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June 5, 2003  Ok, I know it's taken a LONG time for me to get around to it, but I've finally put the pictures up from May 23-25 at the lake, AND written stories and comments for nearly all of them. Normally it doesn't take nearly this long, but I have been very busy lately and there were some 600 pictures to sort through from that weekend. Hopefully I can get some more time to add a few things to the site here as well, and I have a LOT to write about but all that takes time and I don't seem to have a lot of time these days, especially for the computer. But keep stopping by, one day you might be surprised. June 6, 2003 Is it June already? It's hard to believe how fast the year is going, as June is the sixth month of the year, it means we're at the half-way point for 2003! I just got home from working two night shifts at the Winners in Westhills, and it is 5:45 am. I was quite tired when I left the Winners, but the ride across the city in BRISK FREEZING COLD MORNING AIR has put some life back into me so I thought I'd start my journal for June. Interestingly enough, even though there were hardly any cars on the road this morning, I spotted a speeding trap along Glenmore Trail. I guess people speed at 5:30 too... I was too cold to be speeding though, this was seriously one of the most chilly rides I've had all year. And what's even stranger, yesterday I rode home from the same place, across the city wearing shorts! And it was NICE! Mind you it was a few hours later, I made the drive closer to 7:30 than 5:30, but still! What a difference. Speaking of work, this week was quite messed up. We were origionally supposed to go to Lethbridge / Medicine Hat for the week. No problem, I had packed my bag for a week out of town. Well Monday we went to Lethbridge and that evening we recieved notice that we had to return to Calgary the next day for a special safety meeting on Wednesday morning. A lady from head office was travelling the country conducting these safety meetings at all the depots. So we worked Monday and Tuesday, drove back to Calgary, came in to work Wednesday morning for this meeting, went home, slept for a few hours, then got up and went to work Wednesday night and the same Thursday night. If they think I'm working tonight as well, they've got another thought coming! Once this cold air rush wears off I'm going to bed and I will not wake up until I'm good and ready! Last night was interesting, when I did wake up and realize I could no longer sleep anymore I decided to finally add the pictures from May 23-25 to the photo album. The pictures had actually all been sitting there but I have to sort them before (you) can see them. I did that and then went through them all adding comments and stories to most of them where applicable. As I was doing all this, my old ex, Jessica came on ICQ and I started talking to her. She's been asking to go out for supper with me for several weeks now, and so I finally gave in and agreed to go to Boston Pizza with her. I really hadn't seen her for two years, except once or twice when I was at her grandma's place fixing her computer. So I picked her up and we went to BP's, much like 'old times.'
 Hahaha, I never thought I'de really care about my
weight until someone asked me if I had let go. It was at that point that I realized that yes, I probably had let go. So now I am un-letting go. But speaking
of going, I should go -- to bed, that is. The warm air in my room has countered the cold air outside and now I'm back to being tired again. As always, with much
more to do than can ever be done, John.
"It's times like these you learn to live again"
- Foo FightersJune 9, 2003 Man, I tried out my new rollerblades tonight and we skated to this sweet lake in the middle of Tarrington Woods, but did I ever get sweet blisters in the same places on BOTH of my feet! Woww-ie! And I got a really funny sun tan the other day while riding those 650 kilometers around the province... You wouldn't think you could get sun burnt wearing a shirt, sweater, leather jacket, helmet, jeans, and gloves -- But I did and it's a doozie! Quite funny too, I took a picture so one of these days I'll get it in here. I laughed really hard when I found it. So has everyone else who's seen it. I tore out my old bed in the cupboard today, as it was suffering from some structural problems (namely large holes in the boards underneath it) and installed a new, much more sturdy support system. I'm just about to try it out and I'll let you know how it goes. Have a good night everybody. June 10, 2003 That bed tricked me! I got home from work today and after sleeping on a plank last night, the first thing I did was prepare my matress to go back into the cupboard again. I put a fresh new sheet on it and set it in there, then I made the dread mistake of allowing my body to contact the matress. Almost four hours later I came to