The Times and Tribulations of JY: March 2005

Thursday, March 31, 2005

It's been a week?

Whoa.. it's already Thursday.. isn't it amazing how nice and quickly a week flies by when it's a short one? :D

Anyway, my long weekend was jammed packed with things. I went to Bangor/Freeport on Friday/Saturday - great weather and wonderful shopping. It was glorious shopping heaven! Freeport had lots of great outlets.. unfortunately, the only downside to all of it was that it was priced in USD and I had to keep reminding myself.. convert it back to Cdn!! Anyhow, I'm currently broke and am dreading my next month's credit card bill.

Had the potluck on Sunday.. thought that I'd have a very small turnout, but it turned out to be a pretty good one! (Thinking pessimistically when it comes to YG's turnouts is always a good thing) We didn't really do anything exciting because some people didn't want to go bowling (!?!?!?!?) and some wanted to play games and some didn't, etc.. We watched some Chinese MTV's which I think that the "younger" gang didn't really enjoy very much. They also had lots of fun with my exercise equipment for some reason..Anyhow, my only complaint for the evening is that I forgot about my cake (which didn't seem to taste that good.. lesson learned: never substitute instant coffee for hot chocolate in a coffee cake :P) and that they didn't finish enough lasagna (into the freezer for "storage").

So now things are settlign down again, and my thoughts of paranoia are turned to Music Festival and acceptance letters. Music festival is in about 3 weeks and I'm starting to be really worried about some of my less-than-ready students. Giving some extra lessons this week and also taking on another two from MY piano teacher who will be out of town for the weekend. Ahh.. another weekend of commitments. Bummer.

Alrighty, thats it for now. Ciao!

Thursday, March 24, 2005

TGIT!!

YUPPI! Today is Thursday! HAHAH

I woke up at 6:20AM this morning for some odd reason. I contemplated going back to sleep but since my sinuses were bothering me (sinus pain AGAIN today, freaking 2nd time this week) so I just got up. Had a cup of coffee, watered the plants, did 30 mins of cardio (went 10km again today.. :D) and did a load of laundry. Talk about being efficient! haha..j/k. I'm wondering if I'm going to be regretting this decision by 11..

***
I think everyone must have skipped work/school today.. the streets are packed and so are the malls. ARGH. The grocery stores are going to be "pleasant" too.. everyone seems to think that they are going to starve to death if the stores close for a day.. I swear! Oh why..

I finally got my act together and called a potluck for the old + the new yg people. Ah, just for you Jeff :P Don't you feel lucky? :P It should be fun..hopefully we don't end up with a whole bunch of chicken and a whole bunch of ketchup chips (HEHEHEHE..inside joke).

The weather is suppose to go up to the pluses this weekend..wooohooo.. I bet lots of people will be out in their shorts and t-shirts.. *roll eyes*. This is how the flu gets started.. *sigh*. But don't get me wrong, I'm happy to hear that it will actually be semi warm .. at least my bulbs are getting what they need to grow faster!!

Speaking of the flu.. one of the children from the preschool was sent "to the office" today. At first I thought maybe he was in trouble.. but it's not normal for them to be put in time out for misbehaving. Ended up he was puking and was feeling pretty bad. The poor little guy.. he was just sitting there so quietly looking at his book.. and then all of a sudden he looks at me..and told me politely that he needed to throw up. He was really brave, I must say that. You could tell he was holding back tears when his father came to get him.. Aww.. hope he feels better soon!

I heard that this stomach flu is pretty brutal. You pretty much puke through a 24 hr period.. :S Ahhh.. I really hope I don't get it.. ekkk...

Alrighty, I am going to end here. Happy Easter everyone!

Monday, March 21, 2005

Marvellous Short Week Ahead!!

Oh ya!! Easter Weekend.. a long weekend.. vonderful! Now all we need is some glorious weather!

I was watching a program on Saturday morning (while I was doing cardio of course) about "New Zealand's Most Wanted) that talked about how there were new animals/insects introduced into the country that caused chaos. They were talking about this mite that is only such a puny little thing, but it was killing the country's bees. All because of this puny thing, their fruit industry was in great danger because of course, Bees pollinate fruit - KIWI! So they could stand to lose billions of dollars.. OK, it's not that I'm totally naive about that, but still.. it was really disturbing.. I mean, even though their customs is one of the best (grade given: A+), how can they really catch every tiny thing that enters into the country? Those mites came in when they were eggs! Even one bug could cause a huge and devestating effect.

