Day 365

Well on this pentultimate day I spent the day with a good friend.

My friend Pina is moving (actually has moved) so I met her down in Toronto to chat and catch up. We worked on my new personal website (soon to launch) and I helped her do the last couple of things to close her apartment and give to the new tenant. Which followed with booking our hotel rooms for the OMLTA fall conference where I'm presenting and then they dropped me off at home as they were heading up that way anyway!

I spent the evening catching up on a bit of telly - Ultimate Big Brother is right now a guilty pleasure, while Un Souper Presque Parfait is a take off of C4's Come Dine with Me. It was also the season premiere of Atomes Crochus which means that the episodes that I saw taped *should* air next week.

Last day tomorrow!
Cheers,
Vick

Days 362 to 364

Day 362 and after a nice little rest it was off for a dive. Which was great, because I hadn't been in the water for about two weeks! You don't actually realize how much you miss it.

Which was followed up by lunch. Good times.

In the afternoon I did my boating test... and I passed! I am now a licensed boater. Sweet.

It was then time to head up north to Huntsville to see comedy Andrea Martin, comedy legend, in her one woman show. You probably know her best from SCTV and My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

The show was AWESOME... such a wonderful retrospective of her career. And some great characters that had us (my parents and I) literally peeing our pants.

And then came her character from My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Aunt Voula. She says she needs two young strapping men to do a greek style dance with her.

I look around. No one is volunteering.

As a theatre and improvisationally trained human being, part of what you learn is never to leave anyone hanging.

My hand slowly goes up.

"You! The frisky one! Come dance with me!" calls Andrea.

Who am I to refuse? I get up with the enthusiam of a just selected Price is Right contestant and start hopping down the aisle calling "WE DANCE! WE DANCE!" Which now that I think about it, reflects me back to Tom Hanks hosting SNL while perfoming in a sketh entitled Sabra Price is Right.

It takes me a few instants and after some back and forth banter I realize that I am sharing the stage with comedy legend Andrea Martin.

Wow.

Andrea goes out and fishes another older gentleman to compete along side me. Now those of you who have seen my appearance on Skooled back in 2006 know that I cannot dance very well. This was also seen on stage on this day, but I had good fun with it. I lost the audience vote (it skewed old! What can I say) but that was okay.

The rest of the show was just as exciting and after the show I reunited with my parents, who really weren't surprised at what happened.

It turned out that Andrea was receiving some guests and when she saw me she called "RYAN! YOU WERE WONDERFUL!" which was quite flattering. We had a nice chat and she was very flattered to hear that I had drove two hours to get to the show. But of course!

And, as if that wasn't enough of a thrill... on the way out I spot someone. You'd think I'd never guess his secret identity, who's on the inside hiding out.

Indeed it was Derek McGrath who has done a wonderful amount of comedy but I know him best from the late 80's show My Secret Identity.

After all that we went to the Nutty Chocolatier for some post show ice cream and then drove to my parents' trailer for the night, which was another 90 minutes northwest... I was pretty delerious by the end of it!

Day 363 and I awoke to have a nice breakfast at my parents' trailer before starting the long trek back. They have a really nice site which unfortunately is closing down this year however they are moving it to a site near Mattawa which pleases me.

The drive back down south was pretty tiring but I got home by about 4 pm to catch a mid-afternoon nap.

Around 6.30 pm Gweezy (she knows who she is) arrived to watch the season finale of Fort Boyard with me. Sadly the rumour is that it isn't coming back which saddens me deeply but you have to give props for a 21 year run for a game show. Fingers crossed that it's not the case however!

Day 364 was the season ending ultimate frisbee tournament. This year each of the 24 teams were put into a 4-team pool which made it fair across the board. It was really a fun day.

Our first game was against Slipped Discs. We fell behind early and were down about 8-2 at the half. We weren't playing our best. In the second half we came at it in a fresh way. I unfortunately tried to catch a disc in the end zone and fell really badly on my arm so I subbed out for the rest of the game. At one point it was 11-11 but we just missed getting the win and lost 12-11. We were frustrated but happy with our performance.

