point.  Also seeing one of my high school friends is sure to be a highlight.  Can’t wait!

Housing Prices Cause Depression

As usually happens when I get tired and bored I get depressed.  Tonight I tried to entertain myself by looking through ads for condo’s in Kelowna and now I’m more depressed.  I don’t know how people do it.  I’m making reasonably decent money but when a 1 bed room has a monthly mortgage payment of 1,000 or more you start to wonder.  True I am not seriously looking and have not done any proper research into any of this but it still makes me uneasy.  Time to stop thinking about the future and start living in the present again.

Fanatical Fish!

Yet another excruciatingly boring Saturday at the office.  The fish did a flip today right out of his water.  It’s a good thing there’s a lid on his aquarium or he’d have been all over my desk which wouldn’t have been entirely good.  As it was I thought he was going to get stuck on top of the filter in the tank.  It was WILD man!  WILD!

The Breakfast of Champions

Unfortunately, at breakfast this morning, I ended up sitting with one of our strongest Union supporting people.  He’s a fairly powerful man in the Union that works for our company and he’s a miserable son of a bitch.  Of course I can’t go into the details of what was discussed but I can say I was clenching my teeth so hard that now my jaw hurts.  He made the wild accusations that the company was ONLY HERE TO MAKE MONEY! … Well let me tell you I was stunned that he’d come up with something like that; personally I wonder what the hell he’s here for.  He also stated that 75% of the people up here were just waiting for a better opportunity so they could get the fuck out.  I think I’m going to start surfing the internet looking for other Tim Horton’s counter positions that make $50,000 a year and giving them to him, just so we can get him the hell out.  Unfortunately I don’t think that’s very likely to happen.

Everything's Copesetic

Much better day today.

Started reading ‘The Great Gatsby’ last night and the first three chapters were really good.  I’m looking forward to reading more.

Dramatic Changes

Just read my post from this day last year.  Funny how life has changed SO dramatically.

Celebrities & Boys Who Bitch!

OMG!  I had a brush with Celebrity today!  On November 19, 2005 I had linked to my favourite blog and this morning I got a comment from the writer thanking me for the link (hey better late than never)!  WOW!  How insanely amazing!  So anyway here’s the link one more time http://zoeybella.blogspot.com/

The question of the night is… Is it possible for a camp of 2,000 men to simultaneously start to PMS?  Now I know physically it’s impossible and just should not happen but something has gotten a bee in they boys’ bonnets and they’re making life VERY difficult.  

The bitching and moaning started this morning at 6AM when I came into the office and continued throughout the day and is STILL going on at 7PM.  Yeah guys! I understand that your issue is excruciatingly important to you and the balance of your life.  I totally understand that life as you know it will end because your furnace is blowing hot air and your a/c is just to cold.  I totally commiserate that the guys on your floor are “fucking pigs” and don’t clean up after themselves… I live there to.  I’ve even gone as far as trying to convince the Recreation Manager that we should offer ‘Basic Personal Hygiene’ courses after work but, well we just didn’t think any of you grubby bastards would actually show!  No, life in camp isn’t as perfect as your lovely abode but hey we can’t all live in paradise.

Frankly it’s been a hard day and I really hope that tomorrow will be better.  

Work out...

The weather up here is HORRIBLE.  Well at least it looks really bad from my vantage point at the window.  There are many, many days I’m glad that I rarely if ever go outside.

I’m back working out at the gym during my down time and I’m really happy that I’m able to work out without feeling like I’m going to throw up.  I’ve been doing a lot of Pilates type exercises using a Nautilus ball and I’m very pleased with the results.  My core is a lot stronger which helps a lot with the headaches and back problems that I used to have.  Amazing, exercise and you feel better… who knew.

100 Years of Solitude

(No the title doesn’t actually have anything to do with my life…)

I’m within pages of finishing 100 Years of Solitude this wacked out crazy novel that Matthew recommended.  I don’t think I’ve read a more confusing novel since I was reading the Russian writers a couple of years ago.  Even though it’s insanely confusing I give 100 Years two thumbs up… as long as you can handle reading about generations of a family seemingly obsessed with incest!

Looking forward

Two things I’m looking forward to:

1. The Desperate Housewives season finale that’s on in 8 minutes.


2. Visiting Raph and Wifey in two weeks (or so)

Hot Fights

I’m SO fucking bored at work I’m trying to goad my Beta (fighter fish) into attacking his thermometer just to entertain me.  Weekends are deadly here because it’s so dead.  I’ve spent the last few hours taking apart and rebuilding Employee Hiring forms for the Human Resources Department.  SAVE ME FROM THE BOREDOM!

I'm not sick anymore but I seem to have to be careful of what I put into my tummy. For some reason it's got this queasyness to it that is not entirely pleasant. Ok, enough about me...

The girl that was laid off a couple of weeks ago is back! Seems that one of our other girls (women) was homesick or something for her boyfriend so she talked Management into letting her go and the other one come back. Totally bizarre situation and pretty weird but that's what happend. So eviedently everyone is happy.

Really nothing more to say. I had Cream of Wheat and oranges this morning for breakfast... in case anyone is interested.

Money, money, MONEY!

