ITS IN

Note down this time. 12:29 Pacific, I the EX Student, submitted her damn exam for a volunteer position with her skating association. It's been in the works for MONTHS. Its been one bloody road block after another, and I've had incredibly little support and extreme fustration. I've been in school while doing it, I've been pressured by my supervisor to get it done and get it in. AND NOW IT IS SO SUCK IT.

.....now I get to sick back and panic till its marked and I inevitably fail regardless.

lifes a bitch ain't it?

I volun-told you so!

So. I'm a bad blogger. I know this. You know this. The fact I haven't posted in a couple weeks at least is proof of this. So let's just ignore the fact that I haven't been around in awhile and move ok. Cool? Cool.

The last few weeks have been kind of bonkers. The guy I was seeing decided to screw me over and dump me on my birthday. Asshole right? Ya total selfish asshole. Here's the killer though (that crafty bastard), he basically said its because I deserved someone who could comitt and it wasn't him, and that he needed to figure himself out because it was all his fault. And it was! He was the one that couldn't seem to be in the relationship even though it was his effing idea in the first place! And how do you argue with that logic? I mean part of me just believes he was being crafty and getting away with saying that crap to not feel bad, but even so! I can't really argue with much! I can't really be too bitter because while he wasted my time and energy, he effing admitted it! Can't be too bitter about someone who owns their mistakes!

SO ya that happened, and of course I was upset, but to be honest it was kind of awesome I got dumped on my b-day. I AM NOT CONDOINGING DUMPING SOMEONE ON THEIR BIRTHDAY, but for me it turned out that all that day people were around. All that week really. And there was drinking and eating and such to be done so I didn't have a whole lot of time to really think about the guy anyways. I did think about it (of course I'm female and human after all) but with people around constantly it really helped. We don't live in the same place and don't really have too many friends in common so that helped too. Did manage to go out the weekend of my birthday and get quite gooned and drunk text him on T's phone and got my friend SCB (nickname from working together with her....don't ask) to text him and call him an ass.

But ya! I had a birthday! And I turned another year older and had a huge whack of my really good friends out for drinks and was super surprised when so many showed up to go out, or at least sent warm wishes. This time of year is hard because most of my friends are either in exams or its fiscal year end for their jobs. I was also super surprised when some people didn't even make an effort to show up when I bend over backwards to do stuff for them. Which leads me to my new thing. Screw new years resolutions, I've decided to make a bunch of "Birth Year Resolutions"....but I shall leave those for another day.

So ya, got older, very exciting. Just got home from yet another skating competition. This was the last one of my season, and I'm still trying to get my freaking exam done to be promoted with my volunteering (I know! Sounds crazy to have to be a promoted volunteer right??) so ya it was a crazy skating competition (not that there is really any other kind of skating competition) but this particular one was really nutters.

If there is anything I've learned about skating and life in general is that there will always be people you aren't really on the same page as. At this particular skating competition there was one woman that I was particularly scared to work with, as she doesn't have much experience and has expressed desire to become more experienced at working with the marking system, but due to work constraints, isn't usually available for the entire competition, so until this weekend she had never seen set up/take down of a skating competition. Which also means that she's never really seen it get busy because she's never been asked to do the longer tasks at a skating competition because shes never really been around to. Well that all changed this weekend. She was expected to do everything, and as a result we found out how incompetent she is, and to boot how inconsiderate she is. While we all busted our asses, she was out having "breaks" or even better she'd just take off and not tell anyone where she was. Which is annoying because we were already short staffed, but to have a person that didn't know what they were doing, with no ambition to try harder, no desire to be part of the time and absolutely no consideration for others made it even more stressful/busy. People like that really chap my ass.

Anyways. I stayed busy for 4 days straight, and the hotel we stayed at was truly lovely. I'm big on keeping my identity to myself because of all the organizations I'm part of, or else I would totally promote the hell out of the place we stayed. It was just beautiful, and we were all in suites, so even though I had a "roommate" all we shared was the common TV room. I had my own room with bathroom, kitchenette and TV so I had the opportunity to shut my door for down time, which to me, after days as crazy as these was really important. I like to be social with everyone but after having days where I had to schedule my eating/drinking around skating events and the other people on my team so we all got to eat/pee, I don't have the energy to socialize.

