Homelessness.

It is currently the 24th of April, 2011. Admittedly a long time after the events I am writing about transpired; so excuse the lateness of the next dozen blogs. For officiality's sake, lets just call this the retrospective travel diary. After 5 weeks on the road, living in a van with two other guys all across the United States of America and back, I found myself with too many stories to tell and was overwhelmed by enormousity of blog work before me. About half a year later (present day) I think I'm ready to get going again. The whole trip, and a little bit of winter 2011 will come to you in parts.

First up, leaving Panorama Summer. I left on (I think it was Monday) August the 30th with my friends Sam and Pablo towards Vancouver way, spending an entire day covering the entirety of British Columbia, and then some. Once we arrived in Vancouver after the 10 hour drive, we dropped Pablo off at the HI on Granville before Sam and I continued towards the ferry for Vancouver Island. I used to joke around about being 'homeless' when I was leaving Panorama just because I'd be travelling and not have an actual home. Upon arriving in Vancouver Island with barely any money and no place to stay, I found myself facing the reality of being homeless. The boys (Mr. Brad Van Der Linde and Sir Alex Finlayson) were still finishing up their last week working at the summer camp they had spent all summer at on Vancouver Island but alotting to the rules, I wasn't allowed to crash.

To begin with this week living out of a car in the lovely Crofton, Vancouver Island, all I can say is; I wish that place didn't look like something straight out of a horror movie. A lonely and quiet fishing town (I know what you did last summer), with the dankest, smallest old mate bar in existence, and that's it. For such a (sort of) lengthy post, there is not really much to tell. I spent the week in Crofton waiting for the boys. I read a book on the wharf, looking out into the ocean, which was nice for the first hour, can't say it was as relaxing for the next 4 days straight. To be honest, when I left Panorama I knew I would have to kill time waiting for the boys, but I was under the impression that killing time was a lot easier...maybe it's just because I've never had to just "kill" an entire week.

The thing with living out of a car is, there isn't much to do once the sun goes down. It's not like you have desk lamps that you can leave on at night. So once the stars come out, you better find somewhere to hide until you're ready for sleep. One of the nights I figured that sinking a few beers might not only provide somewhere to hide at night, but send me to sleep abit quicker. I went to the only bar in the place, and coincidentally, sat at a bar accompanied by three local fisherman, all very gruff looking with giant beards. Sounds like the setup for a funny story about a cool or stupid conversation I had with crazy locals...but sadly no. I sat and listened to some bloody bloke talk on and on about how he was an enthusiast about alcohol, the ingredients and effort put into making quality absinthe and the beauty around Dan Akroyd's vodka bottle making tactics; under (I thought) the possible penalty of a stabbing.

After maybe four days, I realised I couldn't take sleeping in a van, doing absolutely nothing, and being detatched from the world (no computer, Ipod and barely any reception). I was picked up by my friend Sam again and spent two days at her place in Comox, Vancouver Island. I was so happy to be inside a house for the first time in what seemed like a lifetime, and even happier when she said we were having dinner at her parents house and her Dad walks through the door with a massive pacific salmon slung over his shoulder. In short, best dinner of my life.

After spending a few nights here I found a lift with one of her friends and met up with the boys (who had finished at the camp) in Victoria, still on the Island. From here, we travelled to Martha's house in Sooke, and stayed in the strangest form of accomodation I believe I experienced on this road trip...a church. It was actually quite fun, sleeping on inflatable mattresses in the meeting room, cooking nachos in the church kitchen and watching south park on the projector in the actual church hall...using the pews for seats. Had a few dips in the hot tub at Martha's (which was amazing considering what I had experienced in the week before this).

My return to Vancouver was the beginning of the amazing trip really. After just chillin and preparing with the boys and without the boys for an entire week and a half on Vancouver Island, I never want to see that place again. We took the ferry over to Vancouver and stayed at our dear friend Pip's place, meeting up with Miss Alana Jackson while we were there and having an unintentionally forgettable night out on the drink. It was great after a pretty boring and hardly relaxing week to get to the comfort of a friends place (where bed and shower was guaranteed) and just enjoy a wicked night out.

With no idea what the actual road trip into the States would hold for me, I was excited, and a little nervous. No accomodation booked, no plans on exactly where to go, no idea where to sleep or shower. Even though I already knew these things, I still had no idea of the amazing adventure that was in store for us in the following three weeks. We left Vancouver, a little hungover and a lot adventageous. That day we crossed through the Canada/US border into Washington State; first stop, Seattle.

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...