nikki gets around

2011-01-29T15:44:00.000+08:00

Enlarge your house with glue

2010-01-11T11:14:00.005+08:00

thai bye bye

2010-01-03T21:56:00.002+08:00

at the queen's resort lodge. first time in thailand in a hotel by myself. that's right - i said goodbye to keya today. although we had a pretty thorough reminiscing sesh of the past half month it was still pretty surreal that everything all happened-- and even more so, that it was ending so soon.

yesterday when we were enduring our return transfer from hell aka koh phangnan to surat thani post full moon new year's party, i laughed at the thought: i can't believe keya and i became such good friends over the past 3 years that we could have the rockingest vacation in history. how amazing. it started with gossip in the lower cafeteria at UTS. it grew with exchanged posts and messages on fb. it became real when we hung out in la. and this whole trip has been 2 legit 2 quit.

when we were parting ways, it was definitely more of a "see you soon". soon, of course, being relative. but in our case, it's defo close enough. maybe in nyc or la. maybe i'll randomly end up in nz when she's there. it's only a plane ride (or 2) away, which is really nothing at all compared to the adventure that comes after it.

although we went on and on about the highlights and the hilariously painful lowlights, and though they've been recorded in both of our journals, there are not enough words to attribute to this crazy trip.

i am sad that it's winding down. there's somewhat of a void. i also wis i didn't have to endure 19ish hours of travel to be home sweet home. excited to sleep in my own bed finally and reunite with my roommies and ketchup chips. gonna be a shock to my system to go to orientation and start classes.
but it's not time to think of that just yet.
i got 10 hours left in thailand. ten hours left to enjoy the few channels of english programming among a hundred other cultural selections, catch some shuteye before a 530am wakeup cakk, and a couple hours spent in bkk airport, which keya lovingly called her second home where she spend 9 hours before reuniting with me.

sigh.

haad rin'ing in the new year

2010-01-01T20:35:00.005+08:00

ttyn 2009, omg 2010.

although there are only a couple days left in this trip, it was nice having new years to look forward to, to build up to this whole holiday.
and it did not disappoint.

we spent our last day of the year on the beach, which come to think of it would be the last beach day of the vacation. under the advisement of our hotel manager, we went up to ko ma beach (or as i liked to call it, coma beach), and it was nothing short of paradise. there was a wicked sand bar dividing 2 bodies of water, that connected you to this other island. so we walked across and it was pretty rad.

yeah, another day at the beach.
yada yada yada, we went home and prepped for our new year's celebration.
this consisted of indulging in the hotel's free bbq (which i may come to regret, as i reckon some of the meat was undercooked, and i'm not doing so well... could be the booze... could be food poisining :/), raiding the nearby food carts for mango shakes, noodles and spring rolls, and predrinking as we got ready.

we were supposed to take the 9pm shuttle down to haad rin, so we promptly got down at 8:50. unfortunately, the tuk tuk had left early, so we waited another hour and resumed the drink fest. i was a little disappointed, because, well we asked for 9pm. but keya soon reminded me that this was thailand, they don't run by a standard of customer service. and we both agreed, this was probably happening for a reason. like, we probably would've peaked too early had we taken the nine. and we wanted to leave at 9:30 anyway, and since the busses seemed to be leaving earlier, we would get there at our initially preferred time.

so, when 9:40ish came, we boarded the tuk tuk with a bunch of other dissatisfied hotel patrons and headed down to drink our way into the new year. it was quite a bumpy ride, which made me all the more antsy to arrive.

as we got into the heart of haad rin, the electric energy in the air was emanating from every neon-painted body out there. hundreds and thousands of half-naked bodies sporting marks of where they were from, douchey sayings, and new years wishes. admittedly, and ashamedly i feebly tried to paint a maple leaf with some discarded pink paint. it failed. kind of a relief actually.

with buckets in hand, we traipsed around the length of the beach several times over, meeting new friends, dancing around, watching all the spectacles, avoiding the piss/puke polluted sea water, and judging all the eurotrash out there. and boy, was there a sea of them to judge.

at some point, i'm guessing midnight, fireworks went off, and it was quite a magical sight. i don't remember any countdown, i wouldn't even be surprised if these fireworks went off nowhere near midnight, but keya and i figured it was the new year and rejoiced in the delightfulness of the moment. i couldn't think of anywhere else i would rather be.

and so, with the party just beginning, we continued our rounds. i'm pretty sure i blacked out at some point. if i recall correctly, i shared a happy new years kiss with some kid from melbourne, who, cute as he was, slobberily showed his inexperience. for some reason, i had the idea that keya was gonna kiss him too, but that doesn't make any sense and i know that didn't happen. we just moved on. the hunt continued.

although we had been in thailand for a couple of weeks, we had only gone out a few times, none of which were manhunting moments. so it was very interesting to see how keya would fare as a winggirl.
and by interesting, i would say hilariously disappointing.
fuzzy as my memory may be, i do know i spotted this aussie who i was sure was keen. but in my highly intoxicated, possibly food-poisoned state, i could not muster up a good opener. all i could do was give him the eyes, and hope he would man up.
which is probably what he was going to do, before keya intervened. chatted up the dude's friend, made no effort to introduce us before dismissing them.
winggirl fail.
it's okay though, i should have known to expect this out of her.

and i managed to meet another aussie regardless (actually, it would've been harder to avoid them, as about 93% of the party attendees were aussie). despite donning a rasta toque, he was quite pleasant company to enjoy the early hours of the new decade with, even more pleasant once the toque disappeared. so i wandered the beach with him, keya consenting to our separation, and i unfortunately met his dickhead friends. i forgot this about aussie blokes - cool on their own, but biggest wankers in a group.

so, i left to reunite with my little keya unicorn. but when i called her at around 5:50, she had just made it back to our hotel. this both relieved and worried me. i'm glad she was able to make the most of her night without me there. i was worried that it took her very long to get home.
and rightfully so. as i followed the droves of people escaping from haad rin, i realized it was gonna be hell trying to get back. fortunately, our hotel was right by the pier, so several taxis were stopping there. unfortunately, however, it was a war to get on one of the vehicles. i almost considered jumping on the back of a motorbike taxi for almost quadruple the amount, getting discouraged at all the passed out bodies in several alcoves of the beach - people who had just given up. but about an hour later, i managed to squeeze myself onto a van headed to thongsala pier.

and boy, thus followed another moment of small-world serendipity.
i was sharing the backseat with a guy and a girl, the guy awkwardly trying to make conversation - where was i from, how was i doing etc etc. after we had established we were all from toronto, we eased into more substantial convo. i had mentioned i moved to l.a. and discussed my goals with my comm mgmt masters. there was a pommy chick in front of us eavesdropping on our convo, and she highly approved of what i was doing, which really touched me and gave me more motivation to make a positive impact on the world. and then mike, the other torontonian dude, asked me if i was solo travelling. i explained to him that i was there meeting up with my friend from australia, but i had lost her at some point in the night. so then he was like 'is she brown, and does she have long wavy black hair??'. and my jaw just dropped. i told him to shut his face, and asked how the hell he knew my friend.
he explained he met her at the drum n bass stage, she was dancing for her life, and was really excited to meet him because we hadn't met any people really from my hometown. she wanted to introduce us, but i had wandered off with my aussie at this point, so it was only until the van, several hours later, that mike and i met!!!
this blew my mind. for several reasons. a) he's from toronto. b) he met keya c) he met me d) we ended up on the same taxi that was hard to get on in the first place e) etc etc

holy. serendipity.

so as soon as i made it home safely, albeit queasily as that bus ride was not a smooth one and alcohol was still coursing through my veins and acid churning in my stomach, i couldn't wait to share this coincidental encounter with keya before we passed out well into the day, for most of jan 1.

and so, although i am very literally sick to my stomach with my head not doing to well either, this whole series of events has made for an entirely worthwhile and awesome beginning to the new year -- to the new decade.

patong nights

2009-12-29T13:03:00.002+08:00

it's weird, because we don't have a jam packed schedule, things kind of melt into each other, or don't even feel like they happened at all. i feel like when we first even decided to travel together, we were going for a party/boozing vacation. but as reality set it, we just kinda needed to chill out. and maybe even detox cuz we were goin so hard at home, prior.

until now.
heh heh heh.

right after a restful day at laem singh, we headed back to patong to make ourselves decent before hitting up some happy hour specials at margarita's and then at the ex pat. the spesh at margarita was 2 for 1 drinks, so i went for 2 long island iced teas. they were pretty poorly made, but did the trick. because by the time i got to the expat to have some cheap san miguel's, the manager tried having a convo with me and i was pretty not into it.

i did manage to beat keya at 2 pool games, thus proving i am a drunk idiot savant. and we had a pretty even set of matches of connect 4.

after happy hour was over, we headed to bangla road to check out real patong night life.
unfortunately, most of the bars were seedy. i mean, we expected that, but i guess what i meant to say was seedy and too expensive to be worth it.
we did check em out - the few aussie bars, and one irish pub (to use the bathroom), but there were no decent patrons around to make it worth it either.
so where did we end up?

Yes, the golden arches. even in thailand, girl gets her post-drinking burger craving. i will not complain because she treated me to fries. and then she resumed to break her camera and spill water all over and in her bag (both separate incidents). wasted, much?

and still, when we left mcd's, we stopped by this cart that sold cheap pina coladas, so even though we were done with partying and pretty inebriated as it was, we of course had to buy one. which we sipped on till we got home. somehow. miraculously. i guess our sense of direction is heightened too when drunk. thank buddha for that.

and at the sensible time of 10:30, we went to bed. we party hard.

under the sea

2009-12-29T01:05:00.003+08:00

thanks to an awesome tour booking agent and some good judgment on our behalf (rule #1, ALWAYS book with a non-female agent. Best is with an older, grandpa-like man, or a lady-boy), we had a fantastically cheap getaway to the phi phi islands. it's almost ridiculous to think of how inexpensive this all was after the conversion - anywhere else, the price we paid would barely even cover transfer from hotel to the marina, let alone a cruise to several islands, snorkelling gear, lunch and snacks, and return transfer. if i haven't said it already, thailand is spoiling us. i don't think it is possible anywhere else (well, maybe some other asian island places nearby. maybe) to have such a luxurious vacation on such little cash. i didn't think it was possible, but i think it's gonna make me even cheaper once i get back home.

anyway, with this stroke of luck, we ended up at phi phi and i finally got to snorkle!!! this meant i got to try out my underwater pack that allowed me to take pictures with my digicam without having to spend ridic amounts on an apparatus.
let's take a look.

Feeding time

I'm gonna call this a needle fish

I called this one the hip fish. Look at those cool colours!

pretty neat eh?

at the end of our tour, on the way home, the guides decided to dress up as ladyboys. we discovered this upon waking up from our naps. needless to say, it was an odd awakening, but i assume it was par for the course in thailand, and nonetheless a cultural experience.

to make things even better, on the way home, we spotted a row of carts selling cheap foods right behind the mall where we watched couples retreat (yeah, we watched a movie on vaycay. whatevskies). and we hit it up and it was deliciously cheap.

and on top of that, keya forced me to indulge in sundaes with her even though we ate a ridic amount already.

hurts so good.

a very patong xmas

2009-12-25T23:54:00.001+08:00

admittedly, we weren't terribly thrilled about phuket when we first arrived. airport congestion, higher cab fares started the rocky trip. and then as we progressed along the main strips near our hotel, we were met with much seediness, quite akin to that of vegas.

but, the beach was there to placate us, and our first sighting of it was at sunset, so that improved our first impression of phuket.

we were initially going to have a big christmas dinner on actual christmas day, but most establishments were going all out on the eve so we hit that up. we actually ran into 2 cali boys that we met in chiang mai and tried asking for their advice on where to find a good traditional xmas din, but they were like 'actually we're both jewish', once again blocking any future conversation. fail. fortunately, with kimberley's guidance (the chick we met while we were ziplining), we checked out one of the american chain hotels to see what their specials were. and lo and behold, we hit the jackpot.

the food selection was too extensive and too delicious for me to actually remember where we ate. but we made out like bandits. not only did they have a carving station with a whole turkey (i was so set on getting dark meat!!!), it included roast beef, ham, and several other meats. PLUS there were several other stations, amazing appetizers, wonderful desserts... oh man, all of our activity in chiang mai definitely went out the window with this one.

nonetheless, we still hit up an extravagant dinner on xmas, some seafood by the waterfront. we did have a spring roll delivery to our beach chairs earlier in the day by a dude singing "spri-ing rolls, spri-ing rolls" to the tune of jungle bells. but that was not enough to take us through the evening. it's very nice to have a friend that has very similar eating habits and zero dietary restrictions like you when you're travelling. it made our meals plenty easy. with this plate we were able to substitute crab instead of fish, so we got our own serving of it!
since we were seated by the water, we saw a bunch of lanterns go off over the beach and it was an enchanting sight.
and because we're fatasses, we indulged in gelato afterward and then agreed that this was the last expensive meal we would have for the rest of our trip. a great xmas present for us indeed.

in the jungle

2009-12-24T21:20:00.003+08:00

so we did our ziplining tour today, and boy was it an eventful one. it got off to a rocky start, but i was fortunate enough to be grouped with some great people, and one not so great person - a family of 3 boys and their parents from australia, a canadian woman currently living in chicago, and a creepy israeli dude who was more likely than not, a rapist. it was much by chance that we ended up with them because we were supposed to start our day at 9, but we were never picked up. once we resolved the issue with the company, they agreed to group us in at 12:30. i was a little disappointed in yaya who seemed to have dropped the ball on this one, until we met our group.
there's something nice about spending time with a family when yours is nowhere nearby.

the late start allowed us to fully gorge on our complimentary breakfast (ie condensed milk) some more, read and nap before embarking on our adventure. the first dude we met was the israeli, who was clearly someone who came to thailand to indulge in the sex industry and opiates. when the boys came on, i believe he kept trying to get them to join him to do sketchy things, but they maintained they were on a fam vacation and left it at that.

let me say that, even though i came to a new country to experience a different culture, it was wonderful to meet a fellow canadian, and a torontonian at that. having been so rooted in the t-dot, I find it hard to even relate to west coast Canadians. nevertheless... she was in her early thirties and had moved to the US a while ago. it was nice hearing her story and even nicer that she could relate to our sense of humour when we made petty judgements about the creepy douchebag. although she moved well before the US buckled down, she gave me a great sense of hope that I could make it there myself, which was a nice relief. AND at the end, she gave me her e-mail and told me if I wanted to work at the LA times during the summer time, she would be glad to help me out with a visa. this is a big deal. not only that- when I heard she worked for the Chicago Tribune, I was considering asking her for a hookup, so for her to offer without me having to feel like I was imposing was very sweet.

although all adventures I have had here are inherently fun and exciting, the people today especially - both our tour group and our ziplining guides - made it so much more enjoyable. so, there is no way i can fault Yaya for this mis-communication with our pickup time, because s/he probably knew, someway, somehow, that we'd have a much more rockin time in the later trip.

this is probably my favourite day in thailand so far, for the feeling of camaraderie and warmth (of the emotional sort, not climate... as it is constantl warm here) so close to chistmas, yet so far from our families.

this present was all i could as for.
:)

trekkin on

2009-12-23T00:50:00.004+08:00

after an abbreviated breakfast, we were whisked away to this random location nearby where we were waiting for our tour bus. it was unnecessary cuz the bus that picked us up passed right by our hotel again. i could have had an extra half hour and handfuls of doughy breakfast treats. alas.

i was pretty excited to see that there was another canadian on our tour, but my excitement wore off when i learned he was just another english teacher on vacation.
win some, lose some.
there was another pair of young ladies who seemed pretty unenthused the whole trip till lunchtime when they learned i was living in LA (they were from san diego). other than that, there was minimal interaction with the rest of our tour mates.

again, our tourguide nom was great, lovely sense of humour and zest for life. we started in the elephant camp and it was so adorable - the baby elephant nursing. the right through the jungle was a chilled adventure, our elephant guide was singing/humming/whistling gently to our pachyderm. unlike the quiet gir;s' guide, who was belting foreign tunes out. to which i could only respond "this isn't thai idol". what a douche. he kept hitting his elephant too. how mean :( at the end of the ride, we got to feed the little ones, which was both fun and terrifying when their trunks were all up in my grill.

we then walked through the villages, which, ignorant as this may sound, was getting a little repetitive. the saving grace for this one was this super cool boy that i dubbed "the disney kid". full of adventure and spunk. there was also a piggy, which was probably the first one only one i will see here.

hiking through the jungle to the waterfall, keya and i were having a pretty intense concersation. so much so that i lost my concentration and coordination walking and i took a little spill. my knee got pretty scraped, can't say i'm surprised that i got injured. but it made me pretty wary of swimming in the waterfall in case it would get infected. also, i didn't really wanna face the hassle of getting changed and also hangin out with wet hair.

we did some more hiking, which got brutal. not because the terrain was difficult, but because one of the tourists smelt so foul, so when she walked with her hands on her waist, a pungent odour wafted behind her, requiring at least 25 ft of space to be out of the stink radius. i have a terrible sense of smell, but when i notice something reeking this bad, you know it's vile.

we had a nice lunch that allowed us to bond a little more, but not to any bff degree. it was nice cuz it made the rest of the arvo more comf and jovial. this was important with our final stop: the bamboo raft.
not sure what keya did to our rafter, but he seemed to have it in for her. i mean, the trip started off nice enough. keya even said "i feel like huckleberry finn!" to which i said "all we need is racists!"
well, i guess our paddler must have been racist, as, after all, the brown girl was at the back of the boat and taking all the flack throughout the trip. it was hilar how many times she almost got smoked in the face. i told her to channel her inner crocodile hunter - what would stever irwin say? she did well enough, as none of us fell in the river. we got a fair bit soaked and it did look like we soiled ourselves at the end of it. but like in billy madison - all the cool kids were doing it.

a pretty quick trek, but satisfying nonetheless. evidently so, as we all took a wee nap on the way home.

mountain braking

2009-12-22T06:42:00.003+08:00

so we enjoyed our first complimentary breakfast at our hotel, complete with condensed milk. oh and brittany murphy dying. a really random news factoid, but did not put a hamper on our plans.

so to satisfy keya's need to check out the doi suthep temple and my desire to bike, we ventured on with this mountain biking tour company. i figured it would be a similar thing to my mexico trip with biking, ziplining and cenote swiming, so i was all about it.

when we arrived at the office and saw our fellow tour mates, we realized how much more intense this would be. there were about 5 different treks going on with varying difficulties. some families had even brought their own gear and cycling dress. pretty intimidating. but i guess the nature of this company was for the very adventurous.
it was a relief to know that keya and i were the only ones on tour nine. mostly because nobody else could judge our ability. even though keya and i are pretty comfortable city bikers, i think we underestimated the bitchiness of real mountain terrain. even taking a practice bike around when we first got there was kind of a struggle and rendered a simple life-like moment as i almost rolled backward down the hill because i was laughinh so hard at keya's inability to get up. lewis, our tour guide, was gonna have a handful with us on his trail.

i eventually got the hang of it, and it became evident to me that it was more like mountain braking and not so much biking as my fingers got more of a workout than my legs. it was cool to see how much momentum i got once i released my brakes and was propelled uphill without any pedalling. physics in action!
and once we got more settled in the tour part, it was even cooler that we were solo cuz lewis gave us some history lessons and more importantly introduced us to local foods. the first was rotee, a muslim pancake preparation that was so good that we had to have it again later in the night once we returned to the city.

and secondly was chiang mai ice cream which was served between 2 slices of white bread with some coconut sticky rice in between scoops. lewis got us. it was a great match.

the temple was also quite lovely and we received this sort of rope bracelet from the monk's assistant before the monk said a blessing. it was a very nice spiritual thing and made me think about what i wanted to achieve out of life.

outside of that, biking got to be easier as we went along. the most terrifying part was when we were along the narrow road and there were cars zooming by in both directions. fortunately, chiang mai drivers are more considerate than LA drivers so we weren't in any major danger.
...or so i thought, until lewis took us on a death mission on our final leg after eating to head back to the office to pick our stuff up. there was nowhere on the pamphlet that said we'd be biking around the city. but here we were. almost getting hit dodging rush hour traffic. without any protective gear. maybe the most adventurous part of our bike ride!
luckily we made it unscathed through the urban jungle. what a ride.

and then we came home in utter shock to see that the mcdonald's at the bottom of our hotel, which was rather unassembled the night before, fully built and open for business. a testament to globalism if i even saw one.

i'm lovin it. (but not really)

mai o mai chiang mai

2009-12-20T17:02:00.004+08:00

as much as i travel and learn lessons about cultural stuff and well, just how to travel in general, i still make mistakes. and so, my journey to chiang mai began with what i would call a vegemite fail.
there was only one thing i asked from keya from oz. not tim tams, but obviously the mite as i had just previously mentioned. when she first handed it off to me at our hotel in bangkok, we joked that our maid - of all the things she could take - would probably go for the vegemite. so i promptly hid it in my purple bag and had forgotten about it. until the airport. it was funny too cuz when we were walking through the airport, i was like 'keya, my bag feels so much heavier.' and only when i was stopped at the security checkpoint and dude was like 'what's this?' and i felt the bag and was like 'keya oh no the vegemite!' did i realize the error in my packing ways.
dude asked me to open it, asked me if it was chocolate, asked me what it was and i responded 'yeast extract spread? not a gel!' ...but security wasn't having any of it. so i sadly had to part with my yeast extract spread. :( sadface

the flight was short and sweet and when we got to the airport, we saw many teams who would be our amazing race competition: christian couple, old couple, brothers, jock team, etc etc. luckily we got a good, cheaper cab than most of our competitors and dude had an awesome sense of humour which obvi meant we were in first place.
our hotel again was an awesome find, perfectly located. with what little research we did, we did so good!
so after chilling for a bit, we did a walkaround our hood to book activities for the next 3 days. this was a fun adventure in haggling and finding good tours. the first place we checked was an sta, and we were nowhere close to getting a price we wanted cuz mother hen just wasn't having any of it. we took note of this elephant trek for 700b which we inevitably ended up booking though that was originally on the backburner cuz we saw a tour that included that and ziplining, but wanted to shop around.

so our next stop was noi cafe where we encountered our first ladyboy yaya. she was able to give us pretty good prices almost too easily so we needed to triple check to make sure we were better informed. so we hit up this other little indiscriminate booth, and the lady there was pretty keen on the game. she steered us away from the tarzan all-in-one tour cuz we wouldn't be able to see everything and may get split up, so we decided to do ziplining on a different day and found a good bike tour to take us to doi suthep which covered all the bases that both keya and i wanted to check. elements of culture, adventure, nature. perfection. unfortunately, this lady wasn't so budging on the price so we told her we'd get something to eat first before making our decision as a clever, thinly veiled exit strategy, when we were really just heading back to yaya.

we told yaya about our new plan and gave us a deal enough, so we were pretty stoked on our itinerary for the rest of our stay.

so we grabbed a bite to eat at a resto around the corner before heading to the markets right across the hotel, as the mcdonalds downstairs in our hotel was still just under construction.

and man oh man were these sunday walking markets amazing. prob the best market seen in my marketing life. while i can't even begin to detail how awesome it was, i can note my purchases: 2 cute dresses, 2 slap bracelet watches, and a lovely tshirt designed by little tiger. everything was totally worth it. and a perfect way to spend our first half a day in chiang mai.

dec 19, pt 3: nap fail

2009-12-20T11:52:00.002+08:00

unfortunately, our well-deserved nap turned intoa 5-hour nap fail when i awoke, checked my watch and said, 'keya, unless my math is wrong, it's 12:40' to which she replied 'it's 12:36' after consulting with her phone.

i thought it would be primetime to hit coco walk as asian countries function on fashionably late. but when we got to the walk, we were sorely disappointed.

