A Healthy Perspective
One thing that makes you appreciate your health is being sick. I've finally fallen victim to the flu. :( Felt the bug sort of coming on Friday, and increasingly worse on Saturday. I guess Saturday night was the worse of it.. broke out in a massive sweat in the middle of the night and had to actually change my PJ's! I suppose it's not as bad as it could have been, I had been pretty careful about taking my vitamins and such stuff.. but UGH.. being sick sucks! I'm such a tofu .. I still can't figure out where I went wrong. Actually, I think I wasn't being as careful (paranoid) about washing my hands every 10 mins last week.. still had some sick people in the office.. that could have been one way I recieved this lovely thing. The other one may have been just catching cold after my cardio workout.
So here I am, Monday. I'm feeling much better, but still have very little energy. Everytime I think I'm up to doing something, I think.. maybe not. Aie yie yie. Makes you appreciate how much you can do while you're healthy. I'm so BORED! Can't go anywhere, can't do anything. I've nothing to read and don't really have the energy to sit in front of the TV either :S *sigh*
Alright. no more.. more after recovery.
One More Week til March Break!!
GRUMBLE!!! I just typed an entry and now it's gone!!! ARGGG.. I should have been more careful, I've seen people grumble about it on their blogs.. arrggg.. how irritating!!Anyways, what I said was I watched House of Flying Daggers last night (Zhang Zhi Yi, Andy Lau and ). The cinematogrophy is amazing (similar to the Notebook in a different sense). Lucky for me, I get to experience the seasons here in f-town.. could be the perfect location for movies you know!! I especially liked the outdoor scenes.. what beauty! And the creativity of changing the seasons near the end of the movie.. cool! I wouldn't mind having a couple of the pictures from that movie. The thing I'd like to nitpick about is that the actors are all famous. Ya-ya.. isn't that a good thing, right? Well, let's see.. in the Terminal, before I watched it, I was really skeptical that Tom Hanks could make me believe that he was a non American, considering he's one of American's favorite actors, but he was really believable. By the time the movie was half over, I had forgotten he was Tom Hanks! Bringing this back to my original point, I didn't feel the same way about the three actors in House of Flying Daggers.. especially with Andy Lau. I know he's a talented actor, but this was perhaps a bit too far fetched for me. On the whole though, it's a good movie, watch it for it's cinematography if anything.So, I don't remember what else I said in my blog before it mysteriously disappeared :( I do know I was saying that I finally purchased a dvd burner last night from NCIX and that I hope it doesn't arrive 7 days later (1-2 days delivery time by NCIX terms). My dvd burner is an lg4613.. hope it's good. Now, all I need is another harddrive (or two.. or three.. or..) and a new computer..hahaAlright, I get to go shopping now (YUPPI!! How fun is my job today!!). Have a good weekend!*pray that this one doesn't get lost too*
The stages of growth!
Pretty isn't it? Grown from a SUNFLOWER seed!! COOL!
More Bee Work
Chaos
Well, it's not k-os, but CHAOS :P HAHAHA.. err yeah.This morning started out sort of slow, working away at turtle pace, and suddenly, people, orders and questions started pouring in. OMG. The office was a mess.. things all over the place. It's finally slowed down and things are sort of more orderly now.. ah, this is my kind of work day :DI've been itching to go shopping these past few days, but when I stop and think about it, there's not really that much for me to buy (a good thing). Not that the mall has much to offer here.... give me TO or Montreal shopping .. and that's a different story..heheSpeaking of shopping, I'm thinking I'm going to go and get myself a DVD-burner. Ya-ya.. it's about time! I finally ran out of CDs and have been too lazy to go and buy another stack, but my PC is starting to fill up and there's a ton of things that I really should burn and get off my hard drive, afterall, Spring Cleaning is coming soon!My sinuses have been bugging me these last few days.. I woke up with a sinus headache yesterday *sigh* Took advil and I felt like my body was sleeping the whole day. ARGHH.. it's getting frustrating!! It affects me way too much .. not sleeping properly, stuffy nose, headaches.. ARGH!! I wish it'd go away!!Anyhow, heard there's another storm on the way, but it won't hit us.. just hit places NEAR us.. must be that invisible bubble doing it's duty again. Hmm.. I'm sort of disappointed though.. snow storms are exciting (if you aren't driving)! In between seasons or weather it just a downer.. if it's not going to storm, make it be spring so we can enjoy the fresh air, bright (and WARM) sunshine, sounds of melting ice, running water (outside), signs of GREEN AND TULIPS!! :D (Plus, I'd be able to start planting seeds!!)Oh ya, the preschool (which my centre runs) is going to hatch chicks next month!! I'm excited too! Hehehe.. They take 21 days, but it'll be interesting.. the kids are really excited, you hear them talking about it all the time these days. You know, I always thought working at a Zoo would be interesting. On one hand, I'm petrified of being bitten by any animal, but I think it'd be fun to work with them!? I'm not sure how that works. One of my favorite shows is Zoo Diaries where they go behind the scenes at the Toronto Zoo... too bad I don't see it on very often. Alright, I'm just typing jibberish now. bye!
