Good Riddance to Sub-Zero Temperatures

Well, it's been quite the holiday. I finished work on the 14th of december, leaving me with a full 2 weeks (paid, no less) to enjoy my holidays.

I spent a week in Vancouver and had grand plans of all sorts of important things I was going to get done. But I got sick halfway through the week, and spent 3 days in bed. So I actually got very little done.

Then I left for Alberta on the 21st, where I met with my sister. Together we made the drive to Cold Lake. We took a bit of an unintentinal detour which extended the drive by an extra hour or so, but we got to see some interesting Alberta scenery that we hadn't seen before. We saw Venice AB, a very large lookout tower, and at some point we even crossed the continental divide.

Christmas in Cold Lake was pretty run-of-the-mill. I visited with family and friends, and hid in the basement to avoid the cold outside. On Christmas Even I watched Die Hard, the best christmas movie of them all.

It didn't snow while I was there, so I didn't have to shovel the walk, and for that I'm thankful. And of course like every year I was caught up on who's getting married, who's engaged, and who's having babies. That's usually the part I dislike
most about going home lately.

On the 27th it was off to Edmonton. We had a delicious dinner for my Aunt and Uncle's 25th anniversary. We spent a day in Camrose visiting my Grandmother. And then I spent the next 3 to 4 days visiting with as many friends as I could. Sadly, most of the visits were only for 3 hours at a time, which didn't provide enough time to properly catch up with everybody. But I guess I'm at the age where life gets busy and it gets harder and harder to keep in touch with people. It was still nice to see everybody I did have a chance to visit with though. Edmonton doesn't feel like a second home to me anymore, but I still miss my friends quite a lot.

But I don't miss the freezing weather. I can't wait to get back to the Vancouver gloom. Because at least the temperature in Vancouver is reasonable.

I also can't wait to sleep in my own bed again. All in all, it's been a good holiday. Now I just need a holiday to help me recover from the holiday.

Let's Pretend This Never Happened

Today is December 18th. According to my calendar, it's my birthday. As of today I am 27 years of age.

Can I pretend that this day didn't happen? Heck, can I go back a few years to when I was 23? 'Cuz that'd be awesome.

I mean, I guess I'm still "young" technically. But 27 is only 3 years away from 30. This past year has felt like a short one, and so I expect that 30 will arrive sooner than I expect.

Then again, that's like 1000 days away, give or take.

Maybe I'll start keeping a prison-tally on my wall. One chalk mark for every day closer to 30.

Ah well. I suppose you can't stop progress.