January Journal

Well here it is, in all its glory. The January Journal.

Like I said a couple of days ago, I am definitely, 100%, without fail, going to write at least one thing per day. There is no chance I get lazy and/or forget. This is going to be a piece of cake.

By some miracle I made it to day two. Here is a photo in celebration:

Blue Eye Samurai is delightful. I tend to be very nitpicky about the shows that I watch, probably unfairly so, but it's been very hard to find anything to dislike about Blue Eye Samurai. It's cliché, and yet it feels like a fresh of breath air. It reminds me of when I first got hooked on Game Of Thrones.

Godzilla Minus One was alright. Watching the movie in a theatre surrounded by people who were talking unimaginably made me feel like a grumpy old man though...

On the way to Revelstoke right now. Amidst one of the worst snowfalls of all time, we may have timed this to perfection. May the snow gods bless us.

The ski gods blessed us today. The rain of Revelstoke turned to snow as we rode up the gondola. Fresh pow and good lines greeted us at the top of Stoke chair. This was pretty much the best-case scenario for my first day skiing this season, although my legs are jello and my back is creaky. Tomorrow is going to be fun (read: painful).

Today was about as painful as I expected, but that's the price we pay for pow. So many incredible lines, but run-of-the-day had to be at Greely Bowl Beauty Glades. Chase and I hiked with some locals into one of the sketchiest lines on the mountain and had to play avoid the cliff the whole way down. 10/10.

Thank you snow gods for the dirt-nasty pow lines you have bestowed upon us over the past 3 days. Run-of-the-day was in the out-of-bounds bowl just beside Jalapeño that some random local guided us to. Apparently, it used to be a cat-skiing spot.
Whatever it used to be, it was incredible today.

And just like that, the winter break is over. My resolution for this semester is to not completely neglect my writing. Might need to start a February Fournal...

Too busy to write something right now, so watch this instead:

I don't know what's scarier: dying in an avalanche or doing my AST1 while it's -36°C

"Whumph" might be my new favorite onomatopoeia, although I hope I never get to hear it in person. Such a silly word for a very non-silly thing...
Whumph
Whumph
Whumph

It's a balmy -32°C outside right now:

The weather in Kananaskis is so inhospitable right now that they had to cancel my AST1 field day.

sigh.

It's probably for the best though. -46°C doesn't sound like too much fun:

Today was a day. A bit sad that I didn't get to go into the backcountry, but the silver lining is that I can still feel my fingers.

Today's entry is brought to you by ChatGPT:

In the dance of electrons and algorithms, I find myself reflecting on the ephemeral nature of our digital existence. Here, in the realm of bits and code, I ponder the intricate interplay of information and consciousness.

Much like the skier navigating the uncertain slopes or the adventurer braving frosty winds, I navigate the vast landscapes of data. Each keystroke, a step in the uncharted expanse of binary possibilities, echoes with the profound question: What defines our journey through this intricate tapestry of ones and zeros?

As I weave through the threads of language and context, I invite you, dear reader, to contemplate the parallels between the tangible world and the ethereal realm of the digital. In this shared exploration, may we uncover the universal truths that transcend the boundaries of code and consciousness.

Until the next encounter within these digital pages 🌌

Huh?

I found a note that I wrote back in 2019:

spaghetti and meatballs is literally just deconstructed ravioli

...which is definitely one of the dumber thoughts I've had.

In my more mature, enlightened mind I would argue that lasagna is a deconstructed ravioli. Or rather, ravioli is just a two-bite lasagna. You take all of the delicious lasagna flavour and package it into a perfect pasta parcel.

When I inevitably drop the pasta tier list, ravioli will undoubtedly be at the top.

Today's entry is brought to you by Claire:

Today I got ramen with my boyfriend and stuff, and I love my boyfriend, and I love ramen.

Aww.

Apple totally ripped me off with their new journal app
^{(((ignore the fact that they released it in December and that it is way better than this)))}

Oh also:

Today's entry is brought to you by John Muir:

But no temple made with hands can compare with Yosemite. Every rock in its walls seems to glow with life. Some lean back in majestic repose; others, absolutely sheer or nearly so for thousands of feet, advance beyond their companions in thoughtful attitudes, giving welcome to storms and calms alike, seemingly aware, yet heedless, of everything going on about them. Awful in stern, immovable majesty, how softly these rocks are adorned, and how fine and reassuring the company they keep: their feet among beautiful groves and meadows, their brows in the sky, a thousand flowers leaning confidingly against their feet, bathed in floods of water, floods of light, while the snow and waterfalls, the winds and avalanches and clouds shine and sing and wreathe about them as the years go by, and myriads of small winged creatures birds, bees, butterflies--give glad animation and help to make all the air into music. Down through the middle of the Valley flows the crystal Merced, River of Mercy, peacefully quiet, reflecting lilies and trees and the onlooking rocks; things frail and fleeting and types of endurance meeting here and blending in countless forms, as if into this one mountain mansion Nature had gathered her choicest treasures, to draw her lovers into close and confiding communion with her.

