The Balance of Yin & Yang.

My flatmates Moe and Clara took Stan and I on a hiking trip to Xiangshan Park. Instead of writing a long entry about this journey, I've opted to show them to you in pictures instead. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then this entry would be like a Tolstoy epic. Please enjoy.

Also included in this series of photographs are pictures of Sinoland Language and Culture school. On several floors of this 23 floor building, there are zen-gardens where people could go to take a coffee-break or simply take your mind off work for a bit. As you could see in the photos, I found this place to be very meditative.

My school is on the 20th floor of this sleek building and only recently had I noticed the absence of floors 4, 13, and 14. Instead, it is replaced with 3A, 12A, and 12B respectively. The number 4 is pronounced as "shu" which sounds a lot like the Chinese word for death, so 4 is a very undesirable number to have. People go to great lengths to make sure that the number 4 doesn't appear in phone numbers, addresses, licence plates, suite numbers, and the likes. As for the number 13, that's just triskaidekaphobia of western influence. I found this elevator keypad comical so I had to take a photo for your viewing pleasures.

Off to the Orient.

To the Oriental Plaza, that is. :)

I went on an adventure today and challenged myself to take the subway system to the Oriental Plaza shopping centre. My student, earlier today, had recommended going there when I asked her if there were any good shopping malls and districts in this area.


I needed to get new shoes as I've been wearing these New Balance running shoes for everything, regardless of whether it matched with my attire or not. I should have brought my entire collection of shoes to Beijing.





Navigating the subway system was easier than I had imagined. There are three lines currently in operation: the Yellow (Line 13), the Blue (Line 2), and the Red (Line 1). I had to ride all of them to get to my destination. There are about ten more lines scheduled to open before the 2008 Olympics. The great thing about taking the subway is that it's fast and cheap (only 5 RMB each way), but the subway is often crowded and reeks of human waste and body odour.

The mall itself was nothing spectacular as it looked just like any of the malls in Vancouver, but then again, I've never seen anything like it here in Beijing. What was nice about the Oriental Plaza was the array of stores of which I've never seen or heard of before, which offered something different from the usual GAP's, Banana Republic's, and Old Navy's. In fact, I have yet to see these American retail stores here in Beijing.

While strolling throughout the mall, I came across the Beijing Volkswagen Olympic Forum and the Beijing Audi Forum across from it, which were both adjacent to the BMW Lifestyle Store. With an exception to the BMW Lifestyle Store, they sold automobiles inside a mall! Now this was definitely unique, so I took a quick tour inside. Mmm... Polo... Sagitar... Touareg... Phaeton... Yes, I will keep dreaming. :D

Now to recap other notable events this past week, I will clump them all together here:








My new flatmates, Moe and Clara, cooked dinner for Stan and I last Sunday.








Although the main beef dish which simmered in the pan a little too long was rendered inedible (which was unfortunate as Clara had gone to a speciality store far away to get), they managed to serve up a spicy dish of string beans and peanuts substitute with salad, eggs, and tomatoes.



And the soup! Mustn't forget about the delicious soup of whatever it was!








After a few weeks of trying to get high speed internet in my apartment, I finally got it installed, so no more lugging my heavy PowerBook around to internet cafe's and spending hours upon hours there. Now I could spend hours upon hours inside without ever leaving my flat! ;) I'm just joshing around of course.


With great excitement, I went out to the electronics district to buy another AirPort Express the very next day so that I wouldn't be tethered to my desk by an ethernet cable. The beauty of watching DVD's from the comfort of my own bed and chatting to friends online while sitting on the can! Got the AirPort Express at a great price too. After haggling the merchant, I got the price reduced from 1,200 RMB to only 900 RMB. That's $130 CAD! The MSRP for the AirPort Express is priced at $159 CAD on Apple's own website.

I also caught a bad cold during the week and the worst of it was when I was conducting a class. I was blowing my nose off, coughing my lungs out, and sneezing my head off. I wanted to croak over on the floor in a fetus position and scream "I'm dying! I'm dying!", but with my voice almost lost, screaming was impossible. I apologised profusely for not taking the day off and exposing her to the potential of spreading my cold. I bet this cold had everything to do with my body trying to adjust to the disgustingly despicable air quality here. (Message to friends back home: please send bottled Vancouver air, post haste!) I'm doing much better now with the aid of Chinese medicine, HALLS, and lots of oolong tea, but the cough still remains. sadly, my flatmate, Clara, has begun to cough...

In addition to the pollution, the humidity is very low, so my throat dries up very quickly, making it a little painful to breathe. I went out and bought an air humidifier to help me sleep at night.

In closing, I'll leave you with a few new Chinese phrases I've learned from my brother and flatmates. My apologies if I have erred in my phonetics, or "pinyin" as it is called here.

- Ni dan bi ne ("nee dan bee na"): Don't fuck with me.
- Er bai wu ("are buy wuoo"): Idiot. Literally: "two-hundred-and-fifty" or 250.
- Huang shu ("huang shoe"): Pornography. Literally: "yellow book".

These words will come in very handy, especially when a driver cuts me off on my bike path. Hey, it adds character! :D

Being Beijingese.

If there's one thing you could count on in China, it'll have to be the lack of quality in Chinese craftsmanship. Things fall apart, break, or not work at all right out of the box! To add to this list, I'll have to throw in the bad quality of packaged foods like instant noodles and moon cakes. For heaven's sake, many don't even meet its own quality control measures (a standard that's placed lower than the more discriminating ISO standards) for food quality and safety, so you put your health in jeopardy when you realise later that there was something else in what you had just consumed, in addition to the foul taste of it, making your stomach churn like never before. Unfortunately, your selection is limited when you start boycotting everything that's Made in China™.



Case in point: the new door lock to my flat jammed up after only a few weeks of use, preventing Stan and I from leaving the apartment. Yes, we were locked inside of our flat because of the faulty locking mechanism. Stan pondered about what would happen if there was a case of fire in our building. I rather not think about that scenario, but jumping out our third floor window isn't an option I will want to take. If I remember correctly, one could jump out of the second floor window and still have a good chance of survival, but jumping out of the third and surviving the fall is much less likely. As a result, I used all my might and pulled the whole lock mechanism right off the door. This rendered the main door unsecured, but fortunately, there's a gated door in front of it which added a second security barrier, which still functioned well. Knock on wood.

A pipe in the kitchen also sprung a leak, leaving a puddle of water on the tiled floor. After contacting the landlady about the two immediate problems at hand, a plumber and a lock repair man was scheduled to come the day after. Of course, they came at the time when I was the only one home, and wouldn't you believe it, they didn't speak a lick of English. Oh Mon Dieu! To make this situation even worse, THEY BOTH CAME KNOCKING AT MY DOOR AT THE SAME TIME. In light of this hilarious situation I found myself in, I took it in stride and called one of my students and asked her to be my translator, passing my mobile to the plumber and lock repair man back and forth. "Sign here, pay amount, get receipt, off you go!" I did it with military style.



I've signed on several more students since my last post, both privately and at Sinoland Language & Culture Co., pushing my work schedule up to 25 hours a week. I don't know how I managed to do this, but I'm now working 7 days a week! As an award of excellence and to reap the benefits of my hard work, I walked over to the electronics district about an hour and a half away and bought myself an iDog. Yep, I've wanted one since Christmas but they were all sold out everywhere then. Now I finally own one and he sits happily on my desk just wanting to be played with and eager to dance along when I attach my iPod to him. Must love dogs... ;)

I have a new mode of transportation now. I used to take the taxi frequently (it's only 10 RMB, or $1.40 CAD for the short trips I make) and use my own two feet, but Stan took me to a place right at the gates of the Beijing Language & Culture University (BLCU) and found me a second-hand bike which I scored for only 60 RMB, or about $9 CAD. Of course, with the money I'm making by teaching, I could afford a new bike, but bikes are stolen so frequently here that I really didn't care to get a shiny new bike with all the bells and whistles which would stand out from a sea of rusty grey bikes, so I settled for something that would blend right in, complete with bicycle grease, worn out brake pads, and a fender rubbing against the front tyre.



