Thursday, August 3, 2006

Beach Visit 2006
I know this is a month late but I'm just glad I managed to finish it. It's a bit confusing how I wrote it so I'll try to explain now. The dates and times are the exact moments I decided to write my entry for the day. When the actual events happened are described within the entries.

It's a bit much to read, I know. Though a part of the reason I'm posting it is simply for record's sake, this long and detailed vacation journal is up just to answer the very simple question I'm asked every time I come back from somewhere fun..

"Soo, how was it?"




July 4th, 2006


5:16am:

I'm actually at home as I type this. Little sis, my dad and I drove back to the house for the night because lil sis has an interview and course selection appointment for university in the morning. Yeah. I'm not sleeping again. And this may seem like a bit of cheating considering that I'm supposed to be away. Well, here's how the first bits of my week in the sun went.

So like I said in my farewell post, I didn't sleep before leaving on Sunday morning. So I packed the van with my dad and at around 8 we were well on our way.

We met my two aunts, uncle, cousin and grandma at the rendezvous point AKA Tim Horton's. We all had a small breakfast to keep us going. Honestly, I needed anything because the effects of staying up for over 26 hours were catching up.

Funny thing happened while sitting around in that parking lot. M sister and IO were watching some old guy put boxes into his van. After doing so, he started tippy-toeing and hollering at... nobody. As far as we knew at least. I think I almost puked laughing but honestly, anything is super funny when you haven't slept.

When we went on our way, I loaded up the CD player with some L'arc~En~Ciel. They're so much fun to sing along to when you're driving on country roads with the windows down, the wind blasting in your face and through your hair and with the volume as high as possible with adult in the cars. I surprised myself quite a bit by actually knowing most of the lyrics to the songs I was familiar with. And keeping up with Hyde's voice is another spectacle on its own. Damn you, "Hitomi no juunin".

I dozed off when we neared the cottage but instead of heading straight there, we all decided to have a quick lunch at Swiss Chalet.

I was so tired, I felt like I was made of slime. Everything was just slow motion with me. Eccch...

When I sat down in the restaurant, I think I passed out. I ordered an iced tea and veggie burger and to stay awake, I sucked on the lemon that came with the iced tea. MY tired state must've dulled my senses because I didn't feel the lemon seed choking me at all. It went down pretty quickly anyway.

While eating, I noticed there was a wine cabinet on display. My sis and I wondered who on earth would order wine at Swiss Chalet. Those of you who are familiar with the restaurant know that Swiss isn't necessarily "fast food" but more appropriately "obeying the speed limit food". Simply put, it's not super fancy and I personally don't thin wine is appropriate for most (if not all) the dishes there. then it got me thinking. Why do they offer wine at bar & grill-like places? You know those types... Nachos and wine. What the fuck..

Heh.. Pardon the stupid rant here but I'm not done yet. As soon as I started thinking about it, a group of typical chatty tourists took their seat at their table and guess what they all had. Yeah.... Wine. Okay. I'm not saying that I demand that everybody drink something appropriate with certain foods... But it was bloody noon!

After lunch, we eventually made it into the cottage and it took us less than fifteen minutes to unload everything. Everyone seemed pretty desperate for some beach action. Personally, I really wanted to sleep. But I chose to stay up so my internal clock would reset. It kinda didn't work but whatever.

I loafed around the house while bugs inside the house were escorted to their proper places and everything was sanitized. I was outside enjoying the sunlight while everyone chose their rooms. I walked in and discovered I was given the living room by default. Heh. I preferred it anyway. The couch folded out into a bed and was a decent size. I appreciated that. I also liked the fact that there were electrical outlets for my laptop, cell phone, external hard drive and later on, my XBox.

My cousin and youngest sister went with the dads straight to the beach for a bit of swimming before dinner. While they were there, Jess (younger sis) and I took out our laptops and watched an X Japan DVD. I will forever and always love and admire the greatness that is Yoshiki.

Close to the end of the DVD, after watching the Joker PV, Jess and I decided to walk to the beach and see where the kids and dads set up. The children were already in the water and the dad lazed about in their chair things. I decided to walk along the beach on my own to explore a bit.

Since our part of the beach was private, it wasn't very crowded and was in fact very clean. Since it was a long weekend, there were just a few more people than usual but it wasn't too big of a difference.

As I explored, I told myself the obvious. "Josh, you're a tanned Asian wearing a cowboy hat, tank top and rolled up jeans and you're surrounded by white people. Of course people are going to look at you." *laughs*

It wasn't a very windy day but people attempted to fly kite anyway. I saw a chubby little boy throwing a fit because his wouldn't even lift off the ground. The kite was obviously not made properly but the boy's older brother teased that his short chubby arms were the problem. I'm happy to report that prick got a mouth full of sand and the full weight of his girthy sibling sitting on his head within the next few seconds. And their parents didn't notice at all. Justice prevails.