Sometimes I hate paydays.  No actually I usually hate paydays.  It’s not the sudden influx of cash into my bank account; rather it’s the sudden outflow of cash that happens when I pay my bills.  I hate bills.  It’s weird actually I don’t know how in hell I have so many bills… I don’t do anything or go anywhere.  The upside of this is that I have the money to pay off the bills I accumulate so all is not lost.

Oh did I mention that I caught another variation of the flu when I got back that kept me in bed all day yesterday.  So much fun.

I have a headache. I hate headaches. Otherwise it's been an ok day. I'm going to bed.

Campy Madonna

YAY!  I’m back home, well camp anyway.  It’s really kind of scary how quickly this place has turned into home for me.  What’s even scarier is that I was looking forward to getting back here while I was away.  Mostly I believe the reason for this is because here I have a purpose and some friends.  While at home I drift aimlessly doing nothing and have few to no friends to do it with.

I’m trying to figure out how I can go to see Madonna.  Her only Canadian date is in Montreal and I’m frantically trying to win the contest to go and see her that Telus is putting on.  Such and amazing prize package.  If my plan to win my way to see her doesn’t pan out I suppose I’ll have to go and see her in Vegas or something.

Oh so here's something else I've been thinking about. I've got an appointment with my broker tomorrow. As I'm making decent money I really want to start working on investing and saving. Currently my savings are almost nil, as I had a good long stint of living beyond my means and I'm still paying that off. As the debts of yesteryear have slowly been getting smaller and smaller I'm trying to figure out what my next step is going to be. My Dad thinks that doubeling up on my car payments and getting rid of my car debt would be a better use of the money. I don't think I agree though because I have a 0% interest rate on the car so it doesn't make much sense to me to do that when I could be shovelling the money into investments that will be earning me a return. Frankly I don't want to be coming home to my parents house much longer. I want a place of my own, or a business of my own, and paying off my car faster isn't going to help expediate that process very quickly. So at this point I'm thinking I'm going to start shovelling the money into some form of investment where I can't touch it (curbing my own frivolity) and maybe upping the amount of my car payment as well. Hell, at this point I'll start putting money away like I'm paying rent again and shouldn't even miss it.

OMG Grey's Anatomy was FANTASTIC! Can't wait for part II tomorrow!

Sweet, sweet, candy!

I’m sitting here listening to my Parents kvetch at each other for opening a bag of liquorice candies.  Apparently neither of them has any self control and they both keep eating the candy, yet neither of them wants to take the blame for providing the candies.  Dad bought them… but Mom opened them.  This is SO typical!

ARGH!

Argh!  I am seriously feeling frustrated tonight.

Today I hated being here. It was one of those days where I nothing to do and no one to do it with. Sometimes I just hate coming back here. On top of that I did something really dumb last night that really makes me mad because it shouldn't have happend.

I walked around today thinking to myself I wish I was back at camp. Shocking even to myself. I couldn't believe that but that's how much the place has become like home already. That and the fact that I feel comfortable there already. I'm looking forward to my next turnaround though because it's only going to be 3 days I'm just going to go to Edmonton and relax and visit with Raph and Wifey. It'll be nice to visit with them and catch up.

Two more days to go...

Haemorrhaging!

HELP!  I’m haemorrhaging cash.  The fact that I need to get a whole lot of things done in one week that I can’t do in the three that I’m gone for means that all the expenses pile up and beat the shit out of my bank account in that one week.  Today my rough estimate of my spending would be upward of $350!  Maybe I should have stayed sick.

The joy's of advanced age and driving.

It pains me to say it but there really is one major flaw with the Okanagan.  Fortunately it has nothing to do with geography and everything to do with the people.  People in this valley, particularly Vernon, couldn’t drive the rats out of a shit house.  

Today on the few trips out that I made I was cut off by a Terasen Gas truck, an old man, two old ladies, and another old man.  Three times that I went through an intersection near my parents house people almost drove into me because they didn’t have a clue how to follow basic road signs.  On the highway people were careening all over the place with nary a signal light to be seen.  It’s seriously enough to make me really glad that I don’t go near a vehicle for 21 days straight.  It was while I was driving behind an old man in a very large pickup truck that I realized how dangerous most of these people are.  The double solid line was cutting straight through the center of his truck all the way down the road.  I was absolutely stunned when he didn’t even get out of the way of an on-coming car.


I think tomorrow I’m going to stay home.

I can't believe that I go on my days off and I get SICK! This frigging sucks. The one saving grace about the whole situation though is that I'm not sick at camp, which would be intolerable. As it is I fell asleep twice on the bathroom floor yesterday. Probably would have been there all night had my Mom not come home and opened the door, hitting my head in the process. So now I've got a sore head, I bit my tongue at some point in my sleep and I can't go farther than 100 feet from a bathroom. Happy Turnaround!

I'm in Calgary and I think that I've come down with the flu. Started feeling shitty yesterday and still do. Had a nice dinner with S but had to cut it pretty short cause I'm just not feeling well. Hopefully this won't last the entire time I'm home.

Just about there.

Two more days ‘till home time!  VERY excited.  Things are good here but it’s time for a break.  

