Dreadfully Busy

When I was a kid, I often wondered how adults could be so busy. And then I became an adult (I'm an adult? Geesh), and I'm starting to figure it out.

I used to have days where I'd do nothing at all. Up until recently, I'd have a day where I would do nothing but watch TV and snack. I wouldn't leave the apartment for a full 24 hours, at least. I don't have those days anymore, and I'm trying to figure out if I miss it or not. I'm leaning to not...

The only thing I've added to the ol' schedule recently is the gym, but even trying to get there lately has been a struggle. I had two whole days off last week and I still couldn't get to the gym, and I regret it. I find not that I don't feel 100% without that time on the treadmill. Me! Missing the gym! Is that possible?

The thing about the gym is I have to work a lot harder now to get a workout compared to a couple months ago. I know that's a good thing, but it's starting to take up a lot of time. The first time I went I did 20 minutes on the treadmill on a setting easier than what I do now for a warm-up, one round on the weight circuit, and then another 20 minutes walking. Now I start with 40 minutes on the treadmill, and since I'm still not very fast (always my weak point) I put it on a big incline. Then two rounds on the weights, 15 minutes on the stair thingy, and 20 minutes on the elliptical. But since I haven't been going as often as I was before I may lose some of that... I was going everyday, maybe that's a bit excessive...

Today a friend from school and I hit the library book sale in Dartmouth and then the Saltscapes Expo at Exhibition Park. It was awesome! I guess they're billing it as a "lifestyles" expo. There were exhibitors from various businesses, including home reno people with some kind of twist (enviro friendly, restorative, etc.), gourmet food displays, "unique retailers" (mostly jewellers, crafts people, jam and cheese people), and my personal fav, the vintners peddling they're fruity wines. There were tonnes of free samples, and at the end of the day I had eaten mussels, scallops (soooo good), chicken, salmon, various jams, dips, spicy sauces, and I tried my first oyster (nasty). Oh, and did I mention the wine? There was a lot of wine...

It was a great expo, very professional, very well thought out, well organized, and just enjoyable. The displays were high end, and even the lighting was impressive. Everything was from the Maritimes (each province had it's own section), PEI being my favorite, but NB had the focus this year and they had an excellent section. Anyway, if you're in Halifax tomorrow you should definitely check it out.

I was really impressed with the number of things there are to do in NS, you could definitely fill a summer with interesting day trips, something I'd love to do more often.

As for the rest of the weekend I plan on completing two things, and only two things: gym and church. I think I've found a place I can get attached too, and it's not even Baptist! Grace Chapel is a Brethren church, and I really don't find much difference between the two, other than they do communion every Sunday instead of once a month. The music was good, the energy was good, the speaker (not the pastor) seemed educated... Hopefully I won't be totally disillusioned tomorrow, cuz I don't know where else to go.

Who knew this church thing could be so complicated.

I want to Dance!

Ever have that desire to write, but nothing (seemingly) to write about? Inspiration sans content, that is me.

Perhaps I should be more observant in my every day life, therefore aquiring little anecdotes to brighten your day. It's not so much that I'm not observant, as I have no life. No seriously. I have no life. I work, I sleep, I occasionally scrapbook. C'est tout.

Alright, maybe that's not all... I have dabled in the church thing again, which is great. I've been to Birch Cove Baptist a few times and it'll probably stick. My schedule has been uncooperative, making that one hour a week amazingly impossible to fit in. I may go Catholic, they have more options.

Sunday night was spent at the Lower Deck after work. A bar as old as the city it entertains. I'd never been there before, and was a little surprised at how small it is. But it's refreshingly "maritimey", quaint, and swashbucklingly festive. If Johnny Depp had stepped into the room in full pirate garb, he would not have been out of place. The band was Signal Hill, a fav among the locals. Who goes out on a Sunday night besides binging Dal students you ask? That would be those of us who are excited when Monday gets here because it means a day off.