There is one particular thing that impressed me about China however, contrarily to the rant I opened this blog with, and that is the dominance of Volkswagens on the road. Being a huge fan of VW, this was something I noticed immediately. In addition to the fleet of Jetta CiF's being used as taxis, private owners seem to prefer VW's over any other automobile manufacturer, including the cheap and ugly Chinese engineered Geely. There are VW models here like Gol, Polo, Santana, Bora, and Sagitar which aren't available in the North American market. Just from my own estimates, I think VW's market share in China (or at least in Beijing) is somewhere around the 40% mark. That's impressive! There are other foreign makes here including Citroën, Peugeot, Renalt, Fiat, Hyundai, and Buick, but none of them are as dominating as Volkswagen. It's hard to say how and why VW's dominate the automobile market here though. Could it be that VW has a strong marketing department? Maybe VW has a special joint-venture agreement with the Chinese government with the opening of the manufacturing plant in Shanghai. Do the Chinese actually have great taste in automobiles?



For whatever the reason, the Chinese certainly make up for their shoddy craftsmanship with their excellent choice in German engineering. Now, if only they could start driving like Germans too...

The White Rabbit.

It's almost been a few weeks now since I arrived in Beijing and I'm slowly adjusting to the way of life here, learning as I go along. It's been a real struggle just doing my shopping and banking without knowing any Mandarin. It's sometimes frusterating when my English and sign language isn't enough to get what I want. I got really annoyed at the supermarket the other day because I had to leave behind my eggs, pears, and apples at the cash register. I understood later that I had to weigh them myself, print off a barcode and stick them on the bag beforehand. I wanted to go back into the supermarket to get my eggs and fruits and do it right the second time around, but I was denied entry for some reason (they have security guards standing at entrance ways everywhere here) so I shot him a dirty look and huffed and puffed my way back to my apartment... ^&!%@*&!^%*&^@%*&@^% GRRRR!!!!

I picked up an elementary book on learning basic conversational Chinese with audio cassettes to listen to the phonetics and pronunciations of this tone-based language. Life will be much easier once I start speaking and understanding Mandarin.



My first impressions of Beijing was that it was very polluted, dirty, and primitive. The smog here is so bad that it's equivalent to smoking 10 packs of cigarettes a day. The air smell like the freeons and ions you would smell in an air-conditioned room. It's hard to describe, of course, but it's potent, and it's everywhere. Traffic is a mess too. A clash of pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists cross each other's path and NO ONE follows the lights in intersections. When it's "safe to go" they go, or budge their way in. Drivers seem to have the right of way here, not pedestrians. It's always a game of chicken when crossing the roads, and I had to get used to this quickly.



I don't have net access in my apartment just yet, so I've been frequenting cafes leeching off it's WiFi and sitting here for hours on end.

I went out with a group of around ten foreigners, most of whom were Germans, for a night of karaoke last night. It was a blast! Though the menus on the computer for selecting songs were difficult to understand because they were all in Chinese, we managed to search songs by song titles (just not by artists) and combed through it, covering everything from Michael Jackson's "Billy Jean" to the Carpenter's "Goodbye to Love". Many of the videos, especially the generic ones of couples in love frolicking through the fields of green, were ridiculously hilarious. Even more hilarious were the numerous spelling errors in the lyrics as the song played on. Could you say "Engrish"?



In addition to tutoring two Korean girls privately, I got a job at the Sinoland Language and Culture Co. today as an English teacher! I went in for my orientation today and was introduced to my new co-workers in the teachers lounge. They were very cordial, friendly, and seemed very interested in my background. I think they were just happy to have a Canadian working amongst them. =) The language school is on the 20th floor of a sparkling new glass building, with classrooms overlooking the busy streets of Beijing.

It's been quite an adventure here so far, chasing after the white rabbit down the rabbit hole. More updates and pictures to come!

Hello Beijing.

My 13 hour flight on Japan Airlines was pleasant for the most part, though I didn't care the poor selection of in-flight movies and music. On my first 9 hours to Tokyo's Narita airport, I had the whole row of 3 seats to myself, so even when flying economy, I was able to stretch my legs out, kick back, and relax to the classical music station I had my headset tuned to, the only station I liked. The other channels were littered with the kind of music one would only subject his worst enemy with; the endlessly tiring, very sugary "J. Pop" music, laced with clichés after clichés of bad lyrics.



When my plane landed in Beijing airport, I was instantly hit with a pungent odour of chemicals in the cabin, but dismissed it as the ions in the air conditioning unit which was on at full blast. Stepping off the plane and into the airport, the smell grew even stronger, but this time, the odour had a more definitive smell of raw petroleum. Mixed in with the heat of Beijing, the air I was breathing was a little more than a concern.



I met up with Stanley at the arrivals terminal after collecting my luggage and checking through customs. It was nice to see a familiar face in a foreign country half way around the world. Stepping out through the sliding glass doors and into the open, the waft of the heat and pollution hit me harder than the head-lock face-plant carpet-burn Kyle gave me on the morning of my departure from Vancouver. "See the fog all around us?" Stanley asked me. "It's not fog, it's smog." he continued. This thick smog was disturbing, to say the least. This could have a profound effect on my respiratory system!



Staring out the window of the bus on our way to the apartment Stanley had found for me, I saw a familiar, brightly lit warehouse sized building with a yellow and blue colour scheme to my right. My eyes widened and my jaw dropped as the giant letters of IKÉA on the side of the building came to view. I was ecstatic.

Nestled in a university district of Wudaokou, my modest apartment on the third floor is walking distance to many shops, restaurants, services, and well, universities. According to Stan, there are at least fifteen different universities in this area alone. I beg to question the reputation of the universities and the quality of education provided by each when universities are so plentiful and seem to crop up as quick as roadside fruit stands.

From the exterior, this apartment complex is not much to look at. Many of the windows are caged for some reason, and the rows and rows of air conditioning units beside the caged windows isn't a pretty sight. The interior is deceivingly decent, however, as my two-bedroom suite both have tiled flooring with faux-hardwood prints on them. The bathroom is a little strange though, as the toilet is with the shower. I'll have to post a pic. The kitchen is narrow, but I don't cook so it'll never be used. As for the balcony, it overlooks the courtyard on one end, and to the streets on the other side of the apartment building.

Can't wait to turn this place into a CouchSurfing haven!

VSC: Critical Mass!

I had never rode my bike around downtown Vancouver before, but participating in my first ever Critical Mass changed that this evening.

I got together with the VSC and hundreds of other cyclists in front of the VAG just after 1800. People of all ages came to form a peaceful protest against automobiles by banding together and taking over the streets of Vancouver en masse. This was Critical Mass, and it takes place on the last Friday of every month!

Our bike ride around town commenced on West Georgia and Howe heading southbound. It took us over to the Granville Street bridge over to Kits, then back around onto Granville Street bridge, this time heading north towards the VAG. The feeling I felt while cycling at a leisurely pace in the middle of the road with hundreds of other cyclists was that of bliss, enjoyment, and satisfaction. Leaving cars and its drivers in the dust brought a great sense of power to the cyclists!

Kyle and his "little" brother, James, joined us from the point when we returned to the VAG and continued our way down Robson Street towards the West End. You really get to see and hear a lot more of the city on bikes, when things aren't zooming past you. Our harmonious sound of our bike horns, bells, and whistles, were joined by car horns in support of our demonstration as we rode along Beach Avenue, Davie Street, and back onto West Georgia.

