Merry Christmas!

Well the week rolled by basically uneventful. Len was working and I kinda just hid at home with Kaylee. Went for a few local rides during the afternoons just to get outta the house. It definately didnt feel like the holidays nor was I really in the spirit for them. I know Len was a little upset that we werent going to have a "normal" xmas but so be it. If the money isnt there theen there is othing you can do about it. Paying the bills and keeping food in the house is more important. He kept complaining that he wanted to do something nice for me and I continued to ignore it. We said we werent going to worry about each other and that was that. I knew in the back of my head though that he prolly would stop off somewhere on the 24th and get something so needless to say I was going to get him something as well. On the 23rd, I got a message that our friend Mike (who did the winter ride for diabetes) was on his way over. It was nice that he accepted the invitation, as he really has no family o the west coast to be with and that he felt welcome enuf to be with us. So I had the approximate time that he was going to arrive and I headed off to Duncan. First stop was at Arrow for Lens gift. He has been eyeballing this watch for damn near a year and I thought I would see just how much it was going to be, Maggie always gives me a discount of some kind. Well it was still there and of course she did so, I double checked that I could return it if in fact Len didnt get me anything and that he was upset that I overspent when we have no extras so to speak. She said not a problem, but I dont think you will be bringing it back! Didnt she know it, I would have to kill him and then pry it off his dead arm to take it back once he received it. I made a quick stop at the bank and then god forbid off to Wally World to find a few things I need for my school projects that I have to do. In all of this it should time me about right to meet Mike on his way thru or damn close to the house. Well damn, am I good or what. I finnished up at Wallyworld and jumped back on the bike, as usual with Duncan the traffic was insane and I just about went around the back way then thought otherwise as I might just find Mike on the road. Well sure nuff, I hit the highway and got to the first stop light at Beverly corners(where Can Tire used to be) and there in the right hand lane 3 cars up is Mikes truck. Yep cant miss him. Big green sierra with the beacons on the top and his logo for the winter ride all over the back window. I angled the bikes headlights at his side mirrors and started flashing the high beams. Nope that didnt work, light changes and I figure that I will catch him. Well his lane is moving quicker but not him, but do ya think the idiots infront of me in the fast lane would get their asses in gear! Finally I start to gain a bit onn him and as I get closer, I figure rev the bike a bit and he would look. Nope, dumb son of a bitch. I get beside him and just hold on the horn, finally he looks over and at first has no clue until he sees me giving him the finger. Of course, Im on the bagger and bundled up for the cold so it might be a little hard to figure it out but he clued in quick enuf. I jumped infront of him and then we proceeded thru the crawl side by side in one lane, talking as we waited for lights and traffic to move. We made a quick stop for evening libations and then back to the house to wait for Len.

We sat around with drinks and catching up for the evening, a round of phone calls to others to say hi and Merry ho ho ho, dinner and then relaxing. He was a little rough from the night before so we didnt push it too much and Len had to work again in the morning. The 24th rolls around and Len headed off to work. Mike and I were thinking of going for a ride but I also was waiting for Bulls mom to come by and pick up Kaylee. The ride didnt happen, Len got home and we decided to let the girl at her few gifts before she went away for her visiting. As I decide to let her go at it, I notice that there is now a harley box under our baby tree. Yes baby tree, thats just how into this holiday I was. No decorations came out, but because I knew there were a few things from back east and also a few from us for the girl child I put up the 2 foot tree I used to use in my salon at the old folks home. Anyways, so obviously I was right he did stop somewhere on his way home. Maybe I wont have to take the watch back. So let Kaylee go nuts and open up the stuff that is there for her and then she hands the couple things to Len from My mom and of course the watch. I says to him, now if ya want me to take it back, I can, if I shouldnt have spent the money. Now I think he is a little worried. He opens it up and well yep, Maggie was right, there was no way I was going to be taking it back. It was on his wrist and he was keeping it. He was so happy. He got me a new mug from Dranes as I decided earlier in the week to throw my favorite mug across the floor to see if it would break and yep, it did! I wasnt really concerned with what he got me or the cost cause I know that when finances are better then I will be getting pipes for my bike. Even though it wasnt a big xmas we were happy just to be together and to have Mike there as well. Isnt that what it is all about really? Eventually Kay headed off and none to quick as she had found that damn Hippo song and was blasting it repeatedly! The three of us got to drinks again and then ended up playing monopoly for a few hours before a late dinner.

On the 25th, I made my round of phone calls to family and Mike called his parents as well, I eventually made breakfast and Mike went on a little social visit with Vince. When he got back we were starting to get ready to head to dinner. But first the boys decided to go for a ride. Well not to be outdone from Halloween, I dug into my xmas boxes and found my assortment of xmas hats and they both put one on over their helmets. Len was a jester hat and Mikes was an elf with the ears. This is a little joke as he has been nicknamed the Leprachaun. I got pics of them on the bikes and a quick video of them leaving. I did do it all up to music but facebook banned it on me, guess they didnt like my song!!!! When they got back we loaded up and headed to Vic for dinner with our friends Bruce and Viv. We also had our friend Deb there with her boys. It was good to see her again cause we havent seen her since we were in Kelowna in July. We had a great dinner and games night with them all. And yet again, I repeat, what more could you ask for then the company of good friends at xmas. Mike drove home as he was takig a day off from drinking and a good think cause I hadnt realized exactly how much of the punch Len had been spiking and drinkin til we got home. Dumb bugger started a conversation with us in the truck and then fell asleep to it. I woke him when we got home and he stumbled into the house and dissapeared leaving Mike and I to bring in all the bags. We sat up for a half hour ad then went to bed ourselves. Well atleast Mike did. I had a fight on my hands as the drunk fell into bed taking over 3/4s of it. I could barely get in and there was no moving him. Not to mention the elbow I had stuffed into my back. He moved briefly but that was only to move his arm under his head so I now had an elbow to the head. Yep this is going to be a great night. If I was lucky, I got about 3 hours sleep and was up again at 630. Well needless to say, Len and I didnt get to far yesterday. We said our goodbyes to Mike as he was heading up to Comox now and I didnt think I would be able to stay up. I tried a nap but that didnt work, then we put a movie on figuring I might just fall asleep to that. Ya wrong, he did, but not I. I made a quick and easy dinner for us and then we sat down to watch Shrek. Eventually I did nod off before waaking up and heading to bed. Thankfully I slept reasonably well last night and think Im good to go and cause trouble today!

Well have one more week off school, and have the basic outlines for both projects ready to go. First off, I need my damn doll back from my niece. Then I will start doig all the creative parts for that one. But Im not going to start it if I cant get the doll. I will have to change my whole plan and do something different. The second one, I have typed out and ready to fabricate. I just have to find a few little details and I will be ready to roll with it. I think Kay is coming home on Monday and then I just have to worry about January 5th!!!! OMFG she is turning 16!!!!! Where did the time go? She wants to get her licence and she says she wants to learn on my truck! Damn I hope my clutch holds out!! We also have New Years and that should be fun. It is a wedding party that we are going to with many of our friends and a group of us are all staying in the same motel. Look out Nanaimo, here we come.

Hope everyone had a good xmas and all the best for the coming year. I know that mine is going to be strenous but it will pay off in the long run.

Well Holidays are here

Well last Monday rolled around to a light dusting of snow, it was worse in the morning when Len left for work. When I headed south it really wasnt that bad besides the drivers still wanting to crawl along even though there was no snow in the air or on the road. Gotta looove that Malahat . Anyways I got to my appointment with my teacher ad it was pathetic as I figured it was going to be. She asked if now that I had had some time to think about it and calm down if my opinions had changed. Ya NOPE, still feel the same way! She went on to say that it is her rule to do things that way and if I miss it that there really isnt anything fair that she can do without giving me special treatment. And in the big scheme of things that 10% really didnt affect my overall mark in the long run. In my mind I think it did, even if it was just by 1%. She made other suggestions to help get by in casse weather became an issue and I could not get to class. The only one that was good to know about was if it is an exam day and the hat is a weather related mess and impassible, I can call her and she can fax my exam to the Duncan campus and they will make arrangements for me to go there and write the exam and in turn fax it back to her when done for marking. This is good to know on the off chance that I cant get through. All the rest of her suggestions were of little use considering I dont have fax or email in my truck on top of the hat. So be it and carry on, obviously like I figured there was really nothing that will be done to chage anything.

She did give me my marks ahead of the class in the meetinng ad thankfully they were both better then anticipated. Somehow I pulled a 97 on my exam, not bad considering I was only physically in class and not mentally! Now the partner project had me worried, as my partner is a bit of a slacker(I found this out after I was paired with her) I had all my written portion finished 2 days early, also had all my handouts for the class done, given to the teacher for copying and in my posession. All my partner had to do was get her written to me so I could bind it all together, get her handouts copied and make a power point presentation. Well she shows up about 20 minutes before class, gives me her written, doesnt have her handouts copied and at this point in time the teacher wont copy them, and the power point she made was just our table of contents printed on the screen. Obviously I should have kept all the creative stuff to myself, cause it was a pathetic attempt and definately done last minute. Then we get in class and the teacher goes over what she is expecting from our presentation and there goes my prep out the window! I had something else designed and it wasnt what she wanted so I had to wing it. Great, hate being thrown on the spot like that. Well overall and thankfully for the extra work I had put into the project we ended up with a 95. I was really worried about it and will not chose to work with her again in the future.

Overall I ended up with a 95 in this course.

