As part of my ongoing process of becoming girlier, I have developed a plaguing shoe fetish over the past couple years. Whenever I walk into a shoe store or a thrift/bargin store, I always make sure to take at least a quick glance at their shoe section. Prior to becoming more materialistic about shopping, especially for shoes, I used to think it was ridiculous for women to be obsessed with shoes. I was only used to buying the cheapest running shoes but still from quality stores like Sportcheck or National Sports. Occasionally, I would buy a pair of those boring but funtional sandals with all the velcro strapping. Only recently did I finally find a pair of thong flipflops that were comfortable. Btw, a lot of flipflops are pretty uncomfortable and unsuitable for walking around a lot. I found a nice pair at the Square One Nike store. Btw, my mom also used to make me buy a pair of dress shoes for concerts and whatever...not really exciting for me. Anyways, shoes smell bad and nobody really sees your feet--at least that was my opinion back when I was young and naive.
I don't really know when my shoe fetish started, but I have gradually started paying more attention to how shoes looked as well as to how they felt. My mom always insisted that comfort is #1 in shoes, but now I know better ;), just kidding. My favourite shoes to shop for are flipflops, flats, boots, and heels. However, seeing as how I still have some inkling of realism in me, I rarely buy heels for myself. Sure there's the rare excuse of a special school or family event (e.g. prom), but otherwise heels are pretty impractical. Still, you can't blame them for being awesome in terms of their visual appeal, added height, and satisfying clacking sounds on cold floor tiling. My favourite heels are peep toes, as inspired by my dear cousin. Speaking of the audio appeal of shoes, I believe women enjoy their shoes making sounds as they walk, as if it's announcing their approach. This isn't just true for heels but also flipflops. Ladies like flipflops over those strapped in sandals because it's easier to put on, there is less stuff covering your sweating feet, and, most importantly, it "flips" and "flops". I myself have experienced and come to understand the value of this wondrously satisfying sound. Lately, I've been the most obsessed with flats because they're so cute looking, easy to put on, and the most practical out of the stylish shoe types. I currently own 5 pairs of flats; I believe I have been quite successful in restraining my materialistic desires. Lastly, boots are just plain awesome. They're so useful in the winter for hiking around in deep layers of snow. Besides, it makes walking to winter classes so much more fun if your pants aren't damp against your bare skin. -_-" Why not make it slightly more aesthetically appealing than your average boots?
Anyway, I just wanted to share my budding love for shoes in this light post. Don't take my "materialism" too seriously because I still have a brain somewhere in my head and I'm not COMPLETELY obsessed with shoes. Just because you buy prettier shoes, it doesn't mean you have to spend a LOT more money. Go to any outlet mall or mini shopping plaza; there is bound to be a shoe store around with a bunch of great bargain opportunities!
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Are you afraid of the dark?
Personally, I'm not that afraid of the dark. Of course it depends on what kind of sounds are going on in the background and where I am, but generally I am not. Usually people are afraid of the dark because of the crazy ideas that movies put into our heads or simply our own imaginations. We need to separate real life from the cinema. Of course, sometimes it's just fun to pretend to be scared or to scream with your friends, but I am generally fearless in the dark--just a bit blind. However, there are several things that I am afraid of:
1. Touching slimy animals or certain insects. I don't have a problem with killing flies or mosquitoes in my hands (or with kleenexes) or sweeping spiders to the outdoors, but I definitely won't volunteer to pet a spider, bait a worm, or touch any other slimy creature. The only insect I don't mind touching are ladybugs cuz they're just so pretty and...lady-like? I suppose this fear has also affected my second fear.
2. The ocean and its wildlife. Not only are these creatures slimy, but in grade 5, we studied a lot of sea creatures in moderate detail. Almost everything has some sharp, electrical, slimy, poisonous defense, so I refuse to go snorkeling or venture into ocean waters deeper than 1/4 my height. Even when I've gone swimming in the lake water at my cottage and floating seaweed brushes against me, I get freaked out. To protect myself from any native wildlife, I try to move my legs around a lot so they know to stay away from me.
3. Heights. Pretty common, so there's not much to be said about this one. Basically it has prevented me from volunteering to participate in things such as rock climbing, diving, going on amusement park rides, or even thinking of even attempting any of those extreme sports like bungee jumping, sky diving, parachuting, etc.
4. Public humiliation. The way I see it, almost everyone has this fear; people just protect themselves from it in different ways. To make my point more easily, I'll default to the high school sterotypes: Basically, the popular kids declare themselves as such; giving themselves immunity against all jokes redirected at them. They also have the power of numbers. I suspect this is also why people establish BFFs...in the case that everything happens to go wrong, they can just go to this one person and pretend not to care what the rest of the world thinks. The only flaw with this concept is that often in these popular circles, the "bff" often turns out to be the big backstabber.
The rebellious "weird" kids are pretty similar to the popular group. The only difference is that the justification for their actions is to counteract the damage done by the popular group. Their life purpose is to do or say weird things just to prove that an opposite extreme exists. Most members of this group pride themselves on being hyperactive/crazy and showing everyone that they are having the most fun acting that way.
Lastly, there are the middleground nobodies who'd rather be invisible. I'd like to include myself in this group because I can identify directly with what I believe is their underlying rationale. Motto: Don't do anything outstanding and nothing about you will stand out for people to make fun of.
Whether you can identify with any of these stereotypical groups or not, my point was that everyone has put up their own form of defense against public humiliation. After all, who sincerely wants to be the big joke shared around the table or the latest hot topic for gossip?
5. Failure.
To tell you the truth, failure itself is not my true fear, but rather the side-effects of failure. My biggest fear is disappointing people. You're probably thinking, "Well yeah, you're an Asian with strict Asian parents; Of course you're scared of getting the bamboo stick!" No, it's actually not like that at all. Before my big transformation from being a passive student who just went to school everyday like camp to a dedicated student who realized the importance of grades, my mom yelled at me a lot to do my homework and improve my studies. At the time, I thought yelling was just one of those mom jobs, but then I realized she cared about my success. To be honest, I don't really care about my own success, but I am motivated in all that I do to fulfill the expectations of my family, my friends, coworkers, etc. If I disappointed them, I would feel that I am not making it worth their while to take care of me, befriend me, or even care that I exist. As a result, I crack easily under pressure because all I can think about is the worst case scenario of all-around disappointment. I also prefer to be underestimated or have people expect nothing of me and be pleasantly surprised.
OVERALL, I'd like to think I'm braver than the average girl. I'm not afraid of germs, getting dirty, killing bugs, breaking a nail, or having bad hair days. But really, I can't claim I'm any better than a soft girly girl because they handle basic things like high-pressure situations or swimming in the ocean way better than I could ever hope to.
