Seriously, I can't believe this weekend is already over. And I also can't believe that we're already halfway through July. Time is just flying by!
Friday evening, I went out for dinner with a friend. For some reason, our coffee dates always turn into dinner dates ... which is kind of annoying. But I'm not sure what can be done. I enjoy our time together, so perhaps I can budget in one dinner per month with her.
Saturday morning, a co-worker and I headed out to Stanley Park. But since we're both new to the city (and we were unaware of construction problems and stuff, specifically on Georgia St.), it took us 2.5 hrs. to get there! :( But it was beautiful, and we had a lovely picnic lunch and a stroll around. We also stopped to watch 2 wedding parties get their photos done. We had fun, but I think next time we'll try to find a park closer to where we live.
Then during the evening, J and I were supposed to go to see Wolf Parade at the Commodore Ballroom. But when he got to my house, we both realized we had to get up super early to go rock climbing the next morning ... so we went out to the Commodore and sold the tickets. I originally paid $74.50 for the 2 tickets (after Ticketmaster fees), and I sold the pair for $60. I took a $15 loss, but at that point, I didn't really care. As we were driving back to my place, we saw an Indian restaurant, and he treated me to dinner instead. :)
Sunday was awesome. We woke up early and went rock climbing in Squamish. We started off with some easy stuff, and then moved to an area where I was kind of in over my head. My hands and arms are pretty sore today, but I learned some new things, and I had fun. I think we're going to try to go again Wednesday after work. After that, we hung around my place for a while, and then went to the park to play field hockey.
It was J's first time playing field hockey, and he did really well. We are looking at a 38.5" stick for him, which is set to come to Canada in mid-August. Apparently it's one of the longest sticks in Canada, period. It'll be $185, but that's cheap for a field hockey stick ... and he doesn't mind paying for it, so when it comes in, we'll go check it out.
I've been trying for the past 6 months to source out a field hockey stick that J can play with. Not in a league or anything (not yet anyway), but just to hit around and play with me. The only problem? He's 6'7".
I'm 5'2" and I play with a 37" stick (I should be playing with about a 35" or 36", but that's besides the point). The tallest stick available in the North American market is a 38", and very very rarely, a 38.5". I managed to find a 38.5" here in Vancouver, but that's probably not even going to be tall enough. I would think that he needs at least a 39" or a 40". Plus it was $185.
I've also heard wild rumours of a 41" stick being available, but that's all hearsay within the field hockey community. I personally have never seen a stick bigger than a 38", so a 38.5" just blows my mind.
Anyway, over the past week, I've been in contact with a few of the major distribution centres in Canada, and they've all told me the same thing. Basically, tall players (over 6'3") still generally play with a 38" or shorter (they just have to bend their knees more and work harder) ... and anything taller than a 38.5", I need to look overseas - in Australia or the Netherlands.
Awesome.
I called in sick today. I've been feeling awful all weekend. My throat feels like it's on fire, and I've got a cough and the sniffles. Ugg.
So obviously, this resulted in a really crappy field hockey tournament. Saturday was okay, but Sunday and Monday were really hard to keep my energy up. Especially when I started to breathe hard, my throat got so raw and painful. Anyway, we lost in sudden death shoot-outs in the semi-finals (to the 4th place team), which was a real let-down. :(
This coming weekend, I'm going back home to the island ... then May 31st, I'll be down in Seattle to watch a ball game (Mariners vs. Tigers, I think...), and June 6-8 I'm back on the island again for my dad's 60th birthday. I'm not sure when J gets back from Alaska (he leaves on Friday), as I guess it depends on the weather and how long it takes them to climb the mountain. I don't care how long he goes for, as long as he comes home alive. I'm already getting sad to see him leave, and he's still got 3 nights here.
Anyway, I'm going to get off the computer and curl up on my couch.
Tonight I'm going to a concert with J. I don't really want to go, because I dislike that kind of music. A lot. One of the bands that's opening is pretty good - we heard them a few weeks ago at another show ... but the headliner? Not my thing. It's basically screamo music that makes no sense whatsoever. I've heard them play a couple of times before, and while they're good musicians, they just play awful music. But J is really good friends with them, so I don't mind going. Even if everyone except me is going to be drunk and belligerent.