and realized that it had cast a spell of sleep over me! But that's ok because it is SOOO comfortable! Of course now it's almost 10:00 and all the plans I had for tonight have been all but KILLED, but it all comes back to that little phrase I discovered some time ago, Plans Change. Sometimes even the best laid plans can fail or fall through because of outside, unforseeable factors -- often outside, but not necessarily always, beyond our control. I had another plan, the other day I told a friend that I would install a motion sensor light on her new house, thinking we still had many of these things boxed up at my parent's house. I went over there today to get one of them, and it turns out that they've disappeared. I don't know if they were thrown out or just all given away, but Blair and I couldn't find them after a good search of one of the only likely places they could have been. So now I've either got to tell her I just don't have one, or I can go buy one and just go put that up instead. I'm kind of leaning towards the latter option... See? When I was sitting here writing this I decided to add an
emoticon filter to my journal engine. So I did, and now when you read through my journal (even the older entries) it should
replace any emoticon keystrokes with the appropriate faces. We'll see how it works. I haven't included all of them just
yet since anyone who I talk to knows I usually only use three icons...  and  . I was bored, what can I say? But moving
to another more weighty subject, a good friend of mine (You know who you are... ) sent me a quote the other day and I
wanted to share it with you. The powerful appeal of someone new may tell you more about your own neediness than about
the charms of the other person. I was talking with another friend of mine a few days ago about her situation with guys and
how she felt like she wanted anything but to be alone. So there you go, [ Friend ], there's the quote I was telling
you about. It really struck me when I read it, because it explains a lot of things, even in my own life. The friend who
sent it to me is looking up it's source so I can post that as well. She recieved it on a handout in Bio class from her
teacher, but said there were a lot of other great quotes on it which she's also going to send me. 
By now pretty much everyone has heard the story of Kim getting the helmet on backwards. We were down at The House two (?)
Sundays ago for their praise and worship session. (The House is a coffee shop on 10th Street just off Kensington Road that
opened it's doors to everyone that week and transformed their basement into a chapel of sorts so that people could come and
pray. Every night they had a band come in and lead those who were there in songs of praise and worship.) The night actually
started earlier on, of course. We had our Life Night service at Grace, and then the herd moved over to Boston Pizza and
basically FILLED the restaurant section. I think there was one table that had people who were not from Grace. It was
awesome. But anyways, we had supper there. As people were getting ready to leave, Kim asked if I was going to head down to
the house and I told her that I'd thought about it. She said that she'd love to go but didn't have a ride. Since it was a
really nice evening, I asked if she would want to ride there on my bike. She told me how she had always been afraid of
bikes and always worried that she'd fall off, but I told her that if she could get over her fear of them in the next 20
minutes, I'd go get my helmet and give her a ride down there. She thought about it for a few moments and then agreed to
give it a shot. So I rode home and picked up my passenger helmet, went back to the Boston Pizza and picked her up. It
couldn't have been a better night or road for a first-time passenger to ride on, we went straight down Memmorial Drive
which was beautiful, and a nice, slow ride as well. When we got there she admitted that it had not been at all scarry as
she had imagined and had in fact quite enjoyed it. After parking and talking to a guy we met in the alley for about 15
minutes about bikes, we went around to the front of the strip mall and found The House. Who should be there inside to
greet us but my own cousin Julie, accompanied by Jon Pendleberry (sorry if I've spelled that wrong) and one of their
friends. What a small world. Anyways, we stayed there till about midnight and then left the coffee shop to get back on
the bike. Well we were getting ready and putting our helmets on when I looked over at Kim and noticed that she had put her
helmet on backwards. She quickly realized her mistake and probably hoped I hadn't noticed, but the damage had been done.
Of course, in her defence, it WAS dark out, we were sort of in the alley between two buildings underneath a balcony of some
sort, or at least that's the excuse Kim is sticking to... I told her that I had honestly never seen that happen before.
