lynnism

No Longer

2012-01-26T20:11:00.001-05:00

A series of events in the last two days led me to spend the last hour looking for a font that resembled my handwriting.

First, it was that I decided to tweak the layout of my blogger page. I didn't actually change the layout, but just the colour scheme and the banner. Since the last time that I revamped the layout of my page, the templates on this site has changed so much that it has deterred me from even wanting to figure out what's going on. While re-making the banner, I realized that none of the stock fonts available on my applications do anything for me. Nevertheless, I just picked one that didnt offend my palate and got the task over with.

Second, I was rummaging through a super old photobucket account for an old picture I took in 2004, and I came across a jpg that I uploaded for an old online journal. The image had some words "written" in a font Nick had found for me back in the old days that closely resembled my handwriting. Here's a sample of the font:

The slight slant to the left and the connecting "num" with the sharp turns are signatures of my penmanship, which likely no longer exists since I find it hard to recall when the last time I had hand-written. Okay, I lie...I still take notes on pen and paper but the quality of my writing, both from a physical aspect and a content aspect, has significantly declined over the years.

Anyway, after a long and unfruitful search, I still could not find that font. I can't remember the name of the font, nor do I have access to my old computer any more (not something one would think of to back-up when getting rid of an old machine).

What I want to document here though, is not so much my depression on the inability to retrieve an old momentum, but its process that made me realize all the things that are no longer--from the most evident sign of resignation from learning new template features to the more obscure veracity that, due to the availability of fonts, it's actually a lot harder to find a specific font nowadays in comparison to 10 years ago.

Back then, if Nick told me he had found a font that looks like my writing, I could have easily went on the three sites that allowed free font download, looked up three pages available for script fonts and found it easily. Today, there are hundreds of sites dedicated to font downloading, and the category for "script-handwritten" alone has over 90 pages of font with 10 fonts on each page. 900 fonts based on handwriting on a site. 900.

It's been about five years since I graduated from undergrad and almost 3 years since I graduated from my MA; it doesn't seem all that long. But, at our generation, the speed in which life is changing makes these numbers feel like double. To say I am behind on the times and that I don't understand kids today is not that far of a stretch any more--and it's quite scary to hear about kids growing up with a completely difference sense of culture than we had. But what perhaps scares me the most is actually the inability to go back to the way we were. Not so much in the cultural sense, but in the personal sense.

I often tell myself that I need to go back to writing. Although it's quite past the time for me to "cultivate" my "aptitude" to become something, whatever it could have been, it is still in some ways a distinguishment of a self that has been eroded by life.

Just like the ability to sit in front of the computer for hours working solely on the look and feel of a web page, my ability to sit in front of the computer for hours working on a piece of writing is no longer realistic. Too many variables in life has caused me to have abandon the "hobbies" I used to have at a point in my life--and, for the most part, for good reasons. The technology has changed, I have less free time, I have more responsibilities, I have seen more, heard more, know more, and therefore have more clutters in my brain, and maybe I've even developed ADD due to the amount of moving pictures I have interacted with. The reality is that whether those are good or bad reasons, they are nonetheless reasons. To pursue something in the past, especially lifestyle-oriented, is an insurmountable task. That's like going backwards in time and erasing the growth that you've achieved between time. If I were to spend as much time in front of a blog writing my heart out, I would be back to being a 21 year-old who isn't doing that much else with her life and has not learned that sometimes there are things that can't be said out loud.

That is not to say, of course, that what I enjoyed doing is no longer possible to do now, but the question that need to be figured out is whether or not that task needs to be changed to better fit my lifestyle today.

I never have answers any more. Just more questions.
It's a sign of maturity, right?

*Edit: I managed to find a font that's close, but not the original one yet!
**Edit: Here's a sample of my writing:

Running Bread

2012-01-23T12:08:00.002-05:00

lynnie :
so i was looking for some spare container i can put jen's plant in
and i came upon a bag of bread
that was here since 3 weeks ago
and it is fully green
and wet
it was so gross
i should have taken a pic
so nassssty
dripping
[...]
that bread was sooo nasty
i cant stop picturing it

Matt:
lol
it would've been the best if u went to pick it up
and it ran away from u

2012

2012-01-01T01:54:00.000-05:00

So many changes in 2011.
I can't see 2012 being any easier.
But I'm lucky because I have people in my life who love me and care for me.
Not much more one can ask for in life.

Thank you all for everything in 2011.
Here's to 2012.

I love you guys.

Furnishing, Lack of

2011-12-12T09:06:00.000-05:00

A couple months ago, maybe two, I walked down Spadina and saw this awesome green canvas sleeper couch on display that had storage underneath. It was perfect for my place--and it was the right price as well. I went in to check it out but for some reason, I thought I should wait before getting it.

Last week, when I went to buy the couch, I was told that the entire line was completely sold out. The last couch in this nasty steel blue colour was fully wrapped and ready to be shipped. I was inconsolable and vowed that I won't give my heart to another couch anymore. But as fickle as the female heart is, a week has gone by and I have began looking again (this really isn't the first time a couch has disappointed me).

My apartment is still largely furnished with "hand-me-downs" (still eliciting donations--couches, coffee table, shelves, bookcases, flat screen tv, your soul, any crap you don't want) but some how I've managed to live for almost 9 months with the little that I have. Ironically, I'm mostly happy with my set-up. I get a bit embarrassed when people come over and have nowhere to sit, nowhere to eat, and see clutter from lack of storage space (also embarrassed that I don't have a couch for guests to sleep on, and no tv to entertain), but I kinda like living like this. It makes everything a little less scary in some ways because everything feels temporary. I am starting to realize that I like impermanence--it's freeing.

BUT--note that it's not that I don't plan on furnishing at all, it's just that I've been doing it very slowly. I'll get maybe one piece every couple of months (I've added a lamp and a sidetable with an attached lamp so far), mostly from buying things on Craigslist and then reselling them if it doesn't suit my apartment. Maybe when Christmas is over, stuff will go on sale and I can really furnish. Maybe.

In the meanwhile, I guess I'll be spending Christmas alone in my empty apartment this year.
Life turns in funny ways.

The Pseudopod: Come live with me and be my love

2011-12-06T08:16:00.001-05:00

The Pseudopod: Come live with me and be my love

Come live with me and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove
That valleys, groves, hills, and fields,
Woods or steepy mountain yields.

And we will sit upon the rocks,
Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks,
By shallow rivers to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.

And I will make thee beds of roses
And a thousand fragrant posies,
A cap of flowers, and a kirtle
Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle;

A gown made of the finest wool
Which from our pretty lambs we pull;
Fair lined slippers for the cold,
With buckles of th purest gold;

A belt of straw and ivy buds,
With coral clasps and amber studs:
And if these pleasures may thee move,
Come live with me and be my love.

The shepherds' swains shall dance and sing
For thy delight each May morning:
If these delights thy mind may move,
Then live with me and be my love.

- Christopher Marlowe

Dreamers vs Realists

2011-11-24T08:37:00.001-05:00

"There are dreamers and there are realists in this world. You think the dreamers would find the dreamers and the realistswould find the realists, but more often than not, the opposite is true. See,the dreamers need the realists to keep the dreamers from soaring too close tothe sun. And the realists? Well without the dreamers, they might not ever getoff the ground."- Last night on Modern Family

Coins

2011-11-23T10:08:00.001-05:00

The office cafeteria in Suresnes, France has two coffee vending machines. If you want a coffee, it will cost you 25 centime. Therefore to have coffee, you will need change. When someone wants to break for coffee, they go around asking "cafe?"

Me: "Cafe?"

Coworker: "Do you have money?"

Me: "I have 10 cents!" picking up this yellow coin I have on my desk.

Him: "That's not 10 cents, that's 20."

Me: "It is! It says 10 cents on it!"

At this point, we were both confused...

Apparently when I went to the Carrefour (supermarket) this morning, I got a 10 cent Ethiopian coin disguised as a 20 cent Euro coin.

Of course, after being here for a total of 5 weeks this year, I still had no idea what Euro coins look like...

Knife and Fork

2011-11-18T08:06:00.001-05:00

Today I discovered that I use knife and fork like a western uses chopstick.
Yes, it's true.
As I watched the Europeans around me (French, English, Bosnian, American, Spanish) smoothly slice their lettuce and crepe, I noticed that my sawing is quite uncouth.
My goal this weekend will be practising the art of using a knife and fork.
Who knew it was a learned skill?

I'm looking for her too

2011-09-12T03:47:00.002-04:00

H: i am waiting for somewhat sane lynn to return. i think i last saw her in 2008; traces in 2009.

If anyone has seen her, please give me a clue as to where she is.
Reward to be expected.

Wo(men)

2011-09-12T03:33:00.003-04:00

It's been a weird and dreadful day.
Never had I spent a day trying to resolve disastrous situations with the same person over and over and over again. Just when I thought a situation has been diffused, another one arises. It seems like to end a conversation on a positive note has been impossible, regardless of either of our attempts.

It's been a cycle of: indignant treatment--> hold temper --> diffused; new indignant treatment --> hold temper -- diffused. Repeat.

On the one hand, i am proud of myself for having diffused the many problems.
On the other, i almost feel like the whole holding temper thing is quite useless, because if someone needs to feel upset, no matter how many times you try to diffuse the anger, they'll find something else.
It's defeating.

Perhaps the key to all of this is that if the person is in a bad mood, just shut up and let them be upset without saying anything, regardless of how unreasonable they are. And dont bring up stuff that's possibly going to upset them. Everyone has bad days right, i guess you just need to let them have it in peace, like they let you have bad days in peace?

I believe that's how men deal with their wives/girlfriends because these type of bad days happen to women all the time, much of it because they're hormonal. And although men also have bad days, they happen less frequently and very rarely due to hormone, so we tend to forget they also need patience.

This is hard. Which only means putting up with me is hard.

Dear Air Canada

2011-09-11T16:35:00.002-04:00

Hello,

I just checked-in from Pearson Airport and received a really rude treatment from one of your staff. I noticed when I checked-in that my seat was a middle seat, despite that the travelling coordinator at my company paid a surcharge to allow seat selection. When I dropped off my baggage, I asked the service staff why I would get charged for seat selection if I ended up with a middle seat (who would pick a middle seat if they had the option, right?). Despite that I was being polite to her, she informed me that the reason why I got that seat was because my ticket was "cheap" and if I didn't pay that price, I would have gotten no seats, since the flight was overbooked. When I told her my seats were not that "cheap" as they were over a thousand dollars, she replied to me, in a quite condescending tone, "let's put it this way, there are many tickets that are way more expensive than yours."

I have the following concerns:
1. Whether her reasoning was sound or not, I implore you to see the problem with her attitude. Is it common for Air Canada staff to speak to a customer in this manner because she thinks they don't have money? I would have walked away without a problem had she told me politely that sometimes the surcharge is a way to ensure that you have a seat, since sometimes flights do get overbooked; however, she instead decided to demean me without a reason.

2. Is it really true that if I pay $1k for a ticket and you are overbooked, I would not be able to continue with my travel? If that is the case, I can hardly imagine that I would want to travel with an airline with operational strategies as such. I am sure that there will be plenty of airlines who would like to take my "cheap" $1500 and guarantee me a seat on the date of my travel.

Your disgruntled frequent flier,
Lynn

Eating Loss

2011-09-07T14:02:00.007-04:00

I've always been the type that stresses for other people's lack of time management. When I watch people do things last minute, I cringe. I am the type of person that, when a project is due on a Monday, I will try to finish it on the Friday. If it's due on the Friday, it must at the very least be done by Thursday night. I cannot handle the stress of still working on something five minutes before it's due while fearing that it won't be done on time. (Yeah, I know, a load of fun to be with....)

When I'm in a relationship with someone, I have the habit of taking on their responsibility like it's my own. I hate having people work around my schedule, and i hate being the cause of anyone having to wait for me or cancel something because of me...and if I am a part of whatever time-management disaster that's happening, even if it is not my fault, i will stress. And the stress that adds to the existing stress is that i hate nagging. So if I see someone mis-managing their time, I'm stressed because they're mis-managing, and also because i feel a need to nag and i dont want to do it.

I think the most memorable incident that made me realize this was when I was in Seattle at the end of Adam's coop workterm. The plan was that his parents are going to drive to Seattle from Vancouver to pick us up. Adam was supposed to have packed all his things by the time his parents are here and we should be ready to drop off his rental car, get in the car, and leave.

For the entire week, before his parents arrival, I was nagging him to pack his stuff, offering to help him, provided that he tells me what he's going to keep, and what he's not. He was too busy. So the night before his parents came, we were scrambling to get him packed. The next day, his entire family waited for him all day until he was done packing and finishing running errands for his departure from Seattle.

The irony of this all was that he wasn't upset about making his family wait and no one in his family was upset about having to wait for him. The only person who was upset and stressed out throughout the entire ordeal was me. I was beyond angry with him about making his parents wait and about, frankly, waiting until last minute to do things. I absolutely despised that.

You would think that after learning no one else in the situation was upset, I would realize that stressing about things that were not my problem is stupid. But I don't. Throughout our relationship, this type of situation probably happened a million times. I'd be angry at him for not doing things at the time he said he would, or having to cancel on someone or something because he failed to have done earlier whatever it was that made him cancel.

Sometimes I think it's a guy thing, y'know. There are a couple of guys I know that seem to have this problem. They're good at doing things that are "important" on time, but when it comes to the little things in life that, to them, has room for readjustment, they will take advantage of it.

Not to say that I don't procrastinate...of course, I do; who doesn't? But I think fundamentally, the grey area is what is valued at being important for each of us. I am sure that I have procrastinated things in a way that pissed off someone else, who has a even more stringent timeline than I do.

The real issue for me here is two-fold:

I take on the stress of someone else's mistake when it's not my fault and I shouldn't feel bad about someone cancelling someone else because of me if it's not my fault
Why make a mountain out of a molehill when no one else cares and it doesn't affect me? I get it. I'll work on that.
But what if I am the person that gets affected, do I still have the right to get upset?
I volunteer to short-change myself because I am taking on someone else's stress (e.g., I can do the dishes if you have a lot of work to do at work, even though you played fooseball all day at work).
This is probably especially bad for those around me, as Adam has told me many times that when I cut someone slack when I don't really want to, that someone will end up paying for the slack I cut later on anyway (i.e., him).

But #2 is slightly in the grey zone still. You have to cut someone slack sometimes for messing up their time management right? Sometimes a person will cancel on you or shed a responsibility making you have to take it on because they messed up. If it happens a lot, why wouldn't I get upset? If it happens just enough to irritate me, should I get upset?

Ok, yes, I realize this. Being upset is no good in general. Both my mom and Adam have told me that I get upset at these things because I put too much emphasis on fairness. "It's not fair that I have to do the dishes because you slacked off all day at work."

In life, there's no such thing as fairness, or so everyone else tells me. There is a concept in chinese called "eating loss" (吃虧). It's a very complex concept with a lot of implications,bBut put simply, the phrase can be used, really, any time when you feel like you've been short-changed on a situation. So the phrase can be used as such: "I hate going out with John because no matter what we do, I always have to eat the loss" (e.g., he's always taking advantage of me.)

When I was growing up, my mom used to teach me this adage all the time, any time I felt indignant: "Eating loss is the same as taking advantage" (吃虧就是佔便宜). It's a very buddhism-laced adage, as with most wisdoms in Chinese.

Being taken advantage of is the same as taking advantage? Honestly, it barely makes any sense reading it right now, how would it have made any sense to a five-year old child who is upset because your mom made you share your candy with your brother after he dropped his on the floor?

I won't get into how this phrase eventually made sense to me. But this phrase has also made me realize that the difference between fairness and pettiness is divided by a thin line. When you are eating the loss and you are complaining about being fair, according to Buddha or Confuscious, you're probably being petty.

So NTS:
1. don't be petty: cut people slack and be okay with it, it's okay to eat the loss for people you care about
2. don't stress about things that have nothing to do with you.

You can't control what other people do, and it's stupid to be upset at something you can't control. Logically,being upset at what other people do is stupid. All you can do is cut slack, be kind, and maintain an open-communication, especially when I know others are doing the same for me.

Eyelash

2011-09-05T21:54:00.004-04:00

As an Asian, I don't have many eyelashes, so you would think that the probability of the scary scenario of living alone and having an eyelash go into and sting your eye without a person there to blow out for you to happen to me would be pretty low. Alas, that is not the case.

Living alone:1

Lynn: 0

Eyelashes on Lynn's eyes: -1

Cognitive Dissonance

2011-09-05T01:01:00.003-04:00

Sometimes I feel like my lack of academic pursuit will be the biggest regret when I reach the end of my life. I loved every bit of the field I was researching while I was in school, and I've always felt like I have so much more to give.

Sometimes I feel like I'd fail miserably if I did pursue an academic career. Reading the papers of one of my favourite professors in Waterloo makes me feel so small, and realize that I'd have to put in 200% of my brain power and read and write academic papers everyday in order to be at 10% of his level.

I might as well not even try...right?

Masochism

2011-08-27T21:55:00.008-04:00

When I was in Boston, I'd keep all my receipts and about once a month, I'd sit down and sort through them and enter them into my spreadsheet and see if everything balances and hits budget. I had an envelope for every type of receipt: furniture, groceries, eating out, household, clothing, gifts, etc. They were all neatly organized, placed in the bottom drawer of one of our nightstands.

Sometimes, i'd get lazy. I'd have a stack of receipts sitting hidden in my closet and it would take me months before I look through them, which is probably how I just came across a giant envelope of unsorted receipts stemming from the last accountable date of...a year ago.

Rather than just tossing everything out at once, I masochistically sat down and looked at each individual receipts before placing them in the recycling pile. Oh, this one is from Chicago, this from New Orleans, this from the airport before the family trip to Yosemite. Not to mention all the Walgreens, Starbucks, Stop and Shop, Margaritas, Qdoba, and Quiznos receipts. I can look at each one of the itemized receipts and still recall all the events associated with them.

One of the Stop and Shop receipts showed a bunch of fruits. I hate fruits; I never eat them. I remember that night when we went to Stop and Shop and he said he wanted to make fruit salad, in an attempt to be healthier. I protested. He promised he'd break the cantaloupes and melons, wash the grapes, and cut the pineapple--yes, even the pineapple. I was dubious. "Come on, you're just going to let those fruits sit there and rot and forget about cutting them." I was half-wrong. Two giant containers of fruits sat in our fridge, half of which rotted and eventually went into the garbage. It was a good attempt, nonetheless.

The only receipt I allowed myself to save from this giant pile is one of the many that were from Walgreens. On the particular receipt there was a nailpolish, a top coat, an illuminator, an eyeliner sharpner, and snickers ice cream. I don't remember what day or what month that receipt is from (although if i look more closely i can find out), but I recall that day being cold and I was bored at home and it was dark. So we took a walk to the walgreens downstairs, just to check it out, for the millionth time. I remember spending soooo long in there picking out make up on sale while he waited for me in the other aisles, and then feeling guilty about buying make up. So he offered to pay. I remember we walked home hand in hand and for some reasons we sat in the lobby in front of the TV and I remember telling him how happy I was and how it was one of my favourite days.

Getting rid of these receipts makes me wonder what footprints I left in Boston. If these receipts are gone, is there going to be any proof that I had a life there? Sure there are documents like my TN Visa, and my banking papers...but what about about the proofs of my day-to-day there and how i spent my time? In five years, when there are no more little relics and momentos that creep up out of the left field, will the last couple of years feel like another life altogether that I can no longer remember?

Does the past ever matter for our future?

One day, when I again must filter through all the paperworks I manage to horde over the years, I might come across this receipt again and realize that I no longer have a place for it. But for now, I guess it will stay buried among the pay stubs, the credit card bills, and tax papers.

Cat Diairies

2011-08-26T21:08:00.003-04:00

Today for the first time Rumi sat on my lap today for the first time while I worked.

Today for the first time he also pooped on the floor next to the litter box, and for the third time puked out yellow blobs that used to be my hairband which he is always stealthily stealing from me.

I vacuum three times a day to get rid of cat clay and cat hair on my floor.

My couches are also studded with cat claw marks.

I hate having to keep my bathroom and bedroom door closed all the time.

Scooping out cat poop makes me sick.

I don't think i'm ready for kids.

