March 2018 Monthly Entry
Rubbout 27 is March 23-25 this year. Daddy Eric will visiting again from Texas and arriving next Wednesday. It'll be great to be with him again and host him around. He has booked the host hotel for this year, The Holiday Inn on Howe and I'll be sharing with him for around a couple or few nights. I'll be volunteering doing the coat check at the Friday and/or Saturday night event as it will net some much needed money for the Knights. My write up for event will be forthcoming.
I haven't had much problems at my two-school position lately. Danny, who was the sub-foreman at Rosser, left the position to return to Cariboo Hill last Tuesday. The position opened up and he easily won the bid. It's too bad as we worked well together but he wasn't happy at the school and the extra driving each day as he lives in Surrey. Frank -who used to be the main custodian of the school but is retired and working as a casual now- has been called in to take Danny's place until the new sub-foreman comes in. I'm not sure what will happen during the two-week spring break starting next week, but I'm sure I'll be helping in both schools regardless.
The last few weeks have been a major downward spiral for me. It seemed all the good things that happened to me in January... just came crashing down last month. Let's start with the worst incident...
February 23 was the worst day of snow all winter for us in the GVRD. We were warned that the roads would be dangerous but I decided to go to work anyways and help out. While some school districts have shut the schools down and kept students and staff home... Burnaby did no such thing - which was foolish! After getting up after 1pm and going to head out to work soon, my father warned me that it was probably not best to go that day. I said I found that the district didn't close the schools and it's best I go so I can help shovel snow. I start my car but notice two symbols come on my dashboard: some lightning symbol, and the engine symbol. I call my father over and he couldn't deduce what was wrong. Eventually, the lightning symbol went off and only the engine light remained. We thought it was a "service engine soon" symbol so we ignored it and thought we could take the car in someday soon and inquire but that the car could still be driven. I pull out and start driving. After 32nd Ave and driving north on 176th St. I noticed my car couldn't speed much and the lightning symbol came back on. "Oh, great!" I frowned. I get into Cloverdale's business district and as I was slowing to a stop at a traffic light, my car was vibrating and more lights were appearing on my dashboard! When the traffic light turns green and I hit the gas, my car was going at a snails pace! I was in the left lane so I carefully moved into the right lane and turned onto 65A Ave and parked my car on the right side of the street in an industrial park. I turned the car off and tried putting it on again but there was no power to the car. I called my father and he had me call Gary (the mechanic who sold the car to me). He suggested that I have the car towed to his shop in Delta and I agreed. My father arrived and after failing in getting the car started, we waited in his car for the tow truck to arrive. During the wait, I called one of the foreman and he told me that if I couldn't come in, that I'd have to log in using a vacation or gratuity day but cannot use a sick day as it was too late to use it. This was bullshit! I had low seniority as I only just started my position, which meant I had no banked gratuity days. I was not prepared to waste my vacation days on this either. Why I couldn't just be allowed to use "leave of absence" and not be paid for coming in due to both the weather and my car felt like an injustice. My reply was that I would call back and let him know what was happening but at the very least, I would be late. About half an hour later, the tow truck came. After my car was secured, I had a big decision to make: go with the driver to the mechanic's shop and thus; go to work with a loaner car, or go home with my father and not go to work that afternoon. In my mind, I felt trapped so I foolishly chose to go to work instead. So my father went home and the tow truck driver and I did the slow drive over to Gary's shop. At the shop, they had a quick look at things and confirmed (as they did earlier on the phone) that I needed a new alternator. It would be at the shop until Monday so until then, they gave me their loaner car so I could get to work. It was a nice, grey Chevrolet car though I don't recall the model or year. Before heading out in the snow, I called my foreman and let him know I was coming in. It didn't take me long to get used to the car and I drove as carefully as possible from Delta into New West on the Pattullo Bridge. It also didn't take long to almost get into an accident! I think I was on East Columbia street when I was going down a small hill approaching a traffic light with a truck in front of me in my lane. I was approaching it carefully but my car was sliding down the hill and my ABS kicked in and I couldn't brake to stop myself! I was going to hit the truck from behind so I immediately swerved into the left lane and avoided hitting him head on! Thank God no other cars were in the left lane! I had to make a left turn anyways but as I continued on to Rosser, more doubts of driving in this weather came in my mind. But I pressed on and got to Rosser without another incident. I wasn't there long and then I drove to Montecito. Both the Principal and Ash were told I wasn't coming in so they were surprised to see me pulling in. They weren't told I was coming. Ash did my run as best he could and he was about to lock up for the night but he told me what needed to be done and left. I did my work for the night and left on time. The loaner car was covered in snow so I wiped it off and put the heat on and waited while it was safe to drive. I left the school just after 11pm and took the usual way home. Got onto going east on Lougheed Highway and then I got onto Highway 1, going east...
