Krazy Glue and Smoking

Note to self: do not pack Krazy Glue in your toiletries bag if you are traveling by plane.

I am clearly an idiot because I thought it would be very efficient of me to take some Krazy glue with me to Calgary. I have some jewelry that needs a quick repair and a little Krazy glue should do the trick. Besides, I wanted to wear this pendant for a wedding this weekend but I didn't have time to carefully glue it back together before leaving Vancouver. Needless to say, the Krazy glue exploded in my toiletries bag and well everything is stuck together! Toothbrush, toothpaste, eye cream, nail clippers, tweezers, contact lens case, etc. all stuck together like white on rice! An Asian person would say "Aye-ya!" to that!


When I landed on Calgary, I waited for my girlfriend Aryn to pick me up. While I waited, I noticed some smokers getting twitchy for a cigarette. They must have come off a long international flight, either that or they're just hard core chain smokers. Anyhoodles, I watched these walking chimneys head over to the outside smoking area and I started laughing hysterically! Personally I think smoking is disgusting. Really. It's gross. We all know it's bad for your health - it makes you stinky, ages you ten fold (and no amount of anti-wrinkle cream will help your leathery catcher mitt like face), gives you bad breath, yellow teeth, yada, yada... not to mention it can kill you. Well it looks to me that the Calgary Airport Authority doesn't think much of smokers either because their designated smoking area is shared with the latrine of man's best friend. I actually feel sorry for the dogs there.

Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon: Brew Pub Style

When people use the expression “small world”, I now believe it to be true. It’s not that I didn’t believe it before. Many times when I have spent time with friends, acquaintances, co-workers, etc. we find out that we have mutual friends or acquaintances in common. I’m sure this experience is not uncommon and these sort of things happen more often than we think. However, one recent Saturday night in Yaletown takes the cake for my “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” encounter.

Let’s start from the beginning of the night shall we??? My friend Deanna and I started the evening off hanging out at her place having our trusty Gin and Sodas shooting the shit. Even though her defective “Made in China” hair dryer literally singed chunks of hair from the top of my head (seriously, I lost enough hair that it resembled a small animal in her waste basket!), we were have a good time and laughing our asses off. At some point we thought we should head out some where and be a little social… so off to the Yaletown Brew Pub we went!

When we arrived at the Brew Pub I had an itching to play some pool. Deanna, on the other hand, declared her dismal pool handicap and I had to find someone else to play with. There were a couple of guys playing the table and they came across as a couple of “dudes” who thought their “shit don’t stink” if you know what I mean. Picture this: They were dressed in white, un-tucked, button up shirts with jeans and white shoes resembling Diesel sneakers and the like. Apparently there was a group of them out on a Stag, dressed in white and they called themselves “The White Knights” - how gay is that????

Nonetheless, I wanted to play a round, even if there were fools at the table. So I immediately put my twoonie on the edge of the pool table to hold my spot. Besides, I was feeling confident that I could kick at least one of their asses off the pool table. Apparently a little bit of gin in my system and I think I can make miracles happen. Anyhow, these jack-asses somehow convince me to play doubles with their buddy Shane. I reluctantly agree and we play. Fortunately, I was on my game and Shane and I won the first round! We continue to play another game when a couple of other ladies come by the table. We all stop for a small chat and introduce ourselves. One of the ladies introduces herself to me as “Zilya” and I immediately ask her “Did you used to be married to Travis?”.

Zilya smiles but looks at me puzzled as I say “I’m Nancy. I’m a friend of Simon’s”.

Zilya grins and says to me, “You’re the one with the Ninja!” We both laughed.

And that was the beginning of my world becoming smaller. As the night went on, I find out Zilya’s friend Sarah works with a friend of my sister’s, Linda, whom she will be the maid of honor at her wedding in a few weeks.

I later run in to a guy I went to school with named Cam. I also run into my friend Karen who happened to also be there with a few of her co-worker/friends. It turns out one of Karen’s friends went to high school with Cam. Anyhow… to try and simplify this Yaletown “small world” social network ordeal, I have included a diagram to illustrate the bizarre experience.

The bubbles in “blue” are the people who were actually at the Brew Pub that night. Those in “yellow” were not there but were the connection between the groups of people. Craziness!

