Selachophobia

Selachophobia... That's what I have! AND I'm not the only one...


It appears many famous people have it too... check out this blog... http://tymkehl.blogspot.com/ -- thanks to Michelle - who forwarded me this blog site to let me know I'm not alone!

Did you know?

...that EVERYTHING looks different in the DARK!!!!!

Once again, me, myself, and I took a little journey to light house park... currently my favorite spot - until I discover a new one.

Arrived at the cliff side by 7:30 p.m. - in time to watch the sun set... even took some pictures:










Saw a seal poke his head up and peak around!

So, Me and I said to Myself that we should probably get going... but Myself said, no lets just hang out a few more minutes.
Then Me persisted we should go... so around 9:45 p.m. Myself and I start packing it up... it was getting a little dusk like and we still had a 20 minute hike back out through the forest to the car.

Well......... the forest doesn't look the same in the dark.

LOST... so so so lost!
All I could think about was the bear warning sign I saw on the way in.

Me and I were in a panic... Myself was the calm one...
Eventually - stumbled upon the enterance. Got the in car with a huge sigh of relief.

Wow - another great adventure at light house park!

Yes... why YOU TOO would want to move to Vancouver...

Rain drops on roses and whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles and warm ocean breezes, geese that swim in stanley park... these are a few of my favorite things...

AND now for some of the other "favorite things":

1 - rollerblading in stanley park
2 - swimming in the natural mountains stream at lynn valley
3 - sitting on my balcony sipping my morning coffee with the sun shining as I stare at the mountains
4 - listening to the seagulls as I watch the tanker ships sail by
5 - looking at the great view of the mountains from my kitchen table as I savor my eggo waffles
6 - mist of the ocean waves hitting my face as I sit in my secluded spot at light house park
7 - watching square dancing lessons at english bay given by a cute little elderly lady
8 - little mini crablets fighting each other in a pool of trapped water
9 - the view of mount baker in my rearview mirror as I sit in traffic jams
10 - the HOV lane
11 - no photo radar :)
12 - eating fresh salmon - fresh off the boat
13 - the sand under my feet as I walk along the beach
14 - the abundance of eye candy
15 - watching the tide come in

Flies... Crazy People... Car Alarms...

FLIES:

It would appear that the flies are greatly affected by the ocean air and the time zone they live in.

These flies make their way into our apartment (no we don't have screens in our windows - they don't believe in screens here) and then fly in box shaped flight patterns. around and around... that's all... Even if you walk right into them and it doesn't throw them off course... they just continue right back to where they left on.

Must be the ocean air!


CRAZY PEOPLE:

Last nite - but not restricted to last nite as this is a common occurrence - there was this man in our back alley... a crazy man (there are many crazy people here) who was barking like a dog... and yelling... we watched him from the safety of our 10th floor window - as he zig zagged through the alley... just as the barking was fading away... there was another usual sound that filled the nite air.

CAR ALARMS:

There was this car down the street that had its alarm set off... just as we finish listening to crazy barking man we have the ringing of the car alarm. and it didn't stop... it just keep going and going and going... and going and going and going... could have been a great commercial for the energizer battery.

Just before Jan and I both poked our eyes out - the alarm stopped... I yelled out in relief, "THANK GOD"! and then we settled in to go to bed for the nite...

Until the next fire truck went blaring past our street... the next sky train went by...
Then we woke up to the sound of the garbage trucks.

The garbage trucks run like clock work - every morning at 7 a.m. - nope don't need an alarm here!

Next entry will be - why you want to move to Vancouver :)

Anger Management

I was thinking today how I could make a lot of money delivering some anger management courses... there sure are a lot of angry people in the world!

A great display of this today as I was driving.... well crawling… through traffic on the #1 coming over the Portman Bridge.

There are many merging lanes and then ending of lanes as you approach the bridge... so this van proceeds to totally cut me off... BUT because I'm not an angry person I only yelled at him at a level 6 volume... not a level 10... :)

THENNNNNNNN some little sweet lady has her blinker on and proceeds to cut in front of this van (That I so kindly let in) and this guy honks like crazy at her... hands flying everywhere... yelling out the window... PG25 words coming out of his mouth - THEN he proceeds to switch lanes to pass her - but instead of just passing her cuts in front of her almost taking off her front bumper and slams on his breaks - right on the bridge.

WOW... lots of money to be made in anger management course -- yes indeed!

Light House Park - The Continued Adventure

This trip to Light House Park I wore runners... in reference to my entry of my last visit - I had worn flip flops and almost fell into the ocean...

