Not letting my broken arm stop me from having fun, Joanne, Echo, and her nieces went to Jones Lake for a weekend camping trip and I was more than happy to tag along.
We found a great spot by the lake and immediately unpacked, setup tents, lit the citronella candles on fire, and sprayed ourselves with deet.
The day was a scorcher so after slapping on some sunscreen, we went down to the lake to cool off. I took cover in the shade of the trees and watched from the shore. When evening rolled by, the sun was quickly replaced by the thickening grey clouds which brought on the rain, and thunder and lightening soon joined the ensemble. As it took us all by surprise, we had hastily collected a bunch of sticks and branches to support the tarp strung above our tents for support and constantly removed puddles of rain water accumulating on the tarp so that it wouldn’t collapse on us under its weight.
Day two opened with the kind of sunlight you would expect after a storm and as it rose, it shone its rays of light on the mountains around us illuminating everything in its path.
Like what we had for lunch and dinner the day before, breakfast and lunch was a serving of hamburgers and hotdogs. With our bellies full, we took advantage of the sun and lake again. I even walked in to the lake this time, knee high, and bathed in the sun while.
Heading back down the rough logging road on our way home was a challenge for Joanne’s Chevy Blazer as the brakes were overheating due to her riding the brakes down the steep gravel guardrail-less decline. When the smell of brakes entered our nose, we pulled over to cool it down and worried about wether or not we should attempt the rest of our decent down or abandon the SUV and hop into Echo’s Grand Vitara instead. While we debated and gave the Blazer time to cool off, other motor vehicles of all types and condition came down the road, many travelling at unsafe speeds.
After twenty minutes or so, Joanne attempted to start ‘er up again and make a slow and cautious decent to the base of the logging road. The rest of us were waiting for her down below with our fingers crossed. Minutes passed. Other vehicles passed. Then Joanne’s SUV came to view and we let out a collective sigh of relief.
That was our weekend excitement.
Jul 27, 2009
Jul 23, 2009
Adrift in Tokyo.
Echo and I found each other in the long lineup in front of the Pacific Cinematheque this evening to catch a screening of a Japanese film called Adrift in Tokyo but nearly found ourselves adrift in Vancouver when a theatre operator came out to apologise that tickets were all sold out. “Oh no!” we gasped as we looked at each other and at everyone else still lining up with a quizzical look. Some people left the queue but Echo and I stayed put, hopeful that the theatre operator miscounted the number of seats actually sold. While in line, we quickly befriended a petite woman our age and asked her if she would like to join us in formulating a Plan B if we couldn’t get in. With less than $20 in her pockets, our dining experience was restricted to McDonalds or Wendy’s so the prospect didn’t seem so appealing.
Humming and hawing as the hamster wheel in our heads spun at speeds too slow to measure, more and more disenchanted patrons left the queue until only a handful of us were left standing by the doors. Just then, the theatre operator came back out to announce that there were indeed more seats available! Elated and glad that our patience was rewarded, we purchased our tickets and found our seats. There were no two seats available side by side so I was stuck beside a humungous sad excuse of a man feeding his porker belly with popcorn. And he spoke throughout the movie. People like him shouldn’t even exist.
The movie itself was wonderful and Echo seemed to have enjoyed it more than I did. As we exited the theatre, we found Jay there waiting for us to come out. As we so often do, we defaulted again with having dinner at Stephos before calling it a night.
Humming and hawing as the hamster wheel in our heads spun at speeds too slow to measure, more and more disenchanted patrons left the queue until only a handful of us were left standing by the doors. Just then, the theatre operator came back out to announce that there were indeed more seats available! Elated and glad that our patience was rewarded, we purchased our tickets and found our seats. There were no two seats available side by side so I was stuck beside a humungous sad excuse of a man feeding his porker belly with popcorn. And he spoke throughout the movie. People like him shouldn’t even exist.