Second game and we were facing Ultimately Challenged. We built an early lead and won quite comfortably but you could see we were tiring pretty quickly, especially with the 30 degree heat.

Our final game was against In the Box. We had found this had been a hard team when playing them earlier in the season. And it came down to this: win and we would lock into at least a two way (if not a three way tie) for first place; lose and In the Box would win the lot.

So we went out and played very very hard. At half time we were surprisingly up 8-2 and there were some players on the other side that were very frustrated. We continued to play solidly in the second half and apart from a skirmish near the end of the game it finished up well, and we ended up winning 14-8 or something like that.

It then came down to points... and guess who pulled it out?

Yeppers! Hucky Ducks won the pool! How exciting is that??? We really came together as a team and it showed!

To boot Theresa and I also got named spirit players by the other team which was very kind.

Because my arm was hurting I decided to decline the invite for post-game munchies... as Hans and Helga had shown up unexpectedly we went for a nice dip in the pool and then out for ice cream. Helga, as you can see, is a bit bashful for the camera.

Two days to go!

Cheers,

Vick.

Days 358 to 361

Late in the evening of the Cedar Point visit I decided to make my way home, so on Day 358 that was my main mission. I made really good time and only needed to stop a couple of times, including a rare King City washroom break – I HATE stopping on the Canadian side, as I can usually do that in one fell swoop. In any case, not a problem, got home around 2.30 pm.

I then turned around and headed out to the pool. Sufficient to say I was a bit overtired but I made it work anyway! We had some students needing some depth training so it was great to have the well made available to us.

Oh, and I finally got around to doing this… are you listening, WSSA? :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YD5SIU0tO4

I got back to home base just knackered and didn’t last very long indeed!

Day 359 was a nice relaxing day. Recovering from going full steam for six days straight I was happy to take a breather. I headed up north for a small meeting/get-together but then was back in my bed to close out the night.

Day 360 and the reason that I needed to come home was that I was off to Richmond Hill and I had an information session to attend as I had been recruited to volunteer at the local community television station. I was really excited as this is something I had wanted to do for a while now. I had a short interview with the coordinator and it looks like right now I’m going to be assisting at hockey games in Newmarket, which is perfect because it’s Thursday nights (which usually aren’t busy for me) and they’re about a 5 minute drive from my house. Ex. Ell. Ent.

Later that day I headed up for the weekly Wed evening dive, but we ended up scrubbing! Such is life I suppose. We actually went to the newly renovated theatre downtown, which was super because in one theatre they ripped out all the seats and put in 48 leather recliners! SCORE. We saw Inception which I don’t think is the best movie ever but does leave you thinking.

Day 361 and the morning contained a project that I’m not allowed to talk about but hopefully will be able to share a bit more when it comes time. In the afternoon it was back up north (which frankly was getting a bit tiring!) but it was okay as I was going to get to teach dive class which is always a pleasure.

Mind you by the end of this my mind was mush… so it was nice to just take a night and curl up with a good book. And raspberry pie.

Cheers,
Vick.

Days 349 to 357

It's almost here! The end! But first! More world touring!

Excuse me for a minute while I do my Day 349 happy dance.

(pause, as we all watch Vick dance)

Ok, good now. Day 349 was very much another chill out day… apparently there is something to all this busy-ness that I’ve been having!

Day 350 brought my first Frisbee game in a few weeks. We lost, but it was pretty close. A good game all around, although I just wasn’t feeling it sadly.

Day 351 (man, we’re getting close to the end!) and it was an early start to the day, visiting the foot doctor. Look ma, no… er… um… problems? In and out in 5 minutes, no worries there. Off to Barrie thereafter to get some dive stuff done (this is what keeps me out of trouble!). Also got to teach a class, which was a pleasure. I even stayed over the night as I was so knackered by the end of class (not to mention after some great chicken wings!)