Plus, another reason for going tonight is that he's leaving for 3 weeks next week, so I'd like to see him as much as possible before then. The climb he's doing in Alaska is pretty dangerous. We watched a show on it a few days ago, and as you go up the mountain, there are random frozen bodies just strewn about ... from those that didn't make it. He said something like 4 or 5 people died last year, out of the 1,200 that attempted the climb. So there's a slim, but real chance that he might get seriously injured, or even worse. I try not to think about it though. Soon, this is going to be his career ... so I should try to get used to it.
I'm excited that this time tomorrow, I'll be with my teammates. It's something special, to have grown up playing with the same people ... playing for the same club ... watching some go on to play for Team Canada (we have 3 or 4 ex-National team members on our team, including one that has been to the Olympics!). It's pretty crazy to turn on CBC and see your friends or your coach wear the red and white - people that you actually know and interact with on a regular basis.
Anyway, I transferred $250 out of my Travel Fund to pay for this weekend. I think that will be enough for my tournament fees, 2 dinners & 2 breakfasts out with my team, plus a few drinks at the bar tonight.
During our field hockey tournament, we are having 2 team dinners - one is at The Old Spaghetti Factory, and the other is at Moxie's. These places aren't terribly expensive, but they're still expensive compared to making my own food at home. And there's really no option here. This is a team bonding thing, and I would hate to miss out on it. So I'm going to budget $20 for each dinner. That should be more than enough, I would think.
I'm going to take out $200-250 from my Travel Fund to pay for this tournament, the 2 dinners, and any other miscellaneous things. This tournament may be in the city that I live in, but if I have to stay in a hotel, and do team things like go out for dinner (and probably breakfast, now that I think about it), then I'm going to take it out of the fund that it was intended to come out of.
I'm playing in an awesome field hockey tournament this weekend here in Vancouver. I'm really excited about it b/c I'm playing for my team from my hometown. :)
The total cost for the tournament is $147.15 for myself. It's a lot cheaper than I anticipated it being, b/c I don't have to pay for transportation and ferry costs to get to Vancouver. The $147.15 covers my tournament fees and hotel. I know that I don't really need to pay for a hotel, since I live here ... but it's going to be a lot easier to get around to the field (I don't have a car, and it's about a 90 min. walk from my house) ... plus one of the great things about being in a tournament is getting to room with your teammates. And I'm in a room with 3 other awesome girls that I've missed a lot. So the extra cost (about $90 for 3 nights) is worth it for me. Although ... I won't be staying with them the first night, as I'll be staying at J's (there's a concert we're going to) and meeting them at the field for our first game the next morning.
Anyway, I haven't played in a while, and I'm sure that I'm so out of shape that I'll embarrass myself ... but we have a really stacked team this year, and I have no doubt that we'll be winning the tournament.
Field hockey season starts today and I am very excited (even though it's just practice). As last year's Division 1 champions, we have to defend our title. Most of our players are returning, but a few key ones are not. We also picked up a couple of young guns who will definitely strengthen our midfield line.
Along with the season comes the league fees. This year, it's going to be more than ever before because Field Hockey Canada has decided to impose a $65 insurance fee for every single player in Canada, regardless of age, who steps onto a field this year. It's so stupid because it's not like it costs $65 to insure each person (more like $10!), and it now means casual players will think twice about joining a pick up league, or it may mean parents won't enroll their young children in the youth leagues because they can't afford it (youth leagues already cost $120 for just 6 games because of high turf fees) ... and it means someone can't just "try it out" for a game to see if they like the sport, because as soon as they step onto the field, they have to pay $65.
The BF played in his first league last year with me (a fun mixed league), with fees costing him $75 + $10 insurance. So now, instead of $85 to play for the season, it's going to cost him $140! As someone who's on the fence about the sport to begin with, he's already decided not to come back to the team because it's too much money.
Despite the huge fee increase, but I'm still going to pay it because I love the sport ... but for those who want to start playing, those on the fence about playing, those with low incomes, those with multiple kids who play sports, those who just can't afford it ... they probably won't be willing to pay it, and they'll end up playing a cheaper sport like soccer.
So, a big shout out goes to Field Hockey Canada, for effectively destroying the game of field hockey for all of Canada.
Well, today is my last day of full-time employment at my job. Starting next week, I go part-time here until November and start my new full-time job. :) I also checked the hockey schedule, and my first day at the arena isn't until late October, which I'm happy about because it'll lessen my work load a bit.
