Little Cabin in the Woods

So, I worked at EAI last week, entering bills into the computer. Now, I don't want to brag, but I'm pretty good at entering numbers into a computer. In fact, it's mindless, and I'm not sure how anyone could Not be good at it. Anyways, when I started the bills were backed up to June 8th, and in 4 days I got them caught up. So, Friday I was filing bills that hadn't been filed since April. So this is a daunting task, and makes my shoulders and neck ache. Anyways, my point is, Greg decided that it would be a nice idea to get together and rent a cabin for the weekend. Since I hadn't seen him in a couple of weeks, I thought it would be a nice idea.

Here's the thing...Greg likes to make plans, but doesn't let anyone know what the plans are. He doesn't make reservations, or book anything. He just expects that when he shows up somewhere, things are just going to work out every time. The problem with this is that I am a little strung out when it comes to planning things, and I like to know what is going on long before it happens. So we argued about this for a little while. I gave in and packed for both a cabin or camping, just in case things didn't work out quite like Greg planned.

Now, if we were going to rent a cabin in the surrounding area, I wouldn't really care, but this place was about 4 hours up north and we were leaving my house after dinner time. Greg drove the highway until we got to Guelph, and he pulled over and told me it was my turn. I drove the other 3 hours to the park. When we got there it was about 10:30 at night, and luckily, there was a cabin (I'll never hear the end of this).

We had a really awesome weekend. It was quiet and relaxing. We didn't do a lot. We went fishing on a canoe and played cards etc. And everything was pretty much awsome. We are thinking about possibly trying to go there again before the end of the summer. Maybe next time we could go for a couple more days though, two nights is just not enough.

Anyways, I am working until at least the end of the week, possibly more...life is good.
My thesis still isn't moving though, I should really get on that. I have laundry to do too, so I must get to it.

Aimee

Warning: Not Intended For Judging Audiences

So...Saturday night was stripper night. The night that has been planned for weeks with the ladies from the baseball team. This was a long time coming as we talk about getting together for a ladies night every year, and have never set a date...until now. So it's Saturday, and I'm a little excited about getting out of the house, and you would be too if you knew the group of ladies I'm talking about. I straightened my hair and made my best attempt at looking hot yet non-trashy for the Foxe's Den.

For those of you that don't know, our town doesn't have one of these clubs because the people are generally stuck-up and like to keep trash outside the town lines. Anyway, so this trip required a bit of a long drive. Luckily, one of the ladies lives relatively close, so we all decided to meet at Nicole and Marty's place. Seeing as mom (humbling moments.blogspot.com) has agreed to be the DD, I invited my best friend Rachel over a little early to have a few pre-drinks (ie. a cheap person's way of saving money at the bar). Rachel arrived at our place around 5pm and we promptly began our evening. Needless to say, we were a little tipsy when we left.

Mom drove, and we got there after what seemed like a lifetime (you will understand this stretch of time if you've ever had to pee reeeaaallly bad after a few beers). Nicole had a drink, while Marty watched the little ones (they have 2), and Lise was just finishing a vodka cooler while her husband Rob watched their two kids. Me and Rach had a vodka cooler while we waited for Dale and his wife Marcia to arrive with their two little ones. By this time it was about 8:15pm and we needed to get to the bar for our reservations. (yes, you can make reservations...)

We left the boys with the kids (all 6 of em') where they had set up tents and play stuff in the backyard. I made Nicole chug the rest of her drink, because although she's still very young (a year older then me), she decided she was too old to chug drinks (it's prolly the 2 kids). I got her to take most of the drink down before we left. Marcia had yet to start, but the bar was coming close.

When we get to this place, we all got ID'd which was amusing, and found our booth, and made ourselves comfortable. We ordered a round just as the entertainment began. His name was Sinsation or something of the sort. Black Magic, Dallas, etc, they all looked the same pretty much...( www.foxxesden.com). The ladies go crazy over them, and they move their bodies in ways that are not really OK...but I guess that's what you go there for. There were amusing moments. Like when Rachel went up on stage and wrestled with a stripper dressed like a boxer. I laughed and yelled alot, all while getting slightly more intoxicated.

There were times in between the dancers where people were able to go and Dance as if it were just a normal club. This part was also amusing, as I dragged all of the ladies (except my shy mama) out onto the dance floor to shake there butts. I swear having kids makes people forget what it's like to have fun. Once I got the ladies moving they were having much more fun (or so it seemed). It might have had something to do with the booze...we'll never know.

Anyways, the night flew by, and before we knew it 2:30 am had hit and we called the husbands for a second car to get home. Luckily we only do this once a year, so they wont get too mad at drunken idiots calling for a ride in the middle of the night.

