The best new years resolution I could come up with

Not paying for any of my resolutions.  

I don't really go in for New Years change because I find that my time of transition and setting solid goals for myself usually comes in the spring.  This year is a bit different, with having the decision of change taken out of my hands I have taken charge and am running with it.  I was a bit worried about making very hasty revisions to my life.  I figured I could benefit from planning to not spend any more money than I needed to.

For instance I've said I want to get fit and see more of my friends.  I'm not going to join a gym but I am going to start pushing myself in running more. I will have people over for dinner and chats at my place rather than going out for dinner or coffee.  And if my semi thought of a wardrobe update comes to fruition I will work on modifying what I already have and looking for some nice things on sale.

This gives me a much needed boost when it comes to the things that I want to do that require some serious cash.  A few nights ago I sat down with my friend Alyssa and we got talking about the sense of liberation I had from being relieved of my obligations to my apartment.  I have finally understood the sentiment that things you own start owning you.  So riding on this wave of feeling free I started talking and writing down what I wanted from this year... it was packed!

Places I want to go and the people I want to visit when I get there.  This list of dreams for 2014 will probably spill over into the next few years too.  A great weight has been lifted from my shoulders and I look forward to the coming months.

What were your resolutions?

Locked doors

Nothing catches hold of my attention like a distinctive locked door.  There is a good reason for this.  In my experience locked doors usually lead to the most interesting rooms filled with odd equipment, roof access points, and offices with great views of the city.  While I usually like to let my discoveries and invitations to these places unfold purely by chance, I often long to be able to pick up the phone and get through any door at a moment's notice. 

While a locked door adds a certain flare for the dramatic reveal I have noticed that just being introduced to something new in the city is where the real excitement comes from.  Several of my friends have been great for showing me lots of interesting places.  Either to explore together or because they have special access that they want to share.  I love being invited somewhere that has been around for years but I've never had a reason to see inside before. Riding up old fashioned service elevators and finding surprisingly elegant places. Even just being in a store after hours energizes me. I always jump at the chance to see the restricted areas; even when the ceiling looks like it is going to come crashing down at any second.

The more I can learn new and interesting things about my city the longer I find I can fight off the travel bug that is constantly pulling at me to explore other parts of the world. Some recent ones have been:

1) finding the giant koi fish unexpectedly swimming in a classic restaurant here in the city, a couple of them having been here for 20 years now.
2) wandering around in the various tunnels that connect the buildings down town trying to see how long we could stay inside and warm.
3) going shopping in a giant warehouses that is by invitation only.

It all comes from being with the right people at the right time.

However one door in particular was made all the more fascinating because I couldn't get in.  For years.  It became my favourite locked door to the point that I would bring it up in conversation from time to time to see if anyone I knew could get me in.  It has a combination lock with a red sign, almost the length of the door, pointing at the door reading "Archery". I was instantly hooked. I walked past there once a week for a while, knocking to see if anyone was there by chance. I talked with the people that owned the building above and they said to just keep trying. I enlisted the help of other people to walk by and knock each time they did too. People laughed about it but I would get the periodic text saying "no luck with the door". Eventually it paid off and I did manage to make contact, joined and now have access to an archery range 24/7.

Each door seems to open onto a different world in the city that I was not aware was a part of this small section of prairie life. I want to be the person to appreciate what is behind all these closed doors, package them up in a blog, and share the experience with others.

What is your favourite hidden gem in your city?
What is the most interesting place you have found either away or at home?

Thursday night -

Last of my yoga classes and wondering if I'm going to go next year. They give me vast amounts of compliments on my flexibility (which I love and is a huge boost to the ego) but I'm not getting anything from the stretches. I'm mostly finding myself feeling as if nothing is a challenge. But that will require more reflection on my own time. I'm here to tell the story of my night.

So I'm sitting there in my sweat pants and old t-shirt and feeling like I'm looking pretty rough around the edges. Then I get a text that turned my night around:

"Hookah. Suits. Now??!"

