I say this every summer but I really would love to be less busy next summer.
The bike rally was amazing, life changing, I don't think I need to put much about it here for myself since I'll always remember it. It was fun, challenging, emotional, and made me realize a lot about myself. It's amazing all the things you can discover about yourself on the open road, sitting on a bicycle for 5 hours a day for 6 days. I had a lot of time to think. Sometimes it was great, other times it made me depressed. I faced a lot of demons, and was left to really think about some of the deep internal issues I've been avoiding by keeping busy with life. All in all - I feel great now having faced them and feel like I have a much better perspective on life and my future. I really needed that time to reflect, more than I knew.
I'll list a few memories by day.
Day 1: I was excited to get on the road, I remember feeling like it took forever. Soon I'd realize every morning took forever :) I was very excited when we arrived at camp. Took a dip in the lake, it was really rough and rocky and I ended up being covered in algae and seaweed, so went to the local sports complex on the bus for a shower. We were given our team T-shirts and I got to know my team - definitely lots of laughter as somehow got on the topic of how semen "cooks" in the shower like eggs.
Day 2: The longest day - but not as difficult as I expected. We had a bit of rain towards the end. The ferry ride was memorable, got to know people a bit better. Had Nuit Blanche at the camp site, hung up balloons with battery tea lights in them and glow stick balls.
Day 3: Red dress day - wore a sequin red dress. Admittedly felt really uncomfortable rolling into Kingston wearing it, but was delighted to be greeted by locals. Had a bit of anxiety and skipped dinner with the team, but joined them later at Stages to see Miss C at the drag show. She was hilarious. Stayed in the dorm, lucked out and got a big room with a fridge.
Day 4: Started feeling a bit of pain in my wrists and lower back by the end of this day. Had talent night at camp and lead the choreography of "Everybody" by the Backstreet Boys for my team. I did pretty damn good! A young couple got engaged before our eyes, teared up at that. Laughed and was entertained a lot by the other acts.
Day 5: RAIN! After lunch it poured on us. My shoes and gloves were still wet the next day. Our last break was at a Dairy Queen, I remember being so happy to see it as the last half of the day felt extremely long. At camp that night, people shared very touching stories. I really felt for many of the people who shared as they have been through terrible things but overcame it all to be with us on the rally, thanks to PWA in a lot of cases. It was nice to be reminded of the reason why we were doing the rally. Afterwards, my team let some Chinese Lanterns soar into the air from the beach, it was really a great experience to be a part of that with the team.
Day 6: Very scenic entering Quebec and completing the journey to Montreal. Again, the afternoon felt long. I rushed to the last break where we all had to wait until 3:30 to continue into the city together. I waited there for over 2 hours, but was proud of how fast I was able to ride. I didn't really feel like I was going to be emotional at the end, but I did end up pulling an "ugly cry" after all. A fun couple days in Montréal followed.
I'm THRILLED to be home. Chris and I haven't spent a week apart yet in our relationship since we moved in together, I missed him a lot. I'm pretty worn out in general, the scheduling of this Chicago trip may not have been the best planning but I am going to suck it up and make sure I have a good time there. It is one of my favourite cities and some of my favourite people live there who I've not seen in over a year. We're doing the drive there over 2 days, so really it's just the way back that will suck a bit as I'm sure we'll be a bit hungover.
As far as my musical career goes as a DJ, I may be able to add "Producer" to my name soon. At a bike rally charity event I met a nice man who is big into music production and has all sorts of equipment in his home. We've kept in touch and I'll be connecting with him soon to see what we can teach each other about production and DJing. I think meeting him might prove to be pretty pivotal in my career path with DJing. I have a few events later this month but am happy to be on a bit of a hiatus until then.
After Chicago my nephew will turn 1 on August 17, we'll be down in Windsor for that which will be great as I haven't seen him since June. We'll also meet with our wedding decorator that weekend. Then the following weekend I have gigs Thurs, Fri and Saturday, then another gig the following Friday and that will be Labour Day weekend when we go camping at Cedars with friends... then the summer is over, just like that! After the wedding and honeymoon next year, I'm definitely going to try and make sure we have some fun weekends in Toronto with friends because we definitely had way too much going on this summer and I really miss everyone and really miss enjoying the city we call home.
Well, this went on longer than expected! Not sure when I will update again, but until next time :)
