In Between Days

I'm not too sure on how the international timeline works, but spending my 22nd birthday in the air between Los Angeles and Sydney on a plane by myself doesn't sound too enticing. It is because of this fact that I have decided to come back to Panorama for at least another month and a bit after I finish the road trip I have planned that kicks off in under two weeks. Whether I have enough money to stay and snowboard until February remains a mystery. Although it would be nice it would be tres dissapointing to be stuck in Canada without a flight home making no money and missing out on my third year of University and coincidentally forfeiting the last two completed years.

Aside from all of this, the last few weeks of the summer at Panorama are ending a little differently to the ones that closed the winter. I don't know whether it's because it's a lot of Canadian Uni students and they haven't yet figured the travelling vibe, but a lot of people are deciding to wallow in sadness rather than enjoy the time we have left. The truth is there are a lot of people I have met in the summer (not unlike the winter) that, odds are, I will never see again. The more I be sad about it now, the more it may or may not haunt my emotions for a long time to come. The way I see it, if I'm happy when I leave and stoked about the gnarly time I had with these people, I'll just be satisfied that I made the most of it and know that wherever they are they'll be friends for life whether I see them again or not.

After I leave here, I hitch a ride with some friends to Vancouver Island to meet up with the boys, Brad and Alex, to watch them ride out the last week of work before starting our road trip. Between now and then, are the In Between Days I speak of in the title. The days spent waiting, trying to hold onto money and (probably) dwelling on the last three months and letting the fact that all my friends from summer have dissapeared from my life (hopefully for the time being) bascially sink in.

Majority of the time, this trip has been filled with amazing times both chill and intense fun. But it's these transitional periods that really put you through the test. Like the immortal Pat Salmon would say; it's character building.

I Live A Life Of Courage (Pictures to come)

So you've heard about all the partying we've been doing during the summer season. I figured I should paint a seperate, less wasteful portrait for those of you who are following my blog thinking exactly what I thought when I pictured a contiki tour; which was something along the lines of 'Why would you spend your entire time overseas drinking and not remembering stuff when you could do that at home'. So before I make my parents think I've turned into an alcoholic, I feel there's a side to the summer I haven't spoke of that is slightly less traumatic to my head the following day.

Life at a "Ski Resort" in the summer is actually a lot crazier than I expected it to be. I wasn't too interested in any of the activities as I was more concerned about saving money for the road trip that begins in two weeks down the west coast of the United States. Despite this, I still have got amongst it and participated in all that Panorama has to offer in the Summertime, whilst (as my last blog will tell you) consolidated myself as the official party liason for the staff. All my outdoor recreation stuff has come in the last month though. Two thursdays ago I went downhill mountain biking for the first time and man it was crazy. No serious falls although it was a sketchy ride everytime, not just your casual cruise through the mountains. These are serious downhill tracks about as narrow as your body width plus a few centimetres, just enough to get your bike through at a speed, and some sections are near 75 degree drops. In the winter these would be great but on a bike with nothing but dirt, rocks, logs and trees everywhere its an intense experience.

Following a day of hectic riding, we rushed home and got dressed very classy to go to the Greywolf Golfcourse and play a round of 9 holes with Benny "Effin" Meyers and Percy. It was an amazing course, with all three of us more concerned with the scenery and being idiots than actually playing golf itself, this due mainly to the fact we were just stoked to only pay $20 to play 9 holes on the second best golf course in British Columbia; one which costs regular guests $170 to play a round of 18. We snuck in some beers and got free buggys to drive around which made the afternoon pretty sweet, finishing a collective plus 3 on the front nine (we played best ball and team score to rush things along due to a 15 minute time limit per hole).



The week following, Alana, Stew, Joey and myself all went to Lake Louise and Banff to check it out. We hired canoes and cruised around the lake in the best weather for at least an hour and had heaps of fun just taking pictures and being at the place; it's truly amazing. It was great just to be in Banff again around the sweet little shops and bars; buy some new clothes, have some dinner and go see a movie. Like everyone says literally anytime they leave Panorama for a day; "It's just good to get out of Panorama" (made famous by Jackie when she said it just going to the grocery store in Invermere, 15 minutes away).

Apart from all that outdoor activities we put our bodies and minds to the test last Friday in the first ever Staff Accomm scavenger hunt organised by yours truly, which for me, was probably the best night of the summer. Leading up to it, once again there was some hype amongst the bosses that it was going to get out of hand and Panorama once again tried to shut it down. But we pulled the secret together pretty well and it went off without a hitch. We all met on the grass outside staff accomm around 7:30 where myself and Spence handed out all the "Top Secret" (Not) envelopes with the challenge lists and goodies for the tasks. We had 5 teams of 5 consisting of the Red Team (Mine), Blue Team, Green Team, Black Team and Pink Team. After explaining the rules we went back to our bases and as soon as the hunt began it was the best kind of mayhem.

At 8:30 I ran around the house sounding the air horn for the beginning of the hunt. Some of the best things we checked off the list was riding the staff accomm stairs, finishing a naughty number, kissing a cougar, doing a pre school piss, performing an urban rodeo and attempting to ride "Bike Mike" like a bike. Basically everyone got almost completely naked for the first hour and did a crapload of stunts. As the sun went down we headed into the village to do some of the other stunts such as jump the fence at jackpine, a shot of water from the tank of a toilet, climb the adventure centre tee-pee, take a hobo shower in a pond outside great hall and throw a member of your team over the volleyball net. This was my favourite part of the night as all the teams coincidentally met up for the same tasks and there were big wars and yelling and fun between all the crews.

