nimrodiel

I started 2025 toasting the new year on a ship in Antarctica with my sister, capping off my final continent left to visit. I ended it last night toasting good riddance to 2025 at my favourite club in Calgary with new and newer friends. It's been a wild ride:

January: spent the first ten days of the year on the Ortelius sailing along the Antarctic Peninsula, kayaking, camping and snowshoeing. We stopped at Deception Island and then had another relatively calm crossing of the Drake Passage. I picked up the shipboard crud and spent the first few days of our stay in Ushuaia so sick my sister asked if I needed to go to the hospital, that wasn't fun. I was able to do a train ride and an easy hike (though I somehow lost one of my hiking poles picking up the rental car). Back to Buenos Aires for one night and then the long trip north to get back to Boston.
Where I had a mad scramble to finish donating and culling my stuff for my move to Calgary, as well as fitting in a few last medical things while still on US healthcare and employed. My employer was dragging their feet about a transfer but I knew I was going. I made the decision to pay the movers to pack me up so that I could focus on spending time with friends and enjoying my last few weeks in Boston. The real estate agents repeatedly dropped the ball on the sale of my condo, they'd promised offers in hand by the end of January, noope.

February: finally had purchase offers in hand, and met the couple by mistake when we overlapped in my yard. I liked them and breathed a sigh of relief as I'd had a bad feeling about one of the other offers. I had a very snowy going away gathering (lots of people stayed safely home) on the 15th, the packers arrived on the 17th, my stuff was on the truck on the 18th, and I was on a plane on the 20th after days of frantic cleaning and throwing away / recycling the last of the ephemera that was left in my condo. The sale still wasn't final, on the closing date of Feb 28 the real estate agent forgot that I wasn't in town, the buyers got caught up in a wire fraud scam and the closing was delayed until the bank resolved it and released the money. I spent the time off work (because I had to leave Boston not knowing if I'd be still working for the company or not, that made for some awkward goodbyes with my coworkers) exploring Calgary neighbourhoods and deciding where I wanted to live.

March: I'd agreed to do a sprint triathlon with my sister and first order was to buy a new bike and get it fitted. Then get an exercise friendly swimsuit and take lessons. Then join run club. I was starting almost from scratch, but it kept me busy for the first three months in Calgary. Acclimatising to the altitude was a long long struggle. I finally got the go ahead to start work again, transfered to the Canadian arm of my new company, fully remote. My condo sold for real on the 10th and the moving truck arrived on the 12th and we were able to fit my stuff into the basement at my sister's place. On the 20th I started shopping for a condo in Calgary and getting money in place to buy once I found a place. We went out twice with the realtor and within a week I'd found a place and put down a deposit. Then got a bit stressed out because it was in an older building and when exactly were they going to replace the windows and doors? Decided to counter offer and put money aside that should cover the assessment, still happy with location and size for the price.

April: Closed on my Calgary condo, buying was a breeze vs selling in Boston. I took possession on the 16th. Swimming lessons, runs and bike rides got jammed in wherever I could fit them. Unpacking and finding someone to donate packing material to took up most of the back half of the month. I thought I'd culled a lot more than I had, but I had to at least order a mattress right away. I really lucked out and found a new family doctor a few blocks away, he'd just joined the practice and needed new patients. Oh and work imploded when they cancelled the product that they'd bought our team for. Most of us were left high and dry with no direction either. Cue a stressful period of almost 4 months as we tried to figure out wtf was going on and if we'd last until our stock grants vested.

May: I got a kick ass bike fitting with a physical therapist / bike wizard and was able to figure out why my foot kept falling asleep. Turns out it was too tight shoes, not any of the four bikes I'd owned since it started. More city exploring and attending concerts. Last training push before the triathalon on Jun 1, I was feeling ready for the swim finally after pushing myself in a timed practice swim (that segment had the only cut off time).

June: We stayed overnight in Drumheller for the triathlon and despite a bit of wind on one half of the bike ride, the weather was great (heat wave broke). I started getting treated for dry eye after struggling even more with it in the low humidity of Alberta. No insurance coverage, paid for that out of left over condo sale money. I brought a book to the park around the library and participated in a reading in the wild event that was wholesome and lovely. Then the biggest social win for me came when I attended Queer Prom: Gothic Glam and sat down next to a lovely woman who was also flying solo. We hit it off almost immediately and spent the whole night chatting and dancing and became insta-friends. Still going strong, we went to Dickens together last night to see out the year together. I also did some work related networking as I realised I needed to get serious about finding a new job. I finally bought and painstakingly assembled a new bed frame from Ikea, still happy with that purchase - I got one with lots of storage built in since my new place has fewer built ins than my last. I went to Vulcan, AB for a teeny tiny porchfest.

