Rock Band miracle and Melody's adventures!

Yesterday morning was the same old policy formation, cleaning and setting up as usual. Got to play some pool which was nice; got massacred by Adam three times in a row though. In the afternoon we had a few kids trickling in, got to play some basketball, however I spent most of my time walking around downtown with Leah and Kayla, handing out donation letters and picking up some stuff for the center. It was boiling out! Already, its the beginning of June in Northern Alberta and scorching hot! We met up with some of the kids we knew hanging out downtown too, which was cool. It is awesome that already we are making connections with youth and getting to know different groups. We had some great conversations and invited them out, which was cool because they did come by later. It turned out to be an amazing afternoon, We had a ton of youth pour in right at the end, had a birthday cake for Sarah (Happy Birthday Sarah!) and got into some amazing conversations with people and really started getting to know people. One of the things we’ve been hoping for is to get a Rock-band kit donated, because the one we have is dying out and probably leaving the center soon. While we were out, we met this guy who donated us a system just from hearing what we are doing, bought it right there in the game store, without even blinking. It was amazing! We were so stunned and just thanked him so much. It was definitely a blessing! Rock band is one of the main things people come here for, so that we get to continue to offer it and use it is amazing.
Afterwards, a few of us got to go down to the station and mess around on air a bit which was fun, and then we headed home for a quick debrief and getting ready for the interagency meeting tomorrow so we have hands on access to the different agencies in town. I’m speaking at it though so i better get some sleep!

- Cheers, Jen

Lukas and I, along with Travis and Alex (two randoms drawn in by the poster I made announcing upcoming Dugout events – yaaaay for posters!) played some Rock Band today. Our random, computer generated band name was the Damp Hats – this, I think, is actually rather catchy. This marked what was probably my third, maaaaybe fourth time playing Rock Band; I’m still primarily attached to my laptop. We Rocked Out until supper, when we parted ways to fill our rampaging stomachs. I noticed a random guy hanging around in the kitchen while we were all gathering for supper. He was soon introduced to us as Tyler – the hero who, just today, bought and donated a brand-spanking-new Rock Band to the Dugout.

Somehow (I can’t remember how it came to be… just another testament of how awful my short term memory is becoming…) Tyler and I ended up talking; we had a marvelous chat about Sun Core, where he works as a valve operator. I made him tell me all about its inner workings and he gave me what I think was a customary “This Topic May Cause Drowsiness” disclaimer. He told me all about the oil refining process, and I shared some Quaker Oats stories (like how the whole experience could be described as a lesson in inefficiency), and even went into an in depth explanation of Man Hoists. We soon discovered a shared hatred of working at Tim Horton’s – turns out the pair of us are Timmy’s veterans and each of us had worked under rather ‘interesting’ managers.

Later that evening, at the Palace, I decided that it had been too long since we’d seen our good friends and neighbours: the boys next door. I voiced that we should go over for a visit when we didn’t have some hidden agenda like borrowing their baking sheet, kettle or frying pan. So, we all moseyed on over at about 9:30pm for some sparkling conversation, some deep discussion and an all around good time. It was shortly after midnight thirty when we extricated ourselves from the place to get some much needed sleep. Oh – other random highlight: we saw a truck today that had “Insured by MAFIA – you hit me, we hit you” written on it. Hahaha… toodles!

- Melody (like a song)