Pictures

This is the group!! It was really windy!! Everytime the picture was taken the wind blew and threw me backwards.













Azalea standing on the steep, rocky surface












The view of Canmore and a really awesomely sweet drop off. I'm lying on the edge of the cliff with my hands dangling over taking the picture and of course praying that the wind didn't catch my coat and throw me into Canmore.

























A few of us on the way up the mountain! You'll notice I'm at the back of the group...taking a picture was my excuse for stopping and catching my breath





this is the mountain that we climbed
























This is the view from the side we climbed up, you can see the river valley at the bottom and the amazingly steep trail.

Summits!!

It was eight in the morning which in my books is way to early to be getting up, let alone dressed and ready to go on a Sabbath...but I was. See at 7:30 my phone rang and I could not figure out why on earth I had to be up so early on a day I knew I could sleep in until church started...needless to say it was Azalea, "are you ready to go?" My mind raced then it all began coming back to me...right! We are going to the mountains today. I got my stuff together rather quickly and headed down to the lobby to wait for the guys and Azalea, in total there was 6 of us going, my brother, Jared, his brother, JD, Azalea and myself. So, I waited until they all eventually came out to the lobby but by this time I was trying to find out where on earth Azalea had disappeared to. See, after she called me, as it turns out, she went back to bed. We waited until she was ready then Azalea, JD and myself piled in his car and the other three piled in Jared's car. The drive was good and of course I slept until we got there. It was 11:30, the sun was out but it was still cool so we all grabbed our backpacks and began the climb up. No joke, up...no, that word is actually an understatement. We were in the woods most of the way then suddenly there were no more trees as the oxygen was way to thin for anything to survive that high. Not only that but if anything did decide to live it would just get blown off. One guy we met on the trail said the wind was 42 knots. Needless to say it was enough to almost blow me around a couple of times. Anyways, we reach this treeless area and the rest of the climb is pretty much straight up and something mom would not appreciate at all. You see, if you look to your right you have an amazing view of this tiny little stream at the bottom, a road that is barely seeable anymore and the mountains are everywhere. Its also a fall that would hurt as you would begin sliding. This is what we walked on. I walked all the way to a point where I figured it would level out but no, mountains don't level out they merely curve straight down the other side. I look over and its just a straight drop off, this drop off is to my right and to my left is a steep ledge we just climbed up. To add to this the wind was ridiculous, I could lean into it comfortably. Everyone kept joking about how I was just going to fly right into Canmore. You see, on my right (the drop off) was an incredible view of Canmore, it looked so tiny and you could follow highway 1 for quite a while. We stayed up there for a bit but because of the sweat you accumulate on the way up and the cold wind you pretty much freeze to death quickly. Not to mention the fact that your nose is running and with wind like that...the guys had fun talking about their flying snot. Anyways, on the way back down we stopped as soon as we hit the tree line again and everyone took off their backpacks and we all discovered that everyone had brought enough food to stay a week. Michael had 7 sandwiches and two bags of cheese buns, Jared had 3 or was it 4 bagels, 3 sandwiches, 2 apples, yogurt, etc, Azalea had a whole whack of stuff including grapes, carrots and dip and bananas and much more, JD had ramen and a stove on which to prep it, Jared's brother had this massive loaf of bread and I brought hummus, buns, an orange pepper, nutri grain bars and I can't even remember what else, oh ya, everyone teased me for this but I also had a can of beans and a ... can opener (they all thought that was so funny). So we ate and ate and slowly the packs became a little lighter but the stomachs became heavier. Either way we carried the food up and down and had much left over. We continued on down the trail and discovered quickly that going down is not as hard on the ol' lungs and heart but extremely hard on the ol' joints. By the time we made it back down to the car it was 4:30. We drove down to the Nordec center (where the cross country skiing events were held back during the olympics in Calgary), why did we go there? Well, I refused to squat over another stinky out house and so we went there so I could use the facilities and wash my hands properly. It was so nice!! Needless to say everything was amazing about the day. The leaves were all yellow (no cool colors here because there are no maples) and the sun was out and the mountains were just so amazing looking!! Thankfully we made it back safely. Thus concludes that part of my day! It was amazing and I took some awesome pics with Azalea's camera, when I steal them from her I'll post them on here for you to see.

