In hopes that I don't have to keep regurgitating my vacation, I am starting a series of blog posts of my recent trip to Bali. One day, one post.
May 30th, 2010
Kuta - Day 1
After a week straight of meeting after meeting, I took my first vacation in a year. I arrived to two line ups of epic proportions. The first line was quick. You give the guy $25US and he gives to a receipt for the Visa you just bought. The next line was a bit of a gong show. There were probably 10 lines, with easily 50 people in each. As I've often thought, immigration in any country is no fun. Luckily I snapped my line-up unlucky streak and picked the only line with two border agents. So, I got through in about 45 minutes. My border guard was awesome. He liked me simply because I was Canadian. (And before anyone feels like commenting, yes, I know you can get a Visa before you go, I didn't have time.)
After immigration, I had to locate my bag. All the bags had been removed from the belts, as there were so many flights arriving. Oddly enough, I found my immediately, despite the fact that it's black. I recognized the wheels of all things. I had to wrestle it out of the hands of a porter though, who seemed determined to get money out of me. It didn't work. I found my ride and headed to my resort.
The place I was staying at first was a resort, so naturally it was amazing. Very private bungalows and villas, lagoon pools, swim-up bars. Naturally I hit up the pool instantly. Some friendly Aussies invited me to have some drinks with them and after 2 hours I was sufficiently drunk. I joined them on the beach to watch the sunset. Despite some renegade clouds, it was beautiful. Tomorrow I would figure out my plan for the next few days and hopefully head into Kuta to explore.
Day 1 was a bit whirlwind, but I was finally on vacation.
~Bean
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Friday, May 7, 2010
She looks down. Down at his still, lifeless body. A gentle breeze blows her hair, ever so slightly, enough to see the pain pouring down her face. She falls to her knees, to his side. A shaky hand reaches out, wanting to caress his still warm face, instead it consoles her broken heart. She holds herself, falling to pieces and closes her eyes.
She opens her eyes. It's morning, 6am. The sun starting to peak through the blinds.
"I can't keep doing this," she thought to herself. She wipes the tears from her face, breathes deeply, rolls to her side. She watches his chest rise and fall, each breath deep and peaceful. The dream had not disturbed him.
The decision is made. She collects her clothes and a small box from the bedside table, filled with meaningless items to anyone else. She looks down, at his still, sleeping body, one last time before she turns and walks away, one last time. She can't lose him again, not one more time. She dies each time, awakens to know it will happen and she can't keep going.
To not lose him, she lets him go. It breaks her heart, tears her up inside, but she is comforted knowing that he will never be taken from her again.
She opens her eyes. It's morning, 6am. The sun starting to peak through the blinds.
"I can't keep doing this," she thought to herself. She wipes the tears from her face, breathes deeply, rolls to her side. She watches his chest rise and fall, each breath deep and peaceful. The dream had not disturbed him.
The decision is made. She collects her clothes and a small box from the bedside table, filled with meaningless items to anyone else. She looks down, at his still, sleeping body, one last time before she turns and walks away, one last time. She can't lose him again, not one more time. She dies each time, awakens to know it will happen and she can't keep going.
To not lose him, she lets him go. It breaks her heart, tears her up inside, but she is comforted knowing that he will never be taken from her again.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Word
neck·ces·so·ry [nek-ses-uh-ree] noun
1. an article or set of articles of dress, like a scarf, that adds completeness, convenience, attractiveness, etc., to one's basic outfit, worn around or near the neck
This might be the best word invention I've ever had. That's right, I'm taking credit for it. It came up in a conversation regarding the appropriate attire for penguins. You could ask, but do you really want to know?
I forgot to use my new word in a sentence, you know, like spellers always ask for, so here goes:
Q: "Do you think Penguins would wear bowties or just regular ties?"
A: "No, no, no, Penguins are cool enough without a neckcessary! Seriously, think about it!"
