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I find posting once every two years is best. One it takes me that long to be creative enough to entertain you monkies (I mean that lovingly) and two... I'm lazy.

 

Anyway, so the day starts off balls ass cold. What is balls ass cold you ask? Well, balls ass cold is somewhere below "Holy Jewish Christ it's cold!" and just slightly above "Dude, I can't feel my nuts!". Tim and Dan can fill you in more on how cold it was, since they decided to sleep in their car... on the mountain... at 5am... with the heat off. Yeah, them Maryland boys ain't all there.

So as I was saying, it was balls ass cold, and we decide to warm up with a nice easy run. Now this run, had this stuff called packed powder on it. I'm not sure what it really was because it was light and fluffy and responsive and easy to ride. Where I'm from, packed powder is the frozen painfull shi*t you get the day after all the man made snow froze. I have to say, I like Vermont's version a lot better. Anyway, we're on this run, and there's this little roller of a jump at the start. Now, everyone is hitting this thing and landing with ease. I says to myself "SELF! that looks fun and easy so I'm gonna try it!". Sadly, what my mind failed to take into account was that the ones who went over it where Dan, Tim, and a few others who have been riding a hell of a lot longer than me and therefore, can actually ride really well. So just because they make something look easy, it may not actually be so... easy. Apparently, I left this part of my brain back in VA. So I tuck and make a straight line for this thing hit the top and leap. It's at this point that I realize I have no earthly clue what in the blue flying catholic %$&* to do whilst airborne. This becomes even more obvious when I land with all the grace of a drowned bubonic rat. But this isn't Liberty, so the landing area wasn't made of rock. Unfazed, I get up and ride down.

From there we wait and get on the tram. The tram by the way is the slowest means known to man to get people up a mountain. Seriously. Anyway, we get to the top of this beast and I'm looking around at the kind of terrain I've never ever ridden before. I can't wait to ride down this bitch! So I strap and and get ready to roll. It's at this point that I realize one of the straps on my binding has snapped in half making my foot wobble around in my binding like a drunken irishman on st patty's day. Getting down is going to be a bit of a challenge. The only thing I can do at this point is ride down and pray for a repair at the base. So Carmen and I take off for the base.

I will point out that the ride down was pretty awesome. Especially for a mid atlantic rider. Lots of terrain, snow, and no ice. Again, NO ICE. Hah! Anyway, I'm almost all the way down I start to get cocky again. Yes I know, not exactly a bright move when im working with half a binding on my back foot. Like I said, I left that part of my brain at home. There are these nice rollers/hills/whatever the hell you call them, that were just screaming for me to get some speed and jump at the top. Soo, I jump em. And amazingly, I land the first one. Excited, I tuck and get ready for the next one. Up I go and again I land without bailing. At this point I'm flying down the hill and there's one more coming. I figure go for 3!! Haha, yeah bad idea. I tuck and throw everything I have into my legs to jump the last one sending me into a low orbit. I try to land but my balance is off and I come crashing down right on my head. That's when the lights go out. But only for a second or two. Thank god for brain buckets. But this has certainly put my ego in check for the rest of the trip... Kinda

Finally at the bottom, a little woozy, I go into the shop in the hopes that they sell flows. In the middle of burton country (yeah). They don't in fact, no one does... anywhere. I'm stuck buying the only large size bindings they have. a $70 pair of Burton Freestyles aka $70 of pure unholy suck. But whatever, I meet up with everyone and again head up the tram. We're headed for something called the ugly tree. I don't know which of the 80 billion trees was the ugly one but I'll get to that shortly. So we're riding to this thing and I'm trying to get used to the new bindings. I'm kind of getting the hang of it and let myself get some decent speed on the way to this glade run. That's when I catch an edge and come down on what is becoming my prefered landing cushion... my head. Honestly, I'm pretty sure there's some important SQL knowledge that i've forever lost up that hill somewhere. I can still tie my own shoes though so I'm good. However, I've managed to shatter my goggle lenses in this fall. Yeah I don't know how I managed that either. See below for pics

