March 31, 2006

Day of Art & Architecture

Yesterday OCAD's first year interactive students Activated the Park on campus with interactive graffiti walls, human statues, Toronto memory map, paintballing a person, and garbage music making. I headed over there during my lunch break to check out the public showcase.

   

In the evening I went to the AGO to attend a lecture/discussion panel called Architecture as Spectacle. It was really interesting to listen to the various speakers talk about the re-invention of urban space, particularly in Toronto, and how architecture has become a spectacle for the purpose of entertaining and wowing.

As I'm typing this I'm watching the latest episode of How I Met Your Mother (if you're not watching the show, WATCH IT, it's hilarious) and seeing all those cupcakes being eaten by Ted is making me crave for some dessert. *drooooooooool* I'm not a pig... really.

Posted by mich at 7:17 PM | dreams [0]

March 26, 2006

Late Nights And Old Age Don't Mix

Friday night on the spur of the moment, Cass and I decided to go out for dinner. I had stayed late at work so I was planning on staying in at home that evening and sleep early since I was so exhausted from the Coldplay concert the previous night. We tried out Malaysian food at Coconut Cafe on Hwy 7 and Kennedy. I don't remember what the dishes we ordered were called but they were pretty good. The soup noodles were a bit spicy though, but our satay chicken appetizer was absolutely scrumptious. After we totally filled ourselves up on food, we headed over to a Chinese dessert place in the same plaza, where I ordered Kiwi tapioca, Cass ordered black rice, and we split an order of black sesame dumplings. So delectable! I can't stress how full we were after all that food, but it was YUMMY! Cass and I were talking talking talking, reminiscing about all the funny times we had at SSA and in Japan. It was only until we noticed how tired we felt and our voices started cracking that we looked at the time. I thought it was 11 or 12, but it turned out that we had been chatting til 1:30, oi!

Last night was the AIESEC GTA social at Labyrinth Lounge. I was really considering skipping out because I had a tummy ache the whole day and I didn't get much sleep, but in the end I decided to go. The dinner was supposed to start at 7pm but Dennis only came over to pick me up at 7. Since we were running late, he decided to skip out on going to the gas station that was right by my house and instead fill up when we got downtown. Unfortunately, the DVP was so jammed up we were going at a crawling pace, all the while watching the gas meter sink lower and lower. Apparently there's a rumour that the yellow light can actually turn red... I did not want to test that theory though!

We got to Bloor and DVP at around 7:30 and drove aimlessly around looking for a gas station (note to self: there are none in downtown!) It took us 30 min to finally find one at King/Spadina, and after that we had to go pick up Janine from her house. She had initially been driven to the wrong address that was e-mailed to us, so she went back home to call me. After all that driving around (and many many many wrong turns), we finally arrived to our destination at 8:30 to meet up with Sam and Cass. The veggie lasagna I ordered was a bit tough to cut but it was still pretty good and really filling. My favourite was the gigantic Reese's Pieces cookie they gave us afterwards *smacks lips*. We stayed there until midnight so everyone else could take advantage of the cheap $3 drinks, then headed over to Raq 'n Waq for Christian's friend's birthday. Socialized, danced, and played pool until 2am. We drove Janine home and had already entered the DVP when Dennis realized that the waitress who took his driver's license to book a pool table never gave it back to him. So we had to do a big huge circle back to to the bar to pick it up. We bumped into Chris, Joseph, and Katie again on the street, who had just finished grabbing a bit to eat after we had all left Raq 'n Waq. So in the end, we had really left the place at 3am; I was absolutely exhausted I almost fell asleep in the car. After we dropped off Cass, I felt bad that I was such poor company so I tried talking to Dennis, but I think I ended up asking him the same question like 5 times! Oops... and no, I didn't have any alcohol! Although, it does feel like I did because I have a massive headache today >_<

Posted by mich at 5:37 PM | dreams [1]

March 25, 2006

I Heart Coldplay

And I heart Christina too for taking me to see them, thanks babe!

