Leaving Vancouver

This industry is ridiculous

Since we've left the yard (with a nicely painted boat bottom, might I add!) and arrived back to the dock, we have done nothing but run around with our heads cut-off. Oh wait, let me rephrase that. ONE person has been running around with their head cut-off. Only, hold the running and add in, cleaning bathrooms and stair creases with Q-Tips. And what do you have? Enter, Banana Flaps! I am the one who has never been on boats before.. In case that sentence confused the hell out of you, let me explain as much as I can. The Kiwi twins on board like to make up nicknames for everyone on the boat. There is a Bum-cheese, Twelve-year-old-boy, Fattie and Banana Flaps, YAY! Ever heard of abuse in the workplace? Well this is to the extreme lol. If you're wondering what the hell that means, don’t fool yourself, there is very little reasoning behind anything the Kiwi twins do! But, as brought up at the dinner table last night, it refers to the 'flaps' of peel hanging off of a banana. ie. Banana Flaps. Welcome to my life. It's come to the point where I don't even question the Kiwi twins anymore, it's not worth my effort.
Currently I am sitting in the crew mess (i.e. the crews only part of the boat where we eat meals, make fun of each other and play the video game-show "Buzz"). I have just finished work and I am trying to type as my body and my tea are swaying around to the pleasant, not-so-pleasant bob of the ocean. greeaaaaaat. Knock on wood - i haven't been sick yet!
I have a feeling this blog is going to be my only "private time" though. Which, in all honesty, doesn't bother me. I like hanging out with the crew that has become my new so-called family. I am just thankful for a little time to write down my mistakes, and frustrations that come along with working on a boat for the first time. Aka, the Q-tip cleaning, or the fact that my childhood name Alana-Banana has been turned into Banana Flaps! ha. I don't want to seem tooo stupid in front of the pro-yachties, some of whom years of working in this industry well surpass my age!
We left Vancouver yesterday, on a good note. Although I would have to say some bars and clubs in the area would disagree! We drank too much, threw salt and pepper in a dirty hostel bar (well, Kiwi Twin 1 did. God I love him!), danced and flipped people on the dance floor and some innocent bystanders may have seen some nudity on the walks home. We threw down a pretty good show before we left Vancouver... leaving a tiny salt and pepper trail as we did so.
Next stop, Alaska.
xoxo

Day four of my work, and I just would quickly like to add a few words to everyone's vocabulary. Polishing. Plates. Dry Hands. Now, put those together and you have: ME.
In the past four days I am not exaggerating if I said I have polished 400 glasses, 200 plates and countless candle holders, salt & pepper shakers, stir sticks, vases and god knows what else. If it's in a cupboard, its-a-gettin polished! Another little tid-bit of advice. Looking for uniforms? DO NOT GO TO OLD NAVY! Since I have arrived here in the city I love so much, the only thing I've been hearing about are these navy blue pants. These navy blue pants just so happen to be the pants I work in. Every single day. And the ones that everyone else has a pair of already, as all the crew on the boat wear matching uniforms. And low and behold, they did not have my size, in fact they had everything BUT my size. Just to explain the extend of my hatred towards Old Navy, I can honestly say, that I JUST got ONE pair of pants to work in today [i'm suppose to have three in total]. And they weren't even from Old Navy. Fancy that. And you know why? Because Old Navy is closed at 5p.m. on a Sunday. 7p.m. on Monday and Tuesdays. The store itself is not visible to the human eye- after circling the mall it was in 3 times we still hadn't located it. I wouldn't be surprised if tomorrow it is burnt down. Anything that store can do to stop me from getting pants, it will. Other than that, my boat-life is great. We are staying in a rather fancy place in Longsdale Quay, The Pinnacle Hotel at the Pier. We'll be here until the boat is out of the yard- it's getting checked out and painted for the long ride up to Alaska. But low and behold, we will be up at 5a.m. for a second time this week when we switch back over to Coal Park--where the boat rests until its long journey, as do I, so Goodnight!
Time for bed, but until next time, check out these photos of my hot new ride! This was the first time we had to get up at 5a.m. to bring the boat into the yard for 6a.m. Oh the life of a yachtie!

