my latest interview got me thinking about how people get to where they are in a current state. for instance, this lady interviewing me was one of the few people i've met who's in a project coordination role and doesn't have her PMP (project management professional certification). if anything, it gave me hope for the future of not needing to get a PMP designation.
the interview also let me think about the question "so tell me a bit about yourself" and the next 3 minutes out of my mouth are about the last 7 years of my life that i spent in school. but, there was also a social aspect to that which i failed to mention. it's not quite meant for an answer to an interview question, but i haven't poured my little heart out in a blog post about relationships for awhile.
here's 3 sort of interesting dude stories from my teenage years that have changed me. and really haven't changed the way i think about dudes.
oh, and these are all real names. because i remember names and not faces. and hell, if any of them actually read this (but i haven't talked to them since i was a teenager), i want them to know it's me and they were.. well.. them.
1) "andrew"
i met andrew one summer in line at warped tour. i was maybe 14 or 15. he was this tall, skinny dude from the GTA. either me or the friends i was with in line started talking to him and his friends. eventually, i ended up getting separated from my friends and ended up hanging out with andrew. he didn't say a whole lot to me in line and i'm pretty sure i spent more time talking to his friends instead. when gates opened for warped tour, i waited around for my friends but couldn't find them, so i went off with andrew and his friends.
i had a set of bands i wanted to see and told andrew. apparently, the ones he wanted to see weren't on until later, so he accompanied me to see a bunch of my bands. i remember thinking that he was kinda neat but i wasn't sure if he just wanted to hear some music. we hang out watching my bands for a few hours and then head back over to the main stages to see one of his. he says he's tired and sits down on the grass. a couple of his friends pass us by and stop to say hey. suddenly, he grabs me and makes me sit on his lap. uhm, okay. that was unexpected. his friends mention that we're missing stuff happening on stage. he says something along the lines of that he doesn't care.
cool, so this dude wants to cuddle. or something. i'm confused but just go with it anyway. his friends leave and we're just sitting on the grass, me on top of him. we don't say anything for awhile. the more i sit on him, the more i realize that this dude is way too skinny and he's super uncomfortable to sit on. so i made a break for it and stood up. a few seconds later, i see one of my friends in the crowd and she sees me. she walks over to me with this gnarly looking tattooed dude. they talk to me for a second and then start making out in front of andrew and i.
i look away and look at andrew, who's also looking away from me. he looks back at me, smirks, and pulls me closer to him. i didn't know what to do so i just kissed him. it was weird. he kept holding onto me but didn't try to kiss me again. i'm confused. i let it be. after the band ends, he says he saw one of his friends leaving in the crowd and was gonna go see them. i told him that was cool and i'd be waiting there because a band i wanted to see was the next band on stage. he says he'll come find me in a bit.
never saw him again. no idea if he was serious about coming back to find me or if he just couldn't find me. we didn't exchange numbers or emails or myspaces or anything. not even last names. it's possible that the kiss was just so bad he didn't want anything more to do with me. hell, at that age, i had barely kissed anyone. or maybe he just wanted to cuddle me and hold me. i don't know. i didn't really care. the whole ordeal left me feeling weird and it took me a long time to make a first move on a dude again after that.
2) "evan"
evan was a friend of my brother's. when i started grade 9, he was in grade 12. he was the muscley, bro, football player and someone i wasn't sure why my brother was friends with, considering my brother was and still is this small, skinny, quiet boy. even in grade 9, the "bro" and "football player" were not my type. i'm about as surprised as you are from this story.
several of my brother's friends seemed to be obsessed with me and i don't know why. it was an ongoing occurrence and i was one of the few niners that seemed to know almost every grade 12 in high school. evan and i had our strange encounters throughout the year but nothing that interesting to mention until one day, he stopped me in the hall and asked to take me out. wait, this bro wants to go on a date? hey now, i've seen a lot of movies -- i know how this ends up. i'll be honest, i wasn't nearly as cute as i am now. but come on, i was 14. i didn't know any better. but i never took him up on his offer.
at the end of the year, we get yearbooks and i see him by himself one day in the hall. i get him to sign my yearbook, which reads something along the lines of "it was great knowing you but i only have one regret: that i never got to take you out." he may have signed his number, i can't remember. so, what the fuck?