Thursday Night

One of my co-workers were laid off today because the company is behind in some of it’s commitments to our client which means that we’re over-staffed.  We’ve all been expecting this for some time but that doesn’t make the fact that she is leaving any easier.  Working in the office has been a lot of fun because of the awesome people that we’ve got in there right now.  True the expected outcome of this is that she will be brought back on in a month or two but the chances of her waiting around to get back on are, in my opinion, slim.  

The uncertainty of this whole venture reminds me of HBC and the whole horrible experience that I went through there.  Everyday it seems that no matter how hard you work someone is trying to get rid of you for some reason.

At this point I’m not worried about my job because I’m the only one filling my position and I’ve been getting rave reviews from our clients, one of them actually went up to our HR Manager in the dinning hall and told her how happy they are with me, but the feeling of uncertainty still remains and still really sucks.

In other happier news I talked to MC today, for the first time since I was in Vancouver, and solidified some of our plans for Marcie and Frank’s wedding in July.  MC is going to be my date.  As she works at one of Canada’s most pretigious men’s wear retailers she is going to look into seeing what kind of a deal she can swing me on a BOSS suit for the wedding.  I’m very excited about this wedding as I don’t think I’ll ever be to another one like it.  The whole thing is very movie wedding because of the huge lengths Marcie and her family are going to for it.  Just about counting the days.

Crack Music

Oh, I keep forgetting to tell ya’ll about our Crack experience.  Buddy comes up to the window one day yelling about how there are spider webs all over his room and him.  As he’s standing there he’s pulling off spider webs (that we can’t see) yelling look at them!  I was in the shower forever and couldn’t get them off!  His hands were totally wrinkled and looked like he’d been in the shower for hours.  Essentially we laughed it off but it really is a sad situation.  So kids, make sure you say NO to Crack!

Music

Things have been pretty busy as usual.  I’m looking for music because I can’t find anything to listen to.  Bizarre when I have over 900 songs on my iPod.  Just can’t find anything I want to download.

Not Quite Ordinary

I think I’ve alluded to the fact that life here is not completely, normal?  There are daily occurrences up here that really remind you of the fact that to live and work in camp successfully you have to be slightly ‘odd’.  The reason for this is because the time between our brief periods of being in civilization is really quite long.  You honestly forget or don’t give a damn about much of what goes on in the outside world.  

There’s also the  fact that you’re living with the people you work with means that there’s no way in hell you’ll be able to constantly impress these people.  I’ve really gotten into this way of thinking and I think it’s because my College Dorm living experience was relatively recent that I’ve been successful in it.  Rolling out of bed and wandering to the dinning hall for breakfast, totally dishevelled, with the Management team seems totally natural.

Antics in the office are almost as insane.  Recently the Camp Manager (a total loon), Business Manager and Executive Chef have taken to waltzing through the office.  Did I mention that they’re all fat men!  Just the other morning I rocked with laughter as two fat men waltzed through the office while two of the female Housing Administrators sang “Country road, take me home…” at the top of their lungs.

One morning I randomly started singing the Copacabana at the top of my lungs in the office.  By the time dinner rolled around that song had made it’s way all through the camp and you could hear it everywhere.

These my friends are just some of the reasons that life in camp is worth while… no actually it’s the money, but those other things make camp that much more bearable.  So the next time you find yourself singing the Copacabana at the top of your lungs while you wander through your office take comfort in the fact that you’re not strange, you just belong in camp!

Friday Music

Is it just because I’m up in camp that it seems like there’s been very little interesting music released lately?  Or is that actually the case?  Even scanning through iTunes show’s me very little of interest.

A mosquito just landed on my leg and I felt it… I’m wearing jeans!

I'm too sexy...

Ooowwww!  I FEEL GOOD!  I’ve been working out everyday that I’ve been up here and it’s finally starting to show.  Boy am I hot!  (  

Nothing else to report other than that the mosquitoes up here must be descendants of Pegasus fuck are they HUGE!  

Have a happy Thursday!

Sunday Night

The most interesting news of late is that we now have a fish in the office.  Weirdly enough we’ve inherited two different bowls of fish as of late.  Weird mostly because we’re in the middle of nowhere so who’d have thought that we’d be inheriting tropical fish from employees who have left for one reason or another.

It’s seemed like it was a long week.  The split shift I’m working is taking some getting used to.  I wake up REALLY tired most of the time.  As usually happens when I’m tired, I’ve been having a bit of a tough time staying ‘up’ emotionally.  Mostly by the end of the day when I’m alone in my room I’m really ready to be there and away from people in general.  

Here’s a weird observation for you, it just about seems to be the story of my life, even though I work in a camp with around 1,500 men in residence I work and spend most of my time with women.  Go figure!

Sorry for the lack of posts. Things have not been all that interesting around here lately. No hold on I lie. The OB was FIRED! Yay! It's amazing how much nicer it is in the office without her here now. Everyone is happy.

I've started working split shifts because of the way that flights work. So far it's not so bad but I'm glad that I have tomorrow off so I can sleep in.

I'm loving my iPod. And that's about it.

Strange Events At The Gay Bar!

