When I was having my skating class, 3 of my favorite TV shows were on, at the same freaking time.
"Alias", "The O.C.", and "Smallville".
I asked my sister to tape "Alias" for me, while she watched the other shows, mostly "The O.C." and caught the ending of "Smallville", the last few mins of it.
When I got back home, sis was watching the taped "Alias". At that time, there was a new TV series on that I'd like to check out as well, "Night Stalker". But, because my sis wanted to watch the tape, I didn't get to watch that as well.
Friday, September 30, 2005
Footwork
Had a really good class yesterday.
Not too many ppl showed up, only 5 of us.
He taught us (me and Karen) some steps, some of which he already did for us for the show last time.
- right forward 3-turn then followed by left forward 3-turn and continously in a straight line
- right forward 3-turn, side hop, then left forward 3-turn, side hop....down the rink
- "walt jump" followed by a counter-clockwise crossover step (with the right skate underneath), then a clockwise crossover with the left skate underneath.
- the previous one + alternate with the same thing but in the other direction, ie. "walt jump" in clockwise direction.
(instead of jumping, we just did an outside edge 3-turn and step on to the other skate to prepare for the crossover)
We had homework this time, the first time ever.
We have to create a straight line footwork sequence that contains at least 16 steps.
Kevin said it's in case we wanted to do the prelim test for teaching assistant or sth (so that we have a goal).
The whole test he said included
- the basic forward and backward crossover across the whole rink
- a waltz jump
- a loop
- a jump combination with toe loop (? or was it a toe loop toe loop combination)
- a one foot spin
- a camel spin
- and the footwork i guess
He said it's really not that difficult..... yeah rite...
Right now I'm missing the toe loop and the camel spin. The footwork shouldn't be too hard. I think it's harder to come up with one, and getting it is just straight forward practice.
Not too many ppl showed up, only 5 of us.
He taught us (me and Karen) some steps, some of which he already did for us for the show last time.
- right forward 3-turn then followed by left forward 3-turn and continously in a straight line
- right forward 3-turn, side hop, then left forward 3-turn, side hop....down the rink
- "walt jump" followed by a counter-clockwise crossover step (with the right skate underneath), then a clockwise crossover with the left skate underneath.
- the previous one + alternate with the same thing but in the other direction, ie. "walt jump" in clockwise direction.
(instead of jumping, we just did an outside edge 3-turn and step on to the other skate to prepare for the crossover)
We had homework this time, the first time ever.
We have to create a straight line footwork sequence that contains at least 16 steps.
Kevin said it's in case we wanted to do the prelim test for teaching assistant or sth (so that we have a goal).
The whole test he said included
- the basic forward and backward crossover across the whole rink
- a waltz jump
- a loop
- a jump combination with toe loop (? or was it a toe loop toe loop combination)
- a one foot spin
- a camel spin
- and the footwork i guess
He said it's really not that difficult..... yeah rite...
Right now I'm missing the toe loop and the camel spin. The footwork shouldn't be too hard. I think it's harder to come up with one, and getting it is just straight forward practice.
Monday, September 26, 2005
Fun Weekend - part 2
Sun
Woke up early again.
Slowly ate breakfast, fed my fish, read my book, then went to church and day dreamed an hr.
Went to London drug, got baked Lays and Lindt 99% less sugar dark chocolate (the whole thing is only 180 calories).
Went running with John, we did 30mins about, on the dyke.
Went home, cooked "dinner" with sis. We had Angel hair with Oliver's Italian meatball sauce. There was way too much pasta and not enuf sauce, but it was still pretty good after we added in some honey ham cubes in it. Then, we baked the pillsbury chunky chocolate cookies. For some of the cookies, we took out most of the chocolate cubes and made one cookie with too many chocolate chunks in it. John seemed to like that one. I loved it too, it was crispy on the outside and molten on the inside. However, I still found that the chocolates were too bitter when they were actually inside the cookies. Weird, eh?
Then we drove to Les's thing, his presentation of his nile trip. You can learn more about it here.
It was awesome!! We had such a good time.
Les's very funny during the whole presentation, he did such a good job.
It wasn't until the Q&A session that I learned that Les had only 6 mths of kayaking experience b4 the trip, and he had to paddle 8 hrs a day during the trip!!!!
They spent 4 yrs researching, including going over there to scout the route, learned 2 new languages (one of them Arabic), learned how to suture...
The whole trip took 9 months.
The most memorable ....
- video clip of the Northern Gorge paddling. The rapids were so high (taller than a person) and fast and brown (too much silt). It was so dangerous. He showed us slide of it with the huge rocks exposed when the river was calm.
- They got Malaria at the start of the trip, even after they were given a whole sheet of vaccinations.
- They got thrown in jail twice for misunderstanding, even after they had all 60 permits with them.
- 20 feet long chrocodile got hold of the bowline and shaking the raft
- huge hippos
- Tanner wearing imperial hat with spike on top and running down to scare the local kids
- Les walking 10km just to get different kind of food from the local stores
Woke up early again.
Slowly ate breakfast, fed my fish, read my book, then went to church and day dreamed an hr.
Went to London drug, got baked Lays and Lindt 99% less sugar dark chocolate (the whole thing is only 180 calories).
Went running with John, we did 30mins about, on the dyke.
Went home, cooked "dinner" with sis. We had Angel hair with Oliver's Italian meatball sauce. There was way too much pasta and not enuf sauce, but it was still pretty good after we added in some honey ham cubes in it. Then, we baked the pillsbury chunky chocolate cookies. For some of the cookies, we took out most of the chocolate cubes and made one cookie with too many chocolate chunks in it. John seemed to like that one. I loved it too, it was crispy on the outside and molten on the inside. However, I still found that the chocolates were too bitter when they were actually inside the cookies. Weird, eh?
Then we drove to Les's thing, his presentation of his nile trip. You can learn more about it here.
