The images above are the front and reverse of the offical tour shirt from my time in the US. It was designed and manufactured by the folk in Adelaide and sent to me for my 30th birthday. I dont wear it much (actually at all) as I want to keep it forever. Sweet aint it?
As I sit here alone in the house (the girls have gone to catch some DJ from Chicago at one of the clubs in town), the phone keeps ringing. As it is usually some Frenchy ringing for one of the girls, I usually just let it go to message bank. The phone is ringing hot this evening so every couple of minutes I hear our answering machine click on and a French male voice says somethng that no doubt translates to 'please leave a message'.
The Oscars are on but I'm not watching them because the tv that sits in front of me has no aerial. Instead I get updates by Googling for it, which isn't really the same as Oscars are all about the glitz. Mind you, you do get to find out the winners without having to sit through all the crap. Its funny to think that the ceremonies are taking place around the corner from where Rick, Daz and I stayed in Hollywood and along the same boulevard that we would take the 'Stang for a trot (or in Daz' case, a lock line!) .
So while I sit here reading the Oscars and listening to the Frenchman, Im sipping on my Canada Dry. I love this stuff - it really is the Champagne of Ginger Ales. And no, not everyone drinks it here - in actual fact its about as Canadian as Arnott's is Australian. Actually thats a crappy analogy because Arnott's is very Australian despite American ownership. What I am trying to express is that Canada Dry seems no more common here than anywhere else.
Tommorrow I be startin my first shift as manager. And then some more skiing the day after.
And there goees the phone again. 'Bonjour.......'
Oh yeah, before I go, I just happen to come across Michael Richards (a.k.a. Kramer) little fiasco from last year. I didn't realise there was actual footage of it but stumbled upon it on YouTube. It's below if you want to take a look, but be warned, if you're a Seinfeld fan it may leave a bad taste:
The boss has decided to have me climb the ranks - so next week i will be taking off this silly hat and will be manager at McDonald's. There are benefits to this; least of which being fiscal (altho the slightly better pay rate wont go astray). Of great comfort is the fact that I wont be doing these stupid 6 and 7am starts that I have since my arrival. And as I mentioned, I will be abe to get out of the costume and don some more respectable garb.
But the greatest part is I have organised my timetable so that I shold see four days of skiing each week (in comparrison I have only skiied a total of 4 days since being here). Last night I purchased my season pass to Sunshine. This comes as great relief as I had been getting down in the dumps thinking about how little I will actually get to ski while here. So in a few minutes I am out of here to go catch the bus. Yeah!
Now for my weekly movie review. Hannibal Rising, if you didnt know, is the prequal to Silence of the Lambs. It tells the story of how a tragic childhood event gave rise to his cannibalistic tendencies. The movie was crappy. Sorry Margaret, just two stars from me on this one.
I went to the local video store, Avalanche, here in Banff the other day and realised another job I would be happier in. In the past 12 months I have not frequented many video libraries, so I was excited to see all the new and fantastic titles that I will be able to rent in the future. But before then, I have decided I will make weekly use of tight-ass-Tuesday here at the Lux cinema. And in doing so, I thought I would dedicate a small part of the blog to a weekly review. So, yet another reason to think Smoov Goes to College when surfing the information superhighway.
Last week it was Queen. The flick focuses on the Windsor household(s) in the week of Dianas death and how a newly appointed Blair works to save the royal family from public scrutiny. Now to inject a little subjectivity: it was good - I love biopics. Ummmmmmmm, two thumbs up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tomorrow it will be Hannibal Rising. I know, its alll very exiting isnt it!!!
The photo above is totally unrelated to the aforementioned but I will let u know it was taken by me standing in the middle of the river, Bow, that runs through Banff. It was snowing at the time - hence the dark and gloom. Bloody beautful tho!
We have some really cutting edging furniture in the apartment that Im sure even Andy Warhol would be proud of. The centre piece of the living area is the coffe table from Mac Fries. Heading into the dining area we have a Mac Fries-Target Manchester-Trident Tyre Centre table. And in my bedroom the Farmers Union Tall Boy.
Poor humour aside, Im glad I moved into this place!