All in all, I have had a pretty crazy couple of weeks (almost a month I guess). Emotional turmoil, turning another year older with absolutely not idea what to do in the future, no work plans, and school exams with skating exams and competitions and all this crazy shit going on, I'd say that some down time might be good.

Just task will be to get ready for my last final, and find a freaking job. Oi. And I thought running around a skating competition was difficult.

The Filler Post

Ugh I've been so busy for the past week, and I've sat down a couple times to post, but every time I do, the posts get long and winded because so much is going on. I've been to Vancouver for a weekend long bitch session with Fido (him bitching not me...however it was all very informative), I've taken school tests, and I've worked tirelessly on skating competition stuff for the upcoming weekend, and yes I've been trying to pound through school stuff. Add in the fact that it snowed here, oh and in the middle of all this I got sick and you have a recipe for chaos.

So ya its been a bit nutters on my end of the computer screen, which is one of the reasons I started this blog, to show people how crazy my life can get, and to tell you all about the weird situations I somehow end up in, and of course complain about my life to an outlet that others can read and either sympathize, or say "ya ya I've got real problems barbie" to. Either way. I mean I may have been busy last week, but I also don't have a job so....ya I guess could have been a lot busier. Anyways.

So ya this past week has been so crazy that I've been struggling to sit down and post a blog. I would love to get into details about how I converted Fido from "Mr Hockey and Don't You Forget It" to "Mr Figure Skating Starts in 20 minutes so get up!!!"...or about how one should never go bra-less when sledding (damn nephews wouldn't wait for me the change....), I just can't seem to write the posts.

A really good measure of how busy I've been might be the fact that I didn't watch the newest episode of Vampire Diaries until today. Ya I waited  5 days to watch it. Will power? Not really, more like I had it on my computer and could have watched it but watching skating with Fido was more entertaining, sleeping took precedent, or sleeping for 13 hours at a time was more important (holy sh*t balls tylenol sinus nighttime kicked my ass).

But I did finally watch it, and my end opinion, is that last weeks episode of Vampire Diaries was much like this very post. A filler. We get caught up on whats going on, we check in on each character, stuff happens but it really means nothing till the next episode (or post) when everything is actually explained. And for that I'm really glad I didn't rush to watch it.  Living my life was waaay more important.

Whole lot of talkin goin on.

Fido was in town yesterday, and oddly enough he actually made time to see me, which is actually a pretty rare oddity, given that he usually only comes into town for 5 hours to have dinner with his mom (he's a total momma's boy which I think is one of his very few redeeming qualities) then bolt.

SO we went public skating. Also odd because we continue to have the epic battle of the blades between us. I'm a figure skater and he is a hockey player. In fact, we used to run into each other at the rink all the time, and he would make fun of me for being a figure skater and I would tease him for needing a stick to stay standing. But that was a long time ago, and while we really haven't matured all that much, and still argue about which sport is better, I guess at some point we decided to give up the ghost and say that each sport has its merrits. As a side note we actually spent the majority of our time together talking about how to best teach skating, what the differences between skates are, and then most oddly, we talked about big name competitors in skating, what Virtue and Moir are up to this year, what Patrick Chan is up to, and ya it was rather enjoyable because I have this odd feeling Fido keeps up on it just to impress me, or shock me. Either or really. Wins every time, as I never cease to be amazed.

I digress.

So we went skating. And Fido tried to convince me to show him some 'tricks'. To which I said "No not on a public skating session". Truth? I was too scared to do anything because if I fell or made an ass of myself I probably never would have lived it down. He would never have let it go. The epic battle between hockey player and figure skater would have been over and sealed, and I would be responsible for the shame that would befall my own. Soooooo wasn't happening on my watch. See the problem is that I usually only Ice Dance. I don't do a whole lot of jumps or spins in that. In fact I don't do anything. Edge work and foot step sequences yes. But not jumps or spins, and clearly that is what Fido wanted to see. Haven't done any of that in probably 3 years, and I certainly wasn't about to bust them moves for the first time in 3 years infront of a hockey player. Not. Bloody. Likely.

