Pride, oh, Pride

Stephen Colbert is legendary.

I shared Oreo's new photo supporting LGBTQ love and rights on my Facebook and had a good laugh at many of the comments that were posted by others - the open-minded for their hilarity, and the not-so-open-minded for their lack of logic. Though many claim to now be boycotting the cookie company for announcing their support for gay rights, they don't realize that, to make this meaningful at all, they would have to boycott numerous other companies for the same reason and furthermore cease to give business to others that have anything to do with everything the Holy Scripture forbids in addition. On one hand, I weep for humanity, but on the other, I have a little hope that we will prevail.

Adventures on Foot

I meant to write a post sooner, but, as always, time passed far too quickly.
From Sunday until the early afternoon today, I was back in the city that I love so much and have missed dearly! When I checked the forecast before I left Abbotsford, the weatherman called for rain (not unusual), so naturally I packed pants and a jacket or two. What I foolishly forgot is that the weather here can turn on a dime, and sure enough, when I got into town, the sun was shining brightly and I found myself dressed far too warmly. But enough about "misfortunes" with my wardrobe, and onto the adventures I squished into a mere 3.5 days!

By the way, every time I visit Van, I stay at my sister's place, which is empty for the time-being as she is in Calgary for work (: I got into Vancouver around 1:30pm on Sunday, and didn't have much to do until 5:00 when I was to go out for dinner with my aunt and cousin. In definite Tori fashion, I unpacked my few belongings and set up the futon (I never sleep in the bed for some reason). I took a grand snooze until I woke up to my cousin, Jill, calling me, saying they were outside to pick me up for dinner. We always go for Greek food - my aunt LOVES Greek - so for dinner we went to Candia Taverna on 10th and Sasamat. I like this restaurant because it's small and family-owned, so the people are always very nice and make eating there a relaxing experience. So, if you're around the Point Grey area and want a nice, quiet dinner, give this place a go! After dinner, I went to my cousin's place in Burnaby and waited for her to change into her soccer gear because she had a game that night, which I and another cousin (Justin) watched. The soccer game ran from 9:30 'til around 10:45, and I got home at about 11:00. And so ended the first day.

Monday morning, I woke up around 11 (I never wake up early, it's a bit of a bad habit) and ate my Greek leftovers for breakfast (actually lunch). at about 1:30, I left the house and walked down to 4th and Macdonald to meet my bestie, Kirk, to bus to Stanley Park because we were going to the aquarium! I haven't been to the aquarium in quite a while, so this was an exciting venture. We got to the park around 2:15 and walked around a bit while waiting for our friend Julia to get there. We finally got into the aquarium around 3:00 and proceeded to ooh and awe at every single exhibit in the place - jellyfish, octopi, stingrays, sea turtles, sharks, frogs...EVERYTHING. Unfortunately, we seemed to show up to every scheduled show late, so there were always crowds of people surrounding the beluga and dolphin tanks, and being as short as I am, it was difficult to see anything. But the glimpses I saw were wonderful! Also, the aquarium has acquired a new exhibit featuring South African Penguins. The exhibit consists of five penguins, all of which were bred in captivity at another aquarium. They were adorable! We got out of the aquarium at 6ish, exhausted and hungry, so we headed back to Granville for some dinner. We ended up at The Famous Warehouse, which I am quite fond of. Everything on the menu is $4.95, and the food is quite good, too! Since it was Monday, it was all-you-can-eat-pasta night for $6.95, and Kirk and I jumped at the opportunity - me, mostly because I had a small budget to work with for food, so why not?! Both of us went three bowls deep of Mac 'n Cheese, which had just enough spice to give it a kick - delicious! By the time I got home at 9:30ish, I was thoroughly exhausted from walking the whole day and eating a GIANT meal, and fell asleep the earliest I've gotten to sleep in a while - 10:30!

Tuesday wasn't all that interesting in terms of adventuring, but it was a swell time nonetheless. I met up with my friend Elias, who just got back to Vancouver after being in Korea for two months. We headed down to 4th because I needed to buy a GOOD pair of rainboots from a little shop called Gumdrops, but they were closed! I would link their website, but it's down at the moment :/ So, after that fail of a venture, we hopped on the bus and headed for downtown, because, why not? We ended up wandering around Robson, which is a lively place for shoppers, and no wonder - there were TONS of sales going on. It was hard to not go on a shopping spree, but I keep reminding myself that I'll be leaving for Europe in ONE week, and that I need to save that cash! I did end up buying a nice rucksack backpack from Zara for 60% off, though, but I feel like it was totally worth it. After wandering around for a good two or three hours, Elias wanted to stop somewhere for a drink, so we ended up in this restaurant (A Greek one, of all places), and ordered two Granville Island Honey Lagers (one of my personal favourites) and chilled for a while. Eventually, we made our way back to his new place before I went up to UBC to visit with another friend (Tanya) for coffee before I finally headed home around 11:00.

