When is a Vacation Not a Vacation?
Aug. 9th, 2022 09:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jamesqA: When you’re unemployed.
When I still had my old job, I was planning a trip to Vancouver for the fireworks, as I do every few years. Or rather, I plan a road trip every year, to reconnect with my friends in the interior of BC, and every few years, I have that trip coincide with the Celebration of Light. Dates were planned, and about half my rooms were booked. Of note, I had booked all the rooms in Vancouver, as well as the trip back, but not the trip to, because I wasn’t sure if I was going to go up to Prince George. Losing my job made that decision for me.
Since I didn’t have any of the rooms for the trip to Vancouver booked, and I had nothing but free time, I decided to leave early. Originally this was going to be on a Tuesday (instead of the original Saturday). However, losing my job meant that my mental health has taken an absolute beating (more on that towards the end). I had trouble focusing and getting tasks done. I hadn’t even booked my rooms in time for my new departure date. I opted, at the last minute, to skip Tuesday and leave Wednesday. This didn’t affect me too badly, because my original plan was to spend Tuesday night in Golden, and Wednesday/Thursday nights in Kamloops. I basically just drove longer on Wednesday.
Kamloops was fun, but warm. I ended up staying at the Ramada in a sketch area halfway between downtown Kamloops, and the nice hotels hallway up the hill. I got to share the hotel with an asian bike gang (which was neither good nor bad, just different). Also, there was a few good breweries.
The highlight was visiting Noah and Trista. We had Mexican food, spent time in the park listening todueling dueting pianos. And Noah helped me out with my resume. Much appreciated, since updating it was filling me with anxiety.
Friday I drove into Vancouver, and set up in Port Wood’s spare room. I was there until the following Tuesday, when I moved to a B&B I’d previously booked for a week. I also spent another day after that in the spare room before leaving town on Wednesday.
There was drinking, and dinners with friends; thrifting in North Van; lunches on Granville Island, a last minute trip to the airport for a drop off. Mostly I visited with my peeps, albeit not all of them.
Some highlights:
Thrifting/beer with Rosie.
Quality hygge with Athena. Also, Studio brewing is pretty decent.
The Critical Hit show (aka #DNDLive). Good: it’s a funny show and I love it. Also, no one sat near me. Bad: Because there was maybe 100 people there in a theatre that sits over 400.
Festival of Light. Getting to and from the venue was great because Translink ran the West Coast Express for the occasion (it’s normally a weekday commuter thing). Wrong end of downtown, but it was a pleasant walk because the sun wasn’t blasting my skin off, even if it was very warm.
The fireworks themselves were world-class. Enjoyed the hell out of them.
The only bad news is I picked bad seats. First the front row seats were several inches shorter than the other seats in the bleachers - I had my knees in my armpits. Next, a light post was slightly in my field of view (it was way worse for the people next to me). Finally, there were some volunteers watching (standing, not in anyone’s eyeliner initially) next to me, but one of them kept drifting left until he was obscuring my field of view. Just as I resolved to tell him to move over, the fireworks ended. Next time, I’ll pick seats in the rearmost row, instead of the front row. But I probably won’t do the fireworks again for a few years.
Some lowlights:
The heat. It really kept me from doing the things I wanted to do, namely explore parts of the GVRD that I haven’t seen before. But it’s hard to do that when thirty minutes outside would give you heat exhaustion (which I got the edge of at least twice).
My B&B advertised a portable AC unit, so that was good, but when I got there, it said “do not move”, thus eliminating the whole “portable” thing. For two days, my bedroom was nice, but the rest of the suite was literally uninhabitable. After two days, I hauled my own AC unit up (I take it with me on these trips, and I’ve been thankfully every year that I had) and the suite managed to be decent on both ends, but not in the middle (it was a two bedroom suite, with the second suite having two single beds, so clearly the suite was meant for families). If I’d brought kids, their mattresses would have been hauled into the main bedroom, lest they die. I did mention all of this to the landlord, who was going to fit the rooms out with more AC plates, so the portable unit could be moved. But I imagine that’s not going to be until next year.
By a combination of timing and tree cover, the nights I was in the Port Wood guest room were pretty decent. Those were the coolest nights, and the topology of the room meant it was decently shaded. Bonus, they're next to a creek, which made a gentle noise that was easy to fall asleep to, provided you emptied your bladder thoroughly prior to bed.
I also didn’t see a few people I’d have liked to, due to instances of COVID and a rogue appendix. Bah.
