Well, here’s the Stampede wrap-up. All in all, it wasn’t that bad. Although my venomous rant about Stampede last week probably scared most of you, I’m not out to completely destroy Calgary or its big money maker. I didn’t go to Stampede, but I did enjoy some of the other related festivities.

The week was pretty relaxed. Good things came early in the week as we received news that the new version of the Animation course was fully approved by the Alberta Private School Board. That’s quite the feather in my cap because I wrote the curriculum and set up the marking structure for it. That coupled with the fact that one of my students is a semi-finalist for this year’s Teletoon scholarship really makes me feel good about what I’m teaching out here. Seeing one of my student’s names up with several of the Sheridan kids made me proud. I’m having a blast as a teacher.

On Thursday I went to a steak lunch for Tanya’s staff which was a mixed affair. The people were nice and the alcohol was free flowing, but the meal was badly organized. Stuffing almost 1000 people in a place with seating for maybe 300 doesn’t work well for eating a meal. Neither does having only one line for those people. Instead of waiting the 2 and a half hours for food, we dashed down the road to a pub for a bite to eat. It was neat having a mid-afternoon Thursday date 🙂

Friday night was a BBQ at my boss’ house for the school staff and friends. My boss Bohdan is a weird but wonderful guy. When I mentioned that I would meet up with him later after Tanya got off work, he insisted that I take his car to pick her up. I then remembered that he drives a $32,000 Prelude. Needless to say, I treated it like gold. It was fun getting back behind the wheel considering I haven’t had a car since ’98. The BBQ was quite a bit of fun. A good way to feel more comfortable with the people who you work with.

Saturday was relaxed. A bunch of us went out to see the X-Men movie and I was actually really impressed. It wasn’t embarrassing like most comic book related films. I left the theater pretty juiced and the audience responded really well to it. The way I figured it, you’d have to be a real nit-picky comic geek to think that they didn’t adapt the story well for the screen. Crunching bits and pieces of 20 years worth of comics into a coherent 2 hours has go to be tough. Lo and behold, I talked to the biggest comic book fan boy I know this morning and he hated it. He started pointing out the tiniest discrepancies from the comics and I just shook my head. I guess you can’t please everyone.

Saturday night turned into a heated debate at a pub with one of Jordie’s friends. The subject jumped from poverty, to corrupt companies, to movies and corporations. This guy travels quite a bit and is going for his PhD in anthropology. That’s impressive, but it doesn’t mean you’re infallible. No matter what I said, I felt this air of superiority to the whole thing, like you don’t have a valid opinion unless you’ve traveled all over the world and sat in a lecture hall for 4 years of your life. I’d love to say it was jealousy, and I would love to travel, but I’m in no rush for a university degree. I walked away from the whole thing wondering why we’d argued in the first place. It’s not like two guys in a bar are going to change foreign governments, bring down corrupt multi-billion dollar companies or solve world hunger. Yeesh.

Talking with friends long distance yesterday got me laughing, but left me feeling a little homesick. Thinking of Sheridan, residence and the friends I have in Toronto made me think of how different things would be if it would have started now. I’ve learned so much and gained a hell of a lot of confidence these last few years. This week really proved that. So many different social situations and responsibilities, but I made my way through them without losing my head. That makes me feel great. If I had this mindset when I started school, I would’ve been a whirlwind. I guess I’ll just have to be thankful for the growth and translate that thinking into the here and now.

Tanya’s parents arrived yesterday afternoon and the whole meeting was really nonchalant. We grabbed dinner, hung out and talked. It looks like they’ll be coming by the school at lunch time, so we’ll see how that all goes. I was nervous, but so far it’s gone without a hitch. I must say, I’m surprised and quite relieved.

Anyways, that’s the week in a nutshell. I hope you’re not too bored with my ramblings. I’ll have to see what tales I can cook up this week as the summer rumbles onward.

