art

I've been thinking for a while that I need to get back into my artwork, and I'm pretty sure the time to do it is now. Or at least, now, as in during the time I have off from work during Christmas. I was looking at some pictures I took today of a girl, Lisa Conway, and there's one I really like of her standing in this nook of a building, all huddled up in her coat, looking off at something outside of the frame. It's not necessarily a newspaper shot, but it is a shot I could work with in charcoal. There's another one, a profile shot I took at the recent Red Hat Ladies tea, that I had similar thoughts about.

boo! It's almost Christmas

You will be happy to hear I have had no new spaghetti issues in the past six days.

I did, however, turn around yesterday and discover that Christmas had snuck up on me. Thirteen days from now it will be Christmas Day. Oy. Maybe it's time I sent all those Christmas cards, eh?

I think I may have made a record in photography sales. At the Interior News, we make $8 whenever someone comes into the paper and buys one of our photos. I sold 12 the other day! I wish I could say it was my amazing photography skills, but I'm pretty sure it mostly came down to luck. I did an 'Our Town' profile on a woman with Down syndrome here in Smithers, and her mother bought the photos I took to send to the relatives for Christmas.

Speaking of 'Our Town' profiles... The things are a major pain in the patooie. I have to do one a week. The paper has been running this feature, and a virtually identical one called 'Our Sports Town' in the paper every week for the past two years. You do the math... How many more interesting people can there be in the Bulkley Valley for me to interview?

I did get a refreshing break from it this week. This week, I interviewed Mrs. Claus about Santa's high blood pressure and her fondness for Tim Rice Lib Tech snowboards. It was an entirely factual and accurate piece, I assure you. I got her number off a friend of a friend and phoned her up in Santa's workshop on the North Pole.

spaghetti

I just had a meal of cold spaghetti.

It didn't start out cold. Oh, no. That happened when I inadvertently dumped the whole load of spaghetti down the sink when I was trying to drain the water.

Now some of you may be saying, "Katie, this happens EVERY time you try to drain spaghetti using a pot lid."

Well, aren't you smart?

Actually, when the spaghetti all fell in the sink, it was still hot. I discovered this when I tried to use my fingers to scoop it back into the pot. It got cold when I ran cold water into it to clean it off.

In other news, I watched a most excellent movie the other night. I really must recommend it, as I suspect most of you have never seen it. It's a New Zealand flick called Black Sheep, or La Nuit de Moutons. It involves man-eating were-sheep. Need I say more?

Must sign off now, as I need to go back to the office and call a man about suicides among aboriginal teenagers.

If someone were to do a graph, and track my ratio of posts to having a life -- and anyone who would do that would be suffering from even less of a life than I myself am -- I suspect the graph would go like this: active social life, little to no posts. No life, posts every day.

Hmmm... What does that say about my current situation?

Having said that, I'm fairly content with how my life is unfolding at the moment. I seem to be kind of floating along right now, not making any waves. At the point when cruise control become overwhelmingly tedious, I guess I'll have to grab hold of the reins. Wow... Within two sentences, I managed to compare my life to a boat, a car and a horse. It's a wonder anything I write for the paper makes sense.

I managed to get sick last week, so I didn't accomplish all my goals for the week. Having said that, I do think I improved the quality of photographs I was submitting to the paper significantly.

Hmmm... Not much else to say, really. I had some very interesting and witty comments thought up, but I forgot them somewhere along the way. No doubt as soon as I post this blog I'll remember what they were.

Here goes... I leave the witty comment, a la Katie, up to you today.

a web link

Ashley sent me this link last night.

www.freerice.com

Basically, it's a vocabulary test. For every word you get right, 10 grains of rice get donated to someone in a third world country. I keep getting up to 150 grains of rice, and then my vocabulary seems to fly out the window, alas.

Sometimes my life is so exciting it's scary!

...stupid dogs...

Well, the little ankle biters were standing at the door staring at me, so I figured I'd take them out back to their kennel. I've done it before. They all just kind of dart around my ankles and run into the kennel.

Anyhow, one of them. The one whose name may or not be Mia, or Chia, or something like that -- the black and white one -- took off.

The woman I'm staying with often complains about Mia/Chia/black and white dog, but still, in spite of having said, "I wouldn't mind if she just lost herself," I didn't figure she'd be that pleased to find her gone.

So.

I brought the other two back in, and proceded to holler "hey puppy!" for the black and white one to no avail. Finally, I went back inside figuring she's small and has very little hair, so sooner or later she'll get tired of the snow and cold and come home... Hopefully, before her owner does!

On about my fifth trip to the door, sure enough, there she was on the porch shivering and waiting to come in. I opened the door for her, and what's-his-name, the youngest one (Chi Chi, maybe?) took off through the opening. Dammit. Again, who knows where he's gone. Back to hollering "hey puppy!"

...oh, the last dog just came home, so I guess this blog rant is over.

Life in Smithers, take 2

Well, today I just put my third paper to bed. It's hard to believe I've been working at the paper for three weeks now... That means I've been in Smithers for almost a month! Still feels like just yesterday Thom was picking me up at the bus stop and I was hearing smart alecky comments about my lovely Simon Chang coat.

This week, I very nearly reached my story quota... Which means next week I will definitely make, and bypass the quota. Damn straight!

My big problem is pictures, and I don't even know why it's such a big problem. I have an extensive fine arts background, I should be able to snap a good photo, right? Maybe I'm just lazy. Or maybe, I'm just -- as I was once told -- a perfectionist who would rather not do it at all if I can't do it perfectly the first time.

I saw my first moose earlier this week. Actually, this week I saw two! It was very exciting, I assure you. In my time at Banff I saw countless elk, but not one moose. Steve pointed one out, one day while we were on a trail ride, but I was too busy giving my tourist spiel and by the time I looked it was gone, alas.

I am no longer the new reporter at the paper. My position has been supplanted by Mike, whose last name I cannot spell, nor pronounce. He is our new sports reporter and comes to us from Montreal.

Quinn, after a week of dithering (yes, Quinn, I know you read this blog, and yes, I did say dithering) has finally decided he is definitely-probably-almost certainly-yes, for sure leaving town. Which means, since I am taking over his apartment, that when my mother comes at Christmas I will have a place for her to stay!

Some of you might assume Quinn's departure means I will soon be scaling the ranks to senior reporter -- But no, a fellow by the name of Ryan is returning to the paper to take over that position. Ryan seems to be a very nice person, so I will try not to resent him too much.

That's it folks. Nothing more to report.

Oh... I finished knitting the hat. Am not sure I'm satisfied with it. May unravel it and start again.

So... Smithers

No, I don't hate Smithers.

I've been asked if that was what was meant by the title of my last blog entry there: Change is bad, and now for some change.

But no, Smithers is so far just fine.

It seems like a nice little town.

Housing has been a bit of a problem. Smithers is a mining town in the middle of a boom, so there's not much available out there. In fact, that was what my first article for the paper was about.

Anyhow, right now I'm renting a room from a very nice lady named Joan. Joan has three little, yappy chiuahua-type dogs. She works at the local local hospital and is very mellow in that perma-fried former hippy kind of way. I'm renting this room week by week, and plan to move into my fellow reporter Quinn's place when he vacates it sometime next month.

And with that, on to my job.

Right now, the paper's writing staff consists of myself and Quinn. Next week, a new sports reporter from Montreal starts. I've been told I'm the first reporter to not start on the sports beat, a fact I am thankful for.

Once this new guy starts, the paper will be up to full staff (three). Quinn is planning on leaving us for the bright lights of Vancouver sometime next month, whereupon, I suppose, we will be back down to two --- although Todd, the publisher/editor tells me he has a stack of applications on his desk.

