Writing this entry in the car as we begin the drive back to Toronto. Hard to believe it's New Year's Eve day already.

The skiing yesterday was fantastic. We got out there early enough that the lifts weren't even going yet, so we were one of the first groups up the hill, and we got first tracks down Tranquility. The first couple of runs were just amazing, with the snow freshly groomed (say it with me, guys: CARVING, UNF UNF UNF) and the sun out. Hell, even Mogul Alley was approaching skiable, which happens exactly never. Whoo, and bombing down that last steep pitch on L-Hill, not even turning the whole way down, feeling that floating feeling in your stomach as you hit the last ridge that makes your skis literally leave the ground and all you can do is pray you'll make it as you go into a tuck and swing around the turn in the trail... yeah, that's what I love.

Later on, the light got a bit flat and the snow started to pile up as it got warmer out. Not my favourite conditions, but I'd rather ski in piled-up snow than on ice, cause ice + Sarah trying to turn = fail so hard. David, Dad and Grandpa went in. Mom and I skied a few more runs and then joined them.

After lunch, I pretended to work on my exchange application (read: wrote maybe three words, %UH), and then Mom, Dad and I went to - wait for it - the gym. Again. We lead such predictable lives in my family, IDEGI. The studio was open! So I just stayed there for two and a half hours, it was amazing.

Dinner was at a place called The Pottery. We've been there once before, I think, when I was really young. It was nice: the food was good (but OMFG there was so much!), and everyone had a good time. Alas, there were no more tales of tree-stealing, but there was Grate Hilaritye when Grandma called Mom a cow... or something.

Full to bursting, we went back to the lodge and instead of doing anything productive, I went and watched some awesomely trashy tv. (Trashy tv is also a staple of Collingwood for me, because we don't have tv at home, so this is the time I get to experience "pop culture".) After being scarred for a good while by Jersey Shore (does Evan get his inspiration from that show? They are all orange!), I settled on watching a Mythbusters marathon with David. OMG the hilarity! I love that show. Great lulz were had by all.

This morning, we packed and checked out. I HAZ A SAD because I cannot find my tam anywhere. D; But hopefully it's just been misplaced somewhere else in our luggage. Grandpa also demonstrated his astounding ability to lose his credit card inside his coat wtf. We are a talented family, I say!

So that was Collingwood for another year. Grandma and Grandpa have apparently ben going there since 1980. I was like o.0 when I heard that. Wow.

Going back to Toronto is my least favourite part of this. It's my first New Year's Eve as a legal adult, and I have no plans so far. I'd really like to go out with people, but I don't think we're all organized enough to do something. Failing that, BFQOTY 2010 is out (I think), and part of me desperately wants to watch that with Michelle... but I don't know if I'm allowed to do that anymore. I might say something inappropriate. Or she might not want to. Or she might have plans. Or any of a thousand other things that all result in it being a bad idea. I guess we'll see.

Anyway. I am terribly excited to get home and clean out my inbox, and post the rest of these entries. Hello, LJ, let's hang out, k? (This is me trying to be optimistic about the fact that returning to Toronto is inevitable. Is it working yet?)

TL;DR: Collingwood (well, most of it) has been wonderful, and I'm so, so happy we got to go this year, because I love spending time with my family up there.

12/31/10 11:24am
In all the excitement of today, I almost forgot to post. (Well, for a very loose definition of "excitement"). People were feeling better today, so we all - Dad, David, Mom, Grandpa and I - went out skiing this morning. It was one of those days where the light is flat, so you can't see what the snow's like till you ski over it. And by then, if it's ice or moguls, it's usually too late. I solved this problem by tailing Grandpa down all the runs, because I think his eyesight may actually be better than mine (and what is that even?).

Then we came in for lunch and I worked on my exchange application for a bit. In terms of word count, I'm almost halfway there, and in terms of content, I'm about one-third through. I'm planning to work more on it tomorrow, and hopefully to have it finished by the time we get back to Toronto.

In the afternoon, Mom, Dad and I went to the gym again. Alas, two guys had commandeered the entire studio to practice some form of martial arts - it looked really cool, but I was a bit upset at having no space to dance. Oh well. If we go tomorrow, hopefully it will not be taken.

