Evergreen State, here I come!

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go. That's right, I'm leaving on a jet plane in about 24 hours to visit the lovely state of Washington. This brief tour of my home state will include stops in Issaquah on the 24th/25th, rustic Maple Falls and Nooksack on the 26th/27th, and my beloved Seattle on the 28th/29th.

It'll be sweet. I haven't been to Seattle since I moved to Canada in May (except for a few hectic hours en route to Gen's wedding in Port Angeles in July... that doesn't count).

I'll be buying three books at the University Bookstore while I'm there. That's because I'm starting my first online class when I get back in hopes that I can finish my degree sometime in 2008. Or maybe 2009. I'm just ambitious like that. Ha.

But my real hobby is...

SLEEPING!

This is not news to most of you. But let me tell you... last night I put in 14 hours.

ZZZZZZZZZZZ...

My new hobby is...

ICE SKATING!

There's a little outdoor rink just up the street from my house. And I got a sweet pair of skates for Christmas from the family. It's so Canadian... I love it!

Brainstorm with me, my friends!

This Thursday will be my last day with the kiddos until January 7. Basically, I need to take up a hobby. Any ideas? All I have thought of so far is learning how to knit a toque, making Nanaimo bars, or running. And I don't like running all that much anyways, so that one is out.

(Did I just use the word toque? What the...?)

people and their food consumed in one week

Japan: The Ukita family of Kodaira City
Food expenditure for one week: 37,699 Yen or $317.25


Italy: The Manzo family of Sicily
Food expenditure for one week: 214.36 Euros or $260.11


Germany: The Melander family of Bargteheide
Food expenditure for one week: 375.39 Euros or $500.07


United States: The Revis family of North Carolina
Food expenditure for one week: $341.98


Mexico: The Casales family of Cuernavaca
Food expenditure for one week: 1,862.78 Mexican Pesos or $189.09


Poland: The Sobczynscy family of Konstancin-Jeziorna
Food expenditure for one week: 582.48 Zlotys or $151.27


Egypt: The Ahmed family of Cairo
Food expenditure for one week: 387.85 Egyptian Pounds or $68.53


Ecuador: The Ayme family of Tingo
Food expenditure for one week: $31.55


Bhutan: The Namgay family of Shingkhey Village
Food expenditure for one week: 224.93 ngultrum or $5.03


Chad: The Aboubakar family of Breidjing Camp
Food expenditure for one week: 685 CFA Francs or $1.23


(Thanks for these, Glorya!)

I skipped Bible study tonight...

...and what do I have to show for it?
Look! I purchased some exciting new shoes. 3 pairs may seem excessive to you. But, trust me, it was very necessary. Plus, the sale was buy 2 pairs get one free.

So true

Two things about this picture.

First of all, Taylor Pyatt really does have beautiful eyes. Go google him if you don't believe me. Or even if you just want to look at some beautiful eyes.

Secondly, back when I was the recess lady at St. Matthew's School, there was this 7th grader who always got all the 6th graders out in 4 square by using really annoying cheap shots. He looks just like the guy holding the sign, but doesn't have facial hair.

mustard seed

I went hiking yesterday with about 20 guests of Mustard Seed, a street ministry in Calgary. Can I just tell you about a great act of generosity?

Yes, we went for a hike and, yes, it was very cold. So, a guest bought coffee (or tea, or hot chocolate) at Tim's for everyone on the way back. A GUEST. Guests are people who are either homeless or transitioning out of homelessness. This guest does have a job and had been paid the previous day. He wanted to use a chunk of his paycheck to buy warm drinks for a group of cold people. I think that's a great act of love.

Mark 12:41-44

Happy Pearl Harbor Day

This one evening at camp two summers ago, Chelsea and I were trying to put a mosquito net up on the porch. Then, my friend Cassy showed up with two people I had never met, introduced as Sam and Austen. Somewhere along the way, one of them became a good friend of mine (I like Austen, but it wasn't him). How 'bout a random story from the archives of our adventures?

----------

Sam and I lived in Cabin 0 last summer. One week, Junior 2 to be precise, all the kids started puking. By the end of the week we had a pretty good system going for dealing with these pukers. Someone would knock on the door, announce that one of their campers had puked, and we would be off. Sam typically took care of the kids while I cleaned up the puke.

My favorite was when Keywee's camper puked. It was 4:20am. So we did what we had been doing all week, then we went back to our super small bedroom for some sleep.

