August 31, 2003

Po-mo Axioms

~ I love deadlines. I especially like the whooshing sound they make as they go flying by.
~ Needing someone is like needing a parachute. IF he isn't there the first time, chances are you won't be needing him again.
~ I don't have an attitude problem; you have a perception problem.
~ My reality check bounced.
~ On the keyboard of life, always keep one finger on the escape key.
~ Never argue with an idiot. He drags you down to his leve, then beats you with experience.
~ Be careful: A pat on the back is only a few centimetres from a kick in the butt.
~ Don't be irreplaceable. If you can't be replaced, you won't be promoted.
~ Blessed are those who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused.
~ What should you give a man who has everything?
A woman to show him how it works

-- Source: Toronto Star

Posted by mich at 1:26 PM | dreams [0]

August 29, 2003

Friday Five

1. Are you going to school this year?
Yes, back to school for me. Goodbye Ironside!

2. If yes, where are you going (high school, college, etc.)? If no, when did you graduate?
University of Toronto

3. What are/were your favorite school subjects?
In high school they were art and biology. In university, I loved my architecture and psychology courses... and I guess comp sci isn't bad as well! :P

4. What are/were your least favorite school subjects?
Business (yuck yuck yuck).

5. Have you ever had a favorite teacher? Why is as he/she a favorite?
Yup, one of my favourite teachers was Mr. Fry from grades 7 and 8. He was so nice but also really funny. He liked to go off on tangents, but his little stories were amusing!

[Q's from Friday Five]

Posted by mich at 5:33 PM | dreams [1]

August 26, 2003

My Weekend

This past weekend was quite enjoyable. On Saturday morning I took the train up to Montreal and got there at 3 pm. I met up with my friend Lucy from P.E.I that I met back in 1999 in Montreal who now works in the city. We started off at Plâteau Mont-Royal and walked down St. Laurent through the Latin Quarter, where I bought a cute little bag for $15. We continued walking down to Vieux Montreal and enjoyed the festival of Nouvelle France. Afterwards, we walked back up to the Eaton Center where I picked up my backpack from a locker, then took the métro to Outremont to have dinner at a quaint Brazillian restaurant called Senzala. On our way back to the métro we stopped by a great ice cream parlour that is claimed to have the best ice cream and sorbet in the city. I tried 2 sorbet flavours: pear and strawberry. Boy were they yummy! And they were made with real fruit!

That night I stayed at my aunt's place, where my cousin and her 2 kids were staying on a visit from Boston. The next morning I woke up at 7:45 am and couldn't go back to sleep because the kids were invading my sleeping area! I went out to dim sum with my relatives for brunch, then went off shopping on rue Ste. Catherine. Of course, I headed to Simons (I think I spend an hour and a half in there)! I bought two striped 3/4 sleeve blouses and a hair band. I was on the verge of purchasing more stuff but I had to control myself :P On top of that I bought the book Le Petit Prince as well as Kelly Clarkson's CD. Oh, and my cousin helped my get the iRiver SlimX 550 from the states! It's so nifty! Anyway, in the afternoon my parents and sisters arrived in Montreal and picked me up at McGill, then we headed to my sister's residence to help her move in to her new home. We went out to dinner at Chinatown, then took a stroll around View Montreal and watched some buskers. That night we stayed at the lovely Queen Elizabeth hotel.

On Monday morning I had brunch with my mom and sisters at Chez Cora. I've seen the lineups at this place during the weekends and they are crazy. You'd think it's because the food is amazing. But I tried 2 dishes and both were just OK, nothing special. Plus, the food is overpriced. After brunch we went to Simons for a bit then met up with my dad and relatives to head to the Mont Royale cemetary. I headed back to Toronto afterwards with my aunt, uncle and grandma while the rest of my family stayed for the week.

