friday august 19: in T.O.
after work (12:30) i helped change ms. libby's flat tire. it was pleasantly sunny. went home shortly thereafter to chill and pack a little. then the rains came and continued. at 4 i headed out with my dad, he dropped himself off for work at birchmount and 14th and tasked me with picking up sherm. by this time flash flooding was well under way. a mitsubishi eclipse was the first casualty i saw, sunk in a puddle up and over its windshield wipers. i meandered for 2 hours, had a fun time wailing to josh groban and watching cars flounder in puddles. i passed the creek that runs across birchmount just north of sheppard. the water nearly crested the trees that lined the raised banks. at the day care, power was out, northside rooms were flooded and kids were fooling around in the gym or crying for their parents.
the ride to church was sweet as the 401 was significantly clearer than NS routes. nearly got killed as i turned left onto morningside by a nice blind driver who felt it was his right to ignore the four-way stop system imposed by the lack of traffic lights.
aletheia's program was cancelled, so we craniumed instead. stephen, kevin, melissa (and later eunice) vs. dan, kat, herman. needless to say, by the time i left, we were winning in dominant fashion.
saturday august 20: flight out to calgary
early wake up to finish packing for the 10:30 flight. saw dorcas and some of her family on their way to their edmonton flight's gate. uneventful flight. opted to not take the complimentary headphones, so i had to watch Monster In-Law silent style. the two old chinese ladies next to me missed their flight to saskatoon on account of friday's weather, so they were taking this flight to connect from calgary to wheat town. incidentally they also hailed from a chinese alliance church. fancy that.
back in calgary at long last, i was assigned as the navigator. apparently i don't know my roads in toronto, but once i'm in a new city i'm pro. sweet skill to have.
we stayed at the house of my mom's high school friend's mom. met up with said high school friend, auntie jessica's, family. and when i say auntie i don't mean a real auntie, but the way chinese people mean it. i just think it's more meaningful that way. after lunch and a slight reprieve, i went with her husband, uncle duncan, and my dad to fetch dinner food, as uncle duncan loved to grill. he blew $215 on t-bones and many other things. it was a huge meal.
as it was being prepared i got aquainted with their kids': Trent, Melissa, Chris, and their playstation two.
sunday august 21: waking up in calgary
yay! visiting a church! westminster presbyterian church. 1 hr. service. that's zoom zoom compared to what i'm used to. and the speaker looked like a christoper reeve, alive but gone south 'round the girdle. awesome! i also discovered that their playstation two was also stocked with soul calibur 2. AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!
monday august 22: skating at the olympic oval
on the very stretch of ice that olympians practiced and raced back in whatever year the Olympics were held in calgary, i slipped and skidded along on very, very dull rental skates. i hadn't skated since april and i had only just adjusted to my new skates' parabolic blades. so hopping back into dull straight blades was an adventure in and of itself. there was a group of japanese people there, early twenties. Chris, 11, took it upon himself, with goadings from his dad, to teach the prettier ones how to skate. one girl in particular was coached most readily and she was passed on to Trent, 15, for a period of time before being quickly dumped on me. poor, pretty, illiterate, visa student. she refused to stand on her own weight, insisted upon leaning on my hands for balance. never going to skate properly learning like that. she made about quarter of the track with me before she requested a break. Chris picked up the slack later on and got a picture taken with her. he likes older women. his dad helped him get her number. meanwhile, his own daughter, 13 year old melissa, was slightly ignored and left to her own devices. i taught her to skate with her head up so she won't get concussed like Lindros.
tuesday august 23: lake louise and banff
we set out for banff, planning to stay two nights at the red carpet inn. so we did. we stopped at lake louise first as it was on the way. pity about the drizzle and the overcast skies or else lake louise would've looked spectacular (just like in the postcards). after an understaffed lunch, i acquired a purse upgrade. i now have a sack, single cross-shoulder strap with two main pockets. it's spiffin' and great for holding things larger than what my purse can handle, i.e. bible, water bottles, rolled up jackets, in times when i'd prefer not to have a backpack to lug around. the price was way too steep for my liking, but my dad insisted. lifetime warranty should set it even after 60 years of use.
