This entry is dedicated to a single event, which took place Saturday June 16th. I debated as to whether I'd write about it, but it's worth getting the events of that day down "on paper" for future reference.
The story parallels that of the Crystal Crescent debacle, but on a much larger scale. It starts innocently enough with a visit to a hiking trail straight inland from Martinique beach - one I've been to before. JP and I arrived around six-thirty in the evening, and we decided to do the Gibraltar Loop, a short two-kilometre trail adjacent to a parking lot.
The trail is extremely steep at first, and the hiker is quickly rewarded with a magnificent view of the hills and forests below (the fog somewhat clouded our view, unfortunately).
At approximately 7:15, we came to a crossroads. There were two options: either complete the Gibraltar Loop and go home, or attempt a much larger section of trail, ultimately leading back to some railroad tracks that parallel the highway leading to the area. As you might have guessed, we decided to "go for it."
We did explore the possibility of getting lost, something we neglected to do at Crystal Crescent. Looking at the map, we estimated there to be eight to ten kilometres of trail to complete (editor's note: this was the first mistake. One's fingers are not the most accurate measuring device. We later found the distance to be somewhere between twelve and fifteen kilometres). JP runs about twenty kilometres twice a week, and we used that knowledge to determine an estimated hiking time. We felt that we could get back to the car in two to two and a half hours. While this put us a bit past dark, we felt the risk was minimal, as we wouldn't need light once we got to the tracks (which represented about a third of the total distance).
Comfortable in our decision, we proceeded along the longer trail. The trail weaved back and forth in the forest, with massive elevation changes at every bend - it was slow going (editor's note: this was the second mistake. A good speed simply can't be kept on a trail that weaves back and forth, up and down over rough terrain.). It wasn't too long before we were both tired and thirsty. We were also hungry, as we'd decided to get food after the hike.
We enjoyed the first hour and a half of the walk, but the hills wore us down and we began to curse the terrain. We knew we were behind time, but we felt that the railway section of the trail toward the end would be our saving grace.
It began to get dark, and we started to joke about potential Crystal Crescent scenarios. We were unable to pick up our pace due to fatigue (our legs burned from the effort of climbing hills), and later due to darkness. I lead the way nearly the entire time, and I began to go off of the trail, as I wasn't able to see well enough to keep on it.
One final twist in the trail turned us in the proper direction, and we descended to a crossroads, that we took to be the one shown on the map of the area, as we hadn't encountered any others. We were excited by the fact that we were nearly done. However, darkness slowed our pace further.
Finally, the path lead to a grassy field next to a small river. We were excited, as it was getting dark, and we didn't have much time left. We patted ourselves on the backs for getting out of trouble once again, in the nick of time. Unfortunately, however, the path in the grass quickly disappeared, and as we got closer to the river, the ground got swampier. Our shoes got soaked, but we didn't care - we were almost there (editor's note: here we observe the third mistake. As soon as you realize you're no longer on a trail, the best thing to do is to go back to the last known part of the trail).
We quickly realized that there was no bridge crossing the stream nearby - in fact, none could be seen at all. It was here that we made our biggest error in judgment. All logic was out the window, courtesy of a burning desire to get back to the car. We blindly made the assumption that the stream indeed was the stream that parallels the highway, and therefore, we blindly assumed that the road would be on the other side.
Despite the fact that we both agreed that the road was likely on the other side, I pushed for us to return to the trail. I didn't believe that swimming across the stream was the right move. JP felt otherwise - she felt that it was too dark to attempt to re-find the trail, and she felt that following the riverbank, looking for a bridge, would take too long. We wasted precious moments making our decision, but in the end, I sided with her. I did so because I was convinced that we'd be spending the night in the woods otherwise. I was completely irrational at this point, a state surely driven by our situation. Looking back at those moments at the riverside, I find myself unable to comprehend now what might've gone through my mind. YES, WE JUMPED IN THE RIVER AND SWAM ACROSS. It was about six feet deep, and thirty feet across (editor's note: this was the fifth, and biggest mistake. NEVER get wet when you're lost in the woods. Warmth is critical if you are to survive a night in the woods.).
On the other side of the river, we crossed more swamp, pushed through shrubs, and then started up a fairly steep hill. It was getting extremely dark, and we were barely making any progress, as we stopped at every step to check for solid ground one step ahead. We got a ways up the hill, but decided to head back down to the river due to darkness - the plan was to follow the river to the road at that point. We stumbled down the hill, falling into small holes, and surviving many close calls (editor's note: here we observe the sixth mistake. When it gets too dark to see, stay put!). The close calls would catch up with us, as things took a fairly serious turn for the worse.
