Disconnected Thoughts

So we have finished our Prince George contract, which gets shorter and shorter every year. In my first year I remember it taking forever and me doing horribly. But this year it was only three shifts and I am able to coast to decent numbers. Will need to work to push myself to find the mental zone to pound.

One of the major differences coming into this season is that I got laser eye surgery and don't have glasses. Which should be a major plus, but it has brought unexpected consequences. The surgery was not a complete success and I have go for 'enhancement' which is their fancy phrase for a do over. So seeing tree is a big of a challenge as always because my vision is a little worse than it was when I had glasses. But something I didn't account for is that glasses protect my eyes. I get hit in the face a lot with branches and other larger shrubberies in my unnecessarily aggressive planting style. Also the bugs were so bad that mosquitoes would land on my eye and I would catch them with my eye lid. Strangest sensation ever.

What is the deal with white bread? Isn't this something that is for babies who are picky? But at camp they have white bread and people will make their lunch with it. This amounts to nearly a crime in my mind. Here have some bread without all the important parts of the bread. Bizarre.

I also realize that I am currently living in four different places. I have stuff at my parents house, my roommates are storing most of my stuff, Heather has my more important stuff, and I have all my camping equipment in the bush. I feel very much not all in one place. I know life is more that stuff but I can't wait to get all my stuff in one place and live there and be married. And just be stable for a while. Will be a big change for me.

~CHAD

Life and Times.

So I thought that talking about the weather was a Saskatchewan pastime until I moved to Alberta and it turns out it everyone just talks about the weather, for lack of anything to really say. That is a strange lead up to what I am about to talk about, you guessed it the weather.

Weather happened in treeplanting. The first day I sunburned that mess out of my ears and back of my neck. Who knew the first day was going to be that hot? And it was hot all week. This week it freaking snowed. And not just a little, there was an inch of heavy, wet snow and it was snowing like a blizzard. It snowed until eleven and rained hard the rest of the day. Luckily I kept my core warm and my feet dry but all my other parts were freezing. At one point I was convinced, in my happy state of mind, that my hands would never get their feeling back. But I got through it and was successful that day. One plus side of the snow is that I assumed that it would kill all the bugs. Nope, not at all. Two days later the bugs were back redoubling their efforts to touch my face. Oh how that drives me nuts.

In spite of the weather I have been able to do some serious thinking. Aside from missing my beautiful Heather, so much I’ve been forced to re-examine much of my spiritual life. Another Puritan prayer that has stuck with me like a punch to the face is this:

My sin is not so much this or that particular evil,

But my continual separation, disunion,distance from thee

And having a loose spirit towards thee

~CHAD

Thy Wiser Determinations.

So as I hope your aware I'm going back treeplanting for a third year. Yup just can't help it. A lot has happened in my life this last year. I'll try to catch you up.

• I switched to correspondence for the rest of my degree.
• I got laser eye surgery, and no one told me it was going to be that painful.
  
• I moved to Edmonton, Alberta to live closer to Heather.
• I got a job as a finisher in a cabinet shop.
  
• I started attending Central Baptist Church, and a pastor agreed to mentor me.
  
• I got engaged.
• I switched schools. (I am now at Briercrest, again through correspondence.)
• I got stitches for the first time.
  
• I managed to be in downtown Vancouver to watch the Gold Metal Game with a mob.
• I quit my job at the cabinet shop, hopefully I'm done working with kitchen's for a while...
  

So life is not boring and I seem to naturally rebel against stagnation and idleness.

A prayer that I recently read very much sums up my thoughts on my current life situation of leaving to treeplant right before my wedding in August

If it be consistent with thy eternal counsels,
the purpose of thy grace,
and the great ends of thy glory,
then bestow upon me the blessings of
thy comforts;

If not, let my resign myself to
thy wiser determinations.

~The Valley of Vision (a Puritan prayer book)

~CHAD