we rolled into banff at 4. after settling into the red carpet inn's room 203, my parents drove off to the hot springs for a soak. my brother stayed in the room to watch the jays game. i went out along banff avenue and trolled the shops for a single postcard. and perhaps shoes. and also to scout out the local eateries. we picked my first choice: Joe's Diner. roast beef with mashed potatoes and gravy = hey super fun. roast beef was a bit disappointing. but the mashed potatoes were hey super fun indeed.
sherman insists upon sleeping diagonally on the shared bed. and he wondered why he kept waking up to the feeling of someone kicking him.
wednesday august 24: gondola, NOT gon-DOH-la
back to lake louise and a bit across to the massive skiing mountain. there was a huge log chalet where we sampled a very small, very unfilling buffet. but it cost about $4 per person so i wasn't about to complain. chalet was filled with a japanese tour group which was awesome. sherman, who is racist, felt very uncomfortable so i laughed at him. the main point of this trip was to take a gondola up the mountain 6000 something ft. and go on a wildlife hike up on the plateau. but it was rainy. and about 1 degree celcius. sherm and i opted for the ski lift as gondolas are supremely wussy. i was prepared by wearing one longsleeved tee, one t-shirt and a sweatshirt. about 4000 ft up it started to get stupid cold due to rain water, wind and lack of bodily movement. super. i took the gondola down. no animals sighted on the way up/down around. found out how porcupines mated (because i've ALWAYS been curious about that) and took a picture of the blurb so i could remember it forever.
food court dinner was tasty because japanese tappenyaki fried noodles are always better on styrofoam plates accompanied by iced cola in a tall, waxed paper cup.
insomnia was fun. i tried curling up in one of them tiny hotel chairs to no avail. made up for lost sleep in the car the next day.
thursday august 25: return to calgary and not having to share a bed
drove back to the house of the mom of the friend of my mom's. nice how we could see the lovely rockies on the way out, rather than on the two whole days we spent looking at them through fog and rain. after lunch the boys all went to the driving range with uncle duncan. sherm can drive rather well. i cannot. i didn't want to lose my softball swing. so i teed off happy gilmore style, with a slightly shorter run up and a much more feminine driver. the 'w' on the shaft told me so. as did the mauve colour. and the extremely light weight. i was using auntie jessica's set of clubs as she was the only rightswinger in the family. for 6 minutes i got the other guys to try to golf their balls high so that i could try and knock them out of the air with my special technique. failed miserably on all counts, but it was stupid good fun. Trent then lost his head - club head, that is - and sent it flying into the range, farther than the ball went. his dad coerced him into running onto the field to retrieve it. it was quite cool when sherm joked that someone should try to drive one at him and some kid next to him complied.
friday august 26: west edmonton mall
mm... 3 hr. drive to edmonton... 2.5 hr. shopping for nothing... 3 hr. drive back to calgary. time well wasted. upon getting back we were treated to some dang quesadillas that uncle duncan had grilled up since he didn't go to edmonton. they were huge and they were tasty. soul calibur was also tasty. mmm... talim.
saturday august 27: leaving on a jet plane...
2:30 flight left plenty of time to have shanghai dim sum beforehand. my second little dragon bun ripped and spilled its soup. flight home was much better with headphones. didn't sleep and had to really pee just before landing. i opted to wait it out. too bad we were sitting at the back and it takes forever for people to get up and file out.
sunday august 28: back to church!
i woke up in time for english service (9:00) but no one else was up on account for crazy jet lag and staying up until 2 am. so i went back to bed and arrived in time for sunday school. which quickly turned into all day breakfast at wimpy's diner. which turned into all-you-can-eat-omlettes for $7.99. as regualr omlette dishes were priced at $6.99, eating more than one would be a supreme bargain. so most of us lined up and watched one omlette guy work three pans at once. and the omlettes were huge. i could only muster the energy for 1.5. next time i'll be ready to do 3.