Nothing terribly interesting to relate right now. I'm in the process of knitting a hat, bought with yarn from the store nextdoor to the paper, but that's about it.

Oh, and if you want to check out the paper, here's a link: interior-news.com

Change is Bad... And now for some change (aka Yes, Katie finally updated her blog)

Do you remember that Hershey’s commercial with the little boy attending school? The first year, he has a beautiful, soft spoken teacher who you just know smells like freshly baked cookies and gives great hugs. The next year, he walks into the classroom that first day and is greeted by a fire breathing old bat---you know the one. You had her as a teacher at some point, for sure. “CHANGE IS BAD,” the commercial says, and then continues with “Hershey’s, unchanged since blah, blah, blah (I’m no go with dates).

Anyhow, I’ve always kind of agreed with that philosophy. Secretly--and sometimes not so secretly--I consider ‘change for the sake of change’ people to be wingnuts and idiots. I subscribe to the ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ theory of life.

A few weeks ago I visited my college town of Woodstock, N.B. Imagine my dismay--nay, my horror--to discover that my beloved Riverside Pub was in the midst of a renovation. Gone, I was told, were the tables decorated with laminated beer caps. Gone was the wooden table that I had chipped the paint off of in the shape of a peacock (the owner of said table did not seem to appreciate my artistry). The bar and eating area were now two separate areas: the restaurant now served by bitchy waitresses instead of the bartender whenever he could spare himself from the bar.

“It’s classy,” I was told.

This change made no sense to me. College students frequent the Riverside because of its close proximity to the school--not because of its ‘class.’ They go because on Thursdays, happy hour offers two for one bar shots. It’s the start of a Thursday night that begins with the consumption of as many doubles as is humanly possible in an hour, followed by stumbling home and continuing to drink for the next several hours, followed by stumbling out to the pool hall later that night for more of the same. All of which, of course, in a time honoured tradition, is followed by stumbling into class Friday morning a little green around the gills, if not still drunk.

I ask you: why would they mess with that?

What, you may ask, is the point of this nostalgic monologue on evil elementary school teachers and the alcoholism of college students?

I guess the point of it all is that I’m a bit of a hypocrite. Yes, change is bad. Except, that is, when I’m the one who has decided to make the change.

When last I updated this blog I was living in Banff, Alberta. Since then, I’ve been home to New Brunswick, have visited my family in Ontario, and am now living in Smithers, B.C.

It was time, I guess, for a change

choices.... choices....

Where do I want to go next? I'm pretty much 95% sure I've had my fill of Banff for a while.

I'm going to go home for a bit, but what after that? I'm thinking New Zealand right now, but I don't really have any concrete plans for there... I'm also thinking Nunavut at some point. Then again, maybe I should give some serious thought for working for a small community paper for a while.

What do you think?

sorry about the long absence...

But I moved into a new staff accommodation located almost directly beside the stables, and it doesn't have internet. The old digs didn't have internet, either, but they did require me to walk by the internet cafe on the way home from work, and I used to pop in on nights when I wasn't too tired.

Anyhow... Life. Where shall I start?

I was at my very first whipping competition tonight. A bunch of the Warners staff were showing off their whip skills. Trish, an Australian girl who works in the store is quite amazing. She can do all sorts of tricks and twirl and crack two bullwhips at the same time. She and Ronnie, one of the Aussie guys, got in a whip off, which turned into a whip fight. I gather whipping is a competitive sport in certain circles over there.

I also took Chief, my old appaloosa friend, out for a jaunt after work tonight. We rode up through the quarry and down through one of the subdivisions and the Bow River park. It was nice. Usually, I go out with a group and we race through the pathways at breakneck speeds (always keeping an eye out for pedestrians and park wardens, since we really aren't allowed to do that), but tonight Chief and I stuck to a trot for most of it...

Andy, my British photographer, and I broke up. It sucks, and I really hope it's not for good--which no doubt sounds odd, seeing as how I was the one who instigated the breakup.

Anyhow, I went up to Sundance Lodge last weekend. It was beautiful up there. So peaceful. No way in but on foot or by horseback, and no way of communicating with the outside world except by radio. It had been supposed to be a vacation on my weekend off, but at quite literally the last minute Barry, the foreman, told me he needed a second guide to go out to the lodge with a group of guests. I had time to go home and get changed into work clothes and that was it. So, it wasn't the lazy weekend I had hoped/planned for, but it was a lot of fun notheless. We sang around a campfire and made smores and then the next day I learned how to pack a mule.

I took some pictures today. It rained all day, and as the horses were being let out to feed in the evening a rainbow broke across the sky. I'll try to post those pictures sometime soon.

Now, I'm going to go home. I have to be at work in eight hours.

I've been meaning to post an entry for quite a while. I compose them in my head while I'm on the trail, and then never have the time to get online after work.

Anyhow, life's pretty good.

Watched the Canada Day fireworks from the barns. The fireworks were being set of in the adjacent field, so the show was spectacular. A bunch of us sat in one of the covered wagons and drank beer til the show started.

Work's good, if hard. I took a couple from Minnesota on a private three-hour ride the other day and got a $40 tip for my troubles. They were very nice--he owned a landscaping company, and she was an events planner. We spent the three hours discussing topics ranging from paintbrush flowers to serial killers.

I'm sure there's a whole lot of other stuff that I could tell you, but I can't think of it right now... But yes, I am alive and well.

the cowgirl life

First, appologies to my sister... I will try to give you lots to live vicariously through in this post.

I suppose first an anecdote about working with a criminal wouldn't hurt: When I first started working at the barns there was a big, burly guy by the name of John working there. John was a racist loudmouth and generally considered to be a bit of a jerk, but you know, whatever. John was supposedly a rodeo star from Texas, where his parents had a big Quarter Horse ranch.

Anyhow, one day John asks my friend Pam if he can borrow her car to go into Calgary. Pam loans him the car. He does not return that night, nor the next night. Then her credit card is used in Olds, Alberta... THEN she calls the cops. It is at this point that we find out John already has warrants out for his arrest. Oh, and he's from Ontario, not Texas.

For a week or two nothing happens. The cops are looking for John, Pam is looking for John, my boss, Ron, is looking for John, and John's old roommate, who he stiffed for the cable and internet bill is looking for John.

Then, one day, a woman calls from Olds. A fellow named John is dating her daughter. He says he works for Warner Stables, and she wants to know if there is anything she should know about him.

"Yeah, call the cops."

Other than that, life's pretty much settled into a routine. I've developed a hardcore farmer's tan. I work a lot. I party occasionally, although not so often as most of the people I work with. I'm dating a very nice Brit who is a photographer for us down at the corrals (the Fairmont).

Now, I must go do my laundry and pick up an ice cream cake. I have no clean clothes, and it's my friend Tia's birthday tonight.

a surprise day off!

Apparently the ranch foreman accidentally missed scheduling me for one of my days off, so today I get to merrily stroll about town before going back to those 6 a.m. workdays.

I'm going horseback riding later today with a couple of my co-workers. One of them, Mike, told me to call him when I got up this morning: "But I get up kinda early, Mike." I woke up at 5:30 this morning, woke again at 7:00, and finally called Mike at a little after 8:30, to his great dismay. Hey, he INSISTED. Anyhow, Whitney, Mike and I are going out to who knows where in a while. Sarah, my roommate may come too, if I can get her out of bed.

In the meantime, I think I'll mosy on over to the bakery and maybe the kayaking place as well

my job

Okay, this is actually a section of a letter that I just finished writing... But I figured I would post it here just to give you all an idea of what exactly I do every day.

