...and better

change yet again.

2010-08-04T00:20:00.002-04:00

I hear of more and more people getting married in the past couple of years. Maybe cause I'm getting to that age where the people around me are all looking for the same thing. I'm happy for a lot of my friends and family members who are getting married. I too dream of that day. Since I was young, I always thought I knew what I wanted. I always thought that by a certain age, things would come naturally to me; to anyone.

But as the past few years have gone by, I've realized that certain things about me haven't changed much and I'm not what I expected to be at all. Sure I have all these material things, a secure job (as secure as advertising can be...), a decent place. Hopefully I don't sound ungrateful, but I guess what I'm looking for is something beyond this. I want to be a better person. I want to change.

Yet lately, I seem like I've slipped off the tracks and things ended up blowing up in my face. It's forced me to question my own motives and the decisions I've made in life. It's been hard to look at certain people lately, knowing that I've veered off my original path and headed straight for a dead-end, and dragged them along the way.

Sometimes we just want to grab our old selves and shake the shit out of us (or is it them?)... Slap some sense into that absent-minded brain of ours. It's too bad time machines haven't been built yet. But I suppose it's why we have a memory; to learn from our mistakes.

It's funny how in movies, they usually flash a montage of all the events that lead up to the character's realization of some mystery or event. It really reflects the reality of it how it goes in "real life". When something major happens, we get all these flashbacks and then... "FUCK!" is the word that usually comes out of our mouths. Unless you're a very proper person... Then it'd end with "Gosh darn it!"

Bah. I suppose if all decisions were made for you in life, there'd be no point in living it...

haven't done this in a while...

2009-12-08T21:19:00.003-05:00

So like many other fanboys, I pre-ordered my copy of Modern Warfare 2. I wanted the special edition that comes with the night-vision goggles and all, but I wasn't ready to fork out $150. In hindsight, I probably should've picked it up with the NVGs, but oh well. I finished the game after two weeks of playing after work. I was rather disappointed with the ending, actually. I guess it leaves it hanging for MW3. I wish I could play online.

Tonight, I decided to sit down and play a game I downloaded earlier this year, that I never touched. I turned on Mega Man 9 to take a break from all the effects and complex gameplays; just two buttons, a direction pad, and nothing but fun. Or so I thought... Much to my chagrin, this supposed classic game beat me down and then some.

I didn't remember the original Mega Mans to be this hard. Mega Man 9 is harder than any other game I've played lately. It's so repetitive, tedious, and sucks up all your focus. It was actually stressful to play it cause the slightest mistake at the wrong time meant redoing all that you just did. I couldn't pass any of the levels.

What was supposed to be a nostalgic moment soon became a moment of frustration and helplessness... The fun ended with me cussing at Mega Man for not being able to jump high enough or being able to slide like Mega Man 4 could...

Needless to say, my time's been going more towards video games lately. But once the holidays start, I'll hopefully lay off the Xbox and get more productive til Montreal. I wish I knew what was in store for this year's break. Ugh... 2009 went by way too fast. It felt like yesterday that I was in Tremblant skiing. At least, it'll be a White Christmas this year, as we're supposedly getting dumped on tonight. Let's make a snowman.

cycle of life.

2009-09-02T23:37:00.004-04:00

Bicycles... I regret ever buying that KHS hybrid two years ago for $500-600 cause for that price, I could've gotten a really decent road bike... But oh well. It's now my backup bike for anyone who's in town and wants to ride with me.

About a month ago now, I went with Tessar to buy an $80 12-speed VeloSport vintage bike in Scarborough, which was a really good deal, until the problems came flooding in a week later. A faceplant, warped rims, blown tire... Sigh. But it's still my favourite bike to ride, despite all the problems and grief it's given me. I'm keeping that baby and turning it into my every day bike. Gonna pimp it out. It's a bit of a project bike, but piece by piece. Just have to be patient.

As for the third bike, I bought it off of Craig's List, but I traded this metallic blue 59cm Raleigh Rampar for a 53cm frame metallic grey SIS L'Image road bike. It's considerably, smaller, but the 59cm frame was a bit big for me. And because of the small size of the SIS, I'll probably be turning it into a fixie, when I have the money. Hopefully by next spring, it'll be converted. Pictures to come...

I've been thinking about volunteering at CBN (Community Bicycle Network) and hopefully learn how to build and repair bikes so I can really start getting to know my bikes better; especially to maintain them. But I've spoken a lot about volunteering in the past and it's never happened so we'll see when it actually happens... haha.

The past two weeks have been blasts from the past. I saw some college friends from my very first year at Sheridan 7 years ago. I haven't seen these guys in forever. Hooking up with them was so fun but talking about the past really made me think about how old we are, and how long ago that was. It brought back up some really good times and people I had completely forgotten about. And just yesterday, I had dinner with a friend from high school who I have barely spoken to in almost 9 years. Brought some memories back. It's always a really fun time to catch up with people in person. Catching up with people through emails and Facebook just isn't the same, really.

Looking back at the high school days and the early college days, it almost feels like a dream; another life. Memory is weird like that... If you don't hold on to it, it'll fade like a forgotten dream in the morning. You need that spark to revive it from time to time. At least, the important ones; the good ones.

i remember it swell.

2009-07-26T23:50:00.003-04:00

It's been pretty busy since I got back from Asia... I've been denying myself a lot of me time. Between work, friends, and family, it's been quite a challenge to get a full 6 or 7 hour sleep night. I also discovered a library of documentaries online. I'm a bit of a documentary freak, so I sacrificed quite a few of my sleeping hours watching these things.

I think all that lack of sleeping caught up with me Thursday night, when I was working from home and suddenly, I think a muscle just gave... I was having crazy chest pains everytime I breathed, preventing me from having a good night's sleep. It got worse Friday night after work on my way uptown in the subway, when it started to cramp up and made me breathe inconsistantly. It really hurt to breathe. When Tessar picked me up, I could hardly get 3 words out before needing another breath of air. After 4 hours at Scarborough Grace, the doctor took some x-rays and dismissed it as me having pulled a muscle. His prescription: two tylenols. Ass.

So for Aaron's bachelor party Saturday, I had to contain any sort of laughter as it causes chest pains through the inhales. Anyone who knows me knows it's hard for me to contain my emotions. The night was filled with fun and laughter. I was literally laughing with tears, holding my chest. It started getting worse near the end of the night, so I left shortly after midnight and slept for almost 12 hours. I think that cured the chest pains, though I'd like to think the laughter was the real remedy...

I'm not completely cured, as it still hurts to take fast deep breaths. As such, I haven't been able to yawm properly since Thursday. And when you're really running low on sleep, it gets pretty damn frustrating. One thing that's working to my advantage though, is sneezing. When I feel the sneeze coming, I can't help but inhale quickly, but then the chest pains kick in and cancel the sneeze to nothing. It hurts, but it's good, cause there's no spray damage all over my hands.

It seems 2009 is a popular year to get married. We saw two weddings in India, one in China, and I've seen countless numbers of brides and grooms roaming the streets of Toronto this summer; not to mention all the bachelor/bachelorette parties that I keep seeing. I've been trying to help my brother and my sister-in-law plan their reception in September and I gotta tell ya. It's a lot to think about. Especially when it's less than two months away... Can't wait to throw on that tux though. I still have to write my speech. Can't decide if I should say the speech in Chinese too... I'll have quite a bit of trouble with that, considering I can't read Chinese, so even cue cards wouldn't be able to save me. I know this sounds strange coming from a guy, but I think I'm getting a bit of wedding fever... Sigh.

travel journal: part 3

2009-06-29T23:24:00.004-04:00

In the span of a couple of days, a lot of things have happened. Michael Jackson's sudden death was one of the most talked. It's really too bad that he couldn't have finished his last tour beforehand... Being the fan that I am, I'm sad to see him go; though at the same time, it's good he finally found some sort of peace from this unforgiving world. His music will always rock my world and his dancing will always be off the wall. Thanks for changing the world the way you did.

Speaking of change, I should get back to trying to finish the travel journal. This next bit changed the way I view my life quite a bit. India really opened my eyes as to how good I have it in North America.

Day 6: The real adventure begins.
We arrived at Bangkok Airport from Guang Zhou at 2:30am. We had to wait for the Air India booth to open at 8:30am, so we decided to save ourselves some money and crash at the airport. It felt a little nomadic and bummish with our backpacks, chilling and sleeping at the airport. The hours passed by slowly but we tried to pass our time joking around and sleeping. I had a hard time sleeping though. We would've hung out at the internet station if it wasn't so damn expensive. It was 100 Thai Baht for 20 minutes or 300 Baht for an hour. That's about $9 USD/hour. To use the internet... Rip off.

We originally wanted to fly to Kolkata but then there were cheap seats available to New Delhi for 12:55pm. So we bought the tickets and boarded the flight. I found the stewardesses' on Air India weren't as pleasant, but we got service nonetheless, so I can't complain.

We got off the plane to 39°C heat... It was HAWT as shit! But at least it was dry heat as opposed to Hong Kong's humid heat. We went through security fine, but then it went downhill from there... We lost a chunk of money due to currency exchange fees, and we went on a prepaid taxi service with a driver who didn't know how to get to our hotel. At that point in our day, we were still feeling somewhat adventurous and feeling that ounce of excitement of something so new, different, and unknown. Until the driver dropped us off in the middle of a busy intersection in Old Delhi. He told us to make a left and walk for 5 minutes and that the hotel should be there. We argued with him to drop us off in front of the hotel, but he would have none of it. He insisted taxis weren't allowed on that road. We got frustrated and stepped out of the vehicle to grab our backpacks.

The stupid cabbie had the nerve to ask for tip. We left him and kept walking. Before today, I had never seen this kind of poverty. Kids running around the streets, rickshaw taxis everywhere, motorcycles, tuc-tuc taxis, lots of stray dogs and men, and many many more shameless stares and leers at us. It made it really uncomfortable to walk through the area. Kids would run by and yell something at us, street vendors would try to get our attention and sell us shit. All senses were overstimulated by the sights, sounds, smell. That sense of excitement quickly turned to fear.

We eventually ran into a couple of police officers after walking 10 minutes down that street. They informed us that Hotel Broadway was a 15 to 20 minutes walk back the way we came. So basically, the taxi driver should've told us to turn right and walk for 5 minutes... We were not pleased. After some heckling and such from people as they drove/walked by, we found the hotel. Oh, there was also a security guard who took a photo of my female cousin with his cellphone camera as we walked by. Creep.

It's a hell of an experience so far, I must say... I'm really starting to miss home now. We've only been in India for a few hours now and I find it quite mentally stressful already.

Day 7: Indian Summer.
We woke up fairly early to pack a few things and plan our day. It was decided that we would walk to Connaught Place since there are a lot more tourists in that area. My cousin also decided to wear a nice dress with a thin sweater overtop to be less revealing. But instead, she built quite a fanbase for herself. Men and boys of all ages looked her up and down (mainly down)... The women and girls also stared. Unlike North America though, if you make eye-contact, they don't look away. Since we were Chinese and pale skinned, we obviously stood out from the crowd. We got got many stares, but my cousin got the most. It was so bad it made all four of us uncomfortable.

We got lost a few times on the way but we reached the New Delhi train station. Among the mostly dirty-civilians we saw everywhere, a strange clean and well-dressed man approached us and spoke to my brother. We decided to go with him as he told us he works in Block N of Connaught Place and that Block P, where we were headed to, was on the way. He lead us into the metro and got us to Block P. What's funny was that he was on the phone quite frequently in the metro ride. After he dropped us off and headed back to work, another man approached us almost immediately and started talking to us. He was just as friendly as the other man. We told him what we were looking for and he lead us to the tourism centre. I'm 85% to 90% sure that those two men worked together to get us there and they probably collect commission from that tourism centre...

Anyway, after much inquiries and bartering, we ended up with a complete 8 day tour of India. This included a flight to Kashmir, then seeing the "Golden Triangle Tour" from Delhi to Jaipur to Agra. Then it's an overnight train to Varanasi to see the Ganges and ride elephants, then another overnight train to Kolkata to catch our flight to Bangkok. The price of the tour probably could've been cheaper, but us being from North America, it was cheap in our standards. In Indian standards, however, we most likely got ripped off pretty damn good. But still, thanks to my brother, the price was lowered significantly from the original.

This deal also included a day tour of Old and New Delhi for the rest of today. We saw Humayans Tomb, Gandhi's Smirt, and ate at a touristy restaurant (more expensive in Indian standards). We then went to see Red Fort, and walked through the park where Gandhi was cremated, saw India Gate, and then drove by the President's Palace. Of course, our day was filled with shameless stares and heckling from beggars and vendors.

The sites were pretty nice. The structures were historic and great and unlike anything I've seen before. The heat was pretty insane. Our driver told us that it was a really hot time of the year. Even him, being a local, was struggling to keep cool. Things I've noticed was that the men pissed anywhere in public, there were stray dogs everywhere, the traffic was chaotic, the men to women ratio was pretty ridiculous, many of the locals thought we were Japanese and would yell "konichiwa" at us. We feared for my cousin quite a bit as we walked down the streets and we were still so uncomfortable everywhere we walked. Everytime I would see a foreign white person at some of the touristy areas, a part of me wanted to run up to them and latch on to them...

travel journal: part 2

2009-06-24T07:54:00.004-04:00

I'm home safe and sound after a month-long trip. I'm still a little jetlagged, as I keep passing out before 10pm and waking up early in the morning... I'm trying to find time to see what the damages were to my finances from this trip, to unpack and to organize myself. Starting work right away and not giving myself time to recover from jetlag was a bit of a bad idea, but still, at least I have an income again! Here's the second part of the travel journal. Going to try and write what I can before I leave to get my braces taken off... Monumental day!!

