Ooops!!

Well, I don't really know what I've been doing to make me feel like I've been really busy lately. But that is how I feel. I have only ridden Brig once this week and I've been working 8hr days on the afternoon shift so it's not riding and work that have kept me busy. I had been thinking that I would put pictures up of everyone on their birthdays but I have missed two this week since I didn't post anything. So happy birthday to my mom on April 25 and to my cousin Lance on April 26.
So this week I have been trying to get organized. I had a new windshield put into my Toyota so that I can insure it here in BC. I tried to get insurance but the company that I deal with in Alberta didn't fill out a form correctly so I will need to call them on Monday and have them send a new one. I got a BC drivers license (actually it'll be here next week) and I paid my red light camera ticket that came in the mail last week. I knew that I had got one and had been waiting for it. I was scared that it would be a huge amount as other people had told me about their own red light camera tickets that were around $300. So I was happy to see that it was only $145. Still a lot of money but a lot easier to fork out than $300. As you can see from the picture I did deserve the ticket so I can't really complain. I had been driving my pontiac that day and the brakes have been feeling kind of strange on it lately. It makes me uncomfortable and nervous and I really hate using them. So, if I can avoid stopping I do. I hate stopping on hills or stopping quickly when I'm driving the pontiac. Sounds really safe doesn't it? Don't worry I rarely drive that car. Anyway, I was speeding as I often seem to do, as does everyone else, on Lougheed Hwy in Maple Ridge and the light turned amber. Instead of putting on my horrible feeling brakes I continued through the light but I really should have stopped. They sent me two pictures and this was the later of the two. I am ashamed to show the first one as the light is red and I am not as far into the intersection as in this one. Anyway, I have since found out that I really need new back brakes in that car which would be why it feels so awful to use the brakes. But really I just need to get rid of the car. I put an ad in the Buy and Sell this week advertising it for $300 and have not had even one call yet. Next week maybe I'll put it in for $250.
Also this week I have been trying to get organized so that I can finish my taxes. I really needed to talk to a human at the Employment Insurance office because I had not received a T4E form yet. So I called and pretended that I had a rotary dial phone and could not choose one of the number options that would send me in circles and never allow me to accomplish anything. I figured that this would guarantee that I would talk to an actual person who could help me and answer my questions. But after listening to about 1-2 minutes of possible options I was told that the call volume was too high and that I should try again at another time. So, yesterday I tried again and I got through on my first attempt and only had to wait a little more than five minutes to speak to someone. I was feeling quite happy and relieved until I realized that I was on the line with a grumpy woman who seemed to really hate her job and possibly the world as a whole. She was able to help me but she did her best to make me feel stupid and to let me know that I had inconvenienced her for calling. I did my best to remain pleasant to her and got off the phone as quickly as I could. There have been several instances in the past couple months where I have wondered what would happen if I just spoke my mind about things more often. I wouldn't do it in a mean way and in fact I don't generally feel angry or anything at the time. I just find that I have a strong desire to question other people about their attitudes and actions. When I was on the phone I really wanted to ask the lady about herself and her job and why she seemed so miserable. This desire to question people doesn't come so much from a desire to help them as it does from a desire for them to look at themselves and realize how they come across to other people and how they affect other people by the way they are acting. Of course if they were in the habit of analyzing themselves then it probably would improve their lives. One of the other instances where I wanted to say something to someone happened today while I was in Zellers. There was a really grumpy Grandma with her two grandkids (approx. 5-7yrs old). I was facinated with the way the children were dealing with their miserable grandma and so I followed them longer than necessary. The entire time that I was near them the grandma did not say even one positive thing to the kids. She kept yelling at them and everything that they did was wrong. She was constantly yelling at them to not touch anything. Well, instead of letting their grandma's meanness put them down the kids would joke and laugh about not being able to touch anything. They would say "we can't touch the buggy, or each other..." and then they'd hang onto the buggy or give each other a hug. Of course they got yelled at for that too. Then the little girl would walk behind her grandma and touch everything that she passed. It really was quite funny to watch. But it made me sad too to see that obviously the yelling and negative attitude was so normal to the kids that it had very little impact. Although I'm sure that they will be effected for their entire lives by growing up in such an environment. I really wanted to say something to the grandma about her attitude and how it must affect the children. I also wanted to tell the kids that they were doing a great job of not letting their grandma get them down and by touching everything that their grandma said not to. But of course, I didn't say anything. I eventually left to finish my own shopping. It did make me very grateful for my own mom though. I know that my mom would never treat any kid like that, or any person at all. If I ever have kids I won't have to worry that they are being yelled at whenever they are with their grandma. I am also thankful that I did not grow up with parents or grandparents that yelled at me and always spoke to me in a negative manner. Well I was going to post more but I have to get ready to go to church. I am going to the evening service tonight so that I can sleep in tomorrow and prepare myself for my next week of graveyards (starting tomorrow night). Hopefully I'll have time to post more tomorrow.