Wapta Ice Field

I went on a trip. That was amazing. Last year my friend and I took a countaineering course to learn how to travel on glaciers. OVer reading week last weekend we went to the Wapta Ice Field between Banff and Jasper to ski on glaciers. I have had trouble downloading the pictures from the trip but I will add them when I can and discuss the thrill of glacial travel very soon like within days.

GOLD BABY!!!!!!

OK I need to add to the discussion of how sweet it is to win the gold. This is the moment I have been waiting for since the Oilers lost the Stanley Cup Finals in 06. The intensity and the nerve wrecking that comes from watching hockey in the Olympics or the playoffs when the Oilers are good just does not compare. I like to think that I have done high adrenalin, nerve wrecking activities but I honestly don't know if anything compares to the last few minutes of regulation that occurred during the game. If anything does compare I would love to know what it is the heart palpitations, the blood surging through your veins, the stress the anxiety, the feeling of going through an emotional roller coaster. It is just awesome March Madness, NBA, baseball, not even football compares. I am proud to be Canadian

Golden Goal Redemption

Well I won't need an elixir for the pain because canada won the gold! The only scenario Canada wanted. In fact I think Ill need something to stop the excitement. I was only able to see overtime because of church and having to stay afterward. I had been checking the score constantly on my phone and was not too surprised to see the score was tied after 3 periods, because I think Canada dodged a bullet in a similar situation against Slovakia. I thought they will just need overtime. I ran back to my apartment to see no one else was home! All my roommates were at a "break the fast" our ward was having at another apartment. I knew right then since no one else is watching this game with me, it is destiny that Canada wins. Canada had some good chances, the US were just taking some pot shots. Canada is getting the pressure. Then Crosby skates in, Miller steers it into the corner, give and go Iginla to Crosby, quick shot, GOAL and GOLD. I was jumping up and down, I then went over to the apartment where they were having break the fast. I was surprised people knew that Canada had won when I got there. I was surprised quite a few had watched some of the game. Canada played big brother to the Americans. Some sports analysts were saying that it was a close game and it looked like the US were going to win it, they just don't know how to lose I guess. All they have to do is just look at the dejected faces of the American players after the game and Miller being on the verge of breaking down during his post game interview to realize that starting tomorrow all that the world will remember is that Canada won the gold in the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics! Fewer people will remember the US won silver and even fewer will remember that it was a close game. Canada stuck it to the Americans. Way to go Canada! And keep putting together great hockey teams.

A game to remember

Congratulations to Canada from coming back from a 5-3 tragedy last week to a GOLD MEDAL 3-2 overtime victory!!!
It was an exciting game and we were all glued to the screen at the Majerans for the 3rd period.
Interesting to see how quickly the feeling of bitterness we all were experiencing quickly becomes a feeling of sweetness - the bitter being when the Americans tied it up with only 24 seconds remaining only to turn to sweetness when none other than Crosby put it through the wickets for a sudden death goal.
The commentators here were saying that much like Paul Henderson's unforgettable sudden death goal in the '72 series against the USSR I think Crosby's will be a goal shown over and over again and one that will live eternally with Canadian hockey fans.

The Yule Ball

Last night there was a preference dance here- Harry Potter themed! Harry Potter is still one of my favorite series ever so I was excited to hear about it. Sydney and I decided to go kind of last minute, but luckily we still managed to get ourselves some dates. We asked them by writing Hogwarts-style letters, complete with green ink, and we got our response the next night via owl post. Our only problem then was coming up with costumes, but I think we managed to do rather well for ourselves. I hope you can guess who we are! The dance itself was a lot of fun too. We definitely dressed up a lot more than our dates, but we didn't mind! It was fun to get to know my date Alex, who is one of my friend Spencer's roommates. I discovered that we actually have quite a bit in common. Sydney asked Chris, another one of Spencer's roommates, so that we could go on a double date. I'll keep in mind for next time that preference dances here can actually be quite fun!

HOCKEY NIGHT!!

Speaking of Hockey - We all know that Canada ruled the ice today with a score of 7 to 3 against Russia. But OJ and I got to see another hockey game tonight - face off at 9:45 PM - that was even more amazing than the one in Vancouver.

It was played at the U of A arena with two talented players. I've been a fan of theirs for years. It was Snej and Beej playing for the LDSSA.

Those two did some ruling of their own. Jordan scored the first goal for their team in the second period, tying the game. From there he got two more pucks in the net - Hat Trick! John wasn't too far behind with a goal of his own. All those years of street hockey really paid off :)

The final score - same as the one played on the Olympic arena - 7 to 3!

Good thing the Schneider boys showed up.

Ozymandias

Today, I was chatting with some ladies from my aquacise class and one of the women mentioned that years ago she was in a pawn shop in Vegas and saw an Olympic medal for sale. She said that it really bothered her to see it and that she often thinks of it.

Glory fades.

Ozymandias

I met a traveller from an antique land

Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert.

Near them on the sand,Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown

And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,

The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.

And on the pedestal these words appear:

`My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:

Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!'

Nothing beside remains.

Round the decay

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,

The lone and level sands stretch far away".

-Percy Bysshe Shelley