Yesterday was a pretty frustrating day at Chinese school. The students were being really sassy and I was starting to lose patience. I think I'm going to establish some classroom rules (which is what I probably should have done in the first place!) and be more strict with them. It's sort of mind boggling how saucy and manipulative some kids can be.. (not that any of the kids in my class are truly bad.. but some comments I've heard ..... !). To keep my venting short, yesterday was a day that made me reconsider whether or not I want to be a teacher!!

Thats it for today!

Thursday, March 17, 2005

Happy St. Patty's Day

Opps! I forgot it was St Patrick's day until I saw google.. heheh .. I came really close to wearing my green fleece too... darn.. then I wouldn't have gotten picked on by the preschool teacher.. hehe :P

On the way to work this morning, I was in front of a really cranky old guy. He actually lives on the corner of my street.. gee!! I was slow driving up the hill (going around 40km/hr) because my car was still cold and wouldn't move faster (and also because I tend to drive the speed limit so I'm not a speed demon to begin with) and the man actually HONKED at me!! His arms were flailing around and he was probably cursing up a storm in his car (good thing I couldn't hear him). Boy.. that sort of made me steamed but I tried to not let it get to me. I was thinking, if I actually made a traffic boo-boo than I wouldn't have the right to be mad.. but in this case ..
My initial reaction when he honked was to speed up.. but then I realized.. why should I accomodate this guy? So I went back to driving slowly.. though I didn't have the guts to slow down too much in the case he was a real nut case and decided to ram into me.

Yesterday, we got up to a really warm +7C!! WOW!!! 7 degrees!! It was so nice out! Sunny and everything. People were out in shorts and tshirts, which actually seemed a bit extreme :P I was thinking, Canadians really can be kind of weather crazy sometimes. The slightest warmth will make them shed clothing like mad. Probably why the flu goes around a couple of times a year :P I saw these two guys out playing ball in shorts, tshirts and flip flops.. umm.. uhh...

I'm skeptical that Spring has really come. The lovely sunshine the warm weather seems to be just leading us into this delusion and when everyone gets swept away with it.. BAM! Old man winter will be back to laugh in our faces!

Whoa. CBC Radio is talking about how late teenaged girls should be having children because it's healthier for the population. OMG. 18 year olds should have babies?! GAH!! *shiver*

Alright.. thats all for now. Ciao.

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

No Name Entry

Yesterday my student was telling me about her trip to Costa Rica. She made me want to go. She was saying that there were animals all over the place.. wild parrots (!!!), dolphins, sting rays (they went out on a boat for "dolphin watching"), monkeys of different sorts, hermit crabs on the beaches, etc. Wow. They even found some fancy shells! It's been a life long dream to find a fancy shell (big one) on a beach. Unfortunately, cold temperature ocean water probably doesn't produce the kinds of shells I want to find... hmm.. I wonder what the science is behind all that (why do tropical conditions create fancier shells??). Add another place to my "to visit" list!

The impending Spring season has brought out all sorts of lovely colours (in clothes). It's making giving me a shopping rash... I'm ITCHING to buy things! ahhh.. not good. The colours are the big thing I think. Those pastel colours always remind me of spring (easter too) which brings on this feeling of happiness and excitement. I associate Spring with:

- Being outside in the warm fresh air
- GREEN grass
- Sandals, no heavy winter coat or mittens (or hats and scarves and boots..)
- No more mud puddles all over the place
- Sounds of birds tweeting
- Sounds of windchimes as they gently sway in the WARM breeze
- Flapping of clothes on the clothelines (I love looking at that for some reason)
- Kids running around in the street, people mowing their lawns and washing their cars (maybe I should generalize it by saying people actually being outside and not hiding away)

The list goes on and on. Actually, maybe these are more Summer characteristics, but it still comes back to Spring. Spring is the anticipation of Summer. Summer also brings summer vacation *wink wink*!