I noticed immediately that the roads were a little slippery and all cars were going below the speed limit. I had myself in the middle/3rd lane (of 4 lanes) from the left most of the time. I was okay driving out of Burnaby and things were mostly okay when I got into Coquitlam. I kept myself at around 50km/h, maybe 55 at most. It was still well under the speed limit and paid attention to not have other cars get too close to me in case I slipped a bit. But... out of nowhere, I hit black ice and my car slid left and turned 180 degrees! As I was spinning through the 2nd and 1st lanes (1st was a HOV lane), I immediately hit my breaks but the ABS kicked in and couldn't slow the car down! Then it happened, the back right side of the car slammed into a concrete barrier and the impact had my glasses be thrown off my face! I checked myself and found I was okay, outside of slight whiplash. I picked up my glasses and looked around the car. No broken windows or anything out of the ordinary. I was on the side of the road, facing the opposite direction so I was thankful that no oncoming traffic can hit me and that no other cars were hit, but no one stopped to check on me (which meant I had no witnesses but I'd find shortly after, it wouldn't mean anything anyways). I waited for oncoming traffic to pass me as I waited for an opening that I could turn the car 180 degrees and get back on the road. I did manage to but then I noticed two problems: the steering seemed to be misaligned and I was struggling to keep the car centered in my lane, and I could smell gas! I looked at my gas meter and found that half my gas had fallen! The car had a full tank when I started so I knew the tank was ruined and leaking. I was not long before the Port Mann bridge so I pulled to the right side of the road and put on my hazard lights. I carefully got out of the car to inspect the damage but it was hard to see due to the snow but I could smell gas outside. Given how fast it was leaking, I knew I couldn't go on the bridge as I would risk running out of gas and stalling on it. So I called my father and while I was delirious, he got me to call 911 and get the fire department in because of the gas leak. I did so and after I hung up, a police officer in an unmarked car happened to be around just after I made the call. He had no idea of the 911 call but he handled everything from there. He took my statement, got the car towed (BCAA was way too busy that night to do that, which was expected), and determined how I was going to get home. He took me to a nearby Tim Hortons in the back of his car (first time in the back of a police car LOL!) and arranged for a taxi to come for me. I'd have to wait an hour, but it was for the best given how busy the taxis were and trying to find one willing to take me all the way home to Langley in this weather! Before he left after some time, I was given a copy of the accident report. I thanked him for everything given how busy his night had been. I bought a vegetable garden soup at Timmy's and worked on a Sudoku puzzle in the paper as I waited. The taxi came, and he did the slow drive to my home. The driver handled it all well. When we turned east on 32nd Ave after going south on 176 St., there was a car the ended up in a ditch on our right side with one or two other cars that were hit! I knew what happened and seeing that sight didn't make me emotionally any better. At home, the bill was shy $70 with 15% tip included. It was after 2am and my parents were up waiting for me. I had something to eat while talking about it. They were grateful that things were not as bad as it could be. I could have been killed, seriously injured, or others involved. That's true I thought. But I felt bad about the loaner car and the fact I chose to work that night. I had the weekend to recover and process everything that happened. I didn't know what ICBC was going to say to me. Was it my fault? It wouldn't be long for me to get my answer.