From recumbent bikes to mountain bikes, granny bikes to race bikes, 2-man bikes to custom made chopper bikes, there were just as many kinds of rides as there were diverse groups of people! Our path continued over to the Cambie Street bridge, then we made a left onto the busy West Broadway towards Commercial Drive. We dismounted off our bikes just several blocks past Cambie and congratulated ourselves and each other for coming out to Critical Mass.

Kyle, James, Sharron, Alice, Jay, and I split off from the pack and peddled our way back to Yaletown to meet up with Amy, James, and Jamie for dinner at Brown's Restaurant & Bar.

I look forward to the day when downtown Vancouver will only be accessible by foot pedestrians, cyclists, public transit, and authorised commercial vehicles. We have a real chance to be a model city for the rest of the world for how green and ecological metropolitan cities can be. We've already got the "West Coast Lifestyle", Vancouverites being the fittest in the nation, and the nature that surrounds us like no other place in the world, so in many ways, we're ahead of the game!

The Great Canadian VW Show.

Ever since watching "Little Miss Sunshine" starring the uncredited Type II VW Microbus, it renewed my desire to want to drive a classic bus rather than the more modern Eurovan or a Vanagon. Going to the Great Canadian VW Show with Aaron this afternoon to see a whole lot full of beautifully restored busses stirred up fantasies of exploring Canada by road again, traversing like a hippie.

There were probably close to a hundred VW's there of all models, years, and modifications, but I focused my attention on the classic Microbus, reading the details of the history of the vehicle, what restorative work has been done to it, and where it has been. With classics, there's bound to be a few good stories to go along with it.

One unique vehicle on display was a custom chop shop work of a Type II bus limousine. It was actually a weld of two Type II busses fused together to extend the cargo and passenger seating area. In addition, the pop top Westfalia tent was also extended to cover the full length of the roof-line, making it a super long Westy with room for four on the top desk alone! It must be quite hard to pop the top open though as there's so much more fibreglass weight.

It was a very impressive show.

FLUGTAG.

For the first time ever, Vancouver played host to the 18th annual FLUGTAG, sponsored and presented by Red Bull energy drink. This event attracted a huge crowd around False Creek this afternoon, with 31 teams from all over Canada and the US here to compete for the most outrageous flying contraption, showmanship, and distance travelled. One after another they dove off the end of the pier with hilarity. Some looked more impressive than others, most notably, the BMW Store team with it's 26" rims and aircraft grade wings, but it was the deceivingly cheaper contraptions made up of two-by-fours nailed together that won as far as distance of flight went.

As entertaining as it was sitting on the bleachers which provided a great view of the runway and the Jumbotron replaying highlights in slow motion, the four of us (Janelle, Aaron, Kyle and I) needed to fill our stomach with food and drinks, so we didn't stick around until the end at 1900.

Instead, we caought "Little Miss Sunshine" at Tinseltown (by means of sneaking through the rear exit doors) and then went to Wild Ginger for Chinese food afterwards. I enjoyed watching "Sunshine" again, and so did everyone else. Aaron, perhaps becoming more aware now that there are gems to be found with independent films, asked why this movie wasn't being screened in more theatres such as the mainstream ones which usually play all of the Hollywood garbage.

Walking around Chinatown, we stumbled upon the Chinatown Night Market by accident. I didn't find anything of interest cruising up and down the strip, but Janelle and Aaron found an awesome Swiss-Army-knife like utilitarian tool with a hammer and scythe symbol representing communism for only a few bucks each! Talking to the vendor selling dozens and dozens of these knives, I found out that these were all confiscated knives from airports. Kyle and I went looking for a cool knife as well, but Janelle and Aaron took the last of the good ones.

Beach fire.

Janelle, Aaron, Kyle, and I, had our beach fire down at our usual haunt tonight, our second one this summer. For a change, we had our fire undisturbed by authorities who usually patrol the area for hooligans and drunkards. With the intent of getting "happily drunk", I brought down my bottle of Smirnoff vodka, Kahlua, and Bailey's Irish Cream, along with my shaker, strainer, measuring cup, a stainless steel coffee thermos from Starbucks, and a water bottle. I was experimenting tonight, so I poured equal parts of all three into the shaker and shook it. I don't know if someone's beat me to the punch and named this cocktail already, but I'm going to call this the "Acid Re-flux". I'll tell you why...

One whiff of this concoction sent me to liquor heaven. Kyle took a whiff and a swig and gave me the approval. I took my first cautious sip from the bottle and analysed the potent auroma and the creamy texture carefully, as if I was wine tasting. It was delicious! Now, I knew the danger of mixing vodka with equal parts of any creme liquor, as it wouldn't sit well in the stomach, but I thought I could handle it and took a chance. I took my time downing my 250 ml drink while we sat around the fire roasting wieners and looking up at the stars. I found myself at my "happy drunk" state (usually noted by me going around hugging people and curling up around them, slurring, and feeling tired) but my stomach was still okay.

It wasn't until we got up to pack up, douse the fire, and climb back up the 1001 Steps, that I started to feel sick. Holding onto the hand rails as I meandered up the wooden steps back up to the car, I felt relieved when I reached the top! Sadly, climbing the steps was half the battle. I felt stomach upset. Not a moment too soon, I had excused myself from the pack, and vomited over the railings. And according to my friends, I did so very eloquently.

After emptying out the contents of my stomach, I was back to my old self again, my mind as sharp as a brick.

I'll need to make slight modifications to this cocktail in the future and give it a good name.

A Fantasy Parade.

Now here's something interesting for you all to read.

I came home after work today only to find that I didn't have my house keys with me. There I was, sitting on the front steps with my PowerBook, catching up on my journals, reading emails, and chatting with Kyle on MSN about my current situation of being locked out of my own home.

I took his advice and checked every window and every door, trying to find an entry point, but the only window open was the one on the second floor, leading into the en-suite, and there was no way I could have scaled that wall to climb in.

The following is an unedited chat dialogue from the wise Dutchman himself:

i'll help you get into the window....you can stand on my penis....and i'll masterbate....which will turn you on....and when i cum, you will be shot miles high in the air, at which point you will masterbate....and when you reach the window, you will cum, and you sticky cum will act as a grappling line, which you will use to crawl into the house! - at which point you will shower and change, and your parents will come home, wondering why there is a huge dutch penis in their backyard, and what the hell i'm doing on the end of it (and where you are when there's such an opportunity waiting :) ), and they'll wonder why their yard looks like winter.

At least he's imaginative.

Pride Vancouver 2006.

It's great to live in a city that embraces diversity. Vancouver played host to Pride 2006 this week, with "Pride & Joy" as this year's tag line. Like the years before, today's Pride parade drew in thousands of Vancouverites along Denman and Beach Avenue, cheering and whistling for the "Dykes on Bikes" and the entourage of floats and groups that followed. Among them were politicians like Jack Layton, leader of the NDP, trying to win votes for their party platforms. Surprisingly, even the much loathed Conservative party made an appearance, which I thought was a very brave move on their part. I guess they figured that Prime Minister Stephen Harper being fuck-buddies with President George W. Bush would be appropriate for gay-pride.

Jamie, Jen, and I sat on the curb-side and watched the procession from start to finish. I had higher expectations for this year's Pride parade as Pepsi signed on as a major sponsor for the event, but in my opinion, last year's parade was slightly better.

Later this afternoon, I went to Tinseltown to watch "Little Miss Sunshine" and "Who Killed the Electric Car?". "Sunshine" was an excellent, heart-warming, and hillarious film about a dysfunctional family on the verge of a breakdown. I want to watch it again! "Electric Car" was a documentary about the EV1 car which GM introduced back in 1996 and subsequently killed off just a few years later. It was intriguing and insightful. A must see!