Ok, that's 3 sentences, but I really felt that it needed them.
~Bean
ə
1. an article or set of articles of dress, like a scarf, that adds completeness, convenience, attractiveness, etc., to one's basic outfit, worn around or near the neck
This might be the best word invention I've ever had. That's right, I'm taking credit for it. It came up in a conversation regarding the appropriate attire for penguins. You could ask, but do you really want to know?
I forgot to use my new word in a sentence, you know, like spellers always ask for, so here goes:
Q: "Do you think Penguins would wear bowties or just regular ties?"
A: "No, no, no, Penguins are cool enough without a neckcessary! Seriously, think about it!"
Ok, that's 3 sentences, but I really felt that it needed them.
~Bean
Monday, May 3, 2010
Sunday, May 2, 2010
When it all catches up to you...
4 countries, 2 continents and 16 hours of travel later, I returned from Sweden this Wednesday afternoon. It was a whirlwind trip, as most of my travel seems to be. I landed in Sweden on Saturday night, without my luggage. That was fun, nothing makes travel more fun that flying all day and night, only to be left with nothing to change into the next day. Luckily, a coworker of mine is the exact same size as me and brought me some extra clothes. My luggage did arrive eventually, on Monday evening, just in time for me to leave Tuesday night. At least I got to look good for the last day and a half of the trip.
Sweden: Far enough away to mess up the internal clock, short enough trip to not adjust fully, back in town dragging my ass through the rest of the week.
I played the last hockey game of the season on Wednesday night, I don't know where I got the energy for it. I even scored a goal on my first shift. I think I set the bar too high because I did nothing worth mentioning for the rest of the game. We lost, in OT, the championship went to the most hated team in the league, which makes it sting that much more. We got over it shortly after with pitchers of beer and a variety of pub food.
I don't think the jet lag hit me until Friday night. I was getting ready to head to the gym (I've recently take up running), and I thought I would wait out the crowd for about an hour. I made the mistake of laying down to watch some TV, then all of the sudden it was 10am the next morning. I can't remember the last time I slept for 16 hours in one night. I guess I was tired.
You would think the weekend would be the best time to relax and chill out, but while I was traveling 10,000 miles around the world, I missed 4 birthdays at work and another one this Sunday. My weekend is full of baking. Cupcakes, lemon tarts, a 40th birthday cake and a fourth dessert that I haven't figured out yet. What else could go with the other three desserts? I almost feel like I should offer a healthy treat to balance out all the sweets, but it's a birthday. There's no room for carrot sticks and broccoli next to cake and lemon tarts. That would just be weird.
On top of all the baking, I'm trying to piece together the ruins of my aunt's patio cushions in an attempt to make her new ones. I guess 'patio cushions' isn't the right description. They are really the seat cushions to a swing that she has on her patio. Having never seen what the cushions looked like before, it's hard to envision how all these pieces are supposed to go together. The really hard part to figure out was the padding. Instead of the seat portion just being one single piece of foam, it's three. One really long one and two that are half the size. The long one sandwiches the smaller ones to hold them together. Personally, I think one thick piece would have been the better way to go. In fact, it completely baffles me as why it isn't just one thick piece. Three pieces just causes me to readjust over and over again to get it all straight and flat. I will never understand why people make things so difficult....
So after a whirlwind trip, I have a whirlwind weekend. I'm aiming for next weekend to relax...
BTW - Happy May!
~Bean
Sweden: Far enough away to mess up the internal clock, short enough trip to not adjust fully, back in town dragging my ass through the rest of the week.
I played the last hockey game of the season on Wednesday night, I don't know where I got the energy for it. I even scored a goal on my first shift. I think I set the bar too high because I did nothing worth mentioning for the rest of the game. We lost, in OT, the championship went to the most hated team in the league, which makes it sting that much more. We got over it shortly after with pitchers of beer and a variety of pub food.