you'd think the story ends there. but it doesn't.
that summer, a friend and i are going through yearbooks and she tells me that she knows evan's sister. the thing was, i also knew evan's sister. but the sister didn't know i was interested in her brother. my friend tells me to add his first name, last name on MSN and see what happens. so i did. low and behold, it worked. we end up talking for most of the summer and into the beginning of the next school year when he started college. i felt so young and naive now that i was crushing on a dude in college. then, in another significant turn of events, i make friends with a girl in class who says that evan is her next door neighbour.
and because i was super creepy back then (and maybe i still am, but that's up to your judgement), i kept making excuses to hang out with that girl. or be around in that general area. one night in november, i'm walking by his house with some friends and his car is in the driveway. and for some reason, we go knock on the door. he's home. this is weird. he invites us in and we sit around watching tv in his basement. evan gets me to sit on his lap. uhm, okay. we watch tv some more and then leave shortly after. i hug evan goodbye and then he kisses me out of nowhere. one kiss. i should've known better.
man, i was hooked. i never saw him again but he got me good. i tried talking to him every day. i pretty much emailed him every other day talking about stupid things in my life and occasionally he'd reply. seriously, i hate myself for being that needy and ridiculous. but i was 14. i didn't know any better. eventually, he stopped replying and i cried for days. i guess i had hoped that i'd be kissed again. i wish i could just go back in time and slap 14 year old amber in her face sometimes.
3) "stewie"/"matt"
preface: i grew up in a small, tourist town that was a booming beach in the summertime. my summer hobby was walking around to various campsites and cottages to make new friends and get given free beer to drink for something to do from these tourists. in exchange for beer, we would regale these tourists with stories about how terrible the town is and/or makeout with those dudes that gave us beer. keep this in mind as you read on.
you may have noticed that this dude has 2 names. it's because i couldn't actually figure out what his name was, but he answered to both. this story is probably the best dude story i have from my teenage years and he still crosses my mind a decade later.
i met stewie one summer during wakestock. i was 15. a friend and i started talking to a group of tall, muscley, surfer-esque dudes after one of the wakestock concerts. several of them were cute looking and i took to one of them immediately. the one with some kind of a tribal tattoo and "stewie" tatooed on his arm. one of the other dudes in the group asked my friend how old she was and she told them she was 16. this kind of put off some of the dudes because they were older. now, you see, this particular summer was different. normally, if someone had asked my age, i would've told them that i was 15. but my friend and i had decided to try something new and said that if anyone asked, i was 18 years old. i know. it's cruel and i'm setting myself up for trouble. so when stewie asked how old i was and i told him i was 18, he smirked. he then told me he was 23. yes, okay, i've always had a love affair with older dudes and this was no different.
once pleasantries and ages were discussed, we moved onto plans for what to do. the group of dudes were staying at an awful campsite, so my friend invited them all back to her place. we drink heavily through drinking games and have a rad time. as night rolls around, a bunch of us travel back to the beach and shops. stewie and i walk into one of the tattoo shops. we're both drunk as fuck. he offers to buy me a tattoo. being local, i knew every tattoo artist in the shop and all of them were looking at me wondering where i had picked up this drunk dude. stewie and i stand there looking at the wall of tattoos to choose from and he's convinced we're both getting matching frog tattoos. luckily, a tattoo artist came over to us and said they don't tattoo intoxicated people, like us. thinking stewie was actually going to be super pissed, i braced myself for some kinda mouthy backlash. instead, he shrugs and says something along the lines of "yeah, this probably isn't a good idea" and walks out of the shop. cute AND chill? jackpot.
we head back to my friend's place and watch a movie where stewie and i makeout for a bit and fall asleep cuddling. at like 5am, my friend is waking us up to get the dudes out of her place before he parents come home. haha. i share a kiss with stewie and exchange numbers/emails even though i had basically assumed i would never see him again because he lived out in buttfuck nowhere and i had lied to him about my age but had yet to tell him about that.
