friends - From now on

Posts tagged with "friends"

Almost summer...

Sunday, 6. April 2008, 23:36:53

friends, hapinness, snow, fun

A pool, a deck, the sun and a cold beer...it's almost summer!

18 Comments

Must be tag season...

Saturday, 23. February 2008, 00:56:37

friends, opera community, fun

The rules:

-Name 5 jobs/professions what you would never ever do/practice with explanation

-Refer back to the person who tagged you

–Name 5 victims - also make a link to their blog!

So Tilla and Darko tagged me

And here are my five unwanted jobs:

Ophthalmologist:
I can't look at an eye surgery on the telly! As a matter of fact, putting drops in my eyes is quite a challenge for me

Plumber:
If you want to make me swear, ask me to do a plumbing job! You never have the good fitting, you always work in uncomfortable narrow places, etc.

Bailiff:
I know that someone has to do it but it's not for me.

Politician:
Definitely not for me!

Security agent:
Staying still hours after hours... no way!

And here are my 5 poor tagged victim:

Sanshan
Phiznil
Rumours
Mickeyjoe
Sittingfox

11 Comments

Fresh new snow, Bad timing & Expensive sandwiches

Monday, 4. February 2008, 22:21:47

winter, friends, work, snow ...

It all began Saturday when I woke up and realized that the 30 cm of snow expected during the night looked more like a 40 cm . I had to go to the park to groom all that snow because the guy who usually does it was lying on a Venezuela's beach with an exotic cocktail in hand thinking at everything else but snow! It took me almost a half hour to clean my car and move it out of my parking space. The joy of winter!

I spent all Saturday morning working on the trails until I finally succeed to make decent ski conditions with this too thick and too fluffy white stuff. But with fresh new snow come the skiers and with skiers come more work so to make a long story short, I spent my whole weekend working at the park.

So today, I took a day off. The snow was still there and fortunately, it was a beautiful sunny day. I thought it would be a good idea to start my cross-country ski season since I have only done some alpine ski so far. I called my Soulsis to ask her if she would come with me, knowing that she doesn't work on Mondays but she wasn't home. So I left her a message.

I decided to go to my friend's park since I keep on telling him that I will visit him soon and we took advantage of his quiet Monday morning to catch up on each other lives. He even asked me if I would mind if he would join me for a quick ski run. I accepted at the condition that he would go at my own speed (With a pair of skis on, this guy becomes a beast!) and that he would give me the time to eat a quick lunch before we go.

His ski lodge cafeteria was closed so he told me that I could go to the nearby hotel to get myself a lunch. At the hotel, the lady from the dinning room told me that she could fix me what she called a lunch-box: A ham sandwich, a fruit, a yoghurt, and a juice. “Perfect” I said. I waited a small five minutes and she came back with a styrofoam container and the bill.

$13.95 CAD !!!!

For a moment I thought I was back in Iceland! Gee...

I when back to the ski lodge with my car and arrived face to face with my Soulsis! She didn't took her messages this morning and unfortunately she was already back from her 2 hours ski ride. Bad timing...

I quickly ate my plain-white-bread-13 boxes-sandwich and hit the trail with my friend who despite his promise was skiing at an energetic pace. The fact that he was skating and I was skiing classic style didn't help either. But after almost an hour he had to go back to his office for a meeting, so we shook hands and he disappeared like a rabbit. I continued my trail, a bit slower, until I reached a view point with a nice shelter. I stopped and took the time to take a few photos of the sparkling snow and the waving shadows of the trees, like this one...

Tomorrow, it's already back to work and Mother Nature is supposed to bring us another surprise. This time +8ºC and rain! Goodbye fresh new snow

11 Comments

40 ans!

Friday, 25. January 2008, 11:55:36

friends, Travel, life, world ...

40 years! a round number.

Reaching 20 or 30 didn't change my life very much. Since the age of 17, I've always felt like being 21 or 22 in my body and mind. But in the last two years, visible signs of aging have appeared like permanents wrinkles around the eyes and I don't hear any more exclamations like “Are you kidding? I thought you were in the twenties!” But don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that I'm feeling old. I'm in perfect shape, I don't suffer from any serious disease and I can do almost everything I want. Of course, I can't recover in a flash from a sleepless night like in my teenage years but I have lost this ability a long time ago!

But beyond a few wrinkles and a couple of minor sores, what characterize the most my 40 years birthday is my change of attitude towards life. I've always been a big defender of the freedom of choice, that every life should be lived in the present moment and not for better upcoming days. Why your 27th years should be less important than your 65th? I always believed that no one should compromise on his wellbeing to achieve a financial success. Many great principles of life that, I now realize, have stayed at the blathering stage without any action taken and that is what I want to change. Call it a mid-life crisis or what ever name you want but the feeling is strong and I'm determined to take that direction.

The first step I took is my decision to quit my job at the park somewhere during the current year. The second one was to register myself to do voluntary work inside a humanitarian organization called Casira and the mission I will join will take place in Guatemala. In May, I will attempt a weekend long meeting where the date of departure, length of the trip and all other important informations will be transmitted. The best scenario for me would be to leave in September for 3 months. I will see if it is possible. Since it will be voluntary work, I won't get paid for it, it even will cost me money but I'm convinced that I will return from there with richer human values and an international mission experience that could help me eventually, with my already acquired managing experience, to find a paid job with other humanitarian organizations like CareCanada or Médecins Sans Frontières who hire coordinators for their international missions.

All this may look a bit idealistic but that is why I start with a voluntary work in Guatemala. I may turn crazy after 3 weeks, living with 30 to 60 people in the same “casa” sharing everything but if it is the case, I'll stop asking myself if I can do it. At least, I will know and move to something else. But now is the right moment in my life to try it. I'm single, I'm healthy. It's obvious that I will miss some of my close friends but in our today's whirling lives, everyone is so busy anyway that we never have the chance to see the people we love as much as we would like to.

Speaking of friends, 16 of them has been invited to come to my place tomorrow to celebrate my 40 years birthday. But this party will also be the first official planning meeting of an ambitious project that has originated 2 years ago around a table decorated with a few alcohol beverages which is to all celebrate our 40th birthday on a beach in the south. With a b-day in january, I'm the first of my group of friends(I'm talking about 20 years and over friendships) that is reaching the 40 years milestone. All the others will reach it during the current year and in November, at the cheapest time of the year to travel south, we would all go for a one week celebration at an all-included resort. However it's far from being done, we all have our lives and obligations. I'm even the first one who doesn't know where I will be then and if I'll be able to go! Although I don't know why, maybe it's because every time we meet the subject comes up, but I'm quite convinced that it will work out...

Ok that's a long enough post!