Here's an average day at work:

Work starts at 6:00 a.m. I hitch a ride into work with some of my housemates. We put hay and grain out in the outdoor stalls, and then open the gate to the 'dude horses' pasture. The dude horses pile on out and find themselves a stall and start munching away. While they're busy eating, we go along and put a halter on each horse (they know what's going on and very politely lift up their heads and poke them into the halters). At the same time as they're being haltered up, someone else is going along and setting the horse's saddle on the wall beside him (they're all geldings). Once they're all haltered, we brush them all down: this is a really quick brushing and takes less than a minute per horse---basically, we concentrate on the saddle area and ignore the rest unless he's caked in mud. Then, we saddle them up.

Once the dude horses are saddled, we grab a halter and head over to the guide horse corral. There, Booner, the foreman, assigns each of us our horse for the day. Usually, I wind up with Chief, a big appaloosa. I share Chief with another girl, though, so sometimes she has him and I wind up with another horse... Sometimes that horse is a guide horse, and sometimes it's a dude horse that just got in from a winter in the back country and that they want to test out before they send back to the dude pen.

As soon as I've saddled my horse and made sure he has food, I hop back in the car and head back to staff accom. Usually, it's around 6:45 at this point...

I have to be back at work again at 8:00. Once we roll in again at 8:00, we grab the dude horses and take them over to their pen. Usually, we grab three or four of them at a time, to make things go a bit faster. Once they're in the pen, we take their halters off and bridle them. Then, we do the same for our own horses.

And then, our day begins! Rides start at 9:00 and leave every hour on the hour. From the main stables, we offer every thing from one hour to three hour rides. We also offer half day rides, full day rides, breakfast rides and steak fry rides... Everything up to six day rides, actually.

I'm only doing the one to three hour rides right now, with the occasional steak fry thrown in there. On average, I usually spend between 5 and 7 hours in the saddle, but that'll probably go up in number once the busy season starts. The other day, I came in from a ride and went straight back out on another without my feet ever touching ground.

When I'm not guiding, I'm usually doing barn chores. That involves a lot of shovelling manure (we can't have the paying customers seeing horse poop). I've also helped fix a few fences and have learned how to hook up and drive the draft horses, which means I can now drive the shit wagon over to the manure pile... The joy!

I'm usually out of the stables by around 6:30... 8:30 if I go on the steak fry.

Of course, that's just my day if I'm at the main stables.

Sometimes, I'm stationed over at our other location by the Fairmont. If that happens, my day starts pretty much the same, but I have to be back from breakfast by 7:45, so that we can tie the horses together and guide a string over them over to the 'Spray River Corrals' as it's called. The Corrals are pretty fun... because we don't have a foreman there watching over us and no barn to clean, we tend to spend the time not guiding playing card games or napping. We only offer two trails there, a one hour and a three hour, but both are very cool and involve a lot of river fording and mountain climbing.

Anyhow, that's my summer job for you... I wrote my 'guide test' today, which means I will soon be officially guiding, as opposed to just kind of tagging along on the rides.

Being a cowgirl is hard work.

I'm really tired. It's taking me twice as long as usual to write this entry, because I keep typing in the wrong letters and having to go back and correct 'em. If I haven't corrected them all... Oops.

I learned how to hitch a draft horse up to a wagon today! I also learned how do drive him. Awesome, eh? I drove the shit wagon all the way over to the giant shit pile.

Tomorrow's my day off, which is excellent. I've been getting up at 6 a.m. every morning and working until 8:30 every night. My muscles are sore and my body is all bruised. My formerly pretty fingernails are disgusting.

All moved in and ready to start work in the morning

So, tomorrow after I finished writing that blog entry I finished moving in. Then, my new roommate and I decided our room was too small and repacked all our stuff and moved into a HUGE room in the basement of the house across the street.

My new roommate's name is Sarah. She's from Nova Scotia and seems like she'll be a lot of fun.

Sarah and I headed down to Warner Stables at around 5 for 'beer time' with the cowboys/girls. We all sat in a circle by one of the barns and drank Pilsner. Then, we headed back to our new house, where our new housemate, Richard, cooked us spagetti. What an excellent fellow!

After that, Sarah and I headed over to visit with Texas John, one of the Warner crew. He reshaped our cowboy hats for us and showed off all his rodeo trophys, etc... He showed us pictures of his parent's Quarter Horse spread in Texas. Very nice. The three of us went to the Rose and Crown, where nothing at all was happening. I did, however, notice that bartenders are very impressed by cowboys/girls. ...Actually, I noticed the same reaction when Sarah and I went to breakfast at Bruno's today.

Anyhow, looks like it's going to shape up into a fun summer.

Went on a trail ride today. Start work tomorrow.

Moving Day

I really quite detest moving... even when I am just moving one block over. It is beyond me how I have managed to accumulate such a large amount of useless shit in such a short amount of time. About half an hour ago I was pushing a grocery cart full of my belongings across the street, tripped on the curb and took a header into traffic. I then decided maybe it was time to take a breather from the whole moving thing, so here I am, sitting in the internet cafe.

I start work at Holiday on Horseback on Wednesday. Right now, I'm enjoying my four days of freedom.

I spent the weekend in Calgary visiting with Rokaya and Chris. It was a good time... Friday, Rokaya has a 'girl's night.' We did manicures and pedicures... Girly stuff. I also wound up doing a ton of shopping (well, not really a ton by most people's standards, but considering this is me, the anit-shopper talking, a ton). It's been getting warm, and I have almost no spring/summer clothes here in Alberta. Oops.

Okay. Break time's over. Back to ye olde grinde.

shwa...

The kitchen is clean. It was a frickin' pigsty when I started cleaning it an hour ago. But now, it shines. And none of the previous mess was mine, thank you muchly... but according to the schedule on the bulletin board, it was my week to clean the kitchen, so... Having said that, I had forgotten how satisfying I find cleaning. It's dirty, you make it clean: presto, you have affected a dramatic change in the world!

I worked the 5:30 a.m. shift today. It was supposed to be 5:45, but Alex asked me to come in early. Yay. I got out of there before 10, though! And tomorrow's my last full time shift at the restaurant!

Sarah, my friend who went to Queen's at the same time as me, but who I didn't meet 'til I came to Banff, and I went hiking today. She's got a car--a nice one, at that--so we drove out to Lake Minnewanka. The sun was out, the air was fresh. I've been missing springtime in the Maritimes, but this was pretty nice, too.

I am actually in a pretty good mood, these days

Mom tells me that my last few posts have seemed somewhat grouchy/bitter, so I thought I should clarify that point.

Yesterday, I had the day off. I went on a hike of Grotto Canyon with Alec, a guy from my staff accom, his buddy whose name escapes me, and James, a.k.a Prettyboy from the U.K., who used to work with my roomie Jess. Then, in the evening I went out for drinks with John, who my former boss Pam has been after me about since the second day I started working at Snowflake. The drinks wound up streching out over 4 hours, before I had to cut it short and go home (5:45 a.m. work-day today).

And then today, as I just mentioned, I was at the Inns of Banff by 5:45 a.m. Fun, fun. My boss, who was also there, asked me if I was all right: "You look like shit."

Me: "It's 5:45 in the morning."

Why, you may ask, were we there at that time? A group of 120 Japanese schoolkids wanted to eat at 6:00 a.m. It was quite a surreal sight. They marched in by class and found their seats, chanting something as they walked in. Once they found their chairs they sat with their heads bowed until everyone had filed in. Then, the headmaster jerked his hands in the air, and two teachers ran forward in unison to close the doors. He made a brief speach and the kids, again by class, filed up to eat off the buffet.

I was in charge of tea and coffee.

The early morning kind of sucked, but I was also out of there by 10 a.m. Not bad at all.

I served two tables frozen chickens last night.

Which went over well, not just with them, but with all the surrounding tables who had ordered chicken.

