A Day In the Life of KaRe^BeAr

10 more days 'til x'mas! I'm excited! only b/c I got most of my x'mas shopping done! I spent so much money this weekend! *agh* lets just say on boxing day the only thing i'll be doing is window shopping *sigh*. Sounds lovely doesn't it? Oh yeah :)

Besides spending money, I had a great weekend :) I managed to hull my ass to the Umbra sale w/ Rita. We got there at 9:15 am.. we got INTO the building at 11:15. Yes.. a 2 hour wait.. in the cold. My feet were frozen by the time we got to the door! It was nuts. But i bought a lot of gifts.. for myself :) I can't help it! Anyway, after we spent 2 hours scrounging around, looking for gifts (Ri spent half the time thinking of what alternative uses for a tissue holder.. she's a modern day martha stewart), we rang up our purchases and was going to leave when.. I bump into my friend Al, who, honestly, I havn't seen since highschool. I had spoken to him a few months ago and he had mentioned he worked for Umbra. I completely forgot. He told me if he knew I was coming he could have gotten in the building in 5 minutes. Ah! and I waited 2 hours?!?! I'll remember for next year!

That night I went to see The Lion King, which as absolutely AMAZING! Jimmy and I made a night of it. We went downtown (did I ever mention I hate driving downtown?) and had a very nice dinner at this Italian restaurant I can't remember the name to. It was so nice.. we havn't had a meal at a nice fancy restaurant since.. Greece :) I wish we could do it more often. Anyway, we headed to the theater afterwards where we saw a spectacular show. The costumes were just.. jaw dropping. That's the only way I can describe it. I really liked the stage design too! If it ever comes by your city, definitely see it! "It's to die for" :) haha!

I knew today wasn't going to be a good day when I missed not one, but TWO buses this morning. It's bad enough to see one bus run by you as you're walking towards the bus stop.. but 2?!? Flippin' mental! I've been trying to study all day but have failed miserably. I just don't want to study anymore. I'm not in exam mode either. I'm not following my crazy Waterloo exam study schedule.. I'm just lazy.

So I finally got a desk space in an office (I have to stop saying I got an office.. everytime I say that, ppl automatically assume I have one of those executive style offices). It's great :) I have a place to do work and to study. No more fighting for a space at the library.. those days are locked up with my Waterloo memories :)

Speaking of Waterloo, I've seen a lot of my old Waterloo buddies lately. Mei had a potluck a few weeks ago so I got to see a ton of ppl I havn't seen since convo. It was just really nice seeing them again. I guess after seeing them I realized how much I really missed them. We were like a family.. we saw each other every day, we suffered together, we partied together. Those were the good 'ole days :) I feel old.

And speaking of feeling old.. I went to Quarters last Thursday and man... once the alcohol wore off I began to feel old.. and I got bored. Clubbing just doesn't do it for me anymore. I just prefer to .. chill. But I did learn something that evening.. for guys... "x" marks the spot! LOL :)

Ok.. back to studying... =x.x=

So I'm a bit upset right now.. I can't sleep. I hate that. It's pretty dumb (the reason why I'm mad) but.. it's the principle behind it? Do I care to share? Not really. But I'm pretty sure you have an idea on who I'm mad at.

So it's been.. oh.. 2 weeks since I've updated this. Was I busy? Last week I was.. this week. not quite so. I actually had some time to sit back and chill :) My only easy week I'm going to get I think. I got up every morning at 10am.. it was great! I've been spending a lot of time on my new computer :) It's so kewls! I love it! super fast.. and the frigging cd-rom works! I still have yet to watch a DVD on my computer :) So what did I do this week? I managed to get hooked on yet another one of those WB dramas. It's called One Tree Hill. I downloaded b/c they don't play it up here (unless you are fortunate enough to have the WB in which case i'm jealous!). I was really ticked cuz this Monday they failed to show Everwood. I was not impressed. It sounded like it was going to be such a good episode too! :( But anyway, back to One Tree Hill.. I managed to get the first 2 episodes. Not a bad show.. not as good as Everwood.. but I'm hooked! If only the 3rd episode was dl-ing faster.. *grr*. I also re-watched most of my everwood episodes! haah! I'm such a freak! I love that show!

I went home last weekend. I didn't meant to. I had to. I've been getting these chest pains lately. It hurts minimum once a day. It's really strange. Nothing really triggers it. I thought it would be best if I went home to check it out, just to make sure I'm not dying or anything. My doc says it's most likely nerve pain.. but i'm a bit skeptical. It's been like this for 2 weeks now. Can nerve pain really last that long? If you know the answer, by all means, please tell me! Anyway, I'm going back again this weekend to get some more tests done: ultrasound scan of my heart and a chest x-ray. Fun times at the docs! I hope I'm ok...

Two weeks ago (I'm going backwards I know) I was talking Pepper for a walk. I took him around the regular route: down my street, through my old elementry school and around the park. But this time it was different. I began to remember things from my childhood there. The play-days, the track meets, the recesses where me and my friends sat on the hill and traded stickers. It was in a sense.. bittersweet. Never in a million years would I have pictured myself to be the way that I am right now. I began to think about all my achievements, where I am today and where I might be in the future. Kids have so much potential. In my 24 years so far, I've accomplished so much. It doesn't seem much until you really sit down and think about it. And things back then was so simple. Back then, my street was my world. I knew my street like the back of my own hand. Then came highschool... I knew my neighbourhood like the back of my hand. Then came university.. now the world is like my backyard. Everything keeps getting bigger and bigger. I miss those days when the biggest problem I had was which snack to bring to class. I feel old! haha!

Enough w/ the reflection... i'm off to bed :)

What a wicked 2 weeks it has been! I don't remember much cuz I think i spent most of the past two weeks being drunk! haha! I swear.. this month.. i drank more that i did last year!

The weekend after thanksgiving was the Oktoberfest weekend. That weekend was just nuts! Friday early afternoon I decided to go back to Toronto for the night (just one night!) to see Jimmy :) The next day I drove back to Hamilton to pick up Laura and Alex, then headed to Waterloo. Agh.. so much driving! But it was fun! We met up with Jenn, when to Mel's for dinner, then headed over to the Laurier stadium with Wil for Oktoberfest! I got to see some ppl I havn't seen in so long :) So it was great! no pukey pukey for me this year! hehe! I had so much fun! :)

This weekend I went back home again to celebrate my bday w/ my toronto friends :) The biggest shock I got that weekend was the fact that Jimmy got me a new computer! ah! I think part of the reason why he bought it was to shut me up cuz i've been complaining CONSTANTLY about how crappy my comp is! haha! kiddin :) Jimmy planned a poker night thing on my behalf for saturday nite (and I realized that weekend what a perfectionist he really is! heeh so cute!). Poker was a lot of fun.. a lot of trash talking going on :) A few of my waterloo friends came :) The nxt day I had to head back to Hamilton for the Chem Eng conference (which was in hamilton). And that's when the partying began...

Sunday night was the welcome reception and the pub tour. We spent most of our time @ the Funky Monkey. I was so tired that day but I managed to stay out until 2am that night! haha! The following evening, there was an event @ Quarters (the Mac on-campus niteclub). They thought my ID was expired (it expires next year.. they obviously had no idea what year it was) AND they couldn't figure out why I had a new student card number b/c I was born in 1979 (they've never heard of the concept of a new grad student). It was quite entertaining and funny! haha! The evening was fun... did a few shots.. got pretty tipsy. I had to look after Art cuz he got pretty trashed.. the dude was double fisting the whole nite.. and he had to present @ the conference the nxt day. haha! brave guy I tell ya! haha!

And yesterday.. my bday :) I managed to attend some conference presentations and do some hmwk! It was a great day :) I got to talk to some of my old profs from Waterloo, which i was really looking forward to :) I miss Waterloo :( That evening was the student banquet (Laura and I spent a good half hour chatting on ICQ about what we should wear! we were so scared of being overdressed!). @ the banquet, Dave (one of way too many daves that i know) told the jazz band that was playing @ the banquet that it was my b-day, and they made me stand up while they played "happy birthday". ah! haha! It was fun :) Someone even bought me a glass of wine :) After that we met up w/ Tony and headed out for some more drinking :) *sigh* I feel my liver failing as we speak...

So now.. I'm old. 24. one more year and i'll be a quarter century. Actually I'm not that old. Wait til I turn 50.. haha! I do feel old though. Being in a school surrounded by these undergrads. But I do look like one of them! hehe :)

...so tired.. so much work to do... so little time... :P I'm all partied out!

I find that I don't sleep well in Hamilton. It doesn't help that I have a loud house. Not my housemates.. just sound travels very easily around the house b/c it's old. But anyway, I'm having trouble sleeping, and staying asleep. I havn't had a good nites sleep here since.. oh I don't even know!

Last weekend was Thanksgiving weekend and I spent most of my weekend spazzing cuz I thought I had a lot to do. I have 2 papers due next Monday, plus a assignment that is due today.. and I'm going to Oktoberfest tomorrow. Luckily I thrive on stress, because I completed one of my papers, almost done the other, and I have my assignment ready to hand in :) And now.. the weekend. I'm debating whether to go home or not for just tonight and come back tomorrow. I know if I go home I'm guranteed to sleep in w/o any distractions. hm.. I'm not sure. It's a lot of driving though. I'll see how I feel around.. 8 tonight! haha :)

I've been pretty busy and I havn't been able to update this page! yeah.. I spent all week completing my paper, which looks pretty good (format-wise). As for the content.. haha! That's another story! 6 1/2 pages.. not bad :)

Last week was pretty kewls :) haha.. funny enough I managed to go drinking 4 nights in a row! new record for me! Thursday night I went out w/ my Mac buddies to this Lebinese restaurant, then headed to Hess village, kicked back and had some beer :) Friday night Saloni had a thanksgiving dinner (an ethnic one!), drank some more :) Saturday I went to Jack Astors to watch the game. Jenn came too.. and she somehow managed to get me to drink. Saturday, Masa's b-day/Vic's going away party... and u know what that means.. more drinking! It was an awesome nite! I got to see ppl I havn't seen in a while.. and Frank actually showed up!! ah! I havn't seen that guy in ages! I still can't believe he joined the army! haha!

Ok.. off to class I go. :P

Writing at night.. that means one thing.. I just came back from Timmies :) haha! I'm wired.. i was going to do work but i like my weekends off :)

The weeks have been pretty busy. I've been busy working on papers, grading papers, researching.. I'm already sick of school! haha! Last weekend I stayed in Hamilton. I spent all of Friday marking papers (took me the ENTIRE evening! It was absolutely brutal!) cuz on Saturday Jimmy came :) I had quite a relaxing weekend :) I showed him around Hamilton, and we spent most of the weekend watching movies on this laptop he borrowed from work :) It was great!

This weekend has been pretty laxed too. I went out w/ Rita last night. That was the first time we had dinner together (just the two of us) in so long! It was so great seeing her again! It feels like I hadn't seen her in ages! After we headed over to Jimmy's to watch a movie :)

I had to go buy a new printer today cuz my current printer is a pathetic excuse of a printer. My feeder doesn't work (I have to physically shove the sheets one by one into the printer.. I just can't deal with that!) and it can't print straight horizontal lines (it's wavy!!). So I just had to buy a new one! Jimmy suggested we go to Pacific Mall to buy it. I can't believe he actually dragged me there.. and on a weekend too! For those who think I'm fobby and actually like hanging out there... SO WRONG! I absolutely lothe the place! the whole time I was there, I just kept muttering "I hate this place.. this place sucks!" There's just something about dumb chinese drivers and can't drive, finding a parking space that is like finding a needle in a haystack and being surrounded by loud chinese ppl.. just doesn't ring my bell. But nevertheless, I went. And I got a printer.. and then I had to go back cuz it turns out the printer doesn't come w/ a printer cable, and the one I have is obsolete. Grr.. not only did i have to go once.. i had to go twice!