Ah, I have such found memories of summer. Not just because we don't have school (ok, maybe a big part because we don't have school!). The other day, I was reminded of some summer outings with my fellow CBC friends (or those that grew up in Canada but were born in China or Taiwan or HK etc.). I was thinking about the banquets we had after a week of summer camp (that at times were torture, but torture we endured together!) , going to the beach and have bbqs, bowling (we did a lot of bowling for some reason), and just hanging around. You know, I really feel lucky that we had the opportunity to form such friendships. Since many of us didn't have relatives that lived nearby, the community was our extended family. Christmas and Chinese New Year parties were like family reunions. Just watching how the community interacts(ed) was really touching sometimes. You see the older kids taking care of the younger kids and also how the younger kids feel comfortable enough to climb into your lap and just cuddle with you (or torture you, depending on who you are). In how many places can you find the close knittedness?? We've established life long friendships, but I guess that happens when you don't even remember when you first met! I actually discovered that I had attended Matt's birthday party when we were little.. but only because he told me and showed me a picture! How weird is that!

Alright. I gotta get some work done. Ciao

Monday, March 14, 2005

Snowy Monday

I'm Back! heehe.. that lazy spell lasted longer than expected :P Of course, it's also that I haven't been at work so I haven't been bored enough to want to write.. plus, I found myself BS-ing a lot of boring things lately.

March Break was pretty uneventful. I stayed at home a lot and read and watched shows and transcribed a 90 minute cassette tape. Boy, its extremely hard to transcribe when there are three people talking at once!! Anyhow, the interview was about the education system which I found rather interesting ..hehehe

I did go watch Million Dollar Baby over the break - finally. After all those Oscar nominations I thought I'd better go. My brother also highly recommended it and said I'd like it (as much as I don't want to admit it, he recommends good movies to me - though that doesn't mean all the movies he likes are good! :P). I thought that it (Million Dollar Baby) would be more of a commercialized movie, boy was I surprised. I thought it was really well written and acted. The messages were strong to me, usually I can't figure out what they are trying to tell us?! (for example.. what was the real message in the Notebook!?).

It sort of touched home when I thought of the euthanasia. I personally would support it. I mean, its our right and our dignity to choose to die when we are suffering ?? Of course, there's got to be guidelines to what validates it and what doesn't.. but look at the people who have to live with diseases such as lou gahrig's (ALS)?

On the lighter note, Hilary Swank looked SO BUILT in that movie! HOLY COW! Gah! She had man muscles! WHOA. Hmm.. I don't think I'd want to be that built, but it's impressive.. the amount of work she'd have to do to fill that role.. much more difficult than to gain 40 lbs eh?

My parents were in Vancouver yesterday and called to brag about the lovely temperatures. Bleh :P No need for a coat and it was probably warm enough outside for shorts. GEE.. it's SNOWING HERE!! We're suppose to get 2,5 or 10 cms of snow today and may have freezing rain tonight. Wonderful. At least it's not bitterly cold (knock on wood).

So music festival schedules have finally arrived. Wow. I'm going to be really insanely busy if I attend all my students' competitions. I don't think I'll be able to.. so far I think there is an overlap of two classes (since the competitions are spread out across the city). Guess the younger ones win :P Starting to get a bit nervous about them getting their stuff ready on time. Afterall, I would hope that they would have them polished to a shine before hitting the stage. Plus, they HAVE to have them memorized!! (that in itself is a lot of pressure... depending on your fingers to remember the music and not your head.. how dependable is that!?)

Last night I was dreaming of Ipods. Aiya. Maybe its because everyone has one these days.. or so it seems. My brothers nice little mini ipod (he cancelled his shuffle and upgraded to a mini because they increased the storage capacity and lowered the prices slightly.. ended up being an addition $40 to go from a 1gig shuffle to a 4gig mini.. I mean, who wouldn't upgrade? :P). I'm so jealous. I want an ipod!!

Alright.. thats it for now. Ciao

Monday, March 07, 2005

To sleep in, or Earlier Bird gets it's worm?

Howdy Ho neighbors! It's March Break and I'm on it! haha..
I didn't really sleep in that late this morning since I had to teach at 10. Hmm.. I'm contemplating sleeping late tomorrow morning, but I'm already sleepy now at 10pm. If I sleep now, I'll be up by 9. Hohum.. what a decision to make!!

Today, I had my first experience trying to transcribe an interview that was recorded via cassette tape. Lots of rewinding.. it's hard to transcribe when people start a setence in 3 various ways.. sometimes not finishing sentences too! I'm not exactly sure the real methods or the standards of transcribing.. but I guess I'll be finding out soon!

ooo I've a sudden pang of laziness.. guess I'll be back tomorrow. ciao.

Saturday, March 05, 2005

Blue = Cars, Red = Stop Sign, Purple = Me, Green line = Stupid thing to do, Black line = Direction travelling (or waiting to travel). See below complaints to understand!

