Reading Break Ski Trip

The ski trip was to two different mountains: Big Red (near the town of Rossland) and Whitewater (near Nelson). We left at 9:00am from UBC I had high hopes that the bus up would be a lot of fun.

I soon learned that Martijn is quite good at sleeping on buses. It was actually quite a nice trip though and I would've gotten some nice snaps of the scenery but the bus windows were pretty filthy. The views of the Rockies has inspired me to go back in the summer and try some hiking.


Martijn isn't the only one who slept for most of the bus trip.

The first night in Nelson we all went out to Taffy Jack's which is one of the "younger" clubs in the town and it was a pretty good time.


The first day up on the mountain was a shambles. I had purchased a second hand board and boots and failed to take them for a trial run at Cypress (which was stupid). When I bought the board I noticed that the bindings were a bit small but didn't bother to get them adjusted (which was stupid). So I got up to the top of the mountain at Whitewater only to find that I can't get into my bindings. One very long walk down the mountain later (yep I walked down) and I got my bindings adjusted at the lodge. By this stage of the day there was only about 3 hours of boarding left. So I went back up and tried to do a blue run (which was stupid). The slope was much too steep for me and I realised that my right foot binding was at a very uncomfortable angle. So back to the repair shop I went and I was going to get the binding fixed when I realized that the day was basically over. So I put my board in for the night for a hot waxing and a binding repair. That night we went out to a Karaoke bar in Nelson and were treated to some serenading.

Julia and Natasha (on the right and far right) treated us to rendition of 99 Balloons in it's original German format.


We weren't even drunk.

The second day just had to be better than the first. I got my board back early in the morning and started to hit the green slopes with a vengeance. I started off well and by the middle of the day I felt like I was actually handling my turning quite well. There was fresh snow still from the first day so when I did fall it wasn't painful. All in all this was a great day and I really had a great time.

Some idiots boots got in the way.


This was my favourite slope. Nice and wide and not too steep.


Martijn seemed to be a natural and found most aspects of snowboarding much easier than I did.


The view around Whitewater was amazing. I think the fresh snow helps.


These guys all came just to watch me fall over a lot.

So the second day was a vast improvement on the first. We spent the night at a bowling alley playing "disco bowling" which is vastly inferior to 10-pin in my opinion. But the beer flowed freely so I didn't much care by the end of the night though and it was just as well that the next day was our day off for recuperation. We travelled a couple of hours north to the Halcion Hot Springs and relaxed our weary muscles for about 3 hours.

These pools were a toasty 40deg celcius. I actually felt drained of energy when I got out.


But the view was pretty inspiring.

Unfortunately Red Mountain didn't pull out the welcome mat with some fresh snow so my poor snowboarders bum didn't have quite as much fun on the first day here. The first 4 hours were filled with some really great snowboarding though. We managed about 4 really good runs down the mountain and even took in some amazing views in the process.

I'm definitely coming back to the Rockies.

Unfortunately on my last run down the mountain before lunch I picked up a bit too much speed on a straight and fell very hard on my hip/lower back. The difference between this and every other fall I had this day was that this time I actually yelled out in pain. By the time I got the bottom of the mountain it had swelled up and I knew my day was over. Luckily there was a nice big group enjoying lunch.

We actually did do some skiing and snowboarding on the trip I swear.


I discovered hot chocolate and baileys. Suddenly sitting at the lodge sounded really fun.

I got off pretty lightly in the end. In the entire trip there were about 5 trips to hospital. One of them was my roomie Oisin who broke his collar bone. All he got was this lousy sign.

He actually is a Canadian (born) funnily enough.

So on the last day I just relaxed and nursed my very sore hip.

'Tis a hard life.

All in all I managed to only get maybe 2 days worth of snowboarding out of the 4 on offer. So I didn't really get too much value in that respect. However I enjoyed the trip so much that I can't complain. It was well organised and the Ski and Board Club execs were all great fun. The boarding that I did do was great and I felt like I really improved. If the condititions around were better than I'd probably be going up to board this weekend. Unfortunately with no new snow in 4 or so weeks then I'm not too keen to subject my ass to another painful experience.

Chinese New Year

We went out the week before last to celebrate chinese new year only to discover that there were no celebrations at all. To celebrate Vancouver's apathy we ate at the only Chinese restaurant that was open.

These people are all in a much more celebratory mood than any of the Chinese people we saw.


Celina, Marianna and Martha all have the Chinese New Year spirit (whatever that is).


These people keep popping up in my photos, god knows who they are.


