the candid files

Thou art my life – I the brook, thou the spring
Because thine eyes are open, I can see;
Because thou art thyself, ’tis therefore I am me.

(George MacDonald – Diary of an Old Soul)

or, random facts about me you may or may not want to know

I brush my teeth
I wrestle my hair
I know how a fake smile works
I sleep at night
I rise on time
I meet curfew – 11 pm, it’s frustrating sometimes
I probably couldn’t stay awake past midnight anyway
I eat three meals a day
sometimes snacks, as well
I drink almost the recommended amount of water, each day
I take my vitamins
I cleanse, nourish, and moisturize
Not too much makeup, but enough
I don’t impose my opinions (maybe that’s not true)
I don’t back down (much)
I play the piano at church
I sang in a choir
Sometimes I exercise, mostly out of guilt
I read some things you might call literature
and some things you’d probably call trash.
I read the Bible off and on, as well (can you tell?)
I volunteer
I save my money
I splurge a lot, too…
I eat ice cream
I love a man
His name is Peter – he’s amazingly sweet
I treat him pretty well
But not well enough that people will think I’m some sort of obsessed lunatic.
I guess I actually worry about that.
I’m fairly politically correct.
I tend not to believe every sensational story.
I hate conspiracy theories.
I love babies.
I don’t actually care too much if I’m fulfilled in my career.
I live from weekend to weekend.
I love camp for selfish reasons.
I have a brother
and a sister
two parents
I also (almost) have
three sisters-in-law
three brothers-in-law
a mother-in-law
a father-in-law
innumerable cousins, aunts, and uncles
my parents annoy me
but not as much as they once did
I love you, Mom and Dad
the in-laws are usually great
I don’t always agree with their parenting practices…
but then, I’m only (almost) twenty
the space in “Vander Klippe” really, truly annoys me
I guess I can live with it
I do dishes if they need to be done
and my bathroom isn’t very gross
I can’t stand pulling hair out of the drain – it makes me throw up
I have way too much clothing
and my room is pretty messy.
I really have no idea how to cook
I don’t take a certain peanut allergy seriously enough.
I’ve never actually had to manage my own laundry
but I’m sure I could do it
I’m not actually sure I really want to get a standard car
I like pop music – don’t tell my brother
although U2 is pretty much the best
I don’t really like singing worship songs for hours
except maybe once in a while – honestly, I don’t get the appeal
If I say I’m going to pray for you, I’ll probably only do it once.
Not because I don’t care – I’m just forgetful and lazy
I cannot sleep with the lights on
When I stub my toe, usually the f-word pops into my head.
I love Merrell shoes
I sometimes wish Peter was 5′11″.
I often wish I was a size 7
I really can’t wait to find out what it’s like to be pregnant.
even though I can’t make it through a “monthly visit” without crying.
I think I’m becoming addicted to coffee.
My left foot gets really calloused and rough in the summer
while my right is usually pretty soft – strange, eh?
I’m not proud to be Canadian
But I’m glad it’s pretty safe here.
I don’t miss Alexander Place at all, really.
I love snogging. (that one’s for Laura)
I’d rather not know about the horrors and devastation around the world
It’s hard to ignore otherwise.
I’m pretty mad still about same-sex marriage…
Especially since those gay couples probably don’t understand the agony that a select few of us monogamous heterosexual abstaining adults go through to keep marriage as something pure and holy.
I guess I do give out my opinions. oops.
I have blue eyes.
Is blue a sad colour?

I wonder if anyone ever wonders what’s underneath my “fig leaf”…this carefully crafted, elaborately designed facade that is “me”. I didn’t do it consciously, but sometimes I feel like I’m asking myself “What would I do?” as if there are guidelines set in stone…process flowcharts.

Anyway, I like to think there’s still sometime of the real me in here.

I actually got to do some WORK today, at work…YES!! Training is giving way to application…believe it or not I can’t wait.

I have to admit, God has been literally throwing blessings at me lately. First He gave me this job – better than I expected to get at first, and in a nice place. Then I found out that my supervisor is a Christian, and there’s a strong Christian presence in this place. And then, during a few meetings with Lynn, my supervisor, we connected that – get this – her daughters had piano lessons from the same teacher as me! My dear old Mrs. Thoreen Johnson – wherever you are, I miss you!!! (See Laura, I told you you knew them. Her daughters are Heather and Alicia McTaggart. I remember them as driven pianists.)

…but back to my story…

And this is where I say that God works. Back in school when I was looking for a job, my career counselor – is that her title? – called me into her office to discuss my resume. She told me I should remove certain items from my resume because some people might be turned off by “pianist for Sunday School” or “involved in church youth group”.

I felt very vulnerable at that point. What is this world coming to, that you’re not supposed to let on you’re a good church-going girl? Is that not a positive thing, at least as far as EMPLOYMENT is concerned?!

However, I felt very at peace when I told her emphatically that I wanted to keep those statements. I told her right there that if they had a problem with that, then I didn’t want to work for them, anyway. And that was that…

…Until yesterday, when Lynn – who is the initial sorter of resumes for our team – said that it was precisely those things on my resume that “intrigued” her. Which is perfectly understandable – Christians in the workforce keep a sort of unspoken tabs on each other. Maybe even a morbid fascination…So it was that God led a Christian to be the one who read my resume, and decided to give me a chance. What would have happened if I had folded to Karen and removed those integral bits of my personality from the resume?

Wow.

So I guess I should mention that I’ve started a new job. It’s challenging, exciting, boring, and very overwhelming right now. I’m in my second of three weeks of orientation – I’m itching to actually DO something. Oh well…at least they’re giving me more than enough training, rather than too little.

The new car is working out well. My car, however, needs a wash so bad…it looks about ten years older than it is because of all the grunge on it.

I need new shoes.

Well, there’s my shallow life. Oh, the VBS decorations turned out beautiful.

I kind of miss school, almost…at least the people. I miss Shellie’s and Melissa’s laughing…and Mabel’s LOOK…and Kathy’s sweet disposition (really, I’m being serious). I miss the way Evelyn said “Mabel”. I miss Barb’s really excellent advice. I miss Jim scouting out our food. And I miss using random medical terminology to insult other people. I guess I can still do that…but if I did it wrong at triOS nobody could tell…lol….I miss Joy mothering people, and Karen hounding people, and Janet…just…being Janet. Aw…I miss Boston Mike and his patience, and Becky and her happy face.

All good things must come to an end. And new good things replace them!

Leslie and Shellie