I had wings the other night at Smuggler’s Cove Pub and it brought back some memories. Flashback to 2001 - my university days at Uvic where I was living in a house with 5 other guys. Every Monday night we would head over to Smuggler’s as it was $0.25 cents per chicken wing! They had all kinds of delicious flavours to choose from including teriyaki, bbq, honey garlic, hot, ragin cajan, lemon pepper, and more. Anyways, it came down to the end of the school year and everyone was going to part ways. We decided to have a “wing-off” one Monday evening and see who could eat the most wings! You would think this would be one fun event but it really turned out to be some serious competition. We even phoned the pub a few days ahead of time so that they could order more wings! Yes, we were that prepared!

The day finally came and all six of us guys crowded around the table for some serious wing-eating. We also brought along a few of our friends/spectactors to witness the event. I was a big nervous to start. Everyone was counting on me to win since I was your sterotypical skinny asian - who are known to ‘pack it all in’. The basic rule is that you must completely remove all the meat out from the bone, including the sauce. Nothing gets left behind. If you go to the washroom, you must be accompanied by someone else so that they don’t catch you…well…you know what. In the past my limit for eating wings is usually about 30-40. I had never pushed myself to the limit until that night. By about 50 wings I was feeling it. At about 60 you start to finally think how many chickens sacrified their lives just for this night. It was about this point that I slowed down and took my time eating 1 wing at a time. My stomach started feeling the protein overload and that’s when you start feeling the churning and groaning. I got up to 67.5 wings and then I finished. I could not go any longer. My hollow legs were filled to the brim. Anyways, the guy that won the whole thing - he had over 100 HOT wings. Nobody expected him to win as he was skinny and small like me. I’m not sure if he got a free meal out of it or had has picture up on the wall but he was sure proud.

So coming back from Abbotsford to Victoria I had the opportunity to fly a plane! Oh yah! Here’s the story in a nutshell. My supervisor and I were the only ones on the flight as the pilot guy (who also owns the company) wanted to leave a bit earlier as he had multiple flights that day and was going to be busy. He asked if either of us wanted to fly in the passenger seat with him. Of course I jumped on the opportunity. It was cool riding in the cockpit as I got to see everything “behind the scenes”. I even put on a headset and listened in on the calls back to the base. Midway through the flight the pilot asked me if I wanted to fly the plane for a little while. I was like, “sure” (with a big gulp inside me). He quickly gave me a crash course and told me to just be steady. He said he almost got in trouble the last time as the previous guy he showed it to wasn’t that good and jerked the plane too much. It was pretty neat holding the sterring wheel and controlling the plane. I was bit bumpy at first but after awhile I got the hang of it. I was looking at my supervisor at the back but his face hadn’t turned green yet so I guess he was fine. I was flying for a good 5-7 minutes but it felt like seconds. It was so much fun!

Here are the planes that I flew on:

I must admit there are not that many exciting moments in my life right now unless you consider working and studing exciting. If that’s the case then I’m really living life right now! I was working in Abbotsford last week and will be there again for a few days this week. I am helping out on a govenment audit which has been keeping me busy. I did though have the chance to go out one night and hang out with my old friend John A. Macdonald. Yah, I know. You must be confused as I am. Who has the same name as the first prime minister of Canada? Well, to make a long story short, his real name is Alexander and he actually changed is name to Xan. Yup, that’s right, Xan. I guess it’s short for Alexander or something. Oh, and his last name? He changed it to DeWinter. I’m not making this up. From now on, people will know him as Xan DeWinter. That’s quite the change from John A. Macdonald

Anyways, he gave me the grand tour of Abbotsford and showed me some parts of Mission as well. Abbotsford, as you know, is known as the “bible belt”. Well, if that’s the case, then the area we were at we must’ve been in the “buckle” of the belt. There were so many churches, left, right, and centre. I later learned that Abbotsford is the berry capital of Canada, has one the highest crime rates in B.C., and has the highest Sikh concentration in Canada. They shouldn’t call it the “bible belt” but instead the “utility belt”.

 

 

My four months of freedom has just ended. Starting May 5th, I officially start my next set of modules as part of the CA program. It will be 10 weeks of fun in the sun, except I won’t be enjoying the sun this summer but stuck indoors studying my brains out. From what I hear from other people, it won’t be that bad. Besides missing out on camping trips, and long weekends, I am basically sacrificing one summer of my life for my future. I do have a 2 week break at the end of July before I begin my next 10 week module starting in August. I’ll have to go somewhere fun.
I’ll be in Abbotsford for the week of May 5th to 9th for work. It’s all good though. I’m kind of glad there’s nothing to do in Abbotsford since it gives me a chance to stay in the hotel and just focus on my studies.