Now for the trees. Keep in mind that I've never even really been on a black before. Sure I rode a handfull of them at 7 springs for one day ut those are about as challenging as picking my nose. This is a run through trees n shi*t... TREES! But I'm with a bunch of people who know what they're doing so I'll be all right... Kinda. They head on through these trees and in a matter of 3.4 seconds, I've lost all of them. I can't see them, I can't hear them, they're just gone lol. Now these new bindings aren't responding very well to my "oh shi*t turn now!" commands. So I'm spending most of my time on my ass, and my back, etc etc. It takes a retarded amount of time to finally work my way out of the trees. Once I do, I find that I'm all kinds of alone. So I spend the rest of the day exploring this huge mountain. Next time, I'll bring a radio that works!

Friday was a different day. After some inventive binding "repair", I'm back on my flows. And I brought some spare lenses for my goggles so I'm back to working condition again. Time to make another run through some trees!

I've learned a few lessons about riding through trees with this group. 1) Never follow rob because he loves his superman impression. But unlike superman, he doesn't stay airborne. 2) Follow Zach (cifex), because he takes lines through trees that people can actually survive. 3) Never ever ever follow Tim through the trees, unless you brought your golf clubs, and a shovel, oh and a tent. More on that below At this point I'm doing a decent job keeping up with these folks. Again they've been doing this a hell of a lot longer than me and I sure as hell would never attempt these runs on my own. This is one of the things I liked best about this trip. Hitting terrain that i never thought I could do and pushing myself damn hard to keep up.

Anyway, I follow Zach as best I can through these trees. I gotta admit, riding through trees is a huge rush. I've never done anything like it before. It's better than snorting blow off a hooker's ass! After a few hundred falls, and crashes into trees, I pop out onto the trail where everyone is waiting. Somehow, I've managed to beat Tim out of the woods. Which is odd because it took me just under a decade to get out. Then I found out why.

Apparently, Tim decided he wanted to go golfing. f*ck this riding shiz, boy wanted to break out his clubs and hit the back nine! Soo, he headed for the golf course. Which is obviously well out of boundes. For some reason Tim thinks this is a really good idea anyway. Even though he didn't bring his gold clubs... and there's snow on the ground. It's the little details that count. By the time he figures this out, he's waist deep in powder in the middle of a ravine on the opposite side of Vermont. So while we wait for the gallant golfer to carry his lanky ass back to the rest of us, we decide to keep ourselves entertained.

Dan works on his backflip (not quite as funny as Andrea's backflip but with much less ankle twistage).

Waiting for Tim

Several others play jump the tree stump.. thingy.

All the while shouting for Tim so he could get a bead on where vermont was again. (I think he cried). Dan was a bit upset that he was the only one shouting but that was because we were all laughing too god damn hard and the filth flowing from his pie hole like a raunchy poet. If Danimal was a religion, I'd f*cking worship it. Apologies to all the random folk riding by that heard what was said. But it was epic funny!

I'd write more but I think this post if long enough already. Needless to say I had the time of my life. I broke bindings, a helmet, goggle lenses, my ass, bought 2 pairs of bindings, got a horrid chest cold (btw, you can get a great buzz off of 5 advil, 3 strong swigs of robotussin, a cup of thera flu, and 4 sudafed caplets.), bit out a chunk of my mouth, spit blood in front of some random skier (that was pretty funny) and was molested by more than one tree (It wasn't gay because I didn't push back) But at least I didn't slip getting out of the hottub and bust my ass like a certain porch flying canadian

 

 

 I wish I could just break this psychological barrier... Tear it down in a blaze of beauty and trauma. Time's set still always waiting for them to make the first move, but is it true or just an act of friendliness? "Please just trust me.", the heart screams. "But what if it all comes crashing down...", the mind shoots back...
But I guess that is the definition of being human, were not perfect. Were not all civil... were not all breathtaking. Maybe that's why I've been caged for the past 18 years, I'm trying to be something that I'm not. Shielding myself from everything that could go wrong. Just play the game son...
Everything is just so high upon itself right now... I just feel... feel like:

-Changing everything
-Having everything go perfectly
-Sharing wildest dreams with a stranger and contently listening...
-Staring at the stars admiring the vast probabilities that brought this all here, and then the probabilities that brought me to that thought.
-Altering the course of someone's life in a mere instant.

