update

It's been pointed out to me that it's been eight days since the last update. Well, I say bugger to that person. It's been a very busy past week.

Here's the week in review:

1. Work: I've been working. A lot. Because my hours revolve between 4 and midnight, I really have no time to spend with any of my friends or do any of my homework that I've wanted to do and almost need to do before I return to the wonderful place called Kitchener. Work's been ok. I've had good days and bad days. One night I hated everyone that called in and didn't want to be there at all. I did 739 calls that night. The next night, I decided that I didn't want to do that again. So I talked to God and asked for some grace. It came in abundance and I took 814 calls even though I slowed my talking down a bit. Callers seem to be affected by what day it is. Christmas day, there were a lot of nice people who were trying to find people with their last name only. They were very forgiving when it wasn't there because they were just shooting in the dark. Boxing day was the bad day. The calls were horrible and the people were very irritable. Reasoning: Dealing with boxing day sales was probably very hard and annoying for them. They then took their frustrations out on me and the other agents. The next day, the callers were nice and it slowed down a bit near the end of the night: reasoning - travelling home and tiredness in the post-christmas rush. This is by no means a scientific statistic. It's just a possible observation that could be true or could not be at the same time. You never know. Anyways, I have 2 more shifts and then I'm done again til I have no clue. I'm very confident that they'll have me back if I want to go back again. We'll see. I don't know if I can handle being there long term. Possible a short term in between school and my next job.

2. Christmas: It was a good day, I think. I didn't get anything on my list [except for tuition and socks], but that's ok. I didn't expect anything on there anyways. Went to church and then we went to my grandparents place for Brunch and the afternoon. But then I had to go to work. So I did.

3. Toronto: Gord and I went to Toronto for two days because I had Wednesday and Thursday off this week. Nordia offered me work on both days but I declined because I needed a break. And so, we departed Corunna around 8 on Wednesday morning to head to Toronto. In Woodstock, we stopped to get a drink at the rest station, and within a few minutes of leaving, I opened my hot chocolate and Gord hit a bump. All over my moonbeam [whitish] sweater. Ah well. It came off mostly in the Mississagua service station, but there's still a small stain.

We departed Mississagua and stopped by Vaughan Mills for a few minutes just so I could take a look in the Bass Pro Shop. That's a huge store. I didn't get anything there, but it's still very overly themed. Everything in the store gives the feeling of it being outdoorsy. After leaving Vaughan, we went to the Ontario Science Centre. We were expecting it to be a bit busy, but not to the extent that we found it. We were lined up onto the street to get into the parking lot. When we finally got in, we parked along the curb in the driveway of the parking lot at the furthest point away from the centre that you could possibly get. When we got to the doors of the centre, the attendant told us to go to the Group entrance in order to get a lineup shorter than 2 hours. So we did. We were lined up out the doors. It had looked at this point that they stopped allowing cars into the parking lot. It took 55 minutes for us to get our tickets. We were somewhat scared of what we would be seeing on the inside, but there is a LOT of space for people to spread out on the inside of the centre. It'll always be a fun place to go, but not nearly as fun as it was years ago when I was younger [and shorter]. The Truth exhibit was one of the most interesting that I saw there. To get into it, you had to go through a 'sorting' process. It was random, but still very interesting. And out of 83,701 people, there were only 7 with the same traits as me [hair colour, eye colour, fingerprint pattern, smell receptors, gender, tongue rolling, hand holding, and something else...] If it weren't so busy, we would have been able to enjoy the exhibits a bit more, but no matter where you looked, there were 25 people in line ahead of you.

Alos, there's the Body World's exhibit on display at the centre for a few months. It's an exhibit of 2,000 pieces of people who have donated their bodies to science in order to be plastinated and put on display. It was a very unique exhibit. It's hard to realize that they were actual human bodies that had died and were put on display for exhibit after being cut up. I think the most disturbing one was the pregnancy exhibit that had a woman in her 5th month of pregnancy with the fetus still inside... The coolest was the camel... but it was still something that I'd suggest seeing, though there are ethical implications behind it. I didn't really like some of the quotes that were around. They had Psalm 8 on display ["what is man that you are mindful of him; the son of man that you care for him"] which was cool, but some other things too. It's worth discussion and thought, I'd say.

After leaving the science centre around 6:00, we traversed to the hotel [Holiday Inn Markham]. It was a nice hotel. A really nice pool in comparison to some of the other places that I've stayed in. Somewhat expensive, but that's ok. For dinner that night, we went to East Side Marios. We walked in the door and there was no one there to greet us. And so, we waited. Two employees walked right by us, but glared at us and said nothing to us. After about 5 minutes, the bartender finally came out and just glared at us, told us to come and took us to our table. We figured out what we wanted within 3 minutes, waited another 3 minutes, and no one had come by to even get our drink orders, and so we left feeling very ignored, and it wasn't even that busy. Then we went to Montana's across the driveway. It was busy and within 30 seconds of walking in, the person looked up from the people she was talking to, asked us how many people, and told us it would be about 30 minutes. We said ok and that we would go somewhere else. But at least they acknowledged us. We ended up at a Swiss Chalet and had ordered and had our meals within 12 minutes of arrival.

