Sunday, February 25, 2007

Brief escape

The boy and I left Thursday afternoon for our escape from the city.
I was actually incredibly excited to be undergoing such a trip. Though we were only going a few hours away, exploring new areas is one of the things that keeps me sane, and it felt so amazing to know that I was finally with someone who gets as much out of such experiences as me.

The trip up was a little odd. We seemed to witness some of the biggest character contrasts I'd ever seen. On the ferry, there were a group of 40-something women who I would call real desperate housewives if the term wasn't so horrendously cliched. I never knew that a group of women could talk about the structure of their feet for so long! Apparently having high arches is especially arduous. It was particularly funny when they gasped to hear that some paintbrushes one of them needed were over $5 after they finished showing off their brand new cow hide shoes.
And as the contrast, behind us on the bus were two men, one who wore a leather ball cap with pride, the other who had apparently just gotten some sort of metal contraption taken out of his head that day and was planning to "get laid" that night to celebrate. I didn't feel too good about his chances, especially after he started describing in detail some sort of medical condition he had. He actually used the word "festering" three times in one sentence!

It's already pretty dark by the time we reached our hotel. We were a little amused by the decor...

(I think half my family had this flooring at some point)


(this was randomly tacked to the wall in the living room)

... but that all seemed pretty minimal when we woke up to this view from our balcony.


Unfortunately, that weather was the exception rather than the rule for the bulk of the trip. However, we did manage to take advantage of it for a good chunk of the first day, and we actually braved the rain a whole lot more than seemingly anyone else in the area (I'm sure the locals were laughing at us out on the pier clutching our umbrellas).

A few observations/comments from the trip...

My whole "I-don't-need-or-want-a-car-because-I-am-resourceful (and-cheap)" attitude is becoming more and more glaringly ridiculous. Though we were able to get to our destination relatively easy, realizing that we had wasted one or two of the precious hours of sunshine on the trip to walk to the grocery store rather than going to the nearby provincial park (which we never had a chance to do, as a result of the weather) was a little disappointing. Waiting around for a local bus while on holidays also seems a little bit weird.
Keep in mind this is from the girl who nearly took a bus through Compton to save money to get to a conference this past summer.

One bottle of wine is never enough for a night in at a hotel.

(check out our innovative way of chilling said wine)

Just because the tourist guide says that the local marsh is a great way to spend part of your visit doesn't mean it is true (as we should have figured out when the local cab driver didn't know where the hell it was). It took about 5 minutes to walk around the entire thing. It was entertaining how fat the ducks were, though, and how they followed our every move en masse.


When you have resigned yourself to getting wet, walks in the rain are absolutely delightful. Particularly along the beach at night.

Though seagulls may be dirty birds, they are extremely photogenic.




The ocean may be my favourite place ever. I could watch boats, ducks, clouds, on a pier for hours. I am like a child in how excited I get when I find a cool shell or see a bird catch a fish. One of the highlights of the trip was the two of us chasing a seagull we saw fish out a starfish from the water to get a good view.

Watching late night TV when stuck inside (particularly when one's state may be a little altered) is more entertaining that you think. A few things we discovered...
-The criteria to be one MuchMusic's 20 hottest guys of 2006 has nothing to do with looks, but rather solely lead singer status in some shitty emo band.
-This same show is also a master of hyperbole. A few of the masterful exagerrations I caught included that My Chemical Romance was one of the top 3 rock bands of the new millenium, that the lead singer of Hedley was the most entertaining Canadian since Corey Hart (quite the standard to live up to!), that Billie Jo Armstrong was pretty much the most outspoken political voice ever, and called Brendan Flowers some sort of epic rock god. Yikes.
-Infomercials are too funny. A few we saw included a late night text-messaging service (which had this guy shouting "I have no limits!" before he discussed why he would rather stay in and text hot local ladies), several 80s boxsets ("... and who could forget the genius that was Air Supply") that may have been advertised by Rick Astley, the ubiquitous Girls Gone Wild (I'm sorry, but no one's boobs look good when they are skydiving. Seriously.), and the best ever.... Greatest Heroes and Legends of the Bible. We spent like half an hour watching clips from The Miracles of Jesus and Daniel in the Lion's Den, accompanied by parental testimonies. And that's not all! As you can see below, they are hosted by the Hollywood Legend that is Charleston Heston. He even provided the voice of Moses!


