Over My Head

I'm getting to that point in my thoughts in which I am starting to come to the realization that I am not in BC on vacation and am actually here to stay. For the past 5 years, coming to BC was always a temporary trip in which I was basically on vacation and had no major responsibilities apart from doing some minor cleaning, cooking and making sure that I got to the airport on the correct day and at the correct time to get back to the East Coast.

 

Which reminds me. Being on vacation, for me, always meant lots of reading, which I have been doing since I have been home. Even though school has started and I have lots of textbook reading to do, reading novels has unfortunately been taking up much more of my spare time then reading the super expensive textbooks I bought. In less than 2 weeks I read the entire Hunger Games series. I've been wanting to read them for a long time but was never able to get my hands on the first book, so when I was finally able to have all 3 in my possession, I jumped in with both feet and plowed through. Now that I have finished them I know that I will be able to concentrate more on school, and I think that that was my train of thought when skipping school work for them. "Once I finish these then they will be done and I won't have anything to distract me!"

So now my thoughts on the Hunger Games series. Suzanne Collins wrote these books aimed for the young adult audience, but as book series seem to do these days, the rest of the population was drawn to them and they became a huge world-wide phenomenon (such as Harry Potter and Twilight). I am known to be a bit of a harsh critic when it comes to books but I was pleasantly surprised by these books. Ok, I take that back. I really enjoyed the first book but the other 2 weren't as great...but this is usually how sequels work anyway so there is no shocker there. I think that the content is a bit morbid for young kids/adults to read since the whole  story behind the books is a national televised game in which kids have to kill other kids in order to win the game and be released back to their homes. Not wanting to sound like a drag or a spokesperson for censorship, I know that kids are exposed to violence at such a young age these days, but all 3 of these books are basically non-stop violence. I guess I just recommend that all parents read the books before letting their kids read them so that they know what they are getting into. I found it kind of ironic that Collins was so vague about sex or any kind of sexual feelings between the heroine and her 2 admirers (and she was a total tease with those boys and led both of them on the entire series!) but blowing up soldiers into itty bitty pieces and slipping on their intestines was OK to write about. Violence = good. Sex = bad. Sounds a bit dodgy to me.

But like I said, I really enjoyed the first book a lot. The series was not at all what I expected which is something that I appreciated since the world seems to be stuck in vampire/zombie/schools of magic themed books, so these were a bit of a breath of fresh air compared to the rubbish I've been reading lately. I even cried a tiny bit at the end of book 3 which I was not expecting since I was trudging through that book just praying for the end to come since I found it very monotonous. Overall, I give the Hunger Games a thumbs up.

I expect to be as awesome as this
guy in no time. No problem!

I've been home for just over 2 weeks now and about 6 days in I started to panic over not having a job. Boredom wasn't my problem; my depleting bank account was. After the trip to Vancouver, buying textbooks, paying tuition, some school supplies, a few bills and some extras (like picture frames), I started to sweat a little at the idea of no income coming in. So with my shiny new printer, I printed off a resume and headed to town to the nearest bar/pub which is the Columbia River Hotel (or as all of you Trailites know it as, the Terra Nova). And surprisingly enough, they hired me on the spot! That was quite nice for the ego actually. I went in today for an official interview to meet the GM and get a tour of the place, but he said I would have my first shift this week. Not so good for my ego though, they're starting me on bar. Yikes! My entire bartending history involves pouring draft beer and making rum & cokes at Outriders. If someone were to ask me for a Slippery Nipple or Sex on the Beach, I'd probably just slap them across the face and ask them if their momma taught them to talk like that to a lady.

Seriously though, I have no idea what is in a Tom Collins or a Pina Colada. I was never much of a drinker so I had no interest in learning about mixed drinks. I'm about as useful behind the bar as a condom machine in the Vatican. So I searched the internet and a "Bartending for Dummies" kind of cheat sheet and came up with this little doozy. I am going to read it over a few times in hopes of something sticking in my maxed out brain so that I almost sort of know what I'm doing when I show up for my first day. Fingers crossed!

Tip of the Day: A Slipper Nipple is 1/2 oz Baileys Irish Cream and 1/2 oz Butterscotch Schnapps.