But before we fell asleep... *KNOCKknockKNOCK*. It was then 5:15am and Kit Kat was at the door. Her cabin's smoke alarm was going off. Out we go again! A group of 14 girls were trying to keep warm in the middle of the field while Sam and I fixed it (and by fix it I mean shut their power off).

5:40am. Back to bed. I sometimes get quite cold at night, so I would typically climb down to Sam's bed in the morning to get warm before staff meeting. I figured since it was already 5:40 and staff meeting would be at 7, I could save myself the climb to my top bunk and just finish off the night in Sam's bed. She was OK with it, so that is what I did. I fell asleep fast.

Sometime during my slumber, Sam elbowed me and told me to go to my own bed. So I did, even though it made me cold again. The best part is what she said when we woke up in the morning.

"Hey, why'd you leave my bed last night? It was really cold in here!"

"You made me."

"Oh. Yeah, I thought I said something to you. Well I didn't want you to leave, it was really cold."

"Sorry?"

----------

I wish I would have had the time to post camp stories when they happened. Anyways, I like my friend Sam and today she is 23, so I am hoping she has a happy birthday. I can't see how she wouldn't, you should see her birthday cake.

Happy birthday to Adam, as well. I don't have a lot of stories about Adam, but it sure was a good time listening to you call all of those bowling alleys on Thanksgiving weekend.

Cake

Sam is having a really cool pirate cake on her birthday. But this story has more to do with the pirate cake's distant relative, the dinosaur cake.

I went with Sam and her mom to order the pirate cake. Actually we were initially there to get icing sugar, but that's beside the point. We looked at some of the other cakes. Let me be the first to say that the dinosaur one was pretty hurtin'. All it had was this big T-Rex head and some fake vegetation.

The dinosaur cake's only redeeming quality was that it had a button on its side. I think it was even a red button. Ooooh... red button.

"Sam, push the button!"

So she pushed it. Then the dinosaur roared in my face. Then I screamed. Really loud. As in, I was really terrified and even proceeded to hyperventilate for a couple of minutes. Sometimes I do that when I get freaked out, but cake usually doesn't freak me out like that.

That's really about it. The best part happened after I was done freaking out, when I heard one worker in the back say to another worker in the back, "Wow, I've never seen anyone do THAT before."

I told you it wasn't that great of a story. Bet you wish you would have listened to me.

Why am I even telling you this?

For some inexplicable reason, I've been embarrassing myself more than usual lately. Here are three examples:

On Tuesday, Sam and I were about to leave my house for Higher Ground Coffee House and I decided that I needed to wear a belt. I was trying to put my belt on, but it wasn't going through the loops very easily. Then Sam informed me that I was already wearing a belt.

Yesterday at dinner I went to put some salad dressing on my plate, but there was no salad there.

On my way to youth yesterday (I'm a youth leader with my church these days, by the way), I needed to get off the train so that I could transfer to the bus. I was getting rather frustrated because the button to open the door was not doing anything. That's because I was trying to get off on the wrong side.

There's another story involving a cake at Co-op, but I think three is enough.

Danish, Bobby!

I got a hot chocolate and a sandwich at Tim's today and the dude asked me if I'd like to make it a combo. I thought, "ooooh, chocolate danish." (Then I remembered all the danish jokes from all those Creepends, but that's not the point.)

I wasn't hungry enough for a sandwich AND a danish, but I got it anyways. Then later on, just a minute ago actually, I went to get a book out of my bag and I found it, so now it's time for super snack!!! Yum yum yum. It looks just like that picture. But I'm not gonna eat it with a fork.

We also used the buy 2 get 1 free Subway coupon.

Cooper came to town and we went to the zoo! In case you are unaware, the zoo is one of the best parts of Calgary.

You be the judge... Who does the best job of impersonating the animal they are posing with?

(fyi: there are lions behind that glass)

I can't believe I'm about to say this...

Hey guys, Starbucks isn't so bad. Read up!

Starbucks signs historic agreement with Ethiopia.

That's awesome.

I'm not going to change my coffee drinking habits or anything, but I might go have some sort of nasty, way too sweet Starbucks Christmas-y latte to celebrate.

UPDATE: My egg nog latte was absolutely DISGUSTING.

My Side of the Story

You may have heard a bit of this hoopla about me being a stalker. Well, let me tell you, it is 100% true and you haven't even seen the best part.