My parents stayed for a week and now they’re gone.

There’s always that moment when I’m leaving them or they’re leaving me when Mom starts crying. That always gets me right in the gut. They left really early on Saturday morning and I went back to bad with a lump in my throat. I dreaded them being here too long and being overly parental, but I was damn sorry to see them go. Dad even got a little choked up, too.

I won’t see them or the rest of my friends and family until Christmas…5 months away. I want to freeze everyone’s life back home and make sure things don’t change, but I know that they already have. A bit depressing, but it always makes for some good surprises.

We had a fun time. We watched some movies and toured the city a bit. I sat down and watched American History X with my Dad, actually. I hadn’t seen it before and neither had he. If you haven’t checked it out, I highly recommend that you do. It’s shocking and brutal, but very well made. Dad said he liked it, but I could tell that he didn’t feel comfortable with it.

Actually, he summed up something that had been bugging me for some time. I’ve tried showing my parents “deep and meaningful” movies before and they’ve always fallen flat on their face. No response, an “I don’t get it” or a “That’s awful. Why are we watching this?” I never understood why, until now. Dad and I were talking about the movie and my Mom was totally unimpressed because there was so much swearing in it. Like skinheads were supposed to say “poop” and “frig”, or something. But then Dad nailed it down:

“I watch movies to be entertained, not to learn things.”

I can’t fault them for that. That’s the general public’s view of movies and it explains why Mission Impossible 2 makes almost 200 million while Iron Giant makes 12 or Fight Club makes 40. There’s nothing wrong with mindless entertainment, either. It’s just that I set my sights so high and I want so much to be affected by movies, that I forget that most people are just paying their 8 bucks to sit and stare for 2 hours. They want to watch pretty fireworks and go home. If I was a mechanic, I’d probably nit pick other people’s cars to death. But I’m a movie and art guy, so that’s what I obsess over…

Otherwise, visiting with my parents was cool. Shopping, eating out and exploring. It made me appreciate what I have out here a lot more. Though they’re gone, Mom and Dad definitely left their mark. My house is stupidly clean, my clothes are insanely organized and my fridge is full. These things are evidence of a parental experience 🙂

Next up, Calgary Stampede. The Stampede started on Friday. God, I hate it. Some cities have things to be proud of, long standing traditions that show culture and depth. Who wants to be proud of a bunch of crap stained cowboys, cruelty to animals, yeehaw red necks drinking like idiots and country music? A quarter of a million people showed up for the Stampede Opening Parade. It’s no wonder everyone thinks this place is Cowtown.

If you came to Calgary any other week, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone wearing a cowboy hat. This week, the whole town looks like a bunch of idiot yokels. If you’re a REAL cowboy, I’m cool with that. Real cowboys don’t pay $700 for a hat or $400 for a shirt. It’s moronic.

Worst of all, I learned something about the Rodeo. Do you know why the bulls and horses go bucking out into the auditorium, freaking and kicking? They haven’t been trained that way, I assure you. Maybe I’m stupid, but I thought they just hit them with spurs and besides, and that they were pissy animals to begin with.

I was wrong. They tie a leather strap around the animal’s testicles and reef on it before they let them out of the gate.

Read that again and then continue with the Newsletter…

What the heck is that?! How can they do that?! I’m no animal activist. I eat TONS of meat and really don’t give it much thought. I’ve never signed petitions against cruelty to pandas, whales or whatever not, but come on. They nail these animals in the nuts! Who came up with this demented sport?! What were they thinking?! Why are they still doing this, bigger every year?!

That is yet another reason why Stampede is insane and I will have no part of it. For one week, this city goes berserk and I’m won’t be there. I can’t wait until it’s over.

The only positive part is that there’s no classes this week at the school. I get to take it easy and get caught up on marking assignments, writing curriculum and drawing. I can deal with that. It’ll help me get through Stampede a lot easier.