July: The Stampede started off the month with cowboy cosplay and non stop music and drinking around the city (not me). I went to the grandstand show one night to see what it was all about (the races were fun) and did one pancake breakfast at the contemporary art gallery near me. I attended the very fun Brokeback Saloon drag show, and I went to see the non CS associated Post Modern Jukebox concert. My next social milestone was attending a workshop on disc brakes for bikes at Two Wheel View on the 16th where a couple and I hit it off and became good friends. We were all supposed to meet up last night but one of them wasn't feeling well so had to bail. I took myself to Edmonton for the weekend to see if it was worth stopping with my disdain of a whole city. I went for a comedy festival and really enjoyed day 1 as well as exploring the city in the rain. I came home still happy that I'd picked Calgary though. :-) Then it was time for friends to visit for the Terminus industrial music festival. I got to do a via ferrata for the first time and unfortunately also tested positive for COVID for the first time.

August: I had to cancel a lot of stuff due to being ill the first part of August, though I didn't feel nearly as bad as I had when I got a respiratory infection after Tough Mudder last year, or in Ushuaia. Then mid month I got laid off (finally!) right after my stock grants had vested at the year cliff. It was honestly a relief, but then a big stress as I realised I was being shorted on my severance pay. I'd also been frustrated with them about not allowing me to take earned vacation hours until the end of the year in which they were earned. Glad I took my remaining hours to enjoy Terminus. I got lots of advice but decided that after reviewing the way our company was bought, and me signing a new contract, they'd hosed us out of continuous employment so only gave us a year's worth of severance instead of the 7 I'd have expected. Letting go of the stress of fighting with them (except about the laptop returns) was worth just signing the offer. I pretty much immediately decided to cash out my stock grant, with no faith left in the leadership of the company, and book a sailing trip to Greenland, 5 weeks out. That was a bit of a scramble as I had to pay in full as it was past the deadline, though I got a hefty discount due to the last minute nature of it. I was worried about sharing a triple cabin but that worked out great (just got happy new year wishes from one of my roommates). Did lots of biking and walking and looking into free entertainment around the city. Calgary pride weekend was a lot of fun and the parade was bigger than I expected - it took 2 hours to pass us.

September: Highway 1A was closed to cars up to Johnston Canyon and I finally got to do the ride. It was utterly gorgeous, with some challenging climbs and super fun downhills. And then we got to turn around and ride back to the car.:-) Did more free and low cost activities, learning more about the history of my new city. Continued my appreciation of local cocktail bars. I started volunteering at Two Wheel View to help with donated bikes. I went to visit my parents in Comox for a good chunk of time and got to see some new parts of the area I lived in when I was 5. I hit up the Calgary International Film festival for three movies, including one where Kid Koala introduced it for us and told us about his inspiration for the project. And then at the end of the month I was off to Iceland to wait for my departure to Greenland! Holy cow, sticker shock hit hard and fast. I was staying in a hostel (and sleeping poorly), eating two meals a day from the Bonus grocery store and paying $30-$40CDN for a bowl of soup or ramen for lunch. I did a free city walking tour to reset time zones on my arrival day, then did a big bus tour of the Snaefell Peninsula (utterly gorgeous and breathtaking and I hit it off with my seatmate - his first time out of the states and the woman sitting in front of us - though was annoyed with the inconsiderate people who made us leave late from every one of the many stops. I went to one of the public pools/spas downtown and spent two hours going between pools of different temperatures, it was bliss. I also ran into the woman who'd designed the Oceanwide Expeditions Greenland itinerary that I was about to do and she reassured me it would be great. :-)

