We'll be coming 'round the mountain

I awoke again the the train stopping... The train going in fine... but the stops are when I wake up. I felt like we stopped a lot last night. If I can get back to sleep when we are stopped, the motion when we continue allows me to keep on sleeping.
Early this morning we arrived in Edmonton. That guy slept through and once again didn't buy his ticket... I wonder what's going to happen with that.
I decided I better go for breakfast... my tummy was crying!
Once I got in the dinning car I met Josie. A middle-aged interior designer who was taking a bit of a break between companies. She looked fresh faced and well-slept. I could tell she had just gotten on the train.
We were joined by Katie, a retired teacher, with very short red hair, drawn-on eyebrows and a no-nonsense Scottish attitude. They had both left their husbands at home, and decided to travel; Katie for the romance of the train trip she had dreamed about for twenty years. Josie for a break from her life and work. The three of us had a chat about compromise in a marriage. We all agreed that a necessary level of compromise was essential for success of a relationship. However, if you compromise far too much than you begin to lose yourself. While compromise is key, one must ascertain themselves and do the things that make them happy and complete as a person.
After leaving the breakfast table, the conversations lesson remained in my thoughts. I wondered where the lines of comprise could be blurred, and if a relationship could really exist under the ideas of comprise even if it wasn't meant to be.
Josie and Katie were preaching the responsibilities of comprise and marriages, important lessons, yes... I couldn't help but notice that Josie was not wearing her wedding ring. Now my question is: how does one preach the responsibilities of comprimise and success of a marriage, but yet do not wear the ring. Not only that, but what exactly was she planning to do on this trip. I do not judge, for everyone needs some excitement in their life. It just struck me as odd. I wanted to ask her about it, but knew it would be inappropriate.
I went back to my seat, and took a brief nap. It being only about 8:00am at this point.

When I awoke, I headed into the dome car. I wanted a good seat and a good view for the entrance of the mountains. It was raining, and pretty overcast outside. Gloomy kind of day, and I did hope that the mountains might be visible. The dome car was much more social than it had been in previous days. There was about six or seven or us in there all sitting alone, but carrying on a conversation about many things. We were all quite different people from different walks of life, and each of us had some different to add to different parts of the conversation. Especially on the idea of legalizing marijuana use.

There was one lady in particularly who was so well versed in the world, and great to talk to. When the dome car began to get busy, I sat with her. She was interesting because she knew so many different things about art, artists, writers, books, authors, travel, nature vs. society.. and the list goes on and on.

The vibe in the dome car was great. Everyone was excited and in a positive chatty mood. As we got closer to the mountains it cleared up, and the rain was gone.

Right after leaving HInton we began to see the mountains in the distance.

As they got closer and closer everyone could not help but gasp and marvel at their beauty. All these glistening peaks, getting closer and closer. 

We pasted by lakes, and the Athabasca River. The river seemed so clean and green. I could also tell that it expanded much further than where it was. As if during the summer, it was over three times the width then what it is at currently.

Everyone was chatting about the region and the mountains. Everyone had their cameras out taking pictures. We travelled in this happy bliss for about an hour or so. Every so often the man the operates the take-out car, Raman, would come up into the car and tell us something educational about what we were seeing, or what was coming up next.

He told us about this one mountain. It's one of the most popular in the region. It's called mount Roage (not sure if that's the right name), but to the locals it's now as Old Man or Pocahontas. Can you see the face? I thought it was neat how the terrain was naturally eroded that way.

I realized all of the sudden that Jasper sits right in the middle of all these mountains. I got so pumped just thinking about being immersed inside of all of these wondrous beauties.

I can not describe to you the feeling when I got off of the train. It was something I can not describe, I can only say that I was completely overwhelmed with the extreme closeness of the mountains, and their size. The air was fresher, people everywhere were smiling and excited. I got my luggage and walked across town to my hotel. I was simply in awe, and could not stop staring at the landscape. For everywhere I looked a beautiful mountain was hovering in the distance, as if smiling and welcoming me.

I dropped off my stuff and went out for lunch. I was starving and craving pizza. Turns out in Jasper, there is only one place where you can get a slice of pizza, and I couldn't find it. I ended up getting a small hawaiian and enjoying it's fresh baked deliciousness. Fresh home-made tomato sauce on a perfectly cooked crust, with the perfect amount of toppings. One of the best pizza's I've had.