Overall, my first taste of the beach in 2006 was a good one. Pretty skies, pretty lake, pretty people and most importantly, pretty sand. I already figured out what I first wanted to try sandcastle-wise. And if you know me, this wasn't gonna be your common upside-down bucket pussy castle shit. I build fortresses, mother fucker. *ahem*

I had no reason to be trudging through the sand in my sleepy state but I did anyway. When I got back to the cottage, Everyone already started dinner. That night the family had beef stuff and I had unagi. I was really fighting the urge to just pass out on the floor because sitting under the warm light of a setting sun after a tasty meal and warm shower, there's no way you can not feel comfortable.

I pulled out my bed early just in case.

We noticed that the water heater wasn't working all that great so we called the maintenance over to have a look at it.

This guy is probably one of the most fun and most friendliest guys you could meet. Wanna know the fun bit? He's an ex-Hell's Angel. In case you’re unfamiliar with them, they're an infamous biker gang. So yeah. He fit the look. Big BIG thick build, beard and ponytail. But he's really just a tough-lookin' teddy. *laughs* Seriously.

He walked in while my sis and I watched more stuff on our laptop and caught us off guard. He looked at all our plugs stuffing into the multi-outlet in the wall. He gave us a funny look, chuckled and smiled. "You're probably going to want and an extension opr power bar for all your little toys there. You don't have to get up. Lord knows if I bug you to get up, karma will come right around when I'm relaxing. You look terribly comfy. I won't bug ya. Heh."

It was very kind of him to say so. So I sent my dad to follow him back to his place to pick up stuff. By the way, the water heater was fixed in a second.

My dad, uncle and I went to the liquor store for something tasty to enjoy the summer evening with. They bought coolers for the girls, some whiskey for themselves and some liquors for me to practice shooters with.

On our way to the store, a temporary dislike for the Italians grew, as many MANY cars and trucks waved around green, red and white flags, honking, shouting and creating useless traffic. I love Italians, just not then. I was tired and cranky and I wanted alcohol... *laughs*

When I got back, I immediately mixed a few to let everyone try. They seemed to like it and they didn't start breathing fire or puking so all systems were go. I now have 8 new shooters under my bartending belt.

Jess watched some episodes of Fruits Basket while I... I think I dozed off around then because I don't remember anymore from that day.




I think I woke up around 5:00pm the next day (Monday, July 3rd). I think I would've slept longer if it weren't for the screams of my cousin. He just got bitten by my aunt's dog. It was mostly my cousin's fault though. Mr. Teddy Biker came back to check on the water heater and every time he comes around, the dog barks his ass off at him. I think it's probably because he still does drugs. But anyway, it was funny hearing the cousin scream like that. Around me, he always tries to act macho and stuff so it'd kill him for me to see him cry. The bite didn't actually puncture skin but created a clot of blood that apparently felt more painful. So all the adults were around him smackin his mouth for swearing while they tried to poke it gently with a pin of some sort to let the blood escape. Poor kid almost fainted. Meanwhile the dog wandered like an ass as if nothing happened.. Haha.

We had a quick dinner before heading back to Toronto for Jess' course selection thing. On the way back, I blasted Our Lady Peace and sang my heart away. Once again, loud music with a breeze feels so bloody good. Jess was still feelin' post-concert giddyness so for once she sang along with me. Normally, she'd tell me "Okay, okay. You sound like Raine..." with hopes of me cutting it out. But yeah.. Good times.

Once we got home, I took advantage of the short time to use the internet. I checked email and snuck on MSN for a split second. If anyone out there caught me and remembers the time you saw me come online, I've got a special prize waiting for you. Oh yes...

We then went out again to eat a real dinner since what we had before we left was no more than a few sticks of deep fried fish balls. We went to our happy little Congee Queen restaurant and ordered some chow mein and a helluva lot of dumplings. Yummy stuff.

After filling up the van and picking up some Arizonas, we went back home to sleep. On the way, we heard on the radio "Several things you don't know about Coldplay. The number one item was that to celebrate the arrival of Chris and Gwyneth’s child, Coldplay decided to create a one song group called "The Nappies". the song was called "I'm your baby's daddy" or something like that. Chris beatboxes. We all laughed our asses off. It was insane. The end.

Jess went to bed right away because of her appointment. I, on the other hand, stayed up until daylight. Yes. I can see the sun right now. Ech. I should be asleep. G'night! I'll continue tomorrow or something...


July 5th, 2006


12:50am:

Hello again. I'm so not sleepy right now. Everyone left except for the kids, Jess and my dad. I don't remember where everyone said they were going but I'm going to assume a casino. Yeah. Must be it.