October: On the first it was time to go back to KEF and catch the charter flight to Greenland where we'd meet the sailing ship. I connected with one of my triple cabin roommates at the airport check in desk, and we hung out while waiting for departure. It was just our ship's charter on the plane so we all were checking each other out as people we'd be stuffed in a boat with for 12 days. Unfortunately as soon as we landed in a snowstorm, one of the passengers fell on the ice as he moved between the plane and the tiny terminal and broke his hip. Confusion reigned as he had to be evacuated back to Iceland on the plane taking the off-boarding charter guests back. We had to change into our waterproof boots (so very glad I splurged plus was gifted the same arctic muck boots we'd borrowed in Antarctica) and snow gear for the 20-30 minute walk to where we'd get shuttled to the Rembrandt, anchored away from the airport. The expedition guides were armed with rifles and kept us all close together. We got a lightning fast lecture on life jackets and zodiac safety and then we were climbing onboard the sailing ship! It felt like a hard core introduction to have to hike in the blowing snow with possible polar bears around us and transfer via zodiac immediately. Thankfully the weather settled down and my leftover seasickness medication from Antarctica still worked. I did mess up and took it a bit too late for the crossing back to Iceland, but only had one evening where I threw up, missed dinner, and hid in my bunk. I have to do a real write up of this trip, but overall: fewer animals than I expected to see, more dramatic landscapes, minor interpersonal drama (not in my cabin), freezing cold hours on deck, four nights in a row of auroras, a huge iceberg breaking apart way too close to us, touching narwhal bones and bubbling hot springs, long hikes over the tundra and just a magical experience being under sail in the arctic. We saw so many whales as we approached Iceland, but I was starting to get sick from the boat crud, again. I managed to hold if off for an evening in Reykjavik and the flight home, but then felt like I was down for the count for almost a month with that and something I picked up on another trip. I did get my flu shot in the pause between sickness, but didn't feel up to doing anything for Halloween. I went to thee tattoo convention with my friend who was planning a tattoo and saw so much cool art, and a stress inducing fire performance (didn't see any safety precautions, did see lots of non natural fibres). As part of my severance package I got three months of career coaching, started that at the end of October and finally figured out how I needed to update my resume.

November: I started connecting with the Queer Calgary community, going to a coffee/tea gather and then rock climbing the next day. I've done those events again and made friends with the two women I did my belay test with, meeting up to climb, see movies, visit a market, play board games. I went to Penticton for my nephew's birthday (super cheap personal item only direct flight). I went to an in person Remembrance Day ceremony by the Calgary Highlanders regiment, it soothed me to be back in a country where Nov 11 means something a bit different. I bought a virtual film pass for the Banff Mountain Film Festival since actually getting to Banff and seeing films there was out of reach this year, and disappeared into watching as many films as possible, on my phone because the DRM didn't work with my computer. I attended a rally about trying to build community and support around trans rights - the gov't already voted but this gave some hope about push back. I'd also signed a petition to keep Alberta in Canada and voted every time I could. Alberta really is the Texas of Canada, but I'm living in the Austin equivalent at least.

December: More cocktails, more markets, more climbing. Went to a 40th birthday part in a swanky building event room, with just the right number of people and I was happily drafted to mix cocktails. I took a workshop on how to make bath bombs, a challenge in the dry cold air. We had a few really really really cold days, and I'm very glad I found a thrift store with a cheap Columbia down parka. It's been perfect for the sub -20c days, I was able to wear a short sleeve shirt under it and be fine for a 15 minute walk. I signed up for the 12 Miles of Christmas challenge and was excited to finally be doing it along with other suffering Calgarians - I also picked up a new fleece buff and yaxtrax, as well as getting studded tires for my bike. Ready for winter! I went to my sister's for xmas dinner, making cranberry sauce to share and got a surprise stocking stuffed with awesome stuff. <3 And was asked to visit my parents again to help them out while my dad dealt with a medical issue, so I'm heading back to Comox in January. I attended my first lacrosse game and was super excited by the corgi racing at half time. :-) Then last night was the 80's vs 90's theme party at Dickens - I dug out my boots and a bracelet and a top that I still had from the 90's and dressed like I did when I went clubbing in Toronto. :-) We arrived early to grab a table and waited in line long enough to befriend the group in front of us (shots were had later in the evening, and I found out I shared a name with one of them). I'd spent the bulk of the day doing a thorough decluttering and cleaning of my condo and it felt good to have the place spotless for the new year.


In summary:
I managed to cross both the Antarctic and Arctic circles by sea in the same calendar year, moved countries, sold and bought condos, transferred and was laid off at work, got depressed and was stressed for periods, did my first triathalon and made some great new friends in Calgary. I'm happy I made the move and am getting excited as to what's coming in 2026. I'm using the last of my stock grant to go horse trekking in Mongolia in June! I'm being intentional about my job search, looking for a company that's going to be a good fit after being tugged around when my last intentional job disappeared on me.