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Happy Labour Day!

As this is the last day of summer (for students like myself), I’ve decided to dedicate this blog post to recapping what I did this summer. I have to say, this summer was one which will hold the most memories.

(06.26.09 – 07.04.09) My summer started off with a bang, jetting back to the iconic New York City that I hadn’t seen in 3 years. While there, I walked down 5th, saw West Side Story on Broadway, walking past the Pride Parade that one Sunday, and even going all the way to Greenwich Village to see the Friends apartment (I know they didn’t even film in New York).

(07.07.09) Soon after arriving back in Vancouver, I was among the first group of people to see the VIP screening of the new 4D Theatre at the Vancouver Aquarium. I’ve seen the same thing 3 times already and quite frankly, I’m sick of it (until the next “movie” comes out). I do have to say, it is a very entertaining (and scary) 12 minutes.

(07.17.09) Before I knew it, I was gearing up to host my summer party for about 20 friends. We ate and talked and chilled until the sun set and we all had a ball.

(07.29.09 – 08.01.09) Now, what’s summer without going to the beach and waiting for hours on end for the spectacular fireworks? This summer was actually the first year I’d gone to the fireworks, and I must say, I am impressed with the outcome of my photos (most of them, at least).  It’s unfortunate I didn’t see South Africa’s, which I really liked after seeing it online.

(08.03.09)And it’s right back to the Aquarium for the sea turtle encounter. I was able to feed Schoona the green sea turtle and touch her shell.

(08.04.09) One of my friends told me about Teen Shakespeare’s Macbeth at Granville Island so a bunch of us went to see that.

(08.06.09) I decided to check out the track and field portion of the Police & Fire Games. It got pretty boring after a few hours so off to Granville Island I went for some fish and chips.

(08.07.09) Well that was a fun day, driving up to North Van to the Capilano Suspension Bridge, getting clogged in traffic on the Lions Gate Bridge, and going up to the Vancouver Lookout with a friend from the States.

(08.09.09) Seeing as I could get into Grouse Mountain for free, I took advantage of that and took the Skyride up to Grouse for a day of looking at grizzly bears and birds, and watching a (really lame) lumberjack show. It wasn’t the best day to go, but it wasn’t horrific either.

(08.11.09) Maplewood Farm was another place I could get into for free, not that it’s that expensive to get into anyway. Cute animals there.

(08.12.09) I’d never been down to Steveston (in Richmond) before, so I went to check it out on a nice, sunny August day. I also checked out the Buddhist temple close by.

(08.22.09) Of course, there was the PNE the first day it opened. Can’t forget about the annual two-week event, complete with Superdogs, concerts, and tons of people.

(08.23.09) With the Canada Line opened for about a week, I went to ride it for my first time to Aberdeen and the airport. Definitely new and modern, but full of delays that day.

And that about wraps up my summer. I mean, of course, there were other random outings in between, but that’s the gist of it.

Now, I’m about to start a whole new chapter in my life. Not sure if I’m excited or nervous about it. Indifferent at the moment, I suppose.

Every year, the PNE opens for 2 weeks at the end of the summer for everyone to enjoy everything from Superdogs shows to concerts to buying goodies from the Marketplace. This year, I went on the 1st day (Aug 22), where there was free admission from 9am-12pm.

One of the first things I did was go to grab a spot at the Superdogs show @ 10am. Normal days at the PNE don’t have Superdogs shows in the morning. This was a special one, some sort of “opening ceremony” with Raymond Louie (the chair of the PNE, something or other).

Some of the dogs at the Superdogs show were really, really cute.

Look at the shaggy one up in the middle front!

Shaggy doggy has a ponytail!

Any time you’re at the PNE, the crowds will be right there with you.

Just look at that pile of people leading from the PNE side to the Playland side and vice versa. Crazy!

Global BC has their amphitheatre set up here, and this is where concerts and whatnot are played. Red Robinson and others perform on this stage.

This barn-like place houses animals from horses to sheep to pigs to chicken eggs.

This sheep would not quit “bahhh”-ing! And he was SO loud!

More crowds of people outside the Pacific Coliseum.

I also saw a lumberjack show. It was as lame as the one up at Grouse (Mountain). And worse than being packed like sardines in a can. Because you’re sitting there and legs are climbing all over you trying to get up and down the bleachers.