The sleep was ok... but I was up and down about 5 times during the night because of the ice machine across the hall and being too hot or too cold. Ah well. We left the hotel around 8:30, stopped by a Timmy's for breakfast and then went to the TigerDirect store in Markham. I was glad I didn't have money... I would have bought quite a bit. They didn't have the memory Gord wanted, so he went to the parking lot, pulled out his laptop and cell wireless card and ordered it online. Funny.

Anyways, we went to Yorkdale to park for the day and then hopped on the subway to go to the ROM. Another place that didn't really interest me as much as it would have when I was a wee lad. The Dinosaur exhibit was under construction, which made me a bit upset. But they had just opened up a few new galleries a few days before we got there. It was ok, but not quite there. After the ROM, we hopped onto the subway to go to the Eaton Centre to have lunch. I also got a few books by CS Lewis at Indigo. We then went by Subway to St. Andrew station and walked through the PATH closer to MEC. I didn't get anything at MEC, but it was still good to try on a backpack and see the hammock that I'm going to get when I graduate. I'll be outfitting myself for hiking this summer sometime. It'll also be nice to have a backpack that I can use when travlelling rather than having to carry around multiple bags like we did in Europe.

Then we left and came home.

It was a good two days, but very expensive. Not something I'll do again for a while, but still enjoyable.

There's your update. I'm back to School on Sunday. Whether or not I get any work done between now and then is another matter, but we shall see. I work 4-12 tonight and tomorrow night. The joys, really... I think I'll try and get one paper out of the way this afternoon so I can focus on another one when I return to KW.

Out.

T.

the great sock debate

They were both the same colour and approximately the same length, so why wouldn't they be in a pair? Then one day I looked a bit closer... they weren't the same pattern, therefore they were a mismatched pair. Or maybe one had gotten ruined in the wash and made it out to be different than the other. Either way, something was fishy.

Then comes Saturday. We're enjoying our day and my mom looks at my dad's socks and says that they're not the same. The same colour and approximately the same length, but the pattern's different. I ask if they're navy blue and the one has stripes running the entire length of the sock and the other doesn't. The answer - YES. I say "I have a pair exactly the same as that"

Quelle embarassement.

The mystery was solved.

Or was it?

super tim

Last night, I took 650 calls in 5.25 hours online... That's a freaking lot of calls. Go figure. I didn't really forget much. I still can't remember how to credit, but I guess that's ok. I'll get it figured out eventually. The great retraining I had the other night consisted of reading over a pile of FAQ's and customer complaints and then listening to another agent for 1.5 hours.

Before the end of the night, I was at 32 seconds/call. Sometimes I wish things didn't come back to me so easily. But then I remember that it's ok because my memory for procedures is a gift from God and it'll be of great use in the future.

Shopping today. Just a few small things left.. Nothing major. I can probably hit Zeller's and be done with it. Or maybe I'll just leave everything til next week sometime... who says you need to give things on the 25th anyways? [I'll still get it this week. I'm not a grinch.. really]

That's all.

Out.

T.

no compromise

I've been reading "No Compromise" by Melody Green recently. It's the story of her and her late husband, Kieth's, journies from childhood through marriage, ministry, and beyond. I think the biggest thing that strikes me through reading this book is the fact that there aren't many in your face prophets left in today's society. Really, where are the people who will confront us when we're doing wrong and not realizing it? And what happens when those people do come out from their caves and do what God is calling them to do? Is there revival? Not that I've seen. From my perspective, the prophets that God has called are back in hiding questionning whether or not they were truly called of God to do His work.

For those who may be in hiding right now: Be encouraged. Your faithfulness has not gone unnoticed. Continue to strive for and follow after God. He will direct your paths. You will be instruments of his grace, peace, reconciliation, and revival.

For those who have condemned the ones who take a stand (myself included): Think before you speak (or type). Do we really have an ear to what the spirit is saying to us? Do we honestly know that we are right and living a lifestyle that is pleasing to God? Are we ourselves willing to take a stand for our convictions?

In the one spiritual gift analysis that I have done, I came out very high in administration and helps and very low in everything else. I do not believe I have been called to be a prophet, for the moment anyways. But there are those out there who have been called. If you have, ask God for the message that he would have you give to a sick and dying world. Take a stand, be strong, be courageous. The Lord your God is with you and is going ahead of you to prepare the way.

In all your ways, acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.

death by reindeer

I had a dream last night that Santa was coming to kill a bunch of people in my house, so we went into hiding in the bathroom. I don't remember the context behind it, but that was still pretty unique. Wierd is all I can say.

