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Making a guest appearance on the blog this entry will be none other than yours truly, Zachary Kilner. Where to start things off....
A bit of pre- satruday knowledge, I was looking for jobs on kiijji when I came across a volunteer ad for a car wash. Being the selfless man I am I opened it up and read about a charity car wash these people were having for a young girl with brain cancer. Because we are good people (and don't have anything of importance to do, but mostly because we are awesome) we emailed the lady and told her we would be delighted to help out. Come Saturday at Petro Gas station, the weathers looking like a chance of showers, dimming our hopes of cars needing to be cleaned. Luckily the weather cleared up as the day progressed, so we got to do plenty of scrubbing and spraying, as well as on the corner soliciting. I pride myself in being able to make someone feel guilty, and used that talent to its full potential that Saturday afternoon. If someone said they didn't have time for a wash, I didn't beat around the bush, I just straight up asked
for a donation, and donate they did. By the end of the day we had about $700 all together. Not too bad for a gas station car wash.
Later that afternoon...
Our heroes journey deep into the Victorian wilderness to a place known as Mount Douglas. Winding up through the "mountain" was a steep and skinny road with pedestrians lurking around every corner. Driving to the top was indeed quite the perilous journey for Stan, as he creaked and screeched his way to the parking lot near the peak. After a quick hike we found ourselves at the top of Mt. Doug taking in the view of the surrounding area. Huge mountains could be seen in the distance, but the view was somewhat average compared to the sunshine views. After that it was dinner time in the park, our last night in Victoria before we headed on to Nanaimo.
Before Nanaimo, we made a quick stop downtown in Vic to the bookstore to get some more reading material. I grabbed 2 more Matt Reilly books and Angels and Demons, and Kj got some girl books or something and the Da Vinci Code. After that we were off
to Duncan, home of a motel where we hoped to become emloyed (and obviously did not succeed). Once in Nanaimo we walked around the small downtown area, stopping to watch a ceremonial cannon firing (with styrofoam charges unfortunately), and also to get a delicious Nanaimo bar, one of the best chocolate deserts ever I must say. That night we had dinner in a crappy little park, then for a treat (for me) went up to the skatepark where I got to ride around for a bit, KJ even gave it a go. She says she hates it but I know she doesn't. After that it was off to our home away from home, Wal-Mart.
The next couple of days were spent job searching and relaxing in the parks, and occasionally going to the skatepark (where I met up with a friend from Sunshine). Friday we decided to try the Nanaimo "beach", which unbeknownst to us lacks sand completely, making lying down out of the question. We spent our time instead walking around all the tide pools searching for critters and taking photos. The pools were filled with starfish and crabs galore which made the lack of sand bearable.
Later that afternoon we drove to another little park area with washrooms, where KJ promptly got to washing her hair in our dish bin, because she wanted to look nice for our date to the movies. Transformers? No, we would be seeing the dreaded My Sister's Keeper...how lucky I was. The movie wasn't as horrible as I expected, and nearly brought a tear to my eye, but I had to stay strong for Kirsten because she was ballin' beside me.
Saturday we decided to get outta ole Nanaimo for a bit and head up to Parksville, which is about 20 minutes north. First we parked in the little town square and went in to a little cafe to get a bagel and some coffee, since we were still a little tired. it was rainy all morning so we decided to drive up to the waterfront and read in the van. The coast goes seaward for about a kilometer when the tide is out, so when the rain let up we went for a little stroll around the beach watching the little crabs scuttle out of our way (some were luckier than others muhuhahaha). That afternoon we decided to finally
go to a campground after about a week shower hiatus, only to find that for every six minutes of savory hot shower goodness we wanted,we'd have to cough up a dollar. Six minutes later we were cleaned up and ready to make dinner, fried hamburgers (too lazy to bbq), but delicious nonetheless.
The next morning I, being the awesome boyfriend that I am, decided to make us a healthy pancake breakfast. It was of course delicious and gave us enough energy for the games we would be playing later. First on the list was a little game known as Bocce Ball. I destroyed KJ in the beginning, but seeing that she was to enjoying losing I decided to let her win. The same thing happened in our badminton games, I was just far too superior, so I let up just enough for her to win. After a quick lunch (PB&J's) it was back to some badminton action (I let her win a couple more times, and also accidentally hit her in the face with the birdie). Then we went and read on the beach for a bit before enjoying a nice steak dinner (it's been a while). Last game
of the night was a couple rounds of basketball, one on one and 21, which KJ cheated on because she played in Uni. The end to the almost perfect day was a warm campfire on our little site( Too poor to buy firewood, so I went and illegally chopped my own), where we reminisced and roasted marshmallows late into the night before packing it in.
