The Times and Tribulations of JY: June 2005

Wednesday, June 29, 2005

Blah blah blah and more blah!!

Hmm.. I just noticed my titles are often grouchy..teeheehee! Oh well :P

I am getting a tad testy now because of my apartment situation. We still haven't received the lease because someone is still auditing it to make sure everything is ok.. (omg). Besides signing that, we still have to get our renters insurance in check. The big complication is that our lease is beginning in July while we are actually moving in August. So why begin in July, right? WELL, my friend who is currently living in Ottawa has a bunch of furniture that she's selling to me before she leaves for Vancouver - at the end of July. Originally, I thought I may have to rent out some storage space, but then it seemed like the miracle of all miracle that Minto (rental company) offered July for free - and only July. What is more perfect that having my friend drop off the stuff in my apartment?? The problem is: INSURANCE! Bah humbug! Apparantly State Farm doesn't allow you to be insured unless you personally go in and get your paperwork done. So they are now telling me that I need to set up a policy here and arrange for it to be transferred when we go over.. I hope it works.

The other 'fun' part of my moving ordeal is shipping. The cost to rent a U-haul is insane! It's the cost of rental + mileage.. those trucks you see on the road.. INSANE PRICES!! GAH!! It's lucky I don't have that much stuff.. but still.. *sigh*. We also need to pay for moving costs in Ottawa.. from my friend's place to mine.. I think it's going to be at least $60.. but it's definitely cheaper in all that purchasing new furniture. Anyways.. everything is $$$$! Who said money can't buy happiness?? hehe

I feel like a lunatic sometimes. These past few weeks have been especially lunatic-ish for me. I just found out this morning that someone had 'kindly' agreed to having the dragon participate in the parade in Canterbury.. EHHH.. WHO SAID SO!?!?!? So this Friday, we get to be in TWO parades. BLEH.. I'm already wondering whether we're going to survive the one here! With this heat, it'll be a miracle that nobody passes out. Anyways, back to this whole Canterbury deal.. apparantly they love Chinese culture over there and are really really looking forward to having the dragon in the parade, we are finding it really hard to back out. It'll look bad for the association and it'll disappoint the people (??). *Sigh*.. I really do not want to go because it'll mean that I have to leave the house at 10am and be out til 5:30pm and return at who knows what hour. It takes about 45 minutes to drive to Canterbury so by the time we reach Fton, we'll have to go directly to the parade line up. I must be really old to be dreading Friday this much! But gah.. this heat is really getting to me!!

I was going over my old blogs last night and found out that I've posted over 100 entries! WOW! Pretty impressive eh?? It'll be a year of blogging in August.. how fast time flies (I wonder how many times I've said that..hehehe).

Alright.. gotta go.. ciao

Tuesday, June 28, 2005

Another Day

I'm still pondering over yesterday's news.. thinking of the meaning of life and at the same time the irony of life. I'm not quite sure how to explain it .. to anyone and to myself. On one hand, we want to enjoy life.. but I'm pretty sure that doesn't mean we should be going out and having fun every moment of every day..yet work seems to make our lives become so mechanical and generic to every other human being?? hmm..

Anyways, on with a new topic. The weather is finally starting to get on my nerves today. Its become really muggy and the humidity is making it hard to breathe.. the forecast keeps predicting showers or thundershowers.. but I don't think we've actually had any (watch us get them on Canada Day - the day I don't want it to rain!!). Even though the minute you step out of the shower you start to get sticky with sweat again, I still think it's better than -40 degree weather ;)

So Canada Day is this Friday. Man.. can you believe it's almost July?! 2 more months before school starts up again... hmmmm!! One more month to get ready to move. I still haven't even received the lease from the company yet! I guess I'd better get cracking with getting everything finalized and make myself make some decisions (like what company to go with for the MAJORLY important INTERNET!!).. heheh

It's practically become a tradition that CCANB participate in the parade. We're in it again and yours truly here is the coordinator (actually, the co-coordinator, but my co-coordinator is 90% MIA). We're doing the usual, but this year, we have to survive the entire route WITHOUT a gasoline powered engine.. yikes man.. anyways, it'll be an adventure!

