going

tomorrow evening at 6pm i will be flying from edmonton to toronto to go to work at camp for the summer. however, i leave home at about 6am to get there. ugh!

i'm not sure when i'll next be able to update this... probably not for a week and a half, for at the most i only will have internet access on the weekends.

but, until then, take care, love life, enjoy the weather, blog lots, and i'll be around. email me at mikao@briercrest.com if you'd like, i'd love to hear from you and i may not get around to everyone's blogs every weekend. and i love real mail too, so that is a good idea. cool stuff. big packages. hint hint. ;)

in Him,
Michelle

last day

tomorrow i am flying to toronto... so today i must pack. ugh. i don't like packing, it's one of my least favourite things to do. i think though, that this is mostly because of the fact that i've lost my luggage about five times in the past. generally i like organizing, and packing is pretty much just organizing.

last night my parents freaked out watching the news because SARS just keeps getting worse and worse in toronto, and they think i'm going to get it. usually i do get pretty much everything that comes around though because i have a cruddy weakened immune system, but i think that if i stay out of hospitals in toronto i should be fine. my dad is still getting me a mask though. i still think it's so weird that there are so many big threat diseases in canada at the moment (SARS, mad cow, west nile). and, i've also noticed that since the whole mad cow discovery, mcdonald's has stopped running it's tv commercials about how proud it is to use alberta beef. hmm.....

my parents are leaving tomorrow for british columbia to go to my little sister's grad. she's getting her bachelor of science in wildlife biology. she's living in a tent this summer doing flicker research (they're a kind of bird) in the middle of no where getting paid big bucks.

but, i should probably go now and make some lunch. and then i should start packing.

ugh.

this is only a test

to see if this works.

yeah so

having a squashed toe is not a good thing to have when you go shoe shopping. but i did manage to find some shoes. not real runners, but the fake-i-just-look-athleticly-retroish kind. they're tan suede. with two darker chocolate brown stripes on the sides.

today

this morning, after a lovely sleep, blackey came for a morning snuggle and woke me up. he's a cat. the best cat actually. :)

then my old housemate rachel phoned and we had a lovely chat about hydro bills and such, and miscellaneous fun stuff as well, so that was nice. i hadn't talked to her in awhile.

then i got on the internet, checked my email (nothing but spam)... surfed around, read some blogs, etc. random.

now i'm going to go and have a shower and wake up, and then at one i'm going shopping with my Mom in attempt to find some new shoes. i have no runners. runners are essential for camp i think. well, actually, i know they're essential.

so, i'm off. have a super day everyone. ryan, i hope you're feeling better soon.

email

when my little sister was in grade two, she told our mom the reason she had nightmares was because we watched "Lassie" on tv but really it was because of French school and she didn't want to have to watch "Lassie" anymore

well, that wasn't very nice.

completion


i am finished my last assignment (a four page internet website for fake parents of my fake youth group promoting our September calendar and providing useful parents information). yahoopagebuilder never ceased to cause me problems, therefore, it kinda sucks.

see it here.

owie

i just came in after dropping a sheep fence on my big toe, trying to get a lost lamb out of the forest and back with his mom.

it's not looking so good. yeeech.

scary websites you wouldn't normally visit

i am attempting to finish up my last assignment... still. hey, i've told you before that i'm a procrastinator. actually, i think part of my problem is i can't resist signing in to msn messenger. and some people ignore the "busy" icon.

but anyways, i needed some cheesy information for parents to include in my newsletter, and in searching for such, i have come across what i'd like to call scary websites you wouldn't normally visit:

Parent Resources Hotline (check out the "Please check the box that best describes your situation.")

Help! I Have a Teenager! Video i especially like the picture on the video box, and hey, watching this video is like attending 8 parenting classes from the comfort of your own home!

CEDU High School, "CEDU is the original emotional growth boarding school, founded in 1967."

there's more, but i have to do my homework. i'm trying, trying, trying to get it done.


"Each child will be attired in the same functional, clothing as all of the other students."

wake up

this morning when i arose from slumbering, my room smelled lovely like the blossoming fragrance i smell each morning when i stay at my Gramma's house in summertime.

ahhhh.

blogger

is the reason my template has disappeared out of my template file because of dano? i wish blogger would tell us blogspotters exactly what it is doing.

thankfully, i saved a backup copy of my template just the other day before i added rss so if for some odd reason my template never returns i do have a copy available to me here.

random alphabet

a) i still like those "those puffy little pink marshmallow strawberries that you can get in the bulk food section at grocery stores everywhere" and always will.

b) some times i think it would be really really super cool just to take off for the weekend. but i probably won't for quite a few years...

c) i don't really like flying. actually, i pretty much don't like the act of travelling at all. being in motion blows cookies.

d) i've had my name mentioned on international radio. that's stinkin' cool.

e) i only ever went to one school dance. it was for jenny clace's thirteenth birthday party in grade 7. it was a valentine's day dance. my friends spiked my bangs (it was 1991). i wish now that i had a picture.

f) today was justin friesen's birthday. he's 25. he was "the guy" that carly spoke about about a month ago. well, he wasn't actually "the guy" she spoke about, he was my counterpart.

g) i like dictionaries. i like words. like fondue, my favourite word to say.

h) i have this bad habit of remembering dates. but not really important dates. may 28, 2002, the day i flew to ontario last year. february 9, 2001, a day i thought i fell in love. september 5, 1998, the day i started Bible college. august 21, 1997, the day i started art school. june 22, 1996, my high school graduation. june 24, 1993, the day my cat slinky died in grade 8. june 1, 1994, the day my friends jessica and keith got their driver's liscences in grade 10. august 12, 1993, the first time i flew in an airplane. october 13, 1988, the day i started at a new school in fifth grade. will this come in handy some day? i sure hope so.

i) bh90210 was a stinkin' good show. at the time. i think i'd probably laugh if i watched it again.

j) i like saskatoons. they're a kind of berry. a city in saskatchewan was also named after them.

k) i also like wheatfields. they're one of the things i miss most about my summers off of the prairies.