She was a good sport about it and laughed it off, even being good enough to re-enact the scene at her house a few nights
ago when I stopped by to visit. (Hence the picture) So there you go, Kim, the secret is out. But it WAS dark...
hehehehe I'm sad to say that Life Night is done for the summer, but will resume on July 27th. I am really hoping it doesn't mean that I will have to wait until then to see many of the people from Grace. I am hoping to bring some of them out camping (AHEM - TONY!!!) with me this summer as well, as we've talked about doing several camping trips which have great potential to be fun and relaxing, while getting to know everyone better in the great outdoors. I am really looking forward to this summer, there are so many plans! But I should be getting to bed now, back to that amazingly comfortable matress that stole four hours of my evening from me this night! I'm actully lying on it right now, reclined in my cupboard. Laptops are a wonderful thing. Goodnight everyone. Hope to see you all soon. June 16, 2003 What a weekend! Bo, Mike, and I went out to the Sheerness Cooling Pond out near Hanna and it was everything the rumours we'd heard about it had said it was, and then some! In fact, the funny thing was that we were so busy playing in the water and on the Seadoo that we forgot to take pictures! (And that doesn't happen very often.) -- Ok, well we didn't FORGET 
entirely, but since we were in the water most of the weekend, it was not possible to take pictures as we normally would
have on such a camping trip. Still we did get a few shots, and once I get Bo and Mike's pictures I'll toss them up here.
The trip was an adventure too, as always, with Bo's car getting stuck in a runaway lane, dive-bombing birds, and much
snorkelling in 30 degree water... I do not have time to write about it all right now, but it was definately an adventure!
Oh, and since it is a small world and all, I was talking to Becky's dad last night and telling him about our weekend --
It turns out that when he was still working in the Electrical trade, one of the jobs he worked on was the very power plant
that warms the lake we were at!! He was telling me too how every morning he'd have to climb these stairs inside the plant
all the way to the top (Hey Bo, remember how we saw that guy taking a smoke break half way up the side of the plant and
were talking about how huge it is in there!?) carrying his toolbox! The plant is huge, it must be at least 15 stories, and
probably more! But I thought that was really neat. He said though, that at that time there was no campground. I should ask
him if there was even any water in the lake either. What a small world. And then, when I went to drop my Seadoo off at Pine Lake, I found Alicia in the store and she ACTUALLY went for a Seadoo ride with me! She even said that she'd come tubing next weekend! Wonders definately never cease! Last year you couldn't hardly even get her down by the docks let alone on the Seadoo. So Alicia, if you do read this, right on! I seriously didn't think you would. But anyways, I should probably get going... I've got to work in Red Deer this week (hence the reason I brought the Seadoo to Pine Lake) and it's supposed to be 28 today, and much the same for Tuesday and Wednesday. I'm even thinking of a trip to Edmonton to visit an old friend of mine if the weather is going to be *THAT* nice... It's going to be a busy couple of weeks! I'm definately looking forward to it! Anyhow, thanks for stopping by, and I hope that you too, have an awesome day! June 20, 2003 What a week! First off, I am ex-HAUSTED right now, I don't know if I caught this cold from Raedene or if it just developed on it's own from riding through the cold and rain, but wherever it came from, it's a DOOZIE! And of course I would have to become ill just days before I head to BC... Several friends and I are going on a 16 man house boat for the week in the Shuswap lake... It's going to be awesome, and rest asured there will be lots of pictures. I think by now I've all but given up trying to put video clips on the site... I have the ability to do it, but time is always a factor and no one seems to miss them (since they're not there.) We'll see. Maybe I'll take a poll on the subject and see what YOU think... But seriously though, it was a busy week. I was in Red Deer till thursday afternoon, so I decided to ride my bike up since the forcast looked awesome. I even dropped my Seadoo off at Pine Lake after our camping trip at Sheerness thinking I'd be able to play with it during the week after work. So monday evening after we finished the labour portion of the day, Steve and I went to Boston Pizza for supper. We barely got through the door when this waitress, Misty, approached us and started asking us all kinds of questions about bikes. She really wants to buy a bike and wanted to know all about bikes and riding and licensing and crashing, so I was more than happy to answer all her questions. She also interjected the bike conversation with a few personal comments and I was not quite sure how to take them, but Carmen insisted that she was hitting on me... I was going to take her for a ride the next day when she got off work, but her boyfriend did not like that idea... She was not impressed and said that next time she just wouldn't tell him, and said she'd come out to the lake this weekend for a Seadoo ride. Of course with