love and hate. life and death.

What Sarah Said - Death Cab for Cutie

I've been working long hours all week (minus Tuesday, as I didn't make it in to work..) I haven't really minded working the extra hours, since it's been pretty busy and I've actually felt really productive, for the first time in a long time. On my way home, I struck a bit of luck, if you can call it that. I found a $5 bill on the floor of the company lobby, as I was heading home. It wasn't the highlight of my day, but hey, it's something... lol

As I walked home in the rain, I caught something that made me jump. I'm one of those childish people who like to step on thin curbs to try and balance themselves. As I walked up on this sewage grate that had a curb around it, I saw a dead giant rat lying lifeless on the side of the curb.

I was pretty disgusted at first, but then as I observed it in the rain, the disgust went away and the reality of life came to me. Life is short enough for humans. I can't even imagine what life would be like for a rat... dirtay.

Times like these, I thank the force of nature I call God for making me human.

So who's gonna watch you die...?

laughter. life's remedy.

This is why How I Met Your Mother rocks ice.

i love. i do.

Endless Love - Luther Vandross & Mariah Carey

I have some Luther tonight dedicated to my loving brother who is now a married man. On paper. The reception won't be until the summer, so lots of time to prep things. The vows were exchanged at the Markham Civic Centre next to Unionville High School. Beautiful place for a beautiful couple. Congrats you two lovebirds!! Welcome to the family, Stella! It's crazy to think that I have a sister-in-law now. Maybe I'll be an uncle in a couple of years. Amayssingk.

Anyway, I've been noticing a lot more couples forming this year already. For anyone in love out there, congrats and happy loving. For anyone who hasn't found that special someone yet, keep at it. Things will come into place.

I found out about this really neat tradition in Japan through my language exchange partner. She said that in Japan on February 14th, Valentine's day, all the girls are supposed to give out gifts, cards or whatnot to guys they like. A month later, on March 14th, they have what they call White Day. That's when all the girls are waiting with anticipation for the boys to return a gift. If they do, then it's a sign that they like them back. If not, then it shows that they have no interest in them. We should have a holiday like that. You'd have a nice month to think about things, haha. You can read all about it here.

I've been watching a lot of How I Met Your Mother, lately. So hooked on it. I've been feeling a bit like Ted Mosby lately. But I need a Barney Stinson in my life to make things more entertaining... Seems like the past couple of weeks have all been about love. Maybe it's time.

il rêve toujours.

Quiet Nights And Quiet Stars - Olivia Ong

Il réveille avec un rêve qu'elle l'a dit qu'elle l'aime toujours.
C'est la deuxième fois qu'il a eu un rêve avec elle cette semaine.
Son coeur batte comme le tonnerre; il se sent lourd.
C'est-il vrai? Ou c'est-il ce qu'il le souhaîte dans son coeur?

Il ne sais pas pourquoi.
Huit mois ont déjà passé, mais chaque jour il pense à elle toujours.
Il veut sentir l'amour comme avant, mais ce n'ai pas un choix.
Il ne sent rien pour les autres.

Il réveille avec un rêve.
Un rêve de beauté.
Si beau qu'il le fait pleurer.
Il pleure sans larmes.

Il la manque beaucoup.
Son visage sourit tandit que son coeur pleure.
Il n'y a rien qu'il peut faire mais vivre,
Car, c'est la vie.

travel inspiration.

I came across the Burger King's new Whopper Virgins campaign (the above clip) via FarFar Academy blog this morning. It really made me envious of the researchers. It really made me want to travel even more than I already want. Whether this campaign was effective or not in terms of advertising, I could care less. It's a great idea, but at the same time, I don't think I'm crazy about the thought of introducing fast foods to small communities like that. It could really wreck the eco-systems of the natives.

Anyway, it really makes me think... It's really hard to believe that some areas are so remote they have no idea of what life is like outside of their culture. International pop culture? Forget it. Michael Jack-who? Kanye-what? The thought of someone not knowing how to pick up or eat a burger is all so strange to me. All so foreign. But then again, I'm seeing things through the eyes of a typical North American. Limited vision, limited knowledge, history and culture of anything outside of this continent.

The idea of experiencing something different, something foreign and new, really puts questions in my head though. This world is so diverse; why do we trap ourselves in such a life of routine and comfort? Why do we cringe at the thought of change? Whether they be cultural, environmental or biological changes, shouldn't we live to experience these differences? Why do we live to work? Shouldn't we work to live? Life's so short. Why waste it? Take that leap of faith. Whether we land or fall, isn't the experience worth it?

I've been feeling a little trapped in Toronto as of late. I thought taking a trip to Los Angeles back in September would really liberate that feeling. As much fun as I had there, it didn't help much. I think I need a break from the city to kind of reset my mind. I've been losing focus and inspiration. I need to bring some life back into my work. Not to mention my heart... Until I get the time to travel, I suppose documentaries and photos will have to hold me.

movies for the artistic soul.