l) i love wool sweaters. i have at least 30 (i used to have more, but i gave a bunch away at the end of the school year). if you want to get me a good gift, get me a rockin' cool wool sweater from your nearest thrift store. no one ever has.

m) i cook a mean stirfry. it's delicious. trust me. everyone says so. well, maybe not everyone, but everyone who's ever eaten it.

n) i love sewing. it's seriously one of the world's best relaxers. i also like scrapbooking, even though it's geeky.

o) i think the internet was one of the world's greatest inventions. ten times better than the phone. but of course, we originally needed the phone to get the internet.

p) my older sister's name is pamela. she always went by "pam" until she went to college and requested that everyone call her "pamela". my family still calls her "pam."

q) when i was a kid, i always wanted to meet the queen (of england). i still think it would be pretty neat.

r) resplendent is another good word i'm especially fond of. i would like to be thought of as resplendent some day.

s) i like dressing up once in awhile, but i wouldn't want to do it every day. by "dressing up," i mean the whole nine yards... the prom dress, the hair, the sparkles. but just once in awhile.

t) tinkerbell.

u) burnt umber. i always liked the name of that colour.

v) i love watercolours. i love opening a paintbox and smelling all the fresh colours waiting to be unleashed.

w) i should get off the internet.

x) in second grade i spilt grape juice on our classroom carpet and the stain was still there three years later. i wonder if it still is.

y) i like quik mix in my milk. not the liquidy stuff though, just the powder. i can't find a link for it, otherwise i would link it.

z) zed. it's pronounced "zed." not "zee". and don't get mad at me for that, i'm not the one who makes up the truth.

:)

your daily dose

i submit the following for your entertainment:

that the mosquitoes are out. I'M GOING TO GET WEST NILE. and, oh yeah, have you been watching the news? yes, that's right, there's more SARS in ontario. i'm flying to toronto on thursday. I'M GOING TO GET SARS. and, oh yeah, the mad cow, it lived like an hour from my house. i just had steak for supper. I'M GOING TO GET MAD COW DISEASE.

thank you for your time.
the management

lost & found

i found this info that i had written for a profile on the internet sometime last year or the year before and found it surprising:

a little bit about me:
I like to question things and I like people who take the time to evaluate the norm and decide for themselves whether or not the norm is really right.

favourite things:
the prairies, painting, friends, clear summer nights, autumn breezes, wool sweaters, the wind, wheatfields, apple blossoms, sunsets, flip flops, unexpected surprises, being loved, and the grace of God.

hobbies and interests:
I love eating those puffy little pink marshmallow strawberries that you can get in the bulk food section at grocery stores everywhere.

favourite quote:
"For our God is a consuming fire." Hebrews 12:29

"The Lord your God is with thee, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." Zephanaiah 3:17

attempt

this afternoon i am attempting to complete my last and final homework assignment. i say attempting however, because things are not going so well.

the assignment is to design a 4-page newsletter or build a webpage for parents for our fake youth group (for a class called "Programming Strategies for Effective Youth and Family Ministry"), and i thought i'd go the extra step and do the webpage. but... like i said, things aren't going so well. i'm using geocities, and their pagebuilder, which i really have not used before, and it's causing a big headache, although it looks better i'm sure than if i attempted to do the html myself. much snazzier.

if i ever get done, i'll post the link.

i don't need this

her: so you had a crush on him?

michelle: for yeeeeaaaars

her: serious?

michelle: of course i'm serious... you think i'd make this up?

michelle: that's not even funny.

her: maybe :P

her: LOL

michelle: ha ha

her: that's cute, he's a total quality guy

michelle: well...

michelle: yes

michelle: but nothing ever happened...

her: LOL

her: but it could

her: ;)

real world
where did their ambition go?

so i have been noticing lately, amongst my friends who are recent college graduates, that when you graduate, it's common to panic. after the move back home to save money (or because of a lack there of), it's common to have no idea what you're going to do with the rest of your life. it's common to all of a sudden think "hey, i have no employable skills."

isn't this the same thing we went through when we graduated from high school? only, i guess there was one big difference after high school... you could just go to college or university or whatever. you didn't have to know what you wanted to do with the rest of your life... you could just go and study something. you weren't expected to go out and make money and make a living and all that stuff, really.

that lovely safety cushion of college, that lovely buffer that could last at least four years (or more even)... in actuality is supposed to educate you and give you employable skills and hopefully some sort of an idea of a job that you can do.

but there seems to be some sort of a paradigm shift going on... post-secondary education isn't what it used to be. the number one goal of students isn't to get career skills any more... we're just expected to go to college. you pretty much have to. it's expected. it's respected. it's just something you do. it's like getting a driver's liscence, you don't not get one... and so, the majority of this year's grade 12 graduates will toddle off to post-secondary education in the fall.

but what happens in a year or four years, when they graduate? panic. no idea. "hey, i have no employable skills."

don't leave your ambition at the doorway the day you enter college. keep it with you. duct tape it to your backpack and carry it with you everywhere. and if you did leave it at the doorway, go back and pick it up. scrape it from the ground. work at it and knead it with your hands. you're going to need it again, trust me. that job you wanted before you started college is still out there somewhere, waiting for you.

attached sentiment

you know that feeling, that one you get, when you finally finally finally know for sure when a crush is over?

yeah, me neither.

