British Columbia (tl;dr)

I’m on the train back home now. I’m not exactly sure where I am, or what time it is, but I think I’m somewhere in Saskatchewan and that it’s 11 o clock. Judging by the terrain, we’re most likely in Saskatchewan. It’s LIKE Manitoba, but it’s actually not as flat. Alberta is flat-ish near Saskatchewan, but it’s still bumpier. Manitoba is straight up planar. The west coast was fun. I did basically everything. When I got there, Wednesday morning, I went to my aunt’s house, then we dropped off our stuff, then we went downtown. First she showed me the bus system, and then we went to the library so I could check my email. After that we went to NCX and bought her a computer, because hers had been broken since January. The next day we went back downtown and got her a modem so she could use the internet. Then we walked around Stanley Park, which is this huge park, right on the edge of the water. There are beaches all around it. Friday, I went downtown by myself, and I met up with Laura and Maegwin, two fine upstanding ladies who used to live in Winnipeg and went to school with me… They were like half an hour late, because their bus had stopped working on the bridge, and some other bus related excuse. I got to have a good look around the Chapters while I waited for them. I know what I’m going to spend my gift cards on when I find them  It’s going to be Pride and Prejudice and Zombies :) We went to Stanley Park, to the Aquarium. It was pretty cool, I saw dolphins, then we saw the belugas, and there were otters. I liked the otters. And there was a turtle and some jellyfish, and some normal fish and a monkey and a caiman! We also saw mudskippers. They were cool. And there were frogs. After that, we went to a coffee shop, where Maegwin threw her coffee at the ground and we had to get another one. Then we went to their place and had supper there. Saturday, my other aunt picked me up, and she took me to her house. She lives in a suburb-ish city from Vancouver called “North Vancouver”. It’s pretty nice. First she took me to Lynn Canyon, which is this canyon with a suspension bridge and river running through it. We hiked a bit there, and then my cousin and I went and splashed about in the river. We saw some guys who were using a waterfall as a waterslide! I was wearing my jeans, so I didn’t. But it looked fun! After that, she took me out to some Indian restaurant, and then we walked on the seawall. Sunday, I met with my friend Evanna from camp. We walked on the seawall at Stanley Park, and we went onto the beaches and picked up crabs and played with them. It was entertaining. Then we walked down the street and I got souvenirs for my sisters. After that we had supper, then we went back home. I took the Sea Bus! It’s a really big boat that ferries you across the inlet/bay thing that Vancouver is built on, to North Vancouver. Then I took the bus to my aunt’s house and that was the end of the day. Monday, Maegwin and I did this hike called the “Grouse Grind” It’s a trail that goes up the side of Grouse Mountain (duh) It’s a really big deal when you do it apparently, sort of like a coming of age thing there. When you get to the top, they have this house type thing with a restaurant, café, shop, and some other stuff in it. There you can buy a ticket on the Gondola back down. Also they apparently have zip lining somewhere there! We just went on the Gondola and left however. We didn’t find it too hard. We made it to the top in somewhere between 50 minutes and an hour. When I told my friends they were all “WHOA! You’re hard core!” and I was like “Not REALLY. I wasn’t really going that fast….” We stopped a couple times because Maegwin didn’t bring her puffer, and was going “Hah… heh…*Pant* *gasp* *wheeze*” In my experience, when people do that it’s a bad thing, so I was waiting for her and I was like  and she was like “oh, stop it already *pant pant*” and I was like “but what if you die?” and she was like D:< Then she fell a couple times and I was like LOL. But I didn’t say that. She would have probably hit me. Monday evening, we went on the seawall again. We saw some seals. I SAW AN OTTER! It was definitely a highlight of the trip. It was just swimming along the side of the rocks, and being awesome, and there were seagulls around trying to get it, and it kept diving under the water when the seagulls came. Tuesday, I just hung out with my aunt all day, we went and watched my cousin diving. Wednesday I caught a bus out to White Rock, where I saw my friend Rianna. She’s cool. We hung out there all day; we walked on the beach, and sat on the wharf. While on the beach, we saw these little crabs, so we dug them up and they were like *SCURRY* and scurried away. Then they buried themselves again. I found a mussel that was alive, and hadn’t been eaten by a seagull. Then we also saw this weird fish that looked like it was jumping when it swam and it buried itself in sand. :/ Then we went to KFC for supper, and then we went to a gas station to get ice cream. Then I got the bus home, and that was the end of that. After I got home, I had supper again, and then we went to this ice cream place that had 218 flavors! I wasn’t feeling that adventurous thought, so I got “chocolate chip mint”. I wasn’t really in the mood for “durian” or “wasabi” or any other nonsense like that. Tuesday morning we went to the train station which is also the bus depot. I got on a bus and then I went to Kamloops. While on the bus I was listening to loud music. I think I might have damaged my headphones :/ either that or the bus did it. Now one of them rattles a little bit. In Kamloops, my uncle Garry picked me up from the bus depot; he gave me a short tour of Kamloops. It’s a nice city/town. I’m not really sure how big it is, but it’s in a little valley in the mountains. It’s really hot there, and it looks sort of desert-y. Also the river running through it is nice; it’s cool and clean so you can swim in it, and there are sandy parts, so it’s like a beach. They also have this thing where you can get on a tube and they drive you upstream a bit and then they drop you in the river and you just float down the river until they come and pick you up and one of the beaches. I didn’t do it :/ Friday, I got a ride to one of the beaches, and then I sat on the beach all day and read a book. I read Marley and Me. It was warm too, like 32. Thursday it was 35, but it was cooler Friday because it was smokier. I saw a whole bunch of water bombers and helicopters taking off. It was pretty exciting. Saturday morning, I left really early. We got up at 5:30. and then packed my stuff, then I got on the train. The train is about half full. I also don’t have money for food D: they don’t take debit here, so I am stuck with my cookies and trail mix for sustenance :/
I’m looking forward to being home (sort of) I’m going to try and get a job right away, and also I have to hang out with a bunch of people before school starts. I have to find someone because I have a present for them, but we’ve talked like twice :P It’s from my friend in NS. This present has travelled 9000 km! and I’ve travelled about 12 500 km! Best guess is that the trip cost about $1100 including food, shopping and travel. Which is pretty good for a month, and an entire continent.