Well my Vancouver people did it again.  We managed to have an absolutely unbelievable night on Friday.  The party at Peter and Brian’s started at around 7 and went until a bunch of us left to go to the Odyssey at 12.  We danced for two and a half hours straight and just had an absolutely unreal time.  Marcie got hit on by a gay stripper, some guy tried to pick up Chris (yeah, weird that he’d try and pick up a chick in a gay bar…), K from Ottawa and Pavel danced like I’ve never seen anyone dance, in fact he claims that his hips still hurt two days later, and I just enjoyed every moment of it all.  The fact that Marcie, Pavel and I were dancing on the stage is pretty funny too!  I finally stumbled home at 317, according to Peter’s Mom, after putting K in a cab and walking Marcie home.  It’s honestly nights like that, which keep me sane and help me remember that even though my friends may not be with me where ever I am they’re just waiting to get together and have an amazing time.  Thanks guys I love you all!

Vancouver Rules (Even though it's Raining like nobody's business)!

I have been having an absolutely Fabulous time in Vancouver.  Yesterday I spent the day with Matthew, who generously came downtown from Pitt Meadows.  We spent time wandering around the city, eating various things, looking at various other things and just catching up.  

I spent the evening with the boy’s (Peter and Brian) and Pete’s Mom who is also visiting.  Today I had a naturopath appointment then went for a three hour Dim Sum with my Vancouver Asian connection.  After Dim Sum I wandered around downtown with one of my friends boyfriends.  As I’m planning on buying an iPod in the next few days I went to Guess? To by an iPod case and found a matching wallet and case combination for $10!  SCORE!  I then went for dinner with Marcie and Frank.  They dropped me off back at the boy’s place where the boy’s and Mom were having some wine before they went for dinner.  We realized that as tomorrow is Good Friday, the liquor stores are very likely going to be closed so we made a list and while they went for dinner I went and stocked up on liquor for the party.  

As I’m home alone I signed onto MSN and low and behold one of my awesome friends from high school had signed on and she is spending the weekend in Vancouver as well, visiting her Mom from Ottawa.  So of course I invited her to our party tomorrow.  This party is going to ROCK!  It’s going to be SO much fun.

Tomorrow Marcie and I are going to hang out together and go to Good Friday Mass at her church.  We’re also going to hook up with my high school friend and catch up a bit before the party starts.  It’s been an awesome visit so far and I think it’s going to continue to go in that direction.  Life is good.

LEAVING CAMP TOMORROW! VANCOUVER HERE I COME! ANYBODY READING THIS THAT CAN MAKE IT BETTER BE AT THE PARTY ON FRIDAY!

I'm sitting in the lobby in one of the faux suede chairs that are scattered liberally around this place , hooked into the free wireless, trying to ignore the sound of some sporting event on the big screen TV on the other side of the lobby. Yeah, life is real rough. I didn't bother to haul my ass out of bed this morning for breakfast and now I'm really hoping that I didn't miss eggs benny day. Instead I slept in, went to the gym, and now here I am. Waiting for time to pass before I go into the office to start my day.

As rough as life is here though I am looking forward to my days off. I'm feeling fairly tired to be honest. The stress I've been under has been taking it's tole so I've made an appointment to see the Naturalpath in Vancouver. Very confident that I'll be back in tip-top condition shortly after.

As this upcoming weekend is Easter I'm mentally preparing myself to deal with the family I'm sure to run into while home. They mean well but there is so much pressure around holidays it does make it difficult. Regardless I'm looking forward to a break.

I just got my first pay deposit and I think it's the most money I've ever been paid for a job before. Considering I wasn't even paid for a full pay period I'm excited to see how much a full check will be worth! I entirely paid off my Visa and put a significant dent in my line of credit and still have a lot of money left over. I could get used to this.

Now if only some things would change for the better in the office I'd be happy as a clam in mud.

Handeling Stress Badly

It’s been a really stressful two days.  Work has just been stupid stressful because the airline I’m dealing with has a new guy who is making all sorts of insane mistakes.  Making me absolutely crazy!  Yesterday they cancelled a flight I’d booked that they’d confirmed for one of our managers, and they didn’t tell me!  Once I found out from someone else that the flight had been cancelled I had to fight with the airline to get them to put her on another flight to the same destination.  Their solution to the problem was to tell me to put her on a flight to a city that was NO WHERE NEAR where she needed to be.  I asked who was going to be paying the cancellation fee’s and such for the connecting flights she was going to be missing and for some reason they had no answer.  Long story short after sweating a lot I finally got her on another flight.  I think I’m going to start going to the gym at night after work as well because I’m so stressed out.

The fact that I’m getting so stressed out really bothers me because I really have no reason to.  Sure I want to make sure that everyone gets to where they’re supposed to be at the designated times but so far all the problems have been the airlines fault.  That and the OB came back today.  That woman makes me supremely crazy.  Ok, I have to go to the gym.

I finally figured out how to get an iPod cheap! I cashed in my Visa points for $200 worth of Future Shop gift certificates! Now I just need to know which iPod to get when I get back to Vernon. Do I get the 4GB Nano or do I get the big 30GB iPod? All you people with iPod's out there tell me what you think! So Excited!

It’s starting to hit me. I’m getting tired. Not being used to working for 21 days straight makes it tough but I’ve been assured that it gets better after the first couple times. Even now it’s not so bad I’m just dragging my ass a little.