My father called Gary in the morning while I was sleeping to let him know of the accident. He said my car would be ready by Monday. The next day, I called ICBC to make my claim. I answered all questions and gave my statement. I was given the name and number of the adjuster and that she would get back to me within a week at most. One thing she found during the call was that I didn't have collision insurance. This may be problematic, she inferred, but the adjuster will let me know how it will all pan out. The next day, my father drove me to Gary's to pick up the car. I showed Gary my copy of the accident report and it gave him an idea of the damage. I paid for the alternator and the towing - just over $600, ouch. He said he would get the car the next day from the tow yard. In a couple days (Wednesday), I got the call from the adjuster and got the bad news: ICBC is off the hook since I didn't have collision insurance, regardless of the situation. So Gary and I will have to deal with it. By Friday, he called me and let me know he got the loaner car back on Tuesday and gave me what could be the estimate to fix it all: sigh... I may have to pay about $3500. I was in shock! He has to send the car to do body work and the cost of that is out of his control. As for fixing the gas tank and other parts? He said he will try to find cheaper priced parts. I thanked him and hung up. I became bitter, angry, and regretful for awhile. I had a lot on my mind the following days: how would I afford this? what will I need to sacrifice? what about my upcoming planned trips? All I know that once I get the final bill, I'm going to have to make major and painful decisions this year... :-(
Two Saturdays ago, my father took me to a nearby auto insurance place so I could pay for collision insurance - up to my renewal in late September. It was over $300 but at least I'll have peace of mind. I shudder what my insurance is going to be come time to renew (sobs...). Around a week after I got my car back and I was about to leave Rosser to go to Montecito, my car wouldn't start. I called BCAA and was prepared to have my car towed to Gary's for the night and having my father pick me up from work. But when BCAA came, my car just decided to start out of nowhere! I've had no problems since then but it felt like another kick to my balls. Given the upcoming repair bill, I now had to deal with another car problem? You can understand what my thoughts were.
Last week I seemed to have misplaced my backpack at Montecito. I'm not sure what the hell happened to it. It was either left in the staff room or I accidentally dropped it outside as I was climbing into my car (it was dark out as the outside lights weren't working properly) at the end of my shift. No one has seen it and the kindergarten teacher suggested I write a note on the white board in the staff room so others can be on the look out for it. I did last Friday night but nothing has shown up, even in the lost & found box. I'm bummed because it had my binder with work information and my Nintendo DS Lite (that my younger sister got me in 2009) with my copy of Dragon Ball Origins 2! I hope it miraculously shows up so it can bring a halt to the string of bad luck I've been getting...
Seriously, what the hell has been happening to me lately? Things were very much in my favour back in January but a month later, it went straight down the toilet as if to say, "time to pay the piper for what was handed to you." It wasn't like I sold my soul to the Devil or anything... but it does make me think that I should go back to taking my faith more seriously as I've been kind of on a hiatus these last couple of years. I should be more grateful for what I was given and try to go back to praying more often.