Monday night the snow really started to fly. It wasnt too bad downtown but as ya got closer to Langford it got worse and I knew damn well that the hat was going to be a complete gongshow. Yep I was right, all traffic was sitting in the right hand lane following a calcium truck. Nope they werent plowing just spraying. WTF is with that, they need to run the plow as well. Anyways, I did not have the patience to sit in this line of traffic all the way home so I took to the left lane to feel the truck out and if I had the traction to go. Yep no problem, truck was fine and off I went up the fast lane. Hey I was good, I was still under the speed limit for a change but atleast I wasnt doing 40 and stuck in second gear. Len tried to follow but the ranger being empty had no traction what so ever, so he had to fall back into the slow lane to get up tunnel hill. As I reached the Shawnigan turn off was where I saw the flashing beacon of the roads crew and thought shit now I will have to get behaind him cause ya cant pass a plow on the left. That is when I realized they werent plowing and just spraying. So I did pass him and keep going until I had no choice, cause all of the previous commuters were unable to finnd the lanes they had made one lane in the middle of the two, stradddling the white line. If I had of tried to take the left, I would have been over the center line, so now I am stuck and doing 20 over the summit. When we came over the top and out to Bamberton the drivers continued this one lane drive annd I again took to the left to get home and out of this crud. In the turning lane infront of my house, I just about hit the same guy twice cause of his pathetic driving skills. I was already in the turning lane and bumper to bumper with him when he figured he needed my lane and didnt even signal and just pulled over into me! Luckily I was able to hit the brakes, control the truck and not hit the stupid SOB. He got a full blast of horn and lights in the process but it didnt wake him up. At the corner, he decides to play dumb phuk again, this time slowing for the corner then at the last minute without signal, he hits the brakes and makes a uturn! Here I am again on a slight incline corner hitting the brakes and having to take evasive manuevers to avoid hitting him. Yep you got it lights and horn again! Thankfully Im feet from my driveway and get the hell in and off the roads. The next moring Len tried to leave for work, but there was no helping the ranger outta the driveway, so there it sat, and Im now onn my way to Vic and school way early cause the good ole beast of an Exploder charged up the drive in 2 no problem. Oh well help Len for the morning and go to school in the afternoon.

We started a new course this week and it is actually a fun class. It is learning about paraprofessionals (teaching assistants) Our diploma doesnt allow us to work in the Victoria school boards but it does allow us to work in the Cowichan Valley, woo hoo lucky me! Hadnt really given it any thought before but it may be an idea. Hell the pay is better and then I would also get the summers off! Hmmmmm, now there is something to think about, summer, riding, and good pay. Will have to do a number crunch and see if it is worthwhile to have the 2 months off without pay or if it is better to be working year round. As I said this class is fun and so are the projects. To start with she has given each of us a day where we have to do "circle time" Yes just like back in kindergarten. We can do what ever we want and focus on any age group as long as it is relevant. I did mine on Wednesday and focused more on teens and it went well with a little bit of chaos thrown in. The projects which we can work on over the break are both simple, easy, and creative. The first is some kind of a visual schedule or system. Little pictures that a child could look at to see what they are suppose to be doing next. Im thinking I need to steal that doll back from my niece and use it again with the thought balloons to have the child express feelings and such, maybe in the contrext of a deaf child who has not yet learned to sign with their parents and this would be a way to communicate. The second project is that we have to create some kind of an educational game. well have several different ideas on this one but I think I have it covered, just have to build it and set out the rules for it.

So the holidays have started and besides having time off, I couldnt shive a git, no decorations this year and no presents either, just no money to do anything, so be it. As for the girl, well she does have and extended family network so there will be some things for her just nothing at home here. Thankfully she isnt upset about it and I promised that whe things were caught up we would take her on a little shopping spree.

I went out for a little afternoon ride yesterday ad it was a blast, little cool but good none the less. Wish this liquid shit in either form would quit so that I could get out a little more. That two wheeled therapy has got to be the best to put a mind to ease.
As for the next 2 weeks, nothing major on the agenda. Work on my projects, have a xmas dinner invite, Kaylee will be bouncing around, here, there, and everywhere. We have a NNew Years wedding to go to in Nanaimo oh and if the weather cooperates for a couple days, Ang and I are on a mission to Coombs to visit another girlfriend from the past that we havent seen in a long time. Now that could be entertaining and just downright trouble. Beyond that nothing much to do besides find more trouble to get into and Im sure I am capable of doing so!!

To those that are celebrating and in the immortal words of Bull - "Hairy Misstress and crappy new years" Hope I see some of yall in my mission for trouble.

Well exam day is over, thank goodness. Not really sure how I did but keeping my fingers crossed. There was a few questions that we hadnt even gone over in class at all nor were they on the review. Heres hoping my pathetic attempt of an answer is right. It was a hella lot of writing on this one, and Im really not sure about it. I made sure I made enuf points to cover the marking scheme but the question is if I put the right stuff down. Alot of it was common sense stuff, and some were duplicate answers. Stuff like, Joe is addicted to drugs, what factors caused it, what interventions could be used, what social or economic factors are there, etc. The next one would be similar but Jane is 15 and pregnant, now same set of questions for her. Dont think I failed, but dont have a good feeling for a high mark, thats for sure. A lot of the reasoning is because my mind just wasnt with me this week and things werent sinking in.

I handed in my exam and the teacher stopped me for a minutes, that she had a couple questions. First one was simple, just wanting to know what name I wanted on my name tag for when I go on practicum, damn I got eight months before I go whats the rush. Second was that she wanted to set up an appointment with me for Monday, since I havent been myself this week, and that I seem to have some issues. Well fine, I guess I can try and get in early on Monday but no promises. I said I wouId call if something came up but try and be there none the less. On my way out I stopped to check in with the director, since I didnt see her the day before. Well really not sure of where this meeting is going to go now. She told me that the teacher was planning on meeting with me on Monday after she had marked the projects and exams, I said yes we have an appointment. Then she gave me the vibe that maybe I am being to hard on myself and too much of a perfectionist. Maybe I should try and get more sleep and relax more before an exam. What the hell does that have to do with the issue at hand!!!!! Ya maybe I am to much of a perfectionist, but it seems that I obviously know whats going on and am capable of getting the marks. I set myself a high standard outta the gate so now it is my mission to keep it there. What is wrong with having that expectation for oneself. I was given a fully funded tuition and living allowance to go to school and better myself that I do not have to repay, so why in the hell wouldnt I set my standards high. (Not to mention, I heard an ad on the radio that they have now changed the program I am in and that they are only offering up to $4000 towards tuition instead of full funding, Im seriously lucky I got in when I did, or it would require a student loan as well)

Oh well, nothing I can do now but wait. Try and focus on the new course next week. Then 2 weeks for the holidays. Oh them, ya bah friggin humbug!

Now theres another issue all together. I really hate Christmas! It is too comercialized, materialistic and just an all round pain in the ass! If it wasnt for the girl child I would say screw the whole thing. Well this year it may very well come to that. What little living allowence I get, covers the rent and my personal loans as well as the insurance on my vehicles. Len pays for the groceries, household bills, gas and any of our entertainment. Good enuf and fair but the problem lays in the fact that he has not been working a whole of alot so there is not alot of money for extras at the moment. It is turning into the first time that I may not be able to get Kaylee anything. Mind you she has the same mind set as me, it is too comercialized and she doest care. I also have her SWEET SIXTEEN 10 days after Xmas. Now that I have to worry about more, cause it is a special time in a girls life. I have a limo booked for her and her girlfriends to go cruise around in for the afternoon then I think her plan is to come back here and have a party. The limo is free so that helps but still have to figure out some kinda present that is special for her.

I friggin hate this time of year.

Oh well so much for griping. I got to stay home today instead of helping Len out on a job he is doing this weekend, may have to go tomorrow but relaxing today. Have to make an appie of something for a party we are going to this evening and this afternoon, K and I are going to Freakshow's for his open house.

Now for those that read this, the post on my facecrack the other day was true but a joke. Yall didnt read it clearly. All I said was I came home to another bike for my garage. I cant believe it took our little naive, gullible blonde Suzie to understand it. Her response was STORAGE and yes that is what it is. Mountain brought my other, other bike over to keep warm and dry for him over the winter months. How many times have yall heard me say that Lens bike is my other bike, and those that have been around Mountain or myself, know that I put a fair number of Kms on his bike this season as well, I think I rode it more then he did. So it is another ongoing joke that it is also my other bike. Hence why I posted the pic of me riding his bike on my profile. It is my third bike! Sorry but it was funny watching the responses and quite entertaining.

Oh well off to annoy the child and run a few errands.

2 Weeks in one

Well, I slacked off last week as it wasnt a really eventful week. Yep did bring K to school with me and everyone said the same thing, bout how pretty and good she is. Wish it would sink into her head, but then again when it does, it will prolly mean that boys are in her eyes! I can wait.

School was, well different, we had a sub teacher and she just flew thru each days lesson and we were done and able to escape no later then 3 every day. Was kinda a nice change, especially with riding. Got to get ahead of traffic and over the hat before it got dark and colder. I spent most of the week and weekend working on the major project we had to turn in yesterday. I was deffinately a big one and I was fighting with my word programs to get it done. Ended up having to type it out twice as the first program I used decided to move everything around and wouldnt let me fix it. Friggin PCs.

