These prints speak for themselves. Drawn by Canadian Native Artists, Cecil Youngfox, Benjamin Chee Chee and Doris Cyrette. I bought a packet of 7 cards by Doris at the Canadian Museum of Civilization and I plan on framing them in my room. :)


- "Returning" by Cecil Youngfox


- "Snow Singers" by Cecil Youngfox


- "Good Morning" by Benjamin Chee Chee


- "Spring Flight" by Benjamin Chee Chee


- "Swallows" by Benjamin Chee Chee


- "Learning" by Benjamin Chee Chee


- "Autumn Flight" by Benjamin Chee Chee


- "Friends" by Benjamin Chee Chee


- "Night Spirits" by Doris Cyrette


- "First Born" by Doris Cyrette

- "Interlude" by Doris Cyrette

Alright, how do I start this thing?

I am currently sitting at work, staring out of one of their huge "floor to ceiling" windows and struggling not to fall asleep. I just came back from an Ottawa tour this week, and it was by far the most tiring trip. My cough has been off and on about getting better, but by trying to project my voice out to a crowd of teens just takes its toll on my throat. It's now so completely hoarse that I don't even know how anyone can understand what I'm saying.

The Ottawa trip itself was a lot of fun. We visited the usual attractions, but new things to see included attending the "Question period" at the House of Commons as well as visiting the Diefenbunker. Question period was super cool because I was able to see all the MP's together, and it was almost a full house. Jack Layton, Stephen Harper, Giles Duceppe, Stephane Dion, Olivia Chow, Ken Dryden....they were ALL there. And they all sounded like little children bickering over a toy. So much fun!

But the children were exhausting. Sometimes I look at them and realize how TV dramas come up with so much fodder for their shows. It's THEM. I am sooooo glad that I wasn't like that when I was little...or wasn't given the opportunity to be like that. hahaha.

Ames came back from Europe yesterday too. We all met up at Yorkdale and had dinner at Moxies. Then we went home to unpack and unwind. Unfortunately, I had to force myself NOT to sleep because Shelley was having a little girl's out gathering for her birthday and I knew if I went to sleep, I wouldn't have been able to wake myself up.

Driving to Demetres was very difficult so I ended up going there, and then leaving as soon as she came. At least I made an appearance!

It has been suggested that I take some bedrest. And I will, but it will probably be Monday and Tuesday. It's always hard to not fill up my time with friends and family. But it's about time I just stay a day in bed!

It's been a long and crazy week. The long weekend was exactly that: LONG. haha.

I spent half of it working and then Sunday afternoon I went to Ottawa with my parents because mom wanted to see the end of the Tulip Festival. We stayed in the luxurious Chateau Laurier and spent some time at Byward market. In the evening, we had a super delicious fresh seafood basket at The Fishmarket Restaurant. The market also has the best french bakery called "Le Moulin de Provence." It sells classic french pastries and croissants with steaming bowls of cafe au laits. Hmmmm hmm, yum!

The tulips were almost done but we were lucky to still see some of them. I took my parents up to Parliament hill where there was much Victoria Day activities going. Then on our way back to check out of the hotel, we were lucky enough to catch a boat going through the eight locks on the rideau canal. Watching the little boat move from lock to lock was fascinating (but it took a very long time!)

My mom also has a thing for the Royal Canadian Mint, so we stopped off to look at some pretty, shiny, and EXPENSIVE coins.

The rest of the week was spent in my favorite city: Montreal. It was a little hectic because the Metro workers had just gone on a walk-out the day we arrived. So traffic was "fun." :S This particular trip was interesting because the students went to all these places I had never visited before: the biodome, insectarium, botanical gardens, iSci (Science Centre), Pointe-a-Calliere (Montreal Museum of Archeology), and the Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre. My favorite was the biodome. It is a self-guided tour of four different types of ecosystems: the laurentian forest, tropical forest, saint-lawrence marine and arctic and antarctic ecosystem. Pointe-a-Calliere was also really cool too because I liked studying archeology in university and they showed the original wall of Montreal before it was torn down. The iSci museum is currently hosting "le monde du corps 2 (body world 2)" which I was disappointed about missing when it was in Toronto. Unfortunately, the students did not go to see that exhibit. Althought, the Technocite, Eureka, and Snowbirds exhibit were still fun.

