Wednesday, July 26, 2006
my second book project
I have a running joke with my friend Elisabeth that I am writing a book on "How To Be Like Sara Jane" so that Elisabeth can *improve* her life by being more like me.
A few friends and I have decided to co-author a book, my second book project: "Stupid Excuses, and the Parents Who Make Them." Sounds kind of catchy hey?! The concept came from swapping stories about having to deal with overprotective/underprotective/controlling/aloof etc. parents in our line of work (two teachers, a social worker, and a c
amp director make up the group). There are very many interesting stories about parents and the excuses they make on behalf of their child for what ever the child has done. There is the unbelieving parent - the one who denies that their child is capable of any bad behaviour and immediately asks to speak to a supervisor about the issue. There is the controlling parent who attempts to redirect any conversation about discipline or redirection into a conversation about how they should sit in the class room every day to monitor the teacher rather than the child. There are the condescending parents who are known to make comments like they were experts, directed to the experts on how to do a job right. Then there is the vindictive parent to boasts empty threat at whomever is brave enough to tell him or her that her child is a total brat.
We laughed for about 1/2 an hour just exchanging stories but the winner was the "unstable" parent - who upon finding out that her daughter was going to be in a cabin at camp with some younger aged girls than her, attempted almost all the said techniques. We called her the "all-in-one" parent. First she tried the condescending route, telling me that I did not know what the hell I was doing and pointing out ways in which I should not have this job (camp director), and urged me to think about all the ways that my inexperience was ruining camp for her daughter. She then tried crying on the phone, (literally crying) stating how stressful it was for her to know that her daughters camp experience was being ruined by some one so inconsiderate as myself. Then she tried to get a hold of my supervisor and she was not available, she told me that I should know better and she proceeded to tell me 10 different ways to do my job as if she had any experience herself. If that sounds like a pain in the ass, it was nothing compared to the time at the end of the week, having to hand this mother's child back in good spirits and the mom turning to me and saying "I always knew my daughter would have a good time at camp. I don't understand why you were making such a big deal about ages and cabin groups."
How do you take a line like that with grace? Rest assured, I let out several cuss words in private until I felt better. Writing this book is going to be easy with so many crazy parents out there.
What are you "most annoying parent stories?" Want to contribute to our book?
A few friends and I have decided to co-author a book, my second book project: "Stupid Excuses, and the Parents Who Make Them." Sounds kind of catchy hey?! The concept came from swapping stories about having to deal with overprotective/underprotective/controlling/aloof etc. parents in our line of work (two teachers, a social worker, and a c
amp director make up the group). There are very many interesting stories about parents and the excuses they make on behalf of their child for what ever the child has done. There is the unbelieving parent - the one who denies that their child is capable of any bad behaviour and immediately asks to speak to a supervisor about the issue. There is the controlling parent who attempts to redirect any conversation about discipline or redirection into a conversation about how they should sit in the class room every day to monitor the teacher rather than the child. There are the condescending parents who are known to make comments like they were experts, directed to the experts on how to do a job right. Then there is the vindictive parent to boasts empty threat at whomever is brave enough to tell him or her that her child is a total brat.We laughed for about 1/2 an hour just exchanging stories but the winner was the "unstable" parent - who upon finding out that her daughter was going to be in a cabin at camp with some younger aged girls than her, attempted almost all the said techniques. We called her the "all-in-one" parent. First she tried the condescending route, telling me that I did not know what the hell I was doing and pointing out ways in which I should not have this job (camp director), and urged me to think about all the ways that my inexperience was ruining camp for her daughter. She then tried crying on the phone, (literally crying) stating how stressful it was for her to know that her daughters camp experience was being ruined by some one so inconsiderate as myself. Then she tried to get a hold of my supervisor and she was not available, she told me that I should know better and she proceeded to tell me 10 different ways to do my job as if she had any experience herself. If that sounds like a pain in the ass, it was nothing compared to the time at the end of the week, having to hand this mother's child back in good spirits and the mom turning to me and saying "I always knew my daughter would have a good time at camp. I don't understand why you were making such a big deal about ages and cabin groups."
How do you take a line like that with grace? Rest assured, I let out several cuss words in private until I felt better. Writing this book is going to be easy with so many crazy parents out there.
What are you "most annoying parent stories?" Want to contribute to our book?
Monday, July 17, 2006
i survived camping 2006
Every year, Elisabeth, Denise and I go camping in some randomly selected camp ground in Manitoba or Saskatchewan. Usually this weekend ends up being a "gong show" (to echo the famous words of Elisabeth) and this particular weekend was no exception! There was our usual tarp set-up to which I had a *few suggestions* to make it work better, there was the usual male attention all weekend long, the usual fishing failures (well documented on Spinster and Lunatic) and this year we added a turtle to the mix.
This summer we went to Black Lake camp ground in Nopiming Park. There we meet some very *happy* men, not because of drink or drugs but just because they were happy. That seemed to be their biggest compliment to us, that we were happy people. Why did they thing we were so happy? Mostly because we were loud and laughing well into the night.
Swimming in the Canadian Shield had its pitfalls. This morning when I woke up, I examined my sore aching feet. It turns out that walking in the rocky waters of Tooth Lake cut up my feet more than I thought - what I thought was just a few bumps and bruises turned out to be quite a bit more with some cuts, swollen toes and a sore ankle. All in the name of fun! (And it was;)
Camping with the three of us seems to be an art of survival of sorts - not because we attempt dangerous acts, but all of us are accident proned, careless and some time a little too *happy* (with the drink) to take care of ourselves. By the end of the weekend, two of us had burns (I had several) and we were all sore. I think that in the future we might be wise to make commemorative T-shirts boasting our accomplishment of surviving our camping trips as the title implies.
