Shriek Elegance

I’m too lazy to update you about the fires, so… too bad. Terrace is still going, the other two are not, the end.

Vancouver trip! It was tres fun. We got there around 7pm or so, found Craig’s house with… not too much difficulty (even though Betty, the GPS led us astray). We walked to Subway for dinner and hung out at his place for a while. We watched Jurassic Park and then went out to Denny’s at like 1am. We took pictures. To spite Tyler. However, none of us got slam burgers. We got appies and milkshakes. Then went back to Craig’s and attempted sleep. Sarika and I could not sleep at all. I honestly don’t know when I finally dozed off, but the sun was starting to go up. Playland was super fun. I got a bit of a sunburn, but nothing too bad. We decided to leave earlier than planned because I was just too tired and since I was the only one driving, it was probably a good idea that I drive while I’m coherent. So we left around 5pm, got super lost with Betty trying to guide us out of the silly, drove through one storm into Hope which was in Silent Hill conditions with fog and mist, then into another storm in the outer Okanagan, then finally home. I was so exhausted from the trip that even after sleeping for eleven hours, I still had an overtired headache all day Sunday. I’ve recovered now.

My cousins got into town last night. Nadeem and Anaar are way less annoying than they were way back when. Which is awesome. I spent a couple hours just sitting and talking with Nadeem after dinner, which was nice. Good times.

Today was my first official day of work. Holy information overload. I feel like my brain is going to explode. Their till system is so archaic. We actually have to construct the invoices for them if they’re purchasing random stock items, THEN process the invoice and collect payment, THEN if they paid with anything other than cash, we have to go into the system when we have time to CLEAR the invoice from the system as finally processed. I never thought I’d say this, but I miss the tills of Zellers. There are some nice things about the Lordco tills, though. Such as the feeling of accomplishment after correctly finishing the entire fricking process. ANYWAY, tills aside, I get to choose when I want to have my break, I’m allowed to eat snacks at the till and have water with me, I can keep my purse at the till, I’m even allowed to make coffee or tea or whatever throughout my shift and giv’er.

Anyway. Random stuffs. Huzzah.

I have created a section in the side bar for my work schedule so that everyone is up to date. The period of time I know shifts for apparently will be kind of sporadic, I could know anywhere from two weeks in advance to two months in advance. It depends on John’s mood. Woo.

I guess that’s all. Tuesdays are going to be my new favorite days because then I don’t work for the two days following. Hurray!

I suppose I owe you an update, yeah? Considering I haven’t updated since the fires started…

HERE WE GO.

They ended up evacuating approximately 6000 people from all of Glenrosa, some of Westbank, and some of the Rose Valley area for the two fires. The Glenrosa fire capped at approximately 350ha (it is now 307ha) and the Rose Valley fire capped around 150ha (it is now 100ha). Both of the fires are officially 100% contained; however, they are still burning and all it takes is a day of bad wind to make the fires flare up again and pose another problem. In the end, Cam has only been put on evacuation alert, and continues to be. Everyone from Glenrosa and Rose Valley has been allowed to return home now, but they’re all on evacuation alert as the fires could get bad again at any time. Also, the highway has been reopened. I don’t think we’ll have any more trouble with the Glenrosa and Rose Valley fires anymore, but who knows. Also, a couple of days ago, I’m not sure when, a fire started down between Oliver and Vaseux Lake, but the quickly contained it and put it out.

The real problem right now is the Terrace Mountain fire that also started on Saturday, but they neglected a little bit because it was not endangering any homes and the other two were, so they took priority. Terrace has reached 4000ha (it doubled from 2000ha yesterday in twenty-four hours, which is insane and very bad). It went from evac alerting Fintry High Farm, to evac in Fintry High Farm and alert in Fintry area, to evac of Fintry as well and alert from the boundary of the Fintry evac all the way to Trader’s Cove. Which means that Brianna has been evacuated and Stephanie is on alert.

The smoke has covered the entire valley. The wind has been blowing it every which way. In an awesome turn of events, there was practically no wind last night and the smoke from the Terrace fire was able to just plume up instead of get smudged across the sky and I got some amazing shots of it- it was one of the coolest things I’ve ever been able to see and get on film. For the rest of the pictures, you can go to my Flickr on the sidebar and look at my photostream, or go to the Fire album.