The movie itself was wonderful and Echo seemed to have enjoyed it more than I did. As we exited the theatre, we found Jay there waiting for us to come out. As we so often do, we defaulted again with having dinner at Stephos before calling it a night.
Jul 19, 2009
Rekindling an old flame.
Open houses. Beach fire.
After having Sunday brunch with Jay, we went to a number of open houses to check out the real estate scene in the West End. I was most impressed with the bachelor suite I saw on Burrard and Davie for just under $300 grand as it was a corner unit built only a few years ago. It didn’t fit my bill of wanting a 2-bedroom suite however, so we continued looking. Among others, The Barclay residences were pretty nice as well. This was initially rental apartments but had since been redeveloped and renovated to be sold for ownership. It had an open floor plan which I liked with the ground floor suites with a closed off patio.
I appreciate Jay’s effort, help, and company in helping me, a first time buyer, get settled in with what to expect. He’s a good friend.
For this evening, I got together with Aaron, Jenn, and Ian and went down to the 1001 steps to have a beach fire and talk under the stars. It’s something we hadn’t done in a long time. For me, it’s been at least a year! Where did the time go? This was something we used to do on a weekly basis when we were in our early twenties. This and weekly movie nights at Strawberry Hill or a DVD night at someone’s place. We’ve all drifted away and found busyness in our own disconnected lives with work and school, but I’m glad we haven’t completely lost touch. Jennifer is off again shortly for more travelling around Scotland and Ireland so we won’t be seeing much of her for the rest of the year I take it.
Carpe Diem.
After having Sunday brunch with Jay, we went to a number of open houses to check out the real estate scene in the West End. I was most impressed with the bachelor suite I saw on Burrard and Davie for just under $300 grand as it was a corner unit built only a few years ago. It didn’t fit my bill of wanting a 2-bedroom suite however, so we continued looking. Among others, The Barclay residences were pretty nice as well. This was initially rental apartments but had since been redeveloped and renovated to be sold for ownership. It had an open floor plan which I liked with the ground floor suites with a closed off patio.
I appreciate Jay’s effort, help, and company in helping me, a first time buyer, get settled in with what to expect. He’s a good friend.
For this evening, I got together with Aaron, Jenn, and Ian and went down to the 1001 steps to have a beach fire and talk under the stars. It’s something we hadn’t done in a long time. For me, it’s been at least a year! Where did the time go? This was something we used to do on a weekly basis when we were in our early twenties. This and weekly movie nights at Strawberry Hill or a DVD night at someone’s place. We’ve all drifted away and found busyness in our own disconnected lives with work and school, but I’m glad we haven’t completely lost touch. Jennifer is off again shortly for more travelling around Scotland and Ireland so we won’t be seeing much of her for the rest of the year I take it.
Carpe Diem.
Jul 17, 2009
Les Misérables.
Meeting up with Echo, Jay, and his lady friend, Sherry for dinner at Café Salade de Fruits, we indulged in an assortment of cuisines offered on the menu and their house wine this evening. The cafe had a very nice ambiance and our server, fluent en Français, was cordial.
Our group of four proceeded to move on to the Stanley Theatre shortly after satisfying our hunger for a performance of Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables which we had been looking forward to seeing for months. We were seated at the very front row with the stage floor at eye level. We had initially thought that there would be some obstruction of view but after sitting through the first act to the intermission, we all looked at each other with wide eyes, amazed by how vivid and encapsulating it was to be so close to the actors. You could see the sweat beading up on their foreheads and read their facial expressions! And at $25, we felt almost guilty for not paying as much as we were willing or as much as they were deserving.
24601 continues to play in my head.
Our group of four proceeded to move on to the Stanley Theatre shortly after satisfying our hunger for a performance of Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables which we had been looking forward to seeing for months. We were seated at the very front row with the stage floor at eye level. We had initially thought that there would be some obstruction of view but after sitting through the first act to the intermission, we all looked at each other with wide eyes, amazed by how vivid and encapsulating it was to be so close to the actors. You could see the sweat beading up on their foreheads and read their facial expressions! And at $25, we felt almost guilty for not paying as much as we were willing or as much as they were deserving.
