today's post is about marriage.

congrats to mary ellen and terence douglas!

how much do i despise boxing day shopping? after spending christmas at niagara falls, we stopped by the outlet mall before heading home. of course, no asian family can pass up shopping (at ANY time might i add), we HAD to peek into square one.

i would like to take this opportunity to point out that i have not gone shopping at square one since forever. so the worst way to reintroduce myself to a fabulous shopping mall is to go in during boxing day. the AMOUNT of people that congregates at malls is ridiculous. the food court was so jam packed full of people that there were literally people standing in the middle just eating. as soon as a table of people stand up to leave, there are people literally putting down trays to mark their territory (my mom is really good at doing that.)

i love shopping.

but shopping on boxing day scares me. especially since i bought these beautiful boots on christmas eve (yes you can laugh now, i DID go shopping on christmas eve too) and i was so paranoid that people would be stepping on them. people do that when they are on crazy rampaged filled kicks at the mall.

seriously, how can i enjoy shopping (which takes time if you do it properly) when there are people pushing and shoving each other all over the place?

nevertheless, i still managed to get a couple of goodies. although, my favorite purchase is the new boots. haha.

christmas in niagara is overrated. especially when there is no snow. but ames and i did get stuck in the women's washroom after a woman opened the door without washing her hands. ew.

something bit me on the arm and it's really super itchy right now. it can't be a mosquito can it? yikes!

so i am leaving for niagara falls for christmas in a couple of hours. i figure that i'd take this opportunity to wish everyone a MERRY XMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! at this time.

i've done so much this holiday: i've met alot of ames' friends via her little housegathering party; celebrated georges' birthday (last min no doubt) at the red room; made an appearance at jake and steve's condo party where i successfully avoided getting wasted; had brunch with the fisherville boys at 'bonjour brioche'; helped set up jake and orlando helman (sorry, ALICIA, hahaha) on facebook; SURVIVED 'the pursuit of happyness' with daner and meggers; met up with my pr girls and david for drinks at the city grill; had an abbey reunion at spring rolls; WORKED for minto (thereby earning some cash, yay!); attended cat's belly dancing recital; went to see the new york rockette's at the hummingbird center; went to a champagne tasting with larissa; had lunch at the irish embassy with my bro, carl; went to a pilates class with mich...THAT was killer!

on my trip, i hope to finish the longest scarf ever, as well as the book 'reading lolita in tehran.' with so much activity, i haven't had enough time to just sit and watch tv. oops. ;p

the holidays are here!

i have officially been off school for a week now. i was originally faced with a panic attack because i didn't know what to do with all this free time. but i have quickly and easily slipped into relax mode. ok, obviously 6:45am isn't "relax" per say, but i am a morning person so give me a break!

just a quick recap on the past couple of weeks:
- rita came in to town from vancouver about three weeks ago. we had a little soiree at insomnia where i also saw carlo, colin, jennie k, ana p, mike allemano....and the hart house towel boy! granted, he's probably not the towel boy anymore, but i remember when i used to go to the gym almost everyday, he'd be the guy i see in the morning (what a nice face to see in the morning!)

- carlo was a super sweetie because i had actually overslept and almost missed the evening, but he woke me up and drove me there and back too! i *heart* carlo! he's also gone in for laser eye surgery since then. i should find out how that went...

- went to smc's annual musical, this year being "little shop of horrors." it was the best show they have put on since "blood brothers." "chess" was good too, but this musical was phenomenal! the singers were all so incredible (of course, we had the three girlies, jill, thanya and shannon!) and the actors were just so talented. matt and i were throughly impressed! we even ran into kirsten and lisa! i have seen those two girls since we graduated!

- there was the minto christmas party which caused me so much anxiety. this party took place the weekend before a huge class project was due. i couldn't even really enjoy myself at the party because i was working the "silent auction." the auction was a huge success, there were so many leafs and raptors tickets. and alot of the companies had donated ipods and those were out like hotcakes! minto even supplied fully paid limos to take us home after the party. i wish i had taken advantage of that! but some of the younger kids wanted to hit a pub called the "foggy dew" so we went over there afterwards where i finally calmed down with a double shot of my usual.

- CCMaaers had several excursions over our crazy time. one night almost everyone signed up to take an etiquette class at the u of t faculty club, and most of learned that we have very bad etiquette. haha. i think the most important lesson i learned from that class is that the bread plate is on the left and the water glass is on the right. ;p that was also the memorable night where i inadvertantly saw ryan flashing us. i've since recovered (i think.) last weekend, we also had two parties: a potluck at esther's on thurdsay, and a beautiful dinner at "pur superclub" on saturday. photos from those events can be seen here thanks to audrey, ashleigh, sonia and kristen.

- i have since taken up knitting (i'm knitting carmi a scarf, as per request) and have started to watch more tv movies (yay movie network!) along with seeing a lot of people i haven't seen in awhile (such as mel and larissa), i plan on hitting up an indigo and having a geeky day out just reading books. ha! ;p

remember when i said hell week was done? it was all lies. lies.

it hasn't stopped. it's been continual, and even worse, there's still over a week and a half left to go. i'm not sure i'm going to make it.

Once upon a time, a guy asked a girl "Will you marry me?" The girl said, "NO!" And the girl lived happily ever after and went shopping, dancing, camping, drank martinis, always had a clean house, never had to cook, had sex with whomever she pleased... did whatever the hell she wanted, never argued, didn't get fat, travelled more, had many boyfriends, saved more money, had all the hot water to herself, and never had pubic hairs under the toilet seat lid. She watched chick flicks, never football, didnt have to wear lingerie that went up her ass, had high self esteem, never cried or yelled, felt and looked fabulous in sweat pants, burped, swore, and farted all the time. THE END

HELL WEEK is DONE!!!!!

sleeping beauty ballet tomorrow, ana francisco's birthday saturday and lots of homework catching up!

best of all? grey's anatomy is on tonight! yay!

happy happy happy!

i don't even really know how to begin this post. i have so many thoughts and ideas that i want to spew out so i'm just going to jump right in.

school is brutal.

ok, let's explain. first of all, i'm loving the program. it's a lot of hard work, sweat and blood. i already question the subjectiveness of some of the professor's grading schemes. it is very interesting to see how the marks are awarded, it seems like sometimes they are not really based a student's capability, but perhaps their personality. there is one student who really knows how to work. they go around to all the profs after class and while using different tactics to play up their weaknesses, are managing to get very good marks for doing nothing. incredible, just incredible.

second of all, this is a really intense and intimate program. with only 27 students in the class, we've all started to get to know each other very well. we're lucky in that we all get along really well. however, i'm starting to be able to read signs from people: when they are in a good mood, when they're in a bad mood. i can also recognize people's strengths and weaknesses. i suppose the key thing is to work with them especially since the program focuses on group work. everything is group work. i have group work coming out of my ears.

the only though, is that group work is only effective if everyone on the team contributes and works together. at ryerson i was lucky enough to get quite the power group. here, i have pretty much figured out what type of worker each person is. if the work mentality clashes, it can get pretty hairy.

thirdly, november is a bitch. a lot of presentations are coming up. in fact, i have 3 next week. yes, it's crazy, but i also knew it was coming up and had planned in advance how i was going to go abouts getting them done. but not everyone knows how to plan properly. some of my classmates are starting to get really stressed out and overwhelmed. i feel it too. the heat is on.

it doesn't help that the two jobs i had quit have asked me to come in randomly in november to help out. i have now ended up working 5 days a week for the next 3 weeks. this sucks soooo much.

so of course the only i can think of doing is to blog. but it helps. i can vent a little and then move on.

so i'm moving on...

happy birthday sandra and jill!

due to the excessive amounts of partying that i knew would ensue, i took an extra long nap this afternoon and have since come back from a night of all-you-can-eat korean bbq with sange, tony, christian, michelle, wen san, chris, and vivienne. then i went downtown to pravda for dear jill's birthday!

a night to remember...

jocelyn in the girl's bathroom with her head in the toilet that did not flush. jill in the boy's bathroom with her head in the toilet in the only stall. justin was standing in the middle of the hallway taking pictures of both his sister puking. hahahaha. it was just all so random! and boys and girls, this is why we don't go drinking at vodka bars!

in other housekeeping news: friday night i went to see "wicked" with my family. great musical with a very political storyline and catchy tunes. i liked how it explained how the scarecrow, lion and tin man came about, and why the wizard left in a balloon. what i didn't like about it was that it made glinda the good witch seem like a ditz. oh well, it was a nice family bonding session anyway.

reading week is upon us CCMers. yippee!

oh wow, time is just zipping by so quickly!

school has overtaken once again. interestingly enough, even though the work load is crazy busy (with 6 classes), i have not yet felt overwhelmed to the point of breaking down. not like when i was at u of t.

college is just a completely different experience than university. i've noticed that the university students seem to have a different work ethic and vibe then the non-uni students. it is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is definitely noted. i do not know if it is simply because i enjoy this program a lot, or if my new practice of not procrastinating has made a difference. *shrugs* either way, so far school is going well.

mind you, i have also never had so little sleep in my life.

i'm a princess when it comes to needing sleep *please, leave the snickering aside!* i am the first to admit that without a good 8-9 hr restful evening, i am not my perfectly normal, cheery, self. or so i thought. for the past month, i have been getting on average 5.5 hrs of sleep a night. that is a good 2.5 hrs less then what i would prefer! surprisingly, i am not that much more crankier...granted i am a LEEEETLE bit more tired, but it hasn't really affected how productive i am. no seriously, i am very surprised by this! what this means to me is that i never really needed those extra hours of sleep. buuut, reading week is coming up, and unless i am working those days next week, i plan on catching up on some zzz's! right, and of course, some readings. ;p

tonight at 8pm on CBC, the jobloft boys will be on the tv show Dragon's Den. Cat and I are going to hang out with them and celebrate! yay!

did anyone else know that the blackberry is a canadian-made product by a company called "Research In Motion"?

