Who knows what day it is

We survived the end of the Mayan calendar!

A few locals told us the real meaning of the end of this calendar. It actually means the end of an era. This previous era was filled with darkness but this new one starting today, is meant to be filled with greatness, and fruitfulness....whatever that means.

It's interesting think though. There has been some pretty dark and nasty things happening around the world these days. Although the world is a dark and scary place, it would be nice to see a spot of happy in the news these days.

Today the swell was about 8 feet and for sea sick Aj, it wasn't all that fun. I managed to keep all my stomach contents inside somehow which was nice. 

The coral here is much different than in Bonare. It isn't as large or colourful here, it does have quite large fish though.

You'll see what I mean when Mom posts some photos and when I finish my little project. 

I went for a run yesterday down to the local playground in the town square and no one was around so I decided to jump onto a bar and do some pull ups. 

I wasn't trying to get any attention of course but some kids came over to try some.

I told the smaller one to jump on my back. That was a mistake.

Next thing I knew I had about 6 or 7 kids lined up waiting for their turn to jump on.

After about 5 kids I was pretty worn out.

Remembering that I was hear to rest I quickly grabbed the last kid, threw her on my back, jammed out a couple pull ups, and ran away. They followed me for a little while but eventually shouted bye and returned to the playground.

It was pretty fun but my lats paid for it today. 

Anyway, I hope no one back home froze too much ;)

A

Diving

There it is.

The tank, BCD, octopus, regulators, weights, mask, and fins.

As I set the SCUBA system up, I am trying to recall what the proper steps are. Luckily, our dive master Ched is patient, and hilarious.

We load into the boat and drive for about 20 minutes out to open water. The swell was big.
I can feel my stomach in my throat, struggling to tell if I'm nervous or just stupidly excited.
As the captain ties to the buoy, I slip my fins on and put my mask around my neck. I approach my SCUBA system, pick it up, and instantly feel the rush that I love so much.
I throw it on my back and suddenly muscle memory kicks in.
I check my pressure gauge and regulator one last time before slipping my mask up over my eyes.
I gently push the air inject button on my BCD and slip the reg into my mouth. I hold the gauge in my left hand. I palm the reg, and with my index and middle finger, I push the mask gently against my face.

I lean back, and suddenly, everything goes in slow motion. I hit the water and watch it rush over my mask and all I see is bubbles.
I pop back to the surface and tap my head to Ched to give him the okay.

It's history from there.

After a couple of hours all the dives I've ever done mend into one.

It seems odd but it it's the same with paddling, snowboarding, or cross country skiing. You love it so much in the moment but afterwards, it doesn't matter if you remember the dive. What you remember is you have a passion for something that a small group of people share with you, and that's special.


Anyway I hope everyone is enjoying themselves, and hugging their loved ones as much as they can.

A

Holidays

We made it.

Here we are in San Pedro Belize.

We have a beautiful villa, which overlooks the beach and ocean and is a hop skip and a jump to the local town square where festivities seem to take place almost every night.

It’s crazy to be on a vacation. It has felt like it’s been so long since the last one but nonetheless, it is great to be gone.

I took off my watch, turned off my cell phone, and don’t carry my wallet. My worries are few, and the food is good.

We start diving tomorrow. It will most likely involve a bit of a refresher dive to take things slow since it’s been almost two years since the last time I dove. It will still be a great day. Nana and Papa seem to be holdin’ up just fine. I was a little worried with all the travel stress, but they are troopers those two!

Anyway, I’ll do my best at keeping day-to-day updates on the trip.

I also will have something cooked up to post when we get back to the motherland.

Hope everyone has gotten home safe to their families and will enjoy themselves J

A 

'Tis the Season

Here we are again. Coming into Christmas and I am ready to head to Belize!
A few obstacles stand in my way, of course. Myself, and around 150 other students are in the Mount Royal University Library preparing. No one here seems that stressed which is calming. But, it's the calm before the storm. The next few days are going to be stressful and a nuisance to me and other students.

Brace yourself.
Finals are coming.

