Day 2. Something I Feel Strongly About

The one thing that believe in completely, is that everyone should live on their own. Not necessarily alone, roommates sure, but no relatives! And absolutely no parents.

When I was at work, we got a new field guy. We would need to wash our coveralls once in awhile because they would be covered in oil, grease, mud, excreta, and so I went to show him where the washer was and then he preceded to ask me how to wash clothes. I was flabbergasted! Here’s a 30-something guy who has NEVER washed a load of laundry in his life! He lived with his parents the first couple of years out of high school and then he met his wife and moved straight in with her. And clearly has yet to learn the basics of life.

I also was in a town house with another person who must have been momma’s little girl. She was 23 and in her second year of college when we were sharing a town house together. She was a great person to share a house with. Never complained about noise if we had people over, and we got along well, but when it came to house hold things, she was inept. While she lived with me and a couple other girls, we had to teach her how to cook ground beef, boil KD, properly do dishes with hot water (she would always use cold), how to make box cupcakes, and how to generally clean up; vacuum, sweep and mop under the table, make sure that the garbage was taken out. These all seemed like pretty common sense things, but when you live at home where your parents do everything for you, then you’re just not quite ready for the real world just yet.

When you live out on your own, you learn these simple life skills quickly, or else starve or get sick of eating instant noodles. I guess I can’t put the entire blame on the kids who come out of high school without the normal common sense skills that life demands you, it’s more of a problem concerning the parents. Don’t’ baby your kids forever! Get them to help around the house, clean, help with the cooking, do laundry. It never hurt a kid to learn these things. Plus any future roommate, girlfriends, spouses will appreciate that these people learnt how to do these simple things and not have to teach then in their 20s or even older.

Another reason I believe that it is important for people to live by themselves, especially at a young age (after high school or in their twenties), is because it teaches you to be independent. There is nothing more important then to be independent. What happens when people get into long term relationships right out of school and you live with that person, and then one day, in a month, in a year, or 10 years, all of a sudden, this relationship is over and you’re on your own? For most women, they are afraid to be on their own. Afraid that they won’t be able to pay bills, that they will of a sudden fell less attractive or not wanted by men. For guys, well I’m not sure what you think. But what I have noticed with my friends and friends of friends, is that if they are used to long distance relationships, then that’s all they know. When one relationship goes down the toilet, they just hop right into another one and move in with someone new. Before you just head into another living arrangement with the next guy to come around, go live by yourself for a while.

You will learn so much. How much of your own crap you can put up with, how to cook, go pantless as soon as you get home from work, wake up on your day off and say ‘F*&k it, I’m not putting makeup on, or even bother having a shower’, marathon watch Once Upon A Time, Play video games until all hours of the night, take over the living room with your next project, have the whole bed to yourself! There is so much freedom living by yourself. Just try it and then if anything happens in your life you will KNOW that you can and have lived by yourself so you are independent and financially secure enough to do it again!

Good Luck Peeps and hope you can do it.

Day 1 – Bullet Your Whole Day April 7, 2015

00:00 – At my best friends house, KeelyRaw, talking for hours about life, love, boyfriends, periods, kids, food, gardens, dogs and anything else you can think of.

00:30 – Still in Smalltown, Alberta, thinking that it’s time to go home, 30 minutes away, but instead, I go pee and continue talking about everything and nothing.

01:48 – Finally I leave. Now most people drink until 01:30 but we’ve never had to drink to stay awake this late! Last time we got together we stayed up till 6 am doing quizzes online about; ‘Which Disney Princess are You?’ and ‘What song describes you the best’.

02:15 – Get home and quietly sneak into the house to avoid waking up my ‘rents who I have to live with again this summer to make some cash before heading back to school in the fall. I don’t think I have ever succeeded in sneaking in without my mom hearing. Tested it a couple times when I was a teen and she’s still as sharp as ever!

02:37 – Finally going to sleep after brushing teeth and striping down. Should have been home earlier considering that I’m supposed to be leaving the house at 08:30 to pick my sister up at the airport, but too little, too late.

06:52 – My sister calls me with this VERY early wake up call. But calling with good news! I get to sleep in because she ended up missing her flight at 5:45 that morning from Kelowna. She was rightly pissed but I was glad since that meant I got to sleep in! Boo-ya!

