no life without wife

I had an interesting question from my boss when she returned from Maternity leave a few weeks ago: "Do you have any secret girlfriends that I don't know about?" I gave the honest answer and said no. She's not the only person that seems to wonder that. Family has wondered in recent months after me not really saying anything about the last girlfriend I had in the public spectrum until late in the relationship, for reasons that are my own. But there's seemed to be phases where the push to get me off and married is stronger than at other times. We're currently in a slow period (and you don't need to take this as your cue to start pushing) and I'm OK with that.

For a while after my best friend got married last year, he kept telling me that I need to get a wife. Pretty much exactly like that: "Tim, we need to get you a wife" was what I got every time he got in the vehicle. I said "Sure, but you're not doing much to help with the process."

The process of finding someone who I'd like to spend the rest of my life with seems to be more difficult than others I know have made it seem. It's almost like it's my grail - the ever-elusive prize of my collection. I know while I say that there are others like me who have not found "the one." How do I know this? Enter the Internet.

The Internet has spawned a global network of people who feel that they can't find anyone in person because their communication skills suck, they're in a remote town or village, or they have odd hours of work / school. They then go to sites such as PlentyOfFish (free) or in the Christian Circle ChristianCafe (only free for up to 10 days. I haven't tried any of the other ones because you have to pay, and I'm not going to pay for something with a low probability of success.) On the sites, they browse around the profiles of strangers to see if there's any basis for connection and send messages off hoping to get a response, any response. It's a sad cycle. One that I'm going to admit that I've participated in more than once over the past few years.

Really, it's painful to first find profiles of people nearby who have something (almost anything in common with you while still remaining in the range of shared faith and interests - in my case anyway), write up a message that doesn't seem tacky, and wait and hope for a response other than "Read - Deleted". Then you have the conversation back and forth via e-mail, and then via Instant Messenger of some sort. And eventually, maybe you'll get together. When you do, you don't know what they really look like. Pictures tell only part of the truth. And then you meet up for what you expect to be 30 minutes at a coffee shop and it turns out to be 3 hours over dinner where everything is awkward and you have no clue how to get out of it. (The first time I met up with someone from the Internets in recent years, this is what happened... I've only met up with one other person since.. that one went better, but by halfway through the second meeting, I knew it wasn't meant to be.)

So really, the Internet is supposed to be this resource that is helpful in everything and anything you could ever imagine. But it's not.

So really, if I can't have a life without a wife, then the Internet's not doing what it's supposed to be. And friends who are currently in a relationship of some sort tend to hint that I need to get into one too (to which I'm not vehemently opposed to) but they don't really seem to want to help. My social circle has been dwindling in recent months due to various factors that aren't anyone's fault, but it's becoming more obvious to me that I need other people to help me stay social or else my introvert side becomes very strong and from what I've seen, significant others are useful in aiding this process.

Now I need to clear the air - I'm not actually looking for a wife from this. I'm just writing down my thoughts. Currently I'm OK with my situation. It takes a lot to say something like that and mean it. I can say it, but do I mean it? Not sure, but for now I press on to try and prove the title false - that there is life without wife.

upcoming work-related events: march edition

My March is crazy at work. For some reason I decided that I'm willing to do a lot of things, and they all happen to end up being within one week. Le sigh.

1. Art Show Fundraiser was on Sunday. It went well. The Choir sounded good. If you missed it and would like to hear us, come to EBC Grad on April 24th at Bingeman's.
2. "Curling Attempt 2: The one where we curl" is happening on Sunday (hopefully). We lost about half of the participants due to the change of date. Sad, but it happens. Gord's coming but he doesn't realize it yet. This is his reminder. He's forming a full team. It'll also more than make up for skipping the art show last night. Sick wife my foot.
3. Not one, not two, but three chapels I'm either planning or involved with over the next week. Tomorrow is communion in the style of the Plymouth Brethren. I've billed it as Communion with a twist. Thursday is relaxed Taize. Next week sometime I faintly remembering offering to help out with a Tenebrae service.

And then big things on the Horizon:

September 18: Blaze A Trail - Help us raise money for EBC Student Aid by collectively hiking the entire Bruce Trail in one day.

October 19 - 31: We're planning a Learning Tour to France this fall with the theme of Monasticism and are offering it as a course for students. Non-students are welcome to come too. Major sites include Paris, Taize (you knew it was coming), Avignon, and Southern France along the Mediterranean coast. Two weeks ago, this wasn't going to happen. Now there's an itinerary, cost breakdown, and the syllabus is almost complete. The joy.