We had dinner at Brunello's, an Italian restaurant, as a belated birthday celebration for Mom. The food was amazing, and now I am so stuffed I don't even want to move. On the way back to the lodge, Grandma and Grandpa regaled us with stories of their forays into not-so-juvenile delinquency: One year, they were up in Collingwood with a couple of friends and decided they wanted a Christmas tree. Ok, fine. But instead of going into, say, one of the many convenient forested areas here, or picking one up at a store, what do they do? "Well, we didn't want to go into the forest for a tree," says Grandma. "So we climbed the fence around the hydro plant and cut one down." Because what else do you do when you need a Christmas tree? But, oh horror of horrors, the tree was too big. The obvious solution: "We only cut half of it," says Grandpa. "We chopped off the top half and left the bottom part still standing." Apparently, the short tree is still visible to this day. Maybe this is one of those you-had-to-be-there moments, but I was killing myself laughing when I heard the story.

TL;DR: You guys, my grandparents broke into a hydro plant to steal half a Christmas tree. BRB LOLING FOREVER.

Oh, and something that didn't make it into the previous entry: HARRY POTTER POWER! We were getting off the Southern Comfort ski lift at the top of the mountain and making our way over to the start of the run (O-Hill) when a group of young kids whizzed past us, each shouting about how s/he had super speed power! Or super strength! . Not to be outdone, one of the boys near the end of the group mounted one of his ski poles like a broomstick and zoomed by us yelling "HARRY POTTER POWER!" at the top of his lungs. He is my new hero, and I think that is my new catchphrase. :D
A new day has come and with it, rumours of "the Norwalk virus did it!". Well, that's the hot theory right now as to why my mom, dad and brother all spent last night being ill and are still recovering today. It's mom's birthday today, by the way, how shitty is that?

But despite this, Dad, Grandpa and I still hit the slopes this morning. Skiing is always awesome, but perfection - whether weather-wise or in regards to conditions - is rare. But today - no words I have, no pictures, not even video could fully capture how amazing it is to ski under clear blue skies, with the sun gilding the bare trees in burnished copper and gold and the moon still hanging half full above the mountains. We were just in time to get some runs in when the corduroy was still fresh and ran like crushed velvet under our skis.

We went in early, and then Grandpa and I went on an epic quest for groceries/bras/internet/drugs/screwdrivers, all of which we were successful in finding. Did not go to the gym today (sadface, I miss the studio already), but hopefully tomorrow (Dad does not like me absconding with the car, and I do not like me parking by myself). Slash, I'm already all kinds of sore from yesterday, so silver linings, etc.

Right now, we're all gathered in Grandma and Grandpa's room watching - brace yourselves - the Weather Network. One more Collingwood tradition, my ridiculous craving for trashy tv, and Grandpa's near-addiction to the 7-day forecast. I should probably start working on my exchange application, but, aha, pull the other one, it's got bells on. I will probably just end up drinking more tea and reading one of Grandma's murder mystery novels.
It's three. Rusty's is quiet. Mom has stopped throwing up, thank God. Waking up in four hours. Brb, cutting bitches FOREVER.
It's two in the fucking morning on December 28th. I'm typing this with the last dregs of battery power on my laptop, sitting on the couch. I'm glad the first post was a happy one, because this one sure ain't. Thank God for Chloe. "When it rains..." indeed.

Right, so. Status update: it's two in the morning of what is technically mom's birthday. None of us can sleep because of the club music blaring from Rusty's across the way (seriously, Taio Cruz, you're dynamite, I FUCKING GET IT ALREADY JFC STFU AAAHHHHHH). David is sick, Mom has just finished being violently ill in the bathroom... WHAT IS IT WITH MY FAMILY, I DO NOT UNDERSTAND. Especially Mom, like, holy shit. Cancer, then a broken wrist, then David's idiocy, now either food poisoning or the flu/some other intestinal malfunction... on her birthday, no less. GDI life, get it together already.

