It's the end of another year and as many others I find myself looking both into the new year and back at the past one. This year was both fairly life changing. The beginning of the year started as many do, filled with plans and aspirations of the future. I had a busy schedule planned out. I planned to complete the Bookkeeping for Small Business Certificate. The way the courses were lined up I would be taking courses from the end of January to the end of August. One
would end and the next would immediately start. I was excited. I knew it would make me a little broke (money-wise) and tired because I was going to still be working full-time during this school schedule, but still I was excited. And so it began. I would work Monday through Friday 6am to 2pm and then go to college Tuesday and Thursdays from 6:30pm to 9:30 and do homework inbetween when time allowed. It started off well. I like the subject matter, in fact, I worked with it each day at work so I was able to apply what I was learning each day at work, which was a definate benefit. After the first couple of weeks things were still going well. In February my work situation changed slightly when we got a new supervisor and general manager at work. At first things were ok. I work in a male dominated work enviroment so I am slightly used to ranchy comments and that kind of behavior. Unfortunately, you do get used to it after awhile. The problem arose when the new supervisor took that behavior to a whole new level. He would always comment on how we looked and say inappropriate things towards us. We asked him to stop and told him that it made us feel uncomfortable but he would just ignore and continue on the same. The work and school schedule continued its brutal pace and the work enviroment not only didn't get better but got worse. We continued to ask him to stop his behavior but he continued to brush it off. In May I got sick for a couple days, as I guess could be expected considering my schedule. I knew things had truely gotten out of hand when I was leaving work because I was ill and the supervisor propositioned me grosely as I was leaving. Not only was he totally and completely inappropriate but I was visibly sick, honestly! The next couple of months pasted much the same expect I was not longer sick which was a slightly improvement. The other unfortunate thing was because of
my crazy schedule I had to withdrawn from my splurge group which is something I loved, but with how much I was working, going to school and trying to do homework and still have my family and friends and Young Adult's group it just wasn't possible for me to fit it in. In June I became friends with a guy I knew from church. His friendship became something I valued. After my crazy and sometimes draining work days I would talk to him for an hour or so before heading off to school or doing homework. He encouraged me and talked me through those crazy times. We continued to be friends through the summer. We moved our friendship to the kissing kind until it became more clear to me that as much as we connected well and like each other he wasn't in a place to start a relationship. I didn't want to hurt myself on purpose so we both withdrew back to being just friends. I admit we slipped up a few times but mostly we were able to just be good friends. At the end of June and beginning of July I had finally reached the end of my rope with the inappropriate behavior at work. I finally had it out with the supervisor about his behavior and how he had to stop and it was not ok. He reacted just as I thought he would and screamed at me and trying to blame me for it. First like I had encouraged his behavior and when that didn't work he claimed I was blowing it out of proportion. When it finally got through to him and I had alerted my boss, who was out of town for the last five months, of the situation he finally seemed to get the message. He went back to his office and stayed there for a while. Finally he wrote an apology letter and said he was taking responsibility for his actions and would stop this behavior. Things did get somewhat better, although for the following week afterward he kept coming to my office and trying to get me to absolve him of it or something. I told him that I acknowledged his apology but that he needed to keep his distance and only talk to us about work related things and such. A couple weeks later he started acting work appropriate. In the end of August I had finally completed my classes
and couldn't have been happier. I was also excited to go on vacation with a girlfriend of mine. We had been planning since the end of last year to go to Las Vegas since neither of us
had been before. We went towards the end of September. It was great. We went for five days and had a blast. It probably wasn't the same as most peoples trips to Vegas but was great for us. We spent a majority of our time at the pool, we were staying at Plant Hollywood and they have a terrific pool. We met different people each day and
would hang out with them at night. We went for dinner, went dancing at the club in our hotel and generally had a fantastic time. The one small downer was that my digital Canon camera went missing / got stolen about a day into our time there but D still had her camera and we were having a great time. Soon we were flying home and enjoying being home as much as we had enjoyed being on vacation. October was a great month. I turned 27 and had a terrific birthday, I never been one of those people to be scared to be turning another year older. I love birthdays, always have. In October I started hanging out with a couple of people from my Young Adults group more regularly.