We were progressing slowly, being quite careful. I lead, with JP close behind, so that we wouldn't lose each other. One instant, we were making some progress, the next, I was taking a step onto thin air, next to a large boulder. I fell immediately, totally unaware of the void on the far side of the boulder, and I landed sitting on the backs of my legs. My mind raced, trying to determine whether my body was injured. I could feel soft moss underneath me, and the only pain I could feel came from the back of my right calf. Fortunately, it turned out to be a sort of charly horse, and it went away quickly. I stood back up, uninjured, to find the boulder towering over my head, with JP on top looking down.
I am infinitely grateful that I didn't injure myself falling off that rock. There might've been more boulders, a fallen tree or shrubs. The fall might've been eighty feet instead of eight. I could've easily died, or at least gotten badly injured. We were far from any path, and I might've bled to death right there. Instead, I fell eight feet onto a bed of soft moss, and I was completely fine. So, we kept going :)
Five minutes later, we found a smallish boulder sunk into the ground. We sat down on it for a minute, and discussed our situation. We decided that it was too dangerous to continue, and so we layed down on the rock, huddling for warmth.
At eleven, we called 911. The call taker wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, and it took fifteen minutes of cell phone power to convey to her that we were not at Martinique Beach. After twenty-five minutes, she'd finally located the trail complex we'd been hiking. I don't believe she ever got a good idea of where we actually were. She dispatched an RCMP officer, then told me to turn my cell off - she'd call me back in twenty-five minutes.
An hour after turning my cell back on, I called 911 again. The woman told me to wait for a call from the RCMP officer. Fifteen minutes later, he called. He'd found the my car and was parked beside it. He tried putting his siren on, but we couldn't hear it. I asked him to drive down the road about eight kilometers, and try blaring his siren there. We hung up, and I turned my phone off, believing that he was going to do that.
An hour later, we'd still heard nothing. We were getting cold, and we got up to move around and warm up. JP held out hope that we'd be found during the night, but I believed that to be impossible, given that we were so far off any trail.
We didn't make contact with anyone until about four-thirty in the morning. We passed the time by chatting about how we'd got ourselves into the situation, about all the crazy things that had happened so far, about what the RCMP officer was doing and why we didn't hear his siren, and about what we were going to do come morning. We tried to figure out the direction to move in, relative to the sunrise.
As the night wore on, we got colder and colder. I zipped up my wet sweatshirt-like jacket around both of us and we lay on the rock, shivering. I had shorts on, and my legs were paining from the many cuts I'd gotten pushing through the dense forests.
It began to get noticably lighter around four. We pointed out to each other each new object we were able to distinguish in the darkness. We were determined not to move until it was safe to do so.
I called 911 again, and they told us to stay put. They told me I'd get a call from the leader of the rescue team. Paying close attention to our instructions, we started walking. We wanted to get to the top of the hill to get a look at things. Fifteen minutes later, the rescue leader called. He said teams were being dispatched to the area, and to call him if we heard a whistle in the next two hours.
At the top of the hill, we could see nothing but fog and trees. Despite this, we headed down the hill over very rough terrain. We had to climb over fallen trees, crawl over boulders and push our way though thick shrubs. At the bottom of the hill, we entered a flat area, and got our first taste of possible rescue. A car could be heard in the distance! It didn't sound too close, but it was a direction to go in. We walked for about forty minutes, before hearing our second car. This time, the sound came from directly behind us. It sounded closer, so we decided to turn around and go in that direction. We did not encounter the hill again, so clearly our paths weren't straight. The third car sound again came from directly behind.
At this point, we were getting very irritated, especially JP. We were colder than ever, courtesy of the cold water that rained down upon us as we pushed through the trees (we later found that it had gone down to 7 degrees overnight). We were tired and thirsty, and we were moving in circles. The ground was swampy, and our shoes filled with water with every step. Whenever we stopped for a break, the mosquitos swarmed around us. The cuts on my legs were agonizing, as they got whipped and re-cut. Something had to be done. So, instead of attempting to walk in a straight line, I began picking trees, several at a time, forming a straight line ahead of us. We would get to the first tree, then pick a new tree further in the distance to maintain the line.
We then heard a car that seemed very close. We walked about 100 feet toward the sound, then waited for the next car to come. It was closer, and again, we walked 100 feet and waited. After doing this four or five times, I saw a clearing! We hoped it was grass next to the highway, but it was almost as good. It was the train tracks that parallel the highway! We were excited to say the least! We jumped up and down, and hugged each other. We turned left, and proceeded down the tracks, shivering and happy.
Ten minutes into our walk, we came to a sign warning that the path was obstructed ahead, so we turned around. By now, the cold was really getting to us, as we were no longer sheltered from the wind by the forest. We didn't care much about turning around - we were too happy about making it out of the woods.
