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03/16/2003 Archived Entry: "Running to, running fro"

Yesterday was a nice day :)

Started off sleeping in, which was a joy after a week of work. Not that I get up extra early during the week, but getting an extra 1.5 hours makes a huge difference in my calmness. We woke up, had our morning tea, played on the computer for a bit, then showered and left...

...first stop! Bank. We had to pay a $75 fee to the government to extend Jen's visitor visa so that we can do her application for residency. This is a painfully long process, and an expensive one. Not including the $75 we just paid, by the end of this our total fees will be around $1500. That we are married makes no difference to the process.

...next stop! Toys'r'Us. We went to buy a couple kites. I bought a kids dragon kite for myself and Jen got a semi-cellular delta-shaped kite. They didn't have much selection or the extra string I wanted.

...next stop! Food. Usually on gaming night we go for Subway, but this week gaming night was cancelled so we bought some sandwiches on the way. I always get the same thing...foot-long roast chicken sub on wheat bread cut-the-old-way, meatball sauce on the bottom instead of cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickle, lots of jalapenos, and the only sauce is hot sauce. Jen is not so predictable.

...then to Garry Point park in Steveston! My dragon kite required more wind that initially was there, but after running back and forth and making the chinese people look at this silly fat white man I managed to get it up off the ground. My initial concern with the amount of string I had was well-founded...it didn't get up very far. Jen, on the other hand, got her kite up immediately, had plenty of string and flew it like a pro. Oh...the envy I experienced! :)

For a while we both flew our kites at the same time, but then Jen decided to put on her coat and in the process lost grip on the kite string. Looks like the wind up where the kite was was stronger than we thought because that kite took off like a rocket, dragging the string down on the ground while Jen ran after it. It bounced its way all the way across Garry Point park, eventually bouncing its way across Scotch Pond (a boat dock with some history) and onto a fishing boat. While I slowly walked over and tried not to laugh, Jen looked around for a way to get her kite back. Once I got there we tried all sorts of things...walking around to see if someone could open the two locked gates to let us get to the kite (though getting it would involved entering someone's boat, which is something I really don't like doing - just because boats are open to the world doesn't mean they shouldn't be treated like a locked car); I even made a few checks to see if I could grab it with my kite and pull it over, though with the inability of the dragon kite to fly unless pelted by gale force winds this was Not Gonna Happen.

Eventually we gave up and walked back to the car, watching someone with a Flexifoil power kite and a kite board for a bit before we left. As we pulled out we saw that the kite was no longer flying...it must have fell over to the swampy cattails and bullrushes next to Scotch Pond. We didn't even try to recover it after that.

On our way out we got in touch with Ken and Lori and had a nice dinner (avec biere) with them at the Big Rock Brewing Company...and followed them home for a show of Ken's real kites.

Now I know I've got to spend more money :-) That's the way the day started, and that's the way it ended. It just took a long way 'round to get there.