I’ve typed out quite the little story here, so I guess I should end it here. I hope everyone’s doing well. Look for my post-Stampede story next week 🙂

The last month has been chaotic, but very good as well. Time flies when you’re having fun.

My parents are now out here. That was quite a culture shock. They’re actually staying at my house, which is kind of nice but very bizarre. Waking up every morning with them here feels really surreal. Mom’s all keen on cooking for me and cleaning around the house. I can’t help but feel guilty, but it is nice, too. Overall, they seem pleased with where I’m living and everything else out here.

They met Tanya yesterday. She was a bit nervous, but it went great. Her and my Mom seemed to have hit it off well. They shopped and joked yesterday while the four of us toured around the Eau Claire Center here. We went for dinner at the Barley Mill and my Dad had a pint of Strongbow Cider…and liked it! It’s obviously a genetic appreciation of Strongbow in our family (hah)! I’ve never seen my Dad even finish a beer before…weird.

As always, Dad has a schedule and a list for everything, but he’s trying to be more relaxed. Retirement is fitting perfectly with my parents. They’re really happy.

I went and saw Titan AE and Chicken Run about a week ago. Titan’s a flawed effort and it’s easy to see why Fox Feature Animation closed its doors last week. Pretty pictures and computer graphics with no heart. I know it’s very difficult to make these movies, but 4 years worth of production did not make its way up on to the screen. Meanwhile, Chicken Run‘s a solid film that’s a lot of fun. Do yourself a favor and go check it out.

I’m budgeting my money a lot better now and planning to save up for the last half of the year. I’m well settled now with almost everything I need out here (except my family and friends!), so I’m trying to stash more away for a rainy day. It’ll also make Christmas vacation a lot more fun.

This week should be entertaining. My parents are coming to sushi on Thursday and going to see where I work. My boss is determined to embarrass me, so I hope it all goes okay.

The, next week is Stampede. Yeehah bullcrap and drunken tourists everywhere. Should be worth a few Zub Tales ©…

Take care everybody.

Crazy weekend and through a great week 🙂

Glenn was in Calgary all weekend. It was amazing seeing him out here. We hung out and wandered the city. It reminded me of a lot of great times in Ontario; I miss all of you guys and gals. It was great, but nostalgic and strange at the same time. He’s gone to Banff to try and nail down a job there. Part of me hopes he doesn’t quite find what he wants and that he comes back to Calgary. Damn, I’m selfish. Still, an hour away is better than halfway across the country.

He and I went to this Comic Art Expo on the weekend. It was small and crappy, but I actually had some pretty good conversations with people. Some of my students were showing their stuff there and I was pretty proud of them. Must be a strange paternal instinct for my students… sigh.

With the summer in full swing, my morning class’ attendance is spotty. Good weather just does that. Oh well, they’re old enough to decide their priorities for themselves. The afternoon class still has nearly flawless attendance and they’re fun, too. A good group.

I went for lunch with Mike Dargie on Monday and he was point blank with me. He asked me what I wanted out of my future and where I was headed. Strange. He’s all giddy about his new job and that’s given him some heavy duty confidence. He raised some good questions though. Made me think a bit about the last 6 months. Mind you, I came to the same conclusion: I’m damn lucky to be teaching and enjoying it. It may not last forever, but I’ll make the most of it while it’s here. I’m not shutting out opportunity, but I’m also not on a mad quest either.

Actually, it’s been quite the testosterone-male kind of week. I don’t know what it is, but I’ve been bordering on macho-type stuff all week. On the weekend I was talking about how much I wanted to kick the crap out of this obnoxious “ganster-wannabee” guy on the C-Train I take to work: Ignorant bastard.

