#calgary trip jan 2023

[calpicowater]

Week 6/52: February 6th - February 12th 2023 | Peters & Lake Louise! 🍔

Going back home and couldn’t be happier. Peter’s cheese works always taste so delicious!!! My absolute favourite. Lake Louise was just a skating rink as usual. The colours are so vibrant lmao so not used to this phone camera lol.

[coreytravelogue]

It’s December so you know what that means, flying to the rock. The thing is I am already feeling sad for the inevitable 3 weeks from now when I will be leaving and I won’t see my parents for another year possibly.

I really don’t want to repeat myself here on this because it is always about the same. Always trying to figure out how to get to Newfoundland while I watch my parents health slowly deteriorate year by year. It is like watching an hour glass I only really see once a year. I will save my thoughts for my personal journal.

Flying to and from St.John’s will be rough both ways this time and there is no ways around it. I am here pretty early because I don’t want to risk any shit happening, not like much wrong goes on at YVR. Of all the airports I have been through YVR is one of the more solid and on the ball ones, more organized and least stressful unlike Pearson. Thankfully at least for now that my trip to and from will not involve Pearson at all.

I fly from Vancouver to Edmonton, wait 2 hours or so then Edmonton to Halifax and then from there to St. John’s. Getting back it’s from St. John’s to Halifax where I will have a 6 hour lay over. Then Halifax to Calgary, one hour later it will be Calgary to Vancouver when I get back at midnight. I will will be working the next day.

This itinerary is unique to the others for the sheer fact that I bypass Pearson and Trudeau Airports completely.

The flight to St. John’s is usually less rough than the trip back. Normally because at least getting to Newfoundland I can sleep through some of it where the flight back I am often awake all of the way through as I am flying through the day.

I will leave my review and my plans for 2023 to myself till Jan 2 because much of what I am doing like I normally do in NFLD is to plot things. I always have a huge list of things I want to do and I only ever accomplish maybe 25% of it.

This time around I want to remake an AMV, if I have time I want to start a brand new one but that is a stretch goal. I want to make a new one for Animeathon 2023 to mark 20 years since I first submitted an AMV to a contest. The same guy who organized it then organizes it now, I wonder if he will remember me. Probably.

I also want to make some headway on my playlist project, this whole project as a whole started coming up to 3 years ago and I am getting closer to finishing it but I know even if I fully committed to it in these 3 weeks I won’t complete it. I am almost done year 21 which was the most traumatic year of my life starting the darkest era of my life. I will have a lot of booze at my disposal. I am hoping to at least complete up to 23.

The next thing is to apply to more pools and positions for NFLD or if anything out of Vancouver. As much as I want to find a position close to my parents I am starting to realize that unless I really press on someone it won’t happen on merit alone. I hate that we live in a society where bitching, complaining or pressing on others is the only way things get done. I feel like I have done nothing but a whole lot of pressing on people. I feel like I am turned into a Karen this year with the amount of nagging and pressing on people to get their shit together so I can get on with completing my work. That alone is what has exhausted me.

Next is need to figure out how I am going to afford to live in Vancouver when my acting is over and I go back to living off one pay cheque as one pay cheque check goes completely to rent. The thing is I have been fairly good with finances this year. I lowered my beer intake, didn’t travel all that much even to Victoria. While I did start subscriptions I am starting to regret subscribing to I have been frugal but the prices of everything has been beating me. Most of my money has went straight to groceries which even then is me really cheaping out. At least in the lunch and dinner. I am sure it’s my breakfast that is the priciest part of my groceries but I really don’t want to cheap out on it. Everything I eat in the morning is to allow my body (brain most importantly) work at its peak patient and it works.

Which is why I must continue to try and find a way out of a Vancouver, period.

Most importantly I will be spending time with my parents and Jayden enjoying playing with him as a child before he grows up.

There is also catching up on movies but that will be done regardless and is the one thing I accomplish the most either way.

As much as I want to spend time with my parents it’s not easy because all they want to do is sit on the couch watching CBC, game shows or play bingo. I guess as old people are. I feel like a shit taking the tv but also most of the movies I want to watch my parents don’t like. My mom can barely see and unless it is a very simple movie and English my dad has no interest.

When I am in the basement I feel like I am spoiling what finite time I have with my parents but the thing is I do not know what we could do together at their age but just sit there with them.

I got another 2 hours to wait for my flight to start boarding. I can’t help but think about how I made this trip almost every year since 2008. Since 2008 I have had the month off to be with my parents, often the only vacation I would ever take. Most of my stories of the trip were all forgettable to be perfectly honest till Pearson finished its renovations and then from there on out going through Pearson has almost always been stressful and well documented on this blog at least for, 2014 on.

Prior to the renovation going through Pearson was pretty easy. The wing I entered was the wing I left. The gate I would leave was often just across the room but as I am sure I have said a lot over the years, after the renovation it was always on the opposite side of Pearson which is a huge airport. Most of my strongest memories was almost always running from one end to the other and just barely getting there in time. I have missed two flights in that airport though. One plane getting in too late with no time for me to get the gate in time and another was more or less the same thing but weather stranded many of us in Toronto back in 2018 due to the weather bomb that hit the east.

I fully expect westjet to redo my flight back, they have done it 3 times in a row now I think and they have almost always left me with worse flights than before though I can’t imagine my itinerary getting worse than it already is…..well I can it can go through Pearson.

I have about 90 minutes now before boarding and I start what will be a long series of flights to Newfoundland. I am growing to hate flying more and more as I get older. I don’t blame my parents for not wanting to do it anymore. It’s cramped and stuffy which makes my sinuses act up immediately. I never have any room and everyone always brings all of their luggage on as carry on though they won’t be using any of it. I have always hated when people do that but I get it. Checking baggage in is always so expensive so everyone tries to save as much as they can but abusing the personal bag and carry on bag rules.

