Lei

Days Gone By

Two weeks ago I came home and found this person in my basement hiding in my doctor Octopus lamp. I was stunned and bewildered. What did he want? Who was he? After a lengthy discussion which lasted a number of hours as well as an offering of some square dishes for his house back in japan, he left my basement. His name, is Tsubame.

Things haven't been going so well lately. Snowboarding season is done and so am I. Going off one of the medium sized jumps I hurt my left knee. As a result, l'm back on the bottle again. Driving around the UBC golf course for the annual faculty tournament, everything looked blurry. Everything but the glass of beer in my hands. Nobody caught me drinking and driving...

To pass the time, I decided to go out on the town and take in some sultry jazz. An old friend of mine was performing belting out his greatest hits in that old style jazz.

I went to Gun Lake during the long weekend. It was a good time to see some wildlife and take in some nature. I saw a couple of deers but they all ran away. Not sure why they'd be afraid.

It doesn't matter if its humans or animals, you always manage to get a picture of them with their eyes partly closed.

Playing fetch with the neighbors dog at Gun Lake. Leggo the stick...

These Are The Days' of Lei's Life

*revised Feb. 18th, 2005*

Due to a request by a blog reader for more personal heart wrenching content, I now bring you the annual blog entry of..."The Days of Lei's Life"

Looking at the picture, he could not keep the tears back. One by one they slid down his face and onto the floor spreading perfectly in every direction.

A week earlier she stood in front of him. Shirt open, pressing herself against him. He slid his hand down against her chest. This would be the last time and he knew it. She wanted more but he wouldn't give in.
"You're with another now. Our time is over." They held each other for one last kiss before he left that day.

The picture was returned. Just a normal picture. Held up against the light on a piece of slide film, you could see the image of her face. All those years gone by but nowhere to go but forwards.

Thursday I met up with the blind date just for drinks. Running late as always, I stopped at a Zellers nearby to find some sort of gift. In the toy department I frantically went through everything they had not being able to decide what to get. Girls like stuffed cute animals right? After a couple of minutes of searching and making a small mess, I found what I thought was suitable and quickly left the scene.

What was originally going to be a quick introduction to get to know each other turned into a three hour gab fest. Partway through my blind date started telling me about her grandmother.
"She's sick."
"From what?" I asked.
"I don't know but she's really old." My blind date became distraught over this having very strong family ties.
"How old is she?" I asked.
"Ninety eight."
"Is she very weak and frail? Will she make it?"
"I don't know, but I don't want to think about the what if. When I was living with my sister in Toronto, we used to go for a walk in the cemetary nearby. It was the only park by our apartment. People would jog there, take there dogs for walks there. Everyone would be there. Now it would feel so horrible if I knew that she was there lying in the ground." Not that exact cemetary but it was one nonetheless.
"Don't worry, the doctors will take care of her. Your sister is a nurse so she can also help out too."
Through the window of the coffee shop, she saw an old woman pushing a cart up the sidewalk. Her skin was dry and wrinkled. Her hair was a mess all grey and curled every which way. She couldn't stand up straight but kept trudging along up the street. My date ran out the door to the old woman. She couldn't handle the site of an old woman like her own grandmother.
"Don't leave me!" she cried out towards the old woman on the street.
I ran out after her and just as I did, I felt a sharp pain in my chest.
"Oh god. This isn't good." Lei grabs his chest and falls to the ground. My blind date turned around and came back towards me.
"Whats wrong? Is something wrong?"
"I don't think I'm going to make it."
"Oh my god, we have to get you to the hospital!" said the blind date.
"Forget the hospital! I have a hockey game tonight." Slowly he stretches out his left arm and opens his hand. "Here, take the keys. You have to go. My team needs you."
"But I don't know how to skate?"
'It's alright. Half the guys can only skate forwards so no one will notice. Use my gear. It doesn't stink like most others. Especially since I hardly use it anymore."
With that, she grabbed the keys to his car and left.

Stay tuned next year when we visit the hospital to find out what happens to Lei, the blind dates grandmother and the shocking secret of the blind dates sister.