This past weekend Phebe and I had the opportunity to take a weekend off and head over to Hongcouver…err, I mean Vancouver. For many of you who don’t know, it was Phebe’s birthday. We decided to celebrate it by having some good eats and doing some shopping and spending time together. The night we arrived to my grandma’s place on Friday it was snowing! It was quite the treat consider how often it snows in April and in particular on Phebe’s birthday! We didn’t have the opportunity to head out for dinner since we arrived around 9:30pm. But thanks to my grandma, she had made us some good old home cooked meals for us to enjoy. What’s nice about our visit to my grandma’s is not only her food but her cable subscription to the Chinese channels. Phebe was absolutely glued to the T.V.! I think both nights that we had stayed there, both Phebe and my grandma had stayed up late past midnight to finish watching their dramas!

The next day, after 5 hours of hard core shopping, we decided it was time for dinner. We decided to walk down Robson Street and choose one from there. We stumbled upon this Korean restaurant that we thought looked good. Everything was fine about the restaurant: the food was great, the atmosphere was good, and the bathrooms were clean. The only thing missing was their customer service. I later learned from Phebe that Koreans have the reputation of having one of the worst customer service compared to all the other Asian groups. The greeter lady didn’t even great us at the front. We had to wait a long time to even get our table even though I saw so many tables empty. When we finally sat down, our regular waitress who took our order didn’t even come back to our table until we were done eating, which was about 20 minutes after the fact. We had to wave down other waitresses to fill our teas, and get refills for starter dishes. What’s worse was that during our dinner, we felt this sudden gust of wind coming from the ventilation ducts above onto our table. It got so cold that I had to put on my fleece. It didn’t happen once but twice. And when it did happen again, the table next to us said some words that I don’t even think I can even write on this blog. Nobody came by to explain what it was. When it was time to pay our bill, I could’ve went to the front counter to pay but that would’ve been too easy. Instead, I wanted to see how long it took them to want my money. After waiting about 10 or so minutes, I decided to waive the bill like a flag to see if they notice. Surprisingly, it took them almost a whole minute for them to come by. It was unbelievable. I’ve never seen this so bad.

The next day we went to a Chinese restaurant called Hon’s Noodle House. If you’ve never been here before, you definately have to try. Compared to last night, the service was a lot better. First, they seated you promptly even though it was busy, took your order right away and refilled your drinks when it was low. They even gave us the bill mid-way through so didn’t have to ask! On top of that, the portions were huge and the price was affordable. Surprisingly we didn’t have room to finish everything we ordered and had to take some home!

Pictures from our Korean dinner:

I’m not sure when the last time I went to the dentist but it had to be at least 2 to 3 years ago! I figured I should make use of my benefits and take advantage of the free check-up. The only issues I had in the past was having all four wisdom teeth pulled out about four years ago and some cavities when I was a kid. Ever since then I’ve basically had nearly perfect teeth. Today was no exception. I decided to go to the dentist office near my workplace in the first floor of the Bay Centre mall. Phebe had gone there about a week ago and received this huge goodie bag! When I was a kid, I always looked forward to receiving a free toothbrush to take home. It was my reward for an excruiting time at the dentist. Now, instead of receiving just a toothbrush, you receive some toothpaste, and two sets of floss! The whole package! I couldn’t wait to get my goodie bag!

When I arrived at reception, I had to fill out this huge form to check if I had any allergies, physical conditions, or if I’m on any medication, blah blah. I didn’t wait too long before I got called. When I was younger, I always remembered receiving treatment from a young, attractive dental hygienist. I must’ve gotten the short end of the stick today because I ended up with an old, baggy lady from the Ukraine. She had this heavy Ukrainian accent that was hard to follow (that wasn’t the only thing that was heavy;)). I asked her how long she had been working here and she said around six years but mostly on call. I’m normally not nervous when I go to the dentist but this time I was. To be honest, I wasn’t sure if she was going to pull out her medieval tools out or use her modern dentist instruments. For the most part, she was using the basic sickel probe and began to pick away at my teeth. She did this for about a half an hour, just scrapping away at my teeth. Midway through, the actual dentist came to check up on my teeth. Usually the dentist would come after the hygienist would finish everything but not today. He took a quick look and said to keep what I was doing and that my teeth were fine. After this, the Ukranian hygienist continued to scrap away at my teeth with her medieval sickel. It was painful as it felt like she was filing my teeth. All I kept thinking was “When am I going to receive my goodie bag”? An hour later, after rinsing my mouth with fluoride and a light brush, I was finally done. It was time to get my goodie bag! I was all smiles!

