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Sunday, May 30, 2004
Back To Work, Back To Work, Then A Vacation!
I woke up Friday morning exclaiming excitedly to Jason, "It's Friday! I've been waiting all week for today!!" And then I promptly fell asleep again.
Jason and I had a classic date last night, dinner and a movie. Shrek 2 was a bit more lukewarm than I thought, it wasn't as funny which was a bit disappointing, but a good movie nonetheless. Mushy though. Advance tickets for Harry Potter 3? Purchased! I'll be there next week with a cape and chopstick wand. Too bad I don't have my books here with me, I can't do my usual pre-movie review.
I live for the weekends now, and with only one more week of work left, I've never wanted the weekend to come faster. My last day is Friday and then I head home only to leave again in 5 days. This time, I'm leaving the damn country. That's right, I've had it with cold cold Canada, even in May! I'm moving to Fiji where it's pretty and hot all the time.
I kid, I kid. Rather, I wish, I wish.
My family and I are going on our first vacation in years. On June 11th, we board a plane for Bangkok, Thailand where we'll spend a week. The next week we may be in Malaysia and the weeks after, we'll be in Vietnam, visiting relatives that I've never met and seeing the country that my family grew up in. Suffice to say, I'm excited. My only dilemma right now is figuring out whether to buy a new film camera or lots of memory sticks for my digital. I think I may purchase a new camera while in Bangkok, I hear the shopping is great. I'm trying to figure out what would be more sensible, memory sticks and print outs (I have a photo printer) or lots of film and developing. Suggestions anyone?
I just saw William Hung on TV singing at the SkyDome, and then at a press conference telling us that he's working on a new CD, a DVD and a MOVIE. A MOVIE on William Hung. Along with WB's Superstar USA, I think the world/entertainment industry has gone stupid on us.
6:24 pm
Tuesday, May 25, 2004
Back To Work, Back To Work, Then A Date
I'm currently in the office, making phone call after phone call, after stuffing hundreds of envelopes for WLU students-to-be. Usually, it's pretty crappy here; the repetitiveness of stuffing envelopes makes me tired and I have to keep telling business kids on the phone how to succeed in business by doing co-op. It's not all about the money people! I feel good doing these calls sometimes because I know a lot of them are genuinely excited and curious about coming to university. Others are looking at resume padding so that they can get a job placement; I answer their questions even though I don't think they're asking the right ones.
But, I have to admit, sometimes, just sometimes, this job can be entertaining (between all the soul sucking of course). It sounds cruel, but we sometimes make fun of the names that we see on the labels. I mean, how am I supposed to handle a name that is spelled Tsz?
"Hello, can I speak to Tsz please?"
"Gehzundeit!"
Every now and then, I actually talk to my co-workers and we can have some good conversations. We shared relationship stories today and yesterday, we talked about Classical epics, spurred on by the fact that 2 of them had gone to see Troy. Work ended early, so Jason and I went on a date to McDonalds and then the movies to see Troy ourselves. On it's own, just as a movie, it was pretty good. Lots of action, okay plot and characters. As a Classicist of sorts, I can't just see it as a movie though. The inaccuracies of this movie will create a new generation of the Classically stupid. People will think they know the story of the Trojan War because they saw the movie. No people, that's not how it works. Go read The Iliad or something. The movie was Hollywood sensationalizing and sexualizing another chunk of history; they turned it into the Brad Pitt show.
I will admit that Brad Pitt was nice to look at, and a pro is that I found I could avoid the blood and gore of war by focusing on his skirt as he lept around fighting. I have never wanted a strong breeze more in my life.
5:47 pm
Sunday, May 23, 2004
Family Fun
I don't think I give my boy enough credit for his bravery. He dares to do a lot of crazy crap every now and then, but today, he did what no other boyfriend has ever done.
Jason spent the entire day (and night) with my family.