I probably won't be here for Canada Day next year.. I'm sort of excited to see what the capital city offers for the nations birthday.. the fireworks better be better than here that's for sure!! (They tend to go off 1 by 1 every 30 secs or so and the only really WOW part is at the end).

Speaking of all this, CCANB has finally put up the finances and the initiative to purchase two new dragons and two new lions! I'm so excited! I've been sort of pushing the youth group to try to raise funds or at least submit a proposal to the executive to get new equipment because we've had so many requests for the lion or dragon dance in the past 2 years (even out of town requests!). PLUS, the city is finally going to have dragon boat races and they wanted to have the dragon (our homemade one) displayed. Unfortunately, our beloved homemade dragon is nearing retirement due to lots of wear and tear and he desperately needs dental work. This was the other reason CCANB decided to look into purchasing new equipment. Ahh.. I hope I get to see the stuff before I leave! I think I'm definitely going to miss this organization, it's going through so many exciting changes right now and I really wish I could see them through.. oh well.. what to do.

I realized I'm getting more visitors to this blog than I previously thought! SO, big HELLO out to my friends.. leave a message so I know you dropped by! (HI TRAVIS, hope you are having a good summer over there in Vancouver!)

I'll try to be better about updating my blog more often, I know I've been a slacker this month, but hey, there have been a lot of things going on!! :P

CIAO

Monday, June 27, 2005

Life is really God's Will

I'm not really a religious person, and even if I were, I'm not Christian, but Buddhist! There are always moments in our lives where we realize (over and over again), just how fragile life is. My dad just told me that my next door neighbour passed away while he was in England with his wife attending their grandchild's graduation. It sort of caught me off guard. He's a well respected member of the city (the past Police Commissioner of New Brunswick actually) who does a lot of community work. This wasn't the only thing that took me for a spin this weekend, but it really reminds me just how fragile living creatures are. I'm sure most of us have gone through the pain of losing someone we love and we always promise ourselves never to take advantage of life and to live "lessez faire", but I think most people fall back into the habit. It's normal. The only thing I hope that I can do is to appreciate the smaller things more often and to be HAPPY with what I've got. Afterall, what is life if you aren't happy?

Alright. That's all I had to say today.. Be Happy Folks!

Saturday, June 25, 2005

Hot hot hot hot!!

Wow.. the weather is nuts. It goes from chilly to hot just like that (I'm snapping my fingers). Today is a sweaty 34C out. I'm not really complaining because I'd rather it be like this than -40C out..hehe.. another reason why I'm not complaining is because I've spent the better part of the day in the basement where it's nice and cool. Clothes dry really well in this weather - we've done three loads and they dry in no time flat.. it's wonderful!!

I've been trying to get some things organized just now, and it's sort of making me freak out. Canada Day is this coming Friday and I'm not really trusting that some stuff is going to get done even though people say they are going to do it. Bleh.. I've so many things to do the last thing I want to be doing is leaning over someone's shoulder to check if things are getting completed. *sigh*

I'm not sure I mentioned it before (knowing me, I probably have), but I've managed to get myself into so many organizing committees: Canada Day, Summer Camp, New CCANB Initiative, and Youth Group (I'm the advisor this year and I'm trying to steer them in a different direction plus they are now trying to plan the camping trip). Oh ya, I'm also trying to plan my move and figure out what I need to get once I'm there.. ARGGGGG.. I'm having an internal crazy attack! (Thank goodness the school year ended.. I'd really go nuts if I still had to teach Chinese and piano).

Ahh.. ok.. I've gotta go before I go nuts!!! Gotta go do something! Ciao!!