Celebration of Lights Grande Finale.

Trying to get into town by transit was an event itself Missing the 1900 bus by a few minutes, we waited around for the next one at 2000, but that one drove right through without stopping as it was already packed with passengers wanting to see the Mexico and the Grande Finale of the Celebration of Light. Frustrated and annoyed, Janelle, Kyle, Aaron, and I had no choice but to wait for the 2100 bus.

The fireworks had started without us by the time we were at the foot of the Granville Street bridge, 2200 on the dot. Aaron and Janelle wanted to see the fireworks alone together, so they got off here, a stop before Kyle and I got off on Davie and Granville. Not wanting to miss any more of Mexico's night anymore than necessary, we sprinted from the east end to the west end in 10 minutes flat, only breaking a few times between. I haven't sprinted so fast for so long since last year when I used to run, so I was very out of shape. My stamina wasn't at the levels I thought it was, but I pushed myself but kept pace with Kyle, who had the slight advantage of having longer legs than I (and being more physically fit). By the time we got to the Sylvia Hotel on Denman and Beach Ave., I was seriously dying from thirst and energy. Spitting phlegm, the natural lubricant for my throat, I didn't have anymore to cough up, so my throat tightened up like having an allergic reaction to eating peanuts. I couldn't even speak, so I motioned Kyle to ask for a glass of ice water with hand gestures. Sitting on the steps of the Sylvia Hotel, I drank copious amounts of water to soothe my throat.

I had definitely pushed myself to my limits here, just to see the last 10 minutes of Mexico's night, obscured mostly by the tall bushy trees and standing behind a swarm of people surrounding every square inch of prime views. Was it worth it? Well, if it wasn't for the Grande Finale and the chance to get together with the VSC, no. It wasn't worth dying for.

Kyle had his rare opportunity to try some sushi at Tanpopo's after the fireworks. I commend him for having the courage to try something new without being squeamish about eating raw fish. Before having to sprint back to catch the 351 on Howe and Davie, I got everyone to give Kyle a round of applause for popping his sushi cherry! Yey Kyle!

And then we were back for another run, this time, right after eating... At this rate, I think I've already started training to run a marathon. I should keep it up!

Can You Dig It?

I had a hard time finding the Stone Grill Restaurant on Granville, but after walking about town, I found it just under the Granville Street bridge, overlooking False Creek and Granville Island.

Upon ordering my steak dinner, I realised the significance of the name of the restaurant. Slabs of raw meat was brought before me, sizzling on a brick of hot hot stone. This was certainly a unique dining experience with a memorable presentation. While I thought my steak dinner was delicious (mainly because I had to cook the raw meat myself on the stone grill), I didn't like the fact that I had to grill it myself. I came in with an empty stomach and almost had no patience to stare at my not-yet-ready steak in front of me. Oh, I'm sure I was watering from my mouth! Meh, I'm just complaining for the sake of complaining about something trivial, just to show some sort of unbiased and balanced report like food critics usually do. It was good! At $35, however, I was also paying for the great expansive view.

What brought me to the Stonegrill, of course, was an invitation from Jeffrey Chow (CS Profile: CANYOUDIGIT13) to come out to his 20th birthday anniversary party with his large number of friends. There must have been around 20 - 25 people there when I arrived. More friends of his dropped in and out right up to closing time at midnight. It was nice to meet Jeff's girlfriend Emily as well. Like the last time we met back at Hon's restaurant on St. Patty's Day, we were playing "MovieLines" trivia, quoting a line from a movie and identifying the name of the movie associated with it.

Before moving around to other parts of the table meeting and greeting new people like the social butterfly that I am, I was having a lively discussion with Jim Qiu, a Shanghainese, about the cultural differences between China and Canada. Our discussion branched to discussing about the whole anime thing that's all the rage in Japan and globally, and included others around our table to put in their two-cents.

It was a great social evening.

Cowabunga Cowichan!

Took a last minute trip over to the island this weekend, and brought Steve over for the ride. We took the Horseshoe Bay ferry over to Departure Bay in Nanaimo (my first time taking this ferry) and spent the night at a Travel Lodge on Saturday. Just after dining out at the Red Room Tapas Restaurant, in which we were "entertained" by a lounge/jazz quintet on stage, we walked across the street to the harbour to catch the fireworks inaugurating the 40th Annual Bathtub Race that was set to begin the next day. I guess this is what small town folks do for fun. In our drive around Nanaimo, we couldn't find anything of great interest.

Jen caught the ferry over the next morning to join us for tubing down the Cowichan river. She had taken the early morning ferry, however, and arrived at our hotel hours ahead of schedule. She had a friendly lady offer her to take her from the ferry terminal to our hotel as well, which saved me from having to fetch her myself.

The drive down to Duncan before making a right westbound towards the river was nothing spectacular. Once you've seen fields of burnt grass and dirt, you've seen them all.

I was trying to co-ordinate with Jamie, James, and the VSC so that we could all go tubing together, but they were still well behind us and we didn't want to waste the few hours of lead time sitting around waiting for their arrival. As it turned out, Steve grew up in Cowichan and knew the area well. His grandparents lived on a property right on the river, so we paid them a visit and launched our tubes from their dock. The cheap $5 neon pink and green tubes I had brought along wasn't suffice for the excursion, so I borrowed a real inner tube made of much thicker rubber.

Floating down the river, letting the current take me long, brought me joy. I found a small plastic wheel about 2" in diameter floating down the river with us. I picked it up and used it for playing catch between the three of us. We lost it in the rapids a few times early on, but it came drifting along and stayed with us until we lost it for good towards the last leg of the journey. That's when I made a rude off-handed comment towards Jen, loud enough for Steve to hear, that we should use the spare tyre around Jen as a replacement. Not a moment too soon, the two of them teamed up and successfully flipped me off the tube and dunk me into the waters. I deserved it. All in good fun. Even at the cost of losing the left side of my expensive Kazuo Kawasaki clip-on sunglasses to my prescription glasses. Grr...

Flopped out on our tubes, the three of us drifted for about 90 minutes until we dismounted at "Little Beach". We would have loved to go again, but being mindful of the ferry schedule, we didn't have time.

While Steve and I had to head back to the mainland tonight as we both had work to do the next day, Jen has Mondays off so she wanted to bum around Victoria, so I dropped her off with a tourist map of the downtown core before heading up to Swartz Bay.

Happy Campers.

The past three days camping out at Golden Ears National Park was relaxing, rejuvenating, refreshing, and rewarding, for the most part. I mean, that was the purpose of camping after all: to get away from it all and have a great time!

Not to typecast any generation of people here, but having a great time for 'young people' like my friends and I usually involve some amount of drinking to put our minds in a chillaxed state, like happy drunks without a care in the world. Though we weren't rowdy, mischievous, or irresponsible under the influence of alcohol, common sense, if I may just speak for myself here, was somewhat diluted with rum & coke and screwdrivers. Let me explain.

We were out on Allouette Lake on our neon pink and green inflatables, tugging along our 'booze boat' which we filled with orange juice, cola, and bitch-beers (Vex) for Janelle, and the harder stuff like Crown Royal and Smirnoff for Aaron, Kyle and I. Along with our inflatable orca, we strung a yellow rope around all of our tubes so that we wouldn't drift apart and tied one end to a heavy rock to anchor us down. We were well organised. It must have been quite a sight from the on-lookers on the beach.

Drinking and eating away while basking in the sun and shooting the breeze, eventually, someone had to urinate. Kyle had no problems getting off his tube and pissing in the lake. I, however, did. I didn't realise how drunk I was until I slid off my tube and went into the lake. After doing my business, I tried climbing back on my tube but failed miserably. I made another attempt and lunged forward but my tube flipped again. This went on a couple more times until I gave up, tired, drunk, and out of breath. Actually, I was drowning.