at this point, tube was closed as was its neighbour with the skeletal server. we were losing hope and keya especially was losing steam. but we gained resolve and hit the rock pub, which we had discussed prior - we'd need to be superwasted to enjoy this kitschfest patroned by ac/dc asian doppelgangers.
although it was our first drink of the night, they were the only place opened past 1 and i am pretty glad we got to experience it.
asian kids thrashing. asian cover band doing all sorts of classic and alternative rock. head banging. people jumping on stage.
all in all, a very rockin time that looked like pure happiness to everyone involved. it definitely helped us redeem our nap fail. and taught us this lesson: set alarm for late evening nap. which is a good partner to this previous lesson: make sure to set the am/pm right on the alarm.

dec 19, pt 2: palatial

2009-12-20T11:30:00.002+08:00

samrang was promptly waiting for us in the parking lot. i think he wanted to take us to some animal show, but we were pretty set on our itinerary, so we headed back to bangkok to see the grand palace. samrang had informed me the previous day that i would have to have sleeves and pants, so i brought keya's cardi and wore my leggings under my tunic.
that was a double fail. on either ends of the spectrum.
a t-shirt would have passed, whilst my tights did not. so i had to borrow a skirt to put atop my leggings and i could have borrowed a shirt but i didn't wanna rack up my deposit, so i struggled in the thick sweater.

the palace was beautiful, there isn't much i can say about it to give anyone a good idea of what it was like to be thre. and it's not like i'm not a skilled descriptionist. i'm great at telling stories, but a place like that means something different to so many people, so i know my experience would just be very different from everyone else's.

the buddha was obviously a highlight for me and put me in this reflective state thinking bout religion and faith. western constructions vs eastern, westerners adopting eastern practices both seriously and superficially. it was quite nice for a place like that to inspire such thought. i also enjoyed taking a collection of pictures of these statuettes with such distinct personalities. at first i thought there were just 4, but the further we ventured around the grounds, there were plenty more. they reminded me of the 7 dwarfs, but there were more than 7 and they were quite adequately sized and not dwarfs. plus, i also liked noting the other tourists who made it past the fashion police despite their tight pants or revealing shirt. most of these tourists were white, so naturally i assumed racism was in play when making this asian girl put on awkward garment.

by the end of that 2 hours, keya and i couldn't be stuffed to really investigate the museums further as we were starving, so i returned my borrowed skirt, got my deposit and we left.

we were gonna be adventurous and look for street food, but samrang was creepily on our scent and came to take us to the car quickfast. he wanted to take us to the reclining buddha right away, byt we communicated well enough how much we wanted food, and cheap food at that. so he took us to this little cafe thing that advertised mexican food. i was a little skeptical, esp since coming from little mexico aka los angeles - tacos were the last thing i wanted. fortunately, when we hada crack at the menu, there was a great and affordable selection, so i got a couple of fresh fruit shakes and red curry which was so rich and delicious and will no doubt be my weight gain downfall. i also took the opportunity to jump into the net cafe and quickly tell my mom the deal with my cell phone.

and then we were off and samrang took us to the reclining buddha. kinda the same deal with the palace - hard to describe, but overall worthwhile. esp since it was pretty cheap. the greatest part of this leg was the end of it: searching for samrang.

we were so used to him on our trail when we needed to leave, but this time he was nowhere to be found. we did a walkaround inside the grounds and even walked the perimeter outside the grounds, getting a touch of hope every time we saw a thai man in an aqua coloured shirt. alas, twas not samrang.
it was cool though - our first time really fending for ourselves and seeing parts of bangkok without someone to hold our hands.
after about a half an hour of wandering, going a little hysterical and fending off tuktuk drivers, we went back toward the reclining buddha and lo and behold, saw a sight for sore eyes: our samrang.
i grabbed keya and was like 'let's jump on the mat!' in reference to our amazing race-like attitude whenever we hit a momentous checkpoint. by the time we reunited with samrang, we were giggling and i'm sure he had no idea what was going on but was glad oo that he found us.
and so, with that eventful end to our sightseeing, we drove off into the sunset, back to our hotel for a well-deserved nap after a day of boating, walking, eating, and searching for and finding samrang.

dec 19, pt 1: float on

2009-12-20T00:36:00.003+08:00

we were [rudely] awoken this morning at 8/8:30 by our driver samran (wo will from this point onward be known as samrang) as we apparently agreed that he would take us around to the floating markets, grand palace, and reclining buddha. he cost more than i would like to admit spending, and we were trying to strategize how we could find another way there. but in the end, i'm cool that we had samrang take us around. saved us a lot of time in te end. and taught us a bit about being wary of hotel information.

during the drive over, it was clear we had no idea how far these markets were. the drive was a good hour or so and we were promised a free coconut and coffee and water, on which he only half delivered :( sadface. i really wanted my own coconut. and soon enough we hit the water for an amazing experience that words and pictures couldn't even begin to descrive. but lemme say this - when we got on the boat, one of the dudes took a picture of keya and me just as my bottle was falling and i freaked out because i thought it would fall in the river. it didn't. it landed safely in the boat so the guy took another picture and we were on our way.

a couple notable moments:
-we haggled some prices for art and believe me, we still probably got ripped off. but whatever, dude had 3 children to support.
-we were starving for some snackage, was a little turned off by liquid food in sandwich bags so we were extremely delighted to see 'vegetable no meat springrolls' which we asked out boat driver to stop for. so the spring rolls were delivered to us by boar, sauced to the extreme, and devoured with delight, not before...
-we ended up seeing another spring roll boat and made eye contact with the lady manning that boat, who saw that i was just finishing up my serving. i smiled. she smiled. and gave me a nod of approval as if to say 'yeah spring rolls'. they just got us.
-we also saw his little child who was naked and couldn't determine whetehr it was a boy or girl until we got closer. as we got close enough to discover the kid was a boy, he bashfully covered his junk with his hand, so we waved at him to let him know we weren't judging, and he sweetly broke out in the biggest smile and waved back and waddled onward
-toward the end of our ride, we noticed an abundant number of these cobra show posters claiming to be 'the most exciting show in the world' which were beginning to pique our interest cuz of effective marketing presence. but to which i could only say, 'have they seen super juan'? cobra show is, at best, second most exciting

-and to top it off, when we arrived back at the dock, we were seated for some water and they placed plates in front of us. they were of the 2 photos taken when we were embarking on the journey. keya didn't want one of the tacky things, but i was able to haggle a decent price which became totally worth every baht when seeing their reaction after i told them i wanted the one of me rescuing my fallen bottle and keya judging me for it. the lady did a double take, asked me if i was sure, tried forcing the other photo plate on me. but after i told her i was sure about my decision, she incredulously shared this with 2 other coworkers who co-judged my purchase and reluctantly packed up the faulty plate while leaving the pretty, presentable one behind. i love being judged nonverbally. body language is so telling, and hers told us 'you bitches have way to much money on your hands to be wasting it on this busted photo.' and you know what - i would have to agree.

thai.landing

2009-12-19T00:09:00.002+08:00

after a quickie flight from taipei to bkk consisting of public enemies, bookworm and sudoku on in-flight entertainment, and chicken pasta and wine as the breakfast meal, i landed safely in bkk around noon.
made it through immigration alright though i could swear that lineups were conspiring against me, as i managed always to take the one that took the longest.
and finally.
i was reunited with keya.

the first bit of our reunion was somewhat of an ordeal on my end because i was deadset on sorting out my flight home to make sure it wasn't ultra retarded. and after heaps of politeness, the lady informed me that i could get my ideal itinerary for jan 4. omg, such a relief.

so we made or way by taxi to our hotel. now, i know LA traffic was terrible, but i'm pretty sure bangkok traffic has them beat. it's no wonder there are so many people on motorbikes meandering through the islands of cars.

our checkin was fine. we awkwardly avoided tipping our bellboy, and that may affect our karma later on. but to be fair, keya's culture doesn't even tip. and i beleive in tipping after the fact, to reward good service. plus, we were pretty distracted by all the amenities our room offered. like, plentiful photo ops of quirky things. love it.

at this point, it was 3ish, so we made our way over to coco walk across the street, which was accessble by the skytrain overpass! surprisingly in that plaza, only one place was serving food while the rest of the places were bars gearing up for the eve. so we had a little snack to tide us till our all you can eat buffet boat cruise on the chao phraya II. yeah, the information people in our hotel were very crafty marketers. we got some spring rolls and this salad whilst being entertained by this exciting show about a boy named super juan who distracted us from a catchup. totally worth it. not sure what happened in the show or our conversation, but i do know for a fact that juan is super.

and so, we headed back to our room for a well deserved nap tat i couldn't commit to fully. partially cuz there was this enthralling show about this miracle animals that doggy sweetheart and these healing horses.
we woke up around 530 to give us ample time to get ready and have a drink downstairs.
i wish we didn't have time for the latter, cuz we got pretty jacked on the prices. stupid bitch added tax, the first time the advertised price was before tax. so disappointing. but whatevskies. live and learn.

it was perfect timing though, cuz we were whisked away right as we were settling our tab to the riverfront amongst many, many other tourists. it was the perfect thing for us because we had the front seat (the bow? i guess...) on the upper deck, so we had the best view for photo ops. and the music was great as were the other passengers to help put us into the xmas spirit.

it was a pretty decent buffet too, but i couldn't fill up too much which i guess was a good thing. mostly gorged on soup and this other thai dessert that has a pretty cool texture and reminded me of flip halo-halo.

and so, we had a pretty chilled out rest of the cruise and finally had our catchup that superjuan deprived us of and made it back to our hotel around 10, giving us good time to get ready and go out along coco walk again.

unfortunately, keya was reaching her sleeping point and it was all i could do to convince her to join me for a drink before heading to bed. she kept saying 'oh, we will have a big one tomorrow,' but with my experience with lynn, i knew that may never happen so i'm glad she agreed to hit coco once more.

i'll just say that the tube bar (for which i had searched and discovered by googling 'indie rock bar thailand') was the reason i asked keya to book our hotel as it was conveniently located across the street. and when we eventually ended up at the tube after touring the plaza to check out our options for cheap drinks and cool people, we ended up thre and had a very chilled out cool time. much better ending up there than the bar next door with the uncomfortably skinny server that made me want to donate all my fat reserves to make her seem like she couldn't stab me with her bones simply by sitting on me. ew. so skeletal.
tube was also great cuz they had an english menu outside, and even more - to order drinks, we just had to check off which ones we wanted on a list instead of pointing at it on the menu and having the wrong drink ordered cuz our fat fingers were misguided. yeah. we were westernizing this experinece, but to be fair, the whole area was devoid of foreigners, so it was cool that we discovered this spot among the locals.

and then we went home and crashed.

ps i don't have any cellular connection which makes me slightly nervous. just in case i wanna reconfirm my flights, as well as get in touch with my mom. i hope it doesn't become too much of a problem

gettin laid.over

2009-12-17T23:14:00.001+08:00

[transcribed]
taipei 22:13

oh my shit. another long stretch in the airport. will probably lose my mind. better get a better, more direct flight on the way home. i dunno what i was thinking but a 1 hr flight sandwiched betwen 2 8ish hour layovers after a 15 hr flight is enough to drive me crazy. or fly me crazy.
yikes.
i wish i packed my rechardger. then i could be good with my iphone and free wifi for the next 10 hours. but no. packed it in checked baggage. erroneous.
must conserve energy :(

i have none of the local currency. so i dont think i can even buy a drink from the vending machine. i dont know wht time my body is on. my l.a. watch says 6:18 am. brutal.
just had breakfast a couple hours ago on the plane. but locally, it's dinner time.

definitely appreciated the personal entertainment consoles on the plane. but didn't like how bright the cabin was for a lot of the time.
i dunno why airports dont have arcades or movie theatres. this one has a gallery and museum. but that won't keep me entertained for more than 10 minutes. goddamn. i just want a seat on the internets.

i definitely learned some lessons with booking this trip:
- it's worth it to dish a couple of bills to avoid long layover/multiple stops
-consider star alliance partners. i totally coulda racked up on aeroplan miles for this flight
- be patient! don't go crazy for the cheapest first flight you find. esp since you're gonna be going to school later in the week you get back.

i missed my window of opportinity. i had a really good, affordable flight. i waited too long for keya's confirmation. and in the end we both kind of are dealing with the consequences.

ok gonna go for nethunt!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

it's 7:26am now in the taipei airport.
i will head to my gate shortly after i update on my overnight escapades.

i didn't initally find internets on my initial hunt. i mean, i did, but it was all occupied. and everyone was updating their facebook, or creeping it. how funny. what a testament to our generation. everyone's first instinct once getting off the plane is to update their status and check out everyone else's. but anyway... my adventure:

first of all, not sure what taipei's airport code is, i think it's tpi... anyway man, terminal 2 kicks terminal 1's ass. it has a theatre and is so much cleaner and brighter and the air qual is heaps better. and yeah, that totally matters if you're stuck for at least 12 hours overnight in a place. screw edmonton.

the bummer part is that these perks close at 11. you're kicked off the free internet at 11. they shut down the plasma screens. and then you're left wandering.

i was definitely left wandering for a bit. i had no idea where the rest of my in transit buddies went till hours later. so after sitting isolated at the gate, i asked one of the people at the other gates who directed me to the transit hotel.
well, i had 6 hours to kill, so i thought it may be worth it.
but when i got there, no rooms were vacant :(

it worked out cuz i found a nice stretch of couch seating in terminal 2 and another westerner had set up shop there too. there was a good amount of space between us so it wasn't creepy, but within close proximity to the security cams so it was safe.

so i passed out for a good few hours. the couch was this leathery texture, and i was sleeveless, so i was a weird combination of sticky warm under my blanket, and chilled. like a weird fever feeling in my upper back.
not into it.

at about 5ish, i needed to pee, so i headed to the toilets.
and then took a picture, because i had no idea what that thing was

and i have since gotten in contact with keya about meeting her. she arrived safely. and in an hour i shall be on my flight. and then see her in like 4 hrs. i really hope they feed me. even though i had breakfast in the airport here. it's the least they can do. i also hope i can get some wine. i dont care if it's early here. it's evening back home so whatever.

and then it's off to check in at our hotel, freshen up a bit before hitting bangkok.
hehehehe.

oh boy i'm pretty stoked!!!!!!

16 hours in edmonton "international" airport

2009-12-13T10:33:00.000+08:00

so i'm practicing my loitering skills.
incredibly grateful that while i'm not too thrilled to be back in canada -- especially in edmonton, the coldest "metropolitain centre", no doubt -- i am kept sane by the following:
1) harveys
1a) poutine
1b) an electrical socket near my table keeping my macbook on life support
1c) a free, relatively operable wifi connection (datavalet)
1d) closing time of 10pm (wish it was 24 hrs though)
1e) friendly, patient employees that do not kick me out
1f) free refills on my small drink, giving me full license to loiter
1g) a bladder that hasn't quit on me yet!

i mean i could've numbered these items separately. but really, they're all working together to make my experience at YEG a pleasant one. if i didn't have 1, the others would not exist.

anyhow.

i've been here for almost 3 hours if i count correctly.
it's kinda hard to keep track because edmonton is an hour ahead. but we left almost an hour late. my computer is not re-synced and is still on l.a. time. but my phone has updated itself.
i get confused trying to do the math first of all, and even more so when i switch between iphone/macbook.

the first thing i did when i got here was urinate, which can explain why i've been able to refill on these iced teas without having to re-empty.

and then i located the harv's on the departures level and ordered me some poutine and small drink. best $6.22CAD investment so far. especially since i dont have to rely on effin boingo hotspot or whatever, which would no doubt add to my expenses.

and after that, i streamed what was already loaded of csi: miami... yeah i'll admit it. i'm not ashamed.

and since then, i've been trying to fiddle around with the connection as i still have half the episode to go and i don't like to be kept in suspense.

i've been alternating between seeing 2 secs of buffered csi before rebuffering, and 2 secs of peak season followed by 10+ minute freeze.

datavalet, please be good to me! i still have 11 hours to go in edmonton... i guess 2 left at harvs.

luckily leanna is online and entertaining me. hopfully this can keep me stimulated for a whiles.

damn. leanna's gonzo. this draft is not autosaving... i'm becoming a little skeptical about technology, but still holding onto the hope that it will keep me going.

this is my plan. it is now 8pm locally. so yeah, 2 more hours at harvs. may very well order another poutine.

whenever that happens, it will probably take me all of 5 minutes to eat it. 3 if i devour it. 10 if i savour it.

and then try to take advantage of internets and free refills.

once the 10th hour hits... i guess i will relocate and go on a hunt for free wifi.
if i am successful, i will stream some more questionble tv shows.
if i am not, i will just hunt for an outlet to keep my macbaby alive. and watch the dvd's i bought.

if i cannot find a suitable outlet, i will read. read until i get tired.
and then i will resume my hunt.

i have 3 dvds.

i am still so impressed with my bladder.

once i exercise all my multimedia options (i mean, i guess i could listen to my ipod foreversies...), i will seek out the 24 hour chapel and meditate/sleep but pretend to meditate. if that is what my god wished for me to do during me pilgrimmage to edmonton, nobody should deprive me of that practice. right?

i have already checked in, so i guess i will make my way into the post security zone around 6 or whatever? explore further options of free wifi and electricity.

it's a pretty good plan.

i just hope i can outlast it.

i'm getting pretty wary of recirculated airport/airplane air. it dehydrates me.

but thank god for free refills.

so i'm also learning that safari connects me better with the internet.

i suspected it before, but i was very reluctant to accept it because firefox (pre last update) was pretty reliable. and at least autosaved the windows and tabs whenever it decided to crash.

i think i found a sweet spot with the internet... i was able to watch about 20 secs of peak season before it paused...

oh no. bladder starting to give me some warning signs.

it's only 8:30 local time. eff.

ok i have relocated and datavalet is still showing up... i am gonna save this post to see if it was correct.

success!

...not nearly as comfy on this chair sans table. but it'll have to do for now.

i dunno if this is gonna put a crimp on my poutine part 2 plans.

...it is probably for the best anyway.

update. it is 11:32 local time. only 9.5 hours left here. i still have managed to stay connected. but all this circulated air is making me fear for my health. i don't do well with airconditioning for prolonged periods of time. i get congested. allergic. my throat tightens... argh.

i just got off the phone with my mother, crying because of the potential stress i may face. not just with the border, but with the international office at my school, as well as departing for thailand and then returning from thailand and meeting the border again. it's stress that i have prepared to deal with [... by crying...] but stress i obviously don't care to face.

i've been so so so so so lucky every other time i've crossed the border. i have never faced any setbacks or whatever. and i don't want to start now.

i know that once i get that 1-90 form in my passport, things aren't gonna be so easy breezy either. but whatever. that is something i was willing to risk with my relocation here.

i've done everything thing right and legally, with much forethought and preparation. i would be terribly heartbroken if it was all for naught.

i'm trying to keep my hopes hi. as i was saying by to mommy, i was like 'hey, maybe i will go to the chapel after all and pray that this all goes smoothly hahah'... i guess it won't be just a site of 'meditation' for me anymore.

anyway, i don't even feel bad about loitering or sleeping here as another feller has set up shop along a row of chairs. he even brought a pillow. so if anything, he will be busted first. whilst i should be scot free seeing as i have a boarding pass, my computer which i am productively typing on, and consciousness. the latter is important so i can ensure that articles are with me at all times and don't get stolen or tampered with.

it's so tempting to pass out though.

i've also switched from csi to biggest loser. i've been able to stream like the first 3 minutes of it... but then get stuck. man, i've been exercising an awful lot of patience with this.

i'm just glad that i even have the internet and a computer to access it with in the first place. my eyes are too tired to even try reading the book i got. plus, i'm too distracted by the potential holdups that all of the book's wise words would be glossed over.

so now it's just the waiting game.

i feel like the time between 2-4am is the breaking point -- the moment when one decides whether or not she will pull an all nighter. 2 is when they begin considering it. and if they are awake by 4am, they got their answer.

if i do manage to pull an all nighter, i will have a tasty sleep on the plane. hopefully. because sunday will be spent prepping for monday.

there are these key dates that i'm currently fixated upon:

dec 13 (tm, when i cross the border)

dec 14 (mon, when i try to get my passport verified and travel signature)

dec 16 (wed, when i leave for thailand, and will hopefully have the travel sig)

...fuck.

there are a few thailand dates that i'm concerned with - dec 30, in regards to keya and me being able to get from phuket to koh phangnan.

as well as us getting from chiang mai to phuket via bangkok - dec 24, when we have 2 very close flights back to back...

and then...

jan 4 (when i am scheduled to return from thailand, if all goes well.

holy crap. that's more than i'd like to be worrying about.

is it karma for me having a fairly easy mid october to mid december?

eff that. this has been weighing on me ever since may.

oy.

....

1:44 local time now. 7 more hours till i make it pass security clearance. i mean, i guess i could go at the sixth hour or whatever...

man, i'm getting super itchy. this air is mighty dry. i feel really awkward scratching myself. i will prob leave this locale in an hour or so... grab some water... head to the chapel?

i'm pretty amped to check this puppy out.

i just don't wanna lose my net knex. and my electric spot.

.........

4:37 local time.

how did i spend my last hours?

watchin stuff. tryin to watch stuff. peein. headin to the chapel (which, by the way, was well marketed cuz i was pretty stoked on checkin it out... but somewhat disappointed upon arrival). checkin out airport internet. tryin to sleep. checkin out more airport internet. gettin tomato parmesan soup at tim hortons (open 24 hrs!!!). reclaiming my electric outlet spot.

and now here i am. watchin kung fu panda before i head back to harveys.

at least whilst i am in canada, even if i'm not actually outside, i am pretty much heavily experiencing canadiana, what with not only harvey's poutine(!!!) but tim horton's as well!!!

the airport is starting to get populated again.

i guess ticket sales for the day have started. i don't blame people for wanting to get out of this city.

.....................

5:41 ...soooo close. but starting. to. fade.

i would think that seeing more people would gimme more energy.

nah.

i wanna curl into fetal position and hide under my duvet.

my hands are cold and dry. stupid airport washroom soap.

i need lotion. i've tried using spit.

ineffective.

datavalet is getting spotty. i was having it pretty decent for a while. wtf?

is it all these other people that i now share the connection with.

i don't even know what's going on anymore.

