Suddenly I Feel Grown Up

The last seven days have been exceedingly interesting ones. There have been large decisions that I have made that will affect what's going to happen over the next weeks, months, maybe even years of my life. They come in two varieties.

The first is work related. I've been working at CBC as the "Parking Attendant", meaning that two or three times a week I check the Visitor parking lot to make sure students aren't parking there. Technically, there's a bit more to the process, but that's essentially it. It amounts to 1-1.5 hours of work per week, at minimum wage. Alright! That's a potential earning of $32 a month! Anyways, I could find a way to make more work for myself there, but I don't see the point and simply don't have the motivation.

Closer to the beginning of the year I was hanging out with some new friends. One of them, Ashley Harrison, picked up on the fact that I was pseudo looking for work. She told me to apply at one of her places of business, Linens and Things. I told her to get me an application. I figured I would throw a resume at them, more for entertainment purposes than actually desiring to work with a bunch of middle-aged women folding sheets. On Wednesday Ashley finally got around to getting me an application. I had some time, so I filled it out, whipped off a resume and went to hand it in. I gave it to one of their managers there, Ed. I was expecting him to take my application and then tell me that they'd call if they were interested. Instead, he told me to come in the next day for an interview with their Human Resource manager, Bob. Ed and Bob. Great manager names.

So Thursday I went in for an interview. This guy wasn't even aware of the fact that there was going to be an interview. He was confused. He then couldn't find my resume, and had to ask a bunch of people where Ed might've put it, found Ed, found the resume, the interview began. I was thinking "gong show" in my head the whole time. Clearly this guy wasn't in a hiring mood. Then the interview began. Quite frankly, the guy was all over me. Not sexually, as one person suggested when I mentioned such, but he sure wanted me to work there. They needed "more men" (not to be sexiest, he said, "but, yeah...") to work at Linens and Things, specifically in the back unloading trucks, playing with boxes, climbing stuff, moving stuff, etc. The general "be-a-man-in-a-woman's-store" type-biz. He kept describing how great a workplace it was, how fun it was to work there, and the great people that work there. Then he said if I liked how it sounded, the job was mine. So I took it.

I start Tuesday. I work at "Linens & Things". I am such a man.

In other news, last Saturday I spent the day with a girl. Her name is Lori. She's a first-year (yeah yeah, boo me all you want, she's 21. A year OLDER than me!) at CBC, in the OL program. I told her I liked her. She told me she liked me. It was awesome.

So yeah. Stuff's happening, and it's neat, and exciting, and now I have to be old and repsonsible and like, do stuff right. Properly. It's weird. I like it.

Whee! /schoolgirl

Another Checkbox Marked Off

The other night I had a great idea. It was rainy and gross outside, about 8 or 9 in the evening, and I wanted to go puddle jumping. My roommate Ben was quickly behind the idea, and our friend Lori was eventually convinced. Her brother was visiting for the weekend (sweetest kid EVER) and he decided to come along as well. So we got changed into our trashy clothes and ran around in the rain, dancing in puddles and kicking water at each other. We found a grassy section of puddles, and proceeded to dive headfirst into them, splashing and sliding for many meters of goodness glory. We also wrestled on the field, trying to get as many grass stains as possible. I was hoping for blood, but alas, we failed.

We also ran to the nearby library, where they have more grass (glee!) as well as a fountain of sweet goodness. We engaged in such bleached, chlorinated water, completely soaking our fully clothed bodies in it's sickeningly cold goodness. It was awesome.

We then stood around and tried to pee ourselves. Lori did first, for which I am still jealous. I, however, peed the most, making it so that it could be visibly seen dripping from my pant leg into my shoe.

Checkmark.

Checkmark That Off My List

I have a theory. I believe that every man needs to do a certain number of things before he dies. If he dies without doing such things, he has not lived a full life. Some of these things are normative, like having sex and peeing off a cliff. Others are.. interesting. Like shaving certain segments of body hair, or running naked through a field being chased by your choice of farm animal.

I completed one of the things that I've always wanted to do before I die last weekend. I hit on a girl in a bar.

And now we might go salsa dancing. Her name is Carolyn, and damn was she fine.

Blog of the Month

What a great thanksgiving.

I had three thanksgiving dinners. One with my immediate family, one with the extended family, and one with a prof's family and some random friends from CBC. The first one, with my immediate family, was kind of rushed. I had to leave after dinner to attend a birthday party (which was also awesome, but I'll get there). I got there around 5, and the whole apartment was SO warm. It was already a warm day, so add to that a few hours of a turkey in the oven and you've got one HOT apartment. The day was just beginning to cool off, so I went out onto the porch to get some fresh air. As soon as I began to walk back towards the sliding door opening, I could feel a heat wave rushing out into the darkening night. It was intense. This was Laura (my sister's) first thanksgiving meal that SHE had cooked, so it was an epic milestone. It tasted just fine. And by fine I mean damn tasty. We also had wine with our meal, which is a rarity around my family. I ended up mixing it with this sweet fruit punch stuff and then it was REALLY tasty and even my mom liked it.

The second thanksgiving was our classic Klassen-family meal. This meant we all gathered at my Oma's apartment (tiny place). We waited for everyone to show up, and 5 minutes before they're supposed to arrive my Oma would start pacing and muttering how they're late and she hopes they remembered and are alive. Eventually everyone would show up (gasp.) and the feasting would begin. We'd sit around a table with far too much food on it, and we'd sit there until it was all gone. We'd all take the first portion, and then seconds and more until the bowls and plates were empty. We'd clap and cheer as we finished off one bowl, only to see my Oma go into the kitchen and refill it. There's always too much food at my Oma's place. Eventually we'd all be groaning in pain, and that's when the desert comes out. Then we sit there and eat that until we feel sickeningly full. Then we eat more. This year we had a lot of red, potentially stain-worthy edible products. Blueberry juice, cranberry juice, cranberries, and the salad had a red dressing on it. In the end, the salad was the worst because the dressing would spritz off the crunching lettuce onto the white tablecloth, and to the detriment of my cousin, her pants.

The third thanksgiving was at Gareth Brandt's house - a prof from CBC. Apparently he had made an open invitation to Thanksgiving at his house in one of his classes and my roommate had quickly accepted. Upon hearing such news, I decided to tag along for the fun and free food. It was a classic American-esque thanksgiving. We hung out with his family for a few hours in the afternoon before the eating began. We played football in the nearby field before the meal, as well as grounders on the playground. I ended up breaking skin on my left elbow, which allowed blood to be spilled before the food was even in sight. It was awesome. The food was excellent, the pie afterwards was splendid, and we hiked up their mountain after we were stuffed. After that we roasted some marshmallows in their backyard and laughed as Lori (1st year OL) reenacted Jim Carrey lines for our amusement. It was awesome.

Perogies are ready. A blog for the birthday party will later ensue.