Only a few more hours until I start working at the call factory yet again. I'm somewhat nervous, but I have a feeling I'll be back in the groove pretty quickly. I'm aiming for 35 seconds/call by Friday, but we'll see how much I actually remember and if I can still type after the semester left my brain fried...

Tomorrow is the day that I descend on the Corunna Library in order to do my distance ed. We'll see how much of that I get done. Hopefuly a lot. It'll be fun trying to figure out sourcing. Yay. So excited. Or something like that.

I'm reading No Compromise by Melody Green (the story of her husband, Kieth Green). It's actually pretty good. I'm also in the middle of "Searching for the Invisible God" by Philip Yancy. Not a bad one either.

Out now.

T.

here i am...

I've been having a pretty ok week considering the exams that have me stressed beyond all measure. On Saturday, I hung out with someone that's pretty cool and we had a good chat and saw Narnia. That was a good evening. I think it was a welcome change from the past few weeks. Then Sunday I just hung around my room and did some studying and a bunch of procrastinating. I skipped church because I needed to sleep in... it was nice. Though I've been missing the corporate worship recently with the demise of chapel for the year 2005.

Then Monday came and I hung out with the Saturday evening person yet again and we walked around and went to Timmy's for beverages to warm up. It was fun yet again; it got me to start thinking that I need to get a bit more meat into my theological beliefs. I know the basics, but at the moment I don't seem to have time for the reasoning beneath it. Then came some studying and Gord stopped by for dinner and we went to Wimpy's. Then came more studying.

Tuesday was the day of the Romans exam. It wasn't that bad, but it's over now and makes me happy.

Wednesday was today. I finished typing up my notes from Scriptural Foundations of Worship which turns out to be a whole lot of material to study for Friday morning's exam. I studied some of that today and then went for dinner with the Student Council to the place across the street and enjoyed some home cooked turkey dinner, which was very good. Thankyou to the cooks. Very good job.

Then I got a present from my RA.. Coolest guy ever. Princess Bride in Novel Form. Nice.

Book readings to come in the new year.

And now I'm here. Exam on Friday and then I'm out of res til the 1st at 4:00. Yay. Or something to that extent.

narnia

So I finally went to the real Narnia that can only be accessed through imagination rather than the 401-402... or 40 from the south. It was a good movie. I really appreciated the hard work that went into holding the accuracy to the text while making it a Disney movie. There was lots of laughs, a few dramatic moments that had me sqeezing my bear closer, but it was good. There was a little girl sitting in front of us who said she was scared in the previews... we gave her 20 minutes before she ran out crying. It didn't happen, but still.

Good movie. Go see it.

Must re-read books now. Haven't read them since high school sometime. That was a long time ago.

The end.

update on gah

• study for Romans
• study for Worship
• Distance Ed
• Field Ed Supervisor's evaluation (x2)

Also, does anyone from the KW area know if SilverCity's still open? I'm hoping to go see Narnia there on Saturday night and it's definately not showing up on famousplayers.ca. I could just call, but that would be the easy way out.

T.

gah

So, I'm stressed huge right now. My week of death has been extended into this week. Nothing's due til Thursday, but I'm high pressured at the moment for probably no reason.

• Publish the Voice [6th / 7th]
• Field Ed Final Paper - Done [9th]
• Final Reflection - Done [9th]
• Supervisor's Evaluation for Assitant Editor [7th]
• Critical Issues Book Report - started (2 sentences) [8th]
• Study for Critical issues test [8th]
• Worship Services [started] [9th]
• Study for Romans exam and write [13th]
• Study for Scriptural Foundations Exam and write [16th]
• Distance Ed
• Poems for Christmas Banquet [8th and 9th]
• Slideshow for Christmas Banquet [9th]

All that and the fact that I have 6 days of true break [17th, 18th, 24th, 28th, 29th, 1st] between the end of exams and J-Term. And I know I'll be spending a lot of that doing work for school. Arg.

April can't come too soon.

christmas brake

So I'm home from the 18th PM until the 1st PM.. and in that time, I work at Nordia:

19th - 23rd: 1800-000
25th: 1800-000
26th -27th:1600-000
30th - 31st: 1600-000

Days off: 24th, 28th, 29th.

Days off = sleep / distance ed days.

free

I've been doing some thinking [I can still think even haver 12 weeks of school... ] over the past little while and then I went and had a good chat with someone last night and I've been coming to realize a lot of things about myself that I'd never figured out before. It's good to get them out. It's good to talk with people. They always offer a perspective about yourself that you'd never see [because you always look at yourself with a more critical eye than others].

While talking with this person, they asked quite a few questions that just happened to release the floodgates and everything came out. Go figure. Darn counselling people. But it's good. I need to work through all this junk so that I can move into life with a healthier perspective on myself and life in general.

---

Release me from your captive hold
Release me from your stubborn eyes
Release me to the grace that only God can give...

I want to be free.

wired

Just trying something...

T.