The daytime of the night! ;)

K, has anyone had frost bite? I have a lump under my eye, that is really itchy right now, and kinda reminds me of a hive, but I was thinking maybe its from the cold, since its the only part of my body that was exposed to the elements today... any thoughts?

Anyways, it was -47 with the wind this morning when I walked to work. Hurrah. My legs were SO frozen, it hurt SOOOOO bad... so I bought longjohns to wear under my pants after work, I went to 2 different Marks Work Warehouses, and the 2nd one had only ONE pair of small... and they aren't the waffle iron ones that I wanted, and they really don't help. OR if they do, I dont' want to know how cold I would've been walking to school :S

Also, why is it when I leave my home town to live somewhere else for a bit, I experience the most extreme weather... in St. Catharines it was like +39 with the humidity it was +50, and here in Calgary its -38 with with wind its almost -50... In 2 years I've experienced a range of 100'c, crazy!

We did the night photography shoot I've been looking forward to since arriving. Some of my work is posted below! Of course to see my finished works, go to www.dezdez.deviantart.com/gallery

The city of Calgary WB set to Daylight

The city of Calgary, WB set to Auto

Other part of Calgary... I like all the sparklies in this one :D

Calgary, long exposure, zoomed in 1/2 way through.

Calgary, panned the camera sideways 1/2 way through.
This is a high side view of the Heritage building... its really a nice building.

These are the stairs I walk up to to get to the C-Train, cool eh? And right behind it you can see the Alberta College of Art and Design!!

Saxamaphone....

Ok, I have a confession... I have an addiction to the Simpsons. I watch them EVERYDAY since arriving. I started at season 4, I'm now on season 9... and after I've watched season 10, its FAMILY GUY!!! Then southpark I suppose.... out of desperation only. That or Seinfeld we've got 9 seasons of that...

Right now I'm baking an apple cinnamon coffee cake!! It smells so good!! I'm so excited... probably a better snack than all the fudgesicles I've been eating!!

So I kinda tried to get Hypothermia today :D It was fun... except not. I knew it was cold, but didn't think it was that bad and wanted to catch the 6:07 bus, so I grabbed my winter coat and ran outside... wearing naught else but socks, shoes, PJ pants, a tanktop, and a bandana. Waiting for the bus was HELL!! It was -24'c, -38'c with the wind... so I figued I'd take a cab back from the store but the only cab # I know in this city was busy for over 10 mins, so I took the bus home again... by the time I made it to my door my ears were nothing but pain (and I pulled the hood up on my coat) and my fingers stopped working... I've never had so much trouble unlocking and opening a door... *sigh* anyways, I'm all warm now :D Lesson learned. And in my own defence, this is the coldest it's been here since I moved... just yesterday it was +1, and friday it was +3.... stupid Calgary weather.

Not a lot else to report. I got my pictures printed for critique on tuesday in Portrait lighting, tomorrow in Basic we're doing a night photoshoot of the city (in a penthouse, so no freezing), and we've started working on a CD cover in Photoshop. I've got the requirments for my portfolio for NIC, so I've slowly started selecting photos for that and such... I should start on the essay soon as well...

K, I'm gunna check on that coffee cake!!!

A Calgary Day in the Life of Dez

Just an insight to my crazy day today...

Woke up at 8, got message from Dustin to call him at work when I woke up, called talked to him for a bit.

Was tired, went back to sleep.

Woke up later, felt like crap, avoided getting out of bed. After a while, went on computer (still in bed)

Finally got up around 2 pm. Breakfast choices, Perogies, Hotdogs, or Eggos. Had some eggos.

Watched Simpsons, had shower, did makeup, couldnt' find work shirt, start panicking and throwing everything everywhere. Find it in first place I originally looked, its black, not my fault.

Run to bus stop... bus a few minutes late. Get to C-Train, JUST miss train, next one should be 5 mins. 3 Trains come down the other side while I wait for my C-Train.