People often say you should work on getting over your fears by facing them instead of running away. I partially disagree because fears are not always irrational. Often there are morals or prior experience behind these rationalizations that other people may not understand. Taking the example of rollercoasters, I don't like riding them because the heights and upside-down manoeuvers are not one of my preferred methods of dying. My fear of rollercoasters is still plausible because there have been a lot of amusement park accidents...the fact that I am afraid shows that I weight the risk involved in this activity more than others.
People's fears are like personal values or characteristics that define who they are. Instead of forcing people to face their fears, I think one should just be there to support and help them through it whenever they ask for it and, more importantly, when they're not smart enough to ask for it.
1. Touching slimy animals or certain insects. I don't have a problem with killing flies or mosquitoes in my hands (or with kleenexes) or sweeping spiders to the outdoors, but I definitely won't volunteer to pet a spider, bait a worm, or touch any other slimy creature. The only insect I don't mind touching are ladybugs cuz they're just so pretty and...lady-like? I suppose this fear has also affected my second fear.
2. The ocean and its wildlife. Not only are these creatures slimy, but in grade 5, we studied a lot of sea creatures in moderate detail. Almost everything has some sharp, electrical, slimy, poisonous defense, so I refuse to go snorkeling or venture into ocean waters deeper than 1/4 my height. Even when I've gone swimming in the lake water at my cottage and floating seaweed brushes against me, I get freaked out. To protect myself from any native wildlife, I try to move my legs around a lot so they know to stay away from me.
3. Heights. Pretty common, so there's not much to be said about this one. Basically it has prevented me from volunteering to participate in things such as rock climbing, diving, going on amusement park rides, or even thinking of even attempting any of those extreme sports like bungee jumping, sky diving, parachuting, etc.
4. Public humiliation. The way I see it, almost everyone has this fear; people just protect themselves from it in different ways. To make my point more easily, I'll default to the high school sterotypes: Basically, the popular kids declare themselves as such; giving themselves immunity against all jokes redirected at them. They also have the power of numbers. I suspect this is also why people establish BFFs...in the case that everything happens to go wrong, they can just go to this one person and pretend not to care what the rest of the world thinks. The only flaw with this concept is that often in these popular circles, the "bff" often turns out to be the big backstabber.
The rebellious "weird" kids are pretty similar to the popular group. The only difference is that the justification for their actions is to counteract the damage done by the popular group. Their life purpose is to do or say weird things just to prove that an opposite extreme exists. Most members of this group pride themselves on being hyperactive/crazy and showing everyone that they are having the most fun acting that way.
Lastly, there are the middleground nobodies who'd rather be invisible. I'd like to include myself in this group because I can identify directly with what I believe is their underlying rationale. Motto: Don't do anything outstanding and nothing about you will stand out for people to make fun of.
Whether you can identify with any of these stereotypical groups or not, my point was that everyone has put up their own form of defense against public humiliation. After all, who sincerely wants to be the big joke shared around the table or the latest hot topic for gossip?
5. Failure.
To tell you the truth, failure itself is not my true fear, but rather the side-effects of failure. My biggest fear is disappointing people. You're probably thinking, "Well yeah, you're an Asian with strict Asian parents; Of course you're scared of getting the bamboo stick!" No, it's actually not like that at all. Before my big transformation from being a passive student who just went to school everyday like camp to a dedicated student who realized the importance of grades, my mom yelled at me a lot to do my homework and improve my studies. At the time, I thought yelling was just one of those mom jobs, but then I realized she cared about my success. To be honest, I don't really care about my own success, but I am motivated in all that I do to fulfill the expectations of my family, my friends, coworkers, etc. If I disappointed them, I would feel that I am not making it worth their while to take care of me, befriend me, or even care that I exist. As a result, I crack easily under pressure because all I can think about is the worst case scenario of all-around disappointment. I also prefer to be underestimated or have people expect nothing of me and be pleasantly surprised.
OVERALL, I'd like to think I'm braver than the average girl. I'm not afraid of germs, getting dirty, killing bugs, breaking a nail, or having bad hair days. But really, I can't claim I'm any better than a soft girly girl because they handle basic things like high-pressure situations or swimming in the ocean way better than I could ever hope to.
People often say you should work on getting over your fears by facing them instead of running away. I partially disagree because fears are not always irrational. Often there are morals or prior experience behind these rationalizations that other people may not understand. Taking the example of rollercoasters, I don't like riding them because the heights and upside-down manoeuvers are not one of my preferred methods of dying. My fear of rollercoasters is still plausible because there have been a lot of amusement park accidents...the fact that I am afraid shows that I weight the risk involved in this activity more than others.
People's fears are like personal values or characteristics that define who they are. Instead of forcing people to face their fears, I think one should just be there to support and help them through it whenever they ask for it and, more importantly, when they're not smart enough to ask for it.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
My Koreanization Progress
As promised, this post is pretty much dedicated to my beloved ex-roomie Myunnie. ^-^
I was born in Canada, and my parents spoke English around me as I was growing up. Naturally, that became the ONE language I could speak fluently. From first glance/impression, most people assume I'm Chinese, even other Koreans. It's a little sad, especially when I have to tell them I'm Korean but I have no proof other than the fact that I have kimchi in my fridge. In fact, my last name is the name of one of the first Chinese dynasties.
As stated in my profile description, I am pretty much the fakest Korean possible. I can't speak or understand it, and I can read the characters and sounds but not understand what it means. Pretty useful huh? At least I could read a Korean book to a blind Korean person...-_-" I have also never visited Korea--or any Asian country for that matter. My parents tried sending me to Saturday Korean school around grade 3 or something. Unfortunately, the other kids knew how to communicate in Korean pretty fluently already, so it was just to maintain their cultural connection and fluency. It wasn't really useful for people with zero Korean fluency like myself. In fact, there were some pretty scarring moments where we had to go up in front of the class and introduce ourselves in Korean. I pretty much said something really fast in English then sat down crying at my desk. Luckily, my mom let me quit by the end of grade 6. Good memories...-_-" Any of the reading/writing I currently know was taught at home by my grandma.
Another sad thing about not knowing Korean is that I can hardly communicate with my grandparents. Sure, I can understand basic things such as "eat lots" or "sit here", and they know bits of English, but that hardly constitutes a deep conversation. As far as I know, my family is almost entirely Korean. The only non-Korean I know of is the aunt that my uncle married. She is a happy, blonde German lady. In fact, they're having a baby in October, which I'm pretty excited about--I love children...in a non-pedophilic way.
I don't really know much about the Korean culture or language at all, except for some food dishes that are homemade or offered at restaurants. My Chinese friends seem to know more about the overall culture, especially since Korean music and media are pretty popular to people of the other Asian cultures (e.g. Big Bang, Wonder girls, after school, kkotboda namja, coffee prince, etc). For example, Myunnie taught me that Koreans have a plastic surgery fund saved up by their parents. When they reach a certain age, they can choose to either use it to alter their appearance or buy clothes for themselves. Apparently, a small face is also considered a standard of beauty in the Korean culture. I have no idea why...doesn't this also reduce the amount of space for (Asian-envied) big eyes to fit on one's head?