What floor do you live on?

2011-08-26T21:01:00.007-04:00

I went downstairs to check my mail and got into the elevator going back up with two girls and guy in there. While hitting the button for my floor, I noticed that higher floor buttons were lit, and assumed that I was going to be the first one getting out of the elevator.

Elevator door opens and I get out of the elevator and so does the guy. I tell him that this is my floor, and he turns around and says..no, this is 3, and as the elevator door closed, the two girls in the elevator also tells me that it's 3. Too late. The guy goes back into his unit happily and i am left to press the up button for the elevator, grumbling to myself about how those girls should have held the elevator door for me.

Luckily, the next elevator comes almost immediately, and as i exited on my floor, I hear giggling coming from my hall way. The two girls that were in the elevator got out on my floor, thinking it was their floor and tried to put their key in my door, as they lived in the same unit but on higher floors.

We had a good laugh.

Choices

2011-08-16T14:59:00.001-04:00

“In an environment where you can have so many choices, you own the outcome in a way that you wouldn’t have, had the choices not existed. If reduction didn’t exist, women wouldn’t worry that by not reducing, they’re at fault for making life more difficult for their existing kids. In an odd way, having more choices actually places a much greater burden on women, because we become the creators of our circumstance, whereas, before, we were the recipients of them. I’m not saying we should have less choices; I’m saying choices are not always as liberating and empowering as we hope they will be.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/14/magazine/the-two-minus-one-pregnancy.html?pagewanted=5&_r=1&ref=magazine

still learning

2011-08-06T23:50:00.002-04:00

apparently the oven racks are supposed to come out when you use self-cleaning mode for the oven.

Prices

2011-07-30T21:18:00.005-04:00

This lamp is $79.99 at IKEA Canada. It is 59.99 at IKEA USA.

This make-up strip is $21.99 at Shoppers Drug Mart in Toronto. It is $9.99 at Walmart in the US.

When I was little, I used to hear people drive all the way to Buffalo once or twice a year to shop, and I've always been incredulous...can prices be THAT different in the US? The thing is, it's not even the prices, but also the variety.

Ever since I moved into my own place here in Toronto, I've been looking for household items based on my previous experience home shopping in Boston. I was often online looking for things I thought would complement the house, while finding the cheapest prices. Buying things online were also extremely easy. No shipping fees, no tax, straight to the door, cheaper than actually going to the store.

Now? I have resorted to bringing a rather empty suitcase when I have a business trip to the US; drive down to a Target or a Walmart (and sometimes Sephora and Bath and Body Works) and find things that I can lug back to Toronto in my suitcase. Last time, I bought a bathroom shelf that goes behind the toilet from Target for $25 USD. It came dissembled in a box that just fit my suitcase and I lugged it back. If I were to have bought it at Canadian Tire, it would have cost me at least $60 plus tax.

These are the type of things I miss about living in the US...the convenience, the choices, the price. Yes, it's a country meant for consumers.

Coffee around the world

2011-06-27T05:56:00.006-04:00

There's always a slight culture shock when you stay in a country for longer than a week, although it's never so much as a shock as it is just small jolt from having being pulled out of your confined understanding of normalcy (I still recall vividly my experience with buying ham in Boston). The last couple of days, I discovered something similar to how an American might feel when they come to Canada and discover that milk often come in bags.

I'm a bit embarrassed to admit this because I love drinking coffee, but I drink coffee most often with cream (most of the time flavoured) and sugar. The other day at the office, I wanted to have cream for my coffee, only to discover that it doesn't really exist. I walked into a local grocery store and found no such thing. A little confused, I went to McDonald's, thinking they MUST have cream, and not only did I find that they didn't have any, but that a girl next to me said she's never heard of "coffee cream". "Did you mean whipped cream?" She asked me in her charming English accent. Okay, fine, Starbucks should have it right? Nope, not even at their condiments counter. Surprisingly, Costa said they did when I went to ask. They gave me a small cup of it, and it was...really really creamy, but, as delicious as it was, it was not coffee cream.

Looking this up, it turns out that the cream that Costa gave me was quite common in the UK--for desserts. It's called single cream and it's about 20% rather than 12%. The most common cream here is clotted cream, which is approximately 55%-60%. Crazy.

I really shouldn't be surprised though, since I knew that condensed is the normal creamer for coffee in Thailand and Vietnam, so it's only natural that another country would use a different type of milk product as creamer. I don't think I could ever get used to putting milk into my coffee; I never liked cafe au lait and was never huge on lattes. I wonder what I'll be discovering at my next stop in Paris. Two weeks...I think I'll be really lonely.

What language do you use to talk to yourself?

2011-06-21T16:31:00.001-04:00

Census Lady: how many ppl live here?
Me: Just me
CL: What language do you speak at home?
Me: ....

There is no right answer

2011-05-24T14:13:00.011-04:00

I have no window covering at the moment. Considering I live on the sixth floor and faces a building that hasn't finished construction yet, it's not a huge problem. At first I thought it wouldn't be such a big deal, but I have found it to be more uncomfortable than I thought. When the sun rises in the morning, I have trouble staying asleep, and surprisingly, even though the building im facing is contructing probably its 12th floor, there's people working on balcony plexi-glasses (e.g., today) directly facing my unit. Imagine my surprise when I walked out of the bathroom in my towel and then ran back in.

So window coverings...what are the options?
I can:

Hire someone legitimate and professional and pay about $1-2k to cover it
Hire a contractor and pay about $3-800
Buy some blinds and find someone I know to do it, or do it myself, and pay about $2-300

The thing is, this is the exact same problem with every single decision I've had to make in general. I pay more to get it done right, someone tells me I got gypped. If I cheap out to do it another way, either it's not done right, or I have to spend triple the amount of time and ask people to help me to get it done.
_____

Case 1: Blinds

When I discuss these options with people, I get drastically different opinions.

Me: "I think I'm going to pay the price and have a professional big company to do it"
Person A: "Why would you pay so much? That's a rip-off! You'd be so dumb to pay for that. You should find a contractor or do it yourself, it'd be so much cheaper"

Me: "I think I'm going to hire a contractor to do it."
Person B: "You should really be careful about these things, they might take your deposit and run with it, or do a horrible job. You really should do your due diligence and find a reputable person, but you don't even have time. Plus, why do you want to pay someone to install it? Why don't you just do it yourself or find someone you know to do it?"

Me: "I think I'm going to get the blinds and do it myself or find someone to do it"
Person C: "HA! You do it? That's more trouble than it's worth. You'd have to go get blinds, figure out the measurement, have it cut, get tools, and then either do a bad job yourself or owe someone a favour for doing it. You don't even have a car, how are you going to get the blinds? Just pay for someone to do it and you don't have to be so stressed out about organizing everything."

Decision: I got a contractor to do it. $500. He seems pretty sketch, and the guy he hired is not drilling in the holes upright. I had someone ask me why I didn't do it myself or pay someone more to do a better job or spend more time asking around to see if I can get a recommendation. But I did! His work cannot be judged until the blinds are done, but I'm pretty sure I'll have someone tell me I made the wrong decision.

__________

Case 2: Mattress

I need a bed. This includes mattress + frame + a mattress topper of some sort.
I bussed up to Ikea in North York one evening after work and met with my mom there. They had a mattress for with a topper for $350, the frame I want for $250, and then tax + $70 delivery. If I did that, all would be good...right?

Mom: "Why would you pay $70 for delivery? I heard Ikea Mattress is horrible! You're wasting money and you're getting a crappy mattress! You should buy a mattress separately from elsewhere and then your brother and I can help with the frames and no delivery is needed. And you can buy the mattress topper from Costco, we have a costco card!"

Decision: Decided to do my mom's way. Sounds pretty on paper, huh?
On Saturday morning, I picked up the car from my mom when she was working downtown, drove through DVP traffic to North Scarborough to pick out a mattress from an Asian store my mom recommended. It took me four hours back and forth in traffic. The mattress was extremely firm but I had no other choice because I had no more time to keep looking since I needed this to be done over the weekend and this was my only day that I was going to have the car to drive (to Ikea or anywhere else). The mattress is delivered on Monday and after being unable to sleep on this hard surface, I realized I really needed to get a topper.

How am I going to get to Costco? What about my frame? My mom told me she's available on Tuesday to help me with it because she's not working. But the two of us carrying a queen-size frame is difficult, so I asked my brother. As usual, I get an ugly and rude response from him telling me that he works until 4pm, it's rush hour traffic, and that I'm wasting his time. No suggestion on alternative solution, just a simple "what a waste of time." Sooo....am I supposed to assume he said no and do it myself? Or assume that he wants to go on the weekend?

The following is through email:
Me: "Hey, do you wanna go to Ikea Tuesday to help us with the frame? I was thinking going to the one that's closer to downtown (etobicoke, 15 min drive from my place) to save time, since you're driving down anyway even if we're going to the one in north york"
Him: "I'm not going out west a weekday after work...it will take an hour to drive there..what a waste of time."
Me: "Okay when are you available then? What do you want to do?"
Him: "I don't know. It's so much trouble to drive downtown on a weekday. I can't do it this weekend because of blah blah blah."
Me: "Okay? So is that a no? Why cant you just give me a yes or no?
Him: *explodes in a temper tantrum*

Maybe I should have just paid Ikea.

Survival of the Fittest

2011-05-22T01:32:00.006-04:00

Some time this evening, after another eventful day of delays and panic, I told someone that I'm surprised I haven't been eliminated by evolution, since I clearly am unable to handle being out here in the big world on my own.

Not so surprisingly, when I took the Big Personality test (https://www.bbc.co.uk/labuk/experiments/personality) just now, I scored the highest on Neuroticism.

"In the context of the Big Five personality traits, the term 'Neuroticism' relates to a person’s response to threatening or stressful situations. People with scores like yours may find that they often feel tense or anxious, and may well experience changeable moods."

Ironically, "some scientists have suggested that Neuroticism was beneficial in evolutionary terms. Early man may have found it advantageous to live in a population where certain individuals had a high sensitivity to threats to the group's survival."

This explains why I have yet to win the Darwin award; however, the keywords in the previous paragraph include "was" and "early man" (secondary words include "suggested" and "may"), which only means this award may still come.

Restarting

2011-05-16T11:20:00.027-04:00

I have all these little things i need to buy and i keep forgetting even now as i'm making this list...

Things to buy:
~~cling wrap~~
~~cutlery bin~~
~~garbage can for inside of kitchen cabinet~~
~~strainer~~ + giant bowl for washing vegetables
~~blinds (in process)~~
~~frying pan~~
toaster/toaster oven
~~kettle~~
chair
knives
~~salt~~
rice (+container)
~~a container for sugar~~
~~pepper grinder (i have peppercorn but no grinder)~~
~~cooking oil~~
~~butter~~
storage bins
~~bed (mattress, frame, night table)~~
coffee table
~~more jars for spices~~
~~labels for jars~~
~~lamps~~
magnets for fridge
coasters
~~foreman grill~~
~~small vacuum cleaner~~

Things to do:
~~apply for mortgage (in process)~~

sort out my mail issue (in process)
~~check to see if anything is broken to fill out form~~
~~changes my addresses~~

New Face

2011-05-01T23:57:00.003-04:00

Lately the new endorsements for big brands have been pretty fitting. My disposition towards the brand has a 1:1 relationship with my disposition toward the celebrities.

Gwenyth Paltrow --> Coach (tries too hard)
Angelia Jolie --> Louis Vuitton (ritzy, but not for me)
Jessica Alba --> Piaget (tasteful)

Politically Incorrect

2011-03-29T13:31:00.004-04:00

This conversation made my day

me: ok, i need a HUGE favour lol
there's a girl on craigslist giving away moving boxes
i was wondering if its possible for u to help me out :D
so i have boxes for boston :P
and the money i save from the boxes can be many bags of kettle chips

H: u can use my car if that's good with u
u can buy me a drink ;)

me: lol ok

H: i want a bottle of cristal

me: um

H: though the economics of that might not work out for u anymore

me: lol i was trying to figure that one out too
how many boxes can i get with a bottle of cristal?

H: probably a small workshop of cambodians building u boxes

me: hahahahahahahaha i'm blogging that

Easy Peasy on the Fifth

2011-03-26T08:14:00.004-04:00

I'm not a clubber.

I remember in the first two years of undergrad, I went quite often, but I use the word "often" loosely. While everyone went to Tonic weekly in first year, and Afterlife weekly in second year, I would venture to say that I went on average of once a month. And then i went out with mike and we went clubbing maybe four times throughout our two-year relationship. The three single years between the two relationships, I could probably count with one hand how many times i went clubbing.

Below is evidence of how uncultivated i am with the "club scene." Whatever that i'm listing below is probably old news for most people.

Things I learned at Easy last night:

The crowd hasn't changed since the last time i was there (two years ago); they just aged
The crowd also hasn't changed since the last time I was dragged to another club (three weeks ago) because I saw too many familiar strangers from the other night.
There will not be a single night you go to Easy and you won't know at least 1/3rd of the crowd.

This time around, I ran into people i haven't seen from hs for 10 years, and people i haven't seen from elementary for 15 years
Apparently this club is a graveyard for ex-s.o.'s. You will likely meet at least two people you've dated in the past on any particular night. Thankfully none of my exes are now in toronto.

The aggressiveness of men correlates to the lateness of the night. By the time the lights turn on, guys will start to talk to any girl that doesn't look like they're going home with someone (even if they're in mid-conversation with another guy)
I used to think that if you go to a club and you're with guys, other guys will leave you alone. Alas that is not (or no longer?) the case, apparently they are now able to detect the difference between a girl going there with a guy, and a girl going there with someone they're seeing.
Don't leave a tab opened at the bar because you'll come back with a bill that makes you wish you bought that shirt you really wanted but couldn't afford from [insert expensive brand] instead
The bouncers and bartenders are actually really nice
I'm just not made for clubs.

The guy who never compliments

2011-03-23T09:53:00.002-04:00

Andrew after I got off the phone with my mom: "Man I hate China Mandarin"
Me: "uh....thank you? I'll take that as a compliment...?"

The closest he will ever get to giving a compliment.

Rebellion

2011-03-17T09:45:00.004-04:00

Lynn: I got a tattoo!!!
Justin: WTH?! Are you rebelling or something?
Lynn: Against what??
Justin: I dunno...the world? ...your age?

Freedom

2011-03-15T00:41:00.008-04:00

The thing with this tattoo is how "freeing" it makes me feel.

Not so much liberation as much as just a pure sense of freedom. The ability to have that choice with your own body. The fact that it is yours and that it's yours only, to decide what goes on it, stays on it--or not.

It is mine, and purely mine. And it will never belong to another person.

I like having choices, even if I don't end up exercising them.
Fundamentally, humans are made of free will. And without choices, there would be no free will.

Sometimes, to keep me happy, all you need to do is tell me I have that choice, without any conditions, even if you don't want me to make that choice

....and I will likely not make that choice, happily. All I need to know is that I have it.

Getting Ready for Dirty Thirty

2011-03-14T16:02:00.005-04:00

[...]
H: is this u trying to wrangle an LV bag out of me?

L: how do you think i get all my stuff :P

H: hahhaa... i still have no idea

L: lol

H: incredibly low standards? :P

L: hahaha....btw, i have no love for lv...i have yet to find a 2k bag i really want

H: good for u...u can use 2k for a lot more... like travelling...haha i don't get bags

L: in a way i kinda dont either.. i mean i like bags but i havent found one to me will be worth 2k cuz to me 2k bag will have to last forever, never go out of fashion, and i wont ever be bored of it, which is impossible

H: those are difficult criteria to meet

L: lol yeah, because 2k is a lot of money!

H: i don't know if anything in this world could ever meet that

L: you know what im gonan do? im gonna start a handbag fund. if i put 100 dollars aside a month in two years i'll be able to get something thats appx 2400

H: hhaha u could do it. i'd even elicit outside donors..start an awareness campaign

L: what if i just put that 100 dollars in a jar every month?

H: do u even want a handbag? u don't seem like the handbag kinda girl

L: well i keep talking about it like i talk about getting a tattoo...ive been saying for so long i want *one*....i have a lot of handbags tho

H: hahah what is this? lynn impulse era

L: hahaha i know everything i've deprived myself of doing, im gonan do it all at once

H: i feel like ur gonna get tattooed, jump out of a plane, and sew a handbag at the same time...take it easy, lol...ur not on ur death bed :)

L: lol...well i have a two year plan for my handbag!

H: i agree with the plan

L: although 100 is a lot a month... maybe i can do a three year plan

H: a nice 30th bday present for urself

L: lol wooo sounds like a plan!! although i already missed two months..

Coldplay - Viva La Vida

2011-03-07T07:53:00.001-05:00

I used to rule the world
Seas would rise when I gave the word
Now in the morning I sleep alone
Sweep the streets I used to own

I used to roll the dice
Feel the fear in my enemy's eyes
Listen as the crowd would sing
"Now the old king is dead! Long live the king!"

One minute I held the key
Next the walls were closed on me
And I discovered that my castles stand
Upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand

I hear Jerusalem bells a ringing
Roman Cavalry choirs are singing
Be my mirror, my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field

For some reason I can't explain
Once you go there was never
Never an honest word
And that was when I ruled the world

It was the wicked and wild wind
Blew down the doors to let me in
Shattered windows and the sound of drums
People couldn't believe what I'd become

Revolutionaries wait
For my head on a silver plate
Just a puppet on a lonely string
Oh who would ever want to be king?

I hear Jerusalem bells a ringing
Roman Cavalry choirs are singing
Be my mirror, my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field

For some reason I can't explain
I know Saint Peter won't call my name
Never an honest word
But that was when I ruled the world

I hear Jerusalem bells a ringing
Roman Cavalry choirs are singing
Be my mirror, my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field

For some reason I can't explain
I know Saint Peter won't call my name
Never an honest word
But that was when I ruled the world

Letters from my miserable rainy day

2011-03-05T16:16:00.003-05:00

Dear UPS @ 15 Toronto Street: Why would you close on a Saturday when you are supposed to be open, and notify me with a hand-written sign to tell me you're closed today after I get there?

Dear UPS @ 20 Richmond Street W: Why would you tell the website you're there, when you're really not?

Dear UPS @ 20 Dundas West: First, you are not at 20 Dundas West, in fact, you are in the Atrium at Bay, hidden at the bottom floor behind the bathroom. How do you expect people to find you.

Dear UPS: You should have dropboxes that fit boxes. A computer is not that big, why can't it fit?

Dear World: I know i've probably wronged you in some way, but can you at least let me know when the misery is going to end?

Jon Rafman

2011-03-03T10:49:00.000-05:00

LH: Does the internet subvert the idea of a ‘master narrative’?

JR: No, I think the master narrative was subverted way before the internet became popular. I think it had more to do with the failure of major ideologies.

But I also think that we live in one world and we are not so different from one another, and that a universal discourse exists. If I experience fragmentation due to being overwhelmed with data, it may well represent contemporary reality and consciousness. Perhaps our subjectivity changes over time, but it is ultimately part of our shared human history. We are narrative creatures. No matter what, we will create stories that have patterns and arcs and consist of a series of events that can be recounted.

http://bombsite.powweb.com/?p=12240

thank you

2011-02-17T09:29:00.004-05:00

______________________

i have some amazing, amazing, amazing people in my life.

i
am
so
lucky

i
am
so
grateful

thank you.

______________________

btw, for those of you who don't know. i'm back in toronto.

my toronto number is the same. i have a plan now that includes unlimited txt msging and evenings and wknds starting at 7pm.

