Justin's Big Adventure

SMILE!!!!!

So while I was out on Friday, I saw a man walking towards me holding what appeared to be a blank piece of cardboard. As it turns out, it wasn't blank, but had the word "SMILE" written on it (in texta which was too thin to stand out).

And I smiled. Not because it told me to, but because it made me think of not all, but many of the things that I've been given, for which I should smile. All the things I was most grateful of I thought of, and that made me even happier.

It's amazing how something so simple made me so happy (= I wish I'd taken a picture to head this post with though =P So, tell people to smile, and maybe they'll be happier too.

A smile is a curve that sets things straight
(It sounds like a tool used to get out of trouble =P)

So at the conclusion of the last post, Justin had just finished his midterms, and was slacking off, and slacking off very well. Upon waking on Friday morning, he decided that, instead of spending the day sleeping in his room, he should go out and explore more of what Vancouver had to offer. And thus, he remembered at one point, being told of Gastown, a tourist destination for many whom had travelled to Vancouver, famous for its Steam Clock....

[And now I'm tired of speaking in third person]

... the other place under consideration was Chinatown, which, in a place full of Asian people, was said to be quite impressive. However, I decided that Gastown would be the place to go: Chiantown might be better at night.

So after my 8am lecture, I caught the number 4 bus. On sitting on the number 4 bus, something occurred to me - although I knew which bus to catch, I didn't know when to get off. I had two inklings, the first was that it was fairly close to the city, just a couple of stops past a stop I'd been to a couple of times. The second was that it was right near the end of the bus line. I was hoping that they'd coincide... they didn't.

So the bus drives past the "Gastown Mexican Restaurant." Me, not knowing how large Gastown is, figures that I'll stay on the bus a little while longer. So I did, the bus drives, and drives and drives.

So I start to figure I'd been on the bus too long when a lot of homeless people start getting on the bus. A LOT of homeless people. Like, more than half the passengers on the bus. So, long story short, I stay on the bus until the end of the line. In fact, now that I think about it, I stayed on the bus from the start of the route to the end =D I'd never done that before =P

I get off the bus when the driver stops and says goodbye to everyone. So I get off the bus, and walk around. Apparently I'm at the home of the Vancouver Giants (which are the Vancouver hockey team which isn't the Canucks. Everyone is crazy about the Canucks, the Giants play in a different league, which noone cares about =P). I find a rather cool playground, with a bunch of statues, and a cool water feature (which happened to be really mossy and a bit disgusting), and a skate park. I took a few photos there, and then ventured on.


I found a small Japanese Garden (where a couple of homeless people were sitting), and I took a few photos there too.



Eventually I find out I'm in Hastings, which I'd vaguely remembered was pretty dodgy place. Have a Starbucks (first one since the first week I was here =P), at a Starbucks with a drive-thru in it.

Walk around the place a bit, and get bored, so I get on a bus. So I sit on the bus for a little while, before coming to an intersection where there's a lot of people. I figure this must be a pretty popular place so I get off. Unfortunately, once again I've found a place full of homeless people. Just about everyone on that street was a homeless person (perhaps 40-50 people), which made it a little awkward. A little further on, and I find out I'm in Chinatown.

I look in a couple of shops, but a hoodie, and poke around a bit. Turns out that the coffee had made it through my digestive system and I really needed to find a toilet. However, it also turns out that Chinatown is the one place in Vancouver which doesn't have a Starbucks and/or a MacDonalds on every block. So I'm walking around quite a few blocks trying to find a toilet. Eventually I find a memorial park-like place which happens to have toilets (kinda cool underground ones as well).

When I get out of the toilets, I realise I'm right next to that Mexican Gastown restaurant. It turns out that Gastown and Chinatown are right next to each other. So I make it down to Gastown, and look at the steam clock - which is a lot smaller than I'd imagined it.

It is quite cool though, little balls as weights inside, and tuned steam whistles go off at every quarter hour.

Gastown, as it turns out, isn't much of an exciting place. It's very small, and all the shops are tourist shops. No only that, but it's right outside the city centre, really close to...well... everything.

I did see a very cool building though:

And, after wandering around the city a bit more, I caught the Skytrain (really not that impressive =()and the bus home.

Friday night was pretty typical, as was Saturday - had a group meeting which lasted all of about 10 minutes, and played frisbee (and got very muddy). Saturday night was pretty good. Watched American Gangster, which is a really cool movie. Although I missed about the second quarter of the film, so I should probably watch it again. It was very cool though - highly recommended.

Sunday was church once again, and Banana Leaf for lunch - Char Kway Teow - awesome-tasting.

And I wasted most of Sunday night, doing laundry and messing around with my computer.

And now it's Monday, I still haven't done any work, and its almost lunch time.

Definitely happy times for Justin at the moment. Although I guess I should get around to doing some work.

And, I'll leave you with a link to one of the saddest pictures I've seen in a long time. Poor dog =(

Link

And before I forget, in response to Brendan's comment about the first picture on this post, I was around Halloween and I was doing 'ghosty' long exposures in my room, and then I took one out my window, and that's that one =P

EDIT: I may not be online for a while as my laptop is slightly broken and I want to try to get it repaired... Hopefully won't take long, or maybe it'll cost too much and I'll ignore it. Hopefully talk to you all soon.

UPDATE: I went to the shop, they said they couldn't fix it, so I called ASUS. 20 minutes and $15 later, I'm getting my laptop shipped to the support centre in Ontario, and I'll be losing it for about a week. I'll let you know when that will happen.