Locked In A Room - Oren Lavie

Two weeks ago, I had mentioned to my co-worker Karen, the copywriter, that I had never seen The Big Lebowski before. I guess that was a big no-no in her books, as well as everyone else's in the creative department. So then she asked me if I had seen Tron. I don't recall having seen it, but maybe I have. There are a lot of movies I've seen in my childhood that I may not remember entirely; just little flashes here and there. Anyway, I haven't seen Tron either...

She flipped out and asked if I had seen Citizen Kane. And well, no, I haven't. Toni, the art director sitting across from me overheard this and flipped out on me as well. I thought maybe it was a culture thing, seeing as I come from Quebec. But Toni is from Croatia. So Karen ruled that one out...

I thought that having seen movies like Robocop, Terminator, Ninja Turtles, Batman and such was enough to keep in the loop of pop culture; and that movies like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind or Science of Sleep would be enough to keep in the world of artistic films. I guess not, haha...

So for the next 30 to 45 minutes, Toni and Karen crowded around me desk, throwing movies at me. I ended up making a list of movies to watch based on their suggestions. And then last Friday, Toni brought over a stack of DVDs for me to borrow and watch. So that's my homework for the next little while.

The stack included:
• Fargo
• The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
• Trainspotting
• Bladerunner
• Waking Life
• Monty Python's The Meaning of Life

Anyway, I watched The Big Lebowski a couple of weeks ago, and watched Fargo tonight. Both great movies, though I found The Big Lebowski was a bit overhyped. Maybe I was expecting it to be so epic due to everyone's reaction and disbelief when I told them I hadn't seen it yet. As for Fargo, it was amazing, though a bit too much blood for my liking. I think Waking Life will be next.

procrastination is time lapse.

Baby Be Mine - Michael Jackson

Late Friday night after some drinking, I decided that it was time for me to give myself a fun experimental project. Since my new MacBook Pro was getting loaded with goodies until Sunday morning, I decided to spend my Saturday indoors, creating a time lapse video of the street intersection outside my window.

Staying in all day worked well anyway because I woke up with a slight hangover. The only problem was that I couldn't wake up early enough for sunrise, which for a still time lapse, makes all the difference as it is the most noticeable change in lighting. Well, sunrise and sunset.

So I began in the afternoon, originally planning to take a photo every 10 minutes for 24 hours. The timing got really messed up later in the day as I would fall asleep or be playing Fable (which I cleared the story mode that night, sadly...) and forget to take a photo every 10 minutes. Other times, I would go on a frenzy, taking a photo every 30 seconds to a minute... And also, I didn't have the proper equipment to hold the camera still, so there was some drastic shifting near the end.

I didn't end up spending the full 24 hours taking photos every 10 minutes, as I was procrastinating with the XBox, then I got too tired an went to bed, since I had to wake up early for the laptop pick up, uptown.

I gave up with Veoh and opened a Vimeo account. Hopefully it'll be much better. I think I'm gonna re-upload all my videos onto Vimeo and kill of Veoh. Bad service. Also, here's a well done video on procrastination by John Kelly.

lost and not found.

Underground - Moist

My life lately feels a lot quieter... It's not that I'm complaining, because it's a good thing, really; it's more me time. But I am complaining. I'm complaining because I have all this time to myself and I've been feeling really motivated to be productive, yet I don't have the means to work on my stuff. I'm waiting on my new laptop, which comes in Wednesday. According to the tracker, it is currently in Alaska...

To pass time, I started playing Fable II to give it a try. I haven't really played an RPG since Neverwinter Nights, about five years ago. Why's that? Because when I get into these games, they can really consume me. As much as I've always wanted to try World of Warcraft, I never played it for the said reason. But with Fable, I thought meh... I'll have self-control.

No. I stayed up until 3:30am two nights in a row playing this game so I could buy a house for my character. It hurts me to see myself on that couch for 5 hours straight on that game. Especially when I work the next morning. I've lost my mind...

I went to Mississauga to chill with my good friends from Kingston today. Good times. We went to Playdium and DDR'ed it up and played some sick racing games with full steering wheel feedback and bucket seats rocking. Jolly good times, I say. We saw some serious kids on this DDR machine though. These kids meant business. They brought towels, change of shirts and shoes, and even a bottle of Windex (why?)... They set the game on uber hard and just stepped up a storm! Those arrows were traveling at least 50km/hr. No wonder kids these days have short attention spans. I took a video of them. I caught them at a less intense part though.

I've become quite absent-minded this week. I keep misplacing and losing things. I lost my January TTC Metropass, I misplaced my penicillin Thursday and was 30 minutes late for work, and then I lost the whole bottle today. Probably at Playdium. And of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most.