As for today, a thunderstorm has rolled into the valley. This is good in that it has the capability of supplying us with some much needed rain to moisten up the trees and such so they become less burnable, but this is also bad as it brings many lightning strikes with it, which spark more fires, as well as wind up to 80km/h, which spreads current fires like crazy. As it stands, the Terrace fire has the capability to move 30 meters per minute and can travel up to 15km in one burning period. Which is not good.

Another fire has already started over in East Kelowna (just beyond city limits to the west- out where Lee works, kind of). I’m sure they’ll deal with it promptly. Also, the 2003 fire was kind of around there, so I can’t imagine that there’s much to burn.

The thunder has been insane, it’s made the whole house shake. And there has been lots of lightning. And, luckily enough, it did rain. However, I don’t know if it was enough rain. It did pour for about ten minutes, then trickle into light rain for another ten minutes or so, but I just don’t know if that’s enough. And I don’t know if it rained where it really matters most. I do know that the wind has kicked up as it always does with storms. Hopefully that’s not hurting anything.

Phew!

Anyway, our trip is still on for tomorrow, so that is excellent news! I’m excited to see Craig. And for the drive. And for rides. 8D

As for normal life stuffs today, I had a test in philosophy this morning. When I was on the 97 this morning with Danny, we just crossed the overpass and went through the roundabout… and our bus broke down. So Danny and I walked the rest of the way to school. We’re lucky it didn’t break down earlier and that the school was close. Anyway, test was meh. I wasn’t sure about one of the answers and I DON’T know if I did the case study properly because none of us know HOW to do case studies because he’s never provided us with a concrete examples. Also, a lot of the nurses included things I wouldn’t even think to mention because I’m not a nurse… so I don’t know how I did on that. At any rate, I’m not worried about it anymore, it’s done and over with and all that’s left in front of me is fun tomorrow, so I’m just going to relax and take it easy.

Well, that’s that! I’ll update again eventually with more fire news and such. Not that anyone reading this doesn’t already know what’s going on (except for maybe Joos because she is so far awaaaay~<3).

[3:07pm]

Four spot fires were started by lightning today- two in Peachland and two in the Wilkinson Creek and Hydraulic Lake area.

We suck so hard.

Soooooo…

Nothing much has been going on. Geema’s been cooking away, we’ve been eating away, I’ve been doing school stuff and waiting for Lordco to finish background checks so I can start working. They have six references to go through, so I understand why it’s taking a while.

On to the more pressing news: there are four fires that started in our little section of the valley today. One just west of the airport and three on west side. Yes, that’s three. One in Glenrosa, one on Terrace Mountain by Fintry, and one in Rose Valley. The Glenrosa fire started first and is now 300 hectares. About 10,000 people have been evacuated so far (all of Glenrosa and some of West Kelowna are evac’d). The Rose Valley fire is approximately 20 hectares. Cam hasn’t been evacuated yet, but he might be.

We’ve loaded up our trailer and cars with clothing and valuables (photo albums, tax files, budget files, receipts, etc. etc. etc.). I took pictures of every room from every angle for insurance reasons. Hopefully we won’t have to use them, but we’ve got them just in case. We’re not on alert yet. I don’t think we’ll be evacuated. I think they’ll stop it before it gets this far. But we’re ready, just in case they do. I’m fairly confident that they’ll take care of it in time, but we’ll see. So far Amber has been evacuated. Rammy is on alert- she lives near the theater in WK. Last I heard, Dave and Marj were on their way home as fast as they could to pick up Jake and Lewis because Shannon Lake isn’t in a good place. I hope they got home and were able to get their things and the animals.

Highway 97 is completely closed in both directions, as the fire has jumped over it. So we are completely cut off in that direction and Peachland, Penticton, Summeland, etc. are completely cut off from us. So… I guess we won’t be seeing Nick any time soon. :( WE’LL MISS YOU, NICK.

Anyway… I guess that’s all I can really report right now. It’s dark, so the water bombers have stopped and it’s just ground crews going now. Hopefully it’s enough to hold it off.

