Posts from — October 2011

I’m currently struggling through my wanderlust. It’s tough, and it’s gnawing. Every October I suffer from a case of hard core restlessness. I definitely thought that moving away from suburban Ontario to laid-back West coast life would have satisfied my need to keep moving, to have some kind of adventure in my life. I started new projects here at UBC, got involved on- and off-campus, and made a great family of friends in residence. But somehow, it still wasn’t – isn’t? – enough. I’m constantly looking for new challenges, new adventures and I can’t seem to keep my thoughts and my dreams from racing all over my brain.

It makes concentrating on everything that’s going on in my life really hard because I’m constantly daydreaming of the places I want to see, the people I want to meet and the stories I can’t wait to hear and to tell. I’m always planning because I always feel unbalanced or unrooted, incredibly dissatisfied and in need of change. This year isn’t even over, but I’m already thinking of the next.

Sometimes I feel like I’m not living my life, that somehow being in university isn’t living. Sometimes it’s hard to remember that I have to go through certain experiences to be ready or to even have time for the next one, that I am living because I’m participating in every moment of my life. I’m trying to learn how to stay grounded in this moment, but keep an eye and my heart on the future.

What I need to do right now is not allow this restlessness, this wanderlust to prevent me from actually accomplishing what needs to be done right now, for me to be able to do what I want next week, next month, next summer, even next year. So right now, I need to be a better student, a better daughter, sister, friend, residence advisor…A me that’s completely satisfied in the moment, but never completely satisfied with complacency or mediocrity. My 30 challenge? Do better, live better, eat better, dress better, be better.

Yesterday morning I woke up at 6:30am after only a few dismal hours of sleep, and walked my butt to the Student Rec Centre (SRC) for 7:15am. Why? For Day of the Longboat, of course. I made a team with my friends from first year residence (OK*anagan 2nd, whadddup?!, doesn’t our team name make sense now? ), and our team captain wanted us there at 7:15am. I showed up with my friend Lisa at 7:16am….I thought we were late. Little did we know that we were the only ones that had even left their houses yet. My friends at Gage? Still at Gage. My friends at Fraser Hall (see Wesbrook Mall)? Still at Fraser. We were supposed to catch the 7:30am shuttle. Did we? No. The fact that we made it to our 8:20am run at Jericho Beach is by shear luck, I swear.

After missing our shuttle, most of us were ready to pack it in, call it a day and get breakfast. Instead we head to get the number 4, get on the 14 instead and head to Alma. By absolute divine luck, I’m sure, we get the community shuttle en route to Spanish Banks and make it into Jericho Beach five minutes, yes five minutes, before our start time. We were supposed to be there 35 minutes before. We all dash through registration, grab our paddles and life jackets and book it. Alas, we made it. And totally dominated!

With a run time of 13:55, the team that was ready to call it a day back at the SRC, came in first in their heat. Boo yaaahh! I definitely slept for six hours after, even waking up at one point thinking it was Sunday and I had missed our semi final. Total panic for a while there.

Okanagan 2nd after our win on Saturday

And so today we headed back to secure our championship. You would think that after yesterday’s transportation fiasco, we would get our act together and all be there on time. I mean, it was only at 11:40am, almost three hours after our run yesterday. Did we? Nope, not at all. This time, half my team was so late that the other teams were already getting into their boats and we were rushing through registration and were frantically grabbing paddles and lifejackets. We came in second, and it was onto finals, the last stretch to claiming our championship shirts. Well…we kind of failed epically and came in last in the finals.

Although we were not successful in taking home a championship shirt to brag and show off to all our friends, our last race was probably the most hilarious, body-numbing, and the best time we had for the entire event. In the end, victory wasn’t ours. But there’s always next year!

Hope everyone had a successful (however you define it), Day of the Longboat 2011!