I made Sam a cake because when she found out she passed her EMT exam, I said, "Wahooee! I'm going to make you a cake!" I asked her what she was up to yesterday/today to see when I could deliver. Well, she was busy yesterday night and today during the daytime. And I am at home with the kids tonight (don't worry, I'm not being neglectful, they are already asleep). So I would have had to wait 2 days to deliver this cake. We all know that a zero day old cake is better than a 2 day old cake.

So, yesterday I decided that I would stalk my friend. I've only ever done such a thing once before, and it was quite enjoyable, so I just went for it.

I knew that Sam would be teaching at SAIT from 4-11. Sam hates parking at SAIT, so I figured she would take the train. The Canyon Meadows station is the one closest to Sam's house, but the parking lot gets full early in the morning and stays that way until all the people come back from work. So, I figured she would have to park at the Anderson station. Luckily, all of my figurings were correct. It was all really quite easy. There were maybe 5 cars in the Anderson Station parking lot when I got there at 10:45pm, so finding a silver CRV and putting my package on the windshield was... a piece of cake! Ha.

Are you ready for the best part?

That's the picture I took of Sam leaving the Anderson Station parking lot at 11:16pm, minutes after she discovered the cake that I put on her windshield. Where was I? Just sitting by myself on the giant wheelchair ramp, reading a graphic novel (yeah, I'm cool... what?!), waiting for my stalkee to exit the train and get in the car. She didn't see me or even know I was there until I talked to her this evening.

Problem Averted

Every time I need to cut an onion to make dinner, I start weeping and 5-year-old Duncan laughs at me.

But today I solved the problem, and he laughed at me for a different reason...

(photograph courtesy of Duncan.)

Confession

Adam, you were right, Dennis Kucinich is the man. I don't know why it took me so long. I'd also tell you to stop watching Lost while you still can, but it seems that I am too late.

The Comprehensive Report on Tourism in Calgary

Would you like to know about our Tourist Saturday?
Well, let me tell you how it went down...

We didn't do anything touristy.

Actually, we didn't really do anything at all.

But it was still a good day - we spent all of it in our pajamas and did not even go outside for anything (now that Sammy no longer needs to check the mail twice daily). Sam's parents also stayed inside all day. More importantly, we almost got through an entire world of Donkey Kong. Now we just have to kill some baby crows and the big daddy crow, then we will be on to the next world.

Whate'er!

I love this video. Hene showed it to me for the first time while I was living in Ghana. It was one of those many instances where he was way ahead of me on American pop culture. I had also never heard of Naruto at that time, and I've still never watched the show. But I think it's hilarious the way they use it in this video. Plus the song is just funny.

The business of residency.

This is what I do with the money I'm making as a nanny in Canada: I send it to my American bank account to pay off federal student loans. So, I basically get a raise every time the loonie increases relative to the dollar. It's really going quite well right now.

Bummer?

I tend to go with the flow. I typically don't mind inconvenience. In fact, I kind of enjoy it. I usually like it when things don't work out as planned (better story). I also don't get homesick.

For about a month I have been planning to use my Alaska Airlines guest passes to go to Seattle with Sam for Remembrance Day weekend. Unfortunately, all the Alaska flights from Calgary to Seattle for next weekend are oversold.

So, I don't get to hang with my Villa kids.






Sam and I don't get to watch African Children's Choir and stalk Uncle David.




We don't get to laugh our pants off with Megan Jones Hazelton or be enlightened by Rob Bell.



Not to mention not being able to see some of the Seattle peeps and causing some ruckus at the old stompin' grounds.

This particular circumstance caused me to be quite bummed out from the time I talked to the Alaska man until the time I talked to Sam (approximately 8 hours of moping about). But then we made grandiose plans to have a "tourist weekend" in Calgary and it is going to be a lot of fun. So, after 8 wasted hours, I am back to being myself. That is, enjoying inconvenience and embracing things that do not work out as planned. Thanks, woman!

On this day...

2005: Kumasi, Ghana; went backwards trick-or-treating with Chelsey, Glorya, and Merry-Anne. (We gave out candy instead of taking it. Good trick, eh?) We confused a lot of Ghanaians.

2006: Seattle, WA, USA; "chaperoned" my 29-year-old boss and her friend as they were pretending to be children and scamming suburbia out of king sized candy bars.

2007: Calgary, AB, Canada; advantageously took 2 cute children trick-or-treating. They obtained far more candy than they can consume, so I will help them. Hence the term advantageously.

Obviously

I am up at 7am because we (you know what I mean when I say we, right?) are driving to Mission, BC so we can spend a day and a half there and then drive back. I'm excited! Don't even pretend like you don't think it's a good idea!