Thursday, June 23, 2005

Tired

These last two weeks have been jammed packed with activities.I'm currently serving on 4 committees and it's all rather exhausting. I think I'm going to the bookstore to get myself an agenda (planner) after work - it's getting to be really hard to keep track of where I'm suppose to be at what time!!

Canada Day is next week and once again we find ourselves in the parade. Once again, we are going to do the dragon dance. On an exciting note, we found a place in China that is selling dragons (I think it's suppose to be a twin set that needs 9 people to maneuver) and the association is looking into purchasing it! One reason is because the one we are currently using is very old and falling apart and the 2nd reason is because our city has finally decided to have dragon boat racing! (too bad I won't be around to participate.. gees man..!!) Anyways, I had originally proposed to the youth group that they should fundraise to purchase a new dragon, lion and drum. It's all turning out to be pretty exciting! We are also going to look into getting some videos so that they can better learn to maneuver the thing and maybe learn some new moves. Training has already started on the little guys (8-10 year olds). It finally looks like the young people in the association (in particular, youth group) are starting to come alive again - yuppi!!

Finally got around to getting my apartment business in place. My friend (fondly called Moe by our friends) have been sort of driving ourselves nuts with the application process. They are asking for lots information that was sort of questionnable. Plus, it seemed thatsome fo the office staff wasn't really all that helpful. It felt like I had been mislead by the agent who showed me the apartment when I was down in Ottawa. Anyways, all in all it's still a good deal and looks like a good place to live. I'm excited about the move and at the same time feeling really lazy when it comes to figuring out what I have to bring down and actually packing it (plus, my mom has been asking me to organize a yardsale- *huge sigh*).

Hmm.. upon reflection.. I think I need a big vacation. Time to just not do ANYTHING. Even after my contract expires, I still have all this volunteering to do. Perhaps it's because it's still early in the day, but I'm having a hard time with my energy level at the moment.

Alright. I have to get to work ..been procrastinating enough, have to face the tedious grant evaluation (I've been working on this for a week and it's driving me MAD!!).

JY

ps./ Keith, it wasn't that I didn't want to meet up.. I was only in the downtown area during the day (I assume you were at work!) and didn't have much time. I wish I could have met up with you and Phil - there's always next time :)

Sunday, June 19, 2005

I'm Back!

Heheh.. it's been a week since I came back from Apartment hunting in Ottawa. Yes, I found a place.. it's near the medical campus and only a 10 minute bus ride away from the main campus. I'm still in the process of applying and such stuff.. hopefully everything will get settled by month end.

The first day of apartment hunting was actually pretty depressing. I was pretty frustrated because each place we looked at was either dirty, in a questionable neighbourhood or the management seemed snotty/sleazy. It was much better the 2nd day but the amount that some of the places were asking for was "oh my gahhhhh". Anyways, I hit it lucky the day before I came back home.. thank goodness!!

Anyways, besides apartment hunting.. lots of hanging out with friends in Ottawa. We had a BBQ on the weekend which was really enjoyable (great weather too), so I got to visit Costco (apparantly I have great buying potential!) which was GREAT!! (Man, the candy aisle can make a person go ga-ga). The day we were suppose to head down to Niagara Falls was hilarious. The Ottawa gang was pulling all types of reasons to convince us to stay: "let's go have dim sum before you leave" then, "you haven't tried the best bubble tea in town.. it's better than TO's!" AND, "you haven't gone to the casino".. and finally "ooo we're going to go have mussel with the winnings". (we did all of the above before finally hitting the road). Aww.. they are sweet aren't they??

Niagara Falls was pretty fun too. We went through one of the casinos (no gambling.. it was really smokey in there) and I finally got to visit Hershey's Factory. MAN.. did you know that they rip you off in there!? I was thinking of buying some stuff to bring back.. then I took a look at the prices and they turned out to be more expensive than what you'd get for the same product at Walmart! Tisk! Well, CE and I did end up getting a brownie which we kindly shared with Turtle & Yeoh ;) (yummy.. eh guys??)