Anyways, thanks to my roomie, I got a chance to get a bit more in touch with my cultural roots simply by listening more to the music and experiencing the infamously addictive Korean dramas. We used to eagerly await the release of the latest BOF episode every Monday and Tuesday night. I pretty much gave up trying to get any work done on such distracting days of the week. Depending on our class schedules, we would race each other to watch the episode first, which I usually ended up winning (except when I had scibus group project meetings). There were also times where we both promised to wait for the other person's major summatives or projects to be finished before we watched an episode together. Good memories :) Admittedly, the season finale was kind of disappointing, but the real life memories that BOF brought me in residence will be cherished forever.
Even after the BOF craze, Myunnie convinced me to watch "My Name is Kim Sam Soon". Entertaining drama about a middle-aged, chubby baker who hopelessly pursues the restaurant owner. I couldn't help but to pull an all-nighter for that series and watch it all within...36 hours maybe? It's quite amazing how people can become such huge fans of Korean celebrities that they start to pick up literacy for the linguistic characters and understand small expressional phrases. Unfortunately for me, it means some of my Chinese friends know more Korean than I do, and they end up being the ones teaching me.
Sometimes it's convenient for me to include myself in the Korean culture, so I can reap the food benefits, distinguish myself from the large Chinese population, and carry on a fake Chinese-Korean rivalry with my friends. However, I am actually content to remain distant from my cultural roots and claim myself as a guiltless CBK.
I was born in Canada, and my parents spoke English around me as I was growing up. Naturally, that became the ONE language I could speak fluently. From first glance/impression, most people assume I'm Chinese, even other Koreans. It's a little sad, especially when I have to tell them I'm Korean but I have no proof other than the fact that I have kimchi in my fridge. In fact, my last name is the name of one of the first Chinese dynasties.
As stated in my profile description, I am pretty much the fakest Korean possible. I can't speak or understand it, and I can read the characters and sounds but not understand what it means. Pretty useful huh? At least I could read a Korean book to a blind Korean person...-_-" I have also never visited Korea--or any Asian country for that matter. My parents tried sending me to Saturday Korean school around grade 3 or something. Unfortunately, the other kids knew how to communicate in Korean pretty fluently already, so it was just to maintain their cultural connection and fluency. It wasn't really useful for people with zero Korean fluency like myself. In fact, there were some pretty scarring moments where we had to go up in front of the class and introduce ourselves in Korean. I pretty much said something really fast in English then sat down crying at my desk. Luckily, my mom let me quit by the end of grade 6. Good memories...-_-" Any of the reading/writing I currently know was taught at home by my grandma.
Another sad thing about not knowing Korean is that I can hardly communicate with my grandparents. Sure, I can understand basic things such as "eat lots" or "sit here", and they know bits of English, but that hardly constitutes a deep conversation. As far as I know, my family is almost entirely Korean. The only non-Korean I know of is the aunt that my uncle married. She is a happy, blonde German lady. In fact, they're having a baby in October, which I'm pretty excited about--I love children...in a non-pedophilic way.
I don't really know much about the Korean culture or language at all, except for some food dishes that are homemade or offered at restaurants. My Chinese friends seem to know more about the overall culture, especially since Korean music and media are pretty popular to people of the other Asian cultures (e.g. Big Bang, Wonder girls, after school, kkotboda namja, coffee prince, etc). For example, Myunnie taught me that Koreans have a plastic surgery fund saved up by their parents. When they reach a certain age, they can choose to either use it to alter their appearance or buy clothes for themselves. Apparently, a small face is also considered a standard of beauty in the Korean culture. I have no idea why...doesn't this also reduce the amount of space for (Asian-envied) big eyes to fit on one's head?
Anyways, thanks to my roomie, I got a chance to get a bit more in touch with my cultural roots simply by listening more to the music and experiencing the infamously addictive Korean dramas. We used to eagerly await the release of the latest BOF episode every Monday and Tuesday night. I pretty much gave up trying to get any work done on such distracting days of the week. Depending on our class schedules, we would race each other to watch the episode first, which I usually ended up winning (except when I had scibus group project meetings). There were also times where we both promised to wait for the other person's major summatives or projects to be finished before we watched an episode together. Good memories :) Admittedly, the season finale was kind of disappointing, but the real life memories that BOF brought me in residence will be cherished forever.
Even after the BOF craze, Myunnie convinced me to watch "My Name is Kim Sam Soon". Entertaining drama about a middle-aged, chubby baker who hopelessly pursues the restaurant owner. I couldn't help but to pull an all-nighter for that series and watch it all within...36 hours maybe? It's quite amazing how people can become such huge fans of Korean celebrities that they start to pick up literacy for the linguistic characters and understand small expressional phrases. Unfortunately for me, it means some of my Chinese friends know more Korean than I do, and they end up being the ones teaching me.
Sometimes it's convenient for me to include myself in the Korean culture, so I can reap the food benefits, distinguish myself from the large Chinese population, and carry on a fake Chinese-Korean rivalry with my friends. However, I am actually content to remain distant from my cultural roots and claim myself as a guiltless CBK.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Wake me up when September ends--actually make that December please.
Like the typical teenager, I hate going to bed but once I'm there, I don't like getting up. For anyone who has lived with me or had a sleepover with me, you're probably already familiar with my unresponsiveness to futile wakeup techniques, such as: yelling in my face, people jumping on me, my blanket being taken away, and a blaring radio alarm. I'm not even sure throwing water on my face works, but please don't try it.
On a typical holiday/summer vacation morning, I normally wake up around 10. School days, I aim more for 8, which often fails. Seeing as how school has usually started at 8:30 for the most part of my life, I have gotten used to skipping breakfast, showering in the evening instead of the morning, randomly choosing my daily outfits at the last minute, and brushing my hair once before running out the door. Oh yeah and brushing teeth. A disgusting fact about when I brush teeth: if I eat right before brushing teeth and my stomach isn't totally settled, to keep from swallowing the toothpaste lather, I gag and often throw up my breakfast. Yeah, I know you didn't need to know that, but I figure it's something interestingly unique about myself.
When I sleep, I'm not really picky about the surrounding conditions. Meaning, I can tolerate lights on and even a TV on or people chatting in the background. A few things I DO need are something to hug (e.g. stuffed animal or even a pillow) and I cannot sleep with a quieter buzzing sound in the background (e.g. a radio playing on low). That's kind of weird because I can sleep with louder noises, but not the quiet ones.
In terms of my dreams, I have a lot of bad dreams, rarely a good one. I suppose this has something to do with me being a worrywart and a pessimist. However, my inner love for Charmed and magic from all the fantasy books/movies out there has instilled itself into my subconscious because I often have powers to fight off the bad people who are chasing me in my dreams.
