Happy Thanksgiving!

So I am Canadian so it's Thanksgiving here! (Not until tomorrow, but we celebrated today.

I am stuffed to the brim with turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie! We had about 20 people at our house today! It was excellent. I love having my family gather together, and I really wish we would do it more often. My sister, her husband and their dog are still here, however they are watching the hockey game. I tried to stick it out and watch for a while but it just didn't work.

I thought I would list some things that I am thankful for!

1. Getting together with family.
2. Puppies (I love having two in the house!)
3. A place to live free of charge!
4. Having a gym in the basement.
5. Music in all its wonderfulness. Harmony that comes along with it. Dissonance.
6. A job!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

A great weekend!

This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending a conference called Weekend in the Word. At first I was extremely anxious about going. I had been informed that people there would be extremely modest, and I felt quite nervous about that. I consider myself to be a very modest person, but the fear that I would not be good enough was overwhelming. Not to mention that everyone there was from a homeschooling family, and I am not. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against homeschooling - in fact I consider it to be a possibility once I have a family. I have to confess that I was wrong to be nervous.

The conference was held in a small town in Southern Alberta. It made me homesick for my dear Rosebud. The sessions were great! We learned about logic and fallicies. It was difficult to grasp the concepts so quickly but I can honestly say that I did learn something worthwhile. The other sessions were about abortion, homosexuality and doubt. These last three were actually my favorite as there was a large practical aspect to it.



I really enjoyed it and ended up meeting some amazing people this weekend. This is a picture of me and my cousin. She is Almost 16 and one of the most amazing people I know.

Work!!

Woohoo!

I have excellent news! I had a job a job interview on Thursday and heard today that I got the job. It is at a shoe store here in town. I had originally wanted to get out of retail, but if I am going to be in retail I am happy that I am in this store. It's got a great atmosphere with great people.

I am very excited to start working next week!

Sullivan

Okay friends...if anyone is out there. We have a task to do.

Over a year ago my heart was touched by a little boy on Reece's Rainbow named Sullivan, and its about time that I start to do something to help him out. Since I am in no position to adopt him myself, I have decided its time to start trying to find him a family.

Here is a picture of the angel. Handsome isn't he?

Here is his information.

Sullivan (25)

BOY, born October 21, 2005

SIGNIFICANT RISK, PLEASE ADOPT ME SOON!!

Sullivan is as handsome as they come! Blonde hair and bright blue eyes make him so snuggable!

Sullivan was born with a very rare disorder called Arnold-Chiari Syndrome. He is not able to walk, but is very smart, although his speech is delayed. He is not able to walk at this time due to a hip deformation, resulting from his A/C syndrome. He does not speak too well, says seperate words, definitely understands when he is talked to and wants attention. He uses his hands well, plays with toys, can concentrate, he is very sweet and always smiling. I know caketakers just love him and think he is better developed than the rest in his group.

From his medical records: He has syndrome of lower tetraparesis; defect of hip functioning as a result of cerebrospinal hernia of lower chest part; hydrocephaly (had surgery); syndrome of Arnold-Chiari. Mental delay; secondary myocardiopathy; delay of speech development. Sullivan will be sent to a mental institution, and will remain bedridden the rest of his short life. He has very little time left. Now is the perfect time to start your paperwork to save him! Please give Sullivan a chance to know a loving, supportive family!

I originally mentioned him in a post here:

http://brokenwithgod.blogspot.com/2010/06/if-i-had-been-born-somewhere-else.html

So...I really have no idea how to do this. If anyone out there would like to help...I would really appreciate it.

Consumerism

consumerism.

After moving back into my parents house one of the greatest struggles I have has is finding work. I don't want to be extremely picky in what job I will take, but I'm not going to take just anything.

First off, I haven't eaten from a fast food place (minus subway) since I was 16 years old, and there is definitely no way that I am going to work in one. The smell of those places make me feel nauseated. Plus I have ethical issues with the treatment of animals, and much of it is just so terrible for you.

I am so tired of consumerism. Greed. I have only ever worked in retail, and I am tired of people buying more than they need. I am tired of people selling things that people don't need. About a month ago, when I was working my old job this big burly man came into my store and bought $400 worth of statues and sculptures. It was great for the business and I won't deny I was glad to make the sale.

Then I have this sinking feeling in my gut. Guilt. I have a friend who has been to Tanzania, and intends to go back this next summer. She worked in a school in the slums of TZ. She also met many beautiful children, whom I have grown to love through her, with untreated HIV. The treatment is free, but they have to get to the hospital to get them, and most of them can't pay for the transportation. It only costs 9 dollars each month for a kid to get their medication. Perhaps 18, so an adult can go with the child to the hospital.