07:23 – My second phone call of the day, two more then usual, and it is my sister again. Luckily she got onto another flight but doesn’t land till 14:47 my time. I gave her my condolences about having to stay at a grubby airport for a few extra hours and made a few agreeing sounds. I honestly have to say I can’t recall what was said. All I know that the sun rise was beautiful for the 2 seconds I looked out my bedroom window and that I got to set my alarm for 10:00.

09:35 – A text from my good buddy came through. I couldn’t get back to sleep after that so I decided that it was probably time to get up for good then. But first a quick look at the newsfeed from Facebook, and time for a couple Whispers.

09:47 – Turn off 10:00 alarm and head for the shower. Gotta try to look good when I pick my sister up. She always looks so good without even trying. Then there me with two hours of primping and still can’t look as half as good as she does.

10:07 – Brushing my teeth, and my phone rings for the third time that morning! Man I’m important today! Well it was a good thing that I went to have my early shower because my soon-to-be boss called and said that I needed to come to town to sign some paperwork! I haven’t been working since October so some cash is much needed at this time!

10:12 – Out the door and in my truck for the eight mile drive into Hickville, to secure my new job with the Alberta Provincial Parks.

10:28 – Signing paper at the gas station.

10:40 – Trading my king cab truck for my mom’s SUV since when I pick my sister up, there’s also two littles, both with car seats. Talked and BS-ed with my mom and the librarian for a good half hour and found out that my old high school teachers wife opened up a flower shop just down the street so I had to pop in for a quick visit. There I found the coolest trinket ever…. A TIME-TURNER from Harry Potter. Well, KeelyRaw is a huge Potterhead so I had to buy her one for her birthday. $14.99 well spent.

11:48 – Finally leaving for the big city. Turned on the car, adjusted the seat and immediately started listening to an amazing book, The Riyria Revelations: Rise of the Empire, by Michael J Sullivan. Such a good book, and amazing narrator, Tim Gerald Reynolds.

12:15 – Make it to the city and fight traffic to the other side of the city to the Walmart. Before getting my sister and nieces, I need to do some quick shopping for my youngest nieces 1^st birthday, my moms 57^th birthday and KeelyRaw’s birthday. Took forever looking for cards and then even longer looking at toys and perusing the household stuff looking for the perfect (or at least mediocre) present for my mother.

13:05 – Stand in line FOREVER to get to a register, to buy my 4 things. Really Walmart? Open more flippin tills! You only have 20 of them.

13:20 – Stop at the Walmart McDicks for food! My rumbling stomach demanded food since I left the house before I could scrounge up breakfast. And of course no seats in the McDicks, so grabbed a to-go bag and ate my Big Mac with the windows rolled down listening to my British narrator, like a boss. 

13:45 – At the airport. I don’t remember the airport being in town! Must have been a long time since I’ve been in the City. Pulled up to a meter run and waited. They weren’t supposed to land till 14:47. Only an hour early….

14:07 – Airport Meter Maid, coming to inspect the vehicles so I though it a good time to actually put money in the machine. I got a good 15 minutes free, pretty good for a Friday afternoon.

14:15 – Found a good seat and now have to wait. I hate waiting. My ADD doesn’t like sitting and doing nothing. Two hours later, a plane finally lands! Well more like 20 minutes but still too long!

14:47 - Of course Sisters flight couldn’t be here early, at least it was on time. One of the best feelings ever is having your niece run into your arms! I felt so loved and I missed that blond head more then I ever thought I would miss a little kid.

14:52 – Patience already running low with my sister. I mean I love her but enough with the back seat driving! If you wanted to drive, feel free to take over or shut up!

15:05 – First stop and it had to the mall. It’s April, still some snow, lots of mud and huge puddles of water still sitting in the fields and in the yard so what does my sister need? A pair of flip flops. Another test of patience.

15:30 – Back in the car, stuck in normal everyday traffic and a sister yelling from the back seat for a semi to “Hurry the F*&k up, already!” It takes semi’s a long time to gear up from a red light so hold onto your panties, we can’t go any faster then the people ahead of us. And either way, a 50 minute drive won’t be any shorter trying to leap frog ahead!