My whole life it repeats over and over, what incentive can I possibly have for things to change in the future?

xoxo- brianne

   So I wake up on the 24th to the song "Life In The Fast Lane" by The Steve Miller Band. My dad is obviously up and started on the renovations upstairs. Me being the stylish one preferred to sleep in but my dad had other plans. "Fix the table saw, do the electrical, than we need to set in the counter top on the island." he says to me as I lay mindless in my bed. So I get up and do my First 2 jobs with little problems. Its about +2 outside and raining with a bit of snow mixed in. Its shi*tty. So we get around to the counter top and it takes us 4 hours to get it just right. but in those 4 hours the weather got cold and the rain turned to straight snow. It fell heavy and I knew the gang was setting something up at Alicia's Farmhouse so I grab my jib gear, my light and my generator and head on out. Its only a 5 min. drive 2 Alicia's but the weather had changed so much that, add in my Ford Taurus-waggons bald tires, I missed almost every turn! It took more along the lines of 15 mins! So I FINALLY get there and its snowin' like crazy. So they take me out to the jib and there it is, A tabletop built with a six pack of straw-bails and snow pushed up by a tractor with a blade on the front. Its not huge, about 15 feet (gap) from lip-to-landing. I'm totally not prepared for it. A quad tow-in, need Goggles and Bandanna with a thicker jacket. Where are they, you ask? AT HOME! So I jump back in my car, it snowed an inch since I got there! So I go back home and grab my shi*t. I'm heading back and what do ya know, I can't make it up my hill! Theres to much snow for my bald tires to get through, so I do a Slow-mo Rockford And header home. I get to the bottom of the hill at my driveway, I miss it completely and hit the ditch on the far side. So I walk down my kilometre-long drive way back to my house to collect the posse and get my waggon unstuck. So we get it unstuck, and I, feeling defeated by the weather and unable to jib I unloaded my stuff. Just when I thought all hope of having a fun weekend jib was lost, Marc calls me up, I tell him my situation and he says "Don't worry I'll come and get you, we shall jib even if it kills us!" and I say "OK" so he picks me and my gear up in Alicia's dad's Dodge Crew cab Diesel and off we go to the jib. So we get there and we set up the lighting for the jump and footage taking. We use 2 halogen lights hooked up to the generator, plus tractor and truck lights. As we get into the sesh, Marc pulls a 3 followed by a Backflip-180, almost lands it but... Woaw! That hangs a few jaws. That cranks the gnar up a notch! So Curtis (New-schooler Skier, our only skier buddy) starts throwing Backflips and Lincolns (He didn't land much but it was awesome to watch!) So I step up, method, and Slow 180 didn't stick either. Than I go for a frontflip, I get invert and.... BANG!!! LANDING!!! I stick it.... Directly on my head! Man that hurt! I still have neck pains. So I go 1 more time, lookin' for a 540 but as luck would have it I catch a funny edge and air totally off the jump, crashing down beside the landing, narrowly missing the shovels and boards lying there. Man, I'm lucky! So the night ends around 12:30ish, we go inside and go over the footage before we hit the sac. And as always, there is a lack of beds, so me and Curtis buddy up and share a double, and we are not small people. We awake to the site of whiteness coming in through the window. Its still snowing. Alot. Curtis stole all the blankets during the night and even had enough audacity to throw one on the ground instead of giving it to me. What a jerk! Its about noon and we are about to go jib when Curtis's mom shows up to bring him to a buddies to go hit up a Metal Show, so we're down one jibber. So we head out, hit it up and end it with a group hug and frozen fingers. A fine jib for the weekend. Marc drops me off at the top of my Valley because I know for a fact that the weather has turned it into "The Pit of No Return." So after I guide him in his 18 point turn, we say our goodbyes as he disappears into the blizzardy darkness, I make my way down on a blind shred to my house. I hike my driveway, get inside the porch and I eat some pizza. The Perfect way to end a Perfect weekend. Thanks Winter, so far so good.

