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Journal Entries for August 2000

August 28, 2000

Well this was an interesting weekend. I called in "Sick" today and stayed out there at Pine Lake. Semi-glad I did too, the weather was beautiful, but the reason I stayed out was because this girl was there and they packed up and went home last night because they thought the weather was going to be bad today. It was aweful, they stayed out with me and Tyler on saturday night till past their curfew so they were trailer grounded all day Sunday. So we played battleship, Tic Tac Toe and other mind numbingly boring games, in the hopes that (today) they would be not grounded and we could do stuff again. Well ten minutes after I told Jason to go home without me, we found out that the girls were leaving too and so I was stuck with Tyler and his sister for the night. So we played drinking games in his trailer and got pretty messed up. It was a lot of fun though and today was nice so we did some skiing on the Seadoo and stuff but we were really bored without the girls there... ugh. She likes him anyways, not me or at least not as much although that one night we were walking up the hill and she ruffled my hair and put her arm around me as we walked... Which was nice but terribly confusing. Oh well, I suck with girls. Whatever. Still had fun though, I had some incredible dreams last night. Wild stuff. It was nuts. I wish I could remember it because I know I was laughing in my dream the whole night! I love it up there. You can tell its getting to the end of the season but I'll be up there again next weekend. I think that one will be my last, as its the long weekend and the big wind downer party. Its been a good summer though. I'm ever so glad I bought the Seadoo.

August 22, 2000

I am more or less well, although totally screwed up right now. I had an AWESOME weekend at Pine Lake, made some new friends and got a lot of Seadoo riding in. We did some tubing, some swimming, a lot of riding, and just had a blast! But then I had to work on Sunday night, so after getting home at about 7:30pm, I left for work at 8:00 and worked till 6:30 this morning. Then I slept this afternoon, and worked tonight from 8:30 till 11:00 and now I am getting ready for bed so I can get up and go to work tomorrow morning. It sucks though because I want to take Friday off and go to Pine Lake early, but I have no transportation after that little incident with the bike two weekends ago on the way up there... I'm trying to debate which I should fix up and get on the road first, my bike or my van and I'm really not sure which one it will be, but hopefully something will happen soon. ugh. I need more money. This is crazy. But at least next weekend I have a ride up there, and that's the long weekend and the big wind downer party up there. I love Pine Lake. Its my home away from home. When I'm there, I almost forget about my whole life here. Its awesome. But for now, I'm still sore from all the Seadooing (yesterday) as I did well over 6 hours on it. I even threw off two passengers. It was pretty funny, but the one guy was wearing his pants and had his wallet in them and everything got SOAKED! But Rebecca loved it and we went out in the middle of the lake after we dropped him off and we went swimming for a bit. It was sooo nice! I love that Seadoo. And then this married woman tried to pick me up... That was kidnof wierd. She's getting a divorce though... so I still have a chance... (?) Crazy. I pulled up to their boat because it looked like they were having trouble. As it turned out, the propeller wouldn't go down into the water. I checked all the electrical and tried everything I could think of to get it to go down, even connected the motor directly to the battery but there was no budging it. I appolojized for not being able to help them really, but later that night when I was back at Sandy Cove I guess she had come over to find me and left a note with David and Jason for me, inviting me to come have a beer with her. I never did, but we did go to look for her. After a brief search, we came back to Sandy Cove to look for the rest of our little group, and found them on the trampoline. So I got up and jumped and it turned out that Rebecca and I both had the same Gymnastic instructors! So we were teaching each other moves and routines, despite the dark and the rain. It was a lot of fun. We went to have a fire down by my tent but the girls had to go to their trailer so just the boyz sat out around the fire, fighting off high winds and occasional light rain. But then after a bit it got clear and calm, and with the fire it was warm. The next morning it was nice out, so I got up at 10:30 and jumped right on the Seadoo after downing my morning can of Pepsi. It wasn't long before I was spotted and a group had gathered on the dock, waiting for rides. That whole day, until about 5:00 I was out riding the Seadoo, pulling people and tubes all over the lake. I was doing "power turns" with one and two passengers, and this one time I had Rebecca and this other guy on the back and I guess they weren't expecting this one turn and I spun around and looked back and there they were in the water. The poor guy had his pants on with his wallet in the pocket and everything in it got soaked! I think he was a little disgusted but he shrugged it off and I appolojized several times. We brought him back to the dock but then Rebecca and I went back out, 'parked' the Seadoo in the middle of the lake, took off our life jackets and went swimming around for a bit. The day couldn't have been nicer, it was sunny and warm, with a bit of a breeze. So anyways, at about 5:00 I fogged the Seadoo (fog = spray this stuff into the motor to keep it from rusting) and got it all put away. I went and packed up my tent and gear and we came back to Calgary. I got home around 7:30 and had to leave for work that night at 8:00. I ended up working 10 hours that night, slept for a few hours this afternoon, got up, went to work this evening from 8:30 till 11:00 and tomorrow I'm back to "normal" hours, 8:00 am - 4:30 pm. So my body doesn't know whether to sleep or wake up. Its pretty messed up. But I'm pumped about next weekend, going to Pine Lake of course. Jason said he might come up with me this time. I'm so used to going alone that it might be wierd having someone else there with me the whole time. I guess we'll see though. The weekend after that is the big Wind Downer party over the September long weekend. It should be fun, so long as the weather stays nice. Anyhow, I'm going to go to bed now, because its half past midnight and I have to get up at 7:00.