It was awesome!! We had such a good time.
Les's very funny during the whole presentation, he did such a good job.
It wasn't until the Q&A session that I learned that Les had only 6 mths of kayaking experience b4 the trip, and he had to paddle 8 hrs a day during the trip!!!!
They spent 4 yrs researching, including going over there to scout the route, learned 2 new languages (one of them Arabic), learned how to suture...
The whole trip took 9 months.
The most memorable ....
- video clip of the Northern Gorge paddling. The rapids were so high (taller than a person) and fast and brown (too much silt). It was so dangerous. He showed us slide of it with the huge rocks exposed when the river was calm.
- They got Malaria at the start of the trip, even after they were given a whole sheet of vaccinations.
- They got thrown in jail twice for misunderstanding, even after they had all 60 permits with them.
- 20 feet long chrocodile got hold of the bowline and shaking the raft
- huge hippos
- Tanner wearing imperial hat with spike on top and running down to scare the local kids
- Les walking 10km just to get different kind of food from the local stores
Fun Weekend - part 1
Sat
No more boating practice (last I heard we might still have practice on Tue). However, out of habit, I still woke up early, just before 7am.
Ate a lot, took a half-hr nap at 10, and then worked out. Ran 46 mins.
John picked me up and then we went shopping at Lansdown mall. We went to Toys "R" Us, picked out a super cute jacket for Camaran, a future shop gift card for Liz, and then bought slippers and sunglasses for John.
We went to John's family's place and then walked 15mins to The Keg. It was cold but the scenary was nice.
I had the "small" prime rib, medium. It looked like it needed more cooking, but it tasted great. I didn't know there were medium rare and medium well done.
The mashed potatoes were fantastic!!!! It was mashed potatoes with potato cubes with skin on it and spring onion. I loved the skins. It was so good! The only thing that I didn't like about my plate was the onion fries. They'r so oily and soggy and stale.
We told the server that we had a bday girl amongst our table, and then we got a slice of a coffee ice cream cake with chocolate cookie as the bottom. It was so yummy. I wasn't sure if they charged us for that or not.
After the dinner, we walked back to the apartment, chit chatted a lil, and gave our gifts to Liz. She seemed to be very happy with them. She's always so happy and polite.
After we got back to Richmond, we opened the Optima dessert wine that I got from Kelowna. It was very fruity.
No more boating practice (last I heard we might still have practice on Tue). However, out of habit, I still woke up early, just before 7am.
Ate a lot, took a half-hr nap at 10, and then worked out. Ran 46 mins.
John picked me up and then we went shopping at Lansdown mall. We went to Toys "R" Us, picked out a super cute jacket for Camaran, a future shop gift card for Liz, and then bought slippers and sunglasses for John.
We went to John's family's place and then walked 15mins to The Keg. It was cold but the scenary was nice.
I had the "small" prime rib, medium. It looked like it needed more cooking, but it tasted great. I didn't know there were medium rare and medium well done.
The mashed potatoes were fantastic!!!! It was mashed potatoes with potato cubes with skin on it and spring onion. I loved the skins. It was so good! The only thing that I didn't like about my plate was the onion fries. They'r so oily and soggy and stale.
We told the server that we had a bday girl amongst our table, and then we got a slice of a coffee ice cream cake with chocolate cookie as the bottom. It was so yummy. I wasn't sure if they charged us for that or not.
After the dinner, we walked back to the apartment, chit chatted a lil, and gave our gifts to Liz. She seemed to be very happy with them. She's always so happy and polite.
After we got back to Richmond, we opened the Optima dessert wine that I got from Kelowna. It was very fruity.
Thursday, September 22, 2005
ID
Another thing I forgot to mention.
The lady at Quail's Gate asked me for 2 pieces of ID before she let me do the wine tasting. No other places asked me for it, altho all wineries have big label that says if u're under 22 (or was it 25?) u need to show 2 pieces of ID. 2, not 1.
The lady at Quail's Gate asked me for 2 pieces of ID before she let me do the wine tasting. No other places asked me for it, altho all wineries have big label that says if u're under 22 (or was it 25?) u need to show 2 pieces of ID. 2, not 1.
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
Official results
Mixed Division - Round 1
Race 24
Mixed Division - Round 2
Race 41
Silver Division Semi 1
Race 63
Silver Final B
Race 87
Race 24
Lane Place 11:50am Time
1 6 Riff Raft 2:24.74
2 4 Birch Mountain Golden Dragons 2:19.53
3 5 RGL United 2:23.83
4 1 Pacific Reach 2:02.87
5 2 Exstream Currents 2:12.09
6 3 Ready, Jet Go! 2:17.76
7 7 Pirates of the Okanagan 2:31.11
Mixed Division - Round 2
Race 41
Lane Place 3:10pm Time
1 6 The Eh Team 2:43.46
2 5 Scotia Scorchers 2:33.78
3 4 Ready, Jet Go! 2:26.67
4 1 Alpha Dragons Red 2:09.84
5 3 Phat Phish Racing 2:25.83
6 2 Synergy Ship Disturbers 2:14.68
Silver Division Semi 1
Race 63
Lane Place 10:20am Time
1 3 Raunchy Rodents 2:20.09
2 2 Drunk'n Dragons - Blue Team 2:19.56
3 4 Ready, Jet Go! 2:20.56
4 1 V02 Max 2:14.55
5 6 Synergy Soulja's 2:26.17
6 5 Team Uproar 2:22.56
Silver Final B
Race 87
Lane Place 3:05pm Time
1 5 Synergy Soulja's 2:34.98
2 2 Topmade Drifting Dragons 2:29.30
3 1 Ready, Jet Go! 2:29.07
4 4 Alpha Dragons Blue 2:34.55
5 3 Team Uproar 2:32.91
6 6 Shaggin' Dragons 2:37.45
Little Incident
I forgot to mention in my Kelowna blogs.
