mountain 1, fat stupid american 0

lots of stuff done today, most of it disappointing.

miyuki and I ventured out to lonsdale quay for lunch. I got to ride the seabus for the first time. it was terribly exciting. we looked at the shops and then got lunch at the cheshire cheese. I got bangers and mash. they were okay. bangers were a little overcooked, and the mash was far too plentiful. I only ate half of the tatoes. the pint of sleeman was good tho, I never get sleeman in the states. miyuki got eggs benny and totally ruined them by getting tomatoes on them...

then we headed up to grouse mountain to attempt the grind. we had been informed by the creepy guy at the game shot at lonsdale quay that britney spears recently "jogged" up the grind. this was depressing to me, as I knew it would mean britney spears has accomplished something relatively routine that I most likely would not.

we didn't even make it to the quarter way marker. some jackass had told me I would only need a litre of water, whereas I had planned on thrice that much. I ended up opting for a litre of water and nearly as much gatorade for each of us. it was gone by the time we turned back. said jackass then said," you didn't ration your water well enough!" he doesn't seem to realise us fat guys sweat a lot. so I failed miserably on my first attempt. which isn't surprising, considering I've only been on one hik in the past decade, and it was nowhere near as rigourous as the grind.

just for an added bonus, I got severely car sick on the trip home. it was to the point I was praying for death to make the nausea stop. I've never been comfortable on transit. but the combination of hot bus on a winding road with no ventilation, and just having my ass kicked by the stairway to hell, was enough to make me really ill. I thought I was going to puke on the damn bus... came home and crashed for two hours before I could even muster a shower.

have had a headache ever since, but I'm sure part of that was due to lack of caffeine. finally had some cherry coke around 8pm, but I don't think it was enough.

tonight miyuki and I went to the nightmarket with bob and alex. bob tricked us into trying dragon's beard candy. horrible stuff, worst cottonmouth I've EVER had. got a pretty good vietnamese sammich, really bad gyoza (tasted frighteningly fishy, but I haven't gotten sick yet), and some nummy mini donuts. in hindsight I should have opted for the four pork buns for $2.0 instead of the gyoza. I'm very picky about my gyoza. probably because shellfish of any sort makes me violently ill. and I'm not a huge fan of fish in general, usually sticking to tuna, cod or salmon and rarely straying...

now it's bedtime. I'm hoping the worst of my birthday curse is over, left on the mountain with so much of my sweat and pride. unfortunately, I've still got two more days of potential badness. we'll see. miyuki's parents are making sushi tomorrow. I'm frightened of the "cheese rolls" she keeps telling me about...