High: 22 C
Low: -2 C

October 22 is no ordinary day.

I really enjoy that today is a holiday on my calendar.

I've been...

... TRANSFORMED.

I can't believe it took me so long.

What a phenomenal experience.


(I finally saw the new Transformers movie, in case that wasn't obvious.)

POW!

This summer I added the word "POW!" into my vocabulary because someone on a show I have never seen says it a lot and apparently it's funny. I say it a lot, usually right after The Colonel burns somebody bad. A good example is the morning Quinton (aka Risk) came to staff meeting and The Colonel asked him if he was wearing a wig, but it was really just his hair. POW!

Safeway has this contest going on where you go shopping and they give you a game piece with some letters on it. If you spell out Safeway you get some grand prize. I've only ever gotten one game piece, when I got stuff for making dinner on Monday. POW!

(Not to be confused with Prisoner of War.)

Desolate Beauty

I spent the last couple of days at Southern Alberta Bible Camp. I'm now a youth leader. Those two things I just told you are related, by the way.

When we got there, I looked around and thought, "oh man, this is desolate..."


Then I looked around again... "Sorry God, did I say desolate? I meant beautiful."

Glass half full and all that. Maybe even more than half.

Oh, I also went on this swing thingy and apparently thought it would be a very good idea to dedicate such an event to my mother. If you watch until the end you can agree with me on how boring it gets.

MEANSMEANSMEANSMEANSMEANS

I saw Means on Wednesday night. It was SWEET! I even met Dylan Johnstone, their screamer. I mostly just want to gloat to those who couldn't make it.

http://www.myspace.com/means_music

Figured that one out.

I don't like eating breakfast right when I wake up. Today I tried eating breakfast right when I woke up. I remembered why I don't like doing it. I really suck at thinking in the morning.

Today I woke up around 9am. The first thing I did was drag myself upstairs and into the kitchen because I wanted a bowl of cereal. So far so good. I grabbed a glass out of the cabinet to hold the milk. Then I stared at the glass for a moment. Nope, wrong choice. I put the glass away. Bowl. Right choice. I took the milk out of the fridge and pour some into the bowl. Hm. That doesn't seem right. Just so you know, bowls of cereal typically work better when you put the milk in last. Then I opened the cupboard to get the cereal. Seven different options. Nope, six. One of those is a box of Goldfish. I just stood there for awhile frowning at the variety until I figured out that one of the options was LIFE, my favorite cereal. So, I poured the cereal into my bowl of milk, got a spoon, and ate my breakfast.

It was by far the most stressful part of my day.

Hello Grandma and Alpa!

I've been meaning to mail a few pictures of myself to my grandma and Alpa in Joshua Tree for awhile now, but I consistently don't remember to print them when I am going out. Since they read the blog, I guess this is the next best thing! Plus, I hardly ever post pictures these days, so I guess today is a good day for that.

Here are the lovely siblings.


Austin and me rotting our teeth at camp.


Cassy's wedding!


I thought that Al would be particularly fond of this picture of me playing with a leaf blower.

There you have it! Bye now!

GOFLAMESGO

Do you have any idea how excited I am about living in a city with a hockey team? Really excited!

The Flames' season starts on Thursday and I will be cheering for them as if I've been a dedicated fan all my life. I know that some of you hate the Flames and that others of you hate professional sports in general. Well, I don't care. I am a big sports fan and I love having a home team. So...

Go Ms. Go Hawks. Go Huskies.
And now... Go Flames!

Nightmare?

I had a dream last night that made me feel really scared, but it was really dumb. I was using my 12 pack of Sharpies and they were all getting really dull and rounded at the tips.

...and you thought there'd be more too it. That's all. I can't figure out why that was so terrible. But I woke up feeling quite upset about it.

FIVE Elements of a Good Birthday

1. A phone call from Nana Hene Koduah. Man I love that guy.

2. An overpriced organic smoothie.

3. Mail.

4. New music. Ben Harper.

5. Fair Trade organic chocolate.

Thus, I had a good birthday.

Influence

I just heard the 5 year old shout "Awesome!"

Dad asked, "Where'd you learn that word?"

"I don't know."

He totally picked it up from me. Makes me wonder what else they pick up from me.

Wickie-What?

September 19: Snow!

(I'm choosing to be very excited about this, as it is still a novelty for me.)

Oh, the things I think are funny...

Symbiotic Relationship

The advantages of self-diagnosed iron deficiency anemia for a person who owns a computer that is prone to overheating:

The ability to use your consistently cold hands and feet to cool your computer. And the ability to warm your consistently cold hands and feet with your overheating computer.