So I think back to this man that came into my store. 400 dollars. I wondered how many kids he could give medication for a month with that money. 44 children could have their medication for one month with 400 dollars. That just amazes me. It saddens me. If I gave 400 dollars a month to kids who need ARV's 44 children could have normal lives.

I don't know how to go into reality without thinking about this. Put on a smile as I fold up a 30 dollar t-shirt and think about asking them to return it so they can save the life of a child?

Everyone has heard about the HIV/AIDs epidemic...but people don't open their hearts.

I think people are living in the wrong reality. Anyone have any job ideas that could do the world some good?

Oliver!

Well, this is a bit of a delayed post and I have to
catch up on what has happened in the last week. One week ago Oliver closed, and I said goodbye to a town of people that I love dearly. A place I have lived for the last two years. I have never felt more at home in any other place, but it was time to move on. In my opinion the best part of the last two years are the people I have met and grown to love.



Above is a picture of me and our pianist, Sarah. I really enjoyed getting to know her over the summer!

Also above is our Oliver and our Nancy. Two beautiful and talented ladies who I was very glad to get to spend the summer with.

They are both so persnickety and cheeky. It brings a smile to my face when I think about all the mischief Deanne (Nancy) would get into.

Here we have pictures of three of my different Oliver! families. To the right is everyone in who will buy (minus Oliver). This was probably my favorite part of the play. It was just such a beautiful and pure moment.

Above is me as a workhhouse kid with Mr. and Mrs. Bumble. These two are both so hilarious. They crack me up. I have a picture of one of the kids making the exact same face I am making in this picture, but I'm not going to post it here.

Lastly, and once again above are the funeral folk. The Sowerberries. Ha, what snobs. I am so glad that I had this opportunity to be a part of this show, and even though I have decided its time for me to leave the acting world.

Oliver! funnies!

I have been thinking about how the run of Oliver! here is almost over, and wanted to save the memory of some of the amusing things that have happened over the last 2 and 1/2 months. If you don't want to read all of them, at least read the ending one because it is worth it.

On Opening night (The end of may) Nathan (Faggin) was singing the song "Reviewing the Situation." Part way through he forgets the words, but knows that they are important to the storyline. So, he stays completely in character and shouts "Wait! Let me see!" and walks up to the piano looks over Sarah's (the pianists) shoulder reads the words and continues singing. This was a brilliant acting moment.

At the end of the play Bill Sykes is killed via gunshot. So Conrad (Bow Street Runner) goes to shoot the gun and nothing happens. Normally we have a pistol that shoots a blank and it works great. However on this particular day both Conrad and Karl (Bill Sykes) were left standing there looking dumb. The solution? Sykes just withered to the ground suddenly. The audience laughed at this one. I don't blame them. Ha.

At the end of the show we wait off stage in the wings to go onstage for the bows. It's dark back there so Karl decided to try and freak me out getting as close to me as possible. However, wondering what he was doing, I looked over and she shared a few nose nuzzles. He was embarrassed and now makes a point to not get to close to me back there.

It's been been a very rainy summer and therefore very humid as well. The floor on the stage it made up of wooden panels. One day after a particularly wet day we came in to find that the wood on the floor had expanded. The stage was COVERED in bubbles. Imagine trying to do a show while walking and tripping over a bubbling floor? Ha.

Last Sunday's show was an interesting one. Paul (Mr. Brownlow) gets to take a walk outside the theatre to get to the other side of the the stage. (We have a crawl space but some people prefer the walk outside. However on this day the door is locked. This has never happened before. So Paul runs all the way around the theatre again and tries to make his entrance on time. I was in the dressing room at that time and the curtains around the area literally moved from the blur that Paul was. Despite his rush Mr. Bumble was left on stage for a few moments staring at a locket. Oops.

Here's another one with Conrad and Karl. This afternoon Conrad got trigger happy. Karl is supposed to have the line "Stand back! Or I'll kill the boy" instead all he got out was "St.." I'm pretty sure Oliver should have died instead of Bill, but they made it work.

Okay...now here is the doosey that inspired this post. I'm actually not sure I should post this one - but I will anyways. The patrons that come toe show are often...well quite frankly, old. Some of them aren't all there. In the play one of my roles is the Milkmaid. For this role I carry a metal buckets. Now one of the patrons someone managed to wander backstage during the first act - and PEED in my milk bucket. Um yeah. You read that right. Then he got confused about which way to go to leave the room, so he wandered onto the wings of the stage. Luckily dear Kelsey was there to help him back to his seat. She realized what had happened and kindly told our Stage Managers. Needless to say I did not use the same prop that night. Instead Brad pulled the paper off of a paint can and put some fabric on top of it. It was full of paint and somewhat heavy. The man didn't even realize something had happened we don't think, which I suppose is a good thing. I am assuming that he has Alzheimer's and believed that this was a chamber pot or something. Poor man...but its rather amusing.

That's all folks!