the weather looking like it does, I don't know if she will show up, but I have to go out to get the Seadoo to bring to BC anyways, so I'll probably spend all day Saturday there to see if Misty does come by. The other downer with all this rain is that we will probably have to postpone our skydiving plans till another weekend when it isn't so wet. So that was pretty much my monday and tuesday... Then on Wednesday it was a beautiful day, very warm out under a clear sky, so I rode out to Rocky Mountain House and back in shorts and a T-Shirt. When I got back I noticed a lot of DARK clouds over Red Deer and started to get sprinkled on as I approached the city. The lightning was amazing, even in the full light of day there were bright strikes with snapping thunder not half a second after the flashes. I ended up pulling into a familiar Dairy Queen to wait out the approaching storm before heading back to the hotel. After the rain let up and the ground had even started to dry again, I went back to the hotel expecting to spend the night relaxing and perhaps watching TV, when about 8:30 my phone rings. It was Raedene, so of course I was more than happy to talk with her. We discussed getting together at the lake later on in the summer during the week that I'm camping out there with my family, and then I asked if she would have any free time (that night) or the next. She said that (tonight) was fine for her, so I jumped on my bike and rode to Edmonton where she gave me directions to her house. Now the rain had stopped in Red Deer and I had a dry ride all the way to Leduc, where I stopped for gas. But after I got back onto the highway from Leduc it started cooling down and I could see nothing but storm clouds above Edmonton. When I phoned her at the city limits, I asked what she wanted to do, whether she wanted to meet me somewhere or just go to her house and hang out. While we were trying to decide, I mentioned that I had brought my passenger helmet so that if it had been nicer out we could have gone somewhere on the bike. She said it was raining a bit but that she'd still like to go for a ride, so I found my way to her house and we got on the bike. When I got there we decided to ride to Stony Plain and have supper at the BP's out there, since the night was really warm despite the rain. To Stony Plain we went, and it really didn't rain all that much, just a sprinkle here and there. Of course, by this time it was about 10:45 or so, and as such it was getting dark. On the highway to Stony there was some beautiful lightning flashes across the sky as we passed over the shiny road, both wearing sandals. It was kind of neat too, because any time we hit a puddle, the water that hit our feet was WARM! I couldn't have asked for a nicer rainy night to ride on. The air wasn't even cold. We sat at the Boston Pizza in Stony Plain until they closed the restaurant at 1:00, and then rode back to her house in Edmonton. Oh, and I was telling her and I have to tell you too, the street she lives on is absolutely inCREDIBLE! It's a very old neighbourhood, and for many blocks all you can see are these massive trees drooping their dark green leaves over the roadway. I was honestly impressed, you'd have to see it to fully appreciate the scene. But anyways, back at her house she brought out her CD collection and played a number of songs for me. I've got a list of some of them which I'll download and listen to on the way to BC and back. It was funny too, because although we have some different tastes in music, when we started naming our favorite 80's rock songs, there were a couple of titles that were on both of our lists. But anyway, after talking a bit more at her place, I realized the time and decided I should probably go, since I had to ride back to Red Deer still before hitting a pillow. She was kind enough to offer me her couch, but since it was my last day working in Red Deer and we'd have to pack up the hotel room in the morning and I didn't know my way around Edmonton at all and had no idea what traffic would be like in the morning, I figured if I was going to get lost or have problems, it would be better if they happened earlier in the night than later. It was probably a good thing too, because I did get lost, horribly, and wound up having to stop in a 7-Eleven to ask how to get back to the highway. I tried to reverse the directons she had given me to her house, but I think some of the streets I had come up on were one way streets and I couldn't get back the same way. Plus at 2:30 in the morning I was definately not functioning at my peak either. But I still managed to make it back to our hotel in Red Deer before 4:00 am and managed to get about 3 and a half hours of sleep before getting up for work that day... But Raedene is one of those friends I get to see so little that any chance I get to go and visit, I take, and it is worth any amount of lost sleep. So (I think) we agreed to try and visit each other more often this summer. Of course then Thursday I was really tired though, but again, definately worth it. Our last job took us 'til about 1:00 and then we had lunch before driving & riding back to Calgary. I did a quick computer job once I got back to the city before heading home and made a hundred bucks, not a bad bonus to an already awesome week. But here today, Friday, I have this incredible head cold, my face feels like a thousand hornets stung it