And now I have the whole house to myself for a week ;)

Posted by mich at 12:33 AM | dreams [0]

August 20, 2003

I'd Like A Foot Rub Please

Yesterday afternoon I went down to Yonge and Bloor to meet my mom to go exploring. We set up Yonge Street from Bloor at 5:00 and looked at all the cute little shops and restaurants along the street. I stopped in this one store called Paper Ideas, where I bought 3 sheets of decorated vellum paper that costed me over $6 (*slaps myself on the wrist*). We ended up walking all the way up to Eglington and reached the intersection at 7:00. Fortunately there was a cool breeze blowing that afternoon so it was quite a pleasant little walk.

On a side note, I would just like to add that this week on Canadian Idol, Jenny Gear was simply amazing. She was definitely the best singer Monday night with her version of Gershwin's Summertime. I would like to know how Gary is STILL on the show! He's so utterly boring, and his rendition of Unchained Melody doesn't compare at all to Clay's. Down with Gary.

Posted by mich at 8:13 AM | dreams [0]

August 16, 2003

Shopping Is Good For You!

[Mood] Refreshed
[Music] The Platters- Summertime

Whoo... we've got the air conditioner back on today. Yesterday evening was stifling hot because we didn't turn on the A/C to conserve some energy. But last night at 11 pm the temperature was still at 29C and it wasn't dropping. It was getting unbearable so we turned it back on, yay :)

Here's an interesting article I read in The Toronto Star today:

Guy McKhann and Marilyn Albert, two of the world's leading experts on brain research, have a theory why women tend to live longer than men: They shop more.

Whether it's for clothes or groceries, shopping is a simple way to summarize what's good for the brain, say this cerebral husband and wife. It combines three elements that allow the brain to function better: staying physically active, challenging the brain, maintaining a positive self-image.

"Women go to the mall, and they have to walk around a lot, oftentimes carrying heavy bags. Secondly, they have to make a lot of decisions: `I have to compare this price with that,' `Will this particular piece fit in my home?' `I already have a sweater, do I need another sweater?' So they have to make all of these decisions. And when they're all done, they really feel good about themselves, like they've accomplished something," says McKhann, 70, professor of neurology and director of the Zanvyl Krieger Mind/Brain Institute at Johns Hopkins University.

"Men, on the other hand, are at home sitting in front of the television trying to help (their football team) along, and that doesn't do any of the three."

So go out and shop ok?

Posted by mich at 3:03 PM | dreams [1]

August 15, 2003

Friday Five

Pretty funny set here considering the recent blackout :P

1. How much time do you spend online each day?
Too much!

2. What is your browser homepage set to?
The last visited page. At work, it's set to msn.com.

3. Do you use any instant messaging programs? If so, which one(s)?
ICQ and sometimes MSN when ICQ keeps crashing on me.

4. Where was your first webpage located?
Geocities.

5. How long have you had your current website?
Since June 14, 2003.

[Q's from Friday Five]

Posted by mich at 3:09 PM | dreams [0]

Blackout!

[Mood] Relaxed
[Music] Linkin Park- Faint

Well, what an interesting 20 hours! The biggest power outage in North American history started at 4 pm. yesterday affecting southern/eastern Ontario and the eastern seabord of the States. I was at work when the power went out in my office. Looking out the window you could see that the traffic lights were out causing a heavy traffic jam. Everyone figured that it would be a long while before power would come back up so us intern students ended up playing cards until after 5:00. Then we made our way down the pitch-black stairwell (luckily some of us were equipped with really bright cell phones!) to brave the zoo of cars. Fortunately for me, the traffic going in the direction I was headed flowed pretty well so I was able to get home in 20 minutes using the 407 (which I still had to pay for 'cuz they've got backup generators)!

Upon coming home, there was nothing to do so I worked on my scrapbook that I started last year. Yeah, I've been a bit behind. Dinner wasn't a problem for us. Our family uses a gas stove instead of an electric one so we were able to have a regular cooked meal in the dark. We actually have a lot of candles so we were burning them all and playing around with the wax for a good while... a great way to pass time. I think my sister's a pyromaniac. It was too bad for my sister though; it was her 16th birthday but it was like we were back in the 18th century (seriously, what did people do back then??). It was a good thing that the birthday cake was still cold.