What made it worse is that it’s been very slow lately so it makes the days just crawl. Today I spent a good deal of time wandering the halls looking for snacks. The kitchen keeps the Rec Room fully stocked at all times with an astounding array of snacks but the past few days they’ve been slacking so I complained to the Head Chef and within minutes the snack room was magically full. So now I consider myself somewhat of a hero!

Went for a drink with a friend last night in the bar and had two glasses of wine. For some reason it hit me extraordinarily hard and I've been feeling kind of crappy all day. I really don't get it but guess it's because I havn't drank anything for a couple weeks. Weird. Next time I'll stick to Vodka ;)

Union Morality... Gimme a break!

March 30, 2006

I guess I really shouldn’t say that I have nothing to write about while I’m up here.  There are a ridiculous number of things that go on here on a daily basis that absolutely blow my mind.  

Take the phone call that I got yesterday for example.  The first time this lady called she was looking for her husband.  When she told me what company he worked for I told her that he had been moved to another camp.  She was satisfied with this answer and hung up.  

About four hours later the same lady calls back and I had the misfortune of answering the phone.  I could tell by the tone of her voice that she was obviously distraught and when she asked her first question I knew I was in for a weird conversation.  

“Is your staff unionized?” she asked.  I replied that yes the housekeeping and kitchen staff were unionized.  To which she asked where the hell are their moral standards?  Now I was completely confused by this and asked her what she meant.  She proceeded to tell me that she had been a union worker for 17 years and that if people she knew in her union acted the way that people in our union (allegedly) acted that she would be completely ashamed.  

By now I was wondering if she was calling from a mental institution.  “Well what did our people do?” I had to ask.  She then proceeded to tell me that her husband had (allegedly) been messing around with one of our female staff members, whom she referred to as a crack hoe, and that her union would never let that happen.  By this time I was frantically waving my hands trying to get the attention of my co-workers so that they’d rescue me.  My co-workers both walked across the office and stood in front of me mouthing what’s going on?  Well of course I couldn’t tell them I had a crazy lady on the phone so I had to go on listening to her for another five minutes with my co-workers staring at me.  I finally just told the woman that I would pass her thoughts on to the Union rep and that I hoped she found her husband soon.

Strangely enough you’d think that a story like that would be a-typical, well apparently it’s not.  Go figure.

Today I had to go to a meeting that proved to be insane.  All I had to do was take the minutes but I came out of there absolutely frazzled.  One of the most insane meeting experiences I’ve ever had.  For confidentiality reasons I can’t say what was discussed but I can say that in my view the demands of the people that live here are so out of whack with reality it’d make your head spin.

Final story for today, I don’t think I mentioned I got chastised the other day because I cleared my own spot at dinner.  Apparently by picking up my tray and carrying it to the dirty tray cart I was stealing Union jobs.

KS Out!

Grinding to a halt

Tonight was the first time that I really didn’t feel like talking to anyone at dinner and of course it was the first time someone came and sat with me, as opposed to me sitting with them, nice guy and he talked forever and ever and ever and ever.

I have a feeling that this blog is going to get more and more infrequent as my life up here is good and there’s really not all that much worth updating most of the time.  I can only go over the menu so often before all of you stop reading (Prime Rib tonight by the way).

All I can say is that I’m tired and it’s time for bed.  

Karen Armstrong

I first heard of Karen Armstrong while driving along in my truck on my way to Mackenzie a few months ago.  She was the featured guest on CBC’s Tapestry and I found myself completely enthralled with what she was saying.  A few weeks after the broadcast I was wandering around in the Kamloops Chapter’s when I suddenly remembered her name and thought that I should look for one of her books.  Well as luck would have it her latest book, The Spiral Staircase, My Climb out of Darkness, a biography, was inexplicably in the bargain books section so I picked it up for a measly $8.

Throughout the book I have consistently been surprised by many of the insights that Karen has mentioned discovering through the various travails of her life.  Reasons for the surprise vary but they all seem to draw to a final conclusion – I relate.  Below I have taken a few excerpts that particularly stood out among an astonishing book.

“I didn’t want to make those years a dark secret.  After all, I hadn’t robbed a bank or been in prison.’ ‘Despite all my negative feelings about religion, I still felt protective about the nuns and still felt sorrow and regret for a lost ideal.”

When reading this passage, where Karen is relating her experiences going to dinner parties in London where most of the guests were very interested in knowing about her 7 years in a convent as a nun.  Reading about this experience I quite honestly thought about Prairie and the time that I spent there.  For obvious reasons Prairie wasn’t a great period in my life but I do feel I grew out of the experience.  The weird thing I usually hold back on telling people that I went there, yet have a weird pride that I did and still stay in contact with many of the people I met there.  The school is now a part of my personal history and for some reason remains important to me.

“As T.S. Elliot had noted: “time was all we had.  But that night, for once, I was wholly present in the moment, not looking before or after, or pining for what was not.  And the present moment was not a bad place to be.”

Coming upon this passage was absolutely staggering as I have been struggling with the concept of being in the moment for a long time.  My Counsellor often wraps up our sessions with a reminder to live wholly in the present moment and it’s something that I’m really not very good at.  Knowing that someone as accomplished as Karen has the same struggles is comforting.

