More Seattle trip.

MMK just posted some more pics of our Seattle trip here.

The lost Cabin.

Yesterday morning, Nads took me up Westwood Ridge to get a look at the cabin he and some of his old friends had built about 10 years ago. for a long time, I'd been hearing stories about this place, but I had never actually seen it -- it was sort of a thing with his "other friends" so I never really pried.As I understand it, about a month ago, Nads and some of these guys had come back to the cabin after a long time away to patch it up and put on a new roof as sort of an homage to their late friend Lee who helped start the project back in the day.

The hike up was nice, as Westwood Ridge always is.

At one point we came across the clearly marked Cabin Trail sign that led up to the site.

The cabin itself was set on a mossy mound high up the ridge in a calm and serene sort of copse of trees (some of which had been chopped down for use in the initial construction. I took some pics, which you can look at here. It was very peaceful up there (though cold) and the weather was absolutely beautiful, making our hike a totally pleasant experience. Thanks, Nads!

Take that!

Picked up the new Phoenix Wright yesterday. One case in, it is exactly what I had hoped from the sequel to last year's awesome game. Picked up Hotel Dusk as well, but I'm leaving it in the plastic for now.

Seattle and the Sci-Fi Museum.

Went down to Seattle to visit the Sci-Fi Museum and Hall of Fame. Simpson, Kelly, Nads, Chemko, and I all crammed into Chemko's car and we blazed down there at the crack of dawn. The drive down was uneventful, with the exception of Chemko's "check engine" light turning on partway down, giving us all a slight sense of dread.

Once in Seattle, we went straight to Mcdonalds for lunch (barf), thinking we were short on time. There I ate a horrible quarter pounder that came, by default, with NO VEGGIES AT ALL on it. After lunch we crossed the street and went to the SFM. The museum was very neat -- and super nerdy -- but I was a little disappointed at how short it was. I was literally in disbelief when I reached a sign marked "exit". Anyway, since it was so short, we had time to kill, so Simps and I decided it was worth the $12 USD to visit the top of the Space Needle. The view was nice. After all these shenanigans, we went for dinner at some awful restaurant called "Outback" which is the American equivalent of Montana's. Blech. Seattle itself was pretty grungy and not worth exploring any further, so after dinner we booked it out of there, hoping to make it back to Vancouver in time for Nads and I to catch the late ferry home. Playing with my cellphone, I recorded a portion of the exit.



At some point during the trip, I mentioned Russell Peter's impression of a Vietnamese guy swearing (now say this really fast): "Hey! F*ck you, you f*cking blowjob!" and somehow this became the trip slogan. We screamed it at each other the whole way home, and even went so far as to order a "f*cking blowjob" from a Timmy's drivethrough. (Interesting sidenote - they gave us twice the timbits we ordered!) So that was awesome.
Anyway, we got to the ferry terminal only to realize that Saturday has no sailings after 5:45 pm (retarded) so we crashed at Kelly's place. End of story. Pictures are here.

Vacation Time

So, I recently discovered that I have 4 (four) (for) (fore) weeks of paid vacation to use up this year in my new position, and now I have the vacation bug. Besides a quick jaunt to Banff last Spring, it's been six years since my last proper trip anywhere and now I am CRAZY to get on a plane and just go. So after lots of research, I've managed to whittle my options down to a few broad ideas:

1. Mexico or somewhere in the Caribbean. Sandy beaches, hot sun, nude(ish) women, fun "discos". I'd prolly opt for all inclusive so I could be drinking the whole time. COST: $$$1/2
2. (My current fave.) New Jersey. The vast majority of the trip spent at Six Flags Great Adventure, where I would ride the world's fastest and tallest rollercoaster, Kingda Ka (and a few other rides, too). I'd also spend at least one day shopping in Manhattan. COST: $$$
3. Winnebago cross country with the boys. (Or at least, Randy.) Obviously good times there - we'd listen to hard rock, eat weird food, and pick up chicks every chance we got. COST: $$$$1/2 -- those RV rentals are ridiculously pricey.

So, basically I'm undecided on what vacation I want. WHAT A ROUGH LIFE! BWAHAHAHA!

Weaksauce.

I thought of something today in regards to the Gabriola ferry dropping that pickup in the ocean.