What a starry starry night it was! My sisters and I went out to the backyard to do some stargazing and take photos of some constellations. At 11:30 pm we ended up playing the board game Clue, then went outside to our front porch to look at the moon and Mars until 1:00.

Although the radio broadcasts said that power would be resumed by 1 am, I woke up to another day without electricity. So in the morning I was just listening to the battery-powered radio, reading and scrapbooking until noon when we finally got back electricity (hallelujah)! I never realized how reliant I am on electricy... I'm usually using the computer, stereo or television. My life is quite boring without these things!

Posted by mich at 2:09 PM | dreams [1]

August 13, 2003

Dazed and Confused

What the heck happened on Canadian Idol last night?? I don't get it- how could Mikey be gone already (and with the lowest number of votes to boot)? I voted for him 3 times *grin*! I was totally floored when Mikey and Billy were called up on stage. Meanwhile, Gary, who was undoubtedly the worst singer this week (one word: abysmal), wasn't even in the bottom 3. What is wrong with the Canadian voters??!

Posted by mich at 9:47 AM | dreams [0]

August 12, 2003

Impulse Buyer

Last night I found out about the wonderful world of lomography. Lomo cameras are Soviet manufactured and have a cult following. They're known for their unpredictability, supersaturated colours, and "artsy" pictures- you never know how your picture may turn out. So I was surfing around and found a Lomo model (Smena 8M)on eBay for $6 US. I just bid on it without thinking, which is so unlike me 'cuz I usually do so much research and comparison shopping before even settling on a brand/model. I ended up winning the darn thing for $6.50 US + $14 for shipping. So that's $30 CDN for a brand-spanking new camera (dunno how long it can actually last!). I'm definitely going to buy a proper camera soon to replace my beloved Olympus Newpic Zoom 90. But in the meantime, I'll have a fun toy to play with.

Posted by mich at 6:39 PM | dreams [3]

Papivore

Go out and write a letter!

Posted by mich at 8:51 AM | dreams [0]

August 8, 2003

Friday Five

1. What's the last place you traveled to, outside your own home state/country?
Las Vegas baby!

2. What's the most bizarre/unusual thing that's ever happened to you while traveling?
We were driving back to Calgary from Banff in August and it started to hail.

3. If you could take off to anywhere, money and time being no object, where would you go?
Around the entire world, including Antarctica.

4. Do you prefer traveling by plane, train or car?
Plane- I love clouds and the sky.

5. What's the next place on your list to visit?
I'm probably going up to Montréal with my family in 2 weeks. But the week after that I want to go on a nice vacation after my internship and before school starts... maybe Japan :)

[Q's from Friday Five]

Posted by mich at 8:50 AM | dreams [0]

OMIGOD

Last night I went to see Mariah Carey in concert at the ACC. It was just alright- definitely not worth $100 to see. It was prolly the least enjoyable concert I've been to so far. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a bad concert... I just wasn't really into it. Mariah sang really well but there was nothing really special about watching her live.

Anyway, the real highlight of my evening was meeting the Canadian Idol contestants before the concert! AAAHHH! They were just standing around outside the gates with people swarming around them. I was freaking out! I saw all of the top 8 contestants but I only asked Audrey and Ryan to sign my ticket stub. Ryan was so nice- he was talking to me and asking me questions! *grin* And then I saw Mikey... what can I say? He's such a cutie! And up close his eyes look like blue crystal... they were mesmerizing. I wanted Mikey to sign my ticket as well, but there were a bunch of girls hovering around him and then he had to leave :( I was so giddy, yet so bitter that I didn't have a camera to bring with me for pictures!!!!!!!! *scrunches up face and grrrrs*

Posted by mich at 8:32 AM | dreams [0]