Once into the bar the mountain resort manager (basically EVERYONE's boss) was in there so we calmed down for a bit. But once he left the drinking continued and overall it was one of the best nights all summer. We got some great footage and pictures and got some hardcore dancing on; with the red team winning best choreographed group dance to the music of Bloodhound Gang. I also found out that bluntly being a complete asshole to girls works and am quite dissapointed that I haven't mastered the art yet. No specifics are going to be given as this is a public blog. Anyways, we all got together in the common room the next night and went through all the awesome footage that each team got; it was an intense experience recapping shenanigans of the highest calibur (class the night up a bit).

But I am determined to lay low for the next two weeks before I leave Panorama to save some money; a task in which I have been terrible at since coming back in May. Nevertheless I will make do because I want to make the most of my last month and a bit away from real life. Basically I am sitting in my room at the moment listening to Owl City (only one person knows about my intense connection to owl city and moments of reflection and can appreciate actually how narly this session is). Thinking about leaving is just making me feel about as lost as I felt before I came here and my first week of fun and confusion in a new country; but considering what came after that time I can't help but feel excited about what else is to come once back home. I definately have changed a lot and for the better from being over here and I intend to bring my new self back to Australia to experience everything I can and make the most out of my incredible life.

"Let your hopes go and they'll survive, Cause this is the future and you are alive" - Owl City.

"Shut Up & Rex!"

Shut Up & Rex - (verb) to refrain from speaking and participate in recreational activities. also (verb) to refrain from speaking and get wrecked and/or maggot!

I'll have you all know, that this anonymous phrase we picked up on the side of some ridiculous(ly awesome) shirt has really summed up the summer so far. Since being back at Panorama it's a completely different vibe from the winter. Completely fun like the winter, don't get me wrong; but just totally out of hand. Getting drunk a lot more, throwing things, food fights, spraying beer and champagne all around the apartment etc etc. That is not to say we've JUST been getting drunk the whole time, the recreational part also comes into it. The World Cup was massive so a lot of school yard football (soccer) sessions, tennis, golf, hikes, downhill mountain bike riding...the whole bunch.

The summer really kicked into gear with the invention of "Club Old Mate's" and our first three parties; Jon's birthday, the Penny Crayon Party and the Tea Party. They all went off a treat thanks to yours truly and my brilliant organisational skills. Jon's Birthday however started off with some anger because the England team had their first World Cup game and they played like a bag of dicks; probably the reason why Little Jon passed out before making it to the bar and coincidentally won the first ever "Sam Reindler Memorial Mint Cunt Award for High Achievement in the field of Getting Maggot". We started drinking at about midday when the game started and really just couldn't stop with beer game golf to follow. We played an intense game that involved pretty much finishing the rest of our drinks to the rhythm of the putt (whatever that means) and just partied the night away. I'll be honest, I can't really remember much until later on that night when we all got home and I copped alot from Jose after I got what he called "refused" because of the late appearance of J.D.L.

The Penny Crayon and Tea Pot parties were actually the first official Club Old Mate's parties and gave us a fair bit of street rep around staff accomm. Brenny Tuck actually told me when we were chatting that apparently I am the one to come to about anything happening on the resort if you want to know about the sick parties; Van Wilder eat your heart out, yeah? But back to the parties; which also was basically the beginning of my embarrassing try hard cockney accent as soon as I have a few drinks. Penny Crayon was my room mate Joey's birthday and we basically chucked on some cheap white clothing from the thrift store and drew on each other. I think you'll be able to imagine with a bunch of immature twenty somethings there was an abundance of penises drawn about the place. We got some great videos out of this party though, as Jackie challenged me to stay up till 6am with her and we ended up having a pretty narly time taking advantage of Jon's drunken state playing timeless classics such as "Where's Jon?" and "Push Jon into Doors", and of course fighting each other waking up with crazy bruises and wondering why my elbow felt out of place when I woke up. One of the funniest things the next morning was finding Jon's bike in the shower and when he was shouting "Why the hell is my bike in the shower, who the hell put it there?", we were looking through Jose's photos to find a picture of him putting it in there the night before and giving us a thumbs up.


Now the Tea Pot party we should have seen coming. By setting the standard from our last two parties as, Club Old Mate's: Please come and fuck up our apartment, we received a huge reception of spilt (more like thrown) alcohol, smashed porcelain, ripped out cupboards and of course a plethora of objects thrown from the window. But hey, as much as it sucked to clean up the next day, man was it an epic party. Everyone dressed as cockney gentleman and elegant ladies and drank from teapots, what a theme. Alana Jackson was the MC winner for that night and won it fair and square, not just because it was her and Finny's birthdays. I didn't get amazing amounts of video from this night so it is still a little hazy, but I do know we ended up having a stairwell jam session with Jon looking like Chuck Lidell from UFC yelling "It is oooooon".

I mean, as much as these parties have set the precedent for great nights out in Summer at Panorama, we have had some pretty narly nights out and more great ones to come. We had our fight night cut out by Adam Hopper (who has prematurely had a landslide victory to win the Buzz Killington Award for Biggest Buzzkill in the Summer) which was actually set to take over the other parties as biggest and best for the summer. You can't always get what you want though right? Anyways, there is only a month to go for the season to end and I think I'll just end this post bluntly by saying that with all the great times and great friends I've made I'm not exactly looking forward to it.

Jesse Lewis: Forever in Transit

I HATE the "traveling" part of traveling.

I feel like I should take some time out of the interesting blogs to inform you about some of the realities of adventure. To get places you need to patient, VERY patient. Last week I left Panorama where I took a greyhound bus for 14 hours to Vancouver, arrived at 5am and went straight to Vancouver airport. Then I waited till 8am when my flight to New York City arrived and spent 4 hours to fly to Phoenix where I waited another hour and a half for the connecting flight that took another 5 hours to get to NYC. Lets total that...basically 27 hours waiting with no sleep.