And he's still alive! Huzzah! My mother wanted me home for the long weekend and was a bit disappointed when I told her it would make more sense for me to stay in Waterloo to work and earn some moola. But then she reminded me that I had a doctor's appointment, so back home it was. She had invited the boy to dinner too, and even though he tried to use the "I'm working" excuse, he still ended up beside me on the bus home. Which was fine by me because I've had many a meal with his family, and he only one with mine (in an enitre year too!).
It was a bit awkward at first because he ended up coming to the doctor's office and went grocery shopping for a watermelon too. But after my brother's girlfriend and younger cousins came over, all was well. It was a fairly PG evening, with photo albums, goofing around, a game of Monopoly, card tricks and lots of laughter. It means a lot to me that he actually wanted to come over, and it makes me feel really nice knowing that my cousins like him a lot and my parents don't mind him too much either.
12:06 am
Thursday, May 20, 2004
The Anniversary Post: Part II
Fancy Schmancy
Jason has been known to do some pretty elaborate things for special occasions. For our anniversary, I told him that we should plan something together. And then I took advantage of the fact that he didn't have anything planned. Bwahaha. It was nothing too elaborate; I just wanted to make sure that we could spend the day together. So I put a blindfold on him and tossed him into the back of a van.
And drove far far away.
20 minutes later, we were in St. Jacobs, a lovely little town with Mennonite flair. We spent the day walking around, visiting the shops, eating fresh baked goodies and gawking over antiques. My wonderful plan accidentally made his feet hurt. It's a small town so all the stores closed at 6pm or beforehand...we were left with stomachs still full from snacking and nowhere to go. So we sat on a bench and took goofy pictures.
We headed into Benjamin's for dinner, where we had the fanciest meal ever. It's the kind of restaurant that serves escargot, where the wine list is longer than the menu, where the waiter says "Very good" to all your requests and has the specials of the night memorized. We felt kind of out of place. We tried to be fancy to match, but when Jason sprayed mussel juice all over the table and even got it on the fireplace behind us, all hope was lost. The waiter didn't seem to mind though, he gave us free dessert to celebrate our anniversary, which was awesome because we probably wouldn't have been able to afford it anyway.
After dinner, I put the blindfold on him again and drove far far away.
My master plan ended at the Maryhill Inn, a gorgeous bed and breakfast out in the country. We spent the night in the beautiful Rose Room and woke up to the yummiest breakfast that we've had in a long while. The fruit salad was so pretty, and the croissants so fresh that I didn't want to eat them. But then I did, and quickly too. Our hosts, Jack and Anita, pay very close attention to detail.
Though we've only been to two, Jason and I are becoming quite well versed in the art of owning a B&B, for it truly is an art. And maybe one day we can be like Jack and Anita, asking the same questions, telling the same stories, telling each others' stories. Oh wait, we already do.
12:50 pm
Tuesday, May 18, 2004
The Anniversary Post: Part I
The Best Stranger I Ever Talked To
Five and a half years ago, I was a tiny 14 year old taking public transit by myself for the first time. I was alone, going to and from a high school where I knew maybe 7 people. I had made some friends in my classes and recognized them at the bus stop, but I didn't dare sit next to them. They had all been friends since elementary school and had lots of things to talk about. I sat alone at the front, near the bus driver; I felt safer there, just in case anything happened. What the bus driver couldn't prevent was someone else sitting next to me.
Hi.
Hi.
My name is Jason.
Mm.
What's yours?
Shirley.
He made me have a conversation with him. I hesitantly told him about my new classes and teachers, looking out the window as often as I could to signal my level of uncomfort with the situation. He didn't seem to notice.
I saw him on the bus nearly every day after that. In the mornings before Music Council meetings, and after school. I sat far away from him every time, near the front, but he always got up from where he was at the back and sat down next to me. Always with the talking.
After a while, I got used to him and we became friends. Then I became the one who wanted to sit next to him, wanted to talk to him, to hear about his life and various goings-on. I wanted to work with him, share with him, be with him. To this day, I can't pinpoint when it was that I fell for this boy, but I did. And lucky me, he felt the same way too.
