Days 311 to 323: Nearing the end...

I felt very lucky as days 311 and 312 were spent up in Ontario cottage country. After picking up my friend around noon we headed up to our headquarters for the next couple of days.

But not before a first stop at a local bakery. I discovered that if they tell you the butter tart is runny, you’d better listen to them! I made quite a mess on the floor.

And! We discovered the world’s largest Muskoka chair. No joke.


We got to the hotel shortly after 3 pm.

And look at the price!

($400 per night!) That’s pretty much why I can’t stay in the room normally!

We started out taking it easy by going for a swim and shooting the breeze. Around 6 pm, they had “raid the fridge night”. What was this, then? Well, they got out all the good food that kids (and big kids like yours truly) enjoy – nachos, brownies, lemonade… you get the idea!

We took a bit but not too much as we were off to enjoy dinner – again, on the house!

I actually tried swordfish… it was great!

After having a brewski we took it easy, watched some youtube clips and headed to bed (after a late night swim of course).

Day 312 and it was still in relaxation mode. We got up, and had breakfast – FREE! Look at this yummy waffle, tastily done in two minutes.

After breakfast… more swimming, a nap, Let’s Make a Deal, and then checkout.

We decided to go for a dive in Bala on the way home. Which was of course, wonderful, and freakin’ warm! Outside and in the water. Relaxing as all gets out.

We then drove home and actually drove by where my family used to have a cottage. Good times, great memories.

Day 313 and it was bonding win the car again… all the way to Kingston to visit with Kay and Jeff, my friends from the UK who were over visiting. (That's Cheeks the baboon, in case you're wondering).

We had a great lunch at Chez Piggy, followed by a bit of a walk around and a visit to White Mountain Ice Cream (which if you haven’t been, you should go, it’s delightful).

On the way home I also took in the Germany-Spain footy semi-final on the radio… it was definitely exciting! But a tiring day too, that’s a long 700 km drive!

I had a exciting time on Day 314 in that I got to babysit! It was for a good friend and it was great… we played Monopoly Princess Edition (I lost), Hungry Hungry Hippos (I lost), some other game (I’m sure I still lost) and watched some Wipeout. Good, wholesome fun!

Day 315 brought some different excitement… a friend of a friend got tickets to see Legally Blonde: The Musical. We had a great dinner of Indian food before the show and the production itself was superb. Fun, loose, exciting. Songs are still stuck in my head.

I got a call during the evening of Day 315 which led me back up north for Day 316. I wasn’t supposed to go diving but I ended up going out on the boat anyway. Actually it turned into a really nice day – clear sky, awesome boat ride, and a couple of fun dives as well.

Later that night I dropped over to my friend’s house to play some games… we ended up chilling with a round of “Things” as well as $25,000 Pyramid. Which is difficult to play if you haven’t seen the show, but I digress.

Day 317 and it was all hands on deck. Yes, it was the day of the world cup of football final (a bit of a snoozer) but it was time to rip apart my couch! I am inheriting a love seat so it was time to get rid of the big pull out bed couch that hadn’t really become a productive member of society.

And the aftermath... inside and outside.

All in all a great time was had by all, and it was nice discovering the room I had never had.

Day 318 and it was back up to Barrie for a discover scuba night. It is always exciting to introduce new divers to the world of diving. And one of them signed up for a course… bonus!

Day 319 and as part of my “bouncing” up and down with my house in the middle, I popped down to Pina’s house to meet with her and Jimmy to shoot our video for Le Moment De Vérité. We had a great laugh doing it and it was up to me to edit it (as that night we had enjoyed ourselves too much to spend time in front of an editing bay!).

Never have I spent so much time playing Hungry Hungry Hippos.

Day 320… back up to Barrie to run a night diving course… Day 321 (contact?) back down to Toronto to visit with a friend of mine from out East who I hadn’t seen in a couple of years, and it was great to catch up. He was in town for work so we went out for some pub grub.

I think at this point that a) Gunther feels neglected and b) I should buy stock in public transport in Toronto.

Day 322 and it was back up to Barrie. Enjoyed a great dive with a new diver and then off to lunch.

It was also one of those days whereby you just want to take it easy and that’s what I did. It was my friend’s birthday so we spent the afternoon underwater practicing our matrix moves. Is there a club for this? There must be, somewhere.