I asked, and there's nothing I can do right now (hence this post). Dad has apparently slept through all of this (like, the only one of us sleeping at all atm). I have decided I will cope with this situation by just not sleeping at all. Hell, I'm supposed to be getting up in five hours anyway. :/

(Also, I am absolutely no good with sick people. I really, really don't like them. Yes, this from the girl who thinks she may want to write the MCATS. But it's like... "ew, you're contagious, GO AWAY." MY OBSESSION WITH CLEANLINESS, LET ME SHOW YOU IT.) I wish there was internet here so I could post this and feel like someone's listening, but the closest Starbucks has been conscripted by IntraWest and therefore wants customers to pay $8.95 for internet, the bastards.

The one upshot to this post: the gym has a studio. It's fucking awesome, though I can't get the sound system to work. But. Studio. Yes.

...Oh, gotta go. That sounds like someone else having intimate relations with the toilet bowl. BRB.

K, back. Cursing the fact I have no anti-nausea meds with me. An ambulance just pulled up to cart someone away from Rusty's. MAYBE THEY WILL SHUT UP NOW. Oh, wait, that would be convenient. NEVER MIND.

I'm not getting up for four and a half more hours. Suspect this will end up being a really, really long post. #OH WELL. (Somewhere, at least half of this is David's fault. Call me judgmental, but it fucking is.) The club has decided to turn their music up. The couch is vibrating. If I ever become a homicidal psychopath, this night is why.

Hmm, I think we're on to dry heaves now. This is fun. NOT. Arrgh I hate a) the sound of people puking b) the fact that there are no 24-hr drug stores in the vicinity. Fuuuuuuuuuuck. A lack of stairs is not worth this.
Bam! Day 01 of Collingwood, here we come.

Today was a day of firsts: The first run of the season (!!) was down Tranquility*, which is - ahem - right outside our front door (well, the front door of the Weider Lodge, which is where we're staying this year. I love and wholeheartedly miss Cranberry Surf, but Grandma and stairs are taking a break from each other right now). It was fantastic! I was a bit worried about just jumping right into it after not having skiied for a year, but once you get started, really, there's nothing like it. God, everything about the first run was amazing; from the snap! of boots into bindings (my favourite sound in the world), to the heady rush of wind and the feeling like flying as I carved through the snow. We were early enough to get first tracks, which, just, fuck yeah!

(Every year, I try to encapsulate Collingwood and skiing and all that that means to me in a post. I still can't find the words, but I hope someday they come, because I want to be able to translate this awesome feeling and share it wih everyone.)

Today also marked the first wipe out of the season - mine, natch. How typical that only after David and I get to the bottom of Calamity Lane, a double-black wih special warning signs that say "CAUTION: Expert Skiers Only!" - only after skiing down that do I wipe out careening over unseen moguls on a blue hill. Oy. I was coming off of Calamity, so I was going pretty fast across the hill, and I was thinking to myself "GDI why is this ground so bumpy?!". And then I hit a mogul, and BAM! Apparently it looked pretty spectacular, like I was "doing a front flip" to quote David. IDK all I remember is faceplanting into the snow, skidding for a good couple of meters and losing one ski. It was pretty sweet. ;p

The first lunch of the season (seriously, I love Collingwood, we eat so well here) was a turkey sandwich with mustard, OM NOM NOM NOM. I love Christmas leftovers. Now my breath smells like cheese (TMI! you say). But it was good cheese!

Now I can hear Spongebob (LOL I almost wrote "Spongeboob". #OH DEER, I find that funny OTL) from where David is watching tv in the other room. We will probably hit up the Village today, seeing as we're staying in the middle of it. That will be exciting. There might also be exercise time in the near future, depending on when Dad wakes up from his nap. And maybe I can sneak away to a Starbucks to post this, because no way in hell am I paying for internet.

Other interesting moments of the day so far include trying to conjugate German verbs while hurtling downhill, and realizing I'm probably one of the only people who still refer to the twin hills of Sunrise and Cruiser as O-Hill because that's what they used to be called, damn it!

*Especially surprising because I can't remember the last time we skied this run. We usually skip it because it's always so damn busy. But not today!

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March 2017

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