There's nothing but the rain
No footsteps on the ground
I'm listening but there's no sound

upped the antie

is that how you would spell antie in this case? or is it aunty? or perhaps anty, auntie, or even antee? or anti?

anyways, what this post is actually about is the fact that i just spent forty-five minutes upping my filters on my two briercrest email accounts so i hopefully get less junk mail in my inbox and more junk mail in my trash box this summer. well, i don't actually want more junk mail, but i think you know what i mean. i just want it to filter better. and i don't want my incoming emails to max out my email account when i can't check it every day this summer.

why do these people think that i am going to be enticed to open their junk mail anyways? yesterday i got one from "mom" with the subject line "re: what greg was talking to me about on the weekend." i don't know any greg. my mom uses her real name. i didn't send my mom an email to reply to with that subject line.

i also will never ever open an email with a subject line like "iseeihhtk0ppgd kjkj" or "whateradiuid lekrjekrj". i don't speak that e-language.

congratulations!

you got blogspot to load properly! blogger has been having too many problems lately. i'm looking forward to them fixing themselves. (crosses fingers)

blue ox

well, my assignments are mailed off, all i have left to do is finish the little website that goes along with it (a fake youth group's site for parent info). and then i'm done, finished for the school year. yippeee! no more homework until September.

so, what is new with me, you ask. well, besides homework, i've been doing a lot of lumberjacking. yes, you heard me, lumberjacking.

my parents are getting this new furnace thing sometime this summer for the winter, one that burns four foot logs. so, my dad has been cutting down the dead trees in our forest and me and him and my mom have been loading up all the logs onto the tractor's trailer. i'll be the next paul bunyan. or... maybe not.

i also went shopping the other day with my mom in Peace River, which is a lovely little town not too far from here. i got some new board shorts for the summer, as well as a cute pair of capris, black with this white japanese-y kind of bamboo and floral print. very mid-20ish kind of clothing. which is good, 'cause i pass for a high schooler all the time!

next thursday i'll be in edmonton at this time, flying to toronto... land of smog, SARS, west nile virus, etc. but there's no mad cow disease in ontario. there is, however, mad cow disease not too far from my house.

it occured to me

well, i've been online too much today for someone who's not supposed to be, for someone who has homework to do and weather to enjoy. what am i going to do at camp when i see a computer at most once a week? ugh. how am i going to survive?

hmm...i'm going outside to contemplate life without internet.

back to your regularly scheduled blogging

sorry for the lack of updates lately for all of my regular readers, i should be back to regular blogging by tomorrow.

tomorrow is the date by which i plan to be done all my homework, yippeee! no more assignments for the entire summer.

and i've been on various day trips today and yesterday so haven't been around much. but, yeah, tomorrow, tomorrow i'll be back.

june 10



preorder here

check out downhere

hey you

i'm curious as to who reads my blog.

anyone who reads this, would you be so kind as to humour me by commenting once to show me that you read it. If you don't want to put your name, you can put any name you want instead. If you think this is stupid, comment and tell me that it's stupid.

thank you.
the management

happy birthday!

happy birthday to you,
happy birthday to you,
happy birthday dear jenni,
happy birthday to you,

twenty-three years old,
twenty-three years old,
our little birthday girl is twenty-three years old,
growing like a tall tree,
eating lots of dirt,
our little birthday girl is twenty-three years old!

let me know

i keep having problems with the way the page is loading now... but it could just be my archaic version of explorer that is doing this. let me know if you have problems with it loading or not... thanks! :)

testing 1, 2, 3

now testing with RSS feed... WHERE DID MY COMMENTS GO????

to find out how to add RSS feed to your blog, go here. the blogmatrix link from there has info for users other than blogger users.

*update* after some sleuthing around of other enetation user blogs, i think just enetation is down and this rss business has nothing to do with it. i'm hoping. if it does turn out that rss is the culprit, then rss you are going to have to go.

for now, i'm going to go and wrangle up some lunch. i'll check on things later. for now, all you rss aggregators, eat your heart out. ;)

here goes

i am going to attempt to add an RSS feed or whatever it's called on my blog/to my blog (whatever the correct termage is) because blogs4God wants me to... and i think it's a good thing, and although i don't exactly understand it all, i know what it does.

so hopefully, my template will survive and won't go all haywire!

the summer job series, part 3

spring of 2000 i was really really hoping to get another camp job for the summer, but i was looking for a job at a Bible camp or some sort of a Christian camp. however, at the end of April, i went home from school still without a job, and found out not too long after getting home that i didn't get the job that i had applied for.

so, i really wasn't sure what i was going to do for the summer when me and my little sister found an add in the paper to work in the Yukon, so i called, and got the job. and so, may 15th i took the bus from Dawson Creek, BC to Teslin, Yukon, 19 hours, and arrived for a summer way way way up north.

Teslin is a town of 800 i was told, about two and a half hours east of the Yukon's capital city of Whitehorse. Whitehorse has 21000 people, the Yukon as a whole has 30000. the Yukon, in case you're not up on your geography, is the Canadian territory just east of Alaska.

i was working at a restaurant about ten kilometres west of Teslin (i.e. smack dab in the middle of nowhere) called Mukluk Annie's Salmon Bake. Now Mukluk Annie's is apparently home to the Yukon's best salmon, but i couldn't confirm or deny that having never eaten any salmon in the Yukon (hey, it was expensive, and i served it all summmer. the smell made me nauseous by the end of the summer!). i mostly waitressed, but also cleaned the grody bathrooms and the seven little guest cabins that they had as well.

now mukluk annie's of course specialized in salmon, but also had ribs and steak and hamburgers. the salmon, ribs, and steak all came with all-you-can-eat salad bar, baked beans, and rolls, as well as coffee or tea, and a brownie for dessert. the meat was all cooked inside the main restaurant part in front of the guests on a big open fire grill. so, all summer, i smelled like a bar-be-que (or "bar-be-cue" if you're andrew!).

i worked five days a week, usually from 6am-2pm, and had mondays and tuesdays off. i pretty much always waitressed from 7-9am (we had an all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet with buttermilk pancakes, sausage, bacon, scrambled eggs, and something else, which i forget at the moment!), then cleaned bathrooms and cabins (i was always the bathroom cleaner if i was working), then went back to waitressing usually once i was done cleaning, or else washed dishes. there were usually just two waitresses on a shift, but most often only one waitressed and the other washed dishes... greasy fish dishes.

there were nine summer staff, besides some of the boss' kids (who were 18+), we lived in a trailer and a log cabin. i lucked out and got to live in the trailer for which i was very greatful... the cabin people however preferred their cabin. they were stuck 4 to a bedroom, but they had a tv. i got my own room. after two weeks all of my original trailermates left, and then eventually i ended up living for the most part with two sixteen year old girls for the majority of the summer.