A What...A Blog!!! Thats Right! Its a NEW BLOG

Please hold your applause *holds hand up* Oh wait, *leans over as someone whispers in ear* o.k. if anyone has any complaints about not seeing a blog in a while see me after the show. Now back to what I was saying. *A stray tomato whizzes past the speakers ear as an angry crowd member defiantly folds their arms and waits* One question seems to be on everyone's mind, what has this crazy person been up to since the 10th of September? I mean come on, what could be so terribly important that they couldn't even find a few moments of their time to write a blog? The speaker chuckles and begins telling a tale of woe, a tale of laughter, a tale of humility and a tale of tiredness...
"You see," The speaker straightens and looks into the eyes of those listening, "this person, named Charlee, has been up to a lot in the last two weeks. Two weekends ago found her sitting in a chair in her room for two days straight with a 350 page book (no not a school book but rather a book she found in the ABC or as it is now known as the Store in which Charlee should not enter). She did not get up until it was done as it was just that good. Then the mondane life of school began all over again and she started running here and there and was taken on a run through the woods with her friend, however this run turned out to be more of a walk/sometimes run as her lungs folded their arms and said "like whatever, there is no way you are like making us work like that, like come on." Needless to say Charlee kept at it as the days were nice and warm. The weekend hit though and what should have been relaxing was far from it. It was her turn to be on duty and she found herself on Thursday night, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. It was tiring and by the end of it she hated seeing the little pink sign that said "team 2 and 4 on duty." As days tend to do they continued on and before she knew it Greek was beckoning her attention but something else was now happening. Sunday was the first day of the Running Club started by her friend. They went out on Sunday and ran 3 miles. It was a normal fall day. Now begins the tale of woe as a sign was posted saying "Running Club 6 am! Tuesday morning!" How hard can it be to get up right? Sleep is bliss but then something happens, its a noise, yes a sound. Its something that interupts a sleep, oh thats right an alarm clock. She jumps from her bed and looks at the numbers staring back at her, horror filling her eyes. The clock reads 5:45am!! *Music plays loudly in the background adding to the effect as speaker holds heart* Charlee thinks about skipping but a shrill noise cuts through the darkness of the room and she finds herself running toward the sound and quickly picking up the receiver. A voice on the other end greets her ear however this voice sounds way to excited about the fact that they are going running at this absolutely ubsurd hour. She goes downstairs to the lobby and to her surprise there is a large group of people seated there waiting to go. The run turns out ok and she falls back asleep afterwards. This same process is repeated Wednesday morning and as she walks down the stairs she discovers her body yelling at her. She makes her way outside and her lungs immediately say "are you like kidding us, it is way to cold for us to like breathe this air." Her legs begin moving and her heart beats faster and her lungs quit complaining and start working. There is only three of them and the route they take goes through the woods. Her legs begin hurting, her heart is pounding, her lungs are burning from the cool air, her nostrils are wide like that of a horse in full canter, and her eyes are struggling to see the path in front of her. However one factor keeps her going...she is scared to death of the dark and the idea of stopping would mean walking through the dark woods by herself...um no. She keeps going and finds that she doesn't die but rather just, well, keeps going. They get back and she finds the lobby is really hot! However the body cools down quickly and so after having a hot shower and eating a good breakfast she makes her way to class, then another class and another and then cleans and then works some more and finally she sits writing this crazy adventure to you. *The speaker steps off the platform, the audience chears. Bed beckons as the alarm will be screaming "GET UP TO RUN" all to soon.*

