There Just Must Be a Leak in My Bank Account

My Canadian friends think I'm an absolute nutter for having 2 jobs and working all the time (I'm down to 2 jobs now but still feel hopelessly broke) but I just don't see how any of them are capable of making enough money to say, save a little so they can fly off to exotic places. Granted I have made enough money to fully fund my quick trip to Chicago for Lollapalooza but after that I feel like I'll be back to square one. One of my friends almost fell down when I said my sister had just got a job working 20 hours a week earning $20 an hour plus commissions. That's basically unheard of here unless you're working on an oil rig. And she's going to be earning more than I do with my 2 jobs working 55 hours a week. After throwing a tantrum I think all I can do is go to Chicago next week, have a blast and then stick it out through August. I mean stick it out as I shall continue on with my billion hours of work and probably stop eating and start selling fake celebrity autographs on eBay.

June of Death Begone

People over here have gotten into the habit of asking me silly questions. One being "Are you working tomorrow?" and the other being "What did you do today?". These questions are silly because I always immediately answer either "yes" or "work".

Happily, I am scheduling myself little breaks here and there during July to keep my sanity. June 2008 however will forever be remembered as 'The June of Death' as I worked 26 out of the 30 days of June - 18 of those being in a row. How I survived 'June of Death' is still a mystery. I do know however that my bike paid for itself tenfold since more than a few times I knew I was not going to make it to my next shift if I didn't get to coast the whole way there. And then I also went a little crazy and bought a longboard (get the girl working a 60hr work week to try and save up some cash and she'll still go shopping - sigh). I miss snowboarding so much and am trying to get excited about surfing so longboarding is the inbetween (just in case anyone is unaware, a longboard is a long skateboard - like I said ... went a little crazy).

BUT!! Oh July how exciting and splendiferous you shall be. This weekend I'm going to the Calgary Stampede, next weekend I'm heading back to Vernon to visit Charlotte and Kyle and then the final weekend of July/first weekend of August is Lollapalooza in Chicago. Of course all of my 3 jobs (did I mention I had 3 jobs?) don't want me to have any time off but after 'June of Death' I really couldn't care less what they think. Also I have a sneaking suspicion August/September and October are going to just as evil where my work schedule is concerned. So I better have some fun now while I can.

The Gypsy Finds a Home

If I have proven anything to myself over the past month, it's that I am much more indecisive than I thought. Basically totally incapable of sticking to plan no matter how logical it may seem. Ah Ha! I guess the word "logical" would probably have never been used to describe me previously. Perhaps that was the problem all along.

So now I headed to Banff with the intention of being here for a friend's birthday, go snowboarding a bit more and then head back to Vernon to start my Summer life. But then I saw the mountains and basically decided then and there that I was staying here. It also helped that within being here for about 4 hours I had offers for jobs and places to live.

The job hunt seems quite possibly the easiest ever. It looks like 70% of the businesses in this town have "Help Wanted" signs up. I guess that's the benefit of being here a little early before peak Summer season really kicks in and at a time when all the Winter gypsies are fleeing.

A Town Called Vernon

Where am I now? Google "Vernon, BC" and you'll get some idea of where in the midst of the Okanagan Valley I am. So I'm here at the moment following my old Duck On Inn housemates Charlotte and Kyle around while they look for jobs and catch up with friends.

An hour after getting off my Trans-Canada train I hopped on a bus to Whistler to go stay with some Fernie friends to try and figure out what I was going to do with myself. Whistler was a blast. Like some alternate Universe to Fernie really. Everything is all about the flashy flashy and the glamorous. I had to put on respectable clothes to go into the Village not just my track-pants and a hoodie. Strange. Charlotte and I may have only made it up onto Blackcomb only once the week we were there but it was the only day it had snowed. I never thought I'd get some freshies on a glacier this season - but we did. Yeay for snowboarding!