.................................

i tried sleeping. i dont think i was successful. but it passed me some time.

airport in considerably busier. i'm getting more and more parched. despite the soup, i am yearnin for some harv's.

this is a very cruel experiment i decided to conduct on myself.

i dig allnighters when someone else is up with me too.

but solo all nighters... very remniscent of last minute cramming at school.

maybe it is foreshadowing what's to come?

maybe it is a cautionary tale.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

it is monday night, i have since left edmonton. the remainder of my time was spent ingesting delicious, delicious poutine, trying to sleep some more, going through domestic security, realizing i went through the wrong security checkpoint, dealing with border patrol, making it through as a student (!!!), going through transborder security, getting to the busy ass gates, seeing the sky go from deep blue to pale white in a blink of an eye, waiting to board my delayed flight, realizing my mayo container from denny's exploded in my bag, cleaning it before boarding, boarding, and then sleeping my way till los angeles.

if i never have to set food in edmonton again, i'd be more than ecstatic.

golden gate park

2009-11-29T00:08:00.000+08:00

i guess golden gate park redeemed san fran for me.

we started off the day to go to some flip resto i discovered on this sf hidden menu blog. but, our timing sucks, and the one day we wanted to go there was the one day it was closed for a private event.

nevertheless we motored on and decided to spend some time in san fran's green spaces.

when dan and i set out to hit the park, we were intending to hit the full house park, where we could pretend to be uncle jesse and michelle tanner and throw a frisbee around with comet.
we didn't do enough research to figure out where that was or how to get there, so we checked out the park that we stumbled upon: golden gate park.

for the next 2 hours, we traversed through a lush green terrain, encountering waterfalls amidst the woods, misplaced museums and roaming elk. so very random. we played improv games to pass the time (as, after spending soooo much time with each other, we had ran out of new things to say that we didn't already know).

and at the end, we reached the ocean as the sun was setting.

it was like a little reward at the end of our journey. and on top of that, there was a band playing in the woods as we were leaving. lovely exit music to score our departure.

san franciscan thanks

2009-11-28T12:06:00.000+08:00

i guess when you're not living in so cal, and are from a cold, canadian metropolis, san francisco seems like a great place to live.

that's how i felt my first two times visiting sf, in aug 97 and sept 04.

but having since relocated to l.a.... it was a very different feeling this time.

i'll admit, i like the city feel of san francisco a lot more. it just feels like a city. but spending thanksgiving weekend in san fran was less than spectacular.

i'm not sure if it was the combo of cold and family and lack of other friends in the hood, as well as lack of funds...

but it didn't feel so welcoming as it had previous times around.

the drive up was pretty long but pretty dec regardless. mom took the first leg and dan took the home stretch. about 4-5 hours apiece with a carl's jr reststop in between. we opted to take the 101 for a more scenic drive. but after 2 hrs stuck in l.a. traffic on the way out of the city, we couldn't even see the supposed beautiful scenery.

road trip route fail.

we got in around 1:30 and crashed to prepare for thanksgiving...

...and this consisted of gettin a lovely breakfast at this asian-run mexican homestyle diner. and then a walk in the presidio.

the walk was nice. but easy to get lost as we tried to make our way to the gg bridge. google maps did not help as many paths were under construction or detoured or whatever.

so we eventually made it back to our room and chilled.

...hours later, we woke up. after we realized we fell asleep, we got our act together and joined my mother at mel's diner for turkey dins instead of going through with our reservation by the bay. since we were gonna surprise my mom with letting her know we'd pay, it worked out way better for our budget. what was even better was that they screwed up my order, giving me only white meat when i asked for only dark.

so i got an extra plate and we got double the turkey leftovers!

turkey win!

and while it may not have been the most traditional thanksgiving, it was dan and i first american one. and we certainly had plenty to be thankful for.

whatever ales us

2009-11-18T15:18:00.004+08:00

the last day in nyc and the only thing i had on my list for the city was to check out croxley ales, after reading about it on wherescool.com

so after a day of wandering, hanging out with other displaced torontonians, seeing dan jizz himself after hanging out in supreme, and other shopping, we hit croxley and it did not disappoint.

this is why:
10 cent wings.
[with purchase of drink]

but hey, that's nothing.

mo mo joined us, and we had a lovely last night and i was painfully full.

a beautiful, well-fed last day in nyc. nothing much to it. except for much wings. yummy.

funny monday

2009-11-18T13:27:00.001+08:00

when i tried taking a nap on friday before the partying, i was awoken by some dude named john. my mom had texted me to say he would be calling, but since i was asleep, i didn't get the heads up.

turns out, he was from letterman, and calling about my reservation request. dan was really keen on seeing letterman above leno, for example, so i wanted to make sure i got em. it was weird - i had already secured conan and leno tickets, so i was used to the process.
but this time they asked me a trivia quesition and made sure i was a huge fan and was superexcited to go. of course, i made an educated guess and got it right, and feined excitement, and within moments i got tix.

so the show was on monday. we checked out of the hotel, left our baggage in the lockup and headed midtown to get on way.

we secured a spot in the audience, which didn't really mean shit cuz they still lined up people randomly. and then headed out to get food.
we didn't even realize it, but we were superclose to the food truck from the night before, and since he bestowed upon us a load of sauce, he deserved our business again. so we headed over, bought our gyros, and returned to the scene of the crime - in front of the sheraton, where our food remains still littered the ground from the night before.

and then, we headed back to check in for showtime.
...

well, the thing about having gone to tv school, we are pretty aware of the PAs hyping up the audience etc. and could see which PAs were like the people we went to school with.

needless to say, it was overkill. it felt so forced to be cheering and clapping that it was like overcompensating. i actually fell asleep during the first half of sharon stone's first segment. and trekked on through seth myers and wyclef jean/cyndi lauper. it was pretty underwhelming, but hey.

after the show, we returned to the hi ex to grab our stuff and cabbed it to jason's before heading to dan's comedy show.

it was an asian themed show, and dan got us in for free. linda came! and that was really sweet because i def wanted to see her before we left. this chick - allie wong i think her name was - was my favourite of the whole night and redeemed both asian and female comedians for me. she was awesome.
it was funny to see how much racist humour was dished out. it was to be expected.

afterward, we headed right around the corner to katz's so dan could eat a $15 sandwich. the pickles were delish. thats pretty much alls i ate for dins. and linda and i drank some more.

at that point, we were on good time to head up to meet mo mo, bo bo, and jason to catch a free show at the UCB. for dan's first cs experience, it was great to have jason suggest catching the ucb.

it was a pretty good line up. a pretty good day of laughs for free.

even though we were sleeping on the ground, it was a pretty great since jason was a swell host and centrally located. i was all laughed out and it was time to sleep.

hi ex

2009-11-18T12:58:00.001+08:00

haha. i just realized it's almost as if this blog entry would be about me running into my ex in nyc. hahah. unlikely.

no. it's about our awesome stay at the holiday in express, a room i booked for me, em, krys and dan at $40 apiece. pretty decent deal, especially for me as em decided to stay at her friend's, so i got my own bed to myself!!!

not only that, there was great smelling lotion that we got a few refills of, razors and shaving cream for me and dan!!!, and combs for me, dan, krys, and beau who came with us!
yeah, we took a pitstop in manhattan to pick up dan's stuff at mo's place, and beau joined us along the way.

it was our street food cuisine day, so i tried yelping food carts. unfortunately, all the foodcarts were in tourist central. but this gave us the wonderful opportunity to take obnoxious photographs like obnoxious tourists.

so we ended up on 6th and 56th or something like that... near the sheratons.. yeah, there were 2 sheraton hotels kitty corner to each other. and this food cart was glorious. we each got some variation on lamb gyro, and the dude was sooo awesome with the sauces. anyone who knows me knows i am all about sauces, and he loaded it up. he kept going to the point that i had to asked him to stop. that never happens.
[that's what she said]

and even though we were ridiculously full, we trekked up to the foot of central park and along the way scouted for new york cheesecake/red velvet cake.

full as a beast. totally worth it.

we walked back to the hi ex, watched some cablesies. amazing race! krys and i decided we'd be awesome teammates. beau left us, and then we just bummed around. we were gonna have a hotel party, but since dan had a gig for monday night, he wanted to be on his game (ie non drunk/hungover), and since krys was gonna be stuck in a bus for 8 hours, she agreed with this.
as much as people may think im an alky, i do not enjoy drinking by myself, or just because i don't have to do anything the next day. as i am unemployed, i would have several reasons to drink. but since i am unemployed, i also have one big one to NOT drink: i am poor.

so we just chilled in our hi ex room and revelled in the cleanliness and free other stuff!

i updated the blog to make each post correspond to the right date. and now we're back on track.
yay!

harlem

2009-11-16T12:22:00.000+08:00

jimmy was initially supposed to host us for 3 nights, but one of his roommies was having her mom over and i think he wanted to sleep in his bed again, which is why toby saved us and let us crash with him in harlem.

it worked out because it allowed krys to fulfill her long time goal of eating chicken and waffles in harlem. i thought about roscoe's and how michael had suggested that when we wanted to have a black themed night back in may. but toby had another thing in mind: amy ruth's.

i wish i took pictures of all of our delicious food. our table got 3 barrack obama's (for me dan and tobes. consisted of fried chick and 2 sides). kris got the al sharpton, which was the classic chick and waffles deal. smothered (with gravy). man, if i had known that it was fried chicken and gravy, i wouldve smothered that bitch too. i thought it was just regular roasted chicken or something with gravy. erroneous.

after dinner, we walked around trying to find the pacquiao fight and getting a tour around the area. toby was a great tourguide. so much so that he took us to the best place ever: the fairway market. it's not even like it was a farmers market. it was a grocery. but a magical grocery. a pint of ben and jerry's for $2.50!!!!
and a cold section where you wear a jacket to get to the meats and stuff. cheap. fresh. open. what else could anyone want in a grocery store??!?!

unfortunately we didn't get to see the fight. well not so unfortunately, as i didn't care. but the other peeps were into it. so... whatevskies.

fortunately. tobes has cable. and more importantly - he had the food network. so we watched us some iron chef america, and some other funnies.

and then dan, krys, and i unfolded the couch and squeezed in together.

4 torontonians in manhattan

2009-11-16T05:35:00.002+08:00

sounds like a really really lame sitcom idea that someone would have tried to pitch between 2001 and 2005.
well, that was our saturday.

we left jimmy's comfortable greenpoint apartment to drop off dan's stuff in the l.e.s. before hikin up to stay with toby in harlem.
a packed day indeed that saw us all over the place.

anyway, it was a rainy day. which meant i wasn't in a particularly peachy mood. for the most part, my left side was soaked. joy. but the company was great, so i wasn't so much of a downer. i got some frames at this vintage shop in soho. she called them uncle jesse glasses. i had to have em. she knew how to speak to her customers.
anyway, at only $15, i couldnt complain. my only challenge now is to find cheap a place to install cheap lenses with my prescript. ugh. glasses.

we visited jimmy at opening ceremony to return his keys and dry off a bit. dan fell in love with some timberland boots, and decided he would buy them on tues.

we were gonna go to the moma, but we spent so much time frolicking that it was 4ish by the time we were done shopping (the moms closes at like 5ish). so we just went to a cafe to prepare our stomachs for chicken n' waffles in harlem.

mo and beau were so kind enough to let us hang at their pad while waiting to meet up with toby, who was only free after 6. we played those games of exclusion - green glass room, and direct train ride... to see if people could pick up the pattern and get in on the secret.
since i'm so smart, i was able to figure it out before dan and krys on both accounts. har har. dan struggled hard, proving both that he doesn't pay attention, and has very little ability to make connections.
evskies.

and so, when it was like 6ish, we left the happy couple in their expensive ass room, and trekked over to harlem.

serendipity/...and then i got puked on.

2009-11-15T04:59:00.002+08:00

friday the 13th...
when i planned this trip, i thought of friday the 13th as a party opportunity i intentionally chose to leave midweek before fri 13, just in case anything came up. this was when we were still thinking of going to n'awlins, when i would think somethin totally radical was going on.

well in nyc, krys had her friend's bday party to go to at the empire rooftop bar. you had to pre-buy tickets online, apparently, which we did. but they didnt even check. so that was kind of annoying.

anyway, our day started with em comin to brooklyn from queens. us hangin and takin some stoop pics. and then walking across the billyburg bridge into manhattan for some vegan ice cream.

we got to lula's at 2:30, giving us an anxious half hour to burn and build up an appetite before we could get our faux ice cream on. and man, for non-dairy stuff, it was delish. dan and krys got their own sundaes and em and i banana split.
i mean, we walked between 2 boroughs... we deserved it.

we headed back to brooklyn to go to the boulevard tavern in hopes of indulging in $5 all you can eat bbq. but that plan was once again foiled with us being there at 6, and the deal starting at 10. erroneous. you did us wrong, yelp.

dan's improv friend mo from toronto met up with us and we had to settle for subpar diner food, and then napping before krys' friend's party.

i pretty much knew i wasn't going to be into it when i got there. coupled with the fact that i looked like crap, i was very obviously not incredibly keen to be there, which i guess concerned krys.
my feeble attempts to make the most of it did not fly so well either.
i mean, this spilly drinker dude dropped his drink on the ground near my shoes. in quick thinking, dan whispered to the dude to get me a drink, and whispered to me to complain about my shoes.
"my shoes!" i yelled, even though they were already wet from the rain outside.
oh well, it was enough to get me a rum and coke and some free gift bags.

and then we yelped a place to go to, even though our faith in yelp was somewhat shot.
our filters included: bars, closeby, cheap, and open.
yelp pointed us in the direction of rudy's in hells kitchen. $7 pitchers and free hotdogs all night. how could we go wrong???

so instead of heading to the dessert bar serendipity with the rest of the hotel party, we cabbed over to rudy's bar and grill and delighted in cheap pitchers and free dogs.

krys and i kind of got into a tiff, and dan was sitting awkwardly in the corner for a lot of it. but, with cheap booze, it's hard to stay upset for long. and shortly enough, we were back to laughing again.

when we did our bridge walk, krys and i agreed we would try out this japanese girly laugh throughout the day. and so we ran with it. and that made us laugh more, that we continued with our real laugh.

this caught the attention of this random girl sitting in front of us who whipped around to check if those were our real laughs.. we explained that they weren't, but were becoming so... and then continued chatting her up.

well, it turns out linda is from l.a. and very lovely and we continued to talk some more.

at one point, i went to the bathroom. this may be rudy's only downfall - one toilet for women. whilst i was in the lineup, some chick tried to cut in front of me so she could puke, but to no avail. so she ran into the guy's room.
she was out in no longer than a second, so i was like - man, quickest puke ever.
but then she whipped around, and spewed over my hand and sleeve before rushing back into the guys room.
barf.
so. gnarly.

ugh.

i think this is the first time i've been puked on by someone other than myself. it was so gross. esp since you could make out the hot dog bun chunks on the jacket.

so i rejoined the group, told em the story... we were about done there and krys was sleepy. so we said our goodbyes to linda, added her to facebook, invited her to dan's monday comedy show, and cabbed back to g-point (during which we had a great photoshoot with sleeping beauty).

i love how we were supposed to end up at this place called serendipity, but instead experienced a true moment of serendipity instead.

:)

no sleep till brooklyn, we go hard

2009-11-13T15:34:00.003+08:00

after a 12 hour bus ride (supposed to be 10... and then the bus broke down in syracuse), we arrived in nyc.

[insert: syracuse rest stop was awesome. for 230/330ish in the morning, krys, dan and i had a rad time in the parking lot. playing activities to keep us warm and moving. and unbored. and to work off the unfortunately tasty duncan donuts meal. it was an AWESOME moment. one that brought me back to the simple happiness of childhood. i felt like i had known these kids for life, like this was something we had done growing up together. funny that the 3 of us only came together just over a year ago]

soon enough, our rest stop fun was over and we were on the road again. and of course, i had a shitty sleep, but was pretty grateful to be able to experience the sunrise on the road. we had gangster seats on the bus - second level of the double decker, front window seats. amazing.

so we pulled into town about 730ish, and grabbed some food.

krys, dan and i had agreed to do the 1 meal a day travel diet.

but... already we had failed.

irregardless.

after a local, nothin spesh breks near penn station, we parted with em, i got to the banksies and then we cabbed it to brooklyn, to dan's friend jimmy's apartment in greenpoint.

man, this place is so perfect for us, and so appropriate for the type of first day we wanted to have in the city. por ejemplo:

arrive in brooklyn at 830ish.

nap till 130.

call parental units whilst still in bed.

get ready/yelp things to do.

set out on a food hunt at 330.

discover that the special at the boulevard isn't till the next day.

wander for pizza.

eat delicious pizza.

check out brooklynski, an appropriate hipster trinket place.

head back home.

go grocery shopping.

drop off groceries.

shop around for booze.

pick up 12er of pbr for $10.

hang around/nap in bed from 6ish to 7ish (or later, if you're krys)

wake up.

shower, if you're nikki.

drink pbr.

engage in an obnoxious, self-parodizing photoshoot.

decide to order chinese food.

eat chinese food at 11ish.

hang out with roommie.

sleep at 1ish if you're krys.

walk around g-point if you're nikki and dan.

discover an intersection of 24hr delis around nassau.

get back at 2ish.

and chill out/sleep/blog.

i couldn't have thought of a more appropriate first day for the 3 of us. so low stress. so much food. plenty of time to gear up for tomorrow's adventure.

i think tm we're gonna try to rally with em and toby to hit up the boulevard for $5 all you can bbq.

we're probs gonna have a naptime in the early eve. and then get ready for krys' friend's bday, which i am assuming is in manhattan.

i am glad to be spending this time with these people. but. i can think of a couple of people i'd want to be here as well. people who made my last days in toronto as fantastic as they were, and who would surely ease in my transition onward.

---

time to squeeze between krys and the wall. apart from dan snoring, this should be a cosy sleep.

nyC u LA/tor

2009-11-12T11:35:00.005+08:00

as much as i'd love to recount the last *glorious* days/daze of toronto, i already documented those moments through sets of emails, conversations. in the epistolary narrative of my life, these various recipients would have to come together to generate the full essence of these recent memories.

but enough of that.

i have crossed the border, an incident that i thought would cause me anxiety. but instead was a breeze as they often are. i don't know if i'm lucky, or just seem entirely unthreatening. either way, i feel like and hope that this smooth start is a preview of what's in store for my transition.

it's funny - people don't believe i'll never be back in toronto.
i mean, maybe in 5 or 10 years in may be a possibility.
but like... after depositing 21 years worth of moments into my memory bank, i got a lot of savings to access before i need to top up on funds.

i feel like a lot of the people i care to keep in touch with are independent of toronto. that is to say, in a different context, i'd be able to maintain - or better yet, develop - a stronger relationship.

with that said, there are plenty people as well, who are locked in that time and place forever. no going back. no point.
not that i don't appreciate those fun times we shared. but that's as far as it goes.

i am not a fan of goodbyes. they feel so final.
but i also hate empty promises to keep in touch.
i am more and more subscribing to the belief that everything happens for a reason. even when the reason isn't always instantly clear, or when it seems negative, i accept fate while having as much control that i can over the present and future.
i'll see you when i see you.

i've been asked what my favourite memories are, what i'll miss the most.
to be honest, my most recent memories are up there. that isn't to say my long history with toronto hasn't yielded anything noteworthy. it's more that things have just continued to get better and better.
now what will i miss the most?
easily my haunts: sushi on bloor, sneaky dee's, the cave, green room, and the boat. the parks - bellwoods, the pits, the one near market square, the waterfront. not entirely sure what it was about these places. but they felt like home. more importantly, though, is the people i experienced these places with. were it not for them, i wouldn't punctuation marks in an otherwise monotonous sentence.

as dan and i were leaving sneak's yesterday, taking one last walk home along bathurst from college to the annex... we realized how significant all those little chats were, the ones we had at [appropriately named] futures bakery.
i'm so hopeful for what's in store for me. i'm not looking back.
but there was a moment of sadness - what's gonna happen to dan once he gets back from cali.
surely, my transition there would not nearly be the same, had dan not agreed to come with me and help me unpack and settle.
but [although it is unfair to think this far ahead], i worry for him when he gets back to toronto.
i'm still holding onto the hope that he'll ditch the city for l.a. as well. but i want that to be his choice, not one i have forced on him.
we often underplay our friendship, but it is the best. we look out for each other a lot. and it's not that i hope someone else will be there to look out for him, because that's not true. ...oh, i don't know where i am going with this.

but as i've promised truthfully to keep in touch with some people, i just hope i can do a good job of letting them know who ive become with each exchange, how every new experience has changed me in a hopefully positive way.
and at the same time, i need to remind myself to be present in the present. to give attention to the people i'm spending time with. i'd hope they'd have something to offer, a lesson i could learn. i used to underplay the significance of each new person i met. but now, i'm open to an exchange of soul-bearing stories so enrich the meeting. after all, my soul is rad and should not fear rejection or misunderstanding.

goodbye toronto, it's been real.

---soft shift---
so we're on the megabus, and this 1 dollar ticket is providing me with transport, a place to sleep, a power and internet source, warmth, entertainment, a journey.

at 5:30, we'll arrive at the station in nyc. engage in adventures. sleep in 4 new dwellings.... and so much more.

i don't want to write this story before it begins. i want new york to be a 'pick your own adventure'.
what choices will we make? who will we meet? what will we learn? what can we share? what will be forgotten?
all these questions.

i can't think of better people to have with me on this pitstop. 4 hours have gone by already, and it's felt like no time.

how perfect.

hammer time/in knots - take 2

2009-11-10T14:53:00.000+08:00

the hammer. although 4-5ish days ago, it feels like a distant memory already.

a homemade dinner.

wine. intense conversation. garden state. intimacy.

the morning... by then it has shifted once more.

still, a nice home cooked breakfast in bed transpired, with more conversation.

we walked along the hamilton waterfront. paused. along some sort of secluded paved path. stared at the sky. wondered. experienced and hyper-experienced. wandered. shwarmaed in the city centre fountain. and parted ways.

like i said - feels like a distant memory already. i can't even explain the details. the feelings. the impending void.

but it was more than i could have expected from hamilton.

when i arrived back in toronto, i reunited with dan, and we both shared a bittersweet moment of sorts.

i don't think there was enough time to let things marinate.

don't quite know if things, memories, feelings, moments have expired.

let's just say it's all been/being pickled.

hammer time/in knots

2009-11-10T09:55:00.002+08:00

so even though hamilton is not a place to blog about, well... now it is.

a two hour bus ride during friday rush hour whilst the sun is setting builds enough of a moment.

eff.

as much as i wanted this to be a flowery reflection of my hammer time, i can feel it fragmenting already. so much has happened in the last couple of days, so much that i've tried to synthesize into a story, a verbal narrative. but i don't think it's quite there yet.

but still, i must deposit whatever experience i have into the memory bank.

it's weird noticing shifts in yourself.

and noticing the serendipitous moments.

i've experienced both lately.

fuck. this isn't going to work right now.

i'll be back.

govember

2009-11-02T15:44:00.004+08:00

wow. the month is here. only 10 more sleeps till leaving time!!! and while i normally hold resentment for november, especially as it marks the end of daylight savings time and the beginning of more coldness, i'm wholeheartedly embracing it this year. it's a month where moustaches proliferate (!!!) and i bounce around the place. by the end of the month, i reckon i'll have slept on at least 7 different surfaces in 7 different accommodation situaitons. neat.

very very optimistic. while my sleep schedule is effed up hard, it's a minor and totally acceptable consequence of my 9-6free life.

and for the record, november 1 began amazingly so it's a great sign for what's left to come with the end of the year, yes?