Saturday was suppose to be the party in Cedar but it got cancelled, so instead we went to the truck parade. Always nice to see the rigs all decked out in lights and trying to play jingle bells on their horns. Sunday we decided to pull the bikes out before I buried myself in more project work. Heck first time Therapy has been out in a while. But she was as good to go as ever. Thankfully the winds had blown most of the crap off the roads and they were realitively clean and dry. Well except for one spot on the hat, where we went to pass a car to the right and as I pulled around there was an ice patch infront of me! Holy shyte, with my tire this might not be good! Well, let off the throttle a bit and leaned hard to circle around it and made it by the ice and car no problem. Did a loop around Langford and didnt find any of the peeps we were looking for so headed on home. Len had to go help a friend for a few hours and I had my project to fight with. Later on we drove back down to pick up the girl, who was visiting with her dad and we stopped for a visit with some friends of Lens that we hadnt seen in a long time.

Well back to school on Monday and back to our regular teacher, was uneventful but Tuesday was another story. It turned into a day from hell and set the tone for my week. Started off with smacking my head twice, tripping over my feet and falling, spilling hot coffee all over my hand, then Im trying to go to school and for some dumb reason the truck decides to be dead, no power no where. This is at serious coffee in Mill Bay.(yep right after the hand burning incident) Now she started up fine, no problems in the driveway, but now there is nada, no lights, fan, radio,clcik for the ignition. Nope DEAD. Well what the phuk! (Bear pay attention here, might give ya some ideas if you have problems, mechanically speaking) I play with it for a few minutes and it seems I can get a bit when I wiggle the key, then it changes its mind and says nope. I pop the hood and check the battery connections, everything is tight like it should be. Ok now WTF. Call Len and gripe, then start calling looking for a ride or loner car for the day, call school and report that Im dead on the hat but am still trying to get there. I finally manage to track down Vince and he sends Sheryl off to help with jumper cables. Good thig I know what Im doing as neither of them are mechanical. Shit I remember Vince trying to blow things using them, and sparking his bike battery trying to jump it. While waiting, I get a guy to push the truck back to an open area so that Sheryl can get to me, instead of right infront of the store. I talk to my friend Steve who is a mechanic to get possible ideas and back to under the hood I go. Well I know it is a new strong battery and that isnt the problem, it has to be something else. Yep the connections could use some cleaning but it shouldnt be completely dead. Start playing with the wires and looky here, I get lights again, try starting, nothing but lost power again. Back to playing, well I think I have found the culprit. It is the battery wires where they hook into the clamp, they must be 20 years old like the truck and are startig to wear. Wiggle some more and power again. Sheryl is here now so I hook the cables up and she fires right up. I thank Sheryl and keep the cables with me and off I go like a bat outta hell to school. I get there just before 2 and havent missed any of the days lesson. At break time, I ask a few questions on the project and turn in my handouts to get copied, then I ask what about the homework sheet from last nite? She takes it and says well I have to mark it now, so you will lose 10%! Like hell, it isnt my fault that I couldnt get there. Well needless to say that just adds to my day and Im in a completely shitty mood and all can tell.

I wait til the next day to see if she really took the marks off and she did. At break I approached her with my opinion and she wouldnt waiver. I dont think it is fair to lose the marks, 1) I called in and told her what was going on, 2)I worked under my hood in the freezing cold just so I could get there, 3) I asked her about it, not the other way around, 4) I got the truck running and still drove 50+km to get to school, late or not, not another soul in my class would bother going 5) I dont have the option of a bus, cab, or walking as Im not in Vic and my course isnt offered in Duncan. Im not asking for special treatment, but jaysus, I went above and beyond what anyone else would have done to still get to school. If I was in Vic, I would have said screw it and found another way of getting there. I was beyond mad now and was ready to grab my stuff and leave then. The others told me to go to thee director and talk to her, so that is what I did. She listened to me and made a report, saying that she would discuss it with the teacher and get back to me. Like I said I dont want special treatment, but I had extrenuating circumstances here, and I dont think the teacher needs to be so hard nosed about time of the assignment. In her mind if it is due that day, it is due by 1:15, if you turn it in at 1:16 it is late. Not as long as it gets turned in on that day. I really think that is a bit much. Well all of this just set my mood for the week, I was grumpy miserable, and wouldnt answer in class. If she put me o the spot for an answer, I responded with a nope its not there, dont know, in other words, dont give a damn at the moment. Mat find out today what is going to happen.

Thursday rolls around for project day, and I have everything done, ready and packaged to go, hoping my partner has done the same. I decide to go in an hour early and make up the time I missed so that I dont have it missing onn my attendence, keep that 100% record. Teacher looks at me like I have 2 heads when I tell her Im clocking in now to make up the time missed, she says she doesnt think I can do that, and I says well I already had this conversation with the director when I was sick for the day and was told that I could make up the hours. She takes note but says she will have to discuss it with the director, yep you go ahead, and Im going to continue being a thorn in your side this week. So I sit around doing some work, waiting for my partner. Figures she has part of the stuff done but she hasnt got her handouts copied and the one creative part I asked her to do was pathetic. I was choked. I knew this was going to be phuked. Then in class the teacher goes over the expectations and everything I had organized for the presentation portion was wrong, guess Im going to have to wing things now. Oh well, presentation out of the way, just the final today. Hope the hell the marks stay up there as Im worried about the project and the exam cause this one is a whole lot different then before.

Well time to do some more studying and cross my fingers, but I think the tone of the week has set my mind in a bad place. Heres hoping that it hast messed with me too much.

Besides lack of sleep, Great week!

Well not to bad of a week over all. Besides the never ending monsoons! The main portion of the week was uneventful really, besides lack of sleep. Len has had some kinda bug but is feeling fine except for this never ending cough he seems to get around 11pm. It seems to want to last half the night which of course causes no sleep for either of us and we are both so rudely awaken by the semis on the highway by 5:30 in the morning! I love the property I live on, but damn I hate those trucks. Dont know why they need to use the air brakes going up hill at that hour! Really pisses me off, especially when I am lacking on sleep.

As for school, handed in my project, which I was ready to rip my hair out over last weekend. Teacher said it would be easy and we could find everything we needed via the internet. Ya like phuk we could! I spent 2 and a half days researching and found nothing. I even had another student trying to research for me and my buddy Suzie in Cedar looking for Nanaimo resources to no avail. Finally I went to Duncan on a mission Monday morning and found the basics for what I needed. Monday night I did the project and got the thing together. I ended up with a 96 on the project. When it came around to doing the review for the final, I thought I had the answers but then when we checked them, the teacher had me so confused over a few of the questions I didnt know which way I was going. She was basically trying to tell me that two seperate questions and answers were the same and I was not getting this at all. Oh well, mark down her answers and try and remember them. I cam home on Thursday night with the review answers in hand and tried to put my mind to it some what. I t didnt last to long as I was so friggin tired. I decided at 10pm that I was going to head to bed and try to be asleep before Len and get a decent nights rest, then get up and cram for a few hours before leaving. Our exam time was changed from 1 pm to 10 am, so needless to say I didnt have the morning to deal with things like I usually do. Well sleep came but not for long, Len came to bed an hour or so later and managed to wake me up with the coughing so little to no sleep again. I got up at 6 and then tried to focus on my notes for a while but it just didnt want to sink in. Some of it was there but the major points didnt seem to be sinking in. I finally said to hell with it and went off to check the weather for the bike.

Im running with this philosophy so far that if I ride on exam day it is clearing my head of the garbage and therefore I am getting the good marks. Since it was dry and clear and no threat of rain, I was riding, 8 am or not. Well guess it worked cause I rode to school after a lovely fight with the bagger before leaving( tell that later) and ended up completely acing the exam. 100%, holy shit sticks batman!!!! And here I was worried ad concerned, no sleep, not really studying and well the mark says it all. So needless to say Friday turned into an awesome friggin day!

Like I said, we had the wonderful monsoons at the beginning of the week, but Thursday rolled around and it wasnt to bad. I had all my homework and review doe Wednesday night, so I took a ride into Duncan on Thursday morning, opps ya on the bagger, yep its still first in the basement. Then I decided what the hell, Im taking her to school. Sure nuff and like I figured my honey decided he wanted to ride home, so he met me at school and swapped vehicles. Hell its the least I can do. Bring him his bike so he can ride home, and I can take his tools and truck home for him!!!!! We stopped for a beer on the way, then headed up the hat. Mind you he did ask why I get to enjoy the good part of the day and he gets to ride in the dark and cooler portion of the day. Hey a ride is a ride! If ya dont want to do it then I will ride home myself! Anyways we had noticed that my heated jacket seemed to have momentary issues ad we werent sure if it was working. So needless to say with my early morning ride on Friday we start to look over a few things. Well the jacket seemed fine Friday moring but for some reason Len took his seat off and the god damn bolt that holds the seat down dropped out of the fender. Jesus, now we are both in a rush to leave and trying to get this thing back together. Tried putting it up the side of the fender to the top to no avail, then I took the bolt and tried to slide my arm up from the back of the fender to the top. Hey I didnt do so bad until I got to my elbow, but there is a 2 inch piece of something attached to the chrome he has at the bottom of the fender and I couldnt get my arm past it. Next thing we try is fishing it thru. We dropped a piece of string thru the fender hole and the tied the bolt to it to fish it up and try to get it in place. Well with a lot of frustration and cursing we managed to make it work and got the damn seat back on. Now we are both running late and off we go likea couple of screaming memes!