I finally switched over to Statcounter to find out who's been visiting. I don't know why I didn't do it sooner, whatever I was using before only told me the last ten visits and nine of them were usually me. 16, 500 visits later I've upgraded. What I did know previously was that the keyword that most often brought visitors was "Jillian Jiggs". I think I mentionned it a year ago, but the people are still interested. A few visitors were looking for "North Preston's Finest", the name (according to the papers) of a gang of pimps... Hopefully they mean no harm... I'm super nice!

Speaking of sixteen thousand, five hundred visits... I'm rather proud of that number as I've earned it 2-5 visits per day. Maybe I should mention Jillian Jiggs and pimp gangs more often?

My latest internet guilty pleasure is visiting a number of Northern Blogs, written by people who make their living north of the tree line. I know I've said it before, but I really, really, really want to move there. I consider it often. I've been checking the job postings in Noonavoot, but there hasn't been much I'm qualified for. They send most of their kids to Alberta when they're in care, and I haven't determined if there's a group home there or what.

Today I read "The Bad Mother's Handbook" and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I've ended up being a picky reader, I used to read anything that was handy, but now if I'm not grabbed by the author's style in the first page or so, the chances that I'll actually finish it are slim. I cannot stand cheesy or predictable writing, it makes me bonkers. And there are major demerits for typos. When I publish my Oprah Winfrey book of the month and Giller Prize nominee, there will not be a tpyo. I pormise.

Old Hallow's Eve

Hi guys! Hi!

Not much going on in the land of coton these days. I've finally finished training, and have now graduated to Counsellor 1. There's a pay raise when you get to Counsellor 2, so I'm going to do everything in my power to qualify for that once my 90 day probation period is over.

My first solo shift is on Tuesday, the day when we split the now functionning group of girls into two groups. DYS (department of youth services) isn't sending us enough kids at once to start a new group from scratch, but because they're sending us one kid which would put our group up to 14, we're splitting them up.

It is going to suck.

But at least I get to go in with a bang!

Tonight I'll be going to a little Three Springs Halloween party. I unfortunately didn't hear about it until today, and I couldn't get anywhere to find a costume. So, I'll be carrying a squirt gun and going as A Chance of Rain.

Give me a break, it's all I could think of.

Dad was supposed to be coming through Hunstville today, but his truck broke down in Knoxville, TN. He'll be through sometime tomorrow or monday, which will be lovely, because I'm hungry and he'll get me some food.

I saw my first Black Widow spider... It was kind of scary, especially since I had just watched Arachnaphobia the night before. Squishing it with a big rock was very theraputic.

And if I haven't mentionned it already, it's getting pretty chilly here. In the mornings at 5 am it's usually somewhere around 38 degrees. It's a different kind of cold too, because of the humidity. I'm going to invest in some long john's next weekend...

I hope everyone is having a splendiforous holiday weekend, let me know how y'all are!!

Alabama Church Adventure Part IV and Etcetera

Let's see, what have we been up to lately?

Well, there was that time when I was the primary counsellor and I kicked arse and the kids noticed. To clarify, I didn't actually kick anything, but I did keep the group well ahead of schedule.

In all honesty what I'm able to do with the group really counts for very little. If they want to "act the fool" as they say round here, then they are going to do everything in their power to do so. I just happened to get lucky and have them on a good day. I don't care, we got to bed at 7 pm. And yes, that is a reward.

I can't remember if I've already blogged that... and I don't want to check. But anywho.

So on Friday I had to find a cheque cashing place to cash my pay cheque because I haven't been able to open a bank account yet and Walmart doesn't cash hand written cheques. After trying a few places to no avail we were finally directed to a place conveniently designed for immigrants like myself. Here's how the conversation went (approximately). Try to see if you can pinpoint the moment when I started wigging out.

