As I sit here at 9:30 in the morning that feels much later (still on mountain time I guess), I figured I'd try and sum up the last few days. I've got some time to kill since I'm still waiting for Chris to move his car and let me out.
There has been a lot of news lately - it's been a very hectic, stressful, yet happy week. I'm home now, my three day journey from Northern Alberta is complete. And I really couldn't be happier to be home. It might take some time to get used to living with people again - no drinking straight from the carton (when people are looking), it's now necessary to wear pants at always all times, etc etc... But they're minor details - I'm still glad to be back. And I've already seen most of my friends - we went to the usual spot, Slapshots, last night for a few beers. As is the custom with these friends I've known for years and years and years, nobody either noticed I was there, or noticed I hadn't been there for the last 7 months. It took Jeremy a good three conversations before he said 'hi', and all I got from Bucholtz was a "Still got that same haircut eh?" I'm not complaining of course - it's nice to be able to slide right back into things without missing a beat.
I also stopped in Jasper on my way through and saw Dustin for a night, which was nice. I hadn't seen him since he took off for Vermillion over a year ago. We didn't do a whole lot of interesting stuff - we went for some beers then watched Kill Bill, but it was still good to catch up.
Then the next day it was on to the Main Event - Kamloops, my second favourite city. I had a pretty good time drinking and hanging out with everyone I hadn't seen in forever - Mike, Melissa, Meghan, Carlos, Neal and the rest of 'em. Although, like Mike mentioned a few days back, it wasn't quite the same as before - it was hard to do a lot of catching up really, but that's because there were just so many people there - and really, the Max isn't exactly the right place to 'catch up'. It is, however, the right place to fall down, as Melissa can attest. Oh well, might not have been exactly as-planned, but it was still nice to see some familiar places before we all go our separate post-j-school ways.
Speaking of that, Mike - the only one of us who's been in Kamloops longer than 3 years - is off to Alberta. This is good news for a number of reasons, the obvious being that he has a job and won't have to be unemployed all summer long like I was until I went to Alberta. He's going to the wonderfully quirky town of Vulcan, to do layout. I have a funny feeling an upcoming front page of the Vulcan Advocate will have a photo-shopped picture of the Star Trek Ship engulfed in flames, with townspeople running for their lives.
Or maybe a picture of Spock getting hit by a bus.
I'm glad Mike's happy about the job and I'm glad he's not nervous. From my experience I can say that while my Alberta experience was sometimes lonely and not always the most fun, going there was one of the single best decisions I ever made. Without that job - I never would have got the job I have now. I had originally hoped that Mike would've found a White Rock job so we could get a place together, but I'll be happy living at home for awhile and saving some money, and I'm happy Mike has a job. Also, it seemed like the 'loops had turned into quite a little soap opera at times - and as much fun as we've all had there in the past, sometimes it's good to just start fresh.
I gotta admit though, It will be weird not to have Mike in Kamloops - last summer we each made a trip or two back and forth and it was a good time, but they'll be plenty of time for that later I'm sure. And one day dammit we're going to live in White Rock - I just got beat by the clock this time. Also, like Mike said, it's probably good to move on. I was glad I did, even for a little while. It's good and often necessary to leave certain things behind, and it makes coming home that much sweeter whenever you get that chance.
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