A DAY AND NIGHT I WON'T SOON FORGET
PART 1: THE NIGHT- BEER, MUSIC, AND A SUNDAY HANGOVER
As I reminise about my night in Nanaimo last night and can distinctively remember all that happened up until a certain point, I'm thinking maybe I should have paced myself. I felt the urge to drink a lot last night, but I wouldn't have anticipated what happened. I ended up leaving my jacket at Queen's Hotel, a bar on Victoria Street in downtown Nanaimo where I went with a group of my Port Alberni friends to witness a performace by a band. A band I never caught the name of, but of which the lead singer resides here in Port Alberni. My friend Derek Turner happens to be best friends with him and invited me for a night out in the city.
Anyways, because I'm getting off topic like I tend to do from time to time, lets get back to last night. When we entered the bar, the band was already playing, but we knew they would be. We decided to make a fashionably late enterance.
After having already spend the afternoon drinking in the sunshine during the Sproat Lake Raft Race, I was tired when the night began. But then being in that bar with the combination of a live band, loud music, and a great bunch of friends ready to sip back alcoholic beverages, I had seen the message, and the message was clear.
MUST GET BEER!
So I went to the counter, ordered myself a Canadian and began my drinking binge. The music was great, and after hearing them cover the Hip's New Orleans is Sinking, I was ready to go. After my first bottle, I ordered another one and started drinking. Ah, beer and live rock music! What could be better? Well, sex I suppose! I began to join in on the pitchers as well, then ordered one myself, and after having my first glass out of that pitcher I had ordered I was finished, alcohol had beaten me on this night. I'll give beer the victory on this night but not without a fight. It was shortly after hearing another great tune- Santeria by Sublime- that alcohol took control.
GAME! SET! MATCH! goes to alcohol, and more specifically Rickards, the type of beer in that last pitcher. New Orleans didn't sink, I did, sinking into a deep sleep on the way back from Nanaimo, and waking up on my driveway behind my car in Port Alberni. Oddly enough, I wasn't dissapointed realizing I had left my jacket in Nanaimo, I was too tired, and exhausted from a day of drinking comparable to the Journalism full day bender which culminated my first year as a UCC J-schooler last April.
But good news to those reading this just eager to find out what happened with the all mighty jacket. It is in the bar still, and I told the man on the other line today to keep it on hold for me. Derek said he'd pick it up, which is great, because Queen's Hotel in Nanaimo is no short drive from here.
PART TWO: MY DAY AT THE SPROAT LAKE RAFT RACE
Shayne Morrow: Don't say it's too late, or you just got yourself a new raft.
That was my friend Shayne, a reporter at the Times telling the coordinator of the Sproat Lake Raft Race, Maria Castiglione, that we wouldn't take the raft back if she wouldn't let us enter. I guess it's only fitting I got hammered to finish the day yesterday because this was no typical day for me, no ordinary day, that is for sure.
I woke up later than I should have to start the day. I was to meet Shayne at the Port Boat House because we were borrowing a trailer to transport our raft from a house on Sproat Lake to the Fish and Duck Pub where the race would begin. I had to convince Shayne that Maria would allow us to register for the race late, so he decided we would do it after all.
Because we didn't want to be too late, we got Dennis Houle, the owner of Houle Printing, to move it with his truck. Getting the raft out there was just a portion of our worries. We didn't know if our team would all show up for sure, and we couldn't race with only two. Mia Hietland and Michael Briones, reporters and co-workers of mine, did eventually show up, but we didn't have the whole team until about an hour before race time.
Our raft was another issue, one giving us problems since day one. There is so many details to this race you'd think it was a professional sport. The raft had to be a certain size, had to be home made, and couldn't look at all like a boat. We were almost going to throw in the towel when Maria told us not to us the first raft we constructed because it looked like a boat. It was a van top we had found in an auto wrecking yard in town. We were looking forward to testing its durablity on the water. We even did some carpentry work on it ourselves. We're thinking of taking it out for a test ride anyways. I told Shayne that I was determined to see what it is made out of before I leave.