(Game of Thrones fans will get that)

I was asked by a friend the other day, how do you handle the stress of training along with finals.
Well, to be honest, this is the first time I have written real university finals along with training and so far I feel fine.
I'm sure I'll be restless soon enough but even though the erg sucks, and being in the weight room isn't all that fun sometimes, it is fairly calming.
It centres me.
It allows me to reflect on other things and take my mind off the main objective.
Don't worry, I'm just as stressed as the next student but I find in these situations having a competition background pays off. The ability to perform under pressure is a huge skill to have. I mean, I don't have the best history when it comes to finals but I am able to stay calm throughout the whole process. I am able to be aware of my emotions and deal with them. That is a skill, not a lot of people have. I still haven't mastered it but I am learning.
I think it mostly comes with maturity. University is a place to learn time management, how to deal with stress, and most of all, how to learn.

Anyway I should get back to Human Physiology.


Have a great day everyone!

Aj

Before and After!

Again, I really want to express my thanks to all those who donated to me throughout the month of November!
I hope to raise 200 dollars next year.

Enjoy the before and after photo's.


Aj












Before

After

The Mo!

Thanks for the shot Dill:)

Also a big thanks to all my friends and family who donated to my site!

I promise you guys won't see this moustache again...well, maybe next year!





A

Time Flies, why am I surprised?

Hey everyone! I hardly even realized it's been two weeks.

I have a couple of good photos for you guys to see so you can get and idea for what I have been up to.
I've been kayaking still which is pretty awesome, busy busy in the gym, and working on my muzz! Which has grown into a monster.

I'm back in the pass visiting Mom, Dad, and seeing Ben before he starts his practicum up in St. Albert.
It's always nice to get away from the city because I feel about 16 times less stressed here and can focus on my homework. Finding some peace and quiet is always easy here too. I know right? Aj and peace and quiet don't go together very well, but even over active, completely hyped up people like me need a break. I'm looking forward to getting into the gym here, it's always been my favourite.

With Christmas just around the corner, it's time to start cracking down for finals. I had a math test on Wednesday that totally scared the crap out of me, and a Physiology Lab final yesterday that didn't go super well. Good thing you can re take that class...

I am extremely excited for our vacation, and you guys should be too! I'll have a surprise for everyone when our trip is done;)

Anyway back to doing nothing!
Have a great weekend!

Let it snow!

THERE IS SO MUCH SNOW IN CALGARY

It's awesome

I know, a kayaker who loves snow?
It's time to dust off the skate ski's and start crushing the kilometres out for the winter.
Everyone, drive safe! The roads are slippery!!

Mike is super lucky though, he gets to leave on vacation tomorrow! The wonderful Holroyd family is off the Honduras to enjoy some much needed rest and recovery. Which means an easy recovery week for us back here in Calgary! Woohoo!
As much as I love getting sweaty and being exhausted, the passed three weeks have been rough. I look forward to a little break.
I am also excited because MRU students have a 4 day weekend! The holiday for Remembrance Day as well as a readying day the next day. It's pretty awesome.

I'm gonna go get my school spirit on though and cheer the Cougars volleyball team on as they face UBCO in a game tonight, and another tomorrow night.
GO COUGARS!

#cougarpride

I'm going to try and post some more photos!


Have a good weekend, and drive safe

A

I remember when I was 16..

Excellence

Well that was fun.
Too bad school is tomorrow.

Anyway, on to cool things.

I have two quotes that hang on the wall beside my bed. I read them every night before I sleep, and every night before I wake up.
"Hard work beats talent, when talent doesn't work hard" -Tim Notke
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit" -Aristotle.

With some more research into quotes I want to hang beside my bed I found the real Aristotle quote. Well, maybe not the real, but the full version;
"Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." -Aristotle.

So what is excellence?
I think that it is up to each individual to determine what it means to them.

I just thought I would share that with you.

Day 4 comin' on day 5 for the movember stache. She's a beauty already!
I'll post a photo after this post.

Anyway, I hope everyones weekend was just wonderful.


A

Weekends

Man am I ever excited that it's the weekend.
My original plan for the weekend was to attempt to make it low-key. But being 20 years old, that is nearly impossible. Yesterday my brothers girlfriend, Chelsey, graduated from Mount Royal University with her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. A huge congratulations! We then had the wonderful opportunity of spending the remainder of the day and evening with her lovely family. We went out for dinner to a beautiful restaurant on Stephen Ave. called Centini. I had a spectacular Bison steak with a fried egg on top. It was probably the best meal I have ever eaten in my life. Aside from Mom's turkey dinners of course:)

Well I am sitting on my bed surrounded by laundry that is ready to fold, and a room that is ready to be organized. Then I will delve into the lovely, complicated, and stupidly awesome world of human physiology. It's funny how the class I am doing the worst in is my favourite.