I decided to call the leader of the rescue team, and he told me that there was a jeep patrolling the railroad tracks, and that we'd probably see it soon. At that point, my phone finally ran out of batteries - what would we have done without it?! Not a minute after the call, the jeep came around the far corner, moving agonizingly slowly toward us.
Four local members of the rescue team greeted us and joked about whether we could use a lift. They put us in the back seat, gave us chocolate bars, water and blankets to warm us up. I'm experiencing a rush of excitement now, as I relive those moments. There were times in the swamp that I thought we might not make it out, after getting turned completely around twice. We were both cold and discouraged for several hours before making it out. The jeep turned around, and we headed back to the parking lot around seven-thirty.
I shivered the entire time in the jeep. The ride was slow, as the tracks weren't meant for vehicles - we never went faster than 20 km/h. It didn't help that perhaps the oldest member of the rescue team was behind the wheel. It was agonizing. We apologized to the men in the jeep, but they would not let us in any way blame ourselves. They told us that it happens, and that many people get lost in the same area as we did. In fact, they generally go out on a rescue twice a week.
On the way back to the parking lot, we passed two more teams of four, on foot. They told us that the chopper hadn't yet taken off, due to fog. THE CHOPPER! The idea of a helicopter looking for us seemed ridiculous. It sort of drove home just our serious our predicament was. They gave us water and chocolate bars to rehydrate/re-energize us.
Back at the parking lot, the site of my car was beautiful. They wanted to drive us down to the search headquarters, but I convinced them to let me drive my car there. I finally got out of my wet sweatshirt and put my raincoat on instead. As we drove to the headquarters, we relished the feeling of being safe inside the car. This was also our first chance to talk about what had happened.
At the rescue headquarters (a bus, with generators and satellite dishes), an RCMP officer was waiting. He asked us a couple of questions, such as how we'd gotten lost, as well as for personal information.
Also on the bus was the rescue coordinator, his assistant, a college student working a laptop computer attached to a printer and a satellite dish, and two older ladies whose job it was to prepare food. They made us oatmeal (it was delicious, the first time I've said that about plain oatmeal), chicken soup and hot chocolate. Only after we'd finished our meals would the rescue people question us for future reference.
They asked how we'd gotten lost, and where we'd gotten lost. We looked at a map, and it turned out that the path we'd taken after finding the crossroads wasn't marked - it was not the path we meant to take. We realized that the path we had taken simply was a dead end path, ending at a marshy, watery area, which explains why we lost it. As suspected, we never crossed the real river, but rather a small stream in a marshy area leading to the river. We'd walked about two kilometres through dense forest and marsh. They offered us a copy of the map, but instead I managed to obtain a copy with a cross hairs marking our position, labeled "persons found."
We said our thank-yous and goodbyes, and were on our way. We joked about going back to the parking lot for another hike. Instead, we went home and completely crashed, exhausted. JP escaped with relatively minor injuries, but my legs were severely scratched and cut, and are still healing almost a month later.
I bought a GPS receiver the next day.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Sunday, June 10, 2007
1480 - The Darker Side of Crystal Crescent
I'm not even sure whether this is week 1480... it might be 1481. That's what I get for deciding to do these things irregularly. The past week has been adventurous, to say the least, so here I am writing about it!
Last week I finally bought a car. I'd taken a day to go look at used cars (I picked the hottest, sunniest day we've had in a LONG time), and I became quickly disgusted by the dishonest, greasy salesmen, and the overpriced, problem-prone cars. I made my last stop of the day the Volkswagen dealership, not really expecting much. I looked at their used cars, and found Jettas that were four years old, with no warranty left, for $14,000. I also saw a beautiful Audi A4 - I wanted it the instant I saw it. Unfortunately it had 120,000 kms on it, and it still cost $23,000.
I went over to take a look at the new cars, and I decided to take the City Jetta out for a spin. It wasn't as powerful a car as I wanted, but I was blown away by the quality of the car. It rode nicely, and everything looked great inside. It immediately supplanted the now cheap and ugly Pontiac G5 as my new car of choice. I finished the test drive and left the lot, determined to make a decision quickly.
That night, I decided to go with the City Jetta, if I could get what I perceived to be a "good deal." The next day, I went back to the dealership, only to find the salesman who'd helped me the previous day sick. I talked numbers with another salesman, and finally nailed down a fairly firm price. Then, I left to go over to the Dartmouth dealership to compare prices.
In Dartmouth, most of the cars had side airbags, whereas the ones in Halifax hadn't. I was able to get them to match Halifax's price including the side airbags, and so I signed off! I was nervous and excited - nervous because I couldn't help but feel like I was being ripped off, but more because it was a big step in my life. I was excited because I knew I liked the car, and I was looking forward to driving it. We got through all the paperwork, and I headed home.