(I haven't tried with my feet yet, but I'm sure it would work.)

'Bout Time

I finally got the last of the icky sparkly gold nail polish that I wore on my toes during Gen's wedding off of my left big toe.

Gallivanting

I was out wandering 17th Ave. yesterday evening, just seeing what there was to see and stopping in random shops that seemed interesting to me. At some point I stopped at a little shoe store.

Yeah, I live in Calgary now. So does my dear friend Sam, but she lives on the other side of the city. That's why, upon entering the shoe store, I was very surprised to see a familiar 2-year-old running at me as a very familiar voice was saying "go get Ashley!" At random, I walked into the shop where Sam, her aunt, and her cousin were shopping. It freaked me right out.

Creepy and Creep-o strike again!

And just because I like this picture, it matches my color scheme, and I want to put it on my sidebar..

Flashback!

One time, I went to this free movie screening in Seattle. It was for the movie Ray. Good film.

Anyways, I was supposed to meet a friend at the theater downtown but I couldn't find her. It was ridiculously crowded and I was one of the last people in.

Anyways, my friend didn't get in and she assumed that I also didn't get in, so she went to hang out at my apartment.

Meanwhile, I was watching the film. It ended pretty late and I had to get back to the University District from downtown, but I grabbed some late night grub before making the trek back. I probably got in around 1am... ish.

When I got back, there were a bunch of people hanging out at my apartment and I couldn't figure out why. Then they got all excited when I walked in the door.

What happened is this: they assumed that I was left for dead in a downtown alleyway because I didn't come back home right away. They had called the police and were in the middle of calling all of the hospitals in Seattle to see if I had shown up somewhere.

Some of you may know that I am a wanderer. I often meander off for hours on end without telling anyone where I'm going, mostly because I don't really know where I'm going until I realize that I've been gone for awhile and should probably be getting back. Having just moved to an exciting new city, I am especially prone to wandering.

After the whole police/hospital calling ordeal, my friends made me get a cell phone. Maybe I'll just proactively go get one right now. Before someone thinks I'm dead or something. Speaking of phones, I should probably call my mom. Hm, this post is turning into a to do list, so I think I'll say goodbye now.

Here I am!

Okay, I know it has been awhile. What has happened?

Well, camp is done. It was swell. I think I lost some weight while I was there. Silly camp diet. I really enjoyed being an assistant program director. The Colonel is awesome to work for and it's going to be really hard to not be back next summer. If I can organize my thoughts enough, I may summarize the experience for you. If not, well, I'm sorry.

Now I am in Calgary. I'm staying at Sam's house until Saturday - that's when I move in with the family I'll be working for. I think we're going camping this weekend. I'll let you know how that's going once it gets started.

Hm, I think that's all I can think to say right now. Ummm, are there any questions?

Yup...

I'm alive. Less than a month to go out here, then I am off to Calgary. Crazy!

Ummm, summer is going well. I've been in two weddings so far this summer and I'll be in another in a couple of weeks.

I get a real time off tomorrow. That's exciting.

It's family camp this week. The food is good.

Last Sunday most of our staff (including myself) were sick. I puked for the first time in 10 years. On Jen's wedding day. Every time I puke, I will think of Jen and Colin. Anyways, we only had 5 Senior Cabin Leaders on registration night for Junior 3. It was ridiculous. At least I'd imagine it was ridiculous. I wasn't actually working because I was sick.

Being the assistant director has been challenging in a good way. I really miss being right in there with the kids, but learning how to be a leader has been good for me. Really.

Okay guys, gotta get back down. Catch ya later, people!

Woulda Coulda

I really want to blog about my scab, but I also want to show you a picture of it. I keep forgetting to bring my camera up to the office, though. Since it's been three weeks since I got the scab, I'm just going to tell you a bit about it before the scab turns into a boring scar and isn't too interesting anymore.

The only real cool part is that the scab covers the greater part of the front side of the bottom of my leg. And it was shaped like Africa until I picked at it. Now it looks a bit like Thailand. Africa was more exciting, but I'll take what I can get.

Yesterday!

So, I was ridiculously excited on Saturday night. I talked to Sunshine Jenny on the phone and told her that she should come visit. Then she called back in about 15 minutes and told me to pick her up at the airport at 8:34 the next day!!! I got so excited that I started running into every room in Cassy's house - I even jumped around in the bathtub! Add to that the fact that I've been looking forward to Sam coming here for MONTHS and there you have it... I was excited beyond control.