Then, I bought Fight Club on DVD today. Best film I own. It cuts right to the core. It’s shocking, brutal and amazing. Contrary to popular belief, I don’t think it’s about kicking the crap out of people. It’s the two extremes: having nothing and going wild or being a person made from their possessions and losing hope. It shows how both extremes are bad and where they lead you if you’ve got no balance. Weirdly enough, American Beauty is to Baby Boomers what Fight Club is to Generation X. A sharp stab past the prettiness showing how bad it gets underneath. Of course, most reviewers are Baby Boomer age, so it gets Academy Awards…Fight Club just makes people angry.

Still, testosterone is in the air. I’ve gotta calm down and just take it easy. I’m excited and energized lately, but I don’t know exactly why. I think I’m finally accepting that things here are going great and that they’re not just going to blow up in my face. It gives me confidence and strength in what I’m doing. It’s very liberating, actually.

The weeks are flying by and my parents will be coming out at the start of July. That ought to be nerve wracking. I’m sort of unprepared for my parents to invade my schedule out here. Of course, it’ll be incredible seeing them, I just know it’ll take a bit to get used to. I’ve really developed my own way of doing things and their schedule of life may bump it a bit. Oh well, I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Otherwise, all is good and nothing to report. Tanya’s doing awesome, although she’s sort of dreading that Petroleum Conference and the inevitable protests that will follow it. Her building is right in the thick of the mess and I’m hoping it doesn’t get out of hand.

That’s been the week. Signing off for now.

Crazy, crazy week. I had originally planned to e-mail everyone Tuesday and let them know how my birthday went, but this week has been just ballistic. Even though it was a short week with Holiday Monday, it felt longer than usual.

Birthday festivities went great. Friday night was a wild night out at the bars drinking and socializing with friends. We had a peanut fight with one of the nearby tables and generally caused trouble everywhere we went. It was a great turn out and definitely made up for the blandness of my birthday last year.

The rest of the weekend was relaxing. I took a little time to reflect on the year and where I was at this time last year. It’s been quite the journey…the ups and downs that have taken me to this point were crazy, and I’m sure there will be more. But, overall I’m strangely content with everything around me. It’s been a long time coming.

Monday heralded a great phone call from my good friend Glenn. It has begun 🙂 Glenn’s coming out to Calgary in less than a week to party possibly look for a job! Follow his wise example! Come see me in Calgary! STAY in Calgary! Okay, I’ll calm down with the salesman approach. Nonetheless, it’s gonna be great having him around, temporarily or permanent-like.

Tuesday morning I was up at 4am to get ready for the TV appearance at A-Channel here in Calgary. Unfortunately, they rescheduled and I was at the school for nothing. It made the day excruciatingly long. Yesterday, I did it again and this time everything went smoothly. I drew on camera and hung out with Jebb Fink, one of the A-Channel’s morning hosts. It was pretty fun. Of course teaching until 5:30pm made the day stupidly long, but it was a great day.

Wednesday was hanging out and seeing Disney’s Dinosaur. I hated it. Nice visuals but boring, cliché and crappy story made it unbearable. I was not impressed at all. The most depressing part is that Disney’s thrown 10’s of millions into advertising, so it’ll make hordes of cash. The entertainment industry scares me some times. It doesn’t matter if you have a great film like Iron Giant, it only matters that you have product tie in at McDonald’s like Dinosaur.

Otherwise, school has been amazing, the weather’s nice and everything is going great for me. Nothing really to complain about (strange, isn’t it?). I hope you’re all healthy and happy. I’m staying out of most trouble, but still finding adventure along the way.

It’s May in Calgary. Four days ago we were sweltering in the heat and shorts wouldn’t have been out of the question. Today it’s snowing. Snowing in May. It just makes today even more surreal.

Things are going okay. The only annoyance in my life right now is that my computer was infected with a virus (not that ILOVEYOU one) and wouldn’t boot up. Looks like I’ll be installing from scratch. Not very pleasing. I just had my home machine where I wanted it and now I’ve gotta reinstall everything. Lame. So, if I ask for confirmation of your ICQ number again, bare with me.

