ache like the dickens
yesterday i woke up begrudgingly at seven to my alarm. you know how sometimes, you're almost ready for your alarm to go off? well this wasn't one of those times. this was one of those rude awakening times, where you're startled and your eyes beg you to stay shut. after hitting snooze a couple of times, i turned it off and rolled over to take a look at the day. i do this by pushing back a little corner of the curtain. i like to sleep that way, with my face by the crack in the window, so i can feel the cool breeze. the cool breeze was in full force and the world was gray and almost moist. i got up, and got dressed. i really needed to pee, but now that i have curtains i make myself change in my room, because i can, so i hopped around getting changed just on principle, and only when i was dressed was i allowed to go to girl's room and 'make water' as lisa and i like to say. the weather lady claimed that it was going to be a sunny day, so i believed her. then i watched smurfs for a while. it was the one when all the smurfs try to get jokey to stop playing pranks. they made a bet that if he could stop playing pranks then vanity would stop looking at himself in the mirror, grouchy would smile, and harmony wouldn't play his horn. if the smurfs won, then jokey couldn't play pranks for a year. it was called willpower. pappa smurf didn't approve of the contest. howcome almost every smurf has the same voice? karey got up and i left the smurfs to her and finished my preparations for the day. kayak day. i felt kind of like a zombie at first, but i was slowly warming up to the idea of being awake. i ate some of the barfi that fatima gave me the night before. i took a bite of the ludoo but didn't like it. maybe it was the time of day, too early for sweets, but i had a kind of gagging reflex. and deposited the rest in the garbage. can't win 'em all.
on the way to barb's i listened to u2, but didn't sing along. crystal let me in. she was in her bathrobe. she warned me that amy might be asleep on the couch and disappeared down the stairs. amy was not on the couch. maybe she heard us and escaped to her room. barb was just finishing her hair and i went towards the sound of the blowdryer. barb and i had a little discussion on what to wear. not supposed to wear denim, or cotton... whatelse is there? i wore my khaki capris. a polyester something else blend. barb found some black work out pants of a similar non natural fibre consistancy. (not spandex if that's what you're thinking.) then we were on our way to deep cove.
once in deep cove barb directed me to the park on panarama dr. as i pulled into the parking lot i realized that barb didn't know where the actual kayak place was. after pointing out a lone kayaker on the water she admitted as much. we were close, we knew that. luckily i had their number on my cell, so i called them up and said "if i was at the park, how far away would i be.?" a very nice hypothetical question. "which park?" the girl asked. good question. "uhhh..." i said. "oh, the one on panarama?" "yes." i answered, very relieved. they were just around the corner, and we soon found it, signed in, signed our lives away, and payed the big bucks. our instructor was a long limbed, lightly freckled, girl named lorraine. she was exactly what i was expecting. our class consisted of joyce and ross, (joyce had taken the course a long time ago. her and ross wanted to eventually go on an overnight trip), vicky (a tiny bird like middle aged woman who worried about what to wear for the weather and was interested in the woman's paddle group on thursday nights), and barb and i (who were just plain excited to kayak, with unlimited potential of future adventures). a girl named cyndi was a no show. we all followed lorraine around the back to a grassy area where a blue kayak was laying in the grass. lorraine shuffled through the grass with her be-thonged foot. "the grass is still wet," she mused. "maybe we should get our pfd's and wet skirts to sit on first." so we all turned around and walked back down to the kayak shack. on the way i told barb "pfd means personal floating device. i just thought you should know." i was starting to feel a little giddy. my kayak dreams were coming true. barb thanked me and said she hadn't figured that out yet. later when we were sitting on our pfd's in front of the kayak, lorraine explained the difference between a pfd (actually personal floatation device, so i'm not a complete know it all) and life jackets. the difference is all in the name. life jackets are designed to keep you alive and pfd's to keep you floating only. ie. life jackets turn you over and head out of the water. lorraine explained the ins and outs of the kayak, how to adjust the foot pedals, how to put the wet skirt on, etc etc. it wasn't long until we were putting on our wet skirts and pfd's. and heading down to the beach. i chose a blue kayak not because blue is my favourite colour, but because the opening looked bigger, and i wanted to actually fit into the kayak. we had to get in and personalize all the settings. it was then that i realized my pfd was too big. mostly because it was obscuring my view. i had to pop myself out of the kayak and get a new one. some would say it was a snug fit, but i like to say tight. tight is more true for me.
lorraine demonstrated a number of boarding and exiting techniques. then we all got in our kayaks and lorraine pushed us into the water.
gotta get ready for church now...
on the way to barb's i listened to u2, but didn't sing along. crystal let me in. she was in her bathrobe. she warned me that amy might be asleep on the couch and disappeared down the stairs. amy was not on the couch. maybe she heard us and escaped to her room. barb was just finishing her hair and i went towards the sound of the blowdryer. barb and i had a little discussion on what to wear. not supposed to wear denim, or cotton... whatelse is there? i wore my khaki capris. a polyester something else blend. barb found some black work out pants of a similar non natural fibre consistancy. (not spandex if that's what you're thinking.) then we were on our way to deep cove.
once in deep cove barb directed me to the park on panarama dr. as i pulled into the parking lot i realized that barb didn't know where the actual kayak place was. after pointing out a lone kayaker on the water she admitted as much. we were close, we knew that. luckily i had their number on my cell, so i called them up and said "if i was at the park, how far away would i be.?" a very nice hypothetical question. "which park?" the girl asked. good question. "uhhh..." i said. "oh, the one on panarama?" "yes." i answered, very relieved. they were just around the corner, and we soon found it, signed in, signed our lives away, and payed the big bucks. our instructor was a long limbed, lightly freckled, girl named lorraine. she was exactly what i was expecting. our class consisted of joyce and ross, (joyce had taken the course a long time ago. her and ross wanted to eventually go on an overnight trip), vicky (a tiny bird like middle aged woman who worried about what to wear for the weather and was interested in the woman's paddle group on thursday nights), and barb and i (who were just plain excited to kayak, with unlimited potential of future adventures). a girl named cyndi was a no show. we all followed lorraine around the back to a grassy area where a blue kayak was laying in the grass. lorraine shuffled through the grass with her be-thonged foot. "the grass is still wet," she mused. "maybe we should get our pfd's and wet skirts to sit on first." so we all turned around and walked back down to the kayak shack. on the way i told barb "pfd means personal floating device. i just thought you should know." i was starting to feel a little giddy. my kayak dreams were coming true. barb thanked me and said she hadn't figured that out yet. later when we were sitting on our pfd's in front of the kayak, lorraine explained the difference between a pfd (actually personal floatation device, so i'm not a complete know it all) and life jackets. the difference is all in the name. life jackets are designed to keep you alive and pfd's to keep you floating only. ie. life jackets turn you over and head out of the water. lorraine explained the ins and outs of the kayak, how to adjust the foot pedals, how to put the wet skirt on, etc etc. it wasn't long until we were putting on our wet skirts and pfd's. and heading down to the beach. i chose a blue kayak not because blue is my favourite colour, but because the opening looked bigger, and i wanted to actually fit into the kayak. we had to get in and personalize all the settings. it was then that i realized my pfd was too big. mostly because it was obscuring my view. i had to pop myself out of the kayak and get a new one. some would say it was a snug fit, but i like to say tight. tight is more true for me.
lorraine demonstrated a number of boarding and exiting techniques. then we all got in our kayaks and lorraine pushed us into the water.
gotta get ready for church now...
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