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.