L: summer

Showing posts with label summer. Show all posts

Sourced a pineapple floaty, found a clean lake - summer is going strong:

Went hiking to Wedgemount Lake yesterday, where I first visited in September 2014 (here’s the post from back then). I took a couple of drone shots with Sparkle the Drone (#sparklethedrone), but didn’t get a photo with the same angle of the lake and glacier from 3 years ago, which is really a pity, because I can’t do a direct comparison. There’s enough proof out there of climate change though, we don’t need another photo of the impending doom that is possibly coming.

Having the drone really brings different perspectives to life. There’s a little lake forming at the top of Wedgemount:

I haven’t changed too much from 2014, I guess. I still live for these views and this air:

Although my fitness levels have deteriorated slightly (I was huffing and puffing up the 1100m of elevation as compared to last time when it was a piece of cake climing up), we can hopefully all agree that my photography skills have improved. My excuse for the slow ascent is that I had a fever and my airways were quite congested the day before. Maybe in another 3 years, I’ll come back, and my body will actually work with me.

Post hike, we went to Hanok in North Vancouver. We got there around 9:30PM, and while they officially close at 10:30PM, they were already pushing us to order, obviously in a rush to close. Their food was not as flavourful as Jang Mo Jib or Haroo, and their service was just average. I might come back, if conveniently in the neighborhood again, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to visit again.

P+M’s rice cakes were not too memorable.

The pork bone hot pot with the instant noodle came in a good portion with lots of meat for $30. We had the mildest version in terms of spicey, so maybe for more flavour next time, get one level up for spicey. There should be other meat and savoury flavours other than spiciness though, and this just didn’t really cut it.

Their seafood pancake was still mushy apparently (I didn’t try it). Maybe they were in a rush to leave, and didn’t keep it on the fryer long enough. They were not very generous with side dishes, refilled once for us after we asked.

Lately, I haven’t had much appetite. Chatting with one of the hikers along the trail during a rest stop, he said, “If you stop eating and drinking, it’s not a good sign.” It’s a very general symptoms of some illness or other, but honestly, I think all the flooding (Hong Kong, Houston, India, Pakistan, China…)and burning around the world (wildfires in California and BC just to begin) has brought me down. Things that I can control, I tend to not stress over, but I can’t help worrying about the unknown and the actions of others. I have this image of the folks at Pompeii, being buried under volcanic dust. How much of this will matter once the rest of the world has all turned into dust, as the wildfires spread and we’re washed away by the floods afterwards?

Probably not the healthies mindset, but that’s why I go on these hikes to see the rolling vastness of the PNW mountains and valleys, as a reminder to myself that we’re all just little specks in this world.

Ramblings brought to you by 5 hours of very light sleep after a night of alcohol and heat wave induced turning and tossing in bed.

Sept. 3, 2017

Hit up the PNE because H’s mum wanted to check it out. I used to work here, and I never really understood the appeal of paying to go, but it was actually pretty interesting. There were a lot of really cool booths and sad looking farm animals. Another reason I didn’t mind was 'cause I wanted to try out some of the food options.There were some appealing options, and I went with the Praguery food truck:

Look how happy I am with my ice cream and delicious chewy cone:

I had the chocolate flavour, which came with a cute piece of chocolate on the top and a good slather of nutella in the cone. I do question whether this was worth $10, but hey, I was there already and I was hungry. Satisfied my sweet tooth, and the fresh chewy cone!!!! I would love to have these again.

H’s mum had the corn from the Corn Castle, and she said this was really sweet. I’m not really a corn on the cob type of girl, so I didn’t try it:

I also made a couple of impulse buys at the Fair. Sometimes, when I’m with H, I get suckered into things that are really gimmicky, but in the moment, I’m just convinced it will be useful. He’s a bit of an enabler. More on this later. Goodnight.

I missed a weekly update because I cracked my One Plus One phone and was disconnected for a week, while waiting for a new phone. I was so devastated. Bought the new Samsung Note 7, which is really powerful (look forward to even more amazing photos!). Here’s a sample pic:

Above: My lunch today from the Earnest Ice Cream food truck, while at the farmer’s market. Salted Caramel on top, Bourbon Peach on the bottom. The Salted Caramel melts too quickly, but the flavor is basically perfect. The Bourbon Peach has a more solid consistency, and was also very refreshing. There are so many more ice cream shops popping up all over the place, but Earnest is the one I’m most familiar with and keep going back to. I hear they’re opening another location soon, along Commercial.

I slept less than 5 hours last night, because I spent too much time configuring the phone. It’s a work in progress… Themer wasn’t working the way it usually does, so I couldn’t just choose a theme and set it with one tap. Spent about 2-3 hours resizing widgets, downloading icon packs, etc… I know the Note 7 allows different themes and icon packs, out of the box, but I couldn’t figure out how to get rid of the dock and change the icon sizes. The only way was to personalize it through Themer… I am looking forward to getting the different lenses that are compatible with the Note 7!