It's not as if I forgot how to swim (swimming is one of those things you never forget after you've learnt how to, much like riding a bike), but feeling light-headed as a result of being intoxicated puts a little spin on things. I was breathing in water, and that was NOT good. Trying to keep my head above water, I enlisted drunken Kyle to swim me towards the shore. I was relieved when I felt the bottom with my feet. I crawled the rest of the way to the shore with my tube in hand and subsequently passed out on top of it under the sun. I don't know how long I was in direct exposure to that shiny object in the sky, but it was long enough to get my very first sunburn of my life. The sensation wasn't the least bit pleasant.

I didn't actually realise I had burnt myself until a few hours after returning from the beach back to the campsite. That was when I started to feel this tingly feeling all over my shoulders, chest and stomach, which soon escalated to a sensation akin to rubbing yourself all over with a coarse sandpaper. IT BURNED!!

Never again will I do something so stupid like that again. As Baz Luhrmann and Martha Stewart might say in unison, "Sunscreen is a good thing".

Other memorable highlights of the trip was when all of us went down to the beach just before midnight for stargazing. Given that we were up in the mountains far away from the glow of city lights, the constellations twinkled against the backdrop of the midnight sky. Sadly, my knowledge of reading the stars and identifying star patterns are quite limited, so I could only spot out the big dipper, the little dipper, and Polaris. Looking up in awe, I noticed an orbiting satellite, an airliner, and a shooting star as well.

Playing a few rounds of chess with Kyle until 0400 in the morning was also something I will treasure. Though I was defeated at both rounds, playing a game that requires a lot of strategic thinking while feeling exhausted was truly something. The chess board lit only by the burning embers from the fire pit, we played until darkness turned to light with the arrival of the new sun over the horizon.

Happy America Day.

If there's one thing I admire the Americans for, that would be their unrelenting pride of their own country. They always put on a good show for themselves and the rest of the world to show it! The spectacular display of fireworks against the midnight sky which Jen and I witnessed tonight at the Blaine Marina Park only emphasized my point.

Like last year, it was just the two of us, laying on our backs side by side while sharing an earphone connected to my iPod. I was playing Irish (U2), German (Höhner/Die Prinzen), and Swedish (ABBA) music with the fireworks until Jen pointed out towards the end of the 'Grande Finale' that we hadn't listened to any American music! The first thing the popped into my head was to play something by 'The All-American Rejects'.

It was a good thing I brought a jacket with me as it got a little chilly by the time the fireworks were underway at 2230. Everyone around us had brought sleeping bags, pillows, picnic blankets, folding chairs, and food & drinks; Jen and I just brought ourselves and had to huddle to share our body warmth like a couple in love.

Which reminds me, upon entering the states, the American border officer had asked us if we were dating as he carefully looked at our identifications. Jen and I looked at each other, gave each other a whimsical look, and turned our attention back to the officer and told him that we were, hehe! He was a friendly officer.

Belcarra Beach Bathing.

Kyle took Aaron, Janelle, and I up to Belcarra National Park in Port Moody this afternoon for a dip in the lake with our inflatables. I wasn't up for swimming in the lake at White Pine Beach, so I ventured through the trails instead. The beach was a turn off for me as infested with Todd's and Charlene's hogging every square inch of sand. Even the disgustingly humid air was drowned out with bad music from ghetto-blasters and random ramblings of the many. I came to the beach to 'get-away from it all', but this was definitely not the place to find tranquility.

My hike was pleasant, however. It would have been better if I had remembered to bring a bottle of water though. I always forget to bring something essential.

Concordiae Choir Concert.

Had a little difficulty finding the First United Church where our friend Kayla was to sing in front of an audience with the Concordiae Choir. The address that was printed on the program was incorrect so Kyle and I in one car and Janelle and Aaron in another, found ourselves driving all over the neighbourhood looking for the damn church. Kyle, being the quick one to get annoyed, drove like a bat out of hell pulling u-ies and driving on the wrong side of the road circumventing concrete medians. This latter maneuver angered a Fred and Mildred who blocked our path with their red pickup truck motioning Kyle to roll down his window. That was very stupid of them.

We must have driven to six different churches within a ten-kilometre radius before finding the right one and arriving at 1915, fifteen minutes late. Who knew there were so many fucking buildings where people go to get brainwashed and be preached by priests who are fond of little boys...

I was a little surprised to find Kip and Sarah at the performance, but I remained cordial and acknowledged their presence before taking my seat. Janelle and Aaron shuffled into the church five minutes later and sat right next to Kip and Sarah. During intermission, Janelle realised who she was sitting next to and promptly moved her seat up with Aaron during the second half of the performance.

Kayla thought the seating arrangement was pretty funny.

During intermission, we all took a breather outside with complimentary beverages in our hands. Janelle, anxious to introduce me to one of the choir boys, motioned me to come and meet Alex. In my sky blue oxford shirt and black chinos, Janelle began to speak, "Alex, I have someone you should meet!" which stopped Alex mid-way up the steps. "Now, here's a well-dressed man..." she continued before I interjected her and said "...which could only mean one thing!" We all started laughing, and I properly introduced myself soon after.

Last but not least, the Concordiae choir concert was beautiful. Though Alex fumbled on the lyrics to "Window Shopping for Love", it was one of my favourite from their repertoire. They also did a fabulous job with "Happy Together" by the Turtles, creating a layering effect of tunes and melodies in the background and foreground.

The Fab-Five got together at Aaron's for another night of social drinking, but this time, I slept in the guest room alone. =)

Happy Canada Day.

After consuming at IHOP for breakfast, I met up with Sigrid at the Starbucks at the mouth of Granville Island to take part in the Canada Day celebrations and the tail end of the Vancouver International Jazz Festival. Walking through the crowded marketplace, Sig and I were pleasantly overwhelmed with the varieties of fresh meats, dairy, vegetables, fruits, and seafood, and the overall vibrancy of the marketplace.

Granville Island is, in many ways, like Seattle's Pike Place Market. But unlike Pike Place Market, Granville Island offer much more than just fresh seafood, as we've got a prevalent art community. In addition to the Emily Carr Institute of Art + Design school right on the island, there are art merchants like Opus frames and art supplies, and a purveyor of the fine art of beer-making: the Granville Island micro-brewery, where they give tours for the public.

Coming off the cute rainbow coloured False Creek ferry, Damien, his acquaintance, John, and Amy joined Sig and I for dinner at the Granville Island Backstage Lounge, where we had spent the rest of the evening socialising. The dried ribs I had ordered was awful, so I mooched on the nachos John ordered for all of us. Jen joined us after bussing up from her bakery and dropping off a bag full of artisan bread at the Union Gospel in downtown.

Vancouver is a very boring city when it comes to celebrating Canada Day. Since the stabbing between a couple Surrey residences during the Canada Day fireworks at Canada Place several years ago, the city found that it was too costly to bring in extra law enforcement officers for crowd control, so they simply found it more convenient to cancel the fireworks instead. Jen and I walked across the Burrard street bridge to join the crowd of hopefuls claiming sand and turf space along English Bay, but after asking a few people along the walkway, a representative at the Sylvia Hotel, and a police officer inside his cruiser, it was pretty clear that nothing was going to happen.

Wanting to end Canada Day with a bang rather than a fizzle, Jen and I walked towards the Atlantic Trap and Gill for some pub music and drinks, meeting up with Damien and Sigrid along the way. And it's a good thing we did because "Three Row Barley", our local Celtic band, were performing! As soon as Jen heard celtic music from a block away, she made a mad dash inside to see who it was, and the rest of us followed her in. Alexander Keith's were on special too! Playing a few songs off their album, they ended the night with O' Canada, and everyone sung along strong and proud, hand to heart, to our national anthem.

