AWOL

Got a haircut this morning, now I'm packing for camp!

I'll see everyone in a week with great camp updates (will I make the senior guys dress up like girls again?)!

Insanely tired.

On my top ten list of most horrible days, this one comes in at maybe number five. First I was rudely crank-called this morning. Honestly, if I was a swearer, I think I may have told the person off. But I didn't. I'm so passive. Ahahah. But seriously, it was freaky, unpleasant, and I want to unlist my number. THe creepy thing is that it was multiple calls from different pay phones. Creepyheads.

The second thing is that I finished painting the hoarding and then it rained and the paint I put up this morning washed off. I hate hoarding more than ever.

The third thing is that the morning instructor left me with EVERYTHING to clean up today.

The fourth thing is that it was stinking humid and hot, which did not aid in my clean-up.

I am a big grumpy mcgrumpy-pants, especially because I'm physically tired from this morning. I am so MAD!!! :(

I'm glad I get to escape to beautiful Fair Glen for a week. Pray for my church camp! The baptisms are on Friday! :)

Purity

I've been reading a book on keeping kids sexually pure, and there were some things that stood out to me. First, the author talked about having a strong marriage as a model for children to look up to. I really liked the part when the author prayed that God would make her a wife. She was 40 and was a foster mother to her niece and she really felt a desire for a husband, so, not only did she pray for a husband, but she prayed that He would make her a wife. I love that because I always say that dating or courting or being in a relationship isn't about finding the right person; it's about becoming the right person.

The second thing that stood out to me was a story about a chastity necklace. Some parents get their children necklaces or promise rings and ask their children to remain sexually pure, explaining the reasons why. The ring is supposed to be a symbol of that promise. I thought that was kind of neat. I just wondered what it would be like if your child said, "No, I can't promise that." Scary thought.

Definitions of the day: Mercy - when God doesn't give us what we do deserve
Grace - when God does give us what we don't deserve.

The number of times I've said either "Matthew" or "Michael" today: one hundred BILLION times.
Annoyance level: one hundred BILLION.
Why can't they just be quiet and work, and why must they always complain???

Hoarding the Inukshuk

Hoarding: [English] A temporary wooden fence around a building or structure under construction or repair.
[Michelle's language] PAIN in the BUTT.

Our big project of the session is a series of five 8' x 4' boards that are around the Inukshuk that every class is in charge of painting. We started yesterday but can't seem to finish. THe kids all whine about it being too hot, they paint unevenly so we have to go over it anyway. It is indeed a pain. Today I was at work till 6pm painting, and I'm still not done. On a side note, it has been super windy and dusty which has aggravated the allergies that have weirdly appeared just this week. My nose is itchy, my eyes are itchy, my throat and ears are itchy. And then of course the mosquitos decided to attack me while I was busy painting, so random red spots on my body are also itchy. I'm a big combination of hating hoarding, paint and itchiness. It WILL be done tomorrow though, and really, it does look fantastic, so it doesn't matter anyway. I think the kids are super-proud of it, and it'll be in the art show on the 25th of September. Btw, if anyone is interested, I can get you in free the art show day to come to the gallery (or, well, I can get you in free anytime, really, but the kids' art show is super!) to look at the camp stuff. They did some Amaaaaazing stuff. You'll be impressed, I promise. I'm going, so I'd love company, either way. I'll try and post a picture of the hoarding, anyway, once I get my camera properly hooked up to my computer. Hint hint. Still hinting.

My new fave food: my mom's cinnamon buns.

P.S. Cary, thanks for encouraging me in blogging! Ahahahah.

Muscle-y aches and pains

I had a super-tiring weekend! It started off with 2 birthday parties on Friday night, where I got to hang out with my youth group, and then with my high school friends. This of course included excellent food, so I was quite content. I saw some of the girls I'll be counselling next week up at my church camp (at Fair Glen) and it was so fun to hang out and bond with them. I'm praying I'll have lots of energy for next week; I really want this to be a special camp, full of impact. This birthday party was really neat because there was a program to it, and there was a lot of stuff that other ppl did (singing, performances, speeches, etc.) for the birthday people. I was really encouraged because it was really centred around their faith, and all the speeches had a big emphasis on how the person had impacted others spiritually. Anyway, I also had good talks with some of my high school friends about various theological issues, and I discovered...oh, what is it called? Dyna-flex or something like that? It's weeeeird. It's sort of a ball you hold in your hand, and you get the inside spinning. The inside is weirdly weighted though, so once it gets going, the ball sort of moves in your hand. It's kind of a creepy feeling, but uber-fun. :) I don't know what it's for. My friend says it's to induce CTS (carpal tunnel syndrome). AHahahahah. What else? Oh, my friend has a beautiful backyard complete with working fountain and tent to sit under. Friday was tons of fun!