One of the many beauties of Summer in this city!
Incoming!! Prepare for nector extraction!!
See that?? A Bee enjoying our roses
My specialty - Pansies!
Another lily from our garden
One of the lilies from our garden last summer
Duck = food?
This guy is humongous (Visit him/her in the Botannical Garden in Montreal)
Makes you want to go camping eh?
Yup
Icy! Courtesy of a Friend
Introducing Miharu Akimoto!
Konishiwa! (I bet I spelt that really wrong..sorry!) I just found out my Japanese name is Miharu Akimoto.. sounds kind of cool eh? I somehow doubt it's really all that accurate, but hey, it was fun! My friend sent me a website that generates your Japanese name from your English name. Located at:
http://rumandmonkey.com/widgets/toys/namegen/969/ Enjoy!!! HEHEHE!!I was just thinking this morning, it's really too bad nobody is perfect. I think that because life seems to always be " if it's not one thing, it's another" in the sense that if we aren't happy with one part of ourselves, it's another. I bet that as soon as I fix the part I dislike, another part will come out that wasn't there before.Anyhow, on with my ramblings. I was watching Oprah last night, and holy cow, it's amazing how some clothes can make people look younger (and slimmer (on her show last week)). It makes me think, I need some new lessons on dressing. BLEH! The thing is, when I wake up in the morning, (I am truly not a morning person), I just grab whatever is in front of me.. and more importantly, I grab what I think will be comfortable! So, perhaps, even with a closet full of cool and "chic" clothing, I'll still be dressing like little old me.. hmm!!Lately, I've been really addicted to the following shows: Las Vegas, Gilmore Girls and One Tree Hill. The story lines have been developping to peak excitement and I can hardly wait to find out what happens! Oh yes, I'm also hooked on Third Watch.. ooo.. this week's episode (they did a cross over with Medical Investigation about this virus that was spreading through saliva, blood and body fluids.. boy.. was it a intense show!! Anybody watch Extreme Makeover Home Edition out here? It's a wonderful lil show about home makeovers. It's such a touching show because they choose families that desperately need help. This past episode was about a family of 6 who had purchased a house (because they originally lived in New York and when their son was choking, the EMT's refused to come into the neighbourhood without police escort, so by the time they arrived, their son had already choked to death :S), and everytime it rained, their sewers would back up and all this human waste would come up into their basement.. EWW!!!! Anyhow, the show tore down their old house and built a HUGE new one.. it's AMAZING! I wish I could live there!! The master SUITE is WOW! Boy.. wouldn't that be a dream home! Alright, thats all for today. Ciao
Flu is in the Air
Bleeeeeeeehh.. it's Monday. Another week has started, and I'm so tired. *sigh*, not very excited to be at work this morning, I would much rather head home and go back to bed :PThis weekend wasn't very interesting. Spent most of Saturday morning sleeping.. hehe...it was great! Unfortunately, I made a stupid mistake of drinking coffee in the late afternoon/evening so I didn't sleep very well on Saturday night (hence, tired today). So anyways, Saturday was not really all that interesting.Sunday, another day of teaching. I was getting rather paranoid by late afternoon because some of my students were sick. The flu has been floating around lately, and a lot of people have it. It doesn't look very fun. They all look like "I feel like crap and I want to collapse"... aiks.. Please please PLEASE, I don't want it!! (I think I've had my share of the flu in the last few years, thanks very much!) Anyhow, my hands are dry and cracked (painful) because I've been washing them so much! Plus my daily dose of vitamin C .. hope it's enough to prevent me from getting sick (though I admit I feel a bit under the weather).Did you know that Good Friday & Easter is in March this year!? I thought I was losing my mind the other day because I had always thought they were in APRIL! Hmm.. anyone know why it's March and not April? I don't think I've ever experience Easter in March.. hmm!Oh man.. it's only 8:30am .. it's a long ways from lunch time. Eck. I should type slower so that I have things to do for the next little while. It's been really cold these last two days. Here I was, thinking that Spring was here.. but noooo..Yesterday, it was bright and sunny outside, it looked like it was a beautiful day. I got a HUGE slap in the face when I stepped outside to discover that the wind was gusting, and, with the windchill factor, it was a freezing -29degrees out (no "balmy" weather here!). The weather is mocking me.Alright, I can't think of anything else to write about. Have a good week people.