So, I figured from now until November I'll be working 60-70 hr. weeks. My new job has a 35 hr. work week (salaried), and my part-time job is flexible up to a max of 35 hrs./week (hourly). This is going to be a challenge, but people everywhere work long hours like that all the time, so why can't I!? Plus, I only plan on working a couple of evenings/week at the part-time job, and do the rest of it from home. I think the potential to make big $$$ for my down payment will be the motivating factor for me to try and work as much as I can to maximize my earnings while I can.
All this probably means I won't be writing for PPP much anymore, if at all. Not that any of you mind, I'm sure. :) If my PR goes up a lot during the Google update that's supposed to happen next week and I become eligible for posts with a significant payout, I'll still probably take the time to write them. But I won't be writing anything for less than $10 anymore.
My only concern with this whole work situation is come September, I start playing for my 3 field hockey teams again. I'll figure out how to juggle my time somehow, but I still think it'll be challenging. I may have to drop the team the BF and I play for, even though I really don't want to. But it's not really an option to drop the other 2 teams because I love it so much. A lot of my old friends play on the teams, and I also get to play with my sister. Plus, that's the most elite hockey league you can play around these parts, and I love the competitiveness of it all. It's worth the lack of sleep to play. :) Although we'll see if I still think that way come September!
In eBay news, two auctions have ended for a profit of $29.
I got through the weekend without spending a single dollar. Well, other than groceries, that is. Tonight, the BF and I will probably be going to a bar to watch the hockey team I work for play in Game 6 of the first round of the playoffs. It's in Alaska, and is only broadcasted locally up there, or over the internet, but you have to pay to watch it online. Thankfully the bar will be showing it on their big screen! They are down 3-2 in the best-of-seven series, so if we lose, then we get eliminated. :( But I believe in our guys, and even if we don't win, it's just been one of those amazing Cinderella-type seasons. We will try not to spend any money, because as you know I'm already over my dining out budget for the month ... but it's not very polite just to sit in a bar for 3 hours and not even order a beer. In fact, I don't even know if they'd let us do that. But the beers will only be $3.75, and that's pretty good.
Speaking of hockey, my Div.1 and Div.2 field hockey teams made it to their respective league championship games yesterday. So I played two back-to-back games. Needless to say, I'm pretty sore today. :) We lost our Div.2 game, but we won our Div.1 game 2-1 in OT! It's a nice feeling being the Div.1 champs, because it's pretty much the highest level of field hockey you can play here ... and on paper, the team that we beat should have destroyed us. Player for player, they are a lot more talented than us, but I guess we wanted it more than them!
I hate taking the bus. Not only is it always crowded (and I always have to stand for the entire 1 hr. trip), but it always smells like rotting fish. Always. It's also expensive! It costs me $2.75 for a one-way fare to get to work, so that's $5.50/day! Even if I buy the discount ticket sheet at $25 for 10 tickets, that's still only a savings of 50 cents a day. Considering it costs me approximately $7/week in gas for my scooter, I try not to take the bus at all. However, sometimes it's unavoidable.
Tomorrow I'll have to take the bus, and since I'm out of bus tickets, that means I'll have to stop off at the store and buy a $25 sheet before work. I'm still on meds from my wisdom teeth surgery, and the weather forecast says 60-90 km/hr wind warnings, and there is no way in heck I'm riding in a wind warning. The last time I did that, I nearly got blown into on coming traffic!
In other news, I have decided not to go to the Vancouver International Field Hockey tournament that my team enters in every May. Last year we won the whole thing! :) But after tournament fees, hotel, and travel costs, it's about $200 ... which is pretty good for a 4-day tournament ... but that's also not including food. Since we stay at a hotel, there's no kitchenette, or even a microwave, so that pretty much eliminates making my own meals. Plus, since we're there as a team, everyone likes to go out for team meals, which equals $$$ in a big way. Anyway, last year I think it ended up costing me a little over $400. I only budgeted $400 for all field hockey expenses this year, and I've already allocated all of it to the fees for the 3 leagues that I play in. :( So unfortunately, no fun tournament for me this year. That makes me sad, but the debt takes priority. Hopefully I can go next year when I'm out of debt.
That means the only time I'll get off this island this year is in the end of June, when a friend and I are going down to Seattle for the Canada Day long weekend. I'd better make the most of that trip!