When I see your smile Tears run down my face I can't replace And now that I'm stronger I've figured out How this world turns cold and breaks through my soul And I know I'll find deep inside me I can be the one I will never let you fall I'll stand up with you forever I'll be there for you through it all Even if saving you sends me to heaven It's ok. It's ok. It's ok. Seasons are changing And waves are crashing And stars are falling all for us Days grow longer and nights grow shorter I can show you I'll be the one I will never let you fall I'll stand up with you forever I'll be there for you through it all Even if saving you sends me to heaven Cuz you're my, you're my, my true love, my whole heart Please don't throw that away Cuz I'm here for you Please don't walk away, Please tell me you'll stay, woah stay woah Use me as you will Pull my strings just for a thrill And I know I'll be ok Though my skies are turning gray I will never let you fall I'll stand up with you forever I'll be there for you through it all Even if saving you sends me to heaven I will never let you fall I'll stand up with you forever I'll be there for you through it all Even if saving you sends me to heaven

So I'm cruisin whistler park yesterday with Rach and Matt, just doin laps hittin jumps and jibs. doing whatever second lap hittin the hip I go pretty big on that hip just doing shifties goofing off pretty stock, for some reason I got off balance and over corrected and started rolling over my front shoulder and this is not good I spin out of the roll catch my back edge and eat the shi*t as hard as you can eat shi*t the whiplash effect. but back head all real hard luckily no concussion thank you red helmet I love you. I knocked the wind out of me self so I'm strugglin for air rach see this struggle and was about to jet off and get patrol but its not that bad matt stops her. I can breath after and agonizing 15 seconds. my googles took the worst of it I recon the strap snapped off kablam lense kinda came out and won't go back in. They are trashed I like them googles brand new they were Spy Orbits Jesus!. But The rest of the day went pretty good Just goofin off tryin cab 9's off the S jump so close landed a bunch of cab 7's but the ever so much cooler cab 9 is elusive. So today I am feeling the pain and strain of the crash oh yea I bit my tongue to so that kinda hurts there it is zing.

Ok ladies and gents, boarding is one thing but till the hill is open the crazy shi*t comes out lol.   ATV + 2 1/2 feet of snow deep + Rope + Board = sick ass time lol. we shall hit it hard and prolly crash hard lol  but the pics will be in and for your intrests if you have any ill try to post new shi*t as much as possible.     Prolly can expect some other stupid yet fun stuff from my friends and I. as long as we are having fun  we will pull off just about anything, even if its tubing down 9 sets of pure steel stairs, pure ice all the way down them bad boys lol (crashing sucks) had a friend break his leg on one run lol . told him to hold cam.... then figured hospital was better idea lol.   anyways if you want you can come up with shi*t and we will see if its worth is and get some pics for you, nothing retarded dangerous.     anyways   Ttyl   Tyler.       oh yea for those who have asked why they call me T lol .....names Tyler   might be a connection lol

It snowed last night and I'm member of the day...hot damn!  It's a good day.