One lady called me over.

"Oh, they weren't raw," I said. "They were just frozen." Apparently frozen, previously cooked chicken is just as bad as raw chicken.

I don't eat at the restaurant much.

work = ugh!

So, today I came into work a few minutes before my starting time of 6:30. I WOULD LIKE TO EMPHASIZE THAT MY START TIME WAS 6:30. The restaurant was dark, but as I approached, I could see figures standing in it. I stepped over a dead bird that was lying in the entryway of the hotel, and entered the restaurant. One of the front desk guys was standing in there, along with a few of the cooks, and a japanese tourist.

"Hey, there's a dead bird..." says I.

"Where the hell have you been?" asks the bellman. "The restaurant is supposed to open for a japanese tour group in five minutes, and nothing been done."

Just to clarify, two servers always come in a half hour before the restaurant opens and get it set up for the day. There's a huge amount of stuff that needs to be done behind the scenes, and never enough time to do it.

Today, however, that didn't happen. Myself an Magda were scheduled to open the restaurant at the same time as a group of 21 japanese tourists were scheduled to dine.

Yay.

I turned on the lights and threw a pot of coffee on. What else could I do? The customers kept coming up and asking me, "Um... Where is the ----?" At which point I would run and get the ketchup, the cream, the bread, the butter, or whatever else hadn't been brought out yet.

Good times.

And then... THEN... We had 100 middle school kids in for lunch. They were having fajitas. And of course they didn't understand the concept of one serving each, or portion sizes, which meant that some kids wound up with four helpings, while others wound up with none. I also wound up with none, which sucked, since the only reason I like working buffet functions is because I get to eat the leftovers.

Good times.

the intransience of Banff...

My roommate, Jess, has been packing her bags for the past two days. Our room is a mess. Jess is off to Hawaii to catch some sun, and then she's going home to the U.K.

The Aussie's are all packing their bags, too. Frosty flies home tomorrow. Ben flies to a job in Sweden. Chris and Jus are doing a quick tour of North America, and then they head back to Aus.

MJ, who lives in room 4, and has been dating Chris, is moving back to Montreal. Claire, who only just moved into the room beside me is moving back to Ontario next month....

And even the people who are staying here in Banff are moving.

Magda, my super at the restaurant is moving up to the campgrounds on Tunnel Mountain for the summer. It started out as just one person, Remi in maintenance, moving up there. Now half the staff seem to be! I'm kind of envious. It looks like a fun way to spend the summer. If I wasn't moving into the staff accom for the stables, I'd do it! In any case, I'm definitely checking out their bonfire in a few weeks time.

It's a beautiful day in Banff!

I worked from 6 a.m. until 2:30 at the restaurant today, then went for a walk down by the river. Visited my future place of employment. Now I'm tired and thinking a nap might be nice...

I don't work until 4:30 tomorrow, a fact which is also nice.

The end.

yay, facebook!

I found Laura Redman today! We went to Queen's together, and rented a apartment together our second year... I lost touch with after I left Kingston. Lost her email address and everything when my icq crashed a few years ago, alas.

The internet is an amazing thing, isn't it?

And now I must go to bed, because I have to be at work at 6:00 a.m. tomorrow... We have four tour groups coming into the restaurant.

My last day at Snowflake was today, by the by! I only have one job now! No more 14 hour days! I feel so FREE!

Oh... I'm thinking about taking a break between the two jobs. Any ideas as to what I should do? My now-former Snowflake manager, Pam, told me to go somewhere sunny. Mom said to go visit the sister in Ontario. Opinions? Suggestions?

the semi-weekly update

Hello, all!

Well... let's see... what's new with me?

It's three in the morning, and I just got back from a house party at my assistant manager's house. I have to work at nine tomorrow, but I'm trying to sober up a bit first.

The party was a blast, though! ... And still going strong when I left. It was Marie-Josee's going-away party. I'm going to miss her! She's heading back to Montreal to be with her boyfriend.

I attended another going-away party on Sunday. Hannah flew home to England this afternoon. This morning, I was walking with her. She turned to me and said, "You know what I'm going to miss about Canada?" I had been walking and thinking about how beautiful the mountains were... So guess what she's going to miss the most about Canada? Our free refills on soft drinks!

Anyhow... Is anything else new in my life? Hmmm.... I joined Facebook the other day, and have already reconnected with my friend Jen Mitchell, who I lived with at Queen's. Jen is now married and has a kid.

Speaking of Queen's... I met a girl at tonight's party who attended Queen's at the exact same time as me, and who came to Banff at the exact same time as me. She's working as an X-ray technician at the hospital. We even have friends in common. How awesome is that!? Exchanged phone numbers, and will have to hang out sometime.

And now, I must say adeau. Like I said before: I work in less than six hours.

itchy feet

I think I need to get a haircut. I'm feeling restless. And yes, the two are connected. When I start to feel the need for a change the first thing that goes is my hair. I've been pretty content the last year or so, which is how my hair has managed to grow shoulder length and stay blond.

I start my new job next month. Not a moment too soon, in my opinion. I'm going stir crazy, and it doesn't help that all the friends I've made here in Banff are leaving me. My house mates are heading off to the U.K. and Aus in the next few weeks.

It's time to try something new. I had been considering spending another winter here, but I just don't know anymore. If I do, I need to try something different, job-wise. And if I do, next season I'm definitely putting in more time on the slopes. My skiing hasn't improved a bit since I came to Banff, and that's just SAD.

This morning, while I was at work at Inns, I saw a man unicycle through the parking lot. It brightened my day a bit, and I remembered that learning to unicycle was on a to-do list I made last year. Back when I was at Queen's, there was a fellow who unicycled to class everyday...

This is a dead month for Banff. The ski season is drawing to a close, but the hiking season has yet to begin. The hotels are all empty, and so are the stores. It's no good for business, and no good for tips. I made five dollars the other day, and today, which as a Saturday is traditionally the busiest day of the week for the restaurant, I made twenty dollars It's disgusting. If I didn't live in staff accommodation, and therefore have to work, I would take the next week or so off. As it is, the restaurant can't give me enough hours... The have too many staff, and too few customers.

What all this means, is that I need to book a hair appointment.

A quick note... I actually wrote this last night, but then my internet connection decided to spaz out on me. I didn't wind up booking a hair appointment... Went out with my roomie, Jess, instead, and watched her spend an obscene amount of money on three t-shirts and a pair of shorts. In a bit, I'm heading to the Keg for supper, but first I think I may need a rejuvinating nap.

Still tired, but this time I have an excuse

Well, I hope everyone had a most excellent Easter!

Ryan Hilliard, a friend of mine from my NBCC-Woodstock days came up (or maybe down?) from Edmonton for the long weekend. It was great to see another East-coaster, and it was also wonderful to see a familiar face from home. Ryan slept on the couch at my staff accomodation, which is reason #1 that I am tired: we aren't allowed to have overnight guests, and every time a door opened in the house, I woke up, convinced it was Pam, the building manager coming in for an improptue inspection.

In any case, I managed to beg, borrow and steal some time off from work. We went up to the Banff Centre and saw the new exhibit there. The exhibit, called Beckett, is a series of video installations inspired by Samuel Beckett. There is one entitled 'Clown Torture' that is just trippy. As soon as I saw it, it brought back memories of my old housemate Ed Duncan, who was terrified of clowns. (I miss you, Ed! If by chance you stumble across this blog, send me a line, eh?)

We also went on a long hike out by some lake or another just outside of town. We managed to get hopelessly lost in a marsh of overgrown pussy-willows. At one point, while we were charging through the brush we came across four elk---they very politely ignored us and continued the important business of lolling around and eating the bark off trees. I took a nap on a dock on the lake and wound up with what could be described politely as a healthy glow.

