WORK ESCAPADES

The funniest thing happened at work yesterday.  It still cracks me up.

It was around 3:30pm or so and I felt like having something with bubbles to drink.  I had already downed my usual 3 – 4 litres of water and wasn’t feeling like drinking more, so I scrounged around for some change in my wallet to get a can of Ginger Ale.

I walked into the lunchroom where the vending machines were and two ladies from the art department were sitting having their break.  I smiled and said “hi” to them as I always do because they do a lot of work for me.  They always giggle when they see me cause I’m usually cracking jokes when I come into the art department.  Anyways, I reach the vending machine and before I put the change in I notice that a pack of peanuts are just at the edge ready to drop but not quite so. 

I look over at the ladies and tell them about the peanuts.  One of them gets up and goes “ok, lets shake this machine to get it to drop”.  So, we push it back and forth trying to get these $1.00 peanuts to fall and two shakes later plop!   Then the women who was helping me points out that a chocolate bar is about to fall too from all our shaking.  So, three of us shake the vending machine and plop!  We all start to laugh and I’m trying to give them the chocolate and the peanuts but they won’t have it, so I only take the chocolate (which I gave to someone else) and we give the peanuts to another lady who’s in the lunchroom.

Finally, I get my Ginger Ale.  As I walk away I hear some change falling.  I figured it was someone else getting a snack or something.  I get back to my desk and five minutes later one of the women who was shaking the vending machine with me comes up to my desk and throws four quarters down.  I go “what’s this?” and she tells me that after I got my soda the vending machine spat out four quarters!  Can you believe that?  Not only did I shake two snacks out of that vending machine for free but I got my soda for free too!

Needless to say, we figured luck was on our side so we invested in a lottery ticket.  Too funny. 

OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE

My co-worker’s a bit obsession compulsive.  She’s pretty young, about 10 years younger than me..ugh.  She’s the one that I went shopping with in Chicago.  The one I almost killed cause I couldn’t eat.  Ok, I digress, so yeah, she’s funny with the obsessive compulsive thing she has. 

When I first met her my impression was that she was very much into her looks.  As I got to know her, she’s very nice and funny (even though she’s a crazy shopper), I realized she’s very insecure.  I find a lot of times that people who are vain are normally very insecure about themselves.  When I was shopping with her in Chicago, I noticed that when we passed a mirror, she would stop, fuss with her hair, look at herself and then carry on.  No word of a lie, she did that every time we passed a mirror.  I think it was compounded by the fact that she had this tiny blemish on her chin, tiny, that she pointed out to me that she thought made her skin look terrible.  Trust me, it didn’t, she made it worse by constantly touching it cause she was so self-conscious about it.

Among her other obsessions is her hair.  She has beautiful hair, she’s a beautiful girl, but she thinks her hair is starting to thin out.  I think she’s crazy and I told her so.  This is how crazy she is, she told me yesterday at lunch that she used bottled water, yes, bottled water to wash her hair that morning.  She’s very certain that Toronto’s water is ruining her hair.  Hm…a little nutty?  I think so.

After she told me this I was a bit concerned, it didn’t seem so amusing anymore.  So, I asked her where all this anxiety over her hair stemmed from and apparently her mother gives her a hard time about it.  Isn’t that terrible?  Why do parents do that to their children?  Make them self-conscious about themselves?  If you saw this girl, she’s gorgeous, so its hard to understand why anyone would make her feel less than that.

It doesn’t matter how beautiful or put together you are, its so true that we all have our insecurities.  It’s too bad that for some people it becomes an obsession.

TRAVEL BUDDY

I got an email this morning from my best guy friend.  We always have a great time together laughing and sharing our most funniest moments.  Its just a thing between us.  There have been moments where I couldn’t catch my breath cause I’m laughing so hard.

Anyways, we’ve been talking on and off for the past few months, since I came back from the Dominican, about traveling together.  He got inspired by my volunteering and has been thinking about doing the same thing since.  I decided awhile back to travel and volunteer for a year.  He wants to come with me and I’m a bit hesitant because a part of me wants to travel on my own.  I’m all about the freedom of traveling by yourself, it’s addictive.  And, yet, I know he wants to challenge himself because he’s never traveled with just a backpack.  And, he knows that is how I’m going to travel.  Just a backpack, my passport and some clean underwear.