16:25 – Make it to Hickville where the kids are excited to see Granny G at work. And just a side note, Sister is almost as bad as the kids, she had to pee 5 minutes out of the city. She couldn’t go when we were at the mall looking for flip flops?

16:45 – After visiting and checking out books and movies for my niece, we get in the car to go home. I can’t stress enough that I do love my family, but even with only being with Sister for 2 hours, I was happy to blast my tunes in my truck ALONE for the 10 minute ride home.

16:55 – Am I the only one who knows how to pack in the bags? Oh no, you just sit back and relax! I’ll grab my shopping bags, purse, diaper bag, and the suitcases. I’m alright really. *Gasping for breath going up the stairs*

17:15 – Eat an appetizer of a pizza treatzza because another thing that Sister apparently isn’t very good at is getting some food for herself. Again we were in the city, AND  at the mall, it would have been just too easy to grab some food there but no I’d rather listen to complaints for the past couple hours.

17:55 – Eat real food after playing and opening presents with the kids. One thing my family is good at is presents. There’s always something for someone. And today it was a Play-do princess set. I will quickly admit that I was into it before my 4 year niece.

18:20 – After arguing about who gets to go on a drive, there’s Granny G, Toots, Grandpa, and myself. Leaving Sister and Frankie at home. Toots is excited, this is her Cat Project. She’s been waiting for months to come to Granny G’s house and go pick out a kitten.

19:00 – We got to the lady’s farm. It was a little  (a little more than a little) messy but there were animals everywhere! Big friendly dogs who stood taller than Toots, cats everywhere you looked, over 50 horses in the pasture, and even a black sheep or two! We had fun looking at all the animals, and less fun when the sheep were trying to eat my steel toed boots.

19:47 – Leaving the farm after a lively debate between Granny G and Toots about how many kittens should they get. Granny G started with a good argument of that one would be plenty in the house. But the dewy, big-eyed four year old and innocence and the perk of being a grandchild, so her argument of two would be better won out.

 20:10 – Got back home and now the fun began! Playing with kittens is always fun, even if your not a cat person. Anything small and fluffy is fun! And what’s even cuter is watching the one year old, Frankie, chasing the kittens as fast as her crawl will allow her. Maybe this is the time she will learn to walk, or run, since she’ll want to try to keep up with those kittens!

22:30 – Getting ready for bed. Brush teeth, convince the kidlets to brush their teeth, pj’s, putting the kittens to their bed, and finally…. Some quiet when everyone else is asleep.

23:40 – Finish up my blog post and enjoy the little bit of alone time I get each night. Love you Toots, Frankie, Sister but also thank you for going to sleep earlier than I do!

Good Night to All and To All a Good Morrow!

30 Day Challenge

Hello dear make believe Readers.

It’s been a –r-e-a-l-l-y- long time since last I got to write. First off there was my trip of a life time, two months Down Under going all over Australia and New Zealand in the heat of their summer. It was nice but also extremely weird to have Christmas with the sun blazing and being +41 C and swimming in a lake versus my traditional Christmas of snow, family, turkey, and more snow. But for all the travellers out there, I say you have to go to New Zealand one day! One of the most spectacular places ever. I fell in love with that country, but more of this trip to come in later blogs but first….

…. This is me starting the 30 day blog/writing challenge. Every year, for my New Years Resolution I always say that I’m going to write more. And every consecutive year, this resolution fails. Mostly because I will sit down to write then I get distracted. My mom believed that I had ADD when I was a kid, but really I think that it’s just that small things are amusing and can take my attention away from whatever task it is that I’m trying to accomplish. Plus cell phones going off and every one of you out there has to admit that facebook also takes your attention, or Pintrest, or instagram, or whatever social media that you enjoy.