Day 352 was very much running around on empty (or so it seemed). Had a lot of things to get here and there, Superstore, Costco, etc etc etc but I got it all, so no problems. Had a hysterically funny visit to Baskin-Robbins with the roommates - can they ever behave??? :) An early night as…

… the start of Day 353 came really really early. As in 4.15 am early. I had to get the first GO bus out of Newmarket at 4.55 to get to my train on time. Makes the early day at Degrassi seem simple! Got to the train in plenty of time, and pulled out of Toronto at 6.50, right on schedule.

The train was good in that they currently have free internet (BONUS) and we had the modern 2 seat/aisle/1 seat row but not so good in that I haven’t been on a train that shook that much, in, well, forever. Both me and my seatmate couldn’t use our computers for the majority of the time as it was hard to not be nauseous!

In any case it was nice to arrive in Montreal and meet up with my good friend Juliette and her ADORABLE seven month year old Charles. Such a cutie.

We started by hopping the métro over to Place-des-Armes to go out for a gorgeous lunch at a Korean restaurant. It’s one of those places that you know will be good but doggonnit, it’s hard to find! I don’t think I’ve ever had Korean but it was so very very tasty. I had a chicken and mushroom dish plus some soup to start, as well as a bunch of side dishes, including kimchi. I wouldn’t say that kimchi is my favourite dish of all time, but it actually wasn’t that bad.

We then proceeded on towards Archambault, which is like HMV but much better I find. Just like last time I was in Montreal, the new Millénium film (that’s Girl with a dragon tattoo who played with fire and then kicked the hornet’s nest to my English readers – and yes, I fully expect that to become a parody film) had just been released (in this case, the day before I got to the store) so I picked that up with the new Marie Mai CD as well as a Quebec film that I’ve heard a lot about, J’ai tué ma mère. And after a stop at Maison de la Presse we hit up the métro for a ride up to Laval where Juliette, Seb and the bundle of joy live.

I’d tell you the rest of the afternoon but I pretty much passed out on the couch to catch up on some sleep! We then took it easy for the rest of the day, including the arrival of Katherine (Juliette’s niece) from Cornwall… we all were in bed by 10 pm!

Day 354 started a bit bizarrely. We had intended to go cableskiing but Katherine’s arms were really hurting… so we actually found a skate park/roller rink. When we arrived we found it closed! We then decided to do a 180 turnabout and go out the beach/cableskiing park. $10 each got us into the beach, which was really calm. Guess what was closed for repairs? Yep.

Actually the few hours at the beach was quite nice. Very relaxing. I personally enjoyed the water trampoline and my lack of skill there on it. That and the inflatable bouncy castle obstacle course (no, we didn’t plow over any children).

We left Charles with Juliette’s upstairs neighbour around 3pm so we could head downtown to see Atomes Crochus! This is the Quebecoise version of Match Game and I think the Goodson empire would be proud.

We were shuffled into the audience area (maybe 50 people tops) and settled in to be entertained by Jocelyn, the warm up guy who also pre-recorded the intro for the broadcast. They started pretty much on time at 4 pm as we had been told.

I was most happy in that there was pretty much ideal panel on stage. I’ll get more into that afterwards. The thing is with this version is that there is a stable of about eight, maybe ten panelists that fill five of six seats every program. They gel well!

The set is really nice as well.

The shows themselves should air in September, and while there were no huge wins, they were massively entertaining. Highlights included one panelist’s robotic impressions, as well as second panelist’s brilliant tossing of his answer card (and it ended up stuck in a set piece!). They also did a couple of naughty things (answer wise) that probably might get edited out of the final broadcast.

Following the shows and the filler entertainment in the break (Juliette won tickets to see one of the panelist’s comedy shows) you were allowed on set to take pictures! Score.

First stop was a picture with Philippe Laprise. He was the one that tossed the card and was sitting in seat one!