Saturday: 6 hour canoe trip on the Grand River. Paddling craziness! Ahahahaa. I went with Ava and Ian in one canoe on a trip with lots of ppl from Ava's parents' church. There were tons 'o cute kids, Darrell is still quite the same old Darrell and my arms were DYING afterwards. It was the internal bleeding kinda muscle pain and I was sooooo afraid of how I would feel on Sunday. Fortunately, actually, only my shoulders hurt, and it was a lot less than Saturday night. I love canoeing! If only I could d-l the pictures to my computer, but my computer seems to be ignoring the USB cable I keep plugging into it. I don't understaaaaaand!!!! It used to work fine, but nope, no more. Any volunteers to help a poor, technologically inept girl out? Hint hint, my engineer friends. AHahahah.

What else did I do this weekend? Oh, I saw some co-workers' apt and we watched "Taking Lives" with Angelina Jolie. Not the best movie. I think I'm in romantic comedy or spy mode lately, so I can't appreciate thriller/suspense films.

Moving onto other muscle aches and pains, yesterday, I played some intense Capture the Flag with my morning class. Today my leg muscles hurt. Who is out of shape? Oh, pick me, pick me! Anyway, I came home and decided to try out the new treadmill that's been around for almost a week but has seen no use by me. Now my legs are more sore. Ahahahaha. I'll be in shape at some point and this won't hurt as much anymore, right??

Camp news: The quiet game makes a comeback! Reverse psychology works great on these kids. "Oh, come ON, I don't think you can all be quiet until break. THere's noooooooooooo way." So of course they bend over backwards being super quiet until break. Mwahahahaha. Oh, and in more exciting news, we made Chia-pet-like grassheads today, only all in a row, so they're like caterpillars. The kids were SO excited about them!

Quote of the day: "I LOVE HISTORY! First something happens, and then something else happens. SO SEQUENTIAL!! I love history! Thank you first guy for writing history down!!!!" - Old Navy commercial (Kenji swears I act exactly like this girl)

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. - Romans 8:28

Space Cadet Central

Two boys in my afternoon class are driving me INSANE. INSANE, I tell you. One of them I have dubbed the Space Cadet, and the other one is just mischievous. Yesterday, Space Cadet ate SOAP. They were carving soap, and Mischievous had said, "Hey, I ate soap before." (another brilliant comment from the short corner) Space Cadet then actually EATS some soap while I have my back turned. He ends up with a soap crumb by his lip, which I don't want to brush off for fear of getting too close to Space Cadet spit. I let him know that he had a soap crumb, and I totally expected him to brush it away with his hand, but nope, out came the tongue, and he just licked it off. Honestly. This kid is TEN YEARS OLD. WHO EATS SOAP?!?!?! Oh man. Then Mischievous finds a glue gun stick and proceeds to CHEW it. CHEWING A NASTY PIECE OF PLASTIC. I just shake my head now, whenever they do anything. It's just so hard. Space Cadet really just is really spacey. Today though, I actually convinced him to run around a tree 10 times. It was HILARIOUS. I was like, "I bet you can't make it to 10." Ahahahaa, then he ran around. It was so funny. Silly kid. Silly Silly Silly.

THey're funny, but they're still driving me nuts.

The worst part is that I have this habit of turning ppl's comments around on them. For example, if someone says, "This stinks," I would say, "YOU stink." I do this a lot, with anything. Even, "This looks like a alien," gets turned into, "YOU look like an alien." Space Cadet CONSTANTLY says stuff that can be turned around. He keeps mentioning throwing stuff out, actually. He always says, "I wanna throw this out," to which I always so badly instinctively almost reply, "I wanna throw YOU out." Ahahaha. Or they'll say, "This is BORING. This is DUMB." You get the idea. It's sooooooooooooooo bad. Good thing I always catch myself before I say anything though!

P.S. LaserQuest ranks: 2nd in the first game, NUMBER ONE IN THE second game. OOOooooooh yeaaaaaah.

Harvesting with a few labourers

I just got an e-mail update from my friend who is doing global aid stuff in a closed country in Asia. He may be pulled out come October if other people don't volunteer to go. As I was praying about it, I remembered this verse, one of my favorites and one I think we don't pray enough: "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." -Matthew 9:38. I remember praying for more workers in the harvest field every night at 9:38pm while I was on my missions trip in East Asia, and it was so inspiring to think about all the workers that were in the field at that point. Whenever I think about this though, I just start thinking, "When, Lord, when?" When will I see Revelations 7:9???