Yesterday was AMAZING and I can hardly believe that now I get to see Sam almost every day for the whole summer... and live in a cabin with her, too!

I like this picture of Cassy and Jen making pie cake because Jen is mixing the air. In the open cupboard in the background you can see some of the things that Jen made me eat. It was pretty fun. For some reason I really like when Jen makes me do dumb things.

BAH!

Tomorrow! Tomorrow! TOMORROW!

find that smell!

Today we (Colonel, me, Jack-a-mo, Keywee, and Walker) needed to go to town for supplies and lunch. When we got into Colonel's van, it smelled really funny. Actually, it smelled like Cool Ranch Doritos.

So, we're driving along Shook Road and Walker starts freaking out a little bit. He was sitting in the back seat.

Walker: "What the frick! There's a fish back here!"
Colonel: "Dude, you can't be serious."

Walker continued to freak out about it, so Colonel pulled the van over to check it out for himself. He popped the trunk and walked to the back of the van. Then, he picked up a plastic bag, held it up, and started laughing/gagging.

Colonel: "This isn't a fish, guys. It's an orange and a banana."

It had been rotting in the back of his van for months. The fruits were hardly solids at that point. Naturally, we all got out of the van to investigate. Colonel started dry heaving, so did Walker and Jack-a-mo because they really wanted to smell it and it smelled really terrible.

I didn't smell it, I just laughed so hard that I started crying.

Open?!

Guess where Cassy and I ate tonight!

It was open...

...and it was amazing!

And here's me being a dork.

Blood and Guts Night

I don't know, I think it's pretty funny.

Already...

Inside jokes are inevitable when working closely with a small group of people. It is already out of control!

(p.s. sorry it took so long to get rid of that ugly pink color - i was too lazy. these new colors remind me of a ghanaian flag. it like me.)

Ow

I slammed my thumb in the door this morning. Also, I had a dream that I stepped on a nail and it went all the way through one of my toes.

message much?

Do you ever use Windows Messenger? I never really used it before this year, but now I use it a fair bit. Have you ever been nudged? The very first time I was ever nudged I didn't know what it was. I honestly thought that my computer was about to blow up. Freaked me right out. It doesn't bother me too much these days, but oh man that first time...

Anyways, I was just now reminded of that. Later, dudes.

In General

I just want to give a quick update on life in BC. I've been living at camp for over a week now and I am loving life.

I have my own cabin, which I will share with Sam when she gets here. Did I mention how excited I am for Sam to get here? Shenanigans are a-comin'!

I live with Cassy on the weekends. I call them Creepends because Cassy's real name is Creep. Yup, we have lots of fun on our Creepends. In case you are not yet aware of this, Cassy and I are two of the funniest people on the planet.

I'm working for the COLONEL and it is rad. My co-assistant program director, Jack-a-mo, got here yesterday, so the population of my office has doubled. Very exciting.

Tomorrow morning we have our first event thingy: putting on a chapel at a Lutheran school in Cloverdale (wherever that is). All I know is we have to leave pretty stinkin' early to get there on time.

That's all I can think of right now. Oh yeah, Camp Luther alumni party this Friday at 7pm.

And here are some words for my Seattle (or anywhere other than BC) peeps: I miss you!

Do I have to start calling it Kraft Dinner now?

Alright, I guess I owe you all a mac 'n' cheese story.

I have very, um, resourceful eating habits. Sometimes this means dumpster bread, sometimes it means reject produce from the grocery store my ex-roommate works at. Lately it means camp guest group leftovers.

So, when it was time to throw out the expired goods at the daycare, I naturally thought to myself, "there's no way that this 1 year and 3 month expired box of mac 'n' cheese could go bad." It's just noodles and cheesy powder, right? Right.

I took the box of mac 'n' cheese home with me. Then I cooked it. I was right. It was just noodles and cheesy powder. But, apparently, when noodles are in a box for too long, they come to taste exactly like the box. I couldn't even eat it. It was too much like eating a box.

I wonder when those noodles were even packaged. The box was pretty old school.


Okay, so that wasn't too exciting a story. The real humor in it is that things like this have become quite typical for me.

Anyways. I'm liking being at camp. I met my Calgary family today (they were in Vancouver, so they drove out to camp for the afternoon) and I really like them. Things are goin' good.

canada

I'm in!