Happy 139th Birthday Canada. Strong and free.

Crown Royal Friday.

We had a gathering at Janelle's place for a night of social drinking. Kyle, my QBF, had made a stop-over to Sawbucks to pick up a 750ml bottle of Crown Royal beforehand, with a formidable challenge that he was going to finish the entire bottle by the night's end.

Filling up a cordial glass of Crown Royal, he hook his first swig and downed it as if it was water. Then the burning sensation hit him hard and I think he had a chaser to alleviate the pain. As it turned out, he had NEVER had Crown Royal before and only bought it because his co-workers (I'm guessing that they'd be much older guys in the lumber yard) told him that it was pretty good. When he realised that it wasn't as good as it cracked up to be, he tried mixing his drink with Sprite, 7Up, and Piña Coladas, but no amount of dilution satisfied him as the pungent taste of Crown Royal was still there.

Surprisingly, he managed to consume 1/3 of the bottle before he called it quits and fell all over me on the sofa, drunk and reeking of alcohol like a bum on the street.

Kyle, Janelle, Aaron, and I, flopped out on the sofa after consuming enough drinks, began watching "Nightmare Before Christmas" on the idiot box. Given that it was nearly two in the morning, we didn't get very far into the movie. Janelle offered us a comfortable bed in the guest room upstairs, but I kept my QBF company instead as he was in no shape to crawl off the sofa, let alone walk up a flight of stairs.

I slept in peace with Kyle's soothing rhythm as he inhaled and exhaled, breathing down his warm whisky breath on my right cheek...

Bon Voyage, Victoria.

The gift opening was at Mr. and Mrs. Borgoyne's waterfront residence down at Lands End. Sitting around the newly weds in the living room, we watched them unwrap and open the gifts like anxious kids sitting around the Christmas tree on Christmas day. On close observation, I found out who bought the first four Denby dinner plates, and who bought the two other plates after them. I was going to get the remaining four plates on the HBC gift registry but I waited until the day before taking off to Victoria at which point there were only two plates left to get.

Jay and I took off late afternoon with an ambitious goal to drive to Port Renfrew, but given that we had the Ford Escape to return and a ferry to catch by 2100, we only made it out to Sooke. We got to a beach and walked across the embankment. We lost track of time during our conversation, in which we learned more about our backgrounds, that we had to sprint back to the SUV and meander around slow moving vehicles on the single lane road back up to Sydney.

We didn't think we were going to make it. I didn't mind spending another night on the island and catching the early morning ferry, but Jay didn't share the same enthusiasm. We gassed up, drove super fast on Highway 17 to the airport, hopped into the cab, and made it out to the ferry terminal a few minutes before 2100. The rush wasn't over yet, however. A double-decker bus had just begun unloading it's passengers and a long line of people wanting to get their ferry ticket was forming which spilled out onto the streets. Jay in panic mode, still not sure if we could board the 2100 sailing, was hoping for the best. Of course, we were behind a group of obnoxious little Charlenes' who couldn't organise themselves to have one person buy the ticket for the whole group. No, rather, each fucking twat had to buy her own ticket individually, costing us valuable time with each transaction. Fortunately, we made it to the ticket counter and boarded the ferry before the wire.

More fortune was bestowed on us after getting off the Ferry at the Tsawwassen ferry terminal as we were able to find a comfortable seat on the long articulated bus. This bus was the last one out for the night and it filled up very quickly. People were pressed against each other to fit as many people in, but alas, there were those who were left behind at the stop. How sad.

What a great weekend I had.

The Newlyweds.

Zee (Lindsey) made scrambled eggs for breakfast which was really quite impressive. His roommate Sheri and her friend Lee joined us for breakfast where I got to introduce myself and participate in small talk. Promptly after having a shower, Zee took me out to the farmer's market a few blocks away where there were merchants vending everything from organic produce, bath soaps, to arts and crafts. I was hoping to find a magnetic bracelet there but not finding one, I bought a lavender lemonade freezee instead. I've got to have another one.

Coincidentally, Victoria was having its pride festival which begun with "Queers on Bikes" today, so Zee, Sheri, and Lee all took part in it. I would have loved to go with them, but the wedding took precedence. It was the "Big Day" for Jamie and James, so I went to see them at their suite at Traveller's Inn. Jay was already there with Amber, the brides' maid, observing them doing their hair, doing their makeup, and putting on the gown and tux. James asked me if I could be the casual photographer, and I gladly took responsibility.

I drove the groom to the Royal Conservatory Hall in my shiny new black Ford F-150 and settled myself inside the hall. The place was magnificently beautiful, highlighted by its massive brass organ tubes along the wall and by the way the sun shone through the stained-glass windows. The place was also very acoustically sound that a sound of a pin drop would probably reverberate ten-fold. I had to take this into consideration when I went up to the balcony with the SLR camera to take a birds-eye view of the wedding procession.

Friends and families, including Norman and Tanya, filled the benches and the time for the main event was drawing near. Minutes passed, however, and still no sign of the bride, the bridesmaid, or Jay, the chauffeur. With every minute of absence, a sense of panic and concern became more apparent on the everyone's faces. James' parents were agitated when the minister revealed that there was another wedding ceremony booked soon after. Even James and Luke, the best man, came out to the front steps wondering where they could be. Everyone was suspended in drama, and me and my mobile phone was the only line of hope. Dialling Jay's mobile number, I got his voicemail. I left a long message, a distress call if you will. Had they lost their way?

But just then, my mobile started vibrating in my hands and the face of Jay appeared on screen. "They're on their way!" I said to the people standing in my vicinity which was followed by a collective sigh of relief.

The beige Ford Escape was now in sight and Jay was the first to hop out to open the door for the bride in the back. Everyone else ran back to the hall to take their places. From out of the chariot, the magnificently beautiful Jamie in her stunningly gorgeous dress and hair emerged, followed by Amber, the bridesmaid.

I went buzzing around snapping pictures.

We moved on to Beacon Hill Park for more photographs of the newly weds. According to Luke, this park, in particular, where there's a sundial surrounded by blooming flowers, is the most photographed place for weddings. It was scorching out, which was made more unbearable by the fact that we were still all in our formal wear.

The reception dinner was held at a beach-front restaurant to which I can't remember the name of. It was called McGavins I think, but I can't be sure. Instead of clinking our wine glasses to get the bride and groom to kiss, a new rule was brought forth in which we had to tell a good story involving the bride and/or groom for all to hear AND it had to be a clean one. A hilarious story about James and Luke chasing sheep up a hill was told and got the audience chuckling. Tanya, sitting at our table, had a more risqué story to tell and we were egging her on to tell it. After downing another alcoholic drink, she went up to the podium and recounted the time she had invited Jamie and James to her group orgy party on April fools, catching them off guard. This got the crowd laughing, though there must have been some people none too pleased among us. The punch line was when Tanya reiterated what Jamie had said to her group orgy eVite: "I don't know what to wear!" What a gas.

I got back to my host late at night after circling around the neighbourhood lost without a map. Zee had to work a double shift tomorrow and couldn't see me off so it was goodnight and adieu time. The towering giant had to bend down to give me a hug, which I thought was funny. Makes me look like a dwarf! He was a great host and I wish I could have spent more time with him to get to know him better. Perhaps we'll meet again at the Tofino camping trip in August.

Hello Victoria!

Jay and I met up at the Tsawwassen ferry terminal this afternoon and boarded the 1500 sailing together. It was nice out so we stayed outside on the top deck looking out to the waters as the ferry meandered through islands to Swartz Bay. It was apparent that Jay was enjoying this ferry trip as he was dancing to the tune of Celtic music performed by the quartet on deck, which they also drew a small crowd. In support for local artists and musicians, Jay even bought their album.

