Howl at the Moon

November has been a rather uneventful month. Turns out, life is significantly less interesting once a person is gainfully employed and has a place to live. Carwithness, it seems, makes excellent fodder for writing.

As for the photo, yes. That is me, in my underwear, jumping into a glacial lake in the dead of night under a full moon in Canada. Let me explain. In mid-October I took a run down towards Green Lake, and in doing so discovered a lovely swimming dock. Upon returning to the house, I proposed that all the roommates (now former-roommates) should go swimming in the lake under the full moon. Unfortunately the full moon had just passed and the next was on the 12th of November. "Well, we'll do it then," I said, making everyone promise to join me on the mission.

The matter stayed under the radar until the 12th of November. This was my intent. I've discovered that people are much more apt to act rashly when they haven't had time to think something through. My recruiting scheme depended on three elements. 1) I had made everyone promise in October they would come (helloooo guilt trip) 2) they wouldn't have time to wimp out if I didn't remind them in advance 3) peer pressure. This strategy has served me well for seducing hapless friends into ditching class to go skiing, taking massive hikes up Colorado peaks in the dead of night, running off for last-minute fishing trips, etc. Things this important should never be left to chance.

So, at 8pm on November the 12th, under a clear, moonlight sky, I burst into the house howling like a werewolf and generally making a ruckus--making damn sure everyone knew exactly what was up (no excuses, remember?) By 11 o'clock pm I had convinced six other foolhardy souls to jump in the freezing glacial lake with me, in the 40* weather. We piled 14 people into 2 cars (my Passat has never held 8 people before) and drove to the lake. We stripped down to the skivvies, posed briefly for a photo, and before you could say "if-all-your-friends-jumped-into-a-freezing-lake-would-you-follow?" bodies started hitting the water.

Before.

Immediately before.

"Get me (*gasp*) outta here!!"

We chased our cold water experience with hot chocolate and movies, as well as a German-style sauna experience. Actually only Rico and I went for the German sauna which consisted of three sessions, each hotter and longer than the last. For the final session, Rico instructed me that we must cover our entire bodies with salt, and cover our faces with syrup. I can now definitively say that sweat tastes much better when it's mixed with syrup, and that my skin was silky smooth. Hope everyone's November is going well, please pray for colder temperatures in Whistler!!