Day 4: I can see clearly now the rain will come
Rain day 2. Woke up at 7am. We stayed the night and will be spending our nights at a relative's house in Guang Zhou. As we were leaving, there was a disgusting giant spider that came running across the kitchen. I didn't see it alive as I was putting my shoes on. But I saw our auntie kill it with her slipper and these giant legs, the size of a tarantula, all twitching and shit. So nasty. I couldn't stop thinking about it for the rest of the day...

We took a bus to go to this area of the city where it seemed a lot less run down. There were more streetshops. After walking around for a bit, we went into this four story mall that sold nothing but glasses frames. It was crazy how cheap everything was in Guang Zhou! For the frames that I got, I paid 85 RMB which amounts to roughly $14 USD. I'm going back there tomorrow to get the lenses fitted. I think it'll be around 390-500 RMB ($65-83 USD).

We ran a little late for lunch to meet up with more relatives. We ate at a Japanese barbecue restaurant, owned by a Japanese man, but could also speak Canto and Mando. It was much like the Toronto Korean barbecues, but instead of a gas grill, they used hot coals with a cross-wire grill. Everything was uber delicious. The relatives were great and very hospitable. Some I had never met before, and a few others, I hadn't seen in ten years.

After lunch, our distant uncle took us to a driving range. On our way there, his driving was pretty insane! He made his own lane, drove onto oncoming traffic; it felt like a rollercoaster. Thankfully, we arrived alive to hit some golf balls into the wet grass, as it was still drizzling a little. Afterwards, we went out for dinner at McDonald's with my mom's middle school friend, whom I've met once before.

I've noticed in Guang Zhou that the police here is not intimidating at all, except for the fact that they could be corrupt, but that's all preconceived thoughts. In terms of their uniforms and just looks, they wore no bullet proof vests, they seemed older and less fit, and the uniforms in general were not that intimidating. My cousin was much thicker than most of the officers there. Though I'm sure they could still kick my ass... Another thing is the service here; it's so efficient and great. It's probably due to the fact that the employees are overstaffed because of cheap labour, so they have to provide excellent service due to competition.

Day 5: Guang Zhou, Rain City
Third day in GZ and once again, I wake up to the sound of rainfall. I think it's been cemented in my head now that GZ, ponchoes and bicycles, and rain go hand-in-hand. I haven't truly missed home yet, though I have thought about it a few times, mainly due to the living conditions here. It makes me think about how good we have it in North America. I've realized now that I'm quite a princess for cleanliness. I always thought I'd be able to handle something like this since I've always loved camping, but I guess outdoors dirtiness in is a totally different kind of dirtiness from urban dirtiness. But I think this is only the beginning, as India I'm sure will be much worse. So I guess this will be a nice transition to get my prepared for what's to come.

The sky cleared up a bit as we stepped out to pick up our glasses, but then started to pour again shortly after. Our auntie took us to this park where my parents went to on their first date at Shamian Park. It was beautiful. My dad's such a romantic, heheh. I wonder what it looked like back then... The rain had dissipated by then, making way for a beautiful view of the riverside, though the water could have been less brown and murky. It made me want to hear stores about the details of how my parents met. I've only heard a couple of stories.

We met up with my dad's cousin later and he treated us to a fancy dinner. It was so good... The service again, was excellent. We had a lot of fun in GZ on this last day, although I miss having showers. I say this because I only showered one day while I was here because the heater wasn't working, and also because you had to stand over the squatter toilet to shower. The squatter toilet, you have to manually pour water into it to flush, and after a number 2, you can only imagine the type of smell that comes out of there... Like I said, I'm a bit of a princess when it comes to these things... Oh and GZ was pretty hot too, so the days I didn't shower, I used a wet towel to wipe myself down instead.

We packed our backpacks after dinner and caught our flight to Bangkok to lay over to India. We didn't purchase out tickets beforehand, and it's in the middle of the night, so we have to wait until the next flight and purchase the tickets then. We'll be flying Air India, I believe.

travel journal: part 1

2009-06-01T03:38:00.003-04:00

Sine leaving for the trip for Asia, it's been really really fast-paced and I haven't really had a chance to use internet all that much, so I've been writing in a journal to keep track of my observations and events. I'm just going to type it out here.

DAY 0.5: Leaving on a jet plane
I got to the airport 3 hours early since they say that you should do that for international flights. I got to the airport at 6:40am and was checked in, went through security and reached the waiting area by 6:55am... It was quite a long wait from there.

Lift off was at 10:30am and it was a rough flight over. 15.5 hours of air time with 3 meals and barely any sleep. I tried to drink some wine to put myself to sleep but no such luck. So we watched movie after movie. One of the movies was Ip Man starring Donnie Yuen. Amazing fight scenes, highly emotional. Forget Jet Li and Jacky Chan.

DAY 1: Hong Kong
We reached HK early in the morning local time. The subway right from the airport to our hotel area was sweet. It was so clean, well-maintained, and lots of room. TTC sucks compared to this. We walked over to the South Pacific Hotel, checked in, and walked around while waiting for Vincy to meet up wit us. The hotel rooms were a tad small, but pretty good for HK. It was pretty humid and warm there. Cockroaches running around the sidewalk, lots of people, a few stares here and there, but nothing too bad. It really sucked we couldn't read the menu signs for dinner, but at least we could speak and understand quite well. Free internet in the subway is awesome. We were recommended a place by a friend called King's Hotel and it was so weird. It almost felt like a sex hotel... It was one floor, and no hallways. As soon as you open the room door, it's the lobby. These rooms were all pimped out, and the workers weresurprised to see the 4 of us walk in...

DAY 2: HK shopping
We started the day by going to a cafe lounge for breakfast to use their complimentary computers. We noticed that school uniforms are really ugly in HK. We later met up with some friends and went shopping. First stop was at UNIQLO. Great clothing for a pretty cheap price. Felt like H&M but a lot better, though their t-shirts are a bit too wide for my body... Shame... I thought we had already adjusted to the time change since we didn't feel tired much, but by 6pm, it hit us hard. We passed out from 6:30pm til 10:30pm. Then we were wide awake.

We went out to Lang Kwai Fung to party it up with some foreigners. It was pretty crazy. Lots of white people and CBCs, lots of pubs, lots of booze and drunkards. We stayed out pretty late, playing Chinese drinking games (our local HK friends taught us) and drank the night away.

HK has an urban/modern feel, but at the same time, very grungy. Almost like Chinatown, realy. It's humid and hot, and I've decided I can't live here. Too many people and no sidewalk space. It gets rather frustrating when you're in a hurry. I can't even imagine what India will be like.

DAY 3: Arrival to Guang Zhou
Rain. We packed up our bags and went out for breakfast. By 12:30pm, we were on the bus to Mainland China. The coach was uber nice. It was brand new with leather seats, soft head cushions, reclines 5 times more than a crappy Greyhound coach would in North America. Funny how that works. Everything about that coach was superior. It even has a side door in the back to let people in too! Only thing missing was a washroom.

The highways were filled with rather large billboard signs everywhere with large Chinese fonts. The billboards were at least twice the size of North American billboards. It was overpowering...

Guang Zhou isn't what I remembered ten years ago. I don't remember much of it from then to begin with, just that there were a lot of constructions sites back then. Now, it reminds me of HK, with the modern tall high-rises mixed with grungy old buildings. Everything is cheap here, especially the food. The girls are much cuter than Hong Kong girls for some reason. Hannah, if you're reading this, you're right about the toilets in China. Kinda gross...

asiabound - day 0: toronto.

2009-05-20T04:06:00.005-04:00

It's 4am... I'm still up. Cleared all my photos from my camera, all packed except for the stuff I need in the morning. Got my shots, my pills, my documents. There was a mix of feelings between excitement and nervousness earlier, but now, I just feel too tired to feel either. Why bother sleeping when I have to be up in an hour and there's a grueling 15.5 hour flight waiting for me?

Essentially, the itinerary's going to look something like this: land in Hong Kong and spend about 3 days there, then fly to India for a bit more than a week to see Darjeeling, Agra, Kolkata, Dheli, and Varanasi. Then it's off to Thailand to see some beaches and relax/backpack for about a week and half. After Thailand, we hit up Macau for a day then back to HK to catch our flight to Guang Zhou, China to visit some relatives for a couple of days. Then back to HK to shop til we drop.

Heh... As I'm typing this, the feeling of excitement is starting to come back. Funny how that works. The thing that worries me and gets me a little nervous is the thieving and the kid beggars. I've been told that they are quite relentless, and the whole ordeal is that you know by giving them money, you'll attract a swarm, and you're only fueling the cycle. But if you don't give them anything, you feel heartless, torn, and helpless to help these kids.

I think backpacking through some of the rural areas of India will really open my eyes. Which for me is part of the purpose of this trip. I'm hoping in Thailand we'll get to rent some bicycles and bike around the local areas.

Anyway. It's already 4:24am... I still have to shave my head. I'll try to update when I can. Photos will probably get updated on FB faster than posts on this blog, but I do intend on writing a traveling journal while on this trip. Toodles.

hb.eL.

2009-05-19T23:52:00.006-04:00

Lots of last minute things to do... Not really planning on sleeping, really. Gotta leave the apartment in 6 hours. Getting butterflies in my stomach...

honster's list.

2009-05-12T22:02:00.003-04:00

The itinerary: HK, India, Thailand, China, HK.

So far, everything just fits perfectly in my duffel bag... Hopefully I can find a backpack that'll be around this size...

Important
• Passport
• Flight ticket
• Insurance papers
• Moola
• Anti-malarial pills

Clothes
• 2 t-shirts
• 4 undies
• 3 socks
• 1 jeans
• 1 shorts
• 1 long sleeve t
• 1 Poncho/raincoat
• 1 sandals
• 1 shorts (worn)
• 1 shoes (worn)
• 1 belt (worn)
• 1 hat (worn)
• 1 socks (worn)
• 1 undies (worn)
• 1 t-shirt (worn)

Toiletries
• towel
• toilet paper rolls x2
• floss
• toothbrush
• toothpaste
• razor
• deodorant
• cologne
• bodywash
• SPF lip balm

Accessories
• garbage bag
• ipod
• earphones
• camera
• camera charger
• camera battery/memory stick
• fanny pack
• mini-sketch book
• pen & pencil
• book
• outlet converter
• ipod & camera wire
• first aid kit
• travel pack hand sanitizer
• nail clippers
• ziplocks
• phone
• laundry powder
• tea tree oil
• bug spray
• sun screen
• travel thermos

the three days rule

2009-05-06T21:56:00.004-04:00

Until two years ago, I never knew what the 3 days rule was. But when my friend told me about it, it all made sense.

//Paraphrased
Me: So you're saying I shouldn't call tomorrow (Saturday) for a lunch date Monday?
Friend: No man. It's all about timing. You call too soon, you seem desperate. You wait too long, she loses interest.

I went with the 3 days rule. I got called out on it months down the road; it was a good laugh..

How I Met Your Mother discusses the 3 days rule. But it has a more valid reason why one should abide by it. Because Jesus wants us to wait 3 days...

just another lush day.

2009-05-02T02:19:00.003-04:00

It's been nothing but a smile on a face lately. Reason being that when something in your life takes a right turn, it affects everything else in your life: your state of mind, your relationships, your health and so on. Everything about you brightens up. I couldn't ask for more at this moment. I know I say this a lot but I could never be thankful enough for the people in my life.

As for work, it's been nothing but faaaanntastic! Working on a lot of animations and with great designers. My only complaint is that I really miss working near Chinatown. Bay/Bloor is nothing but food courts and it's sad that we even have nicknames for the two food courts... sigh... There's a Pho Hung across the street from the ROM so I might end up going there one of these days. Just have to convince the co-workers to make that trek there. The convincing part will be a bit difficult, as I seem to be the only one who gets excited over pho.

I rode my first fixie bike Wednesday night. Tessar was awesome enough to teach me how to skid-stop and such. I gotta say... It's so weird to ride a fixed gear bike. I'd forget for a split second that I can't stop pedaling, but then I'd get a reminder as the pedal kicks your leg up as you try to rest up. I can't even imagine what it'd be like going downhill!! BUT I do want one now... The frame is soooo light!! My thighs are still sore from all that practice with the skid-stops. Also, a link that was sent to me from Tessar: Bamboo Bike Studio. Innovatively green ideas. So awesome. I want one of those too...

I made a hilarious video for my good friend John Thai's 26th birthday and played it for him and his friends at the party. I know it's on Facebook and that many of you have already seen it, but for you randoms who stumble upon my blog about nothing, hopefully this will at least make you smile... Enjoy!

no time left for you.

2009-04-07T21:38:00.005-04:00

Hmm.... So much to go on about. It's been a pretty busy month, between my portfolio, work, and my personal life. Luckily I was only unemployed for 3 weeks, thanks to the great friends that I have. It's another new beginning, meeting great people and seeing great work. Definitely better work environment to say the least.