Friday afternoon rolls around, my exam is finished and a bunch of us congragate outside for a smoke and to dwell on the results of how we thought we did. We decide to go for lunch and a beer and then go from there. Len met me for a bit but had to go and argue about his pay cheque so I said ok, Im going to head back to the school and see if the teacher is done marking yet to get my mark. She was leaving for a holiday that afternoon so she was rushing to get things done. Another 2 of the girls had already headed there anyways. He went his way and I mine. I met the girls at the school and the teacher was just trying to finish up on the marks so we wasted a few more miniutes waiting for the marks. The teacher knew that we were there and stuck her head out when she was done to give us our marks. I think she was just as excited that 2 of the 3 of us that were there got 100 on the exam. Ya baby, now Im dancing outta the school on cloud nine! No idea how I really pulled it off but I did. Doing the Happy Dance! What a way to end the week. I headed up to meet Len just grinning like a Cheshire cat. Sure I had some people wondering as I rode down the road, tunes blastin, big ole grin on my face and not a care in the world. He was a little upset with the end of his day but super proud of me, so we decided to stop and celebrate a little before heading home. So I gave up the riding gear and bike and took the truck and off we went. Good thing we did hang around a bit as we had to stop at Home Depot to get more flooring for Rick.

Saturday rolled around and we went off to Nanoose again to do some more flooring for Rick and Sheila. We were planning on going there annyways on Sunday, so Rick just thought come up for the weekend. Kaylee decided to tag along with us this time and she brought her homework, so that was good. But she is so hard to try and help. I dont know if she just doesnt want to pay attention and wants me to give the answers to her or what. But she really doesnt seem like she has much interest in doing the work. Even Rick and Len tried to help her at one point just working out measurements on a ruler and she was sitting there confused. She may not like it but I may have to get her some help if she isnt going to try. I tried to do some work for my next project but didnt have internet access so I was limited on what I could do. Thankfully I had download some info that I could read thru and pick out info. After dinner on Saturday we ended up playing poker again and Rick walked away this time with most of the money. Len was out and I think I came away with 12 of my 20 bucks. Oh well always tomorrow.

Sunday was the Grey Cup party and we sat around until people started showing up. We did have the pool for winning scores in each quarter to bet on and we all bought a bunch of squares. It was a great game, right up to the end when the losing team won by 1 point. I luckily won the 2nd quarter and got 20 bucks back that was lost the day before.

We ended the weekend by heading home, relaxing for a bit then a hot tub under the full moon then off to bed. Guess we were both pretty tired as neither of us woke up til 6:30 this morning.

Oh well another week, I wonder what it holds? Well a few things off the top of my head, are Thursday, I believe Kay is coming to school with me and then I won tickets at school to the Shriners Xmas Fantasy show so we will be going to that, just dont want to rush home to get her and then back down, so what the hell, just bring her along. And of course Saturday night could turn into trouble up in Cedar. Having a Xmas party at Ed and Sue's and there are 3 couples that are staying the night. This could prove to be interesting, very interesting. Especially if Ed gets his way and manages to coax Rodney out at the end of the evening!

Damn, I missed something yesterday

Well with all the other stuff going on and my damn "N" falling off, I forgot all about the other good news I had. Ya most may have read it elsewhere but might as well add it to my blog as well.

I won the Ladies of Harley HOG Motorcycle Memories contest for Most Adventurous story. I wrote it last year and sent it off just before Xmas, all about my escapades of taking off on my own to the states to track down Flo on the Conga and bring her home. It was more about me and the trials and tribulations that I had then the actual Conga itself.

In the contest there was a grand prize winner and then 3 other category winners and I was one of them. I win a $200 gift certificate. How kewl is that. Everyone keeps telling me that I can write and hell I guess I can if I impressed the judges.

Just thought I would add this on, Im attaching the story below if ya are interested in reading it.

2008 Most Adventurous

What began as another woman’s journey turned into a challenge and triumph for me. A fellow lady rider on Vancouver Island decided to buy her first Harley in Florida and ride it home instead of shipping it. This would be an incredible journey. With the assistance of lady riders from online forums her trip across North America (nicknamed the Conga) was born. She had offers from ladies across states, to travel with her and aid in her safe return to Canada. This worked well until she arrived in New Mexico. For her trip north to Canada, she had no travelling companions. This is also where my journey began.

In hearing the time frame and lack of companions to finish this ride, I decided I was going to head south as far as possible to meet with her and bring her home. At this time, I had been riding for not quite 2 years, but for me the only thing that I could think was not to let fear or common sense hold me back. I just knew that I was going to take advantage of this opportunity and go and get my fellow rider and bring her home. I consulted a few maps and plotted out what might be my best course to travel. I wasn’t looking for scenery just mileage. I had 5 days to travel as far south as possible and return. I had a few naysayers but I didn’t care and just knew I could do it and be fine.

I made arrangements to meet my friend in Northern California, in a day and a half. Against mixed blessings from friends, I headed out on a Thursday morning to catch a ferry and head for the border. I had decided to take the I5 straight south to make the most of time and mileage. I left in a heavy rain but thankfully it tapered to just a mist. Little did I know this was only going to be the beginning of the inclement weather I would hit. After 7 hours of straight riding except for gas stops, I was in Roseburg, Oregon, approximately 600 miles. I could have continued to travel further but knew I had to stop and make contact with those at home that were waiting to hear from me.

The next day, we would meet in Klamath Falls, Oregon. I was advised to take highway 138 through Crater Lake and to connect to highway 97 into Klamath Falls. Supposedly Crater Lake is gorgeous! Well I have no idea as all I saw was snow! The Umpqua valley before heading up to 6000 ft was beautiful even with the light morning mist. But as I ascended in elevation it got colder and sure enough it started snowing! Thankfully it wasn’t heavy and wasn’t sticking to the road. So I persevered, I was determined not to let a little thing like this stop me and not to mention there was nothing along this stretch of highway to stop at! I still had an hour to travel to our rendezvous point. I warmed up and gassed up and off I went.

For the next day and a half the weather was great and we had a wonderful journey to the border. Although my weather tests were still not finished. In Bings, OR, home of the windmill farms, I truly experienced high cross winds. Nothing like riding a sportster sideways in a corner, being pushed towards the guard rail and praying that the gust doesn’t stop. I laugh now but there were more than a few expletives coming out of my mouth on the way through. We finally crossed the border into Canada and our welcome home to BC was typical Wet Coast weather. It turned into a torrential downpour and we had to keep going. You could barely see the lines on the road. We arrived on Vancouver Island soaked to the gills but to the awaiting arms of many friends.

There was so much more that happened in those few short days. I met many people along the way that thought what I was doing was a little crazy, not to mention those at home. Well I may be crazy but to have the chance to have the freedom of the open road and the wind in my face is something I would never have passed up. For me it was a test of my skills, my determination, independence and my love of riding. At some of the worse points, I did have to dig deep within myself but it was all worth it in the end. I proved to myself as well as many others that I had come a long way in a few short years. From a minor accident 5 days after getting on a bike, to taking on the open road by myself. Now that I have bought a Heritage, there is no end to where I may travel to next. The love of riding has been in my blood for years and this trip just confirmed what I already knew

1 Course down, bunch more to go!

Well when I left last weekend, I had finished my first course and the final exam. Of course had to wait til Monday to get marks for the exam, project and overall mark for the course. Needless to say I was still bitching about the first project and loseing marks by not being able to be there. I was just hoping and praying that it would not lower my overall to badly. We had 4 marks combined to get the overall. The midterm was a 94, the bad project gave me a 77, hopefully the next two would keep my mark up but that is a good 15 point spread. Monday rolls around and She has decided to split things up a bit. She is going to give us our project back at the beginning of the class and then not get the final until the end. Whats with that, we all wanna know! Well for the few of us that got there early to jockey for best seat now that new ones came available she did let the cat outta the bag to us if we went up and asked her. Well low and behold to my surprise, my project was a 93, so hmmmm I can still see that 77 dropping my overall. Then she gave me my final mark. HOLY SHITSTICKS BATMAN! I scored a 97!!!!! I just about wanted to fall over, right there and then. Blew my mind for sure. And surprisingly enuf, it didnt lower my overall that badly. Somehow when she totals them up I ended up with a 92 overall for the course. Not bad for some redneck biker chick!

Now the only problem I can forsee for these great marks, is keeping them up there. I have obviously set a standard for myself and need to try and keep all marks in the 90s. Ya sure no pressure, ya right. I was panicing before the first mid term exam and stressing myself over it, now that I know I am capable of these marks, I am going to drive myself insane trying to keep them there. Im not sure which is worse, having slightly lower marks and giving yourself room for improvement or being at the top and pushing yourself to stay there. I can surely say that it would be great if I ended up with honours at the end of the course, if not even validictorian. Not that I much on public speaking but that is something to accomplish. I thought I was going to be worried about the final because my head was in the clouds all week with the crud, but somehow the info sunk in and got thru when I needed it. Maybe I should try that more often. Not pay attention and hopefully it will all just sink in via osmosis. Now that would be the ticket.

Well Monday is here and we start a new course. This one is only 2 weeks long but we have two exams and a project to do. The project seems simple enuf but we will get back to that later. Each night she is giving us our homework assignment to try and drive the info into our heads. Well not so easy when you really only have a few days to comprehend it all before writing an exam. Well in usual style, Im over doing things and the notes that we get from the homework assignment, I am typing out to make more legible oh and of course understandable. Ya just never know what she might throw at us on the exam. She also gives us the review for the exam on the Tuesday. Holy crap how can we do a review when we only have 2 days in. Just dont make any sense. Oh well carry on, type out the review questions, with the answers that I have so far and wait til the next day to add the rest. Meanwhile she decides to give us even more the next night. Well all ya can do is hope for the best and go with it. We ge to Thursday, go over the homework, the review and the extra review she gave us. Everyone seems a little worried about it all and trying to make sense of it. A few in the class know what marks I have got and they want help from me. Ya sure no problem, I still need to get it in my head. I do what I can that evening to help them out and carry on with my own studying or shall we say cramming! I keep at the cramming on Friday morning til I just about give up.

