Gussy’s Blog

Holy Shit! Let me just say that i had one of thee best Australia Days i have ever had. It was heaps  and heap and heaps of fun. Stared drinking at 3pm, but ill get back to that. Started off late, so went for an Arctic ski (AKA Nordic Ski), the trails were so nice and the view was amazing as always. It was a bit foggy but you could see the silhouette of the mountains. Awesome. Then we had sushi for lunch and i took a couple of photos of my 3.5yr old Girlfriend with Aussie Tat’s on her face. So cute. Then we went for a snowboard with Dana and Brendar. Which was really fun. Then headed to the Local Hero with Dana, to drink some OP Bundy. Holy cow that stuff gives you gut rot! So i quickly changed to my normal rye. I was on it all night after that. About 6 ish. My Mate Cody had finally unlocked his keys from his car, so we went down the mountain. Headed straight to the Taps. Where i continued to drink and socialise. Then around 9pm, the DJ came on. He was freaking great. Although seeing im the local tech that knows everything (HA!) He asked me to help him with why his  Slide show wasn’t showing on the big screen. I fiddled with cords, but couldn’t get it working. Mind you i didn’t tell him what time i started drinking.

After that the night just got better and better, and i got drunker and drunker. I didn’t spent too much.  I danced, had a shot with Dana after she got off work. She normally doesn’t drink so we all had a shot for Australia day. Then towards the end there was a mosh pit which  was getting a bit rowdy, so i instinctively put my arms out to protect my friends and created a barrier, Brendar’s Man, Cookie did the same. It was quite funny.

I then got a lift home from Dana, after dropping most other people off. There were some really drunk ppl that wanted to drive home. So she gave them a lift home.  I met some really nice people, who i might try and keep in touch with over the rest of the season.

It is weird but seeing as im not apart of the “hill” culture any more, i seem to be out of the loop of people that i know. It is quite an odd feeling. I do enjoy not being up there, working. In some ways it is still nice to be able to work and ride at the same time.  Anyhow’s i have  stated that it was an awesome day. One that will live on for many years to come.

Well i have been get cold legs recently. The weather has been hovering around the -20C for the last week. It is very nipply, and leg numbing too! Apart for the cold it has been a good week with plenty going on. The podcasting courses that i am doing have been in the paper. So now i am a small town celebrity. I think it is quite funny, to be written up. I like the attention. For once, my friend Troy “the super fast”, ” i look good in lycra”  Hudson isn’t in there! I got the paper all to myself. He is normally in it somewhere for his Arctic skiing (Nordic).

So after the whoo-haa of my last blog, about the break up. I have realised that yes, i was a jerk and that wasn’t really me. I was trying to distance myself from feeling hurt and lonely. SO i am sorry to all parties concerned. It was never intentional and i do appreciate everyone’s comments on it.  It has taken me a few days, of chatting with various parties, including Sara to realise this. So, yeah, sorry. I guess this really cold has given me some time to think and also made me realise my errors.

Onto more news, the sunrises have been awesome in the cold. I couldn’t think of anything better, than a crisp cool morning and the sun coming up over the snow capped mountains. It is just awesome! totally rad dude! hehe

So i am hoping to go in this race in the month of August. The name is the Great Canadian Death Race. It is a 125km race over 17,000 feet (5181.6m) of Vertical. Swamps, cliffs, rocky ridges it has it all. Oh boy is it going to be fun. I am hoping to do it in stages, like a relay. If you know of anyone that would like to come on board. Let me know. The places are limited!

More details on the race and the event it’s self go to here.

Well another relationship is over. It is hard cause i initiated it.  I never like breaking up with someone.  It is really hard for me, to see someone hurting. Stupid sensitive side! OH well, i know that i did it for the right reasons, and it is better to have lived and really liked than not to have liked at all.  It’s tough and interesting to see the human reaction of someone that is going thru this. I find it interesting and touching that she cared so much for me. I’m not trying to sound like a cold hearted bastard about it all. I just am looking at it from a human sociological perspective.  Seeing that, that is what sparks my interest.

So at the moment i am sleeping on the couch. Hopefully in the next day or 2  i will be moving out and down the road a bit, to the other end of town.  Closer to the shops and the bars.  It will be a change and i am looking forward to it, something i haven’t had in a while. To wash clothes or cook. Alas it is part of living the single life.

