so gang, i've changed things up a bit. i've switched over to a blogspot.com account. my new url is popsicle-stand.blogspot.com if you're still interested. xanga people can still comment. i just like the new setup more and the options. hope to hear from you there.

david

Obligation (Ah-bluh-gay-shun); when one is formally obliged to conduct themselves in a certain manner.

There are a few shoddy things about this definition. First off they used the root word in the definition. I don’t think that’s allowed. And secondly they used the word ‘gay’ in the pronunciation. That’s kind of strange. And frankly it’s a little gay.

I enjoy being silly.

Right now I am listening to some ‘I-got-soul-but-I’m-not-a-soldier’ action from the killers. It creates a feeling of energy in me. It makes me want to get up and do something. Something that is fast paced, but not necessarily important while being something that defines me. I picture myself running through the downtown of a large city. Why? I don’t know.

I’m on the train riding these lonesome rails to Montreal, formerly the home of the Montreal Expos (ex Major League Baseball team) and currently the home of my eldest sister Anne, and her family. I am anxious to be there and meet them. I have yet to see the wee one, who is nearly six months old.

A scratch here, a yawn there and some jack johnson to get the creative juices flowing. Not that this is really creative, but bear with me. Today is Friday; usually one of the best days of the week for me. And don’t get me wrong, I am really glad that I am home with the whole weekend ahead of me to do whatever may befall me. That sounds like I am letting whatever random things may happen come my way, which isn’t true. I made a list. It’s probably the first list I have ever made in my life. Its comprised of all the qualities I look for in a girl… actually it’s a list of what I want to get done tomorrow. Its not very exciting, but I’ll tell you about it anyways. I need to buy some more work pants and shirts, look at some cell phones, look at a few tool kits, do some emailing, check out some cameras, phone up the auto-electric guy and buy some shampoo. The last one is probably the most important. 

The drive out was probably the most exciting part of my experience so far. The alternator went just before we crossed into the u.s. you would not believe the feeling that gave me. I wanted to cry so bad. So, so bad. But lucky for me, my pops was there and we ended up pulling off something I doubt very many people would try and do. Since the jetta’s diesel, it can run without power. So in theory, if we only drove in the day we could drive without the alternator and just use the battery for starting. The bad side was that the first night before we knew what was wrong, we were stuck in Fargo, North Dakota, in some parking lot with the car idling, cause if we turned it off we wouldn’t be able to get it back on. We got the battery charged up in the morning at a Canadian tire equivalent and bought another battery and battery charger and carried on our merry way. This is where we discovered another delightful problem; that the lights wouldn’t turn off. So we were using up our battery during that day. So we thought we’d bypass that problem by disconnecting the battery once the car was started, but it kept stalling every time we tried that. By this time I was feeling pretty far up the creek without a paddle. In fact, the last time I’d remembered seeing a paddle was a few days back. So we ended up taking the lights out of the headlights while we drove, and we drove 140km/hr to make up for lost time. When darkness fell we put the lights back in and drove until neither battery would give any power. We pulled over in Milwaukee (just north of Chicago) and rented a hotel room and charged both batteries over night. The next morning we got up super early and drove through Chicago without lights (Chicago is huge, we gave oprah a hive five on the way through). Somewhere that day (in indiana I think) the alternator belt went, not that it mattered though, cause the alternator wasn’t charging. You would not believe how happy I was to cross the border at Detroit. The 401 into Toronto is not all its cracked up to be. So that’s my gripe about the trip out, though when I look back, it was an excellent “character” building experience.

The first week in Oshawa has been pretty awesome. It has gone far better than I could’ve hoped for… which isn’t to say that I don’t miss all my friends, because I do. But something is different. And I like it in some ways. I talk to myself more now and sing a lot, but that’s to be expected. Work has been very interesting.

