My Sureal Life

With my ears still ringing six hours after the Billy Talent concert, I hit the road early to make it to Lake Louise for an 8am start to a conference last Thursday. I was tired, having had trouble sleeping because the ringing in my ears was so intense (that can't be good - I'm taking ear plugs next time I get general admission tickets). I fought the fatigue by playing more Billy Talent in the car on the drive out. I love driving alone - I can play whatever I want.

After an interesting but uneventful morning learning about shale gas and uranium enrichment, the conference broke for the afternoon and most of us headed to the ski hill. Knowing that I only had a few hours to play, I figured this would be a great opportunity to snowboard. I had been once before, two years ago, on an icy, busy Saturday. Since then, I had found many excuses not to go again. I couldn't argue with a powdery, half day on a Thursday afternoon as an opportunity to try boarding again. I was even excited to go. That is, until I approached the chair lift and bent down to strap my foot in. Now...if I could only remember which foot went in front....how embarrassing. I stood around and looked desperately at other boarders for some sort of clue, but was unwilling to actually ask the question. Thank god Erik answered his phone and came to my rescue. I admit I'm lacking in the athletic intuition department but, in my defence, it was a brand new board and the leash was on the wrong foot, which totally threw me off. I eventually got going and I survived and actually enjoyed my few hours on the board. I have to say that my pulverized knees were glad when the lifts closed and I had to pack it in for the day.

We had the afternoon on Friday off as well. I accepted an invitation from my boss to go snowshoeing at Emerald Lake. He was the one who took me (and Erik) out for my first snowshoeing experience two years ago. I couldn't turn down the invite this time - it was a great opportunity to try a new trail (which I would never do alone) and to talk to my boss in a non-work context (I think its always good to understand the human side of the people with whom you work). Also, I couldn't exactly say no, it wasn't like my body was in any shape for another half day of slamming my knees, ass and hands into the hard packed snow. Snowshoeing was great. We broke a lot of trail as we headed up to the frozen water falls. It was pretty cool, you could tell nobody had been there for a while; the snow was deep and even our snowshoes sunk a lot. On the way back to the car, we passed a guy trying to hike the trail without snowshoes! You could see the occasional footprint where he had sunk past his knee. I didn't know whether to think he was foolish or ambitious. I wish I would have had my camera (but I felt bad and gave it to Erik to use on his trip to NYC since his is getting repaired due after I dropped it on our bike trip).

From there, I drove to the Engadine lodge, just outside of Canmore, for a weekend of cross country skiing, snowshoeing, great food and relaxation with my friend Kristen. Saturday was a spectacular day for skiing. I didn't quite have my wax worked out, but it was enjoyable nonetheless. Clear skies, perfect temperatures and the trail to ourselves.

On Sunday, we went snowshoeing. Another outstanding day. We found a jump and did some sweet tricks off it. Fortunately, Kristen had a camera to capture our sweet moves on film.


I packed it in early on Sunday so that I could make it back to Calgary to go to my friend Siew-Peng's wedding. As I drove, I tried to brainstorm ways to get my parents out to try snowshoeing. What a perfect activity to introduce them to winter fun in the mountains.

Siew's wedding was lovely. Very tasteful and uniquely hers. She found a way to involve everyone in the wedding - with family and friends making her dress, the wedding cake, the centerpieces, and the keepsakes. It was very special. I contributed my own little something to the evening by singing Total Eclipse of the Heart in front of everyone with one of her sisters. Don't worry, it was the old school version, not the version from Old School.

So, in the last week, I've gone to a kick ass Billy Talent concert, attended a conference, relearned snowboarding, snowshoed at Emerald Lake and Mount Shark, cross country skied, and seen a good friend get married. Not bad. And to imagine that, at one point, I was concerned I might not have anything to talk about. Now, if I only had people who wanted to read about it (besides my mom. hi mom).