Ferocious Lovers

I departed Milwaukee at 10:40 am on Tuesday, the 7th of October, 2008, to a tearful mother. I spent two weeks counting down the days to the deployment, but my last day in Wisconsin was marked not by anticipation, but the sorrow of leaving home. My excitement for my third season on the ice is matched in ferocity only by the sadness of leaving my family. I arrived in Denver via Dallas-Fort Worth in the late afternoon and was shuttled to my hotel. I was greeted at the Staybridge Inn and Suites by an open bar and my distant, but ferocious lovers from my first year on the ice, Isaac Bean and Rachel Edie, whom had driven down from Boulder to see me. These two were later named 'my parentheses', as they remained tight on each side of me for the remainder of the night. We ripped into the open bar and then mosied downtown in search of boos and music. We succeeded fabulously on both accounts - we sucked down a Bathtub Margarita at a jazz club in Downtown Denver.

A half an hour into communal bathtub of boos, we realized that despite our best best efforts, we were not making a dent in the volume of our Margarita. So we redoubled our efforts and another half hour later, found ourselves on the dance floor. We managed to embarrass ourselves just enough to receive a larger applause from the audience than the musicians themselves. The night got foggy from there, with middle eastern cuisine and hookahs.

We crashed late in the hotel room, only to wake three hours later for a chem lab and a full day of Human Resources Orientation, respectively. It was not going to be a good day.
After orientation, I napped from 3:30 pm until after 11pm. I would not be able to sleep the rest of the night. I guess I began my transition to NZ time a little early.
That next day, we completed orientation (safety training - yeah!) and boarded a bus for Denver International Airport. That commenced the beginning of two bus rides, three flights, and 36 hours of travel.
I arrived in CHC at 11am on the morning of Saturday, the 11th of October. It was in the am, NZ time, but I hadn't seen a bed for 48 hours.
Nevertheless, I was light and bouncy: the effects of being in NZ. The sun shining, a new adventure beginning, and I was in my favorite country on Earth with many of my favorite people on Earth!
Well, ladi-da, Evan, why don't you just give yourself a gold-star.