Tales from the Last Couple Weeks
So here's a bit of a recap.
Last week I hiked up a mountain with my sister. The photos are displayed backwards... so the first ones you'll see are from near the end of the hike, as we were trying to find our way down. The whole point of the hike was I wanted to get a picture of the sunset from the top of said mountain, and in order to make it to the top in time, we decided to leave the trail we were following (Photo of the route we took up), and cut through the brush. The last photo from the 'set' shows, from where we were standing on the path, the route we took up the side. When we got to the top, we realized we weren't going to be able to take the same way down... it would have just been too steep (Photo), so we took the one path we found at the very top, and it took us along the entire top of the mountain, and down the other side. So, quite literally, we hiked the entire mountain. It took us 3 hours, and wasn't in our original plan, but we both figured it was worth it.
I got to see Cirque de Soleil with Shauna. That was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. One thing that bothers me a lot today is how little effort is put into most forms of entertainment these days. Especially in the music industry, where talent is pretty much irrelevant; you just need a good image and they can fudge the talent part after the fact. So, in seeing Cirque de Soleil, I was in love simply due to how much effort they put into the performance. Not even counting the main acts themselves, I would have been happy simply admiring the costumes, music, and 'bit parts' throughout the show. The attention to detail was incredible; absolutely every last tiny thing was perfect. If you ever have the chance to go, even if it's by yourself, I say this is one thing you cannot do without. And don't worry about seating (Unless you can spring for front-row on the floor), there isn't a bad seat in the house.
I got a DS (Black/Cobalt Blue), and Animal Crossing, and I have to admit it's pretty damn fun. Unfortunately the wireless in my house seems to be very finicky... so I'm going to have to try to fiddle with it to see if I can have both WiFi for my DS, and internet for my network.
Awesome Weekend
So this last weekend I took Thursday and Friday off so I could drive down to Vancouver to see Rush perform. I'll have to mark this as one of my favorite weekends on record.
I left for Vancouver at around 11AM on Thursday... and promptly had to turn back to get my concert ticket, which I had left on the counter. So I left again at noon. I got in at about 5, parked at my Uncle's place, and took transit up to GM place.
The doors weren't going to open for another hour, so I went and took a walk over to Science World, to see what I could see. Took a bunch of pictures.
Went back to watch the concert, and had my mind blown. Took a bunch more pictures. I really haven't been to a ton of live shows, but out of the ones I have been to, this one is by far the best in just about every single way. Aside from the amazing musicianship, which you don't need to see live to appreciate, I was most amazed by how flawless they sounded. Their live show sounds almost exactly like their studio recordings, at least in quality, and I barely had to have my earplugs in. The production was amazing as well; lights, lasers, floating UFO-looking spotlights, fire, and rotisserie chicken.
I have also come to the conclusion that Neil Peart is not a human. He has to either be a robot, or a vampire. I can't think of anything else which could simultaneously move so quickly, and have such high endurance.
After the concert I went back to my Uncle's place for the night. I feel kinda bad, seeing as it was a weekday, and everyone else was asleep when I got there, with a note attached to the door. So I didn't get to visit or anything. Also both my aunt and uncle left in the morning before I got up at 8 or so, but I did give my two nieces a ride to school. I found out the older of the two has awesome music taste. She was listening to the Beatles in her room in the morning, she commented on an Alexisonfire CD she saw in my car, and she's going to see Radiohead when they come to Vancouver. ( I am SO jealous.)
The rest of that day I had absolutely nothing to do, so I decided to check out Metrotown mall. Unfortunately, the stores don't open until 9:30, so I went to the Tim Horton's to get breakfast, and hung out in some comfy chairs until everything opened. I ended up spending most of the day in Chapters, reading comics and "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Buddhism", which I ended up buying. I also almost went to Science World, as in I took the Skytrain up to where Science World is, but found out that it was only going to be open for another couple hours. I decided against it, and went back to the mall. ( Ooh I am exciting! )
After the mall closed at 9:30, I got an idea. I went to Superstore, bought a notebook and a pen, then I hopped on the Skytrain. I rode it as far as it would go, and then back, writing about the things I saw, and things that I heard. I also took a few more pictures around the Skytrain stations. An interesting conversation I heard was a gay man trying to instruct a girl, who was crossdressing, on how to be more masculine.
The Skytrain got back to the mall, where my car was, about 11:30. I didn't want to impose on my Uncle for a second night, so I found a quiet residential area to park in. Unfortunately I forgot to bring a blanket, and I had to wake up every couple hours to warm the car up. At about 4 I figured it wasn't worth it any more, and went for a drive. Found a McDonald's and got some "breakfast" (They weren't serving breakfast yet, but they were serving food which was good enough for me). I figured since I was up so early, I would try to watch the sunrise... as I can't ever remember doing this. Finding any "higher ground" in Vancouver at which to see the horizon is kinda tough, but I managed to find an upper parking area at Brentwood mall which served the purpose well enough. I got a few pictures of the sunset (as my camera's battery died), then dozed off in my car for a while, warm in the sunlight.
So now it was Saturday. To top off this fantastic weekend, I got to go drive up to Kamloops to see Shauna. We went for a walk in the park, scoped out Winner's, drank, cooked, talked about gross things, watched a movie, and had a great time in general.