I really hope I don’t need to evacuate!

So Friday night I hung out with Tyler and Danny over at Danny’s and then Saturday, Cam, Danny and I hung out here for the day. A majority of both days was spent playing insane amounts of WC3 >.> I don’t remember what I did Sunday.

We went to get my gramma last night. Her flight was delayed twice, so overall she was about half an hour late. How eleven years have made her age! I had this perfect image in my head of what she looked like eleven years ago and just assumed she would be like that forever and ever. She needs a cane to walk great distances now and has slight trouble with stairs and such. She can still go up and down them and she likes to for exercise, it just takes her a little while. We didn’t have much time to see each other last night ’cause it was late. The minute I saw her this morning though, it was like nothing had changed. She still calls me all the same pet names and acts the same. The only difference is I’m bigger now and quieter. She told me not to tell my cousins that I’m still her favorite. XD. “They’ll get jealous!” Oh, Granny. <3 Anyway. I think she’s up in the kitchen. Naturally. Cooking and doing other such things that she does. I still feel a little sad that I can’t talk to her in Gujarati or understand what the hell her and Dad are saying to each other sometimes. Ah well.

Still waiting on my background check and stuff at Lordco, so until that happens, no shifts at work. Ah well, that’s alright.

My ear is giving me some trouble these days. I wish they didn’t suck so bad at healing.

I should probably do my readings today in case something else happens. Then I can study tomorrow for my test on Thursday. Huzzah!

I think I’m going to Harry Potter on Thursday night. So… if you’re not going on Wednesday, come Thursday?  Don’t know which showing yet.

I had an intense shitty sleep last night. My allergies are hardcore bad these days. They make me wanna shoot myself in the face with a rocket launcher. Yarrrrrgh.

Well, I think that’s all for now.

Dad and I never resolved our issue. We just went a couple of days without talking to each other and now it’s pretty much back to the way it was. He’s probably forgotten about it. Mom asked me to apologize to him again yesterday morning, but I said no. Besides, bringing it up again wouldn’t help anyone. He’s already forgotten about it, just leave it at that.

I got a job yesterday. I was in the waiting room at the clinic and I got a call from Lordco asking me to come in and see the manager. So I did and he just gave me the job (cashier)- really no interview at all, aside from asking random questions about what I’m doing in school. The pay is less than Zellers, but the hours are much, much better, so the decrease in pay probably won’t even be noticeable. Plus, $8.50/hour is better than $0/hour. Anyway, they’re doing a backcheck and reference check, so he’ll be calling me back on Monday or Tuesday or so. Hopefully I like it there. I’d hate to be as miserable as I was at Zellers again.

Someone said something to me the other day that hurt my feelings a little. It was nothing new, I already knew those things. But it kind of hurts to have it pointed out to me as a flaw. Because I never saw it as a flaw. And for someone else to see it as a hindrance must make me seem like a less than desireable person.

I am fairly sad today for reasons unbeknownst to me.

Hung out with Tyler and Danny last night. We had a delightful time. We wrote the worst cyber porno ever. And played lots of WC3. I’m still in the mood to play some TD or HD, but there is no one to play with, and I don’t know that I have any one player maps.

Elizabeth: The Golden Age is on. <3

Sarika comes home today. I’m happy about this. I miss her.

Tyler leaves tomorrow. I want to hang out with Tyler and Sarika. It’s a lovely combination. It will have to wait another long, long while. Shame, shame, shame. We will have our day, some day, kids.

My philosophy class seems to be alright. Something I can probably do. We just went over the syllabus and he started teaching some basic logic which I already knew ’cause I took logic and critical thinking in second year. S’all good. Pugsley is a funny fellow. English. Makes me laugh. I’m able to use my laptop in class, too. Which is nice.

Was able to catch all my buses and make it home in an hour. That was nice. I hope I’m able to do it every time.