we were on the shores of Teslin Lake, which is a kilometre or two wide, by 80km long, quite beautiful, surrounded by mountains with lots of trees. our trailer and cabin were a fair ways away from the restaurant, and looked out onto the lake and had the Alaska Highway on the other side. the lake was too cold to swim in, but i did do a lot of rafting with one particular roommate i had over the summer which was a lot of fun. there was an island that was across from us that we used to go out to late at night (the sun didn't go down at all for awhile in the middle of the summer).

i got to go to Whitehorse several times, and even stayed overnight there once, so saw a lot of the touristy things and neat shops downtown, and outrageously priced restaurants. Whitehorse is a neat little city in a beautiful setting.

the advertisement advertised Mukluk Annie's as a Christian family run business, so i had been expecting to work with mostly Christians over the summer. All the trailermates i had had originally though left because they felt mislead by the advertisement and there was a whole big extravagant situation with that. so, in the end, there was me and one other guy who were believers, and it was hard to see him stumble. the three weeks after my first three trailermates left i lived by myself in the trailer, which was both good and bad at the same time. i did, however, get a ton of the Bible read which was cool!

i saw a lot of sex and drugs that summer, and the frailty of humanity. thankfully thankfully thankfully the peer pressure was not a problem for me and i did not feel the need to do any of those things.

i counted down the days until i could leave and go home for a week before going back to school that fall. august 21st i boarded a bus and was relieved to be out of a situation i didn't really like. i loved working as a waitress and serving people for the most part (well, there are a few funny stories i could still tell you about waitressing!), and the Yukon was beautiful... but it was tough to work with people whom i did not have much in common with and especially since i did not make any good friends that summer who stayed very long. there were a lot of "politics" to all the relationships, and everything had such drama.

what did i learn from that summer? well, life is hard. things won't always go like you want them to. but you will be rewarded in the end.

i was the only staff who consistently worked morning shifts, which i thought very cruddy at the time, but i was thus the only staff who also go my full eight hours in every day as the evening shift never went the whole eight hours. so, in the end, i got paid the most out of everyone, made a fairly good sum, and paid for a whole semester of college on my own, which i'd never been able to do before.

and now, whenever i'm in a crowd with only one or two people that i know, someone pretty much always brings up the fact that i once worked in the Yukon... which is always a humourous conversation starter! people are always interested in it.

back on the ranch

so i just got back in the house a little while ago after chasing stupid lambs around... one that got out into our yard, and another that got into the ram pen. and then of course, norah the donkey had to get where she wasn't supposed to be... and donkeys do happen to be a little stupid.

so i had a chuckler of a time, the rams are way better at hearding lambs than jenny (the dog) is.

general announcement

to all you google and yahoo searchers out there, you are not going to find any "hidden dorm cams" on here.

thank you.
the management

um...

there's snow outside.


um... i don't think you heard me. look at the date on the calendar, and then read the next sentence.


THERE'S SNOW OUTSIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

youth workers

i would like to add a section of blogging youth pastors, youth workers, volunteers with youth, etc. to my sidebar... do you know of anyone whom i should add? anyone who does youth ministry... and blogs about it is fair game.

thanks.

you'll remember me/you're holding on and won't let go


there are a couple of songs that i really like that i have no explanation for. i don't own them on any CD or mixed tape, i don't like anything else these singers sing, and they were never really very popular songs from my childhood or adolescence that i can remember.

one of them is "fields of gold," by sting, another is "steel bars" by bob dylan and michael bolton.

email

the following is an email i just sent to my good pal and ex-roommate from 2000-01 heather, who happens to be a fabulous girl, and whom i expect i will probably be spending a large majority of my weekends with this summer chuckling it up. i thought it was pretty funny. you, on the other hand, will probably think "gee... michelle is really stretching it for content if she's posting emails on here." but, keep your fingers crossed... installments 3-5 are still coming in the summer job series. not like anyone's holding their breath... but whatever. my summer jobs got more interesting and more fun. well, for the most part. 25 cool points for anyone who can guess where i was summer 2000.


"Heather...

I have a few things to say:

a) You need to check your email more often.

b) I thought you knew I was coming... but then again, I'm a terrible emailer... but, yeah, I'm coming to Ontario. Isn't that exciting?

c) My birthday is May 5th. That's weird my brother couldn't hear you when you called. You should phone again. :)

d) As if, Lizzy Maguire and From Justin to Kelly won't even be on video this summer. We can, however, go and see them in the theatre.

e) I'm not going to get West Nile this summer, am I?

f) Point "f" had to be deleted due to security reasons.

g) I saw a squirrel yesterday making a nest with stuffing from an old sleeping back that is for our dog to sleep in, and it was carrying it partially in it's mouth, and it kept smoothing it down and it looked just like a Santa Squirrel. My Mom is most distressed that I did not get a photograph of it.

h) What are you doing the first weekend in June? Like, I think it's the 6-8th or something like that. Like, I can't believe I just used "like" so many times.

i) Do you have a boyfriend? Or like someone an extreme amount? Because, I couldn't handle that. Like, it would be a good thing, but I couldn't handle it, too many of my friends have extreme likes or boyfriends. And I don't.

j)You get paid to email? All you kids and your office jobs! Why can't I get an office job? Why can't I make the big bucks? Oh yeah, it's because God wants me at camp. Then it can't be a bad thing I guess that I'm not making the big bucks.

k) Holly has promised a multitude of times to come and visit us this summer... so we have to hold her to that.

l) L is the twelfth letter of the alphabet.

m) M is the thirteenth. I always thought it was the best letter as well. You know, both "Michelle" and "May" start with "M."

n) I am really stretching here for more points...

o) I went to a conference once in Winnipeg and I was in break out group "O". Why do I remember this? Well, my theory is, one day, it will come in handy one day.

Yeah, so I can't really think of anything else to write... so that's it for this time. But I love ya and I am excited to see you again.

xoxo,
Michelle

to do

inspired by sara, i have compiled the following, a life's to do list of travelling, sightseeing, educational, and professional goals. it is by no means exhaustive. i still have more dreams. i still have more to add... i just have forgotten them at the moment, or haven't thought of them yet.