Yeah I had a great time in NYC (you can read all about that soon in the blog entitled "Problems with my sleep"). However, I had to go with Dim to JFK airport early because the taxi was too expensive to catch by myself back to the airport later. We arrived at 8am for her flight, and mine wasn't until 8pm! So that's another 12 hours of straight waiting at JFK airport doing nothing, my Ipod ran out and I didn't have the charger, no computer or any form of entertainment. The flight was 6 hours to Portland getting in at 12 midnight. My connecting flight didn't arrive till 7:05am; so another 7 hours of waiting at that time in the morning before a one hour flight to Vancouver where I came back and immediately have to go out and look for jobs (no luck so far!).

In conclusion, you don't realise the amount of actual travel involved in traveling a country before you get it. Back in Australia I looked at it and thought 'Hey, if I catch this red eye flight and wait for 12 hours I can save $40! I'll be able to rough that out for sure, it's all part of traveling right?'...WRONG, a little tip to all the budding travelists (yeah I just invented a word) out there, spend the extra cash and save the discomfort...you spend that $40 waiting around the airport on magazines, fast food and stupid souvenirs anyway!

Problems With My Sleep

I want to begin by saying no I am not having 'actual' problems with my sleep aside from the usual self inflicted lack of sleep. No insomnia, no distractions, no noisy neighbours...in fact no neighbours at all; it's just a reference to a song. That song would be 'Moving to New York' by The Wombats. Yes, that's right. Although I (Jesse Lewis in case you've forgot) am not literally 'moving' to New York, I do leave Panorama Mountain Village (which has become a ghost town in the days following the mass exodus) and fly to New York in exactly one week and one day, for some good times with great friends, good food, of course some tourist action, possibly going live and then music festivities in New Jersey. That's why I'm writing this blog in two parts; before and after. To be honest it's all quite exciting for me. Not only am I already over the other side of the world from my life in Australia but now that I'm here I'm going to fly to the other side of this country; covering the spreadsheet if you will.

I hope you've already guessed that this bit is part one as I am writing on Monday the 19th of April, 2010. My first thoughts are that I can't believe Dim and myself actually came through with our plans. After much excitement about Vegas and not much action we ditched that idea and decided on New York City and The Bamboozle, and to be honest I had my doubts about whether it would come off. But flights are booked and I received my tickets yesterday (cutting it pretty thin don't you think North American ticketing systems? Your dead to me).

But before I start on my thoughts of New York City, which has completely plagued the planning section of my brain for the past month; I must also talk about the plans in which I have neglected to focus on and are now biting me in the bottom hard leading up to my departure from Panorama. Can anyone remember where I was supposed to be actually moving to? Oh yeah! That's right, Vancouver. Totally forgot. Well at least it feels like it. Today the floor in which I was meant to crash on cancelled on me (last time I rely on a floor) and now I am staying in Panorama an extra two days. But as that thought hit me, it appeared he brought a plus one to the realisation party...I have no job prepared or place to live. Sounds catastrophic. Feels it too. I might have something for the next couple of days to deprive me from my sleep after all. Well, other than a drunk girl aiming a shotgun at my face (true story). On top of all that, I catch my greyhound bus from Golden to Vancouver on the 27th of April, arriving in Vancouver at 5am and then flying to NYC at 8am...3 hour gap...I guess you can tell I planned this with precision.

* * * * * * * *

Turns out the title of this blog fits just perfectly. As much as I thought it was going to be an allusion to the Wombats song "Moving to New York" when I began to write the first half, my two and a half weeks of travel outside of Panorama Mountain Village actually caused many problems with my sleep literally. For the past three weeks I have been living in hostel beds, couches and airport lounges, (and I use the word lounge very loosely, more like doctors waiting room chairs pushed together) eating nothing but ramen noodles and kraft dinner (cheap and very, very disgusting macaroni and cheese).

Part two of this saga is not so much a downfall as it is just a straight out fact of life, and of traveling for more than 6 months overseas. It involves bright lights, big city, sweet music, high times and failed plans. As a side note, I would like to say that just because it involves failed plans doesn't mean everything didn't work out for the best. First off I'd like to say I had a wicked "holiday". New York City was so much fun and even the time I spent kicking back and partying in Vancouver after deciding not to settle in there was amazing. Before I start with the tale of my struggle back to the mountains, let's start with the good stuff.

I left Panorama on Tuesday the 27th of April in a car with my friend Alana to be dropped of at Golden greyhound station, ready for the bus to Vancouver. Overnight I was in transit for 14 hours arriving in Vancouver at 5am, rushing to the airport for my 8am flight to NYC. Basically my Pano room mate Dim and I flew all day to get to JFK airport where we arrived at 9:30pm. My first impressions of New York were scary as hell. Maybe I've watched too many episodes of Law & Order or read too many Jeffery Deaver novels but straight out from the airport I was on alert. We walked out with our bags with every taxi driver harassing the arrivals for their commission; the cheapest ride being an unmarked black "taxi". There were a few like it but I still felt on edge. As soon as we got in the taxi the doors locked and I realised there was no taxi meter to judge the fare. I was freaking but didn't say anything. We drove through Queens and Brooklyn and first red light we come to there are noises of arguments in the streets, people screaming and fights; not helping my attitude much. Lucky I didn't react to the driver, he actually turned out to be really helpful and even when dropping us off, offered to drive around to ask about the apartment when we had trouble finding it at the address it specified.