Back to December - Taylor Swift

2011-02-01T13:27:00.003-05:00

Click to download

I'm so glad you made time to see me
How's life? Tell me, how's your family?
I haven't seen them in a while

You've been good, busier than ever
We small talk, work and the weather
Your guard is up, and I know why

Because the last time you saw me
Is still burned in the back of your mind
You gave me roses, and I left them there to die

So this is me swallowing my pride
Standing in front of you, saying I'm sorry for that night
And I go back to December all the time

It turns out freedom ain't nothing but missing you
Wishing I'd realized what I had when you were mine
I go back to December, turn around and make it alright
I go back to December all the time

These days, I haven't been sleeping
Staying up, playing back myself leaving
When your birthday passed, and I didn't call

Then I think about summer, all the beautiful times
I watched you laughing from the passenger side
And realized I loved you in the fall

And then the cold came, the dark days
When fear crept into my mind
You gave me all your love, and all I gave you was goodbye

So this is me swallowing my pride
Standing in front of you, saying I'm sorry for that night
And I go back to December all the time

It turns out freedom ain't nothing but missing you
Wishing I'd realized what I had when you were mine
I go back to December, turn around and change my own mind
I go back to December all the time

I miss your tan skin, your sweet smile
So good to me, so right
And how you held me in your arms that September night
The first time you ever saw me cry

Maybe this is wishful thinking
Probably mindless dreaming
But if we loved again, I swear I'd love you right

I'd go back in time and change it, but I can't
So if the chain is on your door, I understand

This is me swallowing my pride
Standing in front of you, saying I'm sorry for that night
And I go back to December

It turns out freedom ain't nothing but missing you
Wishing I'd realized what I had when you were mine
I go back to December, turn around and make it alright
I go back to December, turn around and change my own mind
I go back to December all the time, all the time

Roads in Boston: Part II

2011-01-12T19:20:00.000-05:00

Now that you've seen part i, i assume part ii will be less shocking.

This is a fork in the road.

So is this.

So are these.

WTF. So are ALL of these.

Imagine driving down a road, and GPS says "in the next 5km, stay right" (you know, cuz it's a fork), and in 5km, you see the fork, and your GPS says "stay right." You stay right pass the fork, and breathe a sign of relief....nope scratch the last part, because you immediately encounter another fork, before the GPS has time to react to tell you if you're supposed to stay right or left. Last time "two roads diverged in a yellow wood," we "took the one less traveled" and got stuck in an underwater tunnel that was five minutes long all the way to the airport, and had to pay tolls to come back.

Here are a billion "Washington Streets" in and around Boston, Massachusetts. Did i mention that every little district have the exact same street names as another?

Did you catch that there are TWO Washington streets in Boston alone? I highlighted all the other districts to show you how close each area is. These streets are literally five minute drives from each other. Make sure you know your damn zip codes when you are looking up addresses because last time we tried going to School Street in Boston, we ended up on School street on the other side of the town.

Today, i was in Woburn, 15 minute away from Medford; I drove on a street called Washington street, and every street it passed, it was called "Washington Place", "Washington Drive", "Washington Walk"...WTF

If you are feeling brave, try searching on Google Maps for a few other names like Broadway, Main, Cambridge, Tremont...and see how many suggestions googlemaps will give you in massachusetts alone.

This seems simple enough. How to go from Legal Seafoods in Back Bay to an apartment building in South Boston.

This is what happens when you click on the reverse button to switch the directions on Google. Not much more that needs to be said for this one.

Btw, you think my explanation sounds bad enough? Actually driving on these roads with no signs, no arial view, with trees and houses covering the streets...it's about 100 times worth.

oh, and wait for part III

Roads in Boston: Part I

2011-01-11T23:04:00.008-05:00

This is an intersection in the Boston area. We live pretty close to this intersection.

Now, one might wonder, how does a road like this work? What if you want to get from Kappy's Liquor to the Coldstone Creamery? What would you do?

The red is the route you would take.The green? Well it's a quiz to let you guess how many lights are in that intersection
.
.
.
.
Answer: A hundred million.

You can imagine driving through this intersection, the amount of honking, emergency stopping, last minute lane-changes that exists.

Here is another intersection close to where we live.

Let's say you are on the west side of the this parkway and you need to get to Best Buy...how does it work?

Oh what? You think we turned too early? You mean we can continue down that parkway and make a left at the next intersection? GPS certainly thinks so...but you are all WRONG. There's no left turn at the rotary...not even illegally cuz it's blocked. If you want to enter the rotary, you should have have entered it from the first intersection....

What happens if you didn't know and you missed the first turn? Good luck...no way for you to leave that parkway for quite a bit....

You tell me what that is.

Oh, and no, these are not one-off intersections and we happen to live in an area that has them. You can find these 8 way intersections and rotaries everywhere in Boston. Just check googlemap.

My New Phone

2010-12-06T12:44:00.009-05:00

So this weekend, I was officially pushed off the Blackberry bandwagon, and dragged on to the Windows Phone 7 (WP7) Microsoft bandwagon.

"Why?" you might ask.
1. Because M$ + AT&T is giving us a great deal.
The phone is buy one get one free, M$ reimburses the buy one, and the plans are hugely discounted.
2. Because Adam wants it, and everyone else in his office has it.

There were three choices at AT&T for the WP7: Samsung Focus, HTC Surround, and LG Quantum.
For some odd reason, Samsung has been the phone of choice for everyone, probably because it has the best resolution. And, of course, we went with Samsung. I had no objections with that since I've always been a Samsung lover, since my stint with Telus Samsung phones.

To be honest, I'm not a huge phone person. I don't need to have the latest technologies, it just has to do what I need it to do (phone, txt, and now email, internet, and chat), so when Adam was all excited about what a great deal it is to switch, I said okay without putting up much of a fight.

So what is my initial review of the windows phone 7 on the Samsung Focus after having it for two days?

Preface, Disclaimer, Message.
It’s important to remember that my review is hugely biased. One of the reasons why I chose a blackberry for my first smart phone was because I was attracted to the chat functions. First there was E-mail, then there were the IM apps, and of course BBM was something that was irreplaceable. What made it all even better was that I had one inbox where all my msgs were combined into a single spot, be it SMS, Email from various accounts, or BBM. One push notification, one button.

My biggest gripe with the windows phone is that it doesn’t have any of that luxury. Currently there aren’t any, and I mean none, messaging applications. No BBM is a given, no whatsapp is understandable, but no Live Messenger? No Yahoo!? No Googlechat? Not even E-Buddy, which is what most iPhone users have been relying on. My relationship with Google Voice also ended, which was an app that allowed me to call and SMS Canada for FREE. Also, I have my work e-mail and gmail sync’ed to the phone, they are separate apps, which totally sucks. I’m sorry, but this really hurts. Considering those were the only things I ever used my Blackberry for, this phone leaves me bored and wanting.

But, like Eddie said, the market for this phone has not matured yet, and I really do see great potentials for it. The chats are hopefully coming, and either way I’m going to be in front of my computer for most of the days anyway.

UI, Home, Live tiles.
If there is one thing that Windows Phone should be boasting about, is its clean, simple, and elegant UI. It’s really just gorgeous. However, I do have my reservations about whether it would stay this clean once all the apps are available. The hardware consists of three buttons: back, home, and search.

The Home button brings you to the home page, where there are live tiles – sets of squares that are updated in real time. That’s a pretty good feature. So you can see my weather bug app tells me the temperature right now, Adam’s square shows his most status and picture, and the basic msging apps (emails and sms) pushes the updates to the live tile. You can pin as many apps, people, webpages to your home page and order them easily, but I can picture it being confusing once you have too many apps pinned and no other way to organize them. Similarly, if you swipe left, you are at the “all” applications page, where each application that exists on your phone is listed in alphabetical order; again, no way to organize it any other way. Apparently, MSFT wants you to search.

UI, Search, Voice command
No matter where you are in the phone, you are supposed to be able to search for what you are looking for. If you are in the all-apps page, then pressing search allows you to search for the app. If you are in your browser, the search button brings up Bing. Search in the “People” app brings you up a search for your list of contacts. The search window provides you with a little microphone icon for voice command, click on it and you can say what you are looking for out loud. I tried it a few times and it always performed accurately, including “New York Times Magazine” and “Hardware”. Pretty darn cool. You can also command the phone to call by saying something like “Call Adam Mobile”, all of this working very accurately and there’s no fear of accidentally calling your mom when you want to call your girlfriend…

UI, Back, Setting.
To be honest, this simple and clean UI can be a little hard to get used to. First off, there's no OK button. Instead, it's replaced by a Back button, which is very confusing. Every time i do something, I keep clicking the home button instead. Apparently, the idea is that you dont need to SAVE anything. But what is counterintuitive is that there are no shortcuts when you are in a screen. So for example, I write on someone's wall in FB. I touch Post, to send the msg, and then i'm still on the person's wall. Okay, what can I do now? Besides clicking on some random person's name who's posted on the person's wall, I can only press the Back button, which will obviously bring me to an error msg telling me that the msg cannot be posted, since I just posted it. It's also confusing when I'm in any settings. There's no Save or OK, if you click on a setting, it changes it, and then you have to press...you guessed it, Back. Awkward. In general, figuring out where the settings are for each app has been a pain. Generally there is a bar at the bottom where you can touch to get a menu, but sometimes if you touch and hold the title of the page, you can be taken to a setting too. Another problem is that there are so little settings available that you can spend all your time searching for something, only to find out you’ve searched in vain. No, there is no setting that allows you to “like” someone’s comment in reply to your status, nor is there one for changing your wallpaper, they simply don’t exist.

Feature, Basics, Beta
Adam has been loudly complaining about why msft hasn’t been crazily marketing this phone; my theory is that it’s because there have been too many features that have been cut prior to a release so the phone is too embarrassing to be marketed. To illustrate, before we got the phone, I read an article about how there's going to be an exciting OS update in the next month.

The article: It will include customized ringtones, cut and paste options , and turn by turn navigation.
My assumption: You can assign ringtones to a specific person, every call shares the same ringtone. Cut and paste option will be enhanced. Turn by turn navigations--i'd never use it anyway, i always use Google Maps app on the phone.
The reality: There really is no cut/copy and paste. In fact, there's no highlighting either, since that's only useful for copy and pasting. You can't add your own ringtones. It comes with set ones and you deal with it. And there's no Google Maps app. I feel like I’ve been transported to 2001.

To be fair, all that you would expect from a phone is actually there, such as phone, messaging, email, etc. It’s the little luxuries that we never thought were luxuries that are cut. Can I live without copy and paste? Of course I can. Can I live without Justin bieber ringing when my bbf calls, yeah I guess. The upcoming OS update is promising big updates—let’s hope it lives up to expectation.

Integration, People, Calendar.
Another selling point, or the main selling point, of this phone is its multi-platform social integration. This feature is actually a bit hard to explain. There’s an app, or a hub, called “People”, which essentially is a supercharged address book. The settings allow you to link your Gmail account, exchange account, Windows live account, and Facebook account. Once you sign in these accounts, the phone will pull your friends/contact list, all the information associated with them, and your schedules together. When you go to People, a list of your contacts show with their pics from FB next to their name (you can change the setting so that only the manually add show up and not all your entire facebook list of “friends”). Click on a name to see their contact information, touch to call a number, view a website, or write on their wall; swipe left to see their facebook wall. Currently Twitter cannot be integrated, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it comes out in the next OS release. The calendar app is also very cool. It will poll your facebook events, google calendar appointments, and exchange schedules into one calendar and provide you with reminders. Also cool is that all your pictures albums from FB is linked to your “Pictures” app/hub, which is similar to the “People” app/hub, essentially a folder that stores all the pics you’ve taken and saved.

Hardware, Images, Sound.
The quality of the camera is amazing. The quality of the sound, whether from music or phone or movie, is phenomenal. The youtube and its 3rd party supplementary app works great. Adam says there is apparently a TED app. I’ve been watching movies using the Netflix app and I just love it. My biggest gripe with the hardware is how ridiculously sensitive it is. The buttons at the bottom are WAAAY too sensitive. Every time I am doing something, I'd end up at some other screen because my palm hit the back or the search button. As Matt chan put it, it’s rather infuriating. Imagine by anger when I’m watching Maid in Mahattan and every time I had to move my phone to a more comfortable position only to accidentally brush the search button and I’m all of a sudden staring at Bing. GAH! But I don’t know what’s worse, accidentally clicking Back/Search, or accidentally sending msgs when I’m not ready because I accidentally touched Send on the screen, which is just as sensitive. I have a screen protector on the phone, and it makes things worse for some odd reason. When I want to move my screen up or down, it acts like I clicked on something and i'm in some application i dont wanna be in. If i'm in a browser, where there are no links on the page for me to click on, then it will enlarge or minimize the page. Perhaps it just takes time to get used to, but I’m really feeling the frustration.

Apps, Work, Play
What else is worth noting? Today I discovered a few things about my phone. If I’m in the Facebook app newsfeed page (which has very little features as well, no push notification, cannot save images other ppl uploaded of you, cannot like someone’s comment, etc.), I can shake my phone to update. Today when I received an Email with an attached PDF, I was prompted to download Adobe PDF reader app, and now when I click on the Adobe app, all PDFs I saved on my phone is listed there. There is an MS Office app I have yet to try, but it has access to onenote, word, excel, powerpoint, and sharepoint, and it works like the Adobe app where you click on the type, and a list shows up allowing you to access your files. The Games Live app allows you to sign up for a live account, link your Xbox Live games, and download games. I haven’t looked into it deeply other than design my avatar, but it certainly looks promising. Oh, and the browser! Works wonderfully!! It renders webpages beautifully. When I click on a drop down menu, it actually takes me a an options page where each option is enlarged and rendered pretty.

Bottom line, Conclusion, Hope.
The phone is no doubt aesthetically pleasing. The performance is fast, it doesn't lag, and it doesn't bluescreen (!!!). I haven’t found anything that’s broken or doesn’t work on this phone yet. If the feature is there, it will work beautifully. I think that’s definitely something to be said in this fast-paced world where things are released before they are perfected to ensure no one else will steal the market. The phone can be the most awesome thing in the world, unfortunately, at this moment, it’s still pretty far from reaching its potentional. I’m definitely looking forward to discovering new things about this phone in the next few weeks and, of course, the next OS release.

You're Not Like Other Girls

2010-12-03T09:50:00.018-05:00

The other night, I watched Sex and the City 2 from the DVD I ordered from NetFlix. The movie was horrible... I mean I watched the entire run of SatC and loved the show, I even watched the first movie and rather enjoyed it, but this second one just dragged on and on and on without any plot. Every guy character that had some important relationship with the girls from the show had a tiny stint in the movie without a full storyline and yet there are a bunch of plot fillers like some old famous woman performing the ENTIRE "All the Single Ladies" dance routine.

But I digress, as the point of this post is not a review of the movie, but about a very singular part of the theme of the movie. Admittedly, it appears that when making this movie, the producers seemed to have realized that they don't have a very strong plot, so they will have to sell it by luring women with all the ideals in life a woman wants achieve, though pragmatically unattainable. This includes:

A closet that looks like this:
with the rest of the apartment looking like this (in NYC of course, and this image doesn't include their gigantic kitchen:
a husband with a name like "John James Preston" who is a financial tycoon, tall, handsome good looking, and just wants to stay home and cuddle with the wife (i.e., Mr. Big in the movie)
an ex-boyfriend like Aiden, who is sexy, fun, laid-back, travels around the world and is still in love with you even though he's married and have three kids
a group of girlfriends who can drop everything in their rich and busy lives at three week's notice to go to Abu Dhabi with you.
Have a career that allows you to have flexible schedule, including two published books and freelance for Vogue
Go to your gay best friend's wedding and have people go up to you and tell you how much they admire you
Dress up glamourously everyday even when you've been at home all day
Dress up even more glamourously for the evening, when you got to a huge Hollywood premier
Have both the men your life (husband and ex who is still in love with you) tell you that you're not "like any other girl"

Of course, the list goes on, but I stop here because this was something that really resonated with me.

In the movie, Carrie runs into Aiden at Abu Dhabi, and she goes out to dinner with him, and while chatting, they have a moment and Aiden looks into her eyes and says, "you're not like any other girl", and ten minutes later, though he loves his wife and kids, Aiden cheated on them by kissing Carrie. Mr. Big, after finding out that she has kissed Aiden, decided to buy her a huge black diamond ring when she got home from Abu Dhabi to remind her that she is married.

"Why black?" She asks.
"Because you're not like any other girl," he replies.

Beyond the fact that Mr. Big did something so fairy-tale like that this story-line really belongs in Twilight (zone, too, if you will, pun intended), what really behooves me is that Carrie appears to be just like any other girl, and when she does deviate from being like every other girl, it's a trait that no men want.

she spent her life chasing after Big and wanted to tie him down
she doesn't know anything about the world, doesnt care about anything in the world besides her shoes and her clothes, and can't have a conversation with Aiden about worldly matters
she doesnt cook, at all, because, she tells Big, "you knew that I'm not that type of girl when you met me"
she drags her husband out after a long day of work to a hollywood premier that he doesn't want to go to and gets upset cuz he's flirting with Penelope Cruz
she goes to Abu Dhabi and makes out with her ex-boyfriend because Big hurt her feelings

I'm not saying that Carrie's character in this movie has no redeeming qualities, but to say that she is not like any other girl would be a bit of a dramatic stretch. Similarly, every time I hear a girl say that they don't think they are like other girls, it's usually a gross generalization on their part where they have specific traits that don't align with social expectations of female roles.

What Carrie embodies here is a fulfilled desire where some of her traits deviates from the social expectations of how a girl should behave, and therefore she is desired by men (there is, of course, some general sexism going on here that I won't get into).

The reality is, to have this desire is completely normal, and to some extent, benign. Women don't want to be like every other women because it would make them special. Who doesn't want to be special? Every girl wants to hear that they are not like anyone else and that they are special.

So in this case, what makes one special? Should you have to work on being special? There is definitely something to be appreciated when women are able to do extraordinary things in life, such as become the first female president or abandon their common life and perform charity work with people that need help. But plain janes like us, what can we do to make us special?

I have met people who go out of their way to be unique. Unfortunately, some who trash other girls and say they are nothing like the regular girl. I have also met girls who do illogical things to get attention and make them stand out from the crowd.

Should you have to try to be special and unique? Or is everyone already special and unique in their own ways?

And here, I think, is an interesting lesson from SatC2. There is nothing special about Carrie in this movie, in relations to the girls in the entire world. In fact, no one in the world would say that Carrie is a unique character (especially when most girls who watch SatC identifies with her). What Carrie does have though, are people whom she loves who also think that she is special....And isn't this what love is? To have people who love you appreciate you and find you to be unique for just being you, no matter how plain you really are.

And if we are still so inclined at working to become a different person, perhaps the thing to do is just to work at self-improvement, rather than work on being unique? Would that be more unique? Maybe that's why Carrie is special in the movie, because she is always self-reflecting and always trying to figure out what the right thing to do is?

Thank you Movember

2010-11-15T13:39:00.004-05:00

for helping me realize that I find men with facial hair attractive.

Latest realization of turn-ons:

facial hair
nerds who are passionate about humanities (or any sort of field they can excel at--whether finances or technology, but especially humanities).

Already realized turn-ons:

shaved head...not necessarily due to natural hair loss..haha
witty, i.e., smart and funny

All-time biggest turn off:

men who spend too much time on their appearance, including working out and dressing up.

Blind Faith

2010-11-04T11:57:00.012-04:00

I turn 27 in January.

A couple generations ago, at age 27, people were already married for a few years and were having kids. Things seem to have been so easy back then, to find the right person, to be with the right person, and to have a family with the right person.

Or was it?

I guess the theory doesn't stand if you start accounting for all the divorces, and the billions of books on relationship published since the beginning of time.

I grew up in the suburbs and so did most of my friends. We're all about the same age, plus or minus one or two.
None of the people in my groups of friends are married. Some are in serious relationships but with no immediate plans of marriage. Some are in pseudo-serious relationships with no plans of marriage. Some are single.

Those who are single are looking. They deal with their uncertainty in many ways. Some are scared to let themselves take the plunge even when meeting the potentially right person. Some are dating serially in hopes of finding the right one soon. Some try to change themselves, some don't. Some lament about their lack of relationship status, some try not to think about it, some convince themselves that they are happy, some really are happy.

Those who are in pseudo-serious relationships are the ones who are settling. Some have convinced themselves that they are with the right person, even though deep down inside, they are still wondering whether the person they are with is the one. Some know they don't truly love the person and that there are problems, but they don't know what else to do. Some people are happy with settling. Some people are not. Some people are not even sure. But when you settle, everyone else around you can tell.

Admittedly, relationships aren't easy.

In fact, relationships are so complicated that there's just no right way of doing something. I didn't settle and I accepted the fact that I could be single for the rest of my life. But that doesn't mean there aren't people out there who can settle, who wants to settle, and who needs to settle. And there are people who can't bear the fact of being alone. I dated around but I didn't sleep around. But that doesn't mean that there aren't people who don't date around and still found the right person. It also doesn't mean that if you sleep around you won't.