A Saturday Afternoon Ramble

Hiho peeps.. JY in the hood.. HAHAHA.. j/k... I haven't gone nuts .. I've just had a Tim Horton's large coffee in the hopes of winning a vehicle or some snazzy prize. Unfortunately, I got the lovely message "Please try again" .. BLEH!

I just "finished" my income taxes.. hahah.. how pathetic are they.. I get to skip half of the boxes. I guess I should count myself lucky, I'm sure in another 10 or 20 years, I'll be in a pissy mood when I have to sit down for taxes..! Being poor has its bonuses, I don't have to pay the government!! haha.. err.. ahem..

Yesterday was an insane day at work. I actually ended up working overtime and could barely get myself out of the office. It was just one thing after another .. and everyone was in and out (as was I) so I felt sort of crazed. But ah... that's the kind of job I enjoy! It makes me AWAKE and the adrenaline is rushing to get things done.. :D

Hmm.. so it's officially March Break now. I still have a full day of teaching tomorrow, and will also be working from home most of next week. Not much of a break, but at least I can sleep in. I wonder how much blogging I'll be doing.. not as much incentive to blog from home.. the boredom factor isn't as high.

Are there any Survivor watchers out there? Man.. it's sort of weird (and a bit uncomfortable) this round because the contestants were unaware that they were going to start when they got picked up. So there they were in their everyday street & work clothes going out to Palau. Since it's a tropical location (as always.. I wonder whether they will ever do a Survivor Canada or something?? haha.. probably not!), they are all running around in their underwear and bras.. umm.. for guys, it's not too bad.. but for some of the girls.. WHOA man. Especially one girl in particular.. I see that they frequently have to put those "blind" spots up.. ehhhhhhhh...

My voice is getting raspier and raspier these days. I'm starting to get a little bit of a cough.. YUCK! Ah well, at least I'm not bed ridden.. that would be so depressing.

Oh, the weather is still cold, but it's getting really good at make-believe it's spring. The sun is shining, you can hear some birds tweeting away. Plus, it's staying light our longer. Ah.. I wonder when spring will really arrive?

I'm considering taking a road trip in the next little while.. perhaps to Montreal or MAYBE Ottawa. I don't know.. it's a lot of driving .. and although it can sometimes be enjoyable.. it's still exhausting and time consuming (not that I'll fly :P). Hmm.. I always think though, if I'm already all the way to Ottawa, I might as well go the distance and go all the way to Toronto.. but ooo.. that could be rather dangerous .. the amount of money that can be spent in that place.. but oooo the food.. the stores...... (can't you just SEE the little devil and angel sitting on either shoulder now??).

I have something to rant about. The other morning, I was driving to work/school.. along Beaverbrook Street. When I got to where it intersects Windsor.. boy.. I was shocked. Now, let's set up the scenario: I'm driving towards the university, there are cars driving in the other direction, there are also cars waiting to turn up onto Windsor street (facing the opposite direction as me) and there are cars waiting to turn left off of Windsor. (see picture I will post shortly). TWO cars turn off of Windsor just because I slowed down to let a pedestrian cross the street.. what irks me is that TWO of them went while there was SO much traffic in their way. I mean, the first car was just being retarded, but the 2nd car was !??!?!?!?! !@)#(*!@#)(8 .. I almost honked at the driver, but I noticed she was a girl I knew in Junior High.. so I didn't. But GOOD GRIEF, DO YOU WANT A 4 WAY ACCIDENT?!?!? What's wrong with people around here!?!? I swear, people are radical, road raging, insane, impatient, and RUDE drivers around here. ARGH!

Breathing on now.. hehehe .. I sort of went book crazy the other day.. bought five books from Chapters.. ehhh.. ya.. I don't know what's wrong with me :P I'm justifying it by saying that it's better to purchase the books than borrowing them from the library because the books from the library may be full of germs.. umm..sure.

Alright.. that's all for now. Have a splendid weekend people!

Wednesday, March 02, 2005

My Nose is a Clogged Tap

I'm still getting over my flu-cold.. whatever it is. I think it was the flu. Two other people in my office were down sick yesterday.. gah.. we are all dropping like flies! Luckily, recovery time seems to be quick.

I heard that this flu started out in BC and is spreading across Canada.. isn't that just jolly? Oh and of course, it's a new virus, so it wasn't included in our flu shots.

