surfer girl goes global

My “marathon,” the Vancouver Sun Run was on Sunday and despite some bumps in my training plan it was a really awesome experience.

Athletically I really impressed myself, I started training late but I was doing really great and then two weeks before the run I hurt my foot somehow and it messed up my running and I pretty much stopped for the time leading up to the run. Despite putting myself in the hour and a half category I decided I was going to aim to cross the finish line in an hour. I really pushed myself and there was a time around 7k when I just wanted to lay down and die but instead I put on Stronger by Kanye and trucked it to the end. I finished with a time of 1:02:17 (personally I think I would have been under an hour if I hadn’t had to dodge walkers the whole way).

Just being there and experiencing the Sun Run was amazing too. The streets of downtown teeming with people at like 8 in the morning, bands playing, colourful balloons lining the streets, runners of all shapes and sizes and ages everywhere – it was a really great atmosphere. Then all along the route there were bands playing and water stops and people cheering you on, clothes littering the sides of the route (they donate these to the salvation army). It’s a really big event in Vancouver and there were a LOT of people which sometimes got annoying because you can’t just give ‘er all the time but that’s also what makes it such a great event the level of public involvement.

I have a love/hate relationship with running, I always want to be a runner but getting out there and doing it can be a b*tch. I think this really got me back into it and I want to keep up my running because in the end I do really enjoy it.

Monday February 18, 2008: Lunchtime, I check my phone, next text message from mom. “Happy Manitoba Riel Day!” What the?? Manitoba Riel day? then click – that’s right this year manitoba instilled a new stat holiday for february since there’s nothing else to look forward to why not a nice day off of work. Great, except for one thing, I live in BC not manitoba. Why don’t I get a stat day too?

After answer the call of Tim Hortons; I begin devising a plan:

Dear Boss,

It has recently been brought to my attention that today is none other than Manitoba Riel Day, only one of the most important Stat Holidays of the year for Manitobans. I was hoping that as a recent transplant from Manitoba you would consider giving me the rest of the afternoon off to take some time to celebrate the many contributions Louis Riel has made to my home province of Manitoba. Generally this is done by snowshoeing and singing Voyageur songs.

Regards

I guess that for all the awesome things there are to enjoy when living in BC like the balmy 10 degree sunny weather in February and the proximity to the mountains for snowboarding there has to be at least one or to things Manitoba has got going for it as well.

Sure if I still lived in Manitoba I would be having a long weekend but I’d probably be curled up under a mound of blankets unable to leave the house for fear of my ears freezing and falling off.

–

Shot down, well unless I want to write a 10,000 word essay on the importance of Louis Reil on French Canadians living in BC. Oddly enough I find myself wanting to write the essay, despite the fact that I don’t really have any recolection of what his contribution to Manitoba was I found myself pondering why he would be relevant to people living on the other side of the mountains from where all the controversy went down.

I really want to use my brain for something because I swear sometimes I think my brain is slowly shutting down from lack of use.

I work as a receptionist, probably the most slack job ever, and I am someone who is prone to slacking. I spend my day answering the phone and relaying who is calling and where they are calling from, pretty basic, and yet much of the time I find myself forgetting or just not being able to catch who they are or where they’re calling from. I would say maybe it was the pot but I really don’t smoke that much, once or twice every couple weeks can’t really be killing off that many brain cells.

I used to do puzzles at work, crosswords and sudoku, but one day it just got to be too much, my brain couldn’t take it anymore so I stopped. But I think I need to find something to replace that stimulation and I don’t think guitar hero is cutting it.

Yesterday I had the most uncomfortable two hours I have ever spent on an airplane. My flight to Edmonton was horrible, not only was I hungover but the plane turns out to be the tiniest thing ever with no leg room and I end up right at the back wall so my seat doesn’t even recline and there weren’t even tvs. I was so cramped uncomfortable and fidgity and I could not get comfortable, that along with the fact that I started feeling rather nautious the moment the plane lifted off.

As the time slowly inched forward I became more and more certain that it was only a matter of time before I puked although I was really hoping I could last till Edmonton. But alas I could not I grabbed my barf bag and ran for the bathroom. Thankfully a few minutes after I got back to my seat I could feel the plane start it’s decent which was such a relief, I could not wait to get off that horrible plane.

Then I found out my plane to Vancouver was delayed half an hour which was actually great, I crashed out and slept until about half an hour before the flight time, and I decided to get some pizza hoping it would help settle my stomach rather than promote more vomiting. I was good after that until I ate the stupid airplane snack food after which I started feeling nauseous again, so I got some ginger ale which I couldn’t drink, despite feeling sick I made it back to Vancouver without throwing up again! Rock on!

