Streaming rabbit hole

Even though we’re all ‘self-isolating’ at home, I’ve been unable to binge-watch my taped shows successfully BECAUSE I’ve been watching too many live-streaming shows. For example, I’m currently watching a 12 hour Twitch Stream Aid 2020 that includes performances by Rita Ora, John Legend, Charlie Puth, Thomas Rhett, Scotty McCreery, Lady Antebellum, Cole Swindell, Jordin Sparks, Garth Brooks, One Republic, Luke Combs to name a few.

There’s binge-watching taped shows...ugh...

I’m also including some screen shots of other shows I’ve recently seen that I want to remember:

This is Chris Martin who started #TogetherAtHome

These three are David Foster and Katherine McPhee:

The following two are from Katherine’s birthday:

Also, one more of David, Kat and Buble & Louisiana:

These three are from John Legend’s performance which included drop ins from Chrissy Teigan and Luna:

These two are of Alicia Keyes

The last two are from Keith Urban’s performance with help from wifey, Nicole Kidman!

In this strange and weird ‘isolating’ time period, I’ve been enjoying the excessive amounts of television I’ve both taped and am watching ‘live’ shows.

I’ve really been happy watching this evening’s episodes of ‘Little Big Shots’ with Melissa McCarthy (it was a wonderful and fun musical one!) as well as the crazy antics on ‘American Idol’...and I’m not even halfway through yet!!! It’s made enough of an impression to pause the show to post about it!

Due to social distancing protocols, all recreational facilities in my building are closed...therefore I went for my first walk outside this year!

Even though it was a nice reminder as to why I like to exercise outside, it's still a leeeetle tooooo early in the year as my ears were definitely feeling it.

So if I go out tomorrow morning....earmuffs it is! ;p

Social distancing

Wikipedia’s definitely of ‘social distancing’ is a set of nonpharmaceutical infection control actions intended to stop or slow down the spread of a contagious disease. With the main point of social distancing is in hopes to reduce the probability of contact between persons carrying an infection, and others who are not infected, so as to minimize disease transmission, morbidity and ultimately, death.

Why this necessity at this time?

Unfortunately, the entire world is dealing with coronavirus (COVID-19), an infectious disease caused by a new virus that had not been previously identified in humans. The virus causes respiratory illness (flu-like) with symptoms such as a cough, fever and in more severe cases, pneumonia.

It’s so debilitating as even though it doesn’t discriminate to any age, it seems to mainly affect older people and people with pre-existing medical conditions. (Note, parents in this category...even though I’m just past the second point.)

Therefore, even though it goes against my will...social distancing it is...for now.

'Leave a Light On'

Alex Karev's sendoff from the Grey's Anatomy Series March 5, 2020

I made the decision to not watch yesterday's episode that was another one of Grey's original character's closing storyline...partly because I had read some articles giving me an idea of what was to come but the reviews seemed to be negative.
However, after reading Ellen Pompeo's message:
Hi here I go again … Thank YOU! You are truly the best most passionate most loyal fans anyone could ever ask for. Because of you we got to make great tv... because of you we got to make television history! I say often life is hard and thank God it is because like I tell my kids... it shows us what we are made ...of how strong we really are and let's face it... without the lows there would be no dancing it out or celebrating this incredible experience we call life. Thanks to our national treasure @therealdebbieallen and the writers for giving Alex Karev the best send off. Thanks to @shondarhimes for creating the most amazing character. For me personally for Karev to go back to the beginning... was the best possible storyline. It pays homage to those incredible first years and the incredible case … that created a foundation so strong that the show is still standing. So let's not be sad. As our fearless leader DA always says let's PULL UP and celebrate the actors the writers and the fantastic crew who make this show come to life every week. No matter what the challenge or how tired we all are in the end... you keep us going..... That is worth dancing it out over! So much love and gratitude to you all. Xo E
it made me WANT to watch it to make my own judgement on how Justin Chamber's character was wrapped up.

I must say that I disagree with a lot of the negative comments. I'm mainly surprised by the reaction as I personally loved the flashbacks and approve of how they wrapped up the storyline for this character who's been on this journey with Meredith since the beginning. It really does give new meaning to leaving the light on!

This is my conclusion. I’m including a timeline of grey’s characters and the seasons they were on for:

as well as an image as to what happened to the characters:

...that is all!

Call of the wild

So I went to see this movie per mom’s request yesterday.
It’s a sweet movie about a big-hearted dog named Buck and how his domestic life as just a dog is turned upside down when he’s uprooted from his home in Cali and shipped to the Alaskan Yukon in the 1890s. Going through chapters in his life that included being part of a mail-delivery dog sled team, the movie shows how Buck experiences the adventure of a lifetime as he ultimately finds where his place is in the world.

Definitely a bit of an emotional roller coaster seen through the eyes of a dog.
Plus there was this added bonus of seeing Harrison Ford as one of the main characters as well. Won’t spoil the ending. 😉

Totally worth seeing.

Leap year

Was spent wonderfully with the family as we went to the Bell lightbox for a dinner at Luma, with a wonderful display of seafood (I got the burger), finishing off with dessert and coffee with bailey's.

YUM!!!

I've included two photos of the cn tower as well, we had seats with the wonderful view!

Afterwards, we went to the Princess of Wales to see the fabulous River Dance!!!

Loving smiles are like a bunch of magic keys that can open puzzled minds

Kiril Vasilev

Met up with Cat at the Sheppard Center, Longo’s Starbucks during her lunch hour for a pre-birthday drink catchup.

Even though it was a bitter sweet flashback to our coffee catchups from back in the day, there was also some unfortunate news of her mom going through what I’d gone though a year and half ago...just under less fortunate circumstances. Ai yah...

I can only wish for the best in this situation, god willing.

Either way, wishing a bestie who I’d met when we’d studied French in Tours, France back in our undergrad uni years the most enjoyable day with hubby, Jeff come Monday. #Monsieurbolo

Vanessa Bryant's tribute to Gianna and Kobe

Eulogy delivered at their memorial in Los Angeles' Staples Center on February 24, 2020

Gianna Bryant
My baby girl. Gianna Bryant is an amazingly sweet and gentle soul. She was very thoughtful and always kissed me good night and kissed me good morning. There were a few occasions where I was absolutely tired from being up with Bianka and Capri, and I thought she had left to school without saying goodbye. I text and say, "Not kiss?" And Gianna would reply with, "Mama, I kissed you. You were asleep and I didn't want to wake you." She knew how much her morning and evening kisses meant to me, and was so thoughtful to remember to kiss me every day. She was daddy's girl, but I know she loved her mama, and she would always show me and tell me that she loved me. She was one of my very best friends.

She loved to bake. She loved putting a smile on everyone's face. Last August she made a beautiful birthday cake for her daddy, and it had fondant and looked like it had blue agate crystals. Kobe's birthday cake looked like it was professionally decorated. She made the best chocolate chip cookies. She loved watching cooking shows and "Cupcake Wars" with me, and she loved watching "Survivor" and "NBA on TNT" with her daddy. She also loved watching Disney movies with her sisters.

Gigi was very competitive like her daddy, but she had a sweet grace about her. Her smile was like sunshine. Her smile took up her entire face, like mine. Kobe always said she was me. She had my fire, my personality and sarcasm, and she was tender and loving on the inside. She had the best laugh. It was infectious. It was pure and genuine.