 

What a past few days it's been.  The christmas party was pretty insane.  Started with dinner at the golf course, followed by lots of drinks, some dancing at the mule, the post-bar trip to dennys, then ended up staying at the Ramada crashing sometime around 5am.  Pretty fun.  Got up the next morning a little late and drove to biggie with Tori.  Spent the afternoon on the black forest AKA the Ham Sandwich.  Fun as usual.  Slept at Ambers and went to big white again today with Amber, Keither, and Janana.  Overcast but trying to be sunny.  No new snow but lots of little hits to mess with.  Slid a super secret rainbow box a few times and had my first scorpion of the year.  Also penguin slid over a rock.  Another ouch.  Good day though.  Brought out the camera in the afternoon but it's broken so I didn't get many shots with it.  I'll download the ones I did get when I'm back in Penticton.  Couch surfed again tonight and going to biggie again with tori...all I know is I'm getting some mcdonalds breakfast on the way.

Mark your confessions:

[x] I Talk A LOT when I get really nervous. -Actually I talk a lot..pretty much all of the time. What can i say, I like to talk.

[x] I am really ticklish. -I'm ticklish every place imaginable..but that doesnt give you license to test that theory *_*

[x] I'm afraid of the dark. -It's not the dark exactly that i'm scared of..its what is in the dark that freaks me out O_O

[ ] I can't sleep in a room if the door is open

[ ]I can't sleep in a room if the door is closed

[ ] I am homosexual.

[x] I believe in true love. -True love exists..its just a matter of finding it.

[ ] I've ran away from home

[ ] I listen to political music

[ ] I collect comic books

[x] I shut others out when I'm sad. -If i'm really sad..i'm usually quiet and keep to myself, but thats not that often

[ ] I've stayed out all night.

[x] I open up to others easily. _To complete strangers, I can make friends easily. Its fun being nice and exciting!

[x] I am keeping a secret from the world. -Everyone has secrets..its just a way of life

[x] I watch the news -If i'm bored I do, but theres so much crap happening in the world anymore..i'm not sure why I watch it.

[x] I love Disney movies. -Disney Movies are the best ever! Omg..I love Lion king, and the little mermaid ^_^

[ ] I am a sucker for green eyes.

[x] I am a sucker for brown eyes. -Brown eyes usually seem warm and sensitive

[x] I am a sucker for blue eyes -And then blue eyes convey curiousness and deep thoughts

[ ] I dont kill bugs

[ ] I have "x"s in my screen name.

[x] I've slipped and fell in public. -I'm very graceful..slipping is just my way of testing if the ground really can support my weight :P

[ ] I've slipped out a "lol" in a real conversation

[ ] I love Spam

[x] I bake well. -Haven't posioned anyone yet haha

[x] I have worn pajamas to class. -For pajama day! woot woot..with fuzzy pink slippers..yea!

[ ] I want a better job

[ ] Talked on a phone for 6+ hours.

[ ] I love Dr. Phil.

[x] I like multiple people -Is that a sin?..cuz if it is, i'm bound for the underworld

[ ] I am guilty of tYpInG lIkE tHiS.

[x] I am self-conscious. -Self Concious leads to my paranoid personality..which leads to my vainess..so ultimately it gets canceled out.

[x] I love to laugh.-Laughing is a way to hide pain..but laughing also helps to become happy..no one likes to be serious all the time!

[x] I have tried alcohol. -Yep..thats probably a sin too

[ ] I drink alcohol on a regular basis.

[ ] I have tried a cigarette.

[ ] I have smoked a pack in one day.

[ ] I loved Lord of the Flies.

[x] I have cough drops when I'm not sick. *Cough* But I AM Sick...

[x] I can't swallow pills. -I'm so retarded i almost choke myself everytime

[x] I have a lot of scars. -Scars show imperfections..which means YAY...i'm not perfect.

[ ] I can't sleep if there is a spider in the room.

[ ] I like chocolate.

[x] I bite my nails. -Nasty habit I know..thats how i compensate for my nervousness or boredness

[x] I am not comfortable with being me. _Usually i think i'm being annoying and weird..

[x] I play computer games when I'm bored. -Who doesnt right? lol

[ ] Gotten lost in the city.