So at the moment, everyone's fast asleep. I'm sitting with my aunt's dog (who's also asleep) and typing away. I just had sushi and tea so I should be able to finish this segment of the vacation post in no time.


I suppose I'll start with the morning of my sister appointment. Since I had nothing to do with it, I slept in. OH! I'll tell you about my dream.

So I was on a cruise ship with... parked cars and whatever. I was sitting inside a Mustang and having a chat with some blonde girl in another car. She kept telling me about some Sake Champagne and I kept saying it didn't exist. Iunno. It was a weird convo. I'm glad I don't remember it. Then I started walking along these corridors and I saw these catering tables with bottles on them. No, they weren't full of sake champagne. It was some sort of strawberry drink. ANYWAY, I went to the onboard electronics store to watch some TV because my room only had golf channels. I saw Pixie there talking into some karaoke microphone while wearing her prom dress. She saw me, spoke something else into the microphone and disappeared. I made a perpetual motion machine with the microphone then woke up.


Yeeeeah....


When I did wake up, it was perfect timing because my sis was all done with her course selection thing and my dad had already packed the stuff we didn't bring to the cottage the first time around. I stuffed my XBox into my acoustic guitar case. While doing so, I laughed at the lamest joke about some cop pulling me over and asking if I was a real musician. "What's in the bag, son? That don't look like a guitar to me..."

"Officer, we swears... It wasn't us!!"

*laughs*

Okay. I told you it was lame. I'm just a bit cuckoo...

When we picked up Jess, we headed to a T&T to pick up some food making stuffs and snacks.

We visited a different T&T from the ones I usually go to so it was a treat to visit. I spent most of my time looking at the curry stuff, planning out a fish ball feast. I grabbed some more tea and some instant fried noodle boxes instead. The curry can wait.

We paid for our stuff and since it was already lunchtime, we decided to eat before returning to the cottage. Dad had kalbi (beef short ribs) and Jess and I had Japanese food. I had two boxes of unagi. (Yeah... Again...) While eating, I kept getting stares from this girl who was with her mom. When my sis and dad went up to throw away the garbage (they didn't notice her staring), I asked if I could help her. She told me she thought I was an actor she was supposed to know. I laughed it off and said no, I'm just.. me.

They finished their food and got up to leave and saw my dad and sis on their way back to the table. My dad gave me a funny look and asked if I knew who she was. I obviously didn't and when I said so, he told me she was an actress from the Philippines. When I told him she thought I was an actor, he told me straight up, "Josh. Why aren't you over there making lots of money?" My dad... The punk..

My dad went to put the groceries into the van while Jess and I doddled a bit behind to look at stuff. She bought a Japanese fashion magazine and I bought a beautiful Chinese fan. I kinda don't know where my old black one is so the new one would have to do. Actually. the new one is rather large so I feel I will most likely use it for decoration when I get home. It's still pretty. Very pretty.

It cost $3 plus tax and so I had $3.45 ready to give the lady. It came up to $3.42! Three cent difference, whooop-dee-fuckin'doo, Josh. No no, you don't understand. I had just then remember that our provincial taxes went down by 1% on Canada Day! That's pretty sweet if you think about it.


On the way back to the cottage, we blasted Keane for Jess since her post-concert high was still going strong. She did most of the singing mainly bvecause I was rubbing my tummy from being so happy and full.

We were quite eager to hit up the beach as soon as we got back so we drove extra swiftly. We arrived in 40 minutes (the average drive from Toronto to Wasaga [our cottage] is approximately 1 hr 20 minutes if there's no traffic. My dad isn't your average driver though. He wants beach, he'll get beach.)

I busted through the door, suited up my beachwear and started putting the sunscreen on. I was told to wait 30 minutes before heading out otherwise the screen wouldn't be maximum whatever so I started pissing off my aunt's dog.

My aunt, like many pet owners, treats her dog like a kid. She loves him very much and it's cute. But if he's a kid, then I'm the prick cousin who messes around with him. *laughs* The dog never gets mad at me though. I took care of him for awhile back in 2004 and we're chums. I never piss him off too much because he's one of the few dogs I'm not allergic to. It's a good trade, yeah..

When it was time to hit up the beach, I screamed like a girlie and ran to a spot I picked out earlier. Grandma sat inside a screen meshy tent thing and ate watermelons. the kids went straight to the water with my aunt and Jess and I roasted for a bit under the warm afternoon sun. Lemme tell ya, the breeze was un-fucking-believable that day. It felt soooo nice!

So Jess and I were lying in the sand just talking about junk. She told me her friend Joey, a guy who I used to hate but now am returning the respect he has for me, would really like me to come with him, my sis and her friends to see The Blue Man group sometime soon when they come to Toronto again. I got all excited because it's Blue Man Group. C'mon. Visuals beyond your wildest dreams to percussion fueled tunes? Yes please. We're kinda hoping we can make it into a whole night out kinda thing. Like plan dinner, dress up kooky and go insane. Pixie and Jess' other friends are coming too and they know me quite well now. It'll be great.