It was the weekend of H’s 28th birthday, which also sort of marks the 2nd year we’ve been together (we don’t have an date when we first started dating, but it was some time around his birthday). This called for some sort of celebration, and I planned a mini vacation for the 2 of us for Sunday/Monday. We left Vancouver on Sunday afternoon, battled traffic through the Upper Levels, somebody had also had an accident while cliff diving off the Chief, and finally made it to Whistler:

We slept at 10PM on Sunday, I was exhausted from running 5km in the Scotiabank Charity Challenge and H was tired from training at work (and the beer he had in the afternoon).

Monday - after a very satisfying meal at Riverside Cafe of eggs, meat, beans, and waffles:

We were stuffed. Perfect waffles – fluffy and crispy on the edges. Super greasy meats that would’ve been fantastic for a hangover. Friendly servers and a beautiful view of the campsite surrounding the cafe:

We then wandered up the path to Whistler’s Scandinave Spa to spend a relaxing day soaking in the hot tubs and Eucalyptus steam rooms:

I’ve heard a lot of my coworkers talk about the wonders of this place, where no cell phones are allowed and nobody makes a sound. Complete and utter silence to help calm the mind.

We also used their RMT services, with 2x $50 gift cards from Costco that we paid only $75 for. Deal.

It started getting cloudy right before we left, so we hurried out of there... H was kicking those yellow pylons that are cemented to the bridge and it bounced back and whacked him in the belly:

Do we spend too much time together? Probably, but even though I'm an introvert, I wouldn't mind too much at a place like Whistler with H.

This week was rather busy again…

Monday – Scout volunteer event at Ceili’s with H.

Tuesday – Victoria Sushi with a couple of Point Grey coworkers.

Wednesday – This happened:

Went to G-Men with R. I LOVE THIS NOODLE. The soup is thick and creamy. The meat and the noodles are cooked just right. The egg is the best part, yolk is perfect. I think this came to $15.00 each. Don’t bother with fried chicken next time.

Thursday – Yoga
Friday – Made some dumplings with P and H.
Today – Work at the Vancouver Farmer’s Market, bought some Pork & Apple sausage from Stapleton Sausage. Good brunch materials. 33 Acres Brewing was there today, being all L33T with the B33R. #nerd.

@33acresbrewing was @vanmarkets today. (at Trout Lake Farmers Market)

It's actually pretty hard to do some of the tasks that are required for setting up the market. I'm small and not used to the manual labor. Carrying those barricades are THE WORST. Usually when I help out at HSCPC events, I wouldn't touch that stuff and somebody (usually a big buff guy who wants to go into policing) would step up. If you see me there next time, please take pity and help me out.

Tomorrow will be the first day I get to relax a bit, although things likely won’t slow down until the end of June.

Another summery song by R3HAB:

You were my conductor of energy, director of fantasy…

Nice day on the water, back in August:

Rented out double fibre glass kayaks from MEC for a day when H’s HK friend came to visit. About $60 for one, including paddles, life jackets, and all the other gear (rates found here). Compared to renting at Deep Cove, it was much more cost effective.

The only thing was we had to figure out how to transport it from the MEC in North Vancouver to the waters of Deep Cove. They gave us hooks and straps, and we somehow drove the boats back to my house to store for a night on H’s Kia Soul. It was a bitch to carry and load, but overall, worth it. Would do again.

Cookie day at work today, check out the oil in this thing:

I’m so tired. I can’t wait to get outdoor.

We were planning to get to the parking lot at Cypress by 7AM to hike 5hrs, 11km, to St. Mark’s Summit, which is a part of the Howe Sound Crest Trail, but we ended up leaving the McDonalds by Boundary and Lougheed at around 730AM. After a hearty meal of Sausage Egg McMuffin and hashbrowns, purchased using the coupons available on their mobile app, we were ready to hike.

The view from the top was spectacular, with a few low hanging clouds. This was from the 2nd farther viewpoint after reaching the summit (takes a bit of searching to find the correct path to get here… go around!). Snacks for this hike included a 6 plums from the tree in my backyard and a 90 calorie fibre1 chocolate chip cookie, split between the 4 of us…

Things to note if doing this trail next year at this time…

-It’s wet and muddy up there at this time and it was drizzling a bit this morning. Wear hiking boots, bring a jacket.
-There were no ravens this time.
-Go earlier as this trail is becoming more popular.

More info at Vancouver Trails: http://www.vancouvertrails.com/trails/st-mark's-summit/

What’s an intermediate hike with a view near Vancouver that isn’t congested?