In a positive light, it made me realize how dependent I’ve been on my computer as of late. Spending time with friends, playing board games instead of video games and getting out has actually been a bit liberating.

My classes are going well. The new class actually has me quite excited. I think it’s going to work out great. They’re a pretty driven bunch. In other school news, the Big Breakfast (think of it like Good Morning America, just local Calgary style) will be filming the animation department at the school on Tuesday May 23rd and I’ll be drawing a little animation sequence of the host (Jebb Fink) while the cameras are rolling. It should be nerve wracking, but fun.

The vacation thing is looking less and less likely right now. Money’s gotten tight with a lot of little expenses creeping up and tons of work to do. I may not even be able to take vacation time off this summer at all. If it is does end up that way, many of you should plan your vacations out west 🙂

Seriously, I’ll help “sponsor” wonderful people to come visit me and while you’re here you can look for jobs and decide that Calgary’s your kind of city and then everything will be perfect (oops, I was thinking out loud again). Honestly though, let me know if any of you want to venture west this summer and I’ll help you plan it.

Oh yeah, saw Gladiator. It was quite good. I went in with no expectations and was satisfied with a solid movie. If you go and watch it, I think you’ll be impressed with it.

Otherwise, everyone take care. I’m thinking of you guys and dashing through zany adventures out here as always. Next week I should have an e-mail describing my strange and twisted birthday celebration. I’m sure it’ll be memorable.

A couple of solid weeks have passed and it’s May. I can’t believe I’ve been back in Calgary for 5 months already. It’s actually pretty stunning when I think about it. Spring/Summer is finally hitting us now and the sunshine and warmth are great! The nice thing about Calgary is the sun stays up forever. Last night it was 9:00 and the sun was just going down. Happy weather 🙂

With it being Spring and all, it’s appropriate that I finally let everyone know something. I’m dating someone.

“OH MY GOSH!” you gasp! “Jim doesn’t DATE people! He just gripes about never meeting women! In fact, several of his ex-girlfriends are on this e-mail list and they breathed a collective sigh of relief when he left Ontario again.” 🙂

True, true, but against all odds, I’m seeing someone and it’s going great. I didn’t want to jump the gun and announce this prematurely as it would probably blow up in my face, but it’s been several weeks and I’m feeling pretty damn good about it. Now you all know 🙂

Oh, you want some information ABOUT her? Geez, you guys are demanding…

Her name’s Tanya and although I’ve known her for a bit, it’s safe to say that this was pretty unexpected. I’ll post a photo eventually. It’s hard describing someone over e-mail. She’s a 27 year old gal from BC who’s about the same height as me with short cut brunette hair (currently with blonde highlights in the ‘do), a killer smile and nice curves (how do I say that without sounding perverted? oh well…). She’s energetic, fun and what the hell…she likes comics, animation and Strongbow.

The only thing I figure is wrong is that she must have vision problems, because she’s with me and hasn’t realized what a freak I am 🙂

So far so good. I’ve just got to make sure I stay on my toes. All this good fortune in the last couple of months will make me soft if I don’t watch it. It’s been quite a paradigm shift since early December.

Speaking of paradigm shift, I finally saw Fight Club last week. I had been meaning to check it out when it was in theatres, but just never found the time. I wish I had seen it on the big screen. It’s great. It’s not a movie for everyone, but I loved it. It’s very, very violent, but with really compelling characters and a strong message. I was totally impressed.

The new Computer Animation class started last week. I’m teaching them classical animation principles 2 days a week. This added to the night course I’m pushing for will make work pretty insane, but I’m actually looking forward to it.