We also chatted about going for picnics, bike rides and whatever. And.. yeah.. Pixie's gonna be there and I'd like to spend time iwth her again. It'd be nice.

So yes. I'm at the beach and people are having fun in the water. Wanna hear something crazy?

I went in the water too.

*GASP*

"NO ENIN! YOU'LL DROWN! MONSTERS WILL GET YOU!! OMIGOSH, ENIN, NOOOOO!!!"

Shush..

Well.. I didn't swim (obviously) but I did splash around in the shallow parts and floated for a bit in a tube. Yes it's lame but I don't care. If you can't fly, do you try flapping your arms after jumping off a bridge? I didn't think so.

The water was nice and warm for that short while but I needed to make me a kingdom.


I gathered my sandcastle minions (sisters and cousin) and told them to help me dig a moat around the castle base. My plane was to use the excess sand from the trench parts for the large castle bit in the centre. I felt quite drill sergeant-like commanding them to dig deeper and wider. When the mound was finished, I told them to bring me buckets of water to wet the sand and pack it down so I could sculpt. Once that was done, I went to work.

My minions had nothing more to do so I told them to dig a hole or something.

I carved away at the mound in squared off layers. Passers-by commented on my not-even-half-done mound of sand but I was far too busy to reply. It was nice though.

So picture, if you will, a 19 year old long-haired tanned Asian male, delicately carving a mound of sand while frantically throwing chunks of it in every direction. Sad, yes?

Well, get used to it. I'm building another one tomorrow and I'll be reporting it again. I don't swim, dammit! This is what I do!

*laughs* I'm overreacting again. I apologize.

Before carving details in, my polygon sandcake was almost complete when a couple of girls walked by me. They went off in one direction for a walk or something. When they returned in the opposite direction, one of them stopped and gave me a smile while watching me work. I stopped for a bit to say hi and went back to carving.

She realized I was busy and went to my aunt to say hi. According to my aunt, she had thought we were Mexican. Mainly because of the way I looked but also because the castle I was working on resembled Mayan architecture. I think most of you get the idea. They had very blocky looking structures back when their civilization was big. *laughs* It's funny she mentioned that because I was once mistaken for an Aztec. they're a dead race but it's still cool. the girl had a really sexy French accent. I think she was from Quebec. But yeah. I'm not Mexican. Heh. Cute though. And quite impressive as well. Bonus points for recognizing Mayan architecture.

I wanted to do more with it but the sun was setting fast and I need the light for picture taking. I took some with my cellphone and other with a digicam. It wasn't as impressive as I wanted it to be but this is just the beginning. I've got another idea for tomorrow.


Before leaving, I destroyed it. If any creation of mine is going to get annihilated, it's gonna be annihilated by ME. I have pics of that too.


Before heading back to a very delicious shrimp dinner, I watched the sunset in the horizon. Took a few photos of that as well.

Goodness, the ending of a day looks twice as beautiful when it's reflected in the shimmering waves of a body of water. It's times like these that I just wish I had someone to share the moment with.


I returned to the cottage promptly after the sunset and ate dinner. Everyone did their own thing after dinner and now we are here.

The people who went out are still out, everyone here is still asleep and I'm done the sushi I bought earlier today. I think I'll watch a DVD before drifting off to sleep. I hope I dream about something (or someone) pretty tonight.

G'night. I'll be back again. I might write a short story when I'm not in the sand making stuff. I think it'll be interesting.



July 8th, 2006

4:30am:



*laughs*

Talk about laziness. I totally just made my vacation buttery. Buttery is a good thing by the way.

So I didn't get to writing this for several reasons, let's get to it then, yes?


On Wednesday, I think I woke up incredibly late. Like 4:00 in the afternoon late. But this is a vacation and that's what it's all about right? I woke up to the sounds of my family screaming at my dad for chasing them around with the bug zapper thing.

The bug zapper thing is basically a tennis racket shaped object with a steel mesh thing covered with guard and stuff so people don't electrocute themselves. It's activated by a button that you hold while swinging it at pests and such. Once any insect touches it, they're fried. It's a really neat tool. The bugs flash and spark but it smells like burning pretty soon afterwards. Late at night it you swing it blindly, you'll see a trail of sparkles because of all the insects buzzing around.

Anyway, it was a really windy day and somewhat chilly at times. I didn't want to go to the beach. Neither did anyone else. Instead we decided to do some shopping at some random mall.

Before doing so, we decided to eat at the only Chinese buffet in town. It used to be called Uncle Tang's but they changed it for some reason. Same people work there though so it's all good. I pretty much ate my weight in noodles and shrimp. I've never tasted such delicious plain lo mein. It's usually a good idea to chew when eating such yummy food. Thankfully, one of the two servers there was constantly at the ready with a pitcher of water.