Movin' on

Tomorrow is the big day. I am leaving Seattle to move to camp, just as I have done for the past three summers. Only this time I'm not coming back when summer is over. Instead of coming back to Seattle I'm going to Calgary. Indefinitely. So I am taking everything I own with me and all of it has to fit into my sister's Jetta. Of course, I haven't packed a thing.

I said bye to all of my kids and co-workers today. I love them all. It's been a crazy year and a half. Leaving is hard.

But I am so excited at the same time.

I promise I'll post something random/funny soon. Maybe the mac 'n' cheese story. It's a good one.

Learnin'

I think I have a lot to say but nothing really in particular, if that makes sense. I just had a busy busy weekend. Every minute from 3:30am Saturday to right now was occupied with something other than my usual lazy weekend wanderings about Seattle.

On Friday night, Alison asked me what I've learned from Seattle. I would probably never do any thought processing if it were not for being friends with Alison Roberts. Anyways, I told her that I have learned to live simply. And that I have learned to adapt. That is my experience of Seattle in a nutshell. I think it has much more to do with my age and lot in life than anything about Seattle, but this is the place where I realized those things, so I will stick with that answer.

P.S. I'm bustin' outta here this Saturday. Whoa!

In regards to the shower

I almost never see my roommate due to my leaving the apartment before she wakes up and my going to sleep before she comes home. So, we leave each other notes. My favorite is the one I got on Wednesday. It was incredibly satisfying.

"Ashley - So... the plumber came. He was nice, but more importantly, he seemed competent - and he was training his apprentice and pointing out where Lance had been mistaken in trying to fix the cold water side when, in fact, the hot water side was the problem - which means that it corroded, which means it's been recycling hot water this whole time, which means that we've been paying for it, which means (according to the plumber :) ) that we should ask Lance for some kind of refund for the electricity bill [which, by the way, has been outrageously high as of late]. But, the really good news is that it works and that our water pressure is much improved, and that our electricity bill should be much less in the future (although this may not actually affect you). We can shower! We can be mold free! (I hope.) Alright, I'll see ya in person sometime. Ciao. -Erin"

Yup. So I am showering again. Good times.

Yowch!

One of my hobbies is trying to predict the weather. I leave my apartment at 6am every morning, so it's hard to know what it will be like and, more importantly, how I should dress. Seattle weather is incredibly fickle. I am almost always wrong in my predictions, but today I got it right. Shorts and a tank top for this 70 degree day.

I want to show you the brand new sunburn that I got on my shoulders today. My disgusted face should tell you how I feel about this. I find peeling skin to be one of the grossest things in the world and I am worried that it will happen to me today. Haha, oh boy I'm sure those tan lines will look super hot in the spaghetti strap dress I'll be wearing at Gen's wedding.

Where are the Super Mario Bros. when I need them?

I'm basically expecting to not be able to shower at my apartment ever again. The plumber came today and he was only 4 hours late. He was a cute Japanese boy, though, so I forgave him. He didn't come to fix it, just to assess the situation. Apparently he needs to take out the entire wall behind the shower in order to fix it. Oy, that wall is in my room, right next to my bed. Also, Lance (my evil landlord) came by earlier today to tell me that the plumber was going to come today and also to tell me a couple of other dumb things that brought back that familiar urge to hurt someone.

Oh boy, here comes the rant!

I'm sorry, Lance, but I haven't been able to shower at my apartment since Monday. That makes me grumpy. Perhaps now is not the opportune time for telling me that I need to find another place to keep the things that my roommate is keeping in our covered outdoor area. Nor do I want to hear what you think about the smell of our apartment. Some of our things are MOLDING, probably because there's so much freaking MOISTURE in here because our bathtub faucet is LEAKING. Fix it. And until you do, do not come in here complaining about odors and spraying Febreeze like crazy. I really can't be bothered with such things right now. In fact, don't even talk to me until my bathing does not involve squatting next to the faucet with a bowl.

That's what I was thinking, but since I'm so passive I just said something pleasant about how it was nice of the plumber to come out today and how I'd try and find another place for Erin's things. Haha, maybe one day I'll learn to stick up for myself. Until then... can I borrow your shower?

Anyways, aside from that little annoyance things are going great. I'm leaving Seattle in 13 days. I haven't had a social life for months, but it seems that I have still managed to retain my friends here because this getting ready to move business has been very busy and social. Everyone is trying to monopolize my time and I am alright with that. Even if it means staying up past my bedtime a few times or using some money to go out for food or drinks. After all, this is the end of an era!

I also am annoyed.

