12 Things that Made this Last Week Bad

I called this post "12 things that made this last week bad". I did this merely to grab your attention, because you have demented intentions and really want to only find out bad news. Well, the fact is that there is no bad news. In fact, this last week was supercalifragilisticexpial and idocious all in once. I did not check the spelling on that, because one of the things that made last week not bad, but good, is that I spelled this word correctly to Shane without looking. And without writing it on a piece of paper. This makes it much harder. Do you know that when my sister Tanya tries to spell a word she will write letters in the air? - if she makes a mistake she erases the letters with an invisible chalk brush! Oh yes, why my week was good:

1)Good walks along the Red River in Winnipeg, and downtown to pay the rent. Made very funny because of the hundreds of green worms hanging from trees on their silver strings. They are marionettes, and there may be a man hiding among the leaves! The lady behind the desk gave me a pen that got ink all over my hands. (Is this bad?) I love seeing people lounge around outdoors in the city, and was crazy to bump into Rachel. (This IS Bad: I realized I run into far too few people in the city like this).

2)Relaxed to some good sports on TV. Hooray for the Oilers! Boo Buffalo! And a lot of Blue Jays.

3)A freaking hilarious MSN conversation trying to convince Melissa that people should NOT lay eggs. But she convinced Chelsea and I (I think...) that ticks should be baseball sized.

4)Watching Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe at Blaine's parent's place. Oh the memories!

5)Getting together at 6:25 - what the random! - to eat breakfast with Cody and Tracy in her sunroom. It took a gonzo-shaped pancake to convince me to come.

6)Having a sweet campfire at Jason's parent's - hooray for parents! - and feeding his dog lots of pretzels. Then we went inside to eat pink stuff and talk to Rick and Ale and Harold and Margaret.

7)The Riverside Tractor Show - there was rain at first as always, but then I got some clear coffee and the rain cleared up. Then "The Races of Riverside" started. Chase made a poem with that name last year. Pylons were set up and garden tractors did timed heats. Chase flew through the course with the Viking. Even though he was penalized two seconds for hitting a pylon, he STILL had the fastest time. Good work.

8)Getting a job! I went to Westfield for an interview and tour on Monday. Even though assembly is not a glamourous job, I have done it before. However, I wanted to stall to see if I could find a better job in the city before I told them what my plans were on Friday morning. My chance came when I heard on the answering machine an interview opportunity for a sweet job at Nav Canada (doing airline admin work). So I called and scheduled an interview for Thursday. But I thought it over. I wouldn't know if I got this Nav Canada job until Monday, in which case I would have to betray Westfield. I called Nav Canada to cancel the interview. =^(. I start work at Westfield on Monday.
So - if anybody needs a place in the city to stay for summer, drop me a line, as my fully furnished room will be empty.

9)College and Career where we played volleyball outside of Chad's house, and yelled when the ball rolled into the ravine. Every time. Then we had a good Bible study about Christian offense and defense. You can tell Kevin made it. Then we through defense out the window and drove to the city for a 10:30 showing of X-Men 3. I thought it was easily as good as X-Men 2, which says a lot, because I loved that movie. I heard from Travis that he didn't like it. But then again Travis may be the worst movie critic ever (didn't like Lord of the Rings). I give it 3 and a half stars ***1/2. Brilliant special effects (the bridge scene, wow! and the house! yes!), unique characters, intense action, a good plot, and difficult ethical issues raised (my favorite part of the X-men series). However, did not make much attempt at deeper symbolisms, or produce any real-world allusions(only a few rare moments when over chess, and maybe the Golden Gate "bridge"/relationships between mutants and humans "bridge), and was not in any way innovative.

10)Grandma and Grandpa's 50th wedding anniversary this afternoon. It was special to play songs with them and see how they have touched those around them. They are also models for what a great marriage should be. And I love that there are still these moments of cute romance between them, like when they sang a duet. Unfortunately, the funniest moment came during a speech by great uncle Eldon - which was in Low German. Everybody who understood was killing themselves laughing. I could only laugh at the amount they were laughing. And that says something.

11)Playing a game of horseshoes and croquet and later poker at Alwin and Annettes. Jason rigged up a super croquet course (not as tidy as mine, of course) with tunnels and ramps and terraces, and it was good. I dropped the dog on its head.

12)Seeing nature's awesomeness - first on Saturday morning, 11:30. I was down by the pond watching the yellow carp jump. There is thunder rumbling all around. Suddenly I see a bolt of lightning shoot horizontally north across the sky - then one bolt straight south. THEN from the centre I see a SPIRAL OF LIGHTNING, and more bolts burst in all directions. My mouth dropped open.
Fast forward to next Friday after the croquet at the Eidse's. We are sitting around a campfire playing mandolin and guitar. All of the sudden Cody exclaims "What is that?". I look into the eastern sky of night and there I do behold a beam of blue light brighter than any I have seen, seemingly passing just above the trees. And from it is shooting flames of white and gold! It passes so slowly across the heavens that I have time to jump out of my chair and yell "YOU ARE KIDDING!". A shooting star, tin through the air, and I am rocked.