[x] Thought of suicide before. -Well..yes i admit it, but i never actually tried..i was just going through a rough time thats all

[x] Seen a shooting star. -Those things are so beautiful..when you see one its hard not to contemplate lifes simple pleasures and appreciate all thats good in life

[x] Gone out in public in my pajamas -Only to pajama day at school! And thats public

[ ] Hugged a stranger.

[ ] Been in a fist fight.

[ ] Laughed and had some type of beverage come out of my nose

[x] Pushed all the buttons on an elevator. -Yep..good times good times

[ ] Made out in an elevator.

[ ] Kicked a guy where it hurts on purpose

[ ] Been skydiving.

[ ] Been bungee jumping.

[x] Gotten stitches. -In my chin and in my mouth.

[ ] Drank a whole gallon of milk in one hour

[x] Bitten someone -Actually its not as disturbing as it looks..try it sometime. Dogs bite..so why not? ^_^

[ ] Been to Niagara Falls.

[ ] Gotten the chicken pox.

[x] Crashed into a car -Does crashing into a car with a bike count? Lol..cuz i'm guilty of that

[ ] Been to germany.

[ ] Ridden in a taxi.

[ ] Shoplifted.

[ ] Been fired.

[x] Had feelings for someone who didn't have them back. _I feel that right now. Shhhh you don't know who. HAHA for you!

[ ] Stole something from your job.

[ ] Gone on a blind date.

[ ] Had a crush on a teacher/coach.

[ ] Celebrated Mardi Gras in New Orleans.

[ ] Been to Europe.

[ ] Slept with a co-worker, and/or employee.

[ ] Been married

[ ] Gotten divorced

[ ] Saw someone/something dying.

[ ] have a list of people you want to kill.

[x] Ridden in a car over 400 miles in one day ROAD TRIP YAY!

[x] Seen the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Parts of it...yea...quite disturbing

[ ] Thrown up in a bar.

[x] Eaten sushi. -Pretty good actually...dont see why some people dont like it

[x] Cried in public. -Yep..from being mad, and once from laughing too hard till i cried

[x] Walked purposely into traffic with your eyes closed. -Only like two steps..I didnt feel like dieing just yet

[x] Liked someone even though you knew you shouldn't have. Those forbidden love scenes are the best you know!

[x] Thought of someone a lot lately. I think of a lot of someones

[x] Hate the world. Too much world...not enough me to go around =P

Topics include:

 

-Matt Crashing his truck

-G whining about stuff

-Matt getting robbed by a pimp

-Black man John Fry "Forum got a black guy, we got a black guy too"

-Matt working on the rigs

 

 

 

 

PSICOCHICKS PROJECT: girls acting the goat

 

Hiya girls!!

I´m writing you this to release the PSICOCHICKS Project to all of you. As you see (PSICO - psychosis; CHICKS - girlies) Psicochicks is just for girls hellishly crazy, girls who love partying, who are always ready for a great laugh, for girls who love and live for riding, who push themselves on the slopes as far as no-one would bet they will, for girls who are not afraid of crashing time and again in order to get the tricks they have in mind. But above all, it´s for girls who really enjoy and have fun riding together.

Psicochicks is not an enterprise, is not a club and it doesn´t have any lucrative aim. It´s kind of a small familiar community (or a big crew, as you wish) whose members know each other and work all together to design and build it, by giving opinion, sharing new ideas and discussing the goings- on. It´s a chance to meet other girls over the world with the same point of view and it´s main goal is to get support for girls´ riding.

In the last few years, girls have been doing a great job to push their levels upwards and upwards. Snowboard is no longer a sport for guys and these girls are showing that if dudes can do it, we also can. But these things are never so easy. If girls wanna gain recognition they need sponsors´ and media support, but unfortunately this is something we lack. Because of this reason was Psicochicks born. Because only if girls gather together we will get all this support we are asking for.

Girls, don´t take me wrong. I´m not a stubborn feminist trying the women to get the control of the world. I look up to guys´ riding since they don´t fear what they do and they always have a smooth style. I´ve often heard (and thought full of admiration) "Wow, she rides like a guy", and i hate myself for this. I guess (cos I´m sure it will come) there´s a day about to come in which "riding like a girl" will be as good as "riding like a boy".

