"I'm a professional musician!" "Have you ever had to pawn your amp?" "Well, no but-" "No you aren't."

I had an interview with McDonalds this morning, which was- not as bad as I feared. I hesitate to ever call a job interview "good," but this one went smoothly, and I wasn't scared until I cam out again. There were a few tense moments; when they asked me why I left Tim Horton's, and who I could give as references at Tim's. I didn't exactly leave there in a happy frame of mind, let's just say. It was my first experience in a defined hierarchy-type job, when I wasn't on my own initiative, and I had a bunch of co-workers who liked to "teach" the sheltered home-schooler about "the facts of life." So, it wasn't my favourite job ever. 

But it seems that my references were good, because I got a call this afternoon, saying I could have the job if I wanted it. And thankfully, they still have the blue uniforms, not the brown monstrosities that have just debuted in the UK. *shudders*

NOT me.

This is rather ironic, really, given the reminisces Third World and I engaged in at College. After talks about the worst shift ever, and picky customers, and faulty equipment, and coworkers who can only be described as disturbing, I said, "We're going to end up working Fast Food again this summer, I know it." And as it turns out, Third World has a bunch of leads on other work, (she's in a city, so the options are slightly broader), but I'm looking clear to be manning drive-thru again. :D I love irony. It makes life so much richer. 

I think this job could be fun. In a rather geekish way, I like the cash registers, and equipment, and being able to ring in a ridiculously detailed order as fast as someone could speak it. There is a nice bit of triumph to repeating back an order and totalling it correctly, while not at your cash. And McDonalds does more things than Tim's, so the learning curve should take a bit longer. Also the people there seem to be nice. ALSO; I'm getting $8.50 an hour, 32 hrs a week, which works to $272 a week, before taxes. not bad, not bad at all. At that rate, I might actually get the debt paid off before I turn thirty! :D

*sigh*

Having my smaller siblings wash dishes is pure torture. For everyone involved. *beats head against wall* General tears and hysteria. And screaming. But nothing has broken, yet. 

*puts head on desk and cries*

 And oh look, Sam just took a fire poker to my bread dough. 

"I'll tell you about our new security system. All our chefs are armed."

The little girls are all now proud owners of lip shaped whistles. They, however, keep forgetting which one belongs to which person, and that has led to some comments rather funny to overhear.

 

"Give me back my lips!"

"Those are my lips!"

"No they aren't, they're mine!"

"Get your hands off my lips!"

And even;

"I like your lips."

Good times with dollar store toys. 

It appears that Gid will be in the hospital for at least 10 days, as his blood cultures area growing something. So, I rule the roost for a while more. *evil smile* I'm become more used to being in charge again, which is good. 

Sam and I are hanging out a lot. (Sam is my three-year old little brother. ) Once supper was prepared yesterday, we were waiting for the others to get back from the park, so I read Crime and Punishment, ( a lovely book), and Sam read over my shoulder for a while. Then I let him listen to one ear of my ipod, which he was most pleased about. 

Here's a bad picture. 

And here's a slightly better one of him at his birthday party. 

And then after everyone went to sleep last night, Mommy and I had a girls' night. We did our nails, and ate chips, and watched Ocean's 11, which is a very fun movie.

"Your body's going through some CHANGES right now..."

For reasons which seemed good at the time, I got up at four yesterday, and then ended up going to bed at 10. My immune system  and body have sent me a message regarding this activity. 

"Oh, Hello. We have an issue. You know how during all the so-called stress at College we kept you disgustingly healthy? You know how you didn't miss a class? That was dependant on you giving us time off; at least 7 hours of sleep a night. We don't mind when you take the time, just so long as you do. This "five hours" thing is stopping now. We mean it. To warn you, we're giving you a sore throat. Don't make us give you a cough,

Concerned Friends."

So, now I am resolved to try not to be TOO insane with the sleep deprivation thing. But, I think I figured out why I keep being drawn to the computer. I mean, aside from the fact that you can do fun things on it, like writing, and reading the news, and writing, and reading blogs, and writing, and reading facebook, and writing stories and writing code and writing blogs. *cough* *wide grin* Anyhow, for the past 8 months at College, I had a quite decent amount of work to do, most of it on the computer. So now in the back of my brain there's an idea that if I'm not reading or on the computer, I'm slacking. 

This is of course not strictly true now that I'm at home. And now that I've pinpointed this, I should be more reasonable about computer time. Maybe. 

In other news, Frauline is off to Town for the Home School Conference this weekend, so I'm in charge when Mommy and Daddy aren't here. And Gid spiked a fever last night, so he's been brought into the Gander hospital, an hour away, and Mommy and Daddy will be taking turns staying with him.

One half of my Family, and the view from my window

Courtney (Frauline)

Victor

Mommy

Georgia

Georgia again

Elizabeth

Another shot of Elizabeth

Bonny (Slonner)

My view.

30 kilometres later, I have an interview!

I have walked 30 kilometres in the last 24 hours. That is 18.641136 miles. My legs have sent me notice that they are not moving, they don't plan to move, and any attempt to force them to move will be met with armed hostility. 