Surprisingly enough I'm sober in this photo. I'm actually looking forward to Thursday night when I go to Death By Chocolate. I know this because I know the future.


See I told you. They're pretending to be interested in the menu when in fact they are just trying not to laugh at these shitty captions I'm writing.


If the brownie has fruit then it's healthy right?


That strawberry is really easing my conscience, thanks.


They're not even trying now. It's got a fucking leaf on it!


See, I got the healthy one. It's got mixed berries and all and white chocolate is always healthier than black chocolate. (Oh no, racially charged subtext!)

Martijn and Dani's Birthday Blowout.

I ended my sober week at Martijn and Dani's birthday party's. A lot of people showed up but I only took pictures of the beautiful people and those that I like. Everyone else was ignored. Seriously though there's not rhyme or reason I just try to get people in embarrasing situations or at the very least when they don't have the time to put on their "Hey look I'm happy with myself, I don't need alcohol to have fun" fake look. If I can't look good in photos than neither can anyone else.

Katy, Lyn and Lauren looking gorgeous. Milos just has that whole "deer in the headlights look" going.


Ale always looks great but Mike took at least 5 minutes to make his hair look just messy enough for this photo.


Nick is doing one of his disturbingly numerous boy band poses. We're laughing at you Nick, not with you.


Bibby, Vanessa and Sally are just pretending to like eachother. No-one could've established friendship like these guys in such a short time....could they?


Me, Nick, Claudia, Angel, Andres and Ale. As always that bastard Nick is mooching into another one of my photos!


Marianna, Andrea and Moi.

Marianna, Anilu and Anuar.

Andres, Camilla and Tiago

Morning after Maccas with Sandra, Ale, Gaby and Angel. It hit the spot as always.

Sober Week

Not much has been happening since Australia day. The semester plods onward and I still attend classes. I went out to the Mouse and Bean which is on Hastings and Cambie and serves up some great Mexican food. Because I had been before I was apparently an expert at deciphering the menu however the fact I can't pronounce half the menu should've served as a warning to all.


Jorge is smiling because these people are about to try the "mild" salsa.

After that a smaller group headed out to the Blarney Stone in Gastown and took advantage of the 2 for 1 shots. I was disappointed to discover this didn't include Cowboys which are my favourite shot. I found a way to get over it though (Hint it rhymes with Snooze).

I think I was on valium in this picture...oh no wait it's just my fake smile.

On Sunday a group went to Boston Pizza on Broadway.


I started to find the pace of partying a bit too hard though and decided to pull back for a while, thus Sober Week was born. I decided that I was spending far too much time and money being drunk and that I needed to pull back from a drinking week that started on Monday and ended on Saturday. Now the concept of Sober Week isn't that hard to grasp: basically I would try to stay sober for the entire week up to the party celebrating Martijn's (and other's!) birthdays on Friday night. The week started off quite well. Monday night I saw a nice brutal game of hockey. I'm always amused to see people take amateur sports seriously but fighting just makes me a bit sad for them. I'm sure one day they'll be sitting in their trailer-home and realize the folly of their ultra-competitive ways. Either that or they'll pass it on to their kids through junior hockey.

Tuesday night I went to salsa as per usual. I think I'm making progress sometimes but I'm probably just kidding myself. I find it incredibly difficult to dance to the rhythm while doing a series of intricate spins and twirls. Maybe that will come with time but I have doubts.

Wednesday night I went to the Pit stone cold sober and had a great time. I frequently do this back home but I wasn't sure if I'd find it more difficult without my normal group of friends around me. I think most people had a good time. I certainly enjoyed getting my groove on to the music. I'd just like to say to everyone that encourage me to drink that, "You're part of the problem that is teenage alcoholism and peer pressure more generally." You totally don't have to drink to have a great time, it just helps.

Thursday night I studied a bit. Strangely enough this is when I wanted booze the most. I don't know what it is about Law and Medicine but the subject matter fascinates me and I love the classes but I find doing the out of class readings to be very painful. I also played some ping pong with Marcel, Jenna, Katy and Lyn who managed to turn a very innocuous friendly game into a blood-sport.

Friday was a surprise coffee party for Nick who managed to turn 21 without any fuss in Edmonton last weekend. He received a lot of great knick-knacks like donuts and an Avril poster. Of course I was on hand to help him correctly consume the donuts.




All in all I feel Sober week was a demur and quiet success. The whole point wasn't to cut off all social ties but to stop going out every freaking night. Future weeks will probably involve going out on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights only. This is a compromise that I think my liver and wallet can live with.

In parting I'd like to point out how the pros end a dry spell.