cycle of life.

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.

just another lush day.

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!

uptown-bound adventure

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.

clothes, mashed potatoes, and photos.

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!

busy billy bee

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!