I also saw the RCMP Musical Ride, which consisted of about 32 horses and RCMP officers “dancing” to music. Raymond Louie was also at that show. The show was really good.

Here they are in windmill formation.

This formation was supposedly on the old $50 Canadian bill.

Then, there’s Miller Drive, which features things like the sand castle competition, which hadn’t started yet on the 1st day of the PNE.

Of course, there is much more to see at the PNE like different concerts every night and painting the art cars, but that’s the gist of what I saw while I was there. Now here’s something cute.

KC! He’s the mascot for Playland or PNE or both.

Adorable!

Wouldn’t you love to meet and feed a sea turtle? That’s just what I did last Monday @ the Vancouver Aquarium. It was all part of the Aquarium’s Animal Encounters, where you get to “go behind the scenes and find out what it’s like to feed and train the animals of the Vancouver Aquarium alongside their trainers.” Of course, you have to pay a hefty price, but it’s worth it.

Schoona (SKOO-na) is the resident sea turtle at the Aquarium. She has been there for a number of years now and is estimated to be between the ages of 10 and 20. She was brought to the Aquarium after being found along the coast of BC/Alaska, lost, alone, and starving. 6 of the 7 species of sea turtles out there are not meant to swim all the way up to places like BC as it is much too cold for them (considering they’re cold-blooded and all). A fisherman found her and rescued her, some other things happened, she was rehabilitated, and wound up at the Aquarium. She was unable to be released because nobody knew where she was from. They could’ve put her back out by, like, Mexico or something and for all they know, she could’ve gotten lost again.

That was the gist of the story of Schoona we were told during the Encounter. We also learned about sea turtles in general, their shell, and other facts about them. After that, we went up to an area behind the scenes to “make” Schoona’s lunch. Sea turtles are mainly vegetarians, so the trainers give her red peppers, string beans, broccoli, lettuce, some fishy/squid stuff, a gel diet (this block of dark green stuff), and a vitamin E capsule. She needs so many grams of everything so what we did was weigh everything out.

Then, off we went to the shark penthouse (basically the area above the shark habitat).

Yes, Schoona swims with the sharks. Stingrays and some fish too. In order to section Schoona off from everyone else swimming around and to feed her, a pair of really bright lights (which is supposed to have vitamin D for her shell) is turned on, a red paddle is dunked into the water, and a shaker is rattled. Schoona immediately swims into this little section and a clear plastic board is placed so she doesn’t get out.

I was on one side of this sectioned-off area and some others were on the other side, both with our bowl of food for Schoona. From there, she basically swam around in circles to get each piece of food put into the water for her. Of course, we didn’t plunk our hands into the water to put food in. She could easily bite a finger or more off, so instead, we used plastic tongs (the nicer ones that are used to pick up scraps of garbage) to put in a piece of food at a time into the water, making sure we released the food before she could get a bite of the tongs as well.

That went on for about 15 minutes, and I had the privilege of touching her shell, which is pretty smooth.

Here she is taking a breath. During the duration of the Encounter (which was 60 minutes long), she took about 4 breaths.

She’s reaching for a string bean here. From above the water, Schoona is enormous compared to when I usually see her swimming around (not above water).

She’s heading to the other side for some more food. The green plastic bowl clearly shows her food sitting in there. Look at that giant shell!

Schoona gets fed only once a day and usually, it is the people doing the Animal Encounter that feed her. Cute.

Hm. I’m not sure what to say about China’s fireworks (“Through the Looking Glass”). I mean, the fireworks themselves were very nice, but personally, I found their show too slow-paced, making it kind of boring. I’m sitting there, camera in hand, expecting huge blasts of light and sparks, but there was nothing that gave me chills (uh, the chills that make you think, “OMG that’s amazing!”). The choreography was outstanding of course, and I’m sure their fireworks were something the judges were looking for, but it didn’t do it for me. I wasn’t too fond of the music either.

I have to say, I really liked South Africa’s despite not actually seeing it live. Their fireworks may not have been as creative as China’s, but their music was incredible. The Pirates of the Carribean theme song always gets to me. I could watch that minute and a half over and over again. UK put on a great show as well. It’s unfortunate they didn’t leave their big blast for last. And as for Canada, well… after watching it online, complete with music, I didn’t find it all that great. The Wizard of Oz music was never meant to accompany fireworks. The fireworks were just blasting away however they liked and the music was just there for the sake of being there.

