I'm Ben-less...

What a crazy month. I can't believe it's been a month since I last posted anything. So many things have happened that I don't even know where to start!

First of all, the houseboating trip was amazing. It was great to be on holiday hanging out with all my (maternal) relatives and relaxing with Ben for a few days. The weather wasn't that great - early to mid 20's most of the time - but that was ok for me. I couldn't be in the sun or the water, so I didn't really care about the weather. When it was sunny I sat on the top deck with SPF45 sunscreen, a hat, a shawl, and a long light sari covering me from head to foot. It wasn't an attractive look but I was explicitly told by Bear to avoid all sun and stay out of the water for the first month. Other than relaxing, I ate a lot of junk food and super tasty food that aunt Patty made, drank ~ 12 hours a day, and talked. We puttered around the lake, which is huge, and the only place we really had to be at was the site for the wedding. There were some exciting moments - like when we almost got caught in a storm our first or second day there. The other boat that was with us ended up getting loose (they were at another location) and slamming repeatedly into the shore. This was made even worse because there was only 1 guy onboard - it's really hard to tie those huge boats in without the help of guys. Later in the week we also got another storm. Our boat was tied in well, but one of the wedding boats wasn't. They drifted and the guys had a hell of a time trying to get things under control. The wedding itself looked great. I wasn't there in person, but Mum and I were watching it from the top deck with binoculars. The bride was wearing a beautiful dress, and the evening was awesome. After the wedding we ate, drank, chatted, and looked at the pictures. They were all on Neal and Sonya's computer and the photographer did an awesome job. The link to their online photo album is right here - http://www.nealandsonya.com Ben had to leave the monday we were there to go back to work which was weird, because I'm usually the one leaving early, or stuck at home while Ben's away doing whatever. He didn't enjoy this role much! It does suck, though, being the one stuck at home! The ride home was odd because I was absolutely jammed into Mum's car. Grandma, Mum, Chase and I were all in it with all of their stuff (and most of my stuff - some I sent home with Ben, other stuff with Darcy and Donna). We stayed over at John's house (Donna's Dad) in Enderby and I found out then that Ben will start training camp on August 28th. Crazy. (For pictures of the trip, see Chase's blog.)

Back at home the usual routine continued but with the added chaos of trying to get Ben all ready for the army. Packing, cleaning, looking for a roommate, getting a storage place for Ben's stuff...etc..etc..

Looking for a roommate has to be the most stressful thing EVER. Admittedly this wasn't a great time for me to begin with - Ben will be gone for 3 years - but really. I was surprised at how few people were interested in the room. I did have pretty strict criteria - female, student-ish, mature, not super loud, with little stuff other than personal stuff, and a year's rent - but I only showed the house to 3 people. The first 2 girls didn't take it for whatever reason, and the 3rd person was a friend of a girl living in Ottawa right now (Serena). She just put a damage deposit down this past Saturday evening. This was stressful because few people looked at it, our landlord kept bugging me vigorously about getting someone fast, and we had a hard time getting Serena's Mum and Kim (the landlord) to hook up to get the damage deposit taken care of. Kim doesn't consider someone a renter until they put down the damage deposit in cash. I got a few really rude calls too with one girl basically stating that I would be giving her the room right now because she didn't get accepted to residence and she was desperate. I felt like saying to her that most people looking between mid to late August are desperate! Grr.... people piss me off.

At work, things are ok. Mei - the psychology intern student was done on August 18th and Ian the next one started on August 15. It sucks without her there.