Been doing a lot of things on my own lately, and have been really enjoying the me time. Biking to the beaches and discovering new places around Toronto is always fun. Earth Hour was pretty cool too, though I was pretty disappointed when I left Nathan Phillips Square early that practically everywhere else in Toronto was still brightly lit.

Went to DC with my brother, aunt and uncle and the folks over the long weekend. It was... hmmm, interesting...? All I have to say is that I'm never going on another Chinese bus tour ever again. It was so horribly organized. The tour guide was brutal and really took away from an experience that could have been decent. I was hoping for something relaxing since work and freelance combined have been pretty overwhelming. It was the complete opposite. It's definitely an experience I don't want to go through again.

We only had 2 hours to shop at the Woodbury Outlet Malls. Even though I've been there before, and knew where my favourite stores were, I still needed at least 3 or 4 hours. I walked out with only a $15 casual dress shirt from Esprit. Pretty good deal but it sucks that I didn't have time for any more. Was hoping to find a nice comfortable pair of shoes for Asia.

The ride back was most brutal; for me especially. We left Washington at 730am, got back to Montreal at 1130pm because we were stuck at the border for 3 hours. I had to catch the 1230am bus to Toronto so I could work at 9am. My legs, back and neck were cramping up, my stomach was hurting from the constant motion, I wanted to fall asleep but I just couldn't. I got to Toronto at 630am, and slept for an hour and rushed to work. What I failed to realize was that the office was closed. I wasn't told last week, and I've never had Easter Monday off from school or from work before so I assumed everything was operating as usual. The office was empty. Sigh.

I hate Hon Adventures. I should create a Wikipedia article defining what a Hon Adventure is. I'm really looking forward to just taking a month off of work and just travel. I was really hoping to take a week off after I got laid off to get my shit together and relax for a week, but I feel like I've been so much busier unemployed during those 3 weeks. My good friend Hannah's traveling Asia right now and it sounds like she's having so much fun learning. I was hoping to meet up with her before she came back to TO, but we'll JUST miss each other. It's too bad, but I'm hoping to experience some of what she's experiencing right now. You can read about her adventures here.

Someone at work told me about Grooveshark. It's really amazing; you can type in any artist or song and you can build a playlist and embed and everything. They even have Chinese artists! Much nicer and cleaner design than iMeem. iMeem's just a mess. I'm switching over to Grooveshark for my music-of-the-moment player.

snacky in my stummy.

2009-03-21T23:40:00.003-04:00

Ceremony - Curtis Ian and the Joy Division

It's been a pretty hectic and busy week. A bit overwhelming, to be honest. So many important decisions to make, with so little time to make them. I was really hoping to get just one week of rest and to get my shit together before the jobhunt began, but I feel like I've been running really low on sleep, and less energy to do what I want to do: finish my portfolio. I guess it's a good thing.

I've been working from home lately, and sometimes I find it hard to focus until after dinner. Another weird thing... I've never known myself to be a snacky person. I'm a meal person. I eat big meals, and that's it. I may have one or two glasses of water or a drink between meals, but no granola bars, no chocolate bars, no crackers, nothing. But for some reason, working from home is starting to change that... I constantly feel like I need something in my mouth.. (no, you dirty bastards. no.) And because I've never had a history of snacking, I have nothing in the apartment to feed that craving.

So, I've been making mini-meals. Like instant noodles or eating leftovers. I'm thinking a part of it might be procrastination at work; eating just so I'm doing anything but the work I'm supposed to. Maybe I should start doing my work at Second Cup or Williams so I'm out of the apartment...

Joy Division's Ceremony has been in my head all day. Great song. Oh and thanks for the bike ride Kyra. Gotta explore the other parts of High Park when it's not so muddy and cold. It's awesome to finally have a biking buddy.

moving along.

2009-03-14T14:30:00.010-04:00

My glove...

Hand damage.

My left hip and my right knee. I found the knee bruise one this morning...

This morning after some healing. For some reason it looks worse than yesterday...

Had my first bike wipe-out yesterday. There was minor damage.

It was a looong Friday the 13th. With only 4 hours of sleep the night before, I had to be up for a dentist appointment. It was somewhat painful yet relaxing. I actually quite enjoy going to the dentist's for cleaning. Met up with friends for lunch, and a lot more people than I expected came out to see me. Got my stuff from my desk thanks to Jakob. Said some goodbyes, though I'm sure it won't be the last time I see any of them.

On my way home, I was biking pretty fast down Richmond, and tried to hang a right on Augusta. Because of my speed, I slowed down and took a wide right. A car was coming down the side street, also making a wide turn, so he was pretty much driving in the middle of the street. I panicked and clenched the brakes a bit too hard. My left hand beat my right hand to a full squeeze, so my front brakes locked up before my rear did, causing me to fly over my bike... That's the last thing I remember, since everything happened so fast. Next thing I knew, I was on my side, picking myself up off the pavement...

It was embarassing more than anything. Minor damage to myself, nothing too bad on the bike, and no damage to my clothes, which is really good... Though my pants looked all torn to begin with, haha. My right glove was torn.

Anyway, I went home to nurse my wounds and screamed like a girl when I put peroxide to disinfect. Took a video, but I probably won't post it. At least not right now. The night ended with video games at Rich and Jenna's til 1:30AM, then walked home.

Anyway, it's a nice day out. Gonna go for a bike ride... :D

love for work, work for love.

2009-03-12T23:28:00.004-04:00

Getting laid off feels a lot like a break up. It doesn't matter whether you see it coming or not. The confusion in your mind keeps jumping from hate to love and love to hate. A part of you wants to just forgive and forget, move on, and be happy. To just live your life. And then suddenly, it hits you. The fact that you've put in so much effort, so much of your blood, sweat, and tears, invested so much for something that you cared for, for the sake of love for design/design for love. All that to get you where you're at now. Unemployed/broken-hearted. Relationship or job, it's the same feeling, really.

You go through certain phases. At first, you're shaken, shocked. You hate them for what happened. For doing what had to be done. For not having things done on your terms. Then you come to acceptance, to understanding, to seeing why it happened. You get the support you need. You feel better. Happiness comes back, you have fun, and you see that it's no big deal. Life goes on. But then after the support team leaves you, at the end of the night when you're in bed and with nothing else in your mind but what happened that day, you can't help but reflect upon it. And denial and disbelief come back. And it becomes a cycle of mood swings over and again until time allows you to forgive and forget.

Well, at least no bridges burned. But the thoughts in my head are still flying at light speed and hurting my head a little. It's weird to get to know a place or person so well for so long, every day and then suddenly, nothing. With that said, it's comforting to at least know that this is only something I'm going through and that I'll get through this in time. And also that I'm not the only one in this boat. LOL

keep your eyes on the prize of life.

2009-03-12T17:30:00.007-04:00

Wow. This economy mass lay-off is for real... I and a few others are now newly unemployed. That kind messes my plans up for Asia in May... Thanks for the work experience, I guess... I was the second longest employee at the place. I guess at times like these loyalty doesn't count for much.

Well, it's not the end of the world. Money isn't everything. I want to live a meaningful life, and if that's what it takes to get there, so be it. I've met some great friends and learned a lot, so nothing was wasted. It was great working with you guys! With the industry being so small, I'm sure I'll run into you at some point, if I don't grab a beer with you first.

Thanks guys, for all your support. I love you all. I guess 2009 is the reset button for me. Fresh starts. Here's a lay-off tracker. Keep yourself in the know. Kick it up a few notches, and best of luck to you all!

the road ahead.

2009-03-10T23:52:00.016-04:00

Shadows In Silence - Enigma

This daylight savings time change has messed up my morning routine. But hey, I don't get off work to complete darkness anymore. Only to gloomy rainy weather instead... Rode my bike for the first time last Thursday since last summer. You know, you don't realize how badly out of shape you are til you get on a bicycle.

I know to some people it may seem like a small feat, but last summer I conquered Toronto by biking up to Markham. It took me all summer to work up enough stamina and strength to do it. Now, I can barely reach my work, an 8 minute bike ride away, without feeling out of breath and having jelly legs afterwards. It's a little discouraging to think that the biking last summer was all for naught, and that I have to start from square one again. That's what I hate about seasons... But then again, I could just get on a treadmill or gymcycle during the winter months... 9_9

Below, I've posted a drivelapse that I shot during the Family Day long weekend. Aside from chatting, I had nothing better to do in the car while my uncle drove, so every thirty seconds to a minute, I would take a picture of the road ahead. I calculated it so that it would last longer than my last timelapse (3 seconds long). My arms were dead at the end of the 5.5 hour drive. I put it together tonight. It's still pretty short, but it was a nice experiment. I really need to do timelapses in shorter time intervals... sigh.

I also wanted to share this drivelapse that was done for Honda Japan's Internavi Realization. I found it via FWA. As you will see, it's pretty amateur compared to my drivelapse, hahaha... joking. This was really well done, I thought. I'm loving the music; especially Yusuke Oya's Bridge On the Planet. I can't find much of anything on Yusuke Oya though. I want that song.

new beginnings.

2009-03-08T03:50:00.003-04:00

And so finally ends the chapter that seemed never-ending. I feel fucking fantastic. World, here I come! Life's just getting started.

do you mind.

2009-03-08T00:23:00.007-05:00

Hey Jude - Wayne Gratz

Happy daylight savings!

I finally put in the next movie off the list. Waking Life. The movie brought me back to Professor Anthony Falikowski's philosophy class at Sheridan. I really love hearing the different concepts and perspectives of life. The movie made me reflect quite a bit afterwards.

The views and theories from some of the discussions in the movie for the most part, aren't new to me. I've read about them and learnt them in class, and different books. And I think that's why lately, I've been so self-aware, when I'm not caught up in the moment, caught up with emotions. But it's nice to get a reminder to keep my mind open to these things instead of living unconciously through life, going from one trend to another, one fad to the next.

As I was reflecting on the movie afterwards, something else came to my mind. Nothing that relevant to the movie, really. This holds true for me, but I don't know about you: Isn't it strange how much we look at ourselves in the mirror every day from our childhood until now, and yet, if we try to remember a moment when we looked at ourselves in the mirror when we were young, we really can't see that childhood face, what it looked like outside from what we've seen in photos?

Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.
— Albert Einstein

dreaming of exes and pho's.

2009-03-05T00:49:00.008-05:00

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Theme - Jon Brion

Had pho today. So good. Couldn't handle a large though. Had to settle for a medium. It's really too bad the prices went up at Pho Pasteur. I'd go more often if they didn't jack up the prices. I don't know where, I don't know when, but one day, I'll find a place that serves a large bowl of pho with the works for the price of a small. I'd go there every day if there was such a place. Maybe I should just move to Vietnam...

I have no idea why in the last couple of weeks I've been having so many dreams involving my past relationships. Well... maybe I do. Probably because of How I Met Your Mother. Gee eff number two has made quite a few appearances, but gee eff number three appeared this morning for the first time in a long time. So weird. Nothing really changes from dream to dream. Pretty much reflects what I hope for in life. Some mornings are a bit more disappointing than others, but hey, what's success without disappointment, right?

A fresh start is in order. Come May, the first steps to major changes in my life will take place. It's time to open my eyes and broaden my perspective on life. I'm going to do all the looking back I can now, but as soon as spring comes, I stay focused on me. I think my new motto will be Take care of your life and life will take care of you. Leap of faith, baby. Leap of faith.

sunshine.

2009-03-03T21:37:00.009-05:00

I remember last year around this time, Huffster and I would look at the time as we got off work each day and try and see the progress of sunlight coming out earlier and earlier. Then daylight savings came and saved the day.

This year, the transition was a lot more drastic. In the past couple of weeks, I've been getting off work in darkness every day. But then out of no where today, I noticed that there was still light out. The light must've snuck up on me in the past couple of weeks since I've been working later than usual. This only means one thing. Spring and sunshine is coming!

i believe in _ _ _ _.

2009-03-03T00:00:00.006-05:00

Je t'attends; c'est ton choix.

I swear it's going to be the last How I Met Your Mother post. It's too funny... I'd be selfish not to post this one. Neil Patrick Harris is too good...

each day gets better.

2009-03-01T22:58:00.006-05:00

I just finished all the episodes I had on my computer of How I Met Your Mother. I now need Season 4, Episode 14... Having watched so many episodes in such a short period of time, it started to get into my head. And much like anything I do too much of, I start dreaming about it in my sleep.

This show had much to do with friends, dating, relationships, and love. As such, it brought certain people back into my life in the middle of the night. People I care for but don't get to talk to anymore, would visit me. And much like the show, we would see through past conflicts and interact with the best of each other. I would see that person as I remembered her.

But as the sun rolls out, the fog fades. And with the blink of an eye, that world, that life that felt so real, collapses. As this reality vanishes within seconds, the emotional residue would linger on for days to come.

But time will heal if we let it. After all, each day gets better.

...
The waking up is the hardest part
You roll outta bed and down on your knees
And for a moment you can hardly breathe
Wondering was she really here?
Is she standing in my room?
No she's not. Cause she's gone..

on a scale of one to ten.

2009-03-01T00:29:00.007-05:00

Cannonball - Damien Rice

How much does he wish it true...

Am I reading into things too much, seeing what I want to see? Or are the swirling thoughts in my head actually becoming the truth...?