24601 continues to play in my head.
Jul 16, 2009
Kamome Shokudo.
I was at the Pacific Cinematheque with Jay and Lehli for a movie called Kamome Shokudo, part of the Kibatsu Cinema film fest. A Japanese woman opens a small Japanese diner in Helsinki and characters with very distinct personalities drift in and out. I was particularly fond of the local Finnish young man obsessed with all things Japanese as was expressed by the t-shirts he wore from day to day ranging from Japanese cartoon characters to geisha.
There was magic in this film, a quality rarely found in modern Japanese cinema that I’ve seen in the past, and I quite liked it. I loved it actually, and my two friends also agreed.
I’ve got to find out more about this Gatchaman anime.
There was magic in this film, a quality rarely found in modern Japanese cinema that I’ve seen in the past, and I quite liked it. I loved it actually, and my two friends also agreed.
I’ve got to find out more about this Gatchaman anime.
Jul 11, 2009
Galiano and the nasty fall.
Jay, Echo, and I had intended to cycle around Saltspring Island this weekend but by the time we got to the Tsawwassen ferry terminal, we had literally missed the boat. Capable of making quick adjustments to our plans, we took the next sailing to anywhere else we hadn’t explored yet, and that was to Galiano Island.
It was hot out and the afternoon sun was beaming down on us as we got off the ferry and began our cycling adventure. With my tent, air mattress, sleeping bag in tow, along with my DSLR on my back, I battled the steep uphill climbed and was relieved when I crested. As a reward, I wanted to take advantage of the downhill slope and get some wind in my hair and live life to its fullest, so down I went. I managed to reach speeds in the 50 km/h range and was loving the ride on my new Specialized Rockhopper. Sadly, that was a short-lived moment of bliss when it all came to a crashing halt when I under-estimated my speed and distance to a bend in the road. I had slowed down to 30 clicks but this was still too fast for my own good and as a result, I skidded on loose gravel along the side of the road, slammed into a road sign, hit a tree, and rolled into the ditch.
FUCK.
I landed with my left arm in a position I’ve never seen before and though I could move my fingers, I couldn’t control my arm. A woman from a car travelling in the opposite direction saw the entire accident and was the first on scene to see if I was okay. Jay and Echo came down minutes later.
Never loosing consciousness but disappointed by my unresponsive left arm, I managed to crawl out of the ditch to higher ground, took off my helmet with my right hand, and rested on my back until the paramedics arrived on scene. The woman in the car was quick to diagnose exactly what I had broken: my humerus bone. Amy and Lucas, the paramedics who clam-shelled me and hoisted me into the ambulance confirmed that I had broken my humerus bone. Apparently, Amy had received a page from dispatch during her tennis game and left straight away to my need so I apologised for my stupidity on such a lovely day and joked with her about how there is nothing humerous about a fractured humerus.
I was whisked away to the island’s only walk-in clinic to see Dr. David Beaver, the island’s only on-call doctor for morphine and a temporary sling. The clinic had no x-ray machine. As I layed there on the bed, Dr. Beaver made calls to see if I can be air-lifted to Victoria General but as it turned out, they were tending to more life-threatening injuries. All I had was a broken arm and I wasn’t in any excrutiating pain. A special ferry service to Victoria General was also looked into but they too were tending to more serious injuries and couldn’t ferry me across. As a last resort, Jay and Echo rented a Toyota Matrix from a shady character (by their description) and I was finally on my way to Vancouver General with special clearance.
We pulled up to the ferry terminal and were given priority service to lane 1 ahead of everyone else. Then on the ferry, a first-aid attendant from BC Ferries came to the window of our car and made sure that I was doing alright. He too had a mountain biking accident as it turned out. Once we reached Tsawwassen, we were the first to leave. Everywhere I went there were nice and helpful people along the way. I felt touched!