I had just enough time to watch the end of Superbad which I started watching on the flight to Winnipeg. I was still feeling pretty rough when I got home so I went to bed practically straight away. And that was the first day of my new year. I think it’s because I wasn’t wearing my new shiny shoes. I decided they’re my 2008 shoes, they are gonna bring me good luck this year.

This past weekend was the annual Whistler Weekend Getaway for the Company. This year I brought Aliza up as she needed to get away from everything and try to sort some stuff out after some drama and a split with Surferboy.

I love going up to Whistler if for no other reason than I get to stay in a sweet as condo/hotel with a King sized bed and a fabulous bathroom. But it’s also great getting to hang out with the co-people as people instead of co-workers and the free saturday night dinner/booze-a-thon is always great too.

Friday night a bunch of us young-uns went out for dinner to Black’s where the meal was slightly unsatisfying for some but we had a great time catching up and talking about everything over a couple pitchers of beer and some chicken burgers. Our (me ‘n Aliza) original plan of going out partying was ditched in favour of watching Grey’s Anatomy and eating copious amounts of junk food which we purchased at Seven Eleven.

Saturday we went down to the Village for coffee and ended up making friends with these cool guys working in a store who helped us score some pot! Then we went back to the hotel and smoked it and I went to hang out in the hot tub with my boss and co-people.

After the hot tub it was time to get the drinks a rollin’ and we headed down to the lobby for some beers and mingling. Once the beer was gone we all ran across the road to catch the Whistler Bus (which is free!) in to town. It was like a big LMDG bus full of buzzed LMDGers + family.

The evening continued with much drinking, there was a parade of rainbow coloured martinis that kept making their way over to our table. Before I knew it Aliza was mixing the martinis in a shot glass and making everyone shoot it! Tequila even made an appearance. I was pretty pissed.

Then instead of going out to party everyone headed back to the hotel. The troopers, Glenn, Geoff, me, and Geoff’s daughter Sydney opted to walk back to the hotel. I don’t know which way we went but we walked through a hotel and almost went swimming in a random hot tub.

I got back to the hotel and climbed in to bed only to discover I had scooped myself two bowls of ice cream! I’m still baffled. It kind of reminds me of the time I lost my toast and I searched for a long time and finally gave up to get a glass of water only to find my toast sitting on a plate in the cupboard.

The next day we took pictures with all the olympic paraphenalia in the Village, hung out with our shop guys again and got some mexican food before taking off back to Vancouver. We decided on the way to make an unexpected pit stop at the Museum of Mining, what they described as a train ride into the mine was actually a five minute slow ride after which we had to get out and stand around and walk around and it never ended – and we were hung over.

But at the end we got to pan for gold which has been a dream of mine since working at Safeway early last year, sure I didn’t pan for it in the Yukon but I’m sure my gold panning days in Britannia Beach will sound just as impressive.

I finished the weekend off by immediately falling into bed upon arrival at home and sleeping the next twelve hours until I had to wake up for work. Oh Whistler how awesome you are, I just wish I’d gone mountain biking.

On thursday night I learned not to consume alcohol and pot in large amounts at the same time. The short story is it really fucks me up, but I almost scored some sweet fold up beer chairs. We had discovered a secret back alley parking spot near the beach and were walking back to the car when we passed a fold up chair with the cup holder it was two attached together. I decided we should take them home, so we were trying to fold them up to carry it back to the car but it just wouldn’t go.

Aliza was just going to leave them there but I don’t give up that easily so I start dragging these chairs back to the car, and we start trying to fit them in the trunk but it’s just not happening. We were parked right behind an apartment and I saw this guy walking across the parking lot so I call over to him to help us put these chairs into our trunk, but he’s not having any luck either. So I confess that we actually just found the chairs down the street and we leave them behind with this guy as thanks for trying to help us.

Friday was really rough, I spent the morning feeling very sick and debated leaving work but at the same time I feel like if you’re out getting trashed on a work night just suck it up because you made the decision to get messed up and so you should take what comes with it. So I stayed and spent the day dreaming of going home and to sleep. Four thirty finally rolls around and I get home and end up going out for appetizers and drinks at Kits with Aliza and Richard – but I got home early.