P.s. Sorry the pictures are blurred, but I can't give away the name of the boat!
xoxo

ATTN: Flight YYZ to Vancouver, now boarding!

I would just like to start off by saying one thing. I'm. never. late.
I've never been late for anything in my entire life. Dentist appointments, birthday parties, work, school, being a personal taxi driver, you name it, I've been five minutes early for it.
Now that we've got that outta the way, let me start by saying this. My plane was scheduled to take off at 8a.m. on a Sunday morning and arrive in Vancouver at 10a.m. pacific time. What did I do? I read the ticket wrong. I thought that my plane took off at 10a.m.! Yup, it means exactly what you think it means. I. missed. my. flight!
As I'm standing there at the check-in counter, ready to punch the Asian lady (behind the desk) in the face for telling me I've in fact, missed my flight, I stop to think. Think about all those times I'd arrived early to my stupid classes, pointless dentist appointments and meaningless work. And for what? I mean, it's not like the building is going to get up and bloody walk away. If I arrive 10 minutes late, the world won't collapse around me. But, no! I had to be late for a flight. A flight that WILL, in fact, pick up and walk away if you are not on it. A flight that I thought I was arriving my usual hour and a half early for, but was quickly told I had missed it by a mere half an hour. Note to self: Double check, double check, TRIPLE CHECK!
Why was I in a panic? Well besides that obvious "movie-drama-panic-feeling" someone gets when they realized they have missed their flight (which is much like that when you realize you slept threw an alarm clock--only a little more extreme), I was to arrive for my first day of work on Sunday around noon. Because I was suppose to meet with the new crew I would be living on a yacht for, for five months. Great first impression, don't you think? But, no. This time, of all the other times, I decided that today was a good day to be late. But I did make it in time, actually early, for my doctors appointment the next day... you got to love irony.

xoxo

I'm moving up and out West

OK - Clearly I'm not a great blogger, but I had to write to tell you something important. But give me a break here, I'm one of the only people left on this planet still on dial-up internet! Not to mention I have a forever changing life like that of Samantha Jones, so a little compassion pleeassee!
And perhaps maybe I haven't found my writing niche, so to speak. So hence my annoucement. I am changing my blog into a travel diary. In less then a week I will be boarding a plane to the West Coast, and NO! It's not Cali - i wish, but I can do you one better. I am heading to Vancouver to board a private yacht that i will be working on for at least 4 months that is going ... dun, dun, dun....up the Alaskan coast, around Hawaii and over to New Zealand and Australia. BAM. Take that, Cali.
So in light of my new found adventure, I wish to give readers an insiders look at the yachties life of the rich and famous, boat politics and give you a chance to guess where in the world am I --sure, it may sound boring, but I can assure you it will be anything but dual. It's all coming to a computer near you this Monday. Stay tuned.
xoxo

Day Five

Still feeling great! I knew this would be easy [knock on wood]. I do have to say that I am getting creative when it comes to dinner time. Making tons of different things, which have all turned out pretty well might I add! I can see how Vegetarians get unhealthy though, it’s to easy to just eat fattening, bad stuff, but I am avoiding that at all costs!

I know this sounds lame, but the weather has been soo nice lately that you just can’t help but want to go outside to enjoy it! The sun is shining, the wind is a tad chilly, but for the most part it’s a great all around spring temperature! The sunglasses are needed and when you go for a run a light windbreaker maybe, and oh, don’t forget the SNOW!

 Yes, you heard correctly! Snow. The white stuff. Winter. Flurries. Blizzards. You can call it whatever you want, but there is no denying it was indeed snowing yesterday. Like the rest of  you, I wanted to take advantage of the sunny goodness after a day full of sitting behind a desk [which, by the way, I give people props! Who ever can sit at a desk all day for their job, good for you, it’s brutal]. So in attempts to get outside I went for a nice long run. All was going well until I realized it has been a week since I last ran and how outta shape I felt, but the sun was shining on me and it felt good. THEN, this is where Orillia bounies turns into A-friggen-LASKA! I was about a kilometer way from home when I started seeing stuff falling from the sky. Thinking I was clearly seeing things, or getting a foggy patch in my vision from running I decided I was just plain crazy. When all of a sudden these ‘falling things’ started going in my eyes. I was like WTF? Are you serious, it’s raining? Great! But then I started to notice the rain getting heavier. And a lot more visable. It was when I held my hand out and got 4 flakes in my eyes that I realized it was snow. See, I don’t have a problem with snow, in fact, winter is my favourite season. BUT I do have a problem when it is snowing in April. I would expect this kind of weather from Nunavat, but NOT and hour north of Toronto! Jeesuuuuuss!

xoxo

Day Three

I must say, I am loving this. I feel great. I have energy. I have pep (not that I should be lacking any, I am 19 for christsakes!) and I feel like I’m making a difference.

