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.