An island of photographers.

April 2, 2010. Sunny then cloudy. Hot then cold then warm.

It all began long ago, (a week?) when Lisa asked me if I want to go Jinglin take artsy pictures with Shutterbugs, the photography club in UofT. I really like artsy stuff, so obviously I said yes. Fast forward to the day before the big day, I confirmed with Lisa about the time and place of the meeting place... because it's smart to do that. She said to be at Union Station at 12. Moving on to the big day...

I like to be early and stuff, so I got there at 11:50am even though I know Lisa and Kristie are usually late. Little do I know... they came alone, not with Shutterbugs... very late, too. I basically stood there for a good 30 minutes or so. The subway ticket checking lady kept staring at me weirdly; she probably thought I was waiting for the right time to commit a crime or something. That wasn't cool at all... but finally, at around 12:30 they showed up. party time!! Oh, another thing I found funny was how a lot of people, and when I say a lot... I mean over 10, tried to exit the station through the spinning door even though it says very clearly 'No Exit'.

So yes, 12:30, they arrived. I could start ranting about why people shouldn't be late, but I won't right now (or this post will never end). We didn't know where the Shutterbugs group were, so we did the one thing any lost people would do. Phone. Well, after the phone call with Jinglin... we got one landmark, McDonalds. We climbed over many hills stairs, walked through a dangerous tunnel underground pathway, and fought against the barbarians people on the streets. Finally, there it was, THE McDonalds *insert dramatic music*, but they were no where to be found. Yea, they moved elsewhere. Fail. Then Jinglin came and picked us up and finally we met up... speeding up the story...

I have to say, it was pretty awkward at first because I didn't know anyone from Shutterbugs besides Jinglin, Fiona, Anita, Lisa and Kristie. I met Fiona and Anita once before that day, during Nuit Blanche (please do excuse my French if I spelt it wrong). Maybe it would be better if it was an gathering of some sort instead of a club outing because I am not even in the club. I guess I was afraid that people will think about stuff like 'why is he here'... I'm pretty sure at least one person thought that actually. I could sense it. Yes, I'm magical. Actually, no I am not, it's just human nature to think about things like that, but that's another story.

Well anyways, we set out for the ferry terminal where we'll hijack ride a boat to Wards Island. It was a 10 minutes walk to the ferry terminal. Yea, you can see from the picture that the line's pretty long (totally cut Andy's head in half, too). 30 minutes later, we got the ticket, and guess what? More waiting, for the ferry.

Going off topic for a bit, I plan to make a rant about the Toronto Ferry on a separate post, so I'm just going to skip the ferry part to keep this already long blog shorter.... by a bit.

So magically, we're on Wards Island!! Told you I have magical powers... We walked around the island and stuff. While the pros are taking pictures, I try to make friends (totally dramatizing the situation XD) But omg, everyone has their expensive pro cameras that cost 4 digits, and all I have is a digital camera. *sad face* It's okay though, I'll just stick with making videos... while slowly learning the ways of still motion. Either way, the island was a good experience. It was my first time on the island, and I learned a few tricks from watching the pros in action. I also took some pictures, but of course it's nothing compare to who I was with.


I was just playing with iPhoto... nothing special





That's that for the island. And because I don't want to write anything about the ferry here... We magically appear at Habour Front at the blink of the eye. We decided to go eat sushi at this restaurant called 味彩(Aji Sai), but it was a 30 minutes walk I believe... We just kind of split into different groups because there were so many people. I walk fast, so I was with the fast walkers... namely Angela, Louise and Andy. Yes, I like to force myself to be with people I don't know -- that's how you make friends =]. I'm just skip the part about what we talked about since it's mostly you have to be in the moment kind of talks. I do have one word Angela, Louise and Andy (if they read this at all XD) though... Pigeon.

Side tracking for a bit. Yes, I noticed that I am skipping a lot of details, but this post is getting way too long, and it's 5am.

So magically we're at restaurant because time-skip (don't ask). Kristie, Lisa, Angela, Andy, Peter, Shane, and Simone sat around me, so it was a good chance to get to know them =]. They were all cool people, real glad to have met them. I could go and list out why I like them, but look at the length of the post already, so I'm just going to move on to the food.

It was all you can eat, so people tend to order too much. Andy and I were saving stomach (though I didn't really stop eating... lol) just in case we need to clean any leftovers. The food was okay, all you can eat quality, which is not THAT good... just edible. Yes, I have a very high standard when it comes to... everything in life actually -- especially friends and food though. Their dessert was lower than all you can eat standards. Egg pudding was so watered down, and the mango jelly is powdered. And they didn't give me all the mango ice cream that I ordered D:!!! On top of that, they didn't specify at the beginning that there was a one hour ordering time. Their service was good at first, but it went downhill... I was pretty disappointed. Well anyways, it was still fun. =]

On the way back, I get to talk to Andy a bit more, and I found out he's also from Taiwan!! =D!! Yay Taiwan people unite!! He says he also like karaoke, so I'll definitely invite him the next time I plan a karaoke (which is when I have $$...) =]

That's basically it for the island trip with Shutterbugs. It was awesome. Glad I went, even though I was hesitated because of all the strangers at first. =]

PS: Woah, look at how long the post is... and I didn't even go into full details. Oh the power of going off topic.

Can't wait to see the new friends again, someday =]
~Daniel Chou