And then there's a difference between being in a happy relationship and being in love. I genuinely believe that you can be in a happy relationship without being in love, but it depends on your personality.

I'm no relationship expert, but here is my take on it...

A happy relationship, for me, is this:

Self-knowledge. Understand yourself, know your strengths and flaws, and don't be greedy. Nothing in life will ever be perfect, but if you can figure out the best ratio for gain and compromise for you, and you alone, then it's easier to be happy.
Commitment. Make sure you can commit to your decisions. If you decided to settle, don't question it and regret it. If you are going to question it and regret it, then don't settle and commit to not settling. If you're always flip-flopping in between, things will never be easy.

Love, for me, is this:

Risk. To let yourself love, and be loved, is always always always a risk. Because you can wake up one day hurt and wounded. Because you can wake up one day alone, and regret never having settled for someone whom you did not love but would have kept you company forever.
Luck. But luck comes to those who are prepared.
Belief. Sometimes it's just blind faith that the right person will come along.

I honestly believe that we all have so much time still to find the right person, as long as we keep believing. Cheesy, I know, but I really mean it.

Politics of Politics

2010-11-02T10:47:00.003-04:00

Walking around the city and even surfing around on FB, I am bombarded with the phrase "Did you Vote?"
Even my temporary MA driver's license said in big bold letters "YOU DID NOT REGISTER TO VOTE TODAY."

The best part is likely when I was at the T stop and a woman tried to hand us pamphlets while saying "Did you vote?" We shook our heads at her, subconsciously rejecting the pamphlet and answering her question. She scowled at us like we are awful American citizen.

Look lady, you can try to shame us into voting, but do you really want a Canadian voting on American politics? We'll turn you socialist in no time! (Okay, maybe not with the recent Ford election...)

The Rock

2010-10-29T14:55:00.006-04:00

I realize the following paragraphs will become a conversational piece, especially for some of you who have been silently keeping up with this blog, but it probably doesn't mean what you think it means.

On my flight back from SFO on Wednesday, the woman sitting next to me reminded me of Kim Kardashian, except in her late 30s if not early 40s. She had long dark black hair and olive skin, and despite she moves and talks with the utmost forced femininity, the thick amount of makeup couldn't hide all the thick and thin lines across her entire face. From afar, there's no doubt she looked good: leather jacket, TNA leggings, still in good shape, etc. It's not hard to tell that she takes good care of herself; from the American Express she keeps swiping on the screen in front of me, the Mac Air she was using the entire flight, and the GIGANTIC rock on her finger, you can tell she has both the time and the money to take care of herself--and she does.

I swear the diamond on her finger was unnaturally large, maybe the size of a dime, and obviously a lot thicker (2-3cm?). I'm not gonna lie, I couldn't stop looking at it and secretly wished that one day I can sport a rock this big. And herein lies the irony---just a few days ago, J, one of my awesome awesome coworkers at Fremont, was telling me how she had a dream wedding last year in Prague with close families and friends for an entire weekend (40 ppl) and a dream honey moon (10 days on a small Greek island, removed from any signs of tourists, at a cottage on top of the hill, overlooking the island) while completely forgoing an engagement ring. Her wedding ring had a diamond on it, but it was not those big engagement ones.

At the moment when J was telling me about her whole wedding, I was thinking that this is exactly what I had always wanted--I don't wear jewelery and I don't care to have a large wedding that requires a year's worth of planning--I just want to celebrate the occasion with people i love, and just have fun.

And here is where I feel like I need to clarify again: If you guys are thinking that I must be wedding-crazy and that you guys are about to be attending our wedding, just know that nothing is happening any time soon.

But yes, I have been thinking about weddings and honeymoons lately, and what I want to do for mine. I can't seem to help it. Recently, left, right, and center, I'm attending weddings, looking at ppl's wedding photos, and hearing people talk about weddings. I know I have mentioned all of this before, but when I was little, I never thought about what my wedding would be like, or what my ring would be like, because I just never thought about it. Now that everyone is getting married, it probably won't hurt to just think about what I would want to do one day, because, admittedly, it is an important day--I don't want to look back one day and regret that I had a nonchalant attitude towards me taking a huge step in my life, right?

Anyway, every time I go to a wedding, hear about a wedding, read about a wedding of someone I know, etc., my mind will change a bit. I do know that I want a wedding with just people I know, and not a bunch of people I've never met in my life. And I want simplicity and elegance, which sounds cheesy but thats the type of cheesy i want.

But what about the rock? Big? regular? or none at all?
Thankfully, this decision won't need to be made imminently.
In all likelihood, if i were a billionaire (or married to a billionaire) i'd want a gigantic ring but end up never wearing it.
Since I am a middle-class consumer, I guess perhaps I should really opt to skip the engagement ring and put the money toward something else. Would that be too pragmatic?

Sometimes I feel like pragmatics and relationships are mutually exclusive. It's like trying to put logic in love...

Blog

2010-10-25T05:57:00.003-04:00

Although I don't blog as much as I used to, which was a few times a day in high school and undergrad and a few times a month at Oculus and during grad school, my online activities has only increased. On the right column, you can still see my rarely updated twitter, my often updated yelp reviews, my whereabouts on my calendar and people's blogs i do follow.

It's probably better this way because my blogs used to have what I thought was better content, but since I've finished school and am on the full working life, my thoughts and my writing have been devolving into series of unfinished thoughts and superficial posts that doesn't entice me to look back and re-read my entires. At least the conversations I have and re-post here I still find amusing.

For a while, I played with the idea that perhaps the (not-so) newly lack of blogging is a reflection on the emo-teen years everyone goes through. It's true that the older you get, the less you seem to want to release all your pent up emotions from your puberty-induced hormones by some form of self-expression. And maybe it IS that I no longer NEED to write, and therefore I don't. But I do miss writing and and the analysing that comes with it. Hopefully, I will make the effort to find the time again some time down the road and practice writing things that are more observational, and if i'm lucky, insightful.

And...this is what happens when I sleep all day and wake up at 2am PST/5am EST...

About my bags

2010-10-11T14:02:00.011-04:00

There used to be a period in my life when I hoarded handbags. It's true. I even made a blog post about my handbag inventory back in the days. In August, I went back to Toronto to move most of my stuff out of the house because my family was moving. It turned out that this "moving" became the purging of all my childhood and young adult life memorabilia. Now that I am writing this blog I wish I took some photos to maintain the memories of the stuff I threw out...such as my gigantic collection of pencils (the ones that need sharpening)...I want to cry just thinking about it. Imagine this: I donated approximately 10 garbage bags worth of clothes, shoes, and bags, and stuffed animals, recycled 3 giant boxes of old paperwork and school work, and tossed out 3 garbage bags of STUFF.

But I digress: I wrote this post because I wanted to talk about my handbag fetish (or lack thereof?). I mean, I feel like my fetish is pretty mild in comparison to many people I have known or read about. When I was young, I had one wallet that I often kept losing and never believed in handbags. When I started going out with Mike, he said he would like me to carry handbags so he can put his stuff there and it was then I began buying a ton of bags. Within our two years and some months of relationship, I must have accumulated 15-20 bags.

About a year after we broke up, my horrible bag hoarding issue also broke up a little (partly because it was replaced by a horrible shoe hoarding problem that's outside the scope of this blog post (but do recall my shoe inventory blog post made a few years ago)). By breaking though, I mean that I stopped subscribing to forums that talk about handbags and I stopped paying attention to brand-name handbags. I didn't stop buying, I just bought less and stopped researching. By the time I was leaving for Boston, I had a gigantic Tupperware of handbags (comes up to my waist) plus a few sitting in my dresser, most of which I donated during the purge.

This weekend, Adam's family came to Boston and we spent literally all weekend shopping. At Wrentham Outlet, Adam bought me my second Kate Spade item: a cross-body bag for our trip to Europe in November. Honestly, I haven't been this excited since he got me my Salvatore Ferragamo Saffiano wallet since last year around this time. While admiring my new KS bag, I decided to clear out my collection to see what I have left (*silently cries*).

And here is the essence of my post: my remaining bag collection.

Salvatore Ferragamo:

Black Saffiano continental wallet <3

Kate Spade:

Cranberry Maddie <3
Black signature Noel Thomas Crossbody <3

Coach:

small white soho flap shoulder (FS)
small navy signature top handle pouch <3
large beige leather madison wristlet
purple signature wristlet
small red soho signature wallet

Miscellaneous:

three nine west bags (2 FS)
two puma bags (1 RT)
one old navy cross-body sling
one big aldo bag
one small aldo evening bag
one transit clutch
one guess shoulder bag
one buffalo back pack bag thing
one pacsun slouch hobo
one guess continental wallet (RT)
one no name oversized yellow synthetic bag I got from HK <3
one no name pink shoulder bag I got from TW (RT)

Total: 24ish
FS: I want to sell them
RT: Ready for retirement (donation)

At this point, if you are still reading, you probably have realized that I am totally quantity > quality. I don't own any real haute-couture bags like Chanel or Prada or BV or even Gucci and LV...mainly because I can't afford them. I've been threatening adam that i'm just gonna go out one day and buy a $3k bag, but I have yet the courage. I also keep asking myself whether i would actually keep a bag forever and use it regularly for the rest of my life to make that money worth it at my income level, and the answer has always been no.

Also note that I have rather large coat collection....

My blank is better than your blank

2010-10-05T19:34:00.002-04:00

lynnie: plus, im convinced that no matter what ur place looks like, mine is gonna be better
MUAHAHAHAHA
Matt: disagree
lynnie: you would, wouldnt you
Matt : mine has hand laid wood floors
yours has BOSTON
ergo, mine is better
QED
lynnie: yours has you, and mine has ME
ergo mine is better
QED
:D
Matt: it has not been established that u are better than me
therefore your argument is flawed
lynnie: haha so is urs
Matt: whereas my floors are DEFINITIVELY better than Boston
lynnie: how does that even work
my car is better than your slippers
Matt: well you see
matt's floors = awesome
and boston = the suck
lynnie: my lamp is better than your door
Matt: and since awesome > the suck
lynnie: my bathroom is better than your pencil
Matt: then by association, matt's floors > boston
lynnie: my book is better than your chair
Matt: yo man, my pencil totally owns ur bathroom
u have not seen my epic pencil
lynnie: LOL
my tissue box is better than ur booger
Matt: if God wrote the commandments w/ a pencil he would surely use one just like mine
unfortunately he actually chiselled them into stone
lynnie: my chisel is better than your stone
QED
Matt: I don't have a stone
lynnie: wait
i dont have a chisel
nm
Matt : lol even if u did that would not be a particularly sour point for me
lynnie: my name is better than your mirror
my elevator is better than your middle finger
Matt: my hour is better than your LIFE
lynnie: haha, see finally u make a comparison that makes sense, though untrue
Matt: or... completely true
lynnie: fine u can have that one
Matt: LOL
lynnie: but my apartment is still better
Matt: I'm not sure that's the one u wanted to give up Lynn

old ppl stuff

2010-10-04T00:46:00.004-04:00

Things to remember when renovating a house:
- always have light in the shower rooms and tubs for easier cleaning
- tubs are easier to clean when not attached to the wall (standalone)
- drain for the tub needs to be removable
- toilet too close to the wall = harder to clean the floor
- floors and counters with material that never looks dirty are hard to clean
- cabinets too high are stupid
- make sure shower head is detachable for cleaning rest of bathroom
- double-sinks are awesome in the kitchen
- best type of stove is the electrical spiral ones

...to be continued

One In, One Out

2010-09-27T01:07:00.003-04:00

Adam has this ridiculous policy called "One in, one out", referring to my clothing and shoes shopping habits. When I buy a new pair of shoes, an old pair of shoes needs to go. If I buy a new piece of clothing, it must replace another piece of existing clothing in my closet.

Yesterday, one of my sandals broke, which means I can now legitimately buy a pair of new sandals without Adam nagging, as opposed to sneaking them in and then arguing with Adam when he discovers the addition, which is what I usually do.

Hurrah!!

Hey Mr. Postman

2010-09-23T19:57:00.004-04:00

So it's been almost a week since we received any mail.
Normally i wouldnt be worried except i was supposed to have received my credit card bill and Netflix dvd at least three days ago, but nothing.
Someone in this world has our mail right now, and I'm wondering what they're doing with it...who knew I'd be missing mail?

What is this world coming to?

2010-09-21T15:37:00.002-04:00

Recently, I've been hanging out on a public forum. I've been participating in the chats and reading people's opinions on anything and everything. Perhaps it's a site-specific issue, or perhaps its an American thing (the site is local), or perhaps, even, it's just my lack of experience on Internet chat forums, but in these forums, a lot of time is being spent on arguing left wing vs. right wing perspectives on every-day social manners, such as whether people should bring coffee into a restaurant, whether a guy should pay for dinner, and whether you should dress up to go to a restaurant or to go on an airplane, etc. etc. Most of the time, you get extremist trying to argue that the world is going haywire and society is debased.

Today, someone even started a thread about how the world is falling apart because children spend too much time indoors with the internet and other gadgets and that curiosity is no longer upheld as a important part of life.

So, because I don't know how to hold my tongue, I replied:

I know I sound like I'm just asserting my same points in all the previous threads , but perhaps the arguments people bring out in these threads essentially converge into the same thing about what is this world coming into.

I, too, grew up in the early 90s where cell phones were the size of bricks and a game console system is for families with a lot of money. I loved hanging out with my friends on my bikes to go to the park or local convenient store to buy chips and candy with my measly allowance. Sure, I have my reservations about the way the next generation is growing up--I mean, is spending all this time in front of electronics and the Internet good for them?

But the reality is, I don't know.

I don't think curiosity is obliterated because we spend time indoors. In fact, because of the Internet, I probably gained a lot more knowledge, useful for not, than I would have should Internet not have existed my entire life.

I also am reserved about the argument that we don't appreciate things like music and books because they come more easily at our disposal. To regurgitate what I've been saying in many other threads, thirty years ago, our grandparents were lamenting on the generations deteriorating and that they spend TOO much time in record stores and disco clubs.

I am neither arguing that society is changing for the better or for the worse. To me, it is just a plain fact that society *is* changing, as it always is and always has been. And with these changes, what doesn't change is the social responsibility of improving the changing system and ensuring that, in spite of new values and new manners and new grammar, even, the fundamental ethics in life, and more importantly, humanism, are still continually being taught and nurtured into the next generation, whether it is through social media or through any other lifestyle choices and means of entertainment and living.

UP

2010-09-18T11:41:00.002-04:00

Regardless of how many times I watch up, I always bawl my eyes out at the opening sequence and the part where he goes through the Adventure book last time, and then let her go. My all-time favourite movie., though I always struggle before watching because I'm not sure if I want to suffer the emotional ordeal.

story of a live-in couple

2010-08-19T13:11:00.005-04:00

adam: i have so much to do....[lists his things]
me: do you want me to help you pack then?
adam: yeah, sure
me: ok, what do you want to bring? which shirts? the orange polo? blue-stripe polo?
adam: uh....what?
me: the polos, which ones? the orange one or the blue stripe one or both?
adam: ...oh! both
me: ok, what about t-shirts and shorts?
adam: uh...what?
me: t-shirts and shorts? which ones?
adam: you know when my parents go on vacation, my mom just packs everything for my dad.
me: .........

Do you see two common themes?

2010-07-22T11:25:00.004-04:00

J: speaking of forgetting to bring (haha) thank you for delivering my watch to Jen next week :D
L: oh yeah
dammit i better remember that
maybe i need some incentive for me to remember
J: hahaha
Daily fb wall reminders, with personalized messages attached?
L: um, that will make me forget :D
J: evil :*(
L: so lets talk about incentives :D
J: lol, what is it going to cost me
L: i dunno...what do u have to offer?
J: friendship? Baskin Robbins coupons?
L: not free ice cream? just coupons?
...how valuable is your watch again?
J: it has sentimental value!!
fine free ice cream!
L: which means it's invaluable you would say?
and that it's worth more than the cost of the watch itself
hmm....
J: lol I am so being hustled
L: and ice cream is what? $3.00?
J: plus tax
L: i am thoroughly enjoying this
in case you haven't noticed :D
J: yes, I am fully aware!
L: so 3.50 for a very nice Seiko watch with invaluable sentimental values attached
sounds like i'd be gypped if i accept this offer
J: damn it, if you were Adam I could throw in ***ual favours :(

[subject was conveniently changed]

[some 20 minutes later]

L: btw, what's it feel like to be without your watch?
J: I had to revert back to an old watch that ran outta batteries! So I replaced that. It's weird. A lot heavier than my other watch, took some getting used to
L: oh, so i guess you really would like your watch back, huh
J: what do you think?! :P
L: oh, i'm just making sure, that's all
it's important to put a fair price on what i'm selling so fact check is warranted :D
J: :(
L: haha
sad face doesnt work on me
i use that on other ppl all the time
J: :****(
L: you still have four days to make acceptable offers
so no worries
lots of time to think about it :D
_________________________________________________
E: yo
L: yaow
E: did you pass my Quest shirt to Jay Kwan?
L: erm...no...lol..
we forgot it at home
we should keep it hostage until u pay us back tho
hahahaha
since now im hustling jay
i might as well hustle u
E: we'll be mean to you
L: How? im not even in the city
E: when we visit you
hahahha
L: haha, u cant visit me and be mean to me
that defeats the purpose!!
E: yes i can! i can go see Adam.
hahhahh

Cougar Alert

2010-07-20T20:52:00.004-04:00

Yesterday, I posted the following on my FB:

Mike Zhang and I are trying to figure out who I should go for, Leonardo DiCaprio who is 8 years older than me, or Taylor Lautner who is 8 years younger than me. The real questions is, which one can I pull off better, dating an 18 year old or a 35 year old? Btw, Inception has rekindled my love for Leonardo DiCaprio. Gotta dig out my old posters from Romeo & Juliet and Titanic ♥

It garnered a lot of responses...mostly girls.

And then monica msged me today.

_________________________________________

- mun.:
lynnnnnnnnnnnnnie!
so did you decide
leo or talyor

Lynnie:
hahahahahahahahaha
whoever i can get!
i think taylor might be tired of all the old women drooling over him

Lynnie:
i just googled taylor lautner
his abs are....
i feel like a pedophile

- mun.:
hahahhahahahhah
DROOLS?
hahahha..
you must have saw this one
http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://cdn.buzznet.com/media-cdn/jj1/headlines/2009/03/taylor-lautner-shirtless-abs.jpg&imgrefurl=http://justjared.buzznet.com/2009/03/19/ashley-greene-taylor-lautner%25E2%2580%2599s-shirtless-scenes/&h=300&w=300&sz=24&tbnid=YcGHK-pdvvqzTM:&tbnh=116&tbnw=116&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dtaylor%2Blautner&hl=en&usg=__4ME35vAu-9qGskws5JQ_ZXBG7ic=&sa=X&ei=-kNGTKaSJ9CKnQem09HiA
8 pack!
hahahhah

Lynnie:
i did! i asked adam if they were photoshopped
he said they were real

- mun.:
well
how do you tell
look kinda airbrushed in that pic

Lynnie:
thats what i was telling him
and i said makeup helps it get defined better
but then we looked at a few other ones
and he deemed them real
i'd like them to real
so im really not gonna refute that

Testing the i___

2010-07-18T03:16:00.002-04:00

I'm currently on the adam's iPod touch using the app called blogwriter lite. I'm pretty impressed with this gadget. The iBook app is my favourite. I think if I had an iPhone I'd end using it 24-7 because I can do anything on this almost anywhere. Crazy. I'm still not a fan of the touchscreen keyboard though.

Inception is a must-see

2010-07-17T02:42:00.006-04:00

Inception is not mind-blowing: the ideas are all too familiar, there is no profound or thought-provoking ideas.
Inception is not a challenging piece of puzzle: everything is explained before you need to figure anything out.

Inception is well-executed in story-telling, cinematography, special effects, music, casting: 3 levels of reality happening at the same time, haunting actors, beautiful scenes, and full 2.5 hours of tension, suspense, and dramatic music.

