Lei

Another Day in Whistler - The Happy Boarder

Me and my friends.

Me.

Me eating snow.

More pictures from me --->Scenes of Montreal

Pipe Dreams of a Happy Boarder

Midweek, I went with two friends up to Whistler while all the other normal people were busy working. Lineups were short and there was lots of room on the mountain.

The weather was clearer than expected despite the initial forecast. I felt like I was the tour guide for my friends as we started on the left side of Blackcomb and worked our way across the slope boarding on all the different runs.

I was the more advanced rider and got my friends to bravely follow me into the Nintendo snowboard park. It comes complete with massive jumps, a boarder cross course, rail slides and last but not least, the huge half pipe. It was icy but this time I had an easier time of it. Previously, I would be worried about falling down on the hard ice if I went up too high on the sides. Having picked up the current five day edge card topper deal, I will be returning back to this pipe in the hopes that I will one day get some "air". One or two feet above the top of the pipe would be nice. For now, it is just simple kick turns about a foot from the top. The picture above does not make the tub look as big as when I'm in it.

No broken bones. No bad spills for the day. Everybody stays a happy camper.

As I said, I will continue to go back to Whistler with different riding groups of various levels. So far, I have lead two with three other groups still to go.

A Last Supper

I look up at the clock and it says that its half past six. The rack of lamb will soon be done. It came in a package with a suggested serving for four. Tonight, it will be for one. Smeared with a coating of bread crumbs, melted butter and spices, the lamb came out perfect the first time. I was surprised and pleased at the same time. Once the main course had disappeared, I served myself a large helping of Breyers Neopolitan Ice Cream. I continued to eat always mindful of the clock. The combination of vanilla, chocolate and strawberry was wonderful going back for a second heaping of the cool mound of ice cream. Then it happened. The second hand on the clock moved into position and all cutlery dropped and eating ceased. It was eight thirty and the fast had begun.

Twelve hours later early next morning, I find myself sitting in a waiting room. This bodes well for my current and only new years resolution which is to go to sleep earlier and get up earlier. My stomach had started to make noises. It wanted me to feed it but I wouldn't give in. I browsed through last summers issue of Business Week magazine which featured the top five hundred stocks of last year. In the various lists I found most of the stocks that I had were noted for being good performers.

After about forty minutes, I was lead into a room and told to lie down on the table. The nurse left for a moment and as I lay there, I noticed a piece of paper taped to the wall which the bed was against on my left. "Gender determination of babies will not be given. Not even a hint." Too bad for all the would be mothers who come in here. The woman returned and sat beside me. She grabbed a large tube and squeezed a small heap of lubricant onto my stomach.
"So, what are we looking for? Are you having any problems?" she asked.
"Well, I used to have some pain and discomfort around my liver and right side. That is gone but now I have some small pain in the upper abdomen and left side."
With a emitter/receiver in her hand, she spent the next fifteen minutes sliding the device all over my abdoment smearing the lubricant everywhere.
"Take a deep breathe...and hold it... good. Now exhale."
"Breathe normally... another deep breathe, hold it... good."
This went on as she recorded frozen stills. Some would be marked with a dimension and others with the name of the organ. Kidney and liver being two which I happened to noticed.
"Do you see anything?"
"No. Your liver looks good."
I didn't expect to see anything. They never find anything even in the past when I had much more problems.
"Turn over on your side."
I turned over and she pressed the device into my kidney area. It burned a little. It was as though she was pressing right on a ligament or a tight muscle.

DVD's Wanted

Matrix Trilogy - Simply cool. Love the french couple with his accent, his wife and his two hired hands.

Star Wars I-VI - Can't have just one or two in the set. Gotta have it all. The Empire Strikes back was my personal favourite even though the dark side triumphs.

The Green Mile - Great drama and suspense. Well done.

Shawshank Redemption - Great drama and suspense. Well done.

Finding Neverland- Without creativity and imagination, where would this world be. A sad sad place.