So the moral to this story is: Don’t burn your bridges; especially not in this city because it may come back to bite you. Vancouver is a small city and it seems everyone knows everyone. Well, at least they did in Yaletown this one Saturday night!

Advice for Single Ladies

To my single girlfriends: Some dating advice to those of you who relate to shopping.

• Think of dating like shopping.
  
• You can window shop if you are not ready to buy. However, keep in mind that wandering the stores can get tiring so you will eventually have to buy something. Besides, if you just keep looking and not try anything on for size, when you finally do decide, your merchandise may already be sold.
• Try things on for size. You won't know what you like and don't like unless you give it try. Look at things like fit; is it flattering or does it make your butt look big? Maybe you are just looking for accessories and not a whole outfit. Does it compliment you and bring out your personality? You won't know until you try it.
  
• When you are ready to buy, make sure there is a good return policy just in case you change your mind or if the merchandise is defective.... and we all know that there is a lot of defective merchandise out there! - too many things made in China these days (just kidding - that would be my bad sense of humour).
• Remember that store credit is a load of crap. Merchandise attached to this sort of return policy is just around to mess with your head. If you can't take it back, just ditch it. Give it away to someone more in need.

Did that make sense? I think it's perfectly logical :)

ATV in Mexico

Senga and I thought we should try and get off the beat ‘n path and do something fun so we decided to rent an ATV and take a trail into the jungle. It’s the dry season so the riverbeds we travelled along were mostly dried up and there was a hell of a lot of dirt and dust! The ATV trail was pretty fun! Good terrain with steep areas and some rough patches to manoeuvre around. I drove the ATV as Senga’s wrist was sore. She kept saying to me that this was an exercise in trust for her. Mostly because I didn’t believe in using the brakes when we were going down the hills. She kept saying to me “Nancy, brakes are our friends!” as I barreled down the hills. She will fully admit that she has some control issues so being a passenger while I was driving like a maniac probably didn’t help. Never have never I lost such blood circulation in my arms and legs from someone hanging on so, so very tightly! It was like someone gripping on to a thigh-master!


Here are some photos of where we arrived... at a river bed in the jungle. There were a whole lot of lizards, vultures and a few donkeys around… and a little puppy we ran into after the tour.

Photo Blog - Huatulco

So for this blog I've decided to post a bunch of photos instead of writing a lot of crap.

Turtles

Sunrise

Some Photos before Dinner

Huatulco, Oaxaca

Las Brisas Resort Huatulco is a beautiful property! Apparently it used to be a Club Med. It’s much, MUCH better than the flight. I mean what could be better than toilets that work! The resort is very lush and green with well kept tropical gardens. I would venture to say that it feels like a tame jungle. Very beautiful!

The photo is the view from our room.


Huatulco is in the state of Oaxaca and situated 286 kilometres from the colonel capital of Oaxaca city. The bays of Huatulco are located along the coast at the end of the southern Sierra Madre mountains. The clear, turquoise water of the 36 beaches are spectacular! Over11,000 acres in and around Huatulco were declared national parks by the Mexican government in 1998. Important to sustaining the natural ecology and sea life, many of the bays are considered protected areas with development prohibited. Some of the bays are also the spawning grounds for variety of marine (sea) turtles.

The state of Oaxaca, among Mexico's 31 states, is known for its diverse culture with 16 different ethic groups. As such, Oaxacan culture combines the history of many of these groups. The native tribes ruled by the Aztecs in the city's earliest years were the Zapotec and the Mixtec. Both tribes still influence Oaxaca culture to this day, and the informed traveler will note that separate accents representing these different tribes can still be heard in Oaxaca today. Spain and colonialists from Europe also influence Oaxaca culture. Together, this mix of cultures and peoples creates a modern day Oaxaca that is full of history and fascinating people and traditions.

Nowhere are the differing sides of Oaxaca culture seen as prominently as they are in Oaxaca food. Oaxaca food is famous throughout the world for its unique flair and combination of spices that are found almost nowhere else in Mexico.

Senga and I signed up for a few low key tours. Here are some photos from a natural, fresh water lagoon and crocodile habitat! We also went on a snorkeling trip visiting 7 bays.