*laughs*

I'm kinda surprised at how much I can say about an hour long dinner at a buffet. Really, I can go on but I won't.

After eating, we went to this mall that looked shoddy compared to the malls in Toronto. Honestly, even Toronto's smallest shopping centres looked big compared to this one. I was surprised there weren't wooden stands inside, it was THAT homely. But the bigger surprise actually WAS on the inside. they had some pretty big name stores inside. And for whatever reason, my dad and uncle were shopping at an Xtreme clothing store. I should probably explain Xtreme before continuing.

Basically, whenever I see guys wearing this type of clothing, I'm instantly reminded of those Xtreme guys from Harold & Kumar. You're know those silly white punks? Tank tops, shorts, backwards caps, chains, shaved heads, etc. It's kinda like a skater/wigger hybrid. I decided to peek in myself since they were having a sale (probably what originally attracted my dad and uncle to visit the store in the first place). I found a pair of pant that I've wanted ever since grade 8. It's a black pair with white stitching and very wide legs. Not flare-y like most of my jeans, just wiiiide. It goes over my shoes so I look like a lego man. I also got a nice pinstripe-y short sleeved shirt. I went in the change room with a pink shirt on and blue jeans and came out with full black. The girl working there thought I was going for a makeover. I used to wear black a lot in my early highschool days so I explained it was a "temporary revisiting". I think my dad bought some random golf tees that didn't look like they were from the same store. The cashier had B.O. *laughs* Just thought I'd throw that in.

The girls went shopping too for clothes and cookies. Y'know the soft chewy kind that taste even better if you heat them up a bit? Snacks are always a plus.

Since I made my purchases, I waited in the van in the parking lot while the girls continued their spending quest. While waiting, I saw a grey cloud floating mysteriously above the mall. It wasn't really a cloud though. It was a bloody swarm of seagulls. It was such a creepy sight. They were just circling above the mall. The way they disbanded was even freakier. They all went in one direction and formed what looked like a fist flying through the sky. Then they broke up and flew away. I really wish I got a picture of it. Too bad.


When the girls were done, they saw a Walmart across the way so we all went there. I don't remember what they were looking for but I went to the video games to see if I could find anything to kill some time at night. That's when I found my curse: Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth II. Buying that game pretty much ensured that I don't get any sleep. I was watching trailers for strategy games and MMORPGS and BfMEII was one of them. It's friggin' Lord of the Rings, okay? That fact alone was enough to hook me. I remember explaining it to my sis. "I can control Uruks! Fuck yes, ma'am!" Heh, I'm such a nerd. I bought it and yeah... Bad move/good move at the same time.

I also bought Jess the new Keane album because she's been dying to hear the other new songs after being teased on July 1st at Edgefest. I gotta say, it's a bloody good album.

Again, the ladies took their time in the store so I waited in the parking lot with my dad. We watched a mom scold her children for misbehaving. She yelled her ass of at her son. She didn't touch them though. My dad said "Yelling is a waste of breath. A swift punch saved time and energy. If that were me, I would've thumped you and we'd be on our way inside the store. Sure, you'd be crying a bit but at least we wouldn't look stupid in a parking lot." We had a good laugh from that because he was mostly right.

Before heading home, we all wanted to go gokarting at our happy little track. We go every year and every year, the stoner duo would greet us if not occupied staring into the sky or eating munchies. I'm sad to report that they were no longer working there. It pissed me off. The new management sucked big nuts and the lap prices were higher. but we were already there and the kids wanted to finally drive the big karts so we gave in.

Since the staff there wasn't under any influence, I doubted I would get to drive an extra 50 laps. It was fun racing the kids. Out of the two younger kids (my sis and my cousin), I thought my cousin would be the wreckless one. It was my youngest sis who was lapping his ass and screaming, "EAT IT" as she passed him. His excuse at the end was his kart was a shitty one but that was obviously a load of horse feed.

And for once, Jess was driving pretty crazy too. So I finally got to actually race her. She got cheap when she shoved my kart into the tires but I still lapped her a buncha times. It was fun.

After racing, we all went to the arcade which featured some old school games like Cruisin' USA, Killer Instinct and Ninja Turtles. they even had some older school table top games like Pacman and the like. My sisters and cousin played air hockey and I stuck to playing Street Fighter II and played as Zangief. He's so underrated. I got halfway through the my opponents before being told we had to leave.

We got back to the cottage before sunset and so I went straight to the beach to catch it.

One of the most beautiful sights in the world is seeing the sun set into the water. If you catch the sun just halfway into the horizon and the water just perfectly mirrors its reflection, the water in front of you looks like the sky. You feel like you're standing at the edge of the world. It's so beautiful.

