Good Surprise

A quick update on the g-saling front. Although there were many g-sales on Saturday it was deceiving, little was of interest. But it was still fun because my little sis and bro both came with. Every week seems to have a theme, something that every person decides that "this week is the perfect time to get rid of all my old _____.". This week it was picture frames. Had I been in a creative mood I would have bought lots of them but I just didn't feel like it. Now I probably won't see another frame all summer, thats how it works. One person takes the cake though, selling frames and photo albums complete with old photos inside. I was pretty tempted to buy one, make up a story about hte people in it, then I remembered that I wouldn't do that, and it would sit in my room for 7 years.

But on to the good surprise. So my sister started taking voice lessons about 3 years ago. No one in our family is musical (or was at the time, now my brother is pretty handy with the guitar). Yesterday was a recital for all of the students taught by my sisters teacher to sing for their families. I didn't want to go but if my little bro was going and my mom and i was just going to stay home and "do my homework" I knew that would be jerky. So we get there and she's near the end of the list.
The first few were almost torcherous (cute, but painful). The middle bunch were ok, most sang very dry boring songs. "Whew, well at least when Sarah is really bad, and sings quietly and misses the notes, everyone will jsut clap politely at the end"THen the good ones came. The older students. Some sang fun songs, some hit really great notes. Oh crap, now she's going to be so embarrassed. All the people before her were so good

I know its terrible that I assume she's not good. But three years isn't very long. And I thought she sings like me haha (too quiet, avoid those looming high notes). But thats the good surprise. She was amazing. She sang "I'm missing you, my Bill". Gorgeous song. I won't admit it to her but I wish I could hear her sing it again. One woman in the audience said her dad's name was Bill and he just died; she loved the song. So there it is, it took 18 years but I'll admit, she's got some talent.

Oh yeah. I bought "White Oleander"for 50 cents, an asian cookbook/encyclopedia for $2 and some sweet beaded necklaces for 25 cents each
TOTAL = $3.25

Brain Washed and Indoctrinated

I have a disclaimer on this post. Earlier today I sat down to write. What resulted what what I thought was an accurate description of the last few days, with some wit and some good cultural references. Those are now lost forever thanks to blogger, when I went to publish said entry it collapsed. It is frustrating because I was already happy about the entry and now this one will never live up to the previous one. It isn't as spontaneous.

The news of the week though is that I am officially employed. I am now on the payroll of one of the most insidious corporations on the planet, a place that I will not be able to freely reference once back in Guelph, I am now a member of the Walmart Corporation. I can't believe it myself. I was getting desperate thats all I can say. The funny thing is, I shop there. So, I can't really have a huge moral obligation to it. I've worked at other similar establishments doing similarly monotonous work at No Frills, Home Depot and DQ. But with all of those jobs (ok, maybe not DQ), I actually very much enjoyed myself, especially because my coworkers were fantastic. And guess what, Its no different at WM having started there (2 shifts under my belt), but I still have this dread of being. I think its the stigma. The only thing that held me through the training was knowing that its only for a few months and I could tune out the sections of how to move up in the company to build a career with them. One perk was that I showed up for the first day and someone I went to high school with but now never see was also hired. It helped me not feel so bad haha. Its a pride thing I suppose.

One interesting thing to note: WM is actually ahead of No Frills and DQ but behind HD in pay scale. I'm making almost $9 to turn off my brain and ask "have you found everything you needed today?". And I get a 10% discount. Only DQ offered such compensation and that was dangerous to my health.

Another dilemma. I took the job because Rotary (where I had worked two years ago planning a summer festival--best job of my life), has still not heard if they have funding from the government to hire anyone this summer so I was in no position to turn down a job after saying no to a call centre a few weeks ago (I just couldn't be that person on the phone!). I thought, well I'll just do both jobs. But the mighty WM doesn't work around schedules so it looks as if I'll have to choose if Rotary offers me the job. Can I just quit after 2 weeks?

Speaking of brain washing, the first training day involved some 'pamphlets' about the history of the company. And a video. And some Sam Walton. I didn't know that it was Sam Walton who said "Give me Liberty or Give me death" and "I have a dream..."...that was Sam wasn't it?

Mary gave me some comfort in the fact that I can emulate the slightly sarcastic and charmingly angsty teen in Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants who spends a summer working there. All I need is some black hair dye, a video camera and to befriend some kid who looks suspiciously like my cousin from sudbury. But to cut all this fun short, I need to go map out my garage-saling route for tomorrow. It looks like a promising weekend.