Get on C-Train, get off C-Train, book it across parking lot, arrive at work at exactly 5 o'clock, still have to change shoes.

Change shoes, glance at schedule posted on back wall. Do not work today. Work tomorrow... dammit. Confess to management try to see if anyone wants to go home, go back to C-Train.

Do some banking, find mall, REAL shopping mall.... doesn't actually have what I want, go to Safeway instead, buy food to expand meal options.

Come home, put groceries away, change into comfy clothes, sit down with laptop in front of TV preparing for relaxing night.

Roomate comes home slightly tipsy with tipsy friends. Drinking ensues, plan later to go to bar. More friends arrive.

One guy overly drunk, annoying, spilling, stumbling. Blah.

Make friends with one of roommate's friends g/fs. Talk about school, show her pictures. Somehow I am convinced to go to bar.

Call cab for drunk guy. Drunk guy gets in cab, then out and comes back to house, cab drives away.

Call another cab, one for all of us so we can go to bar, and take drunk guy home. Drunk guy decides to walk home before cabs arrive.

Cabs arrive, we get 2 houses down and see drunk guy lying on the side of the road bleeding. Stop, look at him, nose appears broken, shove him in one cab and he is taken home.

Arrive at bar, which is one of 2 bars located INSIDE the University of Alberta. Know the bouncer, went to highschool with him... random.

Stay for a while, get bored and sleepy, catch ride home with one of roommate's friends. Stop at Wendy's first, get frosty!

Get home, phone Dustin to inform him of my survival of going to the bar. Doorbell rings. Drunk guy's parents. Hang up on Dustin. GIve parents lowdown, send them off.

Phone Dustin back. Chat for while, very nice. Watch episode of Simpsons, then plan to go to bed.

About to brush teeth, hear roommate come in complaining. It is not roommate. Is drunk roommates assistant hockey coach. Hockey coach got into a fight at the bar and was given a ride home with teh police.

5 minutes later, roommate and head coach show up. Tell me the nights story, confirm happenings with drunk guy. Much drunken rambling continues.

Post on blog, going to go to sleep.

What a day, what a day!

"I don't live life, I tolerate it" Brad Zimmerman

Really, looking on today, just nuts!! It was already supposed to be a busy fun filled day!!
Get up, do some pilates, stretch, do some laundry, have breakfast, go tanning, move laundry, shower, go pick up ticket for George Carlin, take a picture of SAIT building, go to bank to deposit paycheck, go grocery shopping, put groceries away, go to school, go to George Carlin, go to bed!!! That was the just the PLAN for the day... heres how it actually went.

Wake up to Peter's alarm... it doesn't stop. Fall back asleep incorporate alarm into dream. Wake up again, its still going, get up go turn it off... lie in bed listening to music, get up, pilates, stretch, put the laundry in, have breakfast, procrastinate, go tanning, come home and go to change laundry, basement completly flooded... figure washing machine was leaking and not hooked up or something, so I start bailing the water into a mop bucket, empty mop bucket in kitchen sink, do this 5 times and realize water level NOT going down, am now running late, write Peter a note explaining, whip over to Jubilee to pick up ticket, doors from ACAD are locked... get instructions from someone else on how to get into the building. Those doors also locked... want to cry, only have 1/2 hour to pick up tickets, find someone else who directs me to the other side of the building, tell ticket lady my name and give her my ID, she informs me I need my confirmation # which I don't have... panic, start rapidly thinking how I could get access to my hotmail account in next 20 mins, lady likes my name and prints ticket w/o confirmation #. Find CIBC deposit cheque, get home, apparently roots grew into the main drain and blocked it off, cost Peter over $300... feel better knowing its not my fault, however still running late, figure I have enough time for shower since hair is greasy and I feel icky, no hot water (discovered after removing all clothing and standing in shower) get dressed, do make up, try and do hair, fly out the door, just miss the bus... randomly another was right behind it, catch it, go to class, class bores me, then when I get the handouts for the part I'm missing I discover its GOING to get interessting after I leave...