We had a class discussion on the national inferiority complex and why Canada has to fly in under the radar. For example, if it was known right away that the blackberry was canadian, would it have been as popular as it is now? Very few corporate personnel can live without a blackberry so that nationalism can come out now.

Interesting.

Yesterday's pre-thanksgiving dinner with CCM was a huge success! A whole bunch of us went to st. lawrence market and bought a nice turkey. After stopping off at the liquor store, we went back to Mel's condo and prepared it. While waiting for the turkey, Em and I prepared the stuffing and mashed potatoes. We also made garlic bread so we could tide the hunger. Mel made blue lagoons and that made me really buzzed and happy. Since the the turkey takes some time to cook, we watched "Down with Love" and just sat around and chatted.

I had to leave to go to the symphony with Michelle. The symphony was great but I was tired and had to really fight to keep from dozing (I kept dozing!) Since turkey was not ready when I left, the girls left me a plate of food for when I got back. Turkey turned out AMAZING. There was also sweet yams, beans, and cranberry sauce. Yum. The only problem was, I could not eat any dessert afterwards. That is alright, I had lots of little sugared donuts in the morning! ;p

The best part? No one got sick! hahaha

i have a confession to make (some people know this already):

i really enjoy running to music videos in the mornings.

they have a really nice beat going and some of them are really interesting. i like to keep on top of new popular music with much mega hits, and my favorite types are the ones that address social issues that are occuring in the world.

one that has made a big impact on me recently is hedley's gunnin'. their music video addresses one of my biggest concerns: society's perception of body image.

in their video, that have the lead singer in a relationship with a beautiful girl who believes that she is too fat. it is quite unfortunate because the girl is in reality, quite tiny. this is what makes me so upset, the fact that society encourages a norm that is less then normal. it has made most people (both girls and boys) lose sight of reality. when is thin too thin? no one knows anymore.

look at nicole ritchie. that is too thin. but what of beyonce, hilary duff, amanda bynes? why is no one calling them out? but on the other hand, if they were to gain weight, people would notice and make comments. hey, i'm no saint. i'll be the first to admit that i've said things to my friends in passing. but how is that society accepts this?

something to think about...

parte parte at 101 clinton last night!! jerome invited me, wongie and liz over to his house to have a little potluck party before his housemates (casey and kyle) had a houseparty in the evening. so it was a weird mesh of eating a lot of fried foods and then the alcohol and people coming...

the best part about last night:
jerome standing in the middle of his kitchen cooking for the three of us girls. that is the way life is supposed to be. none of this females cooking for males deal. jerome cooked fried plantains and fried venezuelan sandwiches with cheese and ham. i brought the potato salad, liz made a little bread/brie/apple/topping kind of appetizer, and wongie brought vegan brownies! so delicious and soooooo filling!

melanie's brother, alan popped by just as he made it in from italy. that was amusing as mel and i are forever trying to meet up but not making it. st. mike's iron man, jason, was also there, but i wasn't able to speak to him long because liz and i had just popped back into to use the facilities. haha. we had left the party at midnight because wongie got pretty drunk. not a bad drunk, but she definitely had the asian alcohol face! we walked her home and then caught a cab to go to "the village idiot" to see lukas and his buddies. oh lukas, i had been dying to meet him since liz started dating him back in april. very good looking, down-to-earth kind of guy. completely appropriate for her. stamp of approval. hahaha.

what a night! i didn't get home until 2:30am, yet here i am at 8:30am just popping around.

on thursday morning i received a very last minute invite to baldwin village for some all-you-can-eat-sushi that evening for matthew and joan's going away party. that is right. the two of them are leaving to teach in korea for a year next week! last time i spoke with matt (which was quite some time ago...sometime say, january?) he had mentioned that he would be going abroad, but i guess i just forgot about it. and knowing matt, he does send out last minute invites. but i was happy that i happened to be free and went freely and happily to see him off.

again, a lot of st. mike's engineers (because, naturally, matt would be from st. mikes) and desmond cole came to visit.

who is desmond cole? if you live in the spadina-trinity area, i suggest you check him out. i am particularly impressed with him because he was the one who won city idol for this role. i actually knew another guy, ron, who was running for this job, but desmond got it! so don't forget to vote on november 13!

now i should get back to doing some school work as tonight is "nuit blanche" in the city and i plan on seeing some more toronto night-time and their galleries. hahaha.

CALLIE: Four years of high school, four years of college, four years of med school. By the time we graduate we're in our late 20s and we've never done anything except go to school and think about science. Time stops. We're socially retarded. Ha, I mean, look at me, I'm in love with a guy who won't say he loves me back and here I am, in his kitchen, just hoping he comes home and notices me. I'm that girl, who sits in the back of the class and eats her hair. And Meredith, she's 17 years old, we're all 17 years old. This is high school with scalpels, Finn.

--

MEREDITH: "Finn-"
FINN: "I said we weren't exclusive. Thats all I wanted to say... Oh, and this: I know you think you're scary and damaged. It makes you think you don't deserve good things, but you do. And Derek, he's bad for you. But me, I'm a good thing. And if this is a race, if there is a ring, my hat is in.

--

CRISTINA: "He has sex with you and he's standing there all McGuilty and all he has to say is, 'What does this mean?'"

--

CALLIE: "Relax. I'm not gonna bring it up, you and McDreamy and the sex. I'm not that person."
MEREDITH: "Thank you."

--

IZZIE: "How did this happen? Why did we end up here? Why am I alone? Where's Denny?"
MEREDITH: "You're not alone, Izz."

--

ADDISON: "Derek, Derek, Derek, you can't do this, Derek. Derek, we have to, we have to talk about this. You have to give me a chance to explain. What are you doing? What are you doing with my clothes, Derek?! It was one time. I know that's what people say. I know that is what always gets said. It's just I don't even know how it happened, I don't know what I was thinking. It was just he was just here, it was just-"
DEREK: "You screw my best friend and all you have to say is, 'He was just here?'

--

CRISTINA: "What is wrong with you?"
MEREDITH: "Everything with me is fine, it's Izzie we're worried about."
CRISTINA: "Oh, what did you do?"
MEREDITH: "Denny died. Burke got shot. Let's just have a little perspective and realize that what I did was a tiny, slightly small..."
CRISTINA: "Oh, whatever, just spit it out!"
MEREDITH: "I lost my panties, last night."

--

jordan asked me very nicely to help him increase readership in his restaurant reviews. Bon appetit!

i'd post more but i unintentionally worked all day today and now am very tired, and am missing shelley.

ctv made a huge boo-boo. they played episode 2 of grey's anatomy on thursday night. i don't mind, it was all good because now i have watched BOTH episodes! i am proud to say that i know who meredith chooses! and bailey, i love that woman. i cried for almost every scene she was in. i'd talk more about it, but i don't want to spill the beans on next week's episode. sooooo...i'll just giggle to myself.

i went shopping after class today. i was at the promenade mall with cathy until 8:30pm. class finished at 4:15pm. ;p LOVE IT!

seriously, i actually don't shop very often. the last time i went hardcore shopping was in march, when i freaked out about the advent of summer, and decided i needed new work clothing. since then, i have done pretty well.

but then school started. and then i freaked out about buying "professional attire." but hey, i worked super long hours all summer, just so i could buy nice clothes for school/work. totally worth it. plus i did alot of school work today, so of course i felt the need to reward myself with the prettiest skirt from costa blanca! hahaha.

ames is tivoing grey's tomorrow night! i love that i can get the best of both worlds. tso with michelle, and then straight home for a straight hour of grey's! definitely lots to talk about after tomorrow.

Down to the earth I fell,
With dripping wings. Heavy things won't fly.
And the sky might catch on fire.
And burn the axis of the world, that's why
I prefer a sunless sky, to the glittering and
stinging in my eyes.

Oh I feel so light.
This is all I want to feel tonight.
Oh I feel so light.
Tonight and the rest of my life.

Gleaming in the dark sea,
I'm as light as air
Floating there breathlessly.
When the dream dissolves I open up my eyes,
I realize that everything is shoreless sea.
Weightlessness is passing over me.