I got an accountant temp to help me out and to cover for Sharon W.'s job. That would be nice, and all, but he's a complete IDIOT. I hate saying that about people, because it's very rarely true, but this guy is one. He's supposedly one step away from getting his CMA (certified management accountent certification) but he makes me look like a payroll expert. That's scary. He barely is doing Sharon's job and I get him to do things that Barb trusted me to do as a summer student the first day I was there. If I get him to do anything complex or involved, I spend three times longer trying to fix his fuck ups. Grrr.... I thought it was my training at first because it's hard to train someone on something that you barely understand, but it's not just me. Jim knows about this, so I just have to suck it up and put up with the temp's bullshit for another week, so that's ok. The bad part is that he's supposed to help Barb ease back into her job, but I haven't taught him anything, really because he repeatedly screws up time and time again - even when I go over his mistakes with him in detail. So that aspect really sucks. The other thing that drives me crazy about our temp is that he was supposedly in the armed forces a few years ago as a commisioned officer - same idea as Ben = has a university degree. I believe that he was in the army but everything he's told me about it as it pertains to Ben so far has been blatanlty wrong. He won't take my opinions on his 'advise', so he keeps telling me this shit. He also only refers to Ben as 'he' and the temps' favorite line lately is "So when is he leaving?" - I hear this at least once a day. I think he just wants to stress me out about him being gone. He also seems to think that I won't be able to deal with the long distance aspect - which is a huge load of BULLSHIT - coupled with the fact that he doesn't know me at all. It doesn't help that he has a really low opinion of women in general - so that doesn't help my cause with him. The funny thing about our temp is that him and stapler guy (see a previous post) are best of friends. It's funny to see those 2 interact - this is the only thing that keeps me and most of the 3rd floor entertained! Oh well, only one week to go!

On a sadder note (for me anway) - Ben's gone. I took Wednesday - Friday off to spend time with him and to help him get ready. Tuesday was his swearing in ceremony at Canada Place. I went with Mum and his Aunt Leslie and grandma (Dorothy) showed up as well. It was cool and weird at the same time. As of Tuesday he is an employee of the Armed Forces! I've got a few pictures on my phone - his camera batteries were dead - but I haven't figured out how to get it off! I think I need to buy a cable. Ben's dad Peter came on Wednesday night. We spent that day packing, shopping for some stuff, and getting ready. On Thursday Peter and Ben moved all of his stuff to the storage unit and we went and got a few essentials. Thursday night was the night we shaved his head at Mum's house. It was super fun - I'll post the pictures later! After we shaved his head, we went over to Fayne's house to drink and say goodbye. We got pretty drunk - bah - and we left at 2:30 when we all went over to the Gasbar but it ended up sucking. Friday morning we all got up really early to go golfing (18 holes) at the Fox Run golf course near Fort Saskatchewan. It was fun- Ben golfed his best game ever - his score was 79, Peter got 73, and Fayne (who golfed his worst game ever) got 120-ish. I walked around the course and laughed at the three of them! It was great! Afterwards Peter took Ben and I to Tokyo Sushi on Whyte ave - it was tasty. At 5:30 we had dinner at Parkallen Lebanese Restaurant - the tastiest restaurant ever! Fayne, Mum, Peter, Dorothy & Frank, Steve & Cindy,Matt, and Jesse all came. It was great! Everyone enjoyed the food and had a great time, and laughed at Ben's shaved head! After that, Peter drove us to Best Buy where he bought Susanne and himself a great laptop (like the one Ben and I have). We went home, did a few last minute things, and Ben wrote a mini-essay for the army. His flight was at 6:30 yesterday (Saturday) morning. We were up at 4am - Bah. We all got ready and drove to the airport. The one crappy part (other than Ben leaving) was that we didn't park anywhere so Ben got out of the car, we walked him in a bit, and then we said goodbye. I was hoping to spend some more time with him because the last few days were crazy, but whatever. It happens. As soon as I got home, I napped till 8 and then Peter and I got some stuff in Ben's car and he took it over to Dorothy and Frank's house - it's going in the garage. Peter then left for Nelson.

While that was happening Mum came over and we went to the Fringe! We ate brunch at the New York Bagel Cafe - super tasty- and went to see Jane Eyre with Melissa (Mei) - Corrie's friend (Mum and I are friends with her too!). Stephanie - went to junior hight school & high school with Corrie and Mei - was in the play. She was awesome - she can sing soo well, it almost sounds operatic! The play was awesome, and it was generally a good day, all things considering.

I spent the rest of the day taking back a movie, renting some more, grocery shopping, making supper, watching TV, and watching "Porco Rosso" - an awesome movie by the same guy that did "Howl's Moving Castle".

Today I spent cleaning and organizing for Serena to come on September 4th. I also talked to Ben a bit today. He arrived safely and he's spent the last 2 days getting to know his platoon-mates, sleeping, and getting ready for BOTC to really start on Monday. He was super nervous before he went and I think the nerves have gone away a bit. He was telling me that the program has changed since last time they ran a BOTC camp. It'll be interesting to see what happens!

TTFN and I'll update regularly on what Ben's up to!