I've been dreaming like I'm supposed to be.
I've been staring at the sun knowing I'm lucky.

Eleven.

love and hate. life and death.

2009-02-26T23:53:00.008-05:00

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.

2009-02-25T23:22:00.004-05:00

This is why How I Met Your Mother rocks ice.

i love. i do.

2009-02-24T22:02:00.001-05:00

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.

2009-02-14T00:18:00.014-05:00

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.

2009-02-12T23:38:00.010-05:00

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.

2009-02-12T00:33:00.005-05:00

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.

2009-02-11T00:08:00.009-05:00

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.

2009-02-01T02:07:00.005-05:00

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.

cyberdyne systems model 101

2009-01-27T19:01:00.010-05:00

The Cranberries - Dreams

Happy New Year to all you Asians and non-Asians who celebrate it!!

Surgery complete! Thank God I was all drugged up and passed out; it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The parts that bothered me most was the needle that stayed in my arm the whole time, and the fact that I was half awake here and there during the procedure. I hate needles... That was most uncomfortable; though I'm sure 50-75% of it was psychological. I wasn't as sleepy after the operation as when I got my wisdom teeth taken out years back.

There's a subtle taste of blood in my mouth still, and minor swelling. I'm quite drowsy too, but I wanted to post up some photos before napping. I originally wanted to ask the nurses to take a couple of photos or videos of the procedure, but I guess I didn't really want them distracted from the operation either so I decided not to ask. Instead, I took before and after photos.

The crown hasn't been put in yet. So far they've drilled the screw and plate into place. They even showed me the x-ray afterwards. Kinda cool, but gross at the same time. Luckily I didn't need bone grafting. Another appointment next week for them to check up on how it is, and hopefully things will go smoothly from there.

No solid foods and alcohol for a week, at least. Sorry Karen, I'll have to bowl sober at your birthday party... Another day of rest tomorrow, then it's back to work. And lunches? Nothing but congee. And maybe pho... It'd have to be without the beef though, sadly.. It is time for this T-800/Model 101 to recharge its battery. I'll be back.

Click to view high resolution versions...

Before...

After...

After...

After...

update.

2009-01-22T23:07:00.008-05:00

1963 - Rachael Yamagata

Some of you may have noticed on my Twitter that I wrote I'm not drinking beer til summer. Everyone laughed, but it is happening. I might have an occasional mixed drink or glass of wine, but in terms of beer, and also getting plastered in general, that will have to stay to a minimal. Come February, I'll be fully recovered from surgery, I'm going to start a cleanse and see how it goes, and dedicate more time on being active and try and live a healthier lifestyle.

I know, I know. I said that last March, one or two entries into my first blog posts... But like I said before, 2009 is the Year of Execution. No more delays. Get into shape, no more crap food, and save! Maybe I'm too ambitious? Worth a try. At least til the summer anyway.

I noticed today the freelance project I did months back for Honda Fit is up on the fitisgo.ca website. Apparently, it's been up for a long while now. It also won an FWA. You can read more about it in my other blog.

I also put in my order for the new 15" Macbook Pro!! Soooo~ Sometime next week, I'll get it. Exciting!! I'm doing my part in helping out the economy. Are you?

Lastly, I'd like to share a hilarious music video with you. My good friend Miguel sent me the song today, and I youtubed it when I got home, the video makes the song that much funnier. And that boy T-Pain can dance!! Note: This video is one of the reasons I'm giving up beer. Haha...

One More Drink - Ludacris ft. T-Pain

and so the story goes...

2009-01-19T23:48:00.010-05:00

To Love Somebody - Live - Damien Rice and Ray LaMontagne

and so the story goes;
tragedies come and go.
yeses turn into noes
and vice versa, everybody knows.

no one is the victim;
they're both to blame.
she thought he let go.
she thought she let go.

Stiff neck, sick, burnt fingertips, exhausted from lack of sleep, and cold. What a way to spend a day... Haha.

I'm posting an improvised meal I had last week some time. I had some salmon and pasta. I thought about Milestones's delicious Seafood Linguine... I tried to make my own, but it didn't taste good... It may look good, and it may be healthy, but my tongue did not agree...

Sunday night, I also made a tuna, rice, broccoli, fish sticks and cheese casserole. It was surprisingly decent! It was also improvised. It was also how I seared my 3 fingertips on my right hand. God. I don't know how I get myself into these hilarious clumsy situations. They should have a show after me. Almost like a Mr. Bean comedy...

Le sigh...

thanks for all that you do, part deux.

2009-01-18T03:12:00.008-05:00

Green Eyes - Coldplay

Another year over,
And we're one year older,
But forever young we shall remain
So long as youthful hearts we retain.

So let us grow old together
And keep this friendship forever.
Thanks for all that you do,
You'll be in my heart forever true.

Some of you may have received part of the above I wrote for the Christmas card I sent out. If you haven't, well here it is, with a bit of mods. I want to thank those of you who came out tonight and gave me so much. Not only the gifts and drinks, but your love and friendship. I had a great time tonight and it wouldn't have been the same if you weren't there. Thanks John, Zack, Jenna and Richard for the hot t-shirt, game, and card. And thanks Aditi for the sweet card and drawing!! Sorry there was no cake!

I'm still drunk... Bed time.

3 lefts make a right.

2009-01-16T21:47:00.007-05:00

It feels to me as though 2008 was the year of hesitance, rethinking and adjustment, and 2009 is the year of execution. Already things have been happening and the wheels are in motion.

I went to my dental surgery consultation this week. I heard some good news! The gap where my missing tooth is is wide enough for implant, and the surgery date has been set for the 27th of this month! I'll be getting my dental implant, finally... Hopefully I won't need bone grafting. Gross.

Basically, I'm told that my jawbone has already receded, but thanks to technology, I might not need bone grafting. They're going to put me out on surgery day, open me up, see if I need grafting. If I do, they'll do the grafting, then I have to wait 6 months for the bone dust to solidify before the implant can happen. Otherwise, I get the implant and within 4 months (hopefully), the braces come OFF!!! Cross your fingers for me, baby! I'm going to Hollywood! Been there, done that. Nothing special.

I am now officially a designer in the creative team at my work, instead of production. Gold. It's a lot of adjustments, but hopefully it's nothing I can't handle, with a little help and time.

Since work started again in the new year, I feel like I haven't stopped or slept much at all. I've been pretty busy with life and catching up to things I need to do, catching up with friends after the holidays. I finally took down the Christmas tree tonight, and packed some more old stuff into the basement. I don't think I'll have much time for anything else the rest of the month. A bit of partying tomorrow night, surgery and recovery on 27/28, then before you know it, February's here.

Can't wait for the weather to warm up a bit more. I've been itching to get on my bicycle.
It's going to be a good year.

the G's of my life.

2009-01-11T15:08:00.003-05:00

Unfortunately for me, the Sony Cybershot DSC-S700 I received as a gift Christmas 2007 (which I also sat on and broke the LCD screen on a drunken night out on my birthday less than 2 months later) died on NYE. Not because I sat on it again... It just decided to stop working... It still turns on, the LCD still broken, but it just won't record anything, nor would my computer even read it. Poor thing. It's seen better days. Rest in peace. Gave me good times for a year and two months.

Sooooooo~ I picked up my new Canon Powershot G10 Friday (thanks to Mr. Lo for giving me the sweet deals)! I wanted to take some photos and videos of our antics at dim sum and coffee chillin time yesterday, but I didn't have enough time to pick up a memory stick til after the good times were over. Which was too bad, really. I had a chance to play around with it today though. FUN! I loves it. Posted some pics below from today's walk.

The other G of my life is my iBook G4 laptop. It's a piece of crap. It takes forever to upload anything online or onto the computer, it freezes from time to time, and so I have to til the screen by one dregree and it'll work, the battery life lasts less than 15 minutes before I have to recharge... UGH!!! I hates it. Oh well... It's lasted me more than 3 years for a second hand machine.

Come end of January, new laptop. Most likely the new 15" Macbook Pro. Just need to find one decently priced.

View of harbour from Toronto Music Garden.

Same location shot at high exposure. Neat!

Cracked ice by the quay.

Sunken boat... S.O.S.

She's a goner...

sickness in stillness.

2009-01-06T23:05:00.003-05:00

Got sick over the weekend somehow. Eyes are teary, nose is runny, head is hurty, and I'm having a hard time sleepy even though I feel so fatigué. Days like these, I wish I still lived at home; to be taken care of, just like the good ol' days as a kid.

Instead, I had to haul my own ass out of bed, make myself some instant noodles (cause I have nothing else in the apartment), clean myself, and scrounge for whatever medication I have in the medicine cabinet. Man, being a grown-up sucks when you're sick.

Hopefully, it's back to work in the morning. I don't know if I can handle another day of stillness while feeling miserable.

Song of the day: Life is a Song by Patrick Park

un oeuf neuf en deux mille neuf.

2009-01-03T16:04:00.010-05:00

Happy 2009! Thanks for an amazing 2008; let's make 2009 even better! I compiled my 2008 into an eight minute video. I wish I filmed some of the other key moments of 2008 but they're only available in photo form. Can't win 'em all I suppose.

2008 Highlights
• Learned a bit of Salsa dancing
• Hip hop dance classes
• Achieved my goal of biking to Markham from downtown
• Trip to Los Angeles
• Jonathan and Deseree got married
• Richard and Jenna got married
• Obama wins US election!
• Amazing family Christmas in Tremblant
• Got the best family and friends in the world

so this is christmas.

2008-12-27T23:31:00.015-05:00

watch video >

This year for Christmas, my uncle in Montreal rented out two small chalets near Tremblant for the family for 2 days and 2 nights. We had so much fun... Christmas Eve, we spent having snowball fights and building snowforts on the frozen lake. Christmas day, we went to Tremblant to ski, came home to play drinking games and Black Jack, and headed for home and then a spa on Boxing day. I can honestly say that I haven't had a Christmas like that since I was a 9 or 10 years old...

It's been three years since the last time I've gone snowboarding and I was never good at it. I haven't skiied since a child either, so I decided to try my luck with the snowblades. In the above posted video at the beginning, I apparently had gone down a black diamond thinking it was an intermediate slope... I lost control and hit the snowbank, hitting my chin and my head was a little shook up, but otherwise, no major injuries...

It was great to be out in the countryside though; to get away from the city life. Driving through the mountainous snowy areas reminded me much of the drive from New York City through Jersey. That was a crazy drive last year with a 9 hour drive non stop through fog and snowstorm in the mountains... This year was a lot safer though.

Watching UFC with the bros and cousins now...

honline goes online.

2008-12-23T16:16:00.002-05:00

My website got some updates. DEMOREEL now available, portfolio to come later. Will talk about it later. Must head to Tremblant for Christmas now. Merry Christmas everyone!! Eat lots, sleep lots, and rest lots! Cheers.

pretty lights.

2008-12-12T00:26:00.008-05:00

Went to hip hop class Wednesdnay night and danced to some 50 Cent. Disco Inferno was the song. I had lots of fun on that song cause the steps were relatively easier than some of the previous classes I've been taking. The only thing with that song was that you really had to be thuggy to give it that style and agression, which I really lacked...

On my way home, I noticed that the Toronto Music Garden had set up Christmas lights there. You have no idea how long I've been waiting for those lights to come on. The first time I saw them on was about a month ago, just as it was getting colder out. I had the camera with me, but I got lazy, thinking that winter's just begun.

Wrong. Each time I walked by night after night, the lights were off. It wasn't until Wednesday night that they finally turned the lights back on, and lucky for me, I also had the camera with me. I took some photos, but not too many turned out nice because of the lack of tripod.

If I have time this weekend, I might go on an expedition around Toronto and take a few photos of the Christmas lights. I had a bit of dinner in Koreatown last Saturday and noticed there was a huge tiger at Christie Station. I didn't have my camera, unfortunately. Something about night lights really amaze me though.

Eight more workdays and it's off to Tremblant for me... So excited to get on them snowhills. It's been far too long since my last snowboard experience. 3 to 4 years now I think... Hopefully I come back in one piece.

I've posted the better photos I took. Click to view larger image. Definitely worth it.

Toronto Sound Garden Christmas lights

Toronto Sound Garden Christmas lights

Toronto Sound Garden Christmas lights looking straight up

Toronto Sound Garden Christmas lights looking up

Toronto Sound Garden Christmas lights and CN Tower

Queens Quay & Spadina

Christmas lights at my condo roundabout

say again...?

2008-12-11T14:31:00.002-05:00

h o n l i n e says: (2:28:59 PM)
i wish i had my home emoticons

migz.ca says: (2:30:04 PM)
LOL

migz.ca says: (2:30:18 PM)
i read that as " I wish i had my homo erections"

standing for change.

2008-12-10T00:10:00.005-05:00

Ben E. King's Stand by Me is one of my favourite songs. Back in the day when I used to go karaoke every month or so, I loved singing that song. My voice can't handle those high notes, but it's such a good karaoke song. Well... Such a good song, period.

The reason I bring this song up is because over the weekend, I came across this video on YouTube of Stand by Me, but this version was simply amazing and moving. It's for a documentary to be released on DVD and music CD Spring 2009. It's called Playing for Change: Peace Through Music. The people who sing and play the instruments in the song are all street musicians from around the world. Each are recorded separately, and are then mixed together. My favourite is Grandpa Elliott. He has so much character...