Nina Gordon - Tonight and the rest of my life

i love love LOVE rain. especially when it's a nice warm sprinkly rain. the type of rain that when it falls on your head, it makes a tickly sensation that causes you to laugh out loud.

i walked home in the rain.

rain is like heaven opening up and expressing it's sadness, the sadness that i cannot express myself.

mom was cleaning out the cedar closet when i got home. she was pulling all of grandma's trunks out and taking out all the stuff in them. our basement hallway looked like a tornado had run through it's course. my aunt and uncle are now here going through her stuff, and just the smell of the cedar reminds me of my grandma. it's hard because most of the time, i am ok. life goes on. but once in a while, something will trigger bittersweet memories (such as the smell of the cedar, or an old picture of her) and then for tinest moment, i am swept away by a wave of sadness. it's like when i watch a movie (like snow cake), and the emotions of the movie are just so incredible that i find myself wiping the tears from my eyes.

i am such a sap. i love movies that make me cry. it reassures me that i AM human, and that i DO have emotions. (contrary to popular belief...)

in other lighter and happier news:
happy happy birthday fayewood! we had an amazing time saturday night. yuk yuk's could have been better, but hey, at least we had ron, and HE was funny without making stupid perverted guy jokes. tanaka and alanna, you guys missed out on a good time! we stopped off at steve and jacob's condo-warming party which was conveniently 2 mins away from yuk yuk's and GOT THE PARTE STARTED!!! pictures from that night will be posted soon.

this weekend was phenomenal. i ran into ray and his girlfriend, pauline, while i was volunteering at the film fest at ryerson. it's like university flashbacks or something because i had run into ian friday night when i was at the rom with liz. sometimes i wonder that the world isn't smaller. it's kind of cool to know that toronto is my new york, and i am almost literally, carrie.

yay, grey's anatomy is back thursday! very super excited.

this one here had the bright idea of rollerblading to school yesterday morning. here's the kicker: i don't know how to rollerblade.

yes, i know, it was pure genius. i walked up the hill past dufferin because i knew i would die if i didn't. i strapped on the blades, and then proceeded towards campus with my backpack (which of course would not help with balance whatsoever.) Needless to say, as karina called it "an accident waiting to happen." i think i provided the most amusement to commuters as i fell twice in the middle of some intersections. quite mortifying i must say, but hey, we're talking to a trooper here. i did it, i made it to school all in one piece, although my aching body this morning begs to differ.

i think i need to learn how to stop for intersections.

i *heart* my sister so much right now. i was just reading up on some friend's and cousin's lives and she surprised me with this. it also makes me suspicious...hahaha

thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes! really, i'd throw a huge party but it would just be too much work and too many people who don't really know each other, and i much rather see everyone individually to make each time unique. i know, cheesy but so true.

yesterday i spent most of the day with my family. we went to the st. lawrence market place to look at the vendors and wait for my sister to get off work so we could visit the distillery district. i have never been to the distillery district before. it's a small compound that houses restaurants, gallerys and balzacs. although it was pouring outside, we geared up in rainwear and umbrellas and had a really good time. the original plan was to go to ontario place afterwards to see the lantern festival of lights, but due to the rain, we decided that we will go tomorrow.

so instead, i went out with faye, karina, and matthew to the silver dollar where we met up with christie and her friend raphael to see another of her friends (who i met at alicia and christie's hot tub party friday night) play in a band called "key witness." jordan, jacob and aron were nice enough to join us there as well, but we didn't stay too long. it was more to hang out and hear the band. then because i am a party pooper (as well as older now) we all went home. ahaha. but it is also partly because i had to go to see too of my little kids this morning. ahhh, how i love my kids!

since friday was my last day at work *tear* i had a little going back to school party at demetres with my work buddies. the service was not stellar, but hey, i got my belgium waffle with ice cream! and yes, so i DID mention a hot tub parte. alicia and her condo roommate christie were incredible hostesses, what with planning how to get the alcohol up to the roof without getting in trouble, and then finding suitable hot tub wear for the boys who did not bring anything for the hot tub. i have to admit that sometimes it is intimidating to walk around in a bikini, but we did it, and no one got hurt! ;p

i saved the best part for last.

i just got home from having malaysian food with sange, christian, michelle and matthew. the food was amazing. i love roti! and i love that roti isn't just a part of indian food (although it's made a little differently.) boy were we glad we went to dinner early. the line ups outside was ginormous when we left. it rivaled our tummys! anyway, after we dropped off the kids, matt gave me my birthday present in the car and i played 1000 questions all the way home. there was absolutely no way i would have EVER guessed my present. i do not know why i even tried!

it is a prickly black cat bank. yes it is.

i could not stop laughing with horror as i opened it. hahaha. yes, it was quite a horrible laughter! haha. but i love it. there is no place for it in my room, but i have found the most wonderful home for it.

and that was the best present ever. well, after the sleeping beauty tickets from michelle, and the grey's anatomy cd from my sister.

let the birthday celebrating begin!

first off, it seems that facebook has been telling everyone that my birthday was yesterday. it was not. my birthday is tomorrow. but thanks for the early wishes!

there was a happy abbeyite gathering at marche last night. taline is newly engaged and so she, anna p, and lilian sat on one side of the table while the rest of us single and unengaged girls (me, faye, and karina) sat on the other side. ha. segregation at it's best! so we talked about weddings, and fiances and dresses and lives, and work and everything and had a great old time reminicing about highschool. we wondered how mr. desilets and ms. villano (aka, mrs. desilets) are doing and how other abbeyites are faring. since marche is market style food, it felt like we were in highschool all over again because we were getting our food and sitting at those long table-like benches.

in the end, we decided that since faye's birthday is coming up in 2 weeks time, that we are definitely going to do another outting, perhaps clubbing. ha. more like devil's martini. ;p

here we go...another chapter in my life is about to close.

as most people know, i have been teaching piano for as long as i can remember. i think i started in gr. oac in highschool. from a teeny bopper with no idea what i was doing, to a full-fledged, confident and fun teacher, i've come quite a way. ideally, i'd love to continue teaching part time in the future. but as of now, there is no way to foresee what is to come, so in order for my students (who i love love LOVE) to get the best of piano, i have decided to stop teaching.

*gasp*

i have absolutely no idea how i will be able to handle the void of teaching!!!! i mean, yes, i've had days when i was frustrated and disappointed, but then there are always the many other days when i am overcome with proudness for what they have accomplished. it's every teacher's desire for their kids to succeed, and i am no different.

last night i almost started crying when two sisters gave me a homemade card that said:

To Christina =)

You have been a wonderful, understanding, kind and considerate piano teacher. The list just goes on and on.

Whenever there was something we were not sure of, or something that was new, you explained in ways that we would understand 100%!

We will miss you soooooooo much!! We will never find a teacher like you!

We wish you the best in the future.

Sincerely,

N & M

*tear* I'm going to miss my tiny tykes!

each week brings something new and different, you just don't know what to expect.

after a relatively sombre weekend before, this weekend was social weekend. we kick started by celebrating amelia's birthday at a CHINESE RESTAURANT (anyone who knows my sister would know that she isn't the biggest fan of chinese food) but we actually had really delicious steamed fish and other dishes.

after we had sufficiently gorged ourselves on good food, i went home and went straight to sleep. ha! i know i'm older now, but not THAT old! actually, i was supposed to go to christian's birthday party (where, incidentally i heard he got super piss ass drunk...) but due to an ear infection (that came out of no where) i decided to see if i put rubbing alcohol on it and went to sleep it might get better. tanaka's plane came in from acapulco at 11:45pm that evening and matt and i went to make sure she got home alive. we decided that it would be fun to randomly go to the airport and wave at people, pretending to wait for someone! :S

so in the end, i didn't end up getting home until 2:30am AND i had work at 9am that morning. see? taking a nap was a good idea afterall!

other highlights of this fun-filled weekend included:

- really surprising jordan for his surprise welcome home party. HE thought jake and i were just taking him out for the evening to catch up and hang out. but WE knew better. we spent a good hour at second cup talking about his trip, and then as a sneaky side, i got them to take me to walmart where harry potter did a good job wasting time, as did looking at cosmetics and checking our blood pressures! then we went to dave and busters to "pick up jake's car keys from chad." i have no idea if the car keys were picked up, but what ensued was a beautiful catered dinner on 3 pool tables with 40 of jordan's friends and family. quite a successful operation if i say so myself.

sunday was quite the smcsu reunion. in the evening, liz and i went to meet up with rita at future's bakery at bloor and brunswick. manny dropped by for a bit, as did billy dunn, and lily wong also accidently came upon on our merry group when she walked in with some friends. it was really nice to see rita again (who was the main reason we met up.) liz i had met up on thursday when we went to see don giovanni with jacob.

so there's a little fun at the end of august. more to come!

Berceuse
Quelqu'un pleure dans le silence
morne des nuits d'avril;
Quelqu'un pleure la somnolence
Longue de son exil.
Quelqu'un pleure sa douleur.
Et c'est mon coeur...