I took an hour long walk up and down the side streets to explore. They have two main streets, and a bunch of residential streets. Jasper is an amazingly clean town as I saw NO garbage anywhere at all. I think this is due to it being a National Park, and the people that live there help to preserve it.

I was walking past a retirement home, a noticed a cute man ahead of me. He was shuffling along the sidewalk with a stick in his hand. The stick had a rope tied to it, and the rope was strapped around his wrist (In case he dropped it, he wouldn't have to bend down and pick it up). He said "hello there" and I said hello back. I mentioned the nice weather we were having was (it was about 14 degrees) and I was still in full awe about the mountains. He stared to tell me about how he has such a hard time going outside, but had to come out today because of the weather, and to say hello to the mountains. I liked him, and we exchanged a few more words before continuing on my adventurous walk. It was so quite and peaceful everywhere and the town seemed to have a permanent feeling of bliss hovering above it.

I passed the elementary school and heard some kid whining at his brother that he "didn't want to go home". I thought that if home was away from the landscape, then I completely understood why.

Once I had wandered all through the side streets and through the main part of town twice, I decided to head back to the hotel. I was inspired to write.

I relaxed completely, couldn't help it when the vibe was so present throughout the town.

I watched the sunset from my balcony and the mountains slowly disappear into the night.

FORTress of Solitude

There's a cute old man who's sitting across from me. I know, I know, I always think the elderly are cute…. but they are. Maybe that's why I'm enjoying this trip so much, so many cute and interesting elderly people to look at.

Anywho… when we pulled out of Winnipeg he raced over to my side of the train and pressed his face against the glass and started waving. We past by his apartment building and his roommate was on the balcony waving too. I couldn't quite tell if his roommate had seen him, but as we passed his waves got more aggressive, so I told him I thought he had. We got into a bit of a nice chat about the different markets around Canada. Comparing The Forks (Winnipeg), St.Lawerence (Toronto), and Grandville Island (Vancouver). He is retired and likes to travel the rails now as a means of entertainment because his cost of living is a little low. He has some family in Missasagau and seems to know a bit about the different areas in Toronto. It was to talk about something familiar. I gave him directions to check out mini-China town on Broadview (he asked), as well as Riverdale Farm and that giant Riverdale park. 

I did a couple silly things on this train trip. Firstly they wouldn't turn off the goddamn search lights! Ok, not search lights, but blinding overhead lights for the whole coach car. I was sleepy and the blanket over my head was NOT working this time. I built myself a little fort. Everyone was looking at me strangely who walks by. But i do my evil laugh to myself and say, "Suckers! They wish they had their own fort to sleep in!" SpongeBob loves it! I'm ready to take it down, but he won't let me.

There is another man, in a couple seats in front of me. He came on without a ticket. He was instructed to pick one up in Sasktoon. He went to the dome car instead. Let's see if he gets on in Edmonton, or if he can make it to Kamloops for free.

We just passed through Wainwright. I look out the window and once again see snow. I shutter at the thought that Jasper might have snow still. I've been checking the weather, and they have been around and above ten degrees for a couple weeks now… but snow I still fear. I think mainly because I do not have the approbate clothing to deal with said weather conditions.

It's almost 4am, and all my coach-mates are asleep. I was awaken to the sound of my phone receiving signal once again, and receiving 11 texts, 4 e-mails, and 2 voicemails. I LOVE YOU GUYZ! My coach-mates looked annoyed, and I was embarrassed, but happy to know you guy are wondering about me. If anyone would like to send me an e-mail with updates on how you are, that would be great! I would love to hear from you and see how things are going for you.

Quite mental breaks from trying so hard to sleep are good. It also allows me to write silly entertaining things to myself. I hope you are enjoying reading these entries… if not, oh well! I am:p

Passing through the prairies at night is interesting. It's so dark, and all you can see are a few specks on light on the far distant horizon. I read in my rail-guide, that they purposely go through the parries at night to avoid people from getting prairie fever. It's supposedly so flat and boring, that people need a mental break from it. Oh mental break!

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

I think I'm gonna go back into my fort now, or as Luke would call it, my "Fortress of Solitude", and try to get a little more sleep. Nighty!