The next day, I arranged insurance, then went to pick the car up after work, with my parents. We did some more paper work (financing), then went over literally every feature of the car (including every button in the dash), and finally I was allowed to drive away.
Dad and I stopped at home, where Mum was waiting for us to return (she'd brought the other car back home). They took pictures of me and the car... they kept saying "wow - your very first car!" I felt like I was sixteen years old. Glad to have gotten through the process, I took the car out for a bit of test driving before heading home.
I've gotten better at driving it the past couple of weeks - I can handle fairly steep inclines now. Still, the car shakes a lot when I change gears because I don't have it quite right. It's a good exercise for me to drive it around town in difficult situations, because it's embarassing to stall it.
Last Thursday, I went on my first date since JW and I broke up. It was a good first date, as far as they go. We chatted over coffees for a while, then went for a walk on the boardwalk, then went to Eastside Mario's for dinner. I had a spicy sausage pasta, that tasted the same as a spicy bowtie pasta I'd had my last time there.
The following Sunday, I went golfing with TA at Fox Hollow. The course was difficult, and my driving wasn't good. I narrowly escaped several disasters, often driving the ball so far off line as to avoid the rough and wind up in the next fairway over. I settled down and strung together several excellent holes - it was the first time this year I've felt good about my game. Later in the round, I experienced a bit of fatigue, and I got sloppy on a few shots. I paid dearly for them, nearly ruining the round in the process. In the end, I managed a pretty good score, and I came away happy.
Once home, I called JP and we went out on our second date (both my parents were away that night, so I had no dinner to go to). We walked from her place to the Athens, where we both had Souvlaki (I think). It was delicious - mine came with lamb, a pita, rice and a greek salad, with some sort of dipping sauce that I can't even come close to spelling (tah-zee-kee). Afterward, we tried to go for a coffee at Starbucks, but it was a full house, so we went back to her place for a little while. We watched a U2 concert DVD - she has a great TV and great speakers (and no neighbour worries, I guess), so it was pretty good.
Tuesday, we hung out for the third time, this time deciding to go to Crystal Crescent beach for a hike. It had rained a bit, and we fully expected that we'd get there, take a quick look, then leave. By the time we arrived, the rain had stopped, and it was fairly dry, but very foggy.
We walked along the trails, quite far out, until we came to what we think was Pennant Point - the furthest part of the trail system, according to the map. The waves were amazing - perhaps as big as they'd been at Lawerencetown beach because of a hurricane last fall. They crashed into the rocks and shook the ground. We stopped for a few minutes to watch them, then continued on along a shotty path, that became shottier with each step. We eventually pushed our way through some forest, and came to an open, swampy field. We decided that we'd better get back to the trail that goes around the entire outer perimeter of the penninsula, but we were unable to find it. Instead, we continued along the coast, as the conditions continued to deteriorate.
Again, we pushed through the woods to get a look at the interior. We thought we could hear water on both sides of us, and I'm quite sure at this point we did nearly a complete circle, before returning to the shore again. Now, we were determined to stick to the shore the rest of the way, to avoid getting lost.
The conditions along the shore got worse quickly. We found ourselves walking over much smaller, much slipperier rocks, and our pace slowed greatly. It was beginning to get dark, and we had no idea where we were. Finally, we decided to go up the bank to see what we could see. Luckily, we found a path. Going up the bank was the first decision that we made that saved us from spending the night, lost.
On the newfound path, we ran through the relative darkness, slipping on rocks and roots. At any time, one of us might've twisted an ankle, or poked an eye out on an unseen tree limb. We eventually came to a fork in the path. As JP started to take the left fork, I saw a sign. I ran over to take a look. It said, "short way back to parking lot and C.C. beach!" Spotting the makeshift sign, and deciding to check it, was the second thing that saved us from a night in the woods, as we would not have made it going the long way.
We continued to run, hopping over fallen trees and slipping in the mud. We came out of the forest and into a clearing, which gave us some more light. Still, it was so dark, I found it difficult to follow the path. A half hour later, we came to a gravel path with a large boulder at the intersection of three paths. I thought I recognized it, which gave us a boost. We followed one of the paths, and we're able to make it back to the boardwalk by the second beach! We were overjoyed, and we took a moment to celebrate - both of us really believed for a time that we were not going to find our way out.
We walked through the near pitch black to the parking lot, then out to the road, where I'd parked, finally arriving at 9:40pm on a foggy night. We smelled like sweat and trees - like we'd lived in the woods for months. We proceeded to drive to a Subway for supper, where a large crowd was driven away by our odor :)
We ate our subs at JP's place, after which I headed home. In the end, it makes for a good story, and we've laughed about it a lot since. But at the time, it was a very serious situation, and we really we lucky to get out. Had we been just ten minutes later getting out, we'd have been feeling our way along pitch black forest paths - definitely not my favourite thing to do.
