xmas tickles

well i may not have gotten my old job back, i still don't have a clue what the future holds for me, and being in drumheller is bringing up all sorts of memories...

at least i'll get some free turkey before i leave!!!

the museum was nice enough to at least invite me to their xmas party.

i've never really gotten what xmas is or what it's about. all i know is that the trees get really bright and pretty, and there's a lot more food about then normal.

the party was at the new place in town the quarry... the COOLEST name ever! though to be fair it is the farthest thing from a fossil dig i can think of. staffed by adam and his excellent crew, we tyrrellers were in for a night we won't forget soon... well unless their like me and have a brain the size of a peanut anyway...


i got to sit with my good buddy cam for dinner. i was really glad we'd sorted out that whole him being the one who fired me thing. it would have made things kinda awkward.

at one point cam went to put his arm over my shoulder for a picture. by accident he found my ticklish spot. everyone thought that my laugh was really funny...

it kinda set the tone for the night...

during my hanging with kirsta she interrupted the conversation we were having to make me laugh again...

before that we were having a chat about where other people from the museum were or what they were doing...

dan decided not to come to the party. mostly cause i was coming, and he was still mad at me for trying to eat richardo. have to make sure that i patch things up with him. me and dan go back a long way... i don't want him to stay mad at me forever.

craig had left the museum to head back to calgary to prepare to head overseas to new zealand. kirsta was really surprised i hadn't heard anything about this... i had been in BC for the last few months, and in exile before that... how was i supposed to know. though i wonder why he hadn't told me. he is kinda like my legal guardian and stuff...

krista thought my tickled laughter was very funny though, and that's as far too catching up on other museum people as i was going too.

lastly i caught up with brad... well brad 2. he's just not brad 1 is why i make the distinction. brad 1 was nice enough to give me my job 4 years ago, but then he left the museum (some said he just couldn't live with himself for some reason... i never did find out what it was cause people would always suddenly glare at me in the middle of the story... not sure why they'd do that... i didn't know the end of it!!!)

anyways brad was having a good time. like me he doesn't work at the museum, and was just there for the fun. he had heard about my "not being with the company" anymore... though that was a weird thing to say as it's a museum. not a company!

i told brad all about the events of my return. how i had no idea what i was going to do. it was becoming clearer and clearer that i needed to find a place without any dinosaurs so that i could be the only deal in town. everywhere in canada i'd been there were dinosaurs, and they were all trying to immigrate to drumheller which seemed to say that things were even WORSE elsewhere around here.

i told him about how while looking at the badlands the flatness of the prairies reminded me of the ocean for some reason. he said that was pretty obvious why... i just looked at him... then he remembered my brain size.

"well traum it's pretty simple. i think you were smarter just then, then you think you are. there's got to be a place over the ocean that doesn't have any dinosaurs."

wait a minute! brad was right!!!

there has to be somewhere over the BIG ocean that dinosaurs haven't been found or put in museums... but where???

just as i realized who i was going to need to see to help me figure out a new possible home for me suddenly brad reached over and hit my laughing spot.

"sorry man." brad apologized. "your laugh is just too funny."

The Return

well i know that i said i'd post a vlog every 25 posts... well this is techincally in that limit. just a little sooner then i figured. alot of stuff has happened this week, and the only way to communicate it easily i found is through a vlog.



in spite of everything that has happened i'm going to hang out here for a few more days. the museum is having it's xmas party, and cam and krista have invited me to join them at it. so i figure i might as well go. i have no where better to be at moment...

100th post!!!

holy smokes people of the web wide world... i've already made 100 entries in my blog!!!

it seems like just yesterday i started this thing, and now here i am a true veteran of the super information highway.

now i figured i'd do something special for this entry... well okay. my talent agent peter figured i should...

since i've been on the innerweb all i've talked about is what's going on in my life thus far... i thought this would be a good entry to take a look back at where i came from. this also seemed very fitting since i'm currently on route to drumheller to see if i can reconnect with this past.





hope now you have a better idea of why i'm in search of my dinosaur roots. i also hope that after all i've seen and done in my journeys these last 4 months they'll take me back in drum. now i'm a super qualified dinosaur...

i'm also planning on doing this "vlog"s more often then every 100 posts... hopefully like every 25 from here on in.