maybe a week goes by and i don't hear from him. again, a shot in the dark, i send him an email with my number and MSN again. almost immediately, he responds and we talk on and off for the rest of the summer. he calls my house many times just to chat and tell me his crazy party stories, like how he was at some party and next to the toilet was this giant hunting gun or something. the more i talked to him, the more i felt bad about lying to him because here was this great dude who called me a few times a week and wanted to get together again even though he lived far away from me.
school starts up again in september and we're still talking on and off. i believe he had a job of some sort where he lived but he was travelling a lot for it. it had been a few months now since we had been talking and my 16th birthday was coming up. i wanted to invite him to the party i was having for it but i didn't know how. and i felt bad.
about a week before my birthday, he's chatting to me on msn. i think in my msn name it said that my birthday was soon or i had mentioned to him before that i had an october birthday. so he started talking to me about it. he asked if i was going to be 19. i told him i wasn't going to be 19. then he asked if i was going to be 18. i uh, told him no. then he asked if i was going to be 17. and i uh, once again, had to tell him no. after many minutes of silence on both our parts, i told him i was going to be 16 years old.
and that was the end of that. he went offline and i never heard from him again. believe me, i feel terrible because y'know, making out with a 15 year old when you're 23 (turning 24 a couple weeks later from the makeout day) isn't the best thing. and i'm truly sorry for lying to him and keeping it from him for so long. it just sorta sucks since we got along so well with the age difference. maybe i was just mature. who knows. but i find it hard to believe that he believed that i was 18 when i'm nearly 25 now and still get ID'ed for booze most places. and when i was 15.. i looked 15. there was no question about it.
the hilarity of my life never ceases to amaze me. and it continues to amaze me as time goes on.
Showing posts with label party. Show all posts
Showing posts with label party. Show all posts
May 7, 2013
Jul 19, 2012
the social media break up
i can guarantee it's happened to you, whether you actually knew about it or not: the social media break up.
because, yes, we've gotten to a point where the only logical thing to do when you don't want to see or hang out with somebody anymore is to "remove and delete them from life". you have the power. you have the ability. technology is right there to embrace whatever you want to do. you can throw out people like nobody's business (and i'm waiting to see how many friends i'm losing after this blog post.... ha!)
technology has come so far and we've only grown a little.
about a month ago, i met a dude at a party and things seemed to go okay. he had a childish charm that, while i was drunk, made me laugh. and that's fine. except he was supposed to be mature. and have his life figured out. and was doing a lot of things i couldn't even begin to understand. we exchanged numbers and facebooks to plan hangs. sure, he was kind of cute. but there was something about him that just made me really uneasy and i was soon to find out what that was.
neither of us wanted things to move too quickly, so we spent many weeks texting to try to get together. he'd text me a bunch of times during the day about nothing in particular. it started to get sort of annoying and i didn't always respond. what i didn't need was another stage 5 clinger. i had enough of those encounters already in 2012 and hoped he wasn't one of them. eventually, we made plans with some mutual friends to go to an event. it was great since i was definitely not comfortable hanging out on our own yet -- there was still something about him that gave me a strange feeling.
to my horror, some other friends bailed at the last minute and i was now stuck on a double date. fuck. okay. so we walked around and looked at things. we drank some beer. he talked a lot. he also seemed really nervous. i didn't know what to think. i can't even remember a single thing we talked about. i just found him extremely dull. this was not the dude i met at that party. at the end of the evening, he ended up buying me something cute -- probably to win me back. it didn't really work but hey, that was a good effort. i left him with a hug and went to meet up with other friends to try and analyze what just happened.
so, what happened? well, besides the fact that he was boring, nervous, talked a lot, didn't really get along with any of the friends that were with us and just didn't seem comfortable being with me -- there was also just no fucking spark. no connection. i couldn't see anything in him worth going after. there were a few common interests but not nearly enough to get by. we were pretty much doomed from the start.
i just knew that he knew things between us weren't as good as they should have been after that night. i likely texted saying i had a good time even though i didn't. and i'm pretty sure he responded saying he did too. but then we never texted again. and for good reason. it wasn't until lately when i noticed we were no longer friends on facebook either. i was a little relieved. recently, i did my own social media break up and got rid of at least 30 "friends" that i haven't talked to in months or years -- or they were those stage 5 clingers/stalkers i mentioned before. i figured i may have removed him in that purge or maybe he did it to me. i guess we will never know. and really, i don't give a fuck.