After spending the majority of the day in Parksville chilling and reading, we had to go back to Nanaimo rather fast because young Kirsten had something in her eye that caused her pain and discomfort (bitching). Of course ,I being awesome, rushed her back to Nanaimo so we could get some treatment for it. After trying a million different places (including almost waiting at the hospital), we found a walk in clinic and were helped immediately. It turns out all we had to do was wait it out (and sure enough her eye was fine the next day). That night we settled on a healthy meal of Wendys Crispy Chicken and Baconator (sorry mom last fast food I promise) and then headed back to Wal-Mart for an early bedtime. Tuesday morning I awoke early
to call into service canada to try and get a job for the day, and like usual they had nothing, so we drove on down to another beach to read some more. Since I'm a power reader I finished my books and decided to go downtown to get some more. KJ went to the coffee shop while I browsed the 3 bookstores on the little strip, coming out with 3 more books (all at bargain prices). Later that night we went down to the park for some mini sausages-on-a-bun for dinner before packin it in.
Wednesday marked one of the greatest days on earth, Canada Day. We drove to parksville bright and early just in time for the parade on the main street which was pretty decent considering the size of the town. After that we went down to the community park on the beach where it was packed with tons of booths and people with live bands playing as well. The entire afternoon was spent hanging out, eating ice cream and listening to the bands play (some classy jazz and this trashy but funny man of a thousand voices guy, to name a few). That night we got
front row seats down at the beach to watch the fireworks display, which was way better that any Sarnia Canada day fireworks i've seen. Because we were too tired to go find anywhere to park we just stayed in the parking lot there and no one bothered us.
The next morning it was decided we would rip on down to Tofino, along a crazy winding narrow highway for about 3 hours. When we finally got there we found that every campsite was over $40 a night, which meant one thing, we were camping out illegally somewhere. After buying some perogies and ham for dinner, we parked at the local skatepark (o ya) and I enjoyed a nice skateboard session while KJ cooked a delicious meal for the both of us. After the hearty meal we drove down to a cool little cove to read while watching the sunset (so romantic). Then it was off to a spot off the side of the road in the suburbs to go to sleep.
Friday morning I awoke at the earliest time yet, 8:00am, while KJ still slept, and drove around asking about different prices for surfing lessons. After quickly debating prices
we decided on a 3 hour lesson with gear included and got everything organized, then headed on down to Cox Bay (you can google earth it). When we got there we were given our wetsuits and boards and led down to the beach, where the waves were looking perfect. After about a half hour lesson on land it was time to hit the water, where we would first practice in the "wash", the white foam break of the wave. Because KJ and I are board sports masters we were able to stand up first try at the same time and ride the wash to shore (we are so cute). The rest of the time was spent getting tips and trying bigger waves, after a couple more rides (and bails) I headed out further to the "green waves" the big ones that break while you ride, and managed to ride a big one first try almost all the way in. To anyone who is thinking about trying surfing, know this, your arms will kill. We neglected to do stretches and because of that, paddling remained the most difficult part since it required the most energy. All in all Id say me
and KJ did pretty freakin awesome and definitely impressed on lookers will our stylish maneuvers and bails. After getting out of the water and everything off we were presented with a slideshow of photos a "professional" photographer had taken of us and given the chance to purchase photos of ourselves (which we obviously did as you can see).
Now we are sitting in a cute little cafe using the free internet to its full advantage. If the writing of this seems rushed, it's because it was, KJ rushed me. Thanks for reading this installment of the blog, feel free to comment, it makes us feel important. Also donations are extremely welcome, but no pressure.
P.s there is now a whole other page of photos. Woo!
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jazz
non-member comment
props to guest writer
yay im glad kj submitted to the readers demands and has provided us with a guest appearance by the much loved zac! and i have to say zac you may have created a rivalry as i thoroughly enjoyed this episode of your adventures and funny comments about kj which we normally dont get to hear! excellent :) anywho lovebirds keep having fun (and sis keep beating zac at the games haha i bet one day you may even be better then him at skateboardding.. watch out!) goodluck with the job hunt xoxo love