August 6, 2003

David Copperfield

Last night I went to see David Copperfield at the John Labatt Center in London, Ontario. We arrived in London at 4pm and went walking around "downtown"... there's nothing to see except the Thames River (which is really green and dirty). The city's so ghetto! Anyway, back to David Copperfield... he was freakin' awesome! He never ceases to amaze me, plus he's totally hilarious. There's so much audience participation in his shows where he actually goes out and hand-picks a person, or he throws around big inflatable balls, frisbees, metal(!) balls, and pickles for random audience members to catch (too bad nothing even came close to me). I was really impressed when he just made a 40's style Lincoln appear on pedastals on the stage, had audience members give him random "lottery" numbers and fortold them on an audio cassette that was locked up and hung from the ceiling before the show, laid himself out in a horizonal box then compressed it to a square while he was still inside, sent a guy to Hawaii, and made 11 audience members (including a Q107 personality) disappear. The guy's incredible! However, the show didn't quite meet my expectations because I was comparing it to the TV specials, which are so spectacular and large-scale. I was expecting stuff like water coming out of the floor and David making a girl float on the water! I know, a bit too much to expect I guess! It was still a great show, though!

-- "It's David Copperfield, not David Cop A Feel"

Posted by mich at 9:22 AM | dreams [5]

August 5, 2003

Canadian Idol On A Roll

Canadian Idol was great last night- most of the singers were amazing. I especially loved Billy, Karen-Lee, Ryan, Mikey, and Audrey, however I wasn't a big fan of Richie and I thought Candida sounded terrible. Tonight, if Canada votes right, Candida should be gone. Here was the performance list from last night:

Billy: If You Could Read My Mind by Gordan Lightfoot
Toya: If You Asked Me To by Céline Dion
Richie: Bulletproof by Blue Rodeo
Karen-Lee: Black Velvet by Alannah Myles
Gary: Angel by Sarah McLachlan
Candida: The Power of Love by Céline Dion
Ryan: Try by Blue Rodeo
Jenny: Possession by Sarah McLachlan
Mikey: Straight From The Heart by Bryan Adams
Audrey: Angel by Sarah McLachlan
Tyler: After The Rain by Blue Rodeo

Posted by mich at 11:36 AM | dreams [0]

August 1, 2003

Photo Friday: Curves

Theme: Curves

Bellagio Water Ballet
Posted by mich at 10:42 PM | dreams [6]

Friday Five

1. What time do you wake up on weekday mornings?
Between 7 and 7:30 am.

2. Do you sleep in on the weekends? How late?
Yes I love sleeping in :P* Usually until around 11 on Saturdays and 9 on Sundays to go to the gym.

3. Aside from waking up, what is the first thing you do in the morning?
Wash up and change.

4. How long does it take to get ready for your day?
15-30 minutes.

5. When possible, what is your favorite place to go for breakfast?
I don't usually eat out for breakfast but I like going out to dim sum for brunch.

[Q's from fridayfive.org]

Posted by mich at 1:36 PM | dreams [0]

A Dose of Reality

Last night on The Amazing Race the teams visited Seoul, South Korea. One of the detour tasks was to eat live squirming chopped up octopus... oh man, was it nasty! Kelly and Jon came in first after starting last for this leg. I hate Jon, he's so rude, mean and dumb! I mean, what kind of idiot doesn't know how to read orangutan?? Sheesh.

Posted by mich at 11:34 AM | dreams [2]

Aye Aye Aye

[Mood] Sleepy
[Music] Beyoncé- Crazy in Love

School tuition is so freakin' expensive this year! It's over $7000 *gasps and passes out onto the floor* :O I'll be saying good-bye to a huge chunk of my money...

On a positive note, at least the money will be going towards the 23rd ranked university in the world. It's only one of 2 Canadian universities ranked in the Top 50- the other is UBC ranked as 35th. http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/rank/rank-2003.mht

Posted by mich at 9:38 AM | dreams [2]