Finally, it's Friday!
YUPPI, today is Friday! This week has felt really long.. forever since Sunday. *YAWN*.. I'm looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow morning! (and also looking forward to watching shows tonight and reading late into the evening - sad eh? Ah well, I can be a homebody when I'm lazy :P)Last night I attended a lecture about Chinese Canadians. It was given by Dr. Shyu (of course). Was rather interesting actually. I initially thought it'd be a snoozer, but I found myself really intrigued. Actually, I'm not sure why I'm so surprised considering I have an interest in Chinese history, especially Chinese Canadian history (since it hits so close to home :P). He spoke about how the immigration process began in China.. that there was something called a Maritime silk road that travelled along the southern border and took them to places like India, Malaysia, Thailand, etc (I can't remember the details.. there was so much information to absorb!). So THAT's how Chinese people landed in Malaysia/Singapore! One of the reasons besides trade was because Buddhism had started to settle into China, so many of the reasons for travel was because of religion. Additionally, he talked about how Indians (from India) immigrated to only British colonies, which explains how Malaysia has Indians! Onto how Chinese people came to North America. This started to occur in 1840 (one of the only dates I remember from this lecture :P). They started to go to California because of the gold rush, and then moved onto BC because of the goldrush THERE. Then there was the whole building of the rail roads through the Rocky Mountains where lots of them died. To make the long speal shorter, Canada had actually set up a Chinese Exclusion Act after the whole head tax issue and it wasn't until after WW2 that it was lifted. I think it'd be really interesting to learn more about Chinese immigration into Canada and to study the effects on the coming generations. I mean, as a CBC, it seems that our cultural identity is really complex and that there hasn't been much focus on it at all. Especially those that live in smaller cities, it's really hard to find people to identify with. I guess it won't be so bad on 3rd or 4th generation CBC's, but it definitely is on 1st generation. Anyhow, maybe I'll see if I can hunt up information on this topic. Last night's lecture started me thinking about my family roots too. My parents families are huge so it's already mind boggling to try to remember who is who. My dad's side has 11 siblings and since there were that many, my dad's elder sisters and brothers were having children while my grandmother was still popping them out herself. SO, I have a bunch of "nieces" and "nephews" that are the close to my age (actually, I have one that is a few months OLDER!). It's all rather bizarre. Back to what I was saying though: listening to the history of Chinese immigration into Canada, made me think: I should try to find out more about my own family history. I can only imagine how complex it'd be .. my Chinese surname being Chen! I mean, there are people who have my last name (both the English & Chinese version) that don't come from the same region as my family. I'm hokkien (fu jian) and they are some other dialect that I don't have a clue how to pin yin :P Conclusion: I don't know how to find my roots .. especially since I'm practically Chinese illiterate.All this talk of my dad's side and how large it is reminds me of the last time I was back in Malaysia. We were walking along in his hometown (a very small little place called Muar in the state of Johor Bahru (aka. JB)), and all of a sudden, this very tall man comes towards us. My first reaction is, keep walking, he's just another pedestrian. But nooooo.. my dad starts to greet him, shaking his hand.. and I'm standing there staring and thinking.. HUH?? Who is this?? Turns out he's my COUSIN! Oh how weird is that?! Walking along and meeting your COUSIN who you've never met on a STREET at RANDOM?! Gah! How embarassing, I don't even know my cousin! Living over here, far away from relatives (ok, I have a few relatives in Canada, but only 2 whom I rarely see) makes me feel sort of sad sometimes. I alway wish that I have the opportunity to get to know my relatives and to obtain a easy going relationship with them. One of comfort. Especially those cousins that are on my mom's side (I've quite a few that are close to my age), I see their friendships and how close they are, and I wish I were part of that. We do keep in touch via email/icq/msn and when I go back, it's lots of fun being with them, but it's not the same. I guess I should count myself lucky that we've had the opportunity to spend time togather and that we have developped a bond (at least enough that we can have occasional heart to hearts and I know I can tell/get advice from some of them when I have problems), it's better than most in my situation. But I still wish for more! (aren't I a greedy one? ;)) I think I need to shrink my font so that it doesn't look like I'm so long winded ..heheheAlrighty, have a great weekend peeps! (hahaha!! What a word!) JYps./ I just remember something, don't you HATE it when people TyPe LiKe ThIs?! ArGh. iT's HaRd to Do ThAt YoU kNoW, I wOuLdN't BoThEr!pps./ Last thing, I PROMISE! I spotted the beginnings of the tulip bulbs I planted in the fall!!! Spring is ON IT'S WAY!!!! YUPPPI!!!!!