I apologize for my mistake. I am not “Vegan”. My dear friend pointed that out, and I apologize for my typo. Just goes to show you that while switching between screens like a mad-man [so I wouldn’t get busted for blogging on work time] I made a mistake. Sue me! And for all you die-hard workers out there, hold on to your panties. I am not actually getting paid for working at the newspaper, I am here on a co-op. Meaning, I’m not technically writing my blog on paid work-time. Just saayin

I set up my old/new room this weekend. After saying a tearful goodbye to my roomies, Hayley and Jaime, I made my way back to Orillia for an un-determined [unfortunately] amount of time. I would also like to take a moment of silence if I may for the items that did not survive the 2 move. 

My TV – it had always been there for me when I was lazy to provide endless entertainment, it was the background noise that I fell asleep to at nights and I bought it with my own money in grade 11!  r.i.p. 

5 Drinking Glasses – the entire household benefited from its use. They were drinking glasses at parties and these select few made it through the final house party, which is a miracle in itself. They were hardly ever clean and rarely found in the cupboard, and most of the times were hoarded away in the roommates ROOMS. Which is why they did not make it back to Orillia with their other glass friends. They will be sadly missed.

My Legs – they suffered minor damage on the drive home as they were crammed between mulitple things. I told my parents it would take two vehicles to move all my stuff back, but not wanting to oblige, they took one. Thus creating the ultimate puzzle to fit all my shit in the truck. They also took a beating from the multiple forest walks I took outside this weekend, but that's another story, another day. 

But it was nice to dive into my comfy bed last night as a result of packing, unpacking, re-decorating and cleaning. I missed Gossip Girl last night, which also upsets me... (damn you TV)! 

xoxo

Veggies are welcome

So. I apologize for the delay in writing, but in all honesty, I don't have anyone who reads this anyways... so take that! 

I have had a hectic last few weeks. Note to self: never, ever, work at Tribute Magazine. My second note to self: never mix 3/4 of a bottle of the "Captain" [spiced] with pineapple juice and three beers [that were not mine by the way-sorry!]. Why, might you ask...the outcome includes the following: A massive blackout and severe memory loss. Good thing there were pictures that night is all i gotta say. It explained why my neck hurt. Why was that again..? Oh YEAH, it was because i was put in a HEAD LOCK by my friend, and judging by the not-so-innocent bystanders, they did nothing to stop it ha. good-times? I think? If only I could remember.....

On to more important things:

Well, to be quite blunt, this is really just to announce the fact that I am indeed turning into a vegetarian! Yup, you heard right! I have been toying with the notion for over a year now. And have finally decided to bite the bullet.

See, I hardly eat meat as it is and quiet frankly the way the animals get treated disgusts me. And after a documentary I saw last night, I will forever be haunted. 

Which reminds me, if anyone is looking for a must-see on TV, watch Sharkwater on Discovery Channel. Not going to lie, it made me cry countless times because of the way they are being treated and now I wish to change the world. Don't get me wrong, I doubt little old me is going to make a huge impact, but I am going to stop eating meat in light that I think all humans should seriously consider what we put in our bodies. I know most of us don't eat sharks, but some people must if sharks have recently been wiped out by a whooping 90$%. Goddamn Chinese and their Shark Fin soup. Not to mention sharks regulate our ocean, which accounts for 2/3 of this earth. If they die off, pardon my french, but we'll all be fucked.  

I'm done my rant, I swear... but if you do have a chance to see it, do! You will be floored.

Anyways. 

Day one as a Vegan and i'm loving it. I feel great. 

