As we are in the last day of 2012, I wanted to reflect on it, and describe it from my point of view. I also wanted to share bits of our life with our friends.
January
The year started great with a New Year celebration but continued with a bit of discomfort as I injured my right foot while playing tennis on January 1st. That was a bummer as I was planning doing a "Fat Ass" run, first time since 2006 - I was in a good shape but broke one of my 'rules', "not to play indoor tennis", and paid the price.
Ada went to Asia and I was on my own almost for a whole month - work at Enbridge was a bit extensive, but I managed to ski a lot, as my foot was fine in ski boots. I went to Mont. Tremblant, Quebec, to our annual "Hot Tub Time Machine" winter trip where I had great time with my friends Vaneja, Tijana and Sladjana. Gyula took me out for my birthday and we had great time. We proved that "old boys" can still have good time out.
February
Ada came back from her trip just before Family Day that we traditionally spent on the mountains. This time, my biggest archival and Nemesis, Bond (Reid), James Bond (David Reid) joined us with his family.
Weather was extremely warm and there was no need for thick clothes. Mt.Norquay Tea House was open first time in who knows how many years and we were delighted to have a tea high up above Bow Valley.
March
Thirty One days of March were extensive and emotional. I skied a lot, and conditions were the best in last 15 years - met with some former coworkers on the slopes and had great time. As every year, I did 'St.Patrick's Day 10 K' race, and placed well, but my time was not satisfactory. Well, it was icy...
We got the new upgraded version of our hybrid car, and we continued to spread the word about sustainment and awareness. That's quite a challenge to do in the 'Oil Country'!
As I was now working in Oil & Gas industry I was learning about futility to regulate it and to govern it effectively. For the "boys", 2 + 2 will always be 5.
At the and of March we always celebrate Ada's birthday, but this year our focus shifted to very sad and unimaginable event. Our friend Miklós "Miki" suddenly passed away and all of that left us in disbelief. It was very shocking and took a long time to accept it. I created a short video to celebrate Miki's life.
April
The record snow falls blanketed mountains and that gave us ability to ski everywhere, and when I say 'everywhere', it really means everywhere. No rocks were visible. We celebrated Easter with Justin and Zharlene who were preparing for their wedding.
I completed my 'Advanced Speaker Bronze' designation at the end of month and that gave me much needed boost to continue working on a leadership stream. Ada started looking for a new job, as she felt that her current environment became smaller and that it was right time to use her newly acquired MBA credentials.
Good thing was that majority of the snow only hit the mountains - the city was not hit that hard, and X-Country running racing started on clear trails. It was another beginning of 'mud, sweat and tears' running season.
I didn't run in January at all, but managed to get back to it in subsequent months. I felt strong and averaged 13 runs per month.
May
May is supposed to be warm and full of flowers and green leaves, but not at this part of the world. The snow continued falling and all the records were broken. We certainly used these superb conditions to enjoy 'spring' skiing. We were also wondering what will happen with a wild life as the snow line was so high, and would remain high throughout summer. In May, we also hosted an Open House at my tennis club, but this year I was absent as I chose skiing instead.
Our life is centered around outdoors and nature and we don't spend much time in closed areas, 'hanging out', or doing things that we did in the past (read 'drinking', 'fooling around'). Sometimes I think I am old. However, we still go to see great artists when they chose to come to the place from which you can see the end of the world. We went to see Roger Waters's "The Wall", and our company were great Scott McPherson and his best friend Cathy. There is nothing much to say about the show as everything has been said. The best thing is to see and feel it on your own.
I did 'Mother's Day' race that I always do as it gives me an opportunity to raise money for a good cause. It was probably funny to see my face when I crossed the finish line as I was disgusted with my time. After the race I found out that the actual course was 1 K longer. I also did a 1 mile race and that was quite a different experience. I did a race that short probably more than 25 years ago, and it was quite challenging to keep up with younger competitors ( I really didn't keep up that well :)).
June
Our wait for summer solstice started with great floods that were not much fun. It made us prolong our whitewater rafting trips for at least a month. This was such a neat example of nature's power.
I also started playing outdoors tennis and that is always exciting as I don't play the game during winter. It is exciting because we all get together and have our special mixed doubles 'specials' on a weekly basis. This continued late into October.