It was well into the wee hours of the morning when a lovely resident doctor by the name of Dr. Andrea Simmonds (who bore a very close resemblance in mannerism and voice to my CS friend in Seattle also named Andrea) made a cool fibre-glass hanging cast for me. She was so impressed by her good work that she asked me to pose for her in my new adornment as she took pictures with her iPhone to show her colleagues. I gave her a thumbs up in the pose, my left thumb sticking out of the cast.
Daylight was about to break again by the time the three of us retired back at Jay’s abode where we fell asleep instantly.
This was definitely not the weekend cycle/camping trip we had expected. But then again, we’re capable of making quick adjustments to our plans.
2012-07-25 Update: Scanned in and posted a pic of a LEGO scenario which I thought was most suitable for this blogpost. The resemblance is humorously uncanny. Thanks, James!
It was hot out and the afternoon sun was beaming down on us as we got off the ferry and began our cycling adventure. With my tent, air mattress, sleeping bag in tow, along with my DSLR on my back, I battled the steep uphill climbed and was relieved when I crested. As a reward, I wanted to take advantage of the downhill slope and get some wind in my hair and live life to its fullest, so down I went. I managed to reach speeds in the 50 km/h range and was loving the ride on my new Specialized Rockhopper. Sadly, that was a short-lived moment of bliss when it all came to a crashing halt when I under-estimated my speed and distance to a bend in the road. I had slowed down to 30 clicks but this was still too fast for my own good and as a result, I skidded on loose gravel along the side of the road, slammed into a road sign, hit a tree, and rolled into the ditch.
FUCK.
I landed with my left arm in a position I’ve never seen before and though I could move my fingers, I couldn’t control my arm. A woman from a car travelling in the opposite direction saw the entire accident and was the first on scene to see if I was okay. Jay and Echo came down minutes later.
Never loosing consciousness but disappointed by my unresponsive left arm, I managed to crawl out of the ditch to higher ground, took off my helmet with my right hand, and rested on my back until the paramedics arrived on scene. The woman in the car was quick to diagnose exactly what I had broken: my humerus bone. Amy and Lucas, the paramedics who clam-shelled me and hoisted me into the ambulance confirmed that I had broken my humerus bone. Apparently, Amy had received a page from dispatch during her tennis game and left straight away to my need so I apologised for my stupidity on such a lovely day and joked with her about how there is nothing humerous about a fractured humerus.
I was whisked away to the island’s only walk-in clinic to see Dr. David Beaver, the island’s only on-call doctor for morphine and a temporary sling. The clinic had no x-ray machine. As I layed there on the bed, Dr. Beaver made calls to see if I can be air-lifted to Victoria General but as it turned out, they were tending to more life-threatening injuries. All I had was a broken arm and I wasn’t in any excrutiating pain. A special ferry service to Victoria General was also looked into but they too were tending to more serious injuries and couldn’t ferry me across. As a last resort, Jay and Echo rented a Toyota Matrix from a shady character (by their description) and I was finally on my way to Vancouver General with special clearance.
We pulled up to the ferry terminal and were given priority service to lane 1 ahead of everyone else. Then on the ferry, a first-aid attendant from BC Ferries came to the window of our car and made sure that I was doing alright. He too had a mountain biking accident as it turned out. Once we reached Tsawwassen, we were the first to leave. Everywhere I went there were nice and helpful people along the way. I felt touched!
It was well into the wee hours of the morning when a lovely resident doctor by the name of Dr. Andrea Simmonds (who bore a very close resemblance in mannerism and voice to my CS friend in Seattle also named Andrea) made a cool fibre-glass hanging cast for me. She was so impressed by her good work that she asked me to pose for her in my new adornment as she took pictures with her iPhone to show her colleagues. I gave her a thumbs up in the pose, my left thumb sticking out of the cast.
Daylight was about to break again by the time the three of us retired back at Jay’s abode where we fell asleep instantly.
This was definitely not the weekend cycle/camping trip we had expected. But then again, we’re capable of making quick adjustments to our plans.