The holocaust museum was a very interesting choice for the students as it had a really sombering effect. However, the head teacher was most interested in this memorial centre and overall it was so interesting and eye-opening. You only hear about the holocaust, but never really knew the nitty-gritty details. Still, not the funnest thing to do on the last day of the trip.

So this weekend is filled with various activities. But all I really want to do is veg out and relax. yeeeeah!

Thanks to Sammy Champs, who founded New France in 1608, we now have Quebec City. Even better, thanks to Lord Dufferin, who stopped the walls (enceinte) from being destroyed, Old Quebec City is a World Heritage Site because it is the only walled city left in Canada.

I love Old Quebec City. It rivals Paris as being the most romantic place in the world.

Back from my first tour to Ottawa! And it was a success! In the end, it felt like being on any tour, except, instead of being a visitor going to a place for the first time, I was the guide who had prior knowledge of the surrounding buildings and areas. I must admit that it was quite daunting at first. In training, we are given a plethora of information. Of course, alot of it is background information that we need to know in case students ask questions. From this, we have to judge what is interesting enough to the kids.

As we all know and remember, grade 8 grad trips weren't REALLY about learning...it was more the experience of being away from home for a couple of days in a different city. So the task at hand is to find a way to stuff information and facts without boring them to death.

It is a lot different once we are older. We understand things alot more, and are more willing to learn. Since it was my first time as a guide, I went to all the guided tours at the various places we visited.

We went to Rideau Hall to visit the Governor General's residence. Her excellency Michaëlle Jean, has implemented a website that allows Canadian citizens to voice their issues and concerns in forums.

We also visited the Supreme Court, where the students participated in a mock trial. There was a federal court in session, so there were a couple of cameras and reporters standing on the side. This excited the students as they thought there was a celebrity in the midst!

The Parliamentary building tour was a little disappointing as both the House of Commons and the Senate were sitting. We did stop by the newly re-decorated parliamentary library before going up to the Peace Tower.

However, my FAVORITE places that we visited were the National Gallery and Canadian War Museum. The tour for the gallery was quite an eye-opening experience as the guide explained some important paintings such as The Death of General Wolfe by Benjamin West and Barnett Newman's Voice of Fire. The war museum is a fascinating place with an abundance of Canadian military history. As we were on our tour, we had a war veteran come up and explain the difference between artillery and guns. I also recognized two large bronze plaques with all the names of Eaton employees who died in WWI and WWII that were donated by the Eaton family. When I was younger, it used to be displayed on the 5th floor of the Eatons department store downtown.

Let's not forget the children. This group of kids were incredible. I have a feeling that it can only go downhill from here! Sure, there were some sticky spots involving several episodes of vomiting (which I am thankful to say that I did not particpate in) from the aggressive driving of our crazy bus driver, but overall, they were a really good bunch. Chatting with them reminded me how naive I was when I was little. It was quite refreshing to see it from an "older" perspective.

Next week: Quebec City

I went to see the Japanese Design Today exhibit yesterday with Christian and Michelle. First of all, I haven't seen this pair since Michelle's birthday. Second of all, they have recently come back from a trip to HK and China, where Chris had the worst hospital experience in his life. Note to self, don't get sick when in foreign countries.

Although the exhibit itself was interesting and modern, I was hardly impressed with any of it. Why? Because they ran out of pamphlets explaining the recent trends and characteristics of Japanese design. It wouldn't have been so bad except that none of the exhibits had any place cards to explain any of the objects. All they had were numbers (for reference to a pamphlet.) I went back to the front desk to inquire what other options there were, but the customer representative got defensive and snarky. The result? I went to see an exhibit that probably was very good, but got none of that because they ran out of pamphlets. I wasn't trying to cause any problems, but the exhibit continues until the end of the weekend, and I'm pretty sure I won't be the only patron who would want an explanation for what they are seeing. The least they could do is give a disclaimer as people are purchasing their tickets.

Either way, at least I got to see my buddies. We had a great lunch at Richtree (Marche) and they went over the nitty gritty details of their asian experience. Michelle is also showing some new photography at the Eastern Gallery starting May 2nd, 2007. It is part of the CONTACT Toronto Photography Festival that is running from May 1 - 31, 2007.

Anyone who hasn't seen Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, should see it. It is a very powerful documentary on the realities of global warming and the devastating effects that has already begun in our lifetime. The sad truth of the matter is that not enough people know of this problem. The documentary highlights the fact that the governments seem to be trying to displace the truth of the problem.

