banff

back in TO after a fantastic weekend away. here's where we stand:

now living on the east end of Toronto in a basement apartment. the house is owned by friends of ours from home church. we LOVE the place! great to be in the city, and part of that whole moving thing.. the car is parked. kar and i both get up in the morning, hop on the subway, and head our separate ways.. me east, her west. i'm working normal hours again. something like 9:00 until whenever.

we have a few things to pick up yet, including some much needed extension cords, and a wireless card for my compy, before it really feels like home, but we're close. also, we're going to be painting soon (this week? this weekend? don't know. soon) so that will have to happen shortly as well.

i should be able to get my tail in gear regarding vocals on the new album in the coming weeks. i've almost forgotten what it sounds like, between being away, working on jimmy's stuff, etc. but it'll be nice to get back into it.

let's talk about banff.

that place is sweet! so beautiful, you know? and so... clean. like, by that i mean, you keep driving around the corner expecting to see a best buy, or a walmart, and it just doesn't happen. i mean, ya, it's touristy, with a bunch of little knick-knack shops and stuff, but it's also largely devoid of commercial encroachment. you really feel like you're escaping when you're there.

so we went there for a long weekend to celebrate kar's graduating. she's DONE!! 5 long years, and she's got her degree. so before moving on to bigger and better things, i thought it prudent to party to that note. we spent one day riding at sunshine. really cool doing it in the mountains like that. you show up and it's just a parking lot with a sign that says 'sunshine village..' and then you have to get on this gondola and take a 10 minute ride way up into the mountains where the actual lifts are. it's just all about the view. you're up there riding, and all you really want to do is just look around you. it's completely stunning. we'll try to post some pics on the ol' f-book. so that was fun.

the next day we just hung out downtown for a while, walked around, etc., and then headed up to spend some time at lake louise. again, just a completely absurdly breathtaking place to be. i just look around and soak, you know? like.. we have that too.. we have niagara falls. but we don't know how to live and let live. so we put up all these museums and rides and casinos and bs that makes money, and the falls lose the light. but out there, for now anyway, it is what it is, and what it's supposed to be.

also, we ate great food. that's one of my newfound favorite things to do. go for a really long and good dinner. good conversation, really good food.. man.. i've spent so many of those opportunities in my life rushing off to something. it's nice to just sit and have dinner.

so, ya, we ate at the keg, and then at this really incredible italian place, and then at a sushi place, and they were all awesome.

and now i'm home. finished the majority of my reads for the day, so i'm taking a minute to drink a coke and write this before heading off to do a few other things in the plant. the next few days will be about bill paying and paint buying and slipper wearing, and conference final watching (go pens! go wings!). see you soon!

J