So Thursday evening was the big night. We dined for two hours at Monte Cristo. The restaurant was so nice and stylish, but I can't say that my meal was amazing (I should have ordered what Kris got!). We were ALL OVER the bread and vinegar; you should have seen the look on Kris' face when she was in the middle of finishing her piece of bread and the waiter took away our vinegar... big wide eyes full of shock following the dish being lifted up from our table out of sight and a a big puppy dog frown, AWWW!

Anyway, attention back to the most important part of the evening... Coldplay! We were stuck back in the rafters, and although it's definitely not the same feeling as being right up at the stage where you can see Chris Martin's sweat, I still had a great time. The show started off with an amazing setup where Chris and the band were silhouetted against a white screen of counting numbers that reminded us exactly of Tatsuo Miyajima's Counter Void in Tokyo's Roppongi area. The rest of the show was just as spectacular and we were singing with their songs until our voices cracked. We each bought a Coldplay t-shirt, mine being brown and pink with a cute puzzle piece logo. It was only when I was admiring it in the mirror at home when I realized that the pieces actually spelled X Y! Hahaha, I'm so blind... after that discovery I love my tee even more!

I took a whole bunch of pictures: a few with colour film and the rest with black and white. I'm still trying to finish my B&W roll, but my colour roll will be back on Tuesday! Stay tuned for pics!

Posted by mich at 6:39 PM | dreams [0]

March 22, 2006

A Daily Dose of Randomness

How many times can you go awwww to these poor creatures or at these adorable quotes? My favourites: "I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones" and "When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you".

And what's up with this "spring" weather? Looks like winter and spring had swapped places this year. Apparently spring comes earlier and earlier every year... back in the day we all remember March 21 as the vernal equinox. Recently it's been happening on March 20 and soon, spring will arrive March 19... all due to our weird calendar system and imperfect crazy gravitational forces on the Earth. Now we all learned something today.

Posted by mich at 10:41 PM | dreams [0]

March 17, 2006

hic

Last night I attended a panel discussion entitled Site Specific Installation in Toronto: Past, Present and Future for the hic exhibit at Hart House. There were some pretty enlightening topics of discussion, which then made me seriously start thinking about doing a masters in fine art, visual studies, or design. After school I really haven't been doing any art work, but if I take up a program I'll be able to really engage myself in some interesting projects as well as develop and experiment with exciting ideas. Something to definitely ponder...

The installation exhibit all throughout the Hart House was wonderful. Seeing the various works installed in specific sites around the building really made me take notice of the architecture and space that I had always taken for granted. I had only used the Hart House for the gym and the Arbor Room, but it was amazing to discover all the rooms (e.g. library, music room) and nooks and crannies that I had never before seen. It was also my first time seeing the pool area, in which massive pouffy clouds were floating overhead the swimmers. That was an awesome sight... I would love to actually swim underneath them and feel like I'm flying.

Pictures to be posted in my photoblog soon :)

Posted by mich at 9:24 PM | dreams [0]

March 13, 2006

Take Me Back To Asia...

It seems like everyone around me is flying off to Asia this year: my aunt & uncle are on their way to Japan and China as I type this, my mom's going to HK and China in April, my sister's going to Taiwan & HK in June, and a handful of friends going at different points during the summer. And reminicsing about all the fiascos we had with Chris and Kris makes me want to go back even more! The closest thing to being part of the real thing is going to see the Mamechiyo: The Art of Kimonoshow at Magic Pony.

Speaking of shows, I'm pretty disappointed in myself for having missed the deadline for the Gladstone Hotel's call for submissions to this year's Contact photography festival. I had planned on submitting my entry last week but got so caught up in other work that it had completely slipped my mind. Another missed opportunity :(

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So last night I decided to go for Korean food at Joon's at Yonge/Sheppard. They're known for their Joon's Special, a huge plate of meat and vegetables that cooks at your table on a portable gas stove. We ordered 2 specials: chicken and cabbage with rice noodles and mozarella cheese (yum!), and seafood with veggies and long noodles. We asked them to tone down the hot sauce (I swear, it was on practically every single menu itme)... however it turned out spicy in one and super spicy in the other. You won't believe how much my dad was complaining... if it's not Chinese or French it's no good. So we just ordered him bowls and bowls of rice. We also ordered a hot stone bowl of Bibimbob (beef, veggie, and egg on rice), and although we had specifically asked not have any hot sauce in it, the dish arrived when a huge section of hot sauce embedded in the rice. Needless to say, we could have all turned into fire-breathing dragons after dinner. But if you're totally into spicy food, their specials are amazing!