Next up was Kelowna. I stayed at a shitty motel with a super comfy bed. Which reminds me I need to find a better mattress since my less-than-a-year-old one gives me shoulder pains.
Kelowna is where I met up with Lyn and Ash for a very nice dinner and a floor show. Dinner was steak, the floor show was some douchebag screaming at his date about how he had to pay more than her all the time. Good news: She walked out on him, and he got to pay for everything! Ash was poised to go into bouncer mode if things got violent. Sometimes I really wish I had the skill and temperament to do the same. I envy that man sometimes.
Aside from that excitement, it was a great time catching up with two people I wish I could see way more often. I didn’t see much of Kelowna. But I saw the best part.
I got into Nelson Thursday. Hung out with Judy and Janette for rib dinner. Along the way, I encountered a wizard.
Note: Nelson has many wizards, one of them (now passed away) was even named Wizard.
So I’m meeting Janette for dinner, and heading up to a ramen joint that we ultimately didn’t get into. Walking up the street, I spy a wizard leaning against a tree. As I passed, he glared at me and snarled "What do you know about brainwashing?"
"They've told me never to discuss the brainwashing", I replied.
Later, when I was with Janette, I pointed him out.
"Oh, you want to avoid him."
"Why? Is he a prick, or mentally ill?"
"Yes."
The next day, we hung out in the afternoon, and I had pizza/creme brûlée at the Library Lounge in the evening.
Driving back to Calgary, the newly constructed SW ring road changed my GPS instructions. In the past it sent me to Nanton and up highway 2. This time it sent me through Black Diamond, and up the 22.
So was this a good trip? The heat forcing me to spend time hunkered down around the AC wasn’t great, but it was relaxing. Visiting friends was always awesome, so that was good. But mostly it snapped me out of the worst of the depression I was in due to being laid off.
How bad was the depression? The suicide ideation I have to use my Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy techniques on every few weeks, I was using multiple times a day. The implications of having to use those tools so often was alarming. But at least they always worked. I was waking up with panic attacks. It was not fun.
Slowly, over the three weeks, it ebbed away. I’m not back to “normal” yet, but I’m a lot closer than I was a month ago. I attribute this to time, change of location, and being able to talk to my friends about it. And on that basis, this was a good trip, and certainly better than spending that time in my basement, even if my basement is cool.
When I still had my old job, I was planning a trip to Vancouver for the fireworks, as I do every few years. Or rather, I plan a road trip every year, to reconnect with my friends in the interior of BC, and every few years, I have that trip coincide with the Celebration of Light. Dates were planned, and about half my rooms were booked. Of note, I had booked all the rooms in Vancouver, as well as the trip back, but not the trip to, because I wasn’t sure if I was going to go up to Prince George. Losing my job made that decision for me.
Since I didn’t have any of the rooms for the trip to Vancouver booked, and I had nothing but free time, I decided to leave early. Originally this was going to be on a Tuesday (instead of the original Saturday). However, losing my job meant that my mental health has taken an absolute beating (more on that towards the end). I had trouble focusing and getting tasks done. I hadn’t even booked my rooms in time for my new departure date. I opted, at the last minute, to skip Tuesday and leave Wednesday. This didn’t affect me too badly, because my original plan was to spend Tuesday night in Golden, and Wednesday/Thursday nights in Kamloops. I basically just drove longer on Wednesday.
Kamloops was fun, but warm. I ended up staying at the Ramada in a sketch area halfway between downtown Kamloops, and the nice hotels hallway up the hill. I got to share the hotel with an asian bike gang (which was neither good nor bad, just different). Also, there was a few good breweries.
The highlight was visiting Noah and Trista. We had Mexican food, spent time in the park listening to
Friday I drove into Vancouver, and set up in Port Wood’s spare room. I was there until the following Tuesday, when I moved to a B&B I’d previously booked for a week. I also spent another day after that in the spare room before leaving town on Wednesday.
There was drinking, and dinners with friends; thrifting in North Van; lunches on Granville Island, a last minute trip to the airport for a drop off. Mostly I visited with my peeps, albeit not all of them.
Some highlights:
Thrifting/beer with Rosie.
Quality hygge with Athena. Also, Studio brewing is pretty decent.
The Critical Hit show (aka #DNDLive). Good: it’s a funny show and I love it. Also, no one sat near me. Bad: Because there was maybe 100 people there in a theatre that sits over 400.