Howdy to the Newcomers
So, I've been getting some new people at my blog lately. Cool! I'm sort of surprised, because I didn't think my blog was all that interesting? Anyhow.. so a question to the newbies: how'd you find my blog? My theory is that since I've been posting more often (and maybe because I'm so long winded) that my blog got moved up on the list of blogs to be "featured" or something??
**
hahah..have you ever seen the episode where Oprah cleans her closet? OMG! What a closet to be green with envy for! She encourages everyone to do the same way. UMM.. well, you know what? I don't have a closet HALF that size. Maybe it's like.. 1.5 one of her racks. But man.. her friend has a huge counter in her cloest, lights in her cloests, and not one but TWO windows! ooo lovely!!
I went and watched Hitched last night. It was funny, but it's a chick flick. So not going to go into too comment too much :P The thing I will say is that there were quite a few people (the movie was packed.. I was shocked!) laughing their HEADS off. I mean, there was a lady that was howling! OH my.. I had to chuckle because they were laughing so hard!
Alrighty, no more for today!
Ta! (hehe)
Hello HELLO!
WOW!! I found a new feature with the new hello! HEHEH.. It gives you the option to take a picture of your window in IE. Ah, too bad it doesn't work with Firefox! You gotta try this program people.. it's fun!
It's all wet here. Puddles everywhere.. some of them are insanely HUGE! I think some of sewers are actually unable to handle the amount of water that is trying to gush in. Not a great time to be a pedestrian..especially considering how fast people are driving around splashing water all over the place. Bleech!
Alright.. I don't have much to say today. HEHE.. OH ya.. we've decided to switch the Canon SD300 camera for the Canon S500.. all because it's 5 megapixels while the SD300 is 4. Oh ya, and it's got a better digital zoom (or maybe it's optical zoom, I can't remember which one). Hmm.. I hope its everything SD300 is and more.. I'm already attached to the little thing.. *sniff sniff*
Ciao.
Will Spring Ever Come?
I'm back! I've been pretty good about blogging these days eh?I bought some flowers for my mom for Valentine's Day and it started to make me PINE (hehehe) away for Spring. I mean, snow storms are still exciting, but SPRING.. means fresh warm air, chirping birds, signs of tree buds and FLOWERS!! :D Actually, it's more like signs of life.. I mean, isn't there some saying like, "When spring comes, the boys thoughts turn to love"? or something like that? I guess the whole thing about signs of life makes nature think of mating..hahah..!! Ok.. back to my original thoughts. I am starting to get that itch again.. the itch to start seedlings. I plan to do a smarter job at planting carnations and sweet peas. Besides that, I'm going to add snap dragons in this year.. I LOVE snapdragons.. they are such a sweet flower! So, in summary, I'll have: sunflowers, snapdragons, carnations, sweet peas, lupins, hmm.. maybe a couple of others. I planted Canterbury bells and morning glories last year, but the canterbury bells never flowered (?!) and the morning glories only last a day .. though they do flower very quickly. Hmm.. and my lupins didn't flower either.. but those are preannuals so they come back every year. Oh ya.. and I'm getting pro at planting pansies..hehehe! Uhh.. ya.. so if you haven't noticed yet.. I'm a flower crazy person!So, as you can also tell, I went sort of photo crazy yesterday. Hehe.. that's because I downloaded picasa and hello. Picasa 2 is really cool! They added a lot of features, and hello makes it so easy to upload pictures to my blog and to send pictures to people. So, if you have a hello account, add me: I'm jaryeetan (or maybe it's jaryee.. but I think the tan is there :P). Now, I was going to blog more yesterday, but the topic slipped my mind. Now I remember! hehe.. So, I got a call for an interview on Friday of last week for this company, Technico Technologies North America. Anyways, this place is out in HOYT..uhhh .. never heard of this place before!? Turns out its waaaaaaay past Oromocto and it's almost an hours drive away from Fton. Ya, so therefore, I cancelled my interview and withdrew my application. *Sigh*.. too bad, I would have liked to have that job. Anyways, I went to look for the location on Saturday night after returning from our ski trip, and boy, was it a supremely creepy place. You end up driving on this backroad, which is pretty deserted with lots of trees on both sides. It felt like a perfect setting for those urban legend movies. *shiver*. I was so freaked out that my car was going to break down and I'd be stranded out there. After travelling down that road for about 20 minutes, I decided, enough is enough, I haven't even reached the destination and I'd been driving for more than an hour.. screw it, it's creepy and it's too far away. Ain't worth it! So.. I'm on the hunt again..March break is in three weeks. I get to take