If any girl interested, write a comment and i´ll let you know more

 

so over the past few weeks i've been spending most of my time near water, salty or otherwise, and with some of sb.com's finest. moselle, mike, and of course eryn, who doesn't fit with the m's, but is fine nonetheless. and i mean that in a purely platonic way of course. i've spent far too much time in a bikini (didn't have time to change yesterday and wound up wearing it to work under my clothes... how professional!) but at least i have a decent tan to show for it, which is much improved on my pasty-ass-ed-ness of late. mmm ass. but i digress.

 

so. sooke potholes with mo. how much trouble can two girls cause in the middle of the wilderness anyways?! far too much. we didn't meet a bear, but we did meet a divorced father of two who clearly thought we were lesbians with an open mind to including a lonely old man while his sons fished happily away. the potholes are beautiful, and we got in some good exploring, swimming, and psuedo-rock climbing. the water was... well... freezing. good thing i don't have balls or they'd still be somewhere around the vicinity of my nipples. it was an awesome time, just getting out camping for a change. the sound of a river is so soothing at night. i couldn't have asked for a better camping partner, either!

 

after our little holiday, we came back to victoria to celebrate some friends' birthdays by going out and getting drunk. yes, me. drunk. that half beer really finished me off! a couple old friends of mine also came out, so i was super happy to see them. they're living down in boston now, so i don't get to see them nearly as much as i'd like. i used up all my change throwing it down eryn's cleavage, and then spent the next few days wondering why i had no change to buy things with... we gave our friend a birthday gift of a tiny little girl's bike that eryn had found in the ditch. good times all around.

 

and then, after a few days of work, i had mike out here to show him the ropes of being a good summertime BC citizen. i also took him to the potholes, where we played jane of the jungle on the tire swing and tried not to hit any children in the head with rocks. the next day we took my little sister amanda (and a bag of trail mix fortified with extra chocolate) to sidney spit, a little island full of sand off the coast of sidney (bc, not australia). we had a sandcastle building competition where everyone got prizes: i had the best landscaping, mike's was prettiest, and amanda's was most durable (that thing could've withstood terrorist attacks). mike and amanda also dug gigantic holes and threatened to bury me in them. luckliy for me, the tide came in and filled up the holes. we finished the day with a big water fight (damn but the ocean's cold!) and then spent what seemed like an eternity waiting for the ferry to arrive.

 

saturday it was off to visit the parents (and eryn) and get a rundown on the boat. that night was the last fireworks of the season, so we took some snacks, my mum, eryn, and her friend kevin down to the beach to watch them. it was a good show, and good company, even if i didn't understand all the movie quoting that was going on in the male contingency of the party.

 

sunday was the day i became captain. oh, the power. i could've keelhauled mike for insubordination if i'd been so inclined... lucky for him we'd just had the bottom done and there were no barnacles on the underside of our boat, and so, keelhauling lost its appeal. my parents own a 25 foot C&C sailboat named Cirrus, and they were generous enough to let us borrow her for the weekend (actually, my mum was downright ecstatic that Cirrus was finally getting some use). so early sunday morning we cast off from the dock and motored three hours to portland island. i would've liked to have sailed a bit, but it was dead calm for pretty much the entire weekend. the main anchorage is tortoise bay, so named because it is protected by the tortoise islets. or perhaps the islets were named after the bay, i don't know. all i know is, it's a beautiful little spot and i'd expected it to be incredibly busy on the labour day long weekend, especially with such gorgeous weather. to my surprise, it was almost deserted, only another dozen or so boats in the bay.

