So a life update, long overdue, but still therapeutic. If you’re not me, which I’m quite certain you’re not, you’ll be bored to tears and will think I’m really boring. Whether or not that’s the case, I’d rather you not read.

After just 4 months of school, Waterloo decides that it’s a good time to kick us out into the work world, armed with nothing but rehashed high school material. But coop is the reason I went to loo, and I lucked out landing a senior/intermediate job at Bell. Four hours away in Ottawa, but hell, a job is a job. And thinking back, this was one helluva job and, I'm a fool for passing it up the second time around. Learned a bunch… Little responsibility... Little work... Good pay... Chill guys (James. Steve. Boss Dave. Giant Paul. Wayne)... actually I gotta elaborate a bit on the latter.

[Good times] The time me and James stalled Steve's elevator, and it turns out some lady was in there with him. Fucking coop students! Hahah... and how many times did James get mistaken for one of us? That time with the time lady, the time with the boss... "Fee fi fo fum, giant paul ate all the bread!"... "We need to increase ARPU" and running out of the conference... steve trying to catch an orange in his mouth, steve looking like a bum and getting shut out of our floor, steve not knowing which way the doors opened after 4 months... steve is just funny. "why is it a pair of pants?" and etc... "that ferrari looks like a mustang! sortof! from the back!"... "eeeh not bad and how are you?"... chilling in the lab with nothing to do for days... lunches at german deli, the grocery store, atomic garlic shwarmas, indian food, wonton noodles, and the horrible "chinese food" that the boss was so fond of... friday mornings at Dunns... massive downloading at work/unplugging steve’s massive weekend download[/Good times] ahhhh. i will add to that as i remember. these memories are gonna get out of control.

Moving on, living in Ottawa U rez (Brookes), was so chill. Drop some more names, my roomies, Lawrence, Ramen, Suban, and more often than not, Leanne. Come home, take a nap, cook a feast (I learned to COOK!), and just bum out on the couch. That’s the good life, even if the couch was 'purchased' two years ago from someone who thought it was too ratty. It's the simple things in life that matter, really, such as the absence of homework/responsibility of any sort. Other high points: 24. Bball. Rediculous amount of random TV watching. Martinis with Lawrence, Ramen and Leanne. Drinks with Lisa in Hull. Our garbage/recycling MOUNTAIN. Leanne driving me to the hospital. Low points: Nasty flooding due to hair in the drain. A toilet shared by 4 guys, washed less than 4 times in 4 months. Ranch dip left out for days. Said garbage/recycling mountain. Smelly Tamil food.

Living at OU rez also put me right next door to Mont-Petit, the gym. Damn did I get in shape... Granted, I lost it all again on school term, but I probably put on 5 lbs then. Proud of that shit - self motivation is a beautiful thing. Other benefit of living at OU was chilling with Julia and Julia, and Lisa and Leah over at Carlton (boo!). And the Shads, Kanika, Alain and Jeff (and Joc, sorta....). Craziest thing was seeing all these girls around - we don't have that at Waterloo! Girls getting dressed up for a kegger? It's all new to me. Weren't many asian's around, so I even chatted up a white girl. Proud of that one too. haha. Much love to Kanika for dragging me out to those page parties. I even learned some french, like 'tabarnac' and 'fucke' and 'bon temps'. I’m damn near bilingual.

All of that was great and all, but the real high point of Ottawa was hitting the slopes. The beauty of it is that all the boring and the working gets left behind when you’re busy hurling yourself down a mountain, or shitting your pants trying to hit a rail. It wasn’t easy to lug my ass out of bed early on Saturday’s and bus it down to Lansdown park, dragging my gear behind me, but that was the shit that kept me sane. Just a little over an hour away, Mont St Marie is taller than Blue Mountain, is less busy, and costs just $50 including a ride. The frenchies are good for something, cause it doesn’t get much better than that! I probably went around 7-8 times, but flying solo makes a lot of time, since you don’t have to wait up. I straight killed it last season, with probably 20+ runs each day - I was always exhausted by the end. Good times, cause there ain’t no friends on powder days. Hitting big air like it wasn’t no thang – big and smooooth. Learned to ollie properly. And I’m riding switch more comfortably than ever, which with a little work should progress into me hitting clean 180s. Most proud of all, I started jibbing in the park! Took a rail in the shin in the process, but I nailed down my first boardslide finally! Scary as hell, but oh so worth it. I love snowboarding so much. Hopefully this season I’ll be able to push it some more, with some spankin new bindings to help…

Only other real thing of interest was the queens trip. That was pretty fun, even though in hindsight I regret looking like such a bum. My excuse is the mad rush to get to the terminal. Mighta been able to score me a new friend… Anyways it was great to see Heidi and Craig again, and to party with Pri. I discovered the joys of fake ID’s that night, as Sho Araki. Hells yeah.

So that's ottawa. Overdue recaps coming on summer school, the slut, and thoughts on my future, coming soon. Or more likely, in a long ass time. oh well. Those may prove more interesting, and snoops will be entertained.

- Ian