Car Graveyard

I turned my alarm off this morning for what seemed to be the 20th time. I realized I could delay it no more… I must get up and leave Winnipeg.

I showered, gathered all my stuff, and checked out. I hit a coffee shop along the way and picked up a muffin for the train ride.

Although I slept in too long, and couldn't go out for breakfast, I did have some extra time before the train left the station. I headed back over to Forks. I picked up some fresh fruit, and a sandwich (and a brownie…shhhhh!) for the train ride. I once again walked along the historic nature walk.

This time I decided to stop and chat with the locals. SpongeBob called them wild animals, but they seemed pretty civil. I saw this awesome billboard overtop of the bridge to cross the river.

It was peaceful to listen to the river flow along, and watch it slowly trickle along.

Said my Goodbye to Winnipeg!

I got to the station early, hoping to get a good seat on the train. There was a huge group (20ish) of kids there. Maybe not kids, but late teens (14 - 17). I looked over at them throwing things at each other, playing clapping games, and repeating silly names at each other.

My stomach flipped with the idea of the coach car being full of these loud teens, and I possibly having to share a seat :( I tried to get to the front of the line, getting to choose the best seat. However, Via-Rail is awesome and attached a second Coach car for the occasion. They are all in the other car. The dome car is much busier.

Right after we crossed the boarder between Manitoba and Saskatchewan we went into the Qu'Appelle Valley. This valley stretches for about twenty-five miles and was formed by the giant ice sheet that covered Canada about 12 000 years ago. I really enjoyed seeing the carving, and erosion left behind from tens of thousands of years ago. (Yeah, Nerd here!)

We had a quick stop in Melville. I jumped off the train and noticed a graveyard for old cars. I couldn't help but turn my camera off of auto, and play with the shutter speeds and what-nots to get some shots of the these beauties. Most people would think this is junk, but I really enjoyed taking these photos. I really like the way that time and circumstance can alter something's appearance to become what we see today. I love the way that the rust is eating away at the car's exteriors and how abandoned and unloved they look. I hope you enjoy these photos.

Winnipeg Wanderings

          I awoke this morning to a quite knock, and a voice, "housekeeping?" 

I groggily answered, "please come back."

I rolled over, and the clock read 9:12am… thanks HouseKeeping devil! I felt too awake to consider going back to sleep… and besides it's my only full day to see Winnipeg. I wanted to get up and explore. However, I switched on the TV, and watched some cartoons. The warm of the bed kept me from climbing out of it for at least an hour or two.

           By the time I left my hotel it was a little past noon. Using my fancy apps, I picked out a nearby breakfast place and headed North (pointed that way by my trusty phone). I was headed about four blocks to the Black Sleep Diner. Seemed pretty suiting for me:) I got to head in a new direction on my walk. I passed by the University of Winnipeg. It was a Giant brick building… not much else to say about it.. Nice bricks?

           Upon my arrival to the Black Sheep Diner, it was packed! There was a line-up literally out the door. Using my knowledge of restaurants, and my year as a hostess, I did a quick table count, and realized I wouldn't be seated for at least half an hour. At this point it was almost 1pm, and I really wanted to go to the Museum, which closed at 4pm (Damn Sundays). I didn't stay there… instead I looked up another place for breakfast and headed due West. 
          My walk there was pretty entertaining. I saw an Elmo dolls strapped to a truck. I thought it was cute… but then I wondered what they were trying to say with it. "If you fuck with us, we will do this to you!" OR "We like to strap things down!" OR "Let's make our truck a torture chamber of death!" What do you think they are saying with this??

          When I hit the coffee shop/breakfast place, it was closed… damn Sundays! Oh well.. At this point I had stumbled into an older part of town, and I could tell that some of the older buildings had historic significance. I admired the architecture, and realized that time was surely passing by. I headed back towards the downtown to see if I could find some food, and a cab to get to the musemum.

           I passed this theatre, that had an amazing brick wall with so many fire escapes to nowhere. I felt that people were going to appear out of somewhere, and start rehearsing for West Side Story. I started snapping, and doing the side-step walk and singing… I realized I was alone in doing this, and a family was backing away with horrified looks on their faces, so I promptly stopped. Jess, you were totally there with me, dancing right along!