August 7, 2000

I just got back from Pine Lake, where I have been for the past 5 days. With the long weekend, I took Friday off and went up Thursday. My entire extended family was there for the whole week, staying at the Salvation Army campground. I joined them from thursday until saturday when they came back to Calgary, at which time I moved over to Sandy Cove and set up my tent there. Kristen was there and introduced me to her family. She had some cousins staying with them from BC, her Aunt Debbie and her kids. I'm going to try to remember all the names of the others I met this weekend. Kristen of course, Shaun her little brother, April, Charlene, Stuart, Trudy, Amanda, Kale (Which I believe is short for Kaleb), Adam, Chantel, Bridget, Vanessa, and if there are any more names that come to mind I will add them but that is all I can remember for now. Saturday night I took most of them out for tube rides and some for SeaDoo rides, alternating spotters so that everyone got to participate in some way. Around 9:30 I made the last tube ride for the night, and then took Kristen and Kale for what was supposed to be a quick run around the lake. However, I got a bit of a scare when I sucked in some reeds and it started to rattle something aweful. We got back to Sandy Cove and I tried to see if there was anything in the jet but it didn't seem like there was, however the next morning when I took it out, whatever had been in it had cleared and it was running fine. I took several loads of kids out for some rides just on the Seadoo, but it wasn't long before I ran out of oil. Of course, they tell you that you MUST use their special oil for that engine, which is $50 / 4L and the Seadoo has a 6L tank... $75 worth of oil to fill it! Mind you, we filled it once since we got it and it lasted for weeks. And I had been running it a LOT with all those kids. But I couldn't get any oil for it so we pulled it up on the beach and left it for the rest of the weekend. Kristen's family and I went and played volleyball in the water and April came and joined us. We played that for a bit until the game died off and it looked like it was starting to become overcast. Word came that there was a severe thunderstorm warning for the area and I immediately recalled the last time I had heard that warning. It wasn't long before someone told us there was a tornado warning too, and it was decided that everyone should take shelter in the house, which was a large concrete building that had been used as the store until the new one was built, and had the arcade in it as well as washrooms, showers, and laundry facilities. Just about all the campers were rushed inside to wait out the storm, and it did look a lot like it did three weeks ago when the actual tornado hit. We watched as the wind changed direction and someone told us that it meant the storm was overhead because it sucks the wind towards it and soon the wind was blowing the opposite direction. It was quite something to see amist close to 200 people all standing or sitting around this building, peering through windows and waiting for news. We had the radio on to see if there was any weather reports on any of the local stations but nothing was even mentioned. Sure enough, the storm eventually blew over without more than a gust of wind, but apparantly a tornado did touch down near Elnora, which is a small town about 20km east of Pine Lake. The new waitress at the lounge was from Elnora and her brother was home alone when it happened but he was apparantly unharmed. I believe her name was Melena but I have no idea if that's how you spell it. The lounge is really nice, with a large outdoor patio as well as indoor restaurant for rainy days. They serve most any beverage and have most of the common meals you'de find at a Moxies. Nachos, Chicken Fingers, fries, (straight and curly) although they don't have a menu yet so the only way to know if they have something is to ask. Anyhow, last night