Kobe and Gianna naturally gravitated towards each other. She had Kobe's ability to listen to a song and have all the lyrics memorized after listening to the song a couple of times; it was their secret talent.

She was an incredible athlete. She was great at gymnastics, soccer, softball, dance, and basketball. She was an incredible dancer, too. She loved to swim, dance, do cartwheels and do jumps into our swimming pool. Gigi loved her TikTok dances.

Gigi was confident but not in an arrogant way. She loved helping and teaching other people things. At school she offered the boy's basketball coaches to help give the boys' basketball team some pointers, like the triangle offense. She was very much like her daddy and they both liked helping people learn new things and master them. They were great teachers.

Gigi was very sweet. She always made sure everybody was okay and she was our shepherd. She always kept our family together. She loved family together. She loved family traditions, and family movie night was important to her. She always looked out for everyone. She was very much in tune with our feelings and wanted the best for us.

Gianna was smart. She knew how to read, speak and write Mandarin. She knew Spanish and had great grades and kept them up all while becoming a great basketball player. She was president of school spirit, on school council. She was director's assistant for her school play just like her big sister. She was looking forward to graduating eighth grade and moving on to high school with her big sister, Natalia. I am so happy she was given the opportunity to know that she was accepted to the same high school. She was really happy.

Gianna made us all proud and she still does. Gianna never tried to conform. She was always herself. She was a nice person, a leader, a teacher, wearing a white tee, black leggings, a denim jacket, white high top Converse and a flannel tied around her waist, and straight hair was her go-to style. She had rhythm and swag since she was a baby. She gave the best hugs and the best kisses. She had gorgeous, soft lips like her daddy. She would hug me and hold me so tight. I could feel her love me and I loved the was she looked up at me, it was as if she was soaking me all in. We love each other so much. I miss her so much.

She was so energetic. I couldn't keep up with her energy. She lapped Natalia and I on track once. She was about six years old. We let her have a head start and she still dusted us. I miss her sweet kisses and cleverness and I miss her sarcasm and her wit, and that adorable sly side smile followed with a grin and a burst of laughter. We shared the same "cat that ate the canary" grin. Gigi was sunshine. She brightened up my day every day. I miss looking at her beautiful face.

She was always so good. A rule follower. I knew I could always count on her to do the right thing. She was the most loving daughter, thoughtful little sister and silly big sister. She often helped to carry the littles' baby bag and playing with them, and she loved helping with Bianka and Capri. Bianka loved going to the playground, swimming and jumping on the trampoline with Gigi. I used to tell Gigi I though Koko considered her her favorite sister. Capri would smile from ear to ear when Gigi walked into the room and Capri reminds me a lot of Gianna. They look alike and just smile with their whole face - pure joy.

We would not be able to see Gigi go to high school with Natalia and ask her how her day went. We didn't get a chance to teach her how to drive a car. I won't be able to tell her how gorgeous she looks on her wedding day. I will never get to see my baby girl walk down the aisle, have a father-daughter dance with her daddy, dance on the dance floor with me and have babies of her own. Gianna would have been an amazing mommy. She was very maternal ever since she was really little.

Gigi would've most likely become the best player in the WNBA. She would've made a huge difference for women's basketball. Gigi was motivated to change the way everyone viewed women in sports. She wrote papers in school defending women and wrote about how the unequal pay difference of the NBA and WNBA leagues wasn't fair. And I truly feel she made positive change for the WNBA players now, because they knew Gigi's goal was to eventually play in the WNBA.

I am still so proud of Gianna, and she was kind to everybody she met for the 13 years she was here on Earth. Her classmates shared many fond stories with us and those stories reminded me that Gianna love and showed everyone that no act of kindness is ever too small to make a difference in someone's life. She was always, always, always considerate of others and their feelings. She was a beautiful, kind, happy, silly, thoughtful and loving sister and daughter. She was so full of life and had so much more to offer this world. I cannot imagine life without her. Mommy, Natalia, Bianka, Capri and Daddy love you so much, Gigi. I will miss your sweet handmade cards, your sweet kisses, and your gorgeous smile. I miss you, all of you, every day. I love you.

Kobe Bryant
Now for my soulmate. Kobe was known as a fierce competitor on the basketball court. The greatest of all time, a writer, an Oscar winner and the Black Mambe. But to me he was KobKob, my Boo-Boo, my Bae-Boo, my papi chulo. I was his VeBe, his principessa, his reina, Queen Mama -- Mambe -- and his [inaudible nickname].

I couldn't see him as a celebrity nor just an incredible basketball player. He was my sweet husband and the beautiful father of my children. He was mine. He was my everything.

Kobe and I have been together since I was 17-and-a-half years old. I was his first girlfriend, his first love, his wife, his best friend, his confidant and his protector. He was the most amazing husband. Kobe loved me more than I could ever express or put into words. He was the early bird and I was the night owl. I was fire and he was ice, and vice versa at times. We balanced each other out. He would do anything for me. I have no idea how I deserved a man that loved and wanted me more than Kobe. He was charismatic, a gentleman, he was loving and adoring and romantic. He was truly the romantic one in our relationship. I looked forward to Valentine's Day and our anniversaries every year. He planned special anniversary trips and a special traditional gift for every year of our marriage. He even handmade my most treasured gifts. He just thought outside the box and was so thoughtful even while working hard to be the best athlete. He gave to me the actual notebook and the blue dress Rachel McAdams wore in "The Notebook" movie. When I asked him why he chose the blue dress, he said because it was the scene when Allie comes back to Noah. We had hoped to grow old together like the movie. We really had an amazing love story. We loved each other with our whole beings, two perfectly imperfect people raising a beautiful family and our sweet and amazing girls.

A couple weeks before they passed Kobe sent me a sweet text and mentioned how he wanted to spend time together, just the two of us, without our kids, because I am his best friend first. We never got the chance to do it. We were busy taking care of our girls and just doing our regular everyday responsibilities. But I'm thankful I have that recent text. It means so much to me. Kobe wanted us to renew our vows. He wanted Natalia to take over his company and he wanted to travel the world together. We talked about how we would be the fun grandparents to our daughters' children. He would have been the coolest grandpa.

Kobe was the MVP of girl dads, or MVD. He never left the toilet seat up. He always told the girls how beautiful and smart they are. He taught them how to be brave and how to keep pushing forward when things get tough. When Kobe retired from the NBA, he took over dropping off and picking up our girls from school since I was at home pregnant with Bianka and just recently home nursing Capri.

When Kobe was still playing, I used to show up an hour early to be the first in line to pick up Natalia and Gianna from school, ad I told him he couldn't drop the ball once he took over. He was late one time, and we most definitely let him know that I was never late. So he showed up one hour and 20 mins early after that.

He always knew there was room for improvement and wanted to do better. He happily did carpool and enjoyed spending time in the car with our girls. He was a doting father, a father that was hands on and present. He helped me bathe Bianka and Capri almost every night. He would sing them silly songs in the shower and continue making them laugh and smile as he lathered them in lotion and got them ready for bed. He had magic arms and could put Capri to sleep in only a few minutes. He said he had it down to a science, eight times up and down our hallway.