When the sun came up for the first day we had to spend in the City everything looked completely different. The view from our window in the upper east side showed young kids walking unaccompanied to school, businessmen walking their dogs and sidewalks lined with flower beds. Sounds corny but it was completely true; apparently we picked the perfect neighbourhood. On our first day in NYC, Dim and I proved to be the ultimate tourists. In one day we saw the Empire State Building, Grand Central Station, Rockerfeller Centre, Lincoln Centre, Broadway & Times Square, Central Park and Central Park Zoo. The city was pretty busy as expected but was an amazing experience just to be amongst it. The second day was no different. We went to canal street and Chinatown for breakfast, walked the Brooklyn Bridge for Ice Cream in the "Not so secret Park", saw Wall Street and the Stock Exchange, the Trump Building, took the Staten Island Ferry past the Statue of Liberty, the World Trade Centre site, had dinner in Soho and drinks in West Village. Seeing so much in such a short time on the most perfect of days was the best.

Some funny times came after that second day though. We had a few drinks in West Village and after a long, long walk, finally found our way back home to the apartment. By that time I was very keen to go out for a good time and see what the New York nightlife has to offer; even though my travel buddy Dim wasn't. So while Dim hit the sack early ready for the Bamboozle Festival the next day, I found a bar appropriately named "The Stumble Inn" and sat down for a few quiet drinks. On my first beer, a black girl at the bar began to talk to me and after hearing the story of where I was from and what not introduced me to her crew who were all from Brooklyn. It ended up being a pretty crazy night. All I can say is we drank lots, chatted lots and had some loose times out on the streets of the upper east side in NYC. After saying goodbye at the bar I dropped into a 24 hour deli to get a chicken salad sandwich and headed back to the apartment. Straight away it sounded like a shambles; strange loud noises coming from the room downstairs of ours. So before heading home I decided to check out what sounded like a pretty rowdy party. My suspicions were confirmed immediately as I walked into a room full of about 20-30 Uruguayian people jumping around, swinging their drinks and chanting what sounded like a never ending Ricky Martin song but was actually just lots of different latin songs. Within about two minutes of entering the room I had a beer in my hand and was trying to follow the spanish lyrics to the ricky martin rip-off songs. After loads of "What?" and "Huh?", I learned that not only was it someone's birthday party, but these guys did not speak a word of english and couldn't understand a word I said. The funniest part of this was that after they gave up trying to understand me the birthday boy just shrugged and said the only words of english he seemed to know "Oh well, it's a party".

Next two days were the Bamboozle festival. It was boiling both days and I got severely burnt!! Despite this setback it was absolutely amazing. For $104 bucks, the two days were well worth the money and more. I saw MGMT, Girl Talk, Say Anything, Motion City Soundtrack, Ke$ha, The Maine, The Ready Set, Fun., Arj Barker, Something Corporate and heaps of other sick bands in an amazing setting outside the New York Giants stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The most fun and challenging part was on the second day, downing a litre bottle of apple pucker before the festival and then going on every single ride in the theme park section of the festival (which by the way, was all completely free). The night time on the second day blew my mind; Dim left early because she'd seen hanson already (haha) and I doubt wanted to see any of the other acts. When it went dark, all the lights turned on and it looked some crazy carnival with Girl Talk and MGMT's stage and light shows going off and me still in mood to cut loose in the dance pit; it was the perfect finish to a great four days.

Long story short, after sleeping in JFK and Portland airports over a collective 34 hours, I got to Vancouver and was offered two jobs within about three days. I can say that Vancouver is an amazing place to live and stay if you're set up already and would've been perfect had I done all this upon arrival in November. But doing it now when I'm running low on funds and looking towards a much more important one to two month road trip through the west coast of the U.S.A, it seems to expensive, not worth it and I decided to return to Panorama where I have set myself back up with two jobs, making good money and spending very little. Although it's off season and there has been some hiccups getting settled back in with the crowd I am now back on track and am very well positioned to save lots of money for what I hope will be an amazing, haggard and loose road trip with the boys B-Rod and Dad.

As for Panorama summer. I'm not too fussed about golf, mountain biking or hiking. But there is lots to do, more crowd to come and I'm sure lots to blog about, so stay tuned. If there is a big hiatus until the road trip, trust me...it'll be worth it.

Tuning In Live From The Last Day of Panorama 09/10

This week's blog is sad yet simple. The theme; Panorama = Over. It's been about five long and amazing months since we all arrived here in November and now the season is officially done. We had some good snow in the last few days which allowed for a bit of fun for us leading up to what was seeming like a very depressing departure. I have to say I have spent 21 years of my life in Australia and not made such a wide selection of very flippin' close friends as I have spending five months in staff accomodation at Panorama Mountain Village. Panorama life is like real life on steroids.

I'd just like to speak about some of my favourites; as the season has wound down there has been less trips. I've needed to save my cash to buy a new van, which we dubbed "KeVAN Rudd" after our dear Australian prime minister. After that there is the expensive return ticket from Vancouver to New York City to buy. I would say it's putting me out of pocket if I hadn't have had to sell my pockets for petty cash. So instead of saying what's happened in the last couple of weeks I'd like to start with some great memories and just general thoughts about everything over here.

I still remember my first three days at Panorama. No computer or internet, no mode of transport (I had to hitch-hike to get groceries), hadn't made any friends yet, no way of contacting people back home and to top it off I had the worst job in the village working as a janitor in housekeeping. I just wanted to wait it out for a month and bail. The first week I met Brad and Nanna on the friday night at our Monument house party, woke up still kinda drunk the next morning and ended up in Banff that night. That was three days into it, this is three days leaving and what a different feeling it is. Here I am five months later wishing I didn't have to leave. The gradual parade of housemates leaving for different destinations started yesterday morning. First it was Dim and Martha waking me up to say a quick goodbye, then Brad and Alex came in to film our emotional goodbye message which I then followed by chasing the van down the street yelling. But I think the worst of all was seeing pretty much every housemate I've had for about 5 months get onto the staff bus and leave in unison for Calgary at about midday. The thing with this part was that a lot of them I was awesome friends with, but not close enough to be so sure there will be other adventures together.