Dad was fighting with Mom. The argument travelled down here. He was seriously out of line and it was starting to boil my blood, so I interjected by yelling at him that he’s an asshole. He didn’t snap out of it and realize that everything he was saying was ridiculous. He just kept going. Then after they finished the bulk of their argument, he yelled at me for calling him an asshole. Didn’t phase him a bit. He didn’t stop for one second and think, “Hey, my own daughter just yelled at me that I’m being an asshole. Maybe I’m a little out of line or something? Maybe I’ve said something wrong?” Nope. He just kept going. He doesn’t respect anyone. Anyone with feelings different from his own, he doesn’t respect. He doesn’t respect Shane, he doesn’t respect Mom, and he sure as hell doesn’t respect me. I’ve tried everything I can to make him listen to what he’s saying, to really hear what he’s saying to us, except run away (which wouldn’t matter as much now, seeing as I’m 21) or kill myself.

I won’t apologize to him. He doesn’t deserve that. But if he asks for one, I won’t know what to do. I don’t want to apologize. But if he asks for one and I don’t give him one, I don’t know what will happen. I have a feeling I’d probably break down crying. But what would that get me? Crying doesn’t bring me anything except humiliation. Especially in front of him. And he wouldn’t even care, anyway. The last time I cried in front of him he just stood there and looked at me dumbly. No consoling hug. No, “It’s okay, I love you.” He just put some water in the pan I was using to make bratwurst and started making salad.

He made a fucking salad.

[4:44pm]

I especially don’t know what to do when Mom asks me to apologize.

No, Mom. I wasn’t joking. I meant it. He is an asshole.

Title in honor of Sarika’s rather apt impression of how Bill says “Sookie”.

Tuesday night, we ended up renting The Day the World Stood Still. I also got another pair of capris and a blue t-shirt. Hurray!

Welp! Wednesday night, Nick and I went to Matt’s house over in yonder Winfield for a little BinaryChaos barbecue/semi-potluck/get together/whatever evening. It was excellent and excellently hilarious. I got to meet Nik finally in all of his chefly glory. And Stu. Fishuu bailed on it last minute so I was the only girl again. B’awww. Anyway. People got very drunk and very high. Hilarity ensued for everyone. We left around 12:30 or so + Caleb ’cause he needed a ride back to Rutland. And Nick needed to pick up a CRT from his place. All was well and good.

Thuuuuursday was my birthday shindigitypoo. It was excellent, as are all gatherings among friends. I got a slushee from Stephanie (<3), the Elfen Lied boxset from Cam (<3) and the standard $20 from Chris because… he wouldn’t be Chris if he didn’t give me $20 every year (<3). Oh and I got my money back from Tyler, because he got it back from our something-Lopez friend, since DDS2 got lost in the mail. Then I gave the money BACK to him ’cause I found another copy of it for a reasonable price. Anyway, the metroid cake was a success (that reminds me, I should upload the pictures from my camera). You can’t go wrong with chocolate cake and fruit roll ups.

Anyway, we went out shopping again today and I got a looooovely, veeeeeery comfortable grey shrug. So. Effing. Comfortable. We got Subway for dinner. And now we are watching more True Blood. Speaking of which, Sarika- your first True Blood disk is kind of wonky. Like, we couldn’t select the last two episodes from the menu chapter selection thing, it would just take us right back to the menu. Then I went to an earlier episode and tried to skip through it, but instead of going to those episodes, it would take us back to the menu again. Then instead, I tried to just fastforward and the same thing happened. Then I tried to put it on my computer, but it froze up my whole computer. I cleaned the disk  a bit and it still had the same problem on my computer, but then it worked in the DVD player well enough for us to get the last episode that we needed. Anyway… we’re onto the second disk now and it seems to be working better so far, so that’s good. :]

Cam, Danny, Nick and I are heading to PNE on Tuesday for the day. We’re also gonna hang out with Craig when he gets off work, so I’m pretty stoked.

School starts on Monday.

The boys left again on Friday for the weekend. They come home tomorrow. Wah.

[12:47am]

Sarika- Your second DVD is pretty fucked, too. The last two episodes, yet again, don’t play properly. It’s a wonder I got episode 11 to work. I don’t know if I’ll get the finale to work. I’m downloading it myself anyway, just in case. But yeah, the DVD skips constantly and makes REALLY loud digitized screeching noises. It was actually one of the most irritating experiences of my life. XD. Friggin’ Chinese pirates. THERE’S ALWAYS A CATCH.