I would say that my standard for living is generally below average for a person of my citizenship.

Nonetheless, I think someone might die if my landlord (who is not a plumber) tries to fix my shower by himself one more time. It is not working. I can't shower. It's been malfunctioning for over a month now and the shower stopped working on Tuesday. Don't get me wrong, I love a good bucket bath. But, c'mon man.

I'm working a lot, getting ready to move in 16 DAYS, trying to see everyone I know before then.

As Barbara would say... I can't be bothered.

Displace Me!

Just wanted to quickly let you all know that I just got back from the Displace Me event and it was AWESOME! I could go on about it forever, but I'll spare you for now. Chelsea, you'd have loved all of the Ugandan baby lovin'. Sam, you would have loved this, too. My informal survey showed that approximately 25% of the people at this event were wearing Converse. Also, I hitchhiked back home. Like, I wrote "U District" on some cardboard and stood along the road until some strangers picked me up. It was awesome. And here's my foot. Later people!

Since you're going to be sleeping sometime anyways...

So. Who's coming with me? Basically, you just come and have a sleep at Magnuson Park this Saturday night, keeping in mind the 1.5 million people in Northern Uganda who have been displaced and often abducted by the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army). Bad times. I always have a hard time figuring out what to do. Because I can't know about this stuff without doing anything. And I try my best to know about this stuff. Anyways, the point of the event is to travel, to become displaced yourself. Walking in someone else's shoes, sort of. There's a simple entrance fee of bottled water and saltines. This event is a small thing to do, but also huge.

DATE- April 28th
TIME - 3pm (being late is okay)
LOCATION - Magnuson Park
7400 Sand Point Way NE
Seattle, WA 98115

www.invisiblechildren.com

Swim Test: 1 Year Later

In the emotional mess known as last week, I forgot about something funny. Friday was the 1 year anniversary of my swim test in Lake Washington. Here is my account, written last year, the day after the test was taken:

Friday, April 21, 2006

Lake Washington is big and is still extremely cold at this time of the year. So, when my crew coaches said that we were having our swim test in the lake, I thought it was a joke. But my team showed up for it at 6am yesterday and it was not a joke.

Knowing how cold the lake is, I couldn't bring myself to jump in right away. So, I watched everybody else jump in. It looked like a scene out of Titanic. Most of the rowers were screaming and convulsing due to the painful cold.

"Get in now!" yelled the coach. I looked at him with fear in my eyes and jumped in. It felt like my entire body was being stabbed at with those pokey things that you stick into the ends of corn on the cob.

Because the scene could have easily been interpreted as torture, our 20 minute swim test lasted no longer than 2 minutes, proving nothing about our swimming abilities.

And that is my horrendous swim test experience.

There you have it folks. Now I must say happy anniversary to Missy, Gen, Erin, and Danielle. Weren't those the good ol' days?

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In other news, things are normalizing a little bit at the Villa. The hardest part was watching the kids react to the news on Friday. Answering so many questions is also hard. Our middle school kids organized a prayer service for tomorrow morning in memory of Nate.

Have you ever listened to the praying of the rosary? It's really soothing. That's what they did at the prayer service put on by the high school that he graduated from.

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I'll end today by quoting the Blue Scholars, who can be classified as Seattle hip-hop, and also happen to be one of Nate's favorite groups to promote... "the lessons might change, but the essence of the message is the same."

I'm not trying to be really deep or contemplative with that or anything. Not that you shouldn't feel free to think about it. I've been listening to them lately and that line always sticks out in my head. Probably because they say it so many times in that one song. I like it, though. By the way, you should check out the Blue Scholars if you like hip-hop that isn't about money and hos. Hahaha, I just said hos.

I'm wearing my sad pants.

Hey dudes. So, I once said that I don't really like to blog about serious things, but I'm going to anyways. My friend/co-worker Nate has been pretty sick lately and a couple of days ago he was found collapsed at his place. He had several seizures. Yesterday he was on life support, no sign of brain activity, and the unofficial report is that he passed away late last night. It was really unexpected and it really sucks.

Sorry I'm a downer right now. I really just need you to pray. Pray for the kids at Villa Academy. Pray for me, especially today. I don't know what to say to the kids.

Believe it or not...

I hosted a bridal shower. This is the proof.
Note that I wore my oldest sweatshirt and my painting pants.
Classy.

Also note the awesome streamers in the background.
All me.

My co-bridesmaids did the awesome food and punch.
That's us down there...

And then we have me and G-ma with Gen Sofie, bride to be.