Mike sent us a cool article a psychologist wrote about what makes world class performers (not just athletes), world class performers.
Here's the link!
http://www.leadersinperformance.com/the-leader/simon-hartley-what-really-differentiates-world-class-performers/#.UI69_RFrx44.twitter
Make sure to check it out. It's a quick read and interesting. Maybe it'll help you understand what I do everyday ;)

Anyway I hope every one has a wonderful weekend.

PS! Don't forget to set those clocks back tonight



A

Back into it

Hey everyone!

Wow what a week. Started out pretty stressful and ended on a positive note.
I wish you could all meet my Human Physiology lab professor, she is a serious riot.
I'll try and elaborate.

Imagine a middle aged, red headed, joyful, South African woman who is extremely sarcastic and is always eager to help students. Before our group presentations a couple of weeks ago, to test the speakers for any movies we were playing she put on the new hit single from PSY called "Gangnam Style". It was blasted and she was dancing.
Hilarity Ensued.
I'll post a youtube link so you guys can check it out.

At the end of all of my weeks her lab is the last class I have and I never dread it!
With great classmates and a wonderful instructor, makes for an easy three hours, no matter how annoying and tedious a lab can be.

It's teachers like her, that I know, are going to make my life easier.

I got my second Human Physiology mid term back and I was extremely disappointed, yet again, with how poorly I did.
I'm meeting with my instructor tomorrow morning to review the test and go over some material we are covering now. I still can't get over the fact that I am actually almost failing a class. I slacked off more in high school and was able to pull of 70's easily. Now I'm busting my butt and barely pulling a 50.
It's pretty funny actually.
But don't worry, with a quick chat from Papa bear I had my head on straight, and was keen to jump back into the books and keep working harder. If I learned anything this summer is this;
If you are working hard, great. Work harder.
I feel like I'm talking Roxanne Esch's words out of her mouth.

I've been doing some climbing with Logan these days (well we actually haven't been in a couple weeks) but it's been nice to go back to my athletic roots and remember why I love sports.
Obviously I train everyday, but doing something like that with a good friend always rings the bells.


Anyway, I'm off to go peddle a stationary for too long.

Have a great night!
Oh heres the link!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0



A

New Blog Template

Hey guys!

I'm just trying out a new blog template here.
If it's too confusing gimme a holler and I'll figure something out more simple.
Or, if you like it, still let me know!
I like hearing from everyone.

Anyway, time for class.


Aj

Goodbye Facebook

Hey guys!

For the third time in my life I am deactivating my Facebook account. I think it has become too much of a distraction from my studies.
It also makes me feel like there isn't enough good secrets in the world. At any given time, you can find someones name from anywhere, type it in there search bar and if they don't have good enough security settings you can find out everything about them. What party they were at last week, who they are dating, who they have dated, what their political views are, what their religious views are and so much more. You can find all this information out, without even meeting them. But trust me, the reason for my deactivation isn't because I fear for my safety. I just want to try and live without Facebook until christmas. This is my goal! I really do want to try and keep this goal. So for my social networking dose I will keep my twitter account activated and I'll get this blog going again :)

Well I guess that's all for now.

Until next time


Aj

Wow

Hey Everyone

It has come to my understanding that although I have few readers, the people who do read matter the most to me.
So here I am back, with a new promise;
I'm not going to post everyday, I'm not going to post every week  but I will post at least every month.

Recently my good friend Peter Thompson passed away while on a paddling trip.
I've had a serious week of ups and downs between writing midterms, getting midterm marks, and of course struggling with the struggles every 20 year-old faces on a daily basis.
I've had unsurmountable support from friends, family, Dill's girlfriend, and even people in the paddling community I haven't met.
When I first heard the news I was in a bit of a mix up. It was last week at the Harvie Passage just before the race so I guess you could kind of imagine the mind set I was in.
Amazingly, I was able to paddle one of the best races I have ever paddled. It's funny how I always seem to paddle the best under the most silly circumstances.

