when nothing goes as planned

no matter what i tried to do this weekend, nothing went as planned. starting from the keg running out of prime rib at 9 pm on a friday night, it went downhill from there.

i was in whistler to do the singing pass trail, a hike that i've been wanting to do for 3 years now. on saturday morning, we set out to start the hike and took a wrong turn up the mountain. we had to backtrack and 1 hour into the hike, we didn't even have 1 km under our belt. we tried going for a bit more, but i was not feeling it at all. i felt way too tired, weak and frustrated: i had to abandon the hike. i kept feeling like i was about to break into an asthma attack at any point (which is odd considering that two weeks back, i had done amazingly well hiking garibaldi). i was really disappointed. anyhow, we turned around, ate some food, relaxed and headed for the lift to get back down the mountain. the lift was broken! we had to walk down the mountain to the next lift, then wait in line for 1h before we could go down.

we ordered some pizza back at my place and the food was just not arriving. when we called back the restaurant, we learned that the delivery car had been in an accident and that our food would not be coming. great! so we ordered from another place, and ate.

meanwhile, my cat was not feeling well. she had not eaten and had been sick plenty of time during the day that i was gone. that night, she was sick again, and the next morning, yet again. so, my sunday we spent taking my cat to the vet, where she spent the night hooked up on IV. she's still there, and we still don't know what is wrong with her. it's making me quite upset and worried.

and then dinner didn't work out. and now my right shoulder is so stiff with pain that i can't put my arm up.

when will it all stop??? i want karma on my side again!

dark days

very somber days at work. it can't be helped though: one cannot speak of restructuration, lay offs, head counts and the likes with a smile on their face. it's depressing, it's sad, it's abrupt and unexpected. major meetings. emotions in people's voice. it says a lot when you listen to this, and without knowing most people being let go, feel tears rising in one's eyes. it says a lot when the president of the company chokes up, fighting back tears. has to stop talking. it's not easy.

my job is safe though, it seems. but i can't help but think, "but for how long"...

silence

during the day, while at work, i visit other people's blogs and i get disappointed when i see that they have not been updated. i realize that this is pretty hypocritical of me, considering that i have also been kind of quiet lately.

there are many reasons for this, of course. excuses are easy. i keep myself busy. and when i am not, the internet is not working. and then, there's the whole issue about the fact that i feel like there's nothing much to write about anymore. i'm not traveling. i'm not discovering fantastic things. i don't feel the need to write and share with the people back home where i'm at and up to. it seems like the use of this blog as kinda diminished in my eyes lately.

but the thing is, i don't want to give it up. i'm attached to it. call it sentimental value if you will. i've never managed to keep a journal before for this long. it makes me proud to know that i've kept this up for over a year now. it would be a shame to give it up now.

i guess that i have to come to terms with the fact that this cannot (for the time being) be the same kind of blog as before. i need to find things to write about, but i can't expect it to be the same. it needs a temporary shift of perspective, until i can save enough money and get moving again. in a couple years. sight.

maybe why it feels harder right now is that i'm now stuck in this whole "this is what i was doing last year, this is where i was and this is where i am now - this is boring!" kinda jam. i'm not sure if that makes sense, or if that even was a sentence! what i meant to say is that i'm nostalgic. and perhaps a tad bitter.

on the upside, i've been eating a lot of beautiful, incredible heirloom tomatoes lately. trust me when i say that you have not taste a tomato until you've tried the real thing. it is absolutely divine. all of the hunting and spending for them is worth it, for all of the happiness their pretty coloured skin and luscious flesh give me.

there is the beer from back home in quebec that i really like. it's called blanche de chambly, and it tastes divine. drinking it brings me back home in spirit, and reminds me what i love and miss about la belle province. while other unibroue beers are available here in vancouver, ma blanche isn't. thus, last time i visited montreal, i made sure to bring back two bottles of this broue in my luggage. since then, i have drank one, and have been treating my last bottle in a similar way one would with an expensive wine - it's too good to drink, and there are no occasions worthy enough to warrant drinking it.

that is, until i went to seattle this weekend. i was browsing numerous shops and stores at pike place market and found - yes, you've guessed it - my beloved blanche. now, i never thought that i'd find my favourite canadian beer at a grocery store in the usa. but i did. and now, my single bottle is three. while i still don't know how to pair this wine with the perfect occasion, at least now i know that if i run out, i can always drive south for 3 hours and pick up a couple more! it's worth it, no?

politically incorrect, v.2

found at a mexican grocery store at pike place market, in seattle wa.



and i thought americans were afraid of anything potentially racial due to their whole slavery history thing... i guess i was wrong!

politically incorrect

apparently i can't spell the word mozzarella. while i was looking up how to write it properly, i found this brand of mozzarella for sale on amazon.

talk about not being PC.