A last time for everything

I worked my last shift at good ol' Timmy's today. Hooray for being out of that place! While I will not miss the mismanagment, I will very much miss my co-workers. Today one of them brought in a cake for me that said, "It's been a slice!" on it, and they all signed a card telling me how much they'll miss me :) I felt loved.

And I made $11 in tips today. Not bad for Timmy's.

I won't talk about how appropriate it was that on my last day there we had only 6 people working and it was INSANELY busy with busses and our manager was no where to be seen...nope...won't talk about that...there's no need to be bitter...because I'm DONE!

Tomorrow I will sleep well past the customary 5am and enjoy every minute of it. Then I will go to my appointment with a life insurance agent. Yes, I am 22 years old and looking into life insurance. If you're curious (I know I'm still dumbfounded by the idea), just ask me why.

Today my dad and I found out that we probably can't get our trailer lights hooked up on time for this weekend's move to Toronto, nor can we rent a U-Haul at this late hour. So...perhaps no moving for Sara until next weekend. I'm tired and ambivalent about it right now. I stayed out till 11:30 last night, WAAAAAY past my bedtime, because the Lensinks are starting to depart from home and we had a mini-going-away party. Which consisted of euchre (Craig and I won) and a drive in Allison's new Civic to Lock 3 of the canal. I'm really going to miss them all, too. We had a great time together this summer.

I miss Dordt. As I hear of everyone coming back together at that dear place, surrounded by corn and wise profs and good conversation, I am nostalgic. I miss your hugs, everyone. I miss GIVING you hugs, everyone! Give someone a hug from me today.

A first time for everything

Yesterday two very unusual occurrances kept me and my co-workers laughing while making coffee at the drive-thru at Tim's.

The first was embarassing for me. We had a long line up of cars waiting to have their order taken, and the person at the window was taking a long time, ordering many bagels. The person waiting at the speaker was my former youth group leader at Jubilee (my home church), whose name is Jason Boks. By the way he talked to us, we thought he was a different guy, who comes in regularly and is dating my co-worker Kathy and whose name is Bruce. We always joke around with Bruce and yell his name in deep voices when we see him: "BRUUUUUUCE". Anyway. We did this, over the speaker, to Jason, because we thought he was Bruce. When he came to the window and I saw who it was, I was rather embarassed. I said something like "There's this guy, named Bruce, who comes in a lot and we joke around with him...sorry..." Jason just laughed. So did we--for the next ten minutes straight!

The second occurance...well, I guess that was pretty embarassing too. Or maybe just extremely unexpected. A regular customer, Jay, came by at 8am, during our busiest time. I handed him his coffee and change, and out of the blue he says, "Hey, do you want to go to the airshow with me this weekend?" [The Snowbirds are doing their annual airshow in St. Catharines this weekend--they even came through drive-thru on their break, all dressed up in their red uniforms! It was sweet.] Anyway, I'm thinking he's asking Silvana, my co-worker, who knows him outside of work and who is quite a flirt with men in drive-thru. It takes me a second to realize he's asking ME out, and I quickly say that I can't because I'm going to Toronto this weekend. (Which wasn't a lie at the time, since I was planning on it.) So he said, "Well, how about we do something another time?" And by this time I'm altogether flustered, nervous, and somewhat flattered, but I'm also increasingly aware that he's holding up other cars in the line and increasing our drive-thru times--a big deal in the FAST food business! He's looking at me as if to say, So, yeah? Do you have a phone number for me...? So I shoo him on with my hand and mumble something about, "come by another time" and he looks slightly jilted and drives away. Whew. I had no idea how to react to that situation. Wouldn't it be totally crazy to go out with some guy who only knows me as Sara with the nice smile at the Tim's drive-thru??? The whole thing was just weird.

Today I went garage saling. What fun! I bought a lampshade for a quarter and a metal pan insert with holes in it for steaming veggies for $1. I like getting deals. However, I was somewhat disappointed, because I was really looking for pots and pans, lamps, and other furniture for my future apartment. Which I get to see again tomorrow when I go to Toronto with my dad for supper! Hooray for growing up. (Sometimes.)

The future brother-in-law

I just wanted to test blogger--I had problems uploading pictures yesterday.

This is my sister Joya's finace, Dave. He's playing with my adorable neice, Alyssa. I think this was when we were all home for spring break this year.

While not the best picture of Dave, I think it's the only one I have on this computer.

Another Monday

Well. It's Monday. A week and a half more of work before moving crunch time begins over Labour day weekend. I liked work at first. Now I don't so much. Today, we were out of twelve grain, everything, sesame, plain, cinnamon raisin, and whole wheat bagels by the end of the day. So we only had blueberry and onion left. Can you imagine how frustrated customers were when they came through drive thru to get their regular morning bagel and we were out of almost ALL bagels?? Boo for poor ordering skills on the part of management...