I don't think the jet lag hit me until Friday night. I was getting ready to head to the gym (I've recently take up running), and I thought I would wait out the crowd for about an hour. I made the mistake of laying down to watch some TV, then all of the sudden it was 10am the next morning. I can't remember the last time I slept for 16 hours in one night. I guess I was tired.
You would think the weekend would be the best time to relax and chill out, but while I was traveling 10,000 miles around the world, I missed 4 birthdays at work and another one this Sunday. My weekend is full of baking. Cupcakes, lemon tarts, a 40th birthday cake and a fourth dessert that I haven't figured out yet. What else could go with the other three desserts? I almost feel like I should offer a healthy treat to balance out all the sweets, but it's a birthday. There's no room for carrot sticks and broccoli next to cake and lemon tarts. That would just be weird.
On top of all the baking, I'm trying to piece together the ruins of my aunt's patio cushions in an attempt to make her new ones. I guess 'patio cushions' isn't the right description. They are really the seat cushions to a swing that she has on her patio. Having never seen what the cushions looked like before, it's hard to envision how all these pieces are supposed to go together. The really hard part to figure out was the padding. Instead of the seat portion just being one single piece of foam, it's three. One really long one and two that are half the size. The long one sandwiches the smaller ones to hold them together. Personally, I think one thick piece would have been the better way to go. In fact, it completely baffles me as why it isn't just one thick piece. Three pieces just causes me to readjust over and over again to get it all straight and flat. I will never understand why people make things so difficult....
So after a whirlwind trip, I have a whirlwind weekend. I'm aiming for next weekend to relax...
BTW - Happy May!
~Bean
Saturday, April 24, 2010
The Moment...
It's 5AM, in Sweden, which is where I am. I think I have slept for a grand total of 3 hours since leaving Vancouver on Friday at 5PM. Despite how tired I feel, I can't sleep. I think it's because my baggage didn't make it. I don't like not having my stuff....
Anyways, 4:30 AM is a great time for thinking. I had this thought, that turned into an internal argument and the final result was this story:
Her soul walks into the room,
She glances his way.
Intense eyes meet hers.
Flooded with images
A walk, a dance, a journey.
A loving embrace, slowly replaced with crossed, defensive arms.
A single tear is shed, followed by the downpour.
She stares back, at her love.
Representing everything that was
And will never be.
Her heart sinks, at least whatever is left.
A moment, true clarity.
Her soul walks out of the room,
Leaving behind the shred of a man she once loved.
Is there any point to me trying to sleep now?
~Bean
Anyways, 4:30 AM is a great time for thinking. I had this thought, that turned into an internal argument and the final result was this story:
Her soul walks into the room,
She glances his way.
Intense eyes meet hers.
Flooded with images
A walk, a dance, a journey.
A loving embrace, slowly replaced with crossed, defensive arms.
A single tear is shed, followed by the downpour.
She stares back, at her love.
Representing everything that was
And will never be.
Her heart sinks, at least whatever is left.
A moment, true clarity.
Her soul walks out of the room,
Leaving behind the shred of a man she once loved.
Is there any point to me trying to sleep now?
~Bean
Sunday, April 4, 2010
All it takes...
"When you've reached the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."
You know those times, when you've reached your breaking point and absolutely nothing could possibly make your life any worse? We've all had them. The moments when we break down and cry over the stupidest things, like dropping a box of pins or burning dinner. Maybe it's just girls who do this, boys probably just punch things.
Anyways, in this moment, what does it take to turn it all around? Does it have to be something big, like winning the lottery? (BTW - I won $10 the other day) Or can it be the smallest gesture, a smile, a pat on the back...
I'm not having a rough time, at least I don't think I am. (Now that I've said that, I am probably going to get railroaded tomorrow) But I'll admit I didn't feel like things were great. No need to get into specifics, but I just felt like something was missing. Maybe a lot of things. Probably a lot of things. Yet, I still felt stretched, doing too much in too little time (god damn Easter baking...). All I needed was to get to this weekend. Yes, it was a long weekend, but that's not what made the difference.