Anyways, it was Thursday already when we found out we couldn't use our van top, leaving us little time to prepare. Luckly there was one used one from last years race that the owner of a local Subway let us use. Thank goodness. Oh, but our work wasn't done just yet.
We had to constuct a sail, so because we had limited time, we used an old hockey stick of Shaynes, with a rug attached. It was a tiny sail which we decorated with AV Times newspapers. I don't think our sail even had the required demensions but they were leniant and let us race with it anyways. It was probably the most creative thing we did. None of us dressed up for the costume contest, while other teams were dressed as construction workers, hillbillies, ect. Other rafts had water guns, lawn chairs and tables, while ours was on a smaller frame with no chairs or tables, just two short benches made of flat, painted green, plywood constructed with 2 by 4's and inner tubes. One raft had a dragon head on the front in which a fire extinguiser was placed. They used the extinguisher to sent water out the dragons mouth. It was pretty impressive. Some people have a lot of time on their hands. But our raft was much smaller, and a smaller raft means a faster raft right? Nope, not for us.
Our raft couldn't hold our team without sinking under water, so Shayne, being the brilliant reporter he is, used his scooby diving equipment, went behind the raft, and kicked with his flippers while on board we used oars. Must have gone fast then right? Well, not really.
This raft was a piece of crap. Obviously the people who designed it had no intentions of winning the race. This thing would sink so easy and as soon as Shayne and whoever was behind with the flippers kicking got on board, it would sink, sending our empty beer bottles, rule sheets and everything overboard and in water. We got two six packs of beer, and to impress the judges at one of the check points, Mia, Mike and I slammed back beers. They weren't impressed.
Our half full beer cans ended up filling up to a combination of half beer, half lake water. We could barely read the rules and course description because the paper was wet. Our sail self descructed, soaking the newspaper, and falling in the face of whoever was on the front bench. Things were getting ugly. Luckly, I didn't lose any personal belongings I brought onto the unstable raft.
Shayne: This is probably the most exercise I've had in a year.
We were so exhausted we couldn't go for round 2, which was another trip around the lake reaching checkpoints, impressing judges, and looking for clues. Judges chose the winner of the race based on this. We didn't impress judges all day, but we did get them to laugh at us, although if they were to laugh at anything, it should be the raft. It took us 3 hours to do round 1, and there was a 4 hour time limit, after that points were reducted. We all went home following the race, and refused to stay for the point tally.
10 Reasons Why I Don't Think We Won That Race
1. We skipped the second half
2. We were the slowest out of round one
3. Our raft design wasn't very appealing
4. None of us wore costumes
5. We started the race late because we were waiting on Michael to come back from the pub with the beer
6. "What the hell?!" points were given out for incredible brilliance- we didn't do anything brilliant. Maybe the monumental stupidity points we'd get instead
7. Our sail was too small
8. We had to borrow a first aid kit, which was required but nobody on our team brought one
9. We spent more time ignoring the rules than obeying them
10. That raft is a piece of crap, designed for 2 people, not 4
PORT ALBERNI- A TOWN I ORIGINALLY WASN'T FOND OF, BUT ONE I'VE GROWN TO APPRECIATE
Saying goodbye is never easy. But it's something I've gotten used to over the last year. Certainly saying goodbye to Port Alberni will be easier than saying goodbye to PG was. However with this town being on the island and far from Kamloops, I ask myself could this be the last time I see these people, and this town???
I don't intend it to be that way, but nothing is guaranteed in life. With every goodbye comes the thought that goes through everybodys heads, and you all know what that is.
Will I ever see you again?
Everybody likes to think that friends will always see friends, but it doesn't always happen that way. There's always deaths, a sad but inevitable fact- life will come to an end for all of us! Then you also have to consider jobs, which brought me here, and which could potentially bring my parents into Kamloops. So we can't be surprised when change happens, and that death can happen at any moment to someone close, like it did for me when I heard my closest uncle died last May. I'm still holding back tears while remaining in a state of disbelief over the incident, and trying to remember the last time I had seen him, and what my last words to him were, and his response.
