Saturday or Sunday. Saturday.

I had the option to choose between Saturday, or Sunday, to go to Centre Island to watch dragonboat races. For Toronto, this is an huge festival that take place on Centre Island, around late June every year. For me, it was the first time I watch a dragonboat race. From what I saw, there were at least 1000 people watching at any time, probably more at 3-4 pm.

Although it wasn’t quite a spectator sport as I thought (I mean, boats are all about the same, the rowing path is straight, and since I have never row a dragonboat before, I have trouble seeing the difficulty of steering it in a straight line), it was still a sport that requires strength, skills, and most important teamwork. The fastest teams were always those with the most synchronised strokes. Whenever my camera is with me, even a not-so-spectacular event became an interesting subject, so ya, the day didn’t ended until I have snapped 50 pictures. Not a lot, but enough.

12:00 to 6:00. That is, 6 hours.

Under the immense heat of the sun, harmful UV rays, a toasty 34C temperature, the humid air of the harbourfront, I realised it was summer indeed. To further amplify the feeling, my body turned into a leaky saline factory , seeping out gallons of sweat every second. Then I wished I was a dog, and that sticking out my tongue actually helped cooling me down. No, it didn’t work.

Why was I even outdoor in the first place? Well, biking with Jeff, Jason and Peter was the reason. I never took my bike on such a long journey, starting from home (for me, that is Dundas and Church), meeting everyone else at Riverdale Park , and we travelled all along the shore, east to Tommy Thompson Park, then turning west, passing Queen’s Quay, CN tower, Ontario Place, CNE, all the way to Humber Bay Park, and well, back home. It must have been at least 30km round trip. Then again, we were on the our bikes. Of course, we took it easy and took our time. At around 2, we decided to chill and played a game of frisbee and casually throwing and catching a softball which apparently appeared out of nowhere.

Eventually, I was home, at 6pm, exhausted. I didn’t put myself into sleep right away, which I regret. I was still bothered by the bet Jason proposed earlier during the week, where we were to apply to at least 5 jobs by Friday midnight, or lose $5 to the other person. Not that I was concerned about that $5 (or may be I really was), it was guilt, which all of a sudden, decided to ruin my day.

Dinner happened at Milestone, a classy, not-so-cheap (ie. $$$$$) restaurant. With DY, Mau and Li. And a grilled seafood platter drained out $25 from my wallet.

My convocation took place yesterday afternoon. I am now a graduated engineering student. Officially, I am no longer a student.

During the convocation ceremony, we had a supposedly famous honorary degree recipient, who is also known as the “Father of Fibre Optics”, Kao Kuen. Unfortunately, I do not know him at all, I have never heard of his name, well, until yesterday.

My camera failed again, always when I needed it to work…. A message: “Lens Error” started to appear on the screen, halfway through the ceremony, and the lens could not retract into the body of the camera… it was frustrating. So, no more pictures of the ceremony nor afterwards. However, with plenty of fellow graduates out there and thousands of cameras, it was impossible to avoid getting a picture taken.