Once a year, a fantastic group of people trek up from Portland and we all get together and kick ass on the ice. Ok, last year we didn't kick so much ass, but this year we were awesome, to say the least. We play in a coed tournament in Coquitlam and it's a blast. I can't express how much fun I had and how refreshing it was, at least for me. And it's not the winning, or even the hockey that does it. It's the people. They make me smile, laugh, celebrate....all the things that you should do daily.
Even if we lost, it still would have been the best weekend in a long time. And that is saying a lot, because this weekend was trying! The wheel fell off my truck, luckily right by my house and not on the highway where I was headed. This was my breaking point. I pulled over, got out and saw my tire. It was angled at about 30 degrees, jammed into the wheel well. Oddly enough, I had JUST has this checked on Monday and was told that it was fine. I went into my house and just started freaking out. What if I had been on the highway? I could have died... In reality, I wasn't on the highway, so I tried not to put much thought into what could have been. Should I call a tow truck? My mechanic? My boyfriend? (oh, no, wait, single...right....damn) I called my mom. Moms always know what to do. Her thoughts were pretty in line with mine, leave it on the side of the road until other people (her and my dad) were around to help figure out what to do and take my dad's car in the mean time. By the way, as soon as I started talking to my mom, I dropped my box of pins and burst into tears. It was pretty pathetic. Once I recovered, I moved my gear into my dad's car.
Now the fun thing with my dad's car is that there is only one FOB to disarm the alarm system. Naturally, he took it with him to the island. So, my options were to either not lock the car, or deal with the alarm until I could manually shut it off, once inside the car. I went with option B, because I felt that facing the embarrassment of my alarm going off was a far cheaper price to pay than buying my dad a new GPS system and probably some other stuff he has hidden in his car. Luckily, I didn't have to experience this too often, I think 4 times in total.
So, the car problem was pretty much solved, so, as traumatized as I was, I was feeling a bit better. Off to hockey I go, only to get hit by a train. Not a real train, but some jerk on the ice who thought there was a Stanley Cup at the end of this tournament. I, or rather he, rattled my brains a little. I went into the boards, fairly awkwardly, smacked my head first, then my shoulder and hip. Put my new helmet to the test, I'd say that it works well enough. It took me a moment to get my head on straight, get up and skate to the bench, where I almost dropped my pins again. I don't like it when I get hurt and on my count, that was two near death experiences in one day.
I reached my breaking point around noon on Saturday with my phone call break down to my mother, but by the end of the first game, I felt on top of the world again. A dazed, spinning world, but I was still on top of it. We won our game, that jerk got a penalty, and I got free potato skins! The next game was a nail biter, but I scored a freakishly good goal with 2 minutes left to put us into the lead and the finals. It was awesome, or so I am told, I didn't even see it go in. I actually heard it hit the post and automatically assumed it didn't go it. Oh yeah, and then I won a bamboo blanket for being the game MVP.
In the beginning....worst day ever. In the end.....best day ever. What turned it around? The hug I was greeted with at the rink. A small, tiny gesture that turned my world right side up. That's all it took. And that's all I could ask for at that moment. Just a hug. The smiles I got later also helped and the free potato skins, but it all started with the hug.
Maybe if everyday was filled with laughter, smiles, hugs and celebrating the small things, we wouldn't get to the breaking point so easily. What does the end of the rope do when you are not hanging onto it?
~Bean
~ Thomas Jefferson
You know those times, when you've reached your breaking point and absolutely nothing could possibly make your life any worse? We've all had them. The moments when we break down and cry over the stupidest things, like dropping a box of pins or burning dinner. Maybe it's just girls who do this, boys probably just punch things.
Anyways, in this moment, what does it take to turn it all around? Does it have to be something big, like winning the lottery? (BTW - I won $10 the other day) Or can it be the smallest gesture, a smile, a pat on the back...
