MY DEEPEST APOLOGIES, FRIEND!

I swore that I would never be one of those that would let a month pass without speaking to you. It seems that since the last time we spoke, I anticipated a hectic few weeks to follow, but never did I imagine how my life would have been completely flipped inside out, following a schedule so foreign to me. Sadly, one of the joys of speaking to you have been to capture the impressions of my ever failing memory as things happen, yet, by not doing so, I now find myself trying to remember exactly what had happened by, even more sadly, going through my credit card receipts. For these are the only shards of evidence that prove that I truly had experience, like someone suspected of a crime in CSI that has to come up with an alibi. And yet, life proceeds. New memories are created as new experiences imbibed. And who else could I even dare dream of using a word like "imbibe" with, without getting laughed at? Please forgive me for my neglect and unfaithfulness. Let me make it up to you by covenanting to restart sharing my experiences with you. Let me also amuse you with the things that I had neglected before.

18 Dec. 22 CALGARY ZOO-ADMISSION CALGARY AB $
Having been in Calgary for over a year now, I have driven by the Calgary Zoo many times. I thought I had outgrown the zoo, that it was a place reserved for parents seeking solitude from screaming kids and, letting the kid's imagination be whisked away into the animal kingdom, or installing the fear that should they ever misbehave, they will go "meet the lions". Yet, I find myself in the zoo for the 3rd time in as many weeks. Sure, the 2nd time didn't really count because it was for their famed night time "Zoo-lites", but I was starting to feel like I knew my way around without a map.

Don't look at my fingers which are in such a decrepit state. I actually don't remember the last time I picked up my guitar for longer than a few strums. Probably a John424 event. The idea of leaving it out on its stand was to encourage me to continue playing. Unfortunately, the visitation has been sporadic at best, the guitar succeeding more in collecting dust than play. I was recently accepted to play on a worship team at Westside and this week was my first time. The music program is pretty heavy into gospel and jazz. So, not only did I have to get my guitar chops back up to speed, I also had to figure out 9,11,13 voicings!

27 Dec. 24 IMPERIAL BOWL RESTAURA CALGARY AB $
Having no desire (and, really, noone for) to cook a turkey, I found myself a little hardpressed in finding a place to eat before the Christmas eve service. Having just returned from a hike out to Prairie View, my growling stomach only exasperated the problem. You can count on the good ol' Chinese restaurants who, when every other restaurant closes in a city, will remain open. Despite its obvious catering towards the Western palette, it was one of the most delicious meals I've had, fortune cookie included.

I have always found playing the guitar easier with shortened fingernails. One drawback is that I also tend to be quite clumsy with the nail clippers, cutting too short. I quickly discovered that I did this (once again) at my afternoon activity: beach volleyball! Yes, beach volleyball in the middle of January when it is -15 outside is quite an insane thing to do. Luckily, I was playing in a heated indoor volleyball bubble (a facility similar to TO's NorthBeach, but which housed hard courts as well). We were warming up and, at one point, I looked at the ball and saw blood splotches. My middle finger was covered in blood (some of it already dried) as a result of the (shortened) nail coming plied apart from the cuticle. Carry on. The sand was soft and the play was quite decent. I was playing with many whom I just met, mainly PHD candidates or post-docs at the U of C. And all whom are from abroad. In fact, I was the only one that didn't speak with an European accent, which I thought was really cool (especially when people started swearing in their mother tongues!) Only as I was towelling off did I realize that 3 hours had passed and that I was severely dehydrated. I seem to recall, sentimentally, having these same feelings during many hot, summer Sundays down at Ashbridges in TO.