Why did I walk so far? Well, first of all, I found out on Monday that I owe my College $11,000.00. I had thought that was paid by a benefactor, but I was in error, apparently. A job abruptly looked like a REALLY good idea. I cobbled together my resume, and yesterday I headed out! All the way to the other end of town, (5km,) and back, (also 5km). I put resumes in everywhere that I could even remotely envision myself working. This included two hardware stores, and, seized with the sprit of much courage, McDonalds. Ah, funny-ish story about the second hardware store. The man who took resumes was on the phone when I walked in, so I was waiting by the office, when in walked a MASSIVE youth with a sheet of paper grasped in his ham-like fist. I am not short, but this guy was at least a foot taller than me. He was wearing a snowmobile jacket with padded shoulders, and a truckers cap. I felt about three feet tall, and as fragile as a toothpick. He just stalked in, dropped the paper on the desk of the manager, (Ha, genitive of possession there), and stalked out again. I was acutely aware, let us say, that I was wearing a white pants and my "stylish" coat in a hardware store. 

So, I made my way to the end of town, received two invitations to "come back tomorrow morning so you can give your resume to the Manager," and walked back. THEN, in the evening, I went out with my friend Ms. B, and as her car is in the shop we walked and chatted. We went, (you guessed it!) all the way to the end of town and back. By the end of that walk, I could no longer walk in a straight line. :D But it was nice to talk to Ms. B, and hear all the drama from St. John's and around home. 

Then today, I walked it again, to hand in those resumes to the managers. I now have 14 resumes and applications out at various locals in town. WHEW! Thankfully, most of them were positive about my resume, and the person in charge of hiring at McDonalds stopped me on the street this afternoon to book an interview on Monday morning. I'll have to see how it all pans out. 

And thankfully, while doing all that walking, the rest of my PENredux story arrived in my head, which is very jolly. I need ot go write now, and then make some supper. *nods*

Did I actually get up before the sun? Voluntarily?

I have realized several more important things. 

One: I spent a lot of time on the computer, and a lot of the things I would like to do, (writing, news trawling, programming, etc.) would involve spending more time on a computer. This is slight problematic in that I think my family would like to see me once in a while. :P and also I am now sharing a computer with people who live in the same house as I do.

Two: I had a lot of, if not "free" time, certainly "self directed" time at the college. Now I'm following the schedule of my family, who likes to get up before 10, and thinks that going to bed at 2 am is slightly excessive. (I can't imagine why...)

 This leads me to my next point!

Three: I am going to get up early to use the computer, so it can be used by others the rest of the day. *pause* Yes, really. *longer pause* I'll drink some coffee in the morning, okay! I shall triumph over scheduling! 

That is all.

No, it isn't. I am also going to try and find out more information about my possible library job, and if it is 20 hours a week, which I suspect, I will try and find another job to bring me up to the requisite 40 hours. *slumps* It must be done. And it seems that most places in town are hiring! Time to join the work force again.

*marches off*

"I could say something about how modern art is representative of the post modern viewpoint in which there is no truth and therefore anything is art...

I keep realizing more pieces of how Augustine has affected the way I think. My sister Slonner mentioned that she wants to go to art school when she grows up, and I ALMOST started a rant about postmodernism and performance art and the absence of truth in modern society and how that has changed the purpose of art, but I didn't. I know, for those who were there, you are probably saying, "yes, yes you did rant," but trust me, I didn't. I also wanted to start a discussion about the influences of subjective truth on personhood and science fiction, but again I didn't. *wide grin* I hope I keep this way of looking at the world, cause even if I don't have anyone to talk to about it, it is very interesting.

Speaking of intersting things, it is quite intersting to move back to a place. I wasn't really old enough to notice things before we moved to San Diego, but I am now. The land just feels right in a way which Ottawa didn't, even after 8 months. I suppose that's becuase of all the memories here, so things are familiar. It is also very interesting to have people recoginize me, after living in the city. I came in on the bus on Wednseday, and then took a taxi to the other end of town. The taxi driver recognized me from when I worked at Tim Horton's two years before, and knew where I wanted to go before I told him. Small towns!

I am also loving the sound of the sea and the smell of salt and wood smoke on the wind.

But I am missing the Augustinians. *sigh* Moving is problematic.

There is a whole list of people and activities queing up for me to notice their absence. Currently missing things like puns are being shouted down by things like the lack of Third World, but I know they are just lying in wait to attack me. Bah.

On the other hand, I went on an expedenture with the small ones to buy band-aids, and they wanted an explanation for everything.
"How does the water in the ditch get there?" (spring run off)
"How far could we go if we followed the trail?" (Vancouver)
"Can we buy that, or that, or That?" (No, becase you forgot your money)
"Why does that lady look like she's in pain?" (that one was a little delicate to explain, as she was mentally handicaped. *cringes internally* But I think they were good with my explanation, that her brain hadn't grown when her body had.)
That's fun, being the big sister again. It's good to be home.