I was planning to attend the San Diego Comic Con in late July this year, but now I just don’t know. I think I’ll have the money (it’ll be a little tight, but I can pull it off). I just think July will be hectic and the stress of this little jaunt down to San Diego by myself could be more hellish than fun. I want to do it, but I can’t get it through my head whether I should look at this as a business opportunity or just go to have fun. Is it worth it? I don’t know. I’ve got to decide before my birthday as the pre sign up ends right around then anyways. That gives me about 2 weeks-ish. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

Mind you, if I don’t go to San Diego, I could use my holidays to visit Ontario. It’s a tough choice. My amazing friends and family or the unknown convention. Both are pretty magnetic.

Other than that, look for more artwork on my personal website soon. I’ve got stuff, but no time to scan and post it. I’ll try to get to it this week. I hope you guys like what you see on there now. I’m pretty pleased with the last crop of life drawing I posted.

And that’s my world as of May 1st. I hope everybody’s doing well and that you this e-mail makes you happy or at least gets you thinking about me. Even if that thought is “Dammit Jim, e-mail me personally instead of your ego-inflating newsletter.” 🙂

Looking back even a day later… it’s easy for me to say that I had one of the most incredible weekends of my life. It’s hard to describe it actually. I’ll do my best. If you’re looking for a short e-mail, this is not going to be the one. Get ready for an epic tale, Zub-style!

My friend Jordie had invited my on a ski trip for the weekend. He works for the Calgary Herald newspaper and they had helped set up an event in Lake Louise. I haven’t been to Lake Louise since around August of 1998 and I figured “What the hell”. So, on Tuesday, I accepted the offer.

By Thursday, I was pretty rundown from the work week and was carefully thinking of how I could weasel out of going without making Jordie angry at me. I couldn’t think of a decent excuse and realized I was stuck. Jordie had already rented a car and was going to be picking me up at work after 4:00pm on Friday. I was actually dreading it…

Driving up to Lake Louise proved it’s own adventure. The snow was coming down hard and when we stopped for a quick bite to eat, things took a turn for the worse. Upon leaving the restaurant, Jordie discovered that he couldn’t get the doors to the car unlocked. He tried both sides and even the trunk and the key just wouldn’t work! With snow pelting down on us… we both started swearing up a blue streak. And then… I realized that we had been trying to open the wrong car. Our car was two down from where we were. Embarrassed and cold, we decided to never bring this up again. Looking back now, it was too good to pass up. Sorry, Jord 🙂

I had no idea of what was to come. Pulling around the road, we pulled up to the Chateau Lake Louise. The first words out my mouth were “There’s no way THIS is where we’re staying for free this weekend”. The view from the hotel is breathtaking and the cheapest, crappiest rooms will run you at least $500 a night. The valet took our car and we were informed that YES, this is the right spot.

Chateau Lake Louise
We registered at the front desk and received a backpack full of free stuff. From gloves to a vest, sunscreen, chocolate and more. We also received a pass that we were told to wear all the time. I had no idea at the time that this pass would be the proverbial Willy Wonka’s golden ticket.

The reception was held in the Victoria Room of the hotel. It’s a massive banquet hall with huge windows looking out at a postcard crippling view of the Rockies. I was in awe. Many of the people at the event had been coming to this for many years prior. I hope if I’m able to go back next year that I don’t take that view for granted. It’s unbelievable. After some prime roast beef and a beer, Jordie and I ducked out of the country music that would be playing and instead hit the Saloon downstairs.

The Glacier Saloon at Chateau Lake Louise is a bar only in the sense that they serve alcohol and have pool tables. I have never seen a bar so shiny with comfortable love seat type chairs at every table. This is roughing it for people with 6-figure salary jobs. Trying to relax, Jordie and I hit the pool table and after a few games, we were approached by some older ladies. They’d obviously been drinking and happily trash talked us into playing some pool. Then, they succeeded in mopping the floor with us. These shark women at the pool table kicked our asses two games in a row (it didn’t help that I made a disastrous last shot in the second game that cost us the win).

