I went to Kelowna over the weekend. Good times were had by all.

After a busy week of enjoying the weather, Paul invited me and Rae up to his house in Kelowna. I had never been there before, but Rae had been wanting to get out of the city and go traveling for a while now so we took the opportunity go for the long weekend. Paul also brought his friend Soorej with us to make four. We drove up friday evening. By the time we got there it was already almost midnight and we were all a bit tired. However, after settling in to our room, we went back down for a couple of bottles of local Okanagan wine as a night cap.

The next day we went in to town to see what Kelowna was like. To my slight surprise, despite its relatively large population of 100 000 people, the downtown was very town like with one and two story buildings, tourist shops, and of course the bargain bargain bargain bargain bargain shop... where they did not let us bargain. We walked around much, of the downtown area, getting a lot of pictures with the Ogopogos all around. That night, for some reason, we were inspired to cook. We had our own mini Iron Chef competition in Paul's house's amazing kitchen (which we nicknamed "kitchen stadium 3000"). Rae, Paul and Soorej all cooked salmon in a different way and I cooked some pasta as a side dish. At dinner, Paul's sister and her friend judged Rae to be the winner with her mayo and tomato salmon... mmmm..... After dinner we went to the liquor store to pick up some more local wine and watched Sideways.

Sunday we went out on the lake. Paul's family has a boat so we walked down the stairs to the dock and went out for a ride. It turned out that Paul's dad is really into wakeboarding so we all took turnes doing that. I was lucky that I had done it before while I was in Singapore so I didn't have any problems getting up. Rae, however, had never done it before but to her credit she did manage to stand up a few times and I think she enjoyed it. Paul was the pro among us and was doing some small jumps off the wake. After we were all tired and cold from all that wakeboarding, we went into the pool and relaxed for a bit before supper. That evening, we were all exausted and were unable to even stay awake to watch the whole game between Edmonton and Anaheim.

Monday morning I got up happy that it was still the weekend. Unfortunately by this point we didn't have much time to do anything else and we headed back to Vancouver in the early afternoon. On the road I was reminded of how beautiful this province is and just how empty it is too. I should really make an effort to get out of Vancouver again before I leave in the fall.

Tuesday was terrible. At first I did not know why I was feeling so bad about being in the office but then while talking to Ash and Leon about what we all did over the weekend Leon said that after being outdoors, being stuck in an office was driving him crazy. As soon as he said that I could feel it even more strongly.

Thursday I saw Blair for the first time in over a year. Blair was my old skateboarding buddy from way back in the day. We have had a lot of good times together, but lately we have taken different paths. Because of this, I was unsure about what it would be like to see him. In the event I was quite happy to see him. He is looking good, is living in a nicer apartment and seems much more together than when I saw him last. He is doing the whole Main St thing and that is pretty cool. We caught up a bit on what we had been doing for the last year then we watched the Oilers lose to the ducks. After hockey and food, we skated to Blair's friend's house and played poker. I have played poker a few times before, but I guess never with a group of people that took it so seriously. Before I knew it, I was out of the game. A few hands later and I bought myself back in and started actually playing. At one point I had won all my money back and then some, but I ended up losing it all to Blair on the river when we were both all in. In all the night cost me $20, which is really not so bad compared with a night out anywhere else.

Soon after I lost in poker, my parents called to say that they had arrived in Vancouver. They had been driving here from New York after packing up the apartment. I met them in front of Hon's on Robson only to discover that it was already closed. Instead, we went to spice alley, a Korean restaurant a few doors up the block for some good (better than the place I usually go to) Korean food. They were in remarkably good spirits considering the drive they had just done. They talked a bit about it and about their plans for the summer. I told them about my life here and how things were going with work.

Today was less interesting. Work was the same as always... the weather was not as good....

Summer is here!

The sun is out, the temperatures are up and everyone is out enjoying themselves. Vancouver is a very weather dependent city. Most of the best things to do here are free, but are only fun when the weather cooperates. Ever since the weather got good, I have been out every day with different people enjoying Coal Harbour, English Bay, Robson St, even Granville Island. I feel like a tourist who knows where to go.

On thursay after work I went to Happa Izakaya with Noah. The food was good and the drinks were fun. The whole atmosphere was a good example of the cooler things in Vancouver. The customers were a mix of Asians and Westerners, speaking a variety of languages and all out to have a good time. We even talked to the people at the tables around us, which is unusually friendly for Vancouver. Of course, I ended up spending way more money than I had intended, but I had a good time.

On friday Rae and I met up with Paul. After having some drinks and playing some ping pong, we heard music coming from the basement and decided to seak in. There, there was a concert going on, put on by Emily Carr art students. The whole thing had a real "underground" feeling to it, and not just because it was in the sub basement. I felt a bit out of place dressed in my clubbing shirt and leather shoes and we did not stay very long.