*ahem*

You Quinsam, you lose some.

Pray for my soul.

Chris' tales of TRUE CRIME! Vol. 1

Tonight had already been a pretty sketchy night at work. Not only did some bugger buy an Xbox 360 with a phony credit card (and phony drivers license), but then his buddies came back an hour later and tried to do it again with with a different phony credit card (in the same name), BUT THE EXACT SAME DRIVERS LICENSE. Sigh.

I h8 fraudsters. That said, it was pretty nice to spend half of my shift giving a police report and going over security videos of myself telling those punks to eff off. (As opposed to actually working.)

You're thinking, "Bah, who cares? You probably have to deal with that crap all the time, so big deal!" True, true. But my evening wasn't over. After leaving work and dropping Willow off, I sped home, listening to high-volume electronica. As I passed over the E. Wellington parkway overpass, I noticed some guy standing on the side, hands behind his back, watching me pass. He was dressed in a black trenchcoat.

"What a weirdo," I thought to myself. I glanced out my rear-view to get another look at this guy, AND HE'S POINTING A RIFLE AT TRAFFIC ON THE HIGHWAY BELOW!

W. T. F.!

So I got to call the police once again. Hopefully that punkass jagoff angstbeast dildo didn't hurt anybody with his (I hope) air rifle.

Statz.

Statted with the boys tonight. With the exception of my character being obliterated in a second or two by a kraken, nothing spectacular happened. Actually quite the opposite. Devon made some sort of peanut-sauce noodle dish, and we all ate sooo much of the stuff that we were fat and snoozy right away. We were all so lethargic, we couldn't even get the stats started for hours! Anyway , I took pics.

Body Worlds was neat.

So I went to Body Worlds 3 at Science World on Tuesday. The show was awfully neat, and definitely a little creepy. Imagine being face to face with a real corpse who is holding out his own entrails out for all to see. Fascinating, but chilling. I would have taken plenty of pics, but obviously that was not allowed, so you'll have to settle with these.

The girls at Moxie's, where we ate (and drank) waaaay to much before the show.

...and this is for just the boys.

Oh yeah, and the weather was FREAKING LOUSY for travelling. :P

Good news and barf news.

First the barf news. (Note: emo ahead!)

So last night Britt (my recent-ish ex, for those not in the know) confesses to me that she's seeing someone. I wish I could say I acted cool and congratulated and supported her, but that is sadly not the case. Instead I turned into a gelatinous puddle of blackness and goo, and proceeded to grill her on the details. Who is he? How long have you been together? Were you interested in him while you were with me? Why didn't you tell me sooner, etc. Basically I was the annoying, emo ex. (I reminded myself of that kid with the purple hat in Not Another Teen Movie.)

GO CHRIS GO!

I'm surprised she didn't hang up on me.

Anyway, the interesting thing is that I figured when this eventually happened, it would be no problem for me as I have been very diligent in the process in getting over her, and so far I was quite happy. BZZZT!. Like I said to Britt, there must have been a little black slug of desire -- that I really wasn't aware of -- crawling around somewhere inside me that whispered junk in my ear like, "As long as the possibility exists, it can't be ignored!" Now the slug's been stepped on. Which is good! But still really hurts...

You know, the more I think about it, the more I'm starting to realize I'm just feeling sorry for myself.



...



Hmmm...



Fuck that.



I think perhaps the best thing I can do here is just to get back on the rails (RAYOWS! eh, Mattie?) of my life and just continue to try to be as good a friend to her as possible. Oh yeah and thanks to those of you who let me rant and gave me some good advice (you know who you are).

Hmmm... these blog posts are a really great idea for getting unexpected baggage sorted and squared away. Woot!

OK! End of emo-ness!

The good news: Microsoft is sending me a new Xbox 360 to replace my old jalopy! This should bring an end to the fifteen-tries-to-get-a-game-started horsejizz.

New Years, mmmk?

I have pics from the New Year's party in Vancouver here. Here's a little taste...

:P

A good time was had by all -- especially me after many glasses of mulled wine (thx mom for the recipe!). Props go out to Wendy (and perhaps Kelly) for putting on a good time, and I'd also like to thank Simps for hooking us "country folk" (thanks, Sarah) up with rides to and from the ferries. You guys kick my asses!