Inception is essentially a menage of classic greatness:
There is nothing new about the content, you can find all the ideas in many classic psychological sci-fi thriller, and, of course, Freud.
There is nothing new about the style; you can see shadows of the Matrix, Ccean's Eleven, James Bond, Blade Runner, 2001.

But it makes you feel like you're watching something completely new and original.

It is a good story that was told in a way that made it better.
It is a real "good movie"
It is what all movies ought to be.

If I had to say one bad thing about the movie, it would be that it was too packed with action--Non-stop from beginning to end--I'm not sure how my heart handled it.
But for some, that only makes the movie that much better.

Go see it.

Technology Overload

2010-07-15T10:50:00.013-04:00

Last night, I reformatted my Netbook from XP to Windows 7, with negative help from the boyfriend. Kudos to Microsoft, and technology in general nowadays, for making everything so dummy-friendly. Actually, to be fair, I gotta thank my brother who managed to provide me a uber copy of windows that had every edition on a formatted usb flash and all I needed was a product key. If I had to format my usb key into an hdd I don't know if I'd ever reformat...

It's funny though: I bought my netbook right before I went back to Taiwan so I can bring it everywhere with me. I left my darling VAIO at home for my mom, gave back the XPS to Oculus and I was left with this tiny little thing that lags when I (used to) play Restaurant City. Not to say that it didn't serve me well while I was in Taiwan, but by the time I got to Boston, the netbook was left in the tiny apartment corner and only taken out when we felt like streaming something to watch in bed, which was very rare.

To be honest, the Netbook lost its glamour when we each got a Blackberry. The BB is no iPhone, in that surfing the net is not "ideal", but it serves its purpose for FB, twitter, google map (!!!), whenever we need to look up life trivia, and, of course, definitely for E-mails and messaging.

So after I installed all the necessities back onto my netbook, I looked at its pretty face and wondered when will be the next time I'm going to use it; all the while, Adam is sitting next to me YouTubing videos of basketball players and cars on his iPod Touch.

And here it is.

Between Adam and I, we EACH have:

a work desktop,
a work laptop, and
a blackberry;

Together, we have:

a new Dell Studio desktop,
a Netbook,
and an iPod Touch.

How many other ways do we need to be connected to the interwebz?

Seriously, we have no need for more machines. We can't even find a use for the desktop and netbook at home anymore. We thought about hooking the desktop up to stream movies on TV but it was too much work, both setting it up and actually using it (on top of that Netflix and HD channels provide an over abundance of entertainment). At this point, even my mother has more machines than she can use (my leftover desktop and laptop and my brother's leftover desktop...)

Adam and I have been thinking about getting a Mac (iMac? MacBook? Mac Mini?). One can argue that getting a Mac is not about purpose, but just about keeping up with technology...right?

I think they should rename our generation to generation spoiled.

But don't worry, we currently do not have the funds to purchase an expensive Apple item.

Oh, and I forgot to mention, most of the stuff I have is red...including my desktop that's not pictured here.

It's ALIVE!

2010-07-13T11:25:00.009-04:00

No one in my family has a green thumb..in fact, the concept of having plants was obscure to me until my first coop term, where, at the end of the term, I received a pot of plants as one of my goodbye presents. At first, I was confused and excited...ooh my very own plant. I placed it next to my window and watered it religiously..until one day, I discovered fruit flies around the plant, at which point, I tossed the whole pot into the garbage and brought it down the garbage chute. Insects in the house...didn't know civilization was going backwards(!!!)

We were at IKEA a couple months ago, trying to figure out how to make our place look better with decorations and we bought some art and I wanted some fake flowers or sticks as decor. At the fake flower section, I saw a bunch of fake potted plants, because, y'know, IKEA isn't a nursery so it's gotta be fake right?

I spent a lot of time picking out the best looking plant ("Wow, Adam, these are amazing! No two fake plants look alike, they must spent a lot of time on the mould!"), accidentally depotting some by picking them up from their stem, and getting soil all over the floor and my clothes ("Man, Adam, IKEA is amazing! Can you believe how many realistic looking plants they have? Even the soil looks real!"). I even bought a white plant pot to put the plant in, because that would match our bathroom better than the ceramic looking pot in which the plant was plotted.

A few months later, while I was in the bathroom, I found a brown leaf on the floor. Weird, I thought to myself, where did we go to attract a brown leaf into the house.....if this were a movie, there would a loud "DUN DUN DUN" from the background music the moment it hit me and i looked up at the plant sitting on the shelf.

I've been watering it regularly now. It still looks unhealthy. I just looked up instructions on the IKEA website and it says to leave it in bright, but not direct, sunlight. There's no room where our window is for that plant and having soil in the bathroom is enough for me. Mr. Real Plant, hopefully you can survive in our bathroom with being watered whenever I remember and am feeling sorry for you....Just pray that you're not going to attract any fruit flies, k?

How much is it worth?

2010-07-10T19:09:00.004-04:00

Adam and I were on a mission today to go to the mall to return a bunch of stuff. Two weeks ago, Adam and I went shopping for summer clothes and I bought a bunch of stuff from Aeropostales, only to find similar stuff for a lot cheaper at H&M and the AE outlet (I know some of you cringe at the thought of returning stuff, but I'm all about the buy first, decide later policy that all retail stores push for hahahaha).

Now there was a halter top I bought at H&M (without really trying cuz the line was too long) and a pair of jeans from AE that didn't fit me right. These items costs $5 and $14 respectively and many people would say, oh why bother trekking all the way to the mall to get $19 back. And they are probably right, but since I need to return a large $$$ worth of stuff at Aero anyway at the mall, why not right? If I don't, they would just end up sitting in my closet (like another shirt I bought for $7 at H&M) with the tag still on and never be worn.

So I'm at the H&M store, holding my $5 piece of cloth and the line was ridiculously long. I'm at a cross-road here. Is it worth the time to line up? One might argue, yes, you're there anyway, what's another 15 minutes, $5 is still money, while another might chastise: $15 minutes is worth way more than $5.
___________

Last week, when I went camping, I noticed Adam's cousin-in-law with a beautiful looking pedicure. I've never gotten a pedicure before, and have only gotten manicures twice. If you can find cheap places, a mani+pedi is $30. If you don't look hard enough, a mani can cost you $25 while a pedi $45.

Now, if you decide to do your own at home you can buy your own nail polish for $5 and the top coat for $7. And if you want really do it up, a nourishing undercoat for $10 or add a kit (like I did) for $40 and you can get french tips or stamps of designs for $45. Ok, so the cost is about equivalent but with a spa treatment you get to have exfoliation, scrubs, aroma oil, massage while with a DIY kit, you can do your nail polish over and over and over again, up to 20 times(!) with the same amout of money.
__________

Sometimes, when I have a rough day at work, and I don't feel like cooking, we eat out. Sometimes I have a rough week at work, and I run into this dilemma: We've been eating out for the last two days, there's produce in the fridge that's rotting, but I'm so hungry and exhausted and by the time I'm done cooking I'd be insanely hungry and cranky and we'd still have to clean...but if we eat out, the food is expensive, and the produce would be wasted AND it's less healthy.
__________

Some of those who values the importance of money would tell me: stay in line and return the shirt, buy your own nail polish and do it yourself, and eat at home.
Some of those who values time, convienence, and comfort might tell me: don't stay in line and donate the shirt, go treat yourself at the spa once in a while.

What do/did I do? I stayed in line and returned the shirt--it's going to clog up my already collapsing closet. I have bought my own expensive nail polish kit before--my enthusiasm lasts for about two times and now i have ugly nails all the time. I sometimes suck it up and cook, sometimes we end up eating out for a week.

Growing up and living an environment where we're more privileged than many others, there really is no right answer. My only solution to this cognitive dissonance is a philosophy to not be wasteful. If I don't return that shirt, I'd be wasteful. If I buy nail polish I'm never going to wear I'm going to be wasteful. If there is food at home and I don't cook it, I'd be wasteful.

That's my goal now..less waste the better, though I might still have ugly nails because I'm too cheap to go get manicures often, but at least I won't have bottles of nail polish in the closet that dries up before they are done.

Rogue Hero of our Building

2010-06-29T10:16:00.021-04:00

Living in a condo, one of the conveniences is being able to take your trash out whenever you want and tossing it down the trash chute.

The rule of the building is, if you have large items that don't fit down the chute, you are allowed to leave it in the chute room. If these items happen to be recyclable, they will not get recycled. Although we do have a large recycling/trash room downstairs, many people get lazy and just don't recycle their large boxes.

I don't know if this happens just on our floor, but we also have some lazy (or germ-phobic) person(s) who enjoy(s) leaving their garbage bags in the trash chute room, rather than tossing it down the chute. This makes the room smell pretty badly, needless to say. So after a couple of these incidences, we saw a hand-written sign taped next to the chute by a fellow resident that asked, not very politely, for the person who does it to stop.

When I saw it, I giggled uncontrollably: "So I'm not the only person who gets annoyed, eh!" I tell Adam. Unfortunately, that sign did not scare anyone except for the building management, who replaced the sign with an official notice that stated what belongs down the chute, what belongs in the room, and what does not belong in the room. Nevertheless, the disrespect for rules (or illiterateness) continued.

Yesterday afternoon, while I was happily (or miserably, you decide) sitting in front of the computer doing my work, I heard a lot of commotion outside of our door that, I thought at the time, could have been from our neighbours across the aisle, but was a little too close to our door for me to feel safe. I chose to ignore it, like all normal (or abnormal) people.

At around 6pm, Adam opens our door from the outside and shows me a sheet of shipping paper taped to our door, addressed to Jessica Something or another, apartment XXX, with a handwritten scribble on the sheet saying something like, "Stop leaving your garbage in the room or management will come get you." Another apartment number XYZ was scribbled across the sheet.

Beneath this taped note, was a pile of garbage (thankfully nothing gross, just a large biodegradable packaging paper and some torn up large boxes.) Oh, so that was what that commotion was...

Hmmm...here's some of my observations and theories:

My name is not Jessica something something, and we don't live in aparment XXX (we live in apartment XXY, right across from XXX). So this rogue law enforcer must have been illiterate like the person(s) doing the littering...

OR, she/he might have some of form of spatial dyslexia

The hand written XYZ on top of the sheet makes me suspect that perhaps the original person who did this put it at the wrong door, but the litterer wrote a different number...

...You know...I can't explain why there was another apartment number scribbled on the sheet at all....doesn't make any logical sense.

Technically, that pile of garbage does belong in the trash chute room, since it's oversized, so it does prove to me that rogue law enforcer is illiterate.

...But to be fair, we live in a pretty yuppie condo, so the chances of people being illiterate is pretty low...I really have no explanations

Anyway, Adam and I stared at this mess for a bit, then we decided to gently nudge the garbage across the hallway and place the note on the door of apartment number on the shipping sheet (not the scribbled over one, since that one was too far down the hall). Five minutes later, I decided that I wanted to take a picture of the pile, but it was already gone...

In the evening, each unit of our floor got a notice from the building manager asking the rogue officer to please stop taking the matter into his or her own hands based on his or her own suspicion...

All I can say is that I am sorry I didn't open the door during the commotion and took a look at our illiterate rogue hero.

Oh, and Adam thinks our rogue hero is a girl because only girls would do passive-aggressive things like that. But I think it has to be a man, cuz it's pretty juvenile and all girls can read.

It's not as easy as it looks

2010-06-28T13:38:00.011-04:00

Buying ham at the deli in Stop n Shop (grocery store)

Me: can I get 200 grams of the lemon chicken breast shaved?
Guy behind the counter: GRAMS?
Me (in my head): *AH CRAP THIS IS NOT CANADA*
Me (out loud): erm...sorry I meant...erm...what do you guys use here for measurement for buying deli meat? ounces?
Him: Uh...pound...
Me: Oh...well is a pound a lot?
Him: *silence while trying to digest my question*
Me: ...I'm so sorry.. I'm Canadian... I meant...what do people usually get?
Girl next to me: Is it for two people for a week?
Me: YES!! YES!!
Her: I usually get half a pound to 3/4 of a pound for that
Me: oh yes! Thank you!! I'll get 3/4 of a pound then
Him: *looks at me* Um...How about we try 1/2 pound first, and see from there if that's enough for you?
Me: oh ok.. let's try that..shaved please
Him: *raises eyebrow while getting the meat*

While he cuts, he tries to make conversation with me about Boston. When he was done, there was about 0.65 lb of shredded meat, that looked like a lot of meat.

Him: Is this too much for you?
Me (in my head): *YES!! And why is it shredded... D: *
Me (out loud): Umm... no...I mean yes...but don't worry I can deal with it...

Lesson learned: they use a different measuring system (duh..) and shaved means something else than what I usually get when i asked for shaved in Canada....
*EDIT* I asked an American friend if they get it shaved, and he said they call it "thinly sliced" here.

my hair smells like vanilla hazelnut coffee

2010-06-14T10:44:00.003-04:00

Things that went into my coffee today:

lead from my automatic pencil (lesson: never click your lead pencil to try to get the lead out above your coffee
my hair (lesson: never try to set up a monitor with ur laptop with ur coffee near you)

At that age?

2010-06-11T15:28:00.005-04:00

I'm starting to get a little sick of reading about people my age getting married and having babies on facebook. Although they are mostly classmates from high school or college, and not any of the friends I hang out with regularly, it still reminds me of how OLD I am and how my body is expiring.
Yet I am so not ready to get married yet, let alone have a baby.

STOP MAKING ME FEEL OLD PEOPLE!

On another note, I wonder what it is about all my friends being my age or older, with none of them close to marriage? Socio-economic background? Which one of you is gonna be first? :D

Oh, btw, Congrats Ben and Yvonne, way to make me feel old =)

Undertaking of Cuisine New Orleans

2010-06-10T01:24:00.007-04:00

Checked

po'boy
crawfish etouffe
deep fried alligator
catfish
jambalaya
gumbo
cafe au lait
beignet
fried oyster on half shell
crawfish bisque
muffuletta
red bean and rice
popeye's (fried chicken..hahahaha)
hand grenade
hurricane

Not Checked

turtle soup (adam tried)
boiled crawfish
praline
rabbit
bbq shrimp
shrimp bisque

Laziness is my tragic flaw

2010-04-19T14:21:00.008-04:00

So as tax season comes to an end, I have a story to share with you about my taxes this year. Let me just begin with a disclaimer about how much I hate numbers and I shall begin.

Disclaimer: I hate numbers.

Ok, so, being the lazy butt I am, I didn't want to do my taxes on my own, especially having to figure out the laws on filing taxes as a Canadian working in the U.S., so I tried searching for accounts to help me. First I went to H&R Block, who told me I was unable to claim anything as a non-resident alien and was highly unhelpful to me. Then I went to an accounting firm who told me they were going to charge me $1300 to file my Canadian and U.S. taxes. On the weekend before the American taxes were due (April 15th), just when I was about to go to H&R taxes to get taxes filed and conceded to the fact that I wasn't going to get a return, Adam offered to do my American taxes, and I'd get Mike, Adam's best friend who is an accountant, to file my Canadian. (Thank you Adam and Mike!)

Adam spent all day reading up on taxes and did the rough draft on my State and Federal taxes. I copied the content to a final draft and mailed it on three days before it was due. YAY!

Today, I sent in the American forms to Mike so he can help me claim foreign tax credit. However, when he received my State income tax, he couldn't figure out where all the numbers came from. Apparently:

When I copied the numbers over, I copied some of them on the WRONG lines.
When Adam did his rough draft and made mistakes, he forgot to fix all of them, so I copied the mistakes.
Adam mistakened one of his 4's for a 9, so, for example, $___4 was on the first two pages, but when transferred on the last two pages, it became $___9.

Yup. So if any State government tax auditors are reading this, I apologize. On the bright side for the government, I paid $5 more in taxes than I was really supposed to have. That counts for something, right?......

Transition

2010-04-13T16:42:00.007-04:00

A lot of people look for change. After graduating, after settling into a comfortable job, they start to wonder what's next. Me? I'm wondering what's next too, except not rhetorically.

The past couple of months...well I guess almost a year now, my life has been in continuous transitional periods. Life keeps throwing curveballs at me and I just keep telling myself I just gotta get through this transitional period. Eventually, I can get comfortable, to know what I am doing, and continue doing it without worry.

Alas, it has been difficult. To call the period right after I graduated unstable would be unfair. I planned to be in Taiwan and everything worked out perfectly for the two months I was there. Even though it wasn't a perpetual gig, it was stable for the time being. Then I came to Boston, for a little less than a month, my mind was filled with what-ifs. What if I can't find a job? What if I find a job and I can't get my TN? What if I don't like Boston? What if Adam and I get into a fight, where would I go?

And then, miraculously, I found a job. My first interview and bam, a job. I came on board in late October as the only technical writer. The last dude was let go and didn't leave much behind and no one knew much about what he was doing. The team lead I was working with on my first project was extremely helpful though, and gave me step-by-step guidance on where to find my files and gave me training on how to use the product. Right after that, he gave his two-week notice because he decided it was time for a change and got a different job. At that point, it wasn't so bad, I had what I needed for that project already and I was able to do what I wanted to do. But then when I was done with the first project, chaos ensued. In January, the company I was working for got acquired by a larger company, and then the developers at my work started to leave one by one. By the time I started on my second project and a new product, no one knew where the files were, not even the developers who were left, and no one cared enough to teach me stuff. It's okay, right? Once I figure out how CVS, or Concurrent Versions System works, things will get better. Another project and some frustration later, at the end of February, it was announced that the office is shutting down. Ok...so now what? Chaos, really. People in the office were busy trying to figure out whether or not they are staying, negotiating for severance packages or a new salary, etc., etc., while I...well I was lucky enough to keep my job, unlike those we were given a severance package then later was offered a higher salary to move to Fremont, I haven't been here long enough to even get a raise. Like I said, lucky to keep my job. And now, as the office is closing down, I just have to get through it all.

You know, I know I shouldn't complain. The fact is that not only did I find a job within a month of arriving here, now I get to work with a team of people, rather than alone, and I have a very wonderful boss/mentor. Now I just have to get through this transitional period where I need to figure out the best strategy to find where my files are before the migration of the servers, whether or not I'm going to be working from home or working from the office, my role as a writer working remotely, and whether or not I can live up to the expectation that has been bestowed upon me, the girl with the Master's degree in English.

Just keep pushing. One day, stability will happen and I will be complaining about how empty my life is....right? Right?

The fine line between ignorance and racism

2010-03-29T11:11:00.002-04:00

So this woman just started to talk to me on the T this morning, asking me where I'm from. When I told her Canada, she started telling me about her experiences in Quebec. Then she asked me where I'm really from. Trying not to get offended because of her assumptions, I told her I was born in Taiwan. She proceeded to ask me where Taiwan was, since she has only heard of Thailand.

Me: Off the coast of China.
Her: Thailand?
Me: No, China. It's an island South of Japan.
Her: *blank look on her face*
Moment of silence
Her: You know half of my family is Asian...I'm not kidding
Me: *blank look*
Her: My brother married a woman from Thailand.
Me: *blank look*
Her: His kids look completely Asian.
Me: *blank look*
Her: They look really beautiful....but you know I'm just worried for them, because, well y'know racism and all....
Me: *stare*
Her: Yeah, the other day, I heard the most racist thing...well, I'm not going to tell you, it's just horrible.
Me: It happens. *turns away*

It's an awful thing, people who are racist without really knowing it. It's not a horrifying KKK racist, just a result of ignorance, but then again, isn't all racism a result of ignorance? What's worse, being racist and knowing it or being a racist with the belief that you're the complete opposite?

I love Sandra Bullock

2010-03-08T13:56:00.007-05:00

I adored Sandra Bullock's acceptance speech yesterday at the Oscars. It made me absolutely teary:

Did I really earn this or did I just wear you all down?

I would like to thank the Academy for allowing me in the last month to have the most incredible ride with rooms full of artists that I see tonight and that I’ve worked with before and I hope to work with in the future, who inspire me and blaze trails for us. Four of them that I’ve fallen deeply in love with I share this night with and I share this award with.

Gabby, I love you so much. You are exquisite. You are beyond words to me. Carey, your grace and your elegance and your beauty and your talent makes me sick. Helen, I feel like we are family through family and I don’t have the words to express just what I think of you. And Meryl, you know what I think of you and you are such a good kisser.

