Vancouver Week 2 - Billy's friend

ive made it a week and they havent kicked me out yet, thats good for the spirit.  so my mom just left.  oh, by the way, my mom came up here for a few days to help me get settled in.  (im not going to say no to a freebie) it was nice going around and shopping but i didnt see it as "blog" worthy.  

if trip after trip to every thrift store in vancouver looking for the perfect side table wasnt annoying enough, then my mom explaining for 20 minutes what exactly a key ring hook thing for the wall was so that i would know exactly what i was saying no to definitely was.

she really wanted key ring hooks.  its just not my style.  

but i couldnt complain at all because she was up here helping me get settled in and putting furniture in my empty apartment.  i might add that her price negotiating techniques became quite brutal toward the end:

her walking up to the clerk with 2 nice big pots in her hand...

"how much for these"

"oh, just 5 dolla.."

"TOO MUCH!"

wow mom, just leave him alone...

so we shopped and shopped. and now my apartment is COD 4 Teh WIiiin!!!1111one

now, she left around 1030am and i hung out for a bit, ate lunch, and then got on my bike (which was delivered the day before) and started riding.  i start heading toward downtown to ride around and explore.  it only took about 15 minutes for me to get downtown which was pretty sweet.  and riding over the bridge was really cool.  

however, i also had plans too.  this is one of the first things that i had actually planned while i was up here.  every other day was:  wake up (optional), do whatever, eat (mandatory), blog?, gaze at pictures of BZL members. 

but however, today was different.

so, billy reed, a fellow man in north carolina has a friend up in vancouver that he told me to contact once i got up here.  so with the technologies of the facebooks, i added her as a friend and explained that i was billys friend as well.  we messaged back and forth a little bit talking about vancouver and other random things.  so we planned to meet up so she can "teach me the ropes"....not the "ropes" that are "taught" at the annual BZL masquerade but rather some vancouver secrets.

so she told me about a coffee/dessert place called chiccos cafe that was supposed to be premium.  she loved that place and wanted to meet there so of course i asked if the desserts were "family-sized" and with a confused pause, i just said nevermind, ill meet you there.  

i get to the place about 15 minutes early so i could catch my breathe and air dry so i wouldnt be covered in sweat when i met her.  (north carolina chivalry, take note, do it)

15 minutes later:

sweat status: moist

sweet status: coolest guy ever

(why did i laugh when i typed 'moist'?)

natalie walks up.  she is wearing a baby blue and white cute little summer fun dress skirt one piece get it gurl and im just so glad that i changed right before i left because that would have been so awkward meeting for the first time with the same exact outfit.

i order a delicious strawberry slush and she gets a green tea latte which she claims is the best green tea latte in the world.  we'll see about that.

pretty much my drink is a strawberry smoothie type deal and im thinking it will come with a regular straw.  no, i was wrong.  i look at my cup and for some reason they have stuck what looks like a green 1 inch in diameter PVC pipe.  after one sip, a third of the drink is gone and i have a brutal brain freeze.  i try to play it cool and act like nothing is wrong which probably looked like i was holding in the biggest fart ever, straining to laugh and look like im listening when in reality all i can think of is my frozen head and this stupid straw. 

we talk and hang out, for almost 2 hours with only a couple awkward silences and me breaking those awkward silences with "that building looks neat, wow", "wow, i really cant get over this straw!" or "excuse while destroy the bathroom"

overall it was great, and good to meet someone.  ill definitely hang with her again.  

friend count: 2

i had to depart from our meeting because i was meeting my landlord at the house because he wanted to take me out for sushi.  he told me a place that he likes that has big sushi.  i bike home and hop in the shower because my sweat status went from moist to soaked in a matter of 20 minutes. 

we get to the place and its a tiny little hole in the wall but the prices were great and the sushi was big.  i wasnt that hungry because of the biking so i just order 2 rolls.  spicy tuna and bbq eel w/egg.  i get my sushi and todd wasnt joking.  the rolls were huge! they had to have been like 2 inches in diameter.  you really couldnt eat them in one bite (which sucks for sushi because after one bite, the roll pretty much falls apart, pissing me off).  i could only eat half of each (for those that are stupid in math, thats the same as just one roll).  

todd told be that they had a house roll that was about 4 inches in diameter.  now the picture below shows the three sizes of rolls.  the small ones were regular rolls that are the same size as every other roll that ive had at over places.  next up was mid-sized which were all the rolls wrapped in rice (i had these).  and the one that looks like a baby is the house roll.  

they were tasty like a cheese toast with sugar (karibbeans favorite treat)

small side story: 

when i get home, i call up this guy named jared.  you see, jared is a guy who is selling a totally awesome leather jacket that ive been looking for to go with my cafe racer.  my cafe racer is almost done.  i cant wait.  because its so close (wiring, starting it, tuning it) im just getting my friend and parts guy john to finish it while im up here.  anyways, i was initially pissed off with the conversation because this is how it started:

"hello"

"hey, can i speak with jared"

"yeah"

pause

pause

pause

"oh, is this jared?"

"yeah"

"oh ok, well, i was calling about the motorcycle jacket"

yadda 

yadda 

yadda

and so forth

come on, i hate that