          Without seeing any sort of cab or breakfast place I did the Canadian thing, and ducked into a Tim Horton's. No, my Rrrrrrrroll up the Rim to Win did not (win). It was just after 2pm now and I realized that not only was the musemum on the other side of town, but I would really only have about an hour to enjoy it. 

          However…. the Winnipeg Art Galley (WAG, hehehehe Wag!) was only a couple blocks away, and was open until 5pm. I felt a little bit like I was cheating or something, simply because I have never been to the AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto). Well, anyways, here I am heading into this gallery.

           They had an exhibit on called the View. It was featuring a lot of art before the 20th century. There were a lot of cool hand painted, and hand crafted dishes from Canada, Britain, and China from the 1700s.

There were a lot of traditional paintings (mostly Roman, and British) from 1600s - 1800s. There were also some less traditional, more obscure paintings from the 1700s and a lot of these were Canadian. 

           I saw my first Emily Carr painting. Put a smile on my face to finally see some of the historic impact she has made. I've always heard the name, but didn't know anything about her.

          My favourite exhibit was called,"Through the eyes of Children". It was all artwork made by children. It would tell the name and age of the child. There were oil paintings, clay sculptures, schetches, decorations, forts, costumes, all sorts of stuff.

It reminded me how inventive kids can be.

          My two favourite pieces were great. One was a rocket ship/ airplane, made out of boxes, painted in different colours. There were stars and different designs stuck to all sides of it. The wings were like an airplane and painted with black and white stripes. There was a place for a small child to sit and "drive". There was a steering wheel created out of hubcap, and on the "dashboard", there were different leavers made out of handels, and the buttons to press were actually clothing buttons. This made me so happy. I wish I could have taken pictures in the Gallery, this place had such a happy nostalgic feeling.

          The other piece I loved in the children's Gallery was this boat. It was a five foot tall boat made out of paper machie. The front of the boat had a giant dragon's head. It had a full mass, and sails painted in matching colours. The crew were all little paper machie people. Most of which were Vikings all different looking. Their clothing and hair was made out of cloth and different materials. One doll had a total pirate get-up, eye-patch, peg leg, bandana, striped shirt. Another was wearing a traditional viking hat, with Pippi-longstockings type braids hanging out the sides. I must have examined this boat for at least five minutes or so.

          WAG was also doing a showing on Warner Bros. It showed a lot of the old illustrations from the 30s and 40s, as well as a little segmented section on each character. It was mainly Looney Toons characters… did you know Daffy Duck, and Porky Pig and older than Bugs Bunny?!? I never knew. There were a lot of write-up about all of the characters. Complete with tables on portions for illustrators to be able to redraw them. 

There was a create your own toon section, and I sat down with some children for a bit to draw and colour. There was also a wall were you could hang your art, and a lot of the pictures drawn by visitors were pretty good. 

Behind the drawing area, was a viewing area, they were playing Looney Toons traditional cartoons. There was more people watching the cartoons then anywhere else in the whole Gallery. I watched Silvester try to eat Tweety, and the Road Runner out smart Willi E. Coyote.

           The gift shop was a lot like the gift shop at the ROM. Selling thing that have nothing to do with an art gallery or musemum; like lamps, or vases. Umberellas, or napkins. But an entertaining little shop anyways. I wanted to be a dry-erase board of the paining "the scream", but I knew I wouldn't be able to carry it home in a couple weeks, so I passed.

            From there I continued wandering around downtown. I discovered this giant dog as he tried to eat SpongeBob. I came to his valiant rescue as I wrestled with him for my safe return of my Sponge. This dog is supposed to resemble these two different breeds of dog that were mixed in Winnipeg. The plaque said something like if they could survive here, then they could make it anywhere.

         In my wandering I ended up in Portage Place, and bought a couple tank tops. I realized that it's a bit colder than I would have hoped and they will be good to layer up and keep me warm. Also, I noticed… for a town that no one wear's heels, they sure have a lot of shoe stores!! In the same mall they had a Payless, ShoeWarehouse, Athletes' World, Steps, and two other no-name shoe stores… I felt like I should have bought shoes or something. I did see a single person wearing heels… she didn't speak a word of English, and I assumed she was also a tourist like me.