catch you in drumheller people of the innerweb!

the end of THIS thing

okay need to check out the field visitor center so i know what i'm talking about when i ask them for a job.

i'm thinking though what better way to attract people to a fossil display then with a dinosaur... even if they don't technically find us around here normally.

well for some reason there's a cowboy statue in front of the center. trilobite wrangler?

heading inside there was a bunch of fossil displays, and i figured best thing to do was check them out, and demonstrate my superior knowledge of the burgess shale

yeah no big surprises. they had a whole cabinet full of trilobites from mount stephen

a cool selection on other critters from fossil ridge. like the iconic marrella...

one of my favs though is the tentacled football leanchoilia...

they had a pretty small, but good selection of burgess shale fossils. all ones i knew about. so it would be easy to sell myself as both a palaeo attraction, but also expert.

there was only one problem when i went around the corner and bumped into their alberta and BC tourism displays...

there was a dinosaur in the center. not just that she was there from the tyrrell to promote the museum! now considering the circumstances we were both pretty civil. however this struthiomimus was very set on this job staying HERS!

well so much for that idea...

i guess i'm meant to goto drumheller. what awaits me there i'm not sure. hopefully a second chance.

all these attempts at first chances haven't been suiting me so well...

beginning of ALL things...

okay people of the innerweb i'm back into familiar territory. hopefully no more of that crazy BC type stuff can happen to me here. even though technically i'm still in the province, field is pretty much on the border with alberta, and even more important i know ALL about this area.

the reason. this is one of the most important palaeontologic places in the world!

the tyrrell has a huge display on this place called the burgess shale. they are among the OLDEST complex creatures known. these fossils are so good that we don't just get hard parts, we also get the soft ones!

once i get back to drum i'll have to check out the display again. though i'm getting an idea related to my future after i've found my past at drumheller. maybe i could come back here and get a job. i'm qualified. i know a LOT about the burgess shale cause i spent a lot of time in the display when i lived in the tyrrell. that and one of the six big books i've ever read was one called wonderful life by stephen gould... don't let the fact that he is a scary monster stop you from reading the book. it's very good and ALL about the burgess shale.

actually being here in field and seeing all the famous places is really cool!

over on one side of field is mount stephen famous for it's trilobites. i've heard from people at the museum who've been up there that there are so many fossils up on the top of that hill that every second rock has a trilobite in it!!!

on the other side opposite the highway is the burgess pass and it's famous fossil ridge. an exposure of really really early cambrian fossils of the cathedral escarpment. my buddy dan used to do a play at the museum about looking for fossils up there.

you'll also see in that photo the visitor center here in field. i was going to check in there about a possible job after i looked at all the signs they had outside.

man the signs were cool. it was like having a museum outside!

this was a really awesome sign all about the famous palaeontologists who explored this place for the first time. included in there was charles dolittle walcott, though don't let his middle name fool you. he in fact did alot!

the sign showing how the burgess shale looked when all the critters was alive was really cool. just like the vancouver aquarium only instead of fish it would be funky arthropods!

hey that gives me another idea! with my new work experience at the aquarium i could totally work IN the tyrrell's burgess shale display! combo that with my knowledge of the place, and i'd be a show in for educating the public about this place, and be able to take care of the critters in the display!

well okay it seemed like a good idea till i read this sign... now i like adventure, and all... but getting buried alive. when was that ever fun?

well scratch that working in the museum's burgess shale idea. time now instead to see if i can work at the real thing!

blockade

if it isn't one thing it's another in my attempt to get out of BC...

i'm nearly on the border of alberta, and with it a return to friendly soil!!!

of course it's not that simple... AGAIN!... because up ahead of me on the road is yet ANOTHER obstacle!



a herd of elk blocks my progress...

now i know how elk typically work. honk your horn and they'll get their horns out of the way.

not these ones...

turns out these ones aren't just casually wandering onto the road. no. their here to stop just ME...

seems these guys are buddies with mountain sheep, and their really mad at how i humiliated the king of the rams last month. hearing that i was coming back through this area (they read it on my blog... have to remember to keep things a little more secretive in the future) their here to stop me...

well it looked kinda bleak. i couldn't get past them, and they weren't going to let me through. they were letting other cars through. just not me.

