My Learning Experience in Victoria

I try to blog weekly, when I have a long lag between them it's usually because something came along and messed up my schedule. Thus causing minor instances where hitting my head repeatedly on the wall or screaming into my pillow, might be the only recourse I have to release the tension and frustration that has positioned itself in my life at that time.

Now besides the usual house issues, I had to go to an Admin conference in Victoria this past weekend. I've known for a few months that this was going to happen but yet I didn't worry about it until around Wed of last week then... the freaking out started.

First off I'm not a conference kind of girl but I had to represent my company and it was mandatory ( trust me I tried to get out of it ). I'm usual pretty good in situations with strangers and I knew no one there except 1 person that I've only spoken to on the phone and never met.

At first my boss wanted me to fly on a float plane over to the Island...a float plane...ya I'm not a good flyer either as in SCARED TO DEATH of flying in general. I have visions of plane crash situations that flash in my brain. I was all for giving it a shot though as long as Choo could come with me in case I lost my mind.

You know that Simpsons episode where Marg has to take a plane and for like a whole minute all you see is her blue hair running back and forth screaming " Let me off, let me off! " That's me minus the hair.

Our plans fell through though and we had to take a charter bus to the ferry terminal then into downtown Vic. While on the ferry we met a guy from Saskatchewan that was going to the island for a job interview. He packed all his stuff in a duffel bag, grabbed all his money and away he went. He was so amazed by the mountains and the ocean he said he was never going back to Sask.

We get downtown Victoria and grab a cab to the hotel which ends up only being like a 10 min walk from the bus station. Once we check my flight response kicks in and all I can think is, "How the hell can I get out of here!" They had a welcome reception for everyone less than an hour after I got there...well that was awkward. I walked in and everyone was in their respective groups because they had all met each other before. I walked in, everyone stopped talking, stared at me for a second then turned away and continued their previous conversations. So I hung out with the bartender until I found the person that was supposed to give me my name tag. The introductions began. I thought briefly about the bottle of whiskey sitting on the bar and decided it was probably best if I didn't get sloshed right away and make an ass out of myself.

Once everyone got there I had been speaking to a couple of people from across the country and started to feel better until they announced that we were going to be put into teams and go on a scavenger hunt as part of a team building exercise. Pressure to do well and not overstep while you put together the pecking order.

I have to say the hunt was fun! We were told we could use whatever we needed and we should be creative, that would add points to our final score. I didn't get to see the city in a way I could check stuff out but I learned about the history of the city which I promptly forgot once we got back to the hotel for the end of the reception.  So that was over YAH!!!

 Off to bed for a 7:30 start the next day for the classes...all...day.

After the classes we went to dinner, another awkward moment when I walked in and again everyone looked at me and then went about their business. I sat down and soon everyone was conversing about the events from the previous night on the hunt. The whole time this is going on Choo is walking endlessly around the city taken in by all of the historical buildings, low and behold he found the guy from the ferry so he hung out with him while I was busy! At dinner they revealed who won the scavenger hunt and holy crap it was my team. I scored a big fluffy bathrobe so I didn't need to steal the one from the hotel as my kids begged me to do.

After dinner it was off to see Red one of my co-workers in our Vic office at the Bard and Banker Pub. I felt like I was betraying Irish, the receptionist at work because it was a Scottish pub then again Red's Scottish so it was all good. Choo had a slight issue because waitresses had skirts so short and an upper level they were working on that he had to switch places with me because every time he took a sip of his beer he was looking up at them. Then back to the hotel for bed and another early start for the wrap up breakfast.

Once breakfast was over, we checked out took a few pics and headed back to the bus to head home.

I survived!

I got back to Vancouver not even 5 mins after I stepped out of the station a bird pooped on me letting me know I was truly home. Sure don't poop on the homeless guys sleeping on the benches outside the bus station, then again they've probably had their share. Another hour and a half to home and everyone missed us except one of my cats seemed pissed that I left him in the care of the girls for the weekend. So he shunned me for the rest of the evening until his food dish was empty he was back in my lap demanding my attention.

So the weekend worked out ok, still not a conference type of girl but I learned alot.

 I learned something about myself too...

When in an awkward situation, I should go for the whiskey it's better after the whiskey.