           After my shopping excursions I grabbed some dinner and headed back to my hotel. Also, my foot was killing me, having smashed it in a heavy door on Thursday before I left the city. It's pretty bruised, tender and swollen. Makes it a bit hard to walk around for more than six hours at a time.

            Knowing how sleep is on the train, I wanted to get in a good night's rest. I also have planned to get up early and grab breakfast before the train, which boards at 11am. I did play some Nintendo 64, and watch some bad movies, while I packed up my stuff.

Winnipeg

          After the sun went down, I got comfy in my seat and watched a couple episodes of Planet Earth. I got sleepy and stretched out across my seats to nap for the evening. I was awaken every hour or so to the train stopping, either to let a freight train pass, or to let passengers on or off. Also, the attendants walking past me would wake me to as they awoke the passengers and got them ready to leave. Or welcomed the new passengers and orientated them to the train. I remember at one point being quite annoyed that we still hadn't arrived in Winnipeg.
          As we stopped I noticed that some of the families were getting off the train. Little Ava, and her young momma were the first to leave at Sioux Lookout, at about midnight. Passing their empty seats heading to the washroom felt different. A couple hours later the native family mommy, daddy, brother of 7 years old and baby were the next to leave. I didn't want to lose any more of my coach mates... but then I realized.... I was next!

          I fell back to sleep an hour or so later. I awoken this morning to the sun rising in the prairies. It was such a different site from anything I'd seen before. The land stretched out for miles and miles, no hills, and no trees. I could tell that the prairies were coming because the trees kept getting shorter, and had less and less branches. The evergreens were getting so skinny.
          We arrived in Winnipeg around 7:45am. I climbed off the train, as a different kind of feeling overwhelmed me. It wasn't completely sadness for leaving my coach-mates and comfort of the train. It wasn't completely fear for being alone in a brand new city. It wasn't completely the exhaustion I felt from a lack of sleep in four days. Maybe a mix of all, with a mild bout of excitement for the trip I was about to embark on.
          From the train station I used my fancy phone to find the closest breakfast place. I ate at a Pancake house (called Pancake House). I tried their pancakes.... which made me realize as much as I like pancakes, they are never what I except them to be, and am constantly disappointed. I should really only eat pancakes when I make them. I make them to be much thinner, more like crepes, and usually add bananas. Yum! I would like some now...
          Anyways, the scrambled eggs had great flavour, the bacon was perfectly cooked. The hash browns were perfectly cooked, but could have used more seasoning... and the pancakes, were pancakes.
After breakfast I began to wander around this area of Winnipeg called "the Forks".
          I headed towards the water and noticed a giant area with a historic landmark. When I first got there, there was a fitness group using the area as their own home gym. They were running around the monument, and using the viewing benches to do exercises off of. I felt like I was bugging them, and sat by the river for a bit.
          When I was ready to, I headed back to the monument. It was this circular rock thing with these large metal arches over top of the giant half sphere. The metal was designed to allow the sun to shine different symbols through shadows and light. SpongeBob climbed up on the rock sphere and tried to decode some of the symbols. He said it resembled Squidworth's music or something... I wasn't quite listening, he tends to ramble on a wee bit from time to time.

           I followed the river and discovered the Plaza. This is a nice skate park that was full of young skateboarders using the various ledges, bowls, half pipes, and ramps. The coolest thing I saw was this hill type thing. It went up and down like a wave, and I kicked around for a bit to see if anyone would ride on it. No one did. This park was the biggest skate board park I've ever seen, with the most equipment. It was entertaining to watch. Although I did notice the age of the skaters were much younger than what I would expect. Usually at the Bathurst skate park is anywhere from 15 - 30 year olds, where at this park were 10 - 16 year olds. Much younger kids.
          After watching the kids skate for a bit and realizing I missed skating with my brother, I left the park and decided to follow the river. There was a nice nature path that I followed along. It was peaceful. The river was overflown and a lot of the paths down to it were chained off and closed due to flooding. It was slow moving, and seemed like it had only recently unthawed.