This one recurring dream I have is about me running away from my house because these bad people raided my house to find me. Luckily, my family wasn't there for some reason. Oh and this dream happens at my old house for some reason (in fact I've never had a dream with my current house)...anyway, I have to run through my neighbourhood then I get to an urban area with lots of high buildings. The people chasing me have guns. But if the people in movies never get shot, then why should I? Well basically, the dream continues with me running through lots of buildings, and people are looking at me weirdly because if I run really fast, I can actually start flying, so that's my awesome power in this dream. Well yeah, basically the whole dream is me running away from people with guns, and they tend to fall behind for a bit then catch up. I doubt it sounds half as scary as it actually is.
Another example of a recurring dream is where I'm staying in a hotel with a bunch of other kids (maybe from soccer, maybe from school, I dunno) and some madman with a rifle starts shooting everyone. I manage to survive by falling on the ground beside some dead bodies and pretending to be dead then I stealthily go after him with one of the guns he dropped. Unfortunately, I discover too late that he doesn't die, and yeah those situations are really scary (probably inspired by movies). Other scary dreams involve bad guys that only die a certain way, which is also Dracula/Charmed-inspired because they have to kill some demons in a certain way. Yeah, my dreams are pretty crazy...ALTHOUGH
I have been able to escape from some dreams where I'm just about to die. In fact, my friend Randall was quite obsessed with this concept of "lucid dreaming" for quite some time. Basically, it's where you are able to realize in your dream that you are in a dream and control how it plays out. For me, I was able to tell myself to wake up and escape from the nightmare unharmed. Another situation is where I was able to realize that I was in a dream and that the bad guys couldn't hurt me. Interesting huh?
I'm not sure how common sleepwalking is, but apparently I used to do that when I was younger. I would go into my parents' room and say something to my mom, who is a light sleeper, and head right back to bed. She would ask me about it in the morning, and I wouldn't have a clue what she was talking about.
Another strange fact about my sleeping habits is that when I'm tired, I tend to get really hyper. I suppose I act in a similar manner to how I would act if I was drunk. I've never gotten drunk before, so this supposition remains unverified.
I have experienced a lot of interesting things about sleep, and I wouldn't mind hearing your stories as well. :) (For the boys) just keep it dry...-_-"
On a typical holiday/summer vacation morning, I normally wake up around 10. School days, I aim more for 8, which often fails. Seeing as how school has usually started at 8:30 for the most part of my life, I have gotten used to skipping breakfast, showering in the evening instead of the morning, randomly choosing my daily outfits at the last minute, and brushing my hair once before running out the door. Oh yeah and brushing teeth. A disgusting fact about when I brush teeth: if I eat right before brushing teeth and my stomach isn't totally settled, to keep from swallowing the toothpaste lather, I gag and often throw up my breakfast. Yeah, I know you didn't need to know that, but I figure it's something interestingly unique about myself.
When I sleep, I'm not really picky about the surrounding conditions. Meaning, I can tolerate lights on and even a TV on or people chatting in the background. A few things I DO need are something to hug (e.g. stuffed animal or even a pillow) and I cannot sleep with a quieter buzzing sound in the background (e.g. a radio playing on low). That's kind of weird because I can sleep with louder noises, but not the quiet ones.
In terms of my dreams, I have a lot of bad dreams, rarely a good one. I suppose this has something to do with me being a worrywart and a pessimist. However, my inner love for Charmed and magic from all the fantasy books/movies out there has instilled itself into my subconscious because I often have powers to fight off the bad people who are chasing me in my dreams.
This one recurring dream I have is about me running away from my house because these bad people raided my house to find me. Luckily, my family wasn't there for some reason. Oh and this dream happens at my old house for some reason (in fact I've never had a dream with my current house)...anyway, I have to run through my neighbourhood then I get to an urban area with lots of high buildings. The people chasing me have guns. But if the people in movies never get shot, then why should I? Well basically, the dream continues with me running through lots of buildings, and people are looking at me weirdly because if I run really fast, I can actually start flying, so that's my awesome power in this dream. Well yeah, basically the whole dream is me running away from people with guns, and they tend to fall behind for a bit then catch up. I doubt it sounds half as scary as it actually is.
Another example of a recurring dream is where I'm staying in a hotel with a bunch of other kids (maybe from soccer, maybe from school, I dunno) and some madman with a rifle starts shooting everyone. I manage to survive by falling on the ground beside some dead bodies and pretending to be dead then I stealthily go after him with one of the guns he dropped. Unfortunately, I discover too late that he doesn't die, and yeah those situations are really scary (probably inspired by movies). Other scary dreams involve bad guys that only die a certain way, which is also Dracula/Charmed-inspired because they have to kill some demons in a certain way. Yeah, my dreams are pretty crazy...ALTHOUGH
I have been able to escape from some dreams where I'm just about to die. In fact, my friend Randall was quite obsessed with this concept of "lucid dreaming" for quite some time. Basically, it's where you are able to realize in your dream that you are in a dream and control how it plays out. For me, I was able to tell myself to wake up and escape from the nightmare unharmed. Another situation is where I was able to realize that I was in a dream and that the bad guys couldn't hurt me. Interesting huh?
I'm not sure how common sleepwalking is, but apparently I used to do that when I was younger. I would go into my parents' room and say something to my mom, who is a light sleeper, and head right back to bed. She would ask me about it in the morning, and I wouldn't have a clue what she was talking about.
Another strange fact about my sleeping habits is that when I'm tired, I tend to get really hyper. I suppose I act in a similar manner to how I would act if I was drunk. I've never gotten drunk before, so this supposition remains unverified.
I have experienced a lot of interesting things about sleep, and I wouldn't mind hearing your stories as well. :) (For the boys) just keep it dry...-_-"
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Food Food Food Makes My World Go 'Round
Food is a daily necessity, essential to human survival. For me, I'd say it's more of a hobby. I love food.
My favourite ethnic food cultures are Korean, Chinese, Greek, Italian, Thai, Indian, and Canadian (eh?). My mom usually cooks Korean or Canadian food and brings home all kinds of tasty meats from the Chinese grocery stores Yuan Ming and T&T. My family also eats out at a lot of Chinese and Korean restaurants. I also love eating out.
I pretty much covered all of the major Asian foods except for Japanese. Well, personally, I find that Japanese food is skimpy and more for the presentation than the taste. They also come in those tiny little bento boxes, which rarely fill me up. Then again, after eating Japanese food, I kind of lose my appetite anyway.
Whenever I have to order fast food at one of those food courts, I will likely order from a Greek place. If you haven't tried it, you MUST try the gyros (pronounced year-ohs). It's my favourite Greek item. In fact, the shawarma is similar to that-not sure what culture that is from. I suppose my love for Greek food has also tricked me into loving olives and tzatziki sauce. At Greek restaurants, I also like to order the spanakopita just because they yell opa when they light it on fire. I suppose this perk is inspired by one of my favourite movies "My Big Fat Greek Wedding".