He loved taking Bianka to Fashion Island and watching her play in the koi pond area and love taking her to the park. Their most recent visit to the koi pond with the evening before he and Gigi passed. He shared a love of movies and breakdown of films with Natalia. He enjoyed renting out theaters and taking Natalia to watch the newest "Star Wars" movie or "Harry Potter" films. They would have movie marathons and he enjoyed every second of it. He loved the typical tearjerkers, too, and he loved watching "Stepmom," "Steel Magnolias," and "Little Women". He had a tender heart.

Kobe somehow knew where I was at all times, specifically when I was late to his games. He would worry about me if I wasn't in my seat at the start of each game and would ask security where I was, at the first time out of the first quarter. My smart ass would tell him he was not going to drop 81 points within the first 10 minutes of the game. I think anybody with kids understands that sometimes you can't make it out the door on time, and eventually he was used to my tardiness and balled out. The fact that he could play on an intense professional level and still be concerned by making sure we made it to the game safely is just another example of how family comes first to him.

He loved being Gianna's basketball coach. He told me he wished he would have convinced Natalia to play basketball so they could have spent more time together, and he also wanted her to pursue her own passion. He watched Natalia play in a volleyball tournament on her birthday, January 19, and he noticed how she's a very intelligent player. He was convinced she would have made a great point guard with her vision of the court. And he told me he wanted Bianka and Capri to take up basketball so he could spend just as much time with him as he did with Gigi. Kobe always told Bianka and Capri that they were going to grow up, play basketball and 'mix they ass up.' Now they won't have their daddy and sister here to teach them, and that is truly a loss I don't understand.

I am so thankful Kobe heard KoKo say, "Dada." He is not here to drop Bianka and Capri off at pre-K or kindergarten and he will not be here to tell me to get a grip when we have to leave the kindergarten classroom, and he is not going to be able to walk our girls down the aisle or spin me around on the dance floor, singing PYT to me. But I want my daughters to know and remember the amazing person, husband and rather he was. The kind of man that wanted to teach future generations to be better and keep them from making his own mistakes. He always liked working and doing projects to improve kids' lives. He taught us all valuable lessons about life and sports through his NBA career, his books, his show, 'Detail,' and his 'Punies' podcast series. We are so thankful he left those lessons and stories behind for us.

He was thoughtful and always wrote the best love letters and cards, and Gigi had his wonderful ability to express her feelings into paper and make you feel her love through his words. She was thoughtful like him. They were so easy to love. Everybody naturally gravitated towards them. They were funny, happy, silly, and they loved life. They were so full of joy and adventure. God knew they couldn't be on this Earth without each other. He had to bring them home to have them together. Babe, you take care or our Gigi. I got Nati, BiBi and KoKo, and we're still the best team.

We love and miss you, Boo-Boo and Gigi. May you both rest in peace and have fun in heaven until we meet again one day. We love you both and miss you forever and always, Mommy.

Pop’s Chock’lit shoppe flashback

Courtesy of Times Square Diner - Strawberry milkshake!!!

This diner was introduced to us by one my father’s bridge couples who live by us. There’s actually a bridge party occurring at one of the couple’s place in Mississauga. We’d gone to their place after a nice ‘Turtle Jack’s’ dinner at Erin Mills Town Center. There, I enjoyed a nice plate of French Onion Burger!

Delightful!

Now, I’m taking this time reading a chapter for work...might as well take this time to increase my knowledge and understanding! Besides, I’ll reward myself with dessert afterwards as a job well done. 😉

Happy Family Day!

Ames treated me to a cupcake last night, after we went to see the 2020 Oscar movie, Parasite, in theatres yesterday. As we’d had a family dinner at the Hot House Cafe, I decided to save it for brekkie this morning...

DEliSH!!!!!

We also stopped by Vaughan Mills Mall this arvo as mom and Ames did some quick shopping. During this time, I enjoyed a nice tall chocolate cookie crumble Frappuccino with no foam that was supposed to be a mocha Frappuccino, but whatevs if the order was messed up? I go ‘okay, way to go and try new things...’.

Not bad, if I don’t say so myself...

east side marios chicken parm sliders

Déjeuner aujourd'hui, YUM!!!

Life is too short to be bogged down and be discouraged. You have to keep moving. You have to keep going.

Kobe Bryant
This was one of his quotes that was shown on the memoriam that Billie Eilish sang during the Oscars. Although, they seemed to have missed some big names like Luke Perry and Cameron Boyce to name a few.

And after having a Sunday Mexican brunch with Abbeyites, Karina, Faye and their better halves, Kristy and Marc, we're hoping the k-squared have a safe trip over to Oz next Wednesday. I've many mixed feelings about another change in all our chapters...after all, Dr. T's already left for Oz at the end of last year...now these girlies are going over to join. Mind you, Kristy's originally from Tassie so it'll be an amazing return to home for her. As well, to fix her shoulder that's awaiting surgery that she cannot have here.

It's a farewell to another abbeyite as this is another big life change. On the other hand, this is another incentive for me to visit oz again in the hopefully near future. At least NOW that I have a 'steady' source of income again, I can work towards this goal! As the quote goes, keep moving and keep going...

So the deed is done ☹️

I have ever so reluctantly left my toastmasters group.
The group I’ve technically not really been a part of for about a year now because I hadn’t paid the membership fee since it’s renewal near the end of last year.

It NOW feels really permanent as I’ve even left the MSI Toastmasta!!! chat group... NOW it’s real.

C’est tout.

The Good Place Series Finale - January 30, 2020

I watched the finale on THE date it played but it had really struck a chord with me. Enough to re-watch and make notes of my favourite quotes!

Including:
Janet - What do you think happens when people walk through the door? It's the only thing in the universe I don't know.

Eleanor - I don't know either. The wave returns to the ocean. What the ocean does with the water after that is anyone's guess. But, as a VERY wise not robot once told me (chidi), 'the true joy's in the mystery'.

Janet - I hate to see you walk through the final door at the edge of existence. But I LOVE to watch you leave! (Eleanor taught her)

Eleanor - You got a John Locke quote or piece of Kant-ian wisdom you can throw at me?
Chidi - Those guys were more focused on rules & regulations. For spiritual stuff, we have to turn to the east. Picture a wave. The ocean. And you can see it, measure it, it's height, the way the sunlight refracts when it passes through. And it's there. And you can see it. And you know what it is. It's a wave. And then it crashes on the shore. And it's gone. But the water is still there. The wave is just a little different way of the water to be. For a little while. But that's just one conception of death for a Buddhist. The wave returns to the ocean. Where it came from. Where it's supposed to be.
Eleanor - not bad, Buddhists.
Chidi - Not bad. None of this is bad.

So ever since I began my new job, my boss was so kind enough to help me assimilate and learn my new role by borrowing a book explaining the duties and background to the purpose of my job. I've been going to our building library to read it and go back to my studying days. As the content is interesting and helps explain what I've been doing, I've really appreciated this. However, many outside forces keep interrupting me and this has become annoying and disruptive which makes me so internally enraged.

To help with my simmering emotions, I've literally had to read these quotes to help calm me down again...and so the day has been managed, for now...

January 26, 2020: RIP Kobe Bryant...

as well as his 13-year-old daughter (Gianna) and seven others who were killed in a devastating helicopter crash on Sunday in Los Angeles.

Such a tragic loss that occurred the same day as the 2020 Grammy's...as well as at the beginning of the Year of the Rat, Chinese New Year.