We had salmon steaks and dumpling for dinner that night. I don't know what they marinated the salmon with but it was so good and we ate so much, we ran out of rice. Yeah....

It was inevitable that I'd install and try out my new game. And I did. I'd be lying if I told you I'm not obsessed with it. That night (pr morning I should say), I practiced with skirmishes until the sun rose. I paused from playing t watch that too. Once again, it was lovely.



I woke up even later on Thursday. close to 6:00pm actually. I really didn't care though. Mr. Sun stays out longer and so I had more than enough time to chill with him before watching the bugger sink into the water. I was itching to play more LotR though. So I thought I'd do both at the same time. I brought my laptop with me close to the beach but not on it so sand wouldn't get in my keyboard. I felt really nerdy at the time but nobody was around anyway. I returned my latop to the house after half an hour of playing because the sound of splashing waves, the feel of the breeze against your skin and the sight of the pink and purple sky is best left as pure as it can be.

Once again, I witnessed a beautiful sunset. I took a few pics with my cell phone but they'll never do it justice. While watching the sun go down, I had plenty of time to just think about stuff. I got all sappy and stuff while watching it.


"The sun's reflection off the rippling waves of the water is enough of a sight to behold. But to have someone by your side and to see the same reflection twinkling in their eyes as they gaze back at you... is truly indescribable."


See? Told you so.

The rest of the night was spent watching movies and of course, playin' more LotR. My cousin had fun with the bug zapper and the most unlikely people to watch a horror film were watching a pirated copy of The Omen. My grandma, my aunt and my youngest sister. To my surprise, they were completely unaffected by it. Did it suck that bad? *laughs*


Friday was a verrrry lazy day. I woke up retardedly late again. I received my first bug bite of the vacation. It was on my arm. It looks like it's gonna be red for awhile. It's kinda neat though.

I ate a hefty amount of mussels while playing some more BfME (fuck, it's good) and listened to some of Jess' new Keane album. Soon after I went to the beach to lie under the sun again. There was absolutely no wind at all that day. It felt so bloody nice. The peace was unreal. You heard nothing but the sounds of rippling water and the sand moving under your feet. Some clouds came around and started screening the sun a bit. It was still very bright though. I stopped the sun soaking and sat in a beach chair while watching really cute babies play a kickball game with their mom/guardian Halle Berry lookalike. The little and youngest was a boy (the rest were girls) and his name was Liam but everyon called him Li-Li. He had such a determined face and when he went to kick the ball, it'd only go about 6 meters. He and the others cheered wildly anyway. I did some cheering myself too. Good times indeed.

When the sky turned a redder shade, I wanted to make something but my minions weren't around and I felt kinda lazy so another sandcastle was completely out of the question. I grabbed a stick and decided to draw like those street artists I see downtown. My beach style was a bit more primitive than coloured chalks but it did look pretty cool. I drew an anime girl with pigtails. Erasing isn't as hard as it is with paper. Just a quick sweep of the foot and you're set. Passers-by enjoyed my artwork though it did become an obstacle to not step all over it.

The sun turned and eerie red that evening and so the clouds and sky appeared as if i were stained with blood. I sat and watched it dip into the water while sitting behind the ruins of my previous castle. The trench/moat was still quite noticeable but the actual castles part were now just a mound of sand. I left quite a mark anyway.

Back at the cottage we had some broiled white fish and even more mussels to chow down on. After dinner we huddled around the campfire and just chatted about whatever and the like while watching junebugs sacrifice themselves before in the pit of flames. I think they were just attracted by the light and got a little too close but the sacrifice part sounds cool.

When we went back inside, the adults went to bed while the kiddies, grandma, and I play mahjongg. I lost. Countless times unfortunately. So I told Jess to win my money back from those thieving children and their elderly leader. She did and so I was happy. I gave her what she won since I temporarily lost interest in a game I suck at.

Here I am now at 4:00 in the morning eating instant fried noodles. Jess just finished an episode of Ouran and we watched some HK film about growing up. It was cute but the end was "eehhh"... I enjoyed it as a whole anyway. Oh boy. tomorrow is my last day here at the ever so awesome beach. I'll make it worth it.




July 10th, 2006

3:14am:

Fuck, I'm tired. What a day though. What an ending.

I woke up early on Saturday! Earlyyyy! Like... Noon. but it's still very early!

I played BfME for about 15 minutes just to watch my hordes pf Uruk-hai stomp the fuck outta some elves from a saved game. God, it was sweet.

The others were already at the beach and so I rushed my ass outta there like a cheetah with its ass on fire. Well.. 15 minutes after putting sun block on. Ehehe... I was all shiny..

So I ran to the beach and found that it wasn't as crowded as I thought it would be. I went to lie in the sand. And THAT'S how you know you're on vacation. You wake up only to lie down again. Fuckin' sweet..