The thought is intriguing to travel with him because he speaks three different languages, so that will be helpful, although since I don’t want to travel to Europe, it might not be so helpful.  I’m sure we’ll be fine traveling together, but, as I’ve said before, traveling with a total stranger (or at least someone who doesn’t know me so well) is probably better than traveling with someone who’s close to me.  And, I’ll probably have to change some of my itinerary which is fine.  We’ll see, we’re suppose to meet-up soon and talk about our plans for world domination..oops, I mean, world travel  .

I’m usually the kind of person who just goes for it.  Just thinking about my year around the world is driving me nuts cause I want to do it now.  I’m trying to be practical because there’s much I need to do in order for me to get to where I want to be.  Why do I always feel like running away?  Ever feel that way?

OLD MEMORIES

Tacky Memories of Florida

I was talking with my friend on the weekend and we got into a conversation about relationships.  In particular, we started to talk about my ex which brought back a lot of old memories.  I try not to talk about him much because he’s in the past.  He is probably my most serious relationship so far and my most complicated. 

Anyways, she brought up something I had told her about way back when of how I got mad at him for doing something and I started to laugh because I couldn’t remember it.  It would totally not bother me now, because I’d probably do the same thing he did.  Its interesting how much you change over the years.

A lot of the things I wouldn’t let go back then are things I would totally let go now.  You start realizing, with maturity, what’s important and what’s not important in maintaining a good relationship. 

I was telling her a story of how I got a bit tipsy once, when I was still living in Vancouver, and my ex (who was visiting me at the time) and I were having this huge fight on the street that had carried on after we had left this restaurant.  I laugh at it now, but at the time I was furious with him (ask me if I remember why, cause I can’t now!) and being a bit tipsy, as I was arguing I fell right into the sidewalk, and I remember distinctly how he ran to me to grab me but I pushed him away.  I also remember him saying to me, furious “I hate it when you ignore me”.  And I was thinking “dude, I just fell, I’m a bit embarassed, give a girl some space” plus I was tipsy, who can give absolute attention when they’re trying their hardest not to fall flat on their face?  

It just makes me laugh now how I was back then.  He wanted to see me all the time and I was okay seeing him when I could.  I loved him passionately, but I wasn’t as needy as he was.  I don’t think I was ready for him, too damn intense.  My friend agreed, I’m a totally different person now.  What use to be scary for me, is no longer, you can’t live your life scared - life is about taking risks, not sitting on the sidelines.

It’s funny how you look back at your youth and realize all the dumb things you did.  That’s not to say I won’t do stupid ass things now, but I know what I want now and I’m a lot more wiser.  Oh, and I totally would not face plant on the sidewalk again.  It’s not my most stellar moment, folks. 

KINDNESS AND HUMILITY

The group that I went to the Dominican with back in February decided to get together for a bbq the other night.  I had gone to the Dominican to volunteer.  It was an amazing experience and left me with a lot to think about.  Even though I’ve processed a lot since the trip, I believe there is still much lurking in my head that I’m not quite ready to think about, that’s how much of an impact it’s left in me.  So, about 8 of us got together for the bbq.

It was a great time, relaxing, fun, lots of good food.  I had not seen most of them since March, so it was nice to play catch-up.  Unfortunately, our leader, who has about 300 of my printed photos (yes, thats really how many I took!), was not there.  I would have liked to have caught-up with him and his wife and, ok, get my pictures back! 

At the end of the night, I was dragging my friend out the door, we had gone together, she’s the one who inspired me to go to the Dominican.  It was late, and I was getting bitten alive by the mosquitos.  My poor ankles still feel sore from the bites.  And, it’s still itchy!!  Anyways, as I was standing by the doorway, the husband of the couple who were hosting came over to me and leaned into me and said quietly “I’m so glad that you came, I wanted to apologize for my behaviour in the Dominican”.  Surprised, I wasn’t quite sure what he meant.

Apparently, he was quite ticked at me on my first morning when I took my first shower in the tree shower, which is another story.  When he took a shower after me, not knowing this, I had used up all the hot water (seriously, I took like a barely 5 minute shower).  That pissed him off – although he later learned our water tank was small.  He also knew that I didn’t do it on purpose but he still got mad.  Obviously, his behaviour towards me bothered him enough to say something to me.  And, I felt like a bit of an idiot for not realizing anything was amiss.

But, for him to come to me after more than 5 months and apologize for behaviour I didn’t even notice must have been difficult for him and to also admit knowing that I couldn’t have possibly done it on purpose but he still got mad at me must not have been easy.  It reinforces to me that its never too late to take responsbility for your actions.  I think it says a lot about his character and integrity.  I could learn a thing or two from this guy.  It’s good to be humble, hard, but good.