The Other Side

I’ve spent the last ten days in BC. It was really fun. I saw a whole bunch of people who I haven’t seen in a while. I did lots of stuff; in Vancouver I did ALMOST everything. I didn’t get to see the Sky Train. And that’s pretty much it… Kamloops was cool too; it was really hazy from the forest fires and I saw a bunch of water bombers taking off all day.

Nova Scotia (tl;dr)

This post is about the stuff I did in Nova Scotia. I got in on Friday, at about 5:30 so about an hour late. Then I got my bag from the carousel, and looked around for someone I knew. Helen wasn’t there right away, because the train was an hour late and she didn’t feel like hanging around for me. So then I went to a bench, took out my computer, and I looked up her number, and I was going to call her, and be like “hey, where are you?” and then when I got to the pay phone it wanted me to pay like $4 to call her so I was like “no”. Then I tried putting in the area code before the number, and I was about to put the coins in, when I saw Helen walking in, so I held on to my quarters, and I was like “Helen!” then she led me back to the car, where I met her dad, Ron. Helen also made me go across the grass with my big heavy bag :/ When we got to her house, Quinn was there. I said “hi Quinn” and he said “hey,” That’s about all that went on in that encounter. Then I put all my stuff upstairs in the guest room, and then some of Helen’s friends showed up because she’d invited them. I met Charlotte, Ethan, Sara V, and some others. The next day Quinn and Helen gave me a tour of Mahone Bay. It was pretty cool. We went to the marina and met Pat and Drew, Helen’s co-workers. After that we got Ice cream, and we went to the Kayak shop and met Natasha. She said we couldn’t go kayaking because it was too windy. Then we went to the Information Centre and met Morgan. She gave us some pamphlets about stuff to do, but we didn’t end up doing any of it :P That night, we went to Risser’s Beach, which is apparently the warmest, but it was QUITE COLD. I went swimming anyways. It wasn’t the coldest I’ve swam in, but it was pretty cold. At the beach, we met Haley, Katrin, Rebecca, Kyle, Ceilagh, and Alex. They’re all pretty cool. Then, Sunday, Quinn, Helen, and I went in to Lunenburg to see stuff. (Quinn lives in Lunenburg.) We walked around and then we went on a horse drawn tour, with Charlotte as our guide. It was pretty cool, I learned a lot. After that, Quinn had to go to work, so Helen and I walked around, then we got Ceilagh to meet us and we wandered around the town, then we saw the graveyard. After that we went and sat in Ceilagh’s house until Helen’s mom, Fran picked us up. (Helen and Quinn are probably the only two people in the world who can’t drive. Like not at all. D:)
Monday we went in to the Marina to work some, because Helen has to work :P It was alright, Pat was there, but because the festival is over, Helen basically sits there and gets paid. That night it was pretty nice, we went into Lunenburg again to see the Bluenose, but it wasn’t there. Instead we went fishing off the end of the wharf, and I caught a fish! It was a mackerel, pretty small too, but I caught one! I threw it back in the water. Also we caught some seaweed. We also ate supper at Fran’s pub, which was really nice. It’s called Mader’s Wharf, and I’d suggest you eat there if you ever go to Mahone Bay :D
Tuesday, we went to Hirtle’s Beach. It was foggy, actually it was foggy on Monday night, and then foggy all Tuesday. In the morning we went on the Bluenose. I got to go on the Bluenose!! It was so foggy we couldn’t see past the end of the boat though. After the Bluenose, we went to the Museum where Rebecca works, and we got a tour of the Knaut Rutland house. It was cool. Then we went into work for the afternoon, and Drew was there. He let Helen drive the boat. Helen’s good at driving boats. Hirtle’s Beach is apparently colder than Risser’s, but it wasn’t. It had really big waves though. We were at the beach with Ethan, and Quinn, Ceilagh, and Evan came later. While we were waiting for them, we stood at the edge of the water and let the tide bury our feet. Then we met Katrin and her sister, who were there to get surfing lessons from their friend. Ethan and Helen and I all went wave jumping, and it was really fun. We got swamped by the waves. And there were big holes in the sand which we kept jumping in. it was cold too. Ethan turned purple, and I was shaking a lot. Then when we were leaving, Helen and Ethan locked me out of the car and drove away without me. Quinn, Ceilagh and Evan were in the other car. They laughed and left also. It was SO FUNNY. HAHAHA. Then they came back and got me and we went to Evan’s house and had a fire. We saw a shooting star! Well, everyone did except for Helen and Quinn, because they were sitting the wrong way. Also there were deer just wandering across the street. As we were leaving, this guy named Thomas showed up and started talking to us, along with this girl who was with them. Melissa I think. I didn’t like them much ¬_¬
