050702, 2110hr, central time

my trip is disastrous. but it's okay, because it's actually pretty funny too. not that it lessons the severity of the situation, but i think i'd might as well have a sense of humor about it.

my flight went great! it was smooth, no delays, and i arrived in seattle in time to catch the 5pm bus to vancouver, so i would be able to meet poachie by 9.30pm, and we can head down to the gay district near her place as we hoped, for some late night entertainment.

unfortunately, the bus i was in broke down in the middle of nowhere, so i think about 70 miles away from the usa-canada border. so for more than 2 hours, the whole bunch of us sat waiting in the broken down bus, for the next bus to come along to pick us up. i felt miserable for a while, because i couldn't get in touch with poach and i knew that she'd be waiting for me at our agreed meeting point. and taking buses alone always made me more melancholic than usual. fortunately i snapped out of it, and started talking to fellow stranded passengers. there's a pair of dutch sisters who have practically travelled the world and used to live in south africa. also a doctor who specialized in premature babies and high risks pregnancies [he proudly told me about a pair of twins he delivered for a singaporean lady who went all the way to canada to seek his expertise.] a 16-year-old cute guy who won nationals and state championships in swimming. [he's really really handsome, didn't look like a 16-year-old, and he's the nephew of the doctor.]

in the end, i arrived in vancouver more than 2 hours late, and i couldn't tell which was my stop because it got too dark to recognize the color of the building and i was so paranoid i would miss my stop because i had a dream on my flight that i missed it. i felt like i was going crazy, i'd just die if i miss my stop. finally, at this particular stop i was sure wasn't it, i happened to look out of the window and saw poachie running towards the bus, i literally flew off the bus, and the sense of relief of seeing my best friend there was so overwhelming. i felt almost like crying, to end the torturous trip that lasted 12 hours. [this is funny only because poachie and i always had bad luck with travelling and meeting one another. it was a total disaster too the last time she visited me in chambana.]

so today, we started the tour around vancouver as planned. we went to granville island where there was a beautiful produce market, and i bought some smoked salmon. after a walk by the beach, we walked around the downtown shopping area where i bought a beautiful belt, and got super tempted to buy a pair of pretty flipflops that may not be comfortable, and one cameral apple that's definitely not good for my health or my teeth. poachie promised we could head back there again, if i still want to buy them, after we visit stanley park.

unfortunately, disaster struck in stanley park.

first of all, we got lost, because we were too embarrassed to follow a group of people off the bus at the right stop and decided to walk back from the next stop instead, which turned out to be really far away. it was a nice walk back, because the scenary was rather pretty, and we had such a heavy lunch a walk wasn't such a bad idea. unfortunately we lost our way. while sitting on a bench trying to figure out where we were, a frisbee got lost near us, and i got up to threw it back. the wind was too strong, it didn't get back to the guys, so i started running to catch it again. i was half-blind because while shopping before that my left eye was hurting from my contact lens and i took the lens out. half blind as i was, i did not see a step, and i fell. hard.

to cut the story short, my ankle is now swollen like a pig's trotter, and it hurts like hell. i've never felt so much physical pain that i'd cry, i'm more of a sucker for emeotional pain. but this time, i started sobbing, as i sat waiting for poach who went to call a cab. i got distracted for a while though, talking to this girl who was rollerblading and fell on the grasspatch near my bench. after her friends came for her, and poach came back from calling a cab, my ankle was swollen to such a horrendous size, i couldn't bear to even look at it. hobbling to the main road for the cab made me tear, i felt like a total wimp. and a total mess. it also seemed like my clumsiness has ruined the day, because poachie had planned out such a nice itinerary for us, which unfortunately involved a lot of walking.

we had dinner as planned, we looked at the oldest steam-operated clock as planned. but we didn't get to walk around as planned, because i couldn't take more than 5 steps at a time. obviously i also lost my appetite for the flipflops and caramel apple. all i could feel was pain. and more pain. lucky for me, when we got back to the apartment, we found out that s has a pair of crutches that i can use, so i can kinda still wobble around seattle tomorrow, it would suck so bad if i end up ruining this whole holiday because of a clumsy half-blinded fall.

by the way, after that my right eye also got very tired and started hurting too, so i took my contact lens out of that eye as well. by the end of the day, i was literally blind and crippled. i just realize how pathetic and handicapped i am. hahaha.... i cannot believe i can still joke about this while in so much pain, but i guess it is kinda funny. while s was adjusting the crutches for me, he accidentally dropped the loose end on my injured ankle. i almost cried again from the pain, but amazing enough, i laughed instead. with tears in my eyes of course, but i guess laughing makes it a lot less painful.

let's hope i have better luck hobbling around tomorrow in seattle. i'm still waiting for my knight in shining armor to come sweep me off my feet, quite literally now.