i ended up running into David Suzuki on the beach. i know; how much more stereotypically Vancouver can you get? i was just sitting on a log when i heard this man on the other end of the log ranting angrily about the upcoming 2010 Olympics (to a film crew – he wasn’t talking to himself, although at first i thought he was). from what i gather in the newspapers, nobody’s very excited about the messy headache the winter olympics will bring.
it costs several thousands dollars to get Suzuki to come speak at your event, so i considered it a privilege to sit still and listen to him...while taking not-so-discreet photos of him with my cameraphone. good ol’ suzukes will understand the photographic souvenir collecting impulse – we’re both Asians. after listening to him speak, i wanted to ask him to write my 30 page paper on poverty - but instead i just asked him to caulk up the cracks in my condo. jokes.
i’m eating a yummy “scram-crois” breakfast at one of my favourite cafes on the Drive, Café Deux Soleils, eyeing my neighbour’s veggie sausages. i suddenly realize that i haven’t touched meat since i’ve arrived in town. Vancouver will do that to you, sneaky town, turn you into a vegetarian without even knowing it. it will also give you a fine caffeine addiction. especially this café. they’re playing the Stills, and kids are playing on the stage which has been converted into a play area and there is artsy poetry on the walls, and more hipsters and Yummies (yuppie mummies powering SUV strollers and two dogs) than you can shake a fist at. also, my delicious but meatless breakfast cost me $12 (shakes fist). when i go home, i’m going to eat a pile of loblaws bacon.
yesterday i spent a lovely evening with gavin, an old friend of mine. i recently noticed that though we knew each other in high school and once spent an entire night at a party hanging out in the bathroom together, i don’t remember a single word he’s ever uttered. he was that quiet.
anyway, he invited me over to his place in kitsilano which i’m thinking of moving into, and after confirming that it is not a dirty slum (as if they have any of those in kitsilano), we went out for a beer and a long walk along the beach. it was a beautiful night. you could see the blinking lights from the ski hills reflected in the water of the bay. the parking lot was filled with trailers, all silent because the filming crew had gone home for the day. i had this urge to trespass but a security guard came along and talked to us about the weather. gavin and i continued along the beach until we found a playground, and it was on those swings i discovered that you can actually see the stars in the night sky here.
the muscles in my leg are still spasming painfully from yesterday’s high-heeled fiasco. also, i think i may have *somehow* gotten a sunburn.
there’s this huge hopscotch someone has drawn on the sidewalk along the Drive. it spans over the entire block and contains over 200 steps (skips? hops? how are hopscotch sets measured?). when you reach the very end, you see that someone has written at the end YOU DON’T HAVE TO END YOUR CHILDHOOD. i watched pedestrian kids and adults skip across it all afternoon.