As we were waiting in line in the washroom at the Visitor Info, some chinese ladies just walked ahead of us and went into the stall. Meredith, our stroker, went in and "dragged" one of them out and told them that they had to get behind the line. That lady was saying in cantonese something like "She looked so good mannered, yet she's so rude". I understand that in HK, you wait in line per stall instead of per washroom. And, in China, you wait in crowds, basically no line, first come/squeeze-urself-in first serve. But, after she had known that there was a line, she should have just said sorry instead of complaining in cantonese and saying other ppl being rude.
As we were waiting in line in the washroom at the Visitor Info, some chinese ladies just walked ahead of us and went into the stall. Meredith, our stroker, went in and "dragged" one of them out and told them that they had to get behind the line. That lady was saying in cantonese something like "She looked so good mannered, yet she's so rude". I understand that in HK, you wait in line per stall instead of per washroom. And, in China, you wait in crowds, basically no line, first come/squeeze-urself-in first serve. But, after she had known that there was a line, she should have just said sorry instead of complaining in cantonese and saying other ppl being rude.
Wine soap
The wine soap didn't smell as good when it's out of the wrap, a lil too pungent. I wondered if I would smell like a drunk after using it, fortunately I didn't. It's not as mosturizing as other soap. I'm glad I only bought one.
I wonder if there is any real wine in the soap.
Do you think they "recycle" those wine that ppl dumped out after wine tasting??
I wonder if there is any real wine in the soap.
Do you think they "recycle" those wine that ppl dumped out after wine tasting??
Monday, September 19, 2005
Kelowna Dragon Boat Festival - part 3 - racing
Had a good nite sleep, woke up at 5:30am.
I sat out on the first race, we ended up 4th in Silver Division, 2:20.56 mins. No medal round for us, just consolation round. I could see disappointment in ppl's "shit". But, at least we beat Synergy, who beat us by several milliseconds last festival. Their time was 2:26.17mins.
It was so very close. From where Deider was standing, he thought we were 4th. But, our coach thought we were 3rd, probably because he wanted us to.
We had to wait for 3 hrs for the next race. Some ppl went out and planned to go go-karting, only came back later cuz it's too expensive, 20 bux per person.
I brought my book along with me and just read, and non-stop eating again, and napped a few minutes. The waiting was very boring.
I was boiling when we were marshalling for the second race, had one extra long sleeve shirt under my race shirt. It was fine when I got into the boat because of the wind and the cool water.
Synergy was so late, their usual tactic. I almost thought that we're gonna start the race w/o them. I'm starting to think that lateness is becoming a chinese custom. I could feel nervousness at the pit of my stomach, unlike other races, cuz this was the very last race of the season! I paddled extra hard at the beginning, and almost ran out of gas at the middle. I had so much trouble breathing, and it affected my rotation. For a few strokes, it was all bicep. Then I remembered I needed to rotate, and did tried very hard to do the right format, and kept reminding myself that we're almost there. It was so intense! You know, just imagine that u're arms were cramping, you couldn't get oxygen in, but you still needed to keep up w/ the pace and at the same time had to keep up your techique. And, our caller/captain was yelling and cheering. And, the coach was watching our side of the boat. In the end, we ended up 1st! Not bad at all. Our time was 2:29.07mins, 2nd place's time was 2:29.30mins. See how close it is?
Then, we had group photos for 6 different cameras.
The coach stayed behind to pick up our ribbons.
I got a ride with Deider and headed back to the cabin, and went to Subway on the way.
I took a shower and chatted with our members next next door before leaving. We bought too much milk, and had like 6 litres left in the fridge. Too bad I didn't bring a small cooler w/ me.
It took us a lil less than 5 hrs to get to Richmond. We were chatting all along the way, I was very tired, and my tongue tied several times. I said "college" when I wanted to say "courage". Deider was such a nice gentleman, drove me all the way there, eventho he lives in Vancouver. He even came back to my house later for the paddle that I left in his car. My mom answered the door, cuz I was already fast asleep in my bed.
I sat out on the first race, we ended up 4th in Silver Division, 2:20.56 mins. No medal round for us, just consolation round. I could see disappointment in ppl's "shit". But, at least we beat Synergy, who beat us by several milliseconds last festival. Their time was 2:26.17mins.
It was so very close. From where Deider was standing, he thought we were 4th. But, our coach thought we were 3rd, probably because he wanted us to.
We had to wait for 3 hrs for the next race. Some ppl went out and planned to go go-karting, only came back later cuz it's too expensive, 20 bux per person.
I brought my book along with me and just read, and non-stop eating again, and napped a few minutes. The waiting was very boring.
I was boiling when we were marshalling for the second race, had one extra long sleeve shirt under my race shirt. It was fine when I got into the boat because of the wind and the cool water.
Synergy was so late, their usual tactic. I almost thought that we're gonna start the race w/o them. I'm starting to think that lateness is becoming a chinese custom. I could feel nervousness at the pit of my stomach, unlike other races, cuz this was the very last race of the season! I paddled extra hard at the beginning, and almost ran out of gas at the middle. I had so much trouble breathing, and it affected my rotation. For a few strokes, it was all bicep. Then I remembered I needed to rotate, and did tried very hard to do the right format, and kept reminding myself that we're almost there. It was so intense! You know, just imagine that u're arms were cramping, you couldn't get oxygen in, but you still needed to keep up w/ the pace and at the same time had to keep up your techique. And, our caller/captain was yelling and cheering. And, the coach was watching our side of the boat. In the end, we ended up 1st! Not bad at all. Our time was 2:29.07mins, 2nd place's time was 2:29.30mins. See how close it is?
Then, we had group photos for 6 different cameras.
The coach stayed behind to pick up our ribbons.
I got a ride with Deider and headed back to the cabin, and went to Subway on the way.