Also grabbed a picture with Stéphane Fallu. He was speaking English throughout one show for some odd reason!

Next was Alex Perron. Alex has a very offbeat humour which I quite enjoy. He always has very bizarre answers but they’re really funny.

I also made sure to get a picture sitting at the desks – I’m holding Phillipe’s tossed card (which I got to keep along with a couple of other cards).

On the way out I was also able to meet the host Alexandre Barrette. He does a GREAT job. Great rapport with the panel, keeps the game moving along at a great pace.

I told him that I had come from the Toronto area to see the show, he was absolutely flabbergasted that there were fans out that way. He seriously was speechless!

Well to say the least it was a great taping! We dropped Katherine back at the bus station so that she could get her ticket and her bus home, then we headed back to Laval for some late night dinner. Kraft Dinner never tasted so good.

Day 355 came early and I was en route to home. Got the train at 10 am and it was a great ride – got a two seater to myself the whole way home! We also were in the last car, enabling me to get a great shot when we were stopped temporarily in Port Hope.

I had good reason to get back to Toronto on time. Through a series of bizarre events, I had a screen test for a commercial. Now I thought it was for French speakers, but imagine my surprise when I got there to find out that I was supposed to have memorized two specific English lines on the script I was given! I had a good laugh after the fact.

Got a ride back on the GO train, which pleased me very much (although not with the GO gang, as I had caught a later train after my screen test).

Day 356. Do you think I would rest up? Nope!

I was off to Cleveland to visit with good friends! And one other specific thing. To come.

The drive down wasn’t too bad… held up at the border for around 45 minutes but that was about it.

Stopped in my usual haunt in Lackawanna NY at the Timmie’s… now with FREE WIFI!

Also had a nice chat with the manager, turns out, she tells me, it’s the 3rd highest sales Timmie’s in the states!

The second stop along the way was... welll... you have to see it for yourself!

Yes indeed, I found Bort road!!!

After a stop once inside the Ohio border for gas, I arrived in Cleveland at Cabe’s house to crash for a bit. We caught up since my last visit in May. We did our usual stop to Dick’s Sporting Goods and then over to the hoity-toity mall – having never been to Saks Fifth Avenue, I don’t need to go back – before heading home for a bit.

We then decided to go over to Applebee’s to watch the Browns game. Sadly at the end of the first quarter they were badly behind so we decided to go to Half-Price Books.

And it was WONDERFUL. See the price, drop it 50%! We spent about 90 minutes in there, I was just fascinated. Overstimulation lead me to about eight books.

And Day 357 brought something that I had been waiting for, something for quite awhile, a visit to Cedar Point!

Now since I was a little wee tot I didn’t like rollercoasters. However in the last number of years things have changed and now it’s ‘gimme gimme gimme’ thrills. So Cedar Point was the place to go.

We arrived around 11 am and started off at Raptor. It was your normal run of the mill scatter your brain coaster which was a nice start – the line was 90 minutes long but you’re consistently moving so it’s not that bad.

Second up was Millenium Force – over a 300 foot drop, the highest coaster I’ve ever been on.
At this point we were approaching 1.30 pm and decided to head back to the car to get the sandwiches we had made (read: bought) earlier. Megan made the excellent thought of mapping out the rest of the day.

Which turned out to be a GREAT plan.

First stop was Maxair, which is a more fiendish version of Psyclone (at Wonderland). Not only did we get to go up, but at one point we went up and over I’m quite sure and frankly it was much more dizzying than the one I’m used to.

Next up was some kind of indoor rollercoaster that was like a Space Mountain wannabe… whose best feature was the fact that it was air conditioned.

Then came Wicked Twister:

No kidding. I was screaming so intently that I had to sit down afterwards. You get shot out of the gate around 90 mph, then up the corkscrew you see above in the pic. Then you “fall” back down, and you do it again. Backwards.