Arriving at the Swartz Bay ferry terminal, Jay called Hertz rental to shuttle us from the ferry terminal to the airport, a complimentary service offered by Hertz as stated on the web site, but that's where we encountered our first problem. According to the representative on the other end of the line, they offered no such service, so we had to shell out $20 out of our own pockets just so that we could pick up our rental vehicles. Although we had scored a great rate of $20 and $25 per day respectively on priceline.com (as opposed to the $45/day posted price) we were still livid. Upon arriving that the Hertz rental counter, Jay pressed for an explanation to this discrepancy and demanded compensation for the cost of the taxi fare. That's when I realised just how much Jay drove a hard bargain, refusing to take no for an answer. If we weren't so civilised, this could have turned into a brawl. I stood beside him envisioning us climbing over the counter fighting tooth and nail with the Hertz rental weenies on the other side, throwing punches, strangling necks, screaming and yelling, wearing angry expressions on our faces, and somehow, getting into a pillow fight with goose down flying all over the place. All in slow motion, of course.

Snapping back to reality, Jay was able to get some credit towards his next rental at Hertz and upgrade his compact to a Ford Escape at no extra cost.

We made it to the rehearsal dinner, albeit a little late, where we had reunited with the Jamie and James (the bride and groom to be) and their friends and family at the Maple Palace Chinese Restaurant in Sidney.

Back at the Hertz rental counter, it was now my turn to pick up my vehicle. It was, at this point, closer to 2100 and by this time, the compact/economy car I had requested were all gone, so they had to upgrade me to a 2006 Ford F-150 instead, at no extra cost. With the same representative Jay had to deal with, I was able to haggle with him and walk away with a coupon booklet of valuable discounts towards my next rental after making a stink about the taxi fiasco and how this ginormous gas-guzzling Ford F-150 would set me back. Inside, however, I was pleased with the complimentary upgrade and looked forward to driving this black monstrosity instead of the Hyundai Accent or a Ford Focus that I would have got if I came earlier.

At this point, I contacted Lindsey Fraser, my CouchSurfing host who generously offered to put me up for a few nights, and made arrangements to meet up. Towering over me at 6'6", Lindsey was a friendly giant with a big heart. After dropping my things off, we went out for tea at a nearby cafe and talked about personal interests such as hobbies, music, and movies. It was when we were walking to the 'big rock' lookout point that I had discovered that he too had seen "Me and You and Everyone We Know" and loved it as much as I did!

With our tea in hand, we had finally reached this rock he was so eager to take me to and climbed it to see the dominions below. This viewpoint offered a spectacular 360º view of the geographical regions of Victoria, including the parliament buildings, the downtown core, the Craigdarroch Castle, Oak Bay, and Saanich. Looking above at the night sky, this peak also provided a magnificent view of the constellations twinkling above. Talk about enjoying the simple pleasures of life.

VAG: Raven Travelling Exhibit.

Taking a guided tour through the Raven Travelling exhibit at the Vancouver Art Gallery took me back to the memories of the museums and sights I had seen on the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gawii). From the ornately decorated ceremonial masks to the various shapes and sizes of the canoe ors and fish boxes, a real sense of the first nations tradition was eminent. There were also heavy political undertones in the artworks of local native artists on the second floor. Hanging on the wall encased in a glass frame was a riffle and an actual copy of a native treaty published by the Canadian government with multiple bullet holes through it. Another political piece was of a decorative wooden box, also hanging off the wall like a medicine cabinet with barn doors that opened up to reveal the words "SELF GOVERNMENT" inside. The guided tour took the bulk of the remaining gallery hours that Kyle and I had no time left to see the Arthur Erickson exhibit, which was my main focus. I'll just have to come back again.

Kyle, Jamie, Sigrid, and I indulged in sweet and savoury crepes at Café Crêpe on Robson after the gallery and shared the four flavours between us. We were going to meet Kayla at Celebrities afterwards, but never quite made it as time pushed over to 2200. Instead, as we were walking back towards the West End, we had decided to teach Kyle how to execute cartwheels on a patch of grass by the sidewalk. Kyle, being 6'2", had a higher centre point of gravity, so he struggled to get his legs up in the air to complete a revolution. He tried his best though, and in the 20 or so attempts at executing cartwheels with the assistance of Jamie and the encouragement from Sigrid and I, he did two successful revolutions (not consecutively). Given that he had never attempted doing cartwheels before, I think his ten-percent success rate is a great start, heheh! Go Kyle!

C.R.A.Z.Y.

I had the Fab Five over for a C.R.A.Z.Y. night at my place this evening. C.R.A.Z.Y. is the well-acclaimed French Canadian independent film about a boy coming-of-age, growing up in Quebéc in the 70s with four other siblings.

Using Kyle as the human pillow (he loves being the pillow), we all huddled beside one another on my futon bed, engaged.

I should host more of these movie nights.

Happy Hair Extensions Party!

I was off to J&J's for Jamie's hair-extensions party this evening. She had just got her extensions in and I thought, "Hey! Anything for a gathering.", so I didn't think much of it. I just wanted to spend the evening after work socialising with good friends and chillax. I had spoken with Jen earlier today and she was coming too, so I was looking forward to seeing her there.

I got to the front of their apartment and Jamie came out of their VW Vanagon to greet me. At first, I didn't recognise her as she had short hair before. "Who are you and what did you do to Jamie?!" I said to the stylish young woman in front of me giving me a hug. James was in the driver seat, ready to depart while I was complimenting on Jamie's new hair and new look.

We were heading off to the Kino Cafe at this point, but Jen hadn't made an appearance yet and I was getting concerned. She should have been here well before I arrived, so I gave her mobile a ring several times but she was unreachable. Jamie was text messaging her at the same time. After a few minutes, we had decided that we should just hope for the best and find her along the way, and so we were off.

Norm and Tanya said that they were coming to this gathering, but when I asked Jamie where they were, she replied "Oh, they cancelled at last minute." I thought that it was coincidence that I spotted them walking along the sidewalk as we we approached Cambie street looking for parking a little while later. "Oh! I guess they changed their mind!" Jamie blurted. I still had no idea.

In fact, it didn't even dawn on me that the hair-extensions party was just a cover-up until Jamie, James, and I walked through the main doors of the Kino Cafe at which point a chorus of people screamed "SURPRISE!!!" upon entry. I was pleasantly shocked and surprised to see such a large turn out of dear friends of mine.

The Kino cafe provided more than just Sangrias, but also live entertainment. Flamenco dancers and musicians were up on stage putting on a dazzling performance of passion, love, and energy.

I hope I hadn't forgotten anyone here, but thank you Jamie, James, Jen #1, Jen #2, Amy, Sigrid, Jodie-Tracey, Simon, Damien, Norman, Tanya, Jay, Caroline, Aaron, Janelle, and Kyle for wishing me a happy 25th birthday. Happy would be an understatement, actually. I was elated, ecstatic, and over-joyed with love! You guys and gals mean the world to me, for without you, my life would be sad, boring, and empty. Thanks for making my quarter-century birthday a VERY memorable one!

And thank you, young lady at the cafe with the same birthday as me who I've not had the pleasure of meeting before (and had forgotten your name), who came up to wish me a happy birthday. Happy birthday anniversary to you too. =)

Geocaching!

