Derailing Plans

So, I signed off after my previous post and threw on a dress shirt and jeans. I was hoping the pub crawl would have a good turnout, since the hostel was supposedly at max capacity, Of course, as my luck would have it there were only six people that showed up in the downstairs lobby. It was an assortment of guys from Germany, England, Finland, etc. We made brief introductions and went to the first pub, which was a tiny little joint across the street that had nothing going for it. Understandably, they featured Irish ales and stouts, but they didn't expand their selection to include any Canadian beers on tap. If I really wanted something familiar to home, I would have eaten one of those amazing double big macs I saw on the menu, but shit, here I am 2 days later without having consumed a Canadian big mac.


Who knows what kind of mind-shattering epiphanies I might come up with after consuming one. Ok, so I've already gone off on a tangent and I'm gonna run with it. Man, this country is pretty fucking cool. I’m not entirely sure why, but it almost seems like a cleaner version of America. I love my country and hometown and all, but shit, things just feel so much safer out here. Even the crazy Nam vet that started having a flashback on the bus didn’t seem too scary. If we were in Oakland I’d think he was either carrying a weapon or I'd be intimidated by his epic beard. I was actually willing to take him down for fun... Canadians just seem less intimidating.


Anyway, I can’t remember where the hell I was going with this entry. Oh yea, so I ended up going to the three different pubs. The 2nd and 3rd locations had nicer decor, fitting for a pub in any country, and they featured varying degrees of live music that ranged from a solo acoustic guitarist playing top 20 hits from varying decades to a full band on a lit-up stage… playing cover songs to an empty crowd. The best part of the set was when the band played a cover of MGMT's "Time to Pretend," which I haven't heard covered before, but it wasn't enough to make me stay.


I took my leave and talked to a random Canuck smoking outside. She told me about a karaoke bar named Checkers, which was a hotel bar for a comfort inn, or "something like that." The bar was filled with a young crowd, a few older guys that seemed to be regular patrons, and the KJ who reminded me of the fat and obnoxious comedian, Louie Anderson. After the first few singers, I noticed that the song selection was vastly different from the karaoke bars in the States. The weirdest part was that I recognized all of the songs since they were all top 40s in the States at one time or another, but I've never them sung before in the States. I jotted the titles down for future reference, since it'd be nice to change up my repertoire and just for shits and giggles. The bar was fun, but the rotation was slow and they ended the night around 1:30am.


It's weird that Vancouver's got this very metropolitan feel, but closes down earlier than some podunk places in California. A minor loss of points, but it doesn't significantly affect my appreciation of the city. Anyway, I was thoroughly tired by this point and I passed out as soon as I got to the dorm sometime, sinking straight into the bed without even washing up.


I woke up a few times in the morning, as each one of my roomies packed up their stuff to leave. The dude from Finland told me that the club really picked up and became full about an hour after I'd left. Figures that would happen, but I have no regrets. At some point I managed to get up and brush my teeth, rectifying my hygienic failure from the night before, but fell back asleep until housekeeping burst open the door a quarter past 11am. She was a white lady in her late 30s that had these very intense eyes that freaked me out as she reminded me that checkout it was past checkout time. I could only wonder what kind of shit she’s seen while doing this gig at the hostel, but I didn't want to find out how she deals with wayward guests.


I checked out of Hostel International and walked across the street to the Samesun Hostel. I had decided earlier that I’d like to stay one night at the other hostel since the people seemed friendly and they've got their own bar. It didn't hurt that there were some cute girls smoking outside the night before. Plus there were other groups of smokers outside who were enjoying Canada's lax laws. Definitely a laid back setting that was more conducive to the high strung operation I'd just checked out of. Unfortunately, the next train to Toronto wouldn’t run until Friday, which required me to commit to an extra three days in Vancouver. This meant I wouldn't have a chance to check out Montreal or the Niagara Falls. I was pretty set on checking out Montreal after hearing people's stories about the place, so I hopped into a cab and made my way to the station. The weather turned sour and started to rain as my cab pulled into the train station. I should have seen it as a sign, but I was dead-set to see everything that I had planned for my trip.

*****

I’ve still got another 3 hours until my train departs and I’m already regretting my choice to leave. I keep thinking about the girl on the amtrak bus that told me she'd probably be at the salsa club on Tuesday night and I can't help but wonder what would happen if I show up. The whole point of this trip is for me to make the most of the present, so I have nothing to regret once it becomes the past. So what the hell am I doing sitting around wondering about things for? The moment is now. Who knows what'll happen and who really fucking cares, but if I'm curious, I might as well see what the hell will happen. I'm determined to live a life where I can live each moment freely. Well… then again, I’m currently $620 in the hole from that ticket... Ok, I'm looking at the ticket right now and I see that it’s fully refundable. Well shit... I guess I can take the Friday train. I just need to get up and do it right now. Let’s see what happens. It’s not like I can’t afford to visit Montreal on a separate occasion. Let’s do it.


'til next time,

Andrew Lee
Vancouver, BC