And I was off. Got showered and changed and got to the hookah lounge around 10. Everyone was looking fantastic and so many hugs came my way. So happy. I spent the evening bouncing from conversation to random statement that would catch my attention for a moment. It really did improve the night to be dressed up. We all seemed that much more focused, interesting and adventurous. It also helped that we were a very large group. I think we might have gotten to a total of 18 or 19 at the largest. We decided that dancing was the thing we needed. Off we all went, loosing people here and there. We eventually got together at the club. Our numbers had dwindled to 12 but we were all ready to dance our asses off. We ended up finding one guy on the dance floor. We all rushed in and joined him. Thus our instant dance party effect took hold. Two girls joined the floor, then another two and more and more. We were dancing with all we had. We looked and felt like an amazing wedding party.

I ran into a friend of mine from elementary and high school and caught up as well as you can in a few lines. "How are you? What are you doing these days? We haven't talked in ages. What is your number now?" All the while my friends keep coming off the floor for drinks, me handing out my community water cup to make sure people stay hydrated. I told her about our dance parties, she said it sounded like fun and then she gave me a huge compliment.

"You look like you're really doing good. It is always good to be around you, you seem to know how to get the most out of life." I was deeply touched. It is an exaggeration for emphasis to be sure but I felt the slight truth to the statement. We were having a lot of fun hanging out and all of us were experiencing a collective joy to the evening. After the 4th or 5th time of my group trying to get me back out on the floor I finally gave in to the pull of the music. After promising my reacquainted friend that we would catch up when she was out of the insanity of finals I dove back into the people.

When the last song had played we headed out. We were rather disappointed with the choice of country song to end the night, so as an alternative Sam and I lead the group in singing Barrett's Privateers outside in the snow. A guy came by and stopped to listen and joined in our circle to dance. Other people stopped and stood around to listen. When finally we finished one of the guys listening, who had started clapping along asked "What channel was that?" Chris in all seriousness, "7." We all dispersed and went home. An excellent end to wonderful night.

Friends not of the city in the city

I find it hilarious to write that as a title... because of the 3 people who might read this... and I think at this time, they are the only friends who know I have a blog at all - Estelle, Emily, and Sarah. All of them are friends who lived in the city for years but then moved away. Estelle and Emily for school and Sarah for missionary work. So really this could be about any of them but this is focused on Estelle coming back for 3 nights and my friend Christine coming into town for 2 days.

Estelle came back into town and we swarmed together in large groups, trying to catch up on life. I feel I got the best of the whole 3 evenings that she was around. Mostly in ratios of time spent with her vs how much time she was in the city... Her dad might have got a bit more... but of her friends I'm victorious! It was really great to see her, refresh our knowledge of each other and just spend time together. All the typical, what are you doings, and how are things that get asked on the phone but more relaxed. Plus we haven't had many phone calls to each other as of late so it was good to get back into the flow and be able to have those little silences that get missed because life gets too busy.

I picked her up from the bus stop the evening she arrived, drove her home, toured her yard with her and her dad, and took her out to meet up with people bowling. After much chatting and relocating the group twice, I took her back to her house. I wish I could capture how funny and wonderful it was that she fell asleep as she talked and woke up and was in mid sentence as if she had dreamed a conversation in the inter medium. The next afternoon and evening was a bbq that was full of chatting and memories from highschool. The end of that evening I drove her home and we chatted for a few hours in her driveway. That was when we really got the chance to talk. The last night was spent at a bar chatting with her, her friend and the friend's boyfriend. I walked with her out to her bike and felt like I was sending her off into the night to bike to Calgary. More a hilarious end than anything and a great way to leave each other laughing.

Christine came into town a couple of days ago to drive her mom to the hospital for surgery and then take her back home. We spent an evening as kids and parents catching up, all together. The next day Christine and I went off thrifting and had a lot of fun. Picked up my friend Joc and went for lunch and ice cream. Oh Ethiopian food how I love you. I said goodbye to them both as Christine needed to get back, to pick up her mom from the hospital. That was 2pm.