So long, farewell...

I attended MSIT (mon sheong inspired toastmasters) last night again after nearly 2 years (give or take approximately 21 months).

It was nice to visit and see the changes, as there has been many. Mainly that except for the President (who actually only came BECAUSE I was attending), I recognized no one. All the members were new to me. Ah well, such is the toastmasters club life, especially still so new.

Regardless of the feeling of being included (they asked me to be the timer), I’ve sadly come to the conclusion that even though I am still on the MSI Toastmasta!!! group chat (as I had originally requested as I was a founding member and hadn’t planned on leaving), this may be an indication that my time is up.

Mostly because the group has drastically changed and isn’t a priority for me at all. Actually, to be completely honest, partly due to location and the members (wink wink), if I DO continue with toastmasters, I would probably sign up with my friend, Winnie’s (Eglinton Yonge Toastmasters). However, THAT is ALSO still a ways to go.

Until then, as Bill Lee and Julie Andrew’s song from ‘The Sound of Music’ goes...

It's been so long since I've last been to Frankie Tomatto's!!!
Mind you, I cannot stuff myself at buffet's like in the times long past....BUT it's always nice to have MORE options! (Literally just grabbing small bite-sized portions...)

Enjoyed a great dinner with Jordan last night at Stack a smokehouse specializing in bbq food. It's been much too long since I've last been there and the bbq ribs, mac & cheese with my additional s’mores shake was VERY FILLING!!! (BUT worth every bite)

This is especially nice after starting my new job. Major perk is that even though I go in part-time, it's actually at a wage which works out well so that I can do more than just work... :)
As well, the office environment is so welcoming and I hope this will be a nice long term project...fingers-crossed!!!

'I like to say David is yolo koko...you only live once so keep on keeping on, man. Keep on struggling with this & learning this and learning this...and growing!'

Said by Stevie Wonder in David Foster: Off the Record
Totally agree with Stevie on this sentiment...it's all about learning and growing through the struggle!

So in preparation for the upcoming year of the Rat, went to Art Inn Runway, a salon at Pacific Mall (that I go to now) to get a haircut on Saturday! I even have my preferred hair stylist, Benson (riiiiiight?!?!?!? SUCH an artsy stylist name, lol)! Personally though, I didn't want it cut too short so just a couple of inches...

Afterwards, we (even Ames!) went to Niagara to relax. Caught a show by The Voca People at the casino where the premise is that a group of performers dressed all in white with red lips. The Voca People claim to come from the Planet Voca (somewhere behind the sun) where all communication is based on music and vocal expressions. Their motto is "Life is music and music is life". During the show, The Voca People are supposed to sometimes mingle with the crowd...during THIS performance, one of the performers tried to sit on my lap (I was sitting in the aisle seat) but as my purse was in my lap, the performer jumped off like something made my lap unpleasant! It was the PERFECT prop!
Went to the Canyon Creek Chophouse for dinner where I had a Kansas City Steak Soup (slow roasted prime rib, carrots, celery, onion and garlic) and Prime Rib Sliders (prime rib on baked buns, cabernet jus and horseradish sour cream) as my meal. I also had a bit of Dad's Peppercorn New York striploin and some avocado from Ames' salad, yum!

After coming home in the early afternoon, I'm now catching up the tv movie I'd taped off of the W Network called Love In Winterland with Italia Ricci & Chad Michael Murray. Normally I don't go out of my way to tape cheesy tv movies BUT because I saw that Mr. Murray was in this, I was hooked! One of my crushes from back in the day in One Tree Hill with another cutie, James Lafferty....why not? Shelley and I used to LOOOOOOVVVEEE catching the show in between our studies during school! Such pretty faces to look (not just the guys) at in the show. Even though the show's ended since 2012, I'd still watch reruns if they played it (like Gilmore Girls :)) He's still quite the hunk and even though I'm just at the beginning of the movie, I'm totally rooting for him and Ally! Why not?

Aiming to get a good night's rest as tomorrow I begin another chapter...hopefully a longer and not as much struggling in this one! *fingers-crossed*

The day's been a turmoil of feelings but it's come out positive and can only go up now...woot! 👍

You've made this day a special day by just being you. There's no person in the whole world like you and I like you just the way you are.

- Fred Rogers

Enjoyed New Years in Niagara and went to see 'Little Women' at Fairview mall with mom thanks to Louie's movie tix present!

As this is the beginning of awards season, the Golden Globe Awards is happening this weekend and so in an effort to clean up all my taped shows, I've been binge watching 'A Very Brady Renovation' and 'The Masked Singer'. ;p

I think a hero is an ordinary individual who finds strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles...

- Christopher Reeve (1952-2004)

Taking advantage of the holiday season, went for afternoon tea at the King Eddy with Faye and Romz last Sunday evening. What an array of good food and conversation!!! We had such a fabulous time that we'd even chatted up with the server, whose name is Kenny. We'd made such an impression that when I'd went to the King Eddy again for Christmas Eve dinner with the nuclear family, Kenny happened to be our server as well...& he remembered me and all of our names!!!

Christmas Day was spent over a lovely dim sum brunch and then we all went to see Bombshell.
I'm not going to lie, even though the movie was a good filler of interesting information and good acting (especially Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman and John Lithgow), I found it a little too fast for me. One of those, possibly see again if I'm interested (I'm not tho…).

Yesterday was a busy and full day for me!
I had been invited to join in Eugene's birthday dinner celebration but then Karen had added a games play date at Snakes & Lattes in the early afternoon, how could I refuse?

Going to Snakes and Lattes was a fun experience with Karen, Eugene, Patrick, Vanessa and Cristina! Sure, it makes sense that everyone is charged a certain amount to be present and play the games...how else is money made?

We spent the afternoon playing 'Sushi Go' and Telestration.

Not going to lie, playing these games are fun but it also helps that I had a 'Boozy Coffee' (made up of classic coffee and baileys) as well! :)

After bidding our farewells when the games finished, I hung out at the Starbucks on the other side of the street waiting for Louie to pick me up so that we could head over to 'sauga for where Eugene's dinner at Astoria Shish Kebob House. There, I enjoyed a Mousaka (made up of ground beef in eggplant, rice and potatoes), finishing off with a slice of black sesame cake that had been purchased at Maxim's!
What I enjoyed most was that even though everyone had joined the party for Eugene's celebration, Louie was ceremoniously included in a belated birthday celebration as well (he's a boxing day baby!!!), yay!!!

I suppose that with the use of imagination (or not?), this would qualify as falling under hero status!!!

A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood!

Busy busy week counting down to the end of the year...and this is our neighbourhood Eaton Centre!!!

Went to see the wonderful Tom Hanks movie, 'A Wonderful day in the neighborhood' on Tuesday with Louie. It actually worked out well as I had we'd originally planned to see it in the morning BUT due to some appointments that came up for me, we ended up catching an evening show before dinner at Wendy's.

Wednesday's big event was attending the Mon Sheong Inspired Toastmaster's (MSIT) Xmas Party!
It seems that due to the fact that it was a party evening and so close to the Christmas time, there was not enough members to attend so it became a joined celebration with another toastmasters group.

Here is Kollin as Table Topics Master. He had passed around a pocket with slips of paper with random numbers or not on it. The slips with numbers signaled the person would go up to speak.