Wednesday we went to work again, and Pat was there. We didn’t do much again. Watched some TV, I watched A Night at the Roxbury. Then we went on the boat again to move people around. Wednesday night we went sailing with Rebecca. We saw a seal and some porpoises! Also some seaweed, and some seagulls. It was fun.
Thursday Ceilagh took us into Dartmouth, and we went to H&M for the opening. There were so many people there! They had two lines and they both went a good chunk of the mall away from the actual store. We got cinnamon buns, and then we got lunch, and then we went into the store. We spent TWO HOURS in H&M. Helen had a small adventure paying for her stuff because she forgot to get her card changed from when she was ten. The girl who was helping us was a real bitch to her when her debit card was declined too. After that, we met Ben and his cousin Thomas. They’re cool. We went to Foot Locker and I bought more Converses. They were the ones I was looking for since Toronto! They’re black on top, but they fade to white. (I also bought blue ones in Toronto) Also, I bought an SPC card, and water protector stuff for my shoes, and some cleaning stuff for my shoes too. I ended up spending lots of money. Then we went back to Helen’s house, and we had a dinner party. Rebecca was already there when we showed up, and then Natasha, and Andy, and a different Alex came. Rebecca and Ceilagh left early though. Natasha, Helen and I all went to the store to buy cheese because we didn’t have any :P
Friday, we were supposed to go kayaking in the morning, but there was a change in plans, so we ended up not doing that. I got to the train station right in time, I reserved lunch time for me, then I said goodbye to Helen, and then I went off to the train. The end! Right now I’m on the train, somewhere between Moncton and Quebec, and I’m feeling a little conflicted. I’m a little sad because I’m not going to see Helen for a very long time, if I even DO again… But I am happy because I at least got to see her, and meet Quinn and Rebecca and Ceilagh and Ethan and all sorts of wonderful people. I’m also happy because I ‘m not going to forget this part of the trip anytime soon. I’m excited because I am going to see my other friends on the other side of the continent. I’m also a tiny bit bemused because I miss my friends more than I miss my parents or family. If any of you Family Types are reading this; I miss you guys TOO, just not as much :/
***End of Part 1***

Summer Campaign

Apologies for not posting in a while, I’ve had chances, but I haven’t used them to blog thus far. Right now I’m on the train. (There’s no internet here actually, I am writing on MS word, and then I am going to put it up later.) I was in Nova Scotia for the past week, specifically Mahone Bay. It was pretty sweet. I got to see Helen again; I hadn’t seen Helen for a year basically to the day. I also met all kinds of people there, mostly Helen’s friends, some of whom I talked to on MSN. It was pretty cool. Before that, I stopped in Toronto to see my cousins who live there; I hadn’t seen them for two years. Now I’m heading back west, I’m going to Vancouver to see my other good friends Maegwin and Laura (If you guys read this before I see you, Hi Maegwin and Laura!) along with my friend Evanna from camp. Along the way I’m going to stop in Montréal tomorrow morning, and Toronto tomorrow afternoon. Then I’m going to be in Winnipeg Sunday morning, just enough time to have a shower and do laundry :P I’m going to be travelling with my Aunt Pris back to Vancouver, she’s pretty laid back.

I'm in Montreal right now. I tried to get my ticket changed to an earlier train, but it was full. I have five hours here. Luckily i have found an internet connection that doesn't require me to pay like $5 for fifteen minutes.

