Recounting Todd's birthday memories for 2006
Celebrating Todd's Birthday at Doolin's with Gung Haggis paddlers: Jonas, Rita, Deb, Todd, Christine and Jim - photo Rebecca with Todd's new camera!
Yesterday, a song popped into my head. I sang along with it. "Yesterday, it was my birthday. I hung one more year on the line..." goes the Paul Simon song "Have a Good Time."
I spent the morning and afternoon playing with my "almost 3" year old nephew. We pretended we were dinosaurs. We built houses for the toy animals to live in. We bounced balloons up in the air. We played hide and seek. We blew out the candle for my cake together. We went for a walk to play in the school playground.
Usually I always like to go away out of town for my birthday. I have woken up at Long Beach, Whistler, travelled to the tulip fields in the Skagit Valley. It's good to have time for yourself. But now it was time to revel in the joy of life, as seen through the eyes of a almost-three year old. Life is wonderous and beautiful. Cake is great. So is singing... life should be like this everyday.
My Birthday cake of choice is the "Mexican Hat Cake" from Notte's Bon Ton French Pastry and Confectionary - photo Todd Wong. I have always loved the chocolate rolls and shavings on top. My mother trained me well from a young age.
I went to work for my regular shift at the Vancouver Public Library on the information desk. My writer friend Kuldip Gill dropped by and said hello. During my break I went down to the Alice Mackay Room where the Literature Department had put together a panel discussion of Asian-Canadian writers, including Kuldip, Kevin Chong (Baroque-a-Nova, and Neil Young Nation), Lydia Kwa (A Place Called Absence, and The Walking Boy), and Terrie Hamazaki. I was also surprised to see friend Kathy Leung, ex Gung Haggis dragon boater, and co-moderator for Scripting Out Loud. It was nice to see them all and say hi, even though I only had 15 minutes during my break.
At nine o'clock, my shift finished, and I dropped back down to say hi to the writers downstairs. I bought Lydia's book "The Walking Boy," which had been nominated for best fiction for the BC Book Prizes. Lydia signed it.
Now wearing my kilt... I joined my friend Christine, my girlfriend Deb, and new paddler Rita. We walked over to the Doolin's Irish Pub to celebrate my birthday. Paddlers Jonas and Jim were there too. I was surprised to see my Kilts night friends, kiltmaker Terry "Bear" Varga, and Raphael Fang sitting at the bar.
"It's like a mini-kilt night," exclaimed Bear. The operative word is mini kilt. We cornered him to make up some mini-kilts for the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team. He talked to Deb and Christine about lengths.
"I want a yellow mini-kilt," exclaimed my long time buddy Christine.
"It would have to be the MacLeod tartan," I told her. "Or we could rename it the McWong - since "Wong" actually means "yellow" in Cantonese. "It would be perfect for a nice Chinese girl like you!"
"Todd wants me to be wearing a mini-kilt if I'm drumming or steering the boat," said Deb, who will be wearing the Fraser Hunting Tartan... I mean what we are calling the Fraser "Sport" tartan. black with Blue and red... dragon boat racing is a sport... hunting is kind of a sport. Let's call it the "Sport Tartan."
We had a great time at Doolin's. I know a few of the waitresses and managers there. I was offered a Birthday Shooter. I chose a B-52. It was quickly followed by a pint of Guinness.
Live music was provided by the Halifax Wharf Rats. Michelle is their leader, who also plays in the celtic band Black Thorne. In addition to all the Maritime songs, that our paddler Jim seemed to know by heart, they played my special request... "I Was Made For Loving You Baby" - originally a disco song by the heavy rock band KISS. Michelle wished me Happy Birthday, and Halifax Wharf Rats started a nice slow traditional version of "Happy Birthday To You," which became a rave-up. (Halifax Wharf Rats in picture at right - Michelle in purple, guys in black- from the Celtic Fest website).
http://www.celticfestvancouver.com/performers.html#wharfrats
A good birthday. I even met some new potential dragon boat recruits. A fellow who plays bagpipes and is new to Vancouver came up to me, asking why I was wearing a kilt. His name was Jason. He introduced me to his friends, Paddy, Cameron and Megan. All perfect names for a Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team. Hope we see them on the boat on Sundays at 1pm, or Tuesdays at 6pm.
We also met a Rebecca with friend Andrea from Nanaimo. "Paddling sounds like too much work!" she answered my recruiting overtures. "The truth is... we really just want to have fun," I confided to her. "My drinking team actually has a paddling problem." She laughed. But sadly, it really is the truth.