Not long ago, I was researching global warming for a feature. I had to put it aside because there was just too much to go through in such a short amount of time (I was obviously doing this last minute.) It is a very interesting topic, but seems to be overshadowed by skeptics and critics who believe this is just a small blip, and that nature is playing tricks with us. Just watch this documentary. This is what our world is coming to. It's scary and eye-opening.

Anyone who knows me well enough, knows that I love going to the symphony. It is just another quirk of mine, and is easily fulfilled by the the fanatabulous TSO. Our Toronto concertmaster, Peter Oundjian, is incredible. Such a distinguished older looking man. Combined with his adorable accent, he is part of the reason why I enjoy the works the TSO puts together. With the help of cheap tickets and a fun concert calendar full of fun (such as the magic music of disney, mozart, beethovan, lemony snicket, other canadian symphonies), it has become more than just a night out on town. It has become part of MY definition of who I am. For just $12 (about the same as going out to a movie), I can go with another friend and enjoy any kind of music. Over the past three years, I have had the pleasure of going with other friends who enjoy this culture, as well as introduce friends to it.

This past week, the Toronto, Ottawa, Quebec and Montreal symphonies did an exchange. They all went on tour together, and travelled to other cities to perform for different audiences. Thanks to all these concertmasters, I was able to get a taste of some other Canadian symphonies! Although they were all wonderful, I must admit that I fell in love with the Montreal symphony, and their concertmaster, Kent Nagano. What lustrious pantene pro-v hair the man has! And he interpreted the music so well. When he and the orchestra were playing Rossini's William Tell Overture, I found myself bopping along! And the symphony's version of Beethovan's Symphony No. 7, especially the 2nd movement, it sent shivers up my spine! This is just another reason why I should live in Montreal...beautiful music!

I plan on sampling the Australian symphony as well. Music will always stand the test of time!

After months of neglecting some homies, I have returned with a vengence!

Yesterday was an excellent display of my efforts. Met up with my cheery cousin for spring rolls at Salad King. When we walked in, the smell of the food made us sooooo hungry! Luckily we were smart, and just had the spring rolls which filled me up. I cannot wait to meet Cam for her birthday! :)

I digested by walking through Eaton center. I must say that the mall disappoints me. There is nothing that I've seen that made me really excited to buy anything. Maybe I should just save up to spend when I am in Oz. Carl called while I was wandering around and we met up for coffee at the BCE place. I haven't seen my brother since January! Always the same, but I love meeting up with him to chat about things in life. Always puts everything into perspective for me, and makes me happy!

The great thing about the location was that he works in the building with Marche (since named, richtree) which was where I was meeting Fayewood for dinner. Highschool buddies rock! It was so good to catch-up on our lives. We have decided that we're going to the beach for the Canada long weekend. Yay to warm weather. That was the best part of the day, the sun came out! So walking outside in a skirt was much easier. hahaha. Walking to....the princess of wales for Phantom of the Opera!

I swear, I never get tired of musicals. I can watch them over and over and over again. And this production was no exception. Although the guy who played Raoul was an awful singer, the Phantom, and Christine were amazing. The pyrotechnics were nice, but I can't say I was a fan. Too many popping and heart-stopping moments. hahaha. Either way, Faye's a darling for taking me to the show. What a great early birthday present!

Speaking of birthdays, tomorrow is a special day for Jordan and Tanaka!!!! Happy birthday!

Eight months later, I have grown so much in such a short amount of time. I have met an incredible group of people who I will cherish for a very long time. It's a little scary to think about how much we have gone through and bonded. We know a lot about one another (in some instances, a little too much) but whether it is for the worst or the best, we were there.


This experience has been so much more self-satisfying than all of the four years of university that I went through. Don't get me wrong, I still love and stay in touch with my university friends, but back then, I was unsure of where I was going in life, and things were more chaotic and disorderly. I hadn't fully learnt the value of time management and was much too excited with an unfamiliar feeling of independence. The friends that I made were more valuable in teaching me who I was and what I wanted.


I would like to visit you for a while
Get away and out of this city
Maybe I shouldn't have called but someone had to be the first to break
We can go sit on your back porch
Relax
Talk about anything
It don't matterI'll be courageous if you can pretend that you've forgiven me

Because I don't know you anymore
I don't recognize this place
The picture frames have changed and so has your name
We don't talk much anymore
We keep running from the pain
But what I wouldn't give to see your face again

Springtime in the city
Always such relief from the winter freeze
The snow was more lonely than cold
If you know what I mean
Everyone's got an agenda, don't stop
Keep that chin up, you'll be all right
Can you believe what a year it's been
Are you still the same?
Has your opinion changed?