So speaking of Pintrest I found the 30 day blog challenge:

Day 1. Bullet your whole day

Day 2. Something you feel strongly about

Day 3. A book you love

Day 4. Five ways to win your heart

Day 5. Things you want to say to an ex

Day 6. Your views on mainstream music

Day 7. Five pet peeves

Day 8. What you ate today

Day 9. How important you think education is

Day 10. Put your music player on shuffle and write the first ten songs that play

Day 11. Your family

Day 12. Your opinion about your body and how comfortable you are with it

Day 13. Five guys whom you find attractive

Day 14. What you wore today

Day 15. Your zodiac/horoscope and if you think it fits your personality

Day 16. Something you always think “what if…” about

Day 17. Something that you’re proud of

Day 18. A problem that you have had

Day 19. Five items you lust after

Day 20. Your fears

Day 21. How you hope your future will be like

Day 22. Your academics

Day 23. Something that you miss

Day 24. Five words/phrases that make you laugh

Day 25. Something you’re currently worrying about

Day 26. Things you like and dislike about yourself

Day 27. A quote you try to live by

Day 28. Somewhere you’d like to move to or visit

Day 29. Five weird things that you like

Day 30. One thing you’re excited for

Some of these topics are going to be a little hard, some of them will be fun, but I think that if I am diligent then I will know myself better by the end of it. I hope that I actually have the will power and persistent attitude I need to complete this challenge. Wish me luck.  

A'hoy Sea Mates!

I’m on a boat. Ya I’m on a boat, take a good long look cuz I’m sailing on a boat. And I even brought my flippy-flops!

I awoke bright and early expecting a cloudy even possibly stormy morning considering the night before was one of the largest storms the Northeast coast got in the past couple months. But to my gratitude it was bright and sunny! With a little wind but considering I was going on a sailboat, it could only be a good omen.

As is with moth things with Jessica, my travel buddy, we were an hour early, which is a good thing since I tend to be on the late side, to our appointed time of 8:30 at the docks to meet up with fellow snorkelers and our crew for the day. We quickly charged the camera then sat on the pier till our captain came.

Along with Jessica and myself, there were four others, a couple from Germany and a couple from Switzerland and our captain, Stu. He picked us up on the dingy and brought us on board. There we met Cat, an American on a working visa from Florida. She said she was sick of her office job so she quite and came to the land Down Under. Man does she have a cool job! On the water almost every day, opportunities of sailing and snorkeling all the time. And she could even live on the boat!

Now Stu. He is our captain for the day. When I asked how long he’s been sailing he said 40+ years, majority of his life. His parents owned a sailboat but being a kid, he sat on the side and had fun. He bought his own boat and then proceeded to teach himself the fine art of sailing, all the bits his parents never showed him and all the little things every sailor with every boat has to learn, the hard way. He met and married his beautiful wife, they had a boy and the whole family sails and lives on the boat. His son is home schooled on the boat, considering they sail all over Australia, up into Indonesia and everywhere between. Stu’s dream is to sail around the world and I would be shocked if he doesn’t do it one day.

Upon boarding The Big Momma, Cat showed us the inside. A bathroom and a couple cabins, a fully functioning kitchen and table. She also had a freshly made batch of scones with jam and whipped cream topping to start our day, and I couldn’t think of a better way to do so.

We enjoyed the food and getting to know our fellow members of the day. It was a two hour sail from Missions Beach, Queensland to the great barrier reef. I couldn’t get enough of the sun and the sea. With each passing moment my grin never waivered, and the more excited I for the ride but also to see the coral.

Soon Stu and Cat were busy stowing the three sails and dropping anchor. We climbed aboard the dingy once again, with our swimsuits on and all six of us looking like dorks with our snorkel masks on before even hitting the water. One trick when using masks or goggles is to spit on the inside lens to stop them from fogging up. It works brilliantly considering I know mine didn’t fog up for the hour we were under.

Jessica and I being the eager beavers we are, jumped in first. As soon as my head went under, the first thing I see are jelly fish! Maybe 25 of the little ones that looked like clear bobbing scran wrap. First thing that went through my head was, “I will name you squishy and you will be mine. And you will be mine!” That’s a quote from Finding Nemo for you Disney impaired people. The second thing was PANIC! Considering how many signs that we have seen at every beach in Australia  say “No Swimming except in Stinger net areas.” They were very squishy and jelly like and these ones didn’t sting, luckily, after I touched them.