Well the Pineapple express has been here all week with monsoon rains and it hasnt been pretty. Friday morning, Im sitting in the sunroom office and what is this...... but sunshine and warm beating down my back while studying. Damn is it actually going to be a nice day? Should I even comment about riding to school. The bike really clears the head before the exam, it would be nice. I head downstairs and have a look at the 2 bikes sitting there growing dust and mold. They both have such pitiful faces, staring at me wondering when they are going to get out and get abused. I talk to them both for a moment and tell them they might be inluck today, well atleast one of them. Well going to have to send a message or two cause it seems the bagger is closest to the door and either I will have to ride it or Im going to have to juggle them around to get Therapy out. If it stays like this and Len gets done work early, he may want to get out for a ride as well. So I talk to him and he says no just take mine, dont worry about it, he prolly wont go for a ride. This is around 10am. I call another girl in the class and let her know that I am planning on riding, so if she wants a ride, then it will be on the bike. Sure no problem she says. So thats the end of that, I am riding to school and taking the bagger to boot. I get myself ready cause I have given up on studying at this point and head out the door. I get down to Langford and pull the phone out to call him and let him know to take it easy as the cops have radar both sides at Bamberton and lookie here there is a text message from Len. Think Im going to meet you at school and trade vehicles. Ha I knew it! He couldnt pass up the rare moment of clear weather, he needed a ride as well. No problem, I will see ya down there shortly, just heading out from east LA. Good thing that we can both where the same gear, cause he is wearing most of mine for the trip home. I had his Cordura jacket on, but my chaps and my heated jacket. His gloves were in the bike but no doorag or his regular helmet. I did have his spare so he would use that. He didnt care just happy to get a ride in. So off he goes with a big ole grin on his face heading homeward and Im off for my midterm for course 2.

Well, we have already been given our project assignment for the next course because the teacher is going on holidays and to give us extra time to work on it. This one is a partner project, so I was staying behind for a bit to talk to my partner and figure out what we were going to do. When we finish an exam we turn it in then are allowed to leave. We dont have to spend the whole day there. So my partner and I met up in the lobby to discuss our project and a few other girls stayed around BSing with us. Well looking at the time we figured she might be done marking them so we went and checked up on her to see if we could get our marks before going home. Well after a bit more waiting and a few smokes we finally got our marks. Yahooo, I did it again, another A this time 90%. The exam was only out of 40 so I got 4 wrong but that equates to an even 90. But we also had the new guy hanging with us and damn I got me some competition now. The boy scored a 99!!!! Well I like what Dave said on FB to me..... Learning isnt a competition..... Now go kick his ass!!!! Guess Im going to have to heed his words and do just that.

So the weekend is here, no homework for a change, but I do have my project to work on. Ya that easy one.... my ass! I spent the better part of Saturday surfing the net and consulting all the resources I had to come up with the info that I needed. I cant find shit anywhere. Im going to have to change the whole idea behind my project, unless something miraculously appears overnight. Well I finally gave up racking my brain around 3 and just decided to relax. We are heading up to Cedar tonight to play poker with the gang. Hopefully I will have a repeat of the last poker night and it wasnt just beginners luck. Not to metion, I really wanna see Ed pout!!! Now in the process of all of this I have lost my "N" on my keyboard. I have a laptop and the damn key popped right out. I have been finishing this entry pushing on a little rubber nub to get the "N" to work. Damn it, hope I can get it fixed. Mind you it could have been pretty funny leaving the "N" out and letting you decipher it!

Well did our poker thing and I got slaughtered, couldnt win a hand, no matter how hard I tried. The worse one of the bunch was having a nice high flush with an Ace kicker, was gigling on the inside thinking, I finally got a hand. Only 2 hands could possibly beat me and with 8 people playing the chances of getting either were slim and none. Well wouldnt ya know it, the one in a million hand showed up and I got beat by a Royal Flush. Ed, dont let it go to your head, you wont get thru the door! We had a great nite with our good friends. That little devil Kazza walked off with everyones money but mainly ours. Suzie had a bit too much fun but even so, she is surely a little slow today for it. Thanks to both for the hopitality as always.

I thought the monsoons were ending but yet they seemed to kick up again yesterday. Wasnt too bad going up island but hell coming home was a different story. We were driving down the highway on the centre line, just trying to keep the truck on the high ground. Places that you dont normally see the wheel ruts, you could now see were full of water. Thankfully most idiots were off the road by then. It was nice to wake up to a clear day today, instead of more of this crud. Took a look at the long range, and Im sure the weatherman is just phuking with me again. It is showing a few more days of liquid sunshine and then a week and a half of sun into December. Lets just wait and see how right they are this time. Im getting a little tired of this as you can do much of anything but hide in the house. Cant ride, cant use the hot tub, you just dont even want to go out. Atleast it isnt the "S" word, thats all I can say about that. I dont want a repeat of last year.

I managed to fix my "N" last night before leaving, so I have a fully functional keyboard again. Thank goodness, was really a little difficult trying to get it to work. Oh well, guess now that the groceries are done, I guess it is time to try and do some school work, or say frig it and do it tomorrow, or I could start dinner. Going to kill a roast beast tonight, I might even get my arse in gear to do some Yorkshire for a change. Mind you the sun is still shining and I might just have to go for a little ride, while the opportunity is there.

Hmmmmm decisions, decisions!

Busy 2 weeks

Well, its been a bit since I posted anything, but between being sick, having 2 projects and a final exam to get in and going away last weekend to help friends with a new floor Ive been a bit busy.

Fighting this damn bug has been the worse. I thought it was just the same old Sinus cold I always get. Atleast that is how it started out. Like I said the girlchild was sick the whole week before and only went to school one day. That was the day I woke up feeling like I had eaten a sandbox and the pain was shooting thru my eyes. I went with my regular regime of fighting it off with over the counter meds, sinus cold pills and double doses of neo citran for sinuses. I still went to school even though I felt like a bag of crap and took in as much as I could. Kinda worried though, thinkin that I was going to have to cram a ton to get this couple days into my head for the final. I made it thru Thursday and Friday at school and Saturday didnt feel to bad, maybe the meds were makin a difference.

I packed up all my homework for my project that was due on Monday and off I went with Len to do Rick and Sheilas floor. We were also having a poker game that night but at the last minute, Ed and Sue jammed out as they were sick as well. Damn good thing they did as I would have had to take all their money too!!! LOL Rick ended up helping Len for the most part and I sat and did most of my homework. It was more a matter of making all of the visual aids for my presentation as the written portion was finished. Ok maybe I am a bit of a perfectionist, or maybe Im just going full tilt to make sure I get a good mark but I had a ton of things I was trying to make to use. We had a great time in Nanoose getting the floor done, and what great hosts. Huge roast beef dinner, Sheila went and got oysters from the ocean and we had those as a midnight snack. We played poker with the 5 of us, Adam came and joined us as Kazz was away. Well it is the first time I ever played and I had to ask which game it was cause I knew the basics but not the names. I ended up being the big winner for the night and for once Sheila lost and had to add more money into the pot. We finally called it quits around 3 in the morning and went to bed. We got moving again in the morning and Len finished the last of the floor before heading home. I must say though that I think the gallon of wine I drank actually helped cause I felt pretty damn good the next day and was coughing the crude out of my lungs. Typically a good sign that it has broken.

We headed home and I finished up with my homework and made sure it was all ready to go on Monday. Headed to bed hoping for the best in the morning. Well that was short lived. I woke up, had a coffee then proceeded into an almost three hour violent coughing fit that would not quit. Len took me up to the clinic and after $100 worth of meds I was at home again. Thankfully the meds seemed to suppress the cough but damn I was hurting. My throat was raw, my ribs were aching to the point it felt like someone had beat te tar out of me with a sledgehammer, my head was pounding. I was in rough shape. When I thought I could talk, I called into school and talked to my teacher. Explaining that everything was ready but after this morning I didnt know if I could make it to class let alone do a oral presentation to the class, without breaking out into another coughing fit. She told me that there was no other time to make the presentation but I could email everything to her so that I did not receive 10 percent off for being late. However I would lose 30 marks for not doing the presentation portion of the project. Shit, phuk, damn, I dont need that. Well I did email everything to her, including some of the visuals, just not as nice as if they were there in person. Len then decided that he was going to head down to Vic to get supplies for the next day. He said to get it all together and we would drop it off so atleast maybe I would get the marks for my visual aids. So that is what I did, had my written work, all of the pamphlets and secret books I had made for the class, the doll I was using as a client and all of the thought bubbles for her feelings and the book that I used for the project. I put them all into a bag and off we went. I did well on the way down, not coughing, but I was very raw in the throat and sore in the chest, and wheezing some to boot. I should have said screw it and give me 15 minutes, Im going to push my way into going first then getting the hell out of there. Instead cause I felt so bad, I just dropped it all off at the front desk. Oh well what can ya do.