It has been a time of discovery and busyness  for me.  I am moving this week some time, climbing on Thursday. Friday i will be moving again, Saturday i am patrolling the hill and the Nordic trails, Sunday is just normal patrol. Monday i start Podcasting courses, Tuesday i go climbing. So it is going to be a hectic week for me coming up i don’t think sleep will be in the equation.

It is a while in between updates but i find it so damn hard to get time to just sit down and write. Stupid not having a laptop, like a Macbook air. mmmm skinny…..mmm sexy.

I don’t really, just like saying the name. It is super funny.  It is pronounced like Angina, but with an R instead. Oh the joy of saying it. I giggle every time i say it, or lately have been saying it a lot and have had to resort to just smiling, other wise it takes up to much time. I went out there for Xmas, with Sara. It was a fun time. Did lots in the short time that i was there. We went skating on a pond, which was awesome. I didn’t fall over once, whilst Sara did and she is blaming it on the uneven-ness of the skating surface.  I just blame it on poor bent knee placement.  Played street hockey on Xmas day, which i scored the winning goal. I did also cheat quite a bit by pushing Sara into the snow, on several occasions and picking the little kids up under my arm and still stick handling. It was awesome fun. Have to keep on doing that i think.  We dropped some stuff off at Sara’s parents cabin out near the lake. And took the Toboggan out with us. So it was a real toboggan made of wood, so we had fun going down a little slope. I won the “how far can you travel” race. I almost ran into a wire fence  about 50m away. I had to use my snowboarding skills to turn the toboggan, it was a fun time.  We also went out to Manitoba, just for a quick visit. It was a good time. Sara’s grandma lives out in Langenburg, just on the border. So that is why i went out over the border. I was so close so i just had to! 4 Provinces and still going. Lots of driving but still fun. Well that is pretty much my xmas wrap. Hope that everyone else had a fun time, and was stinking it up in the heat. I was was chilly cold and it was awesome. i was Steaming after playing hockey, that is right i was too hot for the environment! What can i say… it is hard being me (ha!)

Ohh ohh one more thing that freaked me out was the river was steaming, cause it was warmer than the air around it. That is just freaky to see,  steaming river.  Another thing that was weird was the white bunny in the back yard, they actually turn white on there own! I know freaky, brown in summer and white in winter! I saw a waskly wabbit!

Well it is that time of year again. The time when everyone has a birthday, getting lots of pressies and has drink and gets merry from said drink. I am heading to the flat lands of Canada this year. Not having a red neck Christmas again. One is enough. So i am getting ready to go to Regina. (lol, i really need to get my mind out of the gutter) It should be a fun trip. Hopefully i can get an Arctic ski in, being that it is a full moon on Saturday night. It is heaps of fun skiing under a full moon, so picturesque.

Anyhow i had something to say and i forgot what that was, so i will leave it here and get back later!

Just wondering why you have an outdated bank fee’s schedule? I come from Australia, and i pay $5 a month to use my account (thru ANZ). I get Unlimited transactions, from an ATM, or thru Debit. I get charged more it i go in to talk face to face with people. Seeing you just reported a 884 million dollar profit. Couldn’t you do something better on bank fee’s? I understand that you want to make lots of money, but do also understand that i, and many of my friends also want to not give it to you. Unfortunately i need to keep my money in a bank. The hiding under the mattress theory has been proved time and again to be wrong. I am seriously considering switching to another bank, because of the fees.

Thanks,
Luke

Yerah, isn’t it funny how music can invoke reaction, feeling, thought and a whole tundra of emotions. I am just listening to Imogen Heap. She is a great singer, highly recommended by me. My mate Tony, has got me back into listening to her, and i really enjoy her music, it is emotive. That is one of the reasons that i like it. The other is that it brings up some memories that i would rather not think or feel. The feelings start out negative, then end up being a kind of remembrance for the person i think about. It’s funny how some songs bring up the bad things you wish you could do again, make right. Alas it isn’t possible to do that, otherwise i would be constantly doing things over. Cause i know that i have made many mistakes, some good and others bad learning wise. I guess that is what life is all about, learning. Sometimes i wish i didn’t have to. On the other hand i know that it is a good thing also, stretching me and making me more tolerant and tough at the same time.  Yeah, i need to sleep, this sounds like garbled crap.