We had a great birthday dinner featuring three types of cheesecake! Followed by a showing of The Sorcerers’ Apprentice at a theatre downtown. Which now features recliners in some of the chairs! Hot dog.

Day 323 and after driving home it was time to get ready for another game night. Discovered that while Press Your Luck rocks that DVD games don’t always!

Next time… more catching up and SUPER EXCITEMENT!

Cheers,
Vick.

Days 301 to 310: Takin 'er easy

Well seeing as Day 300 was hectic I took it a little bit easier on Day 301, but I was back on the bandwagon for Day 302. Seeing as I had been punked a few days earlier, Pina and I actually sat down and did our Moment De Vérité applications and had a good laugh doing them. Then it was off to our mutual friend Jimmy's party as he was changing schools.




Don't we look adorable? Yes of course we do.


Also got to catch up with a friend that I hadn't seen in years in regards to my AQ course back in Summer 06.


Day 3!OH!3! crept up and it was ultimate night once again. It didn't go as well as we would have liked, but there you are. Losses and wins are all part of it, but so is fun times with friends.


Day 304 brought appointments once again! The day started great as I was told by my optician that it looked like my eyes have gotten better, but pending further testing, I don't think I need glasses anymore! Bonus. Later that day - once I remembered to get my shoes - I went to the podiatrist to pick up my new orthodic inserts! EXCITEMENT! I now walk better. Sort of.


Day 305 was an extremely early start but for a good reason. It was time to head off to Niagara Falls to go drift diving - specifically in Fort Erie, right across the river from Buffalo. It's so close that when we get in the water, the feds on the US side are in boats making sure we're not trying to cross the border! I've actually heard stories about arrests; I'd like not to (a) spend time in jail or (b) do it in a wet suit, for that matter.


I ended up getting in three dives and although it was tiring and the viz was horrid it was still a great day out. Even if our favourite restaurant was closed!


Normally day 306 would have been a dive night, but seeing as we were going out the next day we didn't schedule one. Day 307 was CANADA DAY (doesn't need capitalization but I like my country) and it was off for a couple of days. Even famous fringe performer Sarah the Traveller came out to make a rare cameo appearance ha ha ha.


It was also my friend's 50th birthday so of course there was cake for that fact too!

As a gift we had earlier in the year given him a scuba tank that actually originates from the month he was born! What luck in finding it.

Day 308 was another calm one... spent the time working on my new website (soon to launch!). Day 309 was a board game night (I think) and then Day 310 was ulty again (in the stinking hot hot heat - not fun!). We lost a game we should have won!

Next post: benefitting from radio prizes.

Cheers,

Vick.

DAY 300!

Well as crazy as it sounds at this point I had reach the magic day 300. I had a calm morning, but then drove down to Yorkdale, parked, found a 3D version of Settlers, hopped the subway, went to Honest Ed's for the first time ever (got a New Zealand car flag) and then settled into the main event: the Reach for the Top wrap party. It was an awesome time, catching up with everyone, chatting it up, and hey, anything for a game show is good for me. After having a brewski with good friend Richard at the bar I headed back home.

Now that's a good day 300.

Cheers,
Vick.

Day 294-299: New Directions

Day 294 and it was time for graduation at my school. I had been wondering if I should go, but I was happy that I did. I just sat in the back and enjoyed myself. My favourite part was for a student that I had never taught but whose father jumped up with joy when his daughter got an award unexpectedly; I was secretly cheering for her to get another one!

Afterwards I got to say goodbye to some of the students that I had taught. Here's just a few.

I had taught Alexandra accounting and Drama. She was always a curious student, a hard worker, and always loved a good joke.

While I didn't teach Miah, she was in a play that I directed, biding her time in the wings until her moment.

Jay was the winner against her sister in a contest to see who knew more about me. She is feverishly passionate, brilliant in accounting and probably would have creamed everyone on YTV's The Adrenaline Project had she not suffered a concussion around the time of the casting call.

Jaymie now goes down in history as the only person to conquer the Vick-trifecta. Simply put, take all three subjects with me (french/drama/accounting) and pass them. She won ice cream for that! And a very very hard worker.