I've been having trouble sleeping again.. and this time I've been thinking about my money problems. I'm in debt.. and I can't get over the fact that I am in debt. I'm trying to spend less, but I was thinking about all the money I will have to spend in the next few months, and there is no way I will be able to spend less :( It really sucks being poor. I really hate it. But that's what I get for still being a student right? I just feel like I can't afford to buy anything for myself.. esp. stuff that I need. The printer I got today.. Jimmy bought that for me. How bad did I feel? I felt horrible. My parents buy my groceries, my parents pay my car insurance. I just feel a bit hopeless. And it sucks that I'm a girl, cuz I want to shop! I havn't done some good quality shopping in a while. so sad :( I need to win the lotto or somthin! *sigh* 2 more years of being poor.. I hope the job I get pays off big :)

These past few days have been just crazy! I've been running around like a headless chicken! Today was just insane! Actually, my day started out really weird.. I'm gonna quote an email I wrote to Jimmy & Rita earlier today when this happend to me:

When I was coming to skool something strange happend to me. Before I left my house this morning I was downstairs in the kitchen eating (i stuffed down a banana before i left cuz they were going to go bad..). I heard music that was just blaring (it was super loud). I thought it was the people living across the street from me. I was a bit annoyed b/c they were being so inconsiderate but... it was good music :) Anyway, so i began to walk down to the bus stop. This is when I realized that the music wasn't coming from the house across the street.. but it was further down the street. what was strange was the sound sounded like it was always in front of me, like I was following in the sound's footsteps. I saw that people were doing construction on some wires up ahead and I thought i was them that was playing the music... but when I go to the bus stop, I realized that the sound wasn't coming from their direction, but further down in front of me! And the volume of the music fluctuated too.. strange huh? I didn't find out where the music was coming from.

It was just bizarre! Anyway, I just thought I would share that story w/ u :)

The weekend that just passed was.. well.. quite an interesting weekend. I went home on Friday (after taking a 30 min detour cuz the hwy entrance was closed.. apparently there was this HUGE accident). I only went home for one night so obviously I spent it w/ Jimmy. I just missed him all week.. more than usual. So it was great that I got to see him. We went to see "Anything Else". It was strange, but all in all, I liked it. I went back to Hamilton saturday afternoon. I just had too much work to do! I had 83 assignments to mark.. and I had a party to go to that night. It was a housewarming party for 2 Mac grad students. The theme of the party was pretty kewls. Pretty much what happens is we each get a drink recipe and we buy one ingredient of that drink (in my case, my drink was a choclate martini). We make our drinks @ the party and serve a small cup to the other guests. I swear.. I've nvr seen that much alcohol on one table (except @ a bar). Anyway, I had a lot of fun.. until I started to feel woosy. I couldn't keep track of how much I was drinking cuz it was just tiny dixie cup portions of each drink... but you know.. mixing all those different alcohols together did not sit well with me! I knew I had to puke.. someone was in the bathroom, so I headed outside to the deck (their place is on the 2nd floor), and i leaned over and just spewed. As i was spewing.. I looked down to see a patio table.. oh no :( Yes.. another embarassing puke story to add to my portfolio :P but man did i feel SO much better :) On sunday I went out w/ a bunch of ppl from Alex's bday :) So.. it was a great weekend.. but I spent all of sunday marking papers! yipee :P

And that brings us to this week. I'm madly trying to read a bunch of articles (my supervisor just sent me an 88 page journal article yesterday.. fun fun!), trying to complete my assignments and the assignments of the class I'm TA-ing done... helping students and.. oh yes.. WHMIS training on tuesday morning. This is probably the 5th time I've taking WHMIS. It really helped that I had my friends there in class w/ me! During break, I went downstairs to get a tea from timmies (cuz i just wasn't staying awake!). I ordered my usual extra-large tea double-double w/ cream. When I got into the elevator to go back upstairs, I was "kissing" the top lid of my "tea" when i realized it wasn't tea but coffee! She bloody gave me an extra large coffee!

Yes.. as you can see.. the excitement never stops :) But it makes it interesting :) I've started going to the gym regularly :) found two gym buddies.. Laura and Suzanne (my roomate) :) Ok.. back to reading that 88 page article.. on my computer!! let the good times roll!

Finally I had a productive day! The past few days have been very unproductive. I guess it doesn't help I went home for the weekend too eh? I've been pretty busy but for some reason I feel like I havn't gotten anything done.. until today :) I think I finally realized that I will never fully get anything completed until I get my degree! haha! The assignments seem to come in a repetitious pattern.. I'm midway through an assignment when they assign another one.. so in a sense I'm consistently working on 2 assignments. Then I got the assignments of the class I have to TA to do too. I still have another class to worry about too.. it hasn't started yet (it will next week) but I am expected to write 4 papers plus reading all this stuff for my project Agh! What did I get myself into?!? All work no play makes the Karebear grumpy *grrr*

Last Thursday nite I went to a party @ Laura's house (one of my new friends). She lives w/ a bunch of first year med students and they were throwing a party, so Laura decided to invite some Chemmies to come along :) I met up w/ Laura, Alex and Dave @ skool, checked out the athletic club fair (it wasn't too great) ... cept for the free cookies and drinks!! After that we headed over to Laura's place and when we walked in, our jaws just dropped. Her place was AMAZING! I swear.. it was like a page ripped out of architecture magazine! It was probably one of the best houses I have ever seen! Apparently the owner owns an appartment in TO so decided to stay there and rent out the house. The only shady thing about it is that the owner might be running a brothel in a private "office" at the front of the house! haha! that's sick! But anyway, I don't think any of us could get over how nice the house was. It made my place look like a student slum! haha! I don't even think my future home will look that good :( Anyway, the party was pretty kewls :) got to meet some med students.. whom I probably won't ever see again anyway. But it was great :)

I went home on Friday afternoon and saw Matchstick Men that nite. And I must say, it was one of the best movies I've seen in a while :) If you havn't seen it, I highly recommend this movie :) It was very clever :) I don't wanna give it away.. just see it! haha! Saturday night Jimmy and I headed to the Mr. Greek where we ate ourselves silly (fine.. I ate myself silly!). It was my fault.. I insisted we get an appetizer.. and Jimmy warned me about ordering one (everytime we do we either don't finish it or we eat ourselves sick). :( Never again.. or.. haha! I'm retarded!

Time for bed for me.. got to wake up early to attend a equipment training sesson. Can you tell how thrilled I am? :P

My second week in Hamilton :) It's been pretty good to me so far. Last week I had my first class! It suppose it went ok but the profs here teach differently than they do @ Wat. They use overheads like crazy! It goes a bit fast for me but that's just something I have to adjust too. I found out on friday that I am TA-ing this term! Chemical Engineering First Principles. That should be fun. I'm using the same textbook as I did in first year for that course.. which is good.. familiar territory :) So far my time @ Mac has been fun :) I've made some friends.. even went out to the on-campus niteclub last thursday (it's called Quarters. cost me $4 to get in!! what?!?!). I've even met up with Ian (an old highschool friend of mines who's doing an extra term here). I'm expecting my first visitor on friday (Michelle.. I hope she comes!!).

I'm really beginning to worry about my sister. She seems a bit stressed out and very worried. I know it's expected in first year but she's had quite a bit to deal with since she got here. She got sick last week, she's lacking sleep cuz she's so worried about school, and today she found out she lost her wallet. poor girl. I'm trying to help her as much as I can.. but it feels really bad to see her go through all this all at once. I hope things pick up for her really soon. I just hope she doesn't get depressed like I did in first year.

This past weekend I went back home :) Pepper (my dog) was so excited to see us both back at home! hehe! He's so cute :) Anyway, my friend Bernard came down from Montreal for the db festival @ Ontario Place and a bunch of us went out for dinner Friday night. We went to an all-you-can-eat jap restaurant. I ate so much raw fish.. omg (stupid Chapland.. calling me a pansy for apparently not eating enough! haha). It was hilarous cuz Chaps was trying to get a hold of a waitress, and when she did, she came up to him and said "you have a nice smile!". Chaps replied "your english is very good!" WHAT?!? haha! that has to be the worst pickup line i've ever heard! haha! It was hilarous!

Rita came home that weekend too so we went shopping on saturday:) It was not that kinda shopping.. it was more shopping for things we needed for school. "Essentials shopping" :) I wasn't expecting her to come back home this weekend so it was a very pleasent surprise! I luv spending time w/ that girl :) That evening I went out with Jimmy, Flo and Kin.. went to the driving range :) Then headed out to see Tomb Raider. Yeah.. i know it's a bit late but hey! not many good movies out rite now! but it was pretty good!!

Better go meet my sis now...

I have arrived :) In Hamilton that is. I moved into my new home yesterday and it's been pretty strange so far. I've had some pretty unusual stuff happen to me already. The drive to Hamilton was incredibly smooth.. no traffic jams, no nothing. I was thinking I was getting there in record time. Wrong! Once I got into Hamilton, I was so preoccupied in thinking about where I packed my chequebooks I completely missed my exit. For those who know the Hamilton area, the next exit after Main St. W is pretty damn far. On the way back, I missed the exit again! So I took a 20 min detour. So much for getting there in record time huh? When I get there, my landlord presents me w/ a housewelcoming gift. Very strange but very nice :) My roomates are pretty kewls so that's good :) My room is bigger than that tiny crawlspace I had in Waterloo last term. I can actually walk around :) We have a dog living in our house and this morning, I found that she had left a surprise in our bathroom. She pooed in our bathroom! I can't believe that! It was super gross but looking back, it was pretty funny. We have to get a new bathroom mat now :( haha!

The walk to school is fabulous! I walk through an area called Westdale, which is very nice! Lots of little shops, cafes and restaurants :) It's so nice! It takes me 20 minutes to walk to campus, but I can take a bus that takes me right to campus. I think I'm gonna take the bus (hey...it's free! haha). I can't count the number of times I've been mistaken for the froshie already. When I was helping Kathy move in on Sunday, frosh leaders kept coming up to me and talking to me! haha! Hilarous!

Being at Mac has made me miss Waterloo. Strange huh? That's quite a shocker! Never thought you would hear me say that huh? I guess I just miss the people.. having friends there. I was established there... I didn't have to go around and make new friends, I already had friends to hang with. I don't know where to go in Hamilton... no one to hang out w/.. I'm not used to this. I do feel like a froshie.

I couldn't sleep last night (what else is new?). I was excited, anxious, nervous.. all at the same time. I don't know what to expect. Am I doing the right thing by going to grad school? Am I going to like it here? Am I going to make friends? It's so hard to start a new school. But I know one thing is for sure: This is a new chapter in my life, a new beginning. Things are definitely looking up, and I can hardly wait to see how it turns out :)

Please come visit me :)

Tim Horton's tea really does it for me.. keeps me up. But I've been having a lot of trouble sleeping lately. This has been a pretty big problem for me for as long as I remember. I've always had problems sleeping. And this is bugging me. Perhaps knowing I have problems sleeping is adding to the problem. Possibly, I get frustrated because I know falling asleep is hard for me, and that frustration just prevents me from sleeping. I think too much. While I am in bed trying to sleep, all these thoughts hit me and it drives me mad. I think about things I have to do the next day, school stuff, friends stuff, relationship stuff... quite frustrating!

