Whistler Weekend

Having obliterated the 3 drink limit, I get a wake up call at 1:15pm on Thursday, so I quickly got ready and began the trek up north.

New boots, new skis, new gloves, new poles - Whistler, here I come!

Nothing too eventful today, there was some truck that got sliced in half. Other than that, nothing much except for just alot of driving and some Korean food.

Friday - Ski Day I
It was sooo icy! The boots felt slightly weird to start, but eventually it worked out. First time wearing brand new boots is such a different feeling it seems. By the end of the day, body was sooo in pain - good thing it wasn't from the falling thought. To remedy, went to hot tub... twice! :)

Saturday - Rest Day
Body sooo sore the day before, so just slept in. Waking up at normal time, went downstairs for a nice full service AYCE brunch. They changed my forks and knives with EVERY plate! Talk about class. After the brunch, started reading the Pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho (yes, this is like the 5th book I read of the guy) at the lounge sipping my $20 drink! Ended the night with a lobster and steak meal... Mmmmm...

Sunday - Ski Day II + Trek Home
Morning - One last ski. It was alot less icy today, and maybe because I have gotten more used to the slopes, my body was not really sore at all. Went down my first black diamond in Whistler with fellow travel agent - well, we sorta went down it... lol. Did I think 10 runs today, so was pretty good given we were only on the slopes for 4 or 5 hours.
After packing up, drove by to Vanc and decided on having one of my all-time favorite restaurants... Swiss Chalet! Haven't had it for a few years now, and it looks like inflation have gotten to them. The $15 soup, chicken + pie combo is now $16+ :(. But it was still pretty good. The Swiss Chalet sauce is sooo good. Mmmmmmm....

No lil dragon dumplings this time though - decided against it cuz I didn't wanna swing into Richmond... got home at a decent time, and called it a night at 2am...

So ends the whistler weekend in a nutshell.

Thxgiving Dinner

Today started with a call in the afternoon that there wasn't enough booze. Then I arrive, and there are 9 bottles of wine. Dam alcoholics... lol

Made a sh*tload of pasta, but not much was eaten because there was just sooo much food. Didn't like the pasta too too much though - something was off about it, but oh welll.

9 bottles of wine later... sooooo broke the 3 drink limit. Again... ... ...

I will pick up this rule again after the new year. One too many times I have gone past the 3 drink limit these last 6 mths... to the point where even quadruple banks won't help... ... ...

I am worth $8.20

On my bday, I receive a call from Anime Buddy out of the blue. I didn't even remember this, but the year before I had wanted a phone call from Anime Buddy... wuahaha, can't believe she remembered though! Ohhhh Anime Buddy, what a treat!

It was a nice chat - Anime Buddy always had a pretty interesting story to tell. Glad she is chasing after what she wants to do in life!

The highlight though is when I got a MSN msg that the long D call was worth $8.20! Thx Anime Buddy. I used to be worth $48 or something back in OAC -- now I am worth $8.20. I guess inflation has kicked in :(. Too bad that when I got the IM, that I was working at my desk with someone else - it would have been a nice conversation otherwise!

Pizza Hut Day!

After watching a movie in the afternoon that had Pizza Hut boxes used as tablets talking about life, I was determined to eat at Pizza Hut. After 30 minutes of driving and finding that the place we originally wanted to go to was a drive thru, we finally found a place that was a sit down restaurant.

Haven't really sat down at a Pizza Hut for the longest time now - last time must have been the yearly Waterloo tradition. It was interesting, because it seemed like people who go to pizza hut were all either high school kids, or young families. In all my years, I had never noticed this! Pretty weird and interesting at the same time.

Nevertheless, it was a pretty nice outing afterall. Did get half price on the meal because apparently they were running with a short staff, so things were tremendously delayed. I really didn't mind thought, but a 2 person meal, $9.00 what a great deal!

Mson's next trip...

http://www.mansonvillage.com/

.... need I say more? :D

United Way - Day of Caring

Volunteered today to help make a garden box, take out weeds, and to help make banners for a micro-city. It was actually alot more tiring than I thought!

It was a great day though. Sunny skies, not too hot, more importantly, felt very accomplished! :)

All in all, it was pretty fun. A nice change definitely! Will probably look into doing more of these one-off volunteering in the future.

Old Man Visits Me Casa!

Thursday...
Arriving by bus from Vanc on Thursday, I met up with the Old Man at downtown Seattle. Apparently it was a pretty painless trip coming down from Vanc to here.... very interesting indeed... ... ...

Since we were in the downtown area at the 'right' time, finally tried Elliot's happy hour for the first time. Been waiting 2 years for this, and I have to say that it wasn't too too exciting. Matt's is still my favorite #1 go-to Oyster joint in the west coast... Anxiously awaiting the oyster farm call...

After that, walked around the waterfront awaiting the lobster and steak dinner we had planned on the spot. Also a first for me and long awaited. They didn't have 2 lobsters, so we went with 1 lobster and 2 sides of scallops + 1 dessert - needless to say, even I was full! The lobster was pretty small, but the steak was pretty good. And with that, another check mark for my to-do list completed!

Got home, bummed around and then fell asleep. Heard that a Canadian had made their way for one day down here, but I was too comfortable and ready to pass out on the couch, so I called it a night.

Friday...
Abalone in a can. Mmmmmm... It is great to not have to cook and be able to eat a home-made dinner :)... wuhahahaha. Talked with grandma via Skype after dinner - which I thought was pretty neat. I think I should really talk to her more...

Saturday...
Woke up at 10:30am!!! GASP! Nothing too eventful today, but did try out another prime card location :P. I wonder if I can actually consistently wake up at this hour each weekend.. hrm...

To Be Continued... ... ...

Dragonboat Race Day - Victory!!!