Everyone's leaving. Ok, not everyone, but the people I've been spending time with this summer are winding up their time at home and returning to school now. I miss them already. And I'm jealous of the people who are at Dordt right now!

I'm having issues with gmail. I can't open any of my messages, new or old! When I click on them, nothing happens. Does anyone have any advice? Oh, and don't be offended if I don't respond to your e-mail, if you sent one!

My new laptop came in the mail a few days ago. I haven't even opened it yet because I want to sit down and read all the instructions first. Yes, I am a geek. But not a computer geek (because computers hate me), so I want to make sure I do everything right!

I tried to post a cute picture of my nephew Bradley kissing his sister Alyssa's feet. But I don't think it worked.

beautiful break

I just returned from a fabulous (extra) long weekend spent visiting friends old and new. Before that, I was at a 4 day long-weekend camping trip in Michigan with my dad's side of the family, and my brother and sister and their families. I re-learned just how valuable, blessed, hilarious and insightful friends and family are. And just how much I miss them all. This may all be repeat for those of you who read the blogs of others from Dordt...but here are the highlights of the past 5 days:

Wednesday: picked the delinquent flyer Laura D. up from the airport in Toronto. She was reprimanded and disciplined by a flight attendant after getting up right after landing while the seatbelt sign was still on and going to the closet-bathroom because she had to go so badly...as she was trying to tell me of her trials with said flight, I was trying to push her to the parking garage because I wanted to get out in under an hour to save an extra $5 parking fee! We drove back to Hamilton to stay with Beth and Paul, staying up till 2am talking about life after college and the difficulties of finding meaningful work.

Thursday: slept in, sneaked (snuck?) into Beth and Paul's room to call Laurel and Ethan, telling them when and where to meet us to SURPRISE Beth, Paul, Kara, and Jon. Made relish in an hour (well, I don't know if it was relish per se, Paul, sorry--I didn't dare eat it after smelling it) and picked up Kara on our way to a London KOA campground. We're entering the camp headquarters when SURPRISE! Laurel comes up from behind and says "Hi Beth!" Oh, the look on her face, and the exclamation following the 10 seconds of silent wheel-turning... We made dinner over the fire, set up tents (well, one tent, the one we had the correct poles for. The other one had the wrong poles, was held up by string...) and went to Jon's play, Please, Give Generously at Fringe at 11:30pm. Beth and Jon graced the stage with such an amazing performance. What a blessing to be there and enjoy the performance, support talented friends, and marvel at what God does with our abilities and aspirations. Came back to camp, had a bonfire, and snuggled up in a sleeping bag in the midst of seven treasured friends.

Friday: got up early, left on my own for a conference north of Peterborough, Ontario sponsored by *culture is not optional, the ICS, and Russet House Farm. Well, it was at the Russet House Farm. Too many wonderful workshops and discussions to describe, not to mention good times with Laura C., a close friend from high school (and beyond!) and her boyfriend Aaron. Lots of learning about fair trade, local/organic food, music, and homemaking in the empire...ask me more if interested! Oh, I discovered a new love of Bruce Cockburn, for all of you Canadians out there who know who that is!

Sunday: drove home with Laura after the worship service at the farm. Spent some time chatting with my parents, discussing my weekend experiences. Learned about a get-together at my pastor's house for young adults, thought about not going, but ended up calling the Lensinks and going with Alan. Had a blast with friends from church, the (newish) pastor and his pregnant wife, and my former youth leaders, Jason and Brenda, whom I love dearly!

Monday: uneventful. Ran this morning, wearing my dad's heart rate monitor. Discovered that my heart is working way harder than it should for someone of my age and weight--an average of 180 beats per minute, when my target range should be 120-160 bpm during a workout. Eeeee...I'll have to ask the doctor about that when I see her on Friday.

Tuesday (tomorrow): Boo. Back to work. At 6am.

EDIT: I didn't realize how long this post is until after I posted it. Sorry to bore you all!

it's all in my head

I ran for longer than I've ever run before this afternoon. I felt great afterwards!! I love the feeling of being done a run, stretching, lifting a few weights. I think I always psych myself out when I run. I think that since I haven't run longer than a certain amount before, there's no way I'll be able to today, so I quit when I reach the previous limit. But the last two times I've run, I've gone way beyond my personal best! Hooray for surprises and conquering the mind.

Tomorrow I'm leaving with my parents for a long weekend of camping with my immediate and dad's side of the family. It should be a good time--I'm not a huge fan of camping, but it's not that long, right? :)

Today was my last day of work for ten days. I'm thrilled to have a big break from pouring coffee and listening to complaints about our managers. Next week holds more excitement, with a trip to the Fringe to see Jon and Beth perform, and seeing Laura Dykstra, and going to a sweet conference north east of Toronto. Horray for vacations!

That's all for now.

P.S. Has anyone listened to the new Neil Young cd, "Living with War"? I'm thinking of getting it.