Saturday we hit Wreck Beach, for anyone not in Vancouver it’s the clothing optional beach here in Van. At first I was being a little immature about the naked thing and kind of giggling and stuff, but I actually really like it and got into the whole topless thing. It’s a great vibe and just really chill and there’s all kinds of people and there’s guys walking around selling pizza and beer (until the cops showed up anyway) empanadas, you’ve got naked people cooking fries and the ‘fries’ tent. It was just really cool down there.

Sunday I met up with Kevin and Conrad who I might be going surfing with this weekend, that is if I can bring myself to use up my last two vacation days.. wait scratch that one vacation day and take an unpaid day off! I can’t believe I used it all already! I really want to go surfing again and they seem really cool so I might just have to take one for the team and go because I think it will be a great time.

But what about the rest of the year!!

I am so fucked this morning. Last night ended with a LOT of sake drinking and staying up way past my bedtime kissing a boy in a parking lot.

It was 35 degrees yesterday so went to the beach after work, we ended up hanging out with these guys, who party there all the time. Telling us about their BBQs and drinking on the beach and how quitting his job was the best thing he’s ever done, playing volleyball and frisbee and just chillin with some beers.

You have to keep the beers on the DL though the cops come through on these ATVs every now and again scouring the beach for any sign of alcohol. Luckily we were good at spotting them in time to hide all sign but not everyone was so lucky. There was this group of guys and they spent twenty minutes dumping out their beer and asking for ID it was so funny. If only I had my camera.

So we’re hanging out on the beach till 10 and getting pretty drunk and getting pretty hungry since we really haven’t eaten since lunch and decide to go to this Japanese restaurant. My first time having Japanese. We get there and the kitchen is closing in five minutes so they need to get our order in and so the one guy starts ordering food like crazy and getting who knows what and SAKE. Which came in this big bamboo stick pretty much, and little bamboo shot glasses.

It was suprisingly drinkable and they made sure to keep the glasses full, even after 3 or 4 of those big bamboo things, even when I decided I’d had enough but okay I’ll have another.

I was having trouble with the chopsticks and got excited about the sushi when it came – is that raw fish? and dug in. I wasn’t quite as excited about the taste in my mouth this morning and I feel like the sake is still running through my veins but you can’t complain when someone else takes care of the bill.

We ended up drinking with the manager (the guys are regulars there) until the place closed and the waitresses were leaving and were heading home, but then we saw some cops so we re-parked the car and got out until they cleared out. Then instead of going home we ended up meeting some other people and hanging out in the parking lot (again with the parking lot hang out) until almost 3 in the morning.

We’re supposed to party on the beach with them again today but I’m not so sure I can take it – that doesn’t sound like New Zealand. But the rest of it late night drinking, going to work hung over or worse still half drunk hoping you don’t reek of alcohol, making out with random boys, that was New Zealand and that was awesome.

Monday night I met surfing Paul. I thought we were doing drinks, but we were doing the dog park, for an hour. Surfing Paul wasn’t as cool as I’d hoped AND he bailed on surfing this weekend which kind of sucks but his friend is in town so what are you gonna do?

So it’s eight o’clock Monday night I’m downtown with nothing to do but I don’t want to go home, so I go to the library, then proceed to wander until I end up at Taco Del Mar where Aliza met me. She can’t stand being at home either and we go for drinks in English Bay, I think it was The Calling. We sit down at the bar and before you know it we’re chatting with the guys next to us, Jonathan and Drew. They seem pretty cool, 30s both in the production industry.

Jonathan’s kind of random in a goofy fun way, my kind of random. I go to the washroom and when I come out he’s waiting for me and we start chatting. It quickly becomes obvious he wants to kiss me, he’s at least a foot taller than me. A girl walks by and we retreat to the back hallway, hiding amongst the kegs, a secret kiss (or 2.. or ?) before heading back to my friend.

Another secret rendezvous a while later, he says it’s like being back in high school – making out in back hallways. I never did that in high school, maybe I should have been. Before I knew it it’s almost two in the morning and we have to work early. We leave the bar, but end up heading down to the beach with the guys instead of to the car.

I run down to the surf to get my feet wet, and gaze up at the stars. I love the stars. He wants one last kiss and I stealthfully plant one on his lips. We didn’t stay at the beach long, we said goodbye and that was that.

You can say what you want about your relationships but there’s something mischievious and fun about my random encounters that I love.

