Sin in the City

So, I started to write a couple weeks ago because I knew I hadn't updated in awhile but then my browser crashed (stupid Safari...) and I just got lazy then got distracted... haha

Anyway, lots of stuff went down...

Went to Vegas. Celina's 24th b-day on the 15th so I caught a cheap flight and headed down for four days to chill and party and experience the City of Sin...

It was everything and nothing like I thought it would be. Busy, dirty, loud, tons of obese Americans, fake sexy all around, went to clubs celebrities go to sometimes and wasn't impressed, paid 30 dollars for three drinks, wore silly shoes, was taken to dinner by a sugar daddy, watched pretty much naked Aussie men prance around shakin' it, got handed hooker cards (collect the whole set!), watched people wander the streets with alcohol, got hit on by men of all shapes and sizes, jumped some lines, hung out with a bunch of wax celebrities, had mimosas, walked around a lot, watched peoples' lives draining away with every push of the spin button. Scary and exhilarating. I don't think I'll ever go back.

My favourite part though? Flying back from Vegas. I'd finished my book so ended up picking up two at the magazine shop to keep me occupied in a two hour layover. I apparently still got it because I was able to pretty much finish McCormack's The Road before I stepped on the plane. Sat down on the plane. Girl that seems pretty chipper in a Cheerleader College Barbie type of way (but darker hair) sits down next to me. We chat for a bit but I open my book, wanting to see the end... Out of the corner of my eye I notice she's got a pretty nicely bound book - pretty old-school looking. Something a bit off about it but sure, fine, whatevs. Finish The Road and pull out book #2 Nicholas Sparks' Dear John (heard good things about it. Sparks is a good writer despite his proclivity for the extreme romance. I think it's as close as I'm going to get to Drugstore Harlequin romance novels... :p). Girl next to me, Melanie, strikes up a convo. She seems pretty normal - we talk about her degree (nutrition), my degrees (English, Psych, Education, Journalism... haha), her sister (eat disorder), futures, society. It starts to feel like she's steering me into a direction that I may not be equipped to handle myself in... and then...

WABAM!

Jesus.

Have I thought about Jesus? Do I believe in God? Do I go to church. Do I believe in Heaven? Do I think I'm going to Heaven? What do I think Heaven will look like?

I looked down at the book in her lap.

The Holy Bible.

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuu...dge.

Essentially, she ended up telling me that I was going to burn hell because I had not let Jesus into my heart and did not have a relationship with Jesus. Apparently, being a good person and just trying to do the right thing is just not good enough these days. Gotta be proactive in your post-mortem future. Go figure.

She said she'd been 'saved' when she was five years old. FIVE years old. I don't even remember being five years old let alone making huge life-shaping religious choices.

And don't get me wrong - I respect the fact that she has belief. I respect, even envy, that she has so much passion and has something that she believes in so completely. I don't have that. I have never been that certain about anything in my life and it is such a powerful thing. You could see it in her face, in the way she talked. It was amazing. What I didn't appreciate was the fact that she was essentially force feeding me this idea that I was completely and totally fucked if I didn't do something about it soon. God/Jesus/Whoever is going to come back and take those that are 'saved' with him and God was going to judge the rest of us and it wasn't going to be pretty.

All I could think of was Dogma and Matt Damon.

"Organized religion destroys who we are by inhibiting our actions, by inhibiting our decisions out of fear and some intangible parent figure who shakes a finger at us from thousands of years ago and says, 'Do it... do it and I'll fuckin' spank you."

Sigh. Then I was wishing that Delta had TVs in the back of their seats and that Dogma were one of the choices.

And that made me feel a little better of my punch ticket at the end of it all...

I think in the end... I respect people who are religious, I am jealous of that passion... but the moment you try to convince me of it all, even if it's something that I'm a little okay (the notion of God, for example), I shut down. I don't want beliefs, ideas, anything forced on me - no one does - and so when you try to convince me of it, I will fight it tooth and claw. I am not down with the preachies... :p

Whew, that was long... oops.

Finished off the semester of school. Pretty death month of December. Lots of work got piled on, final projects, week of Dailies (which were fun because you only had to focus on the story(ies) of the day and nothing else). It was kinda not so great. Training suffered (dropped off to nil), social nights out became I-wanna-forget-school-time-of-death wind down sessions (thank you karaoke... :p), eating and sleeping habits took a nosedive (which, let's be honest, made things worse...). It was ridiculous. I need to get better at this stress thing.

Funniest thing about this cartoon? A court reporter came in to give a talk and the people who went to hear them thought IT was a total snooze-fest. Oops.

I met some Canucks... Andre managed to get him and myself into one of their practices and then into the dressing room afterwards. It was for one of our radio broadcast sessions. I took a silly approach and asked about Battle of the Blades and Movember. Fun times. Rome accused me of making up Movember (yeah, like I'd make up a month in which guys try to grow the most hideous patches of hair on their faces... ugh), Glass was the nicest - my first interview (They are freaking intimidating!) and also funny.

I got to go skiing twice. That was awesome. Once up at Cypress with Tom McCarthy and once with Kajsa and her fam at Callaghan. It was beautiful. They've closed up the Olympic trails for 'security' purposes (who's going to want to blow up the Olympic trails? Seriously!) but the rec trails are still just as beautiful.

Also, got an internship with one of my profs. I'm thinking it might be because of nepotism (I sold him a bike this summer... and he seems to have a soft spot for me because of it... :p) Some work over the holidays, actually getting paid well for it (sweeeeet), and it's not looking like it's going to be hardcore, which is nice. Though perhaps I'll be surprised and end up working my ass off. :p

I'm not going home for Christmas. Doing the postal service package exchange... though I'm not quite on the ball. All my stuff's going to get to Ontario post-Christmas. Ah well. I tried.

Trying to get back on the training wagon. Going to spin with Louise (yay!), hike with anyone who's willing (haha), try to haul around town at least once a day on the bike (errands with a roundabout route?), climb with some friends soon (bouldering, I have missed you), pre-breakfast runs, and two core sessions a day. That'll hopefully combat the idiocy of the past couple months... perhaps.

Anyway, I'm sure there's tons of other fun stuff that has gone down but I can't remember. Going to post this before it bonks again...

Pic du Jour:

Quote du Jour:

"I am tired, Beloved, of chafing my heart against the want of you..."

Song du Jour:

Pete Yorn - Thinking of You

Emotions of the day:

Nostalgia and that achy feeling in the pit of your stomach when things remind you of people and things you'd rather Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind away forever. Like you've been punched in the stomach and can't quite catch your breath. Don't know why and kinda really wish it would go away.

Feeling Mopey, Dopey, and Five other Melancholy Dwarves today... Arg.

Perhaps tomorrow I'll write something a little more insightful. There are things running around in my head that I want to put down on paper and just can't settle myself down to do it. Fail.