We stopped by Scarborough (TO) but didn't get to spend very much time there. Mostly ate and went to T&T and loaded up on food (HAHAHAH!!!). I think the cashier must have had a heart attack when she saw me checking out.. everything was junk food - a cart load of it! Well, most of the stuff was for my family - particularly my dad. He LOVES those cookies and bread that you get there.. he was pretty delighted to see all of it when I got back ;) We also made a discovery that all their bread goes on sale at around 8pm.. Dennis was pretty happy with his deal.. I had to laugh when I saw the big grin on his face when he got his special discount ...lol!!

Wish I had more time to spend in TO so that I could have met up with more friends... no worries, there is always next time! ^_^

The trip went by entirely too fast.. I really couldn't believe how fast a week went.. *sigh*. I wasn't ready to go back to work, but it did feel refreshing to be away for a bit. I didn't feel nearly so "ARGH" about going to the office this week (hmm.. well, maybe sort of but for different reasons). This trip was very much different from previous road trips with friends to Ontario. Before, we always had this schedule.. go here, go there.. this person wants to do that, this person wants to do this, etc.. This time, we didn't really have an agenda (besides house hunt and go to Niagara Falls (which wasn't really planned to the minute!!!)) AND we seemed to move faster than previous groups?? There wasn't so much of this wait 2 hours for people to get up and ready in the morning (that really killed my schedules).. all in all, it was a pretty good trip, I give it an A!!

I'm getting more excited about moving down there. I'm sort of losing sense of time because I feel like I'll be moving in what feels like tomorrow, yet there's still quite a few weeks before I really do leave this place!

Hmm.. I'm really at a 50/50 place right now. I still love this city for very many DIFFERENT reasons than loving the big city. I mean, the summer feeling of peace.. neighbors mowing their lawns, chatting with other neighbors, the kids outside laughing and playing, the pleasant feeling when you see everyone casually strolling along the riverside enjoying the weather and the view... the tiny things about this place.. know what I mean?

Alright.. this seems like a pretty long blog.. I've been typing for at least 20 minutes. Must save some blabbing for the next entry (still lots of things to play catch up on!!) ;)

Tata!

Wednesday, June 15, 2005

Niagara Falls - the pace to be

Saturday, June 11, 2005

Yea! Cheesecake Birthday!

Wednesday, June 01, 2005

Exhausting Weekend

As I prepare for my trip (well, mostly trying to organize myself so I don't die upon the return of my trip).. I find myself drained.. of time and energy.

I am once again facing a full plate of thigns to do. Everyone seems to want me to do SOMETHING or more like SOMETHINGSSSSS!!! I come back on the 10th and on the 11th am working at a fundraising yardsale.. on the 12th we have the Chinese School Year End recital & in the evening have a year end piano recital.. all of which I have things to organize.
(May 29th, 9:30pm)
****

OH mannnnnn why why why can't I sleep? We are leaving in 1.5 hours and I still can't sleep though I've been trying on and off since 7:30pm!! (well, that's probably why :P)

Anyways, things have gotten completed.. surprisingly. It's been a stressful few days and I'm pretty tired.. I hope I'll be able to sleep on the way to Ottawa tonight..!!

I'm going to keep this short because I'm lazy and tired ..hehe.. It was a pretty good day because I got news that two of my friends got accepted into Med School at U of Ottawa - CONGRATULATIONS!!! I'm ecstatic for them and also ecstatic for me because that means I'll have more friends from home with me!! YUPPPPPPPIIIIIII!!!!

Alright.. thats all for now. Probably won't be updating for a while since I'm going to be on the road for the next 1.5 weeks. (HEHE.. I'm going to be so broke when I get back.. so broke and so full .. filled with delicious food..mmmmmm)

BYEeeeeeeeee!!!

The Times and Tribulations of JY