I am here - weird

Well...Here I am in Calgary.
I can hardly believe it really.
In January when I was offered the position this time and date seemed so far away. And now - all of a sudden - I am here and doing the stuff.
Crazy.

Its weird to think of how fast things rush by once we head off to boot camp.
I have to write my classes this week.
That will be quite a task.
There is so much information to work through - I need to figure out what it is I am trying to say and trying to get across.

I designed a banner this afternoon
*exciting*
I really want to re-peirce my eyebrow...
I am so tempted; I haven't decided if I will or not...we'll see.

ciao ciao

excellent words

You will not sleep, if you lie there a thousand years,
until you have opened your hand and yielded
that which is not yours to give or to withhold.

-George MacDonald

moving house

Well, with the help of some great gentlemen we moved house tonight. By moving house I mean all the furniture is over at the new place.
This is exciting news - mostly because it means that it is almost done - except that now it invovles unpacking and finding a place for it all.
There is always another side to the coin eh.

There was a wicked storm last night. So beautiful. At first it was just passing through some fields and farms north of town. I was sitting at the edge of town watching these incredible storm clouds and I was completely caught up in the light show, the lightening was unbelievable - it was rare - and I had front row seats.

It would crack so b r I g h t and head in every direction conceivable. Sheet, heat, fork all types of lightening were there. Man I have never seen anything like it.

I still can't get my head around the fact that I leave very soon for Calgary. Turns out I'll be teaching S I X times during bootcamp.....bahahahaha......it is only because we are going to separate the freshmen from the veterans. Talk about good preparation for my upcoming teaching internship....lol.

Well...I'm off do move a couple more loads to the house. Ciao friends.

hot day

The air is thick, the sun is beating down, it is too hot too wear a bunny hug (and for me that is something because I am ALWAYS cold and usually live in bunny hugs) and so generally...it is a good day.

I was designed for hot, thick air. Growing up I always wondered why the growing up part happened to be in saskatchewan - I mean the weather here is D R Y and usually always cold. It just did not seem like a fit - I spent most of the time confused, wondering when I would actually be able to reside in a climate suited to moi.

I remember going to Toronto when I was 13 to visit family and as soon as I stepped out of the airport with my Uncle I was blasted with this thick humid air - I couldn't get the smile off of my face - I felt like I FINALLY found a place where I belonged. Of course the trip only got better, hangin' with family, eating weird non-saskatchewan food, walking around in downtown T dot with all the different people and shops and places....it was bliss.
I'll get back there some day - goodness knows I have been meaning too since I was 13.

To do list:
- find somewhere to move my crap before I leave on Saturday.
- work on Guided Study.
- phone my contact in Kamloops.
- prepare an art history class for teenagers.
- sort through my room.
- pack my room.
- Watch disk 3 of Alias season three with Trace tonight.
- buy some robaxiset (sp?)
- buy some aples (mmmmm - royal gala....)

Buying apples it is....ciao.

what a night

So our basement flooded last night. In a matter of minuets the water went from slight trickles from cracks in the walls to Danielle and I standing in water up to the tops of my thighs.

Thankfully we got all of the stuff that was really important out. All of my stuff was down there - and in a flash of brilliant (lucky) thinking, when I moved it all down there at the beginning of summer I thought "I should put that on top of some dressers just in case it floods"
sure enough it flooded.

A few moments after we got all of the boxes and stuff up stairs the dresser that they were all sitting on took to floating...the washing machine was floating as well and the dryer bin was full of water...I had most of my school clothing in there....:( so sad.

So a tonne of places around town got flooded and sewer systems all backed up...ya it was nasty. The Fire Department was out all night pumping peoples basements - poor guys. They left our house at quarter to three...I am so wasted today. I got up early to help clear out the soggy boxes and smelly carpets and such that all got drowned. Yucky job.

Today started the clean up. We - Danielle and I - can't sleep at the house for at least the weekend becaues of all the fumes from the sewage crap.....*ewwwww* *and to think that I was thigh deep in it*

It was all terribly exciting. Not the flooding bit mind you but the "Severe Thunderstrom/Tornado" watch. That was so cool. I LOVE...very much so LOVE thunderstorms...and as destructive and horrible as tornado's are....I love them. So to get directed to the weather channel by my mother who phoned to see that all was well - I realized that for most of the evening the WHOLE of southern sask was in a huge "CAUTION" area.