“As I left the school grounds to wait for the bus that had been the bane of my life during the last six years, I felt as though I were beginning a new journey.  Other people seemed to progress much more smoothly through life, I reflected wryly, as the bus finally crested the hill and roared toward me.  They went through college chose a career and a partner without all this drama.  But that didn’t seem to happen to me.  I kept getting derailed, ejected from one job, one lifestyle after another.  Doors kept slamming in my face.  But had I really wanted to be ordinary; had I really wanted what T.S. Elliot had called “the usual reign”?  I forced myself to remember all the times I had been bored and frustrated by school, despite the regular salary.  I couldn’t have it both ways.  And now, here I was again, heading into the unknown, and yet I felt in some strange way as though I were back on track.  The bus was taking me away from my nice safe job, but it seemed to be going in the right direction.”

This passage happened right after Karen had been fired from her post as a High School Teacher.  A job she absolutely despised and resented, yet it was comfortable.  Even this early in my career having failed more than I’ve succeeded I completely relate.  How is it that it does seem so easy for some people and that their lives just seem to float along merrily with the current while mine seems to be hurtling along in some kind of manic riptide.  Not standing still, just moving along at such an insane pace it seems like it.

Mutiny at the Camp!

The internet was down all day yesterday and most of today and I have to say that I’m dumbfounded at how something like that can cause a camp in the middle of nowhere to just about grind to an absolute halt.  The guys get almost as cranky as I used to when I didn’t have an internet connection while I was travelling.  In fact the entire office and administrative staff were going into web-withdrawal today.

Other than that life is starting to fall into place quite nicely.  This is my daily routine:

1. Get up


2. Look for socks


3. Wander to breakfast in pj’s


4. Go to office to see if co-worker wants breakfast


5. Go back to room and change into gym clothes


6. Work out


7. Shower and change


8. Go to Office & work


9. Eat supper


10. Finish work


11. Check e-mail


12. Watch TV / Read


13. Go to Bed

Repeat next day.  Terribly exciting, tomorrow I think that I’m going to change things up a little and do laundry somewhere between steps 5 & 6.

I just found out that my first turn-around (days off) goes from like Wednesday to the following Tuesday, which I think kind of sucks as I was planning on going to Vancouver for part of it.  We’ll see what’s going to happen I may fly into Calgary and stay there a day or two then go to Vancouver before going home.  Lots of flying…

I would hate to write about the food here again but it's really so tempting... tonight I had Halibut steaks! I also started going to the gym yesterday. Really breaking myself in easy though started with cardio yesterday and did weights today.

Things here in the office have calmed down quite a bit and near the end of the day today things were pretty good. Turns out I still work for the same company that hired me but another company is paying my salary... don't ask it doesn't really make sense to me but it works awesome because this way I'll be able to get references from TWO massive companies!

I do believe the weather here has been warmer than it has been in Edmonton for the past few days. I've only been outside twice but each time the sun has been shining and it's been around 6 degrees. That is causing some major problems on the roads apparently though because the puddles are the size of lakes! That and our roof is leaking torrents of water in some places, I thought the gym was going to have a pool at one point.

Watching some of the people up here is really interesting. There are a hell of a lot of miserable people who are just plain miserable. It's incredible that they're so damned unhappy and mad at the world. These are the people that put holes in the walls, steal the TV's from their rooms, bitch about the food, and just hate life in general. These are the people that it's not worth talking to. Luckily most of the people who work for our company are generally really great and very happy so life is good.

Oh, for any of you who were hoping that I would take some pictures and post them, I'm not allowed to take any pictures of anything because this is an oil company and for security reasons it's strictly prohibited. So sorry no pictures, I'd like to keep my job.

Livin' the life!

OMG I LOVE the FOOD here!  Tonight we had a choice of New York Steak, Chicken Cacciatore, Pizza or Stir-fry.  They’re going to have to get a Hercules to haul my fat ass out of here!

I no longer work for the company that hired me and brought me up here.  Today HR did some people swapping and somehow I ended up moving to another employer.  As far as I know everything is going to work out even better for me though because of this.  OB was officially told that I wasn’t her employee and that she needed to back the hell off.  I’ve been smiling ever since because she’s so pissed.  The fact that she’s completely oblivious to the fact that the office staff despises her is actually quite entertaining as well.  Now because I’m trying to keep a low profile with this kind of stuff and not get involved at all I’m not going to be saying anything more.

So, so far everything here is fan-fricken-tastic!

The not so frozen North.

March 21, 2006

Well the first day is over… finally.  As first days go it was good but there are a lot of things that need to be ironed out.  My number one complaint already is that the Office Manager.  This really isn’t surprising as I knew her from school long before I got here.  In school we’d clashed like nobody’s business and I fear the same thing is going to happen here.  Overall the problem is that she doesn’t know where her power ends and doesn’t seem to realize that I am not her subordinate.  Today I just let it slide because I have information about how things are going to go down tomorrow that she doesn’t.  My job description has changed completely already and I’ll be starting training for it tomorrow.