Imaan was in my advisor group for three years and just the sweetest young lady. I only hope that in the future I will get to teach more students like her!

Bertha was one of my quiet accounting students but over time I changed that!

Alex, now that I think about it, I didn't teach, although he was one of my go-getters for Reach for the Top for three years. Shame he didn't play this past year, he would have done great!

Ryan is one of the few people in this world that truly tower over me. He is an extremely creative man and I look forward to walking into Chapters to buy his first novel.

Following a break after grad we had the staff roast bbq. I was roasted - here is PV as reach quizmaster as all the questions were about me! I was flattered.

And why did I get roasted, you might ask? Well after taking quite a long time, I've left my position at PC. It was not done easily, but after this wonderful year, I felt it was time for a change. I look forward to seeing what comes up!

Day 295 saw a trip up to Barrie to run another open water dive. As we haven't had much luck with the Wednesday dives I was quite happy to squeeze one in. Niiiiiiiiiiice and peaceful.

Day 296 and I sat down to watch the New Zealand-Italy game. As soon as the result was proclaimed 1-1, I said to Hans, "Let's go!" and we were off. I rolled down the window, he stuck his head out, gripping my kiwi flag and honking all the way. Why not enjoy it, right?

It was also time for ultimate again. I once again surprised myself with a what I thought was an impossible catch - a hammer, coming from the sun! I did giggle a bit when I saw what I had done.

Later that evening I hopped down to see Kari, who was visiting from NB for a conferece. We had a great dinner at Les 3 Brasseurs.

Day 297 was a bit difficult - it was time to start packing up at PC. Pina helped me box up my stuff that I had left in the portable. Apparently I had left a lot of little things!!!

At around 4.30 pm Pina is suddenly anxious - we had planned to do an early dinner but she had to get back to North York for 6 pm for babysitting pick up. We finally pull in to the parking lot, round the corner, and I recognize several faces.

Then I realize what's going on! It's a surprise party! WOW! I was truly speechless, and it was very nice to have so many of my friends come out and share the experience with me. Here are some of the faces - I haven't put names because they really aren't necessary.

And the last one is with my parents, who cooked this all up about 6 weeks ago and drove four hours just for the occasion! They also bought me dinner :)

Day 298 and it was much more calmer, highlighted by some scuba diving drift theory.

Day 299 and 1.42 pm was when I felt the earth move, under my butt. I'm sitting on the couch and everything starts to shake.

I had experienced my first earthquake. How strange!!!

As a result of the weather, we sadly had to cancel the dive, although I enjoyed another great night of settlers! Which brings our standings in the NUSL to:

Vic the boy (me) 2-1

Vic the girl 1-2

Theresa 0-1

Catherine 0-2

Kevin 0-2

Jessica 0-2

Next time, day 300!

Day 277 to 293: Sir Stacks-a-lot

Well June was upon me... and it turns out that my world tour is almost finished... 3/4 of the way through! Not that exciting things weren't still in store... such as Day 277's visit to the dentist!

Yes it is entirely possible that I get slight accidents such as a cavity. Sadly my dentist has cleared his wall of pictures recently and thus I have missed an opportunity to get back on the wall. Such as it. As I'm writing this after the fact that I had this done I imagine that I probably went and bought some sweets.

Day 278 brought a pattern that was going to rear its ugly head. It was the Wednesday Dive Cancellation (WDC). Which would have been nice, if only to get rid of Day 279's visits to the physician and the podiatrist... so much so that I had to take Days 280 and 281 away just to recover!

But Day 282 was a gorgeous drive up north to go for a dive, a nice little splash, which was nicely preceeded by a bbq! Huzzah for free food, can't really complain. Had to rush back for my first game of Ultimate for the season - as a member of the Hucky Ducks (seems we've got an animal theme going, folks) we notched our first win! Hurrah! And we went out for brewskis afterwards, to celebrate at one of my teammates' homes.

Day 283 and it was back up north for our "shore course". We put this on once a year in the dive club so as to inform those who are top side can ably help us when the rest of us are down below. Although most of the time I'm in the latter, it's still important that I help out with the former. We had a good turnout and hopefully will have some great support this year.