Anyhow, it was awesome to see you, Ryan! Come visit me again soon.

I've also been working lots. Yesterday was one of my lovely 14-hour work days, where I go straight from one job to the other. After work, I went down to the Bear's Den Pub and had a few drinks with Irish Angela, Aussie Ben and Ryan. Fun stuff. We got to see Matt, the bartender, have a fit and chase some teenagers out of the bar after they refused to tip him.

Today, I'm back working at Snowflake. After work tonight I may or may not go over to bartender Matt's place. He's having a barbecue or something for Angela and Ben, who are, alas, leaving town.

TIRED

I am extremely tired.

So tired, that when Tina and I finished dinner last night, I went straight home and went to bed (at 8:00 p.m.), waking briefly at around midnight to have a conversation with Justin the Aussie and then crawling back into bed again until 8:a.m.

So, I missed saying goodbye to Brady, and yet am still exhausted. Goodbye, Brady! :(

My dreams last night were dominated bye a serial killer in the sewers, a pack of wild dogs, an escalator that went far too fast, a medical check-up and a man who wouldn't stop text-messaging me. Somehow, this made up one, semi-coherent dream.

Now, I must return to work. Au reviour.

Happy April, Fools!

Got a call today at the restaurant from "Room 123." The gentleman there was looking to order a Jambalaya, and his name, he said, was "Big Load." Uh huh. It was Chris, a.k.a That Weird German Guy Who Works in Maintenance.

Then, the I.T. guy from head office came up to me and very slyly informed me that he had forgotten to bring money for a tip (head office doesn't pay for food---they all have accounts). "I'll bring money in later," he said, "or maybe I can just buy you a drink?" Katie being slow on the uptake sometimes, I didn't clue in to the fact that he was asking me out until after I had already agreed.

Brady, a.k.a Sideways Cap Guy, is leaving town on Tuesday. He's going back to London, Ontario to finish his diploma in Journalism. This means tonight will be a party night, in all likelihood.

Oh, and my friend Ryan Hilliard, from NBCC-Woodstock, might be coming to visit me Easter Weekend! Ryan's living up in Edmonton, right now, and has just acquired wheels.

Anyhow, must go and meet up with my friend Tina for dinner at Carumba's.

My Grandmother

When I was a little girl, I liked to play hairdresser. My 'Granny' was a frequent client, or victim, as the case may be. I remember getting her circular brush hopelessly stuck in her hair---a traumatic experience, to be sure, that is still embedded in my brain (as deeply embedded as that brush was in Granny's hair) almost 20 years later.

Some of my earliest memories centre around my Grandmother's farm. I remember swinging from a tree, my grandmother having brought the swing out and hung it from the tree in honour of my sister's and my visit. I remember lots and lots of kittens, many of them the result of drive-by 'cattings.' I remember going down to the barn to stare at the cows, always an exciting passtime, to be sure.

Pink Flamingos. In the summer, the front yard of Granny's house was always full of lawn ornaments. Whenever I see a pink flamingo I immediately think of her. I think I may get my occasionally garish and tacky tastes from her.

I definitley came by my pack-rat tendancies honestly! When Granny moved into a seniors home, we auctioned off the contents of her house and barn. My favourite item, I think, was the airplane wings: a remenant of my late uncle's teen-aged passion for flying. He had stolen them off an airfield years before, and my grandmother had kept them stashed in her barn every since.

My Grandmother was an amazing cook. When people talk about visits to her farm, they always remember her food. The secret to her amazing food was sugar---and lots of it---a fact that no doubt contributed to her eventual diabetes. She boiled her corn in water liberally flavoured with sugar. Her sticky-buns were to die for. And she never used measuring cups.

Granny had an amazing green-thumb. Her gardens surrounded the house. Roses creapt up the exterior walls---with the occasional fake, plastic flower tucked in amongst the real ones (those pink flamingo tendancies, again). Inside, the house was overtaken with flowers and huge, towering cacti. Her vegetable garden was even more impressive, and ensured that we were never without fresh potatos, strawberries, corn and carrots during our summer visits. When I think of Granny, I usually picture her in the garden.

In later years, a bouquet of flowers was always a surefire way to my grandmother's heart. Her memory wasn't the greatest. My mother would send her a boquet for mother's day, and recieve a phone call every day for a week thanking her for the flowers, as Granny rediscovered them with pleasure every morning.

Granny lived a long life. A full life, too. She is survived by her two daughters, my mother and my Aunt Helen, as well as whole lotta grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Back in Banff!

Hello, all!

Yes, that's right, I'm back in Banff again, already.

The trip home was great, excepting the flight, and even that wasn't awful---just long. (Although for some reason the flight back seemed to take waaaay longer).

Shannon Edgett and Danielle surprised me at the airport when I got into Moncton. Thanks, guys! It was awesome to see you, and thanks for the crown, too! (They were celebrating Tiara Day)

It seems like during my six days home I did nothing but socialize---and since the socializing seemed to always centre around going out for breakfast, lunch, or supper, I was continuously stuffed!

The Silvery Moon, my Riverview home away from home, was closed. Peter and Kitty (The owners, and my former bosses) were away on their annual month-long sojourn to Hong Kong. I had been craving their food every since I left home, and I didn't get to eat any of it! The horror! The tragedy!

I did however get to eat at Zen Garden and The Taj Mahal. And of course, even better than eating all the food that I had missed, I got to see many of the people that I have missed! Thanks, Kath, Ashley, Missy, Janine, Julie, Yuriko, Shannon, Danielle, Bonnie, Uncle Al and Sherry, and Mom! It was wonderful to spend time with all of you again. To everyone I didn't see on this trip home, I'm really sorry... Come visit me in Banff!

Missy and Janine's reception was a lot of fun. Mom has a photo of me just standing there staring at Missy's bouquet, which had landed at my feet. What can I say, I have extremely slow reflexes. Katherine, who was standing beside me wound up leaning down and 'catching' it.

Banff, to my surprise didn't change at all while I was gone. In fact, from what I can discern, my housemates spent the entire time I was gone sitting on the couch doing nothing. Well, they must have gotten up at SOME point, because Ben is now sporting a beautiful black eye, and Frosty has shaved and now looks like a 12-year-old.

In much sadder news, my grandmother passed away last night.

flying home tomorrow morning

I'm at Rokaya and Chris's right now, watching man of the year. Laptop computers and wireless internet are amazing things, aren't they?

I fly home tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m.---or at least I'm supposed to. Calgary seems to be engulfed in some sort of freakish snowstorm.

I went by the Holiday on Horseback headquarters today. I have now officially been hired by them for the summer! The interview process in Banff is truly bizarre. I have applied for, and been hired for three jobs since coming to Banff. I mean, for the Holiday on Horseback job, I went in spoke to Ron, the owner of the company... He sent me down to the stable, where I hung out with the stable manager and some cowboys, drank a can of pop and heard some outrageous tall tales. When I went in to the main office today, Jill, Ron's assistant, told me the stable manager had been very impressed by me and had specifically said they should hire me. So that's it, she pulled out my file, and wrote hired across it in block letters. Presto, I'm a trail guide.

Can't wait to see everyone!

Coming Home!!! (for a visit)

I have a helluva lot of stuff to get done here in Banff before I can leave tomorrow. I'm going home for Missy and Neen's wedding reception! Yay! I can't wait to see everyone!

Unfortunately, I booked my flight home for the 13th and only then found out that my roommate's birthday is the 13th. I'm sorry, Jess! I'm the worst roommate ever! ...But now if you want to bring someone back to the room, you can, right? lol

I'm working at Snowflake tomorrow, and then I'm busing into Calgary. I'm going to stay overnight with Rokaya. I managed to convince my boss to let me out early, so I'll be able to to take the early-ish bus in... which means we will have a chance to catch up! I haven't managed to see Rokaya since I moved to Banff in December. We keep making plans, and then they fall through.