I have so many people to thank for my good fortune in this lifetime and this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, I know.

To the family that allowed me to play them, the Tuohy family, I know they’re in here and you’ll probably hear her in a minute......Maybe not. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to…

The family that made this film that gave me the opportunity to do something different. John Lee Hancock, Gil Netter, Alcon, Warner Bros., the actors, everyone who’s shown me kindness when it wasn’t fashionable, I thank you.

To everyone who was mean to me when it wasn’t… George Clooney threw me in a pool years ago. I’m still holding a grudge.

But there’s so many people to thank....not enough time, so I would like to thank what this film is about for me which are the moms that take care of the babies and the children no matter where they come from. Those moms and parents never get thanked. I, in particular, failed to thank one. So…

If I can take this moment to thank Helga B. for not letting me ride in cars with boys until I was 18 because she was right. I would’ve done what she said I was gonna do. For making me practice every day when I got home. Piano, ballet, whatever it is I wanted to be. She said to be an artist, you had to practice every day, and for reminding her daughters that there’s no race, no religion, no class system, no color, nothing, no sexual orientation that makes us better than anyone else. We are all deserving of love. So, to that trailblazer, who allowed me to have that. And this. And this. I thank you so much for this opportunity that I share with these extraordinary women and my lover Meryl Streep. Thank you.”

Regardless of whether you liked her before this or not, her speech was all win: graceful, humble, and full of class. Not to mention she looked dazzling. Below is the clip, at least until YouTube removes it.

Facebook Privacy Settings - Summary

2009-12-22T15:32:00.006-05:00

I've never been someone who cared that much about privacy. I make some attempts to exert control over what gets published on Facebook feeds (e.g., me making a comment on someone's picture does not get published on my news feed but who I just became with does.) Really, my attempt at privacy was never consistent. For a while, I unlisted myself from facebook public searches, and then placed myself back but blocked my photo, and then I decided to show my photo but take away all other info. I mean circumstance changes all the time and the key really is to make informed decisions--though in the past, I never really paid attention.

I remember when FB rolled out their mini feed and home feed and everyone can get stalked...that created a huge disgruntlement among users but I thought the feature was really cool...I mean if you dont want people to know then just don't do it right? Recently Facebook rolled out a huge new privacy change and I finally got around too seeing what new options they have given you and what have been taken away. To be honest, I was a little surprised.

Here is a list of superficial stuff that I think matters for the average joe who's scared their boss might find a pic of them drinking.

There is a list of publicly available information that you cannot hide if you allow your facebook link to show up as a search result (i.e., someone who searches for your name on google might see a link to your limited profile as a search result). This includes your profile pic (you used to be able to hide it) and pages you are a "fan" of (why is that even available to be seen?!). The only way to prevent this information from becoming available publicly is to delist yourself from the search results. If you did not previously hide your friends list , that will also show up in a public search.
You can no longer control what shows up on your mini news feed and wall--although your old settings are still in tact. Remember back in the day when the mini news feed first rolled out and there would be a time stamp next to your activities (e.g., Jan 1 10:15am Lynn Chien is now friends with Adam Kiu)? At the time, you were able to control what gets to be published or not--Don't show timestamp, check; publish relationship status updates, uncheck. All of this is now gone. If you have chosen not to publish photos being tagged of you, you can no longer make it show. If you have chosen to publish them, you cannot make them disappear. On top of that, the news feed also shows that you "liked" something and you can't make it stop.
If you want to hide your friend's list from your profile, you can...sort of. You can have your list of friends not show on your profile page but if you allow yourself to show up in public searches and did not previously hide your friends list, your friends list will still turn up when someone searches about you on google.
You can now block specific person/people from seeing particular status updates. If you want to stop someone from seeing a particular update, before you press the "Share" button, you can click on this little lock icon and block a specific person or a group of people from seeing that message (e.g., if I want to publish a video about Matt Chan that Matt told me not to publish, I can totally do that without Matt knowing.)

There are a couple of other small and big changes and behind the scene application-related privacy issues. The thing with privacy and worrying about third-party apps on facebook, imo, is that if you don't want your private information given to third-party software companies, then don't add third-party developed apps (like Tal) or just don't put any personal information about you on Facebook, hidden or not. Really, anything you put on the Internet can be compromised and be seen by anyone at some point so if you're that worried, just do put it on. It's all about calculated risk and what you value.

I'm pretty sure Facebook will have to change some of these issues soon, as they are still in a transitional period on privacy policies, as well as getting in trouble with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) (The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) has called on the FTC to investigate the changes that it says mislead users and "contradict Facebook’s own representations."), so we'll see if the changes I documented will stay.

Anyway, if you want a more detailed look at what the new privacy transition can do to your
http://dotrights.org/what-does-facebooks-privacy-transition-mean-you

Smell, light, and sound of marketing

2009-12-07T10:07:00.007-05:00

I bought a coat yesterday from Hollister and now I feel like justifying how I sold myself out, again. You know, I've been selling myself out a lot since going out with Adam...interesting...

The short version of the story is that I bought the coat because
1. The music at Hollister was not loud
2. The smell at Hollister was surprisingly non-existent
3. I could not see the coat in their lighting, so I had to buy it so I can try it on at home.

Here is the long version.
_____________
Adam and I went shopping yesterday (finally!!) and we decided to go to Cambridgeside Galleria, a relatively normal mall, reminiscent of Walden Galleria in Buffalo. Apparently, it's one of the better malls in Boston, though I find the selections lacking; perhaps I'm just missing the familiarity of the stores in Canada, and actually knowing which stores to go when I want a certain type of clothing.

Within the three floors of retail stores, Club Monaco, A&F, and Hollister were lined up side-by-side in the corner of the highest floor, with A&F in the middle. Now, to provide a context of my relationship with A&F and Hollister, let me tell you about my past experiences in these stores.

The first time I walked into an A&F and spent more than 30 seconds in the store was in was in NYC, at their 5th Ave. flagship store that was three or four stories high. I was with Jen and Andrew Ho, and some other people, whom, at this point I cannot remember. The group of us walked in and within a minute, I felt nauseated by the smell and the extremely loud music, and the very dark lighting. I got out of there fast. Andrew Ho trailed out after me after a few minutes and we decided we wanted to leave. However, after waiting outside for a long time, the rest of the group is still not out and none of us had US phones. So we went back in on a hunt that lasted for about 30 minutes. By the time we finally got out, I almost cried. This was about four years ago.

The second time I walked into A&F and stayed for more than 30 seconds was this summer, before I went back to Taiwan. Two years ago, when I went back to TW and gave my cousin some American Eagle clothing, she was disappointed that they were not from A&F. Apparently A&F is a status symbol and there are fakes everywhere in TW. So this time, I decided to get all my friends in TW A&F stuff. I was in there for about 15 minutes in search of the right and not too expensive stuff before I had to leave the premise and take a break for 10 minutes before I went back in for another 15 minutes to finish my purchases.

Yesterday, was my first time at Hollister.

Smell
To be fair, I headed for CM first. Funnily, CM smelled like A&F, you know, the smell of that cologne (apparently named "Fierce"), which the employees must spray on the clothes every 30 minutes to a few hours, according to this source and this source, and this source. It surprises me that people actually go and buy this cologne to spray on their own A&F clothing, but that's probably a discussion for another day. Adam and I were cracking up in CM because we felt so sorry for the employees of CM...they totally did not sign up to smell like A&F all day...or did they? Ironically, when we went into the Hollister store, expecting that scent to be stronger, the smell was actually not present AT ALL. (Btw, I just ran a search on the smell in Hollister because for a second there, I realized that I don't actually remember whether Hollister usually has a smell at all since I almost never walk into those stores and I always group the two stores together in my head so I don't actually know which store I'm in when I'm there. The results told me that I was not wrong and Hollister does do the same spray-on cologne deal, but the two stores apparently do not smell the same. Hollister uses the "Social" spray....) . I wonder what happened with the ventilation and management in these stores.

Music
Surprisingly, the music at Hollister was not exceptionally loud either. We had walked in A&F right after CM since I thought if we had to be forced to withstand the smell at CM anyway, we should just go into A&F. We were in there for five minutes (or less), checked out a coat that was on sale but left because I had no interest in buying an A&F item for myself. However, at Hollister, we saw that exact same coat for $20 less. Since there was not loud music and obnoxious scent, I actually stayed in the store and attempted to try it on! (On another note, Guess downstairs on the second floor had a DJ playing VERY loud music. The sales ppl were screaming at each other in order to have a conversation).

Lighting
So the coats were hanging on a rolling rack and there were different colours...unfortunately, Adam and I could not tell what those colours were. So I took out one of the darker colours and put it on, then attempting to look for a mirror, to no avail. Naively believing that we would be able to find a mirror with better lighting at the fitting room, we took a dark and a light colour coat towards the direction. Outside of the fitting room, we found a full-length mirror, without any lighting AT ALL. What is the point of having a mirror you can't see?!?!?! The fitting room girl came and asked us if we wanted a room, and I asked her if there was lighting in there. She laughed and said yes so we got a room. Well, it turned out that the lighting in there was rather dim still and after walking toward and away from the mirror a few times, we were finally able to see that the dark colourwas brown and the light colour was maybe a beigey colour (it could be white actually, who knows). Adam thought the jacket was nice, I wasn't sure since I can't really tell in the dark, so we decided to buy it so we can take it home and actually see the fit and the style. (so that's their marketing scheme!).

Completing the Sale
Ironically, Adam had to use the restroom when I was lining up to pay. As soon as he left the store, the music got turned on to be extremely loud. The girl at the head of the line was taking a very long time, so by the time Adam came back, i was still in the same position in line. After about 15 minutes, I was finally at the register. But then the girl screws up, and had to do a return and then a payment again. By the time we finally got out of the store, we thought we were in a different world. It was like that scene from Shawshank Redemtion when the dude crawled out of the tunnel into the light, I swear. We went into Banana Republic next and I saw Adam carrying the bag in his arms and realized that the handle had broken and he didn't tell me because he did not want to go back to the store. That made me laugh pretty hard. Anyway, I volunteered to go in myself and switched the bag.

Did I like the coat when I got home, you might ask? Yeah, it was alright, tho i think the fit is a little big. The XS size that the store was sold out of is on the website though, but plus $10 shipping, so we may still have to go back to that store to return the one I got. Sorry Adam!!

Btw, note the blinds at the NYC 5th Ave Flagship store in the first image. Why do they bother having windows?! I wonder if the blinds ever get used...

Adam thinks that the marketing scheme for the A&F chains and subsidiaries work because their clothes actually look nice. I beg to differ, although I have no idea why their marketing scheme works on the mass. Someone enlighten me?

Belief and Discussion of Belief Tolerance

2009-11-25T07:26:00.004-05:00

I have two stories and two points to make that are really one point.

STORY ONE

A couple of years ago, I took the subway downtown with Andrew and Danny to go study at the UT library. On the way there, we started discussing the subject of Santa Claus. I stated, quite loudly because I have a loud voice, that I would never allow my children to believe in Santa Claus; the idea of being bribed to be good is pretty absurd to me, a lot more so than blackmail (i.e., if you don't be good, I am going to take you home and never take you out again). I feel that people, big or small, should realize that they will not always be awarded for being good, whatever good may mean to them. I want to teach my children the value of caring for other people, and being considerate, and that they should never expect to be rewarded for doing the right thing. Now here, we can get into a whole discussion on what being good is to them, or what doing the right thing is. But my point is, I don't believe that children should be awarded for being good, because being good should be a fundamental way of life.

Upon hearing our conversation, in which Danny and Andrew stated their full agreement, a malicious and cowardly lady on the subway came up to us, as the subway was halting to a stop, and told us condescendingly that we should watch what we say and that there are little kids in the car. Then, she left the train without waiting for a reply. Her attitude was very rude and disdainful, as though we were ignorant little Chinese kids who were too obnoxious and self-absorbed to watch what we say in public. The three of us all felt very indignant. Admittedly, we did not take note of whether there were children in the car throughout our conversation, but after she got out, we looked around and found that there were no children in the car.

But let's say there were children in the car that day and there we were spewing our mouths off about how we would never lie to our children about Santa Claus...Are we being obnoxious or religiously intolerant? Or are we enjoying the freedom of speech that we so deserve? Or maybe, to that lady, we were immigrants who have no respect for its culture.

STORY TWO

Today, during lunch, the subject of Santa Claus came up among a table of full-grown adults, who have all stopped, at some point, believing that Santa Claus is real. Now I, being the run-my-mouth-no-matte-where-I-am dumbass, decided to state my opinion, to a guy, who happens to be Jewish, about the absurdity of Santa Claus, because, you know, we're all adults here, we're allowed to have a mature discussion on whether or not we should allow our kids to believe in Santa. The guy agreed with me. But just as he began to elaborate on his reasons for having told his children that Santa was not real, a woman heatedly interrupted, sounding very very offended, and began defending the idea. She said that the reason why she thinks Santa is important is because you can't buy your children everything just because they want it. That's why there is Santa. Parents draw the line, but Santa can give them whatever they want without spoiling them.

She then proceeded to tell me that when I have children, I will know what it's like--as though I am not allowed to have an opinion on this matter unless I have children. Perhaps she felt attacked when I said that children should not be awarded for being good. Or perhaps she really believes that I have no right to have an opinion on Santa Claus unless I have children. But either way, she completely nazied the conversation. No one replied to her after her angry speech. You know, I would have loved to have continued exploring this matter with her a little deeper and hear her opinion, but the anger in her voice completely took everyone by surprise and we all shut up.

Similarly, the topic of Secret Santa is not a topic to be discussed at the table either. "WE DON'T DO PRESENTS IN THIS COMPANY" one woman stated loudly, at least twice. No ifs and buts, no discussion.

What about Christmas decorations? Apparently the decorations need to be non-denominated because a few years ago someone complained about Christmas wreaths.

I know, right?!
___________________________________

In both of these stories, the question of beliefs and value come into place: you have a series of people with beliefs and values that they try to enforce it on to other people and they can't tolerate otherwise.

Santa Claus is real and should stay real for children. You can't state otherwise, even if it's on a subway or a table filled with grown adults, or someone will get very offended.
You can't put Christmas decorations up or else people who are not Christian will get offended and feel persecuted.
We don't do presents in this company, no matter who wants to do it.

POINT ONE
Why is it that we can't tolerate the fact that people have their own beliefs? Someone without a belief but enforces other people to give up their beliefs in their presence, that's a belief too.

That situation on the subway should be a two-fold compromise:

Knowing that many people around me choose to weave this fantasy tale of an old man who reward children for being good and give coals for the bad ones, I should be more careful next time I talk about the idea of Santa Claus being a bad idea so I don't make kids cry. In this case, I respect your beliefs and values on how to raise children.
If you choose to lie to your kids about the fact that Santa Claus exists, you should be prepared that your child might have to hear that Santa Claus is not real and not go telling every person in the world to shut up as soon as the topic of "Santa is not real" comes up. In this case, you respect my beliefs and values on how the world works.

I have no problems with you wanting your children to believe in Santa, but you cannot expect the world to censor itself based on your belief.

Similarly, if you don't want to exchange presents, don't participate--don't stop others from doing it. And if you don't like Christmas decorations/Hannukah Candles/Chinese New Year stickers, should you really get offended if someone puts it up? I mind my business and you mind yours. I won't enforce my beliefs on you, don't enforce yours on mine.

POINT TWO
Sometimes, you have two beliefs that clash. Some people might feel that if I put up Christmas decorations in the office, I am enforcing my belief on them (an example of course, since I am not Christian). I get that and this is where discussions happen. If you try to discuss these beliefs or values, these people will get offended and upset.

Why can't we discuss why you really want Christmas decorations or why Christmas decorations bother you? Why can't we discuss why Santa is important or not important to you?
I don't understand why there is no room for discussion.

Is tolerance for other people's beliefs, or even the discussion of other people's beliefs that hard?

The Origin of Boston Pizza

2009-11-18T15:49:00.009-05:00

There's a Pizzeria downstairs of our complex called Regina Pizzeria. This place is the only place that rendered me to actually crave for pizza. Otherwise, I tend to go "ugh" when pizza is being served, anywhere. Sometimes Adam and I would order one of their gourmet pizzas, bring it upstairs, and eat it fancy...i.e., with wine.

When guests come and visit, we usually tell them about this place, and if they are so inclined, we'd go in, order a pizza, and have a few beer (or pina colada). After the guests eat the pizza, they'd sigh with satisfaction and say, "Oh, this is the real Boston Pizza," which would usually remind me of the fact that I have not seen a Boston Pizza anywhere in Boston.

Today, Kenny randomly msged me on MSN. "Why is it called Boston Pizza! [sic]" he asked. Not knowing the answer, I asked Google. The Boston Pizza website did not give me any story about its origin, but it did tell me to direct my questions to their three regional offices: one for Western Canada, one Eastern Canada (ON and the Atlantic), and one for Quebec...because obviously, Quebec is neither Western nor Eastern Canada... I know, right?! But I digress.

This information led me to believe that Boston Pizza is wholly Canadian...until I realized that there was a tiny link at the bottom of the "About" page for the U.S. site. Clicking on it led me to Boston's The Gourmet Pizza restaurant website, leading me to believe that perhaps it is American after all. So I go into their locations section, where they provided me a map of American States--the dark blue states are ones I can click on to find the locations. After clicking around all the dark blue States along the Atlantic (I still don't know where I am on the map), I realized Massachusetts is one that is NOT clickable. Double-checking on their pull-down list of States (I should have done that first) confirmed the fact that there is not, indeed, a Boston Pizza in Boston.

Finally, after doing some investigating, I found their "Our Heritage" page in the "Company Info" link menu, which proceeded to tell me:

The first Boston Pizza opened in Edmonton, Alberta in 1964.
It was opened by an illegal Greek immigrant who had jumped ship in Vancouver.
In 1998, Boston Pizza expanded "south of the border" into Dallas, Texas. "The Boston Pizza name was changed to Boston's The Gourmet Pizza to communicate [that] it's 'gourmet pizza.'"
The real reason why it was named Boston's is because "Boston was a recognizable and established name ... Boston Bruins, Boston Red Sox, Boston Celtics, Boston Cream Pie. It was the 'Big Leagues.'"

To take Adam's favourite phrase....Are you joking me?!

What a scam.

Location is key

2009-11-12T16:22:00.003-05:00

I know a lot of people complain that coffee at Starbucks is ridiculously expensive, but that's usually because they are not buying regular brewed coffee when they go there. If you are asking for an "iced, grande, caramel, triple, non-fat latte, easy ice", or any other espresso drinks that are as ridiculously customized, then yes, you might be paying around the ballpark of $5. However, if you went to the counter and asked for a "tall bold", essentially a ready-made dark roast brewed coffee, you'd be paying around the $1.50 range, give and take a couple of dimes...probably a little more pricey than Tim Hortons but not to the point of unreasonable.

Every time I take the T at my home stop, next to the gates is this little donut/coffee shop that makes the station smell like heaven. The line up is long and the place is always busy. One day, as I watched my train leave the station without me, I decided I'd give the place a try while waiting for the next train to arrive. I asked for a medium hazelnut coffee (I admit I'm a lover of flavoured coffee) and the total came to be $2.05. I was a bit shocked because from what I recall, a "Grande bold" at Starbucks in Canada was exactly $2 after tax. This coffee is not only five cents more, but the price is also in AMERICAN. Admittedly though, if I were to ask for a hazelnut flavoured shot at Starbucks, it'd be thirty cents more so I accepted that cost in my head after doing some thinking. Was the coffee good you ask? It was decent, as far as I could tell (I asked for two cream and two sugar and it ended up tasting like quadruple-quadruple on crack).

A few weeks went by without me missing the train so I didn't have the opportunity to stop by this little stand again...but then one day, I decided, I believe on a weekend, to spend that $2.05 again because Adam's mom gave me a bag of change she didn't want. I carefully counted out the exact change in pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters before I left the house, only to be told that the price is $2.30 after I ordered. Apparently last time a mistake was made last time and I was not charged the extra quarter for the hazelnut flavour. I had to give the man bills rather than getting rid of the change, but that's not the point. I felt a little ridiculous walking into the train with an un-corporately-branded cup of joe that cost me more than what I would have paid for had I gone to Starbucks (especially because I don't pay for the price of syrup with my registered Starbucks card (I know, I have issues)).