I've rode seven different mountains and seen a lot of what the Canadian winter has to offer. The list includes Whistler, Revelstoke, Sunshine Village (Banff), Lake Louise, Whitefish (Montana, US), Kicking Horse and of course, Panorama. At times I've drunk enough to feel comfortable walking home from the bar through blizzarding snow in a T-shirt and jeans and I've come dangerously close to winning the Panorama best form competition. I've been lost in Montana and invented the "Boston Browser".

Most notable of the drunk efforts this season has been the recent four day bender to end the season. It all started with friday; tuning in live from outside Monument House where the staff were "getting maggot" as our live broadcaster Sam would tell it. We lunged in the common room, we had a random haircut happening in the middle of the party and we had some moshers destroying the old lounges. Second night involved the last Saturday at T-Bar where once again the staff were "getting maggot". I kept running into the infamous ski-shot after not having done it all season. We decided it was a must but before even ordering some girl asked me to do her shot as she didn't want to do it. We shredded the dance floor but saved a little bit for the next two days. Sunday was slush cup, where Mr. Brad Van Der Linde won best trick for his amazing backflip into the manky water. The night brought in "Drink the Jackpine Dry" where I accidentally spent about $60, ouch. Monday though was the best vibed day I've ever had in my life. Alex woke me up (hungover of course) to do a shot and a have a beer. We grabbed our beers and headed to the end of season staff party we're we had a massive feed and chilled to mid-ninties classics on the great hall deck overlooking the front of the ski hill. We got to ride one run for two hours but it was one of the best rides of my life (partly due to the staff once again "being maggot") but also to do with the fun vibe, riding in jeans and a hoodie instead of our heavy duty snow gear. We had the awards and continued back to staff accomm for a bonfire. The bonfire was irregular to say the least, with it being started by everyone throwing items they didn't need in a pile and lighting it on fire. There were boots, TV's, snowboards, clothes; but most noteably was the 15 metre beam that took almost 30 people to lift onto the fire. In the words of Sam Reindler "it takes a few good men to burn a log", and that it did. It will probably take a small crane to get it off now (good luck summer maintenance team). The night was a mixture of confusion and amazing, mostly amazing though. Tuning in live from all sorts of locations in the T-Bar for pre school pee's, dance floor shredding and texta commando's.

The one word that can describe the new vibe in Monument House is "gutted". It's not sad enough to have a teary but everyone definately feels lost. But I am very grateful for the time well spent and I will always remember everything about this place; my amazing friends, monument house, taynton bowl and hanging out in the great hall for four hours when I'm meant to be working (hope my boss doesn't blog, I still technically have two more weeks of work). But last night in all the confusion and sadness happening around the house I got creative and wrote a song as a sort of personal salute to Panorama, Monument, all my friends I've made and the times I've had. Since I'm blogging on a personal level with this Canada thing, I figured I'd share with you all a few lyrics (fingers crossed it's not gay).

The Monument Lodge

Life is only short if you expect it,
but I found out a time and place that's worth it
When August comes around I hope your waiting
to sweep me off my feet again.
The last four days we waited for the earth to stop it's spinning
we said our goodbye's and cursed our flights
the homecoming's that we never needed.

All my life I've waited for this to come around
All this time, for you to come around.

The ghosts in the Monument Lodge are weighing heavy on me.
The place is closed, and noone knows if we'll ever be here again.
So when I leave, I'll brush my teeth and stare at what's in front of me
trying to figure out if I've just been dreaming

We act on bad idea's as if we mean to

but that's the only vice I'll live and breathe to

In two weeks time I'll be in New York City,

but I'll always revise this time.

All my life I've waited for this to come around
All this time, for you to come around

And I've waited so long, for this to come into my life
You'll never be excavated from my memories
But when I go, I do not know if I'll ever feel like this again
But I'll never forget my time in the Monument Lodge.

All my life I've waited for this to come around
All this time, for you to come around
Getting on the road, the falling snow and I'll never forget the crowd.
All this time, for this to come around.

Back to you in the studio Tom...

Fire & Ice

Alright, so we have a little problem on our hands. I've left it maybe a week and a half since my last blog and as you maybe have noticed, the ski bum life tends to generate stories on a two day basis. So I've got a bit of build up here. It's alright though, as long as people are willing to read then I'm still willing to write; although my next blog will more than likely contain a section about suffering from arthritis of the hands at such an early age due to an overly active cyber life.

So to start (sort of), the day is Thursday, March 18th and I've just come off the end of my 10 hour shift in the virtual paradise we call the housekeeping department. Like I said, we've got a lot to discuss about happenings in the last week and a half. But the first question needs to be answered...how did he afford all these happenings earning $10 an hour? selling himself? ...sadly close.

Last Tuesday night I'm home in my pyjama's at 10pm (trying to save money of course...I'm not lame) and I get a call from one of my close friends Alex at the resort's ritzy restaurant, "Wildfire", telling me there was 4 rich guests having dinner, tipping lots and asking if he could get anyone to come down to the restaurant and play guitar and sing live for a few hours, paying $200 up front, with an extra $100 if they're good. So of course I ripped out of my PJ's and into game gear and sprinted up with my guitar to the Wildfire; and...well you all know I'm good so of course I got the whole $300 (haha...but seriously). So anyways these four cowboys from Calgary ended up being funny older boys, shouting drinks for all my friends that came up to the bar when they heard I was playing, bringing their total bar tab to $1200; more money than sense if you ask me but hey, I had a great time and it provided funding for what was to come. The biggest hit of the night was when I played "Cool Guy's Don't Look At Explosions".