2012-07-25 Update: Scanned in and posted a pic of a LEGO scenario which I thought was most suitable for this blogpost. The resemblance is humorously uncanny. Thanks, James!
Jul 5, 2009
Beer festival, fireworks, food, and friends.
What a fantastic weekend I had! Saturday was the Canada Cup of Beer at the Thunderbird Stadium where Jenn and I spent the bulk of the day drinking away like a fish, sampling about a dozen different varieties from the advertised two-hundred brews offered from local and international taps. There we were in the sunshine pouring, swirling, sniffing, tasting, and grading each one with descriptive notes on its percentage of alcohol, appearance, aroma, taste, aftertaste, and suggested food pairing. We were able to taste a sampling of white ales, pale ales, lagers, and wines from all over the world including Tyskie (Polish), Peroni (Italian), Menabrea (Italian), Hells Gate (Richmond), and Red Racer (Surrey), but the one I found most satisfied with was Central City Brewing Company's Red Racer White Ale. The fact that this was the very first beer I had downed at the festival may have had the advantage of leaving me with the strongest first impression, but this straw coloured ale with its crisp and smooth qualities really hit the spot for both Jenn and I. We both agreed that something like a roast beef or chicken sandwich would pair well with this. The other one we were both impressed with as well was Barefoot Wine's Zinfandel and Pino Grigio. For the extremely sweet Zinfandel with its fruity and floral aroma, we had fruit salad, strawberry shortcake, and potato salad in mind. As for the Pino Grigio, sauté butter prawns came to mind.
And that's exactly what I had ordered at The Cellar on Granville to share between the two of us.
We hurried on back down to White Rock afterward with the intention to walk across the border to Blaine to catch the Independence Day fireworks. With white chocolate macadamia nut cookies in hand, we were trying to beat time and quickened our pace along the railroad tracks meandering through crowds of others who had set up folding chairs along the coastline. Though we didn't make it down by foot to the actual site in Blaine when the fireworks started at 2230h, we found a log on the beach on the White Rock side with an equally gorgeous view.
Sunday came around when I woke up from Jenn's day bed. In the late afternoon, I met up with James, a friend I hadn't seen in years, at the Museum of Vancouver where we went to see the Velo-City exhibit: a history of bikes in the city. Squeezing in as much as we could see in the thirty-minutes we had before closing, I was thoroughly impressed with the exhibit of DIY bikes, hardcore downhill mountain bikes, road racers, a wall of candid photos of people on bikes with quotes, and videos.
We were at The Mill Bistro on West Cordova and got together with Jenn and Ian for food and drinks before retiring at the Christ Church Cathedral, cleansing ourselves from our sins with Gregorian chant and service.
It's back to work tomorrow.
And that's exactly what I had ordered at The Cellar on Granville to share between the two of us.
We hurried on back down to White Rock afterward with the intention to walk across the border to Blaine to catch the Independence Day fireworks. With white chocolate macadamia nut cookies in hand, we were trying to beat time and quickened our pace along the railroad tracks meandering through crowds of others who had set up folding chairs along the coastline. Though we didn't make it down by foot to the actual site in Blaine when the fireworks started at 2230h, we found a log on the beach on the White Rock side with an equally gorgeous view.
Sunday came around when I woke up from Jenn's day bed. In the late afternoon, I met up with James, a friend I hadn't seen in years, at the Museum of Vancouver where we went to see the Velo-City exhibit: a history of bikes in the city. Squeezing in as much as we could see in the thirty-minutes we had before closing, I was thoroughly impressed with the exhibit of DIY bikes, hardcore downhill mountain bikes, road racers, a wall of candid photos of people on bikes with quotes, and videos.
We were at The Mill Bistro on West Cordova and got together with Jenn and Ian for food and drinks before retiring at the Christ Church Cathedral, cleansing ourselves from our sins with Gregorian chant and service.
It's back to work tomorrow.
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