Well, everyone in Moncton, I will see you sooooooon! Now I must go buy Jess something nice to make her forget what a lousy friend I am.

A new job?

Well, I walked down to the Trail Rider's stables today. I had an interview with Ron, the big boss, on Monday, and he told me to go down to the stables, talk to the stable manager, and check it out.

I spent the last three hours on a wagon drawn by draft horses, watching a bunch of cowboys shovel snow. Also hung out with them for a while in the tack room. I've been told to come by anytime, and that I have a job starting in May, if I want it.

Apparently I'd be working five to six days a week. The things I don't know how to do, such as horseshoeing, and wagon driving I would be taught on the job. They rotate the trail riders, so sometimes you're working at the Fairmont Banff Springs, sometimes you're working at the main stables, and sometimes you're backcountry.

I wouldn't be making as much money as I am now, but on the other hand I think it would be a lot of fun, and a great experience!

I posted this to myspace before....

I'll repost this at blogspot at some later date, but right now I don't have the time to wait for it to come up again... have to be at work in 20 minutes.

Life in Banff is good. I lost a nail today trying to put my shirt on, but whatever.

I'm thinking about switching jobs for the summer. Not that I don't like the places I work, but hey, there are all sorts of experiences to be had in Banff, right?

Holiday on Horseback is hiring. www.horseback.com I think being a trail rider would be a really cool way to spend the summer, so I think I'll send in my resume.

The Big 3 (the ski resorts of Norquay, Lake Louise, and Sunshine) is advertising for someone to run Media Relations. Looking at the qualifications, I think I actually have all of them. Weird, huh?

And the following job is not for me, but maybe one of my friends might be interested:

Hello everyone,

I apologize for the mass email, however, this is a sure fire way I'll be able to get this information out to as many people as I can in the quickest way possible.

I've been living in Thailand for the past year and a half. While here I've been working with a company by the name of Mediakids. They are a placement company for people who want to travel and teach for a minimum of a 4 month stay in Thailand.
It's a great way to travel and make money, and the salary that they offer, although very little when converted to canadian dollars, provides more than enough for a middle class lifestyle. You'll find it hard to spend all of your salary.

This year the company is searching to fill a quota of 120 teachers to teach in Thai government schools for atleast one term (aprox 4 months). Here are the working packages available, however, if you are interested and none of these suite you, please contact me as we could possibly work something out.

Teachers need to posses a university degree and/or a TEFOL/ TESOL/ CELTA certificate. The company can provide connections in Thailand where you can recieve your TEFOL/ TESOL or CELTA certificate while studying in paradise.

OPTION A:
No university degree, No TEFOL (or equivilant)
salary: 20,000 Baht/ month
free accomadation
Mediakids will pay for TEFOL training or airfare (up to 40,000 baht ( aprox. $1,355.60 CAD))

OPTION B:
University degree and/ or TEFOL (or equivilant)
salary: 20,000 Baht/ month
free accomadation
Mediakids will pay for airfare (up to 40,000 baht ( aprox. $1,355.60 CAD))

OPTION C:
University degree and/or TEFOL (or equivilant)
salary: 25,000 Baht/ month
free accomadation
Mediakids will pay for airfare (up to 20,000 baht (aprox. $678.25 CAD))

All teachers need to be in Thailand by April 29, 2007 where they will recieve a one week training course, and in which accomadation will be provided free of charge.

If you are interested or have any questions please feel free to contact me kevinjesuino@gmail.com.

Please forward this email on to everyone you think would be interested (or just mass email it to everyone on your contact list).

Thank you so much for your help.
Sawatdee-Khrap
-- Kevin Jesuino
Project Activity Organizer
Media Kids Co.
Bangkok, Thailand
www.mediakids-edu.com
Phone: +08-7923-5472

I posted this to myspace before....

I'll repost this at blogspot at some later date, but right now I don't have the time to wait for it to come up again... have to be at work in 20 minutes.

Life in Banff is good. I lost a nail today trying to put my shirt on, but whatever.

I'm thinking about switching jobs for the summer. Not that I don't like the places I work, but hey, there are all sorts of experiences to be had in Banff, right?

Holiday on Horseback is hiring. www.horseback.com I think being a trail rider would be a really cool way to spend the summer, so I think I'll send in my resume.

The Big 3 (the ski resorts of Norquay, Lake Louise, and Sunshine) is advertising for someone to run Media Relations. Looking at the qualifications, I think I actually have all of them. Weird, huh?

And the following job is not for me, but maybe one of my friends might be interested:

Hello everyone,

I apologize for the mass email, however, this is a sure fire way I'll be able to get this information out to as many people as I can in the quickest way possible.

I've been living in Thailand for the past year and a half. While here I've been working with a company by the name of Mediakids. They are a placement company for people who want to travel and teach for a minimum of a 4 month stay in Thailand.
It's a great way to travel and make money, and the salary that they offer, although very little when converted to canadian dollars, provides more than enough for a middle class lifestyle. You'll find it hard to spend all of your salary.

This year the company is searching to fill a quota of 120 teachers to teach in Thai government schools for atleast one term (aprox 4 months). Here are the working packages available, however, if you are interested and none of these suite you, please contact me as we could possibly work something out.

Teachers need to posses a university degree and/or a TEFOL/ TESOL/ CELTA certificate. The company can provide connections in Thailand where you can recieve your TEFOL/ TESOL or CELTA certificate while studying in paradise.

OPTION A:
No university degree, No TEFOL (or equivilant)
salary: 20,000 Baht/ month
free accomadation
Mediakids will pay for TEFOL training or airfare (up to 40,000 baht ( aprox. $1,355.60 CAD))

OPTION B:
University degree and/ or TEFOL (or equivilant)
salary: 20,000 Baht/ month
free accomadation
Mediakids will pay for airfare (up to 40,000 baht ( aprox. $1,355.60 CAD))

OPTION C:
University degree and/or TEFOL (or equivilant)
salary: 25,000 Baht/ month
free accomadation
Mediakids will pay for airfare (up to 20,000 baht (aprox. $678.25 CAD))

All teachers need to be in Thailand by April 29, 2007 where they will recieve a one week training course, and in which accomadation will be provided free of charge.

If you are interested or have any questions please feel free to contact me kevinjesuino@gmail.com.

Please forward this email on to everyone you think would be interested (or just mass email it to everyone on your contact list).

Thank you so much for your help.
Sawatdee-Khrap
-- Kevin Jesuino
Project Activity Organizer
Media Kids Co.
Bangkok, Thailand
www.mediakids-edu.com
Phone: +08-7923-5472

a quick post, cause I'm almost out of minutes at the internet cafe

I bought my plane ticket home for the wedding! Yayyyy. I'll be home from March 13-19, and I had better see you ALL!

Today was boring, boring, boring at work. The 1 to 10 shift sucks. By 8:00 you are ready to fall asleep. Noone was buying anything, either. Grrr.

Might go out tonight with Jess (my roommate). Not sure. I don't have to work tomorrow, but I've discovered to my dismay that it doesn't really matter whether I'm working early or not---my body is programmed to wake up at 5:00 a.m. Ugh.

Well, have a good 'un, everyone!

....Oh, yeah! I had a dream last night that someone I knew had a book published. Not me, though. I think it was my subconsciousness telling me to get off my duff and write.

Happy Belated Valentines Day, everyone!

I actually got my computer on the internet for a whole five minutes the other night. Not long enough to actually accomplish anything, but still...