We all take things for granted, whether we know it or not. I had taken this town for granted, and it's as if I were unconscious the first few months here, because when I look out the front door now I see I nice community of 18,000 residents who have made me feel right at home. At work I feel just like one of the staff now, but I only have 5 working days remaining. The recreational opportunities in this town are endless for a town this size. The location is great- Geographically near the center of the island, only an hour from Nanaimo, a few from Vancouver, and with weather usually warmer than anywhere else on the island with that humid heat that I personally find more comforting than the dry heat in Kamloops.
Looking back, I've done some stupid things in my lifetime, and Port Alberni was no different. Slacking off at work is something I do from time to time, I haven't helped out as much as preferred around the house, and I've spent a lot of nights on the computer or watching TV instead of going outside to see nature, or accomplishing something worthwhile. I suppose that's what prompted me to get a gym pass, something I feel is a major accomplishment in itself. Getting me to go to a gym used to be as hard as finding a needle in a haystack. Well, maybe not that tough.
Friday will most likely be my last day here, and last night was most likely my last Saturday night out on the island, till I come back to visit. By next Saturday I could quite possibly be in Kamloops, although there's a slim chance on me staying an extra night, but probably not. Was last night my last time out with friends I had met from the Tin Pants Theatre, the same group I had joined in for Mafia with, such as Derek, Dave and Eric? It quite possibly was. Will tonight be my last match of tennis against Kendall Hanson, the CH News Video Journalist? Yes, there's a good chance it will be. I've still got a punch card for Alberni Fitness for 6 more visits, and I'm in town 6 more days, ah, yeah right. I'll probably have to miss a turn or two.
When I think of Port Alberni down the road, I'll remember the friends the most because for me, it's not about where I am, it's more about who I'm with, and friends in Port Alberni have made this small town more enjoyable. I'll particularly remember the staff at the AV Times, a great bunch of people who have made going to work fun.
Port Alberni, you will never be forgotten, and I hope to see you again soon. Prince George, here I come.
This is an acceptionably long post for me, but it's a Sunday and I'm hungover. Therefore, this is as good a time as ever to spend reflecting on the past. This will probably be my last one until I get to Kamloops or Prince George.
PART 1: THE NIGHT- BEER, MUSIC, AND A SUNDAY HANGOVER
As I reminise about my night in Nanaimo last night and can distinctively remember all that happened up until a certain point, I'm thinking maybe I should have paced myself. I felt the urge to drink a lot last night, but I wouldn't have anticipated what happened. I ended up leaving my jacket at Queen's Hotel, a bar on Victoria Street in downtown Nanaimo where I went with a group of my Port Alberni friends to witness a performace by a band. A band I never caught the name of, but of which the lead singer resides here in Port Alberni. My friend Derek Turner happens to be best friends with him and invited me for a night out in the city.
Anyways, because I'm getting off topic like I tend to do from time to time, lets get back to last night. When we entered the bar, the band was already playing, but we knew they would be. We decided to make a fashionably late enterance.
After having already spend the afternoon drinking in the sunshine during the Sproat Lake Raft Race, I was tired when the night began. But then being in that bar with the combination of a live band, loud music, and a great bunch of friends ready to sip back alcoholic beverages, I had seen the message, and the message was clear.
MUST GET BEER!
So I went to the counter, ordered myself a Canadian and began my drinking binge. The music was great, and after hearing them cover the Hip's New Orleans is Sinking, I was ready to go. After my first bottle, I ordered another one and started drinking. Ah, beer and live rock music! What could be better? Well, sex I suppose! I began to join in on the pitchers as well, then ordered one myself, and after having my first glass out of that pitcher I had ordered I was finished, alcohol had beaten me on this night. I'll give beer the victory on this night but not without a fight. It was shortly after hearing another great tune- Santeria by Sublime- that alcohol took control.
GAME! SET! MATCH! goes to alcohol, and more specifically Rickards, the type of beer in that last pitcher. New Orleans didn't sink, I did, sinking into a deep sleep on the way back from Nanaimo, and waking up on my driveway behind my car in Port Alberni. Oddly enough, I wasn't dissapointed realizing I had left my jacket in Nanaimo, I was too tired, and exhausted from a day of drinking comparable to the Journalism full day bender which culminated my first year as a UCC J-schooler last April.