sure, it's not so easy when it's somebody i might actually care about. there are a lot of those friends out there that may not feel the same way about me. and that sucks since i hold friendships quite close to me. social media has just made breaking off friendships and bad dates so much easier leaving most friends none the wiser until it's too late.
so please, i'm asking all of you to remember those manners your mommy once taught you to be polite. because i'd appreciate a reason as to why we're no longer friends. it's simple: tell me you hate the things i post on facebook. tell me you're in love with me and i don't feel the same. tell me you find me annoying. tell me i'm boring. tell me you hate the sarcastic things i say. tell me you're tired of my simpsons quotes.
just tell me something before you remove me from your life forever, okay?
because the absolute worst thing you can do to me is keep me wondering what it was that made you lose interest in me.
because, yes, we've gotten to a point where the only logical thing to do when you don't want to see or hang out with somebody anymore is to "remove and delete them from life". you have the power. you have the ability. technology is right there to embrace whatever you want to do. you can throw out people like nobody's business (and i'm waiting to see how many friends i'm losing after this blog post.... ha!)
technology has come so far and we've only grown a little.
about a month ago, i met a dude at a party and things seemed to go okay. he had a childish charm that, while i was drunk, made me laugh. and that's fine. except he was supposed to be mature. and have his life figured out. and was doing a lot of things i couldn't even begin to understand. we exchanged numbers and facebooks to plan hangs. sure, he was kind of cute. but there was something about him that just made me really uneasy and i was soon to find out what that was.
neither of us wanted things to move too quickly, so we spent many weeks texting to try to get together. he'd text me a bunch of times during the day about nothing in particular. it started to get sort of annoying and i didn't always respond. what i didn't need was another stage 5 clinger. i had enough of those encounters already in 2012 and hoped he wasn't one of them. eventually, we made plans with some mutual friends to go to an event. it was great since i was definitely not comfortable hanging out on our own yet -- there was still something about him that gave me a strange feeling.
to my horror, some other friends bailed at the last minute and i was now stuck on a double date. fuck. okay. so we walked around and looked at things. we drank some beer. he talked a lot. he also seemed really nervous. i didn't know what to think. i can't even remember a single thing we talked about. i just found him extremely dull. this was not the dude i met at that party. at the end of the evening, he ended up buying me something cute -- probably to win me back. it didn't really work but hey, that was a good effort. i left him with a hug and went to meet up with other friends to try and analyze what just happened.
so, what happened? well, besides the fact that he was boring, nervous, talked a lot, didn't really get along with any of the friends that were with us and just didn't seem comfortable being with me -- there was also just no fucking spark. no connection. i couldn't see anything in him worth going after. there were a few common interests but not nearly enough to get by. we were pretty much doomed from the start.
i just knew that he knew things between us weren't as good as they should have been after that night. i likely texted saying i had a good time even though i didn't. and i'm pretty sure he responded saying he did too. but then we never texted again. and for good reason. it wasn't until lately when i noticed we were no longer friends on facebook either. i was a little relieved. recently, i did my own social media break up and got rid of at least 30 "friends" that i haven't talked to in months or years -- or they were those stage 5 clingers/stalkers i mentioned before. i figured i may have removed him in that purge or maybe he did it to me. i guess we will never know. and really, i don't give a fuck.
sure, it's not so easy when it's somebody i might actually care about. there are a lot of those friends out there that may not feel the same way about me. and that sucks since i hold friendships quite close to me. social media has just made breaking off friendships and bad dates so much easier leaving most friends none the wiser until it's too late.
so please, i'm asking all of you to remember those manners your mommy once taught you to be polite. because i'd appreciate a reason as to why we're no longer friends. it's simple: tell me you hate the things i post on facebook. tell me you're in love with me and i don't feel the same. tell me you find me annoying. tell me i'm boring. tell me you hate the sarcastic things i say. tell me you're tired of my simpsons quotes.
just tell me something before you remove me from your life forever, okay?
because the absolute worst thing you can do to me is keep me wondering what it was that made you lose interest in me.