Nevertheless, I’m glad I went to the fireworks this year. Being out in the summer night, driving (aka idling) in the fireworks aftermath, chilling with friends, ah. Will look forward to next year’s fireworks.

Enjoy the following photos. And South Africa FTW!

Onion rings look-alike much? This is actually fried calamari from Watermark (the restaurant @ Kits Beach). Needless to say, they look remarkably different from last Saturday’s fried calamari. Apparently, they changed things around to be all Ocean Wise, thus the new look and way of cooking and taste. All I can say is… yuck. (Sigh, and they changed it because of something the place I volunteer at started.) Fried calamari isn’t the same when there isn’t a crispy surface.

Market Greens

They redeemed themselves (sort of) with their delicious (and obviously overpriced) Tiramisu Cheesecake.

The view of Kits Beach from Watermark

Last night’s sunset was the fastest I’ve ever seen in my life. You could seriously just sit there and see the sun move behind the mountains within minutes.

And now, time for the fireworks photos themselves. (Fireworks mode FTW again.)

And that pretty much wraps up the Celebration of Light 2009. I’m hoping South Africa will win, but part of me doubts they will. I don’t know when the winner will be announced, but I do know I’m already looking forward to next year’s fireworks (hopefully they won’t be briefly cancelled again like they were this year).

All I can say is, UK night (“Parasols Over the Pacific”) was spectacular. UK > Canada. I can’t exactly compare it to South Africa’s because South Africa’s was really good too, and I didn’t watch it live. But hands down, UK’s was much better than Canada’s. The only thing is that UK’s 20 minute mark really should’ve been their 25 minute (aka ending) mark. I’m sure many people, myself included, thought the amazing bursts of gold and whatnot was the end, but a quick check of the watch clearly stated there were 5 minutes left.

Last night was also the discovery of fireworks mode!! They really make the photos pop. Check them out.

First, a sunset photo from Kits Beach.

Before I discovered fireworks mode. Doesn’t it just look kinda… blah? But I’ve gotta say, the view this time was much better than on Canada night. I like the silhouettes of people.

Everything following this photo will have been taken using fireworks mode.

I believe this last photo here was @ the 20 minute mark. Awesome.

Well, that’s 3/4 Celebration of Light nights. China night, the final night, will be this Saturday. Looking forward to it!

Saturday was… interesting, to say the least. The plan WAS to go to see the South Africa fireworks (“Tapestry of Colour”), but that took a turn for the worse (or better?) when the rain and thunder and lightning started happening. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

The day was looking pretty good actually, nice and sunny, maybe a few clouds here and there. No one would’ve expected a thunderstorm. The weather forecast mentioned no such thing. But sooner or later, the sun disappears and the clouds turn grey.

Nevertheless, my friends and I made it to Kits Beach and ate dinner @ the Watermark Restaurant. Check out the food.

Fried Calamari

Seafood Chowder

Classic Caesar Salad w/ Chicken Breast

Herb Chicken Breast

Delish. Soon after we left the restaurant was when it started raining. Then the thunder and lightning started. Yet we still walked along the beach in search of a spot not too gross, but after maybe half an hour of sitting and standing around, having rain blown in our faces and seeing large strikes of lightning and claps of thunder, we decided it wouldn’t be worth it to wait another two hours for a 25-minute show. And despite the fact I’ve heard that the fireworks were so worth waiting in the rain for and that the lightning made it that much better, we went on to have an absolutely awesome night. Plus, South Africa’s Tapestry of Colour show is viewable online, so I was able to watch it in the comfort of my own chair sitting right at home, and you can view it too!

This is Global BC’s video feed showing raw footage of both Canada and South Africa’s shows: http://bit.ly/woWte

Also, check out this time lapse video of Saturday, July 25: http://bit.ly/e2vgJ Take note of 0:50. Seeing that was my favourite part of the day.

Next up will be the UK’s fireworks show tomorrow (July 29)! It should be a steaming hot day tomorrow. That’s summer for you.

On impulse, I decided to hit the beach and watch some fireworks this past Wednesday. Some friends and I wound up at Kitsilano Beach, much emptier than English Bay although not as good of a view, but I prefer less crowds over a better view any day of the week.

