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Toronto Trek
Jun. 24th, 2006 04:34 pmJewel Staite has been added to the guest list for Toronto Trek! Yay!
Jun. 24th, 2006
Dragon Boat Day 1
Jun. 24th, 2006 07:02 pmI'm so tired at the moment that I'm in a state of bewilderment. This morning started early--the alarm went off at 5:30 am (and I am SO not a morning person). We arrived at the dragon boat race site around 7 am and had our first race at 7:40 am. It was an, er, interesting race. What's supposed to happen is that the boats draw up to the starting line, the referee announces, "Mr. Starter, you have the race!" when everyone is in place to his satisfaction, the starter says, "Attention, please!", and then a few seconds later the starting gun fires. The "Attention, please!" is the signal for the competitors to 'bury their paddles'--i.e., sink the blades into the water and be ready to take that first stroke.
What actually happened was that the starter hadn't figured out how to turn his megaphone on. Being in Lane 8, we were furthest away from him and so couldn't hear him at all. We heard the "Mr. Starter, you have the race!" and then nothing else until the gunshot. Everyone jumped in surprise, still with their paddles across their laps, and our steerperson (and team captain) yelled, "What the hell?!? Are we racing? We're going. GO!!!"
It was not our most glorious moment.
Possibly it was a good thing that our coach wasn't there as he might have grabbed the starter's gun and shot us for making such a stupid mistake. However, we recovered well and won our heat anyway, though with a time (2:21) that was a little on the slow side.
Our second race was early this afternoon and you better believe we weren't going to screw up again. The wind was really starting to pick up by then and there was a bit of excitement trying to get all eight boats lined up at the same time, but, let me tell you, those paddles were BURIED well before the "Attention, please!" (which we did in fact hear this time, the megaphone having been switched on). We're a little slow, but we do get there eventually. We had a really good second race--these heats were seeded and we were up against several very experienced teams. We came in third with a time of 2:14:45 and we beat a team named PanaCEAA (their crew works for the Canadian Environment Assessment Agency, which explains the 'CEAA') that we've never come close to beating before. So we were feeling right chuffed about that.
I don't know the overall results yet, but we'll probably be thirty-somethingth out of about 200 boats. We have two more races tomorrow that will determine our final placing.
The Ottawa Dragon Boat Race Festival is fundraising event for several charities. If you'd like to sponsor me, you can go here and do so online. My team's name is Nectar Protectors--most of our crew works for the federal agency that regulates pesticides in Canada. I used to work there too, although I don't anymore, in the environment (i.e., anti-pesticide) division.
After the race, I was somewhat startled to turn around and find my sister talking to my mother's ex-husband and his current wife. I haven't seen him for 10 years and have never met her before. My mother's marriage to him did not end happily. It was disconcerting, to say the least.
Then I came home, had a nap, and am now sitting on my couch in that state of aforementioned bewilderment.
Go Nectar Protectors! I think our new team motto should be "What the hell?!?" Hee.
What actually happened was that the starter hadn't figured out how to turn his megaphone on. Being in Lane 8, we were furthest away from him and so couldn't hear him at all. We heard the "Mr. Starter, you have the race!" and then nothing else until the gunshot. Everyone jumped in surprise, still with their paddles across their laps, and our steerperson (and team captain) yelled, "What the hell?!? Are we racing? We're going. GO!!!"
It was not our most glorious moment.
Possibly it was a good thing that our coach wasn't there as he might have grabbed the starter's gun and shot us for making such a stupid mistake. However, we recovered well and won our heat anyway, though with a time (2:21) that was a little on the slow side.
Our second race was early this afternoon and you better believe we weren't going to screw up again. The wind was really starting to pick up by then and there was a bit of excitement trying to get all eight boats lined up at the same time, but, let me tell you, those paddles were BURIED well before the "Attention, please!" (which we did in fact hear this time, the megaphone having been switched on). We're a little slow, but we do get there eventually. We had a really good second race--these heats were seeded and we were up against several very experienced teams. We came in third with a time of 2:14:45 and we beat a team named PanaCEAA (their crew works for the Canadian Environment Assessment Agency, which explains the 'CEAA') that we've never come close to beating before. So we were feeling right chuffed about that.
I don't know the overall results yet, but we'll probably be thirty-somethingth out of about 200 boats. We have two more races tomorrow that will determine our final placing.
The Ottawa Dragon Boat Race Festival is fundraising event for several charities. If you'd like to sponsor me, you can go here and do so online. My team's name is Nectar Protectors--most of our crew works for the federal agency that regulates pesticides in Canada. I used to work there too, although I don't anymore, in the environment (i.e., anti-pesticide) division.
After the race, I was somewhat startled to turn around and find my sister talking to my mother's ex-husband and his current wife. I haven't seen him for 10 years and have never met her before. My mother's marriage to him did not end happily. It was disconcerting, to say the least.
Then I came home, had a nap, and am now sitting on my couch in that state of aforementioned bewilderment.
Go Nectar Protectors! I think our new team motto should be "What the hell?!?" Hee.
Thank you to the anonymous person who gave me a four-leaf clover! ::smooches you::
Lucy is currently recovering from her first trip outdoors with the harness. She didn't go very far--she mostly stood there and looked vaguely alarmed. I guess the world is a big place after two months in a humane society cage. She was not so alarmed, however, that she couldn't chow down on dinner afterwards and now she's falling asleep on the rug.
Lucy is currently recovering from her first trip outdoors with the harness. She didn't go very far--she mostly stood there and looked vaguely alarmed. I guess the world is a big place after two months in a humane society cage. She was not so alarmed, however, that she couldn't chow down on dinner afterwards and now she's falling asleep on the rug.
Six Degrees of Separation
Jun. 24th, 2006 08:11 pmA friend (Hi P!) told me last week that her husband works with a guy whose brother-in-law is the actor who plays Mark (Stacy's husband) on House.
I feel important. :-)
I feel important. :-)
Woo and Hoo!
Jun. 24th, 2006 08:15 pmToday's dragon boat race results are in. We're 23rd! Last year, we were 32nd after the first day. We're one spot ahead of PanaCEAA--they were four ahead of us last year. Woot!