Baby Einstein

I saw another family friend's baby today, and discovered Baby Einstein. Disney puts out these DVDs, toys, etc that are all supposed to be educational to some degree. Anyway, apparently these DVDs mesmerize your child, and sure enough, the 8-month-old just stopped and watched so intently when they turned it on. The most hilarious part of the whole thing is that the DVD is just shots of random toys, puppets, food, etc. moving. It is HILARIOUS. There are spinning metal toys, balls, random fruits and bean sprouts, EVERYTHING! And the babies just STARE at the TV. The mothers love it because it gives them that needed 10 minutes to take a shower, pee, clean, whatever. Apparently the older baby watches this DVD for up to an hour! I don't know how I feel about extended TV watching, but man, seriously, when I have a baby, I'm totally getting baby Einstein Dvds.

"Maybe they can help you."

Last night, us art camp staffers went out for some Laser Quest-ing fun! We all get 2 for 1 deals at Laser Quest because of our work IDs, so we went. It was my first time ever, but it was so fun being covert and shooting other people. It was all the staff, plus 3 other little kids. One of them kept crouching down and covering his laser targets! Cheater! At one point, I went to shoot him, and he bent over, so I said, "Hey!" and he ran away. He kept shooting me; he was pretty good. Alac and alas, David came in first. That guy is so stinking competitive. But GUESS WHO CAME IN SECOND?!?! You'll never guess, so I'll just tell you. ME! Yep! Yaaaaaay for Michelle's covertness! I loved this one spot because I could hide there and hear ppl coming down the stairs, so I just ambushed them. Mwahahaha.

The fun continued after Laser Quest when we went for food. Then we came back, hoping we could play a team game. Unfortunately, we couldn't. We walked out, hoping to go home, when Kate and David realize that BOTH their sets of keys are locked IN the car. David was soooooo mad at Kate. Anyway, so 4 of us girls went to go trek to the gas station to see if anyone could help us. The guy at the station said he couldn't, so we asked him if he knew where we could go to get help. He thought for a second, and then pointed out the window and said, "Maybe they can help you." We all turned to look, wondering who he could possibly be talking about, and pulling in was a bright red fire truck. Amaaaazing! Ahahaha, we walked over (they must get girls approaching them all the time, they all seemed apprehensive) and asked if they could help. The guy said he would (and on a random side note, I found out that Montreal has green fire engines, and we have some yellow ones because they thought they would be more visible that way. AHahaha!), and then we stood around, hoping they could give us a ride in the cool fire engine!!!!!! But no. So we walked back and he said he'd meet us there. We walked back and told everyone who was waiting for us that we had the fire department coming, and they were pretty amazed. Anyway, the fire guys were going but failing, when all of a sudden, they see a tow truck driving by. The fire guy yells, "Hey, Howie!" and the tow truck driver pulls in. Amazingly crazy. The fire guy knows the tow truck guy. Anyway, the tow truck guy proceeds to pull out the biggest case ever (it looked like a rifle case, no joke, and it probably was!) and extracts some long wire things. They go at it for another 5 minutes, and voila, the car was opened. Man, thaaaaaaank goodness for the fire guys, I tell ya! Yaaaaaay firemen!

So that was about the extent of my excitement for the summer, except for the free pancake breakfast they fed us this morning. And the moment this afternoon when Robert (the little brat!) whined and said, "I'm never coming back here again," to which I replied, "Okay." Ahahaha. He probably thought I was joking. But I wasn't. He's sooooooooo whiney and NEGATIVE! The kid draws death symbols all morning at art camp. Skull, "666", etc. etc. It was crazy. He was always okay in my class, but always negative. Anyway, it was the last day of this session today, so YAAAAAAY! Next 2 weeks will be assisting in the morning and instructing in the afternoon. Yay for pay!

Japan

I'm so excited, because my friend Kevin is coming back on Friday from his missions trip to Japan. He was there ministering to children and families with an outreach program at a local church. It sounds like it was so much fun. I totally have a heart for Japan, and it's so interesting to hear what they've been up to. The trip is actually now officially over and they're de-briefing, but you can check out the OMF website for their journal entries and pictures.

The latest news in camp stories: The quiet game is popular! Ahahaha, it's hilarious, because a couple of girls in my afternoon class (who are, incidentally, the loudest) decided it would be a great challenge to play the quiet game. It all started because Monica had been jinxed, and the girl beside her kept telling everyone to say her name so she could talk. My assistant and I conveniently decided to forget her name. After that though, they all decided to try not to say anything for the whole afternoon. It was SOOOOOO quiet. I even reverse psychologized them, because they signed that they were going to do it until snack-time, and of course, I said, "I don't think you'll be able to do it." Which made them try harder, of course. Mwahahaha. So once again, weirdly, the quiet game has prevailed. It is so funny that kids love this game sometimes.