I took a shower and chatted with our members next next door before leaving. We bought too much milk, and had like 6 litres left in the fridge. Too bad I didn't bring a small cooler w/ me.
It took us a lil less than 5 hrs to get to Richmond. We were chatting all along the way, I was very tired, and my tongue tied several times. I said "college" when I wanted to say "courage". Deider was such a nice gentleman, drove me all the way there, eventho he lives in Vancouver. He even came back to my house later for the paddle that I left in his car. My mom answered the door, cuz I was already fast asleep in my bed.
Kelowna Dragon Boat Festival - part 2 - racing
Woke up at 6:45am in the morning. Got dressed and went next next door.
Had cheese omelete, freshly baked blueberry scones, milk, orange, emergeny-C drink, guava juice, and olong tea (tea bag). So very full.
After that, I helped clean up and waited for my roomate to wake up and had their breakfast, and took a ride with them to Dolphin's fountain. Parking was free at the library nearby.
Our first race was at 11:50am. We did better than we had expected, 3rd, 2:17.760 mins.
Our second race was at 3:10pm. We didn't do too well, 4th, 2:26.670 mins.
There were so much waiting in between, too much time (and too much food around) to do non-stop eating.
I felt so tired after each race, my arms cramped up again.
After the race, we headed to Costco. It was so hard to find, there was no sign at all. We just stopped at a building that looked like Costco, and it was. Our thing to get was salmon patty, veggie patty, beef patty, salad, and cheese. We also got some crackers in case we got too much cheese. Then we dropped off the stuffs at our captain's cabin, and headed back to our cabin. I took a shower while my roomates (the couple) went to take a swim. I forgot to bring my swimsuit cuz I forgot that we can swim in Kelowna water.
At the BBQ, I shared my food with Hye Jung, had half a veggie burger, and half a smokie. For drink, I only had a lil coke with rum from Andrea, raspberry w/ 7up, some cheese (while I was helping to cut it), 4 marshmallows (some burnt, was trying new technique, carmelizing it in the dark on open fire), some chips, a lil salad, a small slice of brie (it tasted awful)....
Oh, and our other roomate arrived today in the morning (heard that he woke up at 4am and drove all the way here by himself), and we only had 2 sets of key. So, I had to get back to the cabin together with him... and he volunteered to help cleanup, so I also stayed behind and helped dry the dishes and got a lil cut in the process. We left the party around 10:30pm.
I did a lil reading and went to sleep around 11 while they were out in the living room watching TV and studying/writing paper.
Had cheese omelete, freshly baked blueberry scones, milk, orange, emergeny-C drink, guava juice, and olong tea (tea bag). So very full.
After that, I helped clean up and waited for my roomate to wake up and had their breakfast, and took a ride with them to Dolphin's fountain. Parking was free at the library nearby.
Our first race was at 11:50am. We did better than we had expected, 3rd, 2:17.760 mins.
Our second race was at 3:10pm. We didn't do too well, 4th, 2:26.670 mins.
There were so much waiting in between, too much time (and too much food around) to do non-stop eating.
I felt so tired after each race, my arms cramped up again.
After the race, we headed to Costco. It was so hard to find, there was no sign at all. We just stopped at a building that looked like Costco, and it was. Our thing to get was salmon patty, veggie patty, beef patty, salad, and cheese. We also got some crackers in case we got too much cheese. Then we dropped off the stuffs at our captain's cabin, and headed back to our cabin. I took a shower while my roomates (the couple) went to take a swim. I forgot to bring my swimsuit cuz I forgot that we can swim in Kelowna water.
At the BBQ, I shared my food with Hye Jung, had half a veggie burger, and half a smokie. For drink, I only had a lil coke with rum from Andrea, raspberry w/ 7up, some cheese (while I was helping to cut it), 4 marshmallows (some burnt, was trying new technique, carmelizing it in the dark on open fire), some chips, a lil salad, a small slice of brie (it tasted awful)....
Oh, and our other roomate arrived today in the morning (heard that he woke up at 4am and drove all the way here by himself), and we only had 2 sets of key. So, I had to get back to the cabin together with him... and he volunteered to help cleanup, so I also stayed behind and helped dry the dishes and got a lil cut in the process. We left the party around 10:30pm.
I did a lil reading and went to sleep around 11 while they were out in the living room watching TV and studying/writing paper.
Kelowna Dragon Boat Festival - part 1 - wineries
Fri
Start
Woke up at 5:15am (alarm set at 6:15am), showered, had Matcha milk, and did some last minute packing. John picked me up at 6:30am, then drove back to his place to pick up the water filter. We arrived way too early at the gas station, drove around to find McDonald, couldn't find any. John had to withstand sleepiness and hunger just for me.
After some waiting, my other ride picked me up at 7:31am. I sat at the back of a Mini. There was not enuf feet room, my feet with my runners could not fit under the seat in front of me. Not too much of a problem, my legs were short enuf. It felt like I was on a plane. It was raining, after an hr or so we took a break at Abbortsford's Tim Hortons and met up with the rest of the team. I bought the new Apple Toffee Danish, and took several sips of French Vanilla coffee from Ayako. Then after sevaral hrs we took another break at a Visitor Info, heard it was the same place that they stopped at last year. It was much colder there. The sun came out and the rain stopped. Then, we went straight to Kelowna.
Wineries
Grey Monk
First, we stopped at Grey Monk for lunch. I had the Picker's Lunch (yummy salmon chowder with cheese/ham/lettuce sandwich), the cheapest on the menu, $8.50. They had seafood, and lamp on the menu but those were like 18 20 bux. Then, we had the wine tasting. Everything tasted about the same to me, bitter. I didn't buy any wine there, only bought a pink wine soap that smells really good.
Arrowleaf
Bought a dessert wine. It's the sweetest wine that I had ever tasted, it won silver in last yr competition in its own category. After that, we drove about 20 to 30mins to Cedar Creek.