:D :D :D

i've used up all my good word quotient for the day. and that's totally cool. i am gonna revel in this feeling.

drifting

2009-10-31T16:26:00.002+08:00

so i packed up my apartment today and shipped the boxes, thus completing 45% of my transition. we'll get to 50 once i leave toronto/get to nyc, linger at the halfway point during my stay in the new york, get to 55 once i arrive in la and start looking for a new room to call home, and reach 100% once i'm unpacked and sleeping soundly in my bed. that is how i will measure my progress. i kind of hate being stuck and wish i could just fast forward the process.

so thank god dan is going home to visit his familia this weekend so i can have free reign on his place so i don't feel completely homeless. but it's an interesting feeling, from having my own one bedroom apt, to staying in another person's room with at least 5 other housemates. every time i go to the balcony, there's someone new smoking. and because i am so spent from moving, i'm not my usual friend-making self. although i had roommies for 2 month stints in 07 and early 08, this will be a nice refresher course before i reside with new craigslist bffs. it has also really reminded me that i will be downsizing, and probably not in a place that's 100% perfect for me. and while it'll be an adjustment, i think i'm actually looking forward to the challenge.

black nate in cali, a potential roommate, called me a princess because i mentioned that his room at 11x11.5 may be too small for me. hey, i have stayed in smaller - my room at bondi barely fit in a bed. but because i have made it my mission to transport all my stuff cross-continent, i want to make sure it has a nice place to stay once i make my move. reasonable, right?

as much as i have scoured the c-list and found nice potential rooms, i really don;t think it will gimme a realistic idea of the hunt till i actually get there. i'm glad i have an iphone, so i can at least pin the places and find a suitable route. yeah, i could also find a map and actually pin it. but that wastes paper. so... i'm just being environmentally conscious....

did i mention how much i hate packing? it gives me a conniption. and why do i always choose to downsize? is it because i think it will give me strength in character so i will appreciate what i can have? ugh. being an only child to the best mother in the world hasn't really prepared me to live in a modest environment. just being in d's room, remembering that he used to live in an attic when we first moved to the annex was interesting. he's done well. and i know i have too. i guess i just want to feel more grounded? i for sure want the cool roommies/insta-friends too, so i guess i'm sacrificing my free reign on a whole space for buddies. it's a fair trade. i gotta get used to compromising.

i've got the most patient friends in the world. like the real friends. i used to think i was very lo-main, which i am on a daily basis. but when it comes to creature comforts... i'm pretty demanding. yikes. i hope i can get through these couple of weeks without grating on my hosts' nerves.

i hope i can make this nomadic life a romantic experience. not in the romance way. cuz, given my surroundings, that'd be hell awkward. and also i'm grimy and don't feel comfy showering in the bathroom because the door doesn't lock (i'm gonna take advantage of my gym membership heh heh heh). but, as i blog, i feel like this is the neo-drifter experience, reflecting on the unclear path ahead (even though i have planned more than i'd like to admit), wondering which lessons i will learn from the strangers i meet in the process, and hoping that if i die alongh the way, that it'll be mysterious and cool and immortalized somehow.

for the record, i don;t want to die. i am very stoked on this migrating experience, and think it's long overdue that i'm moving to l.a.

also, for the record, my l.a. is not one that's all hollywood. i'm in it for the sun, the music scene, the babes, and ...the education, i guess. but not the whole - going there to be famous, or to stalk the famous. gross. i hate the concept of celebrity, actually, and it always left a strange taste in my mouth when working on tv shows.

i can;t wait to blog my leaving entry. i almost want to get started, but i reckon that will take away from all the cathartic feelings i will experience when the moment actually comes. sleep time now. seeing as it's 5am. i'm like on pacific nikki time already... one of the welcomed byproducts of not 9-6ing m-f!!!

listless/listful

2009-10-14T12:12:00.004+08:00

iwantiwantiwant

-an apartment with at least 3 other cool roommates. hopefully co-ed house. yeah actually, definitely co-ed house.
-a rad bike that is mine and will safely take me round the streets of l.a.
-a survivable work placement on campus
-a great volunteer position with global inheritance/similar
-contribute to where's cool?
-exposure to l.a.'s music scene
-rad friends, solid friendships
-a good relationship with my cousin
-minimized tension with my mother
-zero contact with the uncle
-frozen yogurt!!!
-california driver's licence
-the ability to study/apply my smarts effectively and not waste it all
-balance
-body art
-a 'dan' of california. sigh. why does jbp have to trade coasts??
-a absence of awkwardness and drama
-making contacts, cultivating working relationships
-achievement of my dreams
-unbrokeness
-learning new skillz
-not quite growing up. but embracing adultescence
-live a healthy lifestyle
-use usc gym and/or take up other activity
-have fun
-being happy with my surroundings. finally

get outta my nightmares. getoutgetoutgetout
-not making any friends. at least friends that i like and feel myself with. i know it's not hard to make friends. but hey, in toronto it took me like 20 years to get it right
-mistaking coolness for good friendness
-i will lose focus
-deportation
-bankruptcy
-maternal resentment
-moving back to toronto
-effing up at my program
-the health care system screwing me over
-hollywood. ew. gross.
-shady folks
-drama
-getting held at the border
-unintentionally breaking the law and getting caught
-discovering that i don't want to get into communications and then starting from scratch from there
-something traumatic that will totally derail me mentally or otherwise
-unhealth
-getting stuck in limbo
-not realizing there are always options

how do i make sure shit gets done?
-refer to this list for perspective
-remember how hard i worked to get here, how long i've been dreaming and thinking about this. you made this decision for a reason, and not just australia or some other warm place
-set goals about what you want, how you can achieve them. and then do it
-no negativity
-remember what you're leaving, why you're leaving
-realize you are awesome, believe it, and make sure other people believe it too

:)
don't worry. it'll all work out.

jesse spano excited.

2009-10-13T12:15:00.004+08:00

i always find the hardest part of major shifts in location is determining when these shifts will occur.

for this shift, i have finally decided the dates.

leaving toronto to nyc - nov 11
nyc to la - nov 17
la to sf - nov 25
sf to la - nov 29
la to sd - dec 5
sd to la - dec 6
la to ed - dec 12
ed to la - dec 13
la to bkk - dec 16
bkk to la - jan 3

... wow. it's going to happen.
!!!

now that that's taken care of, the hardest part is waiting. and not being able to do anything in the meanwhile.

as much as i can, i've gotten my shit done:
paid my sevis fees, registered for orientation, set up bank...

i wish i could do the following:
find an apartment, buy a bike, drive, get some sort of work....make friends!!!

and most importantly, just be there!!!

but less than a month to get there. that's good.
i've been waiting for this for so long.
wow.
and yet i still have to wait.

4 more days of work.
30 days left of toronto time.

i'm just too excited. jesse spano excited.

i just gotta remember to breathe. and then maybe take a chill pill.

jetlagged

2009-09-09T02:54:00.002+08:00

so i am home. well, back in toronto. which i will only consider home for 2ish more months. irregardless... i'm back from vancouver. and, well, i will admit it's nice to be in toronto again.

when i booked my ticket to vancouver, i had it in mind as an option number 3 (after l.a., and sydney). so when i went there to check it out for my first time, i wanted to see what it was like being a local there, and as such i limited my touristy activities and focused more on daily life. staying with hannah was interesting insight, as she is not working currently. life seemed pretty cruisy.

i did get a chance to stay at the zazz house before my mom came. also insightful. less so about living in van, more about couchsurfing with a group.
rad group of people. but it prob woulda been easier to bond with them had they been less insular, or had i had another friend with me to make me feel less left out. they were really cool though, if i was staying an extra day, it prob woulda felt more bondingly.

they were also there as travellers, rather than as people settling in the city. im not sure if van was particularly homey for any of them, it mostly felt like a stop along the way. so it was not so easy for me to feel like van had any more home potential. especiallly when i look at people i know who have moved there from toronto after school. they eventually boomerang back. so... i'm kind of finding this new appreication for toronto. i knew i always loved it and was fortunate to grow up here. and while i am more than set to leave, it will always be a place i will hold close to my heart.

alright. less mushy city sentiment, more vancouver stories.

so when i got to the zazz house, i dropped my stuff off, had quick intros before heading down the drive.
the drive is a charming place, probably where i felt the most at home in all of vancouver. much moreso than kits. even though kits was also beautiful. got to catch up on some reading, good people watching, and sampling the sushi deals there. there are plenty of cheap sushi places there, for which i am grateful. but nothing is up to sushi on bloor standards. with only one exception - toyo sushi at cambie and fourth. their spicy tuny and spicy salmon salads are amazing, and less than $5!!!! if i could, i would sub those salads in instead of bloor's seafood salad. however, there were no decent cheap maki selections. everything was pretty average.

after some wandering, vintage window shopping, and park reading, i headed back to the zazz house and hung out. listen to them jam on the geetar. had an interesting encounter with their landlord, whom they affectionately call sri leahy, and then we got to partying. very chill.

i guess i am a party tourist. i travel to find new places and people to drink with.

oh man. jetlag is kicking my ass HARD. i dont think i can effectively add anything more to this post.

ok. next time

bridge to peak. to drive.

2009-09-05T21:52:00.001+08:00

after practically od'ing on benadryl, i was pretty much decent enough to endure touristy vancouver with the mother, and so we did. having purchased the bridge to peak trip a day earlier, i didn't much have a choice, unless i wanted to waste $70 of my mom's money.

now, i always thought van was warmer than toronto in general. after all, the pacific ocean is right there and i'm sure that contributes to their temperate climate. and technically, it's still summer so the warmest clothing i brought was a knit cardigan.

unfortunately, i think weird weather took a vacation and followed me to van as well, because my last days of the trip were COLD. i mean, it was rainy (yuck) and in the city it averaged 18 degrees, on the mountains it was like 12! unacceptable.

i normally go a little more south at this time of year - to cali to visit the mom. and i am used to basking in the hot rays of the sun, enjoying the dying days of summer. but since we decided to meet somewhere in between, and experience this part of our own country that we'd never been to before, we got a premature sneak peak at winter. i don't dig it.

it kind of limited our touristability too. when we went to capilano it was raining, so wandering around paths and suspension bridges in the air was not the safest thing. and when we got up to grouse, it was foggier than san fran. we couldnt really enjoy the gondola ride up. so to buy some time, we ate at one of the restos at the chalet and fortunately it cleared up in time for us to get some good viewage.

we also got to see adopted grizzly bears, which were so adorable. and we watched this movie about a bird over vancouv. it was kinda poorly done, but whatever. and we were able to catch the lumberjack show, which sounded super lame when the travel agent recommended it, but was actually very entaining.

there were still a couple things i wanted to do, but with time constraints relating to the gondola sched, and our tour operating times, it was hard to fit it in, so our tour ended there. on our way back to the city, we had a different tour guide who was able to enlighten us a little more on van. he discussed the film industry there and the population density. and at first, me with my toronto-centric leanings, called bullshit on him saying van had the biggest film industry in canada and was the most densely populated downtown core with the most expensive neighbourhood to live in in canada. naturally, i thought these titles all belonged to toronto. esp the pop dens one, cuz we've got tons of condos in our dt core, one pops up ever minute. but upon googling, my previous beliefs were shattered. i was in gobsmacked. it was like all the truths i had known before were all a lie.

i can't talk about this anymore. it still hurts.

to revert to denial about my city not boasting these superlatives, i hung out with a fellow torontonian in the eve - jen, who just moved to van for grad school. we hung out on the drive again, which was rad because she had never been there before, and it was like evenly in the middle between us. we went to the same bar that samantha the cs host worked at that i went to with them. wazubee i think it's called. it's got a green room vibe. except for with a dj strangely enough. every other bar on the drive was hoppin, which was awesome. but lacking seats, which was less awesome. so wazubee was a good mixture of chill vibe, busy, but with seatage. and affordable drinks and fries.

it was a great catchup, we never had one-on-one hangouts back home, but it wasn't awk or anything. it was nice seeing her perspective on boys, and discussing the theatre scene. it was also nice to have a break from my mom. we were both fatigued though from jetlag, and allergy meds. and with beer thrown into the mix, it wasn't conducive to a big night. i don't know why i didn't think to contact rach and the zazz house as i was right in their hood. i guess i was concerned bout getting home safely. but anyway. yeah, we parted ways and i headed back to sketch central to catch a bus stop to head back to sketch suburb, aka our hotel hood.

made it home alright for my last night in vancouver.

family vancation

2009-09-05T02:51:00.001+08:00

alright. let's get back on this.

so after zazzing it out, i spent the rest of my time with my mom who flew into vancouver on her bday. some family oriented stuff for the remainder of my trip. as well as a way to finance the activities. very important as i had run out of the cash my aunt gave to me before i left, and wasn't sure of my debit balance cuz my rent was to be taken out. i have had cheques bounce before, which is such a bitch, so i didn't want to risk that.

anyway, the first day we wandered around downtown. my mom is like me, we like busy urban areas, and we like experiencing them by walking around rather than having a guide tell us what's up. it is pretty impressive how oriented i got after a few days of walking round. i am a human gps system.
the grid downtown is on the diagonal, so you rarely just walk n-s or w-e but we managed, and i showed my mom the burrard street bridge.

her second day was less than spectacular. mainly because i was sick. mega congested. and very weak feeling. we tried walking to granville island (as it is not actually an island), but i guess my human gps was off due to my sickness, so we never actually made it. instead, we walked up to the tourism office and my mom booked a tour for the next day for capilano and grouse. i really wanted to do nature shit, but not quite in the touristy way. but because i was feeling less than stellar, i was not going to argue.

so for the rest of the afternoon, we hit up stanley park. my original goal was to rent bikes (oh how i miss biking!) and cycle around the seawall and such, but because of my poor form, we had to settle for the shuttle. for 2$ each, we got a day pass to the trolley around the park. it was nice. but i ached to bike. but mainly, i just ached. it sucks being sick on vacation. but i guess it was good that i was sick with my mommy, and not with any of my friends.

in the eve, my mom got me some benedryl while i took a nap, and then i was much better, although drowsy. once i was in better shape, we headed to the drive for dinner. i was eyeing the poutine at belgian fries, but unfortunately, they were less than spectacular. i should know better than to order poutine somewhere other than quebec. although the poutinerie does a decent job.
regardless... they also charged for mayo here. uncool. it was a cool vibe, but outside of that the food was nothing spesh.

my mom went for her dinner at an ethiopian resto down the drive, her first time eating the cuisine, so it was nice that i could teach her how to do it. she didn't much care for the injera, and debated about asking for a fork, but i told her to embrace it and she complied. it was good times, but i was too full.

we tried checking out the chinatown night markets that happen on the weekend nights. but i guess it took too long for me to recover and have dinner, because by the time we got to chitown, it was a ghosttown.
that is, till we got to hastings. at which point it became bumtown.
my mom had to go to the bathroom at the closes bar, which seemed to house the native population of the city. funny experience seeing my mom awkwardly open the door of someone on the toilet.

what a sketchy, sketchy area. now i know toronto has its seedy parts, but i never feel as weirded out as i did when i was there. it felt good to get back home to our hotel, the journey to which was also questionable at best.
this will teach you to trust other traveller's reviews... our hotel was not in a central location at all. but we made the most of it, taking the skytrain and the 99 bus for free. the novelty of the honour system will never wear off.

getting wrecked

2009-09-02T10:35:00.002+08:00

yesterday was quite a lovely day with my new host hannah.
we were supposed to go to lynn canyon, but her friend that she was gonna go with had a big night the night before, so he was delayed in getting his day started.
i'm kind of glad, because it meant that i got to experience wreck beach.

i think when i was talking to my co-workers about my trip, jason told me to check it out. most likely in jest. but it was definitely an awesome cultural experience.

although i did not parttake in the nudity, i got to appreciate a lot of it. and kind of felt in very odd being so clothed in my swimmies.
after a trek through ubc campus and a long walk down the stairs, we arrived at wreck beach. plenty of breasts and penises in view. no modesty in sight. it was great.

what was also awesome was the beach vendors.
not the ones with huts away from the water.
i'm talking about the naked passersby that sold anything from coolers, beer, cider, mushrooms, marijuana, empanadas, spinach burritos, margaritas, mojitos, caesars, organic soft drinks, and homemade organic truffles. all about $5.
one stop shopping. while i did not exchange in this market, i got to try some of hannah's truffle. it was pretty delish. and the dude gave us a quick chat too.

some of her friends came down with guitars and other fun instruments. and after a skinny dip, they jammed in the nude. and it was totally rad. apart from like san fran, i can't think of many places where this would be a completely normal thing.

in the evening we made dinner with some of her friends and their guests from the states. another novel experience for me! considering kitchens are places i rarely visit. and it was fully vegan and yummy. i think i can teach myself to appreciate less unhealthy foods. with a smaller eco footprint.

we also went to the bar down the street and played existential king's cup. there was no kings cup. and there were no cards. you just picked someone at random and whatever card they were thinking of is the card you drew. pretty good times. and the pitchers were pretty cheap. all in all, my kind of fun.

hannah was also very sweet to take a painting for me. of a sailboat. i've always wanted one of a ship. and now this one has a great story behind it too.

today was much more of a lazy day. we took blue, her dog, down to the water for a walk. it was rather slippery and fall-conducive. but we survived and i learned much about the vancouver's watery ecosystem. we also prepared her compost box for the worms to arrive, and then transferred the worms and organic waste in and waited for magic to happen. i also walked around china town and had some sushi. and we made vegan chocochip oatmeal cookies. banana was used to bind. and it really added a lot to the choco taste. i'm beginning to rethink my eating habits hard.

i considered maybe if i fell in love with van, it would be my plan c. after cali and oz. while i am having a lovely time here, it doesn't scream home to me yet. so we'll see if i will re-evaluate that decision. there are plenty more places for me to discover before i figure out where i should settle. perhaps i will fall into the english teaching trap and suspend my youth forever. but i've still got my sights set on usc. only a few more weeks till i discover my fate! crazy that a previous cs episode with josh and michael really turned me onto l.a. ...i mean, i already knew i wanted to be there. but that experience really made me feel like i could make some solid friends and have a great young but productive experience. i can only imagine how my path may have differed had i surfed with some other people... best not to think about it.

in other news, i was supposed to stay with some kiwis and aussies tomorrow but i have yet to hear from them. so we'll see. and then my mom comes, and the touristy stuff will begin. should be interesting.

life after god

2009-09-01T01:18:00.003+08:00

sunday was quite a lazy sunday. and while that may seem like a waste of time on vacation, that's how i roll. i like a relaxed itinerary, and was able to appreciate some smaller, but still key elements about being in van.

for example, reading coupland.

i brought this book on a last minute decision. i imagine i was already out the door, when i decided to ditch a heavier book for this one. i was also going to bring the gum thief, which i had bought not a week ago for vacation time (totally disregarding that coupland is from vancouver), but because it was hardcover, i opted for life after god. and that was a good idea.

spending a few hours on the rocks at volunteer park, south of 4th and macdonald was the perfect place to read this book. i always knew it before, but coupland is highly vancouver-centric. and while i have read a few of his books, having read this one at this place and time made it mean so much more to me. the subtle references and allusions... i get the subtext now. and it was actually really cool to see that.

i had bought the book in september of last year (i know this because the receipt was in it). and it's a fairly easy read, the closest thing you could get to a picture book for adults. so when i first got it, i probably got to about page 100 and still didnt get what was going on.

but this time, after being familiar with all the vancouver references, the picture was clearer. and it made me consider re-reading all the other books of his i've read.
weird, i just realize i read him lots on vacation. i think i brought gen-x to oz, eleanore rigby to cali, and life after god to van. were it not for a grade 9 project that had me reading girlfriend in a coma to create a verbal visual essay for english, i may have never discovered coupland. but yeah, with this new perspective, it may be worth re-reading the others...

i also imagine, if i wrote novels i would be sorta couplandy. not exactly in theme or style. but for the very fact that my upbringing in toronto is a huge part of who i am, whether i like it or not. i do have an incredibly strong toronto-centric point of view.

sitting on those rocks yesterday, i almost wished there was a douglas coupland tour of vancouver you could take.

it was cool too, his character was based in kits, and since i'm spending a great majority of my trip here, it was pretty cool to get what that was all about. i kind of imagined coupland to be that kind of guy. except for in toronto, i would place him in kensington, but more realistically in the annex.

...

today i'm off to lynn canyon, so let's see how that will enrich my experience here!

a foreigner in my own country

2009-08-31T01:32:00.006+08:00

that was how i felt last night. not necessarily because i'm in such a strange city like vancouver. but rather, more because i was surrounded by non-canadians. i guess when you are in a different country, you gravitate towards others sharing your experience - ie other foreigners. and since im staying with jd, an aussie, i was bound to encounter more of the same. or at least, less of the canadian.

so we went to a bbq goodbye party last night. and yeah, i felt like a minority there. also not cuz i'm asian. although i do believe i was the only asian there. but yeah, cuz there were no other canadians. i feel incredibly redundant right now. but it was an odd feeling, cuz although i was in a new town, it was still my country.

most of the people were from the uk or europe way more generally. and considering i had never been to the continent, it was hard to find a way to relate.

hm. i also feel like i'm sounding like a big baby about this.

i dunno. i guess when i'm in a new place, i try to experience life as non-touristy as possible. i like living like a local.

but since i'm been here - yes, all the two days that i've been here - i don't think i have had an exchange with a true vancouverite.

my first night i caught up with kate from high school and we went for sushi with some of her friends. i thought this would be my chance to get some local insights to the city.

instead, i got all toronto all the time. actually, this was probably the highest concentration of torontonians i hung out with since high school. these people all went to high school around me, and knew plenty of the same people. very weird. well, unexpected rather.

so hey, i guess i went from 2 extremes -- feeling all toooo familiar with my torontonian folk. and then feeling way outta place among these ex-pats.

also, with these ex-pats, what was weird about them was that they were all old and settled. not like 50s old. but old enough to be married. early 30s i reckon. now that i think about it, that's probably the reason i felt so out of place - the inability to relate to married folk. whatever.

but we were rid of most of those by the time the bbq was over and we decided to go out. and we went to lola's, which i was told would be like dance cavey.

although i've never been to the place, after seeing lola's, i would liken it more to the brunny. too much grinding. not enough bouncy dancing.

that being said, it was slim pickens there. very very few boys i was keen on. and when i say boys, i mean it. these were fresh out of the high school womb. almost ready to enter the world of higher education.

and while i like younger boys, this was not my scene. too fratty. not enough edge.

also felt way more sober than a lot of the people there. which always brings me down as i feel like i can never get to the ideal level at which i just don't give a shit about what happens. oh well.

the walk home was interesting too. walking with jd's roomie, getting accosted - i mean approached - by some other bar patrons. boys are silly. it was actually interesting being sober enough, having been able to discern the game level that these neophytes had. after all, thus far they've only dealt with high school chicks, who, if i remember correctly, are pretty easy to begin with.

so see them run their mediocre game, it was clear how amateurish they were. an interesting to see how a semester away from home would improve that situation. for better or for worse.

actually met a dude from socal who warned me against l.a... he was an orange county boy, born in la. suggested i should have gone to berkeley, or at least somewhere in north cali. whatever. i can see where he's coming from, but either way. lucky dude had canadian, british and american passports. i totally thought you could get 2 max. whatever.

wait, damn. i shouldve asked that kid to marry me. then i'd be set for life with american and british citizenship (the latter way less important but still a good bonus).

the kid also went to school with some of the laguna beach kids, and knew shane from the real housewives of orange county. apparently shane the stud, who can get any chick he wants, is banging a bigger girl. maybe there is hope.

so yeah, an interesting evening. wish i had a better adjective for it.

tonight is my last night at jd's, and then i'll be staying with hannah for a couple and then an aussie house on the drive, before my mom gets here.

i wonder what i'm gonna do with the rest of my time?

naturey shit i guess.

yyz>>yvr i like to cut it close

2009-08-29T06:19:00.002+08:00

for such a seasoned traveller, i still have issues with timing. i guess i really like to push the envelope, see how much i can get away with. for example, how late i can leave my house and not miss my flight. that's where online check-ins come in handy. well, simultaneously handy, and dangerous at the same time, since you think there is so much time left. i'll get to that later.

but here are some revelations and observations i got from flight ws467 yyz to yvr. let's share:

- the only time i elect to drink tomato juice is when i'm flying. and it is my favourite flight drink since it's not caffeinated or carbonated. and the cans are small, so i dont have to pee as much. perfect flight beverage.

whilst watching tv, these are some things i gathered:

- watching tyra, i realized there are a lot of stupid litle girls who believe that getting pregnant will solve all of their problems. i appreciate how much tyra abhors that idea. she is very anti-babies with babies. also, this is why people need to be educated about birth control. and/or abortions. also, i feel this is why there are so many stupid people out there - they, unfortunately, are the only ones that want to breed so enthusiastically, so they pass on their stupid genes to the next generation of proliferators. and this is a testament to the power of soap operas whom i credit with this plot device. "it worked for sami - austin stayed with her. it'll work for me!'

- speaking of soap operas, i got a chance to watch an episode of days of our lives. mega confusion cuz now 2 or 3 actors from passions now frequent/work at brady's pub. it is crazy how incestuous these families are, and how some people are still up to no good. not having watched it for a few years, i feel like nothing and everything has changed. weeeiiirrrd.