* see both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans
* go to Mexico
* get mentioned in a CD's liner notes
* work in the US
* visit Europe
* walk the streets of London
* write a book
* own a house
* finish my Bachelor of Arts degree
* finish my Master's degree
* Go to the Yukon
* Waitress
* Bus across America
* Go to New York City
* Go to New York City again
* See Chicago
* See the painting "Nighthawks"
* Touch a Monet
* See Paul Klee's "Twittering Machine"
* Tour Frank Lloyd Wright's house
* Go to art school
* Go to Briercrest Bible College
* Buy a car
* Exhibit in an art show
* Visit the Louvre
* Bicycle across Western Canada
* Work at a Bible college
* Do the graphic design for a yearbook
* Sing BGVs's for a CD
* Visit Seattle
* Visit California
* Honeymoon in Wisconsin
* Design and sew my wedding dress
* Do graphic design professionally
* Quit procrastinating
* Do youth ministry for a living
* Live in Illinois
* Learn to play the piano well
* Take photographs as a job
* Learn to play guitar
* Pay off my student loans
* Ride a grain train
* Not freak out in a parking garage
* Drive alone
* Drive somewhere more than a block alone
* Get paid for a piece of art
* Visit south-easter Ontario towns of my heritage
* Be a movie extra
* Get my own cat
* Fall in love
* Marry
* Fall more in love
* Raise a family

good work customers

so, if you're shopping at Gap for Seniors any time soon, you will no longer be able to buy some crappy magazines.

"Magazine Racks Purified
Because of customer complaints Wal-Mart announced plans to pull controversial men's magazines (Maxim, Stuff, FHM) from its shelves."
Check out http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=reutersEdge&storyID=2714761, or
http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=entertainmentNews&storyID=2694971, and
Time magazine.

yay for those walmart customers who complained.

the summer job series, part 2

Summer of 1999 I got a job working at Kippewa for Girls, a private girls camp located near Monmouth, Maine. I had never worked in the states before, so this was a pretty exciting experience for me at the time.

I took the bus to Maine, with another girl I met in Calgary (we had been given the names and contact information of all the staff previous to arriving at camp so we could make travel arrangements). Altogether, my trip lasted 101 hours... which I would not recommend any sane person do! I did have the wonderful experience of seeing Alberta, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine (and maybe a few other states, I've forgotten now) first hand... but it was a very long and tiring five days of travel. In Chicago my aunt met us at the bus depot, and during our five hour layover she took us home, let us shower, and fed us some delicious salmon burgers that I still remember today. I didn't know the girl that I travelled with previously, but we actually ended up spending the first month counselling together in cabin as well so that was nice. She was into Wicca, so that was interesting to learn about. She was a city girl though, so travelling through Chicago, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston's bus depots was not the hair-raising experience to her that it was to me.

There were 140 campers and 70 staff, with 35 staff from Canada, 9 from the USA, and the rest were all from overseas. If you know anything about New England childrens' camps, then you'll know there are literally hundreds of them, with a large majority of them recruiting cheap staff from overseas. It was neat to get to know people from all over the world, and for awhile, I did keep in touch with some of them. But I didn't really form any lasting friendships.

The camp offered it's campers all sorts of arts and crafts, horseback riding, tennis, water skiing, boating, sailing, canoeing, sports, drama, etc. etc. The campers were all very affluent and paid a bundle to be there! Some of the campers were of course snobby like you'd expect them to be, but some were lovely children, and some were very needy children. I remember finding out one of the campers I taught for a couple of weeks lived in a wing of her house with her nanny and only saw her parents usually on holidays.

My job turned out to be a cabin counsellor and arts and crafts instructor. Along with two other counsellors, I co-counselled in a cabin called Fox Haven, with eight campers. Campers were there for a month or two months straight, I had two different groups of four-week campers.

Every week I got to teach different arts and crafts, but usually I taught sewing and painting, and depending on the weekn, sometimes I also taught stained glass, beadwork, jewellry making, leatherwork, ceramics, pottery-making, and various paper and kids' crafts. Arts and crafts counsellors got to use pretty much whatever they wanted for crafts supplies, so I did a few paintings that summer that I still love, and also got to explore the medium of stained glass.

The campers at this camp were primarily Jewish, but not religious Jewish... so that was an interesting experience. Some of my cabin campers were very curious about the Bible and Christianity, so that was neat. Sometimes, I still get an email from a couple of them every once in awhile.

The camp grounds were beautiful, on a big lake, with 20 something cabins, all different. I had hoped to be in one with a porch or fireplace, but instead I ended up with one of the larger cabins with no porch or fireplace, but that turned out to be okay. All of the cabins had their own bathrooms which was nice... a luxury I recommend all camps invest in! ;)

We all had one day a week off, mine was Sundays. I didn't really know any of the other counsellors with Sundays off, except for one, and she left after a couple of weeks. While it was custom to rent or borrow a car for your day off and go to Freeport to go shopping, I usually ended up spending a solitary day off exploring the local Maine countryside by bicycle. I had a lot of fun visiting little antique shops and taking photos of the architechture and nature around the area. There was a lovely little cemetery just down the road from the camp that I liked to explore... there were a lot of neat gravestones, very different from any I had ever seen before, all with interesting sayings on them.

This I took at the shore of the lake at the camp.


I got to see the Atlantic Ocean twice that summer, and the first time was also exactly four years from the date that I saw the Pacific Ocean, so I thought that was kind of neat.

This picture is from one of our day trips to the ocean. I love this photo.

The way home I travelled myself, except for the first leg of the trip from Augusta, Maine, to New York City, which I went with a Polish girl. Once we arrived in New York, we found out that the bus I was to take didn't really exist... but that is another story that thankfully I'm still alive to tell.