after spending the afternoon on the BC side of their imposed line i was really worried i'd have to back track into BC to try and find an alternate route. however as the sun began setting and it got darker i noticed something.

i couldn't recognize individual elk anymore. they all looked the same. why with those conditions maybe they won't recognize my car anymore...

to make sure they lost track of me i pretended to goto bed in my car. though what i really did was hop in and roll the window down. this way i could crawl out my window without opening the door and turning on the cabin light. once outside my car i threw some towels over my headlights so they won't be visible once my car was on. i then waited for a different car to come by to start my engine so that it's noise didn't seem out of place.

when that car finally showed up i drove down the highway away from them as fast as i could. getting around a bend i then pulled a u-turn. i then turning on my high beams. with these on i then casually drove back toward the blockade... but was it casual enough?

reaching the line my heart nearly stopped as the elk didn't move forcing me to slow down... getting within mere feet of them time seemed to cease as they looked at my car. it wasn't till i realized they were squinting in my high beams, and unable to see me that i relaxed.

then they parted, and let me through! can you believe that people of the innerweb i outsmarted someone!!!

now sadly this whole episode cost me a day, and it's late. i'm going to push on a few more kilometers to field BC and sleep there over night. however there is a slight treat for me there. you field is home to one of the coolest palaeontologic sites in the world!!!

catch you there people of the innerweb!

why have i been stopping?

well people of the innerweb i'm still on my way out of BC. i guess it makes sense that after it taking 2 months to get into it that it's taking me a few days to get out.

i do really want out though. it hasn't been anywhere near as much fun (or safe...) here in BC now that i'm leaving. today i got to a place called goldy-on.

man i'm getting sick of mother nature mimicing my mood with the weather. it's all cloudy and depressing STILL! more to the point it has been snowing now and then as i drive. i may be warm blooded, but i don't have feathers like other coelurosaurs... sure hope it's warm in alberta when i get back...

oh course i needed to pull over again like a few days ago in the enchanted forest... i really didn't want to after that whole ordeal... but i'd get stranded if i didn't get gas... so i gave in to my stupid car... should have known better!


after filling up my car, and picking up a snack for the road i placed my twinkies down on a bench for just a sec. when i turned around it was like a nightmare... not one, not three, not zero, but TWO bears were suddenly there fighting for my twinkies!!!

to be honest i was terrorified! these guys are almost as scary as vampires or ghosts...


now if i were a big t-rex this probably won't scare me so much. my mom for example weighs as much as both these guys, and could easily take them (but don't let the fact she's a girl throw you off... with we dinos the females are the really scary ones!). i on the other hand, well weigh as much as one of their whiskers... uh if bears have whiskers?

anyways i did the only thing that seemed right for the situation... i ran as fast as i could jumped in my car, and hide underneath my sleeping blankets! call me a coward if you must, but you're not the one tending to dragon fire burns!

after an hour of hiding i popped my head up to see no signs of bears that alone my twinkies... with the coast clear i took off.

it's alberta of bust now!!! no more stopping in BC if i can help it...

i hate magic!!!

so far my retreat from the BCs has been uneventful. that is more due to my not feeling like stopping anywhere. i'm just kinda depressed to be frank... or uh what? why to people say that anyway. i'm traumador... not frank

the fact most of the places so far were those i'd already passed through to get to vancouver didn't help either. i even sped to get past hope and dinotown! however i'm now on a new northern highway that is a quicker route to drumheller so in theory there is new stuff around here...

it's like the universe likes to taunt me. it started raining the day i left. even mother natural wants to enhance my sadness...

after 2 days of straight driving i was kinda needing a break. well and gas. oh and sleep. hmmmm food. need food sometime too!




needing all these things i came to an area of inner BC called the enchanted forest. i figured anywhere that needed a sign on the highway must have a gas station or something... of course it was raining even worse here. i decided the key thing was to sleep first, and then solve all my other problems when i got up.

i mean whats the worst thing that could happen to me while sleeping in a forest?

when i woke up it was pouring hard as ever. fine i figured this way i'll just get my fuel and food and keep driving. still a long way to drumheller

heading deeper into this enchanting forest i was shocked to discover there was no gas station anywhere to be found... in fact there was almost nothing... except a really creepy looking castle...

pulling up to it i hoped that they'd at least have a horse or something i could ride to get gas... cause my car was running really low, and i didn't want to get stranded!

getting out of my car i headed towards the castle with the intent of seeing if i could bum some gas of the medieval occupants. if only things were as simple as they should be... getting closer to the fortress two really weird looking mammal sauropods popped out of the forest.