He's still as cute and handsome as ever (maybe more so now that he's lost the braces), still goofishly funny, and he never ceases to surprise me with his intelligence, faith and love. I thank both our parents for conceiving and giving birth to us, the various people in our lives that brought us to that bus stop, the driver for driving that route, whoever it was that decided we should both have vocal chords...fate for bringing us together.
Happy Anniversary dear.
12:11 pm
Sunday, May 16, 2004
All Work And All Sleep Is No Fun
My weekend in St. Catherines for Classics Conference was a nice break and a lot of fun. Sure, high school was giggly and gossipy, but dang, it was fun. Now I'm back on campus doing all that I can to earn some more moola so I can afford some fun this summer.
My schedule as was earlier last week:
2:00pm - Wake up, shower (currently I have no shampoo; I have used a bar of soap before but it leaves my tresses feeling like straw), eat (my mother sent me here with enough food to last me a week so all I have to do is microwave)
3:00pm - Start work at the Admissions Office (it's really just a narrow room filled with boxes of paper)
8:00pm - Leave work (after labelling 756 envelopes, making nearly 100 phone calls, having one pee break and no food)
8:30pm - Head for bed after eating a very quick dinner of sorts (once again with the microwaved mommy food)
10:15pm - Get up, shake myself awake, put on warmer clothes, fill 3 water bottles and grab 2 apples - I hear they're more efficient at waking you up than caffiene (I'm usually very grouchy by now)
10:50pm - Arrive at Willison Hall, make small talk and get ready to patrol the halls (still grouchy)
11:00pm - Starting now, I have 8 hours to do whatever I want (as long as I don't leave my hallway, wake anyone up, or fall asleep)
4:00am - Realize that I've made it more than half way
5:00am - Pray to goodness that time will go faster
5:30am - Still praying
6:00am - Praying harder
6:50am - I've looked at my watch more than 17 times in the last 20 minutes. GO FASTER DAMMIT!
7:00am - I drag my body out of the building, head 'home', throw everything off the bed and fall asleep
*Lather, rinse, repeat.
Staying awake isn't that terrible, it's the alone part that's bad. The girls think that I'm some sort of superwoman for being able to stay awake all night. For the most part, I read my distance ed course stuff. But I can only do that so long as my eyes don't burn, which they tend to do at about 4am. Not to mention that by that time my body is so uncomfortable (damn these plastic university chairs) and achy that I can't sit still for more than 10 minutes. The uncomfortability leads me to read in different postions which spices things up a bit; you can do so many different things with a chair. My mind has also turned to mush and I am thus unable to concentrate on anything other than how nice it would feel to sleep on the floor RIGHT NOW. Besides, there is only so much sociocultural anthropology I can take in one night. Sometimes I look down the hall at my fellow patroller and wonder how tired he's feeling at this exact moment (I got rather annoyed when I realized that he was not reading on the floor, but rather, sleeping). It makes me feel better knowing that I don't suffer alone. I try to make the time go faster by not looking at my watch as often as I'd like and by breaking up my reading with short walks up and down the halls. Going to the bathroom is a highlight. Luckily, I do the water thing as opposed to the caffiene thing so highlights come often.
Weird things do happen to my body as a result of this no sleeping thing. I'm more prone to hiccups, and I noticed that they are harder to stop. I also get pins and needles often, and I can blame my current illness due to weakened immune system on the patrolling as well. I have to keep focussing on the money lest I run out the door screaming. Currently, it is a very sad existence.
12:54 pm
Friday, May 14, 2004
To Make Things Worse
So so dehydrated.
Dry peeling rapidly reddening nose.
Welcome to congestion hell.
(My right nostril is stuffier than my left.
(So, I can breathe, just not very well.))
Nose blowing so loud I could rival a foghorn.
I'm sick. Good thing there's no dry, scratchy cough though. Who gets a cold in May?
I am so glad that it's the weekend. Now I can go home, relax a bit and maybe get better before work on Monday.