'Cause I don't know you anymore
I don't recognize this place
The picture frames have changed and so has your name
We don't talk much anymore
We keep running from these sentences
But what I wouldn't give to see your face again

I know I let you down
Again and again
I know I never really treated you right
I've paid the priceI'm still paying for it every day
So maybe I shouldn't have called
Was it too soon to tell?
Oh what the hell
It doesn't really matter
How do you redefine something that never really had a name?
Has your opinion changed?

Because I don't know you anymore
I don't recognize this place
The picture frames have changed and so has your name
We don't talk much anymore
We keep running from the pain
But what I wouldn't give to see your face again

I see your face
I see your face

- I don't know you anymore, Savage Garden

This program was different because these people share the same passion for what I want to do in life. The field is so small, and I know in my heart that I will see the people who I care for again in the future. I know a lot of people in this program are sad to see things change. Don't be sad, embrace change. It is very important in our own development through life. Without change, life would be mundane and boring. This song is one of my favorites because it is so pretty and sad. At the same time, it gives a feeling of hope for the future.

The most important thing to remember is: take destiny into your own hands. Don't sit around to wait for things to happen. Do it for yourself. This is life. It's short, so make the most of it.

So I was called to work Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Naturally, I accepted. However, this has taken a whole chunk of my weekend to do homework. The weekend that I really needed because my seminar is this thursday, and the trip to Kingston/Ottawa is this friday.

On the bright side, there was a flood at the new Roehampton building friday evening so the past two days have been quite slow. Which has lent me pleeenty of time to work on school work. So really, it has all worked out quite nicely. Still, I'm slightly nervous about the week to come. I cannot wait until it is over.

The weather is making me depressed. The motivation is dragging on the ground, and school has suddenly has suddenly become a huge weight to carry. There's literally ONE MORE MONTH left before it's allllllllll over...but I feel like everything has just gone into slow motion.

ARGH!!! It's already daylight savings time!!!! Of all days to go out to a club (with Matt and Shelley, no less), it had to be yesterday, when we were losing an hour of sleep!

Honestly, it gets tiresome going out all the time. And march has been ABSOLUTELY no exception. How many birthdays have I celebrated or gone to already? Alot of them I would never have even known about if not for facebook!

Yesterday was Mich's birthday dinner at Fred's Not Here. Matt, Tony, Sange and I arrived fashionably late, but luckily so did everyone else. I love Mich's dinners and friends. It's so laid back and fun. No one is really awkward, and as usual, I like to zoom in on the quietest people at the table. hahaha. So the joint present the four of us pitched in for b-day girl? Some wii game. I have no idea what it is. but hey, if she's excited about it, then I'm allllllllll for it! ;p

The club part was disappointing. My bestest friend in the whole wide world was invited to a b-day party (surprise surprise!!) So considering she rarely goes out, let alone goes to clubs anymore, Matty and I join in as sidekicks (but I know the b-day boy too.) We went to C-Lounge which apparently is the club to go. Beautiful decor but awful choice in music. All of it was dance remixes! We stayed until almost 2am in the vain hopes that the DJ would play something good. The characters at the club were not very attractive either. And then, 2am comes around and suddenly it's 3am.

AND, I still have so much homework to do. But that's not stopping me from going skiing today. Suffer the consequences tomorrow.

So the moral of this story? Go to good clubs to have a good dancing night. Otherwise, start up your own dance party in the car.

so second term is moving along quite nicely. It seems that a lot of the work this term is done independently, or if it is team work, it is one whole entire project instead of a lot of little ones. i don't generally think about this, but someone asked me the other day, if i wonder about who i will keep in touch with after the program is finished. well, i don't really need to wonder about this because i have a pretty good idea who those people are. What I don't understand is why everyone cares about that. If you want to stay in touch, then do it. If not, it's very easy to let go.
I suppose it is a little sad to know that within two months, these people that i have grown very close with will be on their separate ways. But thus is life, we move on and keep going.
I have plans, they change all the time, but at least i have a plan.