"beware stranger." they said in unison... man i hate it when that happens. it always means trouble! "this is not a friendly realm for visitors. even ancient ones such as yourself..."

okay so if that wasn't a scary prophecy or warning i don't know what was going to be. still if it is a uncool place for me to be i needed that gas then. so i kept on walking towards the castle!

well you're never going to guess what happened next people of the innerweb. or well maybe you have cause you looked at the picture... approaching the front gate of the castle suddenly a dragon appeared on top of the parapits...

okay this was just getting weird!

i wasn't about to let some stinking monster lizard stop me though! i might be scared of a lot of things, but giant reptiles with sharp teeth aren't one of them... this guy was nothing compared to my cousin Larry...

well okay he's not much compared to Larry unless you take into account his atomic fire breath!!!

needless to say i cheesed it out of there!!!

man i hated this place. all i was trying to do was get out of it, and it won't let me! just before i got really mad (and i mean REALLY mad!) i heard a voice from behind me.

"why so glum chum?" said a big... i'm not making this up... egg sitting on a rock wall... "have you had a candy can for your tum?"

no i replied. what was with this whole place i wondered. a talking egg... i didn't say a word of this out loud you have to understand, but yet suddenly as though the egg heard me.

"oh this place is a little bit like that you see." it started "like one two three. lots of magic about to fill you with you glee. now what is your greatest wish to be?"

after my misadventures in vancouver i just wasn't in the mood for this. "i just want gas!"

"such a request why consider it done." replied the egg. "now off you go for lots more fun"

i was so mad. now it was toying with me too. all i wanted to do was get out of here, and it was mocking me with its stupid rhyme!

now i looked down while angrily thinking this. when i looked up the crazy talking egg was gone... as was the castle, the sauropodmammals, and even the atomic dragon... it was like none of it happened.

yet when i got to my car and started it up (fearing i'd get stranded here in this crazy forest) my gas tank was full!!!

oh man! so that stupid egg offered me my one wish, and i wished for a tank of gas!

i could got that wii i really wanted!!!

the future?

67.2 million BC

i spent the majority of the day wandering through the rest of vancouver... can't say whether it was nice or not. my heart just wasn't into it.

so Larry was right. this isn't the land of prehistory. not the REAL BCs... rather just a human place with a convergent name (i'm so sad i'm not getting big words wrong... oh man). i've wasted 2 whole months pursuing a imaginary goal...

the moral being so far i haven't managed to fit in with other dinosaurs yet. we t-rexs are not popular based on our virtues it would seem. just our scariness, and you're not scary if your not big...

the first spot i hit that snapped me out of my gloom was a beach. the sun was setting over the ocean, and all the ships off in the distance... what a majestic sight to see!

watching the reflections of the sun in the water i pondered my life. compared to this i was nothing. i'm an insignificant speck in the universe. even just this ocean goes on for as far as i can see, and there is a lot more out there then just it...

you'd think in a world that big there'd be a place for me out there...

i mean there has to be a place somewhere that needs a t-rex. or even just a dinosaur... if only i knew where that was...

as i stand here gazing across the colossal sea i can't help, but feel that over the horizon lies an answer to my existence...

what i do know is this. i can't stay here in the BCs... the trip (espeically that fake dinotown i built) has left me broke. even with the salary i'm still getting from the eco centre won't be not enough to pay for my living here...

i also still haven't found my roots. i don't care if i can't find out what it is too be a true dinosaur anymore... so far they've all been jerks or worse. that and we dinosaurs are extinct everywhere on the planet with minor exceptions in museums and shows apparently...

i DO still want to find out who i am and where i came from...

there is only one place i can goto find that out...

looks like i'll have to go back to where it all started... drumheller... while i'm there though it can't hurt to see if the dinosaur boom has busted, and who knows? maybe there'll be an opening for me when i get there, and i can resume my old life!

well people of the innerweb i'd say this concludes my quest into BC... now i return home!