As Raymond was lucky enough to get a number, he went up to speak on whatever he pulled out of the cute santa claus bag. It was a nice photo showing the two presidents (past and present) interacting!!!

Coming up to the end of the week, Jordan and I went to dinner at Le Montmartre French Restaurant. Starting off with appetizers! He had escargots and I had the French onion soup!

Our mains included my order of Les crevettes Natasha (shrimps in a rose creamy tomato sauce with fresh basil on a bed of pasta) and Jordon's Les petoncles sautéed a la Nicoise (scallops flambeed in pernod, served with mushrooms in a delicate curry sauce).

Dessert ended with coffee (mine had a shot of bailey's, yah!!!) and we split a mouth-watering tiramisu!!!

In regards to television shows, I've caught Gwen Stefani's You Make It Feel Like Christmas special where bf Blake Shelton also showed up with the other performers; Miss America 2020 where Camille Schrier, Virginia was crowned the winner! as well as Howie Mandel's 5th Annual All Star Comedy Gala to name a few...

A wonderful week in the neighbourhood...

Christmas is a time for giving presents to me. Plz.

I got MYSELF a present....EARMUFFS!!!!
YAAAASSSSS!!! It's been so long since I've had earmuffs! These ones are burgundy red heart ears!!!

I saw this written on a Christmas card and thought it was the perfect comment to how I hope Christmas should be for me. ;p

So this week's been really busy going to job information sessions to the TTC, interview preparation and went to an actual part-time job interview this afternoon. This refers to my subject line as well...

Which brings me to a sticky topic for me...I've been in communication with a past colleague from my most recent work employment (6 months ago) and even though they know of my situation, the fact that they continuously bring up the point of mentioning looking for another job...this is a HUGE sticking point to me. Considering I've been unable to maintain a long term full time job employment.

But here's to the upcoming year...I have positive thoughts for this!

Winter has arrived...

So, spent the night watching the Christmas tree lighting at the 87th Annual Christmas at Rockefellar Center (my main criticism is that there was absolutely NO SNOW) AND the Jann Arden - One Night Only show!

From the xmas tree lighting, I enjoyed these performances and appearances!

Gwen Stefani - Feel Like Christmas
John Legend - Bring Me Love
Neyo - This Christmas
Brett Eldredge- Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!
Idina Menzel ft Billy Porter - I got my love to keep me warm
Tina Fey & Cast of Mean Girls - Jingle Bell Rocks
Skylar Austin & Alex Newell - Christmas Baby Please Come Home
Chicago - Winter Wonderland
Lea Michele - Have Yourself A Very Merry Christmas
Miss America 2019 & Nia Franklin
Derek Hough - Sock It To Me Santa
Idina Menzel - Sleigh Ride
John Legend - Merry Christmas Baby
Straight No Chaser - Santa Claus is Coming to Town
Brett Eldredge - First Noel
Neyo - Rocking Around the Christmas Tree
Julianne Hough & Jordan Fisher - All I Want for Christmas
Chicago - Let It Snow
Lea Michele - it's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
Jon Bon Jovi - Unbroken
Radio City Rockettes - Christmas Lights
Gwen Stefani - Dreaming of a White Christmas
Harlem Gospel Choir - Joy to the World

Jann Arden's - One Night Only show, included her singing 4 songs: Insensitive, the Devil Won, Merry Christmas and Good Mother

minor detail:

I finally watched:

- Red Nose Day, the May23rd campaign with the mission to end child poverty by funding programs that keep children safe, healthy, and educated. Hosted by Terry Crews with performances by John Legend (Preach), Kelly Clarkson (Broken & Beautiful), Blake Shelton (God's Country), Sting (If You Love Somebody), Chrissy Metz (Standing With You), Coldplay & Game Of Thrones cast doing a Musical, Josh Groban & Hope Children's Choir to name a few of the highlights!

- This is Farrah Fawcett, also May 23rd.
**It's scary watching what she went through suffering from anal cancer because it's brought back flashbacks of my own cancer battle with colon cancer and the different outcomes between the two of us. It's scary how the biggest difference is in the time of cancer occurrence and where the research is in the cure for cancer.**

"Professor vogel calls this disease a terrorist. So unpredictable. Filled with hate and powerful enough to destroy all that is good and healthy. Cancer is my own private war. The strain, the nausea, the fever takes turns challenging my strength, my mind and my spirit. I must let go of my disease. And hold on to each and every moment of my life. Because it is, after all, mine. And I want to live. So with hope and determination I hold on and go on, flying on a wing and a prayer. "
Today, I've got cancer. But on the other hand, I'm alive! So I guess I'm great. Yeah, right now, I, am GREAT. My life goes on and so does my fight. And oh, by the way, how are you? What are YOU fighting for? - Farrah Fawcett

Telestration

I haven't had such a fun evening as I had last night in such a loooooooong time!!!! There was drama...good food AND so much fun with the game played afterwards!

It all began with Louie's personal invitation to join in a Christmas gathering with his and Karen's choir friends back in October. Accepting the invitation was simply the first step. Figuring out the logistics turned into a bit of a headscratcher as due to his mass commitments, Louie and Karen had originally decided that Karen would pick me up and we would hang out at her mom's place before he would pick us up and go to the party.

Turns out that Karen's piano commitments went much longer than expected and in the end, Louie came to pick me up. The traffic was pretty slow going and we ended up meeting Karen at Gill and Ron's house at approximately the same time. Their other friends, Mary and Flo had already arrived and were having appetizers. C'est la vie...

Gill and Ron's kids, Jordan and Marcus entertained us with the piano and their own games (they're both under 10 years) before we all dug into the wonderful potluck that we'd all brought to eat!

Afterwards, due to Louie's mass commitments this morning, he had to depart earliest but the rest of us (minus the kids who went to bed) began two rounds of Telestration...a new game to me!

Telestration is a party board game in which players are prompted to sketch a word listed on a card, then guess what the other players have drawn. My two hands that I made up 'my imagination isn't phenomenal' were: The cat is in the hat, which BECAME cat in the hat with thing 1 & thing 2 as well as Dime a dozen, which BECAME pacman eating money at 10:20pm!!!

I don't recall laughing so hard in quite a long time!!! It was SUCH a fantastic evening!!! I mean, I don't think I'll play this game ever again but it was fun while it lasted!!!

I'm not bossy. I simply make suggestions without options.

LOVE this quote from a presentation 'Oldest Child Syndrome' at Winnie's Yonge-Eglinton Toastmasters last night! Yes, I visited this Toastmasters again last night, especially to see and hear Winnie's presentation on the Hadza community, close to Tanzania, where she's from.

No, I'm not even ashamed to be promoting her Toastmasters nor feeling guilty about not attending my former Toastmasters (MSIT). I haven't been to MSIT in so long that I don't even think I would fit in anymore. Although, I am still part of the MSIT group message only because I had originally thought I would be returning. NOW I am very unsure. To the point that I haven't paid to renew my membership and am thinking of asking to be taken off the group message system.

HOWEVER, I'm tentatively planning on attending the MSIT Christmas party that'll be occurring in about three weeks time. I hope to attend (perhaps with Winnie as my sidekick) as a refresher, to scope out my situation and how I feel about the possibility of returning (or not).

Until then, I'm resigned to job searching and catching up on too many taped television shows...