 

we anchored on the first try (some other fancier boats took as many as three tries to anchor! go us!) and set about exploring the island. and explore we did. after a quick dip in the ocean (quick because it was so bloody cold!) on my part, and a foot dabbling on mike's, we decided, foolishly as we were to find out, to take the path to the right. it was all fine and dandy until the path petered out. but we could hear (and see) some people ahead of us, crashing away through the undergrowth, so we decided to follow them, because, obviously, they knew where they were going. well. after getting a little sidetracked, we found that we'd lost our questionable guides (along with mike's sunglasses), and were now somewhere in the middle of the island without so much as a deer track to follow. i think they were actually wood sprites who would have led us to our death if they hadn't realised what an incredible dork i am and thought better of adding my soul to their ranks. we decided to push on, and eventually we would meet up with either the shoreline trail or the mid island trail. that was the idea anyways. the undergrowth was full of unseen brambles, and neither one of us were dressed properly for bushwhacking. i was wearing only my (still wet) bikini and flipflops that have seen better days. not ideal. but we survived, and an hour and a half later ended up back on the shoreline trail in a spot that would've taken us about ten minutes to get to if we'd chosen the left fork.

 

one of the keys to good boating is good (junk) food. so i was pretty happy to get back to the boat and all my delicious chocolate i had waiting for me. hello, my name is kendra, and i have a problem. i'm addicted to chocolate. and cherry blasters.

 

monday was labour day, and a lot of the boats in the anchorage left while we were walking around the island. we managed not to get ourselves lost this time, and brought enough snacks to feed amanda's kid's klub. during our lunch break we had a nice parks canada girl come up and survey us. they are thinking of introducing a $7.00/person/day fee for all of their parks, just to use the trails. now, i'm all for keeping our parks beautiful. but. $7 just to hike some trails? and no discount for locals? they already charge for parking, usually between $3 and $5. it starts to add up in a hurry. so much for keeping our children active... i know if i had to pay every time i wanted to hike i wouldn't be hiking nearly as much. i don't have a lot of money to throw around on fitness; if i did i'd have gym memberships and gear for every sport out there. and i'm way off track again.

 

anyways. we walked all the way around the island without getting lost! the only bad part was me being too short to get over a log, misjudging how far i had to lift my leg, and opening up a big gash on my shin. mmm yummy. it looks pretty nasty. after dinner we went back ashore and raided the apple trees. portland island used to have a farm on it, and lots of sheep (we had a problem with kiwis so the sheep have been moved to a high security farm with kiwi repellant fences) and an orchard. so mike climbed the trees and shook the branches while i danced around underneath and tried not to get hit in the head by falling apples. of course, i was useful and tried to catch any good apples that mike might throw at me, only, i became rather wary of him after he tossed one while i wasn't ready and it bounced off my chin. 

 

yesterday morning bright and early we weighed anchor, and, after cleaning all the seaweed off it, headed back to my parents place. it was my first time docking the boat, and i have to say, i did a damn good job of it! backed her in beautifully, mum was there to hand me the lines, and Cirrus was back safe and sound. had time for a quick lunch and a chat with mum, then it was off to work for me. which brings me to my good news...

 

WORK

here are some poems i wrote when i wasn't feeling as good as i am now

which you can probably tell from them!

just thought id wack them up anyway lol!

 

Too much to say, unable to say it,

Want you to know, cannot convey it.

Emotion conflicts with logic and reason,

not sure why, feels like ive committed treason,

To your heart, your body, your soul,

As the mistakes made have taken their toll.

All thats left behind is a ghost,

A remnant of what was, whats missed most.

Life moves so dramatically from ecstasy to depression,

No diagnosis needed tell from the expression!

Caused to much heartache too much confusion,

Maybe what once was, was just an illusion.

 

This one is way emo....

 

Happiness is relative to our own perspective,

Cicumstances change things, wish wa more directive.

Beliefs come and go, hope comes crashing down,

It only takes one moment to turn that smile into a frown.

Building ourselves up just to crash into a wall,

Climbing to the top just so we can fall.

Makes it feel like theres no point to life,

Just end it now on the end of a knife....

 

 

O btw im not like that! =D