Summer in review - misc

I'm partway through my 'temporary layoff'. AKA Furlough. A kindof weird status, keep benefits but don't get paid, but get EI. At first it sounded kindof neat, then it felt more like a corporate loophole. I should put more effort into finding a new job, but I'm not very 'driven', and also still haven't figured out what I want to do, what I actually can do, etc. In a way it's quite satisfying to receive money from the government that I put in (though overall I'm a bit right-wing and would rather have neither EI expense nor benefit).

I've done some Habitat for Humanity volunteering throughout the summer. First an office renovation then a warehouse/store renovation, no homes yet. It's nice to learn some things, do some hands on work, and generally people are pretty good to work with. Mostly retired men, but a few miscellaneous others, and occasionally an oil company would let some people spend the day with habitat instead of their regular jobs (only departments like HR and accounting seemed to have the free time, all the engg were probably busy meeting deadlines and loaded with real work).

For a large chunk of summer a couple of friends were in town. I felt spoiled, got to spend more time with them than all my regular friends combined. Unfortunately, that meant once they left it felt quite empty again. Was swimming with O, and it was nice to see her improve each time we went, and was fun to play in the dive tank as well and other things I wouldn't do solo. Was helping C with calculus, even though I can't remember anything anymore, I think it was useful to have someone to talk to and bounce ideas off of. Also went for evening walks, occasional lunch and late night snacks. Hope it's not weird to say I miss her.

In august participated in an all-souls (ghost) festival... had a lot of the shrine stuff set up outside, but it was a really windy weekend so it was frustrating with everything falling over, spent way too much time on setup and repeated re-setup. But was interesting and had a neat outdoor after-sunset ritual which I hadn't done before.

Took a sleeping bag out of town in the middle of the night to watch Perseid meteors. But it wasn't as spectacular as I'd hoped, and became a bit boring being solo. I had been intending to hike up a mountain for it, but got lazy (and realized it wasn't the wisest choice for the circumstances).

Finally tried to donate blood. Started collecting, but had to abort quite early as apparently my body really doesn't like bleeding. Felt like a failure. But at least I tried. Perhaps I will try again sometime. I seem to have very strong instinctive reflexes, such as "don't put holes in your body" and "don't stick stuff in your eye" but they should be overcomeable, if I really try (though these instincts are there for a reason, do I really want to break them down?)

Thinking about finances, again considering trying to get a roommate. The extra income would be really handy, could start getting all those things that would be nice but not absolutely necessary, like a stable computer, a bike from this millennium, etc. But how much would quality of life drop by living with a semi-random person...

While the weather was nice, I was pretty active. Think I got into better shape than I normally am in. But it's already probably started deteriorating with a month of poor weather making being outside less pleasant. Will have to spend more time at the boring gym.

Summer in review - hiking

Only got out for a few hikes this summer.

Wasootch ridge early in the season was awesome, as it was virgin snow, and you had to tread lightly to avoid sinking. Even so, occasionally you'd take a step and your entire leg would be consumed with your crotch on the ice and you'd have to carefully crawl out and hope not to sink again with your next step. The snow made it strenuous but still fun.

Yamnuska with a work friend, went pretty quick, enjoyed the scree run as usual. Otherwise nothing too remarkable, done it a few times before.

Black Prince with Janet, seemed longer than expected, gloomy weather and mosquitoes were bothersome, but still enjoy spending time with her.

Buller pass + ribbon falls was somewhat poorly organized and some were ill-informed/prepared, so it took a very long time and got a bit monotonous by the end. Still nice to get out of town, but a number of annoyances.

Prairie Mt again of course, set a new speed record, made it in under 48 minutes. Checked my pulse periodically on the way up, was at 185 for the entire duration, not sure if that's a good thing or if that's putting excessive stress on the heart. Could wring sweat out of my shirt and sweatband at the top. Since I had seen noone that day, I stripped and sunbathed to let my clothes dry a bit before the descent.

Paradise Valley to giant steps, have done it before, a pretty cool destination. Banff hot springs on the way back, it's literally been years since I've entered Banff, kindof makes me want to wander around town like a tourist again.

Mt Lipsett, I've hardly ever been in the highwood area, it was nice to see the larch changing to gold. Insane wind at the top!

Summer in review - dragonboat

Now that it's autumn (as opposed to the winter that we called summer), I figured I'd write a few reviews.

Was away for the first chunk of the season, but was back in time for Leduc. It was pretty fun, and nice weather at least. Paddled on the rec/youth team, but knew a few people still. Met someone great but have barely talked since. Team dinner was ok foodwise but socially quite good (though quite a few people chose to do independent things). I simply couldn't stop laughing at some things Jeff said. Raced some cars afterwards, but otherwise noone was interested in going out and doing anything. Did a 2000m race, and joined strangers for a couple other races, so it was a lot of paddling that weekend.

Calgary dragonboat I steered one rec and paddled another rec (though I practiced with comp.) In the B-final those two rec and the comp were against each other, it felt like my team vs my team vs my team. I chose to steer, and we beat the other rec. I argue that if I'd chosen to paddle, that would have been the superior rec team. Yep, it all came down to me. Volunteered before, in between, and after races. Overall the festival went smoothly, except for the ridiculous lineup for lunch. Though it would be nice if it was the actual committee-run festival rather than ending up being topmade-run festival again.

Wrap up for 'love boat deluxe' was at 'west' downtown, and we hung out a while afterwards, walking around, watching fireworks, getting bubble tea. Nicolas infringed on my position as token white guy. Wrap up for 'spirit' was at keg down macleod, I realized I actually hardly knew anyone on that team. Wrap up for 'mixed red' didn't exist.

Was happy to continue practices and they became extra intense, but then the last few weeks before kelowna were all single digit temperature and sometimes breezy or drizzly. It was really sapping the enjoyment out of it. Then kelowna itself, normally the lovely break from the deteriorating calgary weather, ended up also being cool and wet, which was disappointing. My room strongly voted for team dinner to be vietnamese, but we were overruled by the others. Interestingly, at the restaurant we ended up at three of us ordered pasta (while noone else did). Afterwards, our room went to minigolf. Seemed our room, though randomly determined, were all be on the same mental wavelength that weekend.

Now the season's over, the nice weather has returned, my body's recovered, and I'm starting to miss paddling again.

Pastor Jones

I think the best course of action would be to make Sep 10 or 12 as International "Pastor Jones is a turd-head and does not represent us" day.