We made a pact that night that we'd never go hiking again without a GPS. If we'd had one, we'd never have gotten into the mess we did.
On Wednesday I went to yoga as usual. The previous week was a good class, but this week casted doubts on whether I'd be able to attend classes long-term. The instructor often tells us about her personal life, and how she uses yoga to deal with it. She talked about breathing in negative energy and bad feelings, and breathing out peace and love. She talked about sharing the peace and love with other people. She had us meditate for a few minutes, where we were supposed to think of someone we disliked, and to breathe in the things we disliked about them, and breathe out compassion and understanding for them.
The whole thing was a little too wishy-washy for me, and I've noticed that as I've gotten more into it, the wishy-washy bits of yoga are becoming more prevalent. I like the physical part of yoga - the stretches, the balancing - working on core muscles. I always feel good physically when I leave. However, I'm not as committed as I need to be to it. I don't live it, like you're *supposed* to - it's not a way of life for me.
I've been thinking for a while that I'll take the summer term (July & August) off to re-evaluate what I need to be doing. AD and TA want to start a training gym at AD's house, which I think would be exciting, at least for a little while. The idea is that we're training to eventually be fit enough to take a real class in, for example, martial arts. This is also one of the long term goals I've been hoping yoga will help me achieve.
Wednesday at work, B-AC quit. It was sudden, but not unexpected. He quit for many good reasons, but one of the major reasons B-PM, an arrogant, demeaning, belittling IT manager. Word around the office is that he might not be the last, if B-PM keeps up his current behaviour. It's definitely going to be an interesting summer!
Thursday after work, AN, B-CC B-AC and I met at Grandview for a round of golf. More importantly, we discussed the reasoning for B-AC quitting, and the state of things at work in general. It was a sort of going away party, despite the fact that we've decided to keep playing together every week, if we can.
Our rounds were pretty good, given that we were eaten alive by flies. It was the worst I've ever seen it - putting was particularly difficult, given that at any one time you could feel several flies walking along your body. It's a nice course, and we would've gone back, except that they decided to raise the price of nine holes from $21 to $33 THAT VERY DAY. Thanks for telling us, guys.
On Friday, AD, RD, AB, AN, TA, JP (RD's sister, not the one I've been dating), A? and I went to Yuk Yuk's to take in some stand up comedy. It was only the second time I've ever done that, and I expected the show to be mediocre. I was horrified to find that our seats were in the FRONT row. We sat about three feet from the comedian's stool.
The show started, and the host immediately began picking on us. He asked me if I was having a good time, but I guess I wasn't very convincing when I said "yes." He made asked my name, then made a joke about me being straight faced like one of those "computer guys." He then asked me what I really did for a living, and I said "you got it, man." That line got one of the biggest laughs of the night :) He then picked on TA about being Italian, and then asked both of us if JP and her friend were our dates. When he found they weren't, he asked us what was wrong with us and how we should be all over the "two beautiful ladies."
There were three actual acts, in addition to the host's, and they were all pretty good. Two of them avoided interacting with the crowd, but the last one again interacted with all eight of us. He particularly got AD for looking relaxed and tired, as if he were on drugs. Then, he ended the act by literally wetting himself - we're still not sure whether it was part of the act or not! It seemed very sudden - it happened mid-joke, and it didn't get much of a laugh. Even out in the corridor, after the show, he maintained that it had been an accident! It was an interesting evening, and it was nice to do something different for a change.
On Saturday I went out with JP for the fourth time. We were considering going to Keji, but the bug report was awful, and neither of us wanted to put ourselves through that. Instead, we went to the Keji Seaside Adjunct, an inviting name that descibes a part of Keji along the ocean that is not attached to the rest of the park. It supposedly had a good hiking trail.
We left around noon, not arriving at the park until about four. We tried to stop in Bridgewater for something to eat, but we wound up eating in Lunenburg. There, we asked directions to the park, but the waitress didn't know where it was, so she called out a man who worked in the kitchen to help us. He insisted that the seaside adjunct didn't exist, and that Keji was inland. He said that there was no saltwater at Keji, unless something had happened overnight or there was some sort of tidal wave. I insisted that it did exist, but he refused to listen, and eventually I gave up. Then he spent five minutes telling us about other places we could go, as we tried desperately to get him to leave. He even said the water was so cold, that we'd freeze by the time we got up to "here" (he indicated "where" by touching JP's leg).
We eventually escaped the restaurant, and headed south, toward where the park was supposed to be. We looked at a map the restaurant had given us, and of course, the seaside adjunct was clearly marked :) It took us about 25 minutes to get there, and we began our hike.