I don’t think the guy that was sitting next to me was really prepared for it. My screaming, that is.

Following a stop at the Power Tower – where we were shot up something like 200 feet in the air – we headed over to the granddaddy of them all – Top Thrill Dragster.

Now, while this isn’t the tallest roller coaster on the planet – although it used to be – it is still nothing to scoff at.

Let me tell you some stats. 120/mph. 420 foot drop. Shot up directly 90 degrees, fall back down to earth at 90 degrees. And now I’ll show you a picture.

Yep, it really was that intimidating. At this point Megan celebrated with a snow cone, while Cabe and I got in one more coaster – the Magnum 2XL – sorry, not a late 80’s toy, rather that should be Magnum 200XL – before catching the train back to the starting gate (or near enough to it). Sufficient to say that we were done at that point and we took it easy for the rest of the night.

Cheers,
Vick.

Days 337 to 348

Well, here we are in August. The world tour and its phenomenal year are almost up!

But I vow not to leave any stone unturned. And no opportunity wasted.

Day 337 was a nice, relaxing Sunday. As it turned out there was no ultimate game due to the holiday weekend so I took advantage of the gorgeous day to jump in the pool and catch up on some telly. Summer Heights High, We can be Heroes, The Office (UK) and Flight of the Conchords were all on marathons so I tucked into the taping… the DVD recorder was humming that day!

Day 338 and my friend Liz was visiting in town for work so we met up for a SUPER AWESOME DAY! We met at Finch and took the TTC down to Union. After a bit of walking around in the Queens Quay, we signed up for a tour later in the day and walked up to Dundas Square to get some munchies at 3 Brasseurs (yes, I know it’s 3 Brewers but I just can’t call it that!)

Following lunch and a visit to the World’s Biggest Bookstore it was time to go to the Steamwhistle brewery for a tour of the facility! It was actually quite neat and for $10 you got a sample before, the tour (I was the only one to eat the brutal tasting hop straight up) and a sample after the tour, not to mention a free souvenir glass or bottle opener to take home! Talk about great!

After the tour we did a short walk through in the CBC building and it was time to go our separate ways. I actually had to get up to Barrie to teach a course which kept me quite busy! We also went out to a restaurant where it became my “birthday” – how did that happen then?

Day 339 and it was medical appointment day! Actually, just the one. I had to go get my pupils dilated at the optometrist. Not a fun experience… couldn’t actually be outside and read anything small for a number of hours before it really started to heart.

I also wish to point out that this was my “cameo week” on Degrassi – I showed up in a couple of shots (albeit not hugely!)

Day 340 and it was back up north to help on a course, not to mention a dive. I’ve been with my specific dive club for almost six years now, and I think that night we actually broke a record, 23 divers in the water! Now while that is nowhere near Guinness levels, it’s a humongous turn out for us, not to mention a wee bit of a headache for shore control! But it all went well in the end (except for my dive buddy, who didn’t actually realize he pulled out my reg at one point) and then we all enjoyed the corn roast and bbq at one of our members’ houses later on. I was pretty bushed by the end of it all!

Day 341 brought relaxation for me and getting ready for the drive on Day 342… it was off to Eastern Ontario for a weekend of diving and visiting friends. Got to the hotel in good time that day which avoided the majority of traffic in the Toronto corridor. Dinner was great in that we punk’d someone… they didn’t know it was their birthday but we rearranged that rather quickly!!! Ha ha ha. Always good for a laugh, that surprise birthday trick.

Day 342 and it was an early start that not only seemed too early, but revealed a discovery in that I apparently had booked into a senior citizen’s hotel. Well, not really, but it might as well have been. The continental breakfast was lacking… c’mon Third-Best-Western, let’s put some pep in the most important meal of the day! Goodness knows we paid enough…

And speaking of gas prices going insane in this province…

(I swear that I did not doctor this picture).

