hb.eL.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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