If I had read the message posted by anonymous on The Dilemna before now, my recent actions may have differed. I I told The Phone Store that I would not continue with the interviewing process. Thus I remain at McDonalds in the same capacity. This may or may not be the wisest decision.
My house has a pool and spa. Its actually in the hotel next door but for some reason, tenants of this complex are free to use its ameneties.
I completed my kit with the purchase of second hand skis and took them out for their maiden run to Friday Night Skiing at Norquay. Norquay is the closest mountain to town. You can just make it out over my left shoulder in the photo below where I am incognito with some McDonalds workmates.
I think my credit card is going to get a good walloping next week when I purchase a season pass to either Sunshine or Lake Louise!
About an hour before the end of my shift today, the owner calls me in to his office and says he wants me to be a manager. The problem is though he would only want to do so if I was staying till at least September. I tell him Ill look into it and give him an answer by Friday
So I leave work and race across to my interview at The Phone Store. The interview goes well and Im told if my references check out (which I still have to gather and deliver to him by Friday) then the job is mine. However, he was adamant that I remain in the job for a good amount of time - like till at least September.
So you can see my problem! I am leaving in May as my plane ticket expires. So this sucks, I may have to give up the oppurtunity to be in a slightly better paid, slightly more respectable position. Mmmm!
My mate at The Phone Store tells me not to worry about time frames and my housemate says the same thing about McDonalds (in other words, just bail early). But I dont want to do that!!!
I cant sleep. Its 1am and I have to be up at 6 for Maccas. Yuk! I just heard the night train traveling through. I guess the tracks are less than 500 metres from here. I like hearing trains late at night.
Now that I have a new camera I am able to retrieve the few photos I had on my memory card. The photos are of, funnily enough, Canada! But east side when Mike the Mechanic and I drove the Cobalt from Indy to Toronto. It was on this road trip that I got a proper look at Niagara. I had tried a few years earlier but my efforts were thwarted when I tried to cross the border with a felon from NY, MC Casper.
I hear that the falls are now frozen, but back in November, about 5 million cubic feet of water were falling over the crestline every minute. (This of course is a useless comment cos what the hell does 5 million cubic feet of water every minute mean the hell to us. It does, however, sound impressive).
Niagara Falls comprises three water falls and here I am beside the most notable, Horseshoe. It may look like Im tempting fate with where I am sitting but there was a big landing just behind me - didnt want to end up like that kid in Superman, did I.
And here is a bird!
It was shortly after this point that my camera ceased to work.
But before we got to Canada, traveling along I-70 through Ohio I noticed that the town of Xenia (pronounced Zeen-yuh) was only a couple of miles off the beaten track and for this very reason it would generally be missed by tourists like Mike and myself. Yet being the freak that I am for films depicting the people of small American wasteland towns such as Xenia, I was aware of its existence because of a flick by the name of Gummo which was set in this very town of 25,000 inhabitants. For this reason, Mike and I decided to make a visit.
See the problem is, poor old Xenia supposedly never recovered from a tornado that cut a path directly through the middle of it, back in 74. To help explain Xenia a little further, I have taken these excerpts from IMDB about Gummo:
The film's chief protagonists are a couple of teenagers who kill cats and sell them to a butcher so they can buy glue to sniff.... This unflinching examination of "poor white trash" has garnered both glowing reviews and thunderous condemnations for its disturbing content and strange style, which is simultaneously hyperrealistic and surrealistic. In addition to drug abuse, the film profiles a broad range of issues including suicide, grief, homophobia, prostitution, sexual harassment, euthanasia and racism - all in a day in the life of small town USA.
Yes, I really do need to find some new interests! And also some sleep as it seems that late night blogging really only serves to jibber on about useless, somewhat irrelevant rubbish!
I guess the photos of my new house are fairly self explanatory; above is me out the front and below is my silly set up shot beside faux fire. One flick of a switch and that baby is burning.
After 13 straight shifts, Team Josh (I refer to us as Team because another Josh from McDonalds Banff made the trip with me) has returned to Banff. And after 13 days we were happy to leave. While away from teaching, I thought I was taking a break from urging kids to complete tasks but it all came back to haunt me in Pincher as a large proportion of the staff are somewhere around the age of 14. It was like taking a field trip at school but getting paid a lot less to do so!