New job difficulties aside the camp is an excellent place to be.  Everyday my room is cleaned for me and the bed is made.  My room is equipped with a 19” Television/DVD player with 60 satellite channels and the bed is nicer than any I’ve slept in for at least the past 6 months. Fabulous dinners and breakfasts are just waiting for me to show up and when I’m done the plates and leftovers are magically whisked away.  I was even told that our Head Chef cooked for Lady Di for two years!  Now my biggest concern is… not getting fat!

I’m going to bed because this first day has absolutely exhausted me and I need to be fresh for tomorrow as I know it’s going to take everything I’ve got to go keep pretending OB actually knows what she’s talking about and go along with what she’s ‘teaching me’.

Calgary's Better!

March 20, 2006

I’ve decided that the Edmonton airport kind of sucks.  What makes this airport suck?

1. No Starbucks! – How in hell am I supposed to get my Starbucks fix before I go away for three weeks with no Starbucks!  Bloody unfair.


2. Few laptop plug-ins – and I’m not telling where they are so you’ll have to find them yourself.


3. Wireless internet is limited - to some company that I’ve never heard of and a few American companies like Sprint.  C’mon every Starbucks in the country at least has Telus Hotspots… but of course Edmonton has to be different.


4. Calgary’s Airport is a 100 times better! – Calgary is a gorgeous well laid-out airport that makes flying a lot more pleasant.  

That said the airport does have a few redeeming qualities:

1. I nice vacant lounge on the observation deck to kill time in.


2. A Harvey’s

Freakin' Out!

As expected I’m kind of freaking out.  I got a haircut this week by a new stylist because my regular was out of town and I hate how my hair is behaving.  I think I resemble the poodle is all I have to say.  As it’s Sunday all the Salons that are any good are closed and the only other one worth going to is booked solid.  Fuck!  I think I’m just taking out the stress and aggravation I’m feeling though on my hair.  This morning Sister woke me up when she kept repeatedly calling me asking for help with her move, essentially this really wasn’t a big deal but more time would have been nice!

I think I need to go take some more vitamins or drink something to calm me down.

Date number two went really well. The more time I spend with this girl the more I enjoy her company. Very frank and honest and very funny.

It's Fresh!

I just realized that it was exactly a year ago today that my time with The Hudson’s Bay Company came to an end.  Strangely ironic that I’ll be starting a new job on Monday!  Life is funny with its little twists and turns isn’t it?

Today is really making leaving so much easier as I’m just sitting around the house with the Poodle.  I’m looking forward to starting fresh somewhere else.  

On the Move!

Well I’m on the move again.  I’m getting things ready to move out of The Barons.  This morning I went to Kelowna and bought some pants at GAP and ended up buying a merino wool sweater for $7!  Now I’m really tired again.

This is kind of fun... what's your theme song, mine's 'Let's get it on' by Marvin Gaye.

Grey's Anatomy

Very rarely in life have I ever connected with a television character but I have to say that I presently empathize in a very deep way with George from Grey’s Anatomy.

I went to a 90^th Birthday today and had quite a nice time. This couple always astonishes me as he is now 90 and she is 92. They are both still very current and extremely interested in what’s going on in the world. For his 90^th birthday he was very excited to receive his very first digital camera. I’m not sure what it was but he’d been studying Consumer Reports for months and finally made a decision. If I make it that long I hope I can be as cool as those two.

I have to admit that I’m feeling a little jealous tonight. The family went for dinner and after that I went with Sister to go and see her new place. She’s now renting a HUGE house with a friend from work. The place is very nice with a huge kitchen and living room, yard and even air-conditioning. So as I gear up for moving into my place at camp I’m feeling slightly envious.

This week is going to be a whirl-wind of activity. Tomorrow I’m going to Kelowna to do some shopping, as I’m not to wear jeans while working at the camp I’ll need some new things. Then I have to move my stuff out of The Barons because if by some miracle he does sell the house while I’m gone it’d be a good idea to have my stuff out. I work from Tuesday till Saturday then Monday I’m gone. I’m kind of glad that I’m working all week because it will presumably give me less time to worry about starting my new job.

The Date

Just because I know you’re all dying to know, the date was entirely enjoyable.  She was funny, intelligent and beautiful.  We had an excellent meal at Ric’s Grill and then made our way over to the wine tasting.  Tasted some truly fantastic wines and had quite a few good laughs.  After they kicked us out of the wine tasting we went for dessert and I dropped her off at her place, all in all a truly fantastic evening.  It’s true what they say though, just when the timing is completely wrong is when you’re going to meet someone.  Nine more days until I leave for camp.

Are You Selfish?

Why does it seem that so many people in my generation are so selfish?  I have been contemplating this a lot lately as I seem to have been running into a number of people whose actions have been incredibly selfish.  Now talking about it with my Parents they have told me that the 20’s tend to be an inherently selfish age but I would like to disagree with them.  I don’t consider myself selfish (although I suppose some could see me that way…) and I have a number of good friends who are the furthest from selfish anyone could get.  

So I don’t know people how ‘bout some of you actually comment on this and let me know what you’re thinking?  Is the generation in their 20’s right now really selfish or is it just me over-reacting to a few isolated incidents?


Discuss!

It's FRIDAY!

I have a date tonight!  I’m looking forward to it quite a lot actually because it’s a chance to get out of the house and do something fun.  We’re going out for dinner and then we’re going to a wine tasting.  I met her at the ill fated New Years Eve party and we really hit it off.