On Thursday, we went back to class and handed in the next project and got the first one returned. Yep I knew it, should have friggin tried and prayed for the best. So the highest possible score I could get without making the presentation was now 80 only because I submitted everything including my visual aids which were worth 10 marks. If I made the presentation there was an additional 10 marks for the organization and presentation portion and then 10 marks for a Q and A session afterwards. Well I didnt get those so tops was 80, I got 77 and Im still friggin worked up over it. Needless to say, if I had of made the presentation then I would have been in the 90's again!!!!! Dont quite agree with the logic behind all of this. If we are legitamately sick and can provide doctors notes then we should be given the opportunity to make the presentation the next day that we are there and in that case only lose 10 % for being late. Not lose 20 marks off the top and no chance of getting it back. If I had not got everything submitted on the Monday, I would have got 77 with an additional 10 % off my mark. However, if I were allowed to make my presentation the next day, I may have got around a 95 then had 10% taken off and had a better mark then I did receive. I just got to vent cause it really pissed me off, and on the course completion we have to fill out a survey on how we think things were done. Well I said my peace and griped about it, not that it will do any good but I think it is only fair to allow it. Hell she gave me 5 minutes of floor time the next day to explain what my visual aids were that I was passing out to the class, another 10 and I could have done the whole thing!!!!!! Oh well my blog and if I wanna bitch Im going to, maybe this will calm me down and I will be done with it, well atleast until Monday when I find out how much it dropped my mark in total! LOL

Well Friday rolls around and even though I am still feeling a little off, its time for the final exam. I continued to cram in the last few things into my brain until it was time to go to class. I really was not all that concerned. I still knew all the stuff that was on the mid term that I obviously had no problems with and the questions she put on the review I could answer without checking on them. But there was all the stuff we had covered in the last 2 weeks with my head in the clouds with this damn cold. Oh well, as she said the biggest portion was going to be the short answers 15 questions worth 43 marks. Holy crude! Oh well she said just look at the point value and make sure that you make enough points to cover that total. Well I went overboard again! I was the last one there cause I wrote so friggin much. I was using the backs of thee pages and had more then I needed but figured what the hell, somethings going to be right and the more I have the better chance I have of getting the answer right. There was only one section that really slowed me down a bit but that wasnt really covered, it was more a matter of our choice and what we might do in this situation. Hopefully the things I picked make sense for that type of problem. Guess I will find out on Monday.

Well the week is over and so is my first 4 week course. Hurray, I did it and better then I thought on the first day. Im actually understanding it all. Monday we start a new one for 2 weeks. I think it will be a busy 2 weeks as we have 2 exams and a project to do. The weekend is here and it is not looking all the best right now. I noticed on the way home last night that there was calcium already sprayed on the Malahat. Got to hate that shyte. So needless to say, before it starts raining, I would like to get out for a ride, even if it is short and get a little wind, then bring her home and wash her down good! I have quite the big chip on my front fender and need to get the touch up paint on it before I continue to ride thru the winter. Someone suggested that I should check with Dranes and find out if they would fix it as a large chunk of paint should not come off in the first year. Maybe they would, who knows. Oh well time to get my butt in gear and get something done, even though sitting around sounds great too.

What a great night

What a great evening we had for the party. Although there were others who were being pessimistic about the weather, all indications I got were calling for clear skies. And that is exactly what we got! Clear skies and a big full moon watching over us. Len had created a monster bonfire that had to be atleast 5 feet tall to start. Took a bit to get it going because of the rain but once it did, wowzer was it good. We built it on the stump of the old maple that was in the middle off the yard and had soaked it down with the old oil from the bikes since Thanksgiving.(thanks Jeep for the suggestion) The fire is still smoldering away and all ya need is to just add wood at this point and it would start up again.

We were a small group this time, not near as big as the corn roast but we all had fun none the less. We did our best rendition of Adam and Eve, yes I had the forbidden fruit and Len had his serpent. Now that serpent really kept the girls entertained! Not just was he popping out of the fig leaf but every time Len bent over to pick up firewood the snake would pop straight out between his legs. The girls were in stitches. I thought they were going to laugh themselves out of their seats. Do it again, come on Len bend over the other way. Kazza finally got a pick when he assumed the correct position. As usual Ed was in character, this year he was an aged hippie, handing out gerber daisies to all the girls and a few of the guys quoting peace and happiness to all. Ed and Sue didnt match as a couple but Suzie had a gorgeous sari on and she even wore a dark wig. Yep she had the bindi dot and there were a few jokes on that , and sorry Sue but couldnt help poking it a few times, hope I didnt give ya a headache, but then again I think you took your biggest headache home with you! Because he was in fine form by the end of the night. Dont think Ive ever seen Jammer let loose completely, he must have been enjoying himself, cause "it was the best party he had been to" Think I heard that a half dozen times. Adam and Kazz went all out as usual with matching costumes, Lord Spider and Princess of the webs, funny thing though the real spiders and webs kept attaching to Kazz. I knew those shoes although absolutely gorgeous, werent going to last long and sure nuf they did come off for more comfortable shoes. Rick and Sheila, well what can ya say, Sheila was a great Tina Turner, with those legs, definately had Ed drooling for awhile and Rick went all out. I guess on Sunday he finished the job and shaved the rest of his head. He came as a punk rocker and actually gave himself a mohawk and shaved the sides off, so he had to finish the job the next day. My friends Sue and Steve came up from Vic and considering all of Sue's creativity is in her baby toe, she did an awesome job getting their costumes together. They were Frankie and his bride and considering Steve is not relly into dressing up he did great acting as Frankie especially when we were all dancing around the fire to the Moster Mash. We had a few other miscellanious costumes and people there. And of course Miss Kaylee finally arrived home in her fancy witch costume that makes her look oh so grown up. I think I need a gun!

Lots of great food, and fun for sure.

Sunday rolled around and thankfully no hangover, I did my best to try and behave myself knowing what Sunday was going to bring. After being up at 5 on Saturday the time change was a pain in the arse. Mind you I managed to stay in bed til 6 which was actually 7 so I guess in a way you could say I slept in. We sat around doing the usual morning routine and waiting for Sue and Steve to get moving. The weather and roads were looking great and Len was starting to twitch. He needed a ride, well I kinda wanted one too but I had some major studying to do. He was thinking of heading to Vic to meet some of the boys club for coffee then Mountain called and said he was on the bike and free, so we decided to just meet up with him and have brunch, then they could go and play if they wanted while I returned home to study. So off we went for a good hard run to 18 and then circled back to meet the Mountain at the Oak. Wouldnt ya know it but the boys Len was going to met showed up there as well. Nice to see them all. The boys decided they were going to get some beers and attack Mountains seat. Changing it back to a solo. Only problem is this old 90's bagger can be a real bitch. When we did the lights for him, I think Len cursed for an hour trying to get the solo seat off just to do the wiring. Now they had the tour pac and two up seat to deal with. I wished them luck and off I headed home, while they went back out to the lake.

I parked my but in the office and after a babble session with the girl, sshe finally let me get on the task at hand. I finished my journal entry for Friday and then was starting to work thru the review sheet, when I could swear I heard a bike, and stereo. Thinking that didnt take them long and Len was back already, I was looing out the windows but couldnt see anything, opened the front door and stepped out to look. Kaylee banged on the window and told me to get back in the office and do my work, damn little boss. I tried to say I hear a bike and she is looking at me strange. I turned and looked towards the main door and HOLY SHITSTICKS BATMAN - there was Paws standing there all in her gear. I went flying to the door and just about wiped out trying to turn the corner. Wendy and Dez decided to ride down for a visit or to take me for a coffee, since we hadnt seen them for awhile and they missed having us at their party the night before. Glad to see she is back on her bike. They didnt stay long but it was great to have them pop in. Guess it is our turn next time, to head to Comox and surprise them. Doesnt look like she will be leaving for her training until after the Olympics. That kinda sucks cause she will be away for the whole summer then.

Finally got back to my books and managed to finish up the review sheet. Took awhile and there was a couple questions that I couldnt find full answers too, but I knew we would be going over them in class on Monday. Now just to make sure all this shyte is in my brain. Yep Im a worry wart and since I havent been in school for over 20 years I was concerned bout taking the test. Looking over the review, I didnt know if it was all going to sink in and if I wasnt going to confuse half the info then screw up the answers. Im going to keep going over this review and especially once we get them back, the ones I messed up, cause Im sure all of it plus the next 2 weeks will be on the final. I really pushed myself trying to study all of it and get it to sink in but I was finding that some of it just wouldnt go. I dint want to get perfect or high marks, sure that would be nice, but didnt want to fail it either. I am hoping for middle of the road 70s maybe 80s would be nice. I need atleast 60 to pass, and I think I got that for sure. I dont want the high marks cause then you feel like you have to keep them there, but with middle of the road there is always room for improvement. I worked away all day on SUnday, we reviewed our answers on Monday and then I spent Monday night trying to wrap my head around it all, and then Tuesday morning, I steped away from this contraption and sat at the kitchen table, trying to push the last confusing answers into my head before having to leave. I finally said phuk it around 11 and started getting ready to go. Had breakfast with Len then we jumped the bikes and headed south. Good idea to take Therapy to my therapy exam. I think I needed that moment of lucidity. If I had of taken the truck, I more then likely would have had my notes out and tried to keep studying while driving.