Posted by mich at 10:11 PM | dreams [0]

March 12, 2006

Quarter Of A Century

That's a long time man. Halfway to 50... aiya! >_< I still don't think I really got used to thinking I was 24; either that or my memory is going down the toilet. Time's passing me by too quickly, and it all keeps going downhill.

Last week was rough. With so little sleep I felt like a walking zombie during the day. It was only on Friday when I guess I had adjusted to feeling so exhausted that I felt relatively energized (if that makes any sense). In any case, it felt awesome to go to bed at 10pm on a Friday night (yes, I'm turning into an old granny).

Last night I celebrated my b-day with friends at La Fenice. Christian ordered in a Cookies & Cream Baskin Robbins cake, which I was all over like a fat kid on a Smartie (thanks babe)!! We ended up staying at the restaurant until 11:30 so it was too late to go out dancing since most people had to start heading home anyway. Nonethless it was a good time! A few of us decided to head up to North York Centre for some good ol' bubble tea and... rounds of Big Two. How much more fobby can you really get? All that was missing at our table were the Jap/K magazines. Although I got home just before 2am I ended up staying on the phone until 3am keeping someone company as he rode the Vomit Comet back home :(

This morning I forced myself to wake up at 8:30 to go to the gym. As difficult as that was, I felt so much better after my class. Now I'm just waiting for a nice facial appointment that my mom's treating me to, and deciding where to go for dinner tonight with my family and Christian. I'm thinking either Malaysian or Korean... this time I'm making the decision- it's time for something other than Chinese at Pacific Mall!

Posted by mich at 12:28 PM | dreams [1]

March 7, 2006

Being Published Again

Back in December I had posted up pics of my DisneyWorld trip on my Flikr site. A few weeks later, I had received an e-mail from an editor of a book called Scrapbooker's Guide to Walt Disney World asking for permission to use a bunch of my photos. I thought it was pretty cool that someone just found my photos and wanted to use them... and of course I gave permission. Over the weekend I received an e-mail from the author saying that I'd get a free copy of the book and inviting me to the book's launch party in December at Walt Disney to help sign autographs. Pretty exciting! Now if only someone will help sponsor me to go to Disney o_O

I always knew that March had the most birthdays of the year, but I didn't realize how crazy it actually is. For some reason this year, it seems like everyone's celebrating their b-day on the same day as me (ok, I exaggerate... only THREE). So now I have three friends who can't come out on Saturday because their friends had planned their b-days way in advance. Oy, seems like next year I need to start booking people one month ahead!

Posted by mich at 6:39 PM | dreams [0]

March 5, 2006

Strange Coincidences

Weird night last night of 3 random meetings with people.

I went to pick up the Austrian girl Janine at her place in Little Italy and we walked to Oasis for the AIESEC dinner that was supposed to be at 8pm. We got there 15 minutes late, but there was only one person who had arrived before us. People only really started coming in at around 8:45, most of whom were from York U. Later met a few more people from U of T, Brazil, and Germany, all of whom were so friendly and great to talk to. Because of all the stragglers, we only started eating dinner at 9:45. The meal was tapas, which is basically like Spanish dim sum, where you order a whole bunch of tiny dishes to share with others. There were quite a few interesting dishes, most of which were pretty spicy... unfortunately, Janine wasn't too big on the spiciness. She did have a great time though and got to mix and mingle with a bunch of people.

I, on the other hand, was so late for Branco's b-day at Raq n Waq because of the late dinner and because it took forever to get the bill sorted out. At College & Spadina I ran after the streetcar that had stopped at the intersection but it took off without me. So while I was waiting for the next one, I saw my sister's friend Mike, who I had met last summer at the Electronic Music Festival, walking towards the shelter. I was staring at him trying to figure out whether it was him, but because it was so dark, he looked kinda of scary. He started staring back at me, so I was afraid it was because I was staring for so long. But he recognized me too and we both started saying "Aren't you...?" It was so random too, because the last time we saw each other was in the fall when we were volunteering for the McLuhan Festival of the Future, and our encounter started the exact same way. It turned out he was heading the same way as me so I had company on my way to Branco's party. But when we transferred at Queen Street, a half empty streetcar just drove past us without stopping to pick us up, delaying me even longer. I hate the TTC.

