Vancouver: week 2

I am now sitting in the comfort of my very own home, returned safely from Van-city. I spent the last three days sleeping, ergo the lack of a post. But here I am. Better late than never right? I now have two and a half months of stagnant, localized life to undergo before my European extravaganza begins. How will I survive? It'll happen, fear not, though I have been home alone for two days and am already slipping slowly into insanity...
But, you care not about my declining mental well-being. The last week. Well, we hit up the Sunshine Coast which was absolutely breathtaking. We went for a drive on the coast, stopping at beaches and piers. It was stunning. But for me, the best part was waking up every morning (or afternoon if you want to be accurate). I'd open my eyes and there was a bay, leading to the Pacific Ocean, surrounded by mountains, clouds touching their peaks. It doesn't get much better than that. The return trip from the coast was quite exciting, considering the amount of stuff I was helping the boys carry. They decided to some of their stuff from their parent's house to their apartment. Don't get me wrong, I had no qualms against helping them. We just got some pretty awesome looks on the ferry... And the bus... And the Skytrain. Haha. Collectively, we had a Guitar Hero guitar, a bag of random objects (ie. computer hardrive, lamp and other such wonders), a keyboard and a food processor.
After than grand adventure, I had one full day to kill before my flight took off. So, what better way to kill time than to get ink'd??? I packed my bags, had some breakfast and then went out to get my very first tattoo. Exciting right? I thought so. It's nothing big, but it has meaning. Which is what is important. I now will live the rest of my life with my mother's initials and a claddagh tattooed on the inside of my right ankle. For those of you that don't know, a claddagh is the Irish symbol for loyalty and love. So, a worthwhile investment for me. I was expecting waaaay more pain than I underwent. Waaay more. At first I was scared that this inkage would put me off of getting future works of art placed on my canvas, but alas, that is not the case. I am for sure 100% going to invest in more ink. I love the self expression of it all. Beauty at it's most intelligent. To be able to literally wear your heart, thoughts, beliefs... All on your skin, in your flesh. I know not everyone sees it that way, and to each his or her own. That is simply my view on the topic.
So, I am now home, considering the whole idea of work. You know how it is. I shall keep you in the loop.

vancouver: week 1

So I've officially spent an entire week in Vancouver, BC! The first day was mostly spent sleeping to get over the semi jet-lag. The next night I learned the ways of the Skytrain traveler and have been a wayward wanderer ever since! For me, Vancouver is kind of an accumulation of the numerous cities I've been to. Each street reminds me of somewhere. There are certain corners in the Robson St. area that remind me so much of Ottawa it's amazing. Commercial Drive on the other hand is Montreal for sure, with the little cafes at every corner and the live music as you walk down it at night. On of the most startling things for me coming to the city, is realizing how kind the people of Vancouver are. It's not one in every few. Anyone I've talked to has been absolutley awesome. Helpful as anything and more than willing to point this wanderer in the direction needed.
It's now about 11:40pm here, making it 2:40am at home for me. It's strange talking to friends back in Ontario and realizing that it's actually morning for them. Then I feel bad for keeping them awake! It's strange not being home, but at the same time, its very cool, being able to do as I please in a completely different place... Anyways. I shall now be getting to bed.

the adventure begins...

So here I am at 1:26 am sitting in a Toronto hotel room awaiting my flight to Vancouver, BC for the first part of my travel adventure to begin. It is September 30th now I guess, being past midnight and all. I thought it would be weird, watching all of my best friends go off to university and move on with their lives, but truthfully, I haven't been in the real world enough to have time to think about it. For the past month I've been working at the outdoor centre of my camp, running 'retreat' weekends for private schools and hell, we even had a wedding. Basically, I got to hang out with some awesome people for an entire month and got paid for it. Don't get me wrong, we worked our asses off, but as much as we bitched and complained about it, I think we all had a decent time. I feel bad sitting here as Brian, Riley, Colleen and Matt do all the hard work, cleaning up after a busy month as I sit here awaiting liftoff in my gigantic hotel bed. You guys are troopers. Anyways, after a month working, I'm off to visit family in BC for two weeks. I'm staying in Burnaby with my cousins and then venturing out to Pender Harbour to visit my aunt and uncle. I haven't been out there since I was four or something so this should be a whole new adventure.

I guess my whole purpose for this blog is to keep the people in my life updated on where I am and what I'm doing. I can only hope that I actually do something about keeping it maintained... I can be a bit... forgetful at times. At some point this year (January -- fingers crossed) I'll be headed overseas to take Europe. I've been planning this trip for years so I'll be damned if anything gets in my way.

Hypothetically, I could be in school right now, but to be completely honest, I think I would be miserable. I'm glad I've taken the year to do what I have to do before I make the commitment of going to university. Don't get me wrong, I want to go, but once I'm in, I'm in. I'll get there... eventually.

So, let the adventure begin. I'll do my best to keep everyone updated on my travels and all the trouble I get into...