Yesterday at Snowflake I had a couple come in who had just, just gotten married! They met in Mexico two months ago, and have been drunk and in love every since, apparently.

Working two jobs is getting a bit tiring, but the money's good! I think I'm going to give up the Snowflake one in a few months, once my bank account has bounced back a little.

Went out partying Valentine's Day night. It was Brady from the Ski Shop's birthday, so a huge crowd of us hit the clubs. At the gave us all name tags (Jess and I were terribly unoriginal and actually put our names on them---everyone else put things like, Captain Amazing and Mr. Cool on theirs). They also all gave us stickers indicating our relationship status. Each person got a half of a players card, too: if you found the person who had the other half of your card, you both got free drinks, and were entered into a draw for a dinner at one of Banff's nicer restaurants (not the Inns, in other words). I found several guys with the same card, but none who were a perfact match, alas. Then I went to the washroom and lost my card---the new Aussie Ben (not to be confused with the old Aussie Ban) gave me his card, seeing as how his broken and unset arm was hurting and he wanted to go home, but by that time I had given up the quest. Oh, well.

In any case, it was a pretty fun way to spend Valentine's Day.

Chugging along on fumes...

It's now 4:40 p.m., and I'm taking my break from Snowflake. A lady came into the store earlier and bought a Lishman knit beaver hat, a rex rabbit weave scarf, and a pair of fox-trimmed gloves, all within a ten minute span. "I'll get these, and these, and these." She paid cash, too. $900. She was seriously considering getting her 80-year-old mother a $2500 mink shawl, but decided she would just leave it at the legion, anyways.

Worked the 6 a.m. shift at the restaurant today. When the door opened, we had a lineup twenty deep at the door. Fun stuff.

My friend and fellow waiter, Jason, has apparently injured himself to such an extent that he will not be working for two months. From what I hear he has a black eye, a concussion, and a broken arm. Oh, and today's his birthday! Happy Birthday Jason! I'm guessing he'll be headed back to Montreal. Poor lad :( I hope I get a chance to see him before he leaves.

Tomorrow is Calgary... I'll finally be able to use that Chapters gift card Katherine gave me for Christmas. Yay! I'll also be able to close my T.D. bank account and buy some shoes. Kick ass!

Forgive me for the lack of recent updates...

But I have very little free time. Oddly enough, I am perfectly content with this arrangement. I like both of my jobs, and when I'm not working I manage to squeeze in a fair to middling social life.

Tomorrow, I'm working both of my jobs. What this means is I will be working from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Money, money, money, right?

The other night, a couple came into the restaurant. Turns out they own the International Guide that is in all the hotels locally. They also seem to be fairly filthy rich. We hit it off quite well, and they left me a glowing comment card, plus an offer of employment as an advertising salesman (yeah, right). I have a faint suspicion they may be trying to set me up with their short, balding, swishy son, though---they sent him into the fur store twice, yesterday.

Went out on a date with a fellow by the name of Carlos, from Toronto, last night. Have run into him a few times since I came here to Banff--he's actually one of the first people I met when I first came here. Anyhow, he came into the fur store yesterday and asked for my number. Seems nice enough.

Friday, I have the day off. Heading up to Calscary for the day.

tired but rich

I worked until almost midnight last night---then I came back to work for 6 a.m. this morning.

Should have been out of the Wildfire at around 11:00, but the computer systems were down. What this meant was that we were unable to do our cashouts. Our manager told us we'd have to stick around until the system was back up---which took a while because the technician was out partying and was quite unhappy about being called in---but in the meantime, here's the keys to the liquor cabinet, guys. So, we sat around and I whined about having to be back at work in 6 hours and drank a beer. Oh well.

I have tonight off---yay! Am going to supper with a few of my housemates.

Sorry it's been a while...

My computer has been on the fritz. My new wireless card is picking up signals, but the strongest one lets me connect, but won't let me use the internet (what's the point in connecting, then?) The other signals all let me connect and then immediately drop me, to the delight of Artan, my house supervisor, who sits beside me using his laptop and getting just fine signals, thank you very much.

I'm writing this from the internet cafe, where I have come to pay my overdue online bills, seeing as how I've been trying to pay them off for the past several days from the comfort of my own home to no avail...

ANYHOW.

Banff is still good.

Went to the movies with Jesse last night. Hadn't seen him since New Years Eve. He's heading back home to the land down under in a month.

Went out partying with the housemates Tuesday night. Good times.

And other than that? I've been working a lot. Will post some amusing work anecdotes at a later time. For now, must go pay off that credit card bill so I can buy a plane ticket home for Missy and Janine's big day!

Lake Louise

Lake Louise was beeeeeautiful, today. The sun was shining and it was only -4 celcius.

I almost didn't make it there, which would have been a shame. Woke up this morning and thought, "Wow, I feel so refreshed and my alarm hasn't even gone of yet!" Then I noticed sun shining through a crack in the curtain... Here's the thing: I get corporate ski passes through my work, but if I don't pick 'em up by 9:00 a.m., I not only lose the pass, I also lose my privledges for three weeks. The sun doesn't rise here until well after eight.

I jumped out of bed, hollering for my roommate. Jess works in the ski shop. She groggily gave me the number for the shop and they agreed to hold onto my tickets for an extra half hour. Thank God.

Went out for coffee with a guy I met on the bus back from Lake Louise. He seemed nice enough---and he bought the coffee, which is rare these days. Richard, from the U.K. Formerly as soldier in Iraq, now a ski instructor at Lake Louise. He wants me to go skiing with him sometime. We'll see.

My nails are in really rough shape.

....

Today, I worked 11 hours at the Inns of Banff. In between my shifts, I walked to the post office to mail a $5600 fur coat to Everette, Washington, in the States.

It's Aussie Day---a day that seems to revolve heavily around vegemite and meat pies. Oh, and lots and lots of drinking, of course. But then, every day is a drinking day if you're an Aussie.

Tomorrow, I head off to Lake Louise for a day of skiing. My first day off in forever! Yay!

Yes, I'm still alive

Tonight, while walking home from the movie theatre, I crossed paths with a deer. It was quite calmly walking down Martin Street. We passed within a metre of each other. There were other people on the street also, all going about their business in a kind of 'oh, look, there's yet another deer walking down the street,' way

I have seen more deer on the street since coming here than I have black people... a fact that may sound racist, but is nonetheless true. Tosin, you need to come out here and even up the ratio a bit, man. They're advertising for graphic artists here in Banff!

Went and saw 'Pursuit of Happyness' with my coworker from the fur shop, Tina, from Nova Scotia. What a downer! I mean, yes, in the end Chris Gardner becomes a multi-millionaire, but for most of the movie he just gets repeatedly kicked in the teeth. All I could think was that I was glad I lived in a small town in Canada.

I've put in for some time of in March to come home for Missy and Janine's wedding. Can't wait to see everyone.

Sorry it's been a while since I updated the blog. I've been working split shifts at the Inns, and long days at Snowflake. This means money, money, money, but also means that I am more inclined to sleep when not at work than write blog entries. I have this coming Saturday off, though!

I also now have internet. After a month of waffling, I coughed up the dough for a wireless card. I even sprang for the pricier one. What this means, is that I'm able to pick up wireless signals from the nearby hotels from my bedroom, while everyone else in the house can only pick them up by sitting beside the window in the living room.

this blog entry has no title

I left the house early for work today, so that I could swing by the tailor's and get a pair of pants hemmed. She doesn't open 'til 11:30! GRrrrrrrr. She's the ONLY tailor/dressmaker in Banff, so I guess she can work whenever she damn well pleases.

Went out Tuesday night with a couple of my housemates (or flatmates, as the Brits say). $1.75 highballs at Melissa's Pub all night long. It is beyond me how I managed to wake up perky and not at all hungover the next day (yesterday).