What did I learn that summer? Well, it was my first summer away from home, and I was very far from home, the farthest I had ever been. I think I learned more independence, and that friendship is a very valuable thing. I also learned some of the value of prayer, the value of a living faith, and the value of reliance on God to get you through what you never imagined you would experience.

back to the books

sure, it's technically my summer break. but i still have an assignment to finish.

whoever heard of homework over summer break anyways?

oh right. it's my fault. i didn't finish it before leaving school at the end of april.

rats.

the summer job series, part 1

people always say i end up with interesting summer jobs.

my first summer job ever was working at a camp in northern alberta for two weeks as the "craft co-ordinator". it was a rather small camp, with i think maybe 20 campers at the most.

the only running water was in the kitchen shack... and so we "showered" in the creek that went by the camp, and there were a couple of outhouses out back. there were two cabins, one for girls and one for boys. i never went in the boys cabin, but the girls cabin was a huge log building with about thirty single beds with no mattresses (and no one of course had told me this previously to coming to camp, so i didn't have a mattress). there were three "junior counsellors", who all happened to be 14 year old girls. the campers were ages 10-13. there weren't any female senior counsellors.

once i arrived at camp, i had the job of spontaeously planning all the crafts using a big box of miscellaneous crud that they had... we made some interesting mud flags that i found in an ideas book. not one of those camp crafts you cherish!

there really wasn't anything else interesting about this job really. but it was my first summer job, and so it starts the series.

yeah

so i get on msn in the morning... and i end up talking to people, and i don't get any blogging done.

but, i do think my comments are working now.

bored dawg?

so, my sidebar has been growing lately, most specifically with entries for the bored? category of random odd web-stuff. so if you're bored, i have tons for you to do! some of them are way cool, and some of them are a little odd. but, hey, it's my blog. :) and hey, if you have any suggestions for more bored links, that's what the comments are for. chuckle chuckle.

so, i have decided lately that i actually kind of like my dog. she's pretty nice, very well behaved. we've had her for... hmm... probably about eight years. since being home, i've taken her for walks to the pond pretty much every day (and she doesn't require a leash, so that is doubley-nice). today though, we went to the pond and then out in the pasture, which is fairly big. halfway back, she decided we needed to plop down, so i sat down beside her, and then she decided it was time for a dog snuggle. now, for sure, i'm not a big dog snuggler. dog's usually have that... um... that dog smell. you know what i mean... grody dog smell. but, jenny actually doesn't smell very dog-ish. that's good. and now that she's decided we're best friends, i am very glad she doesn't smell.

but i just have one question: now that i've decided i actually like my dog, do i have to start liking other peoples' dogs? because that might just be asking too much of me.

Won't you take me by the hand
take me somewhere new
- Avril Lavigne, "I'm With You"

spam/time

i have this little game i play with myself... to see if i can correctly guess how many emails are in my inbox. and, usually, i'm right on the button.

18. since last night.

usually, i can do the same thing with time in the middle of the night... guess right on, or within three minutes.

is this normal? will this one day come in handy for me? should i be including this info on my resume?

idea

so, i am really interested in seeing how this whole blogging world is evolving and changing. sites like who links who and technorati entrall me, because they show how very much ingrained upon ourselves we are... especially as Christians.

we link within our own distinct group... but how often do we venture outside of this group? why do we just create community with ourselves, with our little body of Christ here on the internet?

i did a project this past school year about adolescent webloggers, profiling it as a subculture, etc. part of this project involved a ministry plan for the subculture group.

my paper reasoned that pretty much any online Christian could get involved in ministering to adolescent webloggers... think about it with me for a moment:

blogging is becoming a huge phenomenon, it's getting bigger... more people are starting to blog and discovering blogging every day.

thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of kids, are online every day, writing in their blogs, online journals, diaries, etc...

this adolescents are easy to find online... just do a websearch, check out any blog service provider's recently updated list, etc. etc...

like most (if not all) adolescents, these kids want people to invest in them. they love it when people older than them take the time to become involved in their lives.

some of these kids are Christian, many of them are not.

some of them don't know any one with whom they can dialog with on issues of faith... or life, or whatever.

**

is taking the time to get involved in this something that interests you? do you think that this is something that Christians should even, in fact, be attempting to do? do you do this already? or is it something that doesn't interest you at all? have you thought about it before? do you know someone else who does this?

do you attempt for your own personal blog to be a ministry? why or why not?

i'm interested in your thoughts on this issue (either post comments, or feel free to email me at mikao@briercrest.com if you'd like), i would love to hear what you have to say. and, if you decide to venture out into this type of ministry (is that a proper use of the word even?), whether it be with adolescents or simply with non-Christians of any age, i would love to hear how it goes.

i'm not sure how much blogging i'll be able to do after the end of this month, being at camp i will only have internet access at the most perhaps on some weekends. but this fall, i'll be starting to write my MRRP (ministry related research project, like a thesis, but shorter), and i would like to do something on this topic.

many thanks in advance for your thoughts, i look forward to reading them. :)

ministry?

i've often wondered if i should be blogging more about youth ministry... being in seminary, attempting to complete my master of arts in youth ministry... and some day planning on doing it for a living (maybe?).

but this past year, i always thought, hey, i'm not really doing much ministry. nothing concrete anyways. i'm not working with any youth group.

sure, i hung out with college kids all day long all year. but i'm 25... can i call that ministry?

sure, i intentionally read adolescent kids' blogs, left them comments, interacted with them... but can i call that ministry?

sure, i got to know a lot of people online... but can i call that ministry?

i think a lot of times we underestimate ourselves until God reminds us that we are making a difference... and often that can come through the person telling us so.

thank you Father, for letting me be a part of Your work.

reminder

tomorrow is Mother's Day. don't forget to tell your mother how great she is.

yesterday for lunch, my mom had a wienie roast with me and my brother in the forest by our house. blackey also came, but he just had a bun, he prefers carbs to processed meat products... even when i informed him that our hot dogs contained not only beef, pork, and chicken, but turkey as well! four meats in one hot dog, how can you go wrong with that?

but, you should probably keep in mind, blackey is also the cat whose favourite foods are mcdonald's french fries and pizza crust.

emergence

There are pussy willows outside my window. This is a good thing. There are still no buds on the trees or any sort of leaves in sight, but the grass might be getting green. Or I could be just hoping too badly for any sense of spring.

conversation

Did I tell you yet why I think you are amazing?