But good news to those reading this just eager to find out what happened with the all mighty jacket. It is in the bar still, and I told the man on the other line today to keep it on hold for me. Derek said he'd pick it up, which is great, because Queen's Hotel in Nanaimo is no short drive from here.
PART TWO: MY DAY AT THE SPROAT LAKE RAFT RACE
Shayne Morrow: Don't say it's too late, or you just got yourself a new raft.
That was my friend Shayne, a reporter at the Times telling the coordinator of the Sproat Lake Raft Race, Maria Castiglione, that we wouldn't take the raft back if she wouldn't let us enter. I guess it's only fitting I got hammered to finish the day yesterday because this was no typical day for me, no ordinary day, that is for sure.
I woke up later than I should have to start the day. I was to meet Shayne at the Port Boat House because we were borrowing a trailer to transport our raft from a house on Sproat Lake to the Fish and Duck Pub where the race would begin. I had to convince Shayne that Maria would allow us to register for the race late, so he decided we would do it after all.
Because we didn't want to be too late, we got Dennis Houle, the owner of Houle Printing, to move it with his truck. Getting the raft out there was just a portion of our worries. We didn't know if our team would all show up for sure, and we couldn't race with only two. Mia Hietland and Michael Briones, reporters and co-workers of mine, did eventually show up, but we didn't have the whole team until about an hour before race time.
Our raft was another issue, one giving us problems since day one. There is so many details to this race you'd think it was a professional sport. The raft had to be a certain size, had to be home made, and couldn't look at all like a boat. We were almost going to throw in the towel when Maria told us not to us the first raft we constructed because it looked like a boat. It was a van top we had found in an auto wrecking yard in town. We were looking forward to testing its durablity on the water. We even did some carpentry work on it ourselves. We're thinking of taking it out for a test ride anyways. I told Shayne that I was determined to see what it is made out of before I leave.
Anyways, it was Thursday already when we found out we couldn't use our van top, leaving us little time to prepare. Luckly there was one used one from last years race that the owner of a local Subway let us use. Thank goodness. Oh, but our work wasn't done just yet.
We had to constuct a sail, so because we had limited time, we used an old hockey stick of Shaynes, with a rug attached. It was a tiny sail which we decorated with AV Times newspapers. I don't think our sail even had the required demensions but they were leniant and let us race with it anyways. It was probably the most creative thing we did. None of us dressed up for the costume contest, while other teams were dressed as construction workers, hillbillies, ect. Other rafts had water guns, lawn chairs and tables, while ours was on a smaller frame with no chairs or tables, just two short benches made of flat, painted green, plywood constructed with 2 by 4's and inner tubes. One raft had a dragon head on the front in which a fire extinguiser was placed. They used the extinguisher to sent water out the dragons mouth. It was pretty impressive. Some people have a lot of time on their hands. But our raft was much smaller, and a smaller raft means a faster raft right? Nope, not for us.
Our raft couldn't hold our team without sinking under water, so Shayne, being the brilliant reporter he is, used his scooby diving equipment, went behind the raft, and kicked with his flippers while on board we used oars. Must have gone fast then right? Well, not really.
This raft was a piece of crap. Obviously the people who designed it had no intentions of winning the race. This thing would sink so easy and as soon as Shayne and whoever was behind with the flippers kicking got on board, it would sink, sending our empty beer bottles, rule sheets and everything overboard and in water. We got two six packs of beer, and to impress the judges at one of the check points, Mia, Mike and I slammed back beers. They weren't impressed.
Our half full beer cans ended up filling up to a combination of half beer, half lake water. We could barely read the rules and course description because the paper was wet. Our sail self descructed, soaking the newspaper, and falling in the face of whoever was on the front bench. Things were getting ugly. Luckly, I didn't lose any personal belongings I brought onto the unstable raft.
Shayne: This is probably the most exercise I've had in a year.