I went home and slept for a bit and got a call around 7 and we decided to have an in night as it was raining so much and I wasn't feeling up to go anywhere. We were just going to end up where Christine was staying, so we jumped the middle and just hung out in her grampa's basement all night. We chatted for almost 7 hours, using the game scruples for whenever our conversation got too... ranty? We would get stuck on a topic and one of us would pull a card to say "Ok, that's enough.". Approximately from 7:30 - 2am we talked. Absolutely fantastic! Christine pointed out that I was say goodbye exactly 12 hours apart. A very fun full day.

Anyways for future me, hope this was enough information to remember this little chunk of your life.

Hang out time.

For the past few days I've been getting back into the flow of visiting people. It has been really good to finally get my feet wet with different groups and to figure out where I am in terms of connection. Basically I'm relearning my friend dynamics and seeing who likes what/who now. Mostly just figuring out if I'm going to step on any toes and what subjects have become taboo with some.

Essentially I've been having the easiest time getting back together with people. Any confusions are cleared up within hours and all the drama that television and books say I'm supposed to have is nonexistent.

A fair few number of my hangouts have involved the game a question of scruples. (2nd edition as the first edition was just to full of random cards, hard to take it seriously in several cases). It is an older game from the 80s so there are a few cards that have been removed by us for just being far to offensive and out of date. No in fact you can't do that because a law has been passed and court cases have been fought over it. Very fun and gets conversations going in new and interesting directions. Like the question game but with less pressure.

I've been spending lots of time with friends from highschool. Joc and Meg who I hadn't really seen all that much in University, with Joc being away and Meg being busy. I've been going out with them for coffee, movies, and working out. Estelle I got the chance to talk with on the phone as she lives in another province. Now just to make sure that we connect again before the end of the year! We have these great long chats and then life snatches us up. And I'm keeping in contact with Sarah a great deal but not nearly enough with Emily, which makes me rather sad when I think about how I'd feel in her position.

Spending time with them has really made me feel happy in knowing them. All such great women who are absolutely fantastic.

But even with the old crowd I still have managed to meet a new person. Through Joc at a coffee shop on the 20th and then meeting him again last night as our server at a restaurant. This might be a good start to getting to know the city again and building up my status as "knowing everyone". This is a long term goal that I need to decide if I'm going to go after. If I do, I'll feel like I shouldn't leave the city and moving anywhere will seem harder and scarier. "But I won't know anyone!" Yeah a silly excuse not to move and one that my frightened self is really keen to pump up to unreasonable proportions.

As for my short term goals, today I'll be putting away clothes and seeing if there is anywhere to get raspberry canes and Saskatoon bushes in the city.

Spring has come.

I was pleased this year not to be caught off guard by the release from winter's grip. In the past I would be running home after classes, not have the time to observe, with a brain full of stress about deadlines and exams. I'd go out in the evening on occasion and feel like spring would never be seen again as the dark would steal any warmth that had built up from the day. But that's just a symptom of living essentially in a desert. Then it would hit me that the weather was getting better and I'd always wonder how I had missed it.

This year has been special. I've been taking many more walks during the day watching the snow slowly melt with not a care in the world (me, not the snow... then again it probably could be said to not have a care too...). I saw my first lady bug of the season just a day or two ago and realized that I see them as a true indication of spring over any robin song. The world around me is getting a break. Everything can finally stretch out and breathe.

Yesterday we had a Good Friday BBQ out in the park and I was amazed by the perfection of the day. Our whole way of life is coming back, geese breaking through the ice and carving out a place to swim, beavers chewing on trees and not caring at all that a bunch of people are coming by to look at them. Everyone was so happy. The sun was shinning and as I looked around I wanted this feeling to last longer than it possibly could.