Festival of Light. Getting to and from the venue was great because Translink ran the West Coast Express for the occasion (it’s normally a weekday commuter thing). Wrong end of downtown, but it was a pleasant walk because the sun wasn’t blasting my skin off, even if it was very warm.
The fireworks themselves were world-class. Enjoyed the hell out of them.
The only bad news is I picked bad seats. First the front row seats were several inches shorter than the other seats in the bleachers - I had my knees in my armpits. Next, a light post was slightly in my field of view (it was way worse for the people next to me). Finally, there were some volunteers watching (standing, not in anyone’s eyeliner initially) next to me, but one of them kept drifting left until he was obscuring my field of view. Just as I resolved to tell him to move over, the fireworks ended. Next time, I’ll pick seats in the rearmost row, instead of the front row. But I probably won’t do the fireworks again for a few years.
Some lowlights:
The heat. It really kept me from doing the things I wanted to do, namely explore parts of the GVRD that I haven’t seen before. But it’s hard to do that when thirty minutes outside would give you heat exhaustion (which I got the edge of at least twice).
My B&B advertised a portable AC unit, so that was good, but when I got there, it said “do not move”, thus eliminating the whole “portable” thing. For two days, my bedroom was nice, but the rest of the suite was literally uninhabitable. After two days, I hauled my own AC unit up (I take it with me on these trips, and I’ve been thankfully every year that I had) and the suite managed to be decent on both ends, but not in the middle (it was a two bedroom suite, with the second suite having two single beds, so clearly the suite was meant for families). If I’d brought kids, their mattresses would have been hauled into the main bedroom, lest they die. I did mention all of this to the landlord, who was going to fit the rooms out with more AC plates, so the portable unit could be moved. But I imagine that’s not going to be until next year.
By a combination of timing and tree cover, the nights I was in the Port Wood guest room were pretty decent. Those were the coolest nights, and the topology of the room meant it was decently shaded. Bonus, they're next to a creek, which made a gentle noise that was easy to fall asleep to, provided you emptied your bladder thoroughly prior to bed.
I also didn’t see a few people I’d have liked to, due to instances of COVID and a rogue appendix. Bah.
Next up was Kelowna. I stayed at a shitty motel with a super comfy bed. Which reminds me I need to find a better mattress since my less-than-a-year-old one gives me shoulder pains.
Kelowna is where I met up with Lyn and Ash for a very nice dinner and a floor show. Dinner was steak, the floor show was some douchebag screaming at his date about how he had to pay more than her all the time. Good news: She walked out on him, and he got to pay for everything! Ash was poised to go into bouncer mode if things got violent. Sometimes I really wish I had the skill and temperament to do the same. I envy that man sometimes.
Aside from that excitement, it was a great time catching up with two people I wish I could see way more often. I didn’t see much of Kelowna. But I saw the best part.
I got into Nelson Thursday. Hung out with Judy and Janette for rib dinner. Along the way, I encountered a wizard.
Note: Nelson has many wizards, one of them (now passed away) was even named Wizard.
So I’m meeting Janette for dinner, and heading up to a ramen joint that we ultimately didn’t get into. Walking up the street, I spy a wizard leaning against a tree. As I passed, he glared at me and snarled "What do you know about brainwashing?"
"They've told me never to discuss the brainwashing", I replied.
Later, when I was with Janette, I pointed him out.
"Oh, you want to avoid him."
"Why? Is he a prick, or mentally ill?"
"Yes."
The next day, we hung out in the afternoon, and I had pizza/creme brûlée at the Library Lounge in the evening.
Driving back to Calgary, the newly constructed SW ring road changed my GPS instructions. In the past it sent me to Nanton and up highway 2. This time it sent me through Black Diamond, and up the 22.
So was this a good trip? The heat forcing me to spend time hunkered down around the AC wasn’t great, but it was relaxing. Visiting friends was always awesome, so that was good. But mostly it snapped me out of the worst of the depression I was in due to being laid off.
How bad was the depression? The suicide ideation I have to use my Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy techniques on every few weeks, I was using multiple times a day. The implications of having to use those tools so often was alarming. But at least they always worked. I was waking up with panic attacks. It was not fun.
Slowly, over the three weeks, it ebbed away. I’m not back to “normal” yet, but I’m a lot closer than I was a month ago. I attribute this to time, change of location, and being able to talk to my friends about it. And on that basis, this was a good trip, and certainly better than spending that time in my basement, even if my basement is cool.