I even joined a singles box league and got badly beaten by couple of of guys, but for worse, I fell awkwardly on Garneau Clay and injured my left hip. This meant that I wasn't able to run again for at least 4 weeks, and it also meant that I had to visit my friend Blair at Glen Sather clinic. Good thing was that there was no major damage.
June is a month in which I usually stop doing bikram yoga for summer. It is just too nice out to spend time inside. This year I was very dedicated as I went every week at least once.
The most exciting event of June 2012 was Ada's graduation from UofA's MBA program. I was happy that she was proud on her achievement. I was part of the all process and I saw how much time, work and effort she invested in it.
We went once more to Golden, but as I said rafting was not possible. However, we still had great time with our friends Josephine and Luke.
July
July was a busy month. We traveled to opposite sides on Canadian coast, experienced Pacific and Atlantic oceans, and most of all we enjoyed great food and wine. While being there, for the moment I caught myself thinking about living there. Well, that lasted for very short time as rainy days reminded me why we lived in Alberta.
Day after Canada Day we were honoured to be at Justine and Zharlene's wedding at Kurimoto Japanese Garden. It was a beautiful day in which these two beautiful people bonded forever.
This July I also (tried to) play(ed) "Beach Tennis", and I must say that Beach Tennis was so much fun that I am already looking forward to more of it in 2013. I teamed up with my friend Hone for this event.
I also played AM tennis with a very experienced old timer Peter Kaszor. It was funny when he would say:"I only wanted to win one game!", after winning that "one"game. Then, it was up to me to win my game. Nevertheless, he bageled me twice (or only once? I hope it was only once :)).
We managed to execute our whitewater rafting on raging Kicking Horse river, and this year, I must say, it was almost too dangerous. The water levels were the highest in last 50 years and the lower canyon was closed. There were couple of incidents in which rafts got destroyed, but good thing was that there were no casualties On our side, we had LOTS of fun.
As EURO was over, Tour d' France was in progress, and the Olympics were coming, we were getting ready for our European trip.
Before going to Europe we went to Jasper, where per his wishes, Miki's ashes were united with Rocky Mountains. It was a beautiful day and I am sure all of us who were there understood some things better. Miki was now at probably better place.
August
Our plan for August fell through as Ada got a new job in the middle of our visit to London 2012. This meant that she had to fly back to North America and I would continue traveling by myself. We still managed to feel the Olympic atmosphere and to realize the greatness of city of London. I could write a lot about the Olympic experience but that's not a purpose of this entry. I was happy for my friends who lived in London and I thought that they were so privileged and lucky to live in such a metropolis.
I spent some time on Montenegro coast before going to Sarajevo where I wanted to meet as many friends as I could. I go to my home town every year, and that's something that won't change. Sarajevo is also place where majority of my family lives and it is only place on Earth where I feel that I am at home. I've learned to call Alberta home as well, but there is only one city called Sarajevo.
It is amazing to see how everything is changing and how everything has its own pace. Sarajevo has always been a city in the center of the world and the city at the end of the world. When I am with my Sarajevo auntie Matilda and my cousins, Necko and Vera, and now with their adult kids, life cannot be better.
Somehow we have been catching up all these years, as before the war we were too busy with our lives, during the war we were too far from each other (even though we were in the same city), and after the war we were too far again, but this time really in geographical terms.
Every year I also visit places in Bosnia & Hercegovina, that I never visited before. I am constantly amazed how I didn't recognize all of that beauty when I lived there. Now, I have to fly 10 000 km to see it. I guess many things in our lives we learn on a hard way. This August I had such a privilege to drink the most special rakija in probably last 20 years - "Orahovaca", home made by Vaneja's father Radovan.
I arrived to Sarajevo on first day of Ramadan and I was celebrating it on my first night there.
September
The ninth month of the year was emotional. I saw some of my high school friends for the first time since 1992. I went to Belgrade, Serbia as a tourist, and I met with my old classmates. As you might know my generation is scattered throughout the world, and some of them found their home in Belgrade. I really missed all of them. We were practically strangers to each other, now in 2012, as people that we remembered from 1992 were different now.
It was tough to go there, I must say. I still remembered 1425 days that I spent in siege in Sarajevo, the siege that was orchestrated by ideology born in this great city by bad people. But then, I was there, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time. The best was of course time spent with my friends. Somehow, I had a feeling as it was still us, just boys from 1992, now a bit older, but still with our own unique spirits. I certainly know I will take Ada to Belgrade, as the city is a "must" place to visit.