Well I got there and thankfully I wasnt tooo on edge. Quite surprised as I know in high school I had major test anxiety and would fail because of it. I was actually pretty relaxed and just wanted to get the show on the road. Kaylee has been home sick since the weekend (no dont think it is swine flu cause she isnt burning up, no fever at all) and before I left I went and checked on her and she wrote "good luck" on my hand again. When I got to class my phone was going off, so I had a look and it was a double text message from Kaylee repeating good luck for the whole 2 texts with a big exclammation at the end. Gotta love my girl. I think she realizes how important this is to me even though she doesnt want me trying any of these theories on her! Len took off to run a few errands around town, told him I wasnt sure how long it would take, all I knew is we are allowed to leave when we are done. Could be an hour maybe two, I would just text or call when I finished. Well it only took bout an hour to finish and I actually brreathed a sigh of relief when I did a quick scan of it all. Alot of the stuff I was trying to cram in my brain was done in the multiple choice or matching sections and not in the definitions or short answers. I know I completely screwed up one of the short answers. I wrote down one set of answers then thought nope not it and wrote another set, then thought nope not it, then I just said screw it cause I cant keep changing it and knowing my luck Im second guessing myself and the first ones will be right. There is a bit of hope on that one as the second set I put down could kinda be used as the right answer although I dont think it is exactly what she was looking for. When I looked at my notes after I kicked myself cause it was really one of the easiest questions to answer and I turned it into something difficult. Besides that, on the written stuff I should do ok at least get 1 mark out of the 2 for sure if not both just depends on if I described it enough. The matching and multiple choice were pretty simple but there was one that I considereed a trick question and could answer either way. I went with first instict on it but if she marks me wrong Im going to explain myself and argue with her, even if it is only 1 mark!

Now Im sitting on edge just wanting to know how I scored andif all the self torture was worth it. Im thinking I did alright but just to see how alright is the thing. How much am I going to need to improve or am I going to have to keep up the same routine so that I keep the marks consistent. Not sure when we get them back but hoping it is today cause I really want to know!

Oh well wait and see I guess, looks like another great day before the rains again, so I think we will have to have some Therapy again on the way to school and home of course.

Busy weekend, Halloween and mid term

Well I have made it thru the second week of school. My brain is partly in overload. Not just did we cover Freud last week but we covered several other methods as well. I have come to the conclusion that I dont much like any of the cognative interventions. Maybe its just that they are more confusing in what they are trying to do or just the fact that I believe you should deal with things in the here and now and sorry but the past is gone, ya cant change it. Carpe diem! Im rolling along fine with my first project and only have a rough idea for my second one and its due first, go figure. Got to get my arse in gear and get some of it done. We have our mid term so to speak for this course on Tuesday, so come tomorrow hangover or not, guess what Im going to be doing! Kinda kewl though, the teacher gave us a review booklet that covers all the questions that we NEED to know from each chapter. We are to go thru it and answer everything and this in turn becomes our study guide. On Monday the whole class will review the answers that we have to study further on Monday night. I kinda looked it over on the way home last night and I have maybe 50 percent in my head, maybe a bit more. That was just a quick glance. What Im going to do as I start to answer them is the ones I have in my head, Im going to type out in black and the ones I have to look up will be in a different colour. Hopefully to put the emphasis on them as I study. Im not looking forward to this at all. Hopefully it has changed since high school, but I used to get test anxiety and end up flunking the test cause I get myself so worked up oveer it.

I have been trying hard at the nightly journal to make sure it is what the teacher is looking for and have asked her to read over a few entries to make sure I am on track. She says I am and not to take too much time editing it as it is only 15% of my mark. But hell if I can get a high mark on it, then it will help if I do poorly on anything else, like the second project or the exams. I think I will do okay but would really like to do well. Mind you if I do really well then I have an expectation to live up too, where as if it is so so then at least I can strive towards a higher mark on the final. Yep warped thinking. But hey maybe a bit of the Paradoxical Therapy might work on me and I will do just the opposite of what Im thinking.

Spent last night doing up some pumpkins for the party tonight, would like to do more but not sure if I will have the time. I like to have a dozen or so around the house but then with school, I didnt have the time to do any during the week. Will see how the morning goes. Have one more here to carve, have to go postal and pick up some eggs from Vince and Cheryl. Put up some more decorations that the girlchild hasnt succeeded in doing yet, finish putting our costumes together and just generally straighten up. I know I have a few that may be spending the night but not sure how many, so I should go and hunt out the air mattresses just in case. I know I have some spooky halloweenie music around, just not sure where I hid it. So far looks like the weather is going to be on our side. Not calling for any of the wet stuff til overnight. So lets hope that we are all spooked out by then.

Oh well, just a quick run down for now. I will make sure to do some kinda blog in the morning after the party cause that will be the fun stuff. Til the morning when the clocks go back!

The suns out, think I need my own Reality Therapy!

Well its a week into the actual class now and I think Im hanging in. Has been alot of info to take in. Some I understand and some makes little to no sense at all. The first day, I was kinda stunned, feeling like a deer caught in the headlights! It was a simple day really, the rest of the class reviewed their last final, then we had a round of introductions, covered the course, the projects and expectations as well as the grading for this course. After a break, we came back and did a brainstorming exercise. At first I was a little intimidated but then the ideas started to come and I was an active participant in my group. Still felt lost as the rest of the class was using the jargon and I of course didnt have a clue, can we use some layman's terms here??? Each day we have to write a reaction journal, on what we did in class and something that we liked or disliked from our opinion and our view on it. I thought this shouldnt be that hard, ya right, I have rewritten the first 3 days and may still change them up some after getting the teacher to have a look and let me know if I was going in the right direction. She said not to change them again as she likes to see how we progress thru the entries. I think I may still alter them some.

Day 2 brought on ideas of the counselling process and how it all works. Not to bad and got the general idea of it all but look out Hump day cause here comes Freud. I can grasp some of his ideas but for the majority I think this guy was a nymphomaniac. All his theories are based sexually. And I just cant wrap my head around this. He is a psychoanalysts, which is all what is going on in your mind. All your problems are suppressed in your subconscious and you have to dig in to find them before you can fix anything. His different forms of therapy make sense to me but not so much as a whole. Thankfully the heavy theories being taught was broken up with an easier lesson on Thursday. It was on at risk youth and more towards peer counselling. This made sense completely and I can see how many of the ideas would work in a school setting. Thank goodness for a relatively easy brain day, cause I was still trying to grasp Freud. For Friday we dealt with Glasser and his reality approach. This I get and like. It makes complete sense to me to deal with what is in the here and now to move forward in a positive manner. He deals with behaviours hence if you can change the negative behaviour to positive, you can move forward past the problem in a positive manner.

Im glad we ended the week with a theory that was not to stressful on the brain. It should be pretty simple to write my journal entry for yesterday. Nope didnt do it when I got home as my sweetie took me out for dinner and dancing. Guess he figured I needed it and to get my mind off things for a while. It was nice just to get out together for a change, without the girl or the bikes. Did I just say that??!! Oh ya well the weather wasnt the best for a good ride last night, but today the SUN is out and the roads are dry, guess we will have to create some of our own reality therapy today!!!! Mind you that is if we can get the bikes outta the damn driveway. The landlord has allowed Mainroads to bring in the fill that they have dug out of the ditches and fill in some of the swampy holes in the upper yard. After her cutting down a zillion trees it has made quite a few big openings that could be filled. Well that is all good but pretty bad that they decided to start doing so in the friggin rain. Well we have had back to back dump trucks pouring into the driveway plus an excavator pushing the crap into the holes, which has only create a friggin mess at the hill and top of the drive. It is heavily rutted and just like sludge up there now. Even the trucks are slidin to get up the hill and stay the course. Not friggin happy about this! Needless to say if we get the bikes out they are going to turn into mud bikes and they will be needing a good wash when we get home. One would think that they would be a little more considerate on the state they left the driveway in. We arent driving monster machines here that can plow through anything!!!!! If I see them on Monday, Im going to have a friggin talk with them, cause as ya'll know if the roads are dry, Im riding to school and if I cant get the bike out, Im goin be some pissed with them, better yet if I end up dropping it because of the mess they created and left for us!!!!

Well I guess its time to get on with the day, do my homework, move a few more things and then out for my Therapy, hopefully! Tomorrows going to be the shits again so will do some major house cleaning now that Len is moved in. Get the worst of the mess cleaned up so next Saturday will just be a quick clean before the party. Hey speakin of which, I gotta get out the Halloween decorations and am going to have to start buying some pumpkins and getting them carved up for the party. Got our costume idea on the go and methinks it good thing Bear isnt going to make it this year as he may have another episode similar to the blow up doll year!!!! Going to miss ya buddy but understand and you are just going to have to wait for the pics to see what ya miss!

First week

Well I made it thru the first week of school. I wasnt nervous at all heading there for the first time, actually I was looking forward to it. I guess what they call it on the first week is an intake class. There were 9 of us in the class and all but myself were taking the RCA course. I was the old man out so to speak. So most of the info given on courses was more related to the RCA's with a little thrown in for me. We spent the week doing pretty basic tasks, some simple keyboarding, and using their online system called G2 learning. It was based on finding out your learning style and what type of person you are in relation to learning and study habits. All of this I had done before so it wasnt any surprise to me with my answers. We also learned different ways of note taking and study habits. I was actually a little bored the whole time. The computers were damn slow and I was bout ready to pitch it out a window. How they can have such a large network and yet the system lagged so badly. If we were going to be doing any great amount of work on these things, I wanted my laptop!!!!

Well finally yesterday afternoon, near the end of the day, I got to meet my course instructor and she gave me my textbooks. I am really geared up to get into the class and get going. The class is small, only 11 students and Im the only one that is entering into the class this rotation. I talked with her a bit about the practicums and how they choose the place, as I was told by the director that the teacher works with each student to organize where and what area they wish to explore. I asked if it was a possibility at all to find something closer to home for me instead of being somewhere in Vic. She said that wouldnt be a problem and would actually be helpful to her as she would be able to make some contacts up island for future students. I told her what I was thinking of for a long term goal, which is eventually going into probation but that I think I would like to start within the addictions field. She said that they have had placements in the youth detention center with a probation officer. Now that sounded really kewl to me.
The next block that I will be starting into is all about child and youth counselling. She said that it is alot of theory, which has me a little unnerved. Having to digest so much information when your just starting into things but Im going to do my damnedest. Will be a hell of a lot of note taking for sure and a pile of reading. She said typically that she does the first 3 hours of class lecturing and then the last hour we work on homework or assignments and that alot of the students leave and go elsewhere to work. Now that sounds good to me as well cause I will be able to get outta dodge a little ahead of the traffic. I was scanning the textbooks a bit on the way home last night and some of the statistics they have are staggering. I thought for a minute, what the hell am I getting myself into! But I guess that is why there is a calling for this profession.