Cedar Creek
That place was extremely beautiful. I so regretted that I didn't bring my camera along. Did the usual wine tasting, nothing that I liked. Their prices were more expensive than others.
St. Hubertus
Bought another dessert wine there. It wasn't as sweet as the one in Arrowleaf but still very good, especially the bottle, very beautiful. I'm going to save that one for gift later.
Quail's Gate
They had an awesome ice wine there, and they served it in a lil chocolate cup, all for 3 bux. For the other wine, they didn't charge us.
I only bought the late harvest dessert wine, not as sweet as ice wine but still very nice.
For most of the wine, I dumped out the rest after I've gotten a taste of it. For the dessert wine and ice wine, I finished most of it.
In the end, I looked very happy.
Then, afterwards, we drove to Save On to get stuffs for dinner and breakfast ingredients. Since I already bought my share of breakfast with me in my bag, I didn't have to buy anything.
Some people went to see the David Usher concert, I just stayed at the cabin/condo. Our 7-ppl group, ended up getting 2 rooms, because the original room's septic tank's broke. It ended up to be such a good deal. I was given a lil corner with my own lil bed. It's so much better than I had expected, and no one snored heavily in our room.
At supper, we had pasta (tomato, tuna, lemon) and garlic bread.
Then, I watched them play a drinking game. It's so much fun, I got so hyper that I couldn't sleep till 5 in the morning....and also because I could hear their laughs in my room (which is 2 rooms away) and my roomate's showering when I's trying to sleep.
The game is like this. A round of ppl bouncing coin to the table and try to get it in the cup. The one who got his coin in get to make a rule and point out who to drink the beer (1/5 of a cup), anyone who breaks the rule will have to be punished, by drinking beer. This went on till there were so many rules that it's really hard to remember them all. For each rule that wasn't followed, that person needs to have another drink. There were so many empty bottles on the table when I left.
When I left, the rules were:-
- say "yay" with arms brought up
- touch his or her nose
- say ikideijimas (or sth like that)
- drink the beer with his or her left hand
- say gojizosamas (or sth like that)
- cannot leave the table without approvement from all players
- cannot say a person's name
- cannot point at other ppl w/ just one finger, has to be the whole hand, or elbow
- can challenge not to drink and answer a truth or dare question
- cannot say the word "drink" <-- the one rule that got broken many times
Start
Woke up at 5:15am (alarm set at 6:15am), showered, had Matcha milk, and did some last minute packing. John picked me up at 6:30am, then drove back to his place to pick up the water filter. We arrived way too early at the gas station, drove around to find McDonald, couldn't find any. John had to withstand sleepiness and hunger just for me.
After some waiting, my other ride picked me up at 7:31am. I sat at the back of a Mini. There was not enuf feet room, my feet with my runners could not fit under the seat in front of me. Not too much of a problem, my legs were short enuf. It felt like I was on a plane. It was raining, after an hr or so we took a break at Abbortsford's Tim Hortons and met up with the rest of the team. I bought the new Apple Toffee Danish, and took several sips of French Vanilla coffee from Ayako. Then after sevaral hrs we took another break at a Visitor Info, heard it was the same place that they stopped at last year. It was much colder there. The sun came out and the rain stopped. Then, we went straight to Kelowna.
Wineries
Grey Monk
First, we stopped at Grey Monk for lunch. I had the Picker's Lunch (yummy salmon chowder with cheese/ham/lettuce sandwich), the cheapest on the menu, $8.50. They had seafood, and lamp on the menu but those were like 18 20 bux. Then, we had the wine tasting. Everything tasted about the same to me, bitter. I didn't buy any wine there, only bought a pink wine soap that smells really good.
Arrowleaf
Bought a dessert wine. It's the sweetest wine that I had ever tasted, it won silver in last yr competition in its own category. After that, we drove about 20 to 30mins to Cedar Creek.
Cedar Creek
That place was extremely beautiful. I so regretted that I didn't bring my camera along. Did the usual wine tasting, nothing that I liked. Their prices were more expensive than others.
St. Hubertus
Bought another dessert wine there. It wasn't as sweet as the one in Arrowleaf but still very good, especially the bottle, very beautiful. I'm going to save that one for gift later.
Quail's Gate
They had an awesome ice wine there, and they served it in a lil chocolate cup, all for 3 bux. For the other wine, they didn't charge us.
I only bought the late harvest dessert wine, not as sweet as ice wine but still very nice.
For most of the wine, I dumped out the rest after I've gotten a taste of it. For the dessert wine and ice wine, I finished most of it.
In the end, I looked very happy.
Then, afterwards, we drove to Save On to get stuffs for dinner and breakfast ingredients. Since I already bought my share of breakfast with me in my bag, I didn't have to buy anything.
Some people went to see the David Usher concert, I just stayed at the cabin/condo. Our 7-ppl group, ended up getting 2 rooms, because the original room's septic tank's broke. It ended up to be such a good deal. I was given a lil corner with my own lil bed. It's so much better than I had expected, and no one snored heavily in our room.
At supper, we had pasta (tomato, tuna, lemon) and garlic bread.
Then, I watched them play a drinking game. It's so much fun, I got so hyper that I couldn't sleep till 5 in the morning....and also because I could hear their laughs in my room (which is 2 rooms away) and my roomate's showering when I's trying to sleep.
The game is like this. A round of ppl bouncing coin to the table and try to get it in the cup. The one who got his coin in get to make a rule and point out who to drink the beer (1/5 of a cup), anyone who breaks the rule will have to be punished, by drinking beer. This went on till there were so many rules that it's really hard to remember them all. For each rule that wasn't followed, that person needs to have another drink. There were so many empty bottles on the table when I left.