So two days later we road tripped to Calgary for our first experience at an NHL Ice Hockey game (Canadian's would kill me if they saw I called it "Ice" Hockey...apparently there is no other sort of hockey). The road trip was like any other road trip as you can see in the video I've posted, displaying to you all what boredom in a car can do to a man. But after three hours in a car we arrived in Calgary and after a lengthy search, we found the spot where we met the guy scalping the tickets to us in the parking lot of a famous burger joint called "Peter's Drive In". I think it's safe to say that I should never aspire to being a succesful drug dealer; pulling out my money and counting it on the car bonnet before handing it over so obviously and fumbling all the way.

We took a tour around the city of Calgary which I hadn't visited yet. I was surprised that it actually looked like a city; I'd been there before to fly out to Vancouver and I only saw the hick residential area and immediately thought the place didn't have much to offer. This second visit opened my eyes (only a little) seeing it was actually a big city that had quite a fun night life. We got to the stadium and switched on our video camera filming the crowds coming into the game two hours early. Although it's too big and long to put into the blog I'd like to mention a funny section including a black scalper, selling his own rap demo's, that suddenly got blacker as soon as he realised he was on camera. E.g "Oh hey guys you want tickets for the ga...yo baby chain reaction you know me yo, get my new record, cutting sick rhymes and dope beats yo know me, bam". We went to a casino for dinner and got some of the wickedest cheap food; it was weird being in a North American Casino as it just looked like a cheap bowling club yet all the Canadian's thought all this gambling biz was real special and crazy.

Now we get to the narly part. The game itself was amazing, like no other sporting event I've ever seen. It was like a rock show but for athletes. After sitting in the sold out Pendlegrowth Saddledome, the home stadium of the Calgary Flames, it comes over the speakers that the lights will go off in 5 minutes. I'm thinking, "It's a game of hockey, how are they going to play with the lights off?". Then they go off and some hardcore pump up rock music starts playing with these strobe flames logos flood the ice as the referees get their own welcome like the start of a fricken 80's glam rock band concert. I was stunned from the get go and can now understand why every game sells out and why tickets cost like $50+ for any seat. We sat next to these funny Canadian guys who joined when we all had a bit to drink and started imitating family guy during the game. What sort of family guy you say? Well when the beer vender walked through the isles shouting if anyone wanted beer I yelled "Buttscratcher"...and then the guy next to me yells "Buttscratcher" and then the beer vender turns to look at us and laughs and heartily yells to the crowd "Buttscratcher, Get your Buttscratcher" ..followed by one guy up the back with a faded "Buttscratcher!". Well after a few beers we started to get well into the game cheering when the flames scored and eventually won the game 2-0 against the Ottawa Senators (even though we are all Vancouver Canucks supporters).

Following the game, the question was posed whether to go home now (for work the next morning at 8am) or to stay in Calgary for a little bit and at least go out for one or two drinks at a club. I think the picture to your left will give you a hint as to our decision. After grabbing some quick food we went out to a club called "The Roadhouse" and had a beer and a dance. Great times were had but there were way too many "party hot" girls there. You know the type that look great all done up out on the town and in the darkness of the club but you wouldn't want to wake up next to. Lucky ol' Jesse is a little smarter than to fall victim to these creatures of the night and had no intention of straying from his own space on the D-floor. Although it was a bit of a dive bar, it was great to be back in a real city, in a real club with a different crowd then the same staff I see every day at work, home and at the bar...although those guys fricken rule. Let me rephrase that...good to be around them + some different faces.

We decided to leave the club around 1:30am and start the 3 hour drive home. After stopping for free coffee at a 24 hour macca's it was my turn for first shift driving. I drove the first 1:30 hours of the trip fuelled on coffee and the "Muscles" CD before stopping at Banff for Alex to take over. Apparently after I fell asleep in the car the 3 hour trip turned into a 4 and a half hour trip because it puked snow (for the first time in agges!!) all the way from Lake Louise to Radium, getting us home at a timely 6:30am...ready to wake up at 7am to get ready for work...Yeah, I called in sick.

The next few days following it snowed a little bit all over the Kootenay Rockies (the area I live in) so we decided to take advantage of the best snow and go to Kicking Horse mountain in Golden where it got a whopping 55cm of snow in the 7 days prior. I have to say I think it was the best snow I've been in since coming to Canada and I had one of the best rides of my life tracking through untouched powder while the crystals in it sparkled around my feet. Poetic? Maybe; but trust me, it deserves some degree of literary elegance, if you saw and rode it you would know too. I'm also proud to say that I rode double black diamond runs all day long and to be honest, I don't know why I've been staying away all season because they suddenly seem really easy, but that's what most of the lifties said right before they broke arms and legs. So I think I'll stay on my guard. After a tiring day we relaxed with a few beers in the back seat of Martha's truck...It was "cosy" to say the least. Chaud bro...Chaud. We took it easy over the next few days and had a great little fire outside of staff accomodation to end my three days off. It was great to get everyone out and just chill and chat around the fire where we also cooked our dinner. I think it's going to become a regular thing because it was so easy and enjoyable.

