A few weeks ago, I left my computer unlocked at work and one of my friends thought it would be hilarious to forge a status update on my behalf. The status said something along the lines of “As far as I’m concerned, I’m the best automotive blogger in western Canada.” Surprisingly, I didn’t take much flack for the post before I deleted it. It did give me a good chuckle though, because in order for that statement to be remotely true, I’d have to blog and that’s not something I’ve done a lot of lately.
For those of you who know me personally or even somewhat know me, you may have noticed that my personal Instagram has less cars and more of a certain super cute baby. That’s because I’m now a dad and have been for the last nine months. So it’s been a while since I’ve gone to car-related activities and maybe even longer since I’ve taken a crack at an article.
Maybe the only thing that’s lasted longer than my recent hiatus is how long I’ve managed to stay away from a Boston Pizza. It’s been years. In fact, I don’t think I’ve been to one since I left Saskatchewan three years ago. However, as a Canadian import enthusiast, it seems Boston Pizzas are inescapable.
It’s a weird coincidence that I’ve observed over the years. It would seem that almost all Canadian car guys have made a Boston Pizza their meeting spot at some point. For me, it was in the early days of DODOlogic when I still pretended I should be driving instead of just doing this whole blog thing. Every second Friday in the summer would go as follows: drifting on a cart track, fish bowls at Boston Pizza and then a long night of drinking.I honestly thought those days were behind me. I thought my days of bandera bread and sugary drinks were long gone. But to quote the worst Godfather movie: “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.”
On Saturday Dec. 2, 2017 Good Vibes featuring BC Rear Wheel Drive (BCRWD) held their annual Christmas party. It’s a fundraising event for the Food Bank that I hadn’t attended in my three-and-a-half years of BC living. I’d heard good things about but felt no connection to BCRWD, because although I do love RWDs, I haven’t always lived in BC. Furthermore, I didn’t live here when forums reigned supreme.
Christmas parties mean it’s winter time, but winters really aren’t so bad here in the Lower Mainland. I mean, it’s wet, but you don’t have to shovel rain so that’s nice. Car guys here for the most part still swap their cars over to winter mode, as I guess it’s just a thing that gets done in case of snow.
As I walked through the parking lot, I saw plenty of familiar cars and a few not-so-familiar. The same could be said of the faces I saw in the restaurant. At first, I sort of felt like an imposter. This wasn’t my forum, and I didn’t have the context of a shared history of people who (presumably) belittled each anonymously on the internet.
It wasn’t until Ahraz started pulling tickets for the raffle that I fully understood the context of the event. It was then that I realized it was just nice that a bunch of like-minded people could come together over the holiday season and shout insults at each other while raising money for charity. It was at this moment that I felt at home, and also it was nice that the Food Bank was going to get some money.
The grand prize was 30% off any item from Chris Scremin, which is pretty cool since he’s a local turbo wizard.
At the end of the day, the reservation that was made for 40 people turned into 65 people. That rather large-sized group managed to raise about $500 for the Food Bank and as Ahraz mentioned (but I don’t fully understand), “With a buying power of 3:1, this means $1,500 worth of meals will be distributed this Christmas season.”
I may not get out as much as I used to, or post as much for that matter. But all things considered, I will always try to make time for this strange, but oddly familiar, winter event.