Now some of you might point out the shallowness of the above comment...why does the brand even matter? Shouldn't you just pay for the quality of the coffee? Well, yes, of course, ideally, if the coffee was that good, it would be worth it to pay a little more, brand-name or not, especially when it's just a cup of coffee and not an ugly little handbag with little G's printed all over it. Well I guess my point is, Starbucks jacks up the price of their brewed coffee because they can. They have upped their branding enough (with all the advertising and customization and interior design) so that their pricing appears justified. The question is, what justifies the coffee price next to the T? Their coffee is not, by any means, so good that I'm willing to pay more than for an avg Dunkin Donut coffee. My answer: location, location, location.

On another note, I should make a new tag for my coffee posts.

Coffee in Medford--Cambridge

2009-10-19T08:58:00.001-04:00

I have figured out why my caramel Americano is sub-par from the SB downstairs of our building: their pump for the caramel syrup is stuck. This morning, I decided to tell them to add another pump of syrup to my drink and saw that only half of the syrup is being squirted out for every pump, drastically reducing the flavour, and of course, the sugar. Also, the hot water is not hot enough, causing my coffee to be lukewarm after I add cream to it. There are a couple ways I can mitigate this problem:

Suck it up and deal with sub-par coffee (not an option)
Ordering a different flavour with hopes that the pumps are working (but I like Caramel)
Asking for a Grande three-quarter full 6 pump caramel Americano (that would make me sound crazy)
Stop by another SB somewhere along my commute to work (quite time-consuming)
Stop drinking from SB and drink the free coffee at work (I would have to buy cream)
Stop drinking from SB and make my own coffee (I would have to buy filters, coffee, and/or new machine)

Solution 6 is the lesser of the 6 evil. We have yet to go grocery shopping though. We don't even have salt in the house. This is a boring post, I know.

I found a job

2009-10-18T23:59:00.000-04:00

I haven't been really good at letting people know I got a job...apparently even in person I would forget to say something. I guess I just didn't see it as a big deal, though it was such a big deal to get a job when I actually didn't have one.

So here is the stat:
I'm working at a company called CoreStreet and they provide solutions for secure identities, which means, as the technical writer there, I am trying to very hard to learn about Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) so i can actually write about it. To make you jealous, the company provides catered lunches daily, as well as monthly T passes. The office is located in Cambridge, and there are approximately 20 people working there (very small) and everyone is very friendly.

In terms of where we live, we just moved in the week Jen, Kenny, and Matt came to visit us (Oct. 1). The city we live in is called Medford, and it's probably the equivalent of what Yonge and Eg would be to Toronto downtown core as Medford would be to Boston core. The place is brand new and lives like a hotel. Adam and I have been putting all our money into decorating the house, and it looks pretty good, but you gotta come visit to believe it ;). We don't have enough money to fill the house with furniture yet, so pictures will no be coming until I start getting paid :D The three weekends we have been here, we have had visitors from Toronto, which is pretty awesome, but more about that another day.

Last, but not least, Boston is a great city, minus the transportation part of the city!

That's all for now!

Fall Fashion: Rain Boots??

2009-09-20T20:34:00.005-04:00

As we all know, boots have been all the rage for a while now. I think it started with the knee-high boots, or as I recall what has been called hooker boots or Come F*** Me Boots; and then after a couple of years of all types going in and out of style, it went all the way down to ankle boots, which came back with a vengeance last year (in keeping with this whole 80s fashion that has been going on for too long now.) Oh, and not to mention, the Ugghlies, of which I am now an unfortunate owner (received as a gift...they are, however, as I reluctantly admit, very comfortable and warm.)

Come on, if you had gone to Australia, say, five years ago, you would have never thought those Ugghlies would sweep America off of its feet (hehehe). But it did, and it continues to. So if I were to tell you that these babies would come into fashion soon, you'd believe me right?

Okay, well I kid. No one I know in Toronto owns a pair of rain boots, we hardly own umbrellas. The reality is, we will never need a pair (whereas Ugghlies are pretty warm for the harsh winters there.) There is this thing called "car", which I have been pretty deprived off since I left Toronto, that replaces umbrellas and rain boots. I know it rained all summer in Toronto this year, and last year as well, but if you had to walk for a couple of blocks in the rain, the well-maintained roads (seriously, no joke) and drainage system usually will not allow water puddles or mud soak your feet or splash on you. Even in the winter, the slush is nicely shovelled to the side without problems. When we think of rain boots, we think of these:

But alas, what most of us probably failed to realize is that there are lesser places in the world that does rain all the time, where the roads are horribly planned, the drainage system sucks, the snow melts into slush and freezes again back and forth, and the roads are just not shovelled. One of these lesser places is named Boston.

As summer comes into an end and the leaves turn nicely red, yellow, and orange, rain befalls Boston, and mud befalls on us. The FIRST day I got to Boston, I had the fortunate experience of walking to the T (the Bostonian name for their public transit system) on a dirt path along the highway in the rain from home. My shoes did not look pretty. I noticed a girl on the T, however, wearing rain boots and I thought to myself, "What a great idea! I'm going to get me a pair!!" Funny thing was, I thought finding a pair of nice looking rain boots would be hard, but little did I know, rain boots are fall necessities not just in Britain, but also in Boston. Almost every store that sells shoes in Boston, sell rain boots ...even Aldo (Did anyone else know that Aldo sells rain boots?)

Apparently, rain boots, sometimes used interchangeably with Wellies (supposed to go up to your knees), or Waders (supposed to go up to your chest), or galoshes (supposed to cover your shoes), is a part of the fall fashion here in Boston. Here are some fashionable ones:

Which ones did I get? Hunter Wellington Boots in black, with red Wellie Socks for lining and cuff!!

FYI: Hunter’s Wellington boots are actually famous for its durability, comfort and performance... Hunter caters to all sorts of people from farmers to rock stars to the royalty [my box tells me it's appointed by the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh!]

*EDIT: Apparently, Eldon says Hunter boots are popular in Toronto. I ran a google search on "hunter boots toronto" and found a blog entry from last year that talked about it. According to this girl, you can find hunter boots at approximate four locations in Toronto...they are about as mainstream as Salvatore Ferragamo handbags!

i want to eat

2009-09-17T18:24:00.000-04:00

a big piece of steak
indian food
pad thai
beef short ribs

First Few days in Boston

2009-09-01T18:36:00.001-04:00

The taxi driver ripped us off on our way from the aiport to Newton. $73 for the ride. it also rained pretty hard when i first got here.
Day 1 consisted of getting a lot of presents (a new wallet and a new BB) and going to two malls. Adam knows how to treat a girl right.
Day 2 = going to Chinatown and finding out Chinatown is really Viet-town. It has more Vietnamese restaurants than Chinese restaurants. There were three stores we found that sold Vietnamese bread so we bought two bread from each store to test out which one is gonna be the best. Yes, that is what i have been eating for lunch in the last couple of days.
The "T" is ridiculously old and and manual. No more complaining about the TTC.

Tried to exchange a bus ticket at the T (their name for their transit system) and the dude told me to go to Avad square. After much commotion, we realized he said Harvard Square.

I got complimented by a girl walking around Tufts Univeristy. She really liked my outfit.
Someone at the bank asked me how I liked Boston. I said it was "alright" and he was all shocked. He then asked me where I am from and I said "Toronto" and he became defeated and said, "Oh ok...Toronto is a nice city"

That's all for today, more to come other days, hopefully. I keep saying that.

My Internship Final Essay

2009-08-21T14:27:00.002-04:00

First and foremost, I think that if the goal of this program is to attract young people of Taiwanese origin to learn about Taiwan and think about coming back to work in the future, it did have its success with me. The last time I came back to Taiwan, I had found myself feeling like a complete foreigner and believing that the idea of me coming back to Taiwan to work is almost foolish, as I felt that there is too much of a cultural divide between what I have grown up with and the customs that exist in the Asian culture. Nevertheless, the eight weeks that I have been there, especially because of the local Taiwanese people with whom I have worked and gotten to know, has made me re-evaluate my position and is seriously considering going back and hopefully find a suitable job there, at least for a few years.

My first impression with TTT was one of pleasant surprise. During orientation, I felt like an honored guest, an undeserved one at that, because the question that keeps arising in my mind is, what did I do to deserve this special kind of treatment? But what I have learned, while working in Taiwan for these eight weeks was that a part of it is, in fact, keeping with the Taiwanese tradition, where a guest is treated with extra consideration to ensure their comfort. But this also leads to my next question: am I a guest here or do I belong here? My answer was slowly revealed throughout my internship.

I think one of the most important impacts that TTT has made on me is finding a resolution for my identity crisis. I’ve always felt that I had strong ties with Taiwan. When I was 7, half way through grade one, my parents uprooted our family and went to New York. For two full years while I was there, I had refused to learn English and cried about wanting to come home. “You are home,” my mother would tell me. But I would tell her that this was not my home, my home is in Taiwan. In grade 3, when our family moved to Canada, I began to slowly immerse into the North American culture; however, when people ask me what my background is, I would always tell them proudly that I am Taiwanese; I can speak Chinese fluently, I can even read fully, I love Chinese literature. Nevertheless, two years ago, when I did come back to Taiwan and met some Taiwanese people, I was told that I am a foreigner (外國人) and, for the first time, heard my own accent when I spoke Mandarin. When I go out in Taiwan and talk to a sales clerk, they would ask me “where are you from?” The answer “Taiwan” seems to be no longer acceptable. But can a外國人be able to work in a Taiwanese institute? Will I be able to make any contributions to Academia Sinica?

During my internship here at the Academia Sinica, working at the Program for Historical Demography, the professor for whom I worked, Professor Yang, had put me on two major projects (and some minor ones) and each of them made me realize that I did have something to contribute. My first major project was researching on foot binding. Throughout the eight weeks, I pored through both English and Chinese books and journal articles on the subject and was able to put together a draft research paper as an aid for Professor Yang’s final paper. There were two things I felt that really aided in this research. First was that I was able to do the research in both Chinese and English and compiled the research paper in English. One of the important things that Academia Sinica wants to promote is publications of journal articles in English in order to maintain an international status in all fields. Having compiled and translated a paper with a thesis and proof all in English is an important step for this. Another thing that aided in this research was the fact that I have already written several research papers throughout my Masters degree, with one pending publication, so that Professor Yang and I could work relatively fast in terms of knowing what type of material to look for this type of format.

The second major project I was assigned to work on was giving seminars on writing academic papers (both for journals and conferences). Having obtained my Masters in English Rhetoric (英語修辭) while having had many lessons and experiences throughout my degree on how to write effective academic papers, I was able to put together some useful presentations for the Masters and PhD students on writing English papers. This experience made me realize that I can do more than just teach English in Taiwan, but that I can provide very specific and useful knowledge in the academic realm.

In sum, working on these two projects at Academia Sinica made me realize that I do have a place in Taiwan. While I was in Academia Sinica, I did not feel like a 外國人. I felt like anyone who was working in Academia Sinica and made some wonderful friends while I was there, with whom I am continuing keeping in touch with. At no point did my co-workers made me feel like I am not like them (though they are sometimes extra nice to me because I felt a little homesick and make fun of my accent and grammatical errors from time to time) and they all came to support me during our final presentation at the Technology Building. They told me how proud of me they were and made me feel like I really did make a contribution to the work that they are doing.

So in answer to my question of whether I am a guest here or I belong here, I have to say that my internship in Taiwan has transformed my experience of from being a guest to actually feeling at home in Taiwan. I felt that not only was I able to contribute to a working environment in Taiwan, but I personally have gained so much in terms of learning about the people, the culture, and the history of Taiwan in the past eight weeks that the maximum words allowed in this essay cannot possibly sum up. And last, but not least, what I am missing about Taiwan at this moment, is not only the shopping and the food (which were both unforgettable), but the people in Taiwan—their cleverness, their determination to continuously improve their lives and culture, and, most of all, their kindness. The idea of coming back to Taiwan to work no longer feels foolish, but desirable. Thank you for this wonderful experience.

The Many Faces of TTT

2009-07-29T03:15:00.002-04:00

The fact is, most of the people in this program are young. By young, I mean, 2nd-4th year university students, an average of 18-21 year olds. Not to say that there aren't a large numer of 22 and 23 year olds, but 25 is damn old.

What was I like when I was 20? Naive, immature, unaware, blamed others for things that didn't go my way, unappreciative of all the wonderful turn of events that has been endowed upon me for no reason at all.
What am I like as a 25 year old? Less naive, less immature, more wary, attempt to figure out what I did wrong for things to go badly, growing appreciation for just how lucky I am to be where I am today.
What was I not like when I was 20? Believing that I am better than Taiwanese people who grew up in Taiwan because I happen to grow up in some other place. Lack of thirst and drive to learn about things around me, thinking that it's okay to be ignorant.

That is almost all.

History and background of footbinding in Taiwan

2009-07-16T05:12:00.004-04:00

Here's the less interesting part, very general as well and only focused on Taiwan.

Footbinding was a custom passed down from approximately a thousand years ago, though no one really knows the exact time period of when it started: the earliest speculated date is 221 BC - 206 BC, the Qin dynasty. The custom is popular mainly with the Chinese ethnic of Han, though not all cultural groups practiced such a custom (For example we based on the household registration data during the Japanese Colonial period that the Hakka did not hold such practice.). At first, the practice was mainly popular with the wealth royalties, as women were unable to move around and perform laborious work. However, this fashion trend slowly spread to even the poor and by the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), as long as it was economically possible, every household with a daughter would bind the daughter’s feet. (CITATION)

During the Qin dynasty, when the Manchurians took over China in 1644, the regime attempted to ban the practice of footbinding and did not allow their own people to begin such practice. Nevertheless, even the Manchurian laypeople, who had never held such practice, became absorbed in this fashion trend of binding the feet, allowing the practice to continue with the Han people for another 100 years, even though, for the most part, they never practiced themselves.
During this time, many women can to Taiwan from China, which not only popularized the custom of footbinding, but it became a mark of status. Nevertheless, in 1895, when Taiwan became under Japanese rule, footbinding came to be seen by the Japanese as a part of the Three Bad Habits (among opium and wearing of the queue) that needed to be eliminated. At the start, there was no official ban issued on footbinding, but the practice was merely advertised as a bad habit through education and the media in order to encourage the women to unbind their feet. For example, a report by the Japanese on a typhoon that hit Taipei On August 6, 1898, which caused a flood and 1390 houses to collapse, stated that of the 85 deaths that were caused by the typhoon, most were women with bounded feet. Many of the educated were the first to begin the anti-footbinding movement. In March, 1900, the first Natural Feet Society was established in Taipei, thereafter many branches of the Society was established in other parts of the province, among with other organizations with similar purpose. However, the custom was not so easily abolished and took until 1915 before an official ban was issued by the Japanese government to stop the practice. During the beginning of the anti-footbinding movement, most of the founders and members of the organizations were men who assured that all the women in their family have unbound their feet.

In 1911, an organization named Taipei Society for Unbinding Feet was established whose members were only women. At the time, it was believed that this type of organizations, originated by uppe rclass women, were the reason why footbinding became elminated so quickly soon after, as the Office of the Governor-General decided in a meeting in 1915 to completely abolish this practice and issued a ban at the beginning of the year. By August, there were approximately 763 000 women who have unbounded their feet, and was continuing to increase annually.

Why was it so difficult to convince the Taiwanese society to stop this custom when women were clearly subjugated to excruciating pain with injuries that hinders their movement for the rest of their lives?

What is footbinding?

2009-07-15T03:49:00.007-04:00

Thought I'd share some stuff I wrote as an intro to footbinding, I haven't cited the source yet.

One cannot fully comprehend any discussion related to footbinding without understanding the process of how footbinding is done. There are different methods for binding the feet, of course, but all of which involve pressing the toes down as far into the soles of your feet as possible, so that the bones of your toes and your arch break. Then using cotton or silk bandages that are approximately ten feet long and 2-3 inches wide, the feet is wrapped firmly to keep the toes pressed against the sole, so that the broke foot is folded at the arch, and also breaking the side bones to make your feet narrow. The binding is then sewn tightly together and, depending on how wealthy the family is, the bandages get changed from once a week or everyday so that the feet can be cleaned and bandages can be tightened to continue making the feet smaller. This is done for about two to three years until the feet are the ideal length, which is around 3-4 inches.

In spite of the excruciating pain that results from having your feet broken and bounded by tight bandages, the girl is also asked to walk around to further crush the bones of her feet into a desired shape. Often, during this process, infections would result, sometimes leading to gangrene. However, it was seen as fortunate if the toes fall off, as that would make the feet even smaller. What would not be good is when the entire foot needs to get amputated. In fact, an adage that’s often recited by mothers who help bind their daughters’ feet transliterates as “no rot no small, more rot more good”, essentially pointing out that if the flesh doesn’t rot and decay, then it would be difficult for the feet to achieve the desired effect. (CITATION)

Very General, Non-detailed Update of TW

2009-07-15T02:06:00.001-04:00

It seems as though I've even abandoned my weak attempt at micro-blogging, not that anyone was encouraging the behaviour to begin with. My Internet at home pretty much blows (slow as hell), though I should be grateful that my friend Bruce has lent me a USB connection stick that allows me to connect tothe Internet anywhere in Taiwan as long as there is cell phone reception.

At any rate, here is a short update with what has been going on in my life in the last few weeks after I left Toronto:

Week 1 (June 24-28th): Taiwan Tech Trek's orientation. We went to TaiChung and area, which is approximately the center area of the Taiwan island. There are about a little more than 200 of us in the program and we were divided into 24 groups. My group only had 8 people and we spent the next four days touring together. I finished uploading the photos of the orientation after three weeks (at the rate of 5 pics a day) on Facebook.

Week 2: First week of work and Adam's arrival. On Monday, I began my position in the Historical Demography Program at Academia Sinica. I am a research assistant for the head of this program and he wants me to do research on footbinding in order to write a conference paper on the subject, backed up by historical demographic data in Taiwan, to be presented at the TTT academic conference. I'm also holding Seminars on how to write effective academic papers. On Tuesday, Adam arrived. I picked him in the wee hours of the morning and from thereon, we toured Taipei whenever I'm not at work.

Week 3: Second week of work and Hong Kong. Nothing general to report except that we took a trip to HK on the weekend. I hope I will end up making an entry about how much HK sucks (IMO).

Week 4: This week. Well since it's not over yet, I will report it later. Prof. Harris and I finally finished the paper we are going to submit to the Cognitive Semiotics journal! I will hopefully upload more pics on Facebook when Adam heads home and I'm less busy after work.

TTFN!

Happy Birthday Pooface!!

2009-06-03T01:35:00.000-04:00

Four weeks ago, I ordered Adam a present, unfortunately, it takes very long for it to be made, so even though it's his birthday today, he still doesn't have it. =(

However, as I would like for him to open something on the day of, Adam's sister, Amanda, and I bought some felt, ripped open an old pillow from my house and decided to make him a stuffed poo (with a penguin attached). Amanda taught me how to make blanket stitches and we started our test subject the penguin. I ended up doing everything ok, though Amanda had to help me fix my templates (cuz they were always lopsided) and the stitches obviously look amateur. I did most of the work on the penguin and Amanda made and stuffed the feet.

The poo was actually a little more work! Amanda made the top poop with one round circle, one long rectangle and three triangles. I made the two bottom parts with some instructions from Amanda and together we put the three parts together. There were a lot of errors on the poo that I never bothered fixing, I figured it's a piece of poo anyway :D Below are the pics!

Happy Birthday King Pooface!!

Camping 2009

2009-05-19T10:48:00.001-04:00

So....Camping this year at Silent Lake (again) was quite..erm...interesting...
Recap:

Day 1 was cold and wet, as it rained in the morning. We spent the entire morning putting up and taking down tents and tarps due to poor planning.

Once we stopped moving and settled down, we began to feel the cold and I began layering on clothing and socks. I managed to put on five layers of clothing and three pairs of socks in the course of the evening.
Went to sleep with all five layers of clothes and three layers of socks in two sleeping bags, feet were frozen and had trouble sleeping.

Day 2 was colder than day 1. I changed into 7 layers of strategically layered clothing early in the morning: was still cold throughout the day.