Fido sort of called me on this. Sort of. I don't really think he knows be basically called me on it but he did. Made me realize that damn it, I haven't freeskated in awhile, and while I do heart the ice dance (my lover), that perhaps, its time to go back to being a bit more well rounded, so that my ass doesn't become so well rounded. I was so subtly reminded that, to be on that ice is what I love, I can prefer a facet of skating, but what I love is to be standing on my 1/4inch blades moving around in unique and interesting ways.

He somehow reminded me that there was this whole other side to the sport that I used to do that I no longer partake in, which is wrong. And so today, for the first time in probably 3 years, I went to a skating session and didn't really do any ice dance at all (I did a couple bits and pieces while skating) but other than that I worked on spins and a few jumps and some fiddling around to get from end to end. But ya, just skated. For me. Remembered what I loved about the sport. The freedom. Please note that it was no easy feat to get to the rink either. I'm too cheap to pay for parking at my university so I took the bus, but wasn't paying attention and missed my stop so I had to walk an extra 15 minutes in the cold. Frack.

Damn it I hate that a hockey player had to put me in my place. I will never ever admit it to his face.

Tonight I'm feeling a bit rough. My back hurts, my abs hurt, my feet have skate related blisters for the first time in probably 10 years, and my ass hurts (even though I didn't fall on it...HA). And I feel that seeing as it is Fido's fault I got back out there, that he should be the one here listening to me bitch, or at least offering a foot massage....

Damn hockey players..

Don't Mess With A Volunteer

As anyone who knows me knows plainly, I volunteer. A lot. And this year will be no exception when it comes to skating events. I'm currently trying to get a promotion with the skating organization but its been a little more difficult than previously anticipated mostly because the timing has been all off.

Next year the face of Canadian Sports is going to change. All Federally funded sports are changing over to a Young Athlete Development program.So with all the changes that are going to take place next year, I am desperately trying to get better trained now so that when the changes take effect I am still considered a useful asset to skating, and not someone who yet again gets stuck in the change up. All this means that I spent my entire morning updating all the computers starting crazy data input for all the skaters.

That being said, I usually volunteer at the actual competitions, so when I get there all the input has been done ahead of time. I've never really had to do all the grunt work, I know how to make changes to the paperwork should I need to but the actual manual input of all the skaters and all the events? Haven't actually ever worked on a competition, I've only done practice events at clinics. Well turns out there is a huge difference!

The way that one registures for a skating competition in theory sounds simple enough, you go online, you fill out all the skaters information and then you punch in your credit card information and PRESTO, you're entered. The online registration company then emails the chief of the competition the spreadsheet will all necessary information from the online registration, and from there we get it, check it over, manipulate the snot out of it, and use it to do the entry into the system for the competition scoring system.

Now. I say in theory this is simple because apparently people registuring for the competition are learning how to screw this up 8 ways to Sunday. They put in all the wrong information and then some poor volunteer like me has to go and sort it all out and figure out just why the hell the system is rejecting the informationg.

Now I complain but really I guess its better than when we used to get the HAND WRITTEN forms and had to decipher what the form said before MANUALLY typing it all up and then MANUALLY putting it into the computer. However! Where it gets super fustrating (like it wasn't before) is the fact that we have numberous coaches and parents bitching about the new system. They hate the online reg, and they have having to put a planned program sheet into the computer weeks before the skater is set to compete.

Now. I realize that I am a volunteer which means I signed up to be here. No one is holding a gun to me head telling me I have to do all this work and deal with all these persnickity people. That being said, seeing as no parents want to be responsible for the competition, and don't want to fill out forms neatly or lend a hand doing the data entry, I really think they lose their right to complain about the online registration and planned program sheet (which literally is just one sheet of paper that has an outline of the programs elements which speeds up the event emmensely so that the tech pannel has some notion of whats going to go into the computer...god forbid we as you to help us volunteers out).

