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Last weekend was AWESOME!!

On Friday I worked a short easy shift (while watching the Lake Placid World Cup race… so cool to see my friends racing!!) and then we all headed to Mahony’s for Christmas Lunch. Thank you doctors for covering the bill. We opened our secret santa gifts and I got an awesome tea tumbler. It’s so nice! Now I need to get some loose tea to put in it.

A photo posted by Rosemarie Perkin (@reirameso) on


Scott, Rosemarie and Lauren picked me up and then we headed straight to Whistler. Half way there we realized that Scott didn’t put my skeleton backpack in the car so I was missing a speedsuit, shoes, mouthguard and gloves. But my coach helped me scrounge up a pair of shoes and a speedsuit (that was actually way nicer than the suits I have) and I borrowed gloves from Matt. Thankfully I did have my helmet. I had a bit of a rough session but it’s all about gaining time on my sled. Then we checked into our hotel and went straight to the outdoor hottub. Ultimate relax. We got upgraded to a big penthouse room so everyone had a real bed, which was much better than we expected.

Saturday morning we were up bright and early for SANTA SKI DAY!! There were around 200 santas this year. And one Christmas tree. Rosemarie got TONS of attention and fifty million pictures of her taken. I tried to stick close to her so I could be in pictures too. If your eyes are sharp you can see me a few times in this video.

A photo posted by Rosemarie Perkin (@reirameso) on


There still aren’t that many runs open, but the ones that were open were good. It was my most successful ski day in a while… I even went on a couple black diamonds. Scott, Lauren and Liz did quite well as well.

I have been here for 4 years and I somehow managed to never go the peak of Whistler??!! I always wondered where that inukshuk was that people always post pictures of. I’m not quite sure how that happened. We chickened out on skiing down the bowl though…. it had a scary entrance and there were SO many people around. Someone was even video taping!! But we skied down the saddle instead and it was lovely. So pretty up there.

My snazzy santa suit was actually one of those skin suits that covers your face too. No I didn’t ski like that. But I put it on at lunch and creeped everyone out, hehe. Man oh man that suit was a big upgrade from the felt dollar store special. So comfy and I had lots of mobility. It’s still in perfect shape so I can use it again in the years to come.

After skiing a FULL day, we drove straight back to downtown Vancouver to go to Scott’s work Christmas party at the convention centre. Rosemarie took the car home and Scott and I checked into the Pan Pacific. We got dressed up fancy super quick and only made it to dinner with a few minutes to spare. Scott didn’t even have time to shave, which he later regretted…

Dinner was good, same as the other years. Then they started the speeches. We couldn’t hear anything at all because the table behind us was super rude and loud. So then they were giving out the Award of Excellence… I could barely hear but then I heard the words “telephone” and “sense of humour” and “he” and was like….. wait…… and then “SCOTT JORNA”!! Scott won the award this year!! He got a sweet trophy and a sweet cheque! I’m so happy for him, he has worked really really hard this year and it’s so good that he got recognized for it. He had no idea!


PS Saturday was also Scott’s birthday. Earlier in the evening his friend had given him one of those pointy kid birthday hats and he almost went up with it on, haha. He got some pictures taken with important work people and lots of handshakes.

THEN, to cap off a really great day, we found out the hot tub at the Pan Pacific was open until midnight (and outdoors!) and we still had time to go for a soothing post-ski dip. It was the perfect way to end a really high adrenaline day.

Next morning we slept in super late and then went out for a nice southern-style brunch at Chewies, which I will review later.

Anyway yeah, so that was our Super Fun Skeleton Santa Birthday Party Hotel Brunch Weekend!!

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1. I forget if I mentioned it already or not, but I joined a spartan barbell weightlifting gym and have been going to lessons every week. It’s been super fun!! The coach is helping me re-learn how to squat and deadlift properly, and slowly teaching me the Olympic lifts (snatch, and clean & jerk). The Oly lifts are very complex lifts and even though it’s been a month I’ve still only snatched the 20 lbs bar, and I haven’t even cleaned anything. Last week I learned how to jerk (hehe). I jerked the 30 lbs bar, woop woop.

2. I finally got trained out at the UBC nuc med department and have been working out there a bunch lately. It’s very different than VGH, so quiet and lonely. Only two techs there, with two cameras, although one camera is old and doesn’t get used that much. It’s good to have another site where I can potentially get shifts though. But from 2:30-4:00 I pretty much just stare at the printer in fear that it’s going to print out a suprise last minute requisition.

3. I applied for a PET job at the BC Cancer Agency, had an interview, got asked for references, got a call back…. and then didn’t get the job. Bummer. I really thought I got the job for a while. Maybe it’s for the best though because I am still getting lots of shifts at VGH, and it’s already going to be a busy winter. I always think I’m not going to work a lot, and then end up working almost every day. Hopefully I am fine without PET.