they had a boat parade in memory of those killed in the tornado that hit Green Acres, and well over 80 boats participated in the trek across the lake, many of them lit up and decorated, some firing off Roman Candles and screamers, others simply going along to show support. Most of my new found friends and I gathered and sat on the Seadoo, turning a three-seater into a 7 or 8 seater. It was parked on the beach though, so no one was in danger of falling off into the water. It was incredible to see all the boats go by, the line seemed to stretch from one end of the lake to the other. I was interviewed by CTV but we watched the news today and my little blurb was not in their final cut. Oh well, I didn't think I spoke that well anyways because I was pretty nervous. This morning Ed and his family (Ed is Kristen's dad) rented a boat to go tubing and invited me out with them as well, so I went although I was freezing. The sky was mostly overcast so it wasn't that warm although the water was. All the kids went and then after much persuading by everyone, I jumped in the tube. The first bit was allright, until Ed tried to take a sharp turn, but instead of the tube swinging out, it stopped so as the boat turned around, the rope went slack and he took off in the opposite direction and by the time the rope was taught, he was almost full speed and I was sitting in the water. Well you can guess what happened next. My arms are still sore from the resulting jolt. I didn't have a chance but I wanted to try hanging on none the less. After that, he went a bit more easy on me until I started putting my arms behind my head and filing my nails. Everyone was laughing, including myself as things started to get rough. Finally I had to hang on again. He eventually threw me off again, but it was a fair fall that time. After we got back they were just about ready to leave but I'll see them again next weekend. After they left, I sat on the dock with Bridget and Vanessa and talked with this lady who stays in one of the cabins at Whispering Pines, which neighbours Sandy Cove. She too, was there for the tornado and we exchanged stories. Then Bridget and Vanessa wanted me to come up to their trailer to meet their families. (They were cousins and all their families came together for a reunion at Sandy Cove.) We went up to the very top of Sandy Cove where their trailers were, and I met all of their relatives. Vanessa introduced me twice, it was really cute. I petted one of their three dogs, who just loved the attention. Every time I stopped, he would kind of growl and nudge my hand. None of the other two dogs were quite so friendly, one was pretty shy and the other one just seemed bored. After a bit I said I had better go, but that it was nice meeting all of them. We walked back down to the beach, Bridget on my back, to get their fishing rod. Once we got to the docks, I told everyone that I had to go now. As I was getting my things together on the bike, Bridget's mom came over to me and thanked me for entertaining the kids. I was touched. Its one thing to know the kids enjoyed the time you spend with them, but its a very good feeling to know that their parents appreciate it too. Both Bridget and Vanessa gave me hugs before I got on the bike, and I looked over to the store to see all of the kids had come in off the docks to see me off. I have messed up a lot of things in my life, made a lot of mistakes and done things I'm not proud of. But its times like this that you realize that you must have done something right as I waved goodbye to close to 15 kids whose lives I touched during the weekend. I'll never forget them, and I know it will be some time before they forget me. God had His hand in my life this weekend, watching over my safety and influence. It has given me a lot to think about, all those smiling faces. I sleep tonight happy, content, and very satisfied with my life.


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