Enthusiasm Rising

• Passports and Visas ready
• flights booked
• clothes washed
• reading material for killing time on airplanes chosen
• cycling shoes, pedals, helmet, gloves, and sunglasses packed
• sunscreen packed
• enthusiasm rising

When I forget what it was like to be a kid and have to wait until Christmas, I look to my experience of waiting for a trip to begin. It is approaching soon, but I feel like it is so far away.

My enthusiasm is rising and I can’t wait to be on that airplane (and even eating airplane food). Right now, before I have squished myself into my economy seat for many hours of flying, it all seems so amazing.  I wonder how far over the pacific I will be when that feeling starts to fade.  If only I knew someone at Air Canada who could bump me up to Business Class.  Between now and my flight, I will be asking the universe for this to happen.

For now, my excitement and anticipation will have to carry me through.

I Blog, Therefore I am…?

If there was any doubt, there isn’t any longer. My name is Anthony and I am a blogger.

No, this isn’t a post about how many followers I have, or how many views I have had today. This isn’t about success as a blogger, but just how much blogging is affecting my life.

You see, in a couple of days I am headed to Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam.  I am headed off on another cycling trip, hopefully leaving this late fall weather behind.  Included in my preparations are visas, clothing choices, smart packing options, safety, and of course how I can best blog about this trip.

What?

Yes, I am consciously wondering how I can share my trip with others. I should be wondering how I can best eat as much food, enjoy as much scenery, and drink enough beer.  Instead, I want to write blogs without having to type on my phone.  I love my phone, but trying to bash out a text is less than fun.  My fingers just aren’t that agile.  So, I bought this very thin and light keyboard.  Then I found a tablet I could get for free with Shoppers Optimum points…..and the rest is history.

Rather than question whether something is really wrong with me, I am merely accepting the fact that I am a blogger. So expect a few, hopefully entertaining, blogs from my trip.

 

My Own Beer Sherpa

It isn’t every day that I get my own beer Sherpa.

School Ties, Nostalgia….and Everything

The Western Mustangs won the Vanier Cup yesterday. For those not in the know, that is the Canadian University Football Championship.  As I went to Western, I both watched and celebrated the win.

I try not to get too wrapped up in sports (though, sometimes I succumb to lure) but yesterday seemed more about nostalgia.

My Western Mustangs have been perennial winners.  They are usually in the conversation, to use some sports parlance, for the Vanier.  What I didn’t realize is that the last time they won was 1994.

The 1994 game was quite special to me. I was living in Japan–at a time when there was no windows 95, no widely available internet, and very narrow broadcasting.  Though some North American sports were reported in the newspapers, not very much of it was.  I was living a more isolated life than people nowadays do.  For me to get the result of the game, I would have had to call somebody or wait for a letter.

Fortunately for me, my friends sent me a video cassette of the game. Yes, that’s right.  they sent me a video cassette.  Getting a video cassette of anything was an amazing occurrence back then.  When my friend got a tape of a Leafs Flames hockey game, we turned it into a weekend party.  When my American Friends got a tape of the Super Bowl, we treated it like a holiday–no turkey, but quite a bit of beer and snacks.

Watching that incredible Vanier Cup from 1994 was awesome. The game was exciting (blown leads, overtime…it had it all) and for a few brief moments I was connected to life in Canada while overseas.

Yesterday’s game did not have the same gravitas. I have long (long) since graduated, and even though I toured the campus last year, I am not a Frosh living in residence.  Funny though, school ties are stronger than you expect.

Congratulations Mustangs.  Job well done.

 

Three Layers of Skin

A long time ago, I heard that the translation of this Korean dish is “three layers of skin”.   I don’t know whether that is true or not.  What I do know is that it is delicious.

 

Can You Spot the Problem

My student explained that she bought a pair of shoes online recently.  Can you see the problem?  Perhaps online shopping is not as good as we think.

 

People Don’t Meet That Way Anymore

Yesterday was night to catch up with one of my best friends over some food and a couple of pints at Hemmingway’s–a, perhaps, too trendy for me Yorkville bar/eatery that I often find myself at. Maybe, I just like the name.  Maybe, I am hoping it will rub off on my writing.  In case you didn’t know, Hemmingway was employed by the Toronto Star for a time–don’t ask me how long?  You can Google as well as I can.

I won’t bore you with the majority of our conversation. We’ve been friends for a long time.  We’ve got topics that only we understand.  However, my friend is a fountain of wisdom in areas I am not (hopefully vice versa is true) and while I was lamenting my state of my love life and the many attractive women I encounter but fail to make an impression on, he uttered some words that I feel compelled to restate, and beg for your opinion on.  Yes, I actually used the word BEG.

After hearing of the women I have met in bookstores, Chipotle, on the bus, and (most recently) waiting for bike maintenance, he uttered the following words.

“Do people meet potential dates like that anymore? Isn’t it all online?  Do people have chance encounters?”

The romantic in me wants to say yes. The romantic in me wants to find a woman through that chance encounter in a bookstore.  The romantic wants someone to discuss books, disagree about politics, contemplate the universe, and spontaneously hug trees.

If you’re wondering about the tree thing, it all stems from a woman named Joyce who was one of the earliest free spirits I met. Sadly, our paths crossed at the wrong time.

Getting back to the main point: is my friend right? Most people have urged me to do the online dating thing, but I have shrugged it off, repeatedly.  It’s gotten so bad that every time the subject comes up, and I delay, I get called on it.  I suspect they’re right, but since I suspect looks are the driving force behind more online dating (though I could be wrong) I don’t have the confidence.