teh week off because I've been working some overtime these past few weeks. Hmm.. but I'm not really sure what I'm goign to do with the time. I can't realy afford to go away. Might end up just teaching some extra piano lessons since Music Festival will be on it's way soon. Hehe.. which reminds me, on Sunday, I told one of my long time students that this would be the last school year I'd be teaching piano because I'm leaving next year.. she said "oohhhh nooooo!!" or something to that extent. It was all rather sweet! I also received two valentine's from my students yesterday. One was this heart shaped character that one of my students had made out of those foam heart shapes and a paper doily, and another was a sucker and a valentine. Ahh.. it made me happy that they'd think to give me a valentine. (Ya.. so Valentine's day is nice if it's to celebrate "love" between friends and family). I got my hair cut last night! heheh.. it was getting too long and starting to irritate me. After my hair grows to a certain length, it starts to get wavy.. I think it might be because it's thick or something?? Hmm.. anyways, I chopped off about 2 inches and she thinned it out a bit.. so my head feels lighter. GREAT!! :D Less hair to dry too! I haven't cut it for MONTHS.. I can't really even remember the last time I got it cut. Out of pure laziness that I haven't gone for a haircut though :P Ok.. I'm going to stop here because it's starting to get pathetic that I'm talking about hair cuts. How boring can I get? Happy Birthday to my brother! (I found out two other people I know have the same birthday as him.. how weird is that!? I've yet to find any people with MY birthday... any May 21st-ers out there??)
A Rest On the Ski Lift
At the Ski hill.. Pretty Bushes!
Chinese New Year Dinner .. omg.. too much food!
Family Trails Aren't Meant to Be Black Diamonds!
HELLO! So you probably guessed it.. big snow storm really hit!! Ended up getting the day off..hehehe!! Actually, we had planned to close the office if the regular schools were closed, but even UNB was closed so I wouldn't have been able to go to work even if I wanted (which I didn't :P). Anyhow.. it was good to have that day off, especially since I woke up with a headache that wouldn't go away :(YA! I finally went skiing on Saturday. Woho. Well, I had some "adventures" to say the least. I didn't really tumble or anything, but that's cuz I was too paranoid and tried to control my speed (I almost said tempo.. ha!). Went down Dave's Dream first.. and after coming off the chair lift, we decided we wanted to try the family trail which is SUPPOSE to be a nice and easy long not too steep hill. HA! Ended up on a BLACK DIAMOND hill! GAH!! I almost flipped. I reeeally wanted to take off my skis and walk back up. Of course, I tried that when I was little, and that never really works. I also considered sliding down on my butt, but that also didn't seem very.. umm..appropriate for someone my age. So .. I ended up going down verrrrry slowly.. sideways. :P So I survived that. I also hit the top of the flume and the bottom of king's horn which I fell once, but am happy to say I just went and didn't think as much as I usualy do. I believe that I'm a conservative skiier. Perhaps i'm too cautious. I mean, what's the worse that could happen? Err.. maybe that's not the right way to say it. Ah hem.. you get my point. Speaking of the worse that could happen, while I was skiing, I saw this snow mobile coming up the hill. Big whoop right? WELL, they were towing something that I thought looked like a body. Umm.. it sort of freaked me out when I realized there WAS someone on the back and bundled up in blankets. But luckily, he was alive cuz he was lifting his head up and looking around. But gee.. that's disturbing! The other thing I noticed while skiing was that the people that ski really well (the young ones) seem to be sort of cocky. I felt sort of intimidated by them because they come swooping by really fast and sometimes really close. Plus they are always yelling at each other. Hmm.. isn't there some category for these people? You know.. there are the dorks, the geeks, the jocks, the preps, the snow bunnies? HAHAHAHYa, so today is Valentine's day. These past few years, I've started to really be sort of anti-valentine's day. I guess it's nice to have a day when we celebrate our love, but really.. it's sort of more of a display for the public rather than a celebration between two people. I mean, people get flowers at the office, or those barber shop choir people going into public places to serenade you.. I myself would be utterly embarassed if that happened to me. Not that I don't appreciate the thought and all, but I'd rather not have everyone staring at me?? To women, I think it's more of a competition.. who receives more flowers, who gets more expensive gifts, who's husband/bf gives them something really extravagant so that every other woman in the office/wherever is jealous. OK, not all women are like that, but it's there!
