New Year, New Blog Format, Same Boy-Man

Well, I made it! And by made it I mean I have officially survived a year living in Inuvik, Northwest Territories. Some men gauge their level of success on how much money they make, graduating from elite schools, or solving world problems like hunger and cancer. Unfortunately, I am not one of these overachievers and have thus resigned the high point of my life to this: I can now list on my future resumes that I worked for over twelve months as an "Arctic restaurant server". I'm not sure this will get me very far career wise, but then again I'm not sure I could really digress any further from my current situation. As I write this, I cannot see more than a few feet out my window and The Weather Network informs me that it is currently -34°C outside with wind gusts of 83 kilometres an hour. Oh, and I did I mention that it is dark out in the middle of the afternoon? Yes, it is safe to say that living this close to Santa Claus' headquarters is not for everyone.

Having said all that, I must say that the last year is one I will remember for a lot of good reasons.  First and foremost, moving to the Northwest Territories led me to my current "romantic" situation, with my girlfriend of over half a year, Colleen. Without getting too sappy, I will just say that we both worked together at the restaurant I am employed by, although she now currently works at the bank in town. We get along quite swimmingly (kind of scary, actually) and my life is the least dramatic it has been since I started sprouting pubic hairs. Some people might call this boring, well I prefer to think of myself as an aging veteran who has rounded the corner on his sometimes over-the-top past. Gone are the days of constant public urination, blacking out in public for half the night (prefer to do it at home now) and not knowing why I'm sleeping on my parents' front steps in a t-shirt in the middle of winter. Yes, I am a reformed citizen of the socialist nation of Canada. Well, for the most part at least. I still have my moments, as anyone who has seen some of my girlfriend's scrupulous pictures of me can attest to.

One of my other goals when I first moved here a year ago was to attempt to save some semi-serious coin for the first time in my life. Well I have had success in the past saving in short spurts, this was usually to fund trips to places like Europe, China and Australia, where my capital quickly evaporated living life in the fast (and sometimes sloppy!) lane. Upon my arrival here last January, I was debt-free and ready to save. I did find that I was good at saving, but I also found that I was still pretty good at partying. I also took a month off in April, where I went back home for my friends' wedding (amongst other things), which cost me about $6000. Factor into this the fact that I was not working for a month, and well ya, you kind of get the picture. Having said all that, it was a great trip and it's always fun to catch up with old friends. This was quickly followed by some more saving through the summer months upon my return. At the end of the summer, my girlfriend and I decided to take another trip down south, which saw us visit a slew of exotic locales in the Yukon, British Columbia, and Ontario. The month off work cost me around the same amount as my previous excursion, but again it was fantastic, with memories I will cherish forever.

Since Colleen and I returned from our last trip in mid-September, I started to focus on saving money much more than I did before. I put aside a set amount each week into my savings account, which I have so far not touched. While I do not live frugally by any means (very hard to do up here with the high cost of things), I have definitely cut down on my "public drinking/fraternizing" if you will, and allow myself a beer/alcohol allowance each week (still more than I spend on groceries!). With all that in mind, I feel I have done a fairly good job of saving money the last few months, and am eagerly optimistic that I can keep the good vibes rolling!

On that note, I will say that I will be blogging a lot more regularly this year, although my posts will be significantly shorter than they have been in the past. I have discovered that at this point in time I do not have the discipline to write lengthy entries, and will therefore instead focus my energy on writing shorter pieces on a more frequent basis as opposed to posting a long, rambling blog after every other lunar eclipse!

All the best to everyone in 2012 and remember to stay classy.

~Brent~