I don't quite know why I love being humbled by the immense weather that can toss me about like fart in the wind - but it is so cool.

I leave on saturday...
I have so much to do...

blogging b-day

*happy tune with full body meolody*

Happy blogging birthday to me!
Happy blogging birthday to me!
Happy Blogging birthday to meeeeeee.....

- you know the rest -

I started blogging in 2001.....
that makes it- FOUR YEARS.....holy crap

I've got too much on my mind to say much more....ciao

the morning

It smelt like camp this morning.
I deliberately took slow paces as I walked to the college. It was as if it would all slip away if I rushed - like water falling through your grip. The calm, the birds, the crisp smell of fresh green in the morning after the rain.
Everything in me did not want the moment - morning - to move on. I would have stood out there forever. The beauty of it stopped me; calmed me, saddened me, took away my masks and slid right into my soul. It revealed the pain, the hurt, the stubbornness and fear.
Sometimes beauty hurts.

Religion and Politics

It seems that everywhere I look lately - at least in regards to news stations, CNN, and CBC presentations - religion and politics are the topic of discussion. It is kind of surreal seeing these hoity toity news anchor guys discussing (and arguing) with their guests about religion.

I guess that I have come to expect anything and everything from the news...I shouldn't be so shocked - I realize that and have never really "trusted" the media.

It is so strange watching the differences - even in presentation - between the American news channels and Canadian ones. It is funny actually. CNN for example is all about making its viewers live in fear. Constant news reports of the "new threat" whether it be debit card fraud, or disease. Canadian news is all about - well currently - the enormous upheaves in our government....good grief...I'm not even going there.

I think the issue of religion and politics - the relationship and the problems - has only appeared to be on the back burner of political life. I do not think it has actually slipped out of any ones conscious. It just seems that now, it is coming back to the media, back to the politicians and it is really interesting watching how people handle the issues - or, more correctly - try and skirt around.

I don't think I have seen people be so quickly angered as when the topic of religion and politics gets brought up and actually talked about. I spent a lot of last night watching a bunch of programs on this topic - everything from gay marriage, to women priests, to the Catholic Church, to prayer in schools. I was laughing SO HARD....this one news reporter....very annoying man, he is SO RUDE when this topic comes up....just would cut off his quests when they were talking....wouldn't let them say anything unless it was what he wanted to hear.....funny.

Check out AL'S page He has some really interesting views...his latest post has to do with religion.....if you are up for a challenge of thought....head there....it is good stuff.

steady

I love the rain.
The first day it rained steady I was shocked because it has not done that around here in many years. Then to wake up the next morning and hear rain on my window - I was in bliss.
It is suppsed to rain all this week. Unbelieveable really.

The sound of rain settles me - brings a calm awareness of the moment. It makes me stop, breathe, listen, shut my eyes and let myself get absorbed into the sounds, smells, and textures.

I bought a Television a few days ago.
Of course upon doing so I - in a whole new startleing way - realized how addicted I am to Television programing. I am a sucker for the CSI marathons on Spike, the home decorating shows (who does not like Extreme Makeover Home Edition - i mean really)and of course the Food channel.
I love the food channel. I do not think it is because I am obsesesd with food - but rather with cooking. I love to cook.

I think the rain stops my brain from thinking.
It might not be a bad thing (I guess it is good that it does not rain during the winter or I would not get through college) but none the less when you desire to blog about something - I don't know - thought provoking (not that I ever blog anything like that - but I do desire to)....it just doesn't work.

List 3 words to describe yourself RIGHT NOW (not where you hope to be, but where you are now)
here are mine for this moment:
- thoughtful
- soaked (i'm pumping gas and it is raining outside)
- tired

the rythmn of grief (in progress)

the ebb and flow of grief, waves
- strength increasing with every roll -
pounding my weakened heart
taunting me with the depth of memory.

Each crash into my being; waiting for a response.
What will my heart handle?
Journey again on these waves so strong?
Another day lost in the moon lit ocean?
Memories...laughter...joy...
roll into my mind,
slide into the corners,
drip onto my awareness.

Who knew memories would call out of dark a light?
Who knew tides of grief would call forth such might?

The faithful crash of this ebb and flow,
the rythmn of grief,
the motion of time,
the journey's of the heart.