          I stumbled upon another monument of sorts. At first I thought it was these weird copper pipes pointing to the sky. As I got closer I noticed it was huge. There were steps leading down in the centre. I was so confused as to what it was. In all directions the copper pipes were set up circling the huge area. In the very centre was a circular sun. There were plaques all around the centre. As I went over to read the plagues I noticed each one was about different constellations. It told when they would be the most visible, and a little bit about their historic significance.
          I realized that each of the copper pipes pointed out the constellations, and if you stood on top of the sun in the centre, you could clearly see these sites. I thought this was grand! It was something I was very interested in, and I wished that my hotel was closer to here so I could have gone there and saw all the different figures in the sky.
          I then wandered around the Forks market for a couple hours. It's kind of on par with St. Lawerence Market, only slightly more pricey, due to mainly tourists. I liked checking out all the specialty shops, and seeing all the organic produce. I spent about an hour in this antique market. It was full of items 50 years old and older (at least that's what they promised). The antiques market reminded me of my father's house. I saw a lot of similar dishes, decorative ornaments, blue cobalt glass (he collects this) which became popular in the 1950s. It made me wish to see him.
           Eventually I made my way back to the train station and picked up my luggage. I started my walk to my hotel. Two people along the way asked me if I was headed home. I smiled... the whole time I was wondering around Forks I felt like people were staring at me. For one, I noticed that NO ONE in this town wears heels. So my clip, clip, clop, as I walked certainly attracted people's eyes. I also haven't seen anyone in my age range who wasn't native. I was probably the only red-haired girl running around the city. But people asking me if I was headed home... well, I guess I really didn't stand out that much.
I walked uptown, getting a chance to see some of the city. I found out where the shopping centre was, where some places to have dinner and what-nots.
          I checked into my hotel, no issues, and finally got to shower. SO AMAZING!! Having space to spread out my belongings and having access to my giant suitcase was great.
            I took a brief nap and headed out for dinner. I went to a casual pub and sat at the bar. Had me some wine and dinner. Got into a bit of a chat about the Leafs with Captain Hook... He wasn't Captain Hook, I don't remember his real name... but he was this 47 year old guy with a hook for a hand. Our chat was quite brief, as I was ready to head back to my hotel.
Once here I called my brother and we chatted for a while. Then my exhaustion got the better of me and I fell asleep watching Doctor Who. Hehehe

Choo Chooo

        Throughout today the dismal winter was transformed into a more recognizable atmosphere. Vast forests of skinny evergreens lead way to breaks of rich lakes, and rivers. I took a moment to watch the sun dance across the lake and remembered that these moments are often passed up and not savoured.

          Earlier today we stopped in Hornepayne. This was the Hornepayne "landmark", an old silo, forgotten and abandoned. This was an hour and a half stop, and practically everyone piled off the train for some fresh air. It was quite snowy, but the sun filled the air with such warmth that I hardly noticed at all. SpongeBob was afraid to get himself wet with snow (Hence being a Sponge), and I had to coax him off the train.
The employees helped the children (passengers) to make snowmen as they cheerly chatted about Canadian climate and culture. 
Everyone looked so happy to be off the train and enjoying the sunshine and fresh air.
My boots, being far from waterproof, stopped me from venturing too far from the train. However I did find this old train station building which was also abandoned. All the windows were either smashed or boarded up with beautiful pictures painted over the windows.  Something about the old bricks and hand-painted frames drew me towards this building, where I felt it contained a certain kind of magic.

          At lunch I sat with a young couple who had a seven month old baby. Cutest little drooling thing he was. The mother had to put the child down (to nap), and I chatted with the father while I enjoyed my lunch. He worked for via rail and was taking the trip with his girlfriend to kill some time in his schedule before the busy tourist season started up. He was typically french (montreal), with only a slight accent, and I could tell he was liking the opportunity to work on his English.

          SpongeBob and myself spent most of the day in the dome car watching Ontario pass by in all it's grand beauty. I started working on a new knitting project (GO ME!!), which made me get motion sickness and hence took a well-deserved nap.

          Since we hit Winter in Sudbury at 5am last night I have not had any phone signal :( I think it should come back once we get back into civilization (probably tomorrow morning when I hit Winnipeg). I was enjoying pulling up my location on my fancy phone and seeing exactly where I was… Now I get to guess.

          I decided to once again visit the dinning car for dinner. I had a delicious cut of AAA Prime Rib and a glass of crappy Pinot Noir. The company was great. One quite nice and friendly retired salesman on his way to Vancouver (Courtney actually) to visit his son. He was full of world-knowledge, let me also say a plethora of knowledge for the rails, especially this trip (this being his 5th or 6th time doing it).