A few nights ago I was at a website that gave information about sleeping pills. I've stayed away from these pills in fear of becoming addicted to them. I still don't want to take them.. but it is an option if I need to sleep. But anyway, the website had information about sleeplessness. It said if it persisted for more than 3-6 weeks I should see a doctor because it may be a symptom of some mental illness. Great.. just what I wanted to hear.. I might be mental. It's a sign of depression or something. Maybe I am depressed.. but it's probably only because I have no money! haha! Should I see a doctor about this? I've been battling this for a few years now... so won't I still be able to deal? It just sucks to see everyone around me having the ability to take naps, sleep whenever.. I can't do that. Man I'm messed!

I know I'm not the only one that suffers from this.. but it sure seems like I am. Maybe it'll get easier as I get older?

So the main question of the day is "Where were you when the lights went out?" To be honest with you.. I had no idea we had a blackout until I heard my alarm system beeping. And I thought "Ah.. just a little black out.. power should be up in a few minutes". Steph was over and I was helping her plan her europe trip. Half an hour later, I get a call from Jimmy.. apparently downtown was blacked out too. Steph and I couldn't believe the blackout was for so long.. and it had spread to the downtown area. It was quite strange. It wasn't until my mom got home is when I realized the severity of the whole situation. My mom said she heard on the radio that the blackout was happening as far as NYC. Woah! All the traffic lights were out.. my dad even walked home from work. We started to listen to the radio when cooking our dinner on a propane camp stove. Rita called (yes she's back!!) to check up on me :) What a sweetie :) 5:30 i tried to call Jimmy. He left work... and I had no idea how to get a hold of him cuz the cellphones were not working. I got worried cuz the subway was closed.. and the traffic apparently was just horrible. 7:30 I get a call from him.. he was finally home! He got a ride off a coworker. We were all advised to stay at home, so it was relatively boring that night. My sister was working @ Tim Hortons (she stayed because they had decided to wait for the power to come back on. It sucks when you work in a place that opens 24/7), so it was just me and my parents. I chatted on the phone, worked on my scrapbook using a flashlight, and later went star gazing. It was definitely an awesome night for star gazing. I saw 2 shooting stars :) My dad went to pick up my sister at 11:00 and I decided to go with him. I just had to get out of the house. Driving on the roads in pitch-black conditions is just strange. It felt like I was in the middle of nowhere. It was eerie driving by plazas that were not lit up, driving by traffic stops not knowing they are traffic stops. As we approached the Tim Hortons, it looked like a very classy cafe. They had lit IKEA tealights all over the store :) It just stood out, it was the only thing that was lit (besides the flashing cherries on the police cars at the intersection). My sister told me that they had to get rid of all their food, so they spent most of the evening eating and washing stuff. Haha! They had no idea what was going on b/c they had no radio or anything. I think everyone slept relatively early.. except for me and this punk-ass kid that was blasting gino-beats from his car. All I heard were the beats. That's what kept me up.. until 1:30! Talk about having considerations towards your neighbours!

It was quite an interesting evening. Everyone seemed to make the best of the situation. I heard on the radio of ppl just chillin outside, chilling with friends. It was great to hear that even though we were going though this, we were still happy :) What ticked me off for the most of the day is the whole blame-game thing. I know Canada's blaming the US, and the US is blaming Canada, but I think Mayor Mel said it best when he said that the US never wants to take blame for anything. Man.. it's so true! I was watching Conan and he just poked fun, saying it was all our fault.. and those stupid Americans cheered! You wonder why there is such hostility between Canada and US right now. I've noticed that the US doesn't take any blame for anything they do. The bombing of the US soldiers, they say it's not their fault. What? Canadian soldiers died.. why? because someone threw a bomb at them. And who was that? An American soldier. Man.. so obvious to me what happened. (I know there is more to this story.. but from what I've learned, and I've read up extensively about this story, that is my conclusion). Ok.. I have American friends and I absolutely love them, but my general idea of Americans is that they are ignorant (they think Toronto is the capital of Canada haha), and they think they're the "good guys" (if we don't join their tax-money-sucking useless war, we're condsidered on their "bad" list), and they blame everyone else for their problems. Man.. suck it up! If you are "the worlds greatest nation" Suck It Up! And how can it be the world's greatest nation when it's so confined and narrow-minded? Canada's modernizing! Gay marriages, legalization of weed.. it's great! it feels like i'm in europe all over again!

Those who know me know that if I have traces of sugar in my blood, I won't be able to sleep :) I sound like a hyperactive kid with A.D.D :)

So I was surfing the net, and I happened to check out the FOX network website (ok.. I was looking to see who got kicked off Paradise Hotel! I'm such a loser!) and I saw on the website a link to the new show "The O.C". I happend to catch the first episode of the show and.. it's nothing original. When I was watching the show, I was thinking.. this is an awful lot like 90210 or Melrose Place. A bunch of rich kids with problems. One thing is for sure, this show will not be groundbreaking. What else can they pull out of their ass? Sex? it's been done. Gay character? It's been done too. It just seems all the same to me. I honestly don't want to watch rich snobby teenage kids romp around in situations that I've seen before. I can't relate to that show! I don't have daddy's big trustfund to live by. I guess that why I prefer to watch shows like Dawson's Creek or Everwood (an awesome show! watch it!!). Middle class people living a middle class neighbourhood with middle class people problems. But... typical FOX material to throw on rich garbage like that. Really.. who can really relate? Who do you know owns a 700,000 sqft home with an outdoor swimming pool right by the beach? Maybe you do but hell.. I don't rich friends. And how dumb is this? A poor smart bad-boy gets picked up by a rich-ass lawyer to live with him. Does this actually happen? Crap, if I was a rich-ass lawyer, you think like hell I would bring a dude with a criminal record into my home?!? Garbage! And we all know what happens right? At first he's a bit rejected, the show will profile his path to fit into this rich crowd, throw in a few sleasy relationships, and he comes out just like them. Predictable? Yup.. completely. The only cliffhanger to this show will probably be who hooks up with who. It says on the website that critics are raving about this show. What critics? They don't stay who.. so it could be Joe Blow from Trashtalk magazine "raving" about the show. Raving can be bad right? Anyway, you may disagree with me, but this show is just garbage. I'm not gonna lie and say I'm not gonna watch it.. I will watch it if there is nothing else on.

Banks have to be the absolute worst institution to deal with! I mean, everyone is helpful and nice, but the amount of helpful and nice people you have to go through is just ridiculous. Long story short, I'm having major issues with the bank right now because they keep misdirecting me, and it's up to me to find the proper solution, even though technically they know more about banking than I do. In the end, I'm slapped with some late payment fees and a bank account that should be closed still open. Moral of the story: even though your bank says they're gonna do something, always double check to make sure they do it.. do not trust them! Sorry for all you guys that work in banks.. I'm just having the most rotten time dealing with mine.

The last two weekends was just fun fun :) Last weekend I went to Caribana with Sandy, Jenn and Sam.. nice girls day out :) Unfortunately, it rained a lot that day but we still had fun :) Lots of colourful costumes and fun music :) Dancing on a hill was quite a challenge (right Sandy? hehe). It was so bad.. when we left the sun came out! haha!

Wednesday I was supposed to go to the gym with Jenn. What happened was, she showed up earlier than I did and went to a class. I don't like those fitness classes, so I told her to look for me when she was done her class (I was gonna do weights). Anyway, we were both at the gym at the same time, we just didn't see each other! haha! I called her to bitch her off and rat her out for not going, and she was about to do the same to me! haha! ah.. maybe next time.. :)

Friday night I headed downtown with Jimmy, met up with Sandy and Dave for the Taste of the Danforth :) Awesome food with awesome friends :) Ah! I love Greek food!! We all ate (except for Jimmy.. he's sick!) til we were stuffed and went crazy with the free samples :) hehe! Again.. it started to rain :( But that's ok :) We bumped into Karen down there too :) hehe.. it was like a Waterloo reunion for me :) It was great :)

This week was kewls cuz I got to play email tag with Ri :) It was great hearing from her everyday. She's coming home tomorrow and I can't wait! :)

The past two days I've been battling pretty bad stomach aches. It was the same one I had over x'mas... where my stomach cramps up and I feel like I'm getting stabbed. *sigh* It hasn't been pretty.. but I'm surviving somehow. I havn't been eating too much.. just nibbling on stuff here and there. :( I'm always hungry!

This past week I had to say so-long to another friend. Bashar moved to Cali this sunday. It was kinda sad saying bye to one of my closest friends. Everyone's leaving :( But we had a fun week :) We went to D&B one night, and I helped organize a dinner w/ him and a bunch of friends on Thursday @ Le Beufteque. Lemme tell you.. I will never go there again! The last time I went there, I got those nasty tummy aches I've been battling this week. I didn't get sick this time, but the food and the service was not too spectacular. I don't want to go into details, but the hostess was a little rude, and the food was just not cooked to our liking. I ordered a steak, medium.. instead I got a medium-well. Actually.. it was more well done. Next time, I'm ordering a medium-rare! Friday night was the best :) Me, Jimmy, Bashar and Kin headed over to Flo's place to cook dinner together, just like what we did when we visited Bashar in Cali. We made it a "guys-against-girls" competition where we each had to make a dish. The guys took a really long time grocery shopping! hehe! We caught them looking @ magazines looking for recipies.. and sneaking a peek at what me and Flo were buying! hehe! We all made some good food :) After that we headed over to Bashar's house where a bunch of ppl came over to finish off his Bubba and play drinking games. As usual, the night included the guys getting into playful fights (Bashar bleed all over Jimmy's shirt.. geez!). Ah.. boys will be boys. Well.. our boys will be our boys.. haha!

This past week I've been catching up on my soaps and battling that dum-dum tummy ache. Oh.. and I've spent the past two night feeding my pet mosquito that's been residing in my room. This is the second one this summer! That little blood-sucking bastard bit me twice a night. Son of a... anyway! I think it's dead now! Thank god! But it really doesn't help that I have 2 huge holes in my window screen!

Tonight I went to see American Wedding with Jimmy, Ruby and her bf Alvin. I havn't seen Ruby since x'mas, so it was really kewls hanging out w/ her again. Man.. that movie was hilarous! I definitely recommend seeing it cuz it's so damn funny! :) Afterwards, we went for bbl-t :) So it was a nice evening :)

Btw... I cut my hair :) I wanted to get a really short cut (like the one Mandy Moore has in "How To Deal") but Jimmy's mom said it would be too hard for me to maintain cuz I have straight hair (damn!!) so I just got a shoulder-length layered cut. I really wanted that short cut too :( oh well :(

I've been really bad in the upkeeping of this site. I have a lot of time to spare yet I havn't written for 2 weeks! Not much has happend since then.