For another version of the trip, check out Elisabeth's thoughts.
This summer we went to Black Lake camp ground in Nopiming Park. There we meet some very *happy* men, not because of drink or drugs but just because they were happy. That seemed to be their biggest compliment to us, that we were happy people. Why did they thing we were so happy? Mostly because we were loud and laughing well into the night.
Swimming in the Canadian Shield had its pitfalls. This morning when I woke up, I examined my sore aching feet. It turns out that walking in the rocky waters of Tooth Lake cut up my feet more than I thought - what I thought was just a few bumps and bruises turned out to be quite a bit more with some cuts, swollen toes and a sore ankle. All in the name of fun! (And it was;)
Camping with the three of us seems to be an art of survival of sorts - not because we attempt dangerous acts, but all of us are accident proned, careless and some time a little too *happy* (with the drink) to take care of ourselves. By the end of the weekend, two of us had burns (I had several) and we were all sore. I think that in the future we might be wise to make commemorative T-shirts boasting our accomplishment of surviving our camping trips as the title implies.
For another version of the trip, check out Elisabeth's thoughts.
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
a day off
Hmmm. What to do with a day off? I have chosen not to go to work today but I will still be going to volunteer this evening. So I have from now until 3:30 to get done what needs to get done. This is always the challenge of a day off: do I use it to "get things done" or do I enjoy the day. It is sad to say that often the former wins at dictating how my day will go.
Today like most of my days off, I know I need to be task oriented; buy contact lenses (boring and stressful b/c of $$), make my Greenshield claims, clean house and shop/pack for camping. Not exactly fun.
If days off carried no responsibility here's how my day would go:
- Brew a big black pot of coffee and sip it outside while reading the paper in the clear crisp morning light.
- Water my garden and talk to my plants (ok, I already do this!)
- Go for a walk or bike ride to my local farmers market and pick up fresh produce for the day.
- Use my new KitchenAid and make a beautiful cool dessert for the hot summer evening.
- Go fishing for an hour or two in the river by my house and eat sunflower seeds and drink Jeremy's home made iced tea.
- Snooze-read outside.
- Have a light supper and invite friends over to have a fire in my back yard, mix up some margaritas with the fresh fruit purchased at the farmers market and eat, drink and be merry all night long.
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
sleeping in the back yard
Last night I strung my hammock up in the back yard and brought out my sleeping bag and slept outside underneath the stars. A beautiful night! Since the weather has been hot and dry the last several weeks, there are relatively few mosquitoes around and I was bitten once that I know of. The scary part is sleeping outside in a city is feeling vulnerable to attack by person or beasts (in my neighbourhood; woodchucks, skunks, raccoons, fox and crazy squirrels).
Some guy started yelling "recycling, recycling" at around midnight. Strange.
I think I will sleep indoors tonight.
Monday, July 10, 2006
show me respect and i will pave your way
* This post is dedicated to my friend Elisabeth*
I have posted before about how I am trying to bike more/drive less. I have been biking to work and testing out various routes for the approximately 15.5 km drive. Today was great - I biked the distance in about 50 minutes and averaged a speed of 20.1 kms. To most bikers this probably sounds pretty slow and lame, and I am ok with that. I am more of a leisurely bike rider and don't enjoy biking as so as I feel that point is speed rather than enjoyment of the surroundings. But I digress...
The real reason I am posting is the my dissatisfaction with bikers on the road. Yes, I am a biker and I don't like other bikers, or rather I don't like the behaviours of other bikers on the road. As much as I am a biker, I am also a driver. So here is the rant:
1.) I have witnessed bikers engage in several dangerous road manners while I bike and while I drive. I have no problem sharing the road as a motorist or a biker, but bikers, you really need to get off your high horse and be a part of the mutual respect that it is going to take to make this partnership work. When you as bikers flaunt your vulnerability as a smaller, slower less protected object on the road you need to drive *defensively* not offensively. Do that and motorists will show you respect. Nothing make a motorist more anxious on the road than bikers on the road not playing by the rules. You are going to get hurt which sucks, but we do not want to be the people who hurt you.
2.) Bikers who are constantly ranting and raving about how bad people who drive cars are. I drive both. This make worse for drivers to like the little punks out on the streets trying to take up more room than they deserve. People who bitch about motorist's simply enrage us more when considering this... 3.) You (bikers) don't even deserve a piece of the road. The most deserving people on the road are the motorists and bikers who get that, thank you. Yup you heard me. Cars/trucks/motorized vehicles are higher up on the road way food chain. Why? We are bigger, heavier, faster, and can cause you more damage and destruction that we would like to imagine. Plus, if that is not a good enough reason try this one: motorists buy gas which paves the road. The tax that is paid on gas fixes, builds and creates roads. If you would like to continue to *share* the road, just remember who paid for it. Not you! (Even if you do pay tax like property tax, GST/PST ect. it does not go directly into the roads like gas tax. So if you think you are paying you are not. Unless you drive a car.) I will gladly buy gas and pave the roads and share it with you even though you don't deserve it. I don't ask for thanks but respect buy following the rules.
You want to ride your bike? Good, me too! I love it. I hope you continue and I don't mind that we are on the road together. Punch my car, give me the finger, yell at me or talk about how bad I am for driving a car? That ain't respect. I highly suggest you pick on some one your own size and abandon the David and Goliath complex you have developed.
So show me some respect (as a motorist) and I will pave your way. Literally.