February 24 & 25 was a BLUF Vancouver weekend. I'm not sure if it was the first one to be hosted here. We had around 14 men attend including Sir Barry from Calgary. Even about 2 or 3 all the way from DC came! While this happened the day after my accident, I had a suitcase full of my leathers and boots while my father was nice enough to drop me off at the bus stop by Willowbrook. I transited downtown and met Sir Barry at the Sandman Inn on Davie. We changed into our leather uniforms and met up with the other members of BLUF at the Fountainhead Pub. We introduced ourselves to the hosts of the event and the others local and out of town. Even a Leatherdaddy from Washington State whom I ran into last year at Dore and recognized at the VML BLUF social in late 2016, was there too. I lugged my Nikon DSLR but found that the battery was dead so I used my Blackberry to take pictures of the dinner. I had a poutine and coke for my meal. As we were out in the heated patio area, a few of the locals were curious of us and even one of the waiters loved servicing us as it was "fulfilling a dream fantasy" for him, LOL! Before heading to the social at the Pumpjack Pub, Sir Barry and I went back to the hotel room so I could charge the battery. We made love in our leathers, boots and all, on the bed during that time too. Nearly an hour later, we headed out and walked across the street to the pub and met up with the same BLUF guys plus a couple more. I snapped some pictures with my Nikon and slowly, some thanked our hosts for the event and left for the night. Sir Barry and I left after about a couple of hours there. We walked back across to the hotel and back in his room, we did a photo shoot of ourselves before we took off our leathers. We went to bed around midnight. In the morning, I showered and packed up everything. We walked over to Joe's Grill and met up with some of the remaining BLUF guys. There was 7 of us for the brunch. I had blueberry pancakes as it wasn't too big since my mom was making dinner back at home. I got one picture of the brunch with my phone. We said our goodbyes and I promised I would email the pictures from the weekend. I said goodbye and thanked Sir Barry for traveling here for the weekend and hosting me for the night. I transited all the way back to Langley where my father picked me up for home. While there should have been more, I'm glad with the turnout of BLUF members and cannot wait for a second one here.
Star Trek: Discovery has completed its first season awhile ago, which was 15 episodes in total. I may do a review entry on the season later, just a quick synopsis of the major plot points and a talk about the main cast. I can now continue with Voyager while waiting for season two.
I've made some progress in Dragon Quest VIII though I'm not sure when I'll be done it. I'm glad I managed to pick up where I long left off. As for Dragon Ball Origins 2, I may review it and though I no longer have the game, I'll have to go by memory on what my thoughts were when I played it a long time ago. Besides having to replace the game card, I'll either fish out my brand new 3DS I bought a couple years ago or buy a new/used DS to replace the one I lost.
Before I finish, I picked up an extra Super NES Classic Edition Mini off Ebay as finding another one in stores is proving to be impossible. I tried it out and it seems to be pretty cool though it could use more filters and a widescreen display option. I haven't tried it all out but the emulation seems pretty accurate. I noticed with Star Fox some struggling of accuracy due to use of early 3D polygons and trying to emulate it with software compared to the original cartridge and Super FX chip. It runs slightly faster likely because of overclock of the emulator but Nintendo probably did their best to work out as many kinks as possible. You can use save states and rewind your game a bit if you make a mistake, which are welcome additions. The box contains the really cute mini SNES console, two(!) controllers that look and feel super authentic (though the connectors are Wii/WiiU compatible), Micro USB power connector, and HDMI cable. There is even a retro poster of games similar to what we got in the past! Bravo Nintendo! There are 21 games built into the console including the almost-but-never-officially-released-over-22-years-ago Star Fox 2. Over half of the games I already own the original cartridges but it's nice to have the ones I don't in this collection. But the big criticism of this collection is why more games weren't added and why some were excluded. Games like Chrono Trigger, U.N. Squadron, Final Fantasy II, Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong's Quest, Pilotwings, etc. are also classics. This is where hacking the console comes in. You can hook the console to your PC, download and run hacking software, and add games to the console as you wish including the box art to make it look authentic. I may look into this but regardless, I plank to play these games and reviewing them here. It may not be real early 90s Super NES hardware or a clone console of today, but it's a nice throwback by Nintendo themselves who are scratching that itch for retro games. I still want to get an NES Classic Edition Mini someday too. The Nintendo 64 one is likely not far off.
Last Movie: Star Wars: The Last Jedi (IMAX 3D), The Room (download)
Last Book: The Complete C.S. Lewis Signature Classics - Mere Christianity
Last Game: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate HD (Xbox 360)
Current Book: The Complete C.S. Lewis Signature Classics - The Screwtape Letters
Current Games: Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King (PS2) & Dragon Ball Origins 2 (DS)