There was a nice mid aged woman who was moving to Edmonton to become a nurse. She was very supportive of my future attitude of career choice. She had told me about the many different careers she had ventured into, looking for the "right path", for herself. 

We also had a  middle-aged gentlemen who worked for companies to help clean up old industrial sites. He lived in Vancouver, and was taking the train home after flying to Toronto.

I felt like they were a little shocked by my age, and idea to take this trip alone, however I do not feel that they looked down at me in any way. I rather enjoyed my chats with them and I left dinner feeling full, satisfied and with a bigger smile on my face.

          The biggest difference I notice between the train and the plane is that it forces you to relax. You must relax completely in order to sleep between the jarring of the cars, and the constant blowing of the horn. I'm a light sleeper, and each and every time someone walks past me in the aisle, I am awaken. Not only that, but you have to wait…. it takes forever to get to where you are going, and it forces you to slow down and relax… it's not like you can go anywhere. The other huge difference is the staff. They are friendly, fun, and have their own personalities. I notice everyone is smiling. You WILL NOT see that on the plane. 

          My coach-mates are fine. Not loud or annoying in anyway. There are a couple young kids, who I think are quite well behaved under the circumstances. We just stopped for a "smoke-break" in Armstrong, where I picked up my first item to carry home. It is an old copper peg used to secure the wooden rails to the tracks. Now I'm in the dome car, ready to watch the night pass by seamlessly and Winnipeg to be my adventure of tomorrow.

          I'm a little sad to be getting off of the train. It feels like this is a comfy little home away from home, full of familiar smiling faces. 
          But first, the sleep! 

Not in Kanas anymore

I awoke this morning around 5am when the train arrived in Sudbury. The couple of inches of snow startled me… are we not finished with winter already?

After a brief stop over the train began chug-a-luging again… When I awoke later I have discovered that we are now on our way toHornepayne, circling around the northern side of lake Superior.

Not only did I discover that we were a lot farer North, but we are also in a lot more winter. What began as only a couple inches seems to have multiplied rapidly with our increasing northernly direction. I am now looking at forests blanketed with between three to five feet of snow. The delicate white powder continues to fall from the sky. Every branch has snow on it, and it seems to be the very picturesque vision of an Ansel Adams photo. 

Simply said, it is winter in it's finest. Everything covered in snow, rivers and creeks frozen over, and a warm hot chocolate in my hand.

Interview me

So far I think I've been doing a decent job at my new position. Some days are much more trying than others, but I do what I can. When I first started doing the position I could tell the owners didn't trust me, and were really nervous that I wouldn't cut it. Lately they've been hanging around me less, and asking more of me. Each day I get a little nervous when the boss walks in, because I fear he will ask more of me, and I will still have to get all of this extra work done, not to mention my old responsibilities as well.
In the last week one of the oldest employees quit, and I was asked to "get someone". I set up a bunch of interviews when the boss told me when he wanted them booked in.
Ten minutes before the first interview I called him to ensure he would be showing up. He told me he was busy and to do them. In the last two days I've conduced eight interviews. I tried to keep it interesting, mixed it up a bit, and listen to them. I've decided I don't like the idea of having to screen people. Most of the people I spoke with were strong minded, well sorted and had so many aspirations, goals, and dreams. As people, there were really only two, that I thought were not amazing. The two with the loudest personalities, have schedules that don't completely comply with what we are looking for. The two others are tied for the job right now, are both equally qualified, with good experience, good wine knowledge, and seem that they would both fit in with the restaurant well.
The owner said if I couldn't choose he would choose. I'm suppose to book them in for their second "interviews" on Monday. I hope the owner shows up. I'm not good at saying no, and I feel as though now I must say no to a whole bunch of people.
I did not sign up for this, and I do not enjoy having extra responsibilities just dropped on me. Yes, I do continually rise to the occasion. Yes it does make me a better, stronger worker...
I have slowed down on the drinking. Having to be up each and every morning at 6am makes it a bit difficult to meet up with my friends who only begin to go out at 10pm. My social life is not really happening right now, which is okay because my home life is a disaster. I am so far behind on so many of the little things I have to do. I keep telling myself I will get to it, but never do... eep!
In the last week I have played catch-up with a couple old friends. Annoyance came at one, when I could clearly tell they were not listening to me. For one who was insistent on chatting and catching up, it was clear that they have absolutely no interest in actually catching up. I couldn't help but feel sad as well. I hate when you know something isn't half of what of you thought it was.
The other friend was great, continually asking me question after question, wanting to know everything about everything, and genially interested in what I've been up to. At one point he said to me that it seemed things were pretty well put together in my life. I felt shocked by this. I feel so torn at the seams, and as if I move just the wrong way everything will just fall to pieces. I feel mentally exhausted and slightly broken. I guess my mask and facade are far more convincing than I perceive them to be. Had a great time with this friend as I always do. Thanks to REAL people. Good people! (The few that exist)