Inside the Raq n Waq, I noticed this girl that kept staring at me. Finally she came up to me and said I looked really familiar and started asking me questions. Are you from Richmond Hill? Yes. Did you go to Bayview SS? No. Are you sure? You look so familiar...?? And then it hit me. It was happening all over again. Two years ago I was shopping at a store in Hillcrest Mall, and the cashier said she knew me. I had no idea what she was talking about, and when she insisted that she was my neighbour I thought she was out of her mind. But it turned out that she really did live on my street, and I just have no idea what my neighbours look like. Flash forward to last night, and it was happening all over again. The girl was the same neighbour! (When Christian asked me whether I know any of my neighbours and I answered no, he didn't really think that I REALLY don't know my neighbours). The funniest thing however, was that we knew random facts about each other, like my mom's name and what school she goes to (although we didn't know each other's names). As it turned out, the girl's boyfriend was one of Branco's best buddies. What a small world.

On the subway ride home, I noticed two semi-familiar looking girls from my high school. They were a year younger than me and I never spoke to them, so I wasn't really sure if I was just delusional. But once we stopped at a station and everyone from the gorup stood up, I saw one of my old classmates whom I hadn't seen since graduation. As she was stepping out, she saw me and started smiling and waving, but we didn't get a chance to speak. It was a fleeting moment, but it was kind of nice to see an old friendly face after many years.

Posted by mich at 9:23 PM | dreams [1]

March 4, 2006

Back To School, Again

Started my Advanced Flash course at Ryerson last week. I was the only one in the class that hadn't taken any previous Flash courses, but I basically taught myself enough things to create a whole website. Well, when I told the instructor that I hadn't taken any courses prior, he asked, "Are you any good?", to which I feebly responded, "... ummm I studied computer science..." which I guess was supposed to imply, "how hard can it really be?" Turned out that the next 3 hours of class was probably the most useless class I've ever sat in, since the guy was going over Actionscript basics, like how to declare variables and explaining what loops are. After that I realized I should have said, "Yes I AM good!", LOL. Man, was I bored out of my mind... I seriously considered dropping the course, but others have convinced me to stay just to get more practice in Flash by doing assignments and projects. And it will give me incentive to finish up the site for the fashion designer, and get me moving on building my photography portfolio site.

I just got the first magazine of my Maisonneuve subscription, woo hoo! I had ordered the special box set in December, which came with 6 past issues, a POP Montreal cd, and other cute trinkets packaged in a sweet wooden box. I've only read 2 of the past issues, and slowly working my way back... too much to read! Not to mention all those books I keep buying but remain unread on my bookshelf. Even though I have time to read on the GO train, I find myself catching up on the Toronto Star, or staring out the window at the scenery- which reminds me, I should bring my camera to work with me to take some shots on my ride.

One more week of my contract at work. I'm not sure whether they have any more projects they want to put me on, but I'm way ahead of schedule on my project (so I got a nice little bonus!). I'm keeping everything open in the event that I'll be jobless after next week. I have my second interview at Much Music on Monday. The first one went really well... I met with the supervising producer and art director and got to walk through the two interconnected buildings, which are pretty cool. The next one is with the producer again along with the technical manager and a designer, sooo wish me luck everyone.

Tonight I'm meeting with an Austrian girl that came to work here for a few months as an au-pair. One of my co-workers was looking for someone her age to take her out and around the city; I figured since a few AIESEC get-togethers are coming up, it'd be the perfect place to take her to meet with other international youths. It's kind of a weird thought to just pick up a stranger whom you've never met before at their house and take them out for the evening. We'll see how things turn out, but I'm sure it'll be fun.

In continuing my long mass-blog entry, I found these two neat websites: designbungalow, and minimiam. Enjoy.

Posted by mich at 3:06 PM | dreams [2]