AND today at work this guy comes in to pick up some drawings for one of the projects and he’s rocking one of these awesome new red safety vests that everyone here almost refuse to wear. He’s talking on his cell and he’s kind of hot, I don’t know if it’s the vest he’s sporting or just the whole rugged thing he’s got going on but I was liking him. We chatted about the day, the heat, and then he left. I kind of wish he’d come back.

After being with people all weekend it feels kind of weird to be alone.

Aliza and I went up to Kelowna this weekend to experience the event known as Wakefest. For three days young people take over the city as they crowd to the lake edge half naked and drinking beer to watch wakeboarders compete. And three nights during which they flood the night-clubs and late night eateries of downtown.

It was all really last minute, our planning deciding only a day prior that we were going to go. All the tickets for our day were sold out and we weren’t sure what was going to happen. Luckily Aliza knows everybody and their brother and found us somewhere to stay with a friend of an internet friend whom she’d never actually met and who found us tickets to the event and things took off from there. So we paid 3 times the going rate for tickets but the weekend overall was a blast and I’m really glad we went.

Our original plan was to go up Friday around 8pm and we were going to stay with her friend but later found out this friend got called in to work and wouldn’t be going to Ktown until Saturday. So Aliza found the friend of her internet friend to stay with and we set off Friday at 6:30 scrambling to pack after work.

We flew up to Kelowna in about 3½ hours doing an average of 140km/h topping out around 160 at one point. There was this guy on a motorcycle on the highway who would randomly slow down to practically stopping to chat with other vehicles, this was highly annoying, but we got into Kelowna just after dark and set off to meet her friend Mark.

The boys (Mark and Anthony/Tony) ended up being pretty cool, they were trying a little too hard to impress us at first I thought but we had fun. Our original plan for the first night was to go out clubbing but we were pretty tired so we decided to just rent a movie and have some beers with the guys (both of which they paid for). Sleeping was pretty much free for all in the living room but I managed to score a spot in bed and kept cool with a fan blowing on me all night.

After falling asleep at 5:00 in the morning I was up again at 7:00 to my dismay, I tried to sleep but it just wasn’t happening. So I got up and went outside and hung out on the balcony. The really random thing is there’s a campground right in the middle of the neighbourhood, so I was hanging out reading and checking out the shirtless boys in the campground. That’s the great thing about Kelowna, EVERYONE is shirtless and hot. It was nice. Aliza was up around 8 or 9 and I made coffee, scrounging through all the cupboards, made some toast and we chilled on the balcony some more.

Just before ten we headed out to pick up our overpriced tickets, checked out the mall and chilled at Moxi’s with some lunch and drinks before heading to Wakefest. Now I had a pretty fucking awesome time up in Kelowna but Wakefest the actual event wasn’t that big of a deal, there were just a bunch of stands set up selling food or bracelets, clothing in a line along the shoreline and there was a beach area and a stage where I guess the bands played but I didn’t see them oh and there was a Motocross show which I also didn’t watch and then of course on the lake they did the Wakeboarding.

So we got in wandered around and checked out what was going on, out big thing was the beer garden, except it was everyone else’s big thing and it was an hour wait to get in, so instead of watching the competition or the Motocross or anything we stood in line in the hot sun forever. I was very cranky about waiting, but once we got in it was all good again. Everyone running around drinking, talking, chillin, there were water guns and ice cube mugs and it was a pretty good time.

The second night our plan was to go out clubbing (again) I was pretty wiped but Aliza really wanted to go so after eating with the boys we took to the town. The original plan involved Mark hooking us up in the VIP line but last minute they decided to bail on us so we were stuck trying to get our own way in which at 11:00pm was looking pretty bleak. Everywhere we went lines were huge, we drove around for a while from one place to another but everything was crowded.

The vibe on the street was awesome though, tons of people everyone drunk and super friendly everyone trading stories of the bars where the lines are, people looking for food, hanging out at the hot dog stands or the pita pit, or just being entertaining drunks. It just really awesome. People were just setting up lawn chairs in parking lots, drinking, smoking, half the people we talked to didn’t even have a place to stay or were planning on crashing on the beach or on top of their trucks.

After deciding we weren’t going to get into a bar we just got some water and some hot dogs and sat there taking everything in. This guy mentioned the casion and we thought why not so headed over that way. We pulled up into the parking lot full of people everyone just camping out and having a blast, we meant to go to the casino but just sat there completely burnt out for a while, then this guy comes up to the car and invited us over to drink with them so what the heck we did. Justin his name was, he lives in Kamloops or some weird place starting with an S but he said we should come up some time and he’d teach us to Wakeboard which after this weekend we both decided we’d be into.

