Van Togetherness

Friday was togetherness day. It started with breakfast with bognaustroglum, somejauntypolka and chris9871 at the Wooden Shoe (Dutch pancakes) and ended with a barbecue at chris9871 and somejauntypolka's home in Burnaby. Numerous others were in attendance.

We capped off the night with some Rock Band - always fun to play with another group just to see the different styles at play. The Argent/Ellias/Pepperland groups all share a style that includes "singer gets to pick the songs" and "everyone plays every instrument". This leads to a musical chairs style of play. I think it gives us more confidence, especially the singing part. Anyone can sing passably (though perhaps not well, so we insist that everyone does sing.

Conversely, the Vancouverites generally stick to one instrument. There's a small amount of switching but it's more to sub players in and out then to mix it up. I think I raised some eyebrows when I volunteered to sing.

Looking through the song list I saw that Call Me by Blondie and Don't Stop Believing by Journey hadn't been played. Journey hadn't been played yet - glee! So I got to get my Steve Perry on and holler out some lyrics. They didn't have the heart to tell me until later that they simply hadn't played that song with the current band (they have multiple bands). Still it was fun.

I got a lift back to the dorm and packed my bags for an early start.

The Long and Tedious Road Home

Had an early breakfast with assorted Van peeps then hit the road. This was about 9am PDT. I sped moderate amounts, never being so high as to really risk a ticket unless the horseman in question was a dick. Even so, I was lucky enough to actually be doing the speed limit the three times I saw a cop.

I reached Calgary around 9pm MDT, so the whole trip took about 11 hours. Probably 10 of that was physical driving and another hour was assorted snack and bathroom breaks.

The fates chose not to make me accident #3, and for that I'm thankful.

Post-vacation depression reared it's ugly head but never really got severe and time with friends yesterday nipped it in the bud. All-in-all a good trip. Not epic, but certainly pleasant.