Also, my family used to eat at a lot of Italian restaurants. We kind of stopped now because my dad has a sensitive stomach to all the garlic they add to their dishes. This is probably responsible for sparking my love of pasta. I used to always order pastas whenever I went to Italian/Caucasian restaurants. I prefer the pastas with a bit of meat, a nice wine sauce, and some flavourful garnishes such as olives or capers. :) However, I have more recently tried to expand my horizons and order the sandwiches or meat dishes.
In terms of Thai and Indian food, my family doesn't really eat at these kinds of places too often. This is mainly because my dad has a really sensitive stomach, something which I have unfortunately inherited. These cultures tend to use a lot of spices and different flavourings in their food that my family is not used to, so it upsets our digestion. Still, I eat Indian food with my friends or other occasions with extended family whenever I can because it just tastes so good. A little stomachache or diarrhea?...I'll tough it out as long as the food is good.
OH, and I am most definitely a MEAT LOVER. I cannot even explain how important meat is in my life. Let me put it this way, I am the vegetarian's nemesis, and I don't understand how they survive. Basically, I assume they are one of those picky eaters who doesn't eat much. Plus, it's so difficult to eat with vegetarians whenever you go to a restaurant, since there are so many different degrees of vegetarianism: vegan, "I can eat seafood", "I don't eat seafood", etc.
Religious reasons, I can understand, but just random vegetarianism, I find it plain ridiculous. People can choose to eat the vegetables in whatever meat dish the non-veggies order--in fact, that's what my mom does. She's not a big meat fan, and she loves vegetables, basically a health nut. Besides, I know you vegetarians are secretly eyeing and want to have the meats we're having!! Why not just make the more practical lifestyle choice of reducing the amount of meat you have in your diet instead of cutting it out altogether? That way you can eat what you want, and you will probably have a healthier and more balanced diet than us tragically flawed meat lovers. Anyway, I pretty much need a good portion of meat in everything I eat, otherwise those better be some darn good veggies!
I understand that the healthiest lifestyle consists of a solid breakfast, a heavy lunch, and a light supper. Me, I choose my own lifestyle. In terms of mealtimes, my favourite meal is dinner. I see lunchtime as more of a midday snack. The typical lunch meal consists of soup and sandwiches, maybe complemented by some veggie sticks and dip. Speaking of this menu, YOU MUST VISIT PANERA AND ORDER THE SOUP IN A BREAD BOWL IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY. Awesome food, comforting atmosphere, highly recommended. :)
Anyway, I usually skip breakfast. This habit stems from my inability to wake up at a decent hour in the morning--again, a topic for another post. Besides, the rare times I do wake up early in the morning, the breakfast menu rarely interests me. In elementary school, my mom used to leave the house really early, so my dad would cook us breakfast. He made us "egg and rice" pretty much every single day for about...8 years? It was basically egg, rice, soya sauce, and sesame oil mixed together. It tasted really good, but after the same thing for 8 years in a row, I'm sure you can understand why I'm not that much of an egg fan anymore. Furthermore, I'm not a big fan of fruits or the grain foods like cereal, toast, bagels, or any of those weird muffin things. I don't care if it's a fruit explosion muffin! I DON'T WANT IT! Since my family doesn't have cable, we tend to watch a lot of movies, late at night. I usually get a nice pop and chips mini-meal in around this time. :)
In terms of my taste buds, I like spicy and savoury foods (meaning salt). Somehow I thought that all Asians were expected to eat spicy, but apparently Koreans have a spicier reputation than most. I at least know that non-Asians find Kimchi pretty spicy, whereas, I could just eat it by itself like chips (if I was hungry enough to have a meal that boring). Also, a lot of our chigaes (stews) are pretty red looking, although it may not be as spicy at it looks. Still, if you find kimchi spicy, you will definitely have a hard time with those.
My least favourite taste is sweet. I find those sweet n' sour dishes kind of weird, but sometimes tolerable because it at least has meat in it. One exception to this rule is that I really don't mind the sweet and sour soup at all. Oh and for those who didn't know, I don't really like chocolate that much. I'll admit I have a few sugary favourites: twix, turkish delight, and white chocolate, but those don't count cuz they're too good! Other than that, I don't really like chocolate, and I'd choose chips even over those chocolates any day.
Another characteristic of my food preferences is that I'm pretty cheap to feed. I'm not that much of a steak and sausage fan, but I love dumplings! You can get 5 packs at the Yuan Ming Supermarket for $10. At the Korean grocery, you can get one of those big packages of chicken dumplings for hmm...around 3 bucks I think. In fact, my Korean elementary school friends used to nickname me mandu (Korean for dumpling) because I brought it to school everyday and shared with them. Good times :) Also, I don't like seafood or other strange delicacies like chicken feet, which my boyfriend has attempted to forcefeed me on multiple occasions (luckily his mom was there to save me). I assume that seafood and steak are probably the most expensive things to buy, at least in Canada. If you ever want to keep me as a pet, I will be happy with cheap dumplings, Korean appetizers, or Greek gyros pitas!
Anyways, that's all I will write about my love of food for now. I hope you have increased your appreciation for all the variety of food that is available to us here in Canada just by reading this post. Here, we have so many options: homecooked meals, restaurants, fast food, different cultures of food, etc. I could never imagine living in a developing country where there are only two options: take it or leave it.
My favourite ethnic food cultures are Korean, Chinese, Greek, Italian, Thai, Indian, and Canadian (eh?). My mom usually cooks Korean or Canadian food and brings home all kinds of tasty meats from the Chinese grocery stores Yuan Ming and T&T. My family also eats out at a lot of Chinese and Korean restaurants. I also love eating out.
I pretty much covered all of the major Asian foods except for Japanese. Well, personally, I find that Japanese food is skimpy and more for the presentation than the taste. They also come in those tiny little bento boxes, which rarely fill me up. Then again, after eating Japanese food, I kind of lose my appetite anyway.
Whenever I have to order fast food at one of those food courts, I will likely order from a Greek place. If you haven't tried it, you MUST try the gyros (pronounced year-ohs). It's my favourite Greek item. In fact, the shawarma is similar to that-not sure what culture that is from. I suppose my love for Greek food has also tricked me into loving olives and tzatziki sauce. At Greek restaurants, I also like to order the spanakopita just because they yell opa when they light it on fire. I suppose this perk is inspired by one of my favourite movies "My Big Fat Greek Wedding".
Also, my family used to eat at a lot of Italian restaurants. We kind of stopped now because my dad has a sensitive stomach to all the garlic they add to their dishes. This is probably responsible for sparking my love of pasta. I used to always order pastas whenever I went to Italian/Caucasian restaurants. I prefer the pastas with a bit of meat, a nice wine sauce, and some flavourful garnishes such as olives or capers. :) However, I have more recently tried to expand my horizons and order the sandwiches or meat dishes.
