Back on the Wagon

Hello Everyone!

I'm back on the blogging Wagon (ha!) I know I'm bad when it comes to this, but I thought I would give it one last attempt. I do enjoy blogging when I get a chance to do it, I'm just lazy! Anyway, so where to begin?

Well for one thing I got the job of my dreams a few months ago. Still working at the Vancouver Aquarium but got the position of the "Interpretation Specialist - Family Programs and Members Events!" (Trust me, it sounds more important than it is!) Basically I am in charge of educational programming for the general public at the Aquarium that is directly geared towards families - and kids. My programming usually has a high musical/storytelling content. The second half of my job is members events. There is a huge membership base at the Aquarium and we offer after hours events for them. My responsibility there is to be a liaison between the interpretive department and the membership team to try and make those events as engaging and as interactive as possible.

To sum it up, I play with toys half my day, and talk with people the other half. Life is good!

On another front, Shawna and I have pretty much settled at a new community: Tenth Church. Tenth's Blog can be found here. Tenth is a great church that embodies everything I love about Church. It's genuine. It's real. It is love. We have been attending their community at Kitsilano Secondary School on Sunday mornings for almost two years now, but only in the last 6 months or so have we really taken a step and rooted ourselves in the community. I have been very active working with the children's pastor to try and come up with new and innovative ways to get the kids engaged as well as to connect the kids church with the greater community. Shawna is a sunday school teacher, as well as starting up a small book club ministry. The book club was short lived but heped her learn a lot about building something like that and will give her the tools necessary to try something like it in the near future.

I think what attracted us most to Tenth@Kits was the fact that it was (and still is) a very young community. We saw an opportunity to be involved in the shaping of a new community of followers of Christ. We saw a community making mistakes and loving every second of it. It was that genuine desire to do good - and to learn when they stumbled that really made me believe that Tenth@Kits was the community for us. We've been very happy with the church so far and really think this will be our home for many years to come.

I have more to say - as I have a lot of thoughts, but this is just the beginning of my re-entry into the blogosphere.

Talk soon, internetz!!!

DP

Long overdue!

Take about your epic fails! My last post, well over a month ago was about how I was gonna get back on track with blogging. So much for that idea... I am gonna try again. Here's hoping I can commit to it. Blogging is a great outlet, and a fantastic way to share my thoughts with the world.

This post is gonna be about my job.

I really, really love it! Like a lot. There are so many reasons... For one thing, the people I work with are fantastic. They are so easy to get along with and are super understanding about my lack of knowledge (some of these people are ridiculously RIDICULOUSLY intelligent!) I have met some amazing people, chewed their minds and learned a lot about the animals at the aquarium (and am continuing to do so)

But outside of that, I need to talk about the philosophies behind it. Most people know that I've spent the vast majority of my (still young) adult life working in Children's Ministry in Church. If I had my way, I'd spend the rest of my life doing that... So, why all of a sudden am I so into working at the Vancouver Aquarium as an interpreter!?! Because I've suddenly got this incredible feeling of doing God's work OUTSIDE of church. Ok... I know we are supposed to embody Christ "and whatever you do whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God the father through him." - Colossians 3:17 (Thank you Randy Hein) So this idea of embodying Christ, and doing God's work in my everyday life ISN'T a new concept to me, per se... But it's been rekindled and - to coin a Christian word - reborn in me! I'm rediscovering what it means to bring Christ with me wherever I go. And It's an amazing feeling!

So how is working at the Vancouver Aquarium helping me bring Christ to the world? Stewardship. Plain and Simple. Black and White. One of my favorite things about church and why I love working and living and breathing in it, is the connection that we have with God and his Creation. God has given us this world to love and care for. He has entrusted us (his greatest creation) with one of his best creations! THE WORLD IS GOOD! He wants us to care for it and love it! And I do, or try to everyday! And my workplace is amazing for that very reason. There is a feeling of stewardship... Of owning up to our actions... Of actively Changing things. Without being a Christian organization, they are doing exactly what (I believe) Jesus would want. From arctic Climate Change programs, to research to save Dolphins from Fish nets, to a carbon neutral footprint by 2011... This place understands what it means to care for the planet and all the life on it!

Everyday that I bike in to work, a smile washes over my face... because I know that God is smiling down on these people. They may not know it, or believe it, or accept it... But I believe in the depths of my heart that God looks to my workplace and screams "This is GOOD!"

Although i am only there on a very casual contract which is very quickly coming to an end... I have learned so much thus far about the science of marine life and more importantly what it means to take care of a gift as precious as our planet. And that's something I'll always carry with me :)

I know that was a very cheesy entry, but I've been meaning to write about it for a while. It's been burning up inside me. There it is :)

A new step

I know I said it a while ago, but I'm gonna get back on track with blogging.

I don't know what's turned me away from it lately. Laziness more than anything. i always have thoughts going through my mind, that hasn't changed, but there's something lately that's stopped me from getting them typed out or even written out on a notebook. Something I can't quite put my finger on. I don't really know what it is.

Anyway, here I am, writing. Hello. I'm sitting in my grey cubicle, as I have for the laaaaaaaast 8 or 9 months. But I am on my last week! That's right folks, no more answering phone calls from extremelly entitled people who only support the arts for the tax writeoffs! No! I am going to be working at the Vancouver Aquarium as an educational interpreter. Which is great experience in terms of the carreer path I would like to follow.

Basically, my job is to be the vehicle that information travels through. I am meant to be an eduactional facilitator and communicator. I'm supposed to be approachable and easy going. more than anything, the key to my job is to have fun! Because learning is fun... and I love learning. probably my favourite thing in the whole world. If all goes well, by the end of the summer, I will have taught my love for learning to a few people!