Ok better stop here.. tata
Snow White or Stallion Black?
This winter seems to be very DIRTY. I took my car to through the car wash (touchless, the best way to go!), and it didn't get ALL the grime off it. Hmm.. I'm thinking I waited too long. Too many coats of salt, and dirt. Bleh. My title here debates: a lighter colour car or a darker colour car - which is better?
Light Coloured:
-Salt is less visible since it gives this white dust like layer
-Less hot in the summer!!!
-Colder in the winter (well.. I'm not sure about this one since it doesnt' really matter whether or not the sun is shining.. its always cold :P)
-Dirt is MORE visible though.
Dark Coloured:
-Dirt is less visible (sort of)
-Salt is more visible
-Darn hot in the summer!
-Dirty in the summer too (because of the dust)
-Warmer in the winter (?? see above comment)
So.. dark or light? Hmm.. I wonder if some type of super coated car will ever be invented. One that will just act like a wax and never allow the car to be dirty. I guess wax would only be good for wet conditions EH? Hmm.. any geniuses out there want to invent it for me? If it becomes successful, I'll pay you..hahaha!!
Anyhow..as I was saying, last night I went to get my car washed. So now, I'm paranoid that it's going to get dirty. Ironic aint' it? When it's dirty, you want to get it washed so it'll be clean, but when it's clean, you're so paranoid about getting it dirty. Bleh. I wasn't goign to wash it actually, but after I got the comment that the car was unrecognizable I realized it was a bit too dirty. Even the wheels were covered in dirt. HEHEEHHE (for those that haven't experience Canadian winters: it's almost pointless washing your car in the winter, it'll be covered in salt & sand the next day. Plus, when it's cold, everything gets frozen (wipers, doors, etc..), but when it's warm out, it's WET and muddy, salty puddles everywhere!)
So, last night.. I also went out and bought a Canon SD300. I guess I lied in my earlier entry :P HEHEH. Was playing with it last night and it's a nice model. The only bad thing about it is that the batteries die really quickly when you use the LCD. But the LCD screen is large and the settings are straightforward. I think it's great for my parents. My dad's first comment was it'd be great to carry around.. it's pocket-sized afterall (the reason I was attracted to it in the first place). I think I may be inspired to take more pictures with this thing! It's great fun to make a techy purchase (except for the checking out part - that's painful..)
We're in for another snowstorm over here. The biggest one yet. HAHAH.. and just when I was beginning to think that we wouldn't have good snow conditions to go skiing on Saturday *grin* Apparantly we may get up to 45cm of snow by Friday.. WOHO!! I think it's going to be anywhere between 30-45cm of snow actually. WOW! Now THAT's something to get excited about people.. not a dinky 'lil 15 cm of snow! Maybe I won't have to come to work tomorrow.. ooo I'd be able to sleep in!
So skiing on Saturday.. I'll bring the camera! WOHO!! Ideally, I'd like to go ski this weekend and perhaps go to Polly Mountain next weekend (I've never been there.. how pathetic is that). But Polly mountain isn't suppose to be as intense as Crabbe. Hmm.. Oh well.. I wouldn't mind a longer run that isn't as scary as the Horn.
Alright. Long winded again. HEHE. I'm in a strangely good mood today. Perhaps its the pending snow storm.. HOW EXCITING!! :D
Boy Toys
HAHAH..those that haven't (or don't know) Jeff, my subject comes from his posting. Boy toys are NOT about guys.. they are about those freaking expensive electronics they love to play with. Upon further consideration, the title of boy's toys should probably be changed because I'm thinking lots of females enjoy electronics these days too!?
