Here's a picture from Saturday of Paul, Vinay & I in the mountains. If you want to see the rest, let me know, and I'll send you the link!

♪Too marvelous for words♪

Nature is freakin awesome!!

A great day at Jasper - we left a bit later than planned, around 11am from Calgary. It was myself, Paul & Vinay. Most of the day was spent driving, but it was BEAUTIFUL!! The scenery was just too breathtaking! We had to drive through Banff, which is gorgeous in itself, then the highway up to Jasper. Which is one of the most beautiful routes in the world, and it was! I can't describe it - pictures will be available (possibly posted, but I make no promises) in the near future.

On the ride up though, we stopped a number of times to check out the views. Two of the highlights were the Columbia Icefields & the Athabasca Falls.

The Columbia Icefields is just a huge glacier. However, it used to be bigger - since 1885 (I think that was the year) due to climate changes, it lost about 350million cubic metres of ice! Which is enormous! But the glacier was cool - it looked like mountains, but it was ice covered in gravel. We only saw just a small part of it, but according to Wikipedia, it covers 350 square kilometres!

Athabasca Falls weren't that big - only 23m in height, but the falls were forceful! Very cool too!

We eventually made it to the town of Jasper, around 4-4:30pm, where we wandered around the shops a bit - much less touristy (thus less pricey!) than Banff, but some nice things. I only bought postcards though :P Went for dinner, and wandered a bit more. We were only in the town for about 2 hours, then decided to head back. Reason being that the guys didn't want to stay over night, it was still a 4 hour drive, and they didn't want to drive too much in the dark in the mountains.

It was a good trip back - pretty while still light, but peaceful when dark. It was a super-nice day, with no clouds in the sky, so being in the dark mountains at night brought out many stars. It was very thought-provoking today though. Looking at how huge the mountains were, and how vast, and the number of stars in the sky tonight - makes me realize how small & insignificant I am. I was also looking at the stars, and listening to music on the way home - none of us really talked much during the drive. And I was in the backseat, so I was looking out at the stars, thinking of people. I wondered if anyone else was looking at those same stars, and thinking of me. I doubt it though :P

It was an incredible day though. Calgary's fabulous that from some parts of the city, I can see the mountains, and drive less than an hour to get to them! And they're just so huge, and gorgeous! I think one cool thing also that I noticed today, driving towards the mountains, just outside of Calgary, is that the Prairies are known to be flat, and the fields that we were driving through were flat, but then, suddenly, after the flatness is this large expanse of mountain! AWESOME! I love days like today :)

Tomorrow, I have off also. And since I don't have many days off, I wanted to do something cool. So, it's quite possible that I'm going to go to the Calgary Zoo! :D

♪Let your mind start a journey through a strange new world...

...leave all the thoughts of the world you knew before♪

So I've sucked at the whole update thing lately. Honestly, that's b/c there hasn't been much. I've worked A LOT!! Honestly, since the day we went to Banff (September 23rd), I've had one day off. Sure, there are days that I've only worked a few hours, but still, not many days off.

But that doesn't mean it's been completely uneventful. Honestly...this is ME you're talking about ;)

First off though, this coming weekend - I actually have a weekend! I had tonight (Thursday) through Sunday off from Tony Roma's, and worked today & tomorrow at Sobaten, but then have Saturday & Sunday off completely. Originally, I was going to take tomorrow off as well, and we were going to head to Vancouver, but that didn't go through (although if we weren't doing anything, I was going to fly to Vancouver by myself!) However, now, we're headed to JASPER! Which should be a great time - leaving Saturday morning, and either doing the trip in a day (although it is a 4 hour drive :S) or coming back Sunday. My vote is Sunday - that way, we have more time to see stuff! But we'll discuss it tomorrow - we're also heading out for post-work drinkies tomorrow evening, so that'll be good. It's been awhile since I've seen people. Also, if we're back on time, and I'm not too tired, I may end up going to see Sloan in town on Sunday. Yup - it'll be a great weekend :)

Also, apparently the drive there is spectacular. In fact, I was in the bookstore today, looking through some of the literary travel books (b/c I always end up in the travel section of bookstores!) and there was this book "The 10 Best of Everything" or something like that. But it had the 10 best cathedrals, museums, London pubs, and so many more categories - including, the 10 best drives. And the one to Jasper was #2 on the list! So I'm pretty excited about that!

Speaking of which, I own this book "Unforgettable Things to Do before you Die" and I was reading about dogsledding in Sweden today. That'd be AWESOME! I hope that one day, I'll have a job that pays well, but also gives me about a month of vacation every year. It'll definitely be my plan to take a great trip every year if that happens.