Went home early last night to get ready to wake up bright and early at 7am to go for Dragonboating!!! Having practiced 5 times in the last month, today was the race day. 2 races + 1 if we make the finals - going head on against other teams. Got to the location at 8am, and then started getting ready for the races to come.

The Races and the Venue
We were in the community cup. So not really going against the pros, but it was sooo much fun. Loooove watersports!

We ended up winning all 3 of our races. The first race we won by 1.5 boat lengths. The second one we won by 2 seconds, and the last one we won by 6 seconds. Pretty good!

The first race seemed so short compared to the practices. We actually paddled less than 1 min 30 sec. So this was a big difference than what we trained to paddle with (2min and 30sec) - which meant we were able to paddle strong and hard!

I guess at the end of the day, I am by nature a very competitive person. Racing against other teams (and winning) was really fun. Even if our team didn't win, I think I would still have enjoyed it alot - because here I was, pushing myself to do my very best, being very focused, and at the same time basking in the sunshine and great outdoors. I have to say that I don't think I have been this focused for quite a few years.

The mindset during a race is completely different - I mean, you are in that zone for a couple minutes, thinking about nothing but just this upcoming task, oblivious to all else around you. You are encouraged to do this - but in life, you are not really allowed to do that!

I am really considering perhaps joining a Dragonboat team and train so I can join more competitions. The atmosphere and the intensity is great, and not to mention it is extremely healthy compared to the things I do here. Also, it looks like this can be a lifelong sport as well - because there were some older people paddling to (who were just as fast). The only con right now is that I would need to wake up early on Sat morning to attend the practices - which is a big barrier to entry!

The final note about this venue was that this event was called 'Celebrating Life'. This event is in large part to support cancer survivors. One thing I learned today was that apparently doing physical activities helps fight cancer.

There were quite a few boats of dragonboaters who had survived cancer. I am always amazed and inspired by people who went through an ordeal like this. Makes the problems that I encounter in life trivial compared to what they had gone through. They truly live out the motto 'what doesn't kill you, only makes you stronger'.

On a lighter note,
Our team cheer - created by yours truly:
(start softly)...Bing, Bing. Bing! Bing!! Bing!!! Bing!!!! Bing!!!!!
Gooo Microsoft Dragons! Let's BANG it!!!!!

Great team cheer no? :P

After the race
Wasn't part of the full team picture, since I went to the first aid tent to grab a Batman Bandaid after hitting my hand on the drums when my hand slipped as we were doing the finish.

Thought we could just get a team photo when we get presented with the medals - but that wasn't the case because a few people had left before the awards ceremony and our captain was actually out paddling. So at the awards ceremony, with the captain of our team out paddling, I was volunteered up to go on stage to grab the medals for our team. Went up to the podium and got our medals, then was told to make a speech...

Put on the spot, and haven't made any speeches in a few years, I was lost for words. Mic in hand, I frantically looked around for inspiration. Then to my right, I see my dragonboat teammate go 'bing bing bing'... and I instinctively took that ... The speech sounded something like this:
Bing Bing Bing Bing Bing... Goo MS Dra .. Thanks for coming out. ... .. We are really glad to be hear today ... The weather is great today...

This was probably the worst speech I've made EVER... but I guess it was a very hilarious speech - because of its lack of content and sense. Not sure if there's a record of it, but if there is, I don't know whether to run away from it, or post a link to it just for sheer amusement.

I guess as bad as it was, my speech was memorable :P, because apparently after the event, there was a car who drove by that went Bing Bing to one of the cars of my teammates.

Newest item in my to-do list... Go do toastmasters...

Dragonboat Pictures

Random Night Hike

Was scouted for oysters today, and since volunteering has been changed to Wed, the oyster happy hour call was gladly accepted.

Supposedly there was a meteor shower happening for the past day or so - they said that if you could find a nice dark place that is high up, you would be able to see it on a clear night.

There were 4 of us at oysters, and in the spur of the moment, we decided that we would hike up Tiger Mountain to see if we could see it.

Grabbing paragliding buddy along the way, we first tried to go to this place to see if we could drive up the mountain - only to find they had closed the gate. So off we went to the base of the mountain to begin a 1hr 30min up Tiger Mountain... at night!

By 2am we got to the top of the mountain. But the clouds were everywhere, didn't see anything. Ended up just chilling and drank a beer (or two), while taking some pictures at the top of the mountain.

A half hour in or so, starting to feel cold, we made our way back down, returning to the base of the mountain at around 4am. Got home at 5am, and watched a TVB, and went to bed.

2nd ever night hike of my life... not as serene as the one last time, but it was still pretty nice.

Anacortes Wkend

The yearly tradition of Anacortes - A full day of crab eating and drinking... great lake view, tons of floor space for drunks - another weekend outdoors!

Got in on Fri nite, where to my surprise, there were already tons of people there. Played some beer pong and won, ate a few hot dogs, and then called it a night at 4:30am in the morning.

Waking up at the usual time (1pm), proceeded to walk outside and be greeted by crabs. Delicious! Freshly caught crab is just wayyy too good. Later on in the day, Vanc tour guide comes down w/ two bottles of Geiken! Sake and crab just goes really really well. Vanc tour guide seem to have had a lot fun - was tipsy and all smiles within an hour of arriving... lol

To end the weekend, got home on Sunday afternoon and took a nap, then went for a jog and proceeded on with bum day.

This weekend was pretty nice. Was pleasantly surprised on Fri nite/Sat morning - woke up thinking I must have had been dreaming. Anyway, like a dream, it only lasted for a ever short while though... but I was really happy. Hands down the most serene and content moment that I had felt for the past 2 months. If only there was a way to make the feeling last, wouldn't life be great? :)

Another weekend out of town... haven't been in town for almost a month now. Will stay in next weekend.