This is going to be a piece of cake, just watch me! 

xoxo

Well, I hate to say it, but I'm no longer a Twilight virgin. And you heard correctly! After years of avoiding the movie I was hit like a mac truck. Forced against my will, chained to the couch and had my eyelids taped open, well... not quite, but it all happened against my will--for the most part.
I must say, I am no longer a hater.
Not that I ever was, (I never joined the facebook group called "Team Jacob, Team Edward... how about Team who gives a f**k" or anything!) but I am glad I at least watched it, once. Twice? Maybe even three times before I go to class tomorrow?
I'm not saying I will run to my facebook and "un-join" the group and I'm not ready to admit that I might actually re-watch the movie, but I can say this...
How HOT is Taylor Lautner's body????????
Jeeesuuuussss. I nearly fell off my chair when he so kindly ripped off his shirt to wipe the blood off that girls face. It's not like he could've ripped a piece of it off and it woulda done the same job or anything, but we're all so glad he didn't. SOO glad he didn't!
You know, I never thought I'd say this, but I'm supper jealous of Taylor Swift... oh baby, if I had a night alone with him I would just stare in AWW at his gorgeously glowing rippling muscles and ugh, i mean....

Anyways I better be off -- I've got a dream date with him at 1a.m.
xoxo

Dear LORD!
That's all I have to say...
This has been a day from hell. No lie. Well, I've technically never been there, that I'm aware of, but this is what I'd imagine it to be like
It all started at 1:30a.m. Did you know that late at night they play all the oldies (but goodies!) from your childhood past? So stoked that I've already said goodbye to my midnight bedtime.
You heard correctly. Sabrina the Teenage Witch was on, and you better believe I sat there and watched it, mimicking the eighth grader with braces I once was, wishing and praying I could do things with the zap of my finger.
2am - What I Like About You just so happened to be on next - yup, pretty much a blast from the past night on the family channel!
4am - FINALLY fell asleep, or so I guessed.
8am - Woke up with the BIGGEST craving in the world for the homemade chocolate chip cookies my roommates and I baked the night before.
8:10am - Made an executive decision in the shower that I would be eating cookies for a nutritious breakfast!
8:50am - Screamed bloody murder (on the inside) as I discovered nothing but cookie crumbs left in the tray --mumbled sarcastic remarks the whole walk to school.
******class time******
12:10pm - My BFF, Zoe lost her purse just before our adventure to Toronto.
12:30pm - Located the purse that was right under our noses after an "almost" mental breakdown.
1:20pm - Arrived in T-dot only to find the most expensive parking IN the entire city. Walked to the interview and waiting patiently outside for her to finish (that's right, OUTSIDE! Let my just remind you it was -10 Degrees today && I had NO mitts! Nuff' said.)
2:30pm - Think my hands, legs and toes (yes! my toes are separate from my legs) are about to fall off my body... just moments before I discover Zoe has been waiting in a warm coffee shop down the road for me. Jeeessuuuusss
2:30 to 4:30pm - After I nearly had a heart attack once I discovered my car was missing, my "lovely-not-so-lovely" parking attendant man graciously told me he moved it --- greeeeaaaaat.
Once located, sat in the car trying to salvage what was left of my limbs before window-shopping on Queen St.
4:44pm - Both of us had a temporary laps in judgment as we discovered we are so broke we can't even afford a $10 super cute dress.
Headed home to Oakville in the rush hour traffic.
The end.
Hope your day was better,
xoxo
Oh, ps. the cookies where in the cupboard all along, turns out you do need a good 8hrs sleep to function properly.

This is what I wrote to keep me from going insane with coldness on a park bench!

Just saw the funniest thing known to man-kind.
Yes, it was on Twitter, and yes I am hooked to it like an old man on Baywatch.. but who cares.
First of all, Lady Gaga has got to be my favourite. She is pretty much bad ass and I want to marry her -- and YES, okay okay... so what if i have a girl crush on her? admitting it is the first step,or so I'm told.
It's true.
Since I first saw the Telephone - Lady Gaga ft. Beyonce video I have been watching it everyday (maybe even more, but i'm not ready to admit that yet)! I love her hair, her clothing but most of all her makeup. Three words.
TO DIE FOR
So when I came across this video I nearly fell off my chair laughing... just watch it, you'll understand.

xoxo