Note:Certain parts of this entry have been embellished and/or created for your reading pleasure.

Happy Belated Birthday IQ Exchange!

And a lengthy belated birthday it is. I just realized something today. No one has noticed the one year anniversary of the IQ Exchange. And I didn't notice the one year anniversary of my part of this site either. Or maybe I'm just a net geek and no one else shares the same enthusiasm for this blog. Still, I am dissappointed that the other bloggers here have not made a note of this event which is between two and five months overdue.

To reflect on this whole experience I would have to say that this has been pretty good and has not fallen short of my expectations. The reason is that I had no expectations to begin with so you can't do worse than that. Well not quite no expectations. When Gambit asked me to do this I thought why not after much pondering. But I also have a small secret to share and that is that there was an ulterior motive. I sent a link for this website to the woman in Maui around the same time thinking that it was the only way left for her to find out anything about me. And at the same time maybe like me or eventually stop hating me. I do not know the results of this but c'est la vie. Words which have fallen upon a deaf ear.

Then there was the few months when the relentless attacks of internet spam almost killed this whole site and all the will to continue blogging. This whole experience has seeming run parallel to my health experienced during the same period.

As for this blog, I have slowly been telling some of my other friends and I find that some don't even know what a blog is. Last night at hockey, we were talking about this and it seems that it is still something in its infancy while many have achieved pretty good success in amassing a large following or readership. All I can be thankful for is the two or three people that I am aware of read mine.

It's true though that most of this stuff is pretty mundane and boring to some total stranger who happens to come across these pages. God knows why. Regardless, here's to another year and maybe some more life to be injected into this site. Yeah Pete, I know I told you I had some ideas. I still have to start on those graphics...

The Simple Day

I went to the market today.
I bought a pie.
A blueberry pie.
I went back home.
I warmed it up.
I ate it.

Week Three of The Tour de Grouse

I spent the better part of the day trying to find a single ticket to London. Most charter flights were booked out to September third and all the major carriers were ridiculously expensive starting anywhere from 1400Cdn up to 5900Cdn on Lufthansa. Then finally Gambit was able to find one for me at a site operated by a UK travel company with much better prices. I even managed to get a first class seat for the flight to London.

Afterwards it was onward to the mountain. The heat had subsided and the breeze was warm. Most of the trail up the mountain is covered by trees which makes it bearable.

The hike itself was good. I ran into a couple of friends which I haven't seen for years and so ended up hanging around with them the rest of the evening. And in doing so, my time trial for the week ended there as the pace dropped to a leisurely sort of pace. Two of them are teachers now and the other one is an engineer just one block from where I work. I used to bike with the engineer all the time and also try the odd bike race.

After the hike, we stayed up at the top and did the touristy thing. We went and looked at the two baby grizzly bears which are kept in a fenced off area for viewing before going over to the restaurant patio for some food and drinks. The weather was perfect and the view was great. We could watch the sun fall casting its warm yellow light across the whole lower mainland from high above. A great way to temporarily escape from all the insanity down below in the city.

Post Stage Interview

Reporter: Lei, can you explain to us why your time was so far off today and how this will affect your strategy for the next stage?
Lei: Well, I knew from the start that today would be tough. My legs were already sore from the previous nights kick boxing class. I was alright at the first quarter mark but just pass the halfway mark, I knew that I would probably end up hurting myself in the final sprint towards the end. The last twenty meters or so. Then I ran into some old friends just before the last quarter mark and decided to just take it easy at that point.
Reporter: And for the next stage?
Lei: Sorry. I forgot that part of the question. I can barely walk straight right now let alone think clearly... I think as long as I don't overdue it at the beginning of these first early stages, I can save some energy to make up time at the end. Plus, with each time trial completed, my strength should gradually increase. And the occasional hold up on the trail whether it be from slower people to chit chatting with fellow hikers is always a welcome break. Otherwise, I may overexert myself.
Reporter: thank you and good luck.
Lei: thank you (leaves)

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Current Time Classifications

Stage 1 - 44min, 18 seconds
Stage 2 - 42min, 20 seconds
Stage 3 - 53min, 0 seconds
Stage 4 - Week off.