Me - "Hi, I'd like to cash this cheque."
Guy behind counter - "Sure, do you have any ID?"
Me - "Yup."
Guy - "Nova Scotia, wo, why the heck did you move here?"
Me - "For the job."
Guy - something about Alabama being the last place anyone would want to go
Guy - "So, do you have a boyfriend?" (if you guessed right now, you're about right)
Me in my head - "say yes, say yes, say yes, say yes"
Me out loud - "No."
Guy - "Well why not?"
Me - "I just moved here..."
Guy - "So, what would you say if I asked you out to dinner?"
Me in my head - "Holy crap. Where on earth am I???"
Me out loud - "Ummm, errrr, uhhh, no? I work a lot"
Guy - "Oh..."

Yes, this is a true story. No, that has never happened to me before. The most unfortunate part was that this happened at the beginning of my business transaction so the rest of the exchange was shrouded in an impenetrable cloud of awkwardness.

And as I'm walking to the car I realize that I just handed the guy a piece of paper with most of my vital information on it. Fortunately I don't know my own phone number yet, or else he probably would have tried to call...

This situation was so sketchy on so many levels. The business was located beside an adult video store, for one. The carpet smelled of urine and heaven knows what else and the guy was wearing a shirt akin to that of the comic book store owner on the Simpsons. That and any time someone asks you out on the other side of a plexiglass bullet proof window I'd be wary.

So, church this morning.

I went with a couple of co-workers to a place called Hope Community Church. There were three white people in the service. Me and my two co-workers.

Despite the obvious differences I didn't feel all that out of place. Of the three or four churches I've been to, I'd be most likely to return to that one. It just seemed more honest and less showy. The preacher was still a screacher, but he had more interesting things to say. Bascially the whole thing felt like the closing scene of "The Preacher's Wife". It was very energetic, very loud, and pretty fun.

I noted that the male to female ration was about 1 guy for every ten women, and there were far fewer SUV's in the parking lot.

I still need to find something else though... between the church with the full orchestra, the church with the crazy preacher and healings, the church with the rock star attitude, and the church with a groove I could never emulate, I'm kind of at a loss. Who knows where I'll end up next week!

It's been a slice, but I gotta get some laundry done. This is my last week of training. After this I have to at least fake that I know what I'm doing.

Wish me luck!

Alabama Church Adventure Part III

This morning my new roomie and I headed to "The Rock Family Worship Centre (sorry, Center...)".

They had me at hello... and lost me at the healings.

This place was a bit of a production. I found the crane video cameras a little distracting, that and the 4 plasma video screens. I would guesstimate that they're morning worship services would cost about $10 000 to produce. Lot's of fancy lights, lots of cheesy music. I was half expecting the Gaither's to join them for a good old fashioned homecoming.

OK, it wasn't that cheesy. But it was big and showy and emotional. No one really cared that we were there, and I really felt no need to go back. There was a portion for healings, but no one did the fall down flailing about thing.

My roomate doesn't like Baptist churches, or any church of with any kind of traditional flair. The only solution is for me to get a car so I can start visiting churches that are less likely to have anyone being slain by the spirit (as fun as that may be).

This was a very long week. We were off R and O (routine and order) every day by a couple of hours. Which meant not getting to bed until 9 or 10. And when the girls get to bed late the consequence is getting up at 4:30am. It stinks.

The things that delay our scheduling is refusals (kid sits down in the middle of the road and refuses to go forward), kid one starts cussing at kid two. They throw their water bottles. I get to stand in front of whichever kid I think I can handle and try to calm them down.

Speaking of kids I can handle, we have a new resident that some have nicknamed "The Linebacker". For those of you non-football types that means she's big. Not chubby big, muscle big. Taller than I am. One evening her and another resident (who is crazy and leaving on Monday) exchange words and I find myself standing in front of a girl who could remove my head in one fell swoop. I couldn't understand much of what she said, but I once she gets out of custody she could probably have a go at being a rapper.

In short, she didn't hit me.

Another incident happened moment after the lights had been turned out. It was pretty scary. The crazy girl who has gone through things that no 14 year-old should ever have to went off the wall. She threw a bunk over on the floor. A bunk that I can only move if I put every ounce of energy into it. She threw it like plastic. There were lots of scared girls, anxious counsellors, and a frantic call for help on the radio... It was scary.