Just now, i was looking at Google Maps for Australia. Now they finally have my house on the map. It made me a bit sad that im not there. It looks all sunny and warm and nice. Damn Canadians for making that word “Nice” so easy to say!!!

Check it out, coordinates are  -31.812612, 115.820816 That is my house. The one with the Arrow on it. But im not there, just my dog, and a few other people. It is what i will call my de facto house. As in i have a room, but not lodging there. Yeah.

BTW Keith Rocks.

I watched a good move the other night, it was Mr Magoriums Magical Emporium.  It has some words that i liked. Like disphoria, as in the opposite of euphoria. I don’t think it is a real word but i like the idea of it. It also had some good stuff in there about King Lear and the play, something in that epilogue touched me, it was something about standing up and being counted.  Along those lines anyhow. Wish i could find the script online. Searched for ages. Anyhow it is good.

Well this is just a little update. I have the whole week to myself as Sara is away. Studying hard for my upcoming test on First Aid, bit scary but i’m sure that i will have it down pat by the time i have to do it. Smart bunny i am.

Yes it has been a very shitty week for me. It all started after we went to Calgary on Sunday. I awoke with a pain in my upper left quadrant, just under the rip cage. I couldn’t figure out what it was, it was a dull pain. I just forgot about it. I drove to Calgary with Sara, and her parents in a car behind (gulp) the roads were shit. The snow ploughs hadn’t got out yet, and there was icy parts of the road. Slight fish tailing at 90km/h isn’t fun. So anyhow we got there ok, then found a hotel to stay in. That was all good. Felt ok, not super dooper but worked through it. Then we went to Ikea, and bought some stuff. I didn’t have much lunch, if any. So i was feeling faint, and needed some food bad. But i hung around and waited till we got to the end. Some hours later, we arrived. I went and grabbed a hot dog for 50 Cents! It hit the spot, just a bit to much. I was feeling even more off by the time i ate that. So i staggered out to the car, and had a bit of a sleep in the car, waiting for the others. Didn’t feel much better. So i went to have a sleep when we got back to the hotel. Didn’t last long, before you know it i was showing the toilet my hot dog. (He didn’t like the taste either!)

So after that, my stomach was in cramps. We rang the free nurses hotline. They recommended to go to hospital to sort it out. We sat at the hospital for 4 hours before being seen. It was awesome fun. Got a IV in my hand that wasn’t used, and then had blood taken. Turns out it was only gastro, and i am ok now. Still a little off colour, so my friends say. It was a nice trip to the hospital that set me back $500. Yay!

So after getting back to the hotel at 4am, we slept very well, and got up at 10. Ready to leave for Golden after some shopping! Nothing better when your feeling like shit! So we went to Mountain Equipment Co-Op (MEC), manage to get some caribeeners for climbing, a head light, for everything outdoors, and some chalk to climb with. It was lots of fun, should have got some shoes though.

So with that under our belt, we started to head back home. I drove to Canmore, about 2 hours worth, then was tired from being prodded the night before. So Sara drove the rest. I’m glad she did, it was snowing hard, and was just really really crappy driving conditions. She had fun in the car park at Lake Louise doing slow-mo hand-brake turns. Quite funny.

Anyhow, they built a new bridge over the canyon this year, just opened. The Prime Minster and everyone loves coming and getting photos take. It is a great bridge, in summer. Winter is totally fucken sucks. We were going down it at 60km/h and went out of the lane a bit, hit the un-compacted snow and almost totalled our car and another, whilst spinning down the bridge. It was scary! Sara did a good job with the steering not to hit anyone or thing.

So i thought the bad luck was over, it wasn’t. I was climbing. I managed to get a 5.10b i had been trying for weeks, still need to get it clean though, without stopping. Anyhow, i was done there and heading home. I ran a stop sign as i could see around 200m to my left with only 1 car on the road. That car? A cop car. Pulled me over and gave me a ticket. $170, but i get $25 off if i pay it within 30 days. Wow wee, thanks Revenue Canada Mobile Patrol! (RCMP). It was a rookie that was well, just wanting to get the hang of thing. I had to hand over the registration, and i had no idea where it was. So the older cop had to come out and tell me where to look. I had no idea where it might have been! Pissed at myself for getting a ticket, cause it was like the 10th time that day i had gone down that road. Stopping each time. Oh well, i could object, but can’t really get off it easily.

So lets hope that bad things only come in 3, cause i don’t know if any more come along it might get some kung foo in its ass!