Birthday gong-show

Last Sunday, the day of my 28th birthday, I went golfing with Joel and my brother at Hazelmere.  We had a great time.  It was nice just to be out on the course.  I had some nice shots around the green, but my tee shots were generally awful.  I did manage a few nice ones on the back nine, but it was too little too late, and I scored a rather high 117.  I have had higher scoring rounds (such as my complete meltdown at Kananaskis last summer).  Needless to say, I have a lot of room for improvement.

After the round, we had martinis in the clubhouse and ordered steaks.  My brother had to catch what he believed was the last ferry from Tsawassen to Schwartz Bay at 9:00 PM.  We knew we had to leave by 8:30 at the latest to get him there in time.  We told the server that we were in a rush, and she told us it would be no problem to get us our meals quickly enough.

8:30 came and our meals still hadn’t arrived.  We had to tell her to cancel our order.  She was not impressed at all.  It was a bad situation because our meals were just about ready by this point.  I was really hungry, but we set off to get my brother to the Ferry.  On the way there I was thinking of steak and rushing a little bit, which turned out to be a big mistake.  I came up on the boys in blue a bit fast, and got handed a $138 speeding ticket.  It didn’t matter that it was my birthday or that I was barely speeding.  Apparently I was going 125 km/h in a 100 zone, but I think the cop just guessed because he knew I was approaching him from behind.

It was now about 8:50 and my brother’s chances of making his ferry were about as good as chipping in for a birdie.  I pretty much sealed the deal when I missed the turn-off from Hwy 99 to the Tsawassen ferries.  At this point my brother phoned BC ferries and discovered that there was actually an extra sailing at 10:00 PM.  The juicy steak I had left behind swirled around in my mind, as did the now completely uneccessary speaking ticket.  I think I may have laughed shrilly.  Or swore.  I can’t remember.  We turned around and took my brother to the ferry.

It was almost 10:00 PM when Joel and I finally arrived at Swiss Chalet so that I could order my birthday comfort meal: half chicken and rib combo.  The Chalet closes at 10:00 on Sunday nights, so we were lucky to even be seated.  After we had ordered, the waitress came back with the bad news that there was only enough white meat for one of us.  I think I laughed shrilly.  How could Swiss Chalet run out of chicken?  I took one for the team.  I was already halfway through what I had dubbed a $150 pitcher of beer.  Does a lack of white meat really make that much difference at this point?

When our meals came, Joel’s fries were old.  He politely asked if it was possible to get some fresh fries.  Robyn checked for him, but again she returned with bad news: the frier was shut off for the evening.  Joel told her not to worry about it.

When Robyn came to give us our bill, she informed us that she had “taken care” of our meals for us.  She wished me a happy birthday.  What a nice gesture.  At least the day ended on a happy note – all we had to pay for was the beer, which Joel picked up.  No birthday can be that bad when you are with friends.

I am starting to feel old though.  28 years old with no end of school in sight.  I’ll be 37 years old by the time I’m a doctor.  Ironically someone recently guessed my age as 37.  Do I really look that old?  I think it’s time for a major change.  I have an idea of what this change should be.  I’ve been thinking about it for some time now.  This change will be the subject of my next entry.

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