We were so exhausted we couldn't go for round 2, which was another trip around the lake reaching checkpoints, impressing judges, and looking for clues. Judges chose the winner of the race based on this. We didn't impress judges all day, but we did get them to laugh at us, although if they were to laugh at anything, it should be the raft. It took us 3 hours to do round 1, and there was a 4 hour time limit, after that points were reducted. We all went home following the race, and refused to stay for the point tally.
10 Reasons Why I Don't Think We Won That Race
1. We skipped the second half
2. We were the slowest out of round one
3. Our raft design wasn't very appealing
4. None of us wore costumes
5. We started the race late because we were waiting on Michael to come back from the pub with the beer
6. "What the hell?!" points were given out for incredible brilliance- we didn't do anything brilliant. Maybe the monumental stupidity points we'd get instead
7. Our sail was too small
8. We had to borrow a first aid kit, which was required but nobody on our team brought one
9. We spent more time ignoring the rules than obeying them
10. That raft is a piece of crap, designed for 2 people, not 4
PORT ALBERNI- A TOWN I ORIGINALLY WASN'T FOND OF, BUT ONE I'VE GROWN TO APPRECIATE
Saying goodbye is never easy. But it's something I've gotten used to over the last year. Certainly saying goodbye to Port Alberni will be easier than saying goodbye to PG was. However with this town being on the island and far from Kamloops, I ask myself could this be the last time I see these people, and this town???
I don't intend it to be that way, but nothing is guaranteed in life. With every goodbye comes the thought that goes through everybodys heads, and you all know what that is.
Will I ever see you again?
Everybody likes to think that friends will always see friends, but it doesn't always happen that way. There's always deaths, a sad but inevitable fact- life will come to an end for all of us! Then you also have to consider jobs, which brought me here, and which could potentially bring my parents into Kamloops. So we can't be surprised when change happens, and that death can happen at any moment to someone close, like it did for me when I heard my closest uncle died last May. I'm still holding back tears while remaining in a state of disbelief over the incident, and trying to remember the last time I had seen him, and what my last words to him were, and his response.
We all take things for granted, whether we know it or not. I had taken this town for granted, and it's as if I were unconscious the first few months here, because when I look out the front door now I see I nice community of 18,000 residents who have made me feel right at home. At work I feel just like one of the staff now, but I only have 5 working days remaining. The recreational opportunities in this town are endless for a town this size. The location is great- Geographically near the center of the island, only an hour from Nanaimo, a few from Vancouver, and with weather usually warmer than anywhere else on the island with that humid heat that I personally find more comforting than the dry heat in Kamloops.
Looking back, I've done some stupid things in my lifetime, and Port Alberni was no different. Slacking off at work is something I do from time to time, I haven't helped out as much as preferred around the house, and I've spent a lot of nights on the computer or watching TV instead of going outside to see nature, or accomplishing something worthwhile. I suppose that's what prompted me to get a gym pass, something I feel is a major accomplishment in itself. Getting me to go to a gym used to be as hard as finding a needle in a haystack. Well, maybe not that tough.
Friday will most likely be my last day here, and last night was most likely my last Saturday night out on the island, till I come back to visit. By next Saturday I could quite possibly be in Kamloops, although there's a slim chance on me staying an extra night, but probably not. Was last night my last time out with friends I had met from the Tin Pants Theatre, the same group I had joined in for Mafia with, such as Derek, Dave and Eric? It quite possibly was. Will tonight be my last match of tennis against Kendall Hanson, the CH News Video Journalist? Yes, there's a good chance it will be. I've still got a punch card for Alberni Fitness for 6 more visits, and I'm in town 6 more days, ah, yeah right. I'll probably have to miss a turn or two.
When I think of Port Alberni down the road, I'll remember the friends the most because for me, it's not about where I am, it's more about who I'm with, and friends in Port Alberni have made this small town more enjoyable. I'll particularly remember the staff at the AV Times, a great bunch of people who have made going to work fun.
Port Alberni, you will never be forgotten, and I hope to see you again soon. Prince George, here I come.
This is an acceptionably long post for me, but it's a Sunday and I'm hungover. Therefore, this is as good a time as ever to spend reflecting on the past. This will probably be my last one until I get to Kamloops or Prince George.
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