Saturday, Rae and I went for a walk, as usual. When we were in Gas town, Rae saw a button store and wanted to go in to look for a cool mother's day present for her mom. When we got in, I started thinking that some of these buttons would make great cufflinks so I asked the owner about it. She said that she had the cufflink backs and that I could just glue and button on to one and make cufflinks. This was great! I had finally found a place where, not only could I get cufflinks at a reasonable price, but I could get cool and original ones too. In total I picked out four pairs for about $30. More than I had intended to spend, but a good price for some funky cufflinks.

Sunday was mother's day so I went for lunch with my family at Cardero's on Coal Harbour. The lunch was good, and most importantly I could tell that my baba felt appreciated for her role as matriarch of the family. After lunch, I talked with my zaida. He wants very much for me to stay in Vancouver. I guess he wants me to stay near him, but I also get the feeling that he really likes Vancouver and he wants me to stay here to enjoy it. Personally, I would love to stay in Vancouver if I had a good job, but at this stage in my life, once I am done school, work will probably come first in guiding my decision on where to live. Talking to him on the bench in Coal Harbour, I could see that even though he is not as phisicaly robust as he used to be, he still has all of his whits about him, even at 95. If I am in his shape in 7o years, I will consider myself very lucky indeed.

After my family went home, I went for a walk with Greg. One thing I like about Greg is that he is always up for adventurous walks to distant parts of the city. This time we took a route over the Burrard bridge and around back through Chinatown to that park next to the sea bus and finally to Coal Harbour. It was a truely epic walk and a very enjoyable day. When I got home, I looked in the mirror and noticed that my whole face was red. I had my first burn of the year, and I didn't even see it coming. I went in to work the next day with a tomato for a face.

Last night, after a long day of work, I hung out with Paul and his friend Cam. After some pacman we headed down to the beach to have a beer. It really felt like summer and I felt the sort of freedom that I have always felt in the summer. All I have to do is work for the first 8 hours of each day, and I get the next 8 hours free to do what I want. As an added bonus, I get the weekends free too. This is a much happier way of looking at my situation than I had been doing before and even helped in consoling me when, after I went home, Paul and his friends continued hanging out into the small hours.

Today I met Amy and Kaush after work. These are both friends I know from my exchange in Singapore. The three of us were integral members of the Canadian moose dancing squad... Kaush is in town for work and had never been to Vancouver before. Me, being the person I am, went into tour guide mode and took him around Coal Harbour and over to the beach. Like most Torontonians, he was very impressed with the scenery and the lifestyle and was happy to be coming back a few more times in the coming months. I will miss Vancouver... but that is a post in its self, and one better left for later. It was inspiring to see that Kaush was working as a consultant and in this job was being sent across the country. Some day, when I have skills, I hope to find a job like this too, until then I will enjoy my life in lotus land.

Does doing a boring job make a person less interesting? Does living for the weekend mean not really living at all? Lately the novelty is gone from my job. It is not worse, but it is not better either. I am better at it than I was before, but I am no more interested.

I have been living the life of a salaryman for over two months now and I must say that it takes a lot of effort. The effort is not in the work, or even in making ends meet, but rather in keeping up one's life outside the demands and restrictions of a 9-5 job. It is so easy to walk home, sit on the sofa and watch TV for an entire evening. If I am tired and have no pre-existing plans, I am likely to do just that. I guess it is just the path of least resistance.

Today was a better day. After work, I met Noah in coal harbour and we went for a drink. We hung out for the whole evening talking about various things. Yesterday was also good. Even though I killed two hours on the sofa, I went out to a comedy night with Rae, Ash and his wife. It was the first time in a while that we had done a "double date" kind of night and I think it worked out well.

My mother called me today and said that my father and her were not moving to South Africa. I don't know how to react to the news. On the one hand, it doesn't really affect my life directly either way. I was not going to live in South Africa and I was not going to stay here so I wouldn't be living with them either way. At the same time I am dissapointed for them because they had been quite excited about the whole thing and they were so close to going. One of the worst parts of this whole episode is that I will look like a jerk in front of all of the people that I told about my parents' move. Unfortunately, as I did not have time to talk with my mother this afternoon, I did not get the details of the whole thing. I don't know what they are going to do in Vancouver or where they will find jobs now. I don't know if they are quite ready to retire yet either. I hope things work out for the best.

I went to Spencer's going away party this weekend. It was at the Blarney Stone, which I don't particularly like, but it was good anyway. It was good to see Spencer again and better to know that he is going off to do something very cool that he believes in. I wish him the best and I will try to make it out to the Maritimes to see him if possible... well also just to have fun in Halifax.

Kai was in town this weekend. He is living in Taiwan now, which is pretty cool and he is planning on staying there for the long haul which is pretty intense. Rae was very happy to see someone who had gone to her home country and enjoyed it enough to stay. She was also happy to talk about her major with him, language education. He has now gone back to Taiwan to continue teaching and perhaps to launch a teaching business of some sort.

Summer is coming fast.