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Well, I woke up earlyish today. The plan for the day was to go to Orillia for the broomball gettogether (the boat was leaving at one), and then head back down at five to TO so that I can make dinner at seven, and after that, play some roller hockey. (Busy, busy day.) Well, things didn't exactly turn out that way.
First of all, Deus Ex. I was SO close to finishing the game, I knew I had to try getting it done and over with before I left for Orillia. I woke up around ten and I figured I had a couple of hours to try my hand at the last level. An hour passed by, then another. I guess you get the idea. I did stop eventually, despite not being able to complete the last mission(s), but I still had to shower, eat lunch, and print out the directions to the marina. I figured that it would take me an hour to get there. I called in to tell them that I was going to be half-an-hour to an hour late. (Well, I think he heard the half-hour not the hour.) I ended up leaving at quarter to one. I knew I was going to be late, so to cut down on time, I took the 407. Yup. I actually went on the toll highway knowing that I couldn't put it down as a business expense. Crapola. What have I become?!?
Anyway, the drive up was pretty noneventful. Traffic was not that heavy, and I was able to make good time. Good time considering that the marina was a lot further than I had anticipated. I was a little worried that I might get lost, but the directions were good, and my sense of direction not bad, so I was able to find the place without a hitch. In fact, I was so lucky as to find the boat as I was driving in! (I recognized a number of people sitting around the dock.) So I got there as fast as I could possibly have gotten there. I arrived at quarter-past-two. Just a little late. I felt really bad for holding everyone up (apparently, people were supposed to arrive at noon and then leave dock at one, I thought we were supposed to arrive at one..) until they told me that they were still waiting for one person. Really? I didn't feel so bad anymore! Actually, he arrived just a couple of minutes after I did, so taking the 407 was a good idea. I was introduced to a number of spouses (or friends, I never did find out), and we cast off. Actually, I was introduced as "Jen", and it kind of stuck. Geez, if you put the two broomball groups together (the ones from Victoria, and the ones from here) they might actually get close to my name. The boat was a thirty footer, and was much bigger than I thought it would be. There were twelve people who showed up for the tour. It was less than expected, but it also meant that there was a lot of room to move about on the boat. Man it was a nice boat. It had two bedrooms, a kitchenette, and a flybridge, and it was so cool. Of course, I can't afford one on my salary, but hey, if I had the money..
Anyway, everyone was very friendly. There was a lot of talk about this and that, and there was a lot of finger food. I was given the helm for a little while to find out how easy it was to steer the ship, and despite being cloudy and windy, the sun came out after we anchored and most of us just lazed around in the sun. Actually, there were a lot of boaters out that day. The weather was extremely nice and it was cottage country. There were a number of motor boats and skidos and skiboats, but we had one of the biggest boats out on the lake. All of the other boaters waved to us as we passed, and it was just so fun to see all of the people enjoying the weather and water. One group on a tiny dingy shouted out to us,
"Wanna trade?"
To which we laughed and waved.
It was very, very relaxing and very good. It also helps when everyone was friendly, considering that they all knew each other for years and years, and I was the new kid on the block. I took a lot of pictures (although most of them had the shutter speed fixed at 60ms as opposed to automatic - whoops) and ate a lot of food (cheese, crackers, dip, veggies), and enjoyed myself. It was definitely a good way to relax.
There was apparently some sort of Christmas in June festival that was going to take place that night, but since I had to make it back to TO for dinner, I couldn't stay. On the way back, there were a couple of boaters that were wake hopping. Due to the size ofour engines and the ship, we left a pretty large wake when going at full speed. It was thrilling to watch them become airborne as they launched themselves over each wave.
We stayed out later than expected. I was surprised to find out the time when we hit shore. It was already seven. I was going to leave right after I took a leak, but I wasn't told that there was a (combination) lock on the door. I headed back to find out that they were still trying to catch the dog (one of them owned a.. shatzu?). The dog, unfortunately, was very shy of people and kept backing away from everybody. Somehow it had made it onto the dock and I saw it getting dangerously close to the edge. I saw one woman walking towards to dog (which was also towards the water) and tried to warn them with,
"Watch out for the ed.."
But my warning came a little too late.
The dog slid off, and couldn't hang on. *sploosh* It was a little ironic that earlier that day, they were talking about the dog's long hair and how these dogs drown in water because their hair weighs them down when wet. I was a little shocked to see the critter fall into the murky depths, and while I was still processing the situation, one of the guys dived in and retrieved the dog. I was tempted to grab my camera and take pictures but common sense prevailed and I helped retrieve the floating duo.
So.. after that, I got the code to the washroom and then was able to head out. I missed out on dinner (they were going to have a BBQ) as well as the Christmas party, but I had other engagements, and since it was already seven-thirty, I knew I had to go if I expected to make it to the restaurant before everyone finished dinner. So I bade goodbye to everyone and headed out. After a quick stop for (much needed) gas, I headed home.
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I was a little late to dinner. (Somewhat underdressed I might add.) I made it to the restaurant but I wasn't sure if they were still there so I wanted to call before going in. (In hindsight, I should've went in regardless.) Wandering around the mall, I went to just about every entrance and realized something. Chinese malls don't have many phone booths. They probably expect most of their clientelle to own a cell (or two or three). *grumbles* I went next door and came across (an old) phone booth in one of the restaurants. I called in and found out that, yes, they were still there. Goody.
The reception was expected, surprise, wonder, and the eventual snickering about the hair once the (now quite old) story got around. It was good seeing everyone again. Not much has changed. It also proved to be an ideal time to recruit people for roller hockey later that night.
The dinner was to celebrate the first month of a baby's life. It's a Chinese tradition to have a feast because babies in ancient times usually didn't live that long. (Kudos the fountain of knowledge - aka Jax - for the info.) I had very little time to eat since by the time I got to the restaurant, dessert was just about to be served. They did give me some food they saved up (and there was a lot), so it wasn't as if I was going hungry or anything, just that with all the stuff going on (like VW's folds - ick) I didn't have quite as big an appetite as I probably should have had.
Roller hockey came soon after (after an hour of Deus Ex). There were fewer regulars than usual, but this was easilly made up by the number of cousins that showed up (they doubled the number!). We played for a couple of hours (although we started late - recurring motif huh?) and I was completely spent afterward. It was fun though, the quality in skill was pretty much comparable between our cousins and the night roller hockey guys so we had a pretty good game.
Oh man, there's also the net that KW built (from construction material lying around the area - which is illegal I think, but we won't talk about that), and MW's fall, and VW's breaks. (He just sat down without telling us! We kept playing until we realized: "Funny, why is it so lopsided now?")
Oh man, that was a day that was packed with events. Actually it was good. It was good to be doing stuff. Doing fun stuff I should say. It also kept my mind off of other matters, but in the end, things should work out fine..
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