After the race I was able to go home and do some thinking. I sat on the phone for quite sometime chatting with friends and checking in on everyone.
One conversation with a friend really sticks out for me though. She was the first one who really just let me sit and say nothing. She did a lot of talking and didn't ask me much. She knew what I was going through, and all she did was give me a few words of comfort and of course reminded me I wasn't alone.
It was hard.
I always thought I would be prepared for something like this. After watching my brother go through his horrid loss, I always thought I would be okay.
Well, of course, I wasn't and still not really okay.
Between this time I received a failing mid term mark, wrote a midterm, and studied for another mid term that I later learned isn't until next week.
But finally, I was able to get a short and rather lame text message conversation in with Roxanne. I really wish it was over the phone but it was better then nothing.
She reminded me to not mourn Peter. He would be furious if he found out I was this upset and stressed out about it all. He would only want me to sit and remember all the good times we had.
It's funny when I think about it, but I truly only ever had good times with Peter. There was never a moment of dispute or argument between us. We never put each other down, even in the friendly sarcastic way that friends do. He always had a smile on his face and never had a bad thing to say about anyone. He was the type of friend you could always count on, no matter the situation.
He was also the friend that if you called him to go paddle, bike, hike, climb, ski, hang out, go for a beer, get some food, or anything he would be there in a heartbeat.

Today Mom and I are driving up to Camp Chief Hector for his memorial service. I'm not sure what to expect.
I'm expecting to see a number of friendly faces of all the people Peter touched in his life. Trust me, if you are one of those people, I personally would consider yourself lucky.

I guess what I am getting at with this post is, there isn't enough time in life to neglect the things you love. Whether it's your family, friends, photography, guitar, video games, or anything like that. Always do what makes you happy. If there is anything Peter taught me, it's that.
So, I am going to write more because I do enjoy it. I'm going to get back to making little videos, I'm going to work harder on the water, and off. I owe it to Peter.

If their's a will, their's a way. Peter lived his life that way, and I intend to try.

My heart goes to his family.

I saw someone post on Peter's wall and I really liked what he said. Don't rest in peace Peter, keep charging hard wherever you are and find your own peace.

Rest well my friend.

Race time!

The big days start tomorrow!

Thursday and Friday will be the days that decide who is the best Canadian kayak man to go to London to represent Canada at the 2012 Olympic Games.

Although the Olympics is not in my focus, I am still pretty nervous for the race.

I am feeling good on the water and off the water. I feel like the taper for the competition has been the best yet. I truly have not felt more physically ready for a competition before.

Now, that being said, just because my body is ready it does not mean my mind is.

The mere thought that the race that I have been working for since September is just in 30 hours is starting to frighten me. I am not worried for the actual race but I am definitely anxious for the outcome.

Not to mention, it will be pretty hard to actually focus for the race when I see friends and team mates racing for that opportunity at Olympic gold.

"Adversity causes some men to break; others to break records."
William Arthur Ward

Morning off

Today has been a fairly slow day.

I started off with drinking way too much coffee and hammering out 5 chapters of math. During the third cup of coffee I spilled the last third of it all over my book. I decided that was probably enough for a day.

I came back up to the room and slammed on some bengay for the shoulder then woke Andreas up because I was bored.

Now here we are, waiting for our 4 o'clock session to come around.

The day before when you find out you have the morning or the afternoon off, you are thrilled to hear it. Then, when it is actually happening you try to find anyway possible to make the time pass. especially when it's Easter Sunday and there is nothing to do.

Andi and I will probably end up watching two episodes of "Game of Thrones"

It was a bit of a rough morning for race sim yesterday. It was a tough course, and not very warm weather either. So it was a tough combination to try and lock in and focus.

None the less, we all managed through it and for those of us who paddled in the afternoon, ended up having a great session.

Anyway, I must get back to doing nothing.

Happy Easter everyone :)

Aj

Day...I'm not sure

Hey guys!

I just really wanted to share something that Andreas told me.

Tomorrow we are doing the notorious workout, race sim.

When I say notorious, it really isn't that bad. The only problem with it, is it so happens to be the one workout where I can never piece together two good runs.

The way a race sim works is the night before we prepare our pre-race meals (for me steak, and an easy salad) then we sleep and wake up the next day and go about our race routine. We get to the course, set the course, walk it, memorize it, warm up, then do one run. After this run, we do a short cool down paddle maybe, then run back up to Mike and receive feedback.

After the feedback we go over the course one thousand times then get back on the water etc.

So just 5 minutes ago, Andreas and I were talking about what time we need to wake up and so on, and I mentioned how I even get nervous for race sim workouts.