I didn't want to do this, but I felt it necessary to end on a sore note. There has, as some have already heard around the world, a little bit of trouble running at Panorama Mountain Village. In the last two weeks there has been three arrests within the Downhill Rider's Groups that bring their party buses into the resort. Two have been alchohol related, but the other one I had a personal encounter with on Saturday night. As Brad, Alex, Alana and I were walking home from the bar after a pretty sweet night we see up through the window in one of the rooms a biggish guy yelling and throwing a lamp and other objects in the room and at the window. Straight away we called security of course and thought "it's not our problem security can deal with it". But then this other girl comes out of the flat below his and yells for us to call security because the guy is forcing himself onto her cousin up in the room above and won't let her go. We we're all pretty sickened by this thought because the guy was an absolute thug. We yelled for the guy to stop and distracted him enough at the top for him to get off the girl until security came and dealt with the situation. But the kicker comes that after he was detained it was discover her had a prior warrant out for his arrest in Alberta and was given over to the police in Inveremere. As lucky as it was for us to see him in the window I hate to think of what would have happened if we hadn't walked past at that moment.

On a happier and much more exciting note of things to come. My room mate Dim and I have decided to blow off Vegas for now (as I am road tripping there in a van as well as the west coast of USA with Brad and Alex in September) and we've decided instead to go to Bamboozle Music Festival in New Jersey, only 30 minutes train ride from New York City. So I think the plan for end of season here at Pano is straight to NYC for some festivities before back to reality (or holiday reality) in Vancouver to start a new job, new apartment and basically live a new life. It's all quite exciting I think you'd agree...

Nope? Just me?..Fair Enough.

America (and) The Brave

This next story I am about to tell, is quite possibly the most courageous and awe inspiring story that was ever etched into the already rich and pure history of the United States of America. It's a story about seven boys; nay, seven men who crossed the Canadian/American border into the lesser known state of Montana to find cheap booze, majestic mountains and challenging nights out only to overcome all obstacles in their path and conquer the powdery mountains of Whitefish; eventually making it back to Panorama Mountain Village.

Now I'd like to leave the intellectual banter I sometimes become accustomed to when in blog mode and give you a play by play of the boys trip to Montana, U.S.A; and in fact, my first experience in the states since coming on this trip. The first memory was a little blurry as we all woke up at 4am on Monday the 1st of March to pack our gear into the cars that we had rented from Invermere for the trip. It was a strange group of boys (and only boys) that came on the trip but it was one of the best crews imaginable. We received fascinated responses from most of the Americans in Montana when they asked where we were from; expecting a simple collective response. Instead they got Nic (Sweden) Graham & Shanyn (New Zealand), Ian (Canada), Matty (French Canadian), Adam and I (Australia of course).

The trip was off to a rusty start from the beginning when the door to the Accura we rented was frozen shut and could not be opened until we backed the other car up to the lock and ran the exhaust on it until it thawed out. First stop at Tim Horton's at 5:30 saw me introduced to the simplest yet most awesome Canadian treat; the "Double Double" coffee, which despite being great at the time, didn't keep me awake and I slept for the first two hours of the trip. To keep himself awake, our driver Nic kept referring to himself as an airline, continuously sprouting lines such as "Thank you for flying Air Niklas" and "We are now approaching the border at a speed of 120Km per hour, local time is 7:30am."

I think it's safe to say American's are extremely on edge about foreigners entering their country. But after a thorough inspection of our car and passports, as well as the $6 entry fee (entry fee to the country? WTF?) we were back on track and made it into Whitefish, Montana within an hour of entering the states. Gearing up in the parking lot of Whitefish Mountain Resort, we all couldn't shake the tired eyes. Nothing a few pre-riding drinks couldn't fix. At the bottom of those Miller High Life's we found another burst of excitement and set out of what turned out to be one of my favourite mountains so far.

The mountain itself was huge. Nice and open; lots of leftover powder that went really soft under the bright sun and tree runs that were nicely spread out, allowing us to drop in wherever we wanted with lots of space to move around. Nobody held back the whole day because of the powder, which also resulted in some of the funniest bails I have seen all season and still no injuries. We stopped in at the on hill restaurant and made the most vicious discovery any individual has ever made in the existence of man. That's right; the man can. 24 ounces of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer packed into a glorious looking can, all for only $3...or lets just say $2.99 for shock marketing purposes. To go with this, we ordered two gigantic platters of nachos for only $5 each which Ian left in the alleyway outside the motel before we checked in. A giant feather in his cap for being the first of four fallen soldiers that puked on this trip, and the only one whose puke wasn't actually alcohol related.

Once settling in the motel later in the evening we ventured into the streets of Whitefish to grab dinner, experiencing a chance encounter with a lady at the Pizza place. She (like everyone else we met that day) was fascinated at our diverse group and upon learning that we were only spending the night, slipped Shanyn her number and offered to show us the town. Emily didn't really end up showing us the town but in the spirit of a boys trip we treated her the same way any other group on a boys trip would treat a lady. Not unlike the wild skunk of North America, defense mechanisms were engaged so frequently while having pre-drinks that when Emily finally finished at 10pm and came to the motel room she couldn't even greet us with a "Hi"...but instead (appropriately) decided on "It smells like dude in here". She did however point us in the direction of somewhere to go.

Before this however, came most of the highlights. The Miller High Life's that we purchased at $17 a case of 24, weren't doing the trick so we decided to go out again in search of vodka; which we found priced at $17 for a 2 litre bottle. I'm sure the current reader isn't the only reader who will be doing a double take at that, but I shit you not. I also have a new found respect for the comedy of Matt, as I have never laughed so hard at the phonetics lesson he gave, telling us how he pronounces Hippopotamus. I dare you to hear this word out loud and not laugh as pronounced by the French Canadian stud - Hip-Op-Uh-Tay-Muss. Use your best French accent for the full effect. Also, I'd like to make a special mention of Adam trying to explain the sport of Car Racing as experienced by Montanian's. "Well you get a frog...and a spoon...right? And then the frog jumps over the spoon" - Adam Hodge; "I don't get it...why is there a frog in the spoon?" - Matty.