Day 284 and having stayed over the night it made sense to have a picture night - a retrospect of this crazy year I've had. It's the first time I've had a chance to look through my pictures all in one go, and the first time I've actually enjoyed sorting through images since Bort had crashed upon leaving Australia. It was superb just to chat about things that had gone on... speaking of which, I've finally posted my appearance on Des Chiffres et Des Lettres - you can find it at :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qqhxqOqSic

And of course I've put up subtitles for those who don't speak French so they can enjoy as well!

It actually took about 2 hours to do the slides so afterwards I headed home.

Day 285 was a Wednesday, so we cancelled the dive!!!! Not wanting to, obviously. That did give me a chance however to go to a rare (for me) Wednesday night ulty practice, which then turned into Settlers at my house.

Now, if you don't know, Settlers is probably one of the best board games to come out in the last twenty years. It is German and it is brilliant. You can either play with three or four players, and it takes roughly about 2 hours to play but is wonderful in every way shape and form. Vic (the woman) and Cat and I battled it out, with the new Newmarket Ultimate Settlers League (NUSL) standings as such:

Vic (the woman) 1-0

Cat 0-1

Vick (yours truly) 0-1

Given that the previous date actually bled into Day 286, I took it easy that day. But there was excitement that had to be prepared for on Day 287.

Which started with a visit to Big Bone BBQ, just a stone's throw from my house. Now I had been told these guys have great wings, and while I'm sure that they do, I couldn't tell you about them, because I opted for the pulled pork sandwich. At the cost of $8.50 for a sandwich which used its bun as a carrying case for the meat from your plate to your mouth along with fries, beans and slaw, it was practically perfect.

Part two of this day was shooting the video for my application to be on Wipeout Canada. I had developed some ideas, which involved me getting thrown around somewhat, to say the least:

This was actually during "dress rehearsal". I only had three pies so we had one for the dress rehearsal, then two for the real thing!

As you can see, I'm in costume and wet. Guesses?

For the proof, go see: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceySN1VHTAA and enjoy!

All in all it was a hoot. Half the fun of applying I'm finding is shooting the video, I've discovered! We all then went out for ice cream to celebrate.

How, pray tell, could I top that? Well, I was off very early on Day 288 to drive to Brampton and the Ontario Speed Stacking Championships! I had recruited my friend Victoria to come as well, and after a few nights of practice, we were ready! Let's let the pictures do the talking, shall we?

Victoria and I were immediately fascinated by the MASSIVE jumbo speed stacks and had they been cheaper we might have taken them home.

We had the opening ceremonies around 9.45 am and Vic and I dwarfed everyone as they were mostly 8 year olds. BUT! There were actually seven adults there! COMPETING! Wow.

Victoria and I then proceeded to the qualifying time trials for doubles. It's very curious only using one hand but we did well. One competitor from Illinois really enjoyed how we talked to each other! We have that kind of chemistry I guess!

That's me right after breaking the Canadian Record for the cycle... but only in the qualifiers! I was pretty psyched though as I hadn't even hit a twelve in competition before...

One of the only downfalls of the day was that we ended up having four bloomin' hours between qualifs and the finals, so Vic and I decided (once Kevin and Jess arrived) to make tshirts! And now, schnazzy views for y'all:

So how did it all turn out? Well, Victoria and I cleaned up quite well! Victoria picked up three medals and three Ontario records, while I picked up four medals and another Canadian record, and the two of us got a joint record for Doubles! SCORE.

We made some calls on the way home to celebrate but after dropping Victoria home I was spent and grabbed some zzzzzzzz.

Day 289 and it was frisbee time. And I've been very lucky as my skills have been improving - including this evening, where I made a behind the back catch!

Days 290, 291 and 292 went by with small highlights - great meals, good friends, and an awesome New Zealand-Slovakia footy match (how about that goal in injury time???). And another update in the NUSL standings:
Vic (the woman) 1-1
Vick (yours truly) 1-1
Cat 0-1
Jess 0-1
Kevin 0-1

Day 293 and I found a most interesting sight:

I pull into the Zellers parking lot, and there's my old car! Gotta be honest with you, with over 217000km on it I never thought I'd see it again. I thought about leaving it a note, but figured that might be a bit too creepy.

Cheers,

Vick.