- the doctors is a whack tv show. it's like a health talk show for the a.d.d. generation. within one episode, at least 7 topics are covered, with no relation or cohesive theme: blindness, sexual dysfunction, snoring, laughter, c-sections, etc etc... but i dont think i learned a thing about any one of these topics. except for that dr. travis stork is hot. and i think i want to watch in the audience when i go to cali.

- i would make for a bad uneployed person/housewife. daytime tv would ruin me

- the westjet flight attendant is a babe. i wish i didnt look like a total wreck. also i think it is a great marketing strategy for wj; it makes me consider flying them more often

- i should have given myself more time in the morning to get my shit together. but nom was almost late for myflight as a result. another 2 minutes and i would have been done. orange nailpolish was almost my downfall. speaking of, i still need to repair the nails. NEVER apply before leaving! time consuming, and will inevitably get messed up anyway.

... prob more, but i slept a lot of the way. i guess, maybe come earlier too so i can scope out more of my fellow passengers???

yeah.

time to explore!

time travelling

2009-05-19T23:24:00.004+08:00

ok. i am still weird about which time zone my body is in. but also, i am concerned as to how i should resume my travel tale telling...

i may as well go in order. but before i dive into mi aventura de ecuador and my previous cali trip and mi viaje a mexico... i'll just throw some things out there about my latest trip...

*it's really cool being able to see your neighbourhood upon landing in the city. the cn tower is a good point of reference.
*i want to move to cali. i need to work out the logistics later.
*i wish all my friends and i were underemployed but still able to sustain a fun and active lifestyle wherein we could play in the park all the time
*there is so much to do at the beach. but nothing you have to do
*i need a west coast mindset
*it is a very good idea to just pack up and go. and have a starter job where you can meet people you wanna hang out with socially. before finding a real job where people may be less fun.
*i need to look on craigslist to see how attainable my dream is
*i need roommates too.
*more places need fro-yo bars. it just makes sense. for the health. and the happy.
*NEWSFLASH: I'D BE HAPPY AND GOOD AT BEING A TRAVEL AGENT for the first little while... i should really look into this

...probably more. but i will get into the other country tales NOW

too tired to think of a good title

2009-05-18T15:56:00.002+08:00

but i just wanted to iterate for the first time since i've been on this trip (since i have been avoiding internet), and likely last time (since i will be going home soon)...
i fucking love it here.

i will recount all the adventures when i get back home. but i will have to do it in order. after i rack my brain remembering the last few trips.

ok.

that should help keep me preoccupied at work :)

must.
sleep.
now.

ethnic saturday dancing

2009-05-17T08:46:00.001+08:00

so where was i... yes. saturday.

oh saturday. so i experienced l.a's rail system. it wasn't my first time, but it was my first time on the gold line. i was coming from figueroa and marmion (heritage square station methinks) and went to union and did a transfer to the red line, which is the one i'm used to.
now this was interesting for a couple of reasons. first of all, the ride took forever. i think it took me an hour to get home, and had i known this, i would've asked josh to pick me up instead of opting for this cultural experience.
but it did give me a chance to acquaint myself more with jh, and it wasn't awkward as things usually go for me after nights like that. despite being massively hungover, it was a pleasant ride, albeit a looong one. so i guess it worked out.
he got my number but had just lost his phone, so he used a key to ingrave it into a piece of paper. it was a little unnecessary, as he would have no use to call me when i am in canada. but i shoulda gotten his number, for fun times when i return to cali. oh well. we had a conversation the night before about our last names and the different ways they could be pronounced, so that works out for adding him on fb/myspace. however, im being realistic. like with constantine from '06, i may never ever see or hear from him. but i enjoyed the times for what it was.

so i got back to josh and michael's and we recounted tales from the night before. it was great being able to fill in the blanks for each other. well... more like josh filling it in when michael and i blanked out. apparently michael was perfectly offensive without my assistance, dropping the f-got word with one of his potential suitors.. this is why i enjoy the idea of roommates. because often i would go to parties and not remember what happened the next day. i mean, im sure there are more practical reasons to have roommies, but this whole day embodied why it's great to have a friend around. let me explain...

so i guess i got back to their pad around 1ish? ... we decided that we were gonna do dimsum, which im really glad that was suggested as i often forget that is an option even though i love it. so many odd race moments happen with it too! ie when i did yumcha (thats what they call it in oz) with lynn. and then when my mom visited me, it made it so clear as to why i have odd habits with the chinky kind too! i am my mothers daughter.
so around 230ish, we made our way there. again on public transit. see i could have saved my train experience for this ride, as it was the same route... or i coulda stayed with jh had i known i coulda just met them in chinky town. alas...

the dimsum experience did not disappoint. the interaction with the servers and the communication barriers are priceless as ever. the food was delish. and just incredibly cheap. for the three of us it was like $20. and we all had the 'itis after the fact too! (i had to teach em about the itis too, and its origins)

despite our sluggish state, we missioned on in dtla. and it's a good thing too. because this is the awesomeness that happened..

yeah. these chicks were dancing on tables. at the front of a thrift store. class up the ass. i suspect this is why michael is gay.

but it didn't end there. just across the street, we rocked out to this :

what a beautiful rendition of twinkle twinkle little star. with josh's interprative dancing.

and there's more. after scoutin for some cocktails, and encountering more racism when we went to have long island iced teas at another dim sum place, we headed into little mexico. where josh expressed his love for churros here:

it was a beautiful thing.

we also headed to a bbq of some of michael's associates, which was... i dunno how to describe. but i was not doing so great cuz the long island iced tea was retroactively punishing me. also, nothing could've topped the awesomeness that was the night before. so.. when the sprinkler timer went off and we all got drenched, we got a free get out of jail card and went home to do our own thing.
so what did our own thing entail?
well michael wanted to have a black experience. so i immediately knew he meant he wanted some fried chicken.
this was not in josh's favour. so we opted for another black experience - african food.

so we went to this african resto that had valet parking. we were the only ones there. and got food to eat with our fingers. it was pretty fun, being all uncivilized and cultural like that.

and once we were done, we went back home and finished up the epic that is sybil. a saturday well spent.

one of the best nights of the year

2009-05-16T11:59:00.001+08:00

i don't know if it is possible to get the true essence of why this night was awesome. but to be honest, it was probably experiencing this night that pummelled me into wanting to move to cali for good.

after such a chill day in the sun in the park, i headed back to josh's and got ready to party. there was someone's birthday in echo park, and the boys were pretty delighted that i could go there with them to potentially offend a lot of people. i was just excited to party.

michael got started pretty early, with some gin and juice. and i copped some of josh's rum and got an early buzz. however, i was really jonesing for a beer/wine kind of drunk, so josh and i hit some bargain store. food 4 less? that sounds right. and i picked up some beers and a wine. which i started to drink on the way home. i finished off 2 bottles, but i encountered some close calls as i heard and saw a cop car and was super paranoid that it would bust me and deport me back to canada before i could really party. alas, i evaded them and we made it back safely.

at this point, it was getting later and later and we had yet to figure out how we were getting there, but soon enough settled on public transit. fun! this meant i needed to pour my bottle of wine into a less incriminating beverage holder. this was a good idea because the wine tasted of this lovely nectar and was even easier to drink. once that was ready, we hit the bus... michael brought josh's cat. he had wanted to wear fur. josh is a vegetarian and promptly objected to that. in efforts to compromise, josh let michael take the cat out after arguing that michael would lose it. at least we didn't have to pay extra fare for it.

when we got off the bus, i really needed to pee. and josh reassured me that we were a couple blocks away.
he lied.
i consequently had to pee in a bush.
now this is pretty par for the course for me. but in cali, it is very hilly. so the bushes on the median of the street were elevated, and i had to endure this hike before i could even do my business. it was the trickiest pee of my life. but it felt so good.

so we got to the party, and i wish i could remember more of what happened. for the most part, michael and i went around being offensive. and eating. i chowed hard on some cheesies. and tried eating some cupcake, but im pretty sure it was vegan and not delicious. also, to josh's dismay, he was right about michael not being able to keep track of the cat. because soon enough, this dude frank grabbed it and threw it into the fire.

this is what happened.

holy crap that cat is evil. i guess the bonfire was a fitting place for it then.
after that debacle, i started to complain about the lack of straight boys there. michael and i did not see eye to eye on this, so michael went to look for drugs and i made some new friends. and through these friends i met the few straight dudes at the party. the first ones were nothing spesh and also a little bit creepy. por ejemplo, within like 10 mins of talking to eugene (what an unfortunate name. amirite?!), he told me to go home with him. this was still so early on in the party too, and i was still eager to meet more people because quite frankly i was not impressed with him. so i tried makin up some excuse about how i didnt wanna be shady to my hosts, and he kept trying to convince me that i wouldnt be sketchy. so i found josh, and this is the conversation we had:
n-hey josh... would it be sketchy of me if i went home with someone??
j-nikki, you can do whatever you want.
n-but... i don't wanna go home with him. can you tell him i'm not allowed???
so josh just shook his head, and i walked away and tried looking for michael. despite not intending to go there to score, i was getting more and more bitter at how many unavailable (ie gay) boys were out there. even a lot of the straight ones i encountered were pretty prissy and i was not into that. but luckily,  one of the ones i met later in the evening more than made up for all the subparity of the evening.
it's hard to explain how jh brought so much awesomeness to my l.a. experience this time around, but it happened. and boy. it was quite the highlight. mainly because he felt like my idea of a true cali boy. it was the best cultural experience i could have asked for. one of my favourite not-quite-tourist attraction, no doubt.
yeahh....


and look! josh found this pic on say cheese and die. and i became friends with the photog preston. good times.
but it still prob doesn't make sense why this night was as awesome as i felt it was. deal with it.

one of the best days of the year

2009-05-16T03:01:00.001+08:00

it's going to seem like an overstatement. but in its simplicity and weird turn of events, today was an amazing day. all parts of it.

the worst part probably would have to be the start. but only because i didn't get to sleep in. but it worked out because it got me a headstart on my day. josh and michael tried giving me some pointers on places i could check out. but i didn't wanna have to use public transit, and i didn't wanna have to pay for anything so i just ventured on foot to whatever was cool in the area.

it was still pretty early, however, so most businesses in the area were closed. so i kept heading west in search of signs of life. this left me hollywood-bound which was both alright and kinda lame. i managed to hit a vintage store that preoccupied me for a good stretch of time and left with a few good steals including a tiger print slap bracelet that would suit my watch perfectly, among some other things.

i eventually came across the place where i got my second tattoo and was thisclose to checking to see if leonard was still working and if there was other stuff i could get done. but i didn't wanna rush it, so i held off. got lunch. and enjoyed some eavesdropping. these are my observations at 12:42 pacific time:

in kino sushi. currently loving life. trying to eat healthy throughout this whole vacation means eating japanese. place is almost just across from my tattoo place. kind of wanna get inked right now. or pierced. some sort of work.
a little distracked. eavesdropping on the next table's convo. it was initially interesting until i got up to order and the topic changed when i got back. they were discussing how the social dynamic of some people they knew were akin to ross/rachel in friends. they were discussing how distance was necessary in a breakup, but very difficult when both are in the same tight social circle. oh exes. and other people's exes.
oh they are discussing relationships again. i love this shit. i can learn so much. notes/observations:
-pity dates - esp to make one feel better about themselves
-man, even straight guys are gay
-datinf around is lame or just a huge waste of energy
-if people want something, they will go after it
alright observing 2 new tables - 1 of students and 1 of a couple.
this couple - apparently "scene kids all have sidekicks". hilarious. self defined hipsters/scene kids...
the table of students discussed canadians (one was from bc), made fun of accents. so original.
this place attracts some interesting clientele. i'm glad i chose to eat here. it's almost too busy right now to single in on specific parts of the convo.
the table to the right of me it seems like this bigger girl is getting hit on.
i'm in a state of discomfort as i believe i ordered too much food.
the student table...the most fashionable/hip one kind of sounded foreign. like possibly french/scandanavian.
i should not have ordered all of this. i would have been fine with just a salad.
aw, big chick who's getting hit on just rejected the dude. this is both entertaining and uncomfortable. but maybe that's just the food. also, my body/mind schedule/sync is all off.
if only i could record all these convos.
it's prob not the most helpful either still having more than half full plate of sushi in front of me that i really want to eat but not now but i do not feel like packing it up and carrying it around. oh well, at least it gives me license to loiter here a little longer.
i also think i just felt something go through my intestines. i dunno if i'd even be able to fare walking around right now. i wish there was a park i knew of where i could chill. the last time i felt this uncomfy was when i got my shots in mtl. owwwww.

i'm really glad i noted those feelings. i totally forgot. how funny it is to get raw, relatively unprocessed thoughts as they happen.

so i crawled over to hollywood and highland so i could loiter till i felt better and figured out what my next move was. i texted josh and asked him 'if i wanted to sit in a park on shitfree grass, where might i go?' and he promptly got back to me with a 'HEY there is a nice park on a hill between hollywood and sunset and vermont and edgemont' and so, i knew what i had to do.

i decided to walk eastbound along sunset and happened by a yogurtland. i decided to have the real fro yo experience with the toppings and everything. i also got some samplers so i could get some free goods. and when i went up to the topping bar, much to my surprise there was MOCHI BITS!!! mmm. and a whole wack of other amazing stuff. i was in heaven. so i got some, topped it. considered taking it to eat to the park. realized that was far. so ate outside the store. what a wonderful idea.

when i finally got to the block where josh had directed me, i was surrounded by kaiser permanente and though josh was taking the piss out of me. but his clue of 'on a hill' tipped me off and i arrived at barnsall park, an amazing park that i wish we had more like in toronto.

and so, from like 3ish till 6ish, i spent on the grass. sleeping. reading. being amazing. for doing nothing much, it was the perfect way to spend the afternoon.i didn;t have to spend money outside of food purchases. and my park nap totally compensated for my early wakeup so it was all golden. it made me really wish a life of unemployment and park hangouts with friends to jam and be awesome was sustainable. alas. one can only dream.
it made me really wish even moreso that this was my home.
it was the perfect start to what would be an awesome evening.

l.a. bound

2009-05-15T11:59:00.001+08:00

it was my goal to head to josh's house sometime after 6. i didn't wanna get there too early that he'd still be working and feel bad about entertaining me. and i didn't wanna get there late because i wanted ample time to enjoy the evening blah blah blah.

he had told me at first about hitting up this vegan happy hour place. i'm assuming this is what he was talking about. although i am not anything close to being a vegetarian, let alone a vegan, it seemed like a cool little place and i was into that. however, when i got there he was still a little bogged down by work so we didn't get around to doing any of that. he just started volunteering at the braille institute so i brushed up on that and saw (or rather didn't see... har har) what it was was like to be different kinds of blind. for the record, i think i would be a terrible volunteer for the blind as my vision is the only strong sense i have, and so could not be sensitive to the way they operate. i sound ignorant, but that's ok because that paved the way for how this weekend was gonna progress....

at some point into my reading, josh's roomie michael came home. and while he was cold and pretty indifferent to my presence in his apartment at first, he quickly warmed up to my political incorrectness and our relationship just blossomed from there. i got to teach him about aussie culture, and how racist they are and different words they use to describe different groups. and they seemed to really appreciate that cultural insight. i dunno what it is, but being as offensive as possible really helps me make my closest friends. it's great to see people's boundaries being pushed and seeing them push even further.

after much talk and hunger, we decided to head for sushi. josh fortunately had 2 bikes and some awesome helmets, so we were gonna convoy over to some local jap place. unfortunately, the limited visibility offered by the helmet plus the fact that it was a couple of inches too tall for me allowed me to experience my first fall off a bike sprawled backwards (i usually faceplant). how ironic is it that the helmet was a factor in my accident. it worked though, my head was not damaged at all. i think.
so plan b, we decided to drive downtown, which worked out well because michael joined us and we shared more ignorant stories about racism and degrassi. we actually headed very close to mikey's street. and i tried calling him but he never got back to me. shady business. whatever, we enjoyed dinner and talked about all the different ways we eat sushi improperly and it was kind of cool to show them the l.a. that i knew as a frequent visitor. sharing is nice. what a carebears moment.
also, i taught the boys some language things - how all words can be adjectivfied. for example, chink can be turned into chinky - ie: 'chink reads book' can be modified to 'chinky kid reads book'. language is a beautiful thing.

we got some pinkberry to go which was good in theory as we were gonna cut up some fruit to put on at home. but we didnt include the melt factor, and it wasnt the most appetizing when we got to it. we also tried playing a prank on michael, but he is naturally absent minded and so the joke was on us. finally we put on sybil and it was amazing. i mean we only got through like 1 hour of the 4 hour epic, but it gave me a huge new appreciation for sally fields and multiple personality disorder. and then i not so much couch surfed. but rather surfed on the floor mattress. it's as comfy as i coulda hoped for. the ambient music and weird lights helped. i am super glad josh and michael didn't creep me out. best friends forever.

surf city usa

2009-05-15T00:00:00.000+08:00

today was the day that i finally got over myself and got on a board. throughout my travels, i have had ample time to learn how to surf. but for whatever reason - not having a surf buddy, not having enough money, being a pussy - i never took it up.

but this time it was gonna be different. i wanted to take advantage of this opportunity before i became officially lame and just went for it. after all, what else was i gonna do - i had a whole day at huntington. sure, it's satisfying enough to just lie on the beach all day and get a tan. there is nothing you have to do, but there are so many things you can do. i considered jumping into a random beach v-ball game, but i wasn't feeling that adventurous.

so when i got up (a little jetlagged because i tried staying up late to adjust my body clock, but still woke up very early cuz it was bright and i suck at staying asleep), i took a leisurely walk along the beach and realized that even though it was early on a thursday, it's totally worth getting up early cuz the beach is awesome. so to my surprise people were out and about and i figured i may as well join in on the action.

i rocked up to zack's surf shop right by the pier. the place i was staying had a promotion with them so my lesson was discounted. plus, i used my charm and they threw in a bike rental for the rest of the day. it was sweet. so i had to check out of my room and grab my stuff, but i put the deposit and payment down so there was no looking back. or, if i decided to look back, i would be out $90 and my pride.

so i grabbed my stuff, checked out, headed back. chris was my instructor and a very sweet man. had a lot of patience with me, which is very important in an instructor. apparently i am goofy footed as i lead with my right. so i got up a few times with chris's assistance, but it was hard to stay on for more than a second or 2. but an awesome first try for somebody who has not stepped on a board unless it was nailed to the ground. and part of the floor.

after an hour, chris's time was up with me. he had to catch his son's baseball game. so i had to venture off on my own. which was equally exciting and terrifying. so i took a bit of a breather and watched other boys do it. to learn. and also to ogle at their beauty. plus, there was a amateur surf comp on the other side of the pier, which i easily could've just spent all day watching. but i'm glad i got in on the fun.

...clearly, however, i forgot a lot about what he told me in terms of holding the board while i was idle. because not to long in my solo adventure, did i smoke the back of my head on something. the beach floor? my board? whatever it was, it startled me a little. yet i thought it was still a brilliant idea to motor on. so i did.
and this time i really disobeyed one of chris's rules, cuz this time the board nailed me in the face. my lower lip prety much doubled in size. i looked like i had a harelip. like i was perpetually pouting. my lip is already big as it is. i owned over anjelina.

so yeah, had to take more of a breather because i was bleeding and a little more embarrased at that point. but i went over for a couple more times then i dragged my board to zack's and had chris check out my lip. he mentioned getting the lifeguard check it out. to which i laughed because i thought he was joking. but apparentlysomething serious can come out of a lip-smoking injury. i was good to go, but i also thought of how in '04 i had to go to the lifeguard station cuz of my stingray sting. huntington beach is not my fan.

it was good enough timing cuz i had a good time to enjoy lunch in the sun on the pier and catch some babes catchin waves.

it made me wish more and more that i grew up in cali, convinced that if that were the case, i would be a pro surfer with the coolest tude. i'd have babes left right and centre and we'd surf everywhere and all that other rad stuff.
alas. i grew up in canada. and whilst i could have embraced the winter and ski culture, well... fuck that. snow can lick my balls.

so after my sushi salad and boy ogling, the girls turn came up and and i promptly lost interest, just in time to rent a bike and get some good tannage. i got this toothpaste green cruiser and my camera and ipod and i went as far south as newport beach, then the bike path kinda disappeared and i didnt know where to jump on again. so i turned around and went as north as sunset beach till it ended. all in all it took me about 2ish hours? and the views were beautiful. i have no idea why it took me so long to think to rent a bike. i couldve been way more active during previous trips.
oh well, live and learn.

around 4:30, i returned my bike. bought some hip shades from zack's and lay in the grass with an icepack to my lip as i waited for my mother to pick me up and take me to l.a.
a lovely start to my trip in cali... and still, it got better and better from there...

all caught up

2009-05-13T21:24:00.000+08:00

FINALLY.

i am relatively writing in the present now. no more backlog of posts. unfortunately i have not done much travel early this year. but i guess i do most of my trips later in the summer and winter. whatever.

ok. let's get into it.

mexmas - finito

2008-12-31T04:28:00.000+08:00

in the airport. waiting to board. supposed to leave in like 40 mins. what's the delay?
a 30 of kahlua is only $13.50 here. i bought one even though i really wanted bailey's original. they only had mint choc and caramel. both of which are delish in their own right but not when mixed with kahlua. so i gotta hit the lcbo when i get back home.
ok boarding now. well preboarding for special assistance and back of plane passengers. i should just pee now.

on plane with bout an hour to go till landing. hope pedro will be able to pick me up as my duty free booze is weighing me down a bit. sitting beside 2 teen boys. i wish i had let them take my seat while i took the spare with no one directly beside me, just like on the way there. it would have been the exact same seat. how to make the most of this day when i get home safely?
i should do laundry and clean up a bit. gotta call a few people - lynn, liz and adrienne.
and esther and dan too. wish i could access internet here and also wish i had my laptop. a week without macbook is a little rough, especially when i am too concerned with the musical. i should try the monologue.

mexmas - isla des mujeres

2008-12-30T04:19:00.000+08:00

the year is winding down and so is my vacation. i am at la isla des mujeres and enjoying the last moments of my day trip and time here. found a good piece of art in the market - 2 calendars which is appropriate to have at this point, despite it actually being able ot tell me days and stuff. the catamaran has been pretty enjoyable and it is always in --- ew fuzzy caterpillar landed on leg and stuck but swatted at it with book and crisis averted. was jsut mentioning how interesting it is to eavesdrop.
my first round of convos were from a young group of ladies and their brother. what an interesting dynamic. i feel like my brain is fried with my limited amount of adjectives i have at hand. anyway.
i still kind of wish i was here with cousins and/or friends. second group was twentysomething dudes. here for play. and were it not for this appendage called my mom, i'd be in that boat too. perhaps riding with them. who knows.
i had another make out dream. not last night but the night before. this was not gb or someone i even remotely knew. i believe this was a stranger with whom i enjoyed making out in random locations.
god something needs to happen and fast. it's been more than half a year just barelt. although i've enjoyed some pashes of late. anyway, should prob board now. hasta la vista.