And so then I followed Charlotte to Vernon where she's staying for the Summer intending on checking out Kelowna and eventually road-tripping to Banff to get some more riding in. But now it seems like I may be here for a few months as well. I know people here now and there's a room I can move into and as it gets greener here I keep hearing people say it's the California of Canada. I'm still heading to Banff for a mini-trip next week, but I'm pretty sure I'll be returning to Vernon.

Who would have thunk it?

A Plan Without A Plan

Thankfully Montreal didn't make me want to run away screaming. It was such a beautiful city. The Universe worked its magic and I ended up staying with a friend of a girl I met on the train. He hooked us up with some bikes and guided us around the city and up Mont Royal (the mountain/hill the sits behind the CBD). Lots of fun.

The train trip across Canada was well worth it. It feels very strange to visualise just how much land I crossed. The landscape changes so much as well it really feels like you're crossing 5 different countries, not just one.

Ever since I left Fernie though I've had it in my head that I would not be moving to Vancouver to get a real job anymore. So now I'm in Whistler staying with friends from Fernie, will be heading to Vernon to stay with other friends from Fernie and would like to try and make it to Banff to see other friends from Fernie. Oh Fernie. All in all I'm just planning on seeing as much of BC as I can to decide where in it I'd like to stay for the Summer.

Panic Sets In

So, I'm homeless and jobless in another country. And currently I'm on the opposite side of it to what I'm use to. 3 days out of BC and I miss the Rockies and the hippies and my fellow ducklings. This Ontario/Quebec plan is seeming a little silly to me at the moment. I wish I was snowboarding. Or at least chillin' somewhere other than Toronto. Hopefully Montreal will give me a better vibe. I must say if I had of continued on the original plan of moving to Toronto I would have been quite disappointed.

There are numerous problems with my sudden freakout:
1) My snowboard is sitting at the Greyhound station in Vancouver. An immediate escape to snow would mean it would be without her.

2) Having no job means I have no money to do anything other than change my train itinerary to get to my snowboard earlier.

3) My Canadian friends are all out of communication reach to either make a plan with or to talk me down off the freakout ledge.

4) Crazy plans aren't seeming crazy - like buying a car and driving around BC chasing snow and looking for whatever work I may find (obviously madness).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Uh Oh ... Makin' Plans

So we're t-minus 7 days to go until my cast comes off and I've almost hacked it off Allan-style twice this week. My skin is so manky it grosses me out to even look at my own hand. I want to bend my thumb so bad and I'm getting so excited to be able to hold things in the palm of my hand again.

Meanwhile, to distract me from the fact it snows less and less and that the season is obviously coming to a close, I've started making plans. I bought a plane ticket to Toronto with some friends I've met here for a little "holiday" after the hill closes. I'm going to fly to Toronto with them and spend a few days doing the tourist thing, then they're heading to New York and I'm going to make my way to Montreal. Then after a few days there I'm finally going to get to do the epic train trip across the length of Canada back to Vancouver. And if the planets align and the Universe is kind to me over this next month, I'll have a job waiting for me in Vancouver. Fingers crossed.

A Whole Heap of Firsts

This past month or so has been epic/extreme/remarkable/fulfilling/memorable. Things that I did or have had happen to me for the first time in my life were:

- Riding through 71cms of powder.
- Sliding down a snowy hillside inside a cardboard box.
- Taking first tracks at 8am after a fresh dusting of 27cms.
- Riding rails in the rail park.
- Breaking a bone (shockingly also in the rail park).
- Strapping on skis instead of a snowboard.

Hmm the list seems smaller than I thought it would be. I may be missing some things. Luckily since I'm confined to the house for the time being nursing my broken thumb I'm sure the other things will pop into my mind later on.

SNOWBOARDING!

That's basically all I have to report. Snowboard, drink, eat, work, sleep. That is my life - probably in about that order of importance at the moment as well.

However, just because I also can't believe it myself sometimes, here's the view from my "office". Ah Canada.