Having enough of the pool table, I decided to see if I could get some good music playing. A guy named Mel (I would later find out that he Dee Jay’s a Banff radio station) was spinning a weird mix of tunes. Some of the songs would cut out or fade at the strangest times. This was because Mel was well and truly drunk. A great guy, but he was having trouble spinning the music. I suggested some tunes and after a few minutes of us joking around he happily says:

“Hey, after this song…I’ll step down. You can DJ instead, okay?”

That’s how I ended up DJing the Glacier Saloon at Chateau Lake Louise for 3 hours of 80’s, Dance, Disco and Funk. The dance floor got packed, everybody went wild and by the end of the night the manager of the Saloon thanked me for my time and bought me more drinks. To clear the place at 2:30am , I cranked up some Let Your Backbone Slide by Maestro Fresh Wes instead of the expected slow song to finish off the evening. Within 6 hours, Jordie and I had already left our mark on Chateau Lake Louise. That was only Friday…

The Victoria Room
Saturday morning we woke up at 7am and headed to the Victoria Room for breakfast. It’s there I find out that the main event of the weekend is a Slalom Race with the major companies represented being split into teams. All of the proceeds are going towards Cystic Fibrosis Research. Each team would have a skiing Legend leading them. The Calgary Herald Team #1 was lead by Laurie Graham, a 7 times World Cup Champion and Bronze Medallist (I hope that’s right). I struck it off very well with the Herald people (you may notice their e-mail addresses attached to this newsletter list now). We joked and ate and agreed we’d all meet on the slopes.

I have never skied before. EVER. After some disastrous spills skating as a kid, I think I had a mental block against winter sports. But if I was ever going to ski, this weekend had to be it. Free Lift Tickets, great company and the most beautiful skiing conditions. I was so overwhelmed with the beauty and rush of trying to ski that I forgot some key things:
• Take a lesson before you head to the slopes.
• Make sure you know how to brake.

Over the next 2 hours, I shattered my body on the bunny hill. I rolled, tumbled and crashed about 20 times, twisting my legs in positions man was not meant to attempt. Unbelievably, I didn’t do permanent damage to myself. The 12 year olds skiing and snowboarding nearby got some entertainment out of it, too.

After a quick barbeque lunch, Jordie would be racing again and I wanted to see him tackle the slalom course. One of Herald ladies named Ronalda had a daughter named Ashley (about the same age as my cousin Lisa) who said she’d help me learn to ski and take me to the race spot.

From what I could see up the mountain, it looked like the chair lift would take me relatively close to the race point. I could then just tumble down a single hill and watch Jordie race. Once I got on the chair lift, my vantage point allowed me to note that it actually extended about 3 runs higher than I had anticipated. Ashley had to go ahead and get ready for her race and I turned my attention to getting down the mountain.

The first 18-20 falls were the worst. The rest just didn’t matter.

I was close to tears when my leg wrapped around into a sort of reverse cross-legged position. After that, the pain was enough that I just didn’t notice anymore. I tumbled down the hills cursing, spitting and praying that I wouldn’t wreck everyone’s weekend by needing to be hospitalized. Somehow I made it to the race spot, looking like an abominable snowman. 2 minutes later, Jordie was off and I’d made it just in time. I watched the racers and cheered them on while TSN filmed the whole thing. It was very cool, until I realized that I’d have to make my way down the rest of the mountain. We won’t go through that series of crashes…

Getting back to the Chateau, I rested in bed while my calves screamed in agony until dinnertime. Luckily, red wine was free flowing over dinner and by the time the 4th course of meal came, I didn’t feel a thing. Jordie succeeded in embarrassing me quite a bit when he brought down my sketchbook. I did some quick caricatures and tried to convince people I wasn’t a complete klutz like I appeared on the hill.

In all seriousness, the weekend’s proceeds were going towards Cystic Fibrosis and there were some emotional speeches and big cheques handed out towards the charity. A lot of fun for a great cause.