I found a place in Hamilton :) I chose the further place. I figure a brisk walk every morning won't hurt :) Well. .maybe during the winters but let's not think about that right now! I guess I've been pretty busy around the house because my mom went on a trip to Peru. I've been doing most of the chores around the house :P Let's just say I can't wait until my mom gets back :) From the phone calls I've been getting from her, it seems like she's having a ton of fun. Experiencing a whole new different culture and exploring the rainforest... who wouldn't be having fun :) I guess you can say I'm slightly green with envy :P She's coming back this tuesday. I hope she got me something fun!

Last weekend I went to see Pirates of the Carribbean with a bunch of friends (what began as a 5 person night turned into a 10 person event!). Anyway, that night, I lost my wallet. And someone stole it. So in the end event... my wallet was stolen :( How do I know this? The idiot used my credit card to make a $5 phone call. What?!? The person did nothing else. Geez! I was really pissed off.. cuz you know.. if they want my cards.. take em! If they want my money.. take it! I just wished they gave me back my wallet. There were somethings in there that were just irreplacable. I was really really upset my wallet was gone and i cried for.. I have no idea how long. Inside my wallet was a lotto ticket my grandfather had bought me the last time I saw him. I carried it around with me for good luck.. and it was a simple reminder of the day I had with my grandpa. For those of you that don't know, my grandfather is my absolute most favorite person. He means the world to me. I remember the day we got the ticket, I took the subway to my grandparents house from my uncle's place, and we went for lunch at a chinese restaurant. After lunch, he told me he wanted to take me for a walk around the neighborhood. We walked by food markets, several clothing stores and a bakery. He told me that bakery was the bakery he would come down to buy breakfast for me whenever I came over. He told me stories about the stores and their merchants... it was great. We walked by a racehorse betting store and he cheerfully told me he was going to buy me a lotto ticket. We went upstairs and I got carded! My grandfather paniced at first.. he wasn't sure if I was of age! hehe! Anyway, he bought me the lotto ticket and said "I hope we win!". *sigh* thinking of loosing that ticket still brings tears to my eyes. But anyway, it's gone :( So I spent most of the week trying to get my card back... and look for a new wallet. Such a pain! I've gotten most of my cards back which is good.

Last weekend I had to say so long to another friend. Sean moved back to Jamaica last thursday, but his farewell bbq was on saturday. It was at his uncle's house and.. DAMN it was kewls! The backyard and a swimming pool AND a tennis court.. and tons of room to spare! But that's not all!! In his basement, a HUGE tv, ping-pong table and a pool table! let's just say the guests were kept well occupied throughout the night! haha! It was good seeing everyone again :) *sigh* all these ppl are leaving!!

Today I did something that I havn't done since I was 7 :) I got a call from Flo this morning and she told me that Kin was doing some dragon dance at Woodbine Racetrack. So I grabbed Jimmy and Bashar and we headed off :) I havn't been to Woodbine Racetrack since I was 7. My mom took me one year.. we bet on one horse and lost :( but i was fun watching the races! Anyway, the dragon dances were ok (Flo and I weren't too impressed.. but it was pretty good considering they were beginners). Man.. watching the horse races without betting was exciting enough! The last race of the night Jimmy wanted to bet on this one horse and must have contempated betting for a good 30 min. I told him to do it but in the end he opted not to. Anyway, the horse he picked.. won! haha! It was so close though... it was a photo finish! *tisk tisk* he shoulda bet! haha!

ok.. it's late.. I should head to bed. Oh! I finished the new Harry Potter book! It was super long, but it was really good! :) I can't wait 'til the nxt book!

Wednesday night I went out w/ my friends to see Charlie's Angels @ Town Center. I had walked into the mall with Bashar to meet up with Jimmy at the Baskin Robbins. We saw him, and we started chatting. I looked around for any signs of other people we were supposed to meet when I saw Grace coming up the escalator. She look like she hadn't slept for days, her eyes looked like they were tired from crying. I ran over to give her a hug. I told her I had heard about the terrible news on the newspaper and had tried to email her, sending my condolences. She said the email had turned up blank. I asked her how she was, how her family was, how she was coping with the whole ordeal. She simply said she was in shock. It happend so suddenly. She said her family expected at least a 1000 people at the funeral on Friday. She asked me to come to the viewing on Thursday. I agreed. We hugged and parted ways.

Thursday night I went to the viewing. The place was packed with people there to pay their respects and to support the family. As I walked in I saw Grace. Again, I gave her a hug. She thanked me for coming, then told me to come and meet her mom. At the entrance to the pews I saw a display of pictures of Grace's mom and the family. I looked at them for a while, then proceeded towards the casket. It was closed, but I suppose that was expected. Then I started to really cry. I couldn't even begin to imagine what I would do if I lost my mom. I had a dream about that a month ago and I woke up feeling lost and extremely distraught. As I walked up to send my condolences to Grace's dad I had no idea what to say. All I said was "I'm really sorry for your loss". It's so hard to know what to say to people when this happens. As you can see, I'm not particularly good with death. I walked up to Grace to see her talking to a group of nurses, telling them about her last conversation with her mother, and how she couldn't believe this had happened. She said Friday night everything was fine, as it was on Saturday. Then all of a sudden, Sunday morning she was gone. Then she started to sob. I went over and gave her a hug and held her hand. I guess in times like these it's not what you say, but it's what you do. I didn't think anything I said would have made Grace feel better.. but just being there, giving her a shoulder to cry on helped just a little. She kept saying "Never take your mother for granted, because you never know when she will be taken away". That's human nature for you. You never know what you've got until it's gone.

Throughout this year I had experienced death twice in some way. It has really made me realize that life is too short, and you should surround yourself with people that make you happy. Never stay mad for more than a hour (or even less) because.. what is getting mad going to accomplish? Try not to argue too much with family and friends, because in the end, saying something regrettable may be the last words you say to them. Key to life: just be happy :)

I hope Grace and her family have the strength to endure their loss. I hope they realize what a great sacrifice she has made and she is considered a true hero. Many say this could have been prevented. Then again, almost everything can be prevented. It's terrible that this has happened. It's terrible that it took the death of a nurse to realize hospitals must impose stricter precautions. May she rest in peace.

Yes.. I'm sick again! :P For someone that has been doing nothing all summer, I rarely update this! It's been two weeks and it has been quite eventful :)

2 weekends ago it was a beautiful day so Jimmy and I decided to head down to Center Island to check out the dragonboat festival. I wanted to go cuz I really wanted to see some friends that were racing. I saw people I havn't seen in a long time :) It was great :) Afterwards, I left Jimmy with Catherine and Michelle and I drove to Brantford to James' place for his going away party. It was really kewls. James lives out in a farm and his dad had built a cabin in the woods in his backyard. I had so much fun! we spent the night playing cards, drinking, chatting about our days @ Waterloo and signing yearbooks. we all went to bed around 3.. but i dont' think any of us slept until 5. What kept us up? Alan was snoring like a vacuum cleaner (hehe) and the guys tried to pull a prank on the girls. Sandy and I got to sleep on the bed upstairs in the loft while the guys piled downstairs. When we all went to bed, i kept hearing creeks. I told sandy i thought someone was coming up the stairs. I yelled at them and i heard they laff and run down the stairs. what we didnt know was the Dhruv and Dave managed to remain upstairs :P apparently they were there for an hour listening to sandy and I talk about nonsense. During that hour i felt someone tugging at the covers and I blamed sandy. she said she wasn't doing it. We got all paranoid when someone touched sandy's foot. Then.. they jumped out and attacked us! I slapped dave really hard on the back! haha! But yeah.. aparently they were going to attack us with toothpaste. those bastards! we all got up at 8:30 for breakfast, then headed out around 10. It was sad saying bye to James.

The next day the Waterloo reunions continued. I went bowling w/ some of my chemmie friends. Well.. we were supposed to go bowling but apparently World Bowl is closed to the public on Mondays. We waited for a few no-shows for an hour before we decided to go for bb-tea.

On thursay I took a little trip to Hamilton with my sister to look at some houses and check out the campus. The rent in hamilton is cheaper than waterloo! I found some pretty nice places. At first i couldn't decide which house to live in. I guess this is when i finally realized how much I missed Rita. I was debating between these two houses. one was far away but had big room, furnished and was full of master and phD students. The other place was close but the room was so small i was wondering how I would fit my bed in there. The further place was cheaper... I had no idea where to live. I knew if Rita was here, she would have the answer for me. But she wasn't.. and it made me really miss her. But, after taking a survey, I have decided to stay in the further house. I went and signed the lease on monday. So I have a place to stay now!

Sunday I went to a BBQ @ bashar's house. it was sorta a going away party for him. Ah.. all these going away parties! It was like a highschool reunion! It was great! We talked about old times, and even saw some old pictures of us in highschool! Brought back so many wonderful memories. *sigh* made me feel extra old. As I was driving Jimmy back home, I realized it has been 10 years since I started highschool. 10 years!! holy crap!

Canada day was fun :) Jimmy and I went to the eaton center to do some shopping. Fine.. he did some shopping.. just painfully watched him shop :P After we headed over to his friend's place to hang out and play some pool. We went out for dinner at this restaurant called Zyng on Yonge St. It was a noodle place. Quite good :) We headed uptown afterwards and caught the fireworks @ Milliken Park. A lovely ending to a wonderful day :)

On a sadder note... I found out just yesterday that the nurse that passed away from SARS on sunday was the mother of one of my friends. I found out while reading the newspaper article about her death. If you can, plese keep their family in your prayers.

Here's a little advice for you that you probably already knew but I would just like to reinforce. Never go the gym and lift weights that are WAY too much for your muscles to handle! I was at the gym on Monday (and it's Thursday today) and I decided to work on my legs that day. I went on the "thigh master" machine. I've used it before and I was able to do a very heavy load with ease. So I thought I might as well get into the routine that I was in (a year ago) and go with the heavy load. I strugged but I thought nothing of it. Tuesday came around.. I was a little sore.. as expected. Yesterday (Wednesday) came through and OMG my inner thigh was in so much pain!! I could barely walk! So I waddled like a duck all day.. and I had to tutor that day so you can image my embarassment! Note to self: Don't ever think I can get back into my work routine immediately after 4 months of not working out! *sigh* Now that's pure stupidity on my part!

This past week or so Rita left for Madagascar to participate in 2 months worth of missonary work. It was sad to see her leave. We've been spending quite some time together since she got back from Queen's and I loved having my bestest friend back in town. Being able to see her more often and to chill with her.. was just so much fun. But I am so proud of her for doing this! I hope she's doing well. I do worry about her because there is no way for me to contact her and see if she's ok. But I did get a rare email from her the other day telling me and her family that she got there safely. I really hope she has fun.. and remains safe.

Well convocation was this past weekend! You know.. it was boring but not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. The speeches.. a bit boring (I really wasn't paying any attention.. apparently it was quite good) but watching my friends convocate.. was pretty kewls. I was good cuz I got to see a lot of people that day. I even got to see some of my mathie friends when they came out of their convocation. It was great but sad too.. cuz I won't be seeing those people for a long time. Partially because we don't have Waterloo is a medium to chill and hang out every so often. But everyone is starting their jobs.. everyone is pretty much going their separate ways. I was thinking about that a lot lately. A large handful of my friends are moving far far away to work. And it's sad cuz for the 8 months I was in school I saw them almost every week.. or every day. I think it's going to be a bit weird next year in terms of me being in school. I have friends that are going to be still in school but majority of my friends will be working. Can't help but feel a little bit left out. But on the other hand.. I much rather go to school than work :) But I know that in Hamilton, I won't have the close knit friends that I had in Waterloo.. and it'll be harder to make friends. I'm semi-prepared for that. Could this mean I have finally began to like Waterloo? Is that even possible? haha! dream on! I'll just miss the people!