It must be so exciting for the people who work for the Playing for Change Foundation; meeting the musicians, hearing their stories and recording their music and traveling all over the world... I'd like to work for them one day, but I wouldn't know what to offer, since I'm no musician...

Seeing this makes me want to travel so much more. With the routine life that I have, time seems to pass by so much quicker, and there's so much in this world for me to see, to experience, to be part of. One of these days...

I'm posting both Ben E. King's version and the Playing for Change Foundation's version of Stand by Me.

Ben E. King - Stand by Me

Playing for Change Foundation - Stand by Me

long john silver.

2008-12-08T00:23:00.003-05:00

Long johns. I don't like them cause they're so tight and they make me sweaty and itchy when I'm indoors. But as soon as I step outside, I forget about all the cons and look up into the sky and thank God for long johns.

I remember as a kid, I hated them. But when my dad had to drive my brothers and I to school in the morning, he would pinch our thighs. If he couldn't feel a second layer of material under our pants, he'd send us back inside to get those long johns on. Oh kids...

Been spending a lot of time working on my own things lately and I've been walking out with a smile every time. I've made some sacrifices in order to get myself together, and as bad as I feel about those sacrifices, I feel great about myself. I gotta be selfish from time to time in order to get what I want, ya know? And what do I want? Peace of mind. And how else could you get peace of mind in this nasty freezing weather were it not for long johns?

Thank God for long johns.

spread the love.

2008-12-01T22:56:00.005-05:00

I feel a little spoiled today... I had good food, listened to some good music, hung out with some great friends, had some great drinks, and overall, if you don't mind me saying, it felt fucking GREAT!

I had pho for lunch, listened to some Coldplay all day, hung out with friends who have such a great sense of humour, and hung out at a place we haven't been to in a while... Great morale booster.

One thing that really surprised me was the walk home. I was listening to Death Cab for Cutie, and thinking about the fun I had tonight; it put a smile on my face. I felt so much positive energy. All of a sudden I look up and this lady was walking by and saw me, and smiled back, but not really looking at my. She looked like she was genuinely happy.

Maybe I misread her face, but I can't help but think that I somehow exuded some positive energy and made her feel better somehow. Either that or she was laughing at me cause I was funny looking... But if it really were the former, it really amazed me how people can pick up on these vibes... It made me think about how much I don't need anything else right now. Just myself, my family, and my friends. Nize.

Death Cab for Cutie - Your New Twin Sized Bed >

make it rain.

2008-11-28T10:20:00.004-05:00

migz.ca says: (10:19:20 AM)
i iwish i never had to pay rent, i'd be rich

h o n l i n e says: (10:19:34 AM)
i wish i was rich. i'd never have to pay rent

super nintendo sega genesis, when i was deadbroke i couldn't picture this.

2008-11-26T21:42:00.006-05:00

I took a walk around town after work for about 1.5 hours to see Christmas lights in the heart of the city. Nice to see all the decorations up. All that's missing now is freshly laid snow. Soon enough. Soon enough...

Been playing some Xbox here and there lately. The new dashboard on the Xbox got a lot of hype, but I'm pretty disappointed with it. Not so much with the interface, cause the interface is cool. But more about the fact that Microsoft completely ripped off the Wii's Mii's. Microsoft called it Avatars, which is fine, but the sounds, the face selections and features are all so Wii-like it digusts me. It's very cutesy and cartoony but the Xbox's player demographic is hardcore gamers... I would've expected something like a Grand Theft Auto character style instead. Le sigh...

Eshwin came over last night with Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe. My new roommate Jon, Eshwin and I just played two player for a while, and the graphics are cool and nice, but at the same time, it lacked fluidity. The moves felt really limited, compared to Soul Calibur 4, but once you find out how to do them, it's actually not too bad. It wasn't until we tried the Story Mode that I realized how well thought out this game was for a fighting game. We haven't beat the game yet, but so far, the plot beats the story modes of many fighting games I've played. I'm happy with it, overall. Not as good as Soul Calibur though.

My mind's been heavy with thoughts and my heart's been heavy with emotions lately. Weird that I'm not heavy in weight though... No? No? Dry. It's not that I'm lonely; I gave up something great to be alone. It's not that I'm sad or unhappy; I have fun doing what I do every day. It's not that I'm feeling empty; I have much to live for, I have goals and all. I think it's more that I can't get something out of my mind. Mayhaps I should listen to some Billy Ocean...

HEY! YOU! YES YOU! GET INTO MY CAR!
Get out of my dreams! Get into my car! Get out of my mind! And into my life!

Ah... I'll say it once more. Where would I be without the 80's...?

goodnight trouble.

2008-11-25T00:47:00.005-05:00

Nice.

Productive at last... Not in terms of the usual day-to-day productivity where I'm just doing mindless routine work cleaning, paying bills, and facebooking. No. I turned down some beer and video games to work on my own personal work. This is the first time in a long time, and it felt good.

I forgot how much fun personal work can be... The artistic freedom with no limits. Now that's what I'm talkin 'bout. What is this I'm working on, you ask? A personal pet project for shits and giggles... I was thinking of posting a preview of what I've been working on, but I think that would ruin the fun. Soooo... I'll stop talking about it...

Hair report: Coming up on 3 months now. During these three months, I've gotten a very minor trim before Thanksgiving, and one actual haircut at Lattitudes at the Eaton Centre. Overpaid for the styling, but I needed it, and in the end it looked good. Next haircut/trim will probably be before Christmas.

I was listening to a bit of Phil Collins on the way home. Sussussudio! Sossossogood! A productive day and night, some good music and good sushi for lunch and lots of Indian food for dinner... Goodnight trouble indeed.

my thanks, for all that you do.

2008-11-22T17:28:00.008-05:00

I did some major cleaning last night after some shopping to prep for the new roommate — who just moved in today and is soooo awesome. Good pick, Fred Hon, good pick. I packed my summer clothes into the suitcase I bought for LA, and took it into the basement storage. In there, I saw my Christmas tree that I got as a gift last year, around this time. I quickly set it up and put on a Christmas CD to get myself into the Christmas mood. Made me so excited...

After that, I went through my shoebox of cards and letters. These cards and letters I've accumulated from a very young age. I think the oldest letter I still have dates back to 1990, when we first moved out of St-Gabriel-de-Brandon to St-Hubert, just outside of Montreal. I have since started collecting all the cards and letters people have given me. I went through each last night, most of them being birthday or Christmas cards. Some Valentine's Day cards.

Reading each of those cards and letters last night made me realize so much. That even if I wasn't a big deal in your life, I was still thought of. Whether we still keep in touch or not, or whether you even liked me or not, doesn't matter. The fact remains that you affected my life somehow, directly or indirectly. And I thank you all for being in my life. I don't regret meeting anyone of you. Whether you intended to or not, you've changed me life and have helped me become who I am now.

I took the time last night to take photos of some of the cards and letters that I've received and posted them on Facebook. I know I have more. I have yet to finish sorting out my room and find more hidden treasures, so I will post them as I find them. Hope some of you still remember the childhood we shared. Once again, thanks for the memories and for being a part of me. And I'm sorry if I never returned the favour...

Here are only a few of the photos. The rest are on Facebook.

Valentine's Day cards from my classmates in Grade 5, when I first moved to Kingston.

A postcard from Brooklyn, a postcard from LA, a birthday gift wrapping, a Nissan Skyline toy from Brooklyn, and a flyer for Tides Gallery Show.

Scrabble and birthday gift wrapping, a Christmas CD, a birthday card, some post-it notes, and an envelop which held a key.

Two out of four finger puppets for my birthday, and a Valentine's Day card

A dried out red rose from wedding and mini-mousepads with the newly weds's designs on them.

this world is strange, sometimes.

2008-11-19T22:37:00.009-05:00

It all began with a simple "Hello."
By chance, by fate, it matters not.
In an ocean of crowds
The strangers did meet.

It requires perfect timing
For the perfect chemistry.
Strangers become friends.
Friends become lovers.

Each other's secrets they did hear.
Each other's soft caresses they did feel.
Each other's sweet kisses they did taste.
Through their memories, immortal their emotions did become.

In the passage of time, old memories may fade,
along with some of the most meaningful moments.
But they will never forget their first memory of each other.
It all began with a simple "Hello."

I've been doing a bit of writing the past few days just to get things out of my chest. I think Karma's been catching up to me. It's been a bit of a roller-coaster of events that's been bringing me up and down and down and up. That aside though, it's been an okay enough day so far. Despite the cold, seeing the snow layering the ground has been fairly soothing and calming.

Walking home from Spadina and Queens Quay after hip hop class, I looked up at the sky and watched the snow come down as Sarah Slean's California came on my iPod. Oddly enough, it felt so fitting... Not so much the lyrics, but more the music itself. On the other hand, all this snow is making me think of Christmas... I'm finding myself missing L.A. and NYC more and more these days. Maybe Toronto's boring me. Who knows...

I got John Legend's album Evolver a couple of weeks ago and I've got to say that I'm really loving it. One song that I'm really into is Everybody Knows. Something about the song itself is a bit different from the usual John Legend and I think that's why I like it so much.

Even better than Evolver is Raphael Saadiq's Sometimes. It's so uplifting. I'm not a heavily religious man myself, but his whole album The Way I See It makes me look at the greater scope of life; think less about my life and more about the world. And the song makes me think of the Temptations, The Jacksons, and all the greatest soul artists.With music these days constantly following mainstream with a slight change, it's really nice to hear something totally different, totally new, in an oldies kind of way. Something about re-inventing the old (when done right) really attracts me.

watch Raphael Saadiq - Sometimes >

love is in the air...

2008-11-16T21:15:00.017-05:00

I was honoured this past weekend to be one of the groomsmen of a most beautiful wedding. I was further honoured to do a speech for them. The groom of course made a speech too. A very emotional speech which I think touched everyone in the room.

The reception was fun and eventful, and I was so happy to see my friends get married. The joy in their eyes could not be described in words... Congratulations Richard and Jenna! Thanks so much for the great food and entertainment (and sooo much wine...)!! May your love and happiness last forever! Peace be with you both.

xoxo

Photo courtesy of Andrea Acosta-Duarte

chicken and thriller mix.

2008-11-04T23:11:00.004-05:00

Sitting here, eating my Swiss Chalet, listening to some Michael Thriller 25, I couldn't ask for more... Good food into my stummy, good tunes into my brain, awesomeness epitomized.

It's been exactly 2 months since I last shaved my head. It's gotten quite the length! I only touched it once before Thanksgiving to try and even out the strays. The hairs touching and tickling my ears have been driving me nuts! Especially with my glasses clamping them down forcing them outwards. I've been waking up with cowlicks, which I haven't seen in a long time. At least not on my head. I'll probably have to go for a trim this week or weekend to prep it for Rich and Jenna's wedding next week.

As for the facial hair, it only lasted a week. Nobody at home could take me seriously. My mom said I looked like a hahm suhp lo (pervert in Chinese), my brother was thoroughly digusted, my cousin couldn't even finish a sentence without being interrupted by laughter... So off my face it went the next morning. El sigh.

In other news, Suzuki.ca finally launched! Another project I worked on will be launching some time this week also. Anyway. Time to relax. Beat it.

a week's worth of growth. gross.

a text down memory lane.

2008-11-03T23:11:00.005-05:00

Spent some time typing away this weekend. I was recording all the text messages that I've kept since I got my phone in May of 2007. Lots of hours I'll never get back... I'm only through half of them so far.

Backstory: My stupid phone limits me to 250 text messages in my inbox, and won't save any outgoing texts. I've spent many hours trying to figure out how to save outgoing texts, but to no avail. Sometimes I'd get text messages from people replying to my texts, but then I'd forget what I sent them. Not fun, as I have to waste a text message asking them what it was I texted them about. This past year, I've been a major text fiend; my inbox has been exploding with messages that I've constantly had to delete in order to make room for the new. But I kept about 240 of them for the memories.

Anyway, my plan was to type out all the text messages that I've kept into a word document so that they're still accessible without taking up room in my phone. So that the memories still exist. Like I said, I've only been through half of them so far, but it's been pretty funny looking back. I have a quite a few favourites. They'll remain anonymous, but you know who you are.

"Its okay. Im okay."

"You're a dork..."

"What omg... Kinda hot i wont lie... We'll talk later."

"My stomach is fukked. Holy shit what a day."

"I dreamt we found you a crazy camera for 250.. We were both so bewildered. Then we went to the us border and started to run and jump, eventually the jumps became higher and higher and we eventually flew over the border fence.. It was wicked."

"Cannonball just came on my iPod"

"Wings are wide/ i no longer hide/ my mind is bright and i will fight for a longer sight"

"You have your health, talent labido, but most of all, good friends! Good clothes are new clothes, good friends are old friends. Peace be with you!"

"Yes! Ha ha what you want to know? :-D"

That's are what memories are made of. The best and worst of times. You won't know what's best unless you've had what's worst.

bonhomme de neige?

2008-10-21T16:11:00.005-04:00

Apparently it started to snow in Richmond Hill area... Further North, even worse. Photos from my manager's friend in Orillia captured this year's first snowfall. Makes me think of Christmas...

daw jai pei yaht.