In any case! I was there to dive and not worry about breakfast. I was leading the dives that day so it was a bit stressful at times but I do believe everyone really enjoyed the sparkling blue waters of the St. Lawrence – not to mention the lack of a thermocline! We ended up doing the Henry C. Daryaw and the Kinghorn. Both excellent dives! Here a pick of the Kinghorn wheel for you to enjoy!

Following the dives we went and had a really late lunch, went back to our respective hotels, got some sleep, and then were back at the dock for 7pm. We were doing a night dive on the Kinghorn which is one of the most gorgeous dives I’ve done in a number of years. So beautiful and peaceful, all at the same time.

It was easy to hit the hay that day and before you knew it, Day 343 was upon me. Back to the shore to load up for two dives. I ended up doing the Ash Island Barge but not the North Wall drift as my skills were needed elsewhere on the boat. As a good DM, that’s what you have to do sometimes! And apart from one small hitch it was a great day.

Everyone save yours truly went home that day. I stayed with two other divers that evening in their digs in Eastern Ontario. We had a great night – the three of us were extremely giddy as we were super tired so anything we did didn’t make sense, but that’s okay. Some nights you need that.

Day 344 saw me back in my old stomping grounds in Ingleside, Ontario where I lived for 12 years. Before heading off to do the dive, we of course got the obligatory picture:

Yep, Ingleside is right on the 45th parallel!

10 kilometres to the east and we arrived at our destination, Lock 21. It is an old shipping lock from the 1950’s that was flooded when the St. Lawrence Seaway expansion took place. It is not an easy dive, by any means, but it’s a fun one, although it takes some work to get back to the start as you’re fighting the current all the way! We had a great dive though, and the ice cream and hotdogs on the other side of the road definitely helped!

While on the other hand, it was quite the road back to my now hometown, but I got back around 9 pm and was ready to hit the hay.

Thankfully Day 345 was much, much, slower. I did get to go see Despicable Me which definitely was a highlight! I also managed to get to a local horse racing track where through some shrewd betting I won a WHOPPING $1.10.

Please do not be jealous of me. I share my winnings with all.

Day 346 was a Wednesday which of course brought dive night! I didn’t actually get in the water due to the fact that I needed to help on shore instead. Which was perfectly acceptable!

Day 347 and it was Vick does Dentist. Look readers, NO CAVITIES!

Later that evening Gweezy had a mini-birthday celebration. Because of her schedule it wasn’t really feasible to go for a dive proper, so we used my neighbour’s pool. Which was great, just a nice way to chill out and relax. Pic to prove!

(It was semi-formal dress in the pool.)

I also attempted and successfully completed not only putting my gear on underwater, but also my wet suit. My word, that’s HARD.

Following the pool antics the four of us went out for dinner which was superb. And just to make Gweezy happy, I won’t post *the* picture. She knows which one it is.

Day 348 and I was really excited as I was going up in a small plane! My friend got his pilot’s license about a year ago and agreed to take me up for a flight. Unfortunately the clouds were not with us (it was Friday the 13th, after all) so we had to cancel. We did however go over to Z103.5 to pick up my key for the contest that I am a finalist in (along with about 250 others, which isn’t too bad frankly!) and run a couple more errands as well.

Coming up next time! More excitement!

Cheers,
Vick.

Days 324 to 336: The Karma Points Kick In.

So Day 324 and it was off to a Toronto theatre to see The Girl Who Played With Fire. Yes, I’ve read the book, and yes, I actually own the film (in French) but it was nice to see it on the big screen.

It was also ulty night – sadly we lost again, we’ve been having a rough go at it lately.

Day 325 was another relaxing day. Went for a dive and just before we ran into someone who wanted to take a course. Well the dive went well, and imagine the surprise when the gentleman that approached us showed up indeed that evening! Nice little surprise.

Day 326 was open water check out afternoon. Went north of the city to do the dives and they were enjoyable, although I was starting to get really quite tired.