I think you are amazing because you have such a wonderful ability to see something and go after it

I admire that in you and wish I had more of that "gusto"

i forgot

i forgot that i got a polaroid joy cam for grad from my friend joanne. i am pumped to use it. i just need to get some film for it. do you call it film when it's for a polaroid?

now i just need a scanner of my own. i'd love to be able to post my pictures more regularly.

but for now, if you never have before, check out some of my photography links on the side bar. let me know what you think. which ones do you like?

: )

dano

i'm wondering if it's this whole new blogger thing that makes my page load funny and the sidebar disappear today. i didn't change the template at all today... so it can't be that. i'm wondering if we're all going to have to change our templates because of dano.

reciprocated love

i have been noticing lately that my blogroll is getting longer... so long in fact that i no longer get to all the blogs i want to read in a day.... grr.

but, it always means so much to me when someone takes the time to invest in my life. and so, without further adieu, i would like to highlight my reciprocated links in alphabetical order... because you all don't know everyone else and because i love you all and if you make a new blog friend, hey, that's cool. :)

carly bishop is a lovely seattle girl i met through comments she left at jason killingsworth's site, both being fans of good writing. carly herself is a great writer, and i love to visit her site for great stories, much humour, and seeing the love that she has for others. i love talking to carly on msn, she always has something interesting to say. i learn a lot from this girl.

richard bott, a United Church of Canada minister in Ontario. richard, i think, is one of the first people who found my site first and linked me up, which was cool. i like to visit looking back... looking forward because he has some interesting thoughts and opinions, and there are often good discussions going on over there.

andrew careaga is the author of a few good books on internet ministry, surf on over to bloggedy blog and check them out. he's often discussing interesting topics over there in relation to this thing we call Christianity, as well as ministry and other assorted stuff. i learn a lot from this blog.

cc somehow found me here in internet land and linked me up from the other side of the world. working in a hospital, cc's site is an interesting read that i love to check out.

sarah drake's site is one i found very early on off of blogger's most recently updated list. i don't visit it as often as i used to, but i like to read of sarah's adventures into learning to teach.

ian dunn found me through kathleen's site, and surfs in regularly from ohio. ian's love for his church is evident in his site and is often a good read. good humour too.

jennifer dungca i found recently following links from blog to blog... and i love her site. she's getting ready to go do missions in spain, so also check out her new site as she prepares. jenn has some really awesome posts and i love stopping by her site.

kathleen haggerty's was the first blog i ever read, way back last may sometime. kathleen is a lovely girl from boston who's in the midst of getting ready for one very important day, so she doesn't post on a regular basis, but she has some very good content, go and check it out, i particularly like this post.

sarah hedges is a lovely woman of God whom i found in my surfing off from tim's site. i love reading sarah's eloquent thoughts, and her archives have some great gems in them.

tim kang was one of the first Christian bloggers that i found, i surfed in off of blogger's most recently updated. tim's site is one where he deals with the tough issues, the rough issues, and it's interesting to see him grow through his blog.

jen kibler-mccabe i have known for ten years now (wow, has it really been that long jenni?), she sent me a postcard way back in 1993 and we corresponded by mail, later by email, and now we're both blogging. she's the reason i know (some) html, the reason why i had my first webpage! jenni's page is a great adventure of topics, from cats to Christianity to being married to her journey to seminary.

i can't remember exactly how i found sara kruszka's page originally, but this michigan girl has a lovely little blog. i love reading about this journey in life that she's taking.

travis mielonen found me off of carly's blog i think, he's another seattle-ite. not afraid to tackle the big topics, travis' blog is a great read. and, he's getting ready for missions in poland soon so it is interesting to read as he gets ready.

michael morgan has a great blog with a wide variety of topics, from work to witnessing to sites of the week. michael's exuberance for seeing others come to Christ is most evident.

rachel is someone who found me here in internet land and visits often (i love your comments rachel!). it's always interesting talking to rachel on msn messenger when it's actually the next day in new zealand... :)

julie row is a california college student getting ready to graduate... interesting read. i think she stops by here often too. :)

sonafid is also a fairly recent addition to my blogroll, i found her during some random surfing from blog to blog. i love reading about her end-of-college and art show adventures, and i look forward to seeing what is in store for her as she moves into the working world... i'll soon be doing the same thing. :)

ryan wiedmaier is the last of the seattle-ites, who also found me off of carly's site. ryan's a great man of God who's been away at Bible college and now is just home for the summer. i look forward to seeing what God has up his sleeve for ryan these next few months. his blog is a great adventuresome read, and he takes the time to invest in people.

wow! that took a lot longer than i thought it would! but, yeah, thanks guys. follow some links. meet some new people. : )

may 13 (dare you to move)

i've been listening to a lot of avril lavigne on my brother's computer. not bad. not that i'd go out and buy it, but it's not bad. a few good lyrics.

and i pretty much never listen to "secular" music. this year i've branched out. first, john mayer. now avril. what's next?

I don't know how to feel,
tomorrow, tomorrow,
I don't know what to say,
tomorrow, tomorrow
Is a different day

It's always been up to you,
It's turning around,
It's up to me,
I'm gonna do what I have to do,
just do

Gimme a lil time,
Leave me alone a little while,
Maybe it's not too late,
not today, today, today, today, today...
- Avril Lavigne, "Tomorrow"

phewffda

well, i finished my papers for Screening Scripture: The Bible in Film, Video, and Television and "xpress-posted" them today... so that's one more class over and done with. this fall i have four courses left to do, the required Spiritual Formation for Ministry, and my MRRP (ministry related research project), and then i have two more that i can pick whatever i want to take. i've been thinking about maybe taking introductory Greek... but i'm not too sure about this one. when i started Bible college, i had no desire to study languages. but now that i just have one semester of seminary left, i'm thinking i might want to take some Greek. but, Greek is a semester long class (all the rest are pretty much one week of 9-5 monday to friday) so i'd have it twice a week i think, i'm not too sure about that. and, Greek would be a lot of work.