When I left, the rules were:-
- say "yay" with arms brought up
- touch his or her nose
- say ikideijimas (or sth like that)
- drink the beer with his or her left hand
- say gojizosamas (or sth like that)
- cannot leave the table without approvement from all players
- cannot say a person's name
- cannot point at other ppl w/ just one finger, has to be the whole hand, or elbow
- can challenge not to drink and answer a truth or dare question
- cannot say the word "drink" <-- the one rule that got broken many times
Monday, September 12, 2005
Tired weekend
On Sat, woke up at 6 and made muffins for my team picnic, then had exhausting boating practice. We did 4 pyramids (60%, 80%, then 100%), 2 sets of 30 on 30 off, and then a few starts and 2 races w/ another team practicing there. No one had any energy left in the races, the other team kicked our butt big time. I felt dead in the middle of the races.
Then I went home showered, and went to the beach between Jericho and Spanish bank for our team's season end party. So much food we had. White chocolate rasberry cheesecake, spring roll w/ tofu and peppers inside, ribs, KFC (which I didn't touch), homemade nutella cinnamon stick, blueberry muffins, sushi (tofu wrap with rice with sesame in it) and yummy japanese snacks. The only bad thing was that there were so many wasps (~20 of them), they were so attracted to rasberry splash 7up. There were lots of sea gulls. One of them ate muffin paper, and another ate the whole rib (w/ the bone).
We presented the cards and team travel mugs to our managers and organizers, and gave our coach a paddle with all our names and thank yous on it.
We socialized, had food, and left around 3:30pm, it was getting pretty cold in the end. Summer is apparently leaving us fast.
After the team picnic, went to Lansdown's Gingeri and had mid-autumn festival family dinner. Later on, went to uncle's place to borrow his electric drill, and saw Cindy. She's much older now and no longer jumped at us. She has a tumour at her chest, other than that she seems to be fine.
On Sun, went to church. Then, went home, had lunch, and went skating. Guess who I saw again? Mira! Looks like she's not going to take a break till she's retired from skating. Everytime I go skating in the morning at RIC, I see her there. At noon, I go to 8-rink and see her again. Even on weekends, during public skating, I see her.
After skating, just went to John's place, did grocery shopping, and watched TV, Simpsons again. Not a very good season opener, just average.
Then I went home showered, and went to the beach between Jericho and Spanish bank for our team's season end party. So much food we had. White chocolate rasberry cheesecake, spring roll w/ tofu and peppers inside, ribs, KFC (which I didn't touch), homemade nutella cinnamon stick, blueberry muffins, sushi (tofu wrap with rice with sesame in it) and yummy japanese snacks. The only bad thing was that there were so many wasps (~20 of them), they were so attracted to rasberry splash 7up. There were lots of sea gulls. One of them ate muffin paper, and another ate the whole rib (w/ the bone).
We presented the cards and team travel mugs to our managers and organizers, and gave our coach a paddle with all our names and thank yous on it.
We socialized, had food, and left around 3:30pm, it was getting pretty cold in the end. Summer is apparently leaving us fast.
After the team picnic, went to Lansdown's Gingeri and had mid-autumn festival family dinner. Later on, went to uncle's place to borrow his electric drill, and saw Cindy. She's much older now and no longer jumped at us. She has a tumour at her chest, other than that she seems to be fine.
On Sun, went to church. Then, went home, had lunch, and went skating. Guess who I saw again? Mira! Looks like she's not going to take a break till she's retired from skating. Everytime I go skating in the morning at RIC, I see her there. At noon, I go to 8-rink and see her again. Even on weekends, during public skating, I see her.
After skating, just went to John's place, did grocery shopping, and watched TV, Simpsons again. Not a very good season opener, just average.
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
Good news
John got offer from a better company, same salary but with benefit :).
Looks like accounting is much easier to find job than IT, or maybe it's just that his resume and cover letter is way better than me and my friends. I've never heard of anyone getting several interviews in a week consistently....
Only one down thing, he's gonna go to Ontario for training. I'm gonna miss him :(.
Looks like accounting is much easier to find job than IT, or maybe it's just that his resume and cover letter is way better than me and my friends. I've never heard of anyone getting several interviews in a week consistently....
Only one down thing, he's gonna go to Ontario for training. I'm gonna miss him :(.
Taiwanese festival
Last weekend, participated in the Taiwanese festival.
It's lots of fun. There were lots to see. Pretty lanterns, interesting knick knack, yummy food, group games, singing shows, cool drummings, bonsai, ...etc etc.
I bought a ceramic round taiwanese flute, and I sounded terrible and could only play "Happy birthday" and "Twinkle twinkle little star".
There were cheap sportware, bought 4, since it's buy 3 get 1 free. Pretty good quality, most of them dry-fit.
I wanted to buy a bird caller. I didn't know what it was until I saw ppl using it later. It was so real, sounded so much like a bird. I decided to buy one after the race, but they sold out by the time I had time to walk around :(.
We did terrible in all the races except the very last one, where we came in 2nd. We did not get into the medal round, so we got nothing, but still it's a fun experience.
The blindfolded race was a total chaos, we borrowed a caller from the other team. We should have just counted it among ourselves, but instead we're listening to his "Ready and reach". No one understood which part of the sentence is supposed mean put your paddle into the water. There were lots of paddle clashing. Aaron seating in the middle said that if he's not clashing with the person in front then he's clashing with the person behind him.
Both John's parents, and my mom and sis came to see me. They had a good time, except for the race, where my mom and sis totally missed it cuz it took too long. There was a barge coming in and the race before us had to wait for it to leave. To make it worse, we got marshalled too early, and had to wait in the water for the race to finish so that they'd have free boat to pick up other teams for our race. It was very cold, and we had to paddle around to keep warm for freaking 45mins!!!
It's lots of fun. There were lots to see. Pretty lanterns, interesting knick knack, yummy food, group games, singing shows, cool drummings, bonsai, ...etc etc.
I bought a ceramic round taiwanese flute, and I sounded terrible and could only play "Happy birthday" and "Twinkle twinkle little star".