It was a nice hike, but it really wasn't worth the drive. The path is gravel and boardwalk, so it's definitely good for the casual hiker, and it's quite long - it took nearly two hours to complete it. There are some nice rocks to sit on near the furthest points of the hike, though it was cold, windy and foggy that far out. The waves were pretty good, but nothing like Crystal Crescent a few days before. There were also stations equipped with binoculars, though we couldn't quite figure out what one might use them for. We warmed up on the way back inland, and got to the car, fairly disappointed.
It was still fairly early, so we decided to stop by a beach we'd seen on the way to Keji. I'm not sure of the name, but it was a beautiful beach, and it was far enough inland as to escape the fog. It's quite long, quite wide, and very sandy. It reminded me a lot of a smaller, less-private Martinique. We tested the waters, but couldn't get beyond ankle-deep (it was still warmer than I'd been expecting). Then, we laid on the beach in the sun, and it was actually warm enough not to freeze.
We eventually got up, cleaned the sand off of us, and went to a restaurant one end of the beach. It was called the Quarterdeck, and it was extremely nice, and quite pricey. It sat very close to the water, so that you could clearly hear the waves. The seafood was amazing. JP got a caesar salad with shrimp, lobster and huge scallops on it. I got the far less-impressive seafood crepes, but they were still delicious. We split some coconut shrimp to start. They also served jalapeno scones, which surprised me given the rather aged clientelle.
After the restaurant, we listened to music for the hour and a half ride back home.
So yes, it's been a fun couple of weeks! I really feel like summer is here now, and I'm looking forward to hopefully taking part in some more summertime activities.
I’m currently listening to: nothing - I guess I forgot to turn the music on!
Movies watched since last entry: none :(
Last week I finally bought a car. I'd taken a day to go look at used cars (I picked the hottest, sunniest day we've had in a LONG time), and I became quickly disgusted by the dishonest, greasy salesmen, and the overpriced, problem-prone cars. I made my last stop of the day the Volkswagen dealership, not really expecting much. I looked at their used cars, and found Jettas that were four years old, with no warranty left, for $14,000. I also saw a beautiful Audi A4 - I wanted it the instant I saw it. Unfortunately it had 120,000 kms on it, and it still cost $23,000.
I went over to take a look at the new cars, and I decided to take the City Jetta out for a spin. It wasn't as powerful a car as I wanted, but I was blown away by the quality of the car. It rode nicely, and everything looked great inside. It immediately supplanted the now cheap and ugly Pontiac G5 as my new car of choice. I finished the test drive and left the lot, determined to make a decision quickly.
That night, I decided to go with the City Jetta, if I could get what I perceived to be a "good deal." The next day, I went back to the dealership, only to find the salesman who'd helped me the previous day sick. I talked numbers with another salesman, and finally nailed down a fairly firm price. Then, I left to go over to the Dartmouth dealership to compare prices.
In Dartmouth, most of the cars had side airbags, whereas the ones in Halifax hadn't. I was able to get them to match Halifax's price including the side airbags, and so I signed off! I was nervous and excited - nervous because I couldn't help but feel like I was being ripped off, but more because it was a big step in my life. I was excited because I knew I liked the car, and I was looking forward to driving it. We got through all the paperwork, and I headed home.
The next day, I arranged insurance, then went to pick the car up after work, with my parents. We did some more paper work (financing), then went over literally every feature of the car (including every button in the dash), and finally I was allowed to drive away.
Dad and I stopped at home, where Mum was waiting for us to return (she'd brought the other car back home). They took pictures of me and the car... they kept saying "wow - your very first car!" I felt like I was sixteen years old. Glad to have gotten through the process, I took the car out for a bit of test driving before heading home.
I've gotten better at driving it the past couple of weeks - I can handle fairly steep inclines now. Still, the car shakes a lot when I change gears because I don't have it quite right. It's a good exercise for me to drive it around town in difficult situations, because it's embarassing to stall it.
Last Thursday, I went on my first date since JW and I broke up. It was a good first date, as far as they go. We chatted over coffees for a while, then went for a walk on the boardwalk, then went to Eastside Mario's for dinner. I had a spicy sausage pasta, that tasted the same as a spicy bowtie pasta I'd had my last time there.
The following Sunday, I went golfing with TA at Fox Hollow. The course was difficult, and my driving wasn't good. I narrowly escaped several disasters, often driving the ball so far off line as to avoid the rough and wind up in the next fairway over. I settled down and strung together several excellent holes - it was the first time this year I've felt good about my game. Later in the round, I experienced a bit of fatigue, and I got sloppy on a few shots. I paid dearly for them, nearly ruining the round in the process. In the end, I managed a pretty good score, and I came away happy.