mexmas day 5

2008-12-28T03:47:00.001+08:00

day 5 of the trip. time goes by vvery strangely on vacation. lotsa busy busy then lotsa nothing. it's kind of beautiful having spent all day tanning on the beach but have yet acquired appropriate tan. on the body area i have a web of clashing tanlines however that may determine what my nye dress will be.
so many days with mom has given further explanation as to why i am the way i am. if people thought i had poor table manners, they should share a meal with her. having sushi with her the other day has given me inspiration for my misocal. the only problem i'm encountering thus far with that feat is lack of danceable lyrics and storyline.
anyway. had a perfect day yesterday. the selvatica tour on the mayan riviera was awesome. nothing wrong. and it doesn't hurt that the guides were super cute. how i wish i was ziplining with them all them all the time.
and bikeriding and all those adventurous things. they make being active fun. and sexy.
speaking of, there are a couple of brothers (?) at my hotel hat are so fit. i almost wish i was here with bffs or at least my own bf. constant reminders why getting involved has its benefits. not to mention that it would decrease my illegible scrawls as these musings would more than likely be spoken to said bf.
i've had some weird dreams here too. firstly, a couple nights ago i dreamt that i kissed gb and he didn't seem to have any qualms around it. we were gonna catch up once i was done getting my stuff sorted (i was moving or something) but then i woke up. i also noted he was sweaty and freckly. he was extra gingery in my subconscious then i ever really consider. anyway, that's the second of intimate dreams i've had about geebs. the first having been a week or so ago when the ginge had admitted he'd love me but i couldn't reciprocate. i did appreciate the gesture still, but he didn't seem too thrilled. and perhaps felt a little hurt. i dunnno. subconscious gb is even harder to deciper than real life one.
anyway, my second nocturnal vision came to me last night and was almost too realistic to take for granted. a's friend bryan had told me he'd be interested in dating early on but things had gotten n the way (for example other lovers) but he would really like for us to try. being the commitmentphobe that i am, i couldn't give him a straight answer about going steady but i totally kissed him. twice. before consulting with the girls about the rightness of this coupling. they advised that it has to work because he is a good customer at the diner they work at. other friends sold bry's case to me, saying he was outgoing in unison while he sat there and blushed modestly. i'm sure i woke up at asome point and wasn't sure about the validity of my dream. but i resumed sleep and soon enough there was a group hang type thing and he took some time to talk to me about work and my day and he seemed genuinely interested in shit i had to say .i know i got flustered talking to him which i reckon he found endearing. then i was sure that my dream was true and had ached to ask him why things between him and his ex didnt work. never got around to discussing that as i woke up and faced the tough reality that all of it was just a dream. or dreams rather. have NO IDEA why bryan would be seeping into my subconscious. don't think i have given him a second thought since his bbq in the summertime. my radar doesnt tend to include people who are taken. perhaps this is the universe's way of letting us know he is back on the market.
god sometimes i wish i had my friends here to discuss these jungian issues. i broke today and logged onto facebook with my mom's berry. yesterday i had already checked my hotmail and read my facebook messages anyway. i am weak when it comes to staying disconnected. but 3ish days having cut the cord has been a fairly decent stretch by my standards. anyway, i heard back from liz when i left a message for before i left.. i may do sneaks nye with her. i will have to search around as soon as i get back before i commit. anyway too stressful to think about. so i will take a break.

mexmas: cancun airport

2008-12-24T03:23:00.001+08:00

i have spent the last 2 hours in the airport. i missed my on-flight meal so i am pretty hangry right now. couple that with the fact that i've had to endure explicit moans and lipsmacking sounds from the couple not 2 feet away at the terminal 2 starbucks. they were old too. i am very hangry.
and keep in mind i began this trek spending 40 mins waiting in -10 degree C temperatures after only 3ish hours of spotty napping.
feliz navidad.
got a call from my mom at the dallas forth worth airport. only 3 more hours of loitering till the actual vacation begins. soon i will make my move outside and feel less confined and congested. when i first got here and used the bathrooms it smelled like excuador. i felt a bit racist thinking that- latin american countries smelling the same toilet-wise. whatever.
they also employes the no-flushing of the toilet paper rule that i also ignored. by accident of course.
i'm really good at loitering. if i dont finish my book by the end of my eait here, i will be a little bit shocked. we have about 2 days of inadventure so i could and was hoping to log in some reading. if i prematurely finish my 2 books, however, that plan will be foiled. a delicate balance of rationing boredom reduction tools.
ok, on hunt for food now.

relocated to the berry hill baya grill. pretty dec place to people watch and secondhand smoke. i'm getting a little dizzy.
i'm taking the easy way out and getting the burger. it seems like the most bang for my buck. or peso.
i have realized how canadian i can be with my penchant for apologizing when it's the other person's fault for walking intome. it happens when you're sleep deprived, hungry and dirty. well the former 2 account for the clumsiness and the latter for thinking you suck and are accountable for everything.
ok my order is taken and i feel a lot better now.
man travelling has een such a breeze or i'm very lucky or i've just learned. customs was a no-brainer. getting through pearson security was not a big deal thought i had random cosmetics scattered throught luggage and not contained in a resealable plastic bag. these airport breezes are delightful. if it weren't for the hordes of americans, i'd feel like i was in mexico and not just cali, por ejemplo. although it is WAY hotter here than cali would be at this season.
i fear people mistake me for a yank. i also feel this restaurant is higher priced to accomodate the fat u.s. wallets that fly into here. i don't suppose my meal is a great precursor to sunbathing confidently, but i'm hangry and with my mother, ergo not looking to be hooking.
i see many couples here though and think it'd be nice to have someone to do it with in an exotic location for a week. i think i hear an aussie. looks like brody jenner.
ok i gotta manage to squeeze 2 more hours of loitering with food factored in. i think it can be done!

so i thought i could stretch out the last quarter or my burger to last 40 minutes. but guess what!?!
it rained.
and i was brilliant enough to take the table on the patio that wasn't covered. brilliant.
so i was able to enjoy almost 40 minutes of mexico sun before this little shower. i sure hope the rain didn't make itself into my drink and i get sick with some sort of hepatitis although i am vaccinated. i'm sure weirder things have happened.
good thing is i only have an hour and a half left. that seems like a far cry from 5 hours. if they gave medals for loitering, i'm sure i'd have a bunch. i reckon my meal will set me back maybe 20 if they do weird taxes or only 15 if they don't. i really like writing with this pen. i ate onions that weren't fully grilled and am starting to feel it. my body chemistry is so odd.
at least my feet are wet cuz i'm in flip flops and rain instead of non waterproof boots in snow.
ps i've relocated inside, i noticed there is a monitor in the resto that shows people arriving. i almost wish i had that channel. it's like an international version of the lobby camera. although i never lived in a building that had that.
a flight from cali came in judging by the dude in the usc shirt. not my mom's flight as her connection was in dallas ft. worth.

almost caught up!

2008-12-21T03:17:00.000+08:00

ok, my next entries are from my mexico xmas, transcribed from my red notebook.
i haven't read these since. i may add my input.
i was there with my mom for a week, and boy.. it was kinda hard not being around people my age. family oriented holidays make me antsy...

it's about time

2008-09-04T04:44:00.000+08:00

[written may 24, 2009, but placed after my cali 08 trip... as i had written this after i reflected on my cali 08 trip... try to follow]

this entry may be very confusing considering its placement after my cali 08 entry. but this references my cali trip in may 09. i still gotta get through my mexico xmas before i detail this pivotal cali visit. but i may as well get this out there.

having come fresh off my weekend getaway to cali, i am pretty anxious to live a better, brighter lifestyle along the pacific coast. i told myself - yeah, not a big deal. i'll just move there in october and coast.
but i have worked hard to save all my money, i don't necessarily wanna blow it just to be able to live the life of a burnout. i know my mom would help support me but i'd rather not take advantage of that unless i'm feeling like a total bum.

anyway, so here are some thoughts:

- go there as a visitor, live there for a bit and try to get work under the table
- eventually get an internship visa, try to blow my internship away and then hope to get hired
- go to school for graphic design/copy writing or hospitality and tourism managementy things and then see what i can do with that/get my masters in some sort of communications theory program
- move to australia and do my working holiday visa, get some work experience under my belt and enjoy the aussie summer during n.a. winter whilst i figure out my cali plans
- marry an american
- hope that my mom becomes a lawful permanent resident and can file a petition for me to come over
- do a 6 month internship in cebu, hopefully transfer to a u.s. office
- go on a bachelor-type show and win and get married
- see if josh can sponsor me as an employee...

ahh this is getting exhausting to think about right now

ok i just thought of something
- my friend asa worked there last summer for a couple of months. i will talk to her about how she was able to do that and perhaps follow her steps... i like that option.

also in terms of living situation, this is where i would be looking: silver lake, echo park, los feliz, glendale and in surrounding areas.
i would really need to live with at least 2 other roomies, ideally live in a huge house with 4. and i'd need to have some dude roomies to balance it out. and possibly introduce me to some suitors that can help me legally work in the states.

in the meanwhile, there are A LOT of things to figure out.
i HAVE TO learn how to drive. it is imperative to get that under my belt befoer i head to such a auto-centric city.
i would have to get my gre if i want to go to usc. so i would have to book a prep course as well as book and take the actual course.
i have to remember what it was like to live in sydney and scrape by. i will for sure need a good microwave and sandwich toaster.
i will also have to get a car. and see what i can do about a bike situation.
i will need to get an iphone. yep, it's a must. hopefully they will have a sexy new model by then.
also, i gotta cut back on my current expenses. not like i have much that i blow money on regularly. but i gotta be conscious about my habits. i am very fortunate that i dont have to worry about food for the next while cuz of craft and catering. but i am gonna have to remember that once i'm outta my job, it will be something that i need to budget in.

...so much of this will have to be taken care of by mommy at first. i am lucky. i hope i dont break too much bank.
i really gotta get serious about this by august. hopefully have a lot of this figured out in july. i really don't wanna rush it. i really don't wanna burn out. but i feel like that is where i need to be. if only i pursued acting seriously. i could get my agent to take care of my visa... sigh.

i need to talk to my mother about getting back onto her health care plan. scary. well i guess i would still count as an ontario resident until the us gov says otherwise. but when i leave my job, i lose my benefits.

what do i do with all of my furniture??? i would love to take it across the continent. at least my bed, my desk, my wardrobe, my tv/computer. the couch i can do without for the moment. but i love all that other shit. i need to investigate that.

august 31st-september 1, 2008: la la laaa part

2008-09-03T02:16:00.000+08:00

lemme try to get into the right mindframe for this. it is so tricky considering i had been to l.a. since...

let's see..

ok, so post the loft party with lotsa pot and weird videos, mikey had a chill sunday.
in attempts to nurse our hangover, we went to korea town and had some k-food. now having been in to korea, you'd think we'd be less ignorant about eating practices.
not so much.

they erve whole fish bone-in, head attached and everything. now this shouldn't be a surprise to me with my savage filipino roots and everything, but it is still very awkward to eat. mikey fared alright with this, but i struggled.

i also struggled at their feeble attempt to serve me 'rice soup'. ie taking the remnants of rice in our stone pot and pouring hot water in it and stirring it. i know asians are resourceful but please. when i order a burger, i don't mix around the lettuce that has spilt out with the rest of the drippy condiments and call it a salad. amirite?!

mikey took me to the americn apparel factory store and i was pretty stoked at all the sexy discounts and samples. it makes it very hard to shop at aa back at home cuz i'm pretty much paying double. it's also pretty cool just seeing the factory that all these clothes come from. i can imagine many parts of asia look like that. like, with the sweat shops and all. although this wasn't quite a sweatshop. despite all the mexicans that were chillin out. im sure they were legitmately employes and all.

also, i love fro yo and wish there was a greater abundance of froyo bars here. it makes total sense. it's healthy. and you get awesome flavours.

for example, at yogurtland you can choose however many flavours you want and whichever toppings you want and it's all $.30 an ounce! brilliant! i can deal with expensive sushi when yogurt comes so cheaply. yeah, i could live on fro yo for every meal of every day.

now later that eve mikey took me to this communist party that his school friends were holding sort of to celebrate labour day. i think they were mixing themes a little bit, but i love theme parties so i wasnt going to argue. after all, red colours a lot of my wardrobe.

now this party felt very american, ironically enough, considering it was supposed to be commie. i think there were a lot of crashers first of all. but it felt like an american party style house party where everyone was having their last big bang before heading back to school and whatever.

naturally, my contribution to this party was punch.

so we got some vodka in there to be thematic and commie.

and then we got the wine in there, for colouring and class

it would've been really irresponsible of us to create a bev without and nutritional value. so of course, we added some sunny d.

this was the result. it tasted as good as it looks. and like communism, it's great in theory. but when executed...

so yeah, this was a pretty good rager but i couldn't help feeling like i was cramping mikey's style. i tried making some of my own friends, and i think i was relatively successful with erin and carlos and robby, but i will always just be juan's (mikey's real name) cousin to them.

overall, good trip. i think it was the first time i tried being a local there. every other time i spent the majority of my days in orange county... and there is no question of living the local lifestyle there because it's suburbia and it's essentially like living in the burbs anywhere. but since i did get to see the lifestlye my cousin lives, it made me feel a little inadequate about my life in toronto. yeah i had it alright, my own apartment in the annex and a pretty good job. but like, it made me feel really average. and really set the ball rolling in terms of me considering a big move to la la land.

august 27-30th, 2008: la la laaa part 1

2008-09-01T09:56:00.000+08:00

ok ok. so this is me catching up about my trip to l.a. right before we started shooting the hollywood special episodes for degrassi.

i remember being at odds with this trip because i had just spent some time in ecuador and was really into the whole being a good person thing.
so when i caught up with keya and met her friend sneha, and did some shopping with them in beverly hills... it was tricky having to not blow all my money. and justify spending $50 on lunch at the ivy.

anyway. it started like usual - spending a day or 2 at huntington beach. because why not, it's a good beach. i think i just body boarded all day. blah blah blah. that's not what this blog is about. my daily routine...

let's remember the fun stuff...

so it began when my cousin mikey picked me up. we hung out at huntington for a bit before heading to l.a.

let me discuss my cousin for a little bit and provide somewhat of a background of our family...
a year before, pretty much to the day i discovered my aunt lily and mikey's father hated me. they thought so lowly of me and didn't believe i should hang out with my cousins because my terrible attitude would invariably influence them in the worse way possible.
my uncle was not keen on the fact that i left some booze for my cousin when i was there in 06... when mikey was still not able to drink. he thought i was the one who forced booze on him, when mikey had done far worse. even worse than i. thanks uncle, but your son only has himself to hold accountable for his sins. whatever. every family needs a scapegoat.
also, i discovered that my aunt hated me because i dated. yeah. that's it. she hated that i got involved with guys instead of focusing on my education. uh yeah, i graduated with honours, got 3/4s of my education covered by scholarships. but because i knew 'how to live with boys' (that's the way she chose to call me a slut), none of that mattered; i was a terrible person.
so yeah, i found this out when i got back from australia. august 07. i tried getting in touch with my cousin during that time too, but he never got back so i figured it was his father's influence. blah blah blah, esther and i became better friends after this, much to our relatives' chagrin. it really helped my realize how smart esther was, not even just loyal. i, like the rest of our family, underestimated how independent minded she is. i thought she could be easily swayed by them. but she and i were besties since birth pretty much, and i think she resented the fact that everyone thought she was spineless.

anyway, fastforward to this time, august 08. i brought this whole deal up with mikey and he had no idea. mikey was pretty much living his whole life, but it was great that he took the time to hang out with me.

so yeah, more about him... he studies at this small private architecture school, lives in his own loft in little tokyo. had to get a new car because he had totalled his other one. oh yeah, he is the only other only child in the san pedro family.

so, when we got back to the city, we did a pick up, and smoked on his friend's rooftop. holy shit. i felt very small city all of a sudden. and that these people were too hip. but also, i was struggling with smoking the gourd. i eventually got a good enough hit and tripped out hard and fast. the sun was setting and i felt like it was burning through my soul. i thought i was gonna pass out but was too embarrassed to do that in front of everyone. i was also worried about falling off the edge, even though i was nowhere near it. the rooftop patio was HUGE. and i was also hungry. so once i felt calm enough, i got my cousin to take us to get food. we wanted japanese. bad idea.
i tripped again.
all the foreign script... the cold of the grocery store... the weird food... i had to stop and stare at bread for a bit so i could look normal.
i read that loaf of bread for what felt like a half an hour before my cousin returned for retrieving something and we checked out.
never before had i tripped so hard.

anyway. i wish i remembered better the chronology of things. i think i met up with keya and sneha and we went with mikey to this gallery opening thing. free booze. i love culture.
we didn't quite get what was going on. but it felt like monkeybars suspended from a ceiling. oh art. it was mainly a venue for keya and i to catch up and bond over our judgment of other people and it was nice hearing her and sneha's stories. oh the aussie accent, how i miss it so.

afterward, we returned to the rooftop to smoke some more, get some 2am tacos and we dropped them off. no trips this time. but i did enjoy a story about a squirrel that used to visit that loft. i felt sad when i heard it stopped visiting. i felt everyone did.

ok well i dont remember some of the other details. but im pretty sure that the next day was my day with the girls in beverly hills. so much walking. so much money spent. not by me but yeah.

that night... mikey took me to another party. a lot of smoking... i remember getting asked if i had ever had sex. mikey's friend interjected and told the asker how inappropriate he was being. i personally was not offended, more confused than anything. afterward, we did a mcdonald's run and when i woke up, i noticed the remote was in mikey's mc'd's bag. san pedros are awesome.

our family portrait.

anyway... that's a good way to wrap up this entry. there is more but i guess this is more family oriented. not terribly insightful. but more family-revelatory than anything. whatever. these things aren't really supposed to have a point.

the end/to be continued.

august 7-20, 2008: on the equator

2008-08-22T02:09:00.000+08:00

this is gonna be really difficult to replicate the exact feelings and observations of the trip. a trip i went on with work in partnership with free the children.
me and i think 14/15 or 16 other kids. a couple of supervisors. and an mtv crew.

overall it did offer a lot of perspective. it's hard to disclose some of the little stuff cuz i don't think i'm actually allowed to do that according to contract. but these are notes i took for myself as a part of some exercises we did...

AUG 13/08

1) 5 personal goals
- practice spanish/learn new words
- become a more selfless, empathetic person
- be friends with the children and make them smile, give them hope
- appreciate what i have, keep remembering how fortunate i am
- learn about Ecuadorian culture and wholly immerse myself in it

2) What do I hope to gain?
After/from this trip, I'd like to maintain the level of caring and genuine compassion once i get home. I would like to think the best of people and hope that no one would doubt or question my intentions either. I hope I don't forget what I learned while in Ecuador and can share these sentiments with my friends back home who can be a little jaded sometimes.

3) Why are you here?
I am here because I love to travel and I got the chance not only to travel with work, but also use my skills to improve a community in a less fortunate part of the world. I wanted to prove to my friends that I'm not lazy and self-centred and that I am capable of doing something positive.

4) How will this experience change your life?
This is giving me a chance to see people who had less of a chance than I did, yet still being so happy with so little. It will hopefully have me consuming less on the whole and sharing what I already have.

in retrospect... how optimistic and bright eyed was i about this trip??!
very.

i have balanced since then. not so much with the need to prove to people that i'm a good person. but just being a good person.
does that make sense? i dunno, i am tired.

i guess what else i have to say about this trip is... i need to do something like this with a different group of people, not with a camera crew around or anything. i'm sure we got such special treatment and i am grateful... but i would really like to try something else.

what i've repeated to people was that:
this was one of the hardest trips to pack for because of the various climates we experienced in a short period of time.
the kids are beautiful people.
we take for granted such little things like being able to brush our teeth with tap water. and having drinkable tap water in general. same with being able to flush toilet paper without having it cause some plumbing damage.
a little soup goes a loooong way. cheese in soup is DELISH
poor guinea pigs...
OH YEAH - i got altitude sickness when i was over there. totally out for pretty much the whole day. water is supposed to be good. but too much water in a highly acidic stomach + being locked on a bus = gatorade smelling bus with sticky floors.

other highlights -
*hiking the rainforest
*horseback riding in the rainforest
*seeing a lot of cool buildings and churches
*rigo, our awesome bus driver
*being at 0 degrees of the world
*perspective
*achi, the coolest kid EVER. who knew playing with spit, and a tire could be SO MUCH FUN

lowlights-
*not being with friends
*being sick
*...other things/people i'm not at liberty to discuss
*wishing there was more work i could do outside of painting walls and sanding them down...

ok. i dunno. i am over this post. may revisit later. maybe not.

not enough time

2008-08-06T00:14:00.000+08:00

i wish i considered re-blogging earlier. i would've been wayyy more productive at work.
well maybe not more productive. but definitely less bored.

my intention with restarting this was to be able to catch up on the backlog of trips. i was pretty successful last night in recalling civic day weekend in montreal. there is still my ecuador trip. and then my short cali getaway. and then my xmas vacay in mejico.
and then i was hoping to start fresh and accurate back in cali where i am headed to tonight.

but i may just have to... maybe catch up tonight? when i am trying to adjust to the time difference. holy fuck, sleep will hate me. no matter how hard i try to love it.

i'll see how far i get post lunch.

august 4, 2008: le dernier jour

2008-08-05T05:05:00.000+08:00

this day wasn't terribly important. but i may as well finish off the mini saga.

long story short. or rather short story shorter --

when you need to get shots for travel, do them way ahead of your trip and not 3 days before.
also, eat a lot BEFORE you get shots.
and don't endure a loooong trip home after being shot up.

as much as i love needles (4! one in each limb!!!!!!) it was brutal. i couldn't even enjoy my reuben.
that's a lie, i totally enjoyed it. but not to the fullest.

and yeah, the trip home was brutal. me, es and l-ho. linds does not like driving and not only can esther and i not drive. we can't drive stick. and i wouldn't have been in any shape to drive either. i was sprawled all over that back seat. in a very unsexy way.
like in a date rape target way.
which, i guess, for all those drugs that were running in me, it was pretty accurate.

so yeah, it was a struggle to get home. and then we did. and then i had to work the next day. and then i went to ecuador shortly after.

the end!
of my mtl memoirs.

ecuador shall keep me preocupado for a while.
a bientot/hasta la vista.

august 3, 2008 à montréal: jour deux - dimanche dommage

2008-08-04T04:19:00.000+08:00

i'm on a roll. might as well finish this mini getaway. yeah yeah, it's just a city a few hours away from home. but it's culturally different... like they speak a different language.

it does help that i got my facebook albums to help me relive these experiences. otherwise, i would likely have no idea.

alright.

sunday.

it was the day of the pride parade.

but it was also the day we decided to shop along st laurent instead. the pic is totally unnecessary. just trying to buy some time till i remember other shit.

so yeah, a little hungover from the night before.
i can't believe we spent hours on this street. and a couple more looking for bagels. despite having been there a week earlier, es managed to get us lost again in our hunt for the holey bread.
zing.

while we were driving around, we ran into a dude that looked like kimmy gibbler.
of all the people dan decided to hail over, he had to pick the one we were obviously stifling laughs about in the back seat. it was brutal, and it was awesome. now i wish there was a pic to accompany that, but i am sure that would have been really obvi.

wow.

i am so glad i remembered that.

also.

we got are bagels. headed back to dan's where i took a well needed disco nap before...!!!
wait, not the band !!!
but i am excited so i went!!!
because i was excited for.... wait for it!!!
wolf parade.