- Emile Nelligan
for grandma

good morning fellow readers.

i am currently sitting in our pretty posh Wyndham Chicago hotel room that is literally 30 seconds away from the famous michigan avenue (magnificant mile.) i spent the last two days a lollapalooza watching all these bands from grant park, an awesome experience, but alas, this has also resulted in a VERY crispy girl! mom and dad toured the city on a double decker bus and checked out the water tower while ames and i suntanned at the festival.

friday night after watching stars, we all met up together for dinner at the hotel luxe cafe. afterwards, ames went to watch sleater-kinney and some of death cab for cutie while i went with mom and dad to the art institute of chicago for some FREE impressionist viewings. the museum is humongous (like going to the louvre in paris) but all i really cared about (and had the time for) were the paintings of renoir, degas, picasso, and joan miro. i was pretty disappointed with the musuem's collection of salvador dali. but it was still pretty fun. also saturday between feist and kill hannah, ames and i caught a free trolley ride around the city and went to see the adler planetarium and the shedd aquarium. it's a good thing we weren't planning on going in, the line were ginormous! we just took in the beautiful city.

i have to comment on the architecture of this city. as soon as we drove in thursday afternoon, i had this feeling like i'd seen this place before. i wonder if batman's gotham city was based on the city of chicago. the transit runs above ground like in the movie. the buildings run between modern architecture (such as the corn on the cob condo buildings) and older gothic buildings like the tribune tower. there's also a lot of other buildings that i don't know the names to but from grant park you get an awesome view.

so far, the most fun i've had are the free stuff. the streets of chicago are teaming with really neat sounds and sights especially when walking past millenium park (the cloudgate.) ames' is particularly impressed with the walkby chess games that are set up on the side of the street. anyone can just stop by and play a game with the next person, and you see all types of people, from business men to little children who are just standing on the street playing chess. also on the side of the grass, there's a guy who has a couple of muppet-like puppets that are attached like marionnettes. he plays jazz music and then with his puppets have them dance around. also, when dad and i were waiting for ames after the art institute, two guys set up several pails on the sidewalk in front of the museum at closing time and starting banging on them with their drum sticks. it was quite a phenomenal experience just to sit infront of the museum steps and listen to these guys bop away.

we're heading onto a lunch cruise off of navy pier in an hour so we'll check out the scenery there as well. it's supposed to rain today and this makes me nervous because we're getting a boat. i'm debating whether i should take a gravol or not before. i'm leaning towards taking the gravol...

i went to the Andy Warhol SUPERNOVA exhibit at the AGO yesterday. it had been a really long time since i'd gone to an event by myself. usually i'd find a friend or co-worker to go with me, but after speaking with kristy (who told me that we stand at the exhibits listening to a hand-held phone to our ear), i decided that it would be less stressful (as in finding someone to go with) just going alone. i was lucky, as there was also a small exhibit for some of rembrant's sketches, so i went to take a look at those first before the main show. i personally prefer looking at classic art (as opposed to modern contemporary art) and as my favorite art era is the impressionism period, so i really enjoyed looking at the micro sketches with it's fine detailing.

warhol's exhibit was simply fascinating! this specific exhibit focused on celebrities, death and disaster but with the free audiophone included in the show, i was able to gain some valuable insight into warhol's philosophy. because he worked on silkscreens and film, there was a mix of paintings and movies that were playing in the exhibit. my favorite was the screen tests. in this showing, the audience is watching a silent 4 minute (per person) screen tests for movies that were never meant to be made. The screen tests were of people who wanted to become famous or people who were prominent in the art scene (like salvador dali, edie sedgwick, dennis hopper, bob dylan...). but i was really drawn to this one because if i stood there watching the whole time, you could really see the vulnerability of the people doing the screen tests, almost like you're looking into their souls....

another great painting is the miriam davidson. i think i really liked that one because of all the different colors. plus miriam was made because of her likeness to jackie kennedy (who warhol also had an obsession with.) there's so much more that i'm not mentioning because i don't want to give too much away, but over all i really enjoyed the solo time at the art gallery. mind you, i probably would have had just as much fun if i went with a friend, but once in awhile (which i haven't had in a long time) i like having free time for myself.

i'm so interested in warhol's philosophy, and my friend nelson has so kindly lent me warhol's book. i'm excited to read it, so since it looks like this weekend is a rainy weekend, i might spend some time curled on the sofa with a nice mug of hot tea and a book. oooh yah, that sounds great! ;p

Your true colour is brown!

You're brown, a credible, stable colour that's reminiscent of fine wood, rich leather, and wistful melancholy. Most likely, you're a logical, practical person ruled more by your head than your heart. With your inquisitive mind and insatiable curiosity, you're probably a great problem solver. And you always gather all of the facts before coming to a timely, informed decision. Easily intrigued, you're constantly finding new ways to challenge your mind, whether it's by reading the newspaper, playing a trivia game, or composing a piece of music. Brown is an impartial, neutral colour, which means you tend to see the difference between fact and opinion easily and are open to many points of view. Trustworthy and steady, you really are a brown at heart.

www.tickle.com

Showcase - July/August 2006
By Karen Bliss

Nick-e
Who: Nick-e
What: sultry stuff
Where: Newmarket, ON
To Contact: www.nickeonline.com.

In the "thank you" section of her debut EP, Mosaic, Toronto soul singer Nick-e declares, "Wow! It's finally here. It's been a four-year labour of love, hate and all that good stuff rolled into one." So what did she roll in this six-song collection recorded mostly at Toronto's Kitchen Sync Digital Audio? Well, the first two songs are simply sultry. The title track, which is reminiscent of a less jazzy Sade, features piano and cello, then "It Feels Good" puts some snap (quite literally) into the smooth vibe. One can tell Nick-e, whose real name is Nicole Pratt, can sing - she's been doing it since the age of three - but one really wants her to bust out and show that she can roar. Instead, the next song, "Numb", is totally leftfield, a menacing, mostly programmed track on which she delivers a trip-of-the-tongue vocal. Then, she gets jazzy on "I Say" and "If You Were Here" - employing real instruments such as horns, congas, and upright bass before -ending with the moody electronic-based "Turn Me Around". Nick-e, who won the Mark Caporal Songwriting Award and Great Big Music Studio's best vocal performance award while studying recorded music production at London, ON's Fanshawe College, produced the EP herself.

and the girl is GOOD! My girl Nick-e performed at "Ciao Edie's" last night in "The Skiffle In My Ear" showcase. The performance started around midnight (yes, yes i DID go out very late at night on a work night!! ;p) and featured 4 other singers. Luckily, nick-e started first and so i was able to enjoy her and some of the others and didn't feel guilty about leaving without hearing her. I was very pleasantly surprised to see that i knew the bartender working at ciao edie's. his name is joseph, and i knew him as a waiter at the most exquisite restaurant, "honey kaffe." however, i was disappointed to hear that honey kaffe decided not to renew it's lease and has thus since closed down. boooo. i really loved their food! so if you hear about nick-e, check her out!

Her face is a map of the world, is a map of the world
You can see she’s a beautiful girl, she’s a beautiful girl
And everything around her is a silver pool of light
People who surround her feel the benefit of it
It makes you calm
She’ll hold you captivated in her palm

Suddenly I see (Suddenly I see) this is what I want to be
Suddenly I see (Suddenly I see) why the hell it means so much to me
(Suddenly I see) This is what I want to be
Suddenly I see (Suddenly I see) why the hell it means so much to me

I feel like walking the world like, like walking the world
You can hear she’s a beautiful girl, she’s a beautiful girl
She fills up every corner like she’s born in black and white
Makes you feel warmer when you’re trying to remember what you heard
She likes to leave you hanging on her word

Suddenly I see (Suddenly I see) this is what I want to be
Suddenly I see (Suddenly I see) why the hell it means so much to me
(Suddenly I see) This is what I want to be
Suddenly I see (Suddenly I see) why the hell it means so much to me

And she’s taller than most, and she’s looking at me
I can see her eyes looking from the page of a magazine
She makes me feel like I could be a tower, big strong tower yeah

The power to be
The power to give
The power to see, yeah, yeah (Suddenly I see)
She got the power to be
The power to give
The power to see, yeah, yeah (Suddenly I see)

She got the power to be
The power to give
The power to see, yeah, yeah, yeah (Suddenly I see)
She got the power to be
The power to give
The power to see, yeah, yeah (Suddenly I see)
She got the power to be
The power to give
The power to see, yeah, yeah

Suddenly I see (Suddenly I see) this is what I want to be
Suddenly I see (Suddenly I see) why the hell it means so much to me
(Suddenly I see) This is what I want to be
Suddenly I see (Suddenly I see) why the hell it means so much to me

- from "the devil wears prada"

finally! this super loooong month is finally coming to an end!!

it's been a massive blur of working long hours every SINGLE DAY, and going out with friends, fulfilling friendship obligations (ie, to my graduating friends, congratulations!), and going to dinners with the family.