Today, I woke up at 9:00am to finish packing up my clothes and other belongings and to generally tidy the place up before parting ways with it. I left at about 9:45 so that I could make the bus down on 4th at 10:00 to downtown, where I was meeting up with my friend Dominique (who transitted it all the way from Richmond to see me!). We met at Cafe Crepe, where I ordered an Apple Sauce and Cinnamon Crepe with a large coffee for $7.78. The crepe was good, but I'm not sure it was worth that much. I guess it's all in the experience, as I've always wanted to try that place downtown anyway. After much talking and catching up, I left to catch the Skytrain down to train station to finally catch my Greyhound home. Because it was such a beautiful day, I ended up laying on the grass across from the station in the sun to read for a bit before going in. 


Well, that's the story of my past couple days! I really enjoyed my time back in the city and am super happy that I had the chance to get together with friends and catch up! Now, I'm back home, and work the next few days before jetting off for two weeks! More on that when the time comes (:

Work, Workouts, Literature, and Listening.

Since I've been home, it's probably been real "summer" weather for about 5 or 6 days in total. This lack of sunshine isn't the most ideal, but I suppose there isn't much we can do about it, so, let the rain fall. I've been back in Abbotsford just shy of 2 months now, though it sure doesn't feel like it. I've been keeping busy working many nights at the restaurant, picking up every shift I have a chance to take. At times it feels like I'm working myself into the ground, but I figure that since it's summer, I can totally do that. I genuinely enjoy working - I think my co-workers are hilarious and that we mesh together pretty well, which makes coming into work all the more enjoyable. Also, the fact that I get to make money and be with friends is pretty cool! Outside of work, Mondays and Tuesdays are pretty much my only nights off, and I've become more reluctant to give them up for work so that I can get into the pool at least twice a week. Missing so many practices for work has made it difficult to adjust back into the water, but as it's something that comes naturally to me, a workout or two is all it took to get used to the strokes and recoveries. Look at me, throwing out swim lingo like it's nothing!

Other than work and swimming, I can honestly say that I've been doing a lot of sleeping. I guess between running around a restaurant for hours and working out, there isn't a lot of time to not be exhausted. Although, part of that may be due to the fact that I have one of the weirdest sleep schedules, which I'm trying to rectify! When I am awake and fully (or partially) functioning, I have been immersing myself in literature. Besides swimming and the obvious choice of music, books are my favourite escape. Storytelling is just fascinating to me, and being on the receiving end of storytelling, whether spoken or written down, is an honour in my mind. During the academic year, I didn't really have time to read anything for leisure or enjoyment - if I did have the time, I was scared that reading a book for fun would push out all the things I needed to know for finals! That being said, I made sure to make the summer a time for getting through many, many books! I have read, in chronological order, Animal Farm and 1984 (George Orwell), Persepolis 2 (Marjanne Satrapi), The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald), Night, Dawn, and Day (Elie Wiesel), and am currently finishing up The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Stephen Chbosky). Excluding The Great Gatsby, Persepolis 2, and Elie Wiesel's collection, I have read all of these at least once before. All of these works are incredible pieces of literature, and if you haven't read them, I strongly recommend them! I am especially glad to have finished The Great Gatsby and the Perks of Being a Wallflower because their movie adaptations are due to be released later this year! I would love to do a short review of each book, but I'm afraid I lack both the time and energy to do so, so just take my word on them!

I also have found some music that I think deserves a listen to. I have a wide musical taste (in my eyes), so I'm never sure how to describe the kind of music that I'm drawn to. I think, however, that it's safe to say that if it's acoustic, indie, or easy-listening, then I will definitely like it. Although, I'm most definitely a fan of country, electro, and some top 40. One of the bands I found, via that wonderful corner of YouTube with amazing music, is Paper Aeroplanes, a male-female duo from Wales with beautiful vocals and an amazing sound. Another is a song collaboration between Morgan Page and Tegan and Sara, one of my favourite bands, called Body Work, which I love to turn up when I'm driving around. LASTLY - and I know many people won't like it, but I LOVE it, and since it's my blog, I'll post it anyway - is Springsteen by Eric Church. Yes, it's country, and yes, it's incredible. Maybe it's because it strikes a more than a few chords with me. Maybe I'm too young to be so nostalgic about being 17, but maybe that's what makes it so real. There's definitely someone out there I'd like to show this song to and say "this is everything I want to say." It doesn't speak of anything other than good memories of good times, and admitting that you do think about them - nothing more. Also, coincidentally, the memories I'm thinking about do involve Bruce Springsteen's music, which makes this song all the better. And I do love the Boss, his music is the best.

Well, this is me, signing off to go finish that book, and probably start another. Be well!