Everyone was in the water so lying down and sponging some rays was the best thing to do. The sun was bright so I had my eyes closed for most of the time. I cleverly wrapped my MD player in plastic so sand wouldn't eff it up so I got to hear some tunage while lazing in the sand.

I overhead a group of fun-sounding friends playing soccer to the side of me. When one song finished, I heard one of them shout "Shit! It's gonna hit him!" I assumed it was me but I didn't do anything about it. I wanted to get hit so I had a reason to get up and say "Eh! Watch it!". I felt nothing more than a rolling ball tap my shoulder. *laughs* they were worried about nothing. I got up anyway and one guy who went to get the ball apologized his ass off to me. He blamed his friend and we laughed it off. They're a fun bunch, I can tell.

So anyway... I'm lyin' there, I'm lyin' there, I change a song because it's too sad, and I lie some more. Good times. *laughs*

Okay okay. I got up eventually.

Everyone came in from the water to dry up and get some snackage. Unfortunately for them, I ate the last few cookies. They suffered with only chips... alright, I guess they didn't suffer but they didn't get cookies.

I laboured my minions to work. For our finale, I wanted a big castle. A dwarven castle to be precise. Mainly because it's very squared off and angular. We dug a big trench and made a huge ass mound of sand in the center of it all. Some kids nearby kept eyeing my sand pile. I overheard them daring each other to go near. The first one they sent was a pussy and went to my previous mound and didn't even go near mine. The second kid had balls though. Very small balls. As he approached he kept looking back at his friends to make sure they didn't ditch him. When he came near he kept quiet and just stared for a bit. I stared back expecting him to do something stupid. He finally said "That's huge." I nodded and said "Yeah.". He stood around for a bit more and ended with "Must've taken you a long time.."

I nodded and again but didn't say anything this time. I simply stood up. I'm quite proud of the fact that I seemed to tower over that little shit. I gave him a good stare as if to say "You try ANYTHING stupid, I will break you. I will break your friends. I will break your immediate family." And that's being easy on him. He walked back to his friends and after a bit of whispering, they all left the beach pretty quickly. I mean, I'd leave too if I had just encountered a sandcastle-building shadowy figure of death.

So under the heat of the sun, I carved away at my castle. I was being very precise with the blocky angles, but very careless about those around me. I had the tendency to blindly throw excess sand behind me, unaware that I may be tossing it into the faces and eyes of family or passers-by. But I was making a castle, dammit. I couldn't care less. *laughs*

I was running out of time because nightfall was quickly approaching and I couldn't leave without getting my sunset shot. There was no time to fancy it up with flags, gates and the like so I quickly cleaned it up as swiftly as I could.

As the fire in the sky slowly died, I finished my castle. In images and pictures, it may not seem like the most impressive thing ever but to see it in person, it's something quite different. Even then, it may not seem so spectacular but this castle is my escape. My freedom to create something in one of the most wonderful of settings, a sunny beach. Honestly, I'm really happy with how everything went.

After taking a few snaps of my completed work, I decided to destroy it. Once again, I, the creator, am also the destroyer. The only one breaking down the walls here is Joshua, dammit. I think there's a video of me breaking down my structure with a good dropkick. The rest I left to my minions. It felt fun. I kinda stumbled on the trench and fell on the mound. I felt a sense of victory but also defeat. You don't get me, do you. Oh well. I'm mental, how're you?

I heard my youngest sis and my cousin arguing about something. I think my cousin then said my sister was "sounding like an asshole". Thankfully no adult were around to hear it. My sis completely owned him by saying "No. Assholes sound like this: Pfft pfft pfft pfft. Kinda like you when you sleep, you sleeping asshole!" I swear, I've never laughed so loud at anything my sister said. I mean, it was bad that they were swearing but I couldn't help it. hat had to be the cutest comeback ever.

I swear, I didn't teach her any of those words.

And finally, the sun completely set and before leaving, so I sumo wrestled my sis in the trench surrounded ruins of my castle before leaving. Somehow, she tossed me. Like, airborne, man. Iunno.. I don't wanna think about it.

When we left, I blew a kiss to the rippling waters and trudged away.

Back at the cottage, I was welcomed by plates and plates of different fish, all differently cooked. And also a lot of mushrooms. I ate a pretty mean amount of mushrooms that evening. Mario ain't got shit on me. They were cooked with garlic. Since mom was at the beach with the rest of us, big thanks to dad for emulating mom's style of cooking. Twas delicious.

After eating, I took the longest shower ever. I don't have one of those enclosed shower stalls at home so singing there was different. The acoustics were much stronger. So I attempted some Phantom of the Opera. I think I did fine. The others nearby must’ve thought otherwise because while drying my hair, I overheard "what's wrong with him?".