Sunday morning, post hiking the Wedgemount Lake Trail, couldn’t sleep, so went out for a quick coffee instead. Used one of my many McDonalds free coffee cards to pick up a medium PSL with skim milk:

Not too sweet, different type of pumpkin taste than Starbucks, I think more of a fake sweetener taste… Leaves a strange aftertaste though, and there’s no whipped cream! All the syrup was also stuck at the bottom, but that’s probably because the staff at McD were so swamped (or incompetent). Caffeine content in McDonald’s coffee is usually decent, but I wasn’t feeling the kick today. Maybe because I slept badly for about 3 hours, and nothing will be able to save me now.

Starbucks PSL wins this round. Although the McD PSL is about half the price, I still prefer the taste of the original. Here’s another comparison of the two: http://blogs.houstonpress.com/eating/2013/10/pumpkin_spice_latte_throwdown.php

On another note.. Wedgemount Lake. This is what I live for:

Pictures don’t do it justice. I didn’t want to leave…

So many changes since my last post, mostly because of the new job. One of my coworkers said this was one of the most challenging things he’s ever done, and… I’d have to agree. No other job has stressed me out as much, both physically and mentally. Graveyard shifts, speaking loudly enough, knowing what to ask, and controlling the excited callers… Can’t eat, difficulty sleeping, caffeine addiction, no time to do yoga, AND had to miss Paradiso. Tragic. We did go on a day trip to Joffre Lakes though:

I can’t decide whether I should go get a coffee right now or just keep sleeping before my shift starts tonight.

Lyrics:

When I met you in the summer
To my heartbeat's sound
We fell in love
As the leaves turned brown
And we could be together baby
As long as skies are blue
You act so innocent now
But you lied so soon

When I met you in the summer

[Instrumental]

When I met you in the summer
To my heartbeat's sound
We fell in love
As the leaves turned brown
And we could be together baby
As long as skies are blue
You act so innocent now
But you lied so soon

When I met you in the summer

[Instrumental]

When I met you in the summer
Summer…

[Instrumental]

Source:http://www.directlyrics.com/calvin-harris-summer-lyrics.html

Are we going to hear this all summer 2014? I can see this getting annoying, but it’s good for studying now.

FSCT8010 almost over! Writing the final paper now, and doing the exam tomorrow… This course was majorly disorganized, but going on fieldtrips to Pacific Institution and the Belkin House was a different experience.

August feels like the beginning of a new adventure, a fresh start. Something is changing besides the month on my monthly bus pass.

[click on picture for link to wiki]

finally got around to watching this tonight with P&V, and J.

i never get tired of these love stories (even though they say it’s not a love story at the beginning of the movie), except it’s more realistic than a story, and probably everyone can relate to it, because, really, who hasn’t fallen in love (or thought they were in love) and had their heart broken (or broke someone’s heart)? it was a warm fuzzy movie, worth the $11 and the crappy theatre.

Back into jdrama phase, meaning i’m home all day. well that’s a lie, since i had to go out for work a few times, volunteer, BBT on friday night, and swimming on thursday…

anyways. i’m on a break from all the TV/monitor watching (ie, i’m waiting for something to finish downloading), so i decided to blog!!!!

Yume wo kanaeru zo
i started watching this because i heard Oguri Shun was in it, but it turns out he’s only in the SP of it. i’m glad i kept watching though because it made me laugh a few times:) it’s about Ganesha, and how he helps the main character, Mizukawa Asami get true happiness. he makes her do stupid tasks like “cut your nails, cook your own food, use your left hand, play tricks on someone you like”. the moral of this drama was to enjoy everyday, live life to the fullest, inspirational crap, etc.

Atashinchi no danshi
has Horikita Maki in it, and a few other good looking boys. sorta cheesy though… cringed a few times…

Buzzer Beat
pronounced “boozer beat”. has Yamapi playing bball, something he only started a month before shooting started. halfway through the 1st episode, and he’s already topless… obviously, they’re trying to use his man boobs to attract more viewers. i love the opening song for this drama… Ichibu to Zenbu by B’z.

sorta watching Orthros no inu, going to start Burning Flame, and… Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu is still going on (altho there’s really no point in watching it for another 2 episodes at least)

i should really stop drama-ing and get out of my house more, but it’s so hot outside and my room is nice and cool because all the cars on 1st avenue ZOOMing past sorta works like a huge fan when i open my windows…

oh and CLICK HERE. really interesting post by silva rerum. sure to make you LOL.

it’s been a long week full of Asian culture. Canada Day hot pot, picked up my aunt at the airport after waiting 2 hours, bummed around @ home watching Full Metal Alchemist, typed really fast at work (finally 3000+ cheques per hour!!!!), bubbletea, nightmarket.

poor Pepp. they wanted to cook her in the pot. she took revenge by pooping in L’s shirt pocket.