2008-10-14T20:28:00.004-04:00

Happy belated Thanksgiving! Joyeux Jour de Merci-Donner! Went to Montréal pour le weekend. It was so good to see the gathering of the three generations of the family. Spending the weekend in suburbia was a nice change of pace from living in the city (even though a few hours was spent shopping downtown).

While driving up to Montréal and back, we got to see the colourful scenery of the changing leaves. It was so beautiful. Between Kingston and Belleville, there's a stretch where the trees just run alongside the highway; it resembles a wall of colourful cloud. I wish I took so photos. I've only got myself to blame though, since it was a 9 hour drive afterall. I'll be going northbound this Saturday to go shoot some photos. Hopefully, they won't be dead and brown by then...

On the way back to Toronto, I was listening to Radio-Canada (French station) to keep myself awake and my brain active by translating. And I heard a song que j'ai vraiment aimé. It was an interview about un nouveau artiste. Je pense qu'il est un Québecois. I have yet to do some research on him, but I did find that song on YouTube. J'échoue par Alexandre Désilets. C'est un pretty chill song. Enjoyez-le. Hon hon.

J'échoue par Alexandre Désilets >

who wears short shorts.

2008-10-10T14:04:00.004-04:00

i miss wearing shorts...

take me back to the start and tell me your secrets.

2008-10-08T01:25:00.007-04:00

Since I got back from L.A., I haven't had much time to clean around the apartment. So Sunday and Monday night after work, I had a productive two days of cleaning, and still I'm not done. I put away most of my summer clothes and went through some stuff that's been sitting on my drafting table since I moved here last November...

What did I find? Lots of memories. Photos, gifts, money ($100!! booya!), receipts from restaurants around Toronto, Richmond Hill, New York and Los Angeles, even! Also came across some limited edition postcards from muh boyz Tessar and Chad, some notes and mixed CDs, primitive hangman drawings, a furry mustache. The mustache was quite a find. Had to pack up all my art supplies that have' just been collecting dust, and put them in the basement along with shoeboxes of old memories.

It's funny how these things we attribute so much value to, really have no value at all. They're just everyday objects. Yet, we hold on to them as if our lives depended on it. As if we could change the past by holding on to them, when really we're just stopping ourselves from moving forward, everytime that box gets opened. Nothing but should've could've would've's fill our minds, and we get lost in this madness. Although, I will admit; there's a certain comfort that comes with looking into the past. But when it starts to take over our lives, we have to draw that line and get a handle on ourselves.

Gesso that painted canvas and put down that first brushstroke. Some residue will still show through, but it's what adds character and meaning to life.

On a lighter note, It's been 5 days now since I shaved my face, and 34 days since I shaved my head. I'm growing quite a peasantish teen stache... and lovin it! What the Hell. Life's short, time's limited. Time for a new beginning; I'm going back to the start.

"tell me ur secrets"
"haha, what secrets?"
"when people are drunk they tell secrets"

coldplay - the scientist >

hairy hotter.

2008-09-30T00:19:00.006-04:00

I've decided to grow my hair. The last time I shaved my head was just before leaving for Los Angeles on September 4th. So that makes it day 26 today. Miguel, Zack and Craig all agreed today that if I lost my braces and glasses and grew my hair, they wouldn't recognize me. Well... We'll see about that.

I've never had my hair longer than a #2 on the sides and back, and a bit more than 2 inches at the top. Though, back in 1995, I was sporting the good ol' undercut, which the top was probably 4 to 5 inches long. But my sides were always cleancut, cause I couldn't stand the sideburns touching my ears... And as many of you already know, I've also always wanted facial hair. But alas, I'm Asian, so I can only grow those 3 or 4 hairs on my chin. Gross.

I'm thinking growing my hair long this time. I probably won't cut my hair until Christmas, probably longer. Maybe go for a trim here and there. To speed up the process, I've photoshopped myself with longer hair.

So... What's the verdict?

I'm kinda diggin this... Not so much the clothes though... Now if only I had that much hair.

Um... No thanks...

Jackpot!

Ice Ice, Baby.

so you can cry.

2008-09-20T00:12:00.002-04:00

Taking a quick break from some sketching and planning a side project. Haven't really drawn in a while and it feels pretty good, actually. It's only been a week and already I feel like I need another vacation, haha. I came back to a pile of work and a couple of get togethers with friends, so I haven't had time to clean up that dump I call my room.

I got the Ne-Yo's new album Year of the Gentleman off of Migz, and I'm really digging the tracks. My faves: So You Can Cry, Fade Into The Background, Nobody, Miss Independent. And because I listen to quite a bit of George Michael, I noticed that Ne-Yo's song Nobody had this very George Michael feel to it. A while later, I realized that the background beat sounded very similar to George Michael's Cars and Trains. It bothered me for a while that I didn't know where that came from.

So You Can Cry - Ne-Yo >

Oh another discovery!! I don't have to play my music from my shitty laptop speakers anymore! I can plug in my iPod to my XBox 360 and play it off my sweetass TV! Wait til I get surround sound, baby... So much to shop for, so little money, haha. Time to start saving. El sigh...

coming home.

2008-09-14T23:07:00.001-04:00

Home again to rain... My 9 day vacation ended with Eshwin picking me up from the airport and hanging out in Markham. Having lived in Little Tokyo for the duration of my trip, hanging out at a Starbucks in Markham and being surrounded by Asians made me feel like I was in Los Angeles still. As Esh drove me downtown, Toronto felt a little foreign to me, if only for that first few minutes. I guess it was the combination of the rain, the highways, and streets I haven't seen in a while.

I've realized that Los Angeles really doesn't have much to see and do. I kind of felt like we did it all and we really didn't need that 9 days of vacation to see L.A. We did Universal Studios, Hollywood, Santa Monica Beach, outlet mall shopping, the Grove and Culver City, and some drinking around town. In hindsight, I wish I would've driven out of the city itself to see the California redwoods and spend some time in San Francisco. A lot of time was spent stuck in traffic and getting lost because the freeways and road signs are so brutally designed.

Don't get me wrong, I still had an amazing time. Hanging out with old friends and meeting new ones was definitely worth this trip. Of all the things we did, I loved Santa Monica the best. The open space, the sand, the ocean, it was all so relaxing. Not to mention the building of Sandy Ho version 3.0. I wish I was ballerific enough to own a beach house by the ocean.

Aside from the sightseeing, I tried to be as diverse as possible with the food. I had a little bit of everything: bento box, Japanese curry, mochi and mochi ice cream, seafood enchiladas, In-'N-Out burgers, Cheesecake Factory, pasta, pho, and lots of beer... Well, not that much beer. Mainly due to the night of my arrival when the Welcoming Committee decided to haze me. It was a rough morning the next day... Oh the memories. Special thanks to Tessar, Yoskay, Scott, Yuta, Nimit, Rachel, Heren and Jason for the great hospitality and bitchin time!!

watch the L.A. experience >

Now back to the cold weather and routine life. Yes. New desk location, at least. I guess that's something to look forward to. Oh Toronto, how I've missed you...

fresh faces in los angeles.

2008-09-07T23:11:00.010-04:00

Day 3 on my trip in L.A. and already I've climbed on top of a traffic light on Central Avenue, woke up hungover with writings on my legs, attended sick art shows, danced with a random old lady, and of course, had pho. The pho wasn't as good in L.A. as Toronto. As soon as I got here, we went out to Zencu's in Little Tokyo and had $1.75 pints and a delicious dinner. After Zencu, we went for more cheap beer. The result? An action-packed night full of craziness.

The next morning, we were all hungover as we prepped ourselves to attend the Fresh Faces art show at Project: Gallery where Nimit, Yuta, Dom, and Martha were showing. They worked hard during their two month internships here in L.A. for Fresh Faces and it really shows. Congrats, guys and girls!

Down the street were a couple of other art show openings, including Alexander Lee's and Ian Francis' shows. Truly amazing and inspiring. My traditional painting is pretty bad, so I stick to digital, but seeing Ian Francis' work makes me want to learn painting all over again... haha.

Outlet mall shopping tomorrow!! Universal Studios and Santa Monica beach are also in the itinerary.

Los Angeles from the sky

Fresh Faces Opening

Yuta Onada

Nimit Malavia

Martha Chan's work

Yuta's work

Dominique Fung's work

Nimit's work

Nimit, Martha, and Yuta

Alexander Lee's massive sculpture

Close up of Alexander Lee's sculpture

Ian Francis' work

Close up of one of Ian Francis' pieces

More Ian Francis

My favourite

hold your own, know your name.

2008-09-03T21:56:00.008-04:00

I think 2008 is a year of personal reflection for a lot of us. It seems as though quite a few people I care for and love are going through some rougher times this year, especially nearing this summer's end. I'm glad I can be there for you as you have for me. Whatever your troubles are, you have to believe and think positively. We'll get through this together. Take care of yourselves first. You deserve it. Thanks for all your support.

Details in the Fabric - Jason Mraz

I wanted to write more. I've been really hooked on this Korean drama series called My Girl that Nataly showed me... But I'm not in as good of a mood as I was when I first started writing the above. So needless to say, I don't really feel like sharing right now.

right into the... danger zone!

2008-09-01T14:47:00.010-04:00

Went karaoking Saturday night after a semi-awkward dinner with friends. We went to XO Karaoke at Bloor and Clinton, just east of Christie in Koreatown. I haven't k'ed in what felt to be a long while, so it was really fun. I liked some of the song selections they had there, but I didn't like their controls. We couldn't turn the singing pitch on for some reason, so it totally relied on our voices alone. I still preferred BMB over XO.

I had an awesome time singing Guns N' Roses' Sweet Child O' Mine. I think I did an alright Axl Rose... 2.25 hours later, I was the only one left singing. Nataly, uncle Siu, Rachel, and Lisa were all tired and ready to pass out... On our way home, Nataly and I found 3 pieces of chicken wings and a fry on the streetcar floor. It looked extremely appetizing...

The Canadian International Air Show was at the Ex this long weekend. All weekend I had to listen to sonic booms from jet fighters soaring through the skies by the waterfront. It was cool at first, but eventually it got loud and annoying. Then I thought to myself that it must be what the citizens of Middle Eastern countries at war hear every day and night, but without the feeling of security and safety...

The chicken wings and fry.

Rogers Centre. Walking my way home from Union Station

F-18 Hornet above the Toronto Island Airport.

Same F-18

F-18 Hornet flying right into the Danger Zone!

i turned around, the future was now.

2008-08-27T20:31:00.008-04:00

August isn't completely over yet, but I'll be really busy for the next little while, so I figured I'd post this month's top 15 on my playlist early. Miguel for the past couple of days has been introducing me to a lot of music I don't normally listen to. I won't lie. He really opened some doors for me. One of the artists he intro'ed me is Sam Sparro. This boi is sick. I've been really feelin' his song 21st Century Life today. Not to mention the craziness of his video. I love it. I had this song on repeat all afternoon, and it upped my productivity level almost 200%!

Another few songs that I had on repeat for more than a day were Viva La Vida and the Halo 2 theme song. I really like that Coldplay song, but the music video is really retarded. It kind of ruined the song a bit for me, actually. Ne-Yo's new singles are pretty hot right now, and John Legend's too. Can't wait til the new albums come out. Anyway, if you have any suggestions on new music I should check out, feel free to do so. I'm open to anything.

Music of the month for August:

1. 21st Century Life - Sam Sparro
2. Miss Independent - Ne-Yo
3. Green Light - John Legend feat. Andre 3000
4. Viva La Vida - Coldplay
5. Closer - Ne-Yo
6. I'm Yours - Jason Mraz
7. Life is Wonderful - Jason Mraz
8. Oxford Comma - Vampire Weekend
9. Black and Gold - Sam Sparro
10. Lovers in Japan - Coldplay
11. Hot Mess - Sam Sparro
12. Round Here - Counting Crows
13. 1979 - Smashing Pumpkins
14. Heart of Life - John Mayer
15. Halo 2 (Mjolnir Remix) - Martin O'Donnell

rollercoaster of love.

2008-08-24T22:13:00.002-04:00

The last time I went to Canada's Wonderland was about 2 years ago, and it wasn't all that thrilling. I remember my high school days, we'd go once or twice every summer driving from Kingston. It was fun then, but I guess it lost its thrill as the years went on.

To be honest, I wasn't eager to go this year. But I figured, "Hey, I'll hang out with good friends and I'll have a good time". And a good time I had. Actually, no. Not a good time. A bitchin' GREAT time, son!!! All I have to say is... Buh. Hee. Muth. That is such a f-cking stupendously amazing ride that I could spend a whole day on that thing. Behemoth made it all worth it. It was almost orgasmic!! Haha, okay, maybe not that extreme..

What's even better is I recorded it all! Even that girly scream (don't know who it came from, but it could very well have been me)... I wanted to record Italian Job too, but the guy saw me pulling out my camera and told me to keep it in my pocket. So I recorded the rest and compiled it into a nice video... First with the Behemoth, then Sky Rider, then Vortex, and ending with Wild Beast (previously known as Wilderbeast). I missed the first drop on the Wild Beast cause the setting somehow got changed to picture mode. But I got some nice crotch shots of myself. Good thing I didn't wet my shorts...

View Video >

Online Videos by Veoh.com

papiroflexia

2008-08-23T00:34:00.004-04:00

Ugh. Really shouldn't've eaten that McDonald's... It felt so right at the time. Now it feels so gross. Not eating fast food for another month, at least... Pretty excited to post a couple of banner concepts I animated for this health insurance company in the States. Unfortunately, neither of the concepts were used. As soon as the current ones go live, I'll post the unused concepts.