In terms of Thai and Indian food, my family doesn't really eat at these kinds of places too often. This is mainly because my dad has a really sensitive stomach, something which I have unfortunately inherited. These cultures tend to use a lot of spices and different flavourings in their food that my family is not used to, so it upsets our digestion. Still, I eat Indian food with my friends or other occasions with extended family whenever I can because it just tastes so good. A little stomachache or diarrhea?...I'll tough it out as long as the food is good.
OH, and I am most definitely a MEAT LOVER. I cannot even explain how important meat is in my life. Let me put it this way, I am the vegetarian's nemesis, and I don't understand how they survive. Basically, I assume they are one of those picky eaters who doesn't eat much. Plus, it's so difficult to eat with vegetarians whenever you go to a restaurant, since there are so many different degrees of vegetarianism: vegan, "I can eat seafood", "I don't eat seafood", etc.
Religious reasons, I can understand, but just random vegetarianism, I find it plain ridiculous. People can choose to eat the vegetables in whatever meat dish the non-veggies order--in fact, that's what my mom does. She's not a big meat fan, and she loves vegetables, basically a health nut. Besides, I know you vegetarians are secretly eyeing and want to have the meats we're having!! Why not just make the more practical lifestyle choice of reducing the amount of meat you have in your diet instead of cutting it out altogether? That way you can eat what you want, and you will probably have a healthier and more balanced diet than us tragically flawed meat lovers. Anyway, I pretty much need a good portion of meat in everything I eat, otherwise those better be some darn good veggies!
I understand that the healthiest lifestyle consists of a solid breakfast, a heavy lunch, and a light supper. Me, I choose my own lifestyle. In terms of mealtimes, my favourite meal is dinner. I see lunchtime as more of a midday snack. The typical lunch meal consists of soup and sandwiches, maybe complemented by some veggie sticks and dip. Speaking of this menu, YOU MUST VISIT PANERA AND ORDER THE SOUP IN A BREAD BOWL IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY. Awesome food, comforting atmosphere, highly recommended. :)
Anyway, I usually skip breakfast. This habit stems from my inability to wake up at a decent hour in the morning--again, a topic for another post. Besides, the rare times I do wake up early in the morning, the breakfast menu rarely interests me. In elementary school, my mom used to leave the house really early, so my dad would cook us breakfast. He made us "egg and rice" pretty much every single day for about...8 years? It was basically egg, rice, soya sauce, and sesame oil mixed together. It tasted really good, but after the same thing for 8 years in a row, I'm sure you can understand why I'm not that much of an egg fan anymore. Furthermore, I'm not a big fan of fruits or the grain foods like cereal, toast, bagels, or any of those weird muffin things. I don't care if it's a fruit explosion muffin! I DON'T WANT IT! Since my family doesn't have cable, we tend to watch a lot of movies, late at night. I usually get a nice pop and chips mini-meal in around this time. :)
In terms of my taste buds, I like spicy and savoury foods (meaning salt). Somehow I thought that all Asians were expected to eat spicy, but apparently Koreans have a spicier reputation than most. I at least know that non-Asians find Kimchi pretty spicy, whereas, I could just eat it by itself like chips (if I was hungry enough to have a meal that boring). Also, a lot of our chigaes (stews) are pretty red looking, although it may not be as spicy at it looks. Still, if you find kimchi spicy, you will definitely have a hard time with those.
My least favourite taste is sweet. I find those sweet n' sour dishes kind of weird, but sometimes tolerable because it at least has meat in it. One exception to this rule is that I really don't mind the sweet and sour soup at all. Oh and for those who didn't know, I don't really like chocolate that much. I'll admit I have a few sugary favourites: twix, turkish delight, and white chocolate, but those don't count cuz they're too good! Other than that, I don't really like chocolate, and I'd choose chips even over those chocolates any day.
Another characteristic of my food preferences is that I'm pretty cheap to feed. I'm not that much of a steak and sausage fan, but I love dumplings! You can get 5 packs at the Yuan Ming Supermarket for $10. At the Korean grocery, you can get one of those big packages of chicken dumplings for hmm...around 3 bucks I think. In fact, my Korean elementary school friends used to nickname me mandu (Korean for dumpling) because I brought it to school everyday and shared with them. Good times :) Also, I don't like seafood or other strange delicacies like chicken feet, which my boyfriend has attempted to forcefeed me on multiple occasions (luckily his mom was there to save me). I assume that seafood and steak are probably the most expensive things to buy, at least in Canada. If you ever want to keep me as a pet, I will be happy with cheap dumplings, Korean appetizers, or Greek gyros pitas!
Anyways, that's all I will write about my love of food for now. I hope you have increased your appreciation for all the variety of food that is available to us here in Canada just by reading this post. Here, we have so many options: homecooked meals, restaurants, fast food, different cultures of food, etc. I could never imagine living in a developing country where there are only two options: take it or leave it.
Friday, August 14, 2009
All the things I could do, If I had a little money...
OH MY GOODNESS! I haven't written for 6 days!
Well whatever, I think some people are glad about this...all the people that hate my opinions are probably thinking, "Thank goodness that witch finally stopped witching." Then again, it doesn't really matter because those people have probably stopped reading by now. Well, for my more agreeable readers, this post is going to be a personal confession of my sins over the past couple days...
All summer I did nothing but my online course and work part-time at BR--that is, until Wednesday, August 12, 2009, at 7 am. Unfortunately, that is the ungodly hour that my mother decided to wake me up and drive me to Katie's house. That is where we met up with Katie's family and my Auntie Jin to set out on our two-day adventure:
Well whatever, I think some people are glad about this...all the people that hate my opinions are probably thinking, "Thank goodness that witch finally stopped witching." Then again, it doesn't really matter because those people have probably stopped reading by now. Well, for my more agreeable readers, this post is going to be a personal confession of my sins over the past couple days...
All summer I did nothing but my online course and work part-time at BR--that is, until Wednesday, August 12, 2009, at 7 am. Unfortunately, that is the ungodly hour that my mother decided to wake me up and drive me to Katie's house. That is where we met up with Katie's family and my Auntie Jin to set out on our two-day adventure:
Speed Shopping in Grove City, Pennsylvania.
For anyone who even CLAIMS to know me, I hate shopping. Sure, say that I'm a lesbian or that I'm an extraterrestrial, but that's not going to change the fact that I get headaches just from walking through Square One for a couple hours. Also, I don't like spending money--that is, until two days ago...
It was about a 4 hour car drive to our destination. Translation: 4 hours of blissful napping and crazy iPod dancing/singing with Katie :) For those of you who have never been to Grove City, might I say you are deprived?