today was the 11th annual music recital at my work, and not that it's over, my chaotic weekends will relax for a bit. now most of my students are on vacation so i can relax and teach only a few sporadically over the week. that means i get back alot of time. and just in time for summerlicious!

it's been a long time since i've had the time or desire to post while at work. but i am currently sitting at this desk and contemplating either a) falling asleep or b) chopping off my right arm or c) going home early.

i was going to post this uber-long msg at 8am yesterday but then we had a blackout, and it erased everything that i wrote...so i was too lazy to re-type everything.

basically, i'm perpetually tired from work 7 days a week so the past week i've been going home and sleeping. but i do still like to see my friends, and since work has started their summer hours, i can get off work on fridays as early as 1pm, which leaves me plenty of time to make the most of a friday afternoon! this friday i walked with kristy from eglinton to bloor (along yonge) and as i was leaving the bloor station to go to carleton and sherbourne, i randomly ran into immanuel on the steps of the royal bank! so i sat down and chatted with him for a bit and then went over to pauline's where she cooked an awesome gourmet-like dinner for me using the herbs she's growing on her balcony.

i have somehow hurt my right arm around the rotator cuff. i did something to it wednesday and since then, it just hasn't been right. it seemed to get better on friday, but then yesterday i think i made it worse because i tried to bowl with it. it's all the weather's fault! work had a wonderland day so it was supposed to be all sunny and fun, but then it was just raining and raining so no wonderland! so bowling instead, and now a screwy right arm! i had gone with karina, kristy and matt, so karina and kristy played for me instead as i watched them all compete. my goodness kristy's a competitive one! she lost both bowling games so she and karina started playing air hockey and she was soooo aggressive! hahahaha, those two kill me! but it was all good times!

the month's are going by so fast! may was crazy what with seeing my abbey girls, tanaka (who's in costa rica now), and faye, and watching the season finale of grey's with ana, and going to the TSO THREE TIMES with michelle, and pusateri's with larissa and pauline, and going to a party with cat and the jobloft boys, and let's not forget seeing shelley for her birthday!!!! and now we're in june and the weather is crappy, it doesn't know whether it's happy or sad.

at least life is moving, and even though i KNOW i'm going to burn out from work soon, the fact that i know i'm going back to school in september makes it all worth it. i'd been hit by the travelling bug since may (i want to go to shanghai) but i'm holding out for belgium...i can do it! it doesn't help that half my friends are gone away: liz is studying in italia for the summer, and tee just left to teach english in nagoya, japan where mark sutherland and rachel mettler already are, and jerome is becoming a teacher in buffalo, and bernadette's in korea...soooo jealous!

but summer will zip by fast and before i know it, grey's anatomy will be back on thursdays! ;p

Izz, its not Denny. The minute his heart stopped beating he stopped being Denny. Now I know you love him, but he also loved you. And a guy that loves you like that, he doesn't want you to do this to yourself. Because its not Denny, not anymore.
- Alex Karev from Grey's Anatomy Losing Religion

i'm sooooo annoyed right now. last night i went with pauline to get latte's at this place called "jet fuel" on parliment and carleton at around 7:30pm. I HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO SLEEP PROPERLY SINCE!!! it's currently 6:15am. i've been up since 5:30am and i wasn't able to get any shut eye until after 1am last night. this is ridiculous!!!! i'm just soooo wired right now! ahhhh!!!

anyway, i'm going to try and drain my energy all day so that i can finally get some proper rest. and the perfect way to get me all tired is counterpoint of course! i've already resigned myself to the fact that i'm probably not going to pass the exam, so i'm just mosying on, just trying to get the basic stuff down. i don't think i'll sign up for this class again, it was more of a learning experience. i'm just not very creative in that way!

i'm also the mail girl at work today. so i'm going to wear a cute little skirt and be a cute little mail girl! hahaha. it's so much better than being in the accounting dept! i just get to deliver mail and chat with all my co-workers! i think today will be a fun day!

i am doing the cn tower climb for wwf-canada on saturday april 29, 2006. if anyone is interested, please sponsor me by going here and under public climb, click on sponsor, look for me and donate whatever you'd like. i've spoken to a couple of people about the climb and i'm a little nervous about it because i have been soooooo out of shape for awhile and apparently the air gets thinner the higher you go.

as for the long weekend, man, i really needed it. being a working girl really really sucks. however, after work on thursday, i went out with a couple of co-workers to st. louis' for cheap wings and fries. that was fun! nelson is such a sweetheart, and kristy is always fun to go out with. apparently the party kept going until the wee hours of the morning, but i didn't stay very long because i was going to meet another special someone....larissa!!! i've been trying to meet up with her for awhile, but our schedules have been quite conflicting. we went to cafe nervousa in yorkville and the evening was so nice and warm. i think because school is coming to a close, alot of people are now freer. larissa and i will try to make a sunday brunch date for pusateri's this weekend.

i also got to visit my grandma for the first time since the christmas holidays and i feel so bad for her. she's at this point in her life where her back pains her so much that she can't even sit anymore. it's so hard to see someone you love fall apart. i think it bothers me alot because she used to live with us when we were small, so i never had to wonder how she was doing because everyday when i came home from school, there she was. it's when she moved out and into a nursing home that it hit me how far away she was going, and how much i depended on her presence when things got rough. and there isn't anything i can do to help her lessen the pain. so i just sit quietly and listen to my mom banter with grandma. just seeing her makes me happy.

so that was friday afternoon...afterwards, i met up with shelley at a tim hortons and we had one of our "all-out" conversations because we never see each other and so everything accumulates. haha. we pretty much catgorize the priority topics (family, work, friends) and then after that we go more into specifics and little sub-categories! there was this one episode on gilmore girls, where lorelai and rory had been in a ginormous argument and after they made up, lorelai pulled out all this little notes of scrap paper that she had been keeping so that she could tell rory after the fight. i think we do the same thing but we're not fighting, just busy!

then after shelley, i went downtown to meet up with pauline and margaret for korean bbq. yup, still gotta get together with the SAS (sex and city) girls! we have yet to meet pauline's elusive mark, but margaret's being hooked up with tom. yup, that's the gist of our evening, but it's always more fun in the moment.

saturday was 'family' day after work. yes, grace and juju, you ARE family. and since ames couldn't make it, i had to pick up the slack. haha, i didn't do much though. we watched "walk the line" and ate alot of food. hahaha.

since grey's anatomy isn't on again until april 30, i was able to take the much needed time to work on some counterpoint with jonathan. honestly, i don't know what i would do without him. actually, that is what i have to do this evening too. all i know is that i have zero creative juices when it comes to music. i think i should stick with playing songs that have been written already. hahaha.

so my long weekend in a relative nutshell. i'm sure i'm missing alot more activity that i've done, afterall, my life is all about running around and doing things. i just never have the time to sit down and blog. i'm only blogging now because work is kind of sloooow. although, they feed me quite well! ;p

i just woke up from the most wonderful sleep! i crashed at 8pm last night and now feel fresh as a daisy! well actually, if you must know, i'd rather keep sleeping...but work prevails.

once again, weekends are crazy and this past weekend was no exception. it all began with sleepless nights the week before because every evening after work, i'd meet up with ana, margaret, and shae to practice our speeches at city hall's speakers corner. yes, our FINAL speech took place at city hall. friday night, i was up until after midnight refining my visuals practicing and practicing and...practicing. yes yes, i'm such a keener! ;p

bright and early saturday morning, i sold my soul to matthew, who came with me to tape the speeches. i think i owe him ice cream too! but alas, it was too cold for ice cream that morning, so he had to settle for hot chocolate. haha. my class time is three hours normally, however, on this particular day, we didn't finish up until 1pm, which calculates to a FOUR hour class.

i am so proud of my girls! margaret gave the speech of her life on eugenics. if anyone heard her speak during the week, they'd throw fits like the ones i threw at her. but she really improved and practiced and MADE IT WORK! and shae was just incredible. shae's always had such a flair for writing, i call them "shaeisms" but she becomes a little timid when speaking to the audience. SHE just knocked the socks off everyone that day too! david was so proud of us too! he suggested that he could help me create an 800 word paper from my speech and then i should send it in to the globe and mail! ;p

anyway, afterwards, i had to work for 5 hrs up north, and then jetted back downtown to attend a new creations festival at the tso with karina. we went to see chinese percussion instruments, it was sooooo cool!

sunday, i met up with ana p who i hadn't seen in FOREVER. i think the last time i had run into her was during the summer on the danforth. we met up at the starbucks just south of her place and it's the cutest starbucks i've been to yet! (i know, how cute can starbucks be? but i think it was tailored to go with the exterior of the other stores, and they are all very quaint)

and yesterday, i met up with manny after work and we went to grazie for dinner. manny has been in kingston studying law, and the fact that i see him pretty much never, that was a real treat! he was in town to see a south concert with terry and i'm glad he made time for me! i am only sorry that i missed seeing terry as he was still working...next time terry!