so, the jury's still out on what i'll be taking this fall. i still have some time to decide, but i want to get my confirmation fees sent in soon before all the good classes are taken.

this afternoon i went to town with my mom to the laundromat of all places for an exciting time of doing laundry. now, i actually like doing laundry (i've never met anyone else who does, so if you do, let me know, i'm starting a club!), but doing laundry in a laundromat isn't exactly what i'd call a good laundry time. hopefully by the weekend we'll have our water system all back to normal so we won't be making any more trips in to the scary laundromat. :)

guess what i got in the mail yesterday? a cheque for pretty much the same amount that my plane ticket to Ontario cost... so that was pretty cool. yay for God the provider. it was actually my GST rebate from my taxes from 2001... nice to get it in a big lump sum instead of stretched out over the year in four payments. lately i have been blessed with a lot of cheques coming my way... a (small) bursary for volunteering on yearbook all year, a bursary from a church i went to four years ago when i was going to college in Ontario, my tax refund from this year, and Canada pension overpayment from my taxes for two years. all these cheques add up... which is a super duper thing, because i won't be making all that much money working at camp this summer. but, God is a provider when we let Him be. i am hoping that this fall i won't have to take out any more student loans, but i don't know yet if that will be possible, it's not looking like it at the moment. if there is anyone out there perchance, somewhere in internet-land, who would like to contribute to the education of a youth ministry student who's trying to keep her debt down... let me know. ;)

so, yeah... i think that that is enough random thoughts for this post. thanks for reading.

anything but ordinary

Is it enough to love,
is it enough to breathe?
Somebody rip my heart out
- Avril Lavigne

utterly profound

i feel as though i should be writing something interesting here. something deep and meaningful. more of my deep probing thoughts. stuff i'm feeling. stuff i'm learning.

but, i'm just so very.... blah.

and being at home, my internet time is limited. i can't just go on for awhile and write to my heart's content and write whatever and find what i want to find on here. i get interupted a lot. everyone wants to know what i'm doing. and my brother always wants the computer.

so... you get this. instead of something deep and eloquent and magnificent.

but believe me, somewhere, deep down inside, that stuff exists and wants to get out.

lyric

i love music. and i love great lyrics. i have not heard this song, but i like the lyrics, so here they are:

springtime indiana
you are sleeping by my side
here across the miles we ramble
past where the road divides
i wish i could tell you…but i just can’t find the words

i’ve never been good with my thoughts
and even worse with my words
but you read like familiar poetry
that i have never heard
i wish i could tell you…but i just can’t find the words

so let’s move across the ocean
and pitch the tent stakes wide
you be the one to come after me
and i will be your bride
i wish i could tell you…but i just can’t find the words

i am all at once courageous
i am all at once afraid
it came over me like nightfall
like a freight train
i can’t seem to hold it in
but i can’t seem to run away

you came in without notice
and settled all around my heart
took up residence in all the places
that were vacant and dark
i wish i could tell you…but i just can’t find the words

springtime indiana
you are starting to wake
and i am laden with the thoughts
of everything i mean to say
i wish I could tell you...but I just can’t find the words
- Sandra McCracken, "Springtime Indiana"

my birthday

thanks to everyone who sent their birthday greetings to me, i appreciate it!

it is so wonderful to have such friends all over the world. :)

assignment

this is what i'm working on:

"Select a specific ministerial situation (geared to adult, youth or children) and develop a learning program built around Bible in film. Descrive the program, identify your audience, state your learning objectives for the participants, select the films to be used, the rationale for your choices and how you will specifically proceed with each film, i.e. input from teacher (facilitator), follow up activities, other appropriate strategies. 2000-2500 words. (worth 35% of final mark)."

but the internet is a wonderful procrastination tool!

lightly falling

there is a lovely light wet snow light falling, so i went out and took a couple of pictures of jenny frolicking in the lane. jenny, of course, is our border collie dog.

my brother is barbequing (is that how you spell that?) steak for me and him and my dad for supper. my mom is working tonight.

and that is all i have to say.

"might be a quarterlife crisis..."

when my mother was giving birth to me, i think that she probably had no idea that today, twenty-five years later, that it would be a snowy day!

i don't feel this old. am i really? ;)

my twenty-fourth was a great year full of many good times, hard times, learning, living, loving, and unexpected happenings. here's to a great twenty-fifth.

spelling bee

i have decided, definitely, today, that i much prefer living on my own to living at home. It's spelled this way: F-R-E-E-D-O-M.

JOANNE!

sometimes... sometimes... you frustrate me.

and, even if you don't believe me, that's not why i think you should go to maranatha. seriously. i may be a dork the large majority of the time, but that's not why i think you should go to maranatha.

but i'm not going to talk about it on here... because that would be dumb... and my brother reads this.

tomorrow wrote

i've been busy online trying to find a cheap flight to toronto for the 29th of may. the flight i had found a couple of weeks ago is now gone, but i found one for about $25 more that should work.

phewffda.

hopefully someone at camp can pick me up at 11:45pm when my flight gets in.

welcome back kotter winter

when i came back home, there were of course no leaves or buds on the trees, and no green-ness of any kind in site (way up here at 55° 44' N 117° 1' W, 400km northwest of edmonton). i always get two springs when i come home... having experienced spring already in southern saskatchewan, coming home i get a second spring.

but this year, i get four. first, in saskatchewan, all the snow melted and it was lovely at the beginning of april. then, we got a big snowstorm, and it was winter again for a week. then, spring came again.

then, i came home. it was lovely and warm two days ago.

then, i got up this morning, and their was six inches of snow on the ground and everything in sight!

i can not remember ever having snow on my actual birthday, or in may for that matter. i'm hoping the snow is all gone by monday.

i mean, i like snow, i'm just ready for nice weather. again. nice weather that stays for awhile.

welcome to may

jay carlson has the new issue up over at the plug.

i love the beginning of a fresh new month.