To all my friends that are moving away, I'm going to miss you so much! Best of luck to you :) And you can count on me to visit you in the near future (because I'm such an avid traveller!).

With convo out of the way, now I really know I'm done with Waterloo. I have that $20,000 piece of paper to prove it, and that semi-trendy (cuz u all know.. it's kewls to be an engineer and ERTW!) iron ring on my right pinky. It's a done deal! Do you realize I'll be attending another convocation in 2 years (if I finish on time!)? With another piece of paper that essentially will cost a lot less than the one from Wateloo? To unreal. But only time will tell :)

I'm back! well.. I've been back since monday :) The trip was awesome! Jimmy and I had such a fun time!!

On the day we had to leave our flight was majorly delayed and by the time we got to athens, our cruise boat that was supposed to take us to mykonos had left. So they took us out for lunch in athens, then boarded us on a ferry ship for a 5 hour ride to mykonos. By the time we go there, it was midnight so we lost one day pretty much. That sorta sucked but we knew we had to make the best of it. The next day we went to Mykonos Town, which was pretty kewls! It was our first few of a village full of white and blue houses. It was really small so we pretty much walked the town in 2 hours or so. The rest of the day we just relaxed, re-walked the streets we had walked and had a nice greek dinner! Oh that's one thing that was just absolutly awesome about greece.. the food! Jimmy and I ate so well!!

The next day we headed to Paros for 2 days. The first day we went into the capital of Paros (Parika), which was a 10 minute bus ride from our hotel. The busses were so infrequent there. It was kinda bad cuz when we arrived in Paros it was raining. People were saying it was really rare that at this time of year it was raining. luckily it cleared up cuz while in Parika, we missed the last bus going back to our hotel (the last bus was at 7:20!!) so we decided to walk back to our hotel. Yeah.. too cheap to take a cab! haha! But it was nice outside :) We walked for 40 minutes. It was a nice stroll. We got to see a nice sunset on the way back which was a nice ending to the day. The next day we got up nice and early to go to Antiparos, which was a island just beside Paros. There was a cave there that we wanted to see. When we got to Antiparos, we waited and waited by the empty bus for the bus to take us to the cave. But the bus driver never showed! So i was mad. Not only was the bus not moving, it was raining (yeah.. so much for rain being rare eh?). Jimmy suggested we rent a scooter but we needed a international driving licence for that. So what did we do? We rented bicycles! So we rode the bikes.. for 7 miles.. in the rain. It was a long ride.. but a nice one. We got to see the country side and farms. It was a different side of greece you probably won't see unless you walked or scootered (or biked!). We got to the road that took us to the cave and it was just an insane uphill so we walked it! Took us a good half hour! hehe! The cave was interesting. It was one of those limestone deposit caves. I had seen many of them before in the states but jimmy hadn't seen them before. The way back to the ferry port was pretty hard. I was so tired! We finally got back to the island of Paros but since the busses were so infrequent we had to wait an hour before the nxt bus came. Luckily, this British couple (funny enough they were from Leeds!) offered to give us a ride. They saw us riding our bikes back in the rain and felt a bit bad for us! hehe. They gave us a lift to Parika and from there, we took a bus to Lefkes, a town that is on the mainland (which is a bit rare cuz all the towns are ususally along the coast). That night, we headed back to Parika for dinner, the caught the 7:20 bus back to our hotel.

We headed out to Santorini the next day. It was a 3 hour ferry ride but that few by. We met this newlywed couple (Tutu and Tone) that had been staying at the same hotels as us and we chatted for 3 hours. We ended up hanging out with them on and off for the rest of the trip. We arrived in Santorini in great weather! It was so hot and sunny! The first day in Santorini a bunch of us (4 couples) went into the capital Fira. We had dinner together (which was nice) and then separated to discover the town. There were so many little shops! The night-time look of the city was awesome. The lights lit up the little small blue houses along the costal cliff. It was truely remarkable. Jimmy and I headed back around 10. The next morning we woke up early cuz we had joined a tour for the day to take us around. I woke up and I turned on tv to the BBC news and what did i see on? They were talking about t.o and SARS.. and a realtime shot of McGivney. Oh man! haha! Anyway, that day in Santorini was amazing! We did so much! We went to Akrotiri, which is an archeological site. I found it fascinating. I think if i wasn't into engineering, I would be an archeologist. It's one of those hidden passions that I have! Afterwards, we took a ferry over to a volcanic island and walked around the site. We left the volcano and headed for some natural hotsprings, which were located in another small island right beside the volcano. We had to swim to the hotsprings from the boat. Because of that, Jimmy couldn't go cuz he wasn't a strong swimmer :( I went though! The water was red because of the sulfur in the water. The floor of the hotsprings was increadibly squishy, because it was all soft mud. Apparently, the mud is the mud they use in beauty spas! I saw a lot of people smothering themselves with the mud! haha! After the hotsprings, we headed to the town of Oia (pronounced ee-ah). We were too tired to walk up the cliff to the town, so we took a mule! Haha.. it was so funny! my mule kept trying to pass Jimmy's mule! I was laughing all the way up! But it only took us half way! Sucks! We walked around the town for a bit, then headed to a restaurant for dinner. The thing was, Oia is known for it's beautiful sunsets. So we went to a restaurant along the cliffside (the restaurant owner's son picked us up in his car from the bus stop to take us there!). The view was amazing! It overlooked the ocean, directly in front of the sun! It was a great spot to view the sunset. The food was great.. and the sunset was.. oh... it was so beautiful! After dinner we headed back to the hotel.

We flew to Athens the next day for our last day in Greece. When we got there, we found out all the archeological sites were closed! Damn! I was really looking forward to seeing the Acropolis! I spent most of the day a little peeved. But we made the most of our day! We walked around the sites, took pics and walked around the town's popular shopping area Plaka. We had an awesome dinner that night too (we had spent 100 euros on food for the past two days! yeah we ate well all right!). We woke up the next morning at 5 to catch the bus at 6 to take us to the airport.

And that was my trip!

Since I got back I've been chillin... back to the same 'ole stuff! I got some great news this week!! I got into McMaster!! I knew everything would work out! I just had to be patient :) I'm so happy!! I'm nervous at the same time though. But yea! I know what i'll be doing in september!!

I'm going to Greece tomorrow! Yipee!! I've finished packing.. and i'm all ready to go! But i still have to wait 12 hours :P my flight is at 1:30pm. I contemplated not sleeping cuz I have trouble sleeping on the plane, and i figured if i stayed up all nite i would be able to sleep on the plane. But i'm tired.. I think i will sleep :P

I saw my Waterloo friends today :) We were supposed to go to this korean bbq restaurant in mississauga but we found it too expensive so we all headed to the fob district for some k-bbq :) Yeah... i drove back and forth within an hour :P hah! We went for k-bbq cuz some of my friends have nvr been! woah! haha! It was great seeing them again! They went to DnB l8er.. I didn't go cuz I still had to pack :P

I can't wait to go! Ah! finally my life seems to be back on track and things seem to be working out. I found out earlier this week that the chem eng department at McMaster had forwarded my application to the dept. of graduate studies with a recommendation for admissions! So I still have a chance with Mac :) As for alberta.. no word. Blah.. what else is new?

*yawn* better go to bed :) I'm gone for 9 days.. so until then.. :) (i can't believe i'm goin to greece!!)

I really gotta stop sleeping this late! i find myself going to bed around 3 am everyday. I stay up to watch Conan (it's so funny!! it's addictive.. like a very bad drug!), then i surf the net for a bit, head up to my room and just read old journals/ work on my england exchange scrapbook/ watch a candle flame flicker in the dark/ whatever reason i can come up with to stay awake... like writing in my web journal! I really gotta stop this! I wake up at 12 and it just feel like my whole day goes down the drain :P I contemplated about going jogging tomorrow if the weather is good but i sorta hurt my hip. oh i feel so old! i really need to get into shape though. After last term, i realized that working out, playing sports and exercising really made me feel better. I wanna go rollerblading but i know i'm gonna fall. i still gotta buy wrist guards..

I've been keeping myself busy somehow. I do chores around the house, then there's tutoring :) And i'm tryin to spend more time with jimmy by watching him play hockey and just chillin w/ each other :) ish nice... even though he falls asleep on me all the time (am i boring?!?! haha). I've been @ Loblaws a lot. I donno.. i just find myself there :) as rita would say "loblaws is fun!" haha! yeah.. i did go w/ ri of course! hehe :) The one thing i really enjoy is the fact that i'm really catching up with friends i havn't seen in ages. I saw Peony last saturday :) I havn't seen her in over 2 years! can you believe that?! It took us the whole evening to catch up cuz we've had so much to catch up on! so much as happened! That night was nuts :) we started out @ second cup chatting it up (bumped into mike in the parking lot.. he dropped by later to chat briefly w/ us). it closed, and we were so friggin wired on sugar and caffine that we decided to join our friends out @ playdium! hehe! funny where the night takes you :)

Today i had lunch w/ Saloni, Bashar, Mel, Geoff, Michelle and Jo @ some sushi place along steeles :) As always, good times :) we later went over to saloni's to play Halo on her X-box. needless to say.. i suck @ games... and there is a reason why i don't play! haha! it was fun nevertheless :)

I got my greece airline tickets in the mail today! ah!! i can't believe i'm going! i'm so excited yet i havn't really looked @ through my guide book for places to see and things to do :P Maybe i'm just saving that for nxt week :) I've decided after my trip i'm gonna start lookin for a job. I have to play my future somehow.. I can't wait for schools to get back to me (ahem.. alberta! geez! how long are they gonna make me wait?!?). I hope they get to me soon :P i mean.. things are lookin up for me now!! i'm goin to greece.. the ducks are winning the series against minnisota (GO DUCKS! ..in other words GO PAUL KARIYA! hehe).. i'm on fire baby! haha! ok i just jinxed myself...

One of the things i should do is fix up this bloody page. it needs an update! for realz :) eh.. that's for ... nxt week... haha :)

ok.. off to bed.. nothing on tv :P what's this.. Boogie dance party on much more music? LOL this is hilarous! somehow, i think this is humor only Mel would get! :) g'nitz :)

*singing*: Guess who's goin to Greece? Guess who's goin to Greece? MEEEEEE! I'm am totally psyched!! I'm leaving in 3 weeks!! agh!! lalala! I can't WAIT!! I can hardly contain my excitement! :)

It has been a good day :) The Ducks beat Dallas yesterday! they're still in! and I still get to watch Paul Kariya play :) Life can't get better than this! hehe!