The end of camp

Camp is over now, it was only a one week thing. I had lots of fun though. I didn't get a REAL shot at the two volunteers that i wanted to. They think they are so smart, and i was READY to go up and run verbal circles around them, but then it never happened. My cousin was the director and he said he specifically put us in separate groups so i didn't emotionally scar them. I'm glad i wasn't in their group anyways. I made friends with the other counsellors in my group, which was much better than putting up with morons for a week. I still got to call them dumb in myriad ways at lunch :P
The trains are running again! The engineers went on strike friday, but the strike was resolved this morning, and so the trains have started again, and by tomorrow they should be all running again. This means that i still get to go to Nova Scotia AND British Columbia!

I'm also trying to cut down on the tl;dr posts.

I learned how to play Viva la Vida by Coldplay! whee! It's not that hard, but it's fun :P

Untitled Blog Post is Untitled

This week is the Day camp that i am helping with. It's been fun-ish so far. I have this one terror child in my group named John. He's just straight up bad. Doesn't listen, bothers people (especially me), eggs the other miscreants on, and is pretty immature for a 12 year old. It's like talking to my brother!! (Fun Fact: My brother, Alex, is more than 12)

Life as an Only Child

This weekend, all three of my "beloved" siblings left the city to go camping and stay at other people's cabins. That meant that i spent the weekend with just my parents. It was pretty fun. We ate at nice restaurants, where they didn't serve plain old food, like burgers, pasta and steaks. Yesterday we got to eat at a Thai restaurant, it was really good. Today we ate at a Bar and Grill, and it was nice too. The people there were really friendly, and i knew one of them! She was my friend in ~Grade 1, all the way up till now, so it was kinda neat.
Today i took a tree out of my grandma's yard. We had to get it out because it was blighted or something and whatever it had was going to spread to the big apple tree and kill it. The guy who works at an orchard looked at it and said they should take out the tree and also all the soil around it and burn the tree and not plant anything in it for 10 years, but that seemed a little extreme. So now we have a garbage bag full of dead apple tree that will infect any fruit trees/soil it hangs around with for too long with an incurable plague. Who's up for some bio-warfare???
Also, my aunt sort of gave me her old laptop!!! She said i can treat it like it's mine, but i should be careful about virii, because all her stuff on it is all out of date and stuff. Also that should she ever want it back, i'll have to give it up, but she has a really nice new one, and all the stuff on it is on that too, so she won't want it back. It's decent, relatively. It's about the same as "my" desktop performance wise, but it has a better graphics chipset! which means i can play TEAM FORTRESS 2. Except that our wireless internet haet laptops. I tried to play it yesterday, and it was so laggy it almost crashed.
I've also planned (like 80% planned) my trip!!! I'm going to take the train out to the East Coast, stay there a week, and then take the train allll the way back to the West Coast, and stay there for a week or so too. Then i'm going to go back home. It'll be AWESOME. If anyone lives in Toronto or Montreal, let me know, so i can drop by and take a shower at your place or something... The train ride is two and a half days to Toronto, a couple hours to Montreal, and then another day and a half to Halifax. And it's four days from Toronto to Vancouver. There's still some parts of the trip that i haven't worked out; I want to stay either in Toronto, or in Kamloops for a day or two, but i'm not sure which, or both could even be possible. ideas?
Also, i installed a scanner/printer! Now there are TWO printers attached to ONE computer! Whee! and a scanner! so now i can scan stuff and send it to people! Stay tuned for some hand-written blog action.
I think it's prime time for some Paul Awards tonight... Unlike normal, i haven't planned any, so it'll be interesting.
(Side note: I got an award from my school with my report card. It says "Award of Excellence". I'm not sure what to make of this, it doesn't say any subject in particular, just the school, my name, and Award of Excellence. Is it just an award they gave me because i am excellent?? I'm also trying to decide whether it would be good to put it on my resume... Either way, it's a pretty nice award. It's a black plaque, with silver writing. It looks like the sort of thing you hang on your wall next to your diploma and Ph.D...)
First off, i will award one Thumbs Up of Magnificence each to both Maegwin and Laura. Thank you SO MUCH for rescuing me from my parents! They were going to put me through more manual labour!
Secondly, i award the coveted Noob Award to Aidan, for starting Warcraft 3. We look forward to your first hilariously embarrassing defeat on Battle.net.
Thirdly i award the Medal of Ridiculosity to Andrew, for being outrageous.
The Outstanding Class Trophy goes to Alexander, for putting on Dr. Dre while his stepdad was right there yelling at him for having music with less than sophisticated vocabulary.
Finally, i give the Certificate of Win to whoever that Anon on 4chan started the "... just like wikipedia told me to" meme. It's funnier if you actually know the whole story, but that story is not appropriate for you chumps!
my reaction face was like
8 /
That's basically it for now... It's like midnight and i apparently have to go move boxes tomorrow morning as part of this whole "only child" deal.