And that's what's keeping me busy.

action

I think I'd rather the Conservatives run these commercials about their "Economic Action Plan" than the fluff ads that they're wasting our money with... It would be more entertaining at least.



Oh, and another update: Curling's been rebooked for March 28th.

And if you're in town, come out to the Art Sale Fundraiser on Sunday the 21st at EBC. The Choir's going to sound good, at the very least that's a great reason to come. $10 at the door. $5 for EBC Students.

they missed us again

Tonight was supposed to be Curling. But unfortunately, someone with the club forgot we were supposed to be there and didn't show up to let us in. So we waited around for an hour to no avail and then headed back to the school to eat the food and play some games. This actually happened in the fall, but I was able to get ahold of the club manager and she contacted someone to let us in.

Of course one person comes in later and tells us that someone showed up about 10 minutes after we left, but I don't think it was the right person, and they were at least an hour late if it was.

Oh well.

I'm annoyed, sortof.

ponderings in the wind

A few random thoughts I've had rolling around my head:

I watch way too much TV, or in the absence of clear signal, downloaded TV shows. Comments on a few of them:

Chuck - Hadn't seen it until the fall when I caught myself up on the first two seasons. Wasn't too bad, so I continued into the third season. It seems to be slowly losing its appeal to me. We'll see where it goes, but it doesn't really have the same gusto now that he can fend for himself if he flashes.

Lost - One word: "What?". And a thought that came up last week... I find it somewhat disturbing that two of the most redeemable characters - in my mind at least - have lost their marbles and are now following Flocke around (Fake Locke if you didn't get that). And I'm really not sure who to believe anymore. Is Jacob good or is he bad? Or is there no good in the island that's supposedly under the sea now? I don't know... Only a few more weeks left and we'll still be confused by the end of it.

Scrubs / Better Off Ted - I've seen rumours online that ABC's decided to cancel these two shows. I've noticed that there's no set return date on either of them on IMDB. Scrubs, yes, it was finished after 8 seasons but it came back. It's had a few good moments this season, but overall it needed to stay done. Doesn't surprise me that they decided to cancel. Almost like sequels to blockbuster movies. Lots of hype, little payoff. Better Off Ted on the other hand, it seems as though it hasn't been so great this season anyway... The first season was great, I guess it's just hard to live up to the super high expectations everyone had for the second season. Oh well.

--

Off of TV, onto a continuation of a thought I had a few months back: In the past month, one friend has gotten married and another engaged, meaning it's still depressing to think about. Sigh.

--

I had something on my mind for a few months and this week I came to a conclusion about it and it seems like a weight has been lifted. It may come back in the future, but for now I can be free of it.

--

I miss Olympic curling.

--

That's all. G'night.

upcoming

This month is one of my busy months at work for events I'm planning:

13th: 8th Semi-Annual curling bonspiel.
21st: Lumen Ex Anima - Art Sale Fundraiser. Come to the college to spend an evening browsing art from various members of the EBC community. Snacks and entertainment in the form of some pianists and the choir that I've been involved in organizing this semester. $10 at the door.
23rd: Taize Chapel
25th: Communion Chapel that I'm organizing in the style of Brethren breaking of bread services

In other news, Midterm 2 for Soundtracks was Thursday. I think I did fairly ok on it. I'll find out in the next few days. Midterm 2 for Social Psych is on Wednesday. I've read 2 chapters and 3 articles today with another 2 chapters and 1 article to go tomorrow and then I can start going over the 15+ pages of notes I have.

abnormalities

I think I'm going crazy. Or more crazy. Over the past few weeks, I've woken up to some strange things a few times. The first time I remember having a dream where the shelf by my bed was over crowded with clothing and had become a fire hazard and I had to pull a bunch of the clothes off the shelves to stop it from blowing up, I guess. When I woke up, I looked over and my shelves were less empty of clothing which had been pulled onto the floor. I figured that was just an anomaly, so I laughed at myself and carried on with life.

This morning I woke up and my laundry basket wasn't in the bathroom where I'm sure I left it last night, but it was in the living room instead. This is more concerning. I don't remember having a dream about moving that. If I've started to sleep walk, I think I have good reason to be concerned.

I know I talk in my sleep, which isn't anything new. But walking?

After doing some research, it seems that the most probable cause is stress, and I've had a few things going through my head recently which could cause this, so hopefully once these issues resolve, I'll get back to my regular scheduled program of staying in my bed while asleep.

Until then, maybe I should use some duct tape to strap my blankets overtop of me at night.