That night, it was free beer at the Glacier Saloon and a live band kicked up some awesome music. It was surreal, dancing with Olympic champs, big media types and friends all at the same time. Jordie and I hung out with some of the people we’d met and winded down the night chatting about jobs, skiing and ice cream (hard to explain).

At around 3am, Jordie and I went outside and checked out the incredible view of Lake Louise under moonlight. The fresh air, cold beer and stunning view will stick with me for a long time.

Sunday morning was another barbeque at the slopes and an awards ceremony for a race held that morning. The 40 Legends who were Team Leaders raced each other and Laurie, our champ… won in the Ladies Division. It was the perfect capper to the best weekend. Everyone was smiling and the people I met hoped that Jordie and I could come next year. If given the chance, I won’t hesitate for a second.

The drive home was a relaxing zoom along the clear roads with a startling blue sky. We finished off our rolls of film and hit the mall for some 1 hour processing.

After the difficult days I’ve had for the last few weeks, it was the perfect vacation. I’m in pain today, but I’ve still got a grin and a hell of a tan. An adventure that I won’t forget.

Thanks to everyone who’s just joined this list. You guys and gals made the weekend sparkle. To everyone else, check out the photos and start planning trips to Calgary 🙂

View From the Chateau

My brother called earlier tonight. I wasn’t here but listening to the answering machine I knew something was very wrong. The tone of Joe’s voice had a bit of a rasp and I knew he’d been crying. I called him back and received the news.

Joe and Heather lost their first child today before the kid even had a chance to be born. The baby was due in June. We still don’t know exactly how it happened or what the complications may be. Needless to say, my night’s been somewhat numb since I found out.

I don’t know what else to say. These kind of things snap the world into place for you. This is where I get all cheesy and poetic and stuff…Deal with it.

This is the sort of thing that makes you appreciate life a little more. It’s a heck of a privilege, not a right or an assumption.

I don’t need condolences because it’s not so much my loss as it is my brother’s and his wife’s. I feel horrible, but it can’t be a fraction of what they’re feeling tonight.

I just want all of you who are on this list to think about the people close to you and appreciate them. Show them a piece of affection for no reason at all. Just because you should. Don’t take it for granted tomorrow.

Thanks.
I miss you guys.
Take care.

Long time no type. I can’t believe it’s been almost a month since I last sent out an update to all of you.

Well, St. Patrick’s Day was a wild night of spirits and fun 🙂

4 bars in 5 hours…needless to say, yesterday I was recovering. Today my body’s given in to the old season-changing cold that tends to float around. So, I’m sniffing and coughing while typing this out. What a great visual.

Except for this sniffle, things have been great. The house is kicking ass and I’ve been cooking all manner of meals for myself (I know I keep bringing this up, but compared to last year’s fast food frenzy, it’s a huge change). My roommate’s heading away next weekend to BC, so I’ll have the place to myself. It’ll be a good chance to just chill out and sleep a LOT.

Freelance work has been good and it’ll help me pay for my vacation plans this summer. I’d like to go to Ontario for a few days, but it’ll depend on several factors. I’ll keep you all posted.

I’ve been on a DVD buying blitz after talking about them for a couple hours with my friend Mike from Oshawa. I’m starting to go rabid for classic films as well as my old favorites and of course, tons of animation.

WHAT I’M READING:
I just finished the first book of a comic called Transmetropolitan. it’s bizarre but impressive. It’s about a journalist who returns to the city after years in self-exile and the way society’s changed in some ways, but stayed the same in way too many others.

WHAT I’M PLAYING:
My friend Tanya lent me the old Neverhood game by Dreamworks Interactive. It’s a cool claymation puzzle-solving game. It may be several years old, but it’s still great. The sequel, Skull Monkeys is even better.

WHAT I’M LISTENING TO:
I’m sort of hitting the old rotation of Crash Test Dummies, Cranberries, Cardigans and They Might Be Giants. Nostalgia can be good 🙂

Until next time, take care.