Anyways, on with my subject. I've made that purchase of my beautiful BenQ LCD (OHHHHHhhh yaaaa.. watching shows and movies will never be the same.. my life has been changed!) Now, my parents are going to purchase the Canon Powershot S500 digital camera (ya.. its really expensive.. $499.89 + HST). There was mention that I may be able to get it when I go away.. oo yuppi!! I'm helping to foot the bill since it was a pre-planned Xmas gift and now I'm probably going to add to it by buying them an extra memory card. Ah hem.. I haven't gone as gadget crazy as Jeff, but here's my wish list (in no particular order):
1. DVD Burner
2. IPOD !!
3. New PC (HAHAHAH!! HEY, it's pathetic.. my monitor is way too good for my current pc :P)
4. Tablet PC (hehehe.. ok.. this is just a dream that is probably never going to become reality unless I win the lottery and become insanely rich)
5. Laptop (you know, it would be incredibly useful!!)
hahah!! OH ya.. I finally decided I'm goign skiing on Saturday. Hah.. I waited until the conditions aren't so great anymore. (hmm.. a poorly worded sentence.. but gneh..too lazy to fix it :P). I am trying to convince myself that I should conquer King's Horn this year. From the top. But maybe I'll settle with conquering just the bottom half of the Horn (since you can start off from the Flume and then switch half way down to the Horn). Maybe I'll TRY to go down the top.. but I'm not looking forward to somersaulting down it .. it makes your head hurt!! :(
Last night, we had a large (huge) dinner. There was.. lets see..at least 9 dishes. OMG. We were so incredibly stuffed. I really thought a couple of them were going to puke at some point. We didn't even finish .. probably only ate about 50% of the food. We couldn't finish anything. Oh my oh my! Ah well, it was fun because RJ was laughing like crazy which made everyone else laugh. I'm not sure what got into him last night, but he hadn't even had any alcohol yet and was already giddy with happiness or something.
So now that CNY is practically completed (heh.. well, as far as it goes in Fton.. I mean..we still have to work and people still have midterms too), Valentine's day is next week. Err.. I'm sort of surprised/shocked cuz I was imagining it as being weeks away. Valentine's day brings my brother's birthday (15th) and I'm racking my brains trying to think of somethign to get for him. It's his big 2-0.. yikes o man.. my little brother is turning 20!??!!? GAH! I was getting shocked faces this past weekend when people found out I was turning 23 this year (oh man, maybe I shouldn't be publicly declaring my age anymore.. I should start early and hope that people forget how old I am so that when I turn 30, I can say I'm only 27 or something). One person said he thought I was 16.. GEE.. I'm not sure if I should be flattered or insulted!?!?!? 16?? Another person thought I was going into University this coming fall... uhhh .. right. I wonder what went through his mind when I told him I already graduated from university. LOL!!
Alright.. I think I've written quite a lot (again). What a long winded person I am. Hope everyone is enjoying their new year!
Happy CNY
Happy New Year people! Last day of the year of the monkey. Welcome the rooster!
Ya, CNY doesn't really feel like CNY here. Besides this past weekend, there haven't been any real celebrations. I didn't even attend the banquet after the performance on Sunday which I'm sort of regretting (it's pretty much the gathering of the year if you think about it). Anyhow.. I didn't put the decorations up like I usually do.. I guess I'm just not that excited.. also don't have the incentive to feel all festive? I mean.. I didn't go and clean up more than usual either. OH WELL..perhaps another year!
Work is boring at the moment. There was enough work to make things bearable for the last 2 weeks, but it's getting slow again. Ah MAN. I'd so much rather be busy and let the time fly than to sit here doing nothing and twiddle my fingers. I also detest "busy" work which is pretty much the professor trying to find these crap jobs for me to do. Bah.
I don't have much to say.. so I guess I'll talk about the weekend. (hehe.. you can tell I'm really bored when I'm racking my brain for things to type in here). Here it goes. Taught on Saturday morning then proceeded to go pick up the lion & drum (WITHOUT LUNCH!!). I even got a freaking splinter while I was carrying that drum stand out.. ick. Luckily, my friend (s) were nice enough to pull it out for me. (actually, she wouldn't let me go til she had it out!) We had a full afternoon rehersal on Saturday which went smoothly (for a dress rehersal), but it was unbelievably long. I was exhausted afterwards. Sunday.. taught in the morning, had my lunch, then off I went. GAH. I FORGOT the stupid words for the stage and had to turn around when I was more than half way there.. ARGH.. I was doing SO well NOT forgetting anything until that moment.. (darn it!!!!). Anyways, that afternoon, the kids were really annoyed with us (ie. ME) for makign them stay in the conference room. I can't say I blame them because it was HOT and BORING. Plus, all the action was in the auditorium.. so naturally, they wanted to go there. Anyways, I came SO incredibly close to losing it with them because here I was .. trying to maintain the calm and peace backstage, make sure all the equipment was out when it was needed to be, open and close the curtain and make sure the performers were ready to go on stage. Actually, to be precise, I was getting extremely irritated with the teachers (or semi-teachers/supervisors, whatever.. the people that should have known better). SOME of them were letting some of the kids out of the room and giving them permission for this and that. Then I come out, and see them running around where tehy shouldn't be, and tell them to go back. Kids being kids say "but _____ let me!!".. OH MAN. To make my long story short.. I had to explain to them that I can't let them out and they have to TRY to behave. Boy.. some of them were NOT happy. I feel rather guilty about the whole thing .. mainly because I practically lost it with them..I'm still sort of fuming over the irresponsible teachers that were watching the show and just dumped their students into the room expecting me (?!?!!?) to look after them or something?! OK.. no more grumbling. I just feel bad!