I'm goin to Greece!! I'm goin to Greece! yipee!! :)

Haha! I thought I updated this last week but i guess i didn't save it! agh i'm such a ditz! haha! It has been quite a fun 2 weeks despite the fact that I haven't really done anything spectacular! I've finished cleaning my room! Yes! I have defied the impossible and came out shining! I rearranged it completely and now it looks more spacious! It's wonderful! I also have some additions :) I went to IKEA twice last week and spent $200 there :) Man i'm broke yet I keep spending money! But hey.. it's been a pretty cheap 2 weeks if you don't include the shopping I've done :)

Over the past few days, I've been just chillin and enjoying the weather :) on tuesday I went to IKEA w/ Sol and Rita to pick up some stuff :) The gas was cheap that day but by the time I got back from IKEA, all the petro can stations had risen their price. So I had to go to Shell instead. I musta did something wrong while I was @ the pump cuz the gas attendants had to close down the entire station for a few minutes.. because of me.. :( such luck! hah! That night I headed downtown with Rita, Lawrence and Lawrence's friend Peter to watch the Jays game. $1 tix man! haha! It was so kewls.. a lot of people came out for the game. It's good to see that we all have so much support for our city. It shows how much we love it here :) Seeing all those people truely made me proud to be a torontonian :) Jimmy met us at the dome after he got off work. Fun game and fun times :) Unfortunately we were sitting in the non-alcoholic section! hahah! The game was so boring.. now I know why i stopped watching baseball! Wednesday I had lunch w/ John Chun and Mike @ First Markham Place. we were gonna go for free icecream @ Baskin Robbins but I found out they didnt' start the free icecream until 6pm :( So john went back to work and mike and I headed over to Stephie's house :) She's back from louisana :) It was great seeing her again :) That nite I had to work (I got a job @ the tutoring place I was working at last year. It's only a 2 day a week job but it's better than nothing.. and i like it!). After I got off work I went to Baskin Robbins w/ Jimmy, Ri and Kathy. We didnt' get free icecream but we got coupons to get free icecream some other time :) I'm saving it for a sunny day. I should go today.. it's so sunny! But no one to go w/ :( Possibly tomorrow?

I'm so pissed @ myself! I missed Dawson's Creek yesterday! I guess i have to try to dl it :( Dammit! only 2 more episodes left.. or is it 3? oh hell :( it was cuz I went shopping @ Town Center! I was @ Eaton Center earlier yesterday (i felt like such a mall rat yesterday!) and i found this jean jacket i really liked @ sears. I wasn't sure if it was something i should get. So i went home and consulted rita :) I figured it's a good investment and I do need a nice spring jacket. So i went town center to buy it :)

I've decided that since i'm not goin to China I'm definitely travelling somewhere else. But where? I was a toss up between a caribbean cruise or a trip to greece. I think I'm going on a trip to greece :) I wanted to save that for my honeymoon but u know what? why keep waiting and saving :) Live the moment :) So jimmy and I are gonna take a nice romantic trip to greece :) I can't wait!! yea! I still gotta book the package. I'll do that monday :) I'm so excited! hehe!

I sent in my apps for McMaster on monday. *crosses fingers* we'll see where that takes me :)

Ducks are loosing :( But i got to see an interivew w/ paul kariya where he was juggling apples :) hehe! cutie :)

Well boys and girls.. I'M DONE!! done skool that is :) It's a good feeling even though it doens't really feel like anything. So i'm done.. what to do now? I havn't heard back from Alberta yet.. I've pretty much given up on them :P. So what to do now? Well, I went to McMaster on Thursday to meet with some profs to see if I like the potential grad studies projects they have there. I'm quite impressed! So.. I'm applying to Mac. Hehe.. I should be working on my apps right now but.. the Leaf's game is on (and i'm doing laundry! hehe!)

I've been done since tuesday and I've been pretty much chilling. I hung out with friends.. so it was good. But it was also sad. I've closed a door to part of my life.. and I'm opening a new one. I've done this a few times and it should be like clockwork to me right? Wrong. For the first time in my life I walk in blindly. Actually, it's like I have a choice of doors.. and I have to chose which one to open. A bit complicated that's for sure. I think it was hard for me to say goodbye to waterloo despite all those times i've said "I hate this skool.. I hate waterloo!". But it's not the place.. it's the people that make it. It's dumb cuz I actually have to come back to Waterloo on monday to get reference letters and stuff for my application. But it's not gonna be the same. I go back.. as a visitor.. not a student.

You know. it feel good to now have a choice to whether I want to continue my education or not. Before, it was "You HAVE TO go to university" but now.. it's completely my choice :)

Since I've finished school and am about to begin a new chapter in my life, I have decided to do the almost impossible thing: cleaning my room. I'm gonna dump a lot of stuff I've accumulated over the past year or so.. throwing out what I don't need or what I can't keep anymore. And possibly rearrange my room :) Being the pack rat that I am, it's gonna be hard to part with anything in my room. I think my critera for keeping things is gonna be "Do I really need this? Will I regret throwing it away?". There are so many things I have in my room that I havn't thought about in a long time.. I don't think I'll mind throwing it away.

I'm giving myself a month.. i know it's gonna take long but my daddy made me make a deadline for myself. :P what a poo! :)

Ever have one of those days were you just feel not quite there? That you don't fit in, and you feel so... insignificant? That's the way I feel.. and have been feeling for the past few days. That's got to be one of the worst feelings ever.. he feeling that you just blend in with the background. Nobody talks to you, nobody cares. Even though it is completely not true.. it just feels that way. It seems like I can't talk to anyone about this.. or talk to anyone that can make me remotely happy. I think this all started when I noticed that I am interrupted during conversations... and nobody bothers to know the rest of my story because they either become distracted or don't really care to listen. This actually happens frequently and it really gets on my nerves sometimes. I guess I expect them to listen cuz I listen to them. I guess that is why i feel so invisible.. because no one cares to listen.. no one seems to care. Is there something seriously wrong w/ me? Or is this just something ppl go through once in a while? It's always good once in a while to know that your existance matters to someone else.. that someone depends on you the way you depend on them. I feel it's good to remind people that you do care about them and that you are there for them and that they matter, because we tend to take people for granted.

So I was thinking: What if I was to die today.. or tomorrow? I wonder what people would say about me. I wonder who would really care. Who would attend my funeral? Who would cry, who wouldn't? Who would wish they had spent more time with me... who would regret not saying something to me. I know all this stuff sounds so egocentric but I can't help but wonder. But one day it's going to happen. I admit I sometimes take people for granted.. we all do. But what if the person you took for granted, that though would always be there is suddenly taken away from you? Then what? The lesson kids: Live everyday to the fullest and don't be afraid to tell someone you care. Even if it means smiling, giving them a hug, calling them up.. acknowledging their presence.

I'm not an attention grabber nor do I like being in the center of attention (because I find that quite intimidating and embarassing). It's just the way I feel. With everything going on in my life (or lack of) it's so hard to keep my chin up and think straight ahead. I guess I just need help. I don't know exactly what kind of help (probably mentally :P) but I think I just need ppl to lean on rite now. Everyone just appears to be really busy now.. they have a lot goin on.. exams.. work.. significant others. I feel as if I'm gonna have to duke this out... on my own.

Ah.. exam time! Stress stress stress *karebear pulls out her hair*. Actually this has been a pretty relaxing exam period for me :0 Maybe it's cuz I havn't had a final yet!! hehe! I have one on wednesday (Polymers.. double credit.. i'm scared!!), friday (electrochem.. man i'm so lost in that course!!) and then anthro next tuesday.. then I'M DONE!! finito! Damn that's scary! I guess I'm not stressed cuz i'm actually getting enough sleep! I stopped going to DC and have been studying for the past few days in DWE w/ my friends :) It all started last friday when the school closed because of an ice storm. Unbelievable.. this weather we're having! It's snowing!! Last exam period I was excited cuz I knew I wouldn't have to endure snow for another exam period. And look at this! The ice storm on friday was nuts! My car was completely incased in ice! And it was the type of ice that was really hard to get off. Man did i ever get a good work out!

I've been really restless these past few days cuz as for now, I still have no idea what i'm going to do. Everything in my life is sorta up in the air. My trip to China: up the in air. Grad skool: up in the air. Getting a job: up in the air. Nothing is solid and it's driving me nuts! I just need one solid thing in my life.. Just one! is that hard to ask for? All this stuff requires patience.. and frankly i'm quite impatient cuz it's my life we're talking about! *sigh*

Just one more week.. one more week...

Monday monday monday. Gotta love mondays. As for this particular monday, this is the last monday I'll ever have to wake up for class :) Well... if i get into grad school that will change.. but as of now... that's the way it is :P

This is my last day of Chem Eng classes. I still got that dumb anthro course for the rest of the week.. that just sucks :P But it's a werid feeling. I sat in my last polymers class today and i felt really sad. I'm really gonna miss being an undergrad student.

Over the past few days I have there have been some things I have been thinking of over the course of the week.

The first being friendship. I began looking at my current relationships and how they fit in retrospect w/ the rest of my life. The thing is.. friends come and go.. but what makes the ones that stay stay? There are some friends you treasure.. some friends that are there for you on occasion.. some friends u bump into on the street. I'm really thankful for the friends that I have now. It's so hard to find friend that hang around despite everything and these friends are the friends you have to keep close. You know they're for real. I guess I'm lucky to have friends like these. Just to let you guys know.. you guys have a genuine place in my heart :) Thanks for all those times you've picked me back up when I have fallen, comforted me when things are in absolute turmoil, laughed with me, cried with me.. if you guys only knew how much you meant to me ;) I guess it's a bit sad to leave Waterloo because I will leave behind many such friends. I will miss you guys dearly and just to let u know that w/o you guys, my life in Waterloo would be dull, uneventful and boring :)

The second being church. This weekend I finally got off my ass and went to church. It seems like the masses I go to always tend to really reach out to me. It was as if God was speaking to me. During the week (and the past week) I have been reved up about the war. The homily was said by a priest visiting from the Philippines. He was on a mission. I found his homily quite moving. I enjoyed it so much.. i hung on to every word. He spoke about how everyone has been asking "what is wrong with this world today?". But in fact, he said, there is nothing wrong with the world, but something wrong with man. He said we cannot ask for peace if we cannot have peace within ourselves. If we cannot forgive others and give ourselves and others peace, we cannot truely want peace. It's so true. How can you stay mad at your neighbor and want the war to stop? I guess what he's saying is that we must start with ourselves if we want peace. That speaks volumes.

Another thing that was on my mind was this whole S.A.R.S scare. Honestly, I find it quite humorous and I'm not the only one. I had a chance to get together with Rita over the weekend. We went out for coffee and we must have spent a good 30 minutes just joking around about SARS. She told me she had gone shopping earlier that day for a dress. No one was willing to help her when she was in the store.. because she was Chinese. Common people! This is just ridiculous! Chinese merchants are suffering a considerable amount because of all this SARS scare. A few restaurants have been deemed "SARS infection sites". You know, if you really wanted to screw some merchants (esp the ones that have pissed you off in the past), fire out an email telling everyone that it's a SARS infection site. HAHAH! What a threat! I understand this is a serious matter.. but have ppl mentioned that ppl have gotten better from this?!? NO! All you hear is ppl here and there getting infected. My grandparents (both sets) have been telling me not go. Rita aruged w/ me for an hour on how she doesn't want me to go. I understand these are ppl that care about me, but I think it should clear up by June. Well.. at least I hope so. But if it doesn't then I guess I won't go. Not because I want to cuz I'm not too concerned about it.. but I don't want to worry my relatives and the ones that care. I won't enjoy my trip knowing that my relatives are worried sick. That's not my idea of a vacation.

I'm almost done. 2 more weeks and i'm officially free of any worries of school. What am I gonna do before I go on my trip? I have 2 months! have any suggestions? hehe :) The learning mandarin thing is out the window cuz I can't find a place that will teach me in two months. Maybe I'll do some volunteer work. I donno.. depends on my mood i suppose :)

My mind right now is moving 500mph!! Hey.. you would be like that too if you had 2 teas and a glass of sweet white grape juice!

