A beautiful, lazy day

Now that the baby’s birth is coming soon, a common advice we get these days are along the lines of “get as much sleep/rest as you can” or “go out and do as much as you can”. Once the baby is born, we know that our lives will not be as carefree anymore.

The one thing I really wanted to do before the baby’s arrival is to go for a paddle around English Bay at least one more time. Ed and our paddling friends were busy training for their races until earlier this month but now that those races are done and the weather in Vancouver has been fantastic, I thought it would be a perfect time to do it. So bright and early last Saturday morning, Ed, Vivian, Eugene, and I took out the 4-man outrigger canoe for a light paddle from Burrard Marina to Jericho and back. We were out there for about an hour. The weather was perfect and I was in heaven. It felt so good to be out on the water again. I’m pretty sure I had a smile on my face the entire time. Afterward, we headed to our regular after-paddling breakfast place, Flying Swan, for some delicious pancakes.

The good thing about paddling first thing in the morning is you have the rest of the day to do other stuff. With the sun shining, a cool breeze going, and no interest in doing any chores or errands, we decided to head to Spanish Banks for some beach time. Good thing we had blankets in the trunk of the car. So, we picked our spot, set down the blankets and lounged for the rest of the day. We watched our friend Bryan play beach volleyball. I drifted in and out of sleep, ate ice cream and cheezies, and watched people come and go. Vivian arrived at some point and joined Bryan in the volleyball area. Later on in the afternoon, Eugene arrived. He and Ed went off to play volleyball, too. I went back to sleep.

To finish off this beautiful, lazy day, we decided to pick up some bbq from Memphis Blues and head over to Eugene’s for dinner.

I’m sure once the baby is born, it will be a while before Ed and I can enjoy a day like this again - where we just laid around, didn’t do much, and didn’t worry about anything. I’m glad we were able to squeeze in a day like that before the big day. Kind of like the calm before the storm.

Funny...

How to tell if your cat is plotting to kill you.

Football fever

In April 2008, I was in London for work and I went to a pub for dinner. Manchester United and Roma were on the telly for a Champions League knock-off game. The pub patrons were all very much into the game, except me. I’ve never really watched much football and I was reading a very interesting book at that time. Half time came and it struck me that the atmosphere in the pub was like the pubs in Vancouver when the Canucks play an NHL play-off game. Then I realized I really should put the book down and watch the game, too. This is so British, so London, and I should be present in the moment and take advantage of the opportunity to experience something so local.

So I watched the second half with great interest and I found myself really enjoying it. I didn’t know the rules, although it wasn’t hard to figure out what was going on, and I could not hear the commentators but it didn’t seem to matter. I was engrossed in the game I was watching.

This World Cup finals, I’ve been watching many of the games. Brazil is fun to watch and so is Argentina. Portugal’s goal extravaganza was very entertaining, although at 4-0, I felt really bad for the Koreans. This is like watching hockey during the Olympics when the level of play is so good that you can’t help but enjoy watching, no matter who’s playing. Too bad the World Cup and the Olympics come around only every four years. Would be great to have them every year... but I’ll probably get fired because I’ll never get any work done!

With my mom and sister

I don't have many photos with my mom and sister. We just never think of it when we get together, I guess. We had a nice, long lunch this weekend and I finally remembered to take a photo using my Blackberry. Yay!

Papa's birthday

Today is my dad’s 79th birthday. He lives in a care home in Manila because he has Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. His dementia has progressed enough in the last two years that he doesn’t remember who I am, which makes the decision to phone or not to phone him on his birthday a tricky one. I haven’t phoned him in a while, to be honest, because the last time I did, I introduced myself a few times to try and make him remember me. But he just handed the phone to the caregiver and walked away. I felt bad that I may have made him feel bad for not remembering me. So I haven’t called again, which also makes me feel bad because I feel that I should be phoning him. But if he doesn’t even remember me, does it really matter if I phone or not?

I remember my dad, the way he used to be. He was a difficult man to grow up with but I will always be grateful for the opportunities he allowed me to have. I have a pretty good life now because of his hard work and because he pushed us hard. So even when he can’t remember me now, I still wish him a happy birthday and a good year ahead.