On other news, I'm looking forward to my next school term. I finally decided on classes, and enrolled in them - I've got my 4th year project course, stats, process control, water pollution control, and Japanese 101. Hehehe. Geoff's taking Japanese with me, so yay for that! I'm the most worried about process control, but hopefully it'll be ok. I also have a pretty sweet schedule - I only have a 2-hour Japanese tutorial on Fridays, from 9:30-11:30am, and no classes on Monday, so I have from 11:30am Friday till 12:30pm Tuesday off! And no night class!

One thing that I regret not getting involved in at school is Engineers without Borders - an organization that basically helps people in developing countries gain access to technology that will improve their lives. That's the type of thing I'd like to do! So I'm definitely hoping to get involved in it next term. I've talked to my friend Vicki about it, as she's VP-Internal. She & the president of the UW Chapter, Mike, had a meeting yesterday about it, and I talked to her today, and it looks like I'll be working on Special Events next term, if I choose to. It sounds cool, so I'm excited! But I really wish I would have gotten involved earlier - I would have loved to go on an exchange to help in a 3rd world country somewhere!

As well, next term, we seem to have 10 people for our hockey team, so that'll be a go. I'm also going to do Ballroom Dance club, and maybe swing (we'll see if I have time!) and plan to play squash 2-3 times/week again, and I'm in charge of my class' layout pages in the yearbook. It'll be busy, but fun!

Anyway, the jobs are going ok. I was frustrated with both for awhile - one of the managers at Tony Roma's made me tempted to walk out a few times, and I was also frustrated with the understaffed-ness at the Japanese place. But, that manager at Tony's got transferred to another store, which is awesome! And the Japanese place just seems to have been a bit smoother lately.

Also a bit annoyed & not liking my landlord much. But whatever. I don't see him that often. However, he appears to have walked into my room at some point this past week, which annoys me.

I've gone out a number of times - both with friends from UW, and people from work. There was one week, a little while ago, where I was in a bar 6 out of 8 nights between Monday & Monday. Oy vey! However, there are a few amusing stories from this:

I had a split shift one Monday at Tony's, and it was dead at night. There were two hostesses on, and since I had the split, I got cut first - at like 7:30pm! I have never gotten off work that early, so I didn't know what to do with myself. LOL. One of the servers, Heidi, was also cut early, and she wanted to look at my bus map to figure out how to get home, so I told her that I was going to have a beer in the bar, and I'd meet her there. So we ended up having a few pints (since we get them at staff pricing - about $3 for a pint!) I had 3, but Brian only charged me for two (Brian's awesome!) My tolerance has gone down, and I was feeling the buzz - it felt good, after working so much. Heidi was also craving cigarettes, since she only smokes when she drinks now, so we went to buy a pack afterwards (this is around 10pm now, when Tony Roma's closes!) and had a few each (ok, she had more than me...I don't actually smoke, just after a few drinks when others are smoking! :P) Went to catch the C-Train, as we considered going downtown for a drink (she still didn't know how to get home, but was thinking of cabbing it anyway) Ran into Brian at the train station, who was also going North, and lived sort of near Heidi, so he was going to make sure she got home. He was on his way to the BP Lounge, which was near them, so Heidi & I decided to go with him for a few more drinks.

This is where life got interesting. The way the C-Train works (unless you have a pass) is you either buy a ticket there, or you validate a ticket (if you buy a book of them elsewhere for cheaper) then sometimes, the Train Police come through to check tickets - it's a $300 fine if you're caught without one. But it sucks at times b/c it seems like they rarely check. But I'm too Chicken to be caught without one, although I have a pass anyway. Heidi had never taken the train, and I told her about the system, and said it was up to her whether she buys a ticket or chances it - I've never been checked at that time of night. She didn't get one, but then when we got on the train, Brian was very worried about her not having a ticket, and he told me that the next station, he'll hold the door open if I run out to get her a ticket.

I could have done it at the station that we were at - in fact, I should have. We were held up by the police who had to escort a few passengers off for some reason. In fact, I should have done it there.

We were in the last car of the train (of 3 or 4 cars) and so at the next station, I got out, but there was no ticket machine. In fact, the only ticket machine was at the other end of the platform, at the front of the train. Brian apparently yelled "no!" to me, but I didn't hear him, and I RAN! I ran towards the front of the train to get a ticket. The driver made an announcement to move from the doorway to brian, then when i was at the machine (which didn't work anyway!) He came out and basically yelled at me that he should have both of us arrested for holding up the train, since it was already 10 minutes late b/c of the cops! Thing is, I didn't even get a ticket for Heidi! The driver could have totally thrown me off, since I also didn't have a ticket, but he didn't. Hahaha.