One more week of classes. Holy shit! That's all I can say! It's like seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I'm almost done. I've got nothing left to look forward to but my last exam. Then.. it's all over.

This past weekend was Gradball. I had a lot of fun :) Of course.. Jimmy was my date! Pics to come. just gotta get my ass out and develop them! This is why I wish I had a Digicam :P Grr! I need so many things.. a laptop.. a digicam.. a Jetta (Platinum Grey!! yeah.. surprise surprise.. no more green!). Anyway, Gradball was a lot of fun :) Everyone looked so good :) But man did my feet kill by the end of the nite!! I could barely walk.. yet I kept dancing! I can't help it.. once the music starts I can't stop! :) It was good times.. and good memories :)

I finally booked my plane ticket to China! Sol and I worked out everything last week. Now all I have to do is plan the route! 3 weeks... is that enough time? There is so much I wanna see! I can't wait! I also gotta figure out what I'm gonna do for the 2 months that I'm @ home. My dad suggested I take Mandarin language classes. I think I should! I have to get around China somehow! Neither Sol or I speak mandarin! And we can't read! haha! So screwed!

So war's broken out on the other side of the world. This really sucks ya know! I was @ Weavers w/ Herm, Danny and Wil when we heard the news. When I heard that war had been declared.. the world to me just stopped. I looked around me and everything just seemed insignificant. All I could think about was the terror that the people and Bahgdad are feeling. Imagine waking up at 5:30am to the sound of air raid sirens and bombs. That's is freaky! If that's not terrorism, I donno what is. It makes me so mad. I feel that this war is completely unjustified. As Michael Moore said @ the Oscars last nite during his acceptance speech: "We live in a time where we have a man sending us to war for fictitious reasons" I couldn't have said it better myself. I'm glad Canada is not playing a role in this. All for what? So when we pull up @ Shell we get cheaper gas? Poor soldiers that have died.. they really died for a good cause. For those who have relatives over in Iraq (cuz I have frienz that do), I'm praying for them.

That's it for me.. the karebear has spoken.

Ah.. another weekend in Waterloo. Fun fun :P Whatever! Sometimes I dread being here all weekend. I managed to keep myself occupied (and of course go out!). I was expecting to do hmwk this weekend but I ended up just chillin and whatnot.

I've been playing squash a lot lately. I played Clem on Thursday :) We played for 2 hours! I almost beat him! so close! agh! Friday afternoon I played James and we won 3 games each. Yea!! I'm getting better! I'm really making good use of my raquet :) It's a fun sport.. but man is it tiring! I feel so fit though! I've been getting a lot of exercise this term! Ball hockey ended for us on Monday. It sucked cuz apparently we missed a game (we didn't even know about it!) and we ended up forfeiting our first playoff game. That made me mad! But we played the team we were supposed to play for fun. It was the "wife-beater" team (the guy checked me to the ground @ our very first game). So our team played pretty dirty. I was playing on pure rage :P I was trying to trip, slash.. you name it.. i was trying it (cept for checking.. cuz we all know how much damage that can do.. haha). It was fun.. but man was it a dirty game!

I havn't heard back from U of A yet. I emailed them last week and they got back to me, saying they were assessing my application. I donno.. I'm not too thrilled about doing my masters anymore. I was lying in bed one night and just thinking about this whole grad school stuff. Am I really grad school material? I look around me and I see the people that are applying for grad school are so smart. Am I smart enough? Sometimes I feel as if I'm not. As of now I'm not really too concerned if I get in or not. I think i'll be indifferent. If i don't get in.. oh well. or maybe i'm just setting myself up so that I don't get too disappointed if i don't get in. I'm not sure. But I will be upset.. but it's not going to kill me inside. If i get in.. I'll go. i'll just make my decision when it comes.

Still planning my trip to China and I'm getting excited and a bit frustrated. I really want to book my tickets but i'm waiting on my travel buddy. I just want to book the tickets.. have it a done deal. I've had so many different flight plans all thrown at me and personally.. i just want to buy.. the prices are gonna go up. I guess I'm anxious because if the tickets are bought, there is no turning back and there is a definite plan in my summer. Everything seems so up in the air and it's eating me up inside. I need something that's grounded at least. It really sucks when you're uncertain about everything.. esp. something silly, small, minute and completely irrelevant to how you are going to live your life (i.e. a trip to China).

During the past week or so I've been completely addicted to Neopets (thanks to Jimmy.. thanx hun! If i fail 4B.. i'm totally blaming you!). So.. addictive! Must.. beat.. him in Neopoints! haha! I'm so dumb! *sigh*.

I'm waiting to see if my roomates have the decency to tell me that they have moved my car onto the road (if i don't move it.. i'll get a ticket.. but i'm just waiting to see how long it takes them. Mind games.. gotta love them. But if you moved someone's car.. wouldn't u tell them!?!? And apparently they donno how to clean a stove if they spill something on it (i spent a good half a hour scraping hard crap off the stove cuz it was so gross i didn't even wanna cook on it). Story of my life.. this sucks :P

It's been quite a rollercoaster ride the past week or so. I don't even know where to begin. Maybe I should start off with the bad stuff. Just this past friday Jimmy's grandfather passed away. I was quite sad about this. I knew he wasn't doing well but it felt like a bombshell for some reason. Needless to say I didn't really go out on Friday except to go to the library and study. I couldn't really study cuz I just kept thinkin about Jimmy and his family. I wasn't planning to go home this weekend but I am to attend the viewing and funeral. Quite a tough time for him and his family so pls keep him in your prayers.

I got my midterm back for my polymers course and I didn't do so well. In fact.. I did pretty bad. I was so upset over it. My prof had asked me to see him so I did.. we worked through my exam together and I just realized I made the most dumbest mistakes. Then I just started to cry. I felt so dumb! But yeah.. I'm slowly getting over it...

Ok now the good stuff :) I recently bought a squash racquet over the "reading days" weekend. It was originally 89.99.. i got it for 29.99! what a deal! haha! The first person I played w/ my brand new racquet was mike :) It was fun! I'm supposed to play sandy today :) yea! it's such a fun sport! Last Saturday I went k-tv-ing w/ sandy, james and dave :) It was hilarous! haha! but it was a lot of fun! after we went to williams where we go free dessert (thanx Sol!) :)

Yesterday was a kewls day (despite the polymer midterm mishap). Yue recently got a job so he treated some of his friends out for dinner @ East Sides :) So I got a free meal! Not only did I get a free meal.. i got to get drunk for free too! After East Sides I went to Weavers to and met up w/ Danny, Herm and Will for some beers :) Didn't have to pay :) hehe! those guys are sweet :) Ne ways, it was funny cuz that nite, if you ordered Stella Artois, you got a scratch card for your chances to get a free beer glass. Anyway, their goal for the nite was to get everyone a free glass! and they did it! haha! it was funny! so I got a free glass too! teehee :)

Ok.. I gotta work!!!! agh!!!

Man, the past week has been so much fun!! I did absolutely no homework this whole week! I was too busy enjoying life :) haha!

On Friday (Valentines Day) I drove home early in the afternoon, then headed down to the Eaton Center to visit my sister @ work. I ended up buying a fruit shake from her :) Her boss failed to give me a discount :( Haha.. I don't think he believed me when I told him she was my sister :P We look like sisters though! I walked around the Eaton Center for a good hour, got bored and decided to brave the cold and walk over to UofT. I didn't think it would take me that long. So I headed out.. walking up Yonge St. then across College. I was going by the subway stations: passed Yonge station, then Bay.. I thought the next one would be St. George but long and behold.. I arrived @ Queen's Park and I was just incredibly confused! So I started wondering. What would have taken me 30 minutes to walk took me 45! I managed to get to St. George but I had no idea which way to walk on St. George! After asking for directions, I found the Rotman building! Finally! It was really bad cuz I played squash on Thursday and my legs were non functional! haha! I dethawed for a good 30 minutes, the Jimmy and I headed out again, looking for this greek restaurant that he sorta knew the location to. We didn't find it (at this point we had walked around for 30 min in the cold) so we just went to the first decent restaurant we saw. We went to this restaurant called Brownstone on Yonge and Gloucester (north of the Eaton Center). Good food but not so great service. Then we went back uptown and played mini golf @ Putting Edge. So it was a pretty good V-day :)

Saturday was Jimmy's birthday :) I invited a bunch of the crew out for dinner @ the Keg. Sucks that I couldn't make reservations because we had to wait for an hour and a half for a seat! And they did my steak wrong :( Oh well :P After dinner, we headed out to Challengers. A few more ppl joined us and we all bought Jimmy drinks :) He got pretty drunk! haha!

Sunday I headed back to Waterloo. Before I went, Jimmy and I went out for dinner @ Mr. Greek :) hmm.... Greek food! so good!!

Monday was a complete write-off! I was preparing for IRS :) after class Sandy and I headed over to Conestoga to look for some fishnet stockings. We found them but they were too expensive! We opted for some red hair dye and decided to have a hair dying party :) She came over for din din and we spend the evening watching tv, chatting and dying our hair :) Her's didn't turn out that much :( Mines turned out a'ight.. the most red it's been I think :) I like it :) I couldn't sleep too well that night cuz I was too friggin excited about IRS!

The next morning I woke up at 7:30! I got ready in my costume (pictures to come... I just gotta develop them!) and me and my roomies headed over to our champagne breakfast at around 9:15. The house was packed! So I ate and drank. I was pretty buzzed by the time I left to go to the school. At the school, we ran around making noise and disrupting classes. Man.. it is BY FAR the most fun I've ever had in a school environment! It was sooo much fun!! Just running around, banging on doors, screaming at the top of our lungs and barging into classes knowing that I wouldn't get in trouble.. felt sooo good! haha! The screaming, drinking and yelling ended around 2.. where we all headed home to sober up for IRC (Iron Ring Ceremony). I ended up taking a nap cuz I was so damn drunk :) I had to sleep off the alcohol!

at around 5:30 we had our briefing for the ceremony, then got lead into the Art's theatre to get our rings. The ceremony was a little cult-like (this guy from elec thought that it was too cult-like for his liking.. he decided to sell his Iron Ring on eBay after receiving it) but it's just a ceremony. I donno.. I didn't think too much about that. After getting the ring I headed out for dinner w/ my roomates (Karen's dad was treating us for dinner :) how sweet!). After din din, headed over to Wax Niteclub for some partying :) I was greeted by a 20 min line for coat check (me and a few ppl got fed up and just put our coats in a corner). Then I bumped into Rob.. and boy was he trashed! haha! It was good times :) I had a lot of fun that nite.. hell.. I had a lot of fun that day! It was a little sad seeing it end but man was I tired!!

Now that I have my Iron Ring I really don't have anything big to look forward to in terms of my undergrad career. Convo.. that's for parents. Maybe my last exam?

I just found out today they found my apps @ UofA (they apparently lost it! They couldn't find it for 2 weeks!!). Thank god! I hope I get in......