Get to the Jubilee to watch George Carlin... it was excellent! Brad (or Doug, cna't remember now) Zimmerman opened for him, he was (or claims) to have been a waiter for 25 years... SO funny! And SO true, and gave me some TERRIBLE ideas... may I not have a weak moment and use some of his material in the first couple weeks of my new job :S but in my last couple weeks... bring it on :D And then George came on!! I will admit now, after seeing his most recent DVD I was a little concerned about this $75 show b/c the DVD was so depressing adn I actually fell asleep while watching it :S But there was nothing to worry about. He actually did the bit he's goign to do for his 15th HBO special this March 1st. He's 70 years old now, which he likes to think of as 69 with a finger up his ass... but it was great, I laughed a tonne, approved of arguments he brought up about his country and the way the world is going... it was really great, I'm so glad I went!!! Was worth the trials of the day. And now I"m home, posting on my blog waiting for my pizza to get here.

OH! Just a quick note on the Jubilee, it is a gorgeous classy theatre. All the "refreshment stands" were selling wine, beer, highballs, specialty coffee (I'm in alberta, can you tell?) and it was just really nice. Also, rich ppl are terrible... now this is kinda an overstatement, but our tickets said the show started at 8pm and we were unaware of an opening act... from what I could tell by 7:50ish the balcony's were all full, nosebleeds were ready to see George, at 8:00 the ppl in the VERY front rows were still wandering in!! Wtf mate?!!? Also, forgot to mention, being a single helps. In talking to ppl around me I gathered that I bought my ticket after them, but had a better seat than them... the rows are 11 across but b/c most ppl come in couples that leaves an empty seat on the end that keeps getting skipped as ppl buy in pairs. There were only 4 rows between me and the stage, the guy directly in front of me, there on his own, the guy directly behind me, there on his own, to our rights, couples. We were to the far left, but still good seats... of course the 6'4" couple had to sit in front of me and keep their heads together all cuddle like all ngiht, but I managed to lean enough to see well all night. Anwyays, I should post this and go wait anxiously for pizza!!! G'night to y'all!

I like the ones who help me less...

So, in the news of the day of Dezeray... I got the job at Boston Pizza, I start tomorrow at 3:30, paperwork, then expoing so I understand how this specific Boston Pizza operates. Sounds like sections are no more than 4 or 5 tables on weekend dinner rushes, this location has a lounge, and it isn't seniority based either, you get in the lounge based on how good of a server you are. Also, all kitchen staff is great apparently!! According to the GM, the staff all has a great attitude and "punks" with an "I do'nt care about my job attitude" don't exist. Hurrah!!!

Also, I believe I've complained about ppl being mean here... well today I was looking at some moisturizing lotion b/c it is SO ridiculously dry here. Anwyays, while I'm looking at the moisturizing cream, this lady walking by informs me that the lotion I'm looking at is great. Cool. Then she continued saying it wasn't a face moisturizer, and how oil of olay was a really good product, but if she were me she'd head to London Drugs, they probably have a special on, and I should be using a night moisturizer, and its very important to clean your face at night... o...m...g... it went on... I finally managed to put down the lotion and escape... and THEN walking home, I saw her in the parking lot... but I managed to put my head down and keep walking.

Um... yup... got home, made dinner... it was good. Yup. I'm now watching TV... might do some reading, and have a bath. Thank god I'm starting work tomorrow.

I'm going to miss you like a child misses his blanket...

So the resolution to the time conflict was for them to give me my money back for intermediate photography... for the record they havne't done it yet, but its only been two days.

I have a job interview at Boston Pizza tomorrow... woot.

K, I just wrote like, 6 e-mails all of them kinda saying the same thing, so you guys get the real boiled down version. Basic photography seems alright, Portrait lighting was INTENSE, and Adobe Photoshop was boring as hell but has potential...

