Amberations

Monday, August 14, 2006
Elk Lakes Park is frightening in the Dark

All the dinosaurs are running Wiiiiiiillldd!!!

Well, our Saturday camping experience at Elk Lakes didn't involve dinosaurs, but rather a tent and some adrenaline-charged close encounters with too many moose.

Whenever I feel a general sense of dissatisfaction or inner restlessness, Mother Nature calls. It's because the outdoors make me feel reconnected to the natural world and myself: those sharp views of the Milky Way, the grounded feeling I get from the realization that my troubles are so small among the mighty mountains, the clear water, the deep-rooted trees, the untamed animals...! Sigh!

Eric and I spent the afternoon setting up camp, then headed off to climb mountains for a bit. The short afternoon was exciting, strenuous and endorphin-generating! I was so happy, enjoying the things that I love with my favourite guy. Hiking is the perfect activity: it is active, rewarding, and a great means of feeling that you are a part of the natural course of all life and all things...[insert dramatic violin melody here]

Anyway, the day had been a bit rainy and not fire-friendly, and as soon as the sun set, the temperature dropped. Still, we were happy and cozy back at camp, snuggling by the lakeside and talking about the meaning of life, what we want to accomplish in our existence, and how we should spend every weekend in nature to remind us of what is important. Eric was remarking on how pretty the raindrops looked on the water, when I heard some splish-splashing to my right. I stood up to look over the bushes, only to see two Moose barreling toward us! Eek!! We ran ran ran away toward the tent and cowered behind it for fear of getting trampled by an angry Moose! They were very pretty though, and neat to peer at.

After a while, we weren't sure what to do: we were the only people at the camp site, the two moose were taking their sweet time bathing, drinking and peeing in the lake, we felt stuck inside a flimsy canvas tent, the car was a 20-minute hike away, the trail to the car was dark and neighbouring the moose, the moose could potentially use us as doormats... our situation was looking grim and I was starting to feel very hostile toward the Moose. I mean, how long does it take to have a damn bath, a pee, and a freakin' drink?
Eventually my "LET'S GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!" sentiments overruled, and we left our shit at the campsite to bushwhack through the forest away from the trail (and toward the safe, safe car!). It was an awfully scary walk through the dark forest- we made lots of noise in hopes of scaring off any other beasts in our vicinity.

Finally we emerged into a clearing by a cabin and...alack! A large, muscular bushman was standing on the cabin's front porch (he turned out to be the head park ranger)! I explained to him that two Moose had scared us off, he invited us in for tea and a chat, and before too long we had three escorts back to our campsite.

The moose were still in the lake when we returned to our site- they turned out to be a Mama and her calf. Eric and I felt pretty silly when the rangers walked directly up to them and made little kissy-cooing noises like you would at a cute baby. As sheepish as we felt, we still wanted home and drove into the night. (the drive itself involved excessive wildlife- every 10 minutes a damn stupid bunny would run out on the road. We also came upon a herd of about 20 dumb horses and some confused deer.) As you can tell, my love of nature had turned a bit sour in my tiredness!

We finally got home around 12am, recounted the story to Eric’s roommate, and went to bed. It was so hard to get to sleep though- every time we closed our eyes, all we could see were evil moose!

To end this wild story- a funny moose article.


Be safe in the outdoors!

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Tuesday, August 01, 2006
not much of a view

When my mind stagnates, my energy does too, thus I though a blog might mentally stimulate me today. This is a complaint-themed blog. I don't like my job. There is nothing to do. And my boss is kind of yucky. I find myself pineing away for Frenchboss. Here are some Cimarron work scenes to keep you entertained:

Scene 1:
Boss to Amber: "Why don't you get naked [at the meeting with the EUB]? The board will love that!"

Scene 2:
Amber has her back turned to the entrance of the coffee room as she fills her water bottle. She turns around to find Boss standing silently in the doorway, staring at her.

Scene 3:
Amber to Boss: "So, can we go over my project work now?"
Boss: "OK, let me get a coffee first"
Amber: "Alright, I'll just hang out in my office until you're ready"
Boss: "Ooooh, that sounds so....." [add icky sultry look here]

Scene 4:
Boss to Amber: "Well the good thing about your being on antibiotics is that you won't have to worry about STDs for a week, right?"

Friends and family tell me to "give it time", or "stick with it!"- that "No job is perfect". These are all nice comments but they frustrate me. Life is too short to work a job that makes one feel useless, self-conscious and depressed. If it seems I am giving up easy, well, I am I suppose. But really there is no "thing" to give up on here at Cimarron. I do nothing and therefore quitting would not be giving up on anything except for a chubby horny boss.

In my boredom last week, I tried to observe my life from a helicopter-perspective; pretending to sort of "hang" in the sky and look at everything. It looked kind of like this:



I didn't see "unsatisfying job" in the happy amber web, so I started applying for new jobs. I had one interview in Edmonton yesterday, which went really well. I was upfront with my expectations: challenge, learning experiences, moving around, helping people do stuff, respect. They seemed to think these were reasonable demands...

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