We got away with seeing relatively few penises, and most of the men left us alone, and weren't pushing lap dances. Though Rachel definitely had to fight off a guy or two (including the waiter). I got away not feeling too dirty, although just watching some of the ladies was a little like rolling around in mud. They had no shame. Some shoved there hands in places they weren't supposed to be, and others just repeatedly threw money on the floor to get sicko sweaty men to paw at them.

It was fun, don't get me wrong, but it's something I would only do once in a while, with the right kind of ladies. Unfortunatly, I blew my cover, and now the baseball ladies know a bit of my wild side. Now there's no fooling them!

Aimee

I Love Being a Working Girl

I worked on Thursday and Friday of this week, and can I tell you how much I love to work? I know that some of you will think I'm crazy for saying that, and pray for a holiday every week, but after a long rest of my brain it's good for me. Mind you, it doesn't take a lot of thinking to do data entry, but hey, it's something.

It's like when you were little, and summer holidays came. It was soo much fun for the first couple of weeks. You could sleep in, and swim and play all day. At some point though, this all gets old, and you wait for the week before school starts. At this point life got interesting again. You got to shop for new school cloths (and school supplies!!), and dream about how you were going to be organized this year. Hahaha. I think I was the only kid around to stick to this promise to myself. I still do. But I digress...

Thursday started a little rocky, as I only did data entry for about a week and a half last summer. There isn't much to it I have to admit, but I couldn't even remember what program to open. My boss welcomed me back, pointed at the stacks of bills to enter, and told me to go at it. I laughed a little, sort of expecting that she was joking, and would surely give me a quick reminder. But then she walked back to her office. I felt like an idiot, spent 10 minutes trying to recall what I was doing, gave up and walked in to her office with my tail between my legs, asking for help.

She "showed" me a bit of one bill, but it wasn't until I asked her for help that she put me on the right track. Thanks to Pam (a woman who works there), about an hour into the day I figured out what I was doing again, and got back into my groove. I messed up a couple times, but whatta you want from me? hehe The rest of the day went pretty smoothly.

Friday was better, I doubled my output from Thursday, and worked through my lunch. I couldn't eat anyways because...drumroll please...I got tonsillitis Again. But the funny part, I got it on one tonsil. Even the doctor was surprised. She didn't believe me at first, but then she looked at my throat. I told her so. I'm getting better though, for those who care. Thank goodness for antibiotics. The doctor suggested I look into getting them removed. I think I'll wait on that decision.

Anyways, it's looking like I might get a little more time then 2 weeks at work, but I'm not getting my hopes up. We'll wait and see what happens. I personally think they'd be smart to keep me around, but I might be a little biased. Who knows

Anyways, tonight the wives (and me) from the baseball team are going out for some socializing. There's talk about going to the strip club. I've never seen sicko men take off there clothes, so it should be rather entertaining. I'll let you all know. Sunday's baseball, and Monday brings more work. Things are looking up :)

Aimee

Ontario Place

Firstly, although not the subject of this post, I wanted to let all those out there (that give a shit) know that I got called into EAI for work for 2 weeks!! Yay. This means that I would have quit Rabba anyways, as I will make the same amount of money in two weeks as I would have made all summer (or probably anyways), and I'm finished working right before I was supposed to go on holidays with Greg. So, although I don't get to spend the last two days of mom's holidays with her, I get to go into work with her every day for 2 whole weeks! When one door closes, a window opens. I love it.

Anyways, yesterday me, mom, and Brianne and her friend Shannon went to Gulliver's beach. It was a great day to soak in the sun rays and cool off in the lake. We played cards, and had a picnic lunch and had a great old time. This is a great day that is cheap for anyone looking for something to do. I have spent a few dyas there this summer, and have enjoyed it every time. I will post pictures sometime if we ever figure out how to do it from home. Anyways...

Today me, Bri, Shannon, mom, and Jen went to Ontairo Place for the day. We has play all day passes for 4 and so mom just had to get one more, and we spent all day playing. First, we went to the bumper boats which were a great time. I wish we had taken more pictures. Oh well. Anyways, next we went to see and Imax film called ROAR: Lions of Africa or something to that degree. It was wicked, cause the screen is huge and it looks like you're actually in the desert. We got to see the lions fight, and breed, and hunt etc. The baby lions were too cute.

Next, we went to a ride called MARS that was kind of boring and made me motion sick. Followed by an adventure ride that was pretty cool, and gets you a little wet at the end. This is great when it is 43 degrees outside. We rode that ride twice. Good Times.

