Creatures from the Deep

Welcome to my 2009! What’s that? I’m two months late? Well, truthfully, I’ve had to spend time accumulating things to write about. You see, for the past three months, I was working on the most difficult course of my entire scholastic career and I just wrote the exam. Feel my pain! Okay, done.

January passed with little fanfare and an unexpected visitor in the form of my old pally-pal Brett. We watched the movie ‘Baghead’. You should all watch it too. It’s a riveting tale about a killer that wears a paper bag on his head. But don’t worry, it’s not a horror film. Besides baghead, we turned Vancouver upside down (as I usually do) and enjoyed some things. We visited UBC, my favourite ramen shop, Robson Street, Lonsdale Quay, and Gastown. I took one picture of that excursion. I’m slipping.



After dinner at the Water St. Café, we headed back to Abbotsford so the men could go mini-golfing. I detest mini-golfing for now, so I just kept score.






Musty water-damage smell not included.

After golfing, the boys were hungry so we headed to Boston Pizza for the worst service ever having occurred on planet earth. The bill comped, we called it a day.



After a hearty breakfast at old people extraordinaire restaurant ABC, I drove B-Mal to the airport and bid adieu.

Our next visitor arrived three weeks later for the first weekend in February. It was Sis! Unfortunately, I was sicker than sick with a cold that just wiped me out for three days…our first plan of action was to get facials – not the smartest. My nose was so raw from all the blowing that it just burned throughout and I actually ended up conking out from the drugs. So much for enjoying that. Janelle and Sis headed down to Bellingham and I stayed home and slept. The next day, we headed to Vancouver for sister time! First up, we hit Richmond (Daiso and purikura!), and Shabusen, a yakiniku restaurant for lunch.




B, working her yakiniku grilling skills.


Sis, most likely saying the word “chartreuse”.

Some nasty family of three came 20 minutes before all-you-can-eat was to be finished and ordered more food than reasonably prepared for a small family gathering. We witnessed the poor curly-haired boy pack down roll after roll, his father’s second wife encouraging him to jam it down at record pace. Sad really…he must have been only seven or so. It was an amazing though; I had never witnessed anything like it.

Next, we headed downtown for some Robson Street shopping and ventured back into Gastown.





We had to head into the souvenir shops as Sis was looking for dorky magnets or something for her friends back in Calgary…I have no comment about that. I was happy though, when she called me into the shop because she made a new friend.



Upon my insistence (and uncontrollable enthusiasm), we decided to view the double-feature at the IMAX 3-D. Hooray! The glasses were so ‘80s chic.



I was the only one who managed to stay awake through both features. When I knew they were sleeping, I could reach out and grab at the lovely 3-D articles floating by – my favourite pastime at 3-D shows. Hee!

Emerging from two hours of documentaries narrarated by Jim Carrey (who was NOT the Jim Carrey you are thinking of apparently) and Tom Cruise, we decided to change it up and head to the swankiest restaurant in the immediate vicinity, Mortons of Chicago. I hadn’t been to Mortons in years and the sisses had never been. The steaks there are huge (20 oz of New York strip) and the service is politely rude if you aren’t dressed to the hilt (as we weren’t). We ended up ordering a motley crew of items – mac & cheese, broccoli, bread, and dessert. It was perfect.







The next day we bummed around and then decided at the last minute to head to Vancouver for dinner. Back to the ramen shop I go!



Worst service since the unspeakable horrendousness of Boston Pizza. The little Japanese server girl ignored us even when I yelled “EXCUSE ME” across the restaurant…I was ripped. The other patrons looked on anxiously and soon enough the girl was there, taking our order like nothing happened. I do kind of love that obliviousness they portray so well.



After our weekend of fun and her departure, I’ve been without guests since. The remainder of February was filled with studying, homework and the occasional night of Gossip Girl with Rachel. Sometimes we even drink martinis.



More coming along shortly…now that I’m grasping at some freedom again, more adventures are sure to present themselves. Also, there is still the snowy mountain and slug-eating stories to report…