I have nothing for you this weekend, except for this cool animation from Joaquin Baldwin's portfolio, whose animation I found through Motionographer.com. If only it were that simple to change the world...

view >

bowlin bowlin bowlin. keep that strike a comin.

2008-08-17T22:48:00.005-04:00

Went out bowling Saturday night after some Kenny's Noodles for my bro's birthday. Except the birthday boy didn't come after dinner.. We were going to see Tropic Thunder, but they were pretty much sold out by the time we got there. We ended up going bowling, which I haven't gone on a regular basis since last fall. And for the first time since then, I wasn't sucking! I almost broke 100!! My first game, I got 100, and my second I got 98. True story.

I know I know. You're probably thinking "100? I can bowl that blindfolded with a broken arm and leg !" But since last summer, I've been bowling shit. It was a celebration if I got over 50... But Saturday night, I was mildly on fire!! Barely triple digits, son!! Oh, and do NOT do a full backswing with a 15 pound ball if your hands aren't big enough to get a firm grip! It can get dangerous, as everyone at the alley witnessed... Also true story.

I saw a friend from high school tonight, who I haven't seen or talked to in 8 years... We caught up on a lot and talked about life and his little ones... Man, do things ever change in 8 years. Nothing. Nothing at all ever prepares us for the new that's to come. We just kind of have to stand up and face it. But facing it is not enough. We also have to embrace it in the present, in the now. Almost true story.

Belief is a beautiful armour
but makes for the heaviest sword
Like punching underwater
you never can hit who you're trying for
Some need the exhibition
and some have to know they tried
It's the chemical weapon
for the war that's raging on inside
Oh, everyone believes
From emptiness to everything
Oh, everyone believes
And no one's going quietly

Belief - John Mayer [Continuum]

voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir?

2008-08-16T02:34:00.005-04:00

J'ai dis que je voulais pratiquer mon français dès le mois d'avril, mais je l'ai jamais fais... Alors, ce soir, je vais écrire une passage de blog en français. Corrigez-moi si je fais des erreurs, parce-que c'est la seule façon que je vais me rapppeler.

Je l'ai fais ma mission d'apprendre le langue que j'ai perdue. Avec Craig's List, j'ai rencontré une personne qui vient de Marseilles en France, et à peu près une fois par semaine, je lui rencontre pour parler en français avec lui. Il parle en anglais avec moi, et je lui répond en français, en espoire qu'on va s'améliorer notre langues secondaires. J'espère que mon accent anglais sera disparu dans quelques mois, et que je serai capable d'écrire en français sans erreurs. Mais peut-être que je suis trop ambitieux? Je ne sais pas...

fire in the sky.

2008-08-14T22:34:00.008-04:00

As I was biking home from oyster dinner at Rodney's, there was a dark purple cloud looming overhead. A storm's a brewin'. But what really caught my eye was the fiery orange clouds glowing from the horizon. I couldn't help but bike faster to get to the Bathurst bridge (South of Front) to get some shots in. Luckily I had the camera with me and got there before the sun set completely. It felt as if the gods were angry. Yet it was so beautiful...

And with that said, that song by Ne-Yo, When You're Mad just popped into my head. I'm really excited to make my August CD. Got some pretty good ol' school songs I want to burn on it. But I just want to wait til the end of the month in case I hear something new or someone intros me to something better. But to name a few: Smashing Pumpkins' 1979 and Disarm, Counting Crows' Round Here and Mr. Jones, John Mayer's Heart of Life, Common's So Far To Go.

There's a couple of unmentioned songs that I know you'll find incriminating. And I'll admit, I'm ashamed to even have it on my considered list right now, but this is my list, not your list. And my list is full of fun and variety. I'll only mention one as a preview of how bad it gets, haha. Gettin' Jiggy Wit' It by Will Smith. That's right. I said it. The Fresh Prince himself. If you think the song is bad, you gotta check out the video. And don't be judgin' me, cause I know you've danced to this song at one point or another!!

Those oysters didn't fill me up one bit. Nor did that smoked salmon. Time to scrounge for food...

Facing West on the Bathurst Bridge North of Fort York Boulevard

Facing West on the Bathurst Bridge North of Fort York Boulevard

Facing West on the Bathurst Bridge North of Fort York Boulevard

Facing North at Queens Quay and Bathurst.

Facing North at Queens Quay and Bathurst.

nature calls.

2008-08-13T21:02:00.006-04:00

I've been biking after work to Cherry Beach for the past two days to read and enjoy the setting sun. Really relaxing... It makes me want to make the most of my summer before the nasty ass snow comes back. Something about the sound of water and birds in the background, it's so soothing. Makes you forget about all the crap that gets thrown at you from the minute you wake up.

Every day, we spend the majority of our time inside a room, office, or vehicle. Always confined within some sort of space. And those times when we're commuting, we're listening to the radio, ipod, or talking/sleeping... Always looking in front of you or downwards at the ground. So rare do we exercise our neck muscles to look up at the sky. The clouds. The stars. The vastness of this world. If we took 5 minutes a day to stare up at the sky and truly focus on the space above us, we'll realize how meaningless our daily routines, our possessions, our money, our "sense of individuality" are.

This is just a clip of Cherry Beach and how relaxing it was. Just ambient sounds and a beautiful view, nothing action packed. But hey, maybe it'll inspire you to get off your lazy ass and do some outdoor activities and breathe in some almost-fresh Toronto air... haha.

Online Videos by Veoh.com

one more time.

2008-08-10T02:49:00.000-04:00

I've been saying I wanted to do all this stop motion stuff. And I've delayed it long enough... That video of Richard and John Thai dancing will be coming soon. I've been cropping individual images out all night. I'm still working on the rest of John's frames, but I finished Rich first so I figured I'd make a short of him as a preview. I can't stop laughing...

Ladies and Gentlemen, get ready to feast your eyes on the Dancing King!! I present to you One More Time by Daft Punk with the Spectacular Richard Ho!

uptown-bound adventure

2008-08-09T14:06:00.000-04:00

My goal of biking to Richmond Hill/Markham was fulfilled this long weekend. Made it in 3.5 hours from Queens Quay and Bathurst, to 16th and Warden on Sunday August 3rd. Left my place at around 12:30 and got to my aunt's place by 3:45. I took two 15 minute breaks, and because of the treacherous uphills, had to walk my bike up thrice. The three killer uphills for me were:

1. somewhere between St Clair and Eglinton on Yonge;
2. the stretch between York Mills and 401 on Yonge;
3. and on Bayview between Steeles and Proctor.

Rests were taken at Finch station and at Bayview and Laureleaf. The route taken was mainly on Yonge, in case I got tired and couldn't make it all the way up. According to Google Maps, the route I took was 34.1km. That's was about an hour for every ten kilometres? Hmm.. I was pretty damn slow... Boo. Also according to Google Maps, if I were to walk it, it would take about 7 hours and 4 minutes. Any takers?

I documented (by video) parts of the trip with my point n shoot camera attached to my shoulder. Alas, it came loose closer to Finch station and was reattached incorrectly. So all my footage from Finch station on was pointing too low. Boo.

That's one of the clips on Steeles between Yonge and Bayview. That stretch was a fun downhill ride. But the best downhill award has to go to the stretch North of Lawrence aand South of York Mills on Yonge. I must've been going close to 40km/hr... I was almost catching up to cars! Had my bike gave out, I probably would've died if not severely injured...

Next time, I'll probably record where the uphills and downhills were and do a diagram of it. Make the after-trip a little more fun. By time I got to my aunt's, my legs were dead. But amazingly enough, the next morning, I woke up without the soreness. Probably cause of the dim sum eating.

At the end of the day yesterday, my uncle sent me this crazy video of the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony. Absolute madness.

Stop this Train

2008-08-01T20:16:00.000-04:00

I had this thing going since May or so where I made a CD for the songs I would discover for each month. The CD for June never got burnt, this is a bit of a combination of june and July. And with the past two months, i've been listening to music that's a lot more familiar to what I used to listen to. I guess the bit of grounding I needed. I'm tempted to list the whole Discovery album from Daft Punk, but I decided it wouldn't be fair to all the other songs I've been crazy about.

Music of the month for June and July in no particular order:

1. Voyager - Daft Punk
2. Stop this Train - John Mayer
3. Face to Face - Daft Punk
4. Sweet Child O Mine - Guns N Roses
5. Dreaming with a Broken Heart - John Mayer
6. Desert Rose - Sting
7. Nostrand - Ratatat
8. Aerodynamic - Daft Punk
9. Something About Us - Daft Punk
10. Lex - Ratatat
11. Fast Love - George Michael
12. Kennedy - Ratatat
13. Who's Gonna Save My Soul - Gnarls Barkley
14. Fields of Gold - Sting
15. November Rain - Guns N Roses

It's been a pretty eventful week. I have an even more eventful weekend coming up. And my brother's in town for a month! Excitement gallore. Currently working on a stop motion animation of John and Richard dancing from karaoke a few weeks to a month back. Nothing more on Spidey yet. Too many mini-projects on the side, plus the dayjob. Have a good long weekend.

And if you're traveling out of town via bus this weekend, beware of "robotic" unfeeling asian Terminators. Man, this guy is making all of us asians look bad. Have a great long weekend.

why so serious?

2008-07-22T23:42:00.000-04:00

dark knight
went to see dark knight monday at first markham after work. rushed uptown to try and make the 740 show. sold out. so we went for the 1010. packed. but oh my god. amazing movie. solid story, intense action, outstanding acting, just pure awesomeness for 2 hours. wanna see it on imax now... heath ledger's acting deserved a standing ovation. him as the joker, untouchable... but as christine mentioned afterwards, if it wasn't for jack nicholson's first joker, ledger probably wouldn't have done as good a job. you can see some influence from nicholson. but i was shocked nonetheless. i won't spoil the movie. if you haven't seen it already, go. NOW!! it's sooo worth it. oh and i noticed that edison chen made a cameo in the movie too, if anyone cares.. haha.

cn tower on a foggy day
my aunt from van city came down for the weekend. took her out around town and went up on the cn tower on a foggy day... it was pretty bad, cause the rain was on and off and it was really cloudy out. but i still managed to get some decent photos. i hadn't been in the cn tower since high school, when i came from kingston to toronto to check out the autoshow. i barely remember that visit. the interior of the cn tower for some reason really reminded me of the rochafeller centre in new york. weirdest thing. check out the photos.

oh my god. shoes. again.
new shoes!! lacostes from townshoes at eaton centre. they're kinda like my old lacostes, but a lot nicer! i love em! so fresh and so clean clean!

progress on spidey
still working on it, but here's another preview of what spidey's been up to on his free time...

GO thieves

2008-07-16T09:53:00.000-04:00

for all you GO transit commuters who drive to the station, you better start locking up your rims and mufflers... this could be your car. thieves have been stealing car parts at GO parking lots in the GTA. for the full scoop, read the article from the toronto star.

clothes, mashed potatoes, and photos.

2008-07-15T00:00:00.001-04:00

weekend.
despite the crappy week, i've been enjoying the time alone this weekend. to a certain extent. i did a lot of shopping, biking and shooting, and went to a potluck/barbecue that was too full of potato dishes. there was shepherd's pie, cottage pie, bangers n' mash, scalloped potatoes, and baked potato chunks... it was delicious though. zack's meatballs were amazing. and so was the sangria!! oh god, i could go for another pitcher of that!! i'm drooling just thinking about it all...

bike hike.
went on two bike hikes this weekend. friday night, i went along lakeshore west all the way past parklawn dr and snapped a lot. but the results weren't all too satisfying. then biked all the way east to cherry st to do some grocery shopping at T&T. snapped a few pics there too when it got dark. sunday, i biked west again to the same spot, but took more photos of the calatrava-inspired pedestrian bridge. the photos you can see on my flickr account. that way, i don't have to flood my facebook and blog with test shots. check it.

oh my god... shoes.
not quite shoes, but clothing, nonetheless. i know last year i've been saying that i would never shop from h&m again (reason being that everyone shops from there, and you run into people wearing your clothes almost every day...) but when i dropped by saturday, i couldn't help but drool over their assortment of shorts. i wanted to buy a few pairs of shorts, but i decided to only pick one. i walked out of there with a tshirt, a pair of shorts and a reversible windbreaker! DING! and bought a couple of things at hmv...

i want to be a robot.
having spent the most of this weekend alone, i felt strangely comfortable by myself. but only for the first while. as soon as i got home sunday evening before dinner, the feeling of discomfort hit me like a sac of bricks. i don't know how you solitary people do it.

stop-motion animation.
i dropped by silver snails friday and got a posable spider-man figure. so i got the figure, i got the video, i got the camera. now all i need is some time. in a couple of weeks, i'll do another post of my progress. a teaser, if you will. but for now, enjoy the photo!

type type typolution

2008-07-10T13:32:00.000-04:00

it's been a pretty hectic week so far. there's been a lot of weird occurrences and low energy everywhere. been tired all day with a killer headache, but ended up going indoor rock climbing with my uncle and his friends. pretty awesome, i must say. took my headache away for a while.

had to do some research at work and i ran into something pretty amazing. pure typography animation. it must've taken so long to create... listening to that song from ratatat, it made me miss bloor st so much. summer 2007 was fantabulous.

anyway, here it is. in case you can't see it, link here.

what a feelin'

2008-07-07T21:29:00.000-04:00

james d. sent me this link early this morning to a video and got flashdance's what a feeling stuck in my head all. day. long. but i couldn't stop watching the video... it was so addictive. so dramatic. so inspiring. so passionate. so amazing. the animation mainly. and the quality of the stop motion. anyway, feast your eyes on this video (link here if you can't see it).