Who knew there were so many treasures stashed away, waiting to be found, around the city? Armed with Robert's GPS unit, he lead the troop comprised of Jamie, James, Sigrid, Norman, Sue-Laine, and I on a scavenger hunt, that is geocaching. It's a novel idea in which people stash trinkets of goodies like CDs, plush toys, magazines, books, cheap jewellery, and the likes inside a tupperware container or a magnetic key storage box and hide them all around the city. The location of these treasures are then posted on geocaching.com using GPS co-ordinates. Big caches with goods of greater value are a little harder to find, and usually come with a riddle to decipher and require mathematical skills in calculating the distance and the diameter of the radius, in addition to the co-ordinates. The stipulation: we must replace anything we take out of the cache with something of equal value and log an entry of what we took out/replaced on the log book inside. It was with great amusement flipping through the pages of logs made by people the world over who found this cache in the past. It was like looking through a guest book!

Our group of seven collectively found a dead animal in a bag, magazines of pornographic nature, and an unopened tube of KY Jelly, among others. After our great hike around Coal Harbour and the West End, we treated ourselves to dim sum at Hon's on Robson.

Eat! Vancouver Food Festival.

I went to attend a seminar at the "Eat! Vancouver Food Festival" on how to pair the right cheese with the right wine and put on a successful wine and cheese party. The informative, engaging, and entertaining seminar was hosted by a representative of the Dairy Farmers of Canada. Taking a small chunk of cheese and melding it into my palms, I learned the first of many ways of identifying the characteristics of cheese. Cheese is best under room temperature, and by melding it in my palms, I was letting the aroma out and feeling the texture at the same time. Like swirling wine in a wine glass and looking at it's colour and swishing it around my mouth for its fruitful flavours, I could come to be a cheese connoisseur too! And there's nothing cheesy about it!

In the beer garden, I was surprised to meet Alex and his representatives exhibiting his Austrian wines at his 19A Wine Company booth. I introduced Norman, Tanya, Jamie, and James to him and invited them to taste the reds and whites from the "Weingut Frank" label.

Other highlights of the festival was seeing Rob Feenie giving a cooking demonstration in front of an audience. But because we were in the back row, we didn't stick around to see what he was cooking up.

So Yesterday.

I spent Victoria Day reading a novel by Scott Westerfeld titled "So Yesterday" from cover to cover. It was a definite page turner. I also found it to be an easy read and by how each chapter was only but a few pages long, it helped me get a sense of how quickly I was progressing though the book. Getting away from the disturbances at home, I found myself in Campbell Valley Park in Langley for some quiet time alone in my truck while the rain poured down outside, looking out to the equestrian course ahead.

Apartment Hunting II.

After dropping off my brother, his friend Taka, and my cousin Mickey and his wife Mikoto in the west end, I went about hunting for apartments. At the end of the day, I had scoured nearly every block making inquiries and checking out places, popping in and out of more apartments than a full-time hooker on any given night.

My exhaustive effort in search for a place was less than fruitful, however, as many of these places didn't quite meet my standards. I hate carpeting, so hardwood floors or laminate was a must. A nice view of English Bay would be nice, but that usually came with a higher monthly rent, so I was willing to compromise, but not to the point at which I was looking out to the bums picking garbage in the complex dumpsters from the living room window on the second floor.

I got together with Alan for lunch and found a nice shady area under a tree to eat along the beach. We were just shooting the breeze, checking out guys who walked by. Chillaxing.

Pier Pissing.

I was slightly intoxicated when I drove Janelle and Aaron down to White Rock beach tonight. I wasn't drunk. I was in an euphoric state of mind just happy to be with my close friends on this beautiful night walking down to the beach and along the long pier. I don't remember a lot of what we did, however, I do remember needing to relieve myself pretty badly. After reaching the end of the pier, I whipped it out and urinated into the waters and let out a satisfying sigh of relief.

This was a first for me, urinating in an area not designated or designed for urination in the presence of the public. Janelle was impressed. Aaron was amused.

Walking back along the pier, I did an almost successful attempt of five full cartwheels in a row, but my finish was less than stellar as I hit the side railings. My head was spinning.

Amy's Party | Visitors from Japan.

Went to a birthday party for Amy at the Jupiter Cafe this evening, along with Jamie, James, Jay, and a host of new faces including one rather attractive guy whom I suspect might me flying the rainbow. He kept going on about his childhood obsession with He-Man and his phallic object which he kept "whipping out". He was describing He-Man's sword, of course. He was a bit odd in that he had a very child-like manner about him, and though he told us that he had been proposed to many times before by other guys on the street in his youth, he has never been to any gay bars and gay clubs here in the gaybourhood. Apparently, when he wants to dance, that's what he wants to do and doesn't want the distraction of other guys hitting on him while he does his thing on the dance floor.

We moved on to Balbazar's down the street for more drinks and dancing.

My cousin, Mickey and his wife, Mikoto, flew in today from Japan for their honeymoon. I will be busy entertaining them during the week they are here.

VSC: French Night!

Continuing with our cultural nights with the VSC, tonight's focus was on France and all things French. Of course, when you think of France, fine French wine is usually the first thing that comes to mind, and we had several varieties of it. My memory from here gets to be a little hazy because I had 'sampled' all of the wines (including one Italian wine someone brought) to the point of getting a little past tipsy. At least I laughed a lot as the incriminating photos and videos proved. Amy the shutter-bug snapped some photos of me passed out on the floor and draped over Jen with a big grin on my face. The few things I do recall from this night was the laugh-fest Jamie and I participated in. For some reason, I started laughing hysterically at Jamie, which provoked her to laugh hysterically with me. This continued until tears started flowing down our eyes while we curled up in a ball clutching our stomach in pain from all the laughter. I also remember making a rude comment to Jen about getting "Always with Wings" when she spilled some red wine on her white work trousers. Perhaps that's where my hysteria started.

I was in no condition to drive myself back home at the end of the social gathering, so J&J offered me their place for me to couch surf for the night so that I'll be well rested for the class I had the next day.

International CouchSurfers!

Jamie, James, and I (along with the VSC) welcomed 6 international couch surfers to Vancouver this evening with a night out to Tanpopo, a favourite sushi restaurant of ours.

Among them were students from China, France, Switzerland, Czech, Finland, Danmark, Australia and the Netherlands who met each other while attending university back in the Niagara region. As the school year came to an end, they decided to come out to Vancouver for the west coast experience before splitting up. Jan Kopkas, a couch surfer who had sent out the email about their plans to the Vancouver Couch Surfers group, had a very out-going personality. Joost de Konig, hailing from the Netherlands, was just as adventurous and social. In fact, when we moved on from having sushi at Tanpopo's to the SoHo pub across the street for some drinks, we had a lengthy discussion about the world we live in today. And through that discussion, we realised that we had a lot in common about our field of study: human geography and marketing. That discussion spawned recommended readings of "So Yesterday" by Scott Westerfeld and "No Logo" by Naomi Klein.

Another interesting fellow I had the pleasure of meeting this evening was an older gentleman named Robert Shaw. With a full beard to go with his bushy grey quaff, he resembled a mountaineer who lived up in a cabin in the mountains. He had taken these international students snow-shoeing just the day before and were showing me the spectacular pictures on his little digital.

Now I have more contacts to add to the list of couch surfing friends. I hope they enjoyed their stay here in Vancouver!

Welcome to the Gaybourhood!

The Fab-Five got together this evening to go shopping for sex-toys in Vancouver. The first obvious street to stroll through was Davie Street, Vancouver's Gaybourhood, distinguished by it's colourful rainbow flags that line that street from east to west. In one store, I came across a double ended eighteen-incher and thought to myself "ffuuuucckk, that's gotta hurt!". But I don't think this double ended dildo is meant to please a single person, but of two individuals. Not only was this phallic object long, but it was quite heavy too. Another curious toy Kayla found was a silicone mould of a large human arm with all five fingers together to form a point. I was gawking.

My affectionate ABF Kyle held hands with me as we walked along Davie, which we both enjoyed. I don't know about that Kyle, but I enjoy his company. I feel loved.