I'm not having a rough time, at least I don't think I am. (Now that I've said that, I am probably going to get railroaded tomorrow) But I'll admit I didn't feel like things were great. No need to get into specifics, but I just felt like something was missing. Maybe a lot of things. Probably a lot of things. Yet, I still felt stretched, doing too much in too little time (god damn Easter baking...). All I needed was to get to this weekend. Yes, it was a long weekend, but that's not what made the difference.
Once a year, a fantastic group of people trek up from Portland and we all get together and kick ass on the ice. Ok, last year we didn't kick so much ass, but this year we were awesome, to say the least. We play in a coed tournament in Coquitlam and it's a blast. I can't express how much fun I had and how refreshing it was, at least for me. And it's not the winning, or even the hockey that does it. It's the people. They make me smile, laugh, celebrate....all the things that you should do daily.
Even if we lost, it still would have been the best weekend in a long time. And that is saying a lot, because this weekend was trying! The wheel fell off my truck, luckily right by my house and not on the highway where I was headed. This was my breaking point. I pulled over, got out and saw my tire. It was angled at about 30 degrees, jammed into the wheel well. Oddly enough, I had JUST has this checked on Monday and was told that it was fine. I went into my house and just started freaking out. What if I had been on the highway? I could have died... In reality, I wasn't on the highway, so I tried not to put much thought into what could have been. Should I call a tow truck? My mechanic? My boyfriend? (oh, no, wait, single...right....damn) I called my mom. Moms always know what to do. Her thoughts were pretty in line with mine, leave it on the side of the road until other people (her and my dad) were around to help figure out what to do and take my dad's car in the mean time. By the way, as soon as I started talking to my mom, I dropped my box of pins and burst into tears. It was pretty pathetic. Once I recovered, I moved my gear into my dad's car.
Now the fun thing with my dad's car is that there is only one FOB to disarm the alarm system. Naturally, he took it with him to the island. So, my options were to either not lock the car, or deal with the alarm until I could manually shut it off, once inside the car. I went with option B, because I felt that facing the embarrassment of my alarm going off was a far cheaper price to pay than buying my dad a new GPS system and probably some other stuff he has hidden in his car. Luckily, I didn't have to experience this too often, I think 4 times in total.
So, the car problem was pretty much solved, so, as traumatized as I was, I was feeling a bit better. Off to hockey I go, only to get hit by a train. Not a real train, but some jerk on the ice who thought there was a Stanley Cup at the end of this tournament. I, or rather he, rattled my brains a little. I went into the boards, fairly awkwardly, smacked my head first, then my shoulder and hip. Put my new helmet to the test, I'd say that it works well enough. It took me a moment to get my head on straight, get up and skate to the bench, where I almost dropped my pins again. I don't like it when I get hurt and on my count, that was two near death experiences in one day.
I reached my breaking point around noon on Saturday with my phone call break down to my mother, but by the end of the first game, I felt on top of the world again. A dazed, spinning world, but I was still on top of it. We won our game, that jerk got a penalty, and I got free potato skins! The next game was a nail biter, but I scored a freakishly good goal with 2 minutes left to put us into the lead and the finals. It was awesome, or so I am told, I didn't even see it go in. I actually heard it hit the post and automatically assumed it didn't go it. Oh yeah, and then I won a bamboo blanket for being the game MVP.
In the beginning....worst day ever. In the end.....best day ever. What turned it around? The hug I was greeted with at the rink. A small, tiny gesture that turned my world right side up. That's all it took. And that's all I could ask for at that moment. Just a hug. The smiles I got later also helped and the free potato skins, but it all started with the hug.
Maybe if everyday was filled with laughter, smiles, hugs and celebrating the small things, we wouldn't get to the breaking point so easily. What does the end of the rope do when you are not hanging onto it?
~Bean
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