best thing about being here is i have buddies who love to travel, just like me. we never really waste weekends staring at the ceiling or cleaning our room or doing our laundry. (which reminds me of this pile accumulating at the foot of my bed). chores will still be there tomorrow, no need to hurry and do them. and so after a quick dinner at a taiwanese food place near metrotown, krissy, henrik and i picked up jake and we started our oregon roadtrip part 2. k was designated navigator keeping h awake by asking him about his current love interest. we enjoyed teasing him to pieces haha. at 2am we drove up to the nearest hotel and recharged our batteries. the next morning we explored the beaches of newport and lincoln. we walked along the dunes of yaquina bay and climbed the lighthouses. the waves were big and the water too cold, couldn't last 10 minutes without a wetsuit. we watched the sunset and wrote our names on the sand with our flip flops scattered all over the place. it was the last trip all four of us would ever take together (at least for now) - the jetsetter group is being disbanded, each member going on to pursue different roads. k will be going to australia soon, but will visit florida first and then drive up to north carolina and all the other places in that vicinity, just to see if the geography is any different. jake is going to europe and then who knows where else afterwards. henrik and i are staying in bc, grounded and trying to grow roots. i felt really sad with this realization that i could be stuck in raincouver. j was always the planner, he would just say let's go to this place and i would of course say yes then we would get more people to join us. now that he's leaving, it's like a piece of my wing is torn and i wouldn't be able to fly anymore.

sunday found me waking up at 6am so i could dial into the bridge and vpn to work to check on a project release. helped with some minor glitches that required a recycle, then checked out of the hotel and proceeded to woodburn. the only significant thing i bought in this trip is my monopoly board game that uses no cash only debit cards. wow imagine that! cant wait to play it. somehow we were all shopped out this time, nobody really bought anything for themselves - well except for those polarized oakley shades!, most items were for others who couldn't go and wanted something brought back for them. we had dinner at red lobster.. at last! i've been wanting to eat here for the past 8 months. this is my fave seafood place in toronto that's not in raincouver.

stuffed and content with our food and purchases, we drove back home in silence with me as navigator this time, trying to stay awake and making small conversation. i will miss these people. i will miss these trips. why are they moving on? why am i staying here?

who says workaholics can't have fun? yesterday for our team event, we went to horseshoe bay and rented out four powerboats. we cruised along howe sound and some people jumped ship to swim. i volunteered to steer the boat so i could feel the wind against my cheeks. i wish there were more activities like this that takes me out of my cube on work hours.

after the almost 2 hour boat ride, we had picnic - potluck at the nearby park and played ultimate frisbee and boche. i wish it will just stay sunny like this forever. then i wouldn't have to fly away to distant shores looking for warmth. but well, we can't have everything. i'm just thankful for one beautiful day at a time, and for the good people i meet everyday.

when i got back to the office, i noticed my support phone was gone. great, i thought, just when i got a voicemail about some qa defect. well, there's only one place it could be, probably at the floor of the van i carpooled with on the way back. no worries, i'll get it tomorrow. no support for tonight, yay!

snippet from a conversation at the office today:

*wm = workmate

wm: "are you completely bored with your life right now?"
me: "no not really, i'm happily enjoying my life right now"
wm: "well we don't want too much of that, i'll give you something interesting next week"
me: "ok"

well, so i guess it's not really interesting to have too much of happily enjoying life ^^ hehe. let's see how interesting next week would be.

found a new place just five houses away from the old one. my room has a window that has a great view of the building where i work. reminds me everyday why i'm in this city. that's my only purpose here after all, to do my job, and nothing more. sometimes it gets dull and monotonous or too much and too stressful, i just remind myself that i chose this and i'm just reaping the consequences of my own decision. no time for regrets, just carry on and wait for the next daybreak.

getting back up to speed after a holiday is usually the toughest part but it gets easier everyday. especially when there's people who make it more bearable. just keep things in perspective i guess, i don't want to be too involved anymore. i can't believe i actually lost weekends of my life for a project that will never see the light of day, now i just want to be detached. never give your heart away to work, work will never love you back, it will still be there tomorrow, uncaring, unfeeling, insensitive and totally not what i should be wasting my life on.

i should go explore the vancouver sun, after all, this is the middle of summer.