The Celebration of Light is an annual fireworks show, basically, and is free to watch from beaches and parks. This year, there are 4 teams in the competition: Canada (July 22), South Africa (July 25), UK (July 29), and China (Aug 1). The shows start @ 10pm on the night of and last about 25 minutes long (at least Canada’s did).

This Wednesday was Canada night, and Canada’s fireworks display had the theme of The Wizard of Oz. Music can barely be heard on Kits Beach (will bring a radio tomorrow) but the fireworks were still a sight. And the ending was awesome, complete with loud blasts and colourful poofs of sparks and light.

I don’t have very spectacular photos of the fireworks. Just photos.

On July 3, a couple of friends and I went to Playland for my friend’s very late birthday “party”. It got delayed a couple days because of the poor weather, but the past couple of days was looking very good, so we decided to go have some fun. After all, it is summer.

I was at Playland in June for a field trip in Marketing class, but I decided to come again with some other friends.

Those pictures were the view of Playland from the new ferris wheel. The old one was pretty scary and also pretty old. It just had a seat with a bar in the front, and if you stopped at the top, the whole thing would swing. The new one swings too, but you’re surrounded all around so it’s not as scary. It can also fit more than 2 people and I was actually able to move around in there, so I took a couple of pictures.

A view of the Hellevator.

In the morning, the sun didn’t peek through yet, but by mid-afternoon, it was boiling, and not a cloud was seen in the sky. It almost looks fake.

I actually thought that there would be more people than there actually were, considering it’s summer and everything, but there weren’t that many people. It looked deserted from those pictures. But it’s a good thing because the line ups for the rides didn’t take that long. The Flume (water ride) had a pretty big line up, probably because it’s a water ride, but it was all good.

That day was a fun day, and I do hope to go back to Playland sometime soon.

Guess you can’t really blame it. I mean, it is Vancouver. And in Vancouver, you always have to expect unexpected weather.

Let’s see… when I woke up this morning, it was sunny with a couple clouds floating around. Then in the middle of the day, it was raining a little. Then it rained harder. And while I was reading, I heard a couple claps of thunder.

Then it stopped. After, the sun came shining through a bit and all was dry. Then more rain. Then sun and clouds. Then rain again??

I can’t even keep track of it. The weather changes so suddenly.

Some of my friends and I were planning to go to Playland today, but we canceled it last night because today was supposed to rain. At first, I thought it wasn’t going to rain, but then the grey clouds rolled in. And when I heard the clap of thunder, I went YEEEEEEEEE-EESSS!!

I wouldn’t normally pump my fist in the air and shout for joy when I hear thunder and see lightning, but it just meant that we were right in canceling Playland.

We’ll go to Playland another day.

Maybe part of the reason why the weather keeps changing is global warming. :O

Could it be??

Wowwweeeeee was it fun!!

I went with Eunice and her mom. We got to PNE at about 8:45am, so we had to wait. There was this like “grand” opening for it. We went to see the sand sculptures first, but they didn’t start yet. I saw one sculptor there that I also saw at Metrotown.

The first around 2 hours were BORRRRR-RING. Nothing was opened yet that we could do (art cars, etc.) Finally, when it was 11am, we went to the art cars. I was the first one to sign the book to say that I contributed. Hehe. We painted “Painters’ Squad” with some other things on it. It was so fun. That took about 25 minutes.

After that, we went to see the sand sculptures again. We were bored so then we took some sand and then decided to make our own little “sculpture”. AHA Eunice made most/all of it: a little maple leaf. It was kinda lopsided but okay. One of the sculptors came up to us and was like “What’re you doing?” and then we were like laughing and he was like “Girl guide cookies?” AHAHA I really don’t know why that was the first thing that came to mind. AHAHA Anywhoo… another sculptor that was sculpting with David (the guy from Metro) was looking at us. AHAHA Cause we were there for over an hour, working on one stupid little thing. Haha.

When we finished (we made 2 other things), we were leaving and that guy who was looking at us was still like staring. Haha. Then we left. We came back a couple other times. The one time it was still there, another time it was gone.

We went to see Superdogs at 1:30pm. It was pretty good, I guess. The dogs were cute.

So at 3 something, after going to see the sculptures again, we went home. I’d like to go to PNE again but I only wanna see the sand sculptures. Haha. Well, that would seem like a waste of $9/10/15 (depending on where you get it).