Favorite chant of the moment: Beaver chant! "Beaver one, beaver all, let's all do the beaver call. Ch ch ch, ch ch ch! Beaver two, beaver three, let's all climb the beaver tree! Ch ch ch, ch ch ch! Beaver four, beaver five, let's all do the beaver jive! Ch ch ch, ch ch ch! Beaver six, beaver seven, let's all go to beaver heaven! Ch ch ch, ch ch ch! Beaver eight, beaver nine, STOP! It's beaver time!!!!! Ch ch ch, ch ch ch" And it keeps going over and over, but that's the gist of it. It's so fun! And you can replace "beaver" with ANYTHING! "Kenji one, Kenji all, let's all do the Kenji call!" Ahahahaha.

Family Resemblance

I was showing my family pictures from the 2 weddings I went to this summer, and they commented on the fact that the 2 siblings in one picture really looked alike. The thing is, some people think they look totally different. It got me to thinking about my sister and I. Some people swear we look VERY similar. For example, one guy in our anthropology class came up to us one day and asked us if we were twins! (I may have told this story before, now that I'm typing it...) Alright, so apparently there is some family resemblance. Later on in the month, I saw an old friend at York while walking with my sister. I introduce my sister, to which he says, "Adopted sister?" Ahahahahaha. Apparently we look reaaaaaally different. Who the heck can make up their mind!? I think there's a resemblance, but then, I have a bias because I know we're related. Ahahahaha.

Low moment of the day: Cat attack = slight bleeding = sore arm.

Another weekend update!

It's another fun weekend in the bag! Saturday morning was fun rollerblading times with Ava, Mike and my sister. Mike ran. Mike runs fast. See Mike run faster than Ava and Michelle rollerblading. See sister skating circles around me and Ava. Thank goodness for Ava. Ahahaha. So basically, Ava and I are the slowest rollerbladers in the world. Mike is the fastest runner. And my sister is the fastest blader. Mike and my sister did 12K, although they kept coming back for me and Ava, so it was probably a little longer. Ava and I did 10K. After, we all went to go play tennis. My arm hurts today. Haven't played tennis since grade 10!!!!!!

Today was also really hectic. Church, 2 softball games (YEAH, GO Judges, GO Judges! Judges 1, Judges All, let's all do the Judges call....ahahaha) where I saw a friend from school and talked with a guy who knows another friend from school (hahaha, Chinese Christian community is large, but separation is usually only a degree or two!) a big prayer/commissioning service for my friend Tim who's going to East Asia for TWO YEARS on missions. Oh man, it was so exciting to thing about all the lives he'll impact, the friends he'll make, and the things he'll learn. I am so excited for him! At the service, I saw my newly married friends who seem to be enjoying married life, and I saw Chuck. It was actually good times. The butter tart certainly helped, ahahahaha. Oh man. Food will cure any ailment.

So that's the weekend. Plans for the week? Work. Airport on Wednesday to see my friend who'll be coming back from a missions trip in Japan, Friday will probably be a youth thing, Saturday my friend from Guelph, oh, SORRY, my TWIN from Guelph will be visiting hopefully. Lots of fun stuff. And Happy early b-day Nelson, in case I don't blog that day!

Quote of the weekend: "Maybe guy's gums and girl's gums are different."

P.S. Tom Clancy novel finished; it was fan-diddly-astic

Practicing my ASL!

Happy day, yesterday, I actually got to practice my ASL (American Sign Language). One of the volunteers, who was also a camper, has a brother who is deaf and knows ASL. It was really fun to sign with him, although in the spur of the moment, I found I forgot a lot of my signs. I need to practice more. ANyway, today though, the volunteer comes in and tells me his brother liked meeting me because I was perky! Ahahaha, apparently perky even when signing! And another assistant commented on my perkiness today. Am I really that perky? I felt pretty cruddy today. Wow. Perky. That's me! (roll eyes)

Yesterday was also a staff hang-out day where we went to the Putting Edge and challenged each other to some mini-golf. It was okay, but I had been feeling sick since the afternoon, so I wasn't as into it. And, there's something about those psychedelic little paintings and swirls that makes you dizzy after being in there too long. Eighteen holes seemed REALLY long.

That's about it. Why can't I remember any funny kid stories? I laugh at them all day, and when I get home, I can't seem to remember anything!