Lord of the Rings Trilogy - yeah those little stinkers are @#$ annoying to the point that you wish they'd be killed so you wouldn't have to cringe with every idiotic mistake they make, but the action and general story is too attraction to ignore.

Raiders of the Lost Ark Set - Great action without a lot of digital effects.

Heat - De Niro, Pacino, Kilmore. Strong cast and good suspense. Love it.

Goodfellas - Good portrayal of mafia life. Eh vinnie!

Saving Private Ryan - I'm a fan of good war movies and this is one of them with the latest special effects. No sci-fi.

Final Fantasy VII Advent Children - A surprise addition having only been introduced to this movie a month ago. Never thought I'd get into anymore anime style movies.

Sleepy Hollow - Always a big fan of Johnny Depp and Christopher Walken movies. Plus lots of great creativity and imagination here.

Lemony Snickets, A Series of Unfortunate Events - The wonders of the digital age has brought this to us. Jim Carrie doing his usual. Wonderful concept and set creation.

Platoon - A war movie staple(Acquired as of 1.12.06 afternoon). Strong cast and characters which draw you into their personal battles. Martin Sheen's in particular along with William DaFoe and Tom Berenger.

"Death is the Adventure" - revised

Blood flows through the arteries and veins. From one side to the other. Valves open and close. Muscles expand and contract. Together everything works together to form the engine of your body. We breath to take in oxygen which is passed through the system. Pushed and pulled, it's in the heart.

The will to survive is strong. The strength to sustain oneself is not only physical but emotional and mental built up by our interactions with others in some form or another or an experience with something(s). To want life. To want something or someone. The center of everything is. It's in the heart.

I have resumed my collection of movies that I want again. For now it is a bit pathetic but there are a few on the list already. First off, I bought Sea Biscuit. A wonderful story and movie in all. I first was reminded of this movie by a former boss of mine as he had taken a liking to it. With the famed car salesman losing his son and wife, I can see why. After a little bit of a fact finding mission, I happened to come across an article about my former boss. It was about how he had lost his son in a foreign country while travelling. He himself flew back and tried to look also but came away empty handed. I was sorry to read that article and spoke with him about the incident. Today we remain in contact still. I received an Apple icard from him.

I read in the news yesterday that a young korean man left his job to play video games. He planted himself in front of a computer for three days straight at some internet gaming place. There was even a small sleeping arrangement set up for him. He died because of a heart attack.

Death is an adventure but one that may be too soon for some. So while I attempt to expand my DVD collection, maybe I'll hold off on the PS2. For the rest of us, it's in the heart.

Plaisirs de chocolat

On my coffee table are two more boxes of After Eight. Those minted morsels of wonderful chocolate continue to find their way to my mouth. Like someone pouring tidbits of them down funnels which wind in the air before ending at the bottom of my stomach.

At the airport, I bought a large flat bar of dark cocoa Lindt chocolate. I didn't eat it right away. I saved it. One evening in montreal, it lay there on Gambits marble island in the kitchen. I broke into it for the first bite. A little while later, I watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

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The flight there was nice. Staring out the window in the early hours of the morning I could tell that the sky was perfectly clear and cloud free once you get through the not so stellar glass of the airplane window. And while gazing, I saw a shooting star come down.

Most people on the plane had fallen asleep. The woman two seats over sat there with a blanket completely covering her head as though she were a ghost or simply a dead body that needed to be covered up. The young man next to me turned out to be an artist doing work for the free newspaper called DOSE. He was on his way to Montreal because there was nothing to do in Montreal. It is peaceful and quiet away from the clubs so he could use it as a retreat and hang out with fellow artists like himself. He was also going there to promote his first book. A comic book type of novel which was being published in hardcover. For New Years, his friends were going to pick him up at the airport before making the dash to either New York or Chicago for new years. I don't think they made it to either of the two places.