Eagle in the dark
Feathers in the pages
Monkeys in my heart
Rattling their cages
Found a way to pooooop
Another ghost to follow
Said its only up to you
It’s the hardest pill to swallow

You never get to choose
You live on what they send you
You know the kind of use
Things you love will get you
One foot in the grave
One foot in the shower
There’s never time to save
You’re paying by the hour

And that’s just the way it goes
Falling awake
And that’s just the way it goes

Slipping through the bars
Aware of the danger
Of riding in the cars
Taking candy from strangers
You’re never out of hand
Never out of pocket
Super sonic man
Do you want to buy a rocket

Well that’s just the way it goes
Falling awake
Falling awake
And that’s just the way it goes
Falling awake
Falling awake

Eagle in the dark
Feathers in the pages
Monkeys in my heart
Are rattling their cages
I could learn to play the game
Learn to run the hustle
If I only had the brains
The money or the muscle

- Gary Jules, Falling Awake

---

Cristina: There's a club. The "Dead Dads" club. And you can't be in it until you're in it. You can try to understand, you can sympathize.. but until you feel that loss- My dad died when I was nine. George, I'm really sorry you had to join the club.

George: I. [pause] I don't know how to exist in a world where my dad doesn't.

Cristina: Yeah, that never really changes.

This is for tee. I'm so sorry you had to join this club.

Even though this was one of the hardest grey's episodes to watch, I had to watch it again. I cannot concentrate on school, on anything really. I'm so distracted.

I'm not a part of this club, yet I'm constantly aware of how quickly a person you love can be taken away at a moment's notice. I'm not a part of this club, but I am part of another. It is almost six months later. The pain doesn't stop. It may dull, but the pain doesn't go away. On the outside I may look strong. Perhaps I forget for a moment, but there are always little subtle signs that remind me again. I don't mind, I like to remember the good times.

But the pain always remains.

i just realized that it has been quite some time since my last post. It's crazy how fast time flies sometimes.

classes at seneca started two weeks ago. the first week was filled with alot of awkward and tense filled moments because we were choosing our new groups. the problem lay in the fact that since first term, everyone now has a clear idea of who they want to work with...but most of all, who they do NOT want to work with. this created a lot of tension because no one wanted to work with certain people. but how do you avoid this without creating any drama? or even worse, what do you do when you ARE stuck in a group with so called classmate?

i have to say that i'm pretty happy with my loot. haha. to top it off, our class has received three new belgium girls!!! at the risk of sounding like a complainer, i was hoping for some belgium GUYS. seriously, the last thing we needed was more chicks. hahaha.

also, last weekend i went to get a haircut. let me take this opportunity to explain how stressful getting a haircut can be. i have always had very long hair. when i was little, i was a ballerina. and ballerina's always had long hair which they wound into buns on the top of the heads. when i stopped taking ballet lessons, i went and chopped half my hair, up to the middle of my back. ever since then, the shortest haircut i have had was up to my shoulders. the ordeal i went through with THAT particular haircut involved a razer blade with a chinese hairdresser. now, i avoid chinese hair salons like the plague.

the last couple times i have gone to evoke hairsalon. they are amazing. but both those times, my father would ask me "you went to get a haircut so that your hair looks exactly the same?"

so this time i started asking around for recommendations. and this time, i have received one of the best cuts ever. i now have side bangs that ACTUALLY compliment my face. i feel like i have had them forever! i must admit that it feels weird to have short hair again, but at least this time i can put it in a pony tail and not have it look like a rat-tail!

i also went to the symphony twice this week for mozart's 251st birthday. i went with mich on wednesday and we shared a two for one meal at marcel's, a lovely french restaurant. then yesterday i went with kristen...a bbtea meal before, and then through jake's recommendation, jeremiah bullfrog's afterwards. good times!

the bulk of my time is focusing on school, work, family and occasionally...friends. haha. that's a big lie. friends are so important to me too. it's what makes the world go round...

what a small small world...

it never fails to surprise me how many people i know who know one another. just today, i found out that my co-worker, carissa, knows a lot of my smc friends. we called up manny and he was soooo surprised!

and this is all thanks to facebook. if it wasn't for this phenomenal tool, i would never have known! this website has connected me with so many people that i have not spoken to in years!

i have found friends from highschool, from middle school, ELEMENTARY school (oh soloman!)...and EVEN old math tutorial classes!!! (how embarrassing!)

it's nice to find out what everyone is doing, even though it is a little creepy with the whole big brother-esque "news feed." hahaha.

c'est la vie!

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.