K and M being the main ones. Now that I was done with school I have more time on my hands. I would go to Young Adults on Monday
nights, which is a mixture of Bible study and hanging out with others between the ages of 20 and 30. On Tuesdays K, M, A, her friend and I would go to Vesper's in Abbotsford and sing our hearts out. Then then rest of the week I would hang out with my family and other friends. The end of November was great. I went snowboarding for the first time in years and loved it so much. A couple of weeks later I bought my own snowboard and boots. I can't wait to go more this during the
rest of the season! December was full of friends, family, Christmas events and services and general holiday stuff. In the beginning of December Dad and I drove to Everret, WA and saw a Michael W Smith concert. We both love his music and have never seen him live before so it was sort of an early Christmas present to ourselves. It was fantastic! Christmas
eve was terrific. I helped K and L set up the Main Street location with trees and we spent about three hours lighting and decorating the fifteen or so trees. At night I went to the 5 o'clock Hillside service. It
was really good! After the service my family and I had apps and exchanged Christmas presents. Christmas day was a fairly quiet one. My best friend T, who I had plans with was feeling sick and had to cancel. I spent the day hanging out watching movies and such. In the afternoon my sister Lis and I went for coffee and the hung out til the evening. The following week was great too. I got the majority of it off from work and just lazed around and watched movies and hung out with friends. Yesterday K and I went shopping and then to see "War Horse." It was so good and may have made me cry a little. I am not entirely sure what I have planned for tonight but I do know that this past year has been eventfully. There was the good, the bad, the interesting and the life changing. The good was enjoyed, the bad made me stronger in myself and my faith, the interesting made me laugh and the life changing was in the gaining of terrific friends and the strenghting and and trust in my savior Jesus and my faith in Him who contols all things. This coming year is going to be great. I can feel it already. Can't wait to see the things to come...
would end and the next would immediately start. I was excited. I knew it would make me a little broke (money-wise) and tired because I was going to still be working full-time during this school schedule, but still I was excited. And so it began. I would work Monday through Friday 6am to 2pm and then go to college Tuesday and Thursdays from 6:30pm to 9:30 and do homework inbetween when time allowed. It started off well. I like the subject matter, in fact, I worked with it each day at work so I was able to apply what I was learning each day at work, which was a definate benefit. After the first couple of weeks things were still going well. In February my work situation changed slightly when we got a new supervisor and general manager at work. At first things were ok. I work in a male dominated work enviroment so I am slightly used to ranchy comments and that kind of behavior. Unfortunately, you do get used to it after awhile. The problem arose when the new supervisor took that behavior to a whole new level. He would always comment on how we looked and say inappropriate things towards us. We asked him to stop and told him that it made us feel uncomfortable but he would just ignore and continue on the same. The work and school schedule continued its brutal pace and the work enviroment not only didn't get better but got worse. We continued to ask him to stop his behavior but he continued to brush it off. In May I got sick for a couple days, as I guess could be expected considering my schedule. I knew things had truely gotten out of hand when I was leaving work because I was ill and the supervisor propositioned me grosely as I was leaving. Not only was he totally and completely inappropriate but I was visibly sick, honestly! The next couple of months pasted much the same expect I was not longer sick which was a slightly improvement. The other unfortunate thing was because of 