Mandalorian Dance
by PatrickBoivin

i've wanted to do my own stop-motion since february now, but i don't have any toys nearly as articulate as the one they used for this boba fett flashdance animation. probably gonna drop by silver snail this week to look for one. pretty hyped up to get started with it!

in other news, i got me papa's digital slr while i was in montreal. i can finally start takin some quality pictures! oh, what a feeelin!! i can have it all! take your passion and make it happen!! oh god, where would i be without 80's music... oh and music came back into my life. it was gone for a good week. nothing a little mj couldn't fix. again, where would i be without the 80's.

oh one last thing! this really marks my age, but hey, you'll get old too. anyone remember bmx bandits with nicole kidman in it? the movie came out in 1983, but i never saw it in theatres in english. watched it in french on beta tape. that's right. beta. i youtubed it this morning and well... i gotta say. it brings back memories with the music and the tricks and all. i always wanted one of those masks and the whole costume. it was so rad back then. much like the powerglove.

rich dinner parties has its ups and downs...

2008-06-28T19:08:00.000-04:00

i forget who, but someone at work sent this link out to everyone: dinnerinthesky.com. no idea where the inspiration came from but one thing that everyone at work noticed: what do you do if the meal doesn't sit well?

apparently, it's coming to toronto soon. some people just have too much money to spend...

goodbye tsugumi.

2008-06-26T21:50:00.000-04:00

i've been reading this book called goodbye tsugumi by banana yoshimoto. i bought it two years ago at chapters on sale for 4.99, i believe. tessar recommended it. said it was a slow read but good. with the book being 4.99, the asian blood in me just couldn't resist picking it up. i started to read it. i got to the third of fourth chapter and stopped. reason being that 1) it was indeed slow; 2) people introduced me to a bunch of different books while i was reading goodbye tsugumi, and they seemed much more interesting.

these books were:

the five people you meet in heaven by mitch albom;
illusions: the adventures of a reluctant messiah by richard bach;
for one more day by mitch albom;
the war of art: breaking through the blocks and win your creative battles by steven pressfield.

they were all pretty good reads. especially illusions. it was highly enlightening. i really got into it. anyway. back to goodbye tsugumi. so it had been two years since i had read those few chapters, so i decided to go through it again. i'm only through 2/3 of the book so far, but it's really good. calming read, and makes you really appreciate the little things in life that you take for granted so much. especially now more than ever. i know i haven't finished the book yet. but i still recommend it.

This world of ours is piled high with farewells and goodbyes of so many different kinds, like the evening sky renewing itself again and again from one instant to the next — and I didn't want to forget a single one.
— goodbye tsugumi

anyway, to end this post, i'd like to thank chase, eshwin and tessar for recommending the good reads listed above to me. and also, friends and family, thanks for all the help and support you have given me. i couldn't be where i am without any of you. let's create new unforgettable memories together.

ps. chad, your video blog was hilarious.

eye of the tig- ...storm?

2008-06-24T23:44:00.000-04:00

from june 8-15, i was in montreal/brossard for a week. visited my family and played a LOT of grand theft auto. kept myself from drowning in my own thoughts too much. on that tuesday (june 10), a storm hit bad and flipped some tranports on the champlain bridge. pretty crazy news, i must say. that day, i was about to head out for a walk to the mall dix-trente. as i got ready to head out, the skies got uber dark and next thing i knew, the storm struck. this was what i caught of the storm outside my parents's house on camera. also, i had to explain to my uncle why the LCD display screen was cracked...

that saturday, i hung out at presse cafe at the dix-trente mall and they were building a crazy sandcastle outside the cafe. then i saw another storm coming and i left. it rained pretty hard. i walked for 20 minutes in the rain. if you saw me that day, you'd think that i went for a swim in my clothes.

i also bought an xbox 360 later that week with some pretty sweet games. thanks jason! call of duty 4 looks too amazing on the HDTV... beyond that, not much more news other than life being so complicated.

can you hear me.

2008-06-23T09:16:00.000-04:00

spectacular spectacles.

2008-05-31T23:07:00.000-04:00

they accent your face
like the stars in space.
they draw focus to where true beauty lies;
in your deep brown eyes.
did i really fall in love with you, i realized?
or did i fall in love the disguise for your eyes?

chameleons the spectacles be,
blending in to whatever trend you see.
with all shapes and sizes available to you,
you just have to pick a pair that's fresh and new.
there are no worries about infidelities,
for you may have as many as you please.

restless bodyguards they make,
shielding your pupils for your sake.
while protecting your eyes
from wild flies,
they can also shade your sight
so you don't step in shite.

sharper vision, ability to read,
darker sight; anything your eyes need.
combinations are also available,
that's what makes glasses so wonderful.
spectacular spectacles, i owe you my eyes;
for without you, i could never see her true guise.

busy billy bee

2008-05-21T22:00:00.000-04:00

The past two weeks have been supremely hectic and uber fast-paced. Since I got back from Montréal, I might've only cooked one meal at home, and I've just been coming home to sleep. My place had been a mess: I had clothes on the floor, bills and receipts all over my desk, flyers and mail all over the kitchen counter and my roommate's hair accumulating in the corners of the apartment... But now that work at MB is back to semi-normal, I decided to skip hip hop class to clean up and catch up.

I haven't had much time to bike hike, outside of riding to and from work. But I've been thinking about a second-hand bike a lot lately. The reason I want a second bicycle is so that I run errands with it, with the peace of mind that even if it gets stolen, I didn't pay all that much for it. I just want a beater bike that I can leave outside the mall for 12 hours. And when I come back, it'll either still be there cause it's such a shitty bike no one would want it; or it'll be stolen, but I wouldn't care cause I paid less than $10 for it and it came with kickass rainbow streamers.

Another reason I want a beater bike is so I can install a basket in the front and a milkcrate in the back to run errands. I hate having to bring my duffelbag with me to the grocery stores and load it up with 50lbs of crap over my one shoulder. With the beater bike, I wouldn't care what it looked like, so long as it did the job.

And I think I just found what I need... Thank you instructables.com!

bike hike 2008-1: lakeshore west

2008-05-02T00:38:00.000-04:00

a few weeks ago, I started to bike again. mainly to and from work, which is only a 20 minutes walk. the first day of biking proved to be quite a challenged. by the time i got in to work, i was all sweaty, my lungs were burning, my legs were aching, my heart was pounding and my head spinning. it made me think. we really need a shower at our office.

last weekend, because of the ttc strike, it killed my plans to go uptown for the day. there had been a lot of things clouding my mind, so instead i biked for 4 hours or so sunday to get to clear my head. i went to christie pits to get ice cream and people watch, then i biked southwest to lakeshore and lansdowne and stopped to rest by the lake. i enjoyed the solitary moments watching the waves hit the sand and the seagulls hover over the water. then i biked all the way to park lawn rd and lakeshore, and then turned back to head home. it was a really nice ride. i wanted to take pictures my biking adventures, but i had forgotten my camera at home. boo.

my goal is to be able to bike uptown to richmond hill before the end of june. it will be a challenge, especially since the north end of the city isn't the most biker friendly areas. but with a bit of research, i should be able to find trails and biker friendly streets to get to my where i want to.

on other non-biking news, they were filming a movie around the corner of my condo at lakeshore and bathurst last friday night. i took a few pictures from my balcony of the scene. saw them blowing fake snow onto the ground, with all these rusty cars there. according to this discussion board from torontojungle.com (post #2), they were filming max payne the movie. imbd says mark wahlberg will be playing max payne. that's pretty hot. he's perfect for the part. now, off to montreal for the weekend. cheers!

en français s'il vous plaît!

2008-04-11T00:50:00.000-04:00

it's been 16 years since i've moved to ontario now, and since then i've been slowly losing my french bit by bit. my quebecois accent started to fade, and that nasty anglophone accent started to spread its cancer into my words and sentences to the point now if i spoke french, no one would even know that i grew up in quebec.

language and the mind are crazy things. chinese was my first language and french was my second. so years ago, my mind thought in chinese and french. in fact, i still count in chinese instead of english since the number system in chinese is a lot simpler and faster than english. and because mind thought in chinese and french, my anglophone friends who made it into my dreams would speak in chinese and french. it was the weirdest thing when i woke up. but at the time of the dream it felt totally normal spoke my native tongue.

sadly, nowadays my mind thinks predominantly in english. my brain's language use is partitioned at this ratio: 80% english, 18% chinese, and 2% french. it's weird. there are certain words that i'm used to that i still say in french instead of english like dépanneur and valise.

i've realized that a language gets lost 10x faster than it gets learned. and as you get older, you get busier. i mean, who has time to learn another language when you got loans and taxes to pay off? and even if you had the time, with technology and media these days, you'd probably rather spend that time on youtube or blogger anyways right?

so with the realization that my french has gone downhill, it's made me want to relearn it, since i've got a pretty good base already. and since i spend so much time on the computer and i don't get much of a chance to speak french, it made me think of a great idea and exercise for myself.

once a week, one of my posts will be in french. i realize that only a couple of you will understand my french posts, but hey, maybe it'll motivate you to learn some french too. who wouldn't want to learn french anyway? c'est la langue d'amour, non? <3

transformers in quebec that i used to watch. i was so crazy about this show.

ninja turtles intro in french. woke up every saturday morning just to catch "les tortues ninjas" en français.

change.

2008-04-08T18:44:00.000-04:00

change is hard. not every day gets better.

saumon très bon, hon hon.

2008-04-06T12:10:00.000-04:00

anyone who knows me knows i'm not the healthiest when it comes to eating. we used to eat out at monaghan's a lot. so much so that i knew all their specials every day of the week and the servers knew me by name. on top of that we used to make trips to pho ba ca in mississauga for pho at 3am. i gained about 15 pounds during college from all this madness. my diet hasn't changed much from my college days, but i started skipping breakfast so i could get that extra bit of sleeping time before work.

after getting my bicycle and feeling a bit more healthy getting some exercise, it made me want to start living a healthier lifestyle. and what better time to start than in spring when you're not bogged down by the brutal winter weather? so friday i decided to take a day off and hang out with erin, make her some lunch. the theme of the day was healthy eating. i hear salads are a good start to healthy eating, so salmon steak and side of salad will do. i've never made either, except for salads that consisted of lettuce and choice of fatty dressings.

with nataly's help and advice via phone, the salmon was close to being a success. as for the salad, not so much... i took a few pictures of the salmon, but forgot to take pictures of the meal itself with the salad. the salad photo is whatever was left over from this morning.

with the salmon, i buttered a pan, seared both sides of the fillet and then took it off the pan, onto a baking sheet. i then squeezed some lemon juices on top of the salmon and topped it with a wedge of lemon and some tablespoon of butter. i sprinkled some chopped green onions and garlic and threw it into the oven at 350°C and left it in for 20 minutes uncovered. nataly had told me to cover the salmon with tin foil so that the fish would be juicy. but i forgot... instead it came out a little bit dry. it was still a success though. because of the searing beforehand, the skin became really crispy instead of soggy.

with the salad, i bought some pre-mixed field greens from the grocery store and added tomatoes and red onions to it. i tossed it with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. it was really bland, so i had to ask erin to pick me up her favourite dressing. she came back with a bottle of rasberry and white balsamic dressing. after adding that, the taste was still too subtle. later, nataly told me she had some of the leftover salad and said it actually tastes good, i just needed a lot more balsamic vinegar.

i realized today how much willpower it took to eat healthy, because our healthy eating day didn't last long. we went to see leatherheads at the movie theatres and ordered a nacho grande, and had a quesadilla after the movie. and as if that wasn't bad enough, nataly and i had mcdonald's last night.

going to need quite a few hip hop classes to burn that mcchicken off...

oh my god... shoes.

2008-03-25T02:19:00.001-04:00

good news, good news. spring officially began last thursday at 1:28pm... upon hearing that, i was all excited to kick it off with some new kicks. that didn't happen. my shoes are still in the box. snow is still falling. there's still salt residue on the ashphalt. not impressed. nonetheless, i still have a brand new pair of shoes waiting to replace my nasty-ass lacoste shoes. bought them at scarpino's at queen and john next to second cup last month, while looking for a pair of boots. pretty good buy. my next purchase will most likely be a windbreaker for my biking needs, when spring actually comes...

i now officially own thriller 25, thanks to erin. been listening to it quite a bit. sick tracks, though i'm not a big fan of the akon remix of wanna be startin' something. and even less so of fergie's beat it. horrible. i can't wait til mj's new album comes out. eshwin and i had plans to make a crazy mj dedication animation for fun, but that's as far as it got. planned... haha. meanwhile, i started taking some dance classes in hopes to learn some of mj's moves, but i realized how little flow and rhythm i have. so i'm going to have to be patient. in time though, you'll be saying to me "keep on, with the force don't stop. don't stop til you get enough."