V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N!!!!!!

Phew. I made it! Well, not quite - I still have about 5 1/2 hours left of my work day. I thought it would never come, and for a while, it seemed like it really might not. Word on the street was that my boss wasn't going to let me take holidays at this time, because of some stuff going on in his home life. But, I have been paying attention during my three years at this job, and one of the things I've learned is that with the big man, it's all about timing and presentation. I waited until the time was right, and then gave him a formal letter requesting vacation now, and all the reasons why now and only now. It worked.

So the plan . . .

Escape from work right on time, throw necessary stuff in the car and head to Kelowna. 2 nights there with friends of Paul's, and Paul is doing the Kelowna Apple Triathlon on Sunday. He's racing in the elite/pro heat, but won't place in the money. Back to the roots, ya know, remembering why he started this madness in the first place. We're going to stay with some friends of his who live right on the water in Kelowna, so that should be fun too.

After Kelowna, either late Sunday night, or early Monday afternoon (we're on vacation, no more early mornings!) we'll grab a ferry and head up to Gibsons. There we will sit, and drink beer, and eat cookies play with Buddy, and eat, and sit on the beach, and sleep in till each morning (good bye 4:30am, I'll see you in September!) and read books, and knit (me, not Paul) and bask in the gloriousness of not having to do anything at all! There we will aestivate for a week or so. And then Jenn P. (aka P Diddy, aka Poppa Diddy-o, aka Evil Jenn . . .) is coming to town. if the weather is nice, we'll head back to Gibsons and do some chillin. If it's not nice we'll hang in town and stuff ourselves with all the ethnic foods she misses living in butt fuck nowhere. It really doesn't matter what we do, what matters is that it will be with Jenn P.

And then the big adventure! Tofino! Camping! Surfing! Okay, I'll probablly knit and watch the others surf, but who cares! Camping! I've been making a mental list of camping food for the last 3 days. Things I want to eat, or things I want to adventure cook while camping. What fun! Tofu dogs, PC White cheddar Mac N Cheese and Ichiban noodles never tasted so good! So yesterday Tatjana and I hit the big grand opening sale at the new monster Canadian Tire store on Cambie st (they had to bring in traffic control police for it) and bought some camping stuff. I got a new tent 55% off, and some other stuff. I think I'm going to go back today and buy a cooler. Horrah!

No more work till Sept 5. Yuck. And school starts Sept 6. Double yuck. Better have fun while I still can!

Ta ta.

Wednesday

How badly I'd like to swallow my own words . . . 'you're gonna feel this on Wednesday'. Said in jest, but oh how true it's been ringing. The ringing, the ringing, when will it stop? It's Wednesday, so hopefully all of the brain cells I killed over the weekend will filter their way out of my body, and tomorrow I'll wake up afresh on glorious Thursday and all will be better.

But what fun we had! Fun isn't bad! Had bad had!

True things:

-The ferocity with which red wine tinted vomit can come hurling out of someone and splatter 75% of the bathroom walls is quite astounding. Quite. Note to self, make sure Colin is well fed before he starts drinking. He was, however, a good house guest, and mostly cleaned it all up. It only sort stained one wall. I was going to paint that bathroom blue anyway.

- I really do like green gum. All these years I've been avoiding it because my Mom told me it would make me car sick, so I suppose I've been associating green gum with nausea. Not so (though I haven't tested it out on a long car trip just yet), I actually dig it.

- The 7-11 on the corner of Alberni and Thurlow has the worst gum selection of all time. This has nothing to do with the afore mentioned green gum statement. It's just a true fact.

- You CAN microwave some metal. Take a frozen juice container (those concentrated ones, with the metal thingy's at both ends) and put it on a plate, and microwave it. Nothing happens. True.

Up to no good . . .

Oh, I'm up to no good in so many different ways. But I have to get it out of my system before school starts up again in September!!

Firstly, our union contract is about 6 months expired. When I started my job 3 years ago, I (somewhat unwillingly) inherited the position of union rep, which means I have to be involved in contract negotiations etc. This is a real pain in the ass, as the general manager (who I am the right hand of) likes to do things his own way, breaking an infinite number of rules (and statutes, and other regulations) along the way. I remember the last round of negotiations, and it was not a nice time for me, as he liked to corner me and blab all about how we should de-certify, and how the union was not really looking out for our best interests, etc. So anyhoo, I had my first meeting with the union yesterday, to sort out what we would be asking, etc. Hot dang, these ladies are aggressive. I wouldn't want to be on the other side of a fight with them - I'd surely lose! So anyway, 'someone' may have anonoymously let the union know about some of these rule breaking activities, and I can say without a doubt, come bargaining time, the shit will hit the fan. I am up to no good, for the greater good.

Secondly, the lovely Tatjana has had a birthday, and we will be going out this weekend to celebrate it. That's got no good written all over it. Especially since she'll be going back to start a Masters degree at the end of August, and I continue my long slow journey of education in Sept, well we practically have to get up to no good. And we've recruited help, and more help. I'm anticipating a week long hangover. Oh well, I've got holidays coming up (not soon enough!) to sleep it off.

Ah, as you were.

Gibsons Long Weekend Pics

The gorgeous Gibsons evening sky, and me trying to prevent Buddy from swimming after whoever was water skiing at that moment - no easy task, he really really wanted to chase that boat!

Gibsons Long Weekend Pics

In summary . . . me water skiing even though every one told me not to (except Linz who was in FULL support), how much of our time was spent; reading, lounging on the beach, Tatjana's first knitting lesson (it went well! She can knit and purl now!) and a cute-assed picture of Buddy!

Ask a marine biologist

I have such cool friends. Wandering along the beach at Gibsons with 2 very lovely girlfriends, we stumbled upon this pile of red jiggly stuff on the beach. We quickly determined (by staring at it) that it must be a jelly fish. Allison and Tatjana wanted to poke it with a stick, but I wouldn't let them until we determined whether or not it was dead. Fortunatly, there were no sticks close enough by that any harm was done to the jelly fish, and a wise neighbour came over for a consultation. Jerry agreed that it was indeed a jelly fish, but thought it was the stinging kind, and said we should move it off the beach lest a kid should step on it. Then he suggested that he would go and get a shovel and move it to a safer locale, where the girls could then poke it with sticks to their hearts content. They did not.

But we still had unanswered questions. What kind of jelly fish was this? Does it really sting? And, as we learned from that episode of friends, if I got stung and my friend pee'd on my leg, would it help? There was only one thing to do . . . whip out my camera phone, snap a pic of the jelly fish, and email it to Jenn P. Jenn P, in true marine biologist style, got back to me in a timely fashion with the following info:

Scientific name: Cyanea capillata. Common names: Lion's Mane Jellyfish, Sea Blubber. Its the largest jellyfish species in the world, the tentacles deliver a burning sensation and rash when touched. And yes, pee will help.

Go Jenn P, go.