Once home, I called JP and we went out on our second date (both my parents were away that night, so I had no dinner to go to). We walked from her place to the Athens, where we both had Souvlaki (I think). It was delicious - mine came with lamb, a pita, rice and a greek salad, with some sort of dipping sauce that I can't even come close to spelling (tah-zee-kee). Afterward, we tried to go for a coffee at Starbucks, but it was a full house, so we went back to her place for a little while. We watched a U2 concert DVD - she has a great TV and great speakers (and no neighbour worries, I guess), so it was pretty good.
Tuesday, we hung out for the third time, this time deciding to go to Crystal Crescent beach for a hike. It had rained a bit, and we fully expected that we'd get there, take a quick look, then leave. By the time we arrived, the rain had stopped, and it was fairly dry, but very foggy.
We walked along the trails, quite far out, until we came to what we think was Pennant Point - the furthest part of the trail system, according to the map. The waves were amazing - perhaps as big as they'd been at Lawerencetown beach because of a hurricane last fall. They crashed into the rocks and shook the ground. We stopped for a few minutes to watch them, then continued on along a shotty path, that became shottier with each step. We eventually pushed our way through some forest, and came to an open, swampy field. We decided that we'd better get back to the trail that goes around the entire outer perimeter of the penninsula, but we were unable to find it. Instead, we continued along the coast, as the conditions continued to deteriorate.
Again, we pushed through the woods to get a look at the interior. We thought we could hear water on both sides of us, and I'm quite sure at this point we did nearly a complete circle, before returning to the shore again. Now, we were determined to stick to the shore the rest of the way, to avoid getting lost.
The conditions along the shore got worse quickly. We found ourselves walking over much smaller, much slipperier rocks, and our pace slowed greatly. It was beginning to get dark, and we had no idea where we were. Finally, we decided to go up the bank to see what we could see. Luckily, we found a path. Going up the bank was the first decision that we made that saved us from spending the night, lost.
On the newfound path, we ran through the relative darkness, slipping on rocks and roots. At any time, one of us might've twisted an ankle, or poked an eye out on an unseen tree limb. We eventually came to a fork in the path. As JP started to take the left fork, I saw a sign. I ran over to take a look. It said, "short way back to parking lot and C.C. beach!" Spotting the makeshift sign, and deciding to check it, was the second thing that saved us from a night in the woods, as we would not have made it going the long way.
We continued to run, hopping over fallen trees and slipping in the mud. We came out of the forest and into a clearing, which gave us some more light. Still, it was so dark, I found it difficult to follow the path. A half hour later, we came to a gravel path with a large boulder at the intersection of three paths. I thought I recognized it, which gave us a boost. We followed one of the paths, and we're able to make it back to the boardwalk by the second beach! We were overjoyed, and we took a moment to celebrate - both of us really believed for a time that we were not going to find our way out.
We walked through the near pitch black to the parking lot, then out to the road, where I'd parked, finally arriving at 9:40pm on a foggy night. We smelled like sweat and trees - like we'd lived in the woods for months. We proceeded to drive to a Subway for supper, where a large crowd was driven away by our odor :)
We ate our subs at JP's place, after which I headed home. In the end, it makes for a good story, and we've laughed about it a lot since. But at the time, it was a very serious situation, and we really we lucky to get out. Had we been just ten minutes later getting out, we'd have been feeling our way along pitch black forest paths - definitely not my favourite thing to do.
We made a pact that night that we'd never go hiking again without a GPS. If we'd had one, we'd never have gotten into the mess we did.
On Wednesday I went to yoga as usual. The previous week was a good class, but this week casted doubts on whether I'd be able to attend classes long-term. The instructor often tells us about her personal life, and how she uses yoga to deal with it. She talked about breathing in negative energy and bad feelings, and breathing out peace and love. She talked about sharing the peace and love with other people. She had us meditate for a few minutes, where we were supposed to think of someone we disliked, and to breathe in the things we disliked about them, and breathe out compassion and understanding for them.
The whole thing was a little too wishy-washy for me, and I've noticed that as I've gotten more into it, the wishy-washy bits of yoga are becoming more prevalent. I like the physical part of yoga - the stretches, the balancing - working on core muscles. I always feel good physically when I leave. However, I'm not as committed as I need to be to it. I don't live it, like you're *supposed* to - it's not a way of life for me.
I've been thinking for a while that I'll take the summer term (July & August) off to re-evaluate what I need to be doing. AD and TA want to start a training gym at AD's house, which I think would be exciting, at least for a little while. The idea is that we're training to eventually be fit enough to take a real class in, for example, martial arts. This is also one of the long term goals I've been hoping yoga will help me achieve.
Wednesday at work, B-AC quit. It was sudden, but not unexpected. He quit for many good reasons, but one of the major reasons B-PM, an arrogant, demeaning, belittling IT manager. Word around the office is that he might not be the last, if B-PM keeps up his current behaviour. It's definitely going to be an interesting summer!
