Author: ScootyDub

I’m a digital creator and storyteller. I explore ideas through writing and videos. I’m on a quest to better understand myself to better understand the people around me. I’m curious about all that it means to exist in this wild world.
By ScootyDub

SwS – Growth doesn’t always feel good

Happy Sunday, I’m officially a Growth Operator at Late Checkout. I got the title, raise, and psychological boost. The high didn’t last long. Thirty minutes into hosting my first community workshop, I didn’t feel like an operator. My mouth was dry, my notes were thin, and the pauses stretched on too long. The clock was crawling. This was new, uncomfortable territory for me. Most of my work happens behind a keyboard, not in front of a group. I’m used to showing what I know by doing, not…

By ScootyDub

SwS – Soaking in home before it’s gone

Happy Sunday, I’m staring out the window at TWP road 504. Sitting in my childhood home, for one of the last times. The walls are bare. The rooms are emptier than I’ve ever seen them. For three decades, this place has been a constant. It’s where I grew up, where I returned for Christmas, where “going home” always meant. Now my parents are retiring. They’re selling the acreage to begin their next chapter. I’m happy for them. It feels right. But it’s bittersweet too. Because when they move, this…

By ScootyDub

SwS – Chasing wonder just outside city limits

Happy Sunday, I’ve lived in Calgary for 14 years. I’ve done Banff, Canmore, Kananaskis. Explored plenty of parks, rivers, trails. I thought I had a good grasp on what the area had to offer. This month reminded me I probably don’t. I visited Bearspaw Reservoir for the first time. A little lake just northwest of the city. I knew of Bearspaw, but not this spot. It felt like finding a secret mini Okanagan lake. Water tucked between rolling hills. Families in canoes, teenagers ripping on wave…

By ScootyDub

SwS – Climbing the same stairs 24 years later

Happy Sunday, 106 steps above Drumheller, Alberta, stands the World’s Largest Dinosaur. 4 weeks ago, I stood at the top of it, peering through the teeth, with my almost-four-year-old nephew. 24 years before, I climbed those same stairs on a grade 4 field trip. Dinosaurs were the theme, and Drumheller had the goods. I remember thinking it was wild that a place like that existed so close to home. I didn’t know what “topography” meant yet. But I felt it. The hoodoos, the fossils, the badlands….

By ScootyDub

SwS – Weathering cloudy expectations in sunny Victoria

Happy Sunday, Mayday mayday! May got away from me. I’m a week late, but I made it here to welcome you into June. Summer has arrived! But for May Long weekend… The weather forecast showed rain, rain, rain. Sitting at YYC airport’s gate A24, I sigh and put my phone face down on the seat beside me. I grab the $7 Starbucks coffee and sip, tentatively. Still too hot and burnt beyond bitter. I think to myself, “this weekend getaway might suck.” 150 minutes later, I’m sitting in the backseat of a…

By ScootyDub

SwS – Finding something unexpected in the Battlefords

Happy Sunday, North Battleford is the 7th largest city in Saskatchewan. It has a population of ~18000 and holds historical significance as the province’s first official settlement, founded as a fur trading post in 1876. It continues to operate as an essential hub for the Canadian Northern Railway. But the most interesting fact about North Battleford… it’s where I spent Easter weekend. Isolated on a side road off a dirt road 4 minutes outside of town, 5 adults + 3 dogs + 2 cats + 1 small child…