The Finale!!! (DWTS)

So who showed up on the ‘Dancing with the Stars’ Finale?!?!?!??!!!?

PITBULL (MR. 305) & NEYO!!! as well as LIONEL RITCHIE!!!! & CHER!!!!

Oh yes...the dancing was phenomenal!!!

“Good night, sweet prince”

- Shakespeare

Began the weekend having lunch with Grace & Alice at Moto Sushi on Friday. We had such a wonderful meetup that is nice to have once in awhile! During our get-together, we touched upon some discussion regarding our family health involving a relative. Little did we know that this would come back by the end of the week...

There were potential plans to see Louie this weekend, however this was put off due to last minute family plans to head to Niagara Falls (casino :p) after my massage Saturday morning. I'm happy to report that there was enough winnings to cover dinner (at an Italian restaurant called Vittoti's where we split a penne with vodka & prosciutto) and Sunday's brunch!

Unfortunately, during our brunch, we found out the sad news about said previously discussed family health with Felix. I cannot say that I remember ever meeting said cousin as he lived in Hong Kong.

"Goodnite, Dr. Death"

Alright, Children
The lights are out and the party's over
It's time for me: Doctor D
To start running and say goodbye for a little while
And I know you're gonna miss me
So I'll leave you with this
You know that big ball of radiation we call...

After returning back to the tdot, we stopped by Ames to watch the new Frozen II movie by her fabulous theater that has really nice seat that can recline back with very roomy seats! Thumbs up, you cannot go wrong with anything Frozen!!!

Then to end this weird weekend, I caught Keith Urban's Grey Cup halftime show as well as the American music awards hosted by Ciara. Highlights for me involved Halsey's acceptance speech, her performance 'graveyard', watching Green Day, Taylor Swift, Christina Aguilera and Great Big World's fall on me and Shania Twain's closing performance!!!

ebs & flos

Today, I spent the day in a purple shirt...the color purple representing World Pancreatic Day and this brings to my mind the name, Alex Trebek.

An incredibly busy day...beginning with the fact that our building parking garage was going through maintenance repairs so cars that had to not be in the garage had to be out between 9-5pm.

Therefore, Mom and I began our day leaving the garage just after 8:30am to go to Yonge and Davisville where the TTC head office is so that I could update my wheel-trans support companion card. There we encountered an employee, Trevor, who suggested I look into opportunities within the TTC. We thanked him for his help after completing our transactions and as we were making out way out to the car, he came running out to give me several sheets of paper with the current job ops (26) with the ttc that he printed out for me. A lot of aren't relevant for me but I've since applied for the General Clerk, Accounts Payable role. As I was fashioning my cover letter, it brought back Minto flashbacks!

This was only our first stop of the day. Along the way, I stopped by the Art Inn @ Runway in Pacific mall to have my bangs trimmed by a guy named Benson, who added side bangs with the initial trimming of the bangs. Yay, I have a facial structure again!!!

Afterwards, on our way home, I was surprised by messages from Louie, wanting to catch up some time this weekend. However, after receiving the flu shot on Monday, I happen to be suffering from a cold that's recently begun. As well, he's been battling an on/off cold that began at the beginning of the cold season.Not wanting to bring his hopes up (or dash it), I've currently left my response up in the air. TBD for Sunday morning...

Making it home just after 5pm, the day didn't happen to wrap up like work...a CIBC representative that my family deals with helped with a potential networking job opportunity with a contact to this place called Moohan Taekwondo.

And THEN almost like a cherry on top, my job counsellor to the ODSP agency that I work with contacted me regarding a receptionist position with a company right at the corner to where I live. Unfortunately, as she's going to be MIA until the new year (due to a family emergency), I wasn't sure she would be able to follow up. SURPRISINGLY, a job developer called me a little later to give me more details about the position so I plan to send him all my information for tomorrow morning!

You'd think I'd be exhausted....I AM but something I've failed to mention is that I've had two cups of coffee too late in the day...and now I'm definitely paying for it!!!

JUDGMENT DAY...

Grey's Anatomy's 350th episode

WOW...

This past Thursday was Grey's 350th episode of the series. It was kind of emotional in both the plot of the series (Meredith's faced the medial board to see if her medical license is revoked or not) and also brought back many flashbacks of many late characters who had been a part of the show by giving nods to the likes of the late Lexie, Derek, and Denny Duquette. Alex showed the board letters of support from Addison Montgomery, Callie Torres, Arizona Robbins, and April Kepner.

Even though she didn't make an appearance, she'd sent a letter of support for her 'Person' that Alex read at the hearing:

"Dear medical commission: People who know me would describe me as selfish to a fault. After that, they'd say, 'honest.' I can honestly tell you that if I were dying and a surgery stood between me and death, Dr. Grey's hands are the only ones that I'd want inside my body. "Taking away her license is signing the death certificates of countless future patients. She is a light in a broken system that she will fix, whether you want her to or not. She is the sun and she is unstoppable. Sincerely, Dr. Cristina Yang."

BRILLIANT!!! and sooooooo Yang-like!!!

I'm watching the Sesame Street's 50th Anniversary Celebration hosted by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and it's brought really nostalgic memories of the days when I used to watch Sesame Street growing up...at the same time, seeing how it's been updated with the times!

The best part is seeing all the guest cameo's including: Busy Phillips, Whoopi Goldberg, Meghan Trainor, Sterling K. Brown, Alessia Cara, Lucy Liu and Terry Crews to name a few...woooooooaaahh!!!!

Karen's birthday was on Tuesday and I wished her a happy birthday online as she and Patrick are Honeymooning in Hawaii.

I'd gone to my in person interview at Sick Kids for a recommended position from HR (to another in person job interview position from last week) on Wednesday and even though I thought it would be a good fit, I'm not putting all my cards on this opportunity. Life and job opps work weird for me like that...

Thursday was a super busy day spending it at Roy Thompson Hall for the Global Summit 2019, an annual diversity and inclusion event like no other. The globally recognized Summit brings together thought leaders, partners and amazing humans of all identities to connect, learn and grow. I was extremely lucky to be able to attend this event for free as the testing company that I've worked for previously, Fable Tech Labs, had invited me. It was a great opportunity to come out and hear so many speakers like Randi Zuckerberg (sister to Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook), Kat Holmes (Google), Angelica Ross (Actor), Erin & Sara Foster (Bumble cofounders), Colleen Ward & Norie Campbell (TD bank), Leagh Turner (Ceridian), Heather Clark and Salim Teja (SickKids Foundation) to name a few! #movethedial

After resting up on Friday, I spent the morning going for dim sum with Aunt Teresa but because I had an unfortunate tumble, I had to bail on Henry's bday party this evening. Instead, I tried out a restaurant, Jollibee with amazingly juicy chicken and great spaghetti!

Now I'm trying to take advantage of missing the party by catching up on many episodes of tv. It's a challenge...

Remembrance Day musings

A quick update as to what I've been up to last week:

Monday was Winnie's birthday and we'd already celebrated in advance when we'd had a sushi dinner before visiting her Toastmasters last Thursday.