Routine

I realized tonight how long it has been since I wrote last...although I must add that there are not many new blogs as of late due to the fact that school started. Oh! and guess what!?! Third year is actually harder then second or first. So, needless to say I have settled into a routine of being busy. I study Greek anywhere from 2-3 hours a day, yes a day, minus Sabbath. Its pure craziness and the amount of reading I am doing is amazingly crazy as well. I say amazingly crazy because there is a lot of reading but I enjoy reading so in the end it all works out. So, as of late what have I been up to?
If I were writing a blog every night, which I would like to get back into the habit of doing, it might put some people to sleep and if you are already working a night shift or are just suffering from lack of sleep I do not want my blog to be the reason why you fell asleep when you shouldn't have. Ok! Get this too!! In order to understand Greek grammar...you have to understand english grammar! I have managed, for the past 21 years, to get away with not knowing much grammar, enough to get by but thats it. Now I am picking apart sentences like a vulture picks apart a carcass and I'm learning all about these crazy words like...I forgot them...oh well. They are crazy words that pertain to grammar that I don't like but am learning anyways. I am also taking homiletics which is a course on how to preach a sermon effectively. On top of this class there is evangelism, which is a course I would recommend to anyone who wears the name Christian. Acts/ Luke is a study of, well, Acts and Luke, once again a very good course. Last but not least European History which I enjoy. I decided something though, if they made the textbooks just a little smaller and cooler looking, more people would read it. For example, in some of my classes, actually all but European History, they are more like books, well they are books but I mean they are small and compact and easy to carry around thus making reading them fun (I also buy drinks based on the cool bottle...thank goodness I don't drink alcohol), whereas a big, bulky textbook is like looking at a big bottle of 7Up, its just unappealing. Whereas in a cool bottle or textbook it makes the person want to read it more...thats my two sense for today. Well, other then school work, which takes up most of my time in a day, I have also been organizing worship on Monday evenings and taking care of hall worship on Tuesday evenings. Tonight I spent 4 hours in the deans office just making myself available for any poor soul who happened to forget that keys are needed to unlock the door (I too have made this mistake more then once...even in my car once, on the upper level parking of Sears in Kingston and at a movie theatre with the lights on in the truck...CAA was needed for that one and we missed the movie), but yes I act as a sort of CAA dude in the dorm or toilet paper getter when someone runs out. So, what else can I report on...I'm looking around my room right now seeing if I can become inspired but alas nothing is coming to me. It is almost midnight and I have class at 9:30 so I should head to bed and sleep until my alarm clock goes off in the morning. I just wanted to touch base and let you all know I am alive and well just super busy already! Until later

N-O-T-H-I-N-G

Nothing. Nothingness. Absence of doing anything useful. Being lazy. Accomplishing little to nothing. Accomplishing diddly squat. Waiting for school to start. These few words describe my day today. All in all, if added together my day pretty much accomplished nothing. Here's how it went...
The last two nights had found me up talking to people until 3 in the a.m. Of course the last two days (Sunday and today) also found me getting up earlier then I wanted to due to a series of fortunate events. This morning I arose bright and early, ten of the a.m. and made my way into town with eight other people, sorry, thats eight including me. We all decided to go for breakfast seeing as it was labour day and soon school would start again (Wednesday morning, tomorrow is registration). When we got back to the dorm it was around noon and I decided to kill myself by attempting to take 18 credits again. Due to the long walk over and the fresh air followed by a conversation with my mom I opted not too. Needless to say I will only be taking 15 credits and focusing on my classes and my job and in turn not killing myself. I sat in the admin building for quite a while just talking on the phone to my parents and then headed back to the dorm and sat in the lobby/fish bowl for the next four hours (3-7). Why? I have no real reason just didn't feel like going to my room and doing anything else so instead I sat and chatted with people and tried not to fall asleep. At seven of the p.m. I made my way upstairs, this time feeling as though I was a zombi and decided to lay down for a few minutes however a few minutes quickly turned into three and a half hours and before I knew it, it was 10:30, the sky was dark, the stars littering the sky and headlights marking the cars out on the road. When I had originally laid down the sun was still out hanging low in the horizon but still out. It was shining through my window warming me up but of course as nature would have it, the day ended and I was sleeping. So, I woke up at 10:30 and had a quick shower then went down the stairs and sat at the desk which is where I am still sitting. Many students are returning and as a result it is slightly crazy here tonight. If this blog seems somewhat detached or doesn't flow well I must throw in that I have been writing this since 11 and it is now 12:33... many distractions which is what I'm paid for so I don't mind. Anyways all, I am going to say good night.