Aliza’s ex Derek showed up after a while with some pot which we smoked and after that we were pretty much done and just crashed out in the car. Derek had no place to stay for the night and couldn’t get a hold of his friends so Aliza decided to hang out with him until he found them or a place to stay, I was done and went home. Where the boys had been drinking all night and were getting a little rowdy.

They needed more mixers and were going to the store so I decided to join them despite the fact that all I wanted to do was go to bed. On the way back they decided to go skinny dipping in the lake and walk home with their assess hanging out. Then Mark decided to walk around naked for the rest of the night, it was all too much for me so I went to bed. Apparently earlier in the evening he preformed the ‘Cock in a box’ skit from SNL thankfully I was in the shower at the time, but I saw way more of Mark that night than I wanted to.

We were up and out pretty early the next morning, Aliza came bringing Tim Hortons which was awesome, we sat on the balcony and chatted about the night, the trip, checked out campground boys, then went in and chatted with Anthony a bit before taking off to the mall and the beach. We ran into Derek again who had found his friends, they’d slept on the roof of their car, and they were beer bonging in the parking lot. We took some pictures at the waterfront before hopping in the car and heading home.

I pretty much crashed out and Aliza got a speeding ticket, we were both kind of sad to leave Kelowna and kind of excited about getting home. We made pretty good time again, got back around 6 or 6:30 felt weird being home and alone.

I unpacked and was just going to upload my pictures when I realized I didn’t have my camera or wallet, I went to call Aliza and discovered a text saying she missed Kelowna, we’d only been home for about half an hour but we decided we couldn’t take it anymore and went out to find a beer and some hot boys.

We ended up at Malone’s in Kits where we had beer and nachos and talked about how awesome Ktown was, how everyone is hot there, how much we miss it and need to go back, and how Van sucks. We did run into one cool drunk guy who gave us high fives and then raped our guacamole after we invited him to have some nachos; he’d just gotten back from the Calgary stampede then his girlfriend came and took him away.

Last night I met Aliza from the Internet. Despite the fact that I spent most of the afternoon whining about wanting to stay home and watch TV I had a great time. We went to Speak Easy on Granville Street for drinks.

Turns out she works at a company my work does business with all the time, not only that but she lives two blocks away from me. So random.

Anyway She was pretty cool and some of her friends came who were pretty cool too and so it was all good. We just talked and had drinks, a few too many for me I guess as I am feeling it a bit today. Yesterday I rode in to work and took the bus home so it looks like a biking day for me this afternoon (boo hoo).

I’m also hoping to make a last minute VCR purchase today because there is a certain show that I am obsessed with that will be on while I am out of town this weekend and I would love to record it to watch but my current VCR is a piece of crap someone found near a dumpster. So the necessity of a new one. Hopefully it will work out.

That’s all really, I’m very out of it today.

My regular cycling route to and from work includes a stretch of road on Slocan between Grandview and 29th Avenue, also known as part of the Sunrise Bike Route through Vancouver.

Every morning I come ripping out of the park near 29th Avenue Station and fly down the kilometer or so (my estimation) stretch of downhill relishing every speed bump I jump over (ha jump is kind of stretching it). Every afternoon I pull up to the stop light on Grandview and look up with dread at the road before me, unlike my friend of the morning going home on the Sunrise stretch is an ordeal.

I curse and trudge my way up the hill, panting, and always forced to stop once or twice. Only sheer force of will keeping me going. I make it to the top finally and peddle feebly to the park only to collapse in the grass and gulp down water, wishing I was home.

Now yesterday marked the beginning of my fourth week as a bike commuter, I was having kind of a rough day and was lacking my usual spirit. Despite my mood I’d been having a good ride and as I pulled up to the lights on Grandview I looked my nemesis square in the face. I wasn’t looking forward to it, but what else is there to do but keep going?

The light turned green and I pushed off from the curb and started the slow ride uphill. I passed the park with the super high swings that I love and I passed the car with all the Vegan bumper stickers, then I neared my normal stop for water spot and debated taking a rest but decided to push on. I struggled past the first stop sign, which was clear to go through for once and as I pulled up to the second stop sign I cursed the car that stopped to let me cross, I’d been hoping for a break but as I trudged up the last stretch of hill I realized I’d done it.

I climbed Sunrise without stopping. This was a cycling goal. This was a moment to remember.

The Big Boss of Hills is still out there, waiting to be conquered (oh Boundary you know I mean you), but for now I’m happy that I mastered Sunrise.