Tuesday was spent doing something I'm not particularly fond of...going to job fairs. Unfortunate part of life yet I still attended a CAA job fair that my job developer had sent my way (in his defense, not like he needs it... but I had mentioned interest in looking into the potential CAA market). Sadly, it seems that even going all the way to Scarborough wasn't really worth it as the HR lady viewed my resume and suggested I 'add' her on LinkedIn and go to a website with job postings. Which, in my mind, is really saying that it's really slim pickings...ah well...

It seemed to brightened up a little on Wednesday as after I had applied to a position at 'Sick Kids', I'd received an invitation for a telephone interview, which led to a panel interview that morning. I'm happy that I made enough of an impression that even though I was unable to score THAT particular job (through follow up email correspondence), that HR lady actually suggested that I apply for another similar position through her HR network AND I now have another in person interview this upcoming Wednesday (fingers crossed!).

The rest of the week's main activities included grabbing a Thursday dinner with Louie at Max's (this Filipino reso seemed to be the safest choice for us at this time due to Louie's own health battle) before coffee at Starbucks in my old neighborhood in the Dufferin and Steeles area. As well, I was able to enjoy a Saturday lunch date with Jordan at a particularly long ago haunt, Bonjour Brioche, downtown off of Queen St E. The food and atmosphere was the same joyous was that we remembered it and we ended up spending quite some time there taking in the familiarity!

Topping this off involved beginning Sunday with visiting Alicia, Steve and Rosemary! During the visit, Alicia and I went off to grab a coffee at Jimmy's Coffee and then a lunch at San Remo's bakery...yum!

A highlight to this week on television was sesame street on the latelateshow!!!

It's been a busy weekend beginning with attending Malcolm's first birthday on Saturday at Ames' condo's party room in the early afternoon and then going to mom and dad's friend's (Uncle Norman and Aunt Susan) 50th anniversary party in the evening!

This morning I met up with Karen for brunch at Eggsmart! Afterwards, went to visit Ames' again with the rents for a take-out sushi dinner.

Luckily this is the weekend where we gained an extra hour so it mostly (mainly because due to the overlapping events that were occurring, unfortunately, I missed out on the Mon Sheong Cathay Ball, boo...) worked out! ;p

Caught up with Winnie yesterday! I miss our work lunch dates but such is life...at least we can still randomly catch up when we make dates!

We had originally planned on meeting up for dinner at Tio's Urban Taco. UNFORTUNATELY, when my ride dropped me off at the restaurant, I was sad to find out that the reso had ACTUALLY shut down (unpaid bills) not two weeks ago!! *tragedy*

No biggie as Winnie and I decided to have dinner at 'Sushi Shop' where we had tuna sushi tacos and split a dragon roll, salmon sushi burger (WHAT?!?!?! a sushi burger!?!?!? But it was DELISH!!!) and a lobster poke bowl. Good times!!!

Afterwards we went to her Toastmasters (shhhhhhh, no need to mention to my own toastmasters group...;p) where I enjoyed listening to the two speeches given as well as joining in on the table topics! The word of the evening was gregarious which I found complimentary to myself. ;p There were several guests (other than myself) that also included two girls visiting from Korea and Japan!

So THAT was my evening out!!! Of course after I got home, I caught The Good Place before calling it a night!

Tried a wonderful Thai reso called 'Khmer Thai' off of St. Clair W Thursday evening with Jordan. Jordan ordered the yellow curry chicken with sweet potato & eggplant, I ordered a pad thai that we both split (but the curry had a bit of a kick to it) and we also shared two spring rolls (vegetarian and chicken).

Saturday was busy beginning with checking in with a massage master (who I hadn't gone in to see in over a year and half due to health issues) in the morning before heading to a Cathay Ball Orientation at Mon Sheong Foundation from 1:30-4pm. The Cathay Ball is one of the biggest events of the year for the Foundation! It's one of my favorites as everyone, even the volunteers dress up to the nines. The tickets cost like a fortune and everyone gets amazing performances and food. The volunteers also get a fabulous buffet dinner (just not in a sit down meal like the paid guests). If I had the choice, I would attend the Cathay Ball...however, I've two other events happening this upcoming weekend.

After being picked up from the orientation, I was dropped off for dinner at Paisano's with my parents and dad's bridge buddies. There we had a wonderful dinner (I split a penne vodka with sautéed mushrooms, penne pasta with vodka rose sauce with mom) before the group headed back to our place where as the bridge commenced, I caught up on some of my MANY television shows! Once the game was finished, we all had some amazing dessert and coffee before the guests went home and I conked out!

Sunday was a lazy day where after sleeping in, had a hardcore workout that proceeded a fabulous brunch with Romz and Fayewood at the Sunset Grill. Considering neither of the girlies had ever tried the Grill, we had a nice relaxing time with fabulous dishes! Romz was sweet enough to be my ride to and from the Grill!

There was no relaxing right afterwards as Ames had come back from a trip to Jamaica Sunday morning so the rents and I went downtown later in the afternoon to hang out with her and Mr. Trudeau, hear how the trip was and then a family dinner to finish off the weekend! :)

And we're still on the train with Trudeau...

With all the pre-election drama with the party candidates, liberal still came out triumphant even though it's a minority win.

I was working the election as a poll clerk and even though it was a super loooooong day (from 8:30am-11:30pm with a couple of 15 min breaks), it was worth the excitement! There were a couple of really busy periods but overall there was a pretty regular tide of voters. Other than the approximately half our 'lights out' in the gym (however, the lights in the hallways were still on and we all pulled out our cellphone lights (haha) before they were turned on again), it was pretty smooth sailing.

Luckily, this wasn't the first election I've worked. It's the first big (for the PM) one but I've worked as information and registration clerk in a couple of smaller election ridings.

Therefore, Mr. Trudeau is still very relevant which is good for our Mr. (cat) Trudeau!

I've been re-reading my posts from when I first started my blog from back in the day and I noticed how fun and care-free my writing and life was from back over ten years ago! I miss those school days where my numero uno priority was to finish my schooling, get a good job that in something that I wanted to do AND maybe be in a relationship or family.

How things change...

BUT I miss writing how life was from over a decade ago and this will be my new GOAL...bring back the writing from back in the day, just less activity from back in school days.

"That'll do, pig. That'll do."

Farmer Arthur H. Hoggett (James Cromwell) in "Babe" (1995)

My definition of travelling while on holiday (this Canadian Thanksgiving) is going to places and 'visiting' the area.

How interesting that it is so different from my parent's definition as we 'travelled' to Finger Lakes in New York State, to literally eat at a diner named Magee County Diner and go to Costco, where the tragedy of all tragedies occurred...the cafeteria had NO FRENCH FRIES!!!!!!! VERY tragic...

There WAS, however, churros...whatever, done deal.

We also stopped by the Niagara Casino on our way back to Toronto. C'est la vie.

Patience is what is indispensable to make a dream come true...

Otherwise known as 'patience is a virtue'.

Even though I'm in the midst of crazy job and life changes still...I've been slowly closing up shop on hopefully the end of my health battle in the chapter of life (fingers-crossed). In regards to the job front, there's been activity on that end so there's also something to look forward to...

While at the same time, I've spent two days this week lunching with past co-workers from my last job in preparation to a fellow co-worker's last day (today) from the company as well. Tuesday's lunch was spent with my actual past 'child operations' co-worker's team at the 'Granite Brewery' with a granite burger; where today's lunch was spent with past 'contract' co-worker's team at 'Churrasco Villa' with a chicken wrap and fries. I must also take an opportunity to thank my friend, Efren for the Portuguese tart dessert!!!