Jul 20, 2011
2 jobs... again
i landed the job with embassy suites and today was my first shift.
i went in for an interview yesterday and was hired on the spot for a food runner position in the breakfast buffet. i was surprised they would even consider me for that with no kitchen experience, but i didn't care. i have to wear a chef uniform with the jacket, pants, hat, and apron that i swim in. it's pretty hilarious to see.
the shifts vary from either start time of 6am, 7am, or 8am and finishing about 12pm, 1pm, or 2pm. the buffet goes from 7am-11am then cleanup which could take awhile. getting up this morning was brutal to be in for 7am. i got a quick tour of the kitchen and was shown where stuff was. i stock the buffet when things run low and so on. it shocked me to see all these people constantly running through all this food even though i had just stocked it, went in the kitchen, came back out and the food i had just stocked was all gone already. people are crazy. also, the amount of food thrown out in the kitchen makes me nervous.. being an environmentalist and all. trashing that much food all the time is so unsustainable.
i worked and worked and worked, constantly running around. when the buffet was over, i started to clean and was not given a break. the girl i was cleaning with was hard to understand and wasn't giving me very good instructions on how to do things properly. of course, my body was tired and i had a terrible headache since i had barely drank any drinks during the shift because nobody had shown me where/how to get drinks. eventually, we had finished most of the cleanup and were told we could go on break. but instead, the supervisor said if i wanted to that i could go home. i was sold on the idea and left.
i began my search for the lockers and got lost. i ended up in a restricted area with a ton of cameras and somehow found my way out of the building. i still don't know where the lockers are. i work again tomorrow at 7am, then friday and saturday at 8am. i'm just going to let them know from now on that i can only work till noon or 1pm since i have my other job. they'll understand and at least i'll get out of there faster.
i called sport chek tonight and told them my availability -- pretty much 3pm to close everyday. makes it easier on embassy and myself so i'll have a couple of hours to regroup/shower/change/eat/sleep etc between days with shifts at both jobs.. which i'm sure will happen. i start next week at sport chek sometime when the schedule comes out. i'll rock embassy till then with one job i can sort of handle.
in the meantime, corey and i have finalized the apartment (i think) and began the process of moving in! i still don't know final costs and whatnot but at least we officially have a place. i'm so stoked. also, in a few weeks, i'm throwing my party and i can't wait for that too. i've already booked it off. woo.
okay. for the last time. there are 7 weeks of summer remaining. if i could please just keep these 2 jobs (or at least 1 if it comes down to that) i would be a happy amber.
i went in for an interview yesterday and was hired on the spot for a food runner position in the breakfast buffet. i was surprised they would even consider me for that with no kitchen experience, but i didn't care. i have to wear a chef uniform with the jacket, pants, hat, and apron that i swim in. it's pretty hilarious to see.
the shifts vary from either start time of 6am, 7am, or 8am and finishing about 12pm, 1pm, or 2pm. the buffet goes from 7am-11am then cleanup which could take awhile. getting up this morning was brutal to be in for 7am. i got a quick tour of the kitchen and was shown where stuff was. i stock the buffet when things run low and so on. it shocked me to see all these people constantly running through all this food even though i had just stocked it, went in the kitchen, came back out and the food i had just stocked was all gone already. people are crazy. also, the amount of food thrown out in the kitchen makes me nervous.. being an environmentalist and all. trashing that much food all the time is so unsustainable.
i worked and worked and worked, constantly running around. when the buffet was over, i started to clean and was not given a break. the girl i was cleaning with was hard to understand and wasn't giving me very good instructions on how to do things properly. of course, my body was tired and i had a terrible headache since i had barely drank any drinks during the shift because nobody had shown me where/how to get drinks. eventually, we had finished most of the cleanup and were told we could go on break. but instead, the supervisor said if i wanted to that i could go home. i was sold on the idea and left.
i began my search for the lockers and got lost. i ended up in a restricted area with a ton of cameras and somehow found my way out of the building. i still don't know where the lockers are. i work again tomorrow at 7am, then friday and saturday at 8am. i'm just going to let them know from now on that i can only work till noon or 1pm since i have my other job. they'll understand and at least i'll get out of there faster.
