Aaaand just like that..

I've finished up my short stint at Timmys. Let's not kid ourselves - when you're working at the Mcdonalds of Coffee, it's a god damn hole. It wasn't such that I was probably the only person there that had english for a first language, it was moreso that a $8.50 p/h wage without tips wouldn't be enough to pay the rent and exist at the same time. So when I got a call last week from Red Door asking me if I wanted to start there instead - I advised Timmys of the best date I had to drop in my uniform and pick up my final cheque.

So now I've gone one from one end of the hospitality industry, to another. This end seems to be alot more appealing mainly due to the atmosphere of a higher class pan Asian cuisine restaurant, but also because the wages are higher, tips are bountiful, and I get to wear a kickass black and red Asian shmock.. Schmock.. Shamock.. Thing that Bruce Lee wore in his early films. Plus everybody there is around my age and like to have fun. I've become very accustomed to the work and have gotten nothing but positive feedback from people around me and my manager. To be honest, the 30 or so hours I've worked so far have been the hardest I've ever worked in my life (and ironically - for the smallest amount of return!). But I dig the work.

It's been a case of "so far, so good" since after paying for next months rent I'm now sitting on triple digits in my bank account (and not the high end of it either!). So from here on in it really is a case of buying what I've earned. I applied for a credit card from my bank, but I'm sure that won't get very far. I'm hoping it does though, because my goaltending future isn't going to get very far without any gear - and the first thing I promised myself after getting full time work was goaltending gear!

Apart from that, my friend who has also come to Vancouver from Brisbane and I have finally managed to take a look into the club culture of Vancouver. Suffice to say, it's terrible compared to events back home. But the quaint little underground hovel we found was hosting some quality Dubstep internationals that evening. A terrific night was had by all and it's fair to say that Vancouvers Dubstep scene is truly thriving. If a sunday night event that starts at 10pm and ends at 2am can pack out a club, then I can only imagine how passionate the other scenes must be about their tunes.. This will definitely be further investigated as opportunity presents itself.

Oh yeah - and a certain Vancouver Canucks ended the Los Angeles Kings playoff series in 6 games.

Was it a glorious sight to behold? By god.. Yes. Did the town explode with cars honking down the street and people dressed in Canucks gear cheering as they passed other Canucks-clad folk? Why yes, they certainly did!

Monkey Crunkland

First and foremost, I'm now actually employed. After a solid week of interviews around the area I've landed an opportunity at the Canadian equivalent of Starbucks.. Tim Hortons. It's not the most ideal, but it's a job and a pretty sweet opportunity to get busy during the day and get involved in Canadian society on a daily basis. I've had about 6 interviews (4 of them twice at 2 restaurants - one being a nice funky restaurant chain called The Cactus Club and another set at a classy restaurant called Red Door - which does the BEST Thai in the history of ever). But I haven't heard anything back from them just yet, both places sounded keen though. I'll be at Timmys during the day, so my nights are open for more work until business lands at Telus.

Reposted pic: But see that red thing on the bottom right? That's Timmys.

Thankfully it shouldn't be for too long. The I.T team at Telus dropped by 8 staff in the last 2 weeks, which means as soon as they've done the budget for the month then I should be getting the call up to get into the industry which I'm designed for. Derp.

The city has gone Stanley Cup Playoffs crazy. The local hockey team, the Vancouver Canucks, had their first game last night (versing the LA Kings in a 'Best of 7' series to determine who goes to the next round). The Canucks have home ice for the first 2 games, then they go to LA, then it goes back and forth each day until a winner is determined. It's also the most exciting hockey to happen all season due to the fact that each team is pretty much playing for their life. Every game is just as exciting as the next and it's the time when stories and legends are made..

Every game day, it's not an uncommon sight to find the streets littered with people of all shapes, sizes and origins adorning blue Canucks logos and jerseys. Ryan and I had an opportunity to get tickets to Game 2, but they fell through at last minute (sad face). Last nights game was particularly exciting since the scoring went back and forth, and the goaltender (Roberto Luongo) made some rather impressive saves.

If Lord Stanleys Cup happens to come to this city.. I'm sure it'll be just as epic as when Team Canada won gold. And since I wasn't around for then, then I'm certainly banking on the prior happening.

Last friday, I got to take a trip down to Granville Island. First off: It's not an island. It's just a parcel of land underneath the bridge that runs to Downtown Vancouver (the CBD). That night we went to a local improv show. Think the show 'Whose Line is it Anyway?' - but more amateur and local. It was funny for the most part, and awkward for a tiny part of it. Either way it was a terrific introduction.

The entrance and overhead of Granville Island itself. You can see the markets, strips of shops and areas where buskers play to bustling crowds on the weekend. At nights, it lights up and turns into a small entertainment precint for theatre, restaurants and bars.

Granville Island also hosts its own mini brewery (the aptly titled brew 'Granville Island Lager' is served and brewed there). You can buy a sampler and mow through all the brews. It helps you find a flavor that suits you (I myself dig 'Maple Cream' which is like a sweet golden ale that has a name that sounds like a Canadian adult film).

Nom

It also has the biggest and best toy store I've ever seen. If I was a kid, I woulda been hella happy to have just been in it's presence. But since I'm a bit more older and reserved, I settled for rummaging through the sports store for merchandise.

There's adventures on the high seas coming soon.. We were due in Whistler this sunday for the Telus snowboard festival, however Ryans car has taken a turn for the sick, which has put those plans to rest. The Calgary Stampede is happening soon, we've got a US road trip planned for the end of next month,

Easter business..