Despite this, I have returned to Banff with high praise from the heads in Pincher and in turn comment has been made that I may be in line for a managerial position. (Well I heard of a possibility of Josh being promoted so I hope its me (Ill show Neil whos Neil (Ahhh, Seinfeld)). Yet, possible promotions throw a spanner in the works as I have myself a meeting with the sales manager at The Phone Store tommorrow which I am extremely confident will transpire into a job offer.
It was dry when Team Josh first arrived in Pincher but in the last week it snowed heaps. The photos are of the Stardust Motel and out the front of the central shopping hub - Walmart. If the weather had been any clearer you would be able to see the Rockies in the background. (They were taken by moi with the new camera - expect more).
Pincher Creek's population is made up of many Natives. Blood Indian Reserve is not far from here.
I was bragging to someone here the other day that I may be the only Australian who has stayed in Pincher for more than 1 week. But then I see there is a guy on the computer beside me who is from Belair. Another Adelaidean who came into McDonald's was telling me that there are about 30 Aussies and Kiwis who reside in and around Pincher. She was telling me that I need to join the cricket team - but I told her I couldn't as I am out of here on Monday! Which I am.
I have been enjoying my new found "corporate lifestyle", eating and drinking in the hotel bar, and charging it all to the room. Despite this, I am looking forward to returning to Banff where I will move into my new place which is located near a bunch of hotels - so I will not have to lug my ski gear very far to get rides onto the mountains. This is a bonus, as I can barely walk after a day of skiing.
So moving into the new house should improve the quality of my sleep. I have also been thinking of other ways to improve things upon my return (not that it has been bad - quite the contrary - its just Macca's sux and I want to ski.... more). I had a job interview at The Phone Store the day I left Banff and hope that a call to head office upon my return will award me a sales position. It would be a cool job as I have a friend that works there. Should this not come to fruition (and I have about a 50/50 chance), I think I will reduce my hours at Macca's to make time for employment at one of the resorts where I will be given a ski pass.
Yay! I got myslef a camera, but can't post any pics yet because I need to take some first!
The Bulldogs continue their winning ways last night - here is an excerpt from Associated Press:
"It was one of the best displays of shooting I've ever seen," said first-year Cleveland State coach Gary Waters. "I've seen one guy get in the zone, but the whole team in a zone? I want to say it was embarrassing"
It should be documented that the Colts are champions!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And of more importance, the Butler Bulldogs have cracked the "Top 10" of national polls for the first time in the school's 151 year history. No 9!
Hopefully I will be able to say that I was in Indy the same year the Colts won Superbowl. Tommorrow, Superbowl XLI will be a mid-west battle with the Indianapolis Colts taking on the Chicago Bears. The favourited Colts have have only visited Superbowl once, in 1969, when they were based in Balitmore.
One of the anticipated new commercials to be shown during the Superbowl broadcast may never actually be shown; a Nationwide Insurance ad features Britney Spears ex, Kevin Federline, working as a fry cook at a fast food joint while daydreaming about being a rap superstar. Annika Stensson, a spokeswoman for the National Restaurant Association said, "It's an insult to the 12.8 million restaurant workers in America. It's a negative, unfair and inaccurate reflection". I happen to think in my case, it's fairly accurate!
The Butler Bulldogs continue their winning ways, positioned at the #11 spot in the nation. Crazy I tell you. The can't really advance any higher onthe ladder due to the calibre of teams they will be facing in February, but as March Madness nears, I hope they can continue on to the Sweet 16 and beyond.
I'm still in Pincher where the landscape is interesting; to the west are the Rockies which extend in a latitudinal direction as far as the eye can see. To the east are prairies which continue on for a couple of thousand kilometres.
As I have exhausted my choice of images of Pincher Creek, I thought I may as well stick up a pic of my sister who has been hitting the red carpet, and the headlines, of late. Ha!
If I had read the message posted by anonymous on The Dilemna before now, my recent actions may have differed. I I told The Phone Store that I would not continue with the interviewing process. Thus I remain at McDonalds in the same capacity. This may or may not be the wisest decision.
Niagara Falls comprises three water falls and here I am beside the most notable, Horseshoe. It may look like Im tempting fate with where I am sitting but there was a big landing just behind me - didnt want to end up like that kid in Superman, did I.
