Update

School and thoughts of school are consuming my life. I went through the stress of deciding on and waiting to be accepted to university once. I feel like I shouldn't have to go through this again...

Arrived

I'm here!!!! Quick recap of the day:

1. Overslept = no shower + sweatpants for classes
2. Skipped Religion + Ecology = Happy Amarea
3. Flight = Delayed
4. Hotel = AMAZING (view of canal, Parliament, all of downtown... amazing beds... amazing floor to ceiling windows... amazing furniture... amazing EVERYTHING! Pictures to come! Nicest hotel I've EVER been in!)
5. The Office - Peter/Alex + Chatty Mother (no offense Mum ;) = Not so funny
6. ER = Best episode so far
7. Early night = Amarea getting up to go running in the morning (yes I am serious!)

More to come tomorrow!

Firsts

I experience two firsts at work today. It was quite exciting.

1. I caught a mouse. Actually, that's not entirely true... The sticky trap caught the mouse - I just found it. The little gray mousie was also not entirely dead... It was stuck to the trap and twitching. GROSS!!! I know!! Ew. Ew. Ew. I did not dispose of the mouse myself. After nearly falling over from a heart attack, I got one of the produce guys to remove him from my floor. Yuck.

2. I got a tip. I made an arrangement, and the lady gave me a tip. Actually, she pretty much made it herself, and I tied some raffia onto it. I didn't even like it. Oh well. I am $2 richer.

So far, this day is looking pretty good. Tomorrow, I leave for Ottawa! Updates from my (solo) adventures soon!!

Magic Mittens

So, I went to Wal Mart to buy a pair of cheap black mittens. You know? The mitten version of those "magic gloves" or "mini gloves" that cost like $1.97... Yeah. They didn't have any. Neither did Dollarama. They have the gloves, but not the mittens. This is an injustice!!!

More

I went to a church in the Valley on Sunday, and it really made me think about true worship. I don't want this to be taken the wrong way... I love going to country churches... I love the routines and the hymn books and the organ and the choir. I really do. But sometimes I just wonder... I would say that 90% of the deacons were women. Now, I don't have a moral problem with female deacons or pastors (the pastor is a woman, as well). I can understand women wanting to be in leadership in the church and serve in a more full-time way, like a pastor. What bothers me is that men are getting lazy and expecting women to run everything and plan everything. It seems that all they want to do is show up, if that. I know that not all churches are like this, but a significant portion of the country Baptist ones that I've been to are. I just want to know why so many men just don't care anymore. Why? Why don't they want to take a role of spiritual leadership?? I love that I know so many men who do want to be spiritual leaders. I just wish that those ones that I know weren't the minority...

Anyway, I was at church, I thought to myself, "There has to be something more than this. Aren't these people bored? I'm bored. I'm bored with reading prayers that you've written the night before. I'm bored with singing the same old hymns. I'm bored with perfectly scripted sermons. There is no life in this church. There's no relationship. There's no sense of worship." I don't know why people continue to come week after week. I don't know why they aren't bored to death. There's just nothing... nothing holding people there, nothing to make you long for a church service or any sort of spiritual experience... It's so empty. There has to be something more. There has to be.

Summit

This past weekend, I went on a retreat in PEI with all my C4C friends. It was lovely. It was exactly what I needed. Everything that Rod Alm was speaking about was exactly along the lines of my recent thoughts on Christianity and spirituality. Not only was the weekend spiritually amazing, it was FUN! Notably, my team KILLED at HEY COW! on the way there AND back. Different teams too, so clearly, it was all me. hahaha Listening to Spice Girls/Disney music/the Sailor Moon theme with Calvin was also special. And... of course... the Team Chastity incident with the old man. Great weekend!!

Quotable Calvin:

1. "I am exploding with love." -Calvin during Rebekah, Jessie, and Amarea's rendition of "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?" while doing breakfast dishes

2. "I can't stop thinking about metal underwear." -Calvin

3. "I'm not a real man like Germeiko." -Calvin regarding Germeiko's "real men skip" philosophy