4. This is week 7 of no sugar or simple carbs. I feel good, more stable, less crazy cravings for sugar first thing in the morning. I’ve lost 10 lbs, and Scott’s lost like twice that. However I also feel weaker while exercising, which isn’t ideal. I want to quit the diet so I can get stronger, but the weight loss is addicting tbh. Just 5 more lbs?? One more week?? I don’t know. I think even if I do start eating sugar again, it’s not going to be a lot. Maybe just low GI foods, like a pre-diabetic diet.

Anyway it’s a beautiful blustery fall day today and we’re going to watch the Ottawa vs. Vancouver hockey game tonight. The tradition continues.

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My level of motivation for training for skeleton goes up and down dramatically all the time. It varies from WHAT’S THE POINT, I’M NEVER GOING TO BE A COMPETITOR to I TOTALLY COULD BE A COMPETITOR!!!

Right now I’m in the I TOTALLY COULD BE A COMPETITOR state. I’ve actually been doing sprints!! Running is definitely my weak point, since ummm… I hate it. But I watched a billion videos on youtube and am now full of all sorts of tips and hints to make me faster. Today I videotaped myself at the track and reviewed after each sprint and it actually helped A LOT. The videos helped me see that I was planting my foot too far forward, heel striking, and looking too far down. Lots of problems but at least I know some specific things to work on.

I’ve also been doing lots of shrugs to help develop my neck so I can resist G forces better, upright rows so that I can lift my own skeleton sled into the car, cleans for power, etc etc. The off-season is all about doing everything you can to be a better slider without having any ice available.

I know it’s not very likely that I’ll ever be going to the Olympics or anything but it would be nice to not have to be embarrassed by my start times. My goal for this winter is to move up to starting from the top of Whistler, but maybe my goal for after that could be competing for realz. I would love to be able to do the Canadian selection races (one in Calgary and one in Whistler) so that I could have a ranking. Forerunning big races could be cool as well.

I was invited to participate in the Calgary icehouse push camp this August but unfortunately I am scheduled to work every day that week. That would be a lot of money to give up, plus I don’t even think there is anyone available to cover me. Plus flights and everything = $$$$. Sigh. I am hoping there will be another trip at some point over the winter again though.

So the next thing coming up is the summer testing. In the meantime, MORE RUNNING/LIFTING/JUMPING. :D

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sonobe

Scott really wanted to put his sonobe on his head. He mentioned it to me three different times.

Rosemarie and I are going to Listowel next month to visit our grandparents. We managed to get a REALLY REALLY REALLY good deal on flights thanks to YVR Deals. $278 roundtrip including the taxes!

Casual life is weird. When I look forward in my calendar I look really NOT busy, but when I look back in my calendar I see that I worked 3-5 days a week pretty much every week. Finger crossed this keeps happening for the next month until the summer schedule kicks in (where I know I have tons of work).

Scott’s citizenship application has been officially received. They sent him his study pack today. For his test in…. approximately 24 months according to the immigration website.

I should do another crafts update because I have been doing a lot of crocheting and cross stitching!! Soon.

I keep going through waves of emotion about off-season skeleton training. From “I SHOULD TRAIN SUPER HARD SO I CAN BE COMPETITIVE NEXT WINTER AND WIN RACES” to “I’M NEVER GOING TO ACTUALLY BE A COMPETITOR SO WHAT’S THE POINT” and back and forth and back and forth. I find it really difficult to train after working certain tiring shifts at work though, so my regimen hasn’t been super consistent, but I still have been doing weights a few times a week. And I actually started running again, something that I really really hate, but is necessary.

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Rosemarie, Lauren and I went spring skiing the other weekend up at Whistler. It was my first time spring skiing and I had tons of fun! The weather was soooooo nice.

The snow was still decent, up near the top it had the consistency of white sugar. I felt like I was spreading sugar on toast with my skis. Some runs the snow was a lot more stubborn which added an extra challenge, but it was still ok. A lot of the harder runs were already closed because of low snow cover, so in general we had a very nice relaxing day of skiing.

Lauren did quite excellent for a first time skier! Rosemarie had arranged a private lesson for him as a gift so he did that all morning and then we met up with him for lunch and skied with him after lunch. Rosemarie and I entertained ourselves by trying to do spins and ski backwards.

It was really hot out. I think it was 18 degrees in the village that day, and around 12 degrees near the top. I had jacket vents open and my snowpants unzipped (with shorts underneath). Very breezy!

Rosemarie’s ski selfie.