I'm now SAMA, CPR, and first aid certified. SAMA is Satori Alternative to Managing aggressive behaviour. We learned how to verbally de-escalate potentially explosive situations (it actually works, I've had to use it a few times), and how to do physical containments. I haven't done a physical thingy yet, though there were a few times when I could have.

I'm hoping that the group will be back on focus this week. As fun as violent adrenaline rushes are, I could really do without.

I'm back to work tomorrow, and this is our last week of training. I'm getting better at doing the whole enforce the rules counsellor stuff. Although the group doesn't really like to listen to me. I can get them to do the norms stuff individually, but when I try to get the whole group to stop talking I run into some difficulty.

Anywho, I have to run to do laundry and pack things up. I bought a new pair of North Face sneakers to replace my Zellers shoes. After three weeks of frequent walking I could put my finger through the soles...

That's it. Good night. Before I think of something else to say.

Alabama Church Adventure Part II

So I have a new roomate. She's from Oregon. She talks a lot.

A lot of people here talk a lot, come to think of it. And most of them laugh at their own jokes. For a quiet, non-laugher of one's own jokes this has been a bit of a struggle for me. I have never wanted to get out of conversations as passionately as I do now. I find myself taking mental retreats with greater frequency...

I'm sure there's a kindred spirit out there somewhere for me. I can't possibly only get along with maritimers... can I???

Anywho, on to bigger and more entertaining things.

I went to church this morning with aforementionned new roomate. She had mentionned earlier that she didn't want to go to a Baptist church because she hadn't had much luck with them in the past. Ruth, I totally get what it must have been like to be a Presby among the Baptists, even if just for that brief moment.

We went to a place called Valley Fellowship.

I knew I was in trouble when I walked into the church and they handed us a welcome packet which predominately featured a magazine entitled, "Charisma".

It was an interdenominational, charismatic church. I thought these places only existed on TV.

Things began fairly normally, they sang some chorus I didn't know. Then they sang it again. And again. And to top it all off they sang it again. One verse, one chorus. The service lasted 2 hours and I think we covered three songs.

Then an older lady came up to the front, she ended up being the pastor. We watched a brief clip of a crusade in Uganda. Why did we watch it? Because it showed a vortex that opened up to heaven. Yes, a vortex. I thought it was a cloud... but it was indeed a vortex... a vortex to heaven.

This was followed by a time of healing. Unfortunately I didn't qualify because my hips and legs were fine. But anyone else who had leg and hip issues got to go on stage where someone knocked them down and they would start shaking.

I was giggling the whole time (it was getting kind of hard to hide that near the end, but I think they just thought I was drunk in the spirit or something).

I noticed a lady using a cane. I'm not sure if they ignored her or what, but she didn't get any of these miraculous healing the others got... But I just figured that since they were able to walk up to the front without too much effort that they were going to be just fine.

After the healing stuff the pastor yelled at us for a little while about the Holy Spirit. They seem to like him a lot more than the other two guys. I don't think they mentionned the Father and the Son more than twice.

And then the pastor started falling around a bit and acting drunk. But don't worry! It was the Holy Spirit.

I didn't ask, but I get the impression that I'm not really a Christian because I haven't spoken in tongues. It doesn't matter though, because I don't think I'm going to go back...

Somewhere out there in Huntsville, there must be something between a church with a full orchestra and whatever the heck it is I went to this morning. I really missed home this morning... It was uncomfortable. I'm all about stepping out of the box, I have no issue with going to new congregations. But this morning I just wanted something to seem familiar.

No such luck. Except for the temperature... it was nice and cool.

Don't get me wrong! I still love being here and I still love my job. But I have three days off and absolutely nothing to do. No friends to call and hang out with (most of the people I do know are at work), no money and no way to get anywhere. I can't wait to get back to work, and I'm sure that sentiment will change once I get further into this.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody! I don't think I'll be having a meal this year. The other Canadians are away.

Stay tuned for the next Alabama church adventure!!