Packed with an extra sweater, runners, water bottle and some books I headed to light house park for a nice quiet solitude adventure.

I arrive to find millions of KIDS running around every possible path yelling and blowing air horns - it was some day camp and they were playing some adventure game.

Well good thing for me I have a secret secluded spot... I'll try and find a picture to post... anyway - this is where I almost killed myself last time.
BUT I was very careful to shimmy down the cliff to the ocean front rocks.

WOW - breathe taking... quiet... ahhhhhhhhhhhh relief!

ALMOST - except now I have to pee!!!!!!

Well, there didn't appear to be any ships about to come around the corner, nor were there any peoples walking above me - so I proceeded to sneak a quick bladder release on the rocks in the corner of this crevice. AS I get my pants down (if this is too much info please skip to next paragraph) and start allowing the relief to flood my body this BIG FAT COCKROACH comes flying up from in between the rocks... AHHHHHHHHHHH I almost pee'd myself. (I mean I almost got pee on my pants). I quickly shuffled over trying to get away... and also trying to keep watch for passing ships and hikers.
Thank GOD those fat little guys can't jump or he'd probably bit my bum.

So -- then back to enjoying the ocean... ahhhhhhhhhh the cool ocean breeze brushing along my face - blowing my hair - running through my fingers...
I laid on the rock the sun beating down on me, the wind blowing and waves lapping...
(Just want to make sure you can picture it...)

I decided to go exploring a bit... so walked - well more like mountain climbed - along the rocks and tried no to fall in the ocean. I came across this area - the tide was out - but pools of water were trapped in these crevices... and I got to see things a girl from the prairies has never seen... little tiny crabs, a snail - with his shell on walking along, little fishy things, a crab fight, and other weird things - I wish I had brought my camera. (Did you know I always wanted to be a marine biologist when I was young - it was the whole shark issue that stopped me - perhaps).

Well... after all that excitement I realized I was starving - so before I resorted eating little live crabs or trying to catch my own lunch I headed to McDonalds for a well balanced meal of carbs and fat! yummy what a great end to a perfect day!

Sharks... Part 2

So... from a past blog entry I spoke about my fear of sharks...

With all the wisdom and help from my faithful readers I was able to get past my phobia.
Actually it wasn't from their wisdom - it was from the education I got from National Geographic videos on sharks.

I was at the Burnaby library looking at the videos they had available to borrow and I saw these two on sharks - and I figured - it couldn't do no harm to watch them.
Well it turns out that these fish are not the mean man eating machines that they are made out to be but really are just sweet nice BIG fish with razor sharp teeth.

There was also a video on rats... not ready for that one yet... one phobia at a time!

Therapy... Getting OLD!

Well... I think I just had my first real experience of "shopping therapy".

I never really understood those who went shopping to find comfort. How could shopping be something that would give you comfort... You have to walk through a busy mall... bumping into people... fighting to get at the racks... savaging through bins to find your size... and spend money you don't have on things you don't need. It NEVER made any sense to me...
AND especially since I don't like shopping on a good day.

BUT I think I may have had a glimpse into the world of the addicted shopper today.
I was having a "not the best" week in history... had to go to the mall to mail some letters and low and behold the whole mall is having the biggest sale in history... I was sucked in... it was like the vortex... I couldn't repel it... and I spent $200 on new clothes and shoes... actually sandals.

Now in my defense I really needed the cloths b/c I was borrowing my fashion savvy roommates clothes all the time - and needed to get my own...

But after all the trying on of pants and fighting for that last shirt size M - I walked away feeling "happy"... a strange feeling for me after have been shopping.

I think I must be getting OLD -- or so I'm attributing it to that.

ALSO - b/c the last month I have been waking up EARLY - like 5 - 6 a.m. and being totally awake... not pushing snooze 4o times... and really only OLD people get up at that ungodly hour and actually want to get up at that hour...

So---I think with the whole shopping thing and waking up early thing... I have to conclude I'm getting OLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

sigh...........

Which Are You?

So tonite my fantastic roommate Jan and I were discussing the difference b/w quirky and goofy.
We could not come to a conclusion b/w the difference of the two - so we decided to look it up in the dictionary.

Quirky = A peculiarity of behavior; an idiosyncrasy

Goofy = Silly; ridiculous

People are generally not BOTH quirky and goofy... they are either quirky OR goofy.

BUT we think on some occasions that one might prove both quirky and goofy...
that would be my roommate Jan - she is definitely both!

And then there those that are just plain stupid...

WHICH ARE YOU?