Then they only give you a small bag of pretzels or cookies with a small cup of something to drink. Whenever I ask for the can I always get a glare from the crew like “What makes you so special that you get a can while others get a small cup?” I feel if someone ever asked that of me I am Karen enough these days to say well if I am going to pay the ridiculous price tag it costs to fly in this fucking country the least Westjet or Air Canada can do is give me a full can of fucking ginger ale! I am almost positive it only costs them a buck mark up.

At least traveling seems less scary this time around. Last year I was so paranoid and scared. This was the first time I flew since prior to the pandemic, we are not entirely out of it all yet as restrictions were starting to lower but not long after going to Newfoundland Omi corn came and essentially kept me in the house though I would have done it anyway.

Now I am quadruple vaccinated and wearing a mask I feel I am as protected one could be. Feel like almost everyone I know has had COVID but me. Makes me wonder if it’s thanks to my diet, my very strong immune system or avoiding everyone all of the time? Probably all of the above.

At this point I just don’t want to catch COVID and bring it with me to my parents. My parents are more shut in than I am these days so I doubt they could catch and spread it themselves so it would be me if anyone.

I am excited to see them but again I can’t help but be sad, Time is finite with them but all I can do is enjoy what time I have with the, while I still have it.

So here we go to the rock again.

Shazbot nanu nanu

[atlanticcanada]

Former N.B. man wins the Golden Ticket, coming home for the holidays

A former Fredericton man now living in Calgary, Alta., will be home for the holidays.

James Morrison was a big contest winner at the gold medal game during the 2022 World Junior Hockey Championships in Edmonton this past summer.

A team from Tourism New Brunswick tossed out dozens of t-shirts into the stands and Morrison was fortunate enough to have the Golden Ticket inside his.

The surprise and thrill of winning the Golden Ticket still hasn't worn off for the hockey fanatic.

“It's funny, my friends who were with me and a couple of kids said, 'you're usually a pretty quiet guy and that's the most excited I've ever seen you,'” said Morrison from his home in Calgary.

“I've coached those three kids for a while and they were pretty excited for me. I think it was just the realization of winning a trip and getting to go home and seeing my family again.”

Morrison received a prize worth $12,000 that includes a flight to Moncton, N.B., a hotel stay, a car rental and tickets to three consecutive games at the 2023 championship.

Better still, Morrison and his 10-year-old son will get to see his parents and two siblings who live in Fredericton.

“I've won a free lottery ticket every now and then on Lotto 6/49, but nothing to this magnitude,” he said.

Being a co-host for this year's junior championship was an opportunity for Tourism New Brunswick to put the province on the map during the international event in Edmonton.

Katie Kohler, the director of strategic marketing at Tourism New Brunswick, said the tournament in Edmonton was an amazing opportunity to leverage the spotlight of the championship in Moncton.

“We had the Hopewell Rocks projected on the ice. We shot t-shirt cannons and we threw t-shirts all around the audience until one lucky winner, who just happened to be from New Brunswick, won that Golden Ticket and a chance to come home,” said Kohler.

So, what is Morrison looking forward to the most? Seeing his family, or going to the games?

“Tough question because I'm sure my mom is going to see this,” laughed Morrison. “We'll love to see the family and then of course my son and I can watch hockey all day long. Some days we have three games and he'll watch it, analyze it and learn from it. Between the family and the friends, it's tough to choose between the two.”

The tournament starts in Moncton and Halifax on Dec. 26 and runs until Jan. 5.

from CTV News - Atlantic https://ift.tt/h5IV9E4

[calpicowater]

Week 5.5/52: January 30th - February 5th 2023 | Calgary in iPhone 14 Pro 🍎

After being clocked in for 51 hours for the week, I went to meet up with Tiffany. A YYC work trip is not complete without meeting her tbh hehehe. Went to eat Moon Korean BBQ and we just ordered rice cake hot pot HAHAHA. It was very delicious although quite overpriced. Def want to try their bbq in the future. Also tried their yogurt ade and it was yum! Ended off the day with Calgary skyline at Scotman’s Hill LOL. It’s so pretty! 

This is the only slightly positive post about this trip that’s so sad lol...

[calpicowater]

Week 4/52: January 23rd - January 29th 2023 | Calgary Hell

Barely took photos this entire week because all I did was work. I was only in Calgs to work this trip lol deadass. Worked 54 hours in one week........ actual DEATH. Not to mention how horrible set up day went for me. Truck lock was frozen, home depot didn’t have de-icer so had to drive to two different locations, had to deal with morning Calgary traffic, campus security refused to open door for me etc etc etc...... I gave myself 3 hours to set up and after having everything go wrong I only had less than one hour. I was clocked in for 14 hours this day what the fuck? On top of that I was dealing with somebody’s shit attitude??!!! Barely ate good food either. I just lived off of instant noodles & starbucks giftcard. WHAT IS THE POINT OF LIVING ?????!!!!??? 

[calpicowater]

Week 3.8/52: January 16th - January 22nd 2023 | Off to Calgary... Again

It’s my 5th time going to Calgary for work but it was my first time doing a drive to Calgary (because I usually always fly there). The stress of going to studio to check over gear over and over again and the stress of almost dying on the road because your driver is so dangerous... yeah..... I’m lucky to be alive to be writing this... this weekend was awful lol. Revelstoke is pretty though? 

[calpicowater]

Week 5/52: January 30th - February 5th 2023 | Water Conveyor Belt Sushi 🍣

The only day off during this entire trip pretty much. Wanted to go outside and explore a bit but everything was fucking ruined. I should have just went out by myself... Even eating this meal I was miserable and sad. Don’t know how some people can be so?????????!!!! Truly inconsiderate.