As well, I enjoyed a nice lunch with my cousin's, Alice and Grace at Sushi Moto on Wednesday. Our table was given a free tofu dish along with my own meal of beef enoki roll (enoki mushroom and beef wrap, teriyaki sauce) and a salmon sushi pizza (salmon, crunch, mayo on crispy rice patty)...yum!

Finishing off with a farewell dinner with Tanaks, Kristy, Karina, Faye, Marc, Karina's brother/sister & partners at El Mariachi Tacos and Churros in Mississauga! This was crazy fun as it brought back soooooo many memories of high school days but in the present! It was the best farewell dinner for Tanaks before she, Kristy and Karina leave for Oz by the end of the year for their own new chapters in their lives over there!

Excellent incentive to visit oz again!!!

Crazy little thing called love...

- Queen

Amongst other songs such as 'Another one bites the dust'/'Radio Gaga'/'Bohemian Rhapsody'/'We will rock you'/'We are the champions' sung by Queen and Adam Lambert that included a nice tribute to Freddy Mercury as well as performances by Pharrell, Alicia Keyes (including Empire State of Mind) and appearances by Chris Martin and Rami Malek.

This was my highlight from yesterday, watching the Global Citizen Festival on MSNBC...one of the few things I will stay up a little later for!

As for today, I look forward to catching J. Lo's 'Hustlers'!

People say nothing is impossible; But I do nothing everyday

- Pooh from Christopher Robin

This is the state that I am in right now.

However, my main struggle is to work with my new normal in the act of re-wired plumbing (literally). Sadly, this is quite stressful and challenging. Unfortunately, this is all up to only myself. Therefore, as I understand, just give it time.

BUT...time is a-ticking...which is very unfortunate for a person that likes to remain occupied with something or another.

I must give it time.

On the bright side, now that I can sleep through the night like a normal human being again...I’m happy to be sleeping soundly again and am now back on my caffeine-kick! And thanks to Jordan, I have a small supply of drip coffee for my mornings now, yay! Something to do while I do nothing...

The Show Must Go On

The Queen + Adam Lambert Story #QueenxAdamLambert

I've just finished watching the ABC story about Queen and Adam Lambert that I taped back at the end of April...such a great performance! I guess something that I hadn't realized was that Freddy Mercury had passed from HIV back in the day and it was nice that they did such a thorough explanation on the back story to both the band Queen and how Lambert became famous from the first American Idol as the runner up. Personally, I think he did pretty well with filling in with the team of Queen. Go Adam!

Anyway, another way to look at this story title is to bring it back to myself (hence my own blog, duh!)...a week after the end of another chapter of my life, I feel like I'm doing pretty well! I'm not going to lie, I do NOT miss counting hours etc and am totally relishing in the fact that I can now literally sleep through the night without waking up every two hours! (yay!!!)

Something not to take for granted until you realize that you were...it's part of the first world culture etc that a person NEVER has to think about until they do....but details... :)

As I'm still going through my recordings (I'm doing well as my family's recordings are down to 58%, I'm now watching 'the 2019 Met Gala' E! Live From the Red Carpet from back at the beginning of May now. It's 4 hours long so hopefully afterwards the % will be even lower! Most important to go through all the recordings now as new seasons start in the next two weeks!!!

Oh how I've missed my Tim Horton's fix!!!

Yesterday, I had my first small French Vanilla Cappuccino is over a year and a half...and it was SOOOOOO worth it!

Altho….I'm still waiting for my taste buds to come back...

The END.

"Where we go from there is a choice I leave to you."

said by Neo (Keanu Reeves) in "The Matrix" (1999)

This is a good quote to describe my long weekend spent with the abbey girls at Maija's place in Guelph! It's also special that we'd all met up... 'We' including Dr. Tanaks who'd flown in from NYC, Kristy, Karina, Faye, Maija and myself!

Why?

As it turns out...we had all known that the K squared were going to be moving to Oz back where Kristy originally came from. However, the that we all learnt Saturday is that Dr. Dune has accepted a job in Oz as well! Mind you, it makes sense as her whole family lives in Sydney...even though the best surprise (like they'd all arranged it...but hadn't) is that all three of them will be living in Melbourne, the wonderfully artsy city. Similar to our Toronto and Montreal is what Sydney and Melbourne is to Australia!

CRAY-CRAY?!?!?!? I think so!!!

Regardless, all five of us arrived at Maija's with two chocolate cakes as presents because we had run later (involving stops at Karina's brother's and sister's place for Tanaka's 'farewell tour'). Interesting side note was that while we were getting the cake, T also bought a couple of cheeses (including my fav, Brie). One of the cheeses, smelled bad, so T immediately chucked it into Maija's garbage can. Luckily, Maija insisted that she take it out of the garbage to return to the store (as it was bought NEW)...and as she was investigating T's receipt, turns out that this 'BAD' cheese was charged $60!!!! :O

Maija made T go with Kristy back to the store to return this bad cheese and get her rightful $60's back!

While they went to the store, the rest of us helped Maija with setting up lunch (with cake as dessert!). After a fantastic and laid back lunch, because the weather was so beautiful, the six of us went out to the backyard where Maija has a pool!!! T, Kristy and Maija had a fantastic time frolicking around the pool while Karina, Fayewood and I dangled our legs off the side. We had SUCH a great time, we even saw a rabbit off the side of the pool!

After a fantastically relaxing time, we went into town for dinner at 'La Reina', a Mexican-type restaurant where we had a couple of tacos and sopas while sitting outdoors.

Needless to say, we all stayed up very late chatting together like we haven't done this in much too long!!!

The wonderful thing about staying at Maija's was that while she has three children with Jonathan, they had other plans so that it was just us ladies Saturday. Even better was that we all had great sleeping arrangements involving beds for all of us!

Sleeping in until around 7-8am, we had a lovely brunch Sunday morning before Maija went to bring home Jonathan and their darlings, James, Ruuben and Emmi!

Emmi, Maija's youngest, had drawn little artistic presents for all of us to enjoy. Tanaka was so ingenious to ask Emmi to sign and date her art projects so that we can have them for safe-keeping for the future! (Plus we all graciously let T have all of Emmi's drawings to take to Oz!)

We all ended our great weekend with a nice drive home from the K squared. :)

Come holiday Monday, as Jordan lives in my hood, he walked over to pick me up at my residence and we walked over to Sheppard Centre to try out 'Blaze pizza' (we each ordered one personal pizza). He ordered the BBQ chicken pizza that had chicken, mozzarella, onion, gorgonzola, bbq drizzle and banana peppers (he asked for half of his pizza without the peppers for me) and I ordered the Art Lover with artichokes, mozzarella, ricotta pork and red sauce dollops. Then we had them halve the pizzas so we each had half of the other....so the best of both worlds! The best was that we even split a s'more pie for a pre-dessert...

Luckily, the pizza's are thin crusted and the s'more pie very small so that after dining and chatting for awhile, we popped next door to 'Sweet Jesus' for ice cream dessert! There, I had my favorite, a small 'red rapture' while Jordan had a small 'hella hazelnut'.

Needless to say, a FANTASTIC labour day weekend! My scale also let me know that it was fantastic... :/ Ah well, you only live once. This is MY choice!