Just kidding...for anyone who hasn't really gone shopping in the States, the biggest issue is passing through customs. On the way there, they ask the driver where everyone's from, how long you're staying in the States, and what you're planning to do there. Since Katie's family is experienced with shopping down south, they had a whole story prepared: We were visiting my great uncle for his 70th birthday in Grove City. My aunt even printed out a mapquest address of the first Lee name that popped up in Grove City...talk about pro-scamming. On the way out of the States, there is a $50 spending limit per person. Me, my mom, Katie's mom, Katie, Thomas, and my other aunt = $300 bucks. Let me tell you now, that is how much I, alone, spent by the end of our two-day trip.
Basically, there are 6 "rows" with two lines of stores in each row. We pretty much covered all 12 lines of stores...awesome, we are. I bought clothes from Old Navy, Banana Republic, Reebok, Gap, Aeropostale, Guess, and Jockey. I also bought a new girly, long wallet from New York & Co. for 11 bucks. I hope I got a good deal, but whatever, I'm happy with it. Other stores we visited: American Eagle, Calvin Klein, Izod, Ralph Lauren, Oakley's, Juicy Couture, Timberland, Payless Shoe Source (some pairs were $5!!), Nine West, and MORE!
Between our two days of blissful materialism, we stayed at a Comfort Inn right across from the mall--literally a traffic light apart. We ate at a typical Caucasian restaurant called Rachel's Roadhouse. The food was mediocre, but the service and atmosphere were very accommodating. The evening was pleasantly spent sipping hot chocolate and tea, clipping off our tags (so we could pass through customs), lounging around from exhaustion, and making small talk ("What was your favourite purchase today?"). It was one of those nice family moments you would see in a movie or read in a book. I also stayed up pretty late watching Mamma Mia and Sex and the City. I even saw 3 episodes of Charmed in the morning! Surprisingly I also had an appetite for breakfast--this food topic is to be continued in another post. It appealed to me, mainly because they offered free unlimited bacon, eggs, toast, yummy-looking jams, and decaf coffee. Overall, it was a very pleasant hotel stay.
To tell you the truth, I wrote up a whole spiel for this post while my Internet was disconnected, while this was opened in draft form. Somehow I pressed some button that switched the page, and I lost everything, so I have lost the willpower to fancify my writing or anything. Just thought I'd put that out there as a side note.
Self-analysis time: Previous to this trip, I had only been to Grove City once. This was on our way back from a Caribbean cruise which took off in Florida. We had about 2 hours to shop, so we were running around like crazy, and I'm pretty sure we didn't even cover a row. :(
Katie's family members are all seasoned shoppers, so they know how to spend their money on good things. My mom and I sort of went crazy because we weren't used to seeing so many good bargains (apparently, the bargains are usually EVEN BETTER!). In total, we spent $700 American on our family. I spent $300 of that, while my mom spent the rest on herself, my dad, and Roberto. No need to lecture me, I already feel bad enough. In fact, I spent $190 after the first day, so I decided to slow it down and give myself timeouts on the front benches of some stores. No kidding.
My mom has always told me, "Spend your money on a few expensive things that you'll wear all the time." Do I listen? I just can't seem to resist buying those sale items in huge quantities. It just feels a lot better than buying a single shirt or pair of pants that are of a high quality designer brand. Maybe that's just me. But anyways, I've always prided myself on being a thrifty spender, especially since most of that dough comes straight from my parents' wallets --yeah I know, I'm not only sheltered, but I'm also spoiled. You hate me, I get it. That's okay, I feel the same way. I guess this sort of makes me feel obligated to minimize the trouble that I cause my parents, especially to balance out my younger male counterpart. *AHEM
The surprising thing is, even though I spent a lot of money, I still feel kind of good about it because I could afford to go for higher quality designer items but at similar prices to the things I usually get. I can't really complain about shopping now that I have enjoyed the full GROVE CITY EXPERIENCE. Nor can I claim that I hate shopping altogether. Perhaps, my Square One-induced headaches truly stem from my dislike of crowded places. Also, my disdain for shopping and trying on clothes comes from the impatience of waiting in changeroom lineups, seeing girls wearing clothes that are not even close to being age-appropriate (I did not have the misfortune of experiencing any of this in Grove City), and the fact that things are priced far above my marginal utility (hehe. Econ term, look it up). Translation: I don't like spending money on things that I don't think are worth the price tag. Perhaps, Katie's mom was right in saying that Canadian merchandise would be way more appealing if it wasn't for tax. After all, that definitely factored in when I purchased things at Grove City.
For the thrifty, cheapo shoppers out there like me, Grove City is the place for you. My only tips are to pack really light but carry a huge suitcase and cut off all the tags so you can escape through customs duty-free.
NOTE: Something interesting my aunt said about customs was, "When you're coming into the States, they're worried about terrorism; when you're leaving it, they're worried about duty."
When passing through the American customs, they ask all these questions like where you're from, where you're going, for how long, and if you have anything to "declare". They were pretty tight on security.
When passing through the Canadian customs, they were much more lax on their interrogation. They asked where we were from, and what we did in the States. When my mom said we went shopping, they were obligated to ask how much we spent (recall the $50/person limit) and my mom said $300 exactly. The guy obviously knew we were lying, but we Canadians are so much more lax and good-natured, the guy just let us through. Yay for being a nice Canadian.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
I gotta' feeling tonight's gonna be a great night...
Wahoo, I'm finally done my exam! It turned out okay. About two other people were doing the same exam as me. A bunch of older people were there for psychology, english, french, social work, and calculus 1. I also got to check out the Sheridan College campus, kind of depressing like Waterloo. But anyways, I'm not a landscape person at all, so I'm just being unnecessarily judgemental.
This morning I woke up at 9 miraculously, and I tried to study, but I just started feeling sick from my overwhelming nervousness. Even after a 2 hour nap, I still had a major headache and almost barfed. My usual symptoms were expectantly cured as soon as I started writing my exam. There's something about studying hard for a test and spilling out all of your brains on a piece of paper. It just feels so good!
Well, tonight, my parents and I are going to eat at a Chinese restaurant for dinner, and my mom is going to watch House with me, in a few minutes. :) The best part about all this is that my brother is at his friends' house for the entire weekend. Anyways, just wanted to share some of my joy, since most of my posts are depressing and negative.
Don't worry, be happy!
This morning I woke up at 9 miraculously, and I tried to study, but I just started feeling sick from my overwhelming nervousness. Even after a 2 hour nap, I still had a major headache and almost barfed. My usual symptoms were expectantly cured as soon as I started writing my exam. There's something about studying hard for a test and spilling out all of your brains on a piece of paper. It just feels so good!
Well, tonight, my parents and I are going to eat at a Chinese restaurant for dinner, and my mom is going to watch House with me, in a few minutes. :) The best part about all this is that my brother is at his friends' house for the entire weekend. Anyways, just wanted to share some of my joy, since most of my posts are depressing and negative.
Don't worry, be happy!
Nothing More to Say, No More Ace to Play
That, my friends, is a line from Mamma Mia. I believe it's from Knowing Me, Knowing You.