There were cheap sportware, bought 4, since it's buy 3 get 1 free. Pretty good quality, most of them dry-fit.
I wanted to buy a bird caller. I didn't know what it was until I saw ppl using it later. It was so real, sounded so much like a bird. I decided to buy one after the race, but they sold out by the time I had time to walk around :(.
We did terrible in all the races except the very last one, where we came in 2nd. We did not get into the medal round, so we got nothing, but still it's a fun experience.
The blindfolded race was a total chaos, we borrowed a caller from the other team. We should have just counted it among ourselves, but instead we're listening to his "Ready and reach". No one understood which part of the sentence is supposed mean put your paddle into the water. There were lots of paddle clashing. Aaron seating in the middle said that if he's not clashing with the person in front then he's clashing with the person behind him.
Both John's parents, and my mom and sis came to see me. They had a good time, except for the race, where my mom and sis totally missed it cuz it took too long. There was a barge coming in and the race before us had to wait for it to leave. To make it worse, we got marshalled too early, and had to wait in the water for the race to finish so that they'd have free boat to pick up other teams for our race. It was very cold, and we had to paddle around to keep warm for freaking 45mins!!!
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Monday, August 29, 2005
Spend spend spend
Sat
Went boating as usual. Did 5 sets of 30secs on and 30secs off again. This was the ONLY thing that we did. Time just flew by. Practice felt so much shorter, probably because we usually do some starts or races after the 30 on 30 off. This time is a lil different tho, the off is not active rest, it is 60%.
Saw seal again, this time. And, a stupid person swimming in the water near the shore on the side of the high rise.
There is only one thing that I don't like about boating now (well, besides the yucky water), ppl should shower before heading out in the morning!!
Oh, and I got my medal back :D, my teammate finally remembers to bring it.
Went to Petecera to find filter cartridge replacement, AGAIN, they don't have stock!!!!! Can you believe it? It's been several mths!
Went to Richmond Center, and bought a Eclipse System 6. Then, found out that it's actually even smaller than my own tank.
Had dinner at Fish house in Stanley Park. It was quite good. My plate was too big, the salmon was 2 palm size. The almond and parmesan crust on it was very yummy. For dessert I had the buttermilk cream pie, with a lil blueberry inside. John had the halibut and salmon wrapped in prosciutto. He had the coconut cream pie. Their desserts were much bigger than I thought. The buttermilk pie was so yummy, tasted like cheesecake but much lighter. The carmelized sugar top was very thin, so it wasn't too sweet. The coconut pie was very good too, except that I don't like strings of coconut and the pie was full of them. I wanted to go there again just for the cream pie.
After dinner, we went to the new Paramount Theatre in downtown. Paid 7 bux for parking. We saw Red Eye. The girl was very pretty (and gutsy) but the story was not very good. I found it weird that the assasinate had to ask the girl on the plane to switch ppl reservation. Don't ppl at the level knows how to hack into computer system and change it themselves?? And, there wasn't much story to it.
Sun
Went to 8 o'clock church. Got a different priest, but still boring. I missed father Dennis :'(.
Went to pitch and putt with John and his family. They were beginners, took us 1.5hrs to finish (9holes). I's still twitching my technique. Still using my arms too much, somehow I kept forgetting that I should use my waist. Not a good sign, it has now almost become automatic to use my arms for the swing.
Went to Richmond Center again with my sister and returned the Eclipse System 6. Paid about a 100bux more and got a 29-gallon tank instead, might as well get a bigger tank and better filter.... and maybe later get more fishes ^_^. Oh, and I got a double filter, instead of a single one as claimed by the box. But, there was no lid for the extra filter, I guess it wouldn't hurt to just use a cardboard to cover it up. The staff said I got lucky. He said there was a time that they accidentally put in a heater too, and that got sold out very fast. At first, I wanted to pay 10 bux more to get the better brand filter, but in this case, I guess a double filter might just be as good or even better.
With the new bigger tank, I need a new bigger table. Went to Rona first, so confusing. There were just parts and parts, no assembled display for u to see. I guess that place is only good if you know what you are doing. Then went to Home Depot, it's a lil better than Rona. There were some assembled display, but not a lot. I only saw one coffee table that might fit (since i left my measurement of my tank at home). Then went to Sears. Sears is too expensive, cheapest one is about 300bux. After that, I drove to Pier 1 Import, didn't find anything there as well.
On IKEA website, I saw several that could fit. It's so very clear. They stated the dimension as well as the weight that it can hold. I got this in the end: OPPLI TV unit with casters. And, it's only 69 bux!
This time I'll condition the water and wait for the healthy bacteria to grow before putting in fishes. I'll wait for a week at least, a month if I have more patience.
Went boating as usual. Did 5 sets of 30secs on and 30secs off again. This was the ONLY thing that we did. Time just flew by. Practice felt so much shorter, probably because we usually do some starts or races after the 30 on 30 off. This time is a lil different tho, the off is not active rest, it is 60%.
Saw seal again, this time. And, a stupid person swimming in the water near the shore on the side of the high rise.
There is only one thing that I don't like about boating now (well, besides the yucky water), ppl should shower before heading out in the morning!!
Oh, and I got my medal back :D, my teammate finally remembers to bring it.
Went to Petecera to find filter cartridge replacement, AGAIN, they don't have stock!!!!! Can you believe it? It's been several mths!
Went to Richmond Center, and bought a Eclipse System 6. Then, found out that it's actually even smaller than my own tank.
Had dinner at Fish house in Stanley Park. It was quite good. My plate was too big, the salmon was 2 palm size. The almond and parmesan crust on it was very yummy. For dessert I had the buttermilk cream pie, with a lil blueberry inside. John had the halibut and salmon wrapped in prosciutto. He had the coconut cream pie. Their desserts were much bigger than I thought. The buttermilk pie was so yummy, tasted like cheesecake but much lighter. The carmelized sugar top was very thin, so it wasn't too sweet. The coconut pie was very good too, except that I don't like strings of coconut and the pie was full of them. I wanted to go there again just for the cream pie.