and it's swollen from every single sting, my nose is running constantly and I am very tired. I think I will call it an early night tonight to try and prepare for the upcoming lack of sleep in BC. Oh, and there was one other thing I wanted to toss in here, has your mom or dad ever given you trouble for picking at a wound you have, or even say -- a mosquito bite? What do they always tell you? "If you keep picking at it or scratching it, it will never heal!" I'm sure just about every one of us has heard that expression at one time or another in their life. This is a very good lesson for all of us -- do not pick at open wounds or they will never heal. And wear sunscreen. Badnight everyone. June 21, 2003 I am peeling. I woke up this morning at about 5:30 after a series of very strange but very realistic dreams. I still feel sick, in fact probably more so than I did yesterday, but the show must go on as it were. Last night I was guitarring and I came up with some words to a song I wrote many, many years ago. It's amazing what the mind can create when in a total state of exhaustion. Actually, as some people know, that seems to be the state of mind in which others most enjoy my company. The other day I was working away on something on the computer, when I got a message from Telle. Two messages, actually. She emailed me a question, and also pointed out on Yahoo that I need to update my profiles. I didn't even realize that they were still out there, but when I went to check it, it hadn't been modified in over two years! Time for a change, I guess. But then Telle and I got talking, something I hadn't expected to happen, especially since she'd told me just days earlier that she was not going to talk to me anymore... Shauntelle, I really wish you would make up your mind. You have chosen to be in an official relationship with Lloyd, knowing full well how I feel, but still you ask me questions that just tear open old wounds. Why on earth would you ask me if I still love you? What does it matter now? Why would you even care? You've trampled on my heart before without any regard for me, taking my answer and just smiling contently knowing that I still care about you and still have feelings for you -- in spite of everything you did to me: Like Cheating on me with two different guys on numerous occasions while we were together (Technically or not, we were still together), lying to my face at every turn and only admitting the truth once you knew that I knew the truth and could prove it, betraying my trust, hurting me in a worse way than anyone has ever hurt me before. Do I go on? You told me once to get over you and move on, so I have been doing my very best to accomplish both of those things, yet you keep holding me back. Please, Telle, make up your mind. It's not fair to either me or Lloyd to be playing the both of us like you are. I am moving on, I am getting over you. You've tugged on the line now and then up until now, but never bitten the bait. When you fish, there is an aspect of patience involved, but sooner or later when you aren't catching the fish, you have to pull in that line and try fishing somewhere else. I'm going to fish somewhere else. June 27, 2003  Wow, I see the guestbook has been on fire in my absense... I have been away on a houseboat this week with some friends, some of whom I've known nearly my whole life, others I've just met this week. The trip was definately a blast, easily the most fun I've had in a long, long time. Despite several boat problems and fairly chilly weather at times, we managed to still pull off a fantastic week on the Shuswap lakes in BC, and hopefully can do it again next summer. As always, there are a lot of pictures, and so far I've put up the ones I took on my camera. Once I get Bo's pictures I'll post them as well. We might even put up some of the video clips from the tape we shot, there was a lot of ground shots (thanks Shaun...) but we did manage to capture some very amusing footage as well. It was an awesome week, I can't say that enough. I've tossed up a few minor comments under some of the pictures, hopefully I will have time to write good, long stories for most of them. I'd say there is definately a story behind every picture there... It will just take some time to write it all down. I've also put what few pictures I have from our last Sheerness trip up as well (Both of these are under Camping, in case you were wondering) and I am heading out there again today to go for another weekend of camping and swimming in warm water. Oh, which reminds me, I have to patch the flat tube again. You know how it kept getting holes mainly in that one area? Well now it's got another hole in that same district! There must be something inside the canvas that is tearing the bladder, but what I think I will do is just pour that rubber stuff all over the area and make that whole section into a rubber patch. Hopefully that will solve the problems we've been having with keeping air inside that tube. We did get to use it quite a bit in BC though, and I even took some kids from Washington for several tube rides. I never even caught their names, but they had a good time and their parents thanked me even though the tube kept going flat. It was such a fun week. Man, I know I keep saying that but I still can't get over it. Ok, I'm going to go. I will write more later. Have a great weekend everyone! BACK to Journal Index | |