He then said this to me;

"It does not make sense to get nervous or anxious before a race. No one will ever remember your race. The race is for you only, so make sure you are most importantly having fun. This is the reason why you race, yeah?"

Add a German accent to that and you get the full effect.

I'm sure Mike has said this to me once, twice, maybe three times. But for some reason it might stick this time.

Anyway, have a goodnight :)

Aj

Charlotte North Carolina!

Hey everyone!

Charlotte ROCKS!

It is the most difficult, exciting, and awesome course I have paddled yet!

With the eddies and features changing constantly it makes it difficult to read what is going on at any given time.

This makes for sessions to be extremely exciting and unpredictable.

Other then that though, life off the water has been fairly relaxed. Finally meeting my roomie for the summer, Andreas, has been awesome. It should turn out to be a good summer.

My first session on the water, I felt a little shaky and nervous. With all the talk I'd heard of Charlotte, I made it out to be a beast that was unconquerable. What I have learned in the passed three days is that it is a beast but can be defeated. With patience, and proper technique, it is quite easy to navigate the water and get the moves down.

Unfortunately, Aj and patience don't get a long.

Today was my first full's session and I truly learned the power of the water. I struggled on the first run, blew out on the second, but managed to piece together the third, fourth and fifth runs.

It has been quite the learning experience so far but am looking forward to the race.

Well, other then that not much else to report!

Hope everyone is surviving the winter storm at home.

Hope all's well

Aj

Hey Everyone!

Am I ever horrible at keeping up with this Blog of mine.

But between working, going to school, and training, it does't leave much time in a day for a guy to update! I am going to be able to keep updating in Charlotte while I am gone and then once exams are done I'll be back at this.

Well the things that are newest in my life is the trip to San Marcos Texas. What a trip that was! It was a busy 10 days. With packing 23 sessions into 8 days of training it turned out to be a long week and making me happy to come home.

The course in Texas was a sweet spot for getting my sea legs back under me and trying out the new speed and fitness I have acquired from all the hard work I have been putting in in the passed few months.

A big thanks to Ben Kvanli for letting us crash at his club house that was a 5 minute paddle downstream from the course. This made it an optimal place to live!

Here is a link to the camp video that I made! http://vimeo.com/38119083

A big thanks to Sages mom, Stephanie Viselli, for taking all of the awesome pictures throughout the trip.

With a smooth and easy flight home from Texas, I cam back to the real world with working hard in school, in the gym, and on the erg. Despite the weather Mike and I were still able to squeeze in a couple whitewater sessions. He even paddled with me TWICE in one day. That's right folks, twice. I think he was probably pretty sore as he was working pretty hard to ensure his victory on each short course. I have might have won once but I can't quite remember.

The majority of my training in Calgary since the middle of February has been just Mike and I as Paul, Haley and Jessica (Check out Jessica's website here http://jessicagroeneveld.ca/) were training in Brazil to compete for Canada's olympic spots in London. It was a heart breaking weekend, watching my team mates, who I have witnessed work so hard come up just short. Granted, Jessica had come down with a stomach bug. I still look up to her as an athlete with the amount of hard work she has put in, I only hope I can match what she has accomplished in her years of dedicated training.

Don't worry though! We secured our k1 mens spot thanks to David Ford. Paul had a touch on his last run that put him out of first place, but thanks to David we were still able to take the spot.

The next big weekend for Canada is in approximately 4 weeks which is Olympic/Senior/U23 team selections in Charlotte, North Carolina. With this being my first trip to Charlotte, I find myself working harder then ever with the knowledge that it will be the most challenging course I have ever paddled on.

My goals for the race are of course to make the u23 team and compete in Wausau, Wisconsin for the Junior and u23 world championships. But beyond result goals, I want to try and replicate the feeling I had at last years team selections. After each race, I felt good about the race I had raced. I left everything on the course and was able to produced runs that I was satisfied with. In order to do that I just need to keep the pressure off and not worry about what everyone else is doing and worry about myself. Which is going to be impossible since it is Olympic team trials and I am more concerned about my team mates then myself.

But nevertheless I will do my best to worry about me.

Well, that is whats new with me. I am going to do my best with keeping this up to date so that no one loses track of me!

Staying off the radar has been a tough go, but I'm almost at summer vacation, then it's time for some fun filled racing! Whoop!!!

Hope every one is well

Aj

Photo credit to Stephanie Viselli