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Packing It Up

Well, it’s time to pack it up for the trip back home.

I got a chance to see Jay, which was nice.  He’s back for a short visit from Sweden, so it was just by coincidence that he was around this summer while I was too.  I got everyone together at the internet cafe for some sweet LAN action.  Mmm…. stun baton.

Yesterday I took my girlfriend for a nice dinner on the town.  I thought it would be something nice for us to do for my last weekend in town.  We went to Daly’s in the Westin Hotel.  It ended up being the most expensive meal I’ve ever had… but also the tastiest.

This week Ottawa is celebrating Greekfest, so the restaurant had a modified Greek menu.  I had the Greek 3 course meal, which I ordered with the wine pairing.  So for each course I had an accompanying glass of wine to suit.  My smoked tuna and spanokapita mixed so well with the Greek white wine.  I’ve heard that the Greek varietal wines are underestimated, and it’s true!  I forget the name of the wine I had, since it was also unpronounceable and had like 20 syllables.   I had another Greek varietal with my mediterranean striploin steaks, a red this time.  It too was uber gooder.  Definitely not a meal I could afford to have often, but I don’t regret having it.

Today is packing day, and after I write this, I’ll be packing up my monitor for the flight home.  There’s so much packing and preperation to do.  I only have a day between coming home and heading out to the Rockies to buy and figure out all the gear I’ll need.

Some big ticket items that’ll cost me a bit will be a tent, stove, pots, and water filter.  It may not sound like a lot of coin, but the lightweight backpacking gear is gonna set me back around 6 or 7 bills (which is quite a bit for a poor student like me).  But hey, it’s about time I have some of my own gear and it’s a good investment for many future summers to come.

Anyhow, I’ll be gone from the blogging world (like I have been for the past month) for a good 2 weeks.  Enjoy the end of August everyone!  Pics from my trip to come.

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August Blur

Has it really been already 10 days since my last post?

Not sure how much I can cram in here, but there’s a lot that has happened.  As what happens to be the recurring pattern this summer I have to cram a bunch of what I’ve done on here.  So here’s the list of stuff with little to no substance (was there any before anyways?):

• The weekend before my girlfriend took me and Wei to the waterslide park near Montreal.  Manish was telling me about his wicked waterslide adventure in Quebec City, which has Canada’s largest waterpark.  The one in Montreal is just closer, so we thought why not.  Unfortunately the one near Montreal just plain sucks.  Not only are the rides short and simple, but they’re dangerous.  We came out of it bruised and cut up.  A select few slides were fun, and it was just fun to be out there with them, but the park itself was a let down.

  Despite great opposition from  my gf, we  had  a KFC dinner.  Yes, you heard me, KFC.  It tasted oh so good at the time, but we all paid for it dearly shortly after.

• Tons of Ultimate last week.  We practiced on Sunday, had a game on Monday, watched my gf sub for a tier 1 team on Tuesday, and had another practice on Friday.  I really love the game, and I’m hoping to find a team back in Edmonton when I come back.  We got creamed on our game on Monday, as everyone seemed terribly out of shape from the long weekend.

  Cheering my gf on the tier 1 team was fun though.  She was really outclassed, but she played well.  Watching all the plays and formations put into practice and executed perfectly is such a beautiful thing to see.  It is such a graceful and intense game… I love it.  I just hope that my team will one day reach that level where everyone will just gel together.

• The Friday before last I took my gf to a Buddhist meditation session.  She really enjoyed it, and she learnt a lot about me by going to it.  She really sucks at meditating, because she gets so restless, but even that in itself is progress.  She’s totally up for checking it out again, so this makes me happy.
• Saturday we went mountain biking in the Gatineau hills again.  She just bought a brand new bike for quite a fair chunk of cash, so she was dying to test it out.  We sorta bit of more than we could chew by taking on a really long trail.  By the end of our 4 hour bike, we were exhausted.  Our legs had jellofied and we had nothing left in the end.  The ride itself was really nice though, and despite some really technical and intense sections, it was wicked fun.  There is a very long and steep section of the trail that really whips you down the hill… it’s such a rush.
• Yesterday we went for the brunch buffet at the Casino in Hull.  I’ve never had tastier buffet food before.  It was twenty bucks for all you can eat goodness.  I wasn’t really hungry so I didn’t eat much, but it was worth it.  She spent $20 on slots and lost it all.  I hate the slot machines for that reason.  I couldn’t resist, so I slapped down $25 on red on the roulette table and came out a hero!  Mmmm…. gambling.  One bet was enough for me, so it was nice just to leave.

So there’s my list.  I’ve left out a whole bunch, and I wish I could be more thorough and interesting, but I just haven’t had the time/energy to sit and blog as they come.  I’m also never at home anymore.  I’ve probably slept twice at home in the past month, and my girl doesn’t have internet at her place.

Good news though!  We have the flights and car rentals booked for our trip to the Rockies.  Also, I phoned to reserve our trail permits for the hike I want to take her on.  Little did I know that the reservations get booked 3 months in advance, but luckily a spot cleared up on the exact dates we are planning to go.  Cha-ching!  So the skyline trail is a go.  It’s a 45 km Trek through beautiful mountain ranges, I can’t wait.  It’ll be a nice 3 day hike.

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AWOL

So I finally got a chance to sit down in front of my computer after not being home for over a week.  As a geekboy, being disconnected from the internet is like having oxygen cut off.  Okay, maybe that’s a bit excessive.  Maybe it’s more like a TV junkie getting his cable TV disconnected.  I’ve been AWOL from “home” for awhile because I’m basically joined to the hip with my girlfriend.  So sorry for the lack of updates, I just haven’t been around.  Hell, I’m even blogging this from work because I know I won’t be home for the next while.  It’s so hard to write about what I’ve been doing, when I don’t write often ?  So hear is a quick rundown:

This being busy is a good thing though.  I’ve never felt so continuously exhausted in my life before, but at the same time, I haven’t had so much fun.

Last weekend we all went camping at Sharbot Lake, a little over an hour’s drive from Ottawa.  Again, this camping trip was pure luxury.  We feasted on big meals, swam in the lake, and did some hiking.  When I say big meals, I’m talking about downing some quality steak with all the fixin’s .   I haven’t eaten so well while camping.

Watching my girlfriend get absolutely stoned with a few of my friends was great too.  Even my buddy Wei partook in the goodness, and none of us can forget him saying “I have an urge to smile, and I can’t fight it.”  Ooohh Wei!

Ultimate last Monday was pretty interesting too.  We played against a team that was really rough and didn’t know the rules.  So they ended up fouling us a bunch of times, and whenever we would call a foul they would bitch and contest.  For a sport that emphasizes sportsmanship, it was a very unsportsmanlike team.  We lost, but that didn’t bother us.  What did was the bitter taste they left from how un-fun it was to play with them.

Work has been really busy.  I’ve been swamped with projects.  Just like last year, they left a project right to the end for me to do instead of giving it to me early.  I may end up working a lot of overtime because of this.  The extra money will be nice, however I don’t want to trade that for the little time we have left together this summer.

What I am stoked about at the end of this summer though, is our trip to the Rockies.  She’s already started buying gear for our backpacking/camping trips.  If the weather holds, I’m showing her all the gorgeous places in the Rockies that aren’t secluded from the average tourist.  I know she’ll just love it.

Only a short 3 weeks before I’m gone.  So little time, so much to do!

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