The following night was just a bad night at work, due to the one manager, so I had 3 pints at the restaurant, then went to Limericks, where I had another, and was pretty gone (but somehow made it home by myself that night) That was the night I picked up the nickname Deuce from my coworker Rob - mainly b/c there were two Jills out. But anyway, I found out things later on I did that night at the bar - apparently Paul dared me to lick Rob's ear, and I did. However, when I talked to Rob on Friday, he had me thinking that I just did it out of the blue, but told me it was a dare on Saturday. I didn't think I was drunk enough to forget doing that, and I was actually quite frightened by myself doing that on Friday (wen I thought I'd done it out of the blue) However, I can totally see myself doing it on a dare. It's just weird that I really have no recollection of that happening. However, when I later found out what Rob had nicknamed me (b/c I vaguely remembered him naming me something) his response was "Deuce...like Deuces are Wild...you are wild - you licked my ear!" I think the entire restaurant knows that story. Hahaha.

One night, I also went with TJ & his roommates to this bar Ranchman's. I didn't actually drink that night, but I did ride a mechanical bull! Good times :)

Saturday night of Thanksgiving weekend, after work, I met Amanda, Sophie, Louis & John at Ceili's. Louis & John are actually working in Lloydminster (3 hours away) this term, but were here for the holiday weekend. It was annoying b/c I'd had a few pints after work for cheap, but ended up waiting an hour outside the bar for them! That sucked. It was also "Oktoberfest" there that night. Well, I come from K-W, which has the 2nd largest Oktoberfest festival in the world, and Ceili's did NOT have Oktoberfest! It was called Oktoberfest b/c the employees wore German clothing, but there was no sausage, no Oktoberfest music (including no Chicken Dance!), nothing! Oh well - it was a decent night. Sophie ended up crashing at my place, where we shared my bed, and had some interesting conversation.

For Thanksgiving, 11 of us had turkey dinner at TJ's place. So tasty! Not quite with family, but good nonetheless since we couldn't be with family.

It's possible that my parents & I will be going to New Hampshire for Christmas, and to visit my sister/brother-in-law/nephew. However, I will be back in Ontario on time for the wedding that I'm invited to on December 30th :)

Well, I think that wraps up what I've been up to - congrats if you made it through! I'll try to update early next week about Jasper! Till then, cheers!!

♪I get by with a little help from my friends♪

I had a rare evening off tonight. It was nice :) I could relax, and chat to people. Actually, I also was able to do this on Monday night, as I was home by 8pm Calgary time (which is 10pm at home) That seems to be my biggest problem here - I work a lot of evenings, and so a lot of people are in bed by the time I'm online, so I don't get to talk to people. And I seem to be horrible with keeping up with emails - I have at least 12 in my inbox to reply to! B/c people also want stories - I need to start keeping up my public blog, and giving everyone the address, so that I don't have to copy & paste the same thing all the time!

However, both nights resulted in me having some fantastic conversations. The best being with my friend Sam - one of my oldest friends, since grade 1. There are very few people that I feel I can talk to about EVERYTHING, but Sam is one of those people. Her, and Ashlee - who is my oldest friend, since we were 3. Both of whom are not ones that I hang out with the most - in fact, Ashlee & I don't talk that often at all. But both of whom I know I can go to for anything, or to talk about anything, or to ask anything. It's awesome having friends like that!

I know it's a long way off, but I know I was having trouble deciding about my wedding party at one point - my sister will definitely be my maid of honour, but I was unsure if I would have any others, or who I would have. But I think that if I do, I'd definitely have to ask Ashlee & Sam.

I'm actually feeling very nostalgic today. Thinking about people. Thinking about people from elementary school, from high school, even from university. It was 10 years ago that I was 13 and in grade 8. I was friends with Courtney, and Michelle, and Crystal - none of whom I've talked to in at least 8 years. I've thought a lot about another friend, Ashley, who was my best friend in elementary school from grades 1-6. No clue where she is. So many others from elementary school that I have no idea whatever happened to them. Also, there are many from high school that I used to be really good friends with, but not anymore. Similarly, even some from university that I don't talk to, and I was friends with sometime in the past 4 years.

It's weird though - I've definitely kept in touch with more people than either my brother or sister did when they finished high school, thanks to the internet, email & chat programs. However, I am still saddened by some of the people that I have lost touched with - I wish I still talked to some. I wonder what happened to a lot of them.

It saddens me too. I graduate in April, which means that I will likely lose touch with a lot of friends from university. I know I will keep in touch with some, and those will be ones that are lifelong friends, but I won't keep in touch with others.

I hate it. I hate that I can't keep in touch with everyone, but I know it's important. Friends are one of the most important things to me - without them, I don't know, but I love'em to death :)

Six Degrees

Finally a night off work. Amanda & I started watching this new show "Six Degrees" tonight - couldn't get into it though. There were too many story lines, and it was complicated.

However, at the beginning of the show, there was this monologue. Basically the show takes place in New York, so the monologue was basically talking about how "there are 8 million people in this city. And you never know which of those people you might meet one day, and they'll change your life forever." It's an interesting concept - very true. I could meet a life-long friend, or business partner, or future spouse, tomorrow. Or I might randomly talk to someone for 2 minutes, but something they say might change my outlook on life.