I'm going to be concentrating on marine mammals and working with groups of 200 people (give or take) I'll be hsoting the shows and working with the trainers to make the demonstrations as fun as possible! And I'm so up for the challenge... and cannot get started soon enough. As it is right now, I'm finishing up my time at the Arts Club... Then, come Sunday, a new chapter begins.

let me also justs ay that, though the job I had at the Arts Club was NOT the greatest, my colleagues definitely made it worthwhile. I made some amazing friends here and really got to pick the brains of some amazing people! Something I am eternally thankful for! So if anyone from the arts club reads my blog (or anyone at all for that matter) thank you for being such cool cats! And come visit me at the aquarium.

So that's my big news... I'm gonna try to get my thoughts out more often. The longer I go without getting them out in the open the more confused I get about my own existence... which isn't exactly a good thing.

Nothign Deep

I really have nothing deep to talk about! I'm sick. My throat hurts. My whole body feels all clogged and gross adn I'm sitting at my desk at work wishing I could be in bed! I hate this feeling. you knwo when you feeel so stuffed up that you feel like youre just stuck in your body!?!

Anyone?

*sigh* I just feel like I'm not even existing physically right now. I feel liek I'm just some kind of conscious being that's flaoting around the fofice today. Totally bodyless... just there!

It's weird! I'm sure it will apss once I can breathe again! On the plus side, I'm looking forward to lunch because I have a very yummy leftover pasta to eat! What else should I talk about?

I'm reading Harry Potter right now. After all these years of not doing it, I've finalyl decided to jump on the bandwagon and read the books. My problem? THEY ARE LIKE CRACK! Seriously. I'm a pretty slow reader but I got through the first 4 in like a week and a half. I've slowed down a little with Order of the Phoenix now... which is good, cuz I was staying up till 3 am reading! Either that or playing pokemon! I've rediscovered the joy of the original pokemon game on Gameboy color! Totally rad!!!

Other than that. Life is pretty ok. Working hard, Shawna's jobs are going well, For Lent we are dedicating ourselves to a bible reading every single night (Which for us is a challenge because we tend to justify not doing it) and the Olympics are crazy fun in the city! All in all, things are ok!

YAY!
DP

Olympic tiiiiime!

Ooooook! Olympics!

First. Thoughts and prayers...


Now on to blogging!

Hmm... what to say? I'm kinda at a weird middle ground that - to be honest - I didn't think I'd find myself at. Let me preface this by saying that I didn't (and still dont) believe that Vancouver had the right to host the Olympics. Most cities that get it don't. I mean let's be realistic. BC has the lowest minimum wage in Canada. Most expensive healthcare. and home to the country's poorest postal code. We've got serious issues to fix and undermining the social infrastructutre for a 2 week gorge isn't gonna help things.

Now the flip side... It's here. it's paid for. it's a reality. Fighting it NOW.... is ridiculous. Like it or not folks, capitlism is the way the world Economy is structured. (Albeit I see that changing in our lifetime) The 2010 Winter Olympics is an international Commitment. We are relied upon by the international community to live up to that commitment. And that's a fact! A hypothetical plug pulling on the Olympics now, would cause worldwide outrage and a complete seperation from the International Community. And in a world who's economy is just barely hanging on... that would be a very bad thing. Yes the Olympics have taken money that could otherwise be used towards affordable housing on the Downtown East Side or reform BC's ridiculous healthcare system... But it didn't. And quite honestly, wouldn't if we were hosting the Olympics or not. We are in a society and an economic system that glorifies the rich. The divide between the lower and upper classes is growing at an alarming rate and there seems to be no way to bridge that gap. If we didn't have these games... the money would have been moved elsewhere. And I guarantee you it would not have changed the status of East Hastigns.

Fact is... the games have forced the hand of BC's gvnmt and put in place more infrastructure... In 86, we got a landmark building which is now the Telus World of Science. That rakes in a HUGE amount of Vancouver's tourism. This year? No new buildings... no, but a lightrail transit system that gets you all the way out to Richmond, which was beforehand (seemingly) impossible to travel. The Canada line is HUGE for the overall structure and development of Vancouver, and it wouldn't have gotten off the ground without the games.

Again... I'm not saying that Vancouver deserved these Olympics... it didn't. But if they gave the Olympic games to a city that deserved it, who would you give it to? Everyone has got their blemishes. you don't wanna give the games to vancouver because of poverty? fine... Enter Adolf Hitler... His National Socialist German Workers' Party basically whiped out poverty in Berlin in the wake of the 1929 Market crash. And in 1936, Germany was an economic powerhouse... So they got the games! I don't need to tell you WHY it's wrong that Germany got the games...

The point is, you're not gonna find a perfect city, and the Olympics has to happen somewhere. And it's here. And by months' end, it will be gone. Worried about the provincial debt? Don't be... the system is (unfortunately) centered around debt. We're too far gone to make a change without causing a complete collapse. The world economy is a house of cards... and the table it's built on has one leg shorter than the others...

I don't really know what i was getting at in this post... I'm pretty much in the middle. I'm not anti-Olympics or pro-Olympics. I'm here! And I like sports! And I think this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Do i think the money could've been spent better? Of course. But I've had issues with government budgets long before the Olympics came... this isn't a NEW phenomenon... but people seem to be treating it as such!

I really don't know what i'm getting at. Anyone know what I'm tryign to say? Cuz I don't. I guess.. I was all for being Anti-Olympics and trying to change it when it MATTERED, But at this point, it doesn't... And Stephen Harper is making us look foolish enough on the international scene. I don't think he needs our help by disrupting an international commitment. but I don't know very much!

Now for your enjoyment... TOY STORY 3!!!!