Thursday, June 28, 2007

Because the Union Makes Us Strong!! (Oy! Oy! Oy!!)

This past weekend my local (1698) sent me to a Youth Convention for my union (CUPE). There were two of us there from FVRL (Fraser Valley Regional Library), myself and Trista, and we happened to be assigned to the same cabin with another girl named Charity- a lifeguard from Quesnel.

The conference took place in Naramata, which is a cute little village up high in the wine country, above Okanagan Lake in BC's interior. It was planned and implemented by young people from within CUPE.

Long story short, (because I've been writing this for over a week now) we got the nicest cabin, met some great people, drank ourselves stupid, learned about our union, drank some more, learned about collective bargaining, went to the pub, had some pretty decent meals, had a few more beers, went skinny dipping, got very little sleep, bought more beer and started all over!!

It wasn't all about the booze, but it is funny how a bottle of Rye can level the playing field and bring people together.

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Prostate Whistles and Vomitoriums

Ooof. I'm sooo full.

We had everyone over for Father's Day and my family has just left after a normal visit consisting of too much food and Wii. The theme of tonight's dinner was a melange of excessive foodTV watching and too much time on my hands. Here's what we had:

  • Slow roasted pulled pork, rubbed with a mix of spices and served with bbq sauce
  • BBQ'd honey glazed chicken breasts (bone-in & skin on) served with a sweet green pea & mint sauce with a hint of wasabi.
  • Thai curried cauliflower skewers
  • Grilled asparagus
  • Grilled romaine hearts with a caesar-caper dressing
  • Rolls and butter
Pretty weird, eh?

I don't know what I was thinking- I need to watch less cooking shows and more action movies- clearly! However, I really liked the dinner, my family enjoyed it, and Sean even managed to get enough to eat. He's so patient with me when I go mental and decide to get fancy in the kitchen.

Aside from the food, the visit went as usual- lots of inappropriate dinner conversation, and reminiscing about past embarrassing moments. My Mom gave my Dad a little fundraising kit she'd gotten to benefit Prostate Cancer research which contained a rubber bracelet, a whistle and a flashlight. You might be able to imagine some of the jokes that resulted from those! And what family dinner could be complete without a conversation about barf? Not one of ours unfortunately.

All of these crazy antics, (cooking included, since my Mom was always making us into fusion-cuisine guinea-pigs) are just normal fare for me, because that's just how my family's always been. It's different now though with Sean being part of the family... poor guy just tries to keep his head down. He put it really well once, kind of like this; In my family, you can come to the table and swear and talk about just about anything, but you dress up and take your hat off, and in his family it's the other way around. I think we're both doing pretty well, considering.

Thursday, June 7, 2007

Can't I just fast-forward to Monday?

This weekend I embark on yet another Girl Guide Camp. However, this camp is indisputably the worst kind of Guide camp... District Camp.

Duhn duhn duuuuhhh!

Can you tell I'm not thrilled? The problem's not with the girls; again, I have a good group coming along. The problem lies with the adults.

Long ago, I noticed that volunteers (in Guiding at least) can usually be divided into a few universal categories:

  1. Lifers. (I was in it as a kid, and now I'm back because I don't know any better.)
  2. Control Freaks (My marriage is lousy and my work is unfulfilling, and this seems like a good venue to exert the control I lack in other spheres of my life.)
  3. Attention seekers. (Camp? Oh, I'd love to, but I have this back condition, and it's really painful, so I'll be there, but I might be in sooo much pain that I won't be able to help with anything physical. I'll do campfire though- I have a wonderful voice!)
  4. Crazy crafters. (Isn't it wonderful? I made it out of old socks, glitter and fishing line!)
  5. Over-achievers. (Sure, I'll be responsible for that. And that. And that. And I can do that too. Maybe you'd better let me do that for you while I'm at it.)

While everyone has their heart in the right place (I guess), it makes for an uncomfortable mix of personalities. Several of the ladies are quite bossy, and well, I don't take too well to being bossed. However, I'll try to swallow my pride and do what I can to make camp fun and smooth running. My only worry is that they will try to treat my girls like 'helpers'. I've already made it pretty clear that my girls deserve to enjoy camp like any other participant, especially since they're paying to be there. They have enough Moms to help with all that. We'll see how it goes.

On the upside, Camp Olave is a beautiful place and holds so much magic for the little ones and fond memories for the older girls. For most of my girls, it will be their last time at Olave, so I hope it's special.