I also visited my family in Zagreb, Croatia, and even though I had a tight schedule, it was great to see them, short but sweet. My cousin's daughters were more beautiful than when I saw them last time. I know that Branko and Vesna are proud of them. I love them very much.
I got together with my great friend Sax with whom I spent a year in the army. We discussed all over again the meaning of number 6 - nevertheless, the next year is 2013, 2+0+1+3 = 6!! It was also nice to see Ivana, and especially to figure out where we can have our coffee in Tkalciceva street in Zagreb.
I visited my second mom Eda in Orebic. She has a special place in my heart and I wished I had more time to spend with her and Mario.
I also paid a visit to my most favorite restaurant on Adriatic, "Drago", in Sveti Stefan (Saint Stephen), Montenegro. I don't know where else is possible to get such great food.
As September was coming to an end I was ready to go back to Alberta. There was another reason to go back - I missed my Ada.
October
October came so suddenly as I was asleep. Shorter days, colder days, but irresistible colours given to us by nature shaped this month. We were still playing our mixed doubles socials, did 3rd annual "Boris Comeback", and were already planning for more events in the following months.
I learned that my auntie Matilda was in hospital and that was indeed source for stress. I hoped that she will be OK and that I will soon be talking to her on the phone again.
Ada was busy with her new job and working with Alberta MBA Alumni Association, and I was busy with advertising myself to various businesses as I was now looking for new contracts. I increased my presence on the web and learned a thing or two about 'selling' techniques.
We still found some time for a quick trip to Shanghai for different purposes. Sweet Sugar engaged into shopping (I did some shopping too, as there is more choice there), and I had that privilege watching some magnificent tennis on Shanghai masters.
I picked up my running and that was a bit challenging because I didn't run since early August. That was a reason why I didn't do any fall series X-country races. I also did a lot of mountain biking as at this time of year the trails are dry and visibility is better as there are less leaves on trees.
I played tennis with my mentor Jack and more than that talked about swimming against current.
Nakiska got hammered by snow and that meant that we were entering a winter season.
November
There is usually snow on the ground in early November. It wasn't different in 2012. We got our early snow, mountains got it much more, and Mt. Norquay opened, the earliest of all Alberta ski resorts.
I didn't do Banff Winterstart this year as I felt that I wasn't ready enough. I probably could've done it, but a thought about running up on Tunnel mountain half prepared, definitely turned me off.
We couldn't do our mixed social doubles outdoors anymore, but we did couple of social events. We had the most fun at Polish Hall.
It was also nice to spend time with Gyula, Audre and Leo - life was miracle indeed. It seemed that somehow a whole circle got executed - Miki left us, but Leo was with us.
As the snow came in huge amounts we prepared our skis, and we conserved our tennis and walking shoes. I started running more seriously as I wanted to build a mileage for the next year. I ran 19 times in November for a total of 1027 minutes.
November was a bit tough as I was informed that my auntie Marija from Zagreb passed away. That meant that I would have one less Christmas card to write. More, it meant that I lost somebody who loved me unconditionally. I am still sad about it.
December
I didn't know if we would be alive at the end of this December, but I knew that I will be enjoying it, every minute. I continued running strong, going longer distances with more hills. Only setback was my new shoes that I actually had to replace with the old ones, as something was wrong with my foot.
In regards to skiing, this year Lake Louise Ski World Cup was exceptionally good, and there was a lot of snow, even more than last year at this time.
After long preparation Ada delivered her Master of Ceremony role during Alberta MBA Alumni Association students business event. I was happy to know and see that she was so comfortable in front of huge audience, and again, I thought that she must be very proud of her effort.
I got my Advanced Leader Bronze designation and I started working on my Certified Architect designation. It will take lots of work and effort to prepare written thesis, and I don't want to think about its defense Let's say that I will take one step at the time.
And then, Christmas came. Quite quickly. Quietly. Traditionally we spend a first half of a Christmas day by skiing and then we help volunteering rest of the day for those less fortunate.
I spend Christmases with my Ada, and that's the best thing. It is interesting how both of us chose this road, to be so far away from home, but then that was probably the main reason why we met.
This year, we had a real white Christmas. We also had a very cold Christmas. But then, there are no complaints about it, only a joy. Our mother nature gave us unforgettable December days that I will always remember.
And that's all for 2012.
Happy 2013!!!