Okay, so the time we're talking about is around about 11pm, and the next few hours are a bit of a blur (sorry Mum and Dad but we've all done it and the story has to be told in complete). The bar we went to had free ping pong, pool and ice hockey foozeball-ish style games which kept us busy most of the night. That and the $1 beers they were selling bringing our bar tab total to about $5 + Tip. The picture piece together some of the story but we walked to a bowling alley restaurant that was open 24 hours for some late night food in which I did not partake in. Instead, without shame, I asked the boys if they were finished every minute for about 6 or 7 minutes and when finding out they had only just ordered (to my surprise...even though I was at the table the whole time), left to call a taxi home. When asked where I needed to go, I said "The..." about 7 times until I finally remembered the name of the motel (believe me it was a struggle). Everything worked out fine and although I had a comfortable nights sleep, it did not help me in any way come 9am when we woke up to have breakfast and go back out snowboarding.

Everybody else in our little crew felt the same way it seemed as Matty was number two in the puke parade, casually strolling over to the balcony and letting loose all over the street. After a breakfast burrito and what seemed like the repeated slogan of the day; "I can't believe we're going riding today", we got back on the horse and up to whitefish mountain, sinking a few leftover beers along the way. It wasn't as fun as the first day as the clouds had covered up the sun making what used to be soft snow hard and icy; making a perfect setting for the death race down the hill to catch last chair. The highlight for my day was seeing an elderly gentleman with a silver "balloonist" style moustache mosy out onto the balcony overlooking the mountain range, pose in what can only be described as the "Captain Morgan" and light up a finely made, thick as all hell cigar whilst looking determinately towards the view.

The trip back was, as usual, a lot comfier and quicker than the trip there. We arrived back at Panorama at 10pm on Tuesday the 2nd of March and went straight up to the Monument Lodge Room 330 to toast a successful trip with the leftover Miller High Life's we had in the trunk of the rental cars; dreading the thought of work the next morning, but knowing we'll all get enough sleep when we're dead and buried so there's no point wasting time on trips like these.

Now you know the story of seven of the bravest young men in the history of men and how they overcame the obstacles of sleep deprivation, bodily dysfunction and sometimes dismal weather conditions to experience one of the most enjoyable trips to date. Spread the saga.

Next week...NHL hockey game! Keep reading, Yeah?

A Country In Reverse

First of all I'd like to start by saying Hello to anyone who would somehow stumble upon this first of (hopefully) many to blogs to come. Although late in the story it may give some insight into some travels and help me to keep on top of my blogging skills in the year away from the tiring studies of public relations.

It is February the 23rd and I am currently living at Panorama Mountain Village in the Kootenay Rockies, British Columbia: Canada. I arrived in Vancouver on the 15th of November 2009 and fell in love immediately. As you can imagine, most of world travelling, as scary as it is; requires a lot of "winging", and my trip has been no different. At first, no computer, no phone, no car and no idea. Now, a bit over three months into it, I've only managed to acquire a phone, but have made so many friends that I don't really need car's or computer's (until they go their ways...then more winging). Another part of the winging is my decision to extend this trip to the great white north. My original flight was meant to return on March the 9th, 2010, and has now been extended to November 14th, 2010. Big extension right? But seriously, have you read my other blog? Who wants to go back to that if they don't have to?

This country, as similar as it is to Australia in so many ways, is completely in reverse. Everyday we pray for the sun to go away and for the clouds to spread across the mountains. Spending $70 at Lake Louise in the Alberta rockies is no way worth it unless theres some good snow (which there wasn't!). At the moment everyone is really pissed and why wouldn't they be? We're all making a tiny fraction of the money we would back home, for the sole reason of snowboarding every chance we get, and there's not even any snow to board on. Well...there is, it's just crap!

Even though the snow was terrible, we always can make the most out of a situation...you know what that means...PARK LAPS!

Ok, so I've had the last four days off from the terrible job of janitorial work in which I get paid $10.33 an hour to basically fill time by mopping floors and dancing to my Ipod when noone's looking. I think this is the first set of days off I've had yet where I have done basically nothing except for the Lake Louise trip, and I still don't feel like it's a waste. Since I came to Canada I don't think I've gotten to bed before midnight, and I haven't slept in later than 10am, it was a good breather.

Saturday was intense though, my friend Martha's mate from Vancouver was in town to visit so naturally we all go to the bar. What started out as an awesome night ended up in stress as a gentlemanly stranger named Quinn sporting a ridiculous looking tiny cowboy hat on top of his enourmous head tried to use me to get him in with the girls. A few free drinks later he realised I wasn't helping his cause much and started to get a little annoyed; if anyone reading this knows me well then you don't have to guess too hard to figure out that I left the bar not long after I downed my fourth free pint of Kokanee. Unfortunately for me, a comfy bed and a long sleep in hardly ever fixes the painful result of half a bottle of scotch and a long ass bar tab (what the hell was I thinking...bar tab?). Hense my lazy days off to recover from not only what has been an incredibly tiring trip so far, but also a string of narly nights followed by an overly unappreciative body.

It may come as a bit of a dissapointment that my first blog of the trip comes so late and in such a dull point. But as the winter season comes to an end be sure to stay glued to your programs; we've got banff, kelowna, seattle and vegas and the much anticipated move to the beautiful Vancouver city where there will be a hell of a lot of "winging it" involved.

Stay classy and enjoy this picture of me dressed as Hulk Hogan at Alex's Sporting Icon themed Karaoke birthday.