Umm, what?

Sooo I did this online Life Stress Test at work today, and apparently I'm unstable?

Lametastic July

Summer work has definitely lost it's novelty. I literally spent the entire week helping people get ready for the field assignments that I don't get to go on. I was pretty much just a glorified baggage handler/personal shopper---hitting up Home Depot and racking up some credit card debt on sportsman gear and ATV helmets.

I keep having to tell myself, "You know, Marc, when Lauren Conrad interned at Teen Vogue, she didn't get to do anything fun." It does make me feel better, until I remember one of those lame episodes of the Hills where she gets to work backstage at Teen Vogue's L.A. Fashion Week Party or Prada's Spring Runway Show. Well, these trips to the Arctic are my runway shows. It's literally the only reason I wanted this job. Luckily, in the next couple of weeks, I'll have the even more incredible opportunity of watching everyone else arrange their Canadian North flights on Carlson Wagonlit, while they ask me to book them some ATV's or a couple helicopter trips. Then, I'll get the even more rare experience of creeping all of their Facebook photos and hearing all their stories about the polar bears and inuit tribes they encountered and how it caused them to have such a great epiphany that they've decided to pursue a career in Social Work or Natural Resources Management, all while we enjoy some delicious Wok that their overtime pay could easily cover two-hundred times over. Life's just not fair.

Anyhow, tonight is my first shift of NighHawk overnight security at the Folk Fest grounds. It should be a lot of fun, as long as I can manage to stay up for the entire twelve hours and not get sick of the person I'm volunteering with.

Love this, part 4? I've lost track...

itsjustoneofthosedays

So I'm pretty sure I fail at life. This Friday has been AWFUL. For starters, I woke up late, again. Then, while rushing out the door into what is probably our 27th consecutive day of heavy rain, I never noticed that my back tire was flat or that the gas light had been on for probably several days. As I pulled up into the Village Landing Starbucks for my morning coffee, someone honked to inform me that I’m apparently a noob at vehicle maintenance, and suggested that I should probably not continue to drive on my flat. So, I did what any independent 20-year old would do: I called my mother. Ten minutes later, she showed up in her pajamas to switch vehicles for me so that I could continue on my way to work while she got the old tire fixed.

Then, I figured, seeing as I was already going to be late for the third day in a row, the least I could do was get my morning cup of Pike to make this miserable day slightly more enjoyable. Of course, when God is on a revenge streak, he doesn’t stop at 7:30 in the morning. I got stuck with the new girl, or Barista-in-training, at Starbucks, who interpreted "no room for cream" as a half-full cup of coffee. Being in a pissy mood already, the last thing I wanted to do was complain. So I just left, figuring I could top it off at work with some of that nasty Van Houtte “Hawaiian Islands” blend that they’ve overstocked in my break room.

AND THEN, after arriving at work at the punctual time of 8:20, I received an email from Accounts Payable letting me know that my mega-expense claim, the one that literally took me an hour to put together, was rejected. Apparently, I forgot to subtract a $2.00 charitable donation from one my receipts.

Gah, I knew I would regret donating to Wal-mart’s Special Olympics Fund…..

OH AND THEN, to make myself feel better, I made the fully rational decision to binge on the leftover pastries that the Friday Donut Club didn’t feel like eating. Helloo, Tubsy....

How the Other Half Copes

So, my most recent obsession is PBS Frontline Documentaries (I know, I'm pretty much 70 years old). Anyways, I watched this documentary a little awhile ago and stumbled upon it again today. It's about how people in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, one of America's most affluent neighbourhoods, are coping with the financial meltdown. It's pretty good, even though the producer is just a little elitist.

Feeling a Little Psychotic

So, after sitting through the finales of both of MTV's geographically-named reality series, The Hills and The City, along with my Dad's favourite show, America's Got Talent, I decided to indulge in some good ol' American Psychosis. Please read this article, it is quite entertaining.

Just Another Day at the Office....

So I was lucky enough to head off to Japser for work on Friday. I'm pretty sure it was my first field assignment without any complications: no collisions with wildlife, no contractor issues, nothing! It was definitely a nice change of pace from the office.

I've been feeling a little burned out lately. With work and all the shit I have left to accomplish before heading back to Waterloo, I feel like I haven't really had a summer vacation. On top of that, my favourite little fugitive, Colton Harris-Moore, was captured today after a high-speed boat race in Barbados! Soo sad.

I decided to turn down all my plans for Saturday night so I could have little me time and attempt to work on my extensive to-do list. My dad ended up taking me out for dinner and I drank a little too much wine, so I didn't really get anything accomplished. Then, the regret sunk in the morning after, as I creeped through my friends' Facebook pictures from the night before. Life is just chalk full of little dilemmas....

Bitches Runnin' Wild

My happiness wave came to a crashing halt today at work. Some guy that the company is trying to recruit was making the rounds and introduced himself at my cubicle today and asked what I was studying at Waterloo. Now, typically, I'll get the "Urban Planning! I wish I did something like that instead of civil engineering!" or the more recent "I can't believe our new Governor-General is from Waterloo!" both of which do a great job at stroking my ego. But no, this guy decided to jump into this five-minute long anecdote about how his childhood friend took Urban Planning at SAIT Polytechnic (which isn't even a university) and how she never found a job after graduation, so she decided to become a "communications expert." All I could say was, "Thanks? That's great to know...."

Rather than stew in anger and frustration, my anxiety kicked in and I literally spent the rest of the morning checking the unemployment rate for urban planners. Luckily, this d-bag is also very uninformed, as planners still have a lower unemployment rate than architects, our arch-nemeses.

Fortunately, karma rewarded me for holding back my desire to strangle someone and I'm being sent to Jasper for a day-trip tomorrow....to do literally 10 MINUTES (yes, just ten minutes) of work! I'm actually driving 7 hours to Maligne Lake (expenses, mileage, overtime and $51 per diem included) to take pictures of this contractor while he fills in a hole the size of my desk, fun times...

Love this, Part 3

I stumbleupon'ed this gem:

Back in Action

I had the most bizarre dream last night. Somebody hacked my blog and revamped it into one huge ad for Viagra and Cialis, just like those spam emails with the subject header "Re: Hi" that I always get duped into opening. So, I figured it was probaby a sign that I should update this thing before someone else does.

The past week has been a whirlwind. I've literally been busy every night since last Sunday, and have hardly had the time to breathe, let alone work on my Philosophy course (on that note, whoever said first-year Philosophy was a joke was seriously delusional). I was fortunate to catch up with a lot of people that I haven't seen in a longgg time, and rack up a $500 credit card balance from buying coffee and skinny jeans. I even took a 4-day break from the borg and ditched the city with a dozen friends from high school to do some serious camping/drinking/swimming in hypothermic lake water.

I've decided to take it slow for awhile, so this week will be super laze...

P.S: Reading Google News this morning, I was a little envious to see that the Queen is visiting Waterloo today, during the four months that I'm not there. First, it was Stephen Hawking and now this???