Anyways, the main take-away point is that, even though things didn't turn out as ideal as we had hoped, it was a fantastic weekend away-- it is so good to have an excuse to get away from everything for a few days. Hopefully I will be a little rejuvenated come tomorrow, although I have to say I am a little disappointed to be back enveloped in "real life" again.

10 comments:

Ant said...

Sounds like a great break!

And, mmm the ocean - very mysterious. Gotta love the potential of that horizon...

*Starts shouting about having no limits...*

iFreud said...

Not only am I obsessed with the ocean, but all that goes with it... music about the ocean included. I put up a few pictures on my blog for you... a couple of my fav ocean pics.

I'm so glad you had some time away, and your trip sounded relaxing!

Ultra Toast Mosha God said...

Yikes indeed.

I have never understodd the tag of Emo for a band. Apparently, 'Emo' is rock music with emotional lyrics.

Have these people never listened to 'Another Day in Paradise' by Phil Collins?

Unknown said...

Hey, I'm a dude and I can have long, detailed discussions about my feet. Want to hear one?

L said...

That sounds like my trip to Radium with Steve in the summer!

Also, I heard from Xray that someone barfed on the ferry! Wicked!

The Little Student... said...

I'm sad to say I've never been to the ocean. I thought I would have a chance considering I'm only a 6 hour drive from it, but graduate school has me so bogged down I can't leave the city. Anyway, I'm glad you had fun.

The Duke said...

Ah, the weekend, remember those heady days?

I liked how the jews in the cartoon had huge noses. You know, just so you wouldn't confuse them with Jesus, who I believe is some type of German.

Also, MCR is the sexiest band alive. I tell you, the modern woman loves them some acne infested twink imposters!

Princess Pointful said...

Ant- If you have no limits, then do I have an offer for you. Do you get tired of the bar scene? Do you lack all interpersonal skills and would rather get to know women over text messages because the phone causes too much pressure?

iFreud- It was really relaxing! Your post on the ocean was lovely, by the way!

Ultra- I am suddenly reminded of years waking up to soft rock stations on my alarm clock. My small home town had but two competing stations- both of which played more Rod Stewart than is safe for human consumption.

Dorky Dad- You've got me intrigued! However, I would assumed that even though you could talk about your feet for hours, you might realize that others around you don't share your passion as much.

Lmizzle- Radium is really nice. I didn't even know about the puke-age until now- apparently it happened while I was in the long line-up for overpriced cafeteria foood!

Little Student- That is too bad. I got really frustrated with how long it took me to get to know this city once I moved here for grad school- such things are luxuries, unfortunately. I hope you do manage a trip this summer.
Truthfully, I probably don't have the time to go on a trip, either, but we are the only university in Canada without a week off in February, so a weekend away was my protest.

Duke- A comment on my blog?!?! This feels momentuous, like you are acknowledging our illegitimate child ;).
(Though we know you haven't done that yet. Shamus really wants to know his father!)
The Virgin Mary also had her Aryan bone structure, along with her pallid grey-white skin, remember?

The Author said...

Came across your blog at random, 6 degrees of separation from mine I think. Or something like that.

Quite glad I did too, as before now I had NO idea what "emo" was. And it was one of those things that had started to niggle me at the back of my somewhat smaller than average sized male brain. Does this mean that Guns 'n' Roses have done "emo" music? Or am I totally missing the point?

Oh, and great blog by the way!

Princess Pointful said...

John- Thanks for stopping by, and especially for taking the time to look back. I was getting scared that no one would ever see my early entries...

Would GnR be emo? That's a good question... I think it is a possibility, especially given Axl's penchance for occasional makeup- but today's emo doesn't have characters as cool as Slash!