Party Time!

Howdy all,

It's been a couple of weeks of party mode for me here in Vancouver. Productivity has been at its lowest point since I arrived! The weather has been mostly cold and wet though, so it's been the perfect time to do it.

On Feb 11th my favourite DJ, the Dutch maestro, Sander Van Doorn, was in town along with other world-famous DJs Benny Benassi and Arty. The event started pretty early but was coming at the end of my first Saturday off since starting at Hermes so it was actually a nice treat. It was on at the Vancouver Convention Centre. Someone told me that big DJ nights like this have to start and end early because of city bylaws. Anyway, it was an absolutely amazing night! Sander Van Doorn was superb as always, Benny Benassi was a little disappointing for me but Arty was really good too. I won't bore you with too many of the details here but here are a couple of pics and videos to give you an idea (skip to next section if you have no interest in electronic music!):

No Arty = No Party!

Benny doing his thing

Sander doing what he does best - destroying dancefloors

Going offfffff!!!!!

SvD rocking the Convention Centre

I have already booked tickets for Armin Van Buuren and Steve Angello, coming to the Convention Centre on April 7th. I absolutely cannot wait for that! Two of the world's biggest DJs that I haven't actually seen live yet.

Saturday Feb 18th was Gina and I's joint birthday party bash @ Sip lounge & then Republic on Granville St. Sip was fairly chilled out. Got a snack and a few drinks in whilst meeting a lot of Gina's friends. Unfortunately I don't have any photos myself (actually, I'm thankful there's no 'evidence') but ended up having one of the best nights I've had so far since I've been here. Then again, how bad a night can a guy have when it's just him and a group of gorgeous girls?

On Feb 20th we all went for a meal at the Victoria chinese restaurant after work. It was nice to get the whole Hermes team out for a meal and we got good service on account of Boney pretty much being their number one customer. Even better was that it was all paid for! I ended up going out for drinks with Gina and Irina afterwards. I had been planning to go to the gym the following morning, so I had told Gina I was going home straight after the meal. This turned into me agreeing to go for a quick non-alcholic drink up the road, then 'OK, I'll have 1 beer', then 'OK, one more'. Fast forward to 5am and we're spilling out of Edgewater Casino trying to focus enough to spot a taxi. A serious lack of discipline shown and I paid for it the next day!

The last couple of days have been pretty fun, starting with the Arsenal v Spurs match! I wasn't going to bother given how poorly we'd been playing recently and after going 2-0 down inside 30 mins I was regretting not getting the extra sleep! However, what a turnaround! Hopefully we can make a decent push for 4th place and then take care of the mess in the summer! If it's any consolation for Spurs fans, the Canucks also blew a 2 goal lead that day, losing in Dallas in overtime. On the bright side, they are currently top of the NHL and the city is starting to buzz at the prospect of another playoff run.

As many of you will know, yesterday was my 26th birthday. I was pretty overwhelmed by the wishes coming in by email and on facebook etc. Thanks guys!! Made me miss everyone from home! The guys at work got me a really nice cake from Thierry's (on Alberni St). Thankfully I'd made the effort to get down to the gym in the morning as I also got some Thierry macaroons courtesy of Paul. All-in-all a nice, chilled out birthday!

The major news of the past couple of weeks is that I've decided to apply for another year on my visa.  I'm having a great time over here so far, so why not? People have been telling me only good things about Vancouver in the summer and I really don't want to miss out on it now! My original plan was to travel West coast to East coast from June onwards. Now it looks like I'll be taking a short trip to Montreal at the beginning of June for the Canadian Grand Prix (so excited for this!) and then coming back to enjoy summer in/around Vancity. It'll give me the opportunity to perhaps make some trips to the Island and to a few places close to Vancouver and allow me to save more money for the grand trip next summer.

My family seems to support the idea, which is nice to hear. Obviously it all depends on being granted another year on the visa. Fingers crossed! My plans could completely change again if this doesn't come off! So I'm currently trying to organise the paperwork and photos to re-apply for the IEC. Along with that I'm also trying to get my head around the tax return to try and claim a few dollars back from the Canadian tax man! Fun times!!

Until next time!
Simon x