Latest read: The Teeth of the Tiger by Tom Clancy. AHahaha, I can never get away from Clancy as much as I try.

P.S. I know you're reading this in Romania. Hope your trip is tons o' fun!

What's that smell?

I almost forgot to tell you my story from the Jays game day. I was at work and had sat on the ground and realized that I was probably sitting near something quite raunchy, judging from whiffs of gross odor I kept getting. Anyway, I actually attributed it to the wet ground (you know how sometimes the ground smells a little poo-ey after it's rained a lot). Later on, in the car on the way to the Jays game, I caught a whiff of something again. All I thought was, Oh oh. This has happened to me before, where I complained about a room smelling weird and then realizing that as I moved to another room, the smell was still following me. Anyway, I lifted my foot to my face and noticed there was some "mud" caked to the bottom of my foot. Ahahaha, then I took a huge sniff of my shoe. Well, it was a little close because it sure stunk a lot. I stepped in POO! I proceeded to step in many puddles and scrape my foot along the ground in the parking lot, but still kept catching whiffs at the Jays game. I can't believe how often I step in POO! I hate POO! I hate my neighbours dog that POOs on our lawn! BOOOOOO POOOOOO!

Weekend update with Michelle

No politics here, but I had a busy weekend! Sunday was my friend's sister's wedding! I showed up at their house early to help them prep, but after seeing such hecticness, I decided I should elope. Ahahaha, I bet every bride thinks she should have eloped at some point in the planning process. Anyway, I think something about seeing the behind the scenes process of a wedding sort of ruined the ceremony for me. The bride seemed SO stressed! I was supposed to do a reading during the ceremony, but the bride hadn't given me the paper with the reading on it, so last-minute, I realize this and go ask her where it is. I swear she looked like she was going to cry. I hope I never ever feel that way on my wedding day. If something goes wrong, I want to a) not know about it and b) not care about it.

Anyway, the reception was awesome though. They had it at St. George's country club (apparently it costs a hundred grand a year for membership!!!!!!!), so it was really nice. There's a guy from MCI that works there who was pretty funny. He was a good server. We had another guy, Mark, who we called grumpy Mark because Nancy dropped an hors d'oeuvre and he said, "BE careful," kind of menacingly. AHahahaha. On top of that, whenever we said thanks for filling our cups or what-not, he wouldn't even respond. Most of the other servers would nod, or say, "You're welcome" or whatever. But nooooo, not Mark. Because we felt shafted by Mark, we later made fun of his serving skills. The guy was trying to stack plates with the cutlery on it, so that his pile was all crooked. AHahaha. I think he was new. Anyway, funny server Jeff came along with wine every once in a while, and it was hilarious, because he offered the guy beside me wine, and he said, "Are you trying to get me drunk?" AHahahaha. I also want to share my wine experience. Everyone was drinking wine, so I thought to myself that maybe I had pegged wine all wrong and maybe it did taste good with dinner. So, I had some wine poured for me, and decided to drink it with dinner. AHahahahahaha. You know they came around so many times to re-fill wine glasses and never re-filled mine?! I took a sip, thinking it would taste good and almost spit it out. I just don't like it! Ahahaha, I love how I tricked myself into thinking that maybe it tasted good. It was the same thing with champagne. I figured because it was sweeter, that maybe I'd take it a little better, but after a billion toasts, I was just bringing the glass to my lips and then putting it down. Ahahahahah. I really just don't like how alcohol tastes!

Anyway, the funniest part of the night, and the most touching, was the father-of-the-bride speech. The best part was when he started telling a story about how when the bride was a baby, they were going through the airport and the lady at the ticket counter said, "Oh, what a beautiful girl you have! You're going to need a shot-gun to keep the boys away." Then he said, "Well, we didn't get a shot gun, but a machine gun." Ahahaha, if you've ever met Nancy's dad, you'll understand how absolutely hilarious this is. Anyway, apparently he had also told the groom this story about the shot gun when he was asking for Nori's hand in marriage. THe groom remembered thinking, "It's 10 minutes into our lunch, and he's just told me a story about a shot gun. Where is he going with this??" Yeah, good times. I cried a lot. It was really touching.

On Monday I had lunch with a good friend, and had a good hang-out time. I had a bacon and cheese omelette for lunch, and it was deeeelish. I love breakfast foods. Especially greasy breakfast food. I have to say, it was a very memorable day in more ways than the good lunch. :)

Then the instructing fun began for the week. My kids are fantastic in the morning, not-so-great in the afternoon. But it's been good. Lots of good stories that I can't seem to remember at the moment but will update as soon as I remember! Instructing is super-fun though! So much more control. So much more authority.