OK.. I have something to do now (that will probably take all of 5 minutes..). Happy CNY people!
An Odd Feeling
Friday.. hmm.. bizarre time for me to be posting. Ah well, I only have a little bit before my piano student comes (ya, pathetic.. teaching on a Friday night).
I've been overcome with this strange feeling lately. It's like a pit in my stomach type of feeling. I don't know.. I feel like I'm dreading something.. or something just isn't right. I've been having some dreams too.. the last one was this morning .. and I awoke to realize that I was trying to weep (those gut wrenching types that make your chest hurt). :S I feel like I'm walking around in a daze today.. and I've got the pit in my stomach feeling right now.. I hope a bout of cardio will make me feel a bit better..
Anyways, on the good news side, the operations manager to the company I submitted an application to emailed me saying that they'd like to interview me! I'm taking this as a good sign since they haven't even closed the application deadline yet..! :D
Alright. Don't have much to say.. bye.
This Week is Flying
Wow.. it's already Thursday.. gees! I know I've said it many times, but time really flies! When I was teaching on Monday, I started to date one of my student's lesson as December.. omg. Hmm.. that reminds me, I have to CALL my students .. oppsy (how forgetful of me)
Speaking of forgetfulness.. I think I'm becoming more and more forgetful. No, it's not early signs of Alzheimer's, it's my mind becoming like anti-remembering..or perhaps.. selective memory? Last night, I was trying to remember myself studying for Data structures.. but I couldn't remember how/how much I studied! Also, I can barely remember what I learned! hahahah!! On the other hand, I do remember specific vocabulary that my Chinese school students are learning.. go figure.
Starting to plan for the fall now. Seriously thinking about money issues and backup plans. *sigh* You know, I wonder how any of us are ever going to be able to afford half the things that our parents provided for us. If you live in a big city, can you IMAGINE being able to save enough money to pay off a car, house plus your monthly expenses? Forget about education fund for your children and being able to afford a vacation! The expense list seems endless.. life insurance, RRSP, investments, blah blah blah blah.. gahhhhh..
I just noticed that the website for Empire Theatres lies. Sort of. It doesn't seem to give an accurate list of "coming soon" movies. They didn't have Phantom of the Opera listed and they also don't have Hotel Rewanda mentioned either? I don't really believe that they aren't bringing that movie here.. (btw, I want to see that).
Sometimes I get this itch to do something productive. Hahahaha.. ya, I know.. that's sad. Productive as in do something worthy, something helpful to society, something that earns me some moolah (not necessarily one task). So far, the only thing I can think of to date, is to find myself another job. The only concern is I'm going to have absolutely no free time (besides slacking time while at work here). I seem to be always tired although I've been trying to keep a regular sleeping schedule. :( Actually, I don't think I'd mind two jobs.. but two jobs + Chinese School + piano seems to be sort of unbearable when I think of it. I'm starting to get sick of being tied down to evening commitments .. I don't think there's been a year where I haven't had evening commitments during the week (exception of perhaps when I was in elementary school :P).
Ok, enough grouching and complaining. Chinese New Year is next week! Hmm.. actually, there's not much to be excited about. Life continues as usual here. We'll have a slightly fancier dinner (most likely some yummy duck) at home .. probably on New Year's night.. and I think my friends and I will be having another dinner on "nian 30 wan" (new year's eve for those that can't understand my pathetic pin yin-ing) - also, more roast duck. Besides that.. there's not much else to do. Hmm. It's times like these that I really miss having my relatives around. Ever since I was little, I always lived with the regret that I didn't have the opportunity to form a closer relationship with my relatives. Oh, how envious I am.
Alright. Today's entry was sort of crabby..ahhhh well.. I'll try to be more optimistic and cheerful in the next entry. Toodles.