i called sport chek tonight and told them my availability -- pretty much 3pm to close everyday. makes it easier on embassy and myself so i'll have a couple of hours to regroup/shower/change/eat/sleep etc between days with shifts at both jobs.. which i'm sure will happen. i start next week at sport chek sometime when the schedule comes out. i'll rock embassy till then with one job i can sort of handle.
in the meantime, corey and i have finalized the apartment (i think) and began the process of moving in! i still don't know final costs and whatnot but at least we officially have a place. i'm so stoked. also, in a few weeks, i'm throwing my party and i can't wait for that too. i've already booked it off. woo.
okay. for the last time. there are 7 weeks of summer remaining. if i could please just keep these 2 jobs (or at least 1 if it comes down to that) i would be a happy amber.
Jun 19, 2011
ready to start
i got the job with imax.
a little before 9pm on friday, i got the call and i was stoked. i don't know if it was because i nailed the interview questions, if it was the annoying phone call i made on friday afternoon to see if i got the job, or just a combination of the two, but i did land the job... finally.
my saturday afternoon plan was to call back and get all the details of the coming week and also let dave and buster's know that i would be taking a position elsewhere. while i'm in the middle of my breakfast, dave and buster's calls me and asks me what's up. i tell him that i've taken a job elsewhere and he seems upset. uh, sorry?
the plan for the week is to be this: three shifts this week starting tomorrow, wednesday, and saturday. both the wednesday and saturday shifts start at 7:30am. it's going to be tough but totally worth it as the latest i have to work is 10:30pm. suck it, 2am dave and buster's! however, this means that i'll be missing steve's party, a few birthdays, and the most of pride now that i've landed a job. no word on ardene yet; hoping to get that too and work both jobs turning me into zombie auto-pilot for at least a little while.
the last time i had two jobs at the same time was a few summers back; i worked full-time at shoppers drug mart for just over a month and part-time at the library. i worked 8am-3pm and 4pm-7pm four days a week and 8am-5pm on weekends. friday i only had to work at the library. no days off. i was dead by the end of each day and even more happy when the position at shoppers ended. i'd only like to have a second job so i can make more money since i missed out on working for a month and a half.
i've started to look into toronto apartments, so the hunt is on for the perfect apartment. i'm excited to finish out the summer while having another party in august (if you're reading this, you're likely already invited) and starting the next stage of my life in the big city. i can only hope these next 11 weeks are going to fly by.
a little before 9pm on friday, i got the call and i was stoked. i don't know if it was because i nailed the interview questions, if it was the annoying phone call i made on friday afternoon to see if i got the job, or just a combination of the two, but i did land the job... finally.
my saturday afternoon plan was to call back and get all the details of the coming week and also let dave and buster's know that i would be taking a position elsewhere. while i'm in the middle of my breakfast, dave and buster's calls me and asks me what's up. i tell him that i've taken a job elsewhere and he seems upset. uh, sorry?
the plan for the week is to be this: three shifts this week starting tomorrow, wednesday, and saturday. both the wednesday and saturday shifts start at 7:30am. it's going to be tough but totally worth it as the latest i have to work is 10:30pm. suck it, 2am dave and buster's! however, this means that i'll be missing steve's party, a few birthdays, and the most of pride now that i've landed a job. no word on ardene yet; hoping to get that too and work both jobs turning me into zombie auto-pilot for at least a little while.
the last time i had two jobs at the same time was a few summers back; i worked full-time at shoppers drug mart for just over a month and part-time at the library. i worked 8am-3pm and 4pm-7pm four days a week and 8am-5pm on weekends. friday i only had to work at the library. no days off. i was dead by the end of each day and even more happy when the position at shoppers ended. i'd only like to have a second job so i can make more money since i missed out on working for a month and a half.
i've started to look into toronto apartments, so the hunt is on for the perfect apartment. i'm excited to finish out the summer while having another party in august (if you're reading this, you're likely already invited) and starting the next stage of my life in the big city. i can only hope these next 11 weeks are going to fly by.
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