Your input would be most welcome.

 

Lessons Learned

Part of my preparations for this trip include learning from my mistakes. On my Vietnam trip, I didn’t take cycling shoes and pedals.  I opted for sandals instead.  The sandals I chose (Keens) were awesome.  I am taking them on this trip as well.  They are great for walking around in, and were quite good on the bicycle.  The only time they didn’t serve me was on my tough ascents.  I really could have used the pulling power.  On some of the longer climbs, I cursed my self for not bringing pedals and cycling shoes.

This time, I have purchased shoes that are relatively comfortable to walk in, but have a recessed clip for the pedals. I also chose two sided pedals in case we are on flat roads and I want a break from the shoes.  Maybe later I will put the pedals on my grocery getter and enjoy the flexibility of bike shoes or no bike shoes.

I bought the shoes and pedals at a mega outdoor store. It was awesome to walk around in it and lose myself in all that high quality and expensive travel gear.  Maybe I need to be a magazine reviewer, or blog reviewer.  I wonder how many followers you would need to have to get stuff like that for free.

But I digress.

I won’t be able to review these shoes and pedals until after the Thailand/Cambodia/Vietnam trip, or maybe during the trip. Regardless, I am pretty excited about my purchases.

 

Late Autumn Vacation

My trip to Vietnam was eye opening for me.  I had always shunned the idea of going on a group tour with a bunch of strangers.  This could have stemmed from the difficult experience I had on a bus trip to climb Mt. Fuji more than twenty years ago.  It could also be part of my general shyness.  I don’t know.  It wasn’t the first trip I took as a single/divorced person, but it kind of was.  I went somewhere completely new and I wondered how it would work out.

As I wrote long ago, or so it seems, it worked out great. I immediately set my sights on somewhere else I could go on the bike.  I thought about Chile.  I thought about Sri Lanka.  I thought about Cambodia (which starts in Thailand, cycles through Cambodia, and ends with a tour of the Mekong Delta in Vietnam–but since we’re going to Ankor Wat, I will refer to it as the Cambodia trip).  All of these trips are cycling trips and were offered through the same company.

Then along came a little arterial block which made walking hell for the entire summer. The diagnosis took quite a while, but treatment options (surgery) sounded like it would be routine and I would be back on the pedals in no time.  So, I put off making a decision.

The surgery did not work, and the next best option is continued exercise to build collateral arteries, and hopefully improved blood flow.

I have up my exercise regime and even took my bike out for a spin on a cold fall afternoon. I found that, surprisingly, cycling is easier than walking.  I can cycle for more than 30 minutes non-stop (no coasting)  before feeling the pain that walking can give me in hundreds of metres.

So, in a nutshell, I have decided to go on my vacation to Cambodia. Chile and Sri Lanka were both rated as more difficult than Cambodia.  Perhaps if I had been training all summer, they would have been within reach–maybe next year or the year after.

Luckily for me, one of the people from the Vietnam trip is also taking this Cambodian trip, so I will at least know one person.

I thought about giving the whole thing a miss this year, but I decided against it. Maybe it is that whole, you only live once idea (YOLO), or maybe I know I would regret not using my time off doing something more interesting than shovelling snow and watching pre-Christmas movies on TV.

As a result, I have promised myself to be on the stationary bike every day (so far so good), improve the food I consume (so far not so good). I am not going to make up for a lost summer in the short period of time I have left, but I have to do what I can.  My goals are modest.  Don’t ride in the van too much and enjoy myself.

Thanks to my waiting until late, my preparations are running a bit late.  I have done little to no research.  I have a lot to get ready.  The only good thing I can say is that I have learned some important lessons from the last trip which I will try to put into practice for this trip.  I have applied for the appropriate visas and I am looking into flights.

Of course, I will be blogging about my preparations for the trip and on the trip itself. Last time, I used the phrase “getting ready pho my trip.”  This time, I really don’t have a catchy phrase. If you have one, please let me know.

I had originally intended to call this post Holiday in Cambodia and use an image of the Dead Kennedys–but upon sombre reflection that just seemed…I will use the word wrong.

I Know You From Somewhere

Yesterday, while shopping, something unusual happened. Before you jump to the conclusion that by weird I mean that I didn’t spend any money, rest assured that, sadly, money left my pocket and I didn’t get everything I needed.

I was in a big store that had both groceries and everyday products. While cruising in the grocery section a woman and her cart passed by me just like a car on a road.  When I saw her (and she saw me) we both had a moment or recognition….or something and said hello.

It isn’t that I am unfriendly, but I am shy, and though I see many attractive women during my day, I rarely say hello to someone I don’t know, or who isn’t reading a book.

I had the sense that I knew her, but for the life of me I couldn’t think from where that might be. I started to doubt my feeling.  I rationalized that since I found her attractive, I was just wishing a connection into existence.

When she passed me again, she said “I feel like I know you from somewhere.”

It is hard to ignore that kind of sign. I explained that I too had the same feeling.

We spent a few minutes trying to figure out what the connection was. She suspected that she had seen me at the hockey rink that she took her kid to.  I wondered if we had gone to high school together.  She gave me quizzical looks, and asked where I was from.  I speculated a few places we might have me; the library, the bus, Murphy’s Bar in Osaka Japan (you never know).

Though nothing came of this event, I did appreciate it for its randomness and feeling of “almost”.