These nights, I spend time removing and replacing my blankets. I first start out cold, then start sweating..and the cycle continues all night.. ugh! In addition to that, my nose is constantly asking to be blown. I have to de-clog the taps every few hours or I'll not be able to breathe..sounds like fun eh? (and probably sounds sort of disgusting too..hehe)

My parents are leaving for Malaysia next week. Sigh.. wish I were going with them.. would really love to see my relatives. They are taking sidetrips to China (not 100% sure where in China yet) and going to Sabah as well to visit my uncle. Of course, this means they are landing in KL (Kuala Lumpur) . Additionally, they plan to travel to Singapore and Muar in JB (Johor Bahru). PLUS, they're going to stop over in Vancouver on the way back.. they are going to be EXHAUSTED by the time they get back.

I remember our previous trip.. the schedule was pretty much the same as what my parent's upcoming trip was like. Our first stop over was in Vancouver for my dad's university reunion. That turned into an important part of the trip.. *sigh*.. lots of things change quickly. Anyways, I met up with some of my friends and we had a great time catching up and having our first experience with bubble tea. We also had that Nan Tah reunion which was HUGE. A 12 course meal, fully loaded: lobster, fish, duck, etc.. OMG .. ) . They hold these reunions all over the world.. and my dad was so happy to see all his old friends. We ended up at a table with some person that he didn't think he knew.. after talking for a bit, they realized that they had shared a house back in University.. good grief.

After Vancouver, we flew to Korea (doesn't it sound so flashy, it's like saying: I jetted off for a lunch in Paris, followed by Dinner in Hong Kong..hahah). Korea was another experience.. we nearly got onto a flight BACK to Chicago until this flight attendent came running after us .. man.. if I ended up back in Chicago after flying 13 hrs.... !! Korea's system (I can't remember which airport, and which part of Korea) was really poor. They had no English translations.. rolled out these carts at the departure gates and held up signs. I guessed we didn't understand their English either.

We arrived in Singapore in the evening, and the following morning, my uncle and aunt drove us to the border where we met up with my cousins who drove us to Muar, my dad's hometown. I think we spent a couple of days there.. and then ended up getting a drive from my aunt's nephew to KL. I think we were in KL for only 2 days and then packed up and went on a 4 day tour to Hong Kong and Shen Zhen with my grandma and cousin. It was insanely hot and humid there..40 degree celcius.. and we were there walking around under the hot sun during peak temperatures. AH! My brother, cousin and I had a hugely fun time shopping at night. The sales had started to come out, and Canadian bucks transfer very nicely in RMB (Ren Min Bi).

After that little tour, it was back to KL where we were lost in the airport. Well, sort of. My uncle forgot where he had parked the car. Mind you, this had happened when we went to pick up my cousin from the airport after she came back from Australia to see us (aww!!). I remember my grandma had sour prunes because we have some pictures of this occurance, and she's making all these funny faces because she's busy eating away. By the time we arrived back at my grandparents home (we had to take 2 cars), they were wondering where on earth we were.. they had arrived about 1hr before us..!!

Uhhh.. this is turning into a long winded story. Sorry :P

So.. back to what I was saying. We arrived back in KL and then back to Muar, and back to KL again. We didn't spend as much time in Muar as in KL as it's a smaller place and there isn't all that much to do except sit around visiting most of the time. But I did enjoy visitng my relatives there. In KL, we had a great time going places and bonding with my cousins. We were really sad to leave and missed them terribly.

Nearing the end of this long winded journey, we left KL via bus and headed back to Singapore for departure. Man, we were so depressed! We were all teary eyed and this lady on the bus said.. why are you guys crying?? You're only going to Singapore!! Umm..

In Singapore, we visited a beautiful Orchid Garden and went to Santosa Island with my mom's best friend and her family. Santosa Island has the famous Merlion and a light/water show in the evening. I'm not sure what's there during the day though :P

Anyways, by the time we arrived in Toronto at my Uncle's place (who had kindly taken days off to take us where we wanted to go), all I wanted to do was shower and sleep.. and sleep...and sleep some more! I was exhausted. Come to think of it, we didn't really grasp the opportunity to do anything in TO. I guess after visiting HK and KL, we really didn't feel the need to shop or eat anymore.

Alright. Thats it for now about my exciting adventures. I could have gone on and on and on, but this IS the condensed version ..ok people?? :P

The Times and Tribulations of JY