Spring Break!

Hey folks,

Its been a while since the last formal post.  Last month’s post was just a link to my interview with DigiPen, so I guess I finally have to get back into the writing scene.

Speaking of writing, I know many of you are still looking for Book 3.  As I’ve stated before, I’m still working through edits – just very, very slowly.  Definitely not as quickly as I like.  I’m going to be devoting Tuesday mornings specifically to keep writing and editing.  I’ve had some very interesting ideas for books recently, so I might divide my time between several works, but at least I’ll be setting a more structured time to work than my current on again, off again style.  I’m really sorry for all the people who have been waiting for more than a year for the third book – school at DigiPen takes up an incredible amount of time.

Of course, that’s part of the reason that I spent some time this week up in Vancouver, Canada!  For a few days, it was nice to get outdoors, see some new sights, and take a break from the workload:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I left Saturday, joining some fellow DigiPen students up in British Columbia for a few days.  We stayed at an incredibly nice house in Richmond (just outside Vancouver), and spent time sightseeing around the city.

Our first destination was the Capilano Suspension Bridge in the North Vancouver District, which as you might imagine, is famous for the 140m bridge that runs across the Capilano River.  It’s a really neat locale that runs through the heart of a temperate rain forest.  We spent several hours exploring around and going across the many bridges (there is more than one) in the area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After that, we headed over to Granville Island, where we found an awesome public market filled to the brim with local specialty vendors selling food, crafts, and drinks.  Granville Island is the local marketplace, with a rule that forbids any sort of chain store from being on the island.  Economics aside, I grabbed an awesome risotto and spinach “cake” from a really good Italian market and spent some time perusing the specialty meat market that sold everything from steaks to hand cured salamis.  I would probably eat there all the time if I had the chance!

The next day was a chance to explore more of Vancouver itself, walking around the city and seeing some of the sights.  While we visited Gastown – a neat set of shops that centers around the landmark ‘steam clock’ of the area – and Chinatown, the best part was walking along the water to Stanley Park.  That’s the West End of Vancouver.   It’s the most expensive place to live in Canada, and it shows.  Tons of beautiful ships are docked in the harbor, and based on the condo prices we saw as we passed a Sotheby’s Realty, they ships weren’t close to the most expensive things there.  Stanley itself is a massive park that caps the west side of Vancouver, and just taking the path around a small part of the outside was quite a sight.  It almost made me want to live there – and then I remembered the bus driver on the way to Capilano telling us that it was the second most expensive place to live in the world, just behind Hong Kong.  Perhaps I’ll just visit, even if I ever have the money to live there!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That journey ended up being most of the day, and we spent the evening just seeing some of the city at night.  The trip was great fun, and I recommend a visit to Vancouver sometime – if you can afford it!  Anyway, after that final day, I packed up my bags from my short stay and headed back home to resume my studies!

As a final note, to all the people who keep asking about my third book – keep it up!  It helps me stay motivated to work on it while I wade through my mountain of schoolwork!   And seeing as I still haven’t finished the homework assigned over Spring Break, I’m going to end this month’s post and say that I’ll see you all soon!