I got into Montreal early morning on New Years Eve. The day prior to departure was pure frustration as I contended with one problem after another at the rental property. The hot water tank pressure relief valve started leaking, the evacuation valve failed and the drainage line running out of the house became all plugged up. I think I went to Home Depot five or six times that day.

Montreal was great. After asking a waitress at a small place we went to for brunch, we decided to go to the old part of montreal for new years eve. There were lights and a stage set up for live bands to perform. We were lucky and got a parking spot not to far away and began exploring the area. The only thing which we didn't plan on was turning into popsicle sticks. It was minus seventeen and went as low as minus twenty seven with windchill. I saw a shop with had stacks of frozen bottled water just inside the open doorway. Previously recorded music played through the speakers on the stage. I have a feeling that none of the performing bands would actually dare to venture on stage until ten minutes to midnight and after before rushing back inside somewhere for heat.

Next day we cooked breakfast. Andre was making the eggs. I walked into the kitchen to see how they were coming along when he asked me "how does that look?"
Ro stood there, "they look a little under done for sunny side up."
I agreed. He let them cook for a little longer before giving them to me. They seemed alright.

We explored the streets close by my two friends places. One was a loft between St. Denis and St. Laurent near Rachel. Cool area with lots of great little shop and restaurants. Sales everywhere as I wish I could have stayed longer to check out the other places. Another trip back in the summer hopefully.

We brought our ice skates along and went to one of many outdoor frozen rinks. The makeshift ice scrapers were used to keep the waterways somewhat smooth to skate on. Below, Ro and Andre take a photo together of the skating area.

I later went on to get sick. The eggs had their revenge for the next couple of days sapping half my will to be a tourist and try new restaurants.

By the time Gambit and two other friends had returned from their New Years celebrations in Toronto and Vancouver respectively, I was almost back up to normal. Tending to avoid the colder spots, we went to the BioDome. There we saw biological things that lived there like this penguin.

In the evening, it was dinner at Chez Doval complete with live music. Here we ate biological things which were now cooked. Please do not be alarmed as these were not the exact same ones that we saw at the dome.

Gambit didn't feel well so I left him at his loft. i went to meet up with some others at Champs sports bar to catch the final period of the junior world championships. As much as we liked the tv video camera just left of the tv in the photo pointing at us, providing a possible brief moment of stardome on public tv, my friend tried not to draw any attention and look at the camera as he had given his boss some excuse for not coming to work the next day.

A small Bob and Doug Mackenzie monument at Champs bar.

For lunch I walked to Swhartz deli just a couple of blocks away. After perusing through Gap -the first thing I bought on Montreal was a wool scarf for ten dollars, and the shoe store beside it for a bit too long, I managed to get into the doors of Swhartz. Boy was I lucky as when I left, I noticed a line up of about twelve peoplehad formed outside. Plus a begger had planted himself at the door way on the sidewalk asking me for some change. For some reason, I just said, "no thanks." How silly of me. The viande fumee sandwich was the smoothest I had ever had. The tourist book did not lie.

On my last day, most of the group wanted some home cooked food. No rich restaurant stuff so we had hot pot at Gambits newly rented loft. Below is a small turtle for sale at a shop in China town. All two blocks of china town that is.

With only an hour or so to eat, I was off to Dorval airport. However, my flight was delayed. Looking out my window seat, I watched the de-icing machines come and do their work. We left over an hour late.

Au revoir montreal et bon chance Gambit!

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The package of Ferrero Roche is finished. Krinkled up pieces of gold wrapping fill have the empty round holes once filled with those balls of nuts, wafer crumbs and chocolate. I've made my way through half of the thin squares of After Eight mints with no end in sight. Oh the sweetness and the sugar, it is simply too much. Yet I can not avoid it. Like a bad addiction, I must have another. This will be my downfall.

One by one, another square disappears. A mountain of empty black After Eight envelopes form on the table in front of me. Some fall over the edge and onto the floor. Others on my lap. Soon I will have to get up only to get more. To get, the other box.