Happy Valentines Day! I know most ppl don't believe in it. In fact, ppl think it's just a dumb Halmark holiday. But you have to admit, it does make you think about the ones you love. That's the whole point of the holiday. Yeah yeah.. I spent like... $23 on cards but whatever! :) People like getting cards. It's nice that they are thought of :)

I can't believe it... 4 more days until IRS :) I get my Iron Ring next tuesday. Quite an exciting time for me! I got fitted for my ring last tuesday (i'm a size 2! hehe). I can't believe the day is comin up so soon! Some ppl think getting you Iron Ring is just getting a ring but to me, it means so much more. It just makes it real.. the fact that I will be graduating soon. I remember thinking back in 1A.. getting the Iron Ring seemed so far away. But now it's just within arm's reach. It's sad because it means that a chapter in my life is quickly coming to a close. The future is so hazy and it's pretty scary. But nxt tuesday.. is going to be so much fun! I can hardly wait!

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR! Gong Hay Fat Choi!

I havn't updated this in a while :) I've been pretty busy the past two weeks. I finally got started with my 4th year project so I've been spending quite a bit of time in the lab w/ James. I'm actually quite impressed about the outcome so far of our project.

The project that we are currently working on is a wastewater treatment system to remove metal ions from water by adsorbing them into this natural polymer called chitosan. Anyway, the chitosan comes in flakes (looks sort of like rolled oats but lighter and thinner) and part of our project is to make these flakes into thin fibers. According to our professor advisors, the fiber making was to be the most difficult part of our project. James and I were responsible for the production of fibers. So, we went into the lab last saturday expecting not to get anywhere with the fibers. Long and behold.. we managed to make them! Boy were we impressed! Now our next task is to improve the way we produce the fibers (make it more efficient) and to mass-produce these fibers for our wastewater treatment apparatus. Whew! hehe!

I've also been really busy putting together my grad school application for U of A. I ran around to get my reference letters, my transripts and just extra things to certify the marks I received when I went to Leeds. It was quite a hectic time. But, I managed to get it done by the deadline that I had made for myself. I mailed my application in yesterday afternoon. I'm really excited about this but I'm also very nervous. A few minutes after I dropped it off @ the post office, I began to think about if I was doing the right thing. Alberta is so far. Well.. fine.. it's not that far but it's further than Waterloo to Toronto. My mom voiced her concerns a few weeks ago, saying how she wanted me closer to home. I began to think about my mom... my family.. then I thought about Jimmy. Sometimes I feel like I'm being incredibly unfair to him. I'm constantly on the go and I thought about how good it would feel to finally just settle down and be with him. But part of me really wants to do this. I feel like this is probably the only time I will get a chance to live somewhere else other than Toronto. I guess part of my has doubts. What if I don't like it there? I mean.. I've been to Edmonton and I like it (a quiet big city.. I think I'll enjoy that!), but visiting is so different than living in a place. Maybe I shouldn't think too much until I know for sure I have been accepted! I do hope I get in though. To get rejected by something school realted is something I'm not too familiar with because so far, I've been very fortunate to have been accepted by everything I've ever applied for (i.e. Waterloo, Leeds...)

It's so sad. I've been watching news reports all day about the space shuttle Columbia. It's interesting how they're coming up with theories on what happened (I'm always facinated by science and physics behind things like this. I guess I made the right choice when I chose to go into engineering!). But it is quite sad. My prayers are definitely w/ them and their families tonight.

I'm always cheery when I'm home :) I wasn't gonna come home this weekend but I got really bored in waterloo (finished most of my hmwk already!). It was a pretty crazy week. Actually, only Thursday was insane! I did absolutely no homework that day.. I was busy with my social life! heheh! this is how my thrusday went:

11:10 am Headed off to school to meet Sandy @ 11:10... obviously I was late! I got to school around 11:20, met up with Sandy in the 4th year room and walked to CIF for some skating :) It was fun!

2:30 pm Met up with Mike to work out @ the PAC. We're still trying to keep up our 2 day a week work-out plan! I bumped into a few ppl from my class. See how much free time us chemmies have? haha!

7:00 pm First ball-hockey game! It was the first time I played a game of hockey.. ever! This big dude that was probably twice my size managed to check me really roughly cuz I stole the ball away from him. He checked me really hard from behind.. I flew to the ground. Now both my knees are bruised. But .. holy shit! what a little bastard! I can't believe he pushed someone half his size.. and a girl! He got a penalty for that but still! After that I started yelling @ them, calling them "Wifebeaters"! hehe! We lost big time but.. whatever :P hehe! It was fun despite getting hurt :P

10:00 pmI headed over with Mike, Steve, Marie and Rehmat to the Turret and met up with some people. So crazy! I ended up staying til 1. some of my friends had some bets on pickin up girls.. cept all of us entertained during the course of the evening! hehe

This friday I headed back to TO at around 9 and went to Playdium with my highskool crew. Man.. I havn't been there in ages!! 3 hours unlimited play! hehe! Saturday was my day in. I just chilled with Jimmy. We rented "Men With Brooms" (such a Canadian movie! hah! it was good!) :) Today I went out with Neilynne and went shopping! I'm so glad I came home this week.. man.. I woulda been so bored in Waterloo! heheh!

Damn winter! haha! shoveling snow.. esp shoveling the driveway @ my house in Waterloo.. oh my god! for those who have no idea how long my driveway is.. you can park 6 cars on it! yeah! big!! I just came back from shoveling that mother of a driveway and my hands hurt! I'm having difficulty typing (my left hand is malfunctioning @ the moment!).

4B has got to be the most boring term ever! haha! I find myself constantly looking for things to keep myself occupied! with 3 courses... 15 hours of class & 2 days off i've had quite a bit of time to chillax! So far.. I have.. but I've had my boring moments! I've been working out with Mike @ the PAC, started skating again.. and been hanging out with a variety of friends, so it's been fun so far! I went home last weekend and I'm thinkin of going home again because I have nothing to do! Assignments.. done. Reading.. done. now what?!?! haha! I wasn't gonna come home but.. damn i'm just bored! I should really look for a job huh? Gotta fill those voids.. esp tuesday and thursday.. BIG voids! haha!

On the weekend I picked up my free trial of colour contact lenses :) They're gray! :) I've had mixed comments on how they look. I think they look kewls! They're different.. and fun :) Fun is always good :) haha!

Reading back at what I just wrote... I'm pretty boring huh? haha! I donno.. nuthing interesting has happened or is happening to me. All the kewls stuff is happening in a month w/ all the IRS shtuff :)

I think it's time I called an old friend :)

Ah.. good 'ole Waterloo.. how I havn't missed you! I'm back in Waterloo (or Waterpoo as Bashar would call it). So far... it hasn't been too bad. I've been bumping into ppl I havn't seen in so long left right and center so that's definitely a change! I have a day off today (already! hehe). Yesterday was an increadibly brutal day! I had 8:30 on a Monday morning, and after coming back from the holidays where I would sleep at 3am untl 1pm... it was so hard to go back to a school schedule! I had so much trouble sleeping sunday nite.. I ended up sleeping at 4am.. woke up at 7:45am and trudge to school. Insane! hehe :) That 8:30 was pretty brutal... it was so boring! crap! It was a Polymer Reaction Engineering course.. it's what I wanna do my grad studies in haha! If it's gonna be like that all term.. i'm screwed! After classes were over (Anthro class was pretty boring too.. thank god Sandy and Maisie are in my class! hehe), I headed over to SLC with Sandy to look for some used textbooks and I bumped into Diana. So I hung around the used book store for a while, then headed over to the bank to see if I could get a loan. Yup.. outta money :( sucks! I have to go in for an appointment... eek! hehe! I then bumped into Rob and we just hung out for a while :) He freaked me out when he told me grad school applications were due for UBC on the 10th of this month (cuz i might wanna apply there but it depends on my marks). But luckily, I found out my application is due end of March (we're applying to diff. faculties). Whew! hehe! I met up with Mike afterwards and we headed to Zehrs cuz I needed groceries :) Yea! I have food!! The whole entire day I was increadibly tired! w/ 4 hours of sleep... agh! hehe! that night, although I was so tired, i went to a mini-party Sol's place to celebrate his bday :) I had to go.. he's a good friend :) they headed to Philthy's after but I didn't go.. I was too bloody tired!

The night before I moved to Waterloo I was chilling at home with Jimmy.. and we spent the night watching 200 Cigarettes on tv (well.. I did.. Jimmy fell asleep.. but it was late!). I wanted to see the movie for the longest time. It was very interesting.. I really liked it! I really liked the ending.. in a sense that unlike other movies, it made me realize and in life, eventually you always discover the truth about yourself after going though a whole whack of crap. Is it worth going through that crap? well.. yeah! Even though some of the characters realized the truth about themselves was pretty crappy, at least they know and they can change or try to change. But you always need that one person to be in-your-face about you before you realize it. This whole movie was just in-your-face honestly.. things we need unfortunately. Another thing I loved about the movie was the fact that I was stories about all these different people and it all came together in the end. I love those kinda movies. Maybe that's why I likes Snatch so much :)

Speaking of movies... I highly recommend seeing Catch Me If You Can. Not because Leo's in it (i'm not that shallow! haha) but because it's based on a true story. And as you're watching it, it makes it so much cooler knowing that all that stuff happened :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! A new year... a new beginning!

To recap, last year was quite a rollercoaster ride. I'm sad it's over but I'm also glad. 2002 was a year of adventure and self discovery. I got to live in a different country and backpack around Europe! It was quite amusing how I got around to these different places pretty much on my own and absolutely awed at what I saw. For the first time in Europe.. it wasn't bad! Living in England was definitely the best experience of my life so far. It still all feels like a dream! It definitely filled my facination with the British culture :)

This year I also reached a down point in my life but I realized it. I began to realize that I've become very cold... and somewhat cynical. I didn't like who I had become. So.. I decided to do something about it :) I've begun a path of self renewal and ... well... healing :) I am glad.. and for the first time in 2 years I actually feel free from depression. Hey! I actually had an exam period where I was personal-problems free :) Like a breath of fresh air :)

Things to look forward to in 2003: Iron Ring Stag (IRS), Gradball, Convocation, trip to China (hopefully!), possible getting into grad school.. and if not, working (is that something to look forward to? haha). I'm not sure what this year is going to bring but I hope it's good :)

New Year's Eve was pretty fun for me :) Jo and Flo had a party @ their new place. I really like their new apartment! It was funny cuz they didn't have a tv or radio.. so we werent' quite sure when new years actually came :) hehe! It was fun! It was kewls just hanging w/ the crew. Also, there was a joyous announcment made at the party :) Andrew and Fiona got engaged!! Ah! I'm so excited and happy for them! But what a great news... perfect start to a new year :) Congrats guys!!!! Made me realize how old we were getting! dang! Sooner or later we'll be purchasing wedding gifts like crazy! haha!

I'm completely going backwards... but I gotta talk about my x'mas! hehe! I did absolutely nothing on christmas! And it felt great!! hehe! The next day, Ri and I headed downtown for our traditional boxing day shopping spree... cept we had no money so we had agreed to go window shopping only. Of course we broke the pact! haha! Ri bought a bunch of stuff thanx to her OSAP loan coming in (lucky poo! haha). Me... I bought myself a cheese grater from Williams Sonoma! Not just any cheese grater.. it's the one you crank with your hands! I wanted one for so long! :) teehee! Cost me $30! But I love it!! hehe! We spent so much time in that store (cept eating the candy... we ate so much! hehe). We spent a record 5 hours downtown! It was all that candy eating :) The next few days I hung out at home and just bummed. I went out with Steph a couple of times.. just to see her before she left for Baton Rouge.

Agh... moving back to Waterloo on Sunday. And I've gotten so lazy too.. how am I ever going to get back into school mode? Phoey :P