Nothing is wrong with singing in the shower, right? Personally, if I don't sing in the shower, I get this feeling that some guy dressed in drag is gonna knife me to death. Not very pleasant, don't you think?

The rest of the night was... well.. I don't exactly know. Maybe it was the feeling of leaving this paradise of simplicity behind the next day... or maybe it was the shrooms. I don't know but I was very pleased that night.

I stayed off the LotR just that one night so I could simply lie there and recap my wonderful week. Then a junebug landed near me. So I caught 'im and set the fucker on fire. Killed my train of thought , he did. He deserved it. Anyway, played mahjohhng against my sisters and grandma again and got owned. Finally, I gave up and went to bed.



We all woke up ridiculously early the next day (Sunday). I think around 10:00am or something like that. We tried to stall packing up so we wouldn't have to leave so fast but we got everything together in minimal time anyway.

Before leaving, we said goodbye to our Hell's Angels teddy bear friend. He mentioned he's never seen such sad faces on people leaving the beach. We did have an awesome time, so I wouldn't expect anything else.


Before heading HOMEhome, we have a tradition of eating a big lunch. My grandma has a best friend who has a husband who owns a Mandarin (Chinese buffet) so we go there every year. Now I must point out that this particular Mandarin is located in Barrie. Nothin' wrong with Barrie. It's a nice place wiht nice people. But this Mandarin is specialized in catering the needs of both Chinese food lovers AND North American tastes as well. So they've got cauliflower with cheese and onion rings. I'm not bashing it or anything, I'm just sayin', it's a bit weird to me seeing it in a Chinese buffet. I guess I'm just Torontonian like that. I pretty much filled up on nothing but noodles. Just noodles. Really. With some fried fish here and there for flavour. I even picked out the beansprouts because "they're a waste of chewing". The noodles cleverly arranged themselves in my belly so I was able to eat several pounds. It's so gross and unhealthy, I know... *laughs*

Finally we headed home and after unpacking, I took a nap until we all decided to have one last dinner together with the relatives at my fave little sushi place. It was a bloody good vacation.



And now, the pictures!






We'll begin with my favourite little plastic red shovel. I pretty much used this for everything sandcastle-wise. I was very clingy to it for some reason.





This is the first castle I made. It's not really a castle though. Probably more of a living quarters or barracks. I'm happy with it anyway. It's nothing impressive but I don't for a fact it's better than those simple upturned buckets of sand "castles" I've seen everywhere else. Seriously, I want construction equipment next time.





I think it should be a rule to sandcastle building. The creator is also the destroyer unless stated otherwise. Like I said before, I the one who made it so I'll be the one to break it. There's no such thing as "letting the tide take it". There's always some punkass kids swarming the beach waiting to find something like my castle to kickdown and temporarily make themselves feel special. Anyway, I'm about to stomp on it like a miniature in a bad monster flick.





*laughs* Byebye castle..





...And a finishing kick to end it all.





This is what was left of it. The surrounding trench managed to stay quite intact during my weeklong stay there. It's awesome for sumo wrestling.





This is Jess (little sis) and I while waiting to drive the gokarts. We look like such dorks. Dorks that think alike. While driving, we both had the Speedracer theme in our heads. *laughs* Too funny.





Here's Julianne (youngest sis) and Tyler (cousin) while waiting to drive. I love how they're act like the best of friend while still going at each other's throats. They're fun to watch and hearing them scream at each other while racing around was no exception.





Here I am just watching the sunset. You can see my hand of vanity hold the camera up in the reflection of my sunglasses.





While constructing my second castle, Julianne created the weirdest fucking display I've ever seen done on the beach. I don't even know how to describe it. I mean, look at all the lines... If this is supposed to be an abstract representation of her, then I'm proud to say that she's growing up like her crackhead siblings. *laughs*





My second castle. It's a bit bigger than the first and a bit more intricate around the corners. It started off Aztec and ended Dwarven. At this point, I really REALLY wished I had some action figures to play with. And I don't know it you can see it, but there's a floodgate on top so unwanted visitors will drown at the front door. (Note: You are currently looking at the back door.)




The completed castle and it's architect. I'm such a proud loser! Haha!





It had to fall... So what I did was a hybrid of a barrel-roll and a suicide dive. It took it down in one go. I kinda took myself out in the process as well. Here I am lying down in both triumph and defeat. (Heh, not really. I was just tired and I got sand in my mouth.)





This is a random image my sister took of her new parasol while watching the sunset. I think it looks pretty so I put it up.





Me and my little red shovel watching the sunset. Good times...





And to finish it off, here's what I saw every evening. Just beautiful.





And that's it. I remember being asked why I didn't take more pictures. Well, simply put, I was too busy having fun.




And there you have it. My vacation...


Cheers.

- enin -


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