Martha Stewart

I have realized I have been wasting all this time I have had at home. Unlimited groceries and ingredients at my disposal. My plan now is to experiement with tofu recipes all summer to find my favorites that I can then whip up at school. I am hoping tofu can become my official source of protein.
To get in the groove of cooking/baking today I went to the bulk barn (one of the most magical places on earth). I bought spelt flour and dark rye flour. This afternoon I have already made spelt muffins and spelt scones. Even my sister will eat them.
Next on the list is orange rye bread. I hope its good!

I have begun compiling a list of goals for the garage-saling season. I'll just die if I have to work saturdays before 11. The goals so far are 2 veggie steamers (the kind that look like those lotus flowers, or a candy bowl with holes in it--one for me, one for my dad), a cake decorating/icing set (i've been inspired by martha stewart, what can I say, she may be a felon but she is fantastic in the kitchen!), and then the usual good books and CDs.

Today I tried something new. Lychee fruit. Meh. I don't think I'll eat them again but it was fun.

Wheelin' and Dealin'

This morning I indulged in a small joy of mine during the summer months. A little late in the game, last night I mapquested my route around the city, which garage sales to hit and when. It always annoys me that there might be 4 g-sales in a small area but 2 will open at 8am and two at 9am. I mean, the g-salers day begins at 8am at the latest. If i'm going to drive all the way to an area, all the sales should be open. I think 9am is the lazy man's sale. When we hosted one at our home a few years ago people were banging on our garage door at 7:15 am. You can't keep them at bay, so cater to them.

It was a fairly lucrative day. Not bad for the first of the season. There were some good, rare finds. One thing of note, almost every house we stopped at was selling Christian items (ie. Bible Trivia, children's Bible stories, the entire Left Behind Series). It was encouraging. I like to know there are other Christians in the area. Although, they were selling it all....

The finds for the day:
My mom came out on top with both practical and cheap finds. Her total: $0.38. Not bad. A never-been-opened blank tape (she had went to buy one last week and couldn't find any, the times are changing), a very nice dish drying rack for free (to replace her 23 year old one), and a martha mag for 33 cents. Well 3 for a dollar but two were for me.

My haul:

• 2 pairs of never-been-worn hand-made mitterns $1.00
• 9 fantastic preteen novels (with such titles as Maniac McGee, Bridge to Terabithia, Tuck Everlasting, Parvana's Journey, Count the Stars, Underground to Canada): $2.25. What a steal. And there were all in great condition.
• The Joy Luck Club (movie) $ 0.50
• Scattegories (i love this game, i asked for it consistently for years, but I finally had my day) $4.00
• 2 martha mags $0.67
• "The Great House of God" by Max Lucado. $0.50
• "What the Body Remembers" by someone $0.50.

You do the math. But, overall, good finds. I am now in the groove for the rest of the season.

Getting mileage on memory lane

The process of repainting my room has become quite the trip down memory lane. There is so much junk in my room that I cannot fathom why it has taken me this long to dispose of it. I finally sorted through my letters. I had kept almost every letter I ever got (even those pointless ones wrote each other every day in high school). Apparently not only did I like Chuck (the guy I watched wrestling for), I liked Kyle and *shudder* Darren.

I even came across an old letter from Chuck. I think it was my first "I like you just as a friend" letter. Or more accurately "I like you fine but I like someone else". It was fun reading about the things that were so consequential at the time: semi-formal, some rumour about a guy who had his jaw broken, all the people we were and were not talking to. I was reminded that I was not exactly the sweetest person in highschool.

Actually I found an old diary I had kept when I was 7 or 8. I don't think I was very nice then either. I really ragged on this girl named renee who lived on my street. Man, I wouldn't be my friend if I were you haha.

Here are some entries (there were only about 10 from 1991 to 1993)

December 27 1991: Santa brought me a posable cabbage patch kid
--yippee...what did I mean my posable? oh well
June 20 9192: My new brother David Michael was born he weighed 7 pounds 4 o.z.
--I liked my brother a lot (still do), but apparently I thought he was born some time in the future, about 7000 years from now
1993-07-19: Dear Diary, Renee is a big fat nerd [ouch, thats pretty harsh self]. Renee should have love with Screech because Zak is taken by me and Tanya
--that year I learned about periods and capitalization. I also started to watch Saved by the Bell. Later on in my diary I go on to make up a horribly unoriginal poem about Zack Moris [I had discovered the 'c' in his name but not the double 'r']

I then had a page that separated most people I knew into 'freinds' or not. I think it was pretty accurate. There was one entry that was obviously added later on. I must have really disliked the person at the time to bother going back to a diary I hadn't used in a long time and inserting their name.

More proof that I started life out as a jerk. We are a fallen people.