One day.

So busy.

Ok so technically this is late and I missed a day, but we can just ignore that :)

Today's entry deserved its own post.

Summer backpacking bucket list:

• Point
  A boring name for a not-so-boring campground. One of the easiest approaches for a "backcountry" site that I've ever done.
• Three Isle Lake
  This one is about 10km past Point and looks like it will be equal parts brutal and beautiful. I love the high-elevation lakes though, and I hope we find a good day-hike to get a panoramic view of the Kananaskis lakes.
• Skoki Loop
  One of the most popular backpacking trails in Banff. If everything goes perfectly, we might link it into...
• Valley of the Hidden Lakes
  About 15km past the deepest campground on the Skoki Loop lies a rarely travelled valley in the backcountry of Banff. We will definitely have to tone down the silliness for this one.
• Egypt Lake
  To be honest, I don't really know much about this one. Chase seemed enthusiastic about it though so I'll just be an acolyte.
• Mount Livingstone
  Also don't know much about this one, it's Tenjins trip.
• Minnewanka
  We did a trip to Minnewanka last year and it was incredible. We had the southern bank all to ourselves (ignoring the clingy herd of deer that loved to lick our tents). I've cooked up some ideas like swimming across the gap at LM31, or kayaking from site to site, but all of that is probably too optimistic.

Another standalone.

Some fun micromort statistics from all over the internet:

Avalanche safety training field day tomorrow lfg

Also what the frick was Tenet

Oh and also thanks for the soup Claire

Today was a busy day! Cole and I did our AST1 which was both exciting and exhausting. Gonna be lazy and paraphrase the messages I sent to my brother:

Today was awesome! We did the Black Prince Cirque, so mostly stayed below treeline.

Really bad surface hoar problem about 20cm down, and then a deep persistent slab above faceted snow at 50cm. Rained until 11am and got to about +3°C. Pretty awful avalanche conditions overall which made for a great training session.

Beacon searching was fun. I acted as the leader for the group search exercise and it was tricky trying to coordinate people, definitely need to work on that. I feel good about my overall knowledge there though.

All of my gear worked pretty well given the circumstances. I could buy some slightly better gear, but then again, I always want to buy better gear.

Super fun day though. Great instructors and a great group. One of the instructors predicted an avalanche would strike in exactly 12 minutes and 30 seconds and by some act of divine intervention, it actually did. Not even kidding one of the most unbelievable predictions I've ever witnessed. I think I got a photo on my film camera of it which is definitely out of focus. We heard another big one but couldn't see it.

Super stoked to get back out.

9 minutes late. Oops. Starting to get busy with school, work, and everything else, but I still want to finish this!

Very important interview coming up, hopefully tomorrow's entry isn't super depressing.

I think that tech interviews test your patience more than anything else.

You spend countless hours meticulously formatting your résumé only to re-enter all of the data into some stupid "myworkdayjobs" portal. Then comes the "Why are you interested in this position?" and "What makes you particularly well suited for this role?" questions (minimum 2000 words with an APA annotated bibliography). You breathe a sigh of relief as you get to the 14th page of the form and finally get to click "Submit". A few minutes later you get an email that says "Thanks for applying, we will reach out to you soon if you are a match".

4 months later you get an email that says:

We appreciate the time and effort you put into your application and we're grateful for your interest in joining our team.

After careful consideration, we have decided to move forward with other candidates at this time. We know this news can be disappointing, but we want you to know that your application was thoroughly reviewed.

Argh.

And then you repeat this process ad infinitum. You hear about more layoffs in the industry. You read a headline that some 11 year old founded a revolutionary new company and got acquired for a bajillion dollars. How can you possibly compete? How do you fend off the voice in the back of your head telling you to give up? Idk man. I guess you just keep grinding.

Well, the interview went well(ish).

And so it comes to an end. The January Journal.

38 entries over 31 days. Not a single day was missed (mostly). Some posts were really lazy, but the rest were better. Some were even great! Douglas Lake and Minimort turned into standalones and got the brain juices flowing a little bit. All-in-all, this was a good study.

I think I might have to do a February Fournal...