THURSDAY COLDPLAY SHOW = A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.

i'm currently wearing my new coldplay t-shirt. it's purple with white lettering (of coldplay, duh) and a black and blue shadow picture of the band jumping in the air. hotness! michelle and i went to see coldplay thursday and even though we were in the 300 section and chris martin looked miniature (ok, i couldn't REALLY see him) it was ALL GOOD. they really know how to use the lights, and i just love the voice and the music! i was singing along to every single song, so nutty! AND i ran into terrence at the bus terminal on my way there, and he was soooo jealous, but i told him we'd take pictures. hopefully all the pictures mich took will come out awesome!

i *heart* coldplay.

ok, that's all. i just needed to post a little something for my love of coldplay.

wasting time while waiting for grey's to come on. hahaha.

i spent a good 5 hrs with jonathan today working on our counterpoint. and the output? we finished only TWO songs. and both of them had a cantus firmus (one line is given and we have to fill in the other.) by the time we left, we were both pretty high on those board markers (hahaha) and wondering why we decided to torture ourselves with this class! on the brightside, at least i have something to show dennis on wednesday!

last night i attended this cd release party for prince at the drake hotel. it was IN-TER-ESTING....lots of people...lots of OLDER people...and lots of guys kept staring at me while i was waiting for matthew to find his friend. hahaha. i just kept on standing infront of the fireplace because i was so cold! and then on the way home, cat called to tell me that as she was waiting at a red light, a car stopped by her and someone was waving at her. at first she thought it was some weirdo trying to pick her up (she was in the club district.) turns out it was levan! now we're going to try and see him for coffee sometime. ;p

alright, enough procrastinating, there's another speech to be written, it will be presented at speakers' corner in city hall shortly....ahhhhhhh!!!!

large post alert! (only because i've been too lazy/tired to blog recently)

my life in a nutshell:

last friday i stayed over at pauline's with margaret because we were working on our speeches that took place saturday morning. that was SUCH a brutal evening! we were all up until 3:30am trying to help each other with the reports, the media releases, and the news-bites! and then i woke up at 6:30am because i couldn't sleep i was so nervous! the actual presentation was incredible. since i was the first person to present my speech, i hit them hard and heavy! ;p

it was after the class that was really hard for me because i had to go to work...and then saturday evening was michelle's birthday dinner. hahaha. i thought the dinner was going to be short and sweet, but it lasted until almost midnight and then we all went out for bbtea too! sandra sent me the pictures from that evening and i will post them as soon as i get some down time at home!

sunday i went to see the raptors play at the acc. i like to think it was because i was there that they won. hahaha! ames' got us gold seats and i could actually see the player's faces! ;p just for the record, jeff foster is very good looking! haha!

other highlights from the past couple of weeks include (but limited to):

- meeting with des and seeing the new biochem building. how exciting it must be to work on the top floor with open windows on all sides! we had korean food on baldwin, ahhhh good ol baldwin!

- going to see "brokeback mountain" with alicia. we both liked the aesthetics, and the torn emotions of heath ledger. hahaha. amazing that ang lee can make a sea of sheep look good!

- going out to dna nightclub for cat's birthday. that was it's own dramatic episode involving picking up the mc that night and then going out for a lunch date that just couldn't be the longest lunch of my life! at least i can say "been there, done that" and be done with doing THAT ever again!

- going out to demetres with shelley! demetres is now reserved only with shelley, it's our meeting place for when we see each other which is pretty much never! but i'm proud that even through our busyness, we're still really keen on keeping in touch. the hardest part is that last year at this time, we'd never have thought twice about hanging out everyday!

working has been really draining recently. i've been going in a little earlier and leaving a little later, that combined with piano and doing work for classes (or in the case of counterpoint, JUST going to classes) and seeing friends on the side...it's been crazy! also, because pauline has been moving to her new place we've been visiting and just being there for her through this new phase of her life.

my only sad thing is that as i was browsing through everyone's photos of formal, i realized how much i missed going to these events! i realize i'm in a new chapter of my life, but sometimes i wish it was back in the day with all my good friends. the good thing is that the people who really care about me still keep in touch, and that's the best feeling in the world, even if it's once in a blue moon. the important thing is that it's THERE.

that being said, i should back to work!

it's so weird that i haven't posted in awhile. i've been so incredibly busy. jordan left for lyon last wednesday and i didn't even get to see him before he left. :( he makes me so jealous, being in france for at least 6 months!

work is work. i've been pulling some OT because i like the money. hahaha. i spent my extra cash at nine west where they were having a year-end sale and i bought a sweet pair of blue heels (i was looking for black,) and then i went back and bought a pair of classic black pumps, god they are so gorgeous. Dinners with pauline don't help either! just last night, i went with her to try the "pear tree." their french onion soup had a weird sweet taste to it, and the cesear salad was too cheesy. their bread rolls are amazing though! i had their tailapia and that was really good, but i tried one of pauline's potatoes and it was gross. hahaha. margaret came halfway through so we could dish on greg. hahaha. when the four of us (pauline, margaret, erin and i) get together, we are the fab four almost like in sex and the city, but asian canadian style.

last saturday, i went with kristy (a co-worker who moved here about a month ago from australia), karina, faye and mat to the "blue moon" on queen st east where my good friend, matt was djing. man, that was a good time. after 3 glasses of bailey's on the rock (because they don't serve baileys and coffee) i was like the happiest girl on earth. kristy was funny too because after a wine and 2 beers, she looked ready to hug the next person who came in! good music and drinks plus great company... what more could you ask for? and geordie and nicki stopped by to see matt play and i have seen those two since 2nd year!

sometimes it's hard to coordinate times to meet up with friends, but when it happens it is definitely worth it! well, now i'm wide awake, and it's time for work. !!!

Dear gentle men and women, it's that time of the evening yet again...

instead of working on my speech, i just finished watching the two-part grey's anatomy AGAIN. *sigh* such a procrastinator, i believe i get my best work done at this time of evening. haha.

anyway, i thought i'd share this email i received from my professor regarding our test next week...he is soooo jokes!

Orators--

Test #1 will be conducted Saturday, Feb. 25. It covers chapters 1 though 8. There are 80 questions-- 40 true or false, and 40 multiple choice. You have 60 minutes to complete it.

Please note that all types of success enhancement techniques (SET) will be permitted. This includes, but is not limited to, looking at other people’s answers, peeking at your textbook, eating energy food, deep breathing, phoning an intelligent friend, using the CD that came with the text, coded notes on small cards, bribing the teacher, or working with someone who seems to know a lot. Talking is permitted. Mild assaults of students who appear to be doing better than you are also permitted.

The test is worth 5%.

David

as lyle would say...cheers!

You were wearing that ratty little Dartmouth t-shirt you look so good in.
You just washed your hair and you smelled like some kinda flower.
I was running late for a surgery...you said you were gonna see me later...
Then you leaned to me, put your hand on my chest...and you kissed me.
Soft. It was quick. Kinda like a habit.
You know, like we'd do it every day for the rest of our lives.
You went back to reading the newspaper and I went to work.
That was the last time we kissed.

- Derek recalling the last time he and Meredith kissed from Grey's Anatomy

man, i was just dying last night as i was watching this episode. although i'd have to agree with matthew (yah, i got him hooked! ;p ) that the first part from last week was better then this week. why wasn't anyone else upset the the bomb squad dude blew up? he literally became pink mist. and i totally saw it coming...there was absolutely no way there were going to kill meredith or any of the other main characters.

in other news:
i was accepted!!! whooo hoo!

that is all (haha)

aww, it always feels good to do something nice for someone and then see them so happy! today is one of my co-worker's birthday and so i thought i'd get him a cake or chocolate as a token of appreciation for logging on to the computers for me (i don't have my own log-in!!) wait! he's on a diet?!? haha, apparently he's trying to cut out sweets and pop. so who am i to crash on his diet? i went out to dominion and bought him a nice big red (organic) apple, and an orange. the bananas looked really green so i skipped that. hahaha. he's SOOOO HAPPY with his apple. he cut it up and is now currently sharing it with everyone. ;p

edit:
next day, he took out the orange and shared that with me. haha, we have a special bond now! (unlike me and some other asian co-worker who shall remain nameless...)

i started counterpoint at anna and jonathan. dennis is our teacher, it's going to be mighty interesting...i don't remember ANY harmony from what...7-8 years ago? so i'm already the kid with the dunce cap.

i think i'll blog tomorrow. i always think better in the morning anyway...

the last time i worked out was two weeks ago tomorrow. no, my new years resolution wasn't to lose weight, no i don't make resolutions, and no i didn't want to stop working out.

the treadmill is BROKEN. *tear*

i don't know how it happened, but one day i came home from work and our machine was in various pieces on the floor. that's not how i have come to know and love the machine (although clearly not enough to name it, hahaha.) the worst part is that the MACHINE MAN DID IT! apparently he came and took the machine apart to fix it (there was a tiny tear in the track) and realized he had the wrong part and left. who does that? put the machine back together again until you get the new part!!!!

i'm on a treadmill withdrawal.