After dinner, we went to the new Paramount Theatre in downtown. Paid 7 bux for parking. We saw Red Eye. The girl was very pretty (and gutsy) but the story was not very good. I found it weird that the assasinate had to ask the girl on the plane to switch ppl reservation. Don't ppl at the level knows how to hack into computer system and change it themselves?? And, there wasn't much story to it.
Sun
Went to 8 o'clock church. Got a different priest, but still boring. I missed father Dennis :'(.
Went to pitch and putt with John and his family. They were beginners, took us 1.5hrs to finish (9holes). I's still twitching my technique. Still using my arms too much, somehow I kept forgetting that I should use my waist. Not a good sign, it has now almost become automatic to use my arms for the swing.
Went to Richmond Center again with my sister and returned the Eclipse System 6. Paid about a 100bux more and got a 29-gallon tank instead, might as well get a bigger tank and better filter.... and maybe later get more fishes ^_^. Oh, and I got a double filter, instead of a single one as claimed by the box. But, there was no lid for the extra filter, I guess it wouldn't hurt to just use a cardboard to cover it up. The staff said I got lucky. He said there was a time that they accidentally put in a heater too, and that got sold out very fast. At first, I wanted to pay 10 bux more to get the better brand filter, but in this case, I guess a double filter might just be as good or even better.
With the new bigger tank, I need a new bigger table. Went to Rona first, so confusing. There were just parts and parts, no assembled display for u to see. I guess that place is only good if you know what you are doing. Then went to Home Depot, it's a lil better than Rona. There were some assembled display, but not a lot. I only saw one coffee table that might fit (since i left my measurement of my tank at home). Then went to Sears. Sears is too expensive, cheapest one is about 300bux. After that, I drove to Pier 1 Import, didn't find anything there as well.
On IKEA website, I saw several that could fit. It's so very clear. They stated the dimension as well as the weight that it can hold. I got this in the end: OPPLI TV unit with casters. And, it's only 69 bux!
This time I'll condition the water and wait for the healthy bacteria to grow before putting in fishes. I'll wait for a week at least, a month if I have more patience.
Friday, August 26, 2005
Thursday, August 25, 2005
Driving Range
Went to Mikasa yesterday. It looked like a driving range for rich chinese people. There was no free coffee or donut, you had to buy everything there. However, they had a much larger selection of drinks (bubble tea included) and food. Each stall had a ball machine, so that you didn't have to pick the ball out of the basket yourself. You still had to manually place the ball on top of the tee tho.
Learned several tips from friends:
- At the starting position, arms should not be taut.
Hands would be about a hand away from ur body.
- Knees slightly bend, emphasize on the slightly.
- Use right hand to raise the club so that the left arm would be kept straight
- Bend the wrists instead of the arms before the swing.
- Unwind ur waist when club is half-way down and have ur arms follow thru it, i.e. use your waist not ur arms for the swing.
- Have ur upper body follow thru to the end of the swing so that your weight is transferred to the left side of ur left leg, no need to bend backwards.
- Head straight, in line with back. If u can't see ur ball, bend down ur back more, not ur head.
Somehow, my left shoulder's always too tight, and hurts like hell afterwards.
I did not join my friends for supper, went home, relaxed, and had leftover instead. Saved several bux that way, and was too tired to social anyway.
Learned several tips from friends:
- At the starting position, arms should not be taut.
Hands would be about a hand away from ur body.
- Knees slightly bend, emphasize on the slightly.
- Use right hand to raise the club so that the left arm would be kept straight
- Bend the wrists instead of the arms before the swing.
- Unwind ur waist when club is half-way down and have ur arms follow thru it, i.e. use your waist not ur arms for the swing.
- Have ur upper body follow thru to the end of the swing so that your weight is transferred to the left side of ur left leg, no need to bend backwards.
- Head straight, in line with back. If u can't see ur ball, bend down ur back more, not ur head.
Somehow, my left shoulder's always too tight, and hurts like hell afterwards.
I did not join my friends for supper, went home, relaxed, and had leftover instead. Saved several bux that way, and was too tired to social anyway.
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
No improvement
There has been no improvement in skating, probably from lack of practice. Can't really go all the way, when there are attendants watching over, and thinking that they are gonna kick u out cuz u are doing figure skating. Maybe I should go back to 8-rink and save myself some gas...*sigh*...ice is terrible there...
Saw a kid with his chinese coach at the rink, and picked some up just by looking at her demonstration. I figured out one new thing about forward crossover, the body has to be aligned with the feet. To have the leg cross under more, u've got to let ur upper body, including ur head, to glide with the leg that u're skating under. For example, I've got to drop my left shoulder and head to the left more when I'm skating counter clockwise. That is, when the cross is happening, imagine a pole going from the top of your head thru to the leg that you have extended under. With backward crossover, the body has to be in line with the line that you are creating. Imagine yourself standing sideway against the board. Do not start the crossover, until your weight is distributed like that. If cross happens before your body is aligned, you'll just be scratching your toepick.
Saw a kid with his chinese coach at the rink, and picked some up just by looking at her demonstration. I figured out one new thing about forward crossover, the body has to be aligned with the feet. To have the leg cross under more, u've got to let ur upper body, including ur head, to glide with the leg that u're skating under. For example, I've got to drop my left shoulder and head to the left more when I'm skating counter clockwise. That is, when the cross is happening, imagine a pole going from the top of your head thru to the leg that you have extended under. With backward crossover, the body has to be in line with the line that you are creating. Imagine yourself standing sideway against the board. Do not start the crossover, until your weight is distributed like that. If cross happens before your body is aligned, you'll just be scratching your toepick.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)