Thursday after work, AN, B-CC B-AC and I met at Grandview for a round of golf. More importantly, we discussed the reasoning for B-AC quitting, and the state of things at work in general. It was a sort of going away party, despite the fact that we've decided to keep playing together every week, if we can.
Our rounds were pretty good, given that we were eaten alive by flies. It was the worst I've ever seen it - putting was particularly difficult, given that at any one time you could feel several flies walking along your body. It's a nice course, and we would've gone back, except that they decided to raise the price of nine holes from $21 to $33 THAT VERY DAY. Thanks for telling us, guys.
On Friday, AD, RD, AB, AN, TA, JP (RD's sister, not the one I've been dating), A? and I went to Yuk Yuk's to take in some stand up comedy. It was only the second time I've ever done that, and I expected the show to be mediocre. I was horrified to find that our seats were in the FRONT row. We sat about three feet from the comedian's stool.
The show started, and the host immediately began picking on us. He asked me if I was having a good time, but I guess I wasn't very convincing when I said "yes." He made asked my name, then made a joke about me being straight faced like one of those "computer guys." He then asked me what I really did for a living, and I said "you got it, man." That line got one of the biggest laughs of the night :) He then picked on TA about being Italian, and then asked both of us if JP and her friend were our dates. When he found they weren't, he asked us what was wrong with us and how we should be all over the "two beautiful ladies."
There were three actual acts, in addition to the host's, and they were all pretty good. Two of them avoided interacting with the crowd, but the last one again interacted with all eight of us. He particularly got AD for looking relaxed and tired, as if he were on drugs. Then, he ended the act by literally wetting himself - we're still not sure whether it was part of the act or not! It seemed very sudden - it happened mid-joke, and it didn't get much of a laugh. Even out in the corridor, after the show, he maintained that it had been an accident! It was an interesting evening, and it was nice to do something different for a change.
On Saturday I went out with JP for the fourth time. We were considering going to Keji, but the bug report was awful, and neither of us wanted to put ourselves through that. Instead, we went to the Keji Seaside Adjunct, an inviting name that descibes a part of Keji along the ocean that is not attached to the rest of the park. It supposedly had a good hiking trail.
We left around noon, not arriving at the park until about four. We tried to stop in Bridgewater for something to eat, but we wound up eating in Lunenburg. There, we asked directions to the park, but the waitress didn't know where it was, so she called out a man who worked in the kitchen to help us. He insisted that the seaside adjunct didn't exist, and that Keji was inland. He said that there was no saltwater at Keji, unless something had happened overnight or there was some sort of tidal wave. I insisted that it did exist, but he refused to listen, and eventually I gave up. Then he spent five minutes telling us about other places we could go, as we tried desperately to get him to leave. He even said the water was so cold, that we'd freeze by the time we got up to "here" (he indicated "where" by touching JP's leg).
We eventually escaped the restaurant, and headed south, toward where the park was supposed to be. We looked at a map the restaurant had given us, and of course, the seaside adjunct was clearly marked :) It took us about 25 minutes to get there, and we began our hike.
It was a nice hike, but it really wasn't worth the drive. The path is gravel and boardwalk, so it's definitely good for the casual hiker, and it's quite long - it took nearly two hours to complete it. There are some nice rocks to sit on near the furthest points of the hike, though it was cold, windy and foggy that far out. The waves were pretty good, but nothing like Crystal Crescent a few days before. There were also stations equipped with binoculars, though we couldn't quite figure out what one might use them for. We warmed up on the way back inland, and got to the car, fairly disappointed.
It was still fairly early, so we decided to stop by a beach we'd seen on the way to Keji. I'm not sure of the name, but it was a beautiful beach, and it was far enough inland as to escape the fog. It's quite long, quite wide, and very sandy. It reminded me a lot of a smaller, less-private Martinique. We tested the waters, but couldn't get beyond ankle-deep (it was still warmer than I'd been expecting). Then, we laid on the beach in the sun, and it was actually warm enough not to freeze.
We eventually got up, cleaned the sand off of us, and went to a restaurant one end of the beach. It was called the Quarterdeck, and it was extremely nice, and quite pricey. It sat very close to the water, so that you could clearly hear the waves. The seafood was amazing. JP got a caesar salad with shrimp, lobster and huge scallops on it. I got the far less-impressive seafood crepes, but they were still delicious. We split some coconut shrimp to start. They also served jalapeno scones, which surprised me given the rather aged clientelle.
After the restaurant, we listened to music for the hour and a half ride back home.
So yes, it's been a fun couple of weeks! I really feel like summer is here now, and I'm looking forward to hopefully taking part in some more summertime activities.
I’m currently listening to: nothing - I guess I forgot to turn the music on!
Movies watched since last entry: none :(
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