just an update on maintenance guy:

despite what happened when the misunderstanding started , i still do not yet understand why the cold shoulder of all a sudden ....continuing to be nice to me would help , ignoring me is the puzzling part. i like you and you know that but i will not go over the line when i know your committed ok? your a nice girl ....i hope you continue to work for MINTO in the future...Good Luck

just so everyone knows, this email pissed me off. now he's telling me how to act with him? just because everything is weird because of HIM, he's telling me i'm being cold and ignoring him? what a small-minded individual, it made me so angry. in the end i just didn't reply. i suppose that also constitutes as ignoring him, but you know what? he brought it upon himself. what was i suppose to write back? so sorry, i'll try harder to incorporate your creepiness into my life ?!?!? anyway, enough about that.

in other news:
even though i SHOULD be working on my next presentation that is due tomorrow morning, it appears that i'd rather blog then do that. i think it's because i just need a break from writing well. hahaha. it's definitely been an interesting time since the last time i blogged and wanted to update so many times but i've just been too busy. so here it is now.

i'm now working full-time so that makes me happy in one aspect. but only one. the satisfaction of making some cash to save for school and travelling. I'm not UNhappy at work, it's just so boring. i suppose someone's got to do it, and here i am. the biggest problem up to date from working full-time now is that i have NO time for anything else.

i'm currently still taking french classes at alliance so my tuesday and thursdays are shot to hell. i try to stick in some dinner dates those evenings, but since cat isn't taking french with me this semester, i find that i am not motivated to do my homework. hahaha. counterpoint starts in 2 weeks and since i haven't taken harmony since 8 years ago, i'm pretty much screwed. no hope there so moving on...

on jan 18, jacob and i went to see a symphony on mozart's work. titled "The Singing Voice", it was played at the TSO. Peter Oundjian was the conductor for that evening, and it showcased Viktoria Mullova on violin and Isabel Bayrakdarian as the soprano. What a great evening! i even ran into tarik and brian from anthropology. can you imagine? i can't even manage to get together with tarik, but of course we meet at a symphony. he cracks me up. that evening was interesting because i had taken two packets of neocitran during the day and therefore had to leave work early to go home and sleep before the concert. how was i suppose to know that neocitran makes you sleepy?!?!!?! i DEFINITELY learned from THAT mistake.

sunday evening, i went out with jordan and alex. we were originally going to eat at the honey kaffe but because it's not opened after 4pm on sundays, we decided to go over to yorkville instead. I finally went to Panorama. and yes, it has a great view, but for the amount of money we spent, the good food came in portions so small you would have thought we were in france. and afterwards, since we were still hungry, we went to cafe nervosa and had dessert. yum!

i conversed with carlo at yonge and bloor this morning for a full 15 mins. hahaha. we met up because he wanted those cookies my mom made for the graditude fundraiser last year. so i had to get up extra early to meet him but that came back to bite me in the ass last night. since i had french class, i didn't return home until after 10pm. but i couldn't go to sleep because i had to finish writing my statement of interest for my orientation today. this resulted in bed-time at around 1am. and now i'm up again. tonight's not going to be any different. i have a presentation tomorrow morning and i have to prepare for that as well. the only problem is i cannot leave THAT until the last minute because i'm in a 3 person group and already one of the guys has slacked off so we have to pick up the slack. *shakes fist at dud boy*

anyway, enough rambling i have to go to work.

I received a disturbing email from the maintenance man at work this weekend. it was titled "christina":

Hi there , i thought i'd send you an email to let you know ...(psst) i have one *wicked crush* on you but i am kind of hesitant on letting you know that at work...i guess the signs are there huh? and also i know your a busy woman so ...let me know how you feel and if your committed to someone else...if so , i understand see ya at work ...Take care! Jeff!~


If Ya Don't Reply ....it's your FuneraL

Byllzy says so >:-)

there are so many things wrong with this email. why are you putting yourself out there like that? he's very old looking (like late 30s or early 40s), VERY unattractive, AND he doesn't seem to know the difference between "you're" and "your." the last line also freaked me out. "if ya don't reply...it's your funeral"?!?!?!?! is he threatening me as well? needless to say, i enlisted the help of many friends to get their feedback as to what i should do and say.

my good friend jordan offered to send him an email, i asked that he run it by me first. this is what he posted on his blog:

So...I was going to write a threatening email to to help Christina get the creepy 40-something maintenance fella off her back. This situation just goes to show you that being bubbly and friendly has its downsides and very few upsides...unless you're actually trying to pick up. The worst decision Christina made was not giving me the guy's email address. She requested that I run the email through her so she could ensure I didn't send anything like the following sick joke: (And I don't do pre-approved censored emails because I'm a shit disturber...)

"Hey you, fucking janitor, stay away from my biatch - I mean it!! My hunni's pot is real sweet, but the only sweetness you'll be tasting anytime soon will be the opened sugar packets I stick in your mouth to help your blood clot after I use a pair of cold-forged pliers to slowly remove each and every one of your non-cavitated teeth. I'm leaving the bad ones in 'cuz the sugar will fuck them up even more. Ain't no Crest that can repair that damage and good luck getting OHIP to cover the cosmetic surgery that you will require after I use a razor blade to scrape the tissue off your upper-right gumline. Then every time you bite down on a hard candy, you'll remember the time you tried to grab my candy's ass. And let me remind you that as a temporary employee, YOU DON'T GOT NO HEALTH BENEFITS...SUCKA!!!!!!! Regards, Jo Jo"

hahaha, it's so great. unfortunately, i don't think the maintenance man would appreciate your humor jo. i eventually came up with something, but i had to really fight the urge not to write please don't kill me at the end of the email. today is monday now, so let's all hope that everything will be ok. i've already warned karina that if i didn't see her tonight that they should send a search warrant out for me. :0

i'd just like to put my two-cents in about the politics that is going on in ames, jules, and grace's blogs. i actually don't care too much about politics in general and i find their banter quite amusing. however i'd like to point out that i'm only voting liberal because the liberal candidate in our riding happens to be KEN DRYDEN. that's right. that would be KEN DRYDEN, the canadian goalie!?!?!? now i hate to give you a slap in the face *cough cough grace cough* but if ken dryden happened to be conservative or ndp or even green party, i'd still vote for him. he's a national hero. so i suppose it's just luck of the draw that he's liberal. AND he's a lawyer. (i know, that had nothing to do with it, but whatever.) and on a slightly more different note, i also have a bias towards paul martin, partly because he looks more honest then stephen harper, and mostly because he's also an alumnus from university of st. michael's college. hahaha. so there you have it. the reason why i'm voting liberal.

ps. jared padalecki is SO NOT lickable.

courtesy of kinsey...

Impressing Chinese Parents 101
Written By Michael Wong

You're in love. You love her. She loves you. You talk on the phone for hours at a time. You drive her everywhere. You find yourself spending fifty bucks on cuddly Korean stuffed toys that cost a buck twenty to make in Shenzen. In short, your world is complete. Now the only things standing in the way of your complete bliss are her parents. Want to learn how to overcome these obstacles? Welcome to impressing Chinese parents 101. Guys, take note. These are ancient secrets that up to now only a handful of noble families knew of. Father to son, to his son and so on. Only recently have these powerful techniques been catalogued and brought to the public's attention. Girls, take note too. If you love him, make him learn these rules. Harmony in the house, between your man and your mom and dad is paramount. And what's more they can be used when you meet his parents! Okay let's get down to the details.

Basically, we'll be covering what to wear, drive, say, bring, and talk about during dinner. We'll also cover what details to reveal about yourself, what your "supposed" ambitions are in life, what your family does for a living, and how much to eat during dinner. Finally, since there is no way to cover every conceivable situation which could arise, we will teach you the secret of secrets, to be used only in times of dire need. Please proceed.

What to Wear

Wear Polo or Tommy Hilfiger, as these labels will make you seem non-threatening. Chinese parents like non-threatening. They like to think that their daughter will be the boss of you and that you will be a hard worker and give her all the money you make. When she has all the money, she can lavish her parents with gifts and give them a nice life. Through you, their daughter will be able to repay her debt to her generous parents who sacrificed to give her a better life.

Under NO circumstances should you wear French Connection UK. Chinese parents know very little English, but they'll recognize the obvious mangling of one of the three words in their working vocabulary of English. The other two English words that Chinese parents also know are "yes" and "no", although "yes" is seldom used.

What to Drive

Borrow your parents' Accord. Your parents don't drive an Accord? Borrow their Camry. Your parents don't drive a Camry? Wait you're Chinese right? You're not Chinese and you're meeting your girlfriend's Chinese parents? Hmm, we have a problem here that we don't have room to cover in this article, so please proceed to purchasing the textbook, now in its 7th edition. Some other acceptable cars to show up at their house with are Corollas and Civics. Contrary to popular belief, Mercedes and BMWs are not good choices. Her parents won't like the idea that you are flashy. You could try to front and say that your parents are rich, but this can go both ways. If her parents smile, this means that they are gold-diggers. If they are gold-diggers, then your girlfriend is one too. If they don't smile, it means they have an inferiority complex and feel that their daughter should be matched up with someone of the same social class. Take my word, go Honda and Toyota.