My manager at Snowflake seems to have decided to set me up with a local. Yesterday, one of her friends came in for a chat. When he left, she rushed over to where I was inventorizing: "Did you think the man who just left was cute?" Me: "Ummmmm....?"

I work 11-8 today at Snowflake, and then tomorrow it's back to breakfasts at the restaurant.

Happy Birthday, Shannon!

My little sister turns 22, today. How time flys, eh?

The other night, I was out with my (18-year-old) roommate, Jess, and a couple of her friends. I was dancing with one of the guys, and he asked how old I was. "Oh, I'm really old," I said. "What, like 20?" he asked.

I'm having fun with my jobs. Which is a good thing, seeing as I work over 60 hours a week between the two.

Alex, one of my managers at the Inns of Banff asked me the other day if I would be interested in writing for the comany newsletter, so that might be a fun change.

We have a new chef and sous-chef at the Inns. I've been unknowingly serving them for the past several days. They're two youngish guys who previously worked at the 5 star restaurant at the Jasper Fairmont. The chef has a kid in Calgary and wanted to be closer to her. Anyhow, they seem nice.

Anyhow, time to get back to work!

long day working all day long

This morning when I got a lunch break I ate pancakes. Aussie Ben, the kitchen guy who made them for me wrote my initials in chocolate chips on them. It was my only break of the day, though. I worked non-stop from 7 a.m. to 5:15. Fun, fun.

Should have been a shorter shift than that, but Amanda, who was supposed to come in and open up the Bear's Den Bar so that I could close the restaurant naver showed up, which meant the restaurant had to stay open.

Tomorrow I work at 6:00 a.m., but only for the breakfast shift. Then I'm off until 4:30 p.m. on Monday! This is fantabulous, as Sunday night is Banff's official local's party night, and I'm never able to stay out late because I always work morning shifts. I can't wait!

Happy half-birthday to me!

Today I am 24 and a half. Ancient, really. The girls I waitress with and I were trying to guess the age of one of the guys who works both maintanance and front desk at the hotel, today. He's 18 and works 60 hours a week.

My jobs are going quite well, I think. I like them both. Which is good, seeing as I am currently working every single day of the week. I'm really happy about next week's schedule. Yes, I work every day of the week, but I have several evenings free, and one morning! This means I can actually attempt to have a social life!

Must sign off now, as I have numerous errands to do this afternoon, before returning to work the evening shift at 4:30. The hotel's supposed to be at 92% capacity tonight... Among other groups, a busload of 80 people are checking into the hotel tonight, and none of them will have eaten... the restaurant may be a tad busy tonight.

my new job

Today's my second day at Snowflake Furs. It's quite a change from waitressing, I'll say that! Still getting used to it, but I think I'm going to like it. I seem to have a knack for being able to tell what kind of furs something is, which is cool/useful. "Oh, that's rabbit. Oh, that's beaver," I bullshit quite airily to the customers, only to discover afterwards that I was, in fact, right. I've also learned a bunch about the history of various furs, such as sable, which was reserved for Russian royalty, and is still the priciest fur in the world.

The cold seems to be subsiding (fingers crossed). I've still got this sexy, husky voice, though.

Today's going to be a crazy day. I work from 9-6 at Snowflake, and then from 6:30 til whenever at the Inns. In case you're wondering how I'm managing to post this: I'm on my lunch break, thank you very much.

more whining about my cold

Had to get up at 4:30 this morning in order to be at work and presentable by 6:00. Fun stuff. On the other hand, I was all done work by noon. Can't complain about that!

My nose won't stop dripping. I can, and will, complain about that!

One of my customers today said, "Are you all right, dear?" I was like, oh, great, the customers can tell I'm sick. Bloody marvelous. But apparently she was just concerned about the fact that every time she walks by the restaurant or comes in to eat, I'm there. She was worried I'm working too much.

Running errands, today. Start work at my second job tomorrow.

frickin' colds

I have a sexy new raspy voice. Am chugging Robitusum and have sucked so many Fisherman's Friends that I can't feel my tongue any longer.

When I'm not working, I'm sleeping, trying to fight this damned thing off.

Went to Norquay with Edward the other day, as planned. We went first thing in the morning---it was quite lovely out, if cold. I met a couple from Plaster Rock, N.B.! They had been in Banff for 30 years. The hills were so icy it was less skiing and more skidding. I'm pretty sure it didn't help my cold any.

Would like to go to a movie tonight, but the movies here never seem to change over. There are only four, and I've seen Night at the Museum and The Holiday, which only leaves The Good Shepard and Rocky. Big whoop.

Think it's a night to stay in and read/watch t.v. Tonight (Sunday) is the big night for locals to go out on the town, but I don't know if I'm up for it.

the joys of roommates

I now have a roommate. She seems nice enough: a British girl by the name of Jess. Can't say for sure, really, since we've spoken a grand total of twice.

Jess and I are both waitresses for the Banff Lodging Co., but at different restaurants. She seems to work mostly evenings, I work mornings, afternoons and evenings---but especially mornings, lately. What this means is that I get up at 5:30 a.m. for work, while she returns from work at around 2:00 a.m.

Last night, I put my work clothes in my cupboard in the kitchen, so I wouldn't have to stumble around in the darkness of our room trying to find them in the morning. Fun, fun.

An unrelated annecdote: our restaurant does room service. People call for the weirdest things. New Year's Eve, a guy called wanting to order a funnel. Uh huh. Wonder what he wanted that for. I told him the restaurant was clean out of funnels. Today a guy called and wanted to order water. I kind of get that, but still, jeez buddy, if you don't want tap water, open your door and use the vending machine in the hall. Alex, my supervisor, says he once delivered a room service order to a couple of stark naked girls.

Tomorrow, I go to Norquay. Edward, an extremely lazy young Brit who also 'works' (yeah, right) in the restaurant is coming along. Should be fun.

first cold of the New Year! *yay*

At some point yesterday I began to notice my throat was getting scratchy. They say pride goeth before a fall, and I've been feeling smug about how healthy I am compared to everyone around me. This morning I woke up with a full blown sore throat: drank some orange juice and enjoyed the sting of it on the way down. Now I'm at that throat-clearing stage that always annoys the hell out of me in other people.

Worked from 7 til 4 today. Work from 6:30 to 4ish tomorrow. Friday is my day off: I hit the slopes of Norquay. I'd told Jesse I would probably go with him to Sunshine on Friday, but the Inns of Banff only had lift passes left for Norquay, so Norquay it is---sorry, Jesse!

Tonight, I've decided to go to a movie. The Holiday, I'm thinking. My co-worker, Ashley, is a manager at the movie theatre when she's not waitressing, and she said she'd hook me up (i.e. get me in for free).

I'm still alive.

Hey guys!

Happy New Year to everyone. Hope you had an excellent time.

I went out New Year's Eve. Wound up at four parties and still managed to be in bed asleep by 1:30. Pretty impressive, eh?

New Year's Day was pretty hellish at the restaurant. I think I was one of the few people on staff who wasn't hungover. I was just tired, seeing as I had to get up at 5:30 to be at work on time. Everything that could go wrong on the breakfast shift seemed to. More than one customer walked out of the restaurant in a huff. I had one guy leave without paying his bill, because he said it was taking too long---which was true, but totally not my fault. The manager was supposed to be in at 10, but when I left at 1, she still hadn't showed. I was back at 6:00 for my second shift of the day, which went quite a bit better. Wound up going out on the town with two of my co-workers, Gabriel and Ashley, after work.

Today's my day off.

I also have Friday off, and I'm thinking I may go skiing. If I call the reservations desk at the Inns of Banff two days in advance I can get a free lift ticket: one of the perks of being staff.