K, y'all enjoy some pictures taken from my cell phone at school (YES, I know I'm a photography student, I will one day take pictures with my camera, and you can all view the magic, OR you could view some of my earlier magic by clicking on the link on the left hand side of this screen)

The main building on SAIT campus... not one of my classes is in this building, HOWEVER, the library and bookstore are in this building.




Calgary night skyline, view from SAIT campus.

So I have this talent...

I forgot to mention yesterday!!! In the midst of watching mindless TV I learned something!!! I learned all about the Red Breasted Nuthatch, and how it can hop down trees, and lives in coniferous trees... yes my life is temporarily sad.

Atm I'm watching The Simpsons, earlier I was watching Family Guy. Oh, I wandered the opposite direction today, found a Riverstone Pub, and a tanning salon. At this tanning salon you have to have your own eye protection, fair enough, and the ones I bought are pretty cool, they're just 2 seperate pieces, AND having lotion is highly recommended. Its because Calgary is sooooooo dry, and apparently dry skin doesn't tan. Anyways, I have noticed since arriving my skin getting drier and drier.

I also reheated leftover pasta and added chicken and peas, scrubbed my face, put on a face mask, pumiced my feet... yup.

SO! About the title!!! I have this talent for meeting parents in the most awkward way possible... allow me to add a new one to the pile. This morning (11 a.m.) I hear the doorbell ring... now I"m only just waking up, and figure Peter will get it. A minute or 2 later it rings again, so this time I actually haul my sleeping body out of bed to open the door... I'm in my PJs, my hair is smushed off to one side, and what little makeup I have on is smudged. I open the door.... and get to introduce myself to Peter (my roommate's) dad. He looked pretty shocked... very entertaining.

Anyways... yup, thats my day! OH right! SO! I have a scheduling conflict with school... one that never originally existed. See they resent me my class schedule in December, but it looked the same, so I thought nothing of it... closely examining it today I observed the switched my intermediate photography class from thursday to tuesday, so its at the exact same time as my portrait photography class. Anyways, I wont' go into the details now, I'll fill you in after I talk to someone at SAIT on monday... tomorrow I'm going to buy more food!! And take the CTrain to the library... or something.

Ok, i'm going to entertain myself for another hour or two, then bed... maybe i'll unload the dishwasher...

In a mad world only the mad are sane.

Aaaaaaaamen! Cause I'm going nuts... NUTS!! I did my NAILS tonight!! Me!

So yes... tdoay... I hardly slept cause it was SO cold!! So I drug myself outa bed about 12 hours after crawling in it, made a minipizza for breakfast (the roommate said I could have w/e I wanted in the fridge) had a shower, and set out to find food!!! Its pretty nice, I'm about a 10-15 min walk from a mall... tho its one of the more messed up malls I've been to... theres a cluster of businesses here... and another cluster across the parking lot, and another on the other side... and some more across that road... but its all "one mall" and some signs at the mall entrances are talking about businesses on the opposite side from that sign... but ya, found a "Linens and Things" where I purchased a blanket... it was marked 34.99, the cheapest I could find, cool, w/e, apparently it was originally 79.99 on sale for 34.99... whoa. Seriously, i wouldn't of paid that, its not that great. Then it was off to Safeway to deal with grumpy ppl practically shoving me outa the way to get food, and then me shelling out way too much money for such little food... I'm probably going to end up going back on Sunday to get through the week... so expensive. But I did earn airmiles :D Cabbed er home, unloaded groceries, made lunch. Watched bad TV. Listened to music.

THEN! I had a cookie fiasco... I love baking. I'm good at it. I bought some premixed Chocolate chip cookie dough crap so I could make cookies w/o buying 12 ingredients. O... m... g... apparently I need to make tehm from scratch, it was aweful. The dough turned out fine, put them on my aluminum cookie sheet I bought for $2 (Peter has only lived here about 1 1/2 months, so he's lacking MANY cooking things) but the oven door shut on my arm when I went to put the cookies in the oven, shifting cookies and wrinkling my sheet... then they all expanded into one cookie, so I had to cut squares out of them... the 2nd batch I put in turned out better, but there were only 3 cookies... seriously, worst cookies I've ever made.