After that initial freak out, it was absolutely amazing! The coral was in so many fantastic shapes, vibrant blues, golf ball textured coral, the size of a dog house. Awesome yellows/greens that looked like skeleton trees. Some were small near the bottom, 15 feet or so and other coral being older and in more shallow areas were only three feet under. I could have touched it! But I heard stories of people crashing boats on coral and plenty of people cutting feet, arms, legs when swimming around it. So I refrained from my inquisitive side and just looked in awe instead.

There were gazzilions of fish! Yellow ones, blue and black stripped ones, black with crazy fins, Dory Fish (another Finding Nemo reference), lots of little fish reminding me of neon tetra’s. it was fantast just to watch them all swim around and into the coral. Some of my favorite fish were green bodied 7” long fish that had blue and pink fins. So colorful! Another part of the reef looked like the classic clam shaped that was slightly open on top. On the outer rims of the shill it was black with reflective green on it. Now the gap was filled with purple/black squishy looking stuff. And even cooler, there were two openings on either end that it looked like it was breathing! Like two mouths breathing in and out.

The newer part of the reef, were we started was so full of color! But what I thought was really amazing was the fact that you would be looking at these amazing technicoloured fish and rainbow bright coral then bam! Drop off of 20 feet with nothing but sand on the bottom.

On our first snorkel in the new reef, I got to see a shark! It was only in the periphery of my vision but it was a reef shark all right!! It wasn’t until the second outing, after lunch, when I saw a shark again! It was just swimming along and never been that close before. I started to follow it. I followed for awhile, being close enough to notice that the shark had a white spot on the tail and back fin, then my brain kicked in and said, ‘what if this 1.5 meter shark doesn’t like being followed?’ So I let it meaner off and I swam the hell away from it. Stu said that the reef shark won’t bother us but my land locked mind set still says that any shark (or jelly fish/octopus/squid/gators/ or really any kind of fish) should be respected and given a lot of space.

I was one of the few lucky ones. On my second snorkel of the day, I was treated with a rare sight of a sea turtle! It was such a majestic creature! Lazily but quickly gliding through the water.

I can easily see how people can relate astronauts floating in space to the feeling of floating under the sea; peaceful, relaxing, no sounds and the feeling that you are completely by yourself.

Cat, of the Big Momma, also fed us lunch between our two outings, chicken and beef kabobs, along with mackerel that was caught and filleted the day before. It was all delicious! Buns and salads ere our sides and only two minutes after lunch was done, me and Jessica were back in the water, diving off the main deck into the crystal clear blue of the Coral Sea.

By the time our second snorkel outing was finished, we were all thoroughly tire. But afternoon tea awaited us with fresh Australian grown fruit and coconut cookies! It was a perfect way to end our Great Barrier Reef experience as we sailed back to the main land.

All in all it was my favorite experience of Australia. And I have Stu and Cat of the Big Momma’s to thank for it!  

Torture in the Desert

Unending- unrelenting-suffocating.

There is absolutely no escape. Feeling of being trapped,squeezed in on all sides, and not being able to find the way out. You just wish it would stop!

Hours tick by.

You can see the stars from where You lay, as they shine brilliantly overhead. Soon they cloud over.

Hours tick by.

The stars are out again. One small blessing of this torture is to see the stars, starring out into the enormity of the sky; feeling that your own troubles and misfortunes are small compared to the enormity of the universe.

Although your grief is shared with at least three others, you wonder if they were lucky enough to fall into a dreamless oblivation, consumed by exhaustion.

Hours tick by.

A new sensation.

A sensation if small bites and something small, possibly multiple legged, is crawling all over your half naked body. In the dark your imagination runs wild at what this new torture could be.

Finally as the dark starts to fade with the prospect of a new day, the feeling of complete nothingness envelops your body and mind. Finally sleep comes gratefully into your open arms.

An hour or two go by in the black of unconsciousness.

But you slowly awake, bleary eyes open and you feel that suffocating presence yet again and it's getting worse every minute.

You feel that second sensation as well, the one that bites and your imagination thought was a many legged, menacing fanged thing. Well reality wasn't too far off. Hundreds, possibly even thousands of ants cover every space, your body, the blankets, the walls.

You fully awake and quickly gather your things, running away from the relentless ants and hopefully away from that endless suffocating heat.

Welcome to the desert.