We went on paddle boats, went to lunch, and then went to see DOLPHINS another Imax film. This one was also pretty cool. I learned some stuff I didn't know about dolphins, and mom and Jen got a little nap. Brianne is such a freak for dolphins that she liked it too. After all of this fun, it was 3:30pm and we still hadn't hit the water park. We were all hot though and in need of some cooling off. The dolphin movie was a tease too cause I just wanted to jump into the ocean on the screen.

The water park wasn't what I expected. There was a few water slides which required that you climb a bazillion stairs, after waiting in 2 lines. One for a tube, then one for the ride. This was silly, so we went on the only ride that required no tube line...actually, we went on this slide 3 times. It was pretty fun. We also hit the splash pad for a short while. I took a few pics (to come later) There was a cool bucket thing that filled with water really high up and eventually tipped and fell on peoples heads. It felt like you were under a waterfall for about 3 seconds. Some kid got a 6inch gash in his head, so the water was turned off, and we went home.

It was a much longer day then we had intended (as is this blog) but alot of fun. I'm glad I got to enjoy this day. I have to work tomorrow (yay!) so I have to finish my laundry and get to bed. Hope everyone else is having a fabulous week!

Aimee

To Work or Not to Work...

So, this morning, I woke up before the sun came up to get ready for my first exciting day of work. I showed up at 7:50, about 10 minutes before the morning shift started. I came in with my resume in hand, because they didn't have a copy and I figured they'd want one. So I walk up to the front of the store, and ask if the guy is in to start training me. "Nope...he's not here. Maybe if you come in sometime after 10am"

I don't know about you, but when I'm told to come in for training, I expect that the person will be there to train me. This is sketchy, but I go back home, play a game of cards with Mom and after much complaining, I decide to return to the store at 10 and see if maybe there was a misunderstanding.

I show up at 9:55am, and I walk up to the deli counter where I am supposed to be training. I ask the girl at the counter
Me: "pardon me, I am supposed to be training this morning, and I am wondering if the gentleman with glasses has come in yet"
Girl: "Ummmm, I dunno, I just started here today"
Me: "uh, OK...so I guess they don't want me in then...??"
Girl: "just a sec" (goes and talks to old lady)

Old Lady: yells to her daughter(?) "Christina, page Joe"

Joe comes out...definitly not the guy who hired me but ok. So I'm being trained by someone else I guess. No explaination about what happened to Habib (or whatever the glasses dude was named). I told him I cam ein for 8am. He didn't respond. He tells me Christina will be training me. I go into the back to punch in and get an apron. He walks back behind the counter and serves customers. I watch, trying to take in what he is doing. He gives me absolutly no instruction, he tells me to watch what Christina is doing. Then he changes his mind.

Joe: "actually, just start serving customers, Christina will help you if you need it"
Me: "uh, ok..."

I got zero instruction, they didn't train me. They made me feel dumb to tell you the truth. I asked questions when Christina was there (a whole 1/2 hour or so...) and other then that I winged it. I rung in green leafy stuff as parsley, I tried my best but gimmie a break...Christina showed me how to use the lottery machine (sort of) but that's the most I could get out of her. She went out to smoke, and again I was left alone.

I have no grocery store experience, which they would know if they would have taken my resume. But they wouldn't. Apparently we were "passed that..." So I was lost.

I asked Joe about an hour into my shift what the shifts were like (as I didn't get any of this information before). He told me the times that the shifts run. I asked him how often he would want me into work. He beat around the bush. I couldn't get a straight answer to save my life. He said "it depends on how you turn out"

I asked how much I was getting paid. Again he dodged the question, and said "we'd see in a few days"

Sketchy???? I think so.

So, I think it might be possible that Joe and his family are maybe trying to get some kids in and see how they work out before they decide whether or not to keep them around. I think they've already decided they don't like me. I'm not sure why...maybe because I didn't "show up" until 10am. They didn't ask my last name, or my social insurance number. Nothing.

Anyways, I was there for 3 hours, and they sent me home. After a long (5-10min) lecture from an old lady who barely spoke english about how she needed me to learn quickly because I would soon be alone (as if I wasn't immediatly alone) I left. It was a lousy first day with a family of sketchy people who are clearly hiring any idiot off the street and are "training" a crap load of teenagers who they don't expect to keep most. They were still taking resumes today...funnily they still wouldn't take mine.

I think I might return my apron in the middle of the night and never go back. Honestly, I am not that desparate for work. I have contacted Rob's old boss to see if I could get a few hours here and there packing other peoples "stuff". I would much prefer this job, as it would be much less sketchy, and I would get paid cash at the end of the day. If this doesn't work out, there's alway's OSAP. I'll find something better for next year.