8:44 am
Wednesday, May 12, 2004
The Tired, Bitter Post
I typed a blog entry last night that I wanted to post, but I had no internet access at the time. So thinking that I was smart, I e-mailed it to myself so that I could just come online later, check my e-mail, copy and paste said entry, and ta-da(!) entry blogged. For reasons that I cannot understand, my (uber stupid) e-mail account is refusing to send said blog entry and thus it is not present in my Inbox. Ergo, I cannot post what I had originally wanted to post. This makes me angry.
So in place of a real entry, I am providing my dear readers with this: bitter, nonsensical drivel, written from a computer station on campus. I am hungry, achy, showing symptoms of illness, tired from a long 5 hour shift at work that seemed like it was way more than 5 hours, while my boyfriend got hit on by 12 year old girls who look older than me. If one more undesirable and unfortunate thing happens tonight, I might just cry.
I need my PJs, a blankie, a soft couch and some tea.
8:10 pm
Wednesday, May 05, 2004
Hire Me Please
Hello, my name is Shirley and I'm a first year business student at Wilfrid Laurier University. I was just calling to congratulate you on your offer of admission, and to see if you had any questions about the university, your program, residence or university life.
I must have said the above 100 times in 4 hours yesterday and this evening. My brand spanking new (very temporary) job is at a call center on campus. I sit there for 4 hours every evening with a stack of papers in front of me and I call all the numbers on the sheets, talking to high school grads about the business program here. It's not glamorous, but it sounds that way if I call myself a 'University Liason for Prospective Students'. Note that I am so desperate for work that I ran away to Waterloo for a week and a half for this minimum wage job. I am also living off canned fruit and spam (and I don't mean junk mail). The other girl in the house made cookies yesterday and I almost fell at her feet calling her a saviour goddess of sorts (they had chocolate chips and walnuts!).
So after 4 hours of that, I get a quick break and am off to do security for an elementary school camp we host on campus. From 11pm to 7am I sit in the middle of a hallway and make sure the students don't try to run away or break the rules in the middle of the night. For $10 an hour. Oh sure, it's not bad and I am grateful for the work. Ask me again in the morning and I'll see what I think of it then. But in a week and a half I'm done here and back to Markham I go to continue the (so far unsuccessful) job search.
And yes, I am sorely lacking in funds at the moment, but that, for some strange reason, does not stop me from paying $180 to chaperone my high school chapter at the Classics Conference this weekend. It better be good kiddies.
9:06 pm
Sunday, May 02, 2004
Happy Birthday To Me Indeed
I was totally spoiled last night. Jason made turning 20 not so bad after all. Oh, what am I saying. He made turning 20 the most wonderful thing in the world. If only every girl was as lucky as I am.
Looking for a lovely evening? Here's how:
- Tell your girlfriend you'll pick her up at 4:30.
- Be 20 minutes late.
- Don't worry, she's going to take an extra 7 minutes to dry her nails and put on strappy shoes anyway.
- Forget the directions to the restaurant, but make good use of the map in the glove compartment.
- Have a fine and exciting meal at Boujadi, the best Moroccan restaurant in Toronto.
- Blindfold your girlfriend and don't let her know that you're driving into the downtown core.
- Take a nice evening walk to the theater to see the Mirvish musical, and broadway hit, Hairspray.
- In between scenes, watch your girlfriend as she falls head over heels for this smashing show and tries to sing along.
- Take another nice walk, but this time to the King Edward hotel, the fanciest place you've been to since the bed & breakfast in Nova Scotia.
- Surprise her with a rose petal bath, blueberry candles and more presents than she could ever wish for.
- Go out to a 24 hour grocery store to buy junk food and juice.
- Then get a pizza at 3am.
- Drink cranberry pop from wine glasses, and eat the pizza in bed while watching silly movies on TV.
- Go to sleep on the cleanest, whitest bed with pillows so big you don't know what to do with them.
- Sleep in.
PS: Thanks to all the bloggers and net friends who contributed to my birthday video! It was wonderful.
8:04 pm
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