What to Say

Several years ago, the beautiful and amazing Chinese vocalist Sandy Lam came out with a song called "Talk more, screw up more." It would be wise to listen to Sandy's advice. Say as little as possible. Let your girlfriend's dad brag about his prowess in the stock market. Let him bore you with his outlook on the Hong Kong - China or the China - Taiwan situation. Let him put metaphorical "money in your pocket" by sharing his experiences and the work attitudes that made him the man he is today. He will wave his hands about the room and tell you that if you work hard, one day all of this will also be yours.

If you must speak be modest and apologize for not knowing much. Chinese parents ask a lot of rhetorical questions. Feign ignorance. Let THEM answer the question for you and then say that's what YOUR parents tell you all the time. Your girlfriend's mom will beam from ear to ear, and chide you about new world folly versus old world wisdom. In truth, she is not admonishing you as much as she is strutting her tail feathers. Let her strut, by all
means let her fuss and strut.

The Meeting

It's either at a restaurant or at their house. If it's at a restaurant, pretend to fight half-heartedly for the bill but let the real man at the table pay for it. Pour tea constantly even if no tea has been drank from the cups. I once poured the tea so high that it was actually higher than the rim of the teacup. Thank goodness for grade 12 physics and that lecture about surface tension. If they actually let you pay (not a good sign), leave a 3% tip. Chinese parents love frugality. But you might also want to rethink ever going back to that restaurant for fear that you will be recognized.

Most likely the meeting will be at their house. This is their territory. In this territory, your girlfriend's dad is king. Your girlfriend's mom is queen. You would do well to remember that. First off, bring something. To show up empty handed or what the Chinese refer to as "two bunches of bananas" is disgraceful. Bring tea, bring dried mushrooms, bring dried scallop, bring ginseng, bring dried seafood, bring bird's nest, or even bring shark's fin if you can afford it. Do not bring a case of Molson Canadian. Do not bring tiramisu (Chinese parents won't eat what they cannot say). Do not bring bbq pork or other dishes (this is an insult as it suggests that your host didn't make enough food). Do not bring anything that's name sounds like "4" unless you are wishing death on the Mr. and Mrs.

When you meet them don't call them by their first names or address them by Mister and Mrs. and their last name. Go "uncle" or "aunty". By doing this you've made yourself a part of the family. Be of the belief that all men are brothers with different mothers. Also, never let your guard down, because while you are trying to earn their affection, you have to recognize that the parents are the enemy. There is nothing you can do that will ever make you good enough for their little girl, so know your enemy. Recognize that all girlfriends' parents are old, crabby uncles and aunts that smell of white flower oil or tiger balm. The dad uses too much Brylcreem in his hair, while the mother wears an updo. Of course she doesn't know that updos are actually back in style. For parents, time and coolness stops after 40, so don't even try to relate.

Dinner

Before the meeting, remember to not eat for two days. Then, when you go to your future in-laws house, go to town on her mom's lion's head meat balls or her mom's shrimp paste stuffed tofu or her mom's bitter melon beef. Sing the praises of the dishes as if it were dishes fit for Pu Yi himself. You do know who Pu Yi is right? Have at least four bowls of rice. Conventional wisdom dictates that making a pig of yourself is not wise. On the contrary, lavishing your future mother-in-law with praise is a shrewd investment that will reward you with ample dividends down the road.

Dinner Talk

If they're Christian, say how you've always wanted to be converted and ask for their guidance. Offer to go to a sermon with them that coming Sunday. If they're non-religious talk about saving money to buy a house (they love this). Tell them you've been condo shopping. Talk about a general mistrust of computers, but the necessity of computers in the modern world. Talk about famous singers like Teresa Teng. All Chinese people love Teresa Teng. If there's one thing that China Chinese and Taiwan Chinese people can agree on it is Teresa Teng. You're on your own if you talk about Four Big Sky Kings, Cookies or Twins. Talk about how Rap Talk is stupid. Remember to use the words "rap talk". They'll look at you blankly if you use terms like "hiphop" or "urban". Talk about how everything is so expensive. In short, be as fake as a ten-dollar Rolex.

Yourself

Don't talk about your grand schemes to save the world. Don't talk carpe diem, getting colonics, the protein diet, google, and other new age crap. Don't tell them about your plan for an Internet business. Don't tell them about how you plan to backpack across Europe after you graduate from university, that is if you decide to go at all. Tell them that ever since you were a kid you wanted to be a doctor. Tell them that your parents are strict. Tell them that their daughter is your first girlfriend. Tell them you're a straight A student (what are they going to do, phone the school?). (editor's note: I wouldn't place bets on that)

Your Family

This is a thorny issue, but if your parents are notorious triad gangsters, tell them that your parents own an importing and exporting company. If your parents are working stiffs, tell them that your parents are working stiffs who saved every cent so you can go to medical school. If you're out of school, tell them that your parents are retired, but got part-time jobs because they were bored sitting at home.

The Secret of all Secrets

Even if you do everything as we have instructed, situations may arise where all your hard work is for naught. In that event, use the secret of secrets to get yourself out of trouble every time. Lie. Simply calm your mind and pretend that they are your parents. It's so easy to lie to your own parents, isn't it? Your parents actually think your credit is fine. They don't know about how you are on Prozac. They don't know about how you smoke (thank goodness for breath mints). Once you realize that all parents are the same, you'll find that it's a cinch to lie to other people's parents as well.

The Conclusion

In parting, I expect some of you out there to doubt the effectiveness of these techniques. Why would anyone call someone who is not related to him "uncle" or "aunty"? Who in his right mind doesn't like tiramisu? Who is Sandy Lam? And who the heck is Teresa Teng? (For your information Faye Wong frequently covers her songs. Who is Faye Wong? Awwww...just forget about it.)

Ah, young grasshopper. If I could I would introduce you to the future you, a future you who is sad and depressed because Chu Chu (piggy) or Boh Boh (precious) or whatever other cutesy name you have for your girlfriend won't see you anymore. You feel independent. You feel powerful. You feel you don't have to kiss up to your girlfriend's parents right? It's an illusion. Children are only as independent as their parents allow them to be. Cut off the credit cards, the cell phone (they pay the bill right?), the Lexus IS300, and all the other perks and your girlfriend is a nerd in Seven jeans. You have to realize that you are fighting the equivalent of The Machines in the Matrix. To be a successful Neo, follow my words. I wouldn't steer you wrong. I have put these tips into practice. In my lifetime I have gotten along great with parents. To this day, every couple of months I get a call from the parents of one of my ex's. They call me over for dinner and fret about how I don't get enough soup and home-cooked meals. I jump at the offer and starve myself for a day or two (not on purpose mind you. I am a writer and starving comes easy). It's okay that my ex-girlfriend married some other guy and moved to another city. It's all good. That just means more lion's head meatballs, boiled shrimp with chili sauce, and winter melon soup for me.

i went to see chronicles of narnia with alicia and fiona, and my oh my, what an incredible movie! i can only vaguely remember reading a little bit of the novel but i was never into the fantastical books and it never really made an impression with me. but the movie was just SO good! the boy who plays peter reminds me of chad michael murray, and the little girl, lucy, is simply adorable.

and yesterday, despite being sick, christian joined me, mich and sandra out for a sushi dinner, and then we went to this most wonderful coffee shop called "williams" up at yonge and elgin mills. we were the only asians in the store, hahaha. i think next time i will bring my grandma there.

oh, i took a break to talk on the phone with matthew, but now that i'm back, i'm just tired. so i think now i'll read a book and go to sleep.

what is true love? true love is your soul's recognition of its counterpoint in another - wedding crashers

well well, happy new years! jordan's in lyon, france and i'm soooo jealous, but let's all hope that he finds a place to live otherwise there will be problems...i hope tj's recommendations help out. as well, thanks to jordan's photos...i uploaded some of the pictures we took with tyson here and while i was at it, uploaded alot of my other old photos from my now defunct website. the thing that bugs me most about yahoo photos is that they're all in random order and i can't even remember when and what happened first. oh well, as long as i have a faint idea, i suppose that it's all that matters.

the new year is off to a good start. sushi with the newtonbrook guys plus simone and liz. i love sushi, i don't think i'll ever get sick of it. we gorged ourselves and then went to bug alex at price chopper, and then when he finally got off on his hour break we whisked him away to starbucks (we hope to get him a job there so we can get discounted coffees.) in the evening we went to lenny's house and watched wedding crashers...love love LOVE that movie.

also, somehow i quadruple booked myself for thursday january 12th. it all started off with cha organizing an abbey get-together for that evening. then jenny decided that would be a great evening for a knitting group, and then i find out that AF108 begins next tuesday and since classes are every tuesday and thursday, i therefore have class next thursday evening. the kicker came from work today. i had promised monica i would substitute for her when she went away for examinations this month and surprise surprise...thursday january 12, 2006. unfortunately that's the deal breaker. rescheduling abbey and knitting groups and skipping my second day of french class. what a way to go. hahaha.

this is going to be a great year! ;p