Got back? Yes, I got back from a busy weekend of dragon-boating! (i still don't know if it's 1 or 2 words) I woke up just after 5am in order to be ready for the drive from UW up to Centre Island. Waking up and seeing the crack of dawn is what I'm not used to. Going to sleep at that time is, however. Our two Saturday races were both tough since we were competing against higher level teams, with the first race involving a restart. A restart! When clearly the boat to the left of us (lane 4, we were in lane 5) interfered and came into our lane causing many of us to strike their paddles and waste useful energy for an actual race. We had 5 mins to get back and we restarted - of course, we were pretty tired having to do another full-out race in a few mins so our time wasn't as good as we hoped for. Then with our second race, we only had max. of 1 hr to rest up and prep for it which I hope was the main reason that caused us to finish last... For both races I was in row 3 for the first time this season and it's more of a challenge to pull so much more water compared to being in the engine (row 7) as I was for the Milton races. Being one of the 6 pacers is an honour I think. I'll admit, i was tired on Saturday before we even got into our boats because of lack of sleep over the past few days - damn you THEP! (texas hold'em poker - the greatest card game yet) Afterwards, I went out with family for a father's day dinner at the Outback Steakhouse - the steak i had was decent but i still place Canyon Creek Chophouse as my #1 restaurant i've been to (and could realistically afford). I saw my niece Kaitlyn once again and she slept like a baby (of course) at the restaurant and realized just how heavy her car seat can be when she's in it! Sunday was another early start - got up at ~6am to be at our Westin Harbour spot for 7:30am. We raced a few hours later and we won! This was for Division L (yeah, it was down in the standings but wth, it's fair competition) and this race felt really good after our start. I was in row 2 this time and we were in sync and we 'lengthen'ed our paddling strokes for full effect to take and maintain our lead! I had a screw up in the middle because my bottom hand and paddle got entangled with weeds from the water and that just pissed me off - the water conditions at Centre Island could have been much better but this premiere event was organized very well even if there was a lot of waiting. After getting our award (a certificate - where's the hardware?? - the medals they did give out in other finals were very nice btw) i had to babysit my DC's battery b/c i stupidly forgot to charge it overnight - i found a working outlet way over in centreville and waited half an hour... our last race was the University Cup B Final and we ended up 3rd even though we were 2nd for most of the race. Our endurance dragged towards the finish as the 2nd placed team took advantage (and supposedly rode our boat's wake as well) and we'll have to work on improving that if we want to win the Waterloo race - and i know for sure i do. After the race me & a few teammates went for complimentary massages and i got my first ever which felt just amazing during and afterwards. I could still use another tho and i have no doubt i'll be sore in the morning - speaking of which, it's time to get some much needed R&R