my crazy schedule I had to withdrawn from my splurge group which is something I loved, but with how much I was working, going to school and trying to do homework and still have my family and friends and Young Adult's group it just wasn't possible for me to fit it in. In June I became friends with a guy I knew from church. His friendship became something I valued. After my crazy and sometimes draining work days I would talk to him for an hour or so before heading off to school or doing homework. He encouraged me and talked me through those crazy times. We continued to be friends through the summer. We moved our friendship to the kissing kind until it became more clear to me that as much as we connected well and like each other he wasn't in a place to start a relationship. I didn't want to hurt myself on purpose so we both withdrew back to being just friends. I admit we slipped up a few times but mostly we were able to just be good friends. At the end of June and beginning of July I had finally reached the end of my rope with the inappropriate behavior at work. I finally had it out with the supervisor about his behavior and how he had to stop and it was not ok. He reacted just as I thought he would and screamed at me and trying to blame me for it. First like I had encouraged his behavior and when that didn't work he claimed I was blowing it out of proportion. When it finally got through to him and I had alerted my boss, who was out of town for the last five months, of the situation he finally seemed to get the message. He went back to his office and stayed there for a while. Finally he wrote an apology letter and said he was taking responsibility for his actions and would stop this behavior. Things did get somewhat better, although for the following week afterward he kept coming to my office and trying to get me to absolve him of it or something. I told him that I acknowledged his apology but that he needed to keep his distance and only talk to us about work related things and such. A couple weeks later he started acting work appropriate. In the end of August I had finally completed my classes 
and couldn't have been happier. I was also excited to go on vacation with a girlfriend of mine. We had been planning since the end of last year to go to Las Vegas since neither of us 
had been before. We went towards the end of September. It was great. We went for five days and had a blast. It probably wasn't the same as most peoples trips to Vegas but was great for us. We spent a majority of our time at the pool, we were staying at Plant Hollywood and they have a terrific pool. We met different people each day and
would hang out with them at night. We went for dinner, went dancing at the club in our hotel and generally had a fantastic time. The one small downer was that my digital Canon camera went missing / got stolen about a day into our time there but D still had her camera and we were having a great time. Soon we were flying home and enjoying being home as much as we had enjoyed being on vacation. October was a great month. I turned 27 and had a terrific birthday, I never been one of those people to be scared to be turning another year older. I love birthdays, always have. In October I started hanging out with a couple of people from my Young Adults group more regularly. 
K and M being the main ones. Now that I was done with school I have more time on my hands. I would go to Young Adults on Monday 
nights, which is a mixture of Bible study and hanging out with others between the ages of 20 and 30. On Tuesdays K, M, A, her friend and I would go to Vesper's in Abbotsford and sing our hearts out. Then then rest of the week I would hang out with my family and other friends. The end of November was great. I went snowboarding for the first time in years and loved it so much. A couple of weeks later I bought my own snowboard and boots. I can't wait to go more this during the 
rest of the season! December was full of friends, family, Christmas events and services and general holiday stuff. In the beginning of December Dad and I drove to Everret, WA and saw a Michael W Smith concert. We both love his music and have never seen him live before so it was sort of an early Christmas present to ourselves. It was fantastic! Christmas 
eve was terrific. I helped K and L set up the Main Street location with trees and we spent about three hours lighting and decorating the fifteen or so trees. At night I went to the 5 o'clock Hillside service. It 
was really good! After the service my family and I had apps and exchanged Christmas presents. Christmas day was a fairly quiet one. My best friend T, who I had plans with was feeling sick and had to cancel. I spent the day hanging out watching movies and such. In the afternoon my sister Lis and I went for coffee and the hung out til the evening. The following week was great too. I got the majority of it off from work and just lazed around and watched movies and hung out with friends. Yesterday K and I went shopping and then to see "War Horse." It was so good and may have made me cry a little. I am not entirely sure what I have planned for tonight but I do know that this past year has been eventfully. There was the good, the bad, the interesting and the life changing. The good was enjoyed, the bad made me stronger in myself and my faith, the interesting made me laugh and the life changing was in the gaining of terrific friends and the strenghting and and trust in my savior Jesus and my faith in Him who contols all things. This coming year is going to be great. I can feel it already. Can't wait to see the things to come...
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