:)

yeah my pics aren't great for this because i hate takin pics at shows. i prefer to enjoy the experience of being there. instead of planning on what i want to remember from the experience via photograph.

best.
show.
ever.

the venue was perfect. it was also awesome that i scored a free tick for es by being pretty. thanks security guard :)

but yeah, weird that there was a seating section upstairs... i don't get it. but the acoustics were perfect. they are such babes. and there was a babe in the crowd. i was secretly hoping he would mc me on cl. alas, i dunno how widely used craigs is in mtl. and, well, i would've been home by then.

nevertheless.

because it was sunday and a show, that entertainment was done pretty early. round 11ish? 10:30ish? but since we didn't have to get back to work the next day (only that weekend did i realize civic holiday was province specific, not national), we decided to kick it.

so we picked up some tequila beer from the depanneur and drank in the alley way. duh. what else.
luckily we hid our cans in time to evade suspicion from la police.

and moseyed onto the blue dog. ie like strangelove. but smaller. well it wasn;t the same music that they played for dlyf. but what i remember from the interior....
whatev.

this guy was awesome. but everyone else looked uncomf. and i wasn't getting drunk fast enough so i got over it pretty fast. not that many babes as i thought there would be either.
but it is a good thing we left in time. otherwise this would;ve never happened:
note dan in the background chatting with the cops. wearing jeans. who can take that seriously? amirite?!

so he got booked.

did they catch us drinking in public? did it have anything to do with us trying to light a pipe in the parking lot?

non.

dan and his new friends on the street (ie the douche bags posing for the cam) got written up for laughing too loudly.
they were so excited to run into each other, remembering a past comedy show, that they hugged and jumped up and down and laughed.

clearly, reason for charging $144 dollars.
"avait emis un bruit audible à ???? de cris"

i'm really glad their squad is less concerned about their money in their budget for wardrobe and more about these tough issues.

à montréal - jour un

2008-08-03T03:30:00.001+08:00

so this feels entirely inorganic. not that my previous entries were particularly insightful, they at least shared that idea of newness... even if i had experienced similar events previously. but i guess i will share what i remember thinking throughout my trip to montreal over the first weekend of august 2008.

(i don't really like looking at the past.
but i'm not into incomplete pictures either... tough call)

alright.

first memory remembered:
driving to montreal over a long weekend in the summer right after work in the height of rush hour is not conducive to arriving early.
unless, we're talking bout like 3am early. cuz that is eventually when we got there. me, l-ho, ramos and es: an illegal immigrant vehicle if i had ever seen one.

speaking of immigrants - arriving chez ramos, being met with the ramos parents.
first question (as is typical of any/all filipino families): did you eat?
no matter what the answer is, the elders will pile on the food.
as delicious as 5 cheese lasagne is, it is painful to eat so late in the eve/early in the morning after already ingesting drive thru food.
ditto for ice cream.
and wings.
needless to say: so. much. food.

this pretty much set the trend for the whole weekend avec la famille ramos.

now what did we do saturday...
wandered around the city. it was franco follies. actually the 3rd time i'd be in mtl over that weekend. i was wiped and could care less about the hoopla.
so we shopped st catherines, chilled at the marina. oh yeah... i was shopping for my pending trip to ecuador.
mtl - good shopping city. but like, not quite practical for the equator. i felt conflicted. cuz i probs could've bought all my 'roughing it' clothes from home. oh well.

witnessed storm clouds gather by the marina. pathetic fallacy? maybe.

enjoyed a well needed nap before indulging in a ramos 'bbq' (read: chicken wings charred in the oven with bbq sauce).
felt sick.
met up with rach!
and celebrated my hiring! and champagne gift from a lookalike (different work related story. may cross over into another blog)

and then headed down to the mcgill campus to hang out with some hipsters and attend a nautical themed party.
before we got there, it was a sinking ship.
we were ready to walk the plank.
man overboard.

but when we arrived... well i can't think of a witty nautical pun right now, but it was awesome. i guess likening it to pirates taking over. yeah that was us. everyone else was very subdued. dan brought magic tricks.
party got a lot better.

i totally stole that pink cup in the bottom right corner. and l-ho and ramos took the dauphin hostage. awesome.

then we ventured on our poutine hunt, inevitably ending up on at la belle provence on st. laurent.
mmmmm. poutine.

followed by more wandering at 3 or 4am till we decided to cab back to little jerusalem/chez ramos.

sleep was good. barring esther's ass in my business. no matter where i was on the bed, her bony posterior was invading. it brought me back to childhood.

(continued in next blog. wow. i can't believe how well i remember this shit. oui, il y a beaucoup que j'ai oublié. par choix, et par accident. but it was like i was just there. holy shit. merde)

better late than never

2008-08-01T02:54:00.000+08:00

[originally dated may 12, 2009... but placed before my montreal blogs... which were written in may 09, but dated retroactively. try to keep up]

i am revisiting my blog.

why now?

boredom is a good answer. a few friends recently started blogging. i guess i am jumping back on the bandwagon.

i'm planning to create one about random shit that i have to do to keep me preoccupied at work. but i felt bad neglecting this little baby.

so... might as well catch up on the goings on. i have a little travel adventure coming up. so i better get up to speed on previous adventures. for no reason in particular other than to keep me more preoccupied at work. because even when i was actively blogging during my time abroad. i didn't include every single adventure....

but... i guess i will do separate installations.

...i dunno how i feel about this actually, because i wanted to include montreal. but i never kept a hard copy log about that at the time. whereas in ecuador and mexico, i took notes along the way with the intention to inevitably publish to this baby.

guh. i am not feeling particularly inspired. just wanting to pass time.

let's see how this return goes...

another pacific coast

2007-08-23T12:29:00.000+08:00

it's weird that oz is on the other side of the pacific ocean.
huntington is a sweet beach, nice and swimmable... but it doesn't feel like home. not like bondi.
i dunno if this is aussie home sickness. but i'm still stuck in some down under ways.
por ejemplo, i keep clicking the lightswitch down to turn it on, when it north america, switches flip up for power.
i'm still frantically turning my head back and forth when crossing the street.
and i'm really confused about tipping again. i usually just end up leaving a heap of shrapnel for the sorry server.

this is a weird stopover. my cousin and i were planning to kick it together, but my aunts have ambushed that cuz apparently i'm a bad influence. my cousin is 20. she doesn't need a 65 year old woman holding her hand to cross the street. she needs her 21 year old cousin to hold her hair while she's puking from over-drinking.
my family is lame. my mom is the only cool one, i maintain.
since she knows i'm now stuck with just her, she's compensating by taking me out for cocktails.
it's pretty cool. and weird too i guess. but i'll take it.

oh yeah, i didn't have a problem adjusting to the time in hawaii. probably because i took sleeping pills. but last night, i couldnt sleep till 5 or 6am. got up around 130ish.
i dont wanna have to rely on meds but.
i kinda just wanna get back home so i can get hardwired properly again.

i'm so confused right now actually. my mom was asking all these questions over dinner:
do you have any career prospects?
how do you feel about leaving australia?
would you be alright if i sold the house? where would you live?
what are you going to do after school?
etc etc
jesus.. i'm shitting myself trying to figure out any one of these answers.

but i do have goals:
-get a decent job, and commit to it
-keep my living space tidy enough
-work on my book
-maintain relationships with friends, and keep in touch with aussie mates
-take school seriously and focus on studies/don't procrastinate too much

etc etc
it's a start. i'm not sure if i had any new year's resolutions, but these are things i resolve to do for the new semester.
after everything, i just need to get back on track.

not jetlagged, but might as well be

2007-08-21T15:32:00.000+08:00

my body has adjusted to the hawaiian sched already. with the help of some sleeping pills.

but my mindset is still australian.
for example, when i turned the corner to go down the escalator, i was met with the up escalator. here, you catch escalators on the right side.

i went to get lunch, and had my money ready. and when the price rung up, i didn't have enough so i had to remove an item. i forgot tax still needs to be added here. fuck i'm really gonna miss that part about oz.

some kid ran into me today and apologized. i said 'yoraright' (you're alright) instead of saying 'thats cool'

the crossing the street thing hasnt hit me yet. mostly because all the streets here are one way. so it's pretty clear which way traffic is moving. if one can't tell, they deserved to be hit. survival of the fittest, eh.

oh, but some things i am loving here:

-more bang for your buck when it comes to meals. everything included, no charge extra for any condiments you want, keeps you satisfied for hours

-cable. it's nice having more than 5 channels to decide where to go to for trash entertainment

-non ambiguous sexual orientation. i know who i can hit on now!

-low waisters, where bottoms lie just at the asscrack. leaves little to the imagination, which is good, cuz i imagine too much already.

-cheap drinks (in pints!!!). schooners are inadequate.

and heaps more, i reckon.
although, twill be a sad day when i stop reckoning heaps, but rather, think a lot.

oz highlights

2007-08-20T11:17:00.000+08:00

so i've settled a little bit, got decent sleep and had a nice dip in the water today. so now i'm ready to reflect upon my time down under and the good moments i had..

thanks to all my mates i met in sydney for being there for some of my special moments:
- moving to my loft in unilodge after my stint in a bachelor pad in korea, which didn't contain a proper shower (ie it was a hose). my loft was massive with a bed and a couch that was very useful for passing out on, a proper shower, and a kitchenette
- first day out with the yanks. shit, 4 shots of baileys plus a few glasses of goon, plus sharing a pitcher of booze, and then having some rando mixed drink, and then some more beer = blacking out, and only remembering that after a really turny cab ride followed by a really bumpy elevator (or 'lift') ride, i puked 2 feet outside the lift. twice. sorry ryan and anj. thanks for making sure i didnt lose my keys. my dinner on the other hand...
- starting my alco promo jobs. yay for unpoverty and being paid to check out syd clubs and encourage people to drink up. i took my job very seriously and am well informed about cuervo, fosters products and vodka o
-o-week, during which i had my o face on the whole time ;) ....meeting asa and heaps of other attractive foreigners, whislt getting served free booze for being a foreigner was just about the specialest welcome to australia ever. i won a free schnapps for chugging ('skulling') the fastest (yah i represented canadia. holla!).
- beer pong @ unilodge. check out http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2014749573. nuff said
- meeting ben and his randwick/band mates, and finally having a group of aussies to chill with. shit, that was the reason i came to australia after all, and not ireland. first time i felt like i found a home away from home. which can explain why i camped out there for like a week. i'm sure jordy loved that
- mayors welcome - more free booze and food! followed by jd and coke at ben's. i dont know how it happened, but one minute i'm on ben's lap. next moment he stands up and i end up breaking jordy's fan. oops. i am a classy drunk.
- easter break. having the sweetest and easiest paying job ever, and it was fun too! and then coming home to unilodge and celebrating with other fam-less peeps by making a national favourite - poutine
- blue mountains with asa, a mini road trip well needed. asa is a fun driver. nikki is a fun navigator. together, seeing kangaroos and the 3 sisters was a perfect getaway for the shit april brought.
- making my doco with my school mates. seeing keya get tangled in cords and trying not to drop the camera. my productions are fun.
- pretty much all of may with lynn: from the first day i almost lost my voice within the first 3 hours from laughing so hard. going to gold coast and chilling with some aussies and kiwis and enduring a painful yet entertaining booze cruise. celebrating lynn's return after she went to melbs for the weekend by dancing around my flat in our swimmies and drinking champers. losing my wallet on the bus on lynn's birthday and getting it back just in time to take a disco nap then get sooooo drunk that i dont even remember how delicious the pancakes were at pancakes on the rocks. boy was it fun taking her to the airport the next day...not!
- having my mommy visit me and bring me a sick new camera after i busted my in goldie. my momma is lovely
- my aussie 21st bday. moving out of the city and into bondi beach. seeing priscilla with ma, then drinking with my mates and meeting annika who proved to be a vital person in my last months.
- my canadian 21st bday (jun 18 in oz), drinking at club oberon and declaring to ben that i never get sick by just drinking beer. and then maybe a dozen beers and a few hours later, i spewed. i made it to the sink this time! an improvement over my mate's bed, the streetcar, and outside the elevator. it was lovely hearing everyone say 'gross, sp' and 'way to go san pedro' because it was a rule in our game to only be referred to by surname
-seeing the gallant at the world bar right after being fired from mymusic label internship. out of pity and possibly cuz i was cute, they each bought me a drink :) and i chilled with the drummer and lead all night
- swedish midsummer... swedes holding hands and singing songs around a pole. brings new meaning to poledancing. swedes are hot. ;)
- canada day - going to vc bar in n syd with patrick and then ending up in the cross with 5 new aussie mates... typical stupid nikki.
- having my austrian flatmates move in. this meant burning maybe 5ish post-dinner joints a night. i miss them
- seeing a streetlight song with cat at mtv lair. free tickets to free booze and a sick band was fantastic. not to mention running into erika, whom i havent seen since high school. how random is that?!
- having annika introduce me to 2 of the hottest twins i have ever met. unfair that there could be that much hotness in one person, let alone 2. fuckers.
- going to melbourne and catching the film fest, which inspired me to write a book
- seeing jordy and ben play before i left, and seeing the weird contortions a musician's face makes...similar to those made at the height of passion. it was very hot. and good on them for winning the contest. only keya could have accompanied me in taking the piss out of every other band before them, and with cattiness in wit

those are only a few, if you can believe it. thanks to everyone who shared these memories with me. although i blacked out a few, the times i remember were awesome.
i'm so glad i could do this, and am inviting anybody to come visit me in toronto once you save enough money. i got a decent sized townhouse all to myself, perfect for housing visitors. and of course, personalized tours of the city by someone who knows it really well - me. duh.

this isn't peace out, this is smell ya later.
sending love from the otherside of the world,
xx
nikk

aloha

2007-08-19T09:59:00.000+08:00

so my last post was cut a little short. i was using free internet at syd airport and i thought they were calling for our flight to be boarded, so i jetted.
alas, our flight was actually delayed for a coupla hours due to maintenance reasons so i just dicked around in the lounge, changing seats every so often.

so now i'm in hawaii and tired as fuck. i probably look and smell really funky but i could also give two shits about it
i'm just waiting to check into my hostel
i reckon im gonna book a snorkelling tour for either tomoz or monday. i wonder how long my aussie speak will last...

anyway, the flight was really smooth, the landing was amazing.
i didn't get charged a billion bucks for carrying my whole life with me. and there was this cute boy within my sights. granted he was very babyfaced, and i would almost consider him jailbait had i not seen him order a beer at the airport.. i was too pussyfooted and unhygenic to make a move though...

but yeah, hawaii is amazing. so beautiful, it's a pity nobody could come over with me. there is heaps of stuff to do, but since i'm considering this as a rest stop, i'm not too picky about what i get done. this isn't the last of my time here after all..

i've been meaning to do a list highlights. in fact, i already had one done, but facebook decided to fuck up and erase it before i got a chance to post it. so we'll have to wait till i have gotten more than 2 hours of sleep and then maybe i can reflect better.

till then
aloha

in sydney airport

2007-08-18T15:34:00.000+08:00

yes friends, these are the dying moments of my time down under.
today's been weird, seeing annika off to the airport shuttle, saying goodbye to asa and cat.

i hate goodbyes

2007-08-15T16:19:00.000+08:00

slowly and surely i'm saying goodbye to my aussie mates.
and every single minute of it is sucking balls.

last saturday before i headed off to melbs, annika and i were reminiscing about our crazy times and she started crying. i was too much in a drunken happy state, but i have to say it felt really good that she shed a tear for me. i like knowing that i've made a difference :)

last night ben picked me up from the airport and i crashed at his place. and this morning he and jordy dropped me off before their band practice. it was a little surreal.
i might see them again tomoz when they play the uts battle of the bands competition. but when i got home, thinking about it being an actual goodbye made me a little sick to my stomach.

literally, i had this pain. and i cried for a little bit. like two minutes before i got my act together.
and tonight i'm seeing cat, and that's just... i dunno, i reckon it'll be a sobfest.
i'm not one for crying at goodbyes, but this is something...

grrr. and i have to use my flatmate's computer to whinge, which is gonna gut me at night when i can't sleep. :(

i need to get ready to see cat.
boo.

a day in the wind

2007-08-13T20:49:00.000+08:00

it's fucking cold over here. when i left sydney, it was 6am, and nice and mild.
i forgot melbs was a little south.

among forgetting to bring a toothbrush and toothpaste and deodorant... i didn't bring any winter wear.
no pants. no jacket. no scarf or hat.
i am officially a retard.

which is why i deserve to have wasted this day due to having a headache, and not even cuz i was hungover.

i did wander around, checked out federation square. shoulda checked the moving images thingie, but i was scared or something so i went to the art gallery instead. i felt like doing something cultural, but not having to pay for it. so i just stayed in the gallery gift shop reading up on pop art and fashion and guerrilla art.

and then when i got home i fell massively under the weather. i was gonna catch up with swedish andreas tonight for a few drinks, but i was chilled to the bone and didnt feel up for making the trek.
i'm slowly and surely learning the consquences of my actions.

but it's looking like my last few days in syd are gonna be chock full of last checkups and goodbyes/see ya laters. i'm getting saddened a little bit, but i am excited too.
i recently (like last night) decided to commemorate my exchange by writing a fictional novel type thing inspired by my experiences. i'm stoked on it, cuz if there's one thing i can do, it's write.

this blog is just a part of it too. and i thank alicia for encouraging me to do it :)
see yas soon

i <3 melbourne

2007-08-12T22:25:00.000+08:00

so i'm in melbs right now in the internet cafe they got in the hostel. pretty sweet. but once again i'm reminded of why i didn't go packpacking with lynn and joanna across europe.
i suck at hostels.
i know i'm gonna have a rough sleep this night, which is why i'm prepared to purchase more credit.

i also don't really like other travellers. at least the pommies.
their accents are not the prettiest to listen to, esp when they're drunk, which they often are.

oh yeah, i'm also a very irresponsible traveller. i forgot my toothpaste and toothbrush and deodorant. the first 2 i decided to purchase bargain versions of. the deodorant, well...i'm gonna be a little fresh for the next coupla.

anyway, so i partied all night last night. my flight left at 615 in the morning.
soo...that meant i was a little intoxicated when i made my way to the airport, which can explain the forgotten articles.

and my friggen hostel didn't let me check in till 2pm.
so i was wandering around in my party clothes and remnants of makeup... my breath was acrid. when i eventually picked up the mouth stuff, i then became the random girl who walked around the city with toothpaste and a toothbrush in hand, cuz of course, this budget place didn't provide plastic bags. amazing.

i had a beautiful lunch in little italy though, mmm i love pasta.
and when i finally checked in, i slept for a couple, then was awoken by my roommates who were switching rooms, thank god. so now im sharing a dorm with only 1 other person. this oldish lady who kinda sketches me out. but she's sleeping now, so i could give a shit.

anyway, i hit the melbourne international film festival and checked out a short called run. and 2 features - eagle vs shark, and teeth.

the e vs s was very napoleon dynamitesque. like so much. i laughed heaps for pretty much all of the beginning, and kinda wished i had someone to watch it with me so we could be imbeciles together.
teeth was a little disappointing. it was about a teenager who was a vagina dentata. yep. her vagina bit off penises when it was angered.
it was slightly funny, very gory. weirdly paced... i dunno, considering i don't side with chastity and laugh in the face of purity, i couldn't relate. the satire could've been played up a little more, but it was an interesting take nevertheless.

run was actually good. i didn't realize that was part of the package, but it inspired me. it made me really want to write a short screenplay. maybe for practicum or something. but then i thought i could be stuffed to sort out the formatting and everything.
so i'm gonna attempt to get started on a fictional novel/novella type thing inspired by my e-correspondence with people.

i dunno where i'm gonna take it, but i have heaps of material to work with. just gotta think of some strong characters and situations. see where i want them to go... and voila. magic.

so i'm gonna conserve my net time for the moment.
but moral of the story - melbourne is a magical city. anyone who told me i would love it is right. it feels more like home than sydney does. the vibe reminds me of montreal a little bit, being the little sister to the big city.

i'll post some pics later of this street artist who actually creates his work in front of an audience. it's astounding.

coastal walk

2007-08-11T15:04:00.000+08:00

so i did the coastal walk from bondi to coog today. and now i'm at school so i can write about it because my power adaptor for my laptop decided to melt and not work, leaving me with access to my personal files and regular net access.

i've been here for an hour, just lurking. doing nothing in particular. oh i did want to print out my boarding pass cuz i will be going to melbourne asscrack early, so i guess that was my purpose too...

but it's mainly cuz i have this strange fixation of constantly being in the know of what's going on with my mates, and letting them know what's doing it my life.

so yeah, coastal walk. of course it was amazing. it took me round an hourish when others said it'd take me 1.5 or 2 hrs. take that suckers.
i walk really fast for a midget, it's creepy.

i wish i coulda taken pictures, but i really wanted to keep my pace. next time. i reckon i'll be hitting it the last few days before i go.

this is crazy.
party tonight, melbourne shortly after
back in syd tues night (10ish)... so wed, thurs, fri, and maybe maybe maybe some of sat... but sat, my plane leaves at 6pm with me on it in a window seat...

crazy crazy shit.
still heaps of people i need to say goodbye to whom i probably won't get the chance to. my bondi mates for sure will leave me with a nice sendoff. asa, asa, annika... and company.
anj and pat have already left, and we never had a good goodbye though they were debatably my closest mates here...
hopefully cat, paige, keya, renee, b, di, simon, jack....
the latter few are questionable, but the girls are def surer bets.

so many people to miss. so many people to keep in touch with.
this is just round one of nikki in sydney.
i will be back.
for a longer period for sure.

but for now... just enjoy the last few days before my canadian home sweet home

it's starting to hit me...

2007-08-09T20:24:00.000+08:00

whilst writing an email to a girl who will be embarking on her own journey next february, i just realized how little time i have left.
it's been fantastic. and well, at this point still relatively unbelievable.

telling her about all how to get a job and all that jazz... brought me back to when i first came here, trying to find my footing. i did it all by myself. i was able to help anj. and now i'm helping caroline.

i've been able to see how capable i am of coping on my own. i am very independent, and adaptable. granted there were some stumbles along the way, but i was able to see what kind of activities are therapeutic for me.

there are a few things of import that i will take time to note right now. a few things that made my exchange more than what i could've imagined it to be...
-living on the beach. fuck, waking up to a view of the ocean every morning is incredible.
-seeing how grown up i am, teehee :)
-falling in love. *sigh*
-meeting some swedish soulmates who have given me a reason to visit that beautiful country
-being visited by my best friend and then my mother. though i was having heaps of fun on my own, i was truly lucky to have that feeling of home. and to be able to share my new home with them.
-having a newfound respect/appreciation for my canadian boys :)

etc

my time here's not done. still have 9ish days before i leave.
a little reflection isn't hurting though.
annika and i are leaving the same day, and we're both so stoked. but we can't deny the great experiences we've had thus far.

it's been a trip, that's for serious.

2 weeks of goodbyes, 10 days of rest, 2 weeks of nice-to-see-you-agains

2007-08-05T20:12:00.000+08:00

since all my mates are scattered around, i will have goodbye sessions with all my worthwhile friends.
it's going to be interesting. my excitement to return to north america far exceeds my sentiment for bumming around in australia.
there are heaps of things i will miss for sure... the clicky sound the crosswalks indicators make, not having to tip, the fucking ocean, the sexy accent, the abundance of funny as swedes, the lingo...
but i'm happy to be heading back home.

i reckon it will be tedious.. i'm saying my nice-to-see-you-agains the way i'm saying my goodbyes, one at a time. so i'm gonna have to tell some of the highlights repeatedly, answer the same questions, etc etc.
i suppose that's part of the package so i'm gonna love every second of it!

i shouldn't be heaps exhausted when i get back cuz i'm getting over my jetlag in hawaii and california. so i be all rejuvenated for fun times when i return!

yayy.

ps i got a tattoo today. and that is another reason why i'm ready :)

august 28

2007-07-24T19:23:00.000+08:00

my homecoming.
after all this time...

leaving canada dec 18. leaving cali dec 30. leaving seoul jan 14...

now i'll be leaving sydney aug 18. leaving hawaii aug 21. leaving cali aug 28.

thank goodness for stopovers. i'd go crazy if i had to endure day-long flights.

needless to say, i'm heaps excited about being home. i already have a few things in mind.
andrew, pete, lynn and lindsay have all offered to pick me up from the airport. however now that the date is actually figured out, lynn will be working and l-ho will still be in sask.
andrew said he'd book work off, and that sounds good to me. would be the most convenient seeing as he lives minutes away from the airport.
aaand, from picking me up, he wants to get inked!siiick. i'm sooo stoked.
granted it's still a little while into the future, but i've got my fingers crossed that this won't get all flaked up.