I’m off work today and will be puttering around just enjoying the freedom.  Have a good day everyone!

Loneliness

Artist: Annie Lennox
Album: Bare

Loneliness
Is a place that I know well
It's the distance between us
And the space inside ourselves
And emptiness....
Is the chattering in your head
It's the call of the living
And the race from life to death

Woa and I know
Yes and I know
What you feel...
And I've got a longin'
That's hard to find
Won't give me no peace of mind
Something that I've lived with all along
Days and weeks and months and years
Filling in the time my dear
Tryin' to find the place where I belong

Hopelessness
is the darkness in your heart
It's the sound of one hand clapping
While it's pulling you apart
Woa and I know
Yes and I know
What you feel

And
I've got a longin'
That's hard to find
Won't give me no peace of mind
Something that I've lived with all along
Days and weeks and months and years
Filling in the time my dear
Tryin' to find the place where I belong

And
I got a hunger that's
Hard to fill
Driving me on overkill
Tellin' me that everything's gone wrong
Got me a need
That I can't break
More than I can hardly take
Somehow I still keep on going strong

When I call your name
I'm gonna scream out loud
I'll say..."here I am standing in the crowd
"You'll say "come to me"
With your open mind
you never know
What you still might find
"But you keep me here
Like a cancelled flight
An empty train
Running through the night
An orphan child
A broken shoeand I'm still down here
Looki' out for you
Are you there for me?
'Cause I'm here for you

Ever since I heard this song it’s resonated with me in a way no song ever has before. Somewhat of a theme song for my life, I’m really feeling it tonight.

Just for Kicks

I was going to go to Vancouver this weekend but then I went out last weekend and bought three new pairs of… SHOES!  Yay, shoes.  I’m a dork.

Shakin' in my boots!

People keep asking me if I’m excited at the prospect of my new job.  I honestly can’t say that I’m “excited” so much as slightly scared because it’s yet another new horizon.  As has seemed to be a pattern in my life lately I’m heading off into something new and completely unknown.  The nice thing is that I’m not necessarily alone in this because I do have a friend working up there, in fact she’s the one that got me the job, though as she’s in management and is significantly older than I am it looks like I’m back to square one for making friends and meeting people again.  I think the scariest part of the whole situation is the unknown but that’s a dragon I’ve dealt with numerous times before and I’m sure will continue to deal with throughout life.

With everything in life comes choices and with every choice you wonder if you’ve made the right one.  I sit here at 26 and think “is this the best choice that you can make for this time in your life?”  Some of the things that concern me about this option are the semi-nomadic life that I’ll be living yet again.  Far away up North living in a place that is provided for me but is certainly not my home.  On weeks off where will I find myself?  Much of the time I imagine I’ll find myself back in Vernon with family but the option for foreign travel is definitely there.  But then the question begs to be asked “with who?”  I know that this is a fantastic opportunity in terms of if I make sound decisions now and don’t do anything impulsive or stupid I could literally be setting a financial and career foundation for the rest of my life but what of life beyond finance and career?

Good-Bye House.

The cold that I had is almost completely gone.  I guess my whining about my immune system and all the vitamins I take was premature because the cold didn’t even really last a week.

I didn’t mention in the last few posts but The Baron has put the house up for sale and has started the process of buying another place.  So it looks like we’re going to be moving in the next little while when this place sells.  Like everyone else who has ever been here I’m really going to miss this house.  I’ve considered it a great privilege to have been able to live here for as long as I have (although it was completely unplanned that I would be here for so long) and I have been pretty darn happy here.  I think the amazing views are what I’ll miss the most, that and the patio where we eat in the summer.  What I won’t miss is the miniscule kitchen and the main bathroom that is right off of the dinning area.  

At this juncture I’m not really sure where I’ll be going to from here because with the camp job happening I won’t really need much of a place to live because I’ll be working and living in camp for three weeks.  For my one week off I’m foreseeing myself being somewhat of a nomad.  With no real home base there’s nothing stopping me from spending time wherever I want to for that week.  Of course I’ll probably come back to Vernon for most of those weeks, especially those in the summer, but during the winter I can see myself booking myself into an all inclusive resort in Cuba or something… My main goal for this job is to make a lot of money and invest so that I’ll be able to have choices that don’t necessarily hinge on financial need.  I still want to look into the possibility of opening Narcissus, I’d like to own a condo in Kelowna at some point (I’ve been thinking of that in particular because if I’m gone for the three weeks I could rent out the place to some room mates and have them pay the mortgage), just make some smart decisions that would help lead to a place where I wouldn’t have to work for the rest of my life.

Northward Ho! (?)

Well I think that I’m going North.  Got the call this morning and I think the whole thing is going to go really well.  Only possible problem is that they want me there on the 20th and my current job likely needs me until the first of April.

(Immune) System Down!

Well the sick has hit full on, stupid cold.  I don’t even know why I got it this time.  Usually when I get this cold it’s because I’m tired and run down.  This time I think it got me purely out of spite.  You’d think that with all of Vitamins that I take I’d have a super immune system.  Apparently it doesn’t seem to work that way.