First off, Happy Easter and all that jazz. Usually it's such a complete non-event for me, but the fact of the matter is that it feels like it should mean something to me today. It's more than likely because here there's a bigger deal about Easter than there is back home. When you see an F50 driving down the road with 5m large rabbit ears, then it tends to drive the point home. I've just gotten back from Ryans grandparents place, where it seems that every holiday occasion there is a huge turkey feast cooked up and the immediate family crowds the table. It was fantastic for many reasons, but the biggest accomplishment is finally being apart of one of those scenes you see in Hollywood films where a family is sitting around a table and there's that huge turkey in the middle being all "eat meeee" and there's the uncle who's drunk too much and-.. Wait, that didn't happen.. But either way, you definitely know for sure you're in Canada when even Ryans grandmother was talking about hockey. Not only that, but they're also incredibly apt when it comes to technology. One of the first questions Ryans grandma asked him was "What's your current email address? Your hotmail address is bouncing back".. I'm pretty sure if I heard my grandparents say that, I'd choke with shock. Either way, they were lovely people and the whole entire table the whole time was either engrossed with the sort've banter that's either entertaining or hilarious. Which is weird, cause usually the dinner tables I'm at are either awkward, comfortably silent-like or slightly boring.

When we got back to White Rock, Ryans mum gave us these wrapped up gift basket things full of chocolate, which was pretty effing sweet of her. I wasn't expecting anything at all except some food in the evening. To have that happen made the whole easter experience feel really complete, to surprise the hell out of me with it just made it 11/10 on the awesome scale and made the whole experience so far seem even more 'homely'.

Heh. Sup Peeps.

There's one thing I've been meaning to do in White Rock - and that's take pictures. It was absolutely beautiful driving through when the cherry blossoms were blooming and the breeze was blowing them everywhere. But even now that they've gone into hibernation there's still some awesome scenery around. One of the interesting aspects are cedar trees. You've seen them before of course, they're everywhere in Hollywood TV media like, say.. The set of Gilmore Girls or some shit. But the best thing about them is when they rustle in the breeze. A whole forest of them sounds exactly like the beach (except without the obvious crash of the waves, but you can hear something similar). It's absolutely beautiful to listen to and would be awesome to hear while trying to fall to sleep (but I'll settle for hobos looking for bottles in the dumpster near my apartment bedroom window).

Last friday we headed out to Gastown. Gastown is basically what you'd consider the Kings Cross of Vancouver, except without the tremendous amounts of underbelly seed. The territory is still pretty effing cool to see. All the trees that occasionally line the area between the footpath and the road have permanent angel lights in them. Everywhere is well lit up. And occasionally you'll come across a homeless person/crackhead, and that's when you know for sure you're in Gastown. Unfortunately I didn't get to explore it too much as we had a mission and a plan, but I passed a Fabric.

We were due in some Irish joint called Blarney Stone. Usually I get worried when I go to Irish pubs, as unless it's just a predrinks thing or a lunch booze, then a good night out in an Irish pub is rare. Mainly since around 11pm it gets filled with dads, bogans, single mums and hens parties where the bride is some tremendously loud and obnoxious rhino with a veil and a penis straw stuck to her chin or something equally tacky. I guess that's not really the case in Vancouver though since not any of the aforementioned were found in sight. Having to pay a $10 covercharge and show TWO pieces of ID to get into an 'Irish pub' is strange though..

That $10 pretty much paid for itself as soon as I entered though. Mainly because the Anaheim Ducks vs Vancouver Canucks game was happening on 3 huge projector screens around the place. Then you realise that.. It's 3 storeys big.. Then you take note of the huge stage, the surrounding balcony and the multiple bars and you kinda realise.. It's more like an Irish club. We found Ryans group and sat down and watched the third period with them. Suddenly I realise that wearing an Anaheim cap in a room full of Canucks fans probably isn't the smartest idea.. Quickly I learned to discreetly cheer when my team scored, and say things like "yeah that was a good shot" or "man our goalie sucks" when the other team score. The game went to overtime and eventually a shootout, all throughout this time the management had the music turned down whenever play resumed and the cheers and hollering were ear-blistering whenever a Canuck scored or Luongo (Vancouvers #1 star Goaltender) made an awesome save.

Anaheim lost, but someone bought me a beer as a consolation prize. I dug that.

Insert missing scenes from there on in.. But it was nice, I'm sure..

Even though a 2am shutdown is wide in effect here. There's definitely a sense that 'the party must go on' whenever 2am comes around. There's a huge rush to suddenly decide "who's place are we going back to" and "who's taking what cab there". If you were already going home with someone, you weren't around when 2am hits. I'm scared to think that the lack of violence and agression that I saw had anything to do with the 2am shutdown, since at the moment it's being debated in Queensland in order to curb the "recent" violence occuring in Fortitude Valley. I'd like to think that the 2am shutdown has nothing to do with why people here aren't agressive or violent and that it's mainly because Canadians aren't fuckwits.

All in all, I want nothing more than to explore what Gastown has to offer. I mean, come on, look at the name.. - GAS TOWN. Either way, for a first bite.. It was pretty tasty!

I had an interview on Thursday with Ryans manager at Telus.. (Which is like the Canadian equivalent of Telstra).. They aren't hiring but next month is looking likely, fingers crossed! Cause god knows after I pay this months rent.. Money is going to hit the red zone..