I have a feeling Im definitely going to have to set up some kinda schedule around the house for the evenings and make sure that my girlchild understands she cant be bugging when Im studying. Not that she is a huge pest but she does have a habit of showing up and annoying at the busiest moments. Mind you with class not starting until 1, which means I dont have to leave til 12ish, I do have all morning to get things done as well. As long as I have nothing else booked to get done then. Mornings may work well for me as Im an early bird and once I chase both of them out the door, I will have the house to myself. Mind you I think I would still take an hour in the evening to review what we did that day and try to keep it fresh in my mind for the next morning.

So for now it is time to relax and enjoy my last possible free weekend before the real stuff begins. Not that I have a free weekend by any means. Still have a bunch of stuff to get done. Have to help Len get his fish tanks moved and the last couple of large items over here. Tomorrow, I have to head to the lake, pick up truck and crew and get the guys to help move the hot tub over here and of course return them all to the lake. Also picking up a new to me car. Pretty good deal actually for $500, think it is a 99 Achieva and should beat the hell outta the Exploder on gas for commuting. Mind you, ya know I will take the bike every chance I get cause it is way cheaper and has nothing to do with my own therapy! Which I may need once things get rolling with school.

Im a Student!!!!!

Well thankfully the stress has all ended! There were still more loopholes to jump thru but somehow I managed to pull it off. I got the call around noon on Wednesday from the funding agency and was told that the only thing holding up my application was the lack of a letter from Rev Can. And even though I had given approval for them to talk to the agent at RC in regards to the many conversations that I had had with her, he was not allowed to make the phone call to her. Nor would she call him as she is too busy harrassing others for money. Nice bureaucratic catch 22!!!!! Here we go on the edge again not sure what the hell to do as RC was adamant that they wouldnt write a letter and Amber (the funding agency) were not allowed to contact RC for verbal confirmation. Amber did suggest that if I were on a payment plan with them and that they gave me something on paper that that would also suffice.

So back on the phone on the edge of complete breakdown, leave a message for the RC agent to call back ASAP. Then I called Len and started freaking out, trying to figure out a way around this mess. Then I spoke to Mountain as well asking what he thought. He said yes if you are on a payment plan that they do give some kind of documentation stating that, so I would try that giving her a whole $20 per month while in school. He also suggested going to my MLA and see if they would intervene on my behalf. While waiting for RC to call back we finished the job we were on and Mountain wanted us to head to the site he was on. Just before leaving RC called back and even with a payment plan there is still no paper trail to be had. Well phuk me, now what. I headed to the other job site and was going to search out the MLA when Mountain told to me to go home as I was going to be useless to him the rest of the day. He also suggested to go to m,y RC agent and sit there and bug until she did something. Well that is a little impossible as she is in Surrey. I head out with either the intent to track down the MLA or head to Vic and see if I can get someone there to write a damn letter.

I fly in the door to change my clothes and grab the bike as parking is easier and can get thru traffic better as now Im on a tight schedule to get there before they close. Just as Im about to jump the bike the phone goes and it is RC. Half an hour later and under some strict guidelines she agrees to send a letter stating my life history just about and the agreement we have made. Hope the hell it is sufficient for Amber. She said she would fax it directly to them for me and mail me the original. I called Amber to let them know that something would be coming within the hour from RC.

Now the waiting game continues. I went to the post office and when I arrived my phone was beeping a message, I listened and it was Amber please call back. OK is this good or bad, will call when done in the post office. While finishing up in the post office the phone goes off again and I answer. It is Amber again, he is calling to let me know that he got the letter from RC and yes it is sufficient. And so that I dont have another sleepless night, YES Im approved for funding!!!!!!!!
Hurray this means Im going to school!!!!

Well from all the stress and tears and ups and downs, I succeeded in cutting thru the red tape and got the funding I required. Now I got tears of happiness going on. What a friggin roller coaster ride, let me tell you.

Few more papers to sign at both the school and Amber and I start my first day on Tuesday in Victoria. I will be working towards a diploma as a Community Support Worker - Social Services and then eventually may look into taking the course at the Justice Institute for being a Probation Officer, but that is down the road a ways.

This is going to be a big change for me, starting school again 20 years outta high school, but I know if I got thru all this crap then Im sure I can pull it off!

On Pins and Needles

Well it has been a few weeks now and I have been busying myself trying to get things done to get into school and receive the funding. I have filled out all the required forms and made appointments for all of the pre requisites. I received the letter from my doctor stating I was capable of taking the course. I booked the appointment for the TB testing but still have to wait for that day to arrive. I applied for my criminal record check, but this seems to be a problem for some reason. I have never in the past had any problems with getting one and it is usually done overnight. It has been 2 weeks and it still isnt done. Getting a little anxious here waiting for it. Hope the hell my past isnt resurfasing for some reason and if it is that it doesnt affect my chances of getting into school or getting work. I have been back to the job councillor twice and done everything that she requested and managed to complete the application forms and addition market research information needed to apply for the funding. Finally yesterday I turned in my application for the funding. Only thing there is a hit with Revenue Canada. Yep I owe them money and the funding program usually requires a `comfort Letter`from them stating that they will not attach to the training monies. Well my damn case worker wont write any such letter even if she says that she wont go after any of the monies. She told me that it is not in their forms, letters etc, they have no such thing! But yet for some reason to all the others that I have been dealing with, they seem to think this iss a completely normal thing for Rev Can to do. So my only option was to include her name and number with my application so that they can call and speak to her if need be. I swear if it wasnt for bad luck I would have no luck. Everytime things look good and seem to be working out, I get thrown another twist that I have to try and solve. So for now, Im in the process of waiting on my crim check, the TB testing and praying the funding comes in. The biggest being the funding, but I guess dependant on what comes back in the check that may affect me as well.

I also found out when I saw my job councillor that, I could not be on a medical EI claim if applying for funding. So even though I had got it reinstated and was a little more relaxed knowing that I would have some money to pay the bills, I had to cancel the claim. So of course that just tightens the strings even more on me as I have absolutely no income for this month besides the regular dribbles that I get from Child tax and GST credits as well as my minimal maintenance cheque.

I left the funding service yesterday after turning in the application, relieved that it was done, but also on pins and needles that I need to wait til the end of the week to here if Im approved. Nothing I can do but wait now. Came home to a message from the RCMP in regards to my check and she explained to me what the hold up was and that supposedly they are digging further into my past to see exactly what was there from my teens! Why I have no idea, never had it happen before. She said she would be back to me in a day of so. Great now I have to worry about this. Oh well not much I can do but wait.

I ended up going down to Vic to keep myself busy and help Len on his job. I decided to be nice and ride his bike down instead of mine. Yep just for fun but also so that he could ride home at the end of the day instead of fighting traffic in the truck. Yep sometimes Im just too nice! LMAO Made his day to get to ride home that was for sure after the stressful day he had fighting the tiles he was working on. We got home to another messsage. This time it was from the funding people! Oh fuck is this good or bad. He told me a couple days to go over the application and that I would prolly hear back on either Wednesday or Thursday, not that afternoon! I listened to the message and all it was, was a request to call back, no "in regards to"! Damn it all, now I have something else to dwell on over night!!!!

Dwell I did, I havent been sleeping the best since I found out that my EI claim was finished and hope and pray that every night I will get a good nights sleep. Most have been a labour to say the least. but yep last night my head was going. A million things rolling through my brain, did I fill something out wrong, has Rev Can decided to be an ass, I didnt do enough market research for the job Im potentially heading for and worst of all had dreams or flashbacks of my shitty past and what my crim check is going to come back with. For crying out loud, it was over 20 years ago and people change. I am surely not the scared, naive teenager that I once was! Well all I can do is wait til 830 when the funding office is open and call back to find out. Of course Im thinking the worse because the call was just to soon for an approval but maybe just once things will be positive for me and Im not going to have to do more running around to get my application approved.

All of this on my head and then trying to keep Len calm with trying to move his things. Yep those that dont know, he is moving in. No sense in paying 2 rents and utilities when we are always together at one or the others house. Most of his things we have been slowly moving over. His office and bedroom are here as well as all of his tools for work. Of course I have a 2 bike garage now, so that gives me an option on what bike I might choose to ride each day! LOL Well of course as long as he isnt riding. We disassembled and reassembled his shed on Saturday and it is here now. So just a few minor big things that have to be dealt with, the worse being the fish tanks oh and the hot tub! The later I have sorted out though. I can use one of the flat beds from Mountain and I think I have bribed most of the crew to come and lend a hand in a couple of weeks to help us out. In return they will get burgers and beer. Fair deal for an hours work especially on a non pay weekend when they may be wanting a beer or 2. we will be working on having mostly everything done by the 24th, as the following weekend is Halloween and we are hosting this years haunted soiree for our friends.

So for now Im sitting on pins and needles waiting to hear if Im going to start school next week. If I do great! If not then some one is surely going to need to call in the men with the pretty white jackets, cause Im surely going to go off the deep end!