You would not believe the amount of work and effort that goes into every car they make. There are almost a thousand people on each shift who only assemble the car. Things like the motor and transmission come already made. The production process is mind boggling, the detail and attention to everything. They are constantly improving the models. So if you’re buying a new car, wait until the end of the model year, it’s a much better car by then. My job is to be a supervisor. My “group” is the last group of about 20 in total. So when the car leaves us, they do a few overall checks and then drive it out the door. It’s an awesome experience. I’ll be in charge of about 40 people, though “in charge” is probably the wrong word to use. Because in the end, I don’t really know enough to boss them around, but I do have enough power that I could get somebody fired, which makes me chuckle every time I think about it. I don’t actually do any work. I just kind of… supervise. It’s great. I fill out absenteeism forms, do time off requests, order “house keeping” supplies, check for safety stuff, attend meetings, and generally make sure things are going okay. So, in theory, if every goes as it should I don’t have to do anything. Sometimes most of the morning can be spent chatting with some union rep, or another supervisor from a different area.

Ontario is a lot different than Alberta. Everyone here is really liberal, and that’s not just the political party, but that’s the mindset too. It’s hard to explain but you can just tell when you’re around them.

The people who are upstairs are fantastic. They had me up for supper Wednesday evening (“up”, not “over”. pretty sweet) and it was a lot of fun. Even though they’re about 25ish, they’re pretty swell. Andrew and I can chat about anything, we have similar interests so its easy to talk. We played video games. Shelley enjoys being a mother more than anybody I have ever met in my life, its really awesome to see someone who just loves to do the whole housewife thing. Caleb, their two-year old, is really funny. At first he would wave at me from the window when I pulled up from work and then run away. And when I met him he was really shy, but now he does the whole hive-five thing (up high, on the side, other side, down low… too slow!) but he’s too little to understand the whole “too slow” part so we’re working on that.

The only bad thing about Oshawa so far is that I haven’t met my dream girl yet. Though I haven’t been to a church yet. That’s this Sunday. I’ll post on it when it happens.

for years i have gone home for christmas. now i know what you're thinking, "cripes, another blog from david about christmas" but its not. in the movie garden state, there's a scene where the character played by zach braff describes how the idea of "home" no longer exists for him anymore. but if he ever wants to have it again, he'll have to a recreate it for himself. after my first autumn spent out of the nest i was only too eager to go home, to see my family and be back where i knew i belonged. i was so happy to get back home. to be at ease and not have to be on edge with other people that i don't really know, the people i had just been putting up with for the last few months until i could manage to get home. after that christmas i went back to school and spent another four months away. when i got home this time i was equally as happy, but after a few weeks i was frustrated with the rules and standards my parents had. i wanted to do what i wanted to do, after all that's how things had been going for the last eight months. but before that had a chance to seed over the summer, i was gone again. the next fall i went through school and only at the end, when school and life got a little harder, did i want to go home. my next chance to go home after that was the end of this past summer. i think what i am feeling now started then, but i didn't realize it until last night. for years i have gone home for christmas, but home's changed. i don't go "home" anymore now. now i go to my parents home to see them. right now, i think my home is in edmonton, at least thats where my heart is.

where's your home?

i wish you a merry christmas,

christmas is here... oh the cheer, the happiness, the excitement of things that are, and of things that are to come. i finished exams today with a flourish and a bang. right now i am in the living room at a friends house watching a christmas movie, while sitting with lots of my good friends from e-town. this is the one of the last evenings i'll have to spend with them for eight months. i know it's not like i'm going to be gone forever, but i'm going to miss them something fierce... all the good laughs and jokes we got going. wednesday night youth group meetings, tuesday night movie night, weekend parties and hangout sessions. all the crib and rook i can handle and even more. tonight some of the boys and i went out for dinner and it was good times... reminiscing about the good times. did you know that the type of food you eat before bed affects your dreams? apparently, riblets will enable you to dream of the russian national female wrestling squad... very interesting. i'll miss all the times where i had to "ditch" the kings to go on hot dates with those miscellaneous babes i know from... somewhere. going for saturday morning runs, and donating blood with minimum sleep and sustenance. so here it is, i'm sending a shoutout to my edmonton squad. i don't know who all will read this, so send it along to people who might want to read it. yet I look forward to perhaps meeting that special someone in oshawa.

until next september then...