Day 327 and back at the diving empire and I actually sat out the dive because my ear just wasn’t liking me. I ran shore which was fine but busy with 14 divers in the water! Still though, this is my happy place so I can’t complain!

Day 328 and because I had a busy weekend coming up I got in Gunther (my car, natch) and ran around town doing errands. Dollarama, Staples, the Post Office, etc. And I think I went to a bit of Frisbee. Maybe!

Day 329 and I was off to Canada’s Wonderland for the day! With friends that were in from out of town, it was a great day because it looked like it would rain all day… and it didn’t. Which meant that most people stayed away, and we got onto ride, after ride, after ride. Behemoth, Psyclone, most of the waterslides… we even stopped to have some lunch and get some free Z103.5 swag, by entering their “103 days of summer contest”.

Such an awesome day!


And it became awesomer.

Remember that video I said I made with my friends Jimmy and Pina? Well I mailed it off on day 328 and on this day, day 329, I got an email from the production company saying that they were impressed! Nothing yet, but this had promise…

Day 330 flew by – the highlight being a walkabout town to get milk – EXCITING. Day 331 brought more ultimate and our first victory in about a month. Score.

On Day 331 my father arrived in town for a visit, around supper time. We sat down for a peaceful dinner (cooked by yours truly) followed by some relaxing television viewing and shooting the breeze.

Day 332 brought bopping around town including a possible side job for teaching and a visit to get NEW SHOES!

Dad and I also hopped down on the GO bus to go see the Jays play Baltimore. We got decent seats for $90 for the pair, and ended up seeing the game from the second row. It was very entertaining – a pre game trivia game where I ended up 6th place out of 72, Jose Bautista’s 29th and 30th homeruns of the season, and wondering why we paid $6.50 for an ice cream cone. Some pics from the experience:

As you can see we were super close!!!

Day 333 and following a short morning visit Dad was off. So was I for that matter, as it was up north (it was Wednesday) to get things ready for the dive followed by the dive itself. A good turnout as always.

The fun part for me was that I got to be the “victim” in a rescue situation. We had two divers that were working on their rescue diver certification. Please note that while this was fun, I did have a safety diver with me because diving alone is a really bad idea…

I did make their lives difficult but they did well. Went back out and did a fun dive with one of the other staff members which was enjoyable as well.

Day 334 and everything just went perfect. First I get a call at 8 am from my friend Shawn. I pick it up, wondering what’s up as it’s really early in the morning.

Dude, Fogleman (a mutual friend) called. Z103 called your name, you’ve got an hour to get a hold of them.

Oh my goodness.
Power dialing sets in.

It takes a half hour but I finally hear “Hi, Z103!”.

A minute later and I’m on the air with Scott Fox and the morning crew, and I’m a winner! I won $75 towards dinner at a restaurant and the right to a key, which might start a BRAND NEW CAR! The contest ends in September and I’ll find out then if I’m the grand prize winner!

The morning continues from there. I got to teach a dive class and run a discover scuba session which made me quite pleased.

It’s 1.30 pm in the afternoon when the phone rings with a number that makes me smile. I head outside and answer the phone. It’s another tv show that I’ve applied for!

Wow, this day is getting crazy. I do the interview over the phone. I think it goes well, I’ll find out soon enough!

I get home at around 5pm and check my email. A message from Moment De Vérité. Nuts, things do come in threes.

Day 335 brings up a good friend from Toronto to enjoy pizza and vino. No complaints! Plus we watched Just Buried, a quirky Canadian film from a few years back.

Day 336 and after an earlier start than I would have liked I was up north in cottage country to help run the underwater navigation course for the club. It was a hoot – although I was mostly running the shore (crazy enough), the hilarity was the dry land simulation where everyone had to wear towels over their head!

And if that wasn’t exciting enough, it was also Fort Boyard night. Which is slowly, but surely, growing on me.

Score!

Well would you look at that! With one month to go, I’m all caught up.

Cheers,
Vick.