For those of you that were excited about me working, thank you, but I'm sure if you were in my position, you would be supportive in my decision.

Aimee

The Time Has Come

Last night I bartended a party for my friend Tracy's aunt's 60th birthday. This was a one-time gig as a favor to a friend. It was fun and all, but I'm not sure I'm the person to stand around and watch a party go on. I would much rather join in the fun. Either way I would probably have a sore back but let me just say...my entire body is killing me. The function was held in a really nice hall, with a backyard that held most of the people. I was also set up outside, so really, there was no bar. But a table and some ice chests, and a lot of bending over.

Now I did make one smart choice (thanks to advice form my mom). I wore running shoes. Oh wait, two decisions, I also brought a bottle opener. Just twisting the caps off of pop bottles all night left me incapable of opening my own water bottle this morning. I like to work, and I don't mind serving people, but to be honest, my body doesn't. I forgot what it feels like to be bending and twisting for hours and hours.

Thankfully, the people were friendly and patient with me, even when the cork screw broke and I couldn't open wine for a few minutes. This was the most flustered part of the evening, and it passed. It was open bar, so I didn't have to deal with cash, and I got a decent amount in tips. I couldn't complain. I do think that the majority of the tips came from a few people (the drum player in particular).

Anyways, tomorrow morning I start training at Rabba fine foods. The time has come. I'm not sure what the details of the job are, but I walked in and they agreed to train me. I imagine it's minimum wage for a few hours a week, but it's something. I couldn't turn down a job at this point. I had given up on working and had plans to work on my thesis, go to a cottage and chill out with my mama on her holidays, but then a job fell into my lap. It figures really. I should have given up earlier. It was almost as if as soon as I committed to not making any money (filling out my OSAP application with $0 summer income) it happened. Soo ironic...

Anyways, maybe I'll have a couple days off to participate in the week of fun that was planned. If not, I suppose there will be other summers, and other days to hang out at the beach, or in Toronto etc. And there's always the weekends.

Today we had a baseball game, where it was Freakin' hot and I was sweating like crazy. It was too hot to move, so I can't blame our team for losing terribly. But it was fun just the same. I love to sit in the afternoon and watch ball. Fun times.

We went for ice cream at Baskin n' Robins, which was also good. Topped the day off with a couple of games of crib, in the shade of our backyard. This is my new favorite game, and I think I'll eventually reach a point where I'll be sick of it, and never want to count to 15 again in my life, but not for now, probably not till the end of the summer, and then it'll be time to get back to school anyways.

Anyway, I need to get some sleep, so I'm well rested for the morning. Hopefully my body will hold out till the end of the shift. If not, I'll be out of a job again, and back to the beach *wink wink*

Aimee

Queer Design Shows are Taking Over

I have not posted in a while, so I figured I'd let you all know that Greg is better. He has generally recovered, he is off the medication and back at work.

The subject of this short post will be...drumroll please....design shows. I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but TV is being overrun with design shows. Lets name a few.

Trading Spaces (started the ball rolling)
In a Fix
While you were out
Design on a dime
Design U
Queer Eye for the straight guy
Surprise by Design
Clean Sweep
Extreme Makeover: home edition
Rooms that Rock

etc etc etc

They never end. There are at least 15 others, of which the names are escaping me right now. I just think it's silly. And for some reason...people keep watching. These TV shows are for people just like my family, who would Love to be able to change around their houses to look fresh and new. Problem is, we don't have even $1000 minimum budget per room, or a professional designer to come in.

Another new TV fad that bugs me is the number of gay guys making stereotypes into reality. That's another designer show I can't think of the name, with those two flaming guys who can't agree on anything...design rivals? Something like this. But yeah, you know what I'm talking about. These guys are wearing baby-T's and tight jeans and flipping their hands around, talking with a lisp that is NOT there when they are born. I'm not sure why these people see it necessary to exaggerate these stereotypes. I happen to know that preferring a same sex companion doesn't automatically make a person freakin strange...anyways

TV should increase the number of good reality TV shows, if anything. Maybe Untold Stories of the ER. This is a great show. I know, not everyone has the same taste in television, but come on people. I'm so sick of TV.

A great book...Angels and demons. Prequil to The De Vinchi Code. I still have to read that one (if I could get my hands on it). Anyways, read a book. Turn off the TV. Sit outside and play Crib (my new favorite card game), drink a cold drink, and have pleasant conversation with whoever will listen. I'm boycotting TV, until I get bored...Ha

Anyways, have a great day everyone. Until next time

Aimee