We took a very short hike with the boys taking turns carrying the 2 ton botchey (sp?) balls only to come back and not use it.
Drove to the picnic area and guys played a game of football, with a lot of cheating.
Justin poked Carmen in the face with a huge log Three Stooges style.
Perry managed to get stuck into a ditch despite we told him it would be bad idea to drive into it. Took 7 guys to get him out in the course of at least 30 minutes.
Adam accidentally pushed me and i almost fell face forward into the campfire.
Any time any of us were not doing something (which is most of the time) we stood around the charcoal bbq with a ton of clothes and our hands out like hobos under a bridge.
Went to bed in more layers of clothing and socks but was still frozen and could not sleep.

Day 3: Nice and warm and sunny but we had to pack and go home.
Important to note that we were constantly eating. For the first two day, we must have had like 6 meals and the last day we had 2 meals in four hours in the morning before we headed home.

Cost of the trip: $103 each (how did we spent $1400?)
Lessons learned: Priceless

Now I know why homeless people dress the way they do as they are outdoors 24/7
We use more than a bottle of water when brushing our teeth.
There are almost no bugs in the cold. When camping, pick your battle: bugs or freeze.
Be grateful for shelters and central heating and the luxury of wearing one layer of clothing in May when walking around outdoors for all but five minutes.
I see no point in living outdoors.

Pictures to come.

Microblogging

2009-05-07T11:07:00.000-04:00

I've been really busy. I don't want to say that I'm gonna be giving up on blogging, but it's going to be a while before I can sit down and write something longer than 140 characters. Why 140 you ask? Because that's the max number of characters Twitter allows you to have. For those of you who have not noticed, I have managed to place a Twitter Gadget on the sidebar for quite a while now, under the title "That's what she said" (I don't even like the Office). Anyway, I've been microblogging nowadays in replacement. You don't need to get twitter to follow it but say hi if you have it :)

Does it bother you too?

2009-04-22T02:20:00.000-04:00

This post really bugs me:

Charity gifts
Hi Toronto,

A friend of mine is getting married at the end of May, and I would like to get her a gift from a store that donates some of its proceeds to charity. Ideally, I would just make a donation in her name, but she and her hub to be really need some housewares and stuff to start a life together.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Ideally I'm looking for a store like www.eatmywords.org ( they donate proceeds to the Stephen Lewis Foundation), but in this case, I can't get them edibles.

Thanks!!

Does it bother you too?

Robert Pattinson is too funny

2009-04-17T13:48:00.001-04:00

Twilight star's amazing powers of boredom

In the 2008 vampire romance Twilight, Robert Pattinson's character had the ability to rip people to shreds with his teeth. In real-life, the actor has a much more mundane talent.
Pattinson, 22, told Creme magazine that he managed to shake off one of his many obsessive fans simply by being a bore.
"I had a stalker while filming a movie in Spain," Pattinson said. "She stood outside of my apartment every day for weeks — all day, every day. I was so bored and lonely that I went out and had dinner with her."
It was at this point that Pattinson, who's currently preparing to start shooting the Twilight sequel New Moon, unleashed his powers of boredom on the unsuspecting stalker.
"I just complained about everything in my life and she never came back," he said. "People get bored of me in, like, two minutes

Source: http://www.yourmovies.com.au/news/?i=154519&action=news&rss=yes

I think I'm going to follow him online from now on cuz he's so funny

The Institution of Marriage

2009-04-16T19:24:00.007-04:00

For some odd reason, I feel that everywhere I turn nowadays, the talk of marriage is ubiquitous. I mean, yeah, last summer, I heard about people's weddings and attended some, which sparked some thoughts about marriage in my head, i.e., what type of wedding I would like, but the fleeting thoughts quickly turned into what am I going to eat tomorrow and will I be a bum for the rest of my life, etc. But as spring arrives and wedding season approaches, the talk of matrimony seems to be crawling in and not out of my life. You know, first I hear about my ex-boyfriend's wedding , then news of my semi-friends (people I sometimes hang out with but not often enough to attend their weddings) began to show up in my chat windows and next thing you know, the news consummates with pictures of engagements and weddings my Facebook home feed (excuse the pun, I couldn't help it). I hang out with Adam's cousins and it's all wedding talk, as one of them is getting married. It seems like even when I turn on the TV (by tv I mean ninjavideo.net), I somehow end up watching shows and movies about marriage (bride wars, rachel getting married, grey's anatomy, even the simpsons where marge and homer had to remarry for the fifth time).

Perhaps one of the most exciting, and somewhat disturbing for me, news is my friend, a girl I met in first year, whom I consoled about her relationships throughout undergrad, has gotten engaged to someone I also know. Not that I'm not excited for her, I'm actually genuinely happy that the guy she went out with in our third year is the one for her and I think they're such a great match, it's just that I feel a little left out that I'm not even close to that step. It's hard to convey this dissonance I have. Whenever I hear about people I know are engaged and getting married, I get this pang of anguish, like, when is it my turn?! At that point, I usually have to remind myself that I don't want to get married yet. And yet every time the pang jolts me, I wonder whether or not I'm lying to myself about not wanting to get married right now.

Countless number of ppl have asked me when's the big day for me and Adam and I keep telling them not any time soon: we are neither in the financial nor in the mental state to become a married couple. So what is bothering me?

The question really boils down to what is marriage and what is so important about getting married? And what is the difference between being in a loving relationship vs. getting married? Here's a list of what the institution of marriage provides for us that a common-law relationship cannot:

A wedding - a procedure to formally announce, as well as to celebrate, your matrimony to and with you family and friends.
Security - an assauging contract that states you will have a life-partner whom you can depend on financially or the law will lay its fingers on said partner (until you get a divorce anyway)
Symbolic proof - a promise to each other that "you are the one" and that you have found someone who will love you unconditionally.
Stability - knowing that you will never have to be alone again and not having to go out and look for a partner.

So here is the part where I get to apply these points to myself.

Do I want a wedding? Sort of, but not right now. I don't want a big wedding, just like 20 ppl I love being there. And currently I don't have the time, the finance, nor the will to plan a wedding.
Do I need the law to ensure I have emotional and financial stability? No, I hope I never have to depend on a man for financial stability the law cannot make a peron be emotionally supportive. Maybe eventually if I have kids.
Do I need a symbolic proof from Adam that I am the one? I am NEVER one for symbolic gestures. You can always break your promise.
Do I want stability in my life? Yes, I do. And therein lies the pang of anguish. I envy the people who are moving into a stable part in the course of life. What getting married means is that they are (or at least should be) financially and emotionally stable enough to be married. It's a stage in life that people will get to eventually. The reality is that there are such things as divorces. Marriage may give the illusion of stability of relationship, but it is not eternal assurance. I envy that they are at the part of their life that is stable but I am clearly not there yet, not until both Adam and I have a job and have found a place to live in which we are both happy. Getting married will not make anything in my life "stable." Thus, the envy is not in the marriage, but in that I feel to be a little bit behind in life, compared to some.

The other day, my mom and I were talking about my future and I told her that I have no intention of getting married. She was quite shocked, worried, and slightly annoyed. For me, I was surprised that it came out of me. Was it a Freudian slip? The truth is, I don't need the stuff the instituion of marriage offers. I wouldn't mind having it eventually, but it's ok as long as I'm with the person I love and that I am leading a life that makes me happy.

Marriage? Doesn't guarantee any of that.

Twilight: Part Deux

2009-04-15T19:51:00.007-04:00

Last September, I wrote about my thoughts on the book Twilight,claiming it was a piece of badly-written fanfic. One would think that if I really meant what I said, I would not go and buy the second book of that series. Oh, but I did. One day in December, I was feeling miserable. So while waiting for Adam to pick me up after work, I went into Chapters and asked the salesperson where they store the second book for the series. "New Moon?" the very nice, seemingly non-judgmental dude asked me. "Umm...sure..the second one." I paid my $12 after waiting in a long line and met up with Adam. To be fair, I read somewhere that the second one was the best of the series. I was lied to.

Honestly, I have no right to criticize this book, since it was my choice to buy it (I might harbour a subconscious love for trashy novels?), so I'll stop at conveying to you about the fact that I skipped literally half of the pages in the book and wanted to kill myself every time the main character of the story referred to herself as Juliet and to her perfect Vampire boyfriend as Romeo.

And since the third book has not been published in paperback yet, I've caught myself looking at the strategically placed sale signs for the hardcover books whenever I'm in Wal-Mart. I have will power dammit!!! And then I had dinner at Rita's last Thursday, who generously lent me her copy of the third book, telling me that this is actually the best one of the series. I finished the book in a day, and she didn't lie to me. Bad writing aside, Eclipse, as I learned the name from Rita that night, is actually better than the previous book (which doesn't really say much).

So Rita has kindly offered to lend me the fourth book, which I'll probably end up reading even though I know I should not. To redeem myself of this guilty pleasure, I offer you guys some funny critiques of the series.

CRACKED.com points out exactly what is wrong with the series, with a sense of humour. This is honestly a good read.

Robert Pattinson, the dude who actually plays Edward in the movie series, tells E-online how he doesn't understand why people like the book. He is also "convinced that Stephanie [Meyer] is convinced that she is Bella and it was a book that wasn't supposed to be published and reading her..uh..sorta sexual fantasy [...] This woman is mad [...] and she's in love with her fictional creation."

Again, Pattinson in another interview called Edward a "two dimensional blob" and he can't understand why Edward behaves the way he does. Apparently he also said something like, "when you read the book, it's like 'Edward Cullen was so beautiful I creamed myself.' I mean every line is like that." But I couldn't finish watching the entire interview. I have a new respect for the dude.

The thing is, if you think about it, I'm probably not the only one with this guilty pleasure, with all these crazy critiques of the series going around.

How to Stick Your Tongue Out

2009-03-30T20:20:00.015-04:00

I know I've been updating really often: it's indicative of how much time I spend in front of my computer NOT doing work. Today's topic is about sticking out your tongue.

I often see people take pictures with their tongue sticking out, but it's often done really lamely.

Kinda like this:

Note: Sticking out the tip of your tongue with your lips closed over it, defeats the entire purpose of sticking out your tongue.

Remember when you were a little kid and your mom told you it's rude to stick your tongue out? And then when you get lectured by someone and you dont want to listen, you show your dismay by sticking your tongue out at them?

The whole point of sticking your tongue out is to be gross, ugly, and insolent! Free yourself from conventions! What's the point of taking a picture with your tongue sticking out like that? If you're worried that you won't look good, then don't do it at all. If you're going to do it, do it right!

Case-in-Point:

Happy Monday :D

Clubbing in the TdOt

2009-03-29T19:22:00.017-04:00

Recently I've been uploading a few pictures of my friends and I at clubs on Facebook. At the same time, I've been tagged on photos at parties and club events. BUT some of these events happened a LONG time ago and all of a suddet everyone seems to be uploading their pictures. Going through facebook and seeing a bunch of pictures with me at clubs is just weird and it makes it feel like I go partying a lot, which is highly untrue. Here are the real recent partying pics for the last two months. It's really not that many. And I swear to you that I hate leaving the house due to the immense guilt of unfinished papers that overwhelms as soon as I change out of my PJs.

Feb. 28th - Kenny's Bday at C-Lounge.

Mar. 15th - Elvin's Bday at home in Waterloo.

Mar. 20th - Eldon's Bday at Easy on the Fifth.

Mar.19 - Adam's friend's bday at embassy

What a trip last night. We needed to stay in Waterloo to do our work but adam didnt want to miss his friend's bday so we drove downtown from loo at 9pm and came back to loo at 4am.

See! I feel guilty for leaving my cave!!!

Back to finishing my papers now!!

Summer Schedule

2009-03-29T17:25:00.004-04:00

I found out on Friday that I was accepted into the Taiwanese Tech Trek program, which involves me doing a ~2 month internship in Taiwan. My placement is with Academia Sinica in their Research Centre for Humanities and Social Sciences, specifically for their program of historical demography, which sounds really boring, but we'll see!

Thankfully I bought my plane tickets scheduled around that time (i.e., June 24th-August 16th) early so it's only $1240!! Adam will be arriving June 28th and leaving some time mid-july. Hopefully i'll get somewhere nice to live and he can stay with me >.<

I will be arriving in Vancouver on the 18th of August and going to Seattle thereafter....

Disclaimer

2009-03-16T15:48:00.003-04:00

I just want to point out that I know going to Seattle is a big committment and I re-think my decision everyday, which is why I didn't really want to announce it on here. So for those of you who think that it is an irreversible decision, it is not. You might expect that I write a post on here one day declaring that I am no longer going with or without details of my reasoning.

My Telus Cell Phone(s)

2009-03-16T02:58:00.011-04:00

I have a small dilemma. I own a crappy Motorola W385 that

Runs out of battery in approximately 1.5 days with no usage
Doesn't ring loud enough for anyone to hear
Also doesn't actually ring until the caller hears a second ring tone so people usually hang up by the time I pick up if I'm luck enough to even hear it.

Needless to say, I am a bad person when it comes to phone calls. I rarely pick up because I either don't hear it or the phone is dead. Sometimes, it dies while I'm talking. (BTW, Motorolas are horrible when it comes to battery life, don't get them). The reason why this is my phone is simple: i lost my phone a few times. I had to spend as little money as I can on a new phone every time thus I am left with Pay and Talk phones from Telus for $100.

It's been about a year-ish since I've had my W385 and I'm getting seriously sick of it. But as a CDMA user with a great company and a seriously cheap plan not on contract, I cannot buy a new phone as it will not carry over to Seattle. CDMA companies are mean like that. This means I either have to:

Suck it up and use this damn phone for another 4 months-ish before I go to Seattle; or
Buy a cheap second-hand phone.

But what is cheap? Is paying $30 for a phone that's was released 2 years ago cheap? That seems to be the going rate on Craigslist. Having used Samsungs, Motorolas, and LGs, I have to say that if I am to get a new phone that I have to live with for the rest of my life, I'd use Samsung. The one that I've had my eyes on since last year is the Samsung A720 and the cheapest one I found on Craigslist is $50 (silver), which, imo is still considerably expensive considering how fast the retiring rate for phones are these days. To be honest, I would like to spend <$30 on this second hand phone that I may only use for approximately 4 months before it gets thrown into oblivion, as no one I know uses Telus. Ironically, although Telus has discontinued this phone for a while now, I just saw it on its Pay and Talk website for $69.99 refurbished with a $50 activation credit (pink). So for $20 more, I can have an almost brand new phone rather than a second hand phone that I've been wanting for so long?

Hmmm.... Is it worth paying $69.99+tax for a phone I might only use for four months? My soon to be unemployed butt is unable to justify it.

All I know is that the next time I get a cell phone, be it in Seattle or Toronto, I'm going to buy an expensive Samsung phone I like and I'm not going to lose it.

Going to Seattle

2009-03-03T19:22:00.005-05:00

Hello -

Thank you for talking with us about opportunities at Microsoft. We appreciate your interest and the time you spent with us.

We have carefully considered your qualifications and skills. In light of our current opportunities, we will be pursuing other candidates whose background and abilities more closely match our needs at this time. If you have any questions, please contact your school recruiter.

Thank you again for your interest. We wish you success in your future academic and professional endeavors.

Sincerely,

College Recruiting

During reading week, maybe around Wednesday, I got an E-mail from College recruiters at Microsoft informing me that I had a pre-screening interview for PM, if I get it, I get flown to Seattle for the real full-day interview. Rather than spending the rest of the reading week in Toronto, Adam and I came back to Waterloo on Friday to study for the interview (for those of you who don't know, interviews for PM are full of logistic questions to test your thinking skills so studying for the format is pretty important).

Anyway, so after four grueling days of studying, I didn't get the position. Not that I really expected to get it, given my non-technical background, I'd really have had to impress them with my answers, which I didn't feel that I did. I was never really good with interviews.

In the last couple of months, Adam and I have been applying for jobs in Seattle, mostly tech writing positions, because of my current experience. I have not heard a single reply since. I joke around and tell people that when I get to Seattle, I will actually get to be a full-time bum. As great as that can sound, I've been told that it's only fun for the first week. My mom also shakes her head and wonders why I pursue a Masters degree and decide to do nothing with it.

Well, I mean, it's not that I really want to be a bum. Even without the recession, it wouldn't be easy for someone with a Master of English Rhetoric and Communications Design to find a job in the states that's willing to give you a working Visa.

So where do I go from there? Honestly, I don't really know. Did I mention I'm moving to Seattle...sort of? It's not going to be easy leaving Toronto to live in a city that really has nothing going for me, except for my boyfriend. And well, it's not even like I can be a resident there, since I would need a Visa to stay there longer than 3-6 months or something. No health insurance, no legitimate driver's license, you get the point.

In reality, I would imagine that I wouldn't be there for longer than three months, which is pretty long for someone without a job. Time only goes by fast when you have a job, and I've always had a job, since I was in grade 7. I can only imagine the fights that happen when Adam goes off to work in the morning coming home tired and I've been bored out of my mind wanting his attention. I can also imagine the nagging from him about different ways of finding a job and me lacking the motivation to look--it's not exactly encouraging when you don't hear replies. And the guilt of living off of someone else's salary. How will I get to go shopping and eat all the yummy food I'd like to try?

But even before that...what about the move? There will be no goodbye parties, obviously, since who knows how long I can actually be there for. And what about the packing? Am I going to get turned away at the border for packing too much? How much should I pack? Can't pack too much in case i get turned away. Can't pack too little cuz I don't want to cross the border too many times, and it'd be expensive.

It sounds like it's going to be stressful times. But then again, I've been pretty emo lately myself: that Microsoft interview had seriously drained my energy and then immediately afterwards I got incredibly sick despite no coughing and fever--just an extremely bad case of the sniffles. Can't breathe, can't focus, can't even get up from bed. Gotta get my life together again soon. In the meanwhile, gotta start on those papers I've been putting off and maybe start applying for jobs again.

Someone hug me.

*Edit: I just found out that a bunch of ppl from CS got rejected, so I feel a little better...I think...

What a lil Brat(d)?

2009-02-26T14:50:00.011-05:00

I was unfortunately quite busy on Sunday doing some studying and could not make it in front of the TV for the 2009 81st Annual Oscars! So after doing much searching for the last couple of days, I was finally able to stream it on Need Movies. It was a really awesome show, probably the best one I've ever seen, so it's worth watching.

The reasons I'm posting about this is to:

Let people know that there's a link that hasn't been taken down yet (at the moment I've posted this).

Show what a possible brat Brad Pitt was at the awards ceremony when Kate Winslet was announced to be best actress and not Angelina Jolie.

Everyone stands up for a standing ovation for Kate Winslet, including Angelina Jolie, but Brad Pitt does not (See Part 12 of the link I gave out).

Angelina tells him to stand up too.
About ten seconds later, he finally does.
Kate Winslet walks right by him since he's got the aisle seat at the front.

Some theories:

He doesn't like Kate Winslet because she forgot Jolie's name during her Golden Globe acceptance speech
He had something on his leg/his leg was asleep and couldn't stand up right away.
He's upset that Angelina Jolie didn't win and supports her by not standing up.
He thinks Kate Winslet didn't deserve the Oscars/performance wasn't that good.

You can decide.

___________

On another note, I almost forgot, my favourite dresses:
Marisa Tomei's Versace Pleated dress (If you look carefully, the pleats are done so elaborately and intricately) and Heidi Klum's Roland Mouret fiery red origami dress. She wore a dress of the same colour last year which I liked a lot better, but this year's nice dresses were quite limited. Nothing memorable like Halle Berry's dress the year she won best actress or Gwenyth Paltrow's RL pink dress when she won.

White was apparently the colour this year, surprisingly a lot of people came with silvery white, beige white, barly any color that looks like white. Needless to say, the show itself was a lot better than fashion this year. I blame it on skinny jeans, Ugg(lies), TNA, hoods with the fur, and lululemon pants. Ugg(h)!

I don't know how

2009-02-17T16:24:00.004-05:00

I didn't pee on my bed last night....hahahahaha

Story: I woke up in the middle of the night I had to go pee but I was too tired to climb down my loft bed so I held it and fell back asleep. Throughout the night I kept dreaming about the fact that I can't stop having to go pee even after I just went to the washroom.....I woke up in the morning and realized it's because I really had to go.

I just wanted to share this disgusting story. =D