Then the roommate made some tortellini with cheese sauce and shared it with me. Very nice. We watched more bad TV, he left, I watched TV some more, did my nails, wrote a letter, then he came back with his friends and we watched Waiting, and now they're gone again and here I are. But I think I need bed soon... what else could I possibly do?!!? lol!! Sorry about the horribly boring post, welcome to my day :P OH! I was so excited, the bookstore is open tomorrow so I was going to go buy my software, but to get software you need your student ID which you can get at the campus centre which ISN"T open on saturday... *grumble grumble*

Don't get used to me posting this often, it will peter off once I get a life.

Alive, free, exhausted.

Well, I've arrived in Calgary at my new place of residence safe, sound, and exhausted. There isn't really alot to tell... the plane was really like a can of sardines, but I survived. The taxi driver was really nice :)

The roommate seems pretty cool... reminds me of the lawyer off Idiocricy, but he's friendly and easy going, I'm just going to be a little starved for some After I unpacked we sat around watching The Simpsons. He's at hockey now so I've got the house to myself... which is less odd now than when I arrived earlier and noone was home. But its cool, my rooms all setup, which is good, but i'm way to tired to explore the area. Tomorrow I'll find out about bus routes, and go grocery shopping and other such things.

Ok, I really don't have much more to say... lets face it, I'm beat, but here are some pictures of my room after I got it all setup... taken from my cellphone. Enjoy.

So Kiss Me and Smile for Me...

Well, as most, or all of you should know, I'm leaving on a Jet Plane, tomorrow 1 p.m. And I have never had such conflicting emotions in my life! I'm so freaking excited, and terrified, and happy, and sad, and BLAH!!! Emotional overload...

Of course, one of those emotions is panic from not being ready. Now I am posting off my parents computer, since mine is packed, and technically most of my things are packed... the issue? There are things that need to be packed still and no room :S so At some point in the next 26 hours I will be unpacking adn repacking... should be fun!!! Not only do I need to accomplish that, I need to see my dad's family to deliver family portraits, hang out with Mel and Becca, clean my car, clean my room, go to the bank, hang out with my mom, have drinks with Jodie adn Darren, give Steph her bday present, wish Ashley a happy birthday, spend the night at Dustin's, have breakfast with him, oh, and have breakfast today (I'm heating up leftover salmon, and following it up with cheesecake)!!! Wow, too much info for anyone!!

As for my christmas, most excellent! Busy, but I got to spend the morning with my parents and sister, and the late evening with Dustin and his sister and her fiance. Easily the begining and the end were the best b/c I spent it with people I love... the middle just existed! lol!!

New Years you say? It was pretty good... Didn't make it to Bryans, TRIED to go to Brendan's, however I wasn't quite sure which house it was since it has been 3 years since I dropped my sister off at Mike's, but I knew the general area and decided to phone upon my arrival... well due to getting a new cell phone, apparently I only have Nic's cell phone who happened to turn off his phone prior to my calling... so then I head to Melissa, watched the end of Robinhood Men in Tights, and the begining of 300, then back to Dustin's I went. It was just me him and his good friend Rowan, and it was fun. We sat b/s'n, watched YouTube videos, I had a headache at the begining of the night that was getting worse as the night went by, we did the countdown, had a glass of bubbly, then Dez abandoned the boys for relief of the headache, hoping for sleep. The morning was awesome tho... we didn't get out of bed till 2 p.m. just lay there talking, cuddling, Dustin made me breakfast and brought it to me in bed. It was awesome!!!

I apologize to anyone I didnt' really get to say goodbye to... leaving right after the holidays is tough cause you just don't have time. But I should be home for a few days at the end of February (and seriously, WHY is there a silent "r" in February?) and I'll be back to PG for the summer at least at the end of April!! Take care everyone, next time I'll post will be from Calgary :D