Friday 26 September 2014

Overheard

For your entertainment, things that I overheard on October 14, 2003...

In the post office:
2 older guys talking; one is standing in line; the other (Fritz, who talks with a slight German accent) has seen him and come over to talk. They are talking about the new staff in the doctor's office, whom Fritz does not like.After all, his wife was 5 months overdue and they didn't even contact her. (I'm hoping it was "overdue for her appointment" and not "14 months pregnant".)

On the bus:
A girl and an older guy. She is not supposed to be with him, which is make clear by the conversation where they are trying to come up with a story for her mom explaining:
a. why she's with him
b. where her female friend is
c. why she's taking the bus home

And from December 2003 (undated, but between December sermon notes):

Overheard on the elevator:
"She just said that thing, you know, about the tea calling the kettle black. Or the tea kettle calling the pot black..."

At the dollar store:
"Well, you know, I just ain't all that impressed with him."

I just wish I knew the rest of the stories. I think I was writing things down that might make the starts of stories one day. I should start writing more again.

Saturday 20 September 2014

Randomness

The other day I was going through some old notebooks (I have a lot of them) and I found one from several years back. It was mostly used for sermon/Sunday School/Bible study notes, dated August 2003-June 2004. There are other notes and stuff scattered through it, and I bring you some of those now....

From Beanstalk Bistro, Children's Market, Granville Island, Vancouver: "He uses name brand ketchup bottles - the cool ones you use to make ketchup designs, but I watched him fill them with no-name ketchup!"

It looks like there was the possibility of being sent to run another centre back then. I have pros and cons for Yellowknife, Camrose, Maple Ridge, and Edmonton. I don't remember thinking through this, but I'm glad I stayed in Edmonton (especially since Camrose and Yellowknife centres have long since shut down). My conclusion at the time was that I wasn't ready to move and I did not want to be a director right away; also, I figured that eventually, someone would need me (both as a Director of Education and then a director). I was right.

There is, for some reason, an alphabetical list of animals. I'm sure I had a reason. I think I was making up animal rhymes (one of the many children's books I never wrote).

Later there is a list of authors of children's books, including Zilpha Keatly Snyder, Kit Pearson, Jean Little, and Julie Lawson. I'm not sure why they're there.

I have a page of math. I think I was figuring out how much money I needed to pay student loans for a year (based on the monthly payments) and how long it was going to take to pay them off.

Very random, on one page:
Rodman Philbrick
Drawing cartoon animals, people, etc.

On another page:
Old-fashioned Christmas
"Did-you-know" about Christianity
Plastic Canvas Christmas circles
If the 3 wise men were 3 wise women

My personal favourite: "Do you bear fruit? Do you bore fruit?"

And it goes on! Eventually it settles into mostly sermon/Sunday School/Bible study notes, but even then there are bits of stories and poems scattered here and there. Next time, I'll write out some of my observations from that time (I occasionally write down what I can see or hear around me as writing practice; I also write down overheard conversations) for your entertainment.

Monday 15 September 2014

Church Stuff

It's September and that means everything is starting up again in church. For me, the main things are Junior Church and Sunday School.

Junior Church started this week. For the first time, I asked the parents to come down with their children to register them (it was a very short registration form) and everyone complied. I had 10 children (there may be a few more) and we had a pretty good class. The best part was when we were taking prayer requests and one student wanted to pray for his friend Levi who had hurt his arm (he fell in the fire pit and had some burns, although his dad grabbed him out so quickly it wasn't as bad as it should be). The problem was, he kept calling the poor kid "Violet" and it took a while to figure out who he was talking about!

Sunday School starts next week. Yesterday we had registration (with much longer forms) after church. Almost everyone came (I think only one family forgot), and only one person complained about having to fill out the form for each child (and she only has 3 children; families with 5 didn't complain). It went remarkably well given that we've never done pre-registration or had parents fill out forms before. Now we actually have contact information for everyone and I know how many children will be in each class.

I'm feeling remarkably organized this year. I have a class list (and a huge class, since most of the grade 7 students asked to stay with me for an extra year). I have lessons ready through Christmas (and the rest are planned, just not written). All I need to do is determine memory work and I'm ready to go!