I guess really this whole post is me complaining about the complaints we poor volunteers seem to get from day one of setting up a competition. I guess my biggest hope is that a parent or a coach will stumble upon this page and realize, that we are just that. VOLUNTEERS. We donate HOURS of our free time MONTHS before the competition and then we spend an entire weekend getting your kids/students on that ice, through a program and off the ice with results and hopefully a medal, and unlike the parents/coaches, we don't get the thanks from the skater or paid like the coach. So if we're politely asking you to help us have to skip a couple steps and take hours of our set up time away? I would say just do it. Here's why:

We sit for hours and set up the competitions because we want to have your kids/students come to the rink and be successful, WE DO NOT sit for hours and ask the parents/coaches to take half an hour (tops) to carefully fill out the online registration forms and planned program sheets because we are crazy anal retentive bitches. We want your kid to come to the rink, skate, and leave without any issues.

If we really wanted to torture you, we'd go back to the manual matrix system. You know where the average results came out approximately 3-4 hours after the event? Not the half hour your used to? Oh I'm sorry have you never heard of those days? Well they happened, should things continue to get worse and people complain anymore, I'm going to start suggesting we use it again. Because while I remember that we're here for the kids, if you don't realize it, the old system required a hell of a lot less grunt time...which means we still get your kid on the ice, off the ice, and hopefully with a medal...but you have to entertain them for 3-4 hours at the rink waiting to find out where they placed. Tell me...would you really want that to happen?

Don't mess with the Data Specialists.

the road to recovery is one of many teeny bopper songs

It's been a crappy couple of months, and I've gone through some stuff, and I'm putting myself together finally. But it took time for me to realize that I really was in the hole and that it was time to grow up and get on with it. But now that I am "getting the hell on with it" I'm realizing that holy mother of all that is holy that I have a TON of work to do. And of course when I have a lot of work to do what do I do? I crank on my old CD's and dance around my room.

The last couple days have been a total blur of me cleaning, dancing and getting papers/assignments and homework done. Tonight for the first time in a couple days I took time off of my crazy school load to go to the rink and de-stress by skating like a crazy person and bossing around some kids, telling them to move their asses. It's pretty bad when me and my 25-yr-old broken back-ed ass can out skate these teenagers and, its even worse when I had start getting on their case to move their buts because if I have to hear the Paso Doble music more than once in a session ever again I'm going to lose my mind! I hear it at least 7 TIMES A SESSION...and these little shits sit at the boards and ignore the music and continue chatting!!!!! ITS GETTING RETARDED. Test day is in a week and these kids are slacking and I'm more fustrated now than I have ever been with skaters before. So much so that I have started butting in on their slacking gab sessions to tell them to move their asses....sigh

Anyways! So that's what I've been up to. Nothing terribly exciting. School has been kicking my ass and so has my own procrastination, but that's definitely nothing new. The weather here has been absolutely miserable, with all kinds power outages and stuff like that, I can't even imagine what our rainfall total has been with it basically having been raining non stop for the last week. Then again we can't complain, its been snowing all over the rest of Canada and well at least I don't have to shovel rain!

I just really REALLY hope it lets up before Saturday! Saturday night is the Victoria Santa Clause parade and I get to take my niece!! We have skating lessons in the morning and then the parade at night! I can't wait! But it won't be as much fun if it's pissing rain and we're bundled up in blankets and garbage bags...sigh. Oh well there will be hot chocolate!

Hope your week is going well!

Here's what I'm listening to right now
...I love that they sound like a modern mash of the Cure. Sigh...

Also for all of you that have no idea what the Paso Doble (ice dance version) is...I've added it to quench your curiosity. (and no this isn't me skating). Hear how irritating that music is? I hear it AT LEAST 7 TIMES A SESSION AND ITS ONLY A 50 MINUTE SESSION!

I'm currently working on the Tango Romantica but its pretty freaking hard when I get shafted because the slacker kids have tests so they get their music on repeat but fail to actually ever skate to it. JERKS