:D :D :D
EEEEE!
i'm very excited if it's not evident already.

i'm ready.

i was working on a new campaign again today and this british dude adam was the only other foreigner. he'd been in syd for about 5 months on a working holiday visa, but like me, he misses home.
sydney has run out of things to offer and it's time to go to a place that loves us. :D

yayyy.

now i gotta figure out what souvenirs to get everyone!

one more month

2007-07-18T14:26:00.000+08:00

left.

and then i'm gone. for the next while.
not sure when i'll be back... still gotta see if i can make it in l.a....see if i can crack the toronto market for a bit once more..

this last month, i'm gonna make the most of it.
got my single swedish mate annika who's very similar to me. and we're just gonna run amok.

still on the list of things i gotta do in the city before i leave:
-walk across the bridge
-keep going to mtv lair
-check out trash
-see more bands
-go to melbourne
-get souvenirs
-etc etc

i've become so shit at blogging and i apologize...

my sched is pretty sweet right now... chat with my friends till 5am, go to bed. wake up at 3pm.

i'm starting a new job next week where i have to be up from 6am and work till 3.... my sleeping hours. goddamn.
money is money. i need it.

god, this is depressing. i can;t write for shit right now.
annika and i have had some lovely adventures so far. walked from newtown to bondi jct, comparable to walking from high park to yonge/bloor maybe.
it was a lovely walk.
we've met two of the hottest aussie twin boys ever. and got seduced by them.

im quitting this until i actually have something to say and know how to say it.
loves!

should i stay or should i go?

2007-07-03T19:39:00.000+08:00

the situation:
-the earliest i can leave is aug 17
-the latest i can stay is aug 31
when should i go?

reasons why i should stay:
-it's winter time but it's still beautiful. 19 degree weather today. i reckon that's better than 40 degree toronto ass crack heat.
-i don't want to get caught up in the tv biz back home right now
-it's fun doing alco promotions here
-it costs $1800 return between syd and toronto. it could be a while before i save enough dosh to come back here so i might as well ride it out
-i live on the beach
-aussies are hott as. dayum. the more hetero ones at least.
-i have roomies here
-i haven't figured out what tattoo i wanna get next, and i don't want to leave without one
-im not ready to say goodbye to my mates here
-and i don't know if i'm ready to deal with gta boys yet

reasons why i should go:
-more job ops in toronto
-i miss my friends. heaps.
-i miss my bed
-i love summertime and long days
-summer festivals and cheap concerts
-canadian beer kills aussie beer
-i dont have to pay rent at home
-i might get bored and angsty on my off days in oz
-i have a coupla lads to set me straight
-i wont have time to get crunk with lynn otherwise, cuz she's staying clean during the semester

verdict:
no. fucking. clue.
i'll decide at the beginning of aug?

suggestions?

happy canada day!

2007-07-01T16:48:00.000+08:00

god i've sucked bullets at keeping up with this.

school's over, i'm pretty sure i've mentioned that. i'm so tired.

watching big brother. what a lazy sunday.

i could be at home, in canada. going up to the cottage with some mates for a long weekend drunkfest.

but nah. i'm in home in bondi, hungover and dragging my ass around all day, waiting for my canadian mates to get ready and drink some canadian beer.

so this is the view from my balcony. if you will notice, i have a nice panoramic view of bondi, and a nice glimpse of the pacific ocean. whenever i wake up in the middle of the night to use the toilet, i see the sun breaking through the midnight blue sky and i'm just so happy to be here.

i've said before, i'm saying it again - it's really funny that it's winter over here now. the last few days have been gorge - tshirt weather.

lynn tells me back home it;'s a humid 40 degrees, and as much as i love the heat, i can't deal with that. i remember last summer when i tried taking a walk one time, and i felt like i was gonna throw up.

ugh.

this week it's getting around 18 degrees again, hopefully that will keep up. i feel like this is a really lame entry cuz i am talking about weather. but it is a big part of the living here experience, facing winter in june/july.

i have a job interview tomoz morning. it's probably in my best interest not to get fucked up tonight. i really wanna have some fun with some new canadian mates, but i also really want this job. it's a receptionist position with a design/special fx firm. i'm on the fence about what to tell them about how long i'm staying here. foster's is hopefully gonna keep me busy, but... yeah i want to do something worthwhile here. the design company has some pretty sweet projects. so that will be alright to be involved with clients for that.

this will be the start of being visitor free. so at least i can have time to myself. i've been so busy lately.

tomoz, if nothing comes out of my job int (which i really hope isnt the case), i'm gonna jobhunt with annika, help her get a job.

she;s been a good friend here, met her on my bday, we've been chilling lately. she workes right around the corner from where i live so it's pretty convenient. and we're dealing with much of the same things right now.

yesterday she took me to a party held by another torontonian. heaps of canadians were there, so that was pretty much a canada day celebration, but i still wanna go out tonight. she lives in bondi too, so hopefully we can hang more.

ah. the waiting continues

australian job security

2007-06-24T09:48:00.000+08:00

is subpar at best. within a week of starting a job and an internship, i got replaced at both. the job - they thought someone was more 'promotionally orientated' than i. way to use fake words to fire me.
and the other one didn't think i was interested enough. it was a CASUAL internship. the first day my boss wasn't there. the second day i was ass tired and wanted to run my tasks the next day.
whatever. their loss.

i'm still working for foster's. that's a pretty cushy aussie job. i'm not terribly concerned.
i just applied to work at a pr agency, so hopefully something can come out of that.
that's also casual.
i don;t reckon it'd be a good idea to get a steady job. considering i only have 2 and a bit months here.
only 2...shit son, time is flying.

been catching up with b again, funny kid. glad things aren't complicated no more. i love drinking games. specially when they involve cards and not too much thinking.

this is a weaksauce entry.

weather's been weird. sunny now, a little brisk. but it's not raining anymore! i will def need a cuddle buddy to keep me warm soon, i guess that's the benefit of the weather being cold.
god the ocean looks beautiful. i love seeing surfers catching a wave. so fucking hot.

this entry is deteriorating quickfast.
i'll peace for now

winter birthday

2007-06-19T22:43:00.000+08:00

so i'm 21. and i celebrated my bday in the winter. weird.
it's not winter by canadian standards in the least. obviously.
heaps of rain and wind. but no snow and that's great.

i love being 21. things are just going well right now.
i can work regularly. in a cruisy place.
have sweet mates. live on the beach.

like usually winter depresses me to hell. but despite it being a little dreary, i live on the beach. i fucking love the ocean and i get to look at it everyday.
i dont have to worry about homework or any school responsibilities.

it's so chill.

this winter... it's not winter. but it's prob gonna be my fave winter of life.

done done dooonnnnnnnnnneeeee

2007-06-07T21:24:00.000+08:00

nikki is done her classes at uts. done. no more classes. yeah maybe a 50% doco due tues, but officially no more classes.
!!!!

so it's winter now. at 16 to 19ish degrees. yeah man. cold shit.
i've been shivering in bed before i go to sleep. needing to use a comforter and all.
but my most important discovery today - my heater!!
now i know how the cavemen felt when they discovered fire.
it's so warm, it melts the icicles of my cold, frigid soul.
fuck, i'm gonna take a moment to stand by it right now.
...
oh god yeah that was good.
fucking oath.

crazy that it's winter but. all the people back home are breaking out the shirts and shorts, it's gonna get ass humid in toronto... cottage season. all that summer stuff.

oh well. i got the beach. i got australia. i got my internship and my job at the shack. and i got a pretty cute winter jacket. not gonna lie, i'm pretty cute in it. a consolation to having to wear that extra layer.

these steadier jobs will be good in helping make a bigger basegroup of friends. marc's leaving sunday. anj is leaving in a month. all i'll have is asa and patrick. and my aussie friends when they decide they can fit me in their lives. not trying to be bitter, but only travellers can understand each other's sitches - trying to make friends in some sort of desperation. hopefully some band can adopt me as the cute tambourine girl. or triangle girl. yeah that'd be better... less responsibility.

i just wanna be happy here. i reckon the beach will help. some sort of regularity in schedule and income should help immensely. esp after may raped me and took my wallet.
i mean, i've made about a grand a month since i've been here, and it's all been pissed away with my antics with lynn. not that i regret anything. we had chill times. times of our lives. but shit son, it's gonna take a while to rebuild. hopefully i can balance everything, what with my mum visiting me and all. yeah i spelled it the aussie way.
but yeah, as trite as it sounds, i really just wanna be happy. this last week has seen me stressed as. first having lynn leave. i don't do well with goodbyes :( ...and then having 50%, 60% and 25% worth of marks due. on top of everything, i've been sick. head cold, and chronic neck pains and tension headaches. all of which actually might have been a result of my stress. stupid psychosomatic symptoms.
it should go away next week, yeah i'm repeating myself.

i also want everyone at home to be happy. i've been told i'm not missing much in toronto by being here. but i do miss being able to chill with the peeps i love. i know everyone's lives are going on without me--time isn't standing still, and i'm not gonna be able to return to the way it was when i left canada. i just hope i can adapt and people will let me back in. i haven't forgotten about anyone, i hope i'm not forgotten either.

faith in people mildly restored

2007-06-03T09:52:00.000+08:00

idiot that i am, i left my purse on the 333 bus. it had my whole fucking life in syds in it:
-passport
-debit card and both credit cards
-student id-medibank card
-most importantly, my mobile...

luckily i realized this before it was too late, caught another 333 bus to the depot, and it was safely returned within 2 hours of me being a tool.everything was intact. shit son, i dont know what i woulda done if someone was a massive asshole and decided to deprive me of it.
cunt.

but i got it, and all's good in the world again.
screw my passport, my mobile would've been devo to lose. it has my whole fucking life on it. despite it being ghetto as, it's my connection to everyone i've made contact with since i've been here. i wouldnt have any numbers any other way.
nobody woulda been able to reach me for job stuffs, and vice versa. complete and utter madness woulda been strewn about my life.
i'm just so happy that i got it back. and that i lost it on a bus and not on the street or somewhere untraceable.new respect for sydney busses i have now.

move bitch, get outta the way

2007-05-30T20:29:00.000+08:00

the theme song for our weekend in cairns. there were heaps of tourist groups abounding. and they got in the way of our walking. it was annoying cuz i didn't know how to say move please in foreign, so i spent my time trying to get around them and giving them evil looks.
i wish everyone spoke english sometime, or some form of bastardized english at least, with some unannoying accents.

if it's not obvio, i'm procrastinating for a paper right now.
that's right, i actually have an assignment due. tomoz. and i really don't wanna do it. i've already started.
but i'd much rather just go to bed.

had a really busy day. but that's not as interesting as my trip to cairns, which i will discuss right....now:

so we got there thurs night. free hostel shuttle didnt pick us up cuz it was after hours so we had to pay our way to our room.
it was not nearly as nice as our hostel in the gold coast. man the islander was a sweet hostel, cuz it was more like a hotel.

the calypso was a little disappointing. surly surly travellers masking as the hostel staff. they weren't very fond of canadians, and that was really disturbing to me.
we're good folk, and we totally got discriminated against.

ugh. there were heaps of pommies and chavs there. i really dont like british accents. or british girls. especially when they dont know how to dance.
the nightlife in cairns sucked. only 1 decentish club, and it was full of brits, who flailed and got all up in my personal space. they were heaps irritating, and such sloppy sloppy drunks.

i actually missed sydneysiders.
yeah that's right. i didn't think it was possible. but the metros were something i'd welcome easily, cuz at least i could stand their accents, and they like canadians!
it was weird too cuz we met some yanks on our last night there, and i was actually really happy to talk to people that weren't from the u.k.
god, cairns just left a bad taste in my mouth, peoplewise.

5 nights was heaps too long to stay there.

it was nice being in the tropics. but it was tropical weather. ie, wet. then sunny. then wet. then sunny.
but hot all the time, which was sweet as.

the reef was gorge. i wasn't allowed to dive cuz of my medication. and i cried cuz that's why i went there. but i got to snorkel, so at least i got to see the reef. heaps of nemos, a sea tortoise, all these colourful fish. it was amazing.
it made me wish i had an aptitude for science so i could be a marine biologist or something. but to be a documentarian for the ocean floor is a possiblity too.

i probably woulda been happier had i been able to dive. i might go back with pat, so let's cross fingers and hope i'll be alright then.

since it rained, we were stuck doing nothing but going to the movies. saw pirates and georgia rule.
pirates...damn. hot fucking movie.
but yeah, if the weather was perfect, the length of stay would be fine. but since it wasnt, there wasnt too much to do.

plus, on every tour/trip we did, there were buffets so i ate heaps of food. heaps. like 2 servings of dinner, a few desserts each time.
it was delicious and i got the most of my money.
but i'm paying for it now. i feel myself getting fat already.
ugh.

i don't wanna talk about it.

but on the upside, i'm done classes in a couple of weeks.
so i've been looking for full time jobs, and i've got some good prospects. i hope they pan out!
i'm excited to move out of the city, into the beach. i spend heaps of time there anyway, so it only makes sense.

i reckon i should stop procrastinating now.
onto writing a paper on degrassi!

homesick?

2007-05-20T19:01:00.000+08:00

so i've been lynnless this weekend. it's been fine. i love having her around, but i'm glad she's got the chance to see melbs.
she says it kind of kicks syd's ass. i believe her - likely heaps less metros, and heaps better music.

but, we're missing each other. it's weird, being so far away from our comfort zones allows us to appreciate each other.
i'll be stuffed when she leaves. i know we're gonna keep in touch mighty good with each other, but to have goon-induced heart to hearts is something i will miss dearly.

i feel so out of the loop with the tdot. i haven't talked to andrew for ages... and heaps of shit has hit the ceiling. i miss him, and i'm stoked on chilling with him and getting all normal once i get back.

ahhhh.
i don't know why i'm so homesick right now. knowing how i'm missed/how my presence would make a more positive difference makes me really want to be there.

but i have to stay here for myself. i put a deposit on a room in bondi where i will be moving on my birthday! i dont think anyone can understand how stoked i am for that. fuck... i thought living in the city would be sweet. it's convenient, but not ideal when nobody else lives here.
but to be by the ocean... normally i get anxious as when i have long periods of time with nothing to do... but to have a oceanview... i could be stuffed if i have only like 5 hours of work per week. aaaand i also got cable finally! as adequate as free-to-air is, i'm gonna love watching more trash tv! yay!

so the earliest i will leave is aug 17. but i'll likely stay a week longer. i really need to get a steadier job though.
promo is fine for now, while i'm going to school. but i'm not dealing well with the shifts i'm getting right now as they're all solo assignments. i wasn't too aware of it before, but i get anxious as when i have to work on my own. especially for like 4 hours straight in a hizzideous uniform. i'm too embarrassed to describe it, and i dont embarrass easily...

so today, instead of doing my shift cuz i was running late and got lost, i engaged in retail therapy instead. was able to buy 2 pants, tights and 2 tops for only $31! they're shitty as quality, but i dont give a shit. at least i wont have to worry about taking them back home.
aand, i can't forget... i ran into b. so fucking random. he works at the mall i was stationed in today.
i was pretty much stopped dead in my tracks when i saw him at the music store, had no clue really that he worked there. and it was great cuz i looked like shit.
but timing actually worked for me in that instance - he was just getting on his break so i chatted with him over oporto's. not the ideal reunion, as i was anxious as fuck over work. i was a little bit hysterical. but we all know it's pretty funny when little nikki gets off on a big rant, so at least it was more entertaining and less awkward. we're gonna chill this wednesday after i meet with greta. relax by the beach maybe. who knows?
at least with this planned, i could look less like shit and more like cute :) ...we'll see how that goes.

so yeah, while interesting things can happen when i miss a shift, i'd rather work in a place that i can actually stand showing up to every single shift. it doesnt take too much as long as i have at least one other teammate. so i reckon i might try a cafe job or even bar.
i have another interview on tuesday, and hopefully that can give me more group assignments. god, i interview so well. like it's amazing how well i can sell myself.
and it's not that i'm lying. but it's a little bit selective when my good qualities can shine. like today for example, they were awol. as soon as i stepped into the mall, i panicked. it's hard for people to relate to, i know. but i just couldnt do it.
not that i was being a baby. i just would rather not go crazy, thanks. and that's not hyperbole.
oh, the place i am interviewing for is hiring for a recruitment assistant. i'd be sweet as at that. maybe i can see what i can get out of that!

jesus.

i really hope my care package from pete arrives soon. lynn gave me some canadian paraphenelia in the form of shot glasses and a magnet, but i'd like something i can wear out to broadcast my canadianness. yeah i vain. whatever.

haha there's this guy on rove who has amazing rants just like me. i'm sorta gonna miss aussie tv.

time to not think about negative things now.
cheers mates.

loaded

2007-05-18T12:17:00.001+08:00

i finally had a buddy to come with me to the world bar on thurs nights for loaded.
it was sweet as.
a bit sceney. but what the fuck ever. indie kids outnumbered metros by far. weird dancey moves to awesome music.
the crowd was a little young, so all the good looking ones who'd hooked up left early.
the only decent one i spotted had his eye on this one girl who didnt bite, then moved onto her dirty friend. if his taste was so bad, glad he didnt choose me.
it was a little pathetic.

but lynn and i made friends with the kiwi bar manager and hopefully he'll hit us up with drink tix next time. i only have 3 left. it was pretty sweet not having to spend money last night though.

ugh, i have to work soon so it was stupid of me to really write.

but moral of the story - im glad i have someone to go out with and do stuff i wanna do. we're totally hitting blink tonight. turn on some metal heads with our hot dancing. she's my favourite dance buddy.
the end

good as fucking gold

2007-05-14T22:04:00.000+08:00

a.maz.ing.
gold coast was fan-fucking-tastic.

just came home and had a sweet as shower after 5 days of being sans soap and shampoo and deodorant and razor.
goddamn i was lax in personal hygiene, and i still managed to have some fun.

it was chillsauce. like we went there with the expectation of maybe surfing and partying. it was basically just cruisy.
lotsa beach chilling and poolside chilling and hottub chilling and partying.
spent a stupid amount of money on this riduculous booze cruise, i'm kinda too embarassed to admit it. to be fair, randal the dude who sold it to us was hot as. we were fucking putty in his hands. it was pathetic. but he was hot.
i also feel like i lost maybe 78% of my vocabulary there. i can talk heaps good now.

irregardless...

friday night reminded me why lynn is my favouritest drinking buddy ever. i'm a random, and she randoms with me. i more or less accomplished my goal in repaying her for all the times she winged for me. best winggirl ever. and it happened so randomly too, in good nikki fashion.
ps, it should be a rule that hot single guys should only have hot guy friends who are also single/more or less available.
friday night would have been confusing for like last semester nikki. but... i was a lot more receptive to the randomness...
i reckon this isnt making much sense.
long story short, lynn and i ended up in mermaid waters and were able to catch the sunset which was absofuckinglutely gorgeous. we also got to smoke some weed, which was hella long since she and i got to do that together. that was another bonus to the randomness that rose and crown bestowed upon us.

this was the first time i actually was on the other side of the tracks, taking one for the team. it wasn't bad though cuz the buddy was hot, he was just taken and had issues. ie he bit lynn's thigh, after which she slapped him. then he resumed to bite my calf. we have gnarly marks left from that.
but it was entertaining as.
i love gold coast boys. heaps heaps heaps better than sydney natives. far less pretty boy, heaps more tattooed. damn. fuck.
disappointingly, many of them are still high-waisters, which really needs to be outlawed. irregardless... at least in the gold coast i don't have to play the 'i'm not sure if i'd hit that' game since dudes are just more hetero. it was refreshing.

so tired.

we also shared a bed, even after the danish chicks with whom we shared a room departed. it was romantic. i like sharing my bed, i'm game for a sleepover any time.

saturday was a little... bit of a bust i guess, with the booze cruise. yes, some free drinks. but, not enough attractive guy to be stuck with for 3 hours straight to make it worth it. on the plus, they were all aussies, so it was like the most aussies i've hung out with since ive been here. but, aussie chicks are so slag. fuck, one of the drinking games was a striptease, but this one chick was not a tease at all. tits galore in less than a minute of sleaze music. aaand, to make matters worse, she hooked up with the gayest looking guy on the whole ship.
beer goggles much?

lynn was a trooper that night, taking another one for the team. she's also mastered the art of exit strategery. something i really need to learn... but i'm such a glutton for randomness that i'll go along with anything until i get kicked out/wake up and do a walk of shame.
hence why i witnessed a bogan couple fight and subsequent post-make up sex smiles.
these people... they found it so novel that we went to uni. that's so rare for us... as is people still living with their olds.
guhh.
i didnt indulge in sextasy though. as much as i am liberal and go-with-the-flow, i really can't mentally afford to fuck around with my serotonin levels. but since they did, it might've been why our legs got bit?

i'm totally mixing up friday events with saturday events.

i will write more when i get my head straight/adequate sleep.
but i reckon this update was good just to let people know i'm still alive :)

ps lish, i got your facebook sushi roll, and it made me smile cuz i've been eating lotsa sush this weekend, and it was like we were on the same wavelength. loves it!
xx

off to goldie

2007-05-09T21:02:00.000+08:00

we're waking up 4 am-ish tomoz. the weather says it'll be rainy which blows goats, but i choose not to believe it.

anyway, it's been hectic.

it was supposed to be all chill times and everything. and for the most part, yesterday was. i mean, after all it did start with me getting an sms letting me know that none of my production group was gonna be in class today, so i was off the hook for goin myself.

so lynn and i went to coog.

it was chill as.

the weather was actually better than it was last week. at least temp wise. it was a little cloudier, but less windy.

overall it was a success.

that totally worked out cuz originally if i had class, we just woulda gone to bondi today after my appointment with greta. but my work scheduled me in so i had to run all around the city again. but the weather was not ideal anyway so it was good that i got to go yesterday.

i'm real good at making sentences.

but yeah, today was supposed to be all chill, which was why lynn and i hit up the goon last night.

it was classy as. we broke in the canadiana shot glasses lynn gave me as a present.

god i suck at sentences right now.

this goon is pretty good quality. 12.5, nice and dry and smooth.

it was buy 1 get 1 free, so we have about 7ish litres of chard left. it'll probably last us till lynn leaves. hopefully.

but yeah, hectic day alright. we had authentic yumcha cuz it's really good post drinking food. lynn and i are fatass bitches, we ordered as much as the table with 4 people did. but it was delicious.
after that though, i had to book it home to change and shower and get directions to all the places i had to go to today. and then i couldnt find my way to greta, so i was 20 mins late for that. she didnt seem too impressed.
then i had to run to the other side of the country for my shift. and i had the most ridiculous uniform i've ever worn in my life.
like i was totally cool if people pointed and laughed at me, cuz that's exactly what i did when i walked past a mirror.

je.sus.

im still heaps tired, but i'm stoked on tomoz. i need to get in touch with calgary jeff who's still at surfer's for another month or so. i hope we get to party with him.
nothing happened over v-day... we'll see what happens now but.

i had heaps more to say.
brain not working.
be back shortly.

lynn's heeeerreeeee!!!

2007-05-07T21:24:00.000+08:00

it's fucking amazing. i can't believe she's here.

i have not giggled so much like this in wayyyy too long.

i was up superearly this morning, made here a sweet as ghetto signage.

yeah that's right. i wrote mof at 545am.

it did the fucking trick.

it's so nice to have her here. it's also nice to know how much i was missed to, just for like things that she'd want to do and i'd be like the only person who'd go with her.

same thing for me too.

ok, i dont think this is making sense because i didnt have a nap today and i;m tired as.

ps we were ignorant today. it made me laugh and i almost lost my voice.