Well, the hockey playoffs are under way and it’s getting really intense. I decided to opt out of the playoff hockey pool though and leave away with my winnings. No, I didn’t win the big jackpot this year but came in third place in the regular season pool. Minor injuries and my goalies not playing near the end of the season costed me from finishing either second or first. Overall, I’m pretty happy with the results.

For Easter weekend I had the opportunity to take some time off from work (5 days) and head off to Portland, OR to visit my friend Derrick. The last time we met was last summer when we did a camping/hiking trip to Olympic National Park. This time around we had no major plans other than the usual hiking, shopping, and eating! The bus ride down to Portland was about 9 hours and 40 minutes with a 1 hour 30 min. stopover in Seattle. I’ve taken quite a fair share of buses in my day so this was no problem. The only problem was the bus transfer in Seattle.

My time spent in Vancouver has now come to a close. After 13-15 or so weeks on the job, it was time to wrap it up and say our goodbyes. No more waking up 5am on Monday mornings, no more long ferry rides, and no more living out of a suitcase. What I am going to miss is the great group of people I had to work with, the daily interactions with the client, and the daily stirfry lunches at our client’s cafeteria. It was at this job that I got coined the nickname “Smooth”. I think it was during the first week on the job that it happened. I was busy running around gathering files for documentation into our system and was waiting for a few more from the payroll assistant. She kindly said that she would bring them over to the audit room later that day so I wouldn’t have to wait for her to gather them up at her desk. Anyways, she brought them over later that day and handed me the folder (with a great big smile of course). As soon as she left, everyone in the audit room dropped their jaws and were in awe. Most had been on this audit for a few years now and nobody had ever walked to the audit room to hand deliver any files within the first few days on the job….until that day. I wasn’t sure if it was true or not or if they were just joking, but I knew I would never live this one down. They wanted to know what my secret was and how I did it. There was no bribing or coercing that went on. Just plain old being friendly and putting on a smile. What can I say? I’m likable, I’m lovable, and I’m “Smooth”!!

(l-r) Larry, Eva, Paul, Robert, Spencer, Kevin (aka Smooth), Chris

What better way to celebrate Chinese New Year than with a big, massive 12-course meal! Ok, I know, Chinese New Year was a few weeks ago but did you know that they celebrate this holiday for about a month in China? Besides, it wasn’t only for Chinese New Year but the dinner was also for my grandma’s birthday celebration. I don’t want to give her age away but let’s just say that she is still hip and young at heart. We had the big dinner Saturday night at around 6pm - “Chinese time”. When I say “Chinese time”, I really mean “Chinese time”. Flashback several years ago when my cousin Robert got married. There were over 600 people at the reception and we didn’t start eating until a couple hours later when everyone arrived! So I figured that since this wasn’t a Chinese wedding that it would start earlier. I was wrong. When we got to the restaurant, I was flabbergasted! There was exactly 80 tables in the restaurant. With 10 per table, that meant there was going to be about 800 people for tonight’s dinner! There was also going to be prize drawing, music and performance, and speeches before the dinner! So my guess for starting a half hour later was completely thrown out the window. My sister and I were later taking bets to see when the food would actually show up on our tables.
We had quite the interesting prize draw. Each table had the exact  same prizes (10 in total) with each person winning a prize. Some of the items on the table included a dead chicken, some spam, container of oil, egg roll cookies, and a package of noodles. Don’t even ask me why they would give away a dead chicken. Maybe it’s Chinese tradition or good luck. Anways, my mom ended up winning the dead chicken and my sister winning the container of oil but she gave it to my mom instead.
The dinner ended up starting at around 8pm. Neither my sister nor I won the bet. My grandma guessed it would start right at 8pm. I told you she was cool and hip afterall! The dinner itself was really good. It was good to just stuff my face silly with all that good Chinese food. One of the most interesting dishes was crispy duck covered in taro. Never had that before I don’t think.

It’s pretty scary to have a dead chicken stare at you at dinner!

Holding the dead chicken