Awesome Show

Last evening I returned home from work and was exhausted. I took a quick nap, and made a couple phone calls to a couple people who were suppose to be heading out later in the evening. The plan was to go see a buddy's band in a nearby venue. I was exhausted, and FORCED myself to get dressed and head out to the bar.
The show was great. I had only been in there once or twice before, and I completely forgot where the venue part of the place was. I stood at the bar for a bit and called a bunch of people who were supposed to be there. No one answered. Finally I got a little daring, and ventured around until I found the live music area and payed my fee to get in. As soon as I did, I was cornered by this regular from my work. After about ten minutes he had chatted intensively on and on about nothing, and all I wanted was to listen to the band. This was not the band I had come to see, but I still wanted to see them. I recognized a good friend I hadn't seen in months, and made my escape.
It was good convos, and I forgot how much I enjoy his company. It was nice to have a good conversation with someone who I knew wouldn't judge me. He talked about setting me up with one of his friends that sounded like fun, but I cringe at the thought of going on a date.
I wished all the boys good luck before the show, and they all thanked me for coming.
The band began to play, and they were amazing. Modern day Nirvana sound. Hard loud, grungy with a bit of a modern-day feel. I was completely into it! Rocking my head and swaying my body. It was the second time I had seen a band which consisted almost completely of my friends. To be honest I was shocked how great they were. Catchy songs, with harsh components. Melodic lines, and sexy screaming.  One song really stood out, the melodies for verses and choruses were catchy, but not repetitive. Then the whole band dropped out to leave an artful but yet complex guitar lick. Then all the instruments would come back in to compliment it. At one point a mosh pit almost started, only there was too many tables nearby to necessitate enough room to do so.
During and after the show I noticed that there were many attractive young men in the room. I was running out of time, as I needed to disappear quickly after the show. I at one point almost bumped into a very rugged man to introduce my friend to, but he left before the opportunity presented itself.

New Years

I am not the kind of person who likes to make New Year's resolutions. Whenever I have in the past I end up breaking them at some point during the year... then I treat them more as guidelines, until they are eventually forgotten.

I do know that my life is completely FUCKED right now in terms of taking care of myself. The endless parade of parties, drinks, bars, drinks, men, drinks, joints, drinks, drinks, and more drinks. Not to mention my complete disregard for diet or sleep schedule.

Instead of making rules to follow to better my life, I've decided to take a more so analytical approach to the new year.

2009 was not necessarily a good year for me. In January I moved into my own place. In April I started my second job, and have been working about sixty hours a week since. In June was the completion of my relationship. The summer flew by in drunken haze of socializing, drinking, parties and what-not. Through-out August and September I spent every waking

minute with a best friend. Things got complicated as they always do, and that relationship was cast away. The pain of that still hasn't quite subsided on certain days. I've also had a lot of bad luck and many disappointing social situations. Obviously there has been some good stuff too, but as a creature of the darkened world, I can't help but dwell on the negative.

My analytical side has allowed me to discover that throughout the negative quarries of 2009, there are many useful lessons that I can learn from these situations, and mistakes of the past year. Hopefully I can take these lessons with me as I grow.

Some of these include....

Be true to yourself, admit when you are unhappy, and try to change things to make yourself happy.

Keep an eye on your instincts, and stick to your standards.

Don't be afraid of your feelings.

It you want something, go after it. Don't let your fear or anyone else's stop you from what you want.

Just because it sounds like fun, think about the damage to yourself internally.

If someone isn't everything you are looking for, they are not the right person for you. Don't waste your energy.