I don't really know when it started, but I'll just blame it on Katie...I love musicals :) I've seen a lot of them live in Toronto, and I've seen a few in movies. For me, the people involved in the actual presentation of these productions are like the Renaissance people of music, meaning they are painstakingly talented. Admittedly, I'm jealous. Imagine if you had the opportunity to sing, dance, and act all day, my jealousy is understandable right? Unfortunately, showbiz is unarguably one of those things where you need both talent and connections, neither of which I have :( Don't worry I'm the realistic one, and I never considered that as a potential career path, but what's stopping me from admiring from afar?
Pretty much all the musicals I've seen live were thanks to Katie. What can I say, she makes my life worth living. This humble list includes: Mamma Mia, Wicked, Phantom of the Opera, and Cats. I enjoyed every single one. Oh and I also like the costumes and makeup. There's just something about going to a musical in a big theatre. It makes me feel really special, possibly because I feel like those old fashioned women in a Jane Austen society going out to a high class opera or something. In fact, the tickets are pretty expensive. Other musicals that I've watched as a movie include: Phantom of the Opera, Chicago, The Producers, Grease, Dirty Dancing, Rent, and The Sound of Music.
Speaking of music, I have been told it's difficult to diagnose my music taste. You never really know if I'll like a song until I hear it. Of course the beat and actual music are important, but the lyrics also make/break a song for me. To be honest, although it's not like I ever lie on my blog, I'm kind of tired of all the mushy love songs, and I don't like rap because it's full of profanity, sexual content, and basically unnecessary drama (e.g. money, relationships, affairs, women, etc.). Another zone I avoid is country music because it feels too "stringy" and hmm...well old fashioned. I'd rather listen to actual old fashioned music like Carlie Simon or Don McLean if I was ever in that kind of mood. Techno is a rather grey area, as I can have any reaction ranging from being obsessed with a single song or getting a headache. It can be overly repetitive, but it's really "danceable" music, hehe. Too bad I'm not that big of a dancer. Rock. This musical genre holds great memories from my elementary school days. It was the only music I would ever listen to. I suspect this is mainly because the radical, rebellious lyrical content of the majority of songs appealed to a rough maturation phase I was experiencing at the time. My childhood rebellion days are a story for another time. ;)
As you probably predicted, I pretty much completely avoid metal or any other form of hardcore music...including all that Satanic stuff (e.g. Marilyn Manson). Just not my thing. R&B probably started appealing to me in grade...10? Sometime around the time when I drove down to the States with Katie's family, and we played the same songs over and over on her iPod. You could say, I acquired the taste and opened up to more songs of that genre. One of the early appealing characteristics of that music was that many songs had funny, entertaining lyrics that I never thought someone would write a song about. Sure I'd heard of the Milkshake song, but the songs that pulled me in were "My Humps", "Beep", "Touch my Body", etc. Btw, if I am confusing songs with genres, I am sorry. I just kind of mix everything I like into the "Christie genre" because I like songs randomly out of the blue. Eventually, I was able to appreciate some of the more normally lyricized songs for other reasons.
Most recently, I have been tragically drawn into kPop. My first year university roommate was a proud Chinese girl from my high school. Btw, I had no problems living with her, and I have a feeling she cannot say the same for me...again, other stories, which I hope never to divulge. Well yeah, she knew I was pretty out of touch with my cultural roots, so she, my other friend Sandra, John, and Ryan all kind of tried to "Azn-ize" me. Sadly, I have to admit it worked. Now I have Rain, Jewelry, Namolla Family, Lee Hyori, Wonder Girls, 2NE1 (NOT LOLLIPOP) + more permanently living in my iPod playlist. Too bad it's busted; yeah the buttons stopped working, so I have to listen to the iPod in order, all the way through from the beginning. Yeah, I know, life sucks, especially since all my Korean music is at the end of the list. You're right, I can't understand it, but I like the music and overall attitude of Korean music.
Btw, all the music I like is not based on bands or whatever. People have their ups and downs, so I just randomly like songs that I've heard or have had recommended to me. I don't really understand why people develop loyalty to certain bands. It kind of puts pressure on them to overproduce songs, and the quality just goes downhill from there. Also, I do not care much about their statistics or current love life status. I'm just interested in their music.
Well yeah, exam in...4 hours. Hopefully my mom knows how to get there. Oh and I just realized that on this "exam outline" thing my prof sent out, he recommends studying lectures, course notes, and the textbook. I have studied the lectures, the textbook, and my own notes (which I just wrote up from the lectures). It would be hilarious if my life got screwed up because I didn't buy the full version of some random course notes. Pray for me...4 hours...
I don't really know when it started, but I'll just blame it on Katie...I love musicals :) I've seen a lot of them live in Toronto, and I've seen a few in movies. For me, the people involved in the actual presentation of these productions are like the Renaissance people of music, meaning they are painstakingly talented. Admittedly, I'm jealous. Imagine if you had the opportunity to sing, dance, and act all day, my jealousy is understandable right? Unfortunately, showbiz is unarguably one of those things where you need both talent and connections, neither of which I have :( Don't worry I'm the realistic one, and I never considered that as a potential career path, but what's stopping me from admiring from afar?
Pretty much all the musicals I've seen live were thanks to Katie. What can I say, she makes my life worth living. This humble list includes: Mamma Mia, Wicked, Phantom of the Opera, and Cats. I enjoyed every single one. Oh and I also like the costumes and makeup. There's just something about going to a musical in a big theatre. It makes me feel really special, possibly because I feel like those old fashioned women in a Jane Austen society going out to a high class opera or something. In fact, the tickets are pretty expensive. Other musicals that I've watched as a movie include: Phantom of the Opera, Chicago, The Producers, Grease, Dirty Dancing, Rent, and The Sound of Music.
Speaking of music, I have been told it's difficult to diagnose my music taste. You never really know if I'll like a song until I hear it. Of course the beat and actual music are important, but the lyrics also make/break a song for me. To be honest, although it's not like I ever lie on my blog, I'm kind of tired of all the mushy love songs, and I don't like rap because it's full of profanity, sexual content, and basically unnecessary drama (e.g. money, relationships, affairs, women, etc.). Another zone I avoid is country music because it feels too "stringy" and hmm...well old fashioned. I'd rather listen to actual old fashioned music like Carlie Simon or Don McLean if I was ever in that kind of mood. Techno is a rather grey area, as I can have any reaction ranging from being obsessed with a single song or getting a headache. It can be overly repetitive, but it's really "danceable" music, hehe. Too bad I'm not that big of a dancer. Rock. This musical genre holds great memories from my elementary school days. It was the only music I would ever listen to. I suspect this is mainly because the radical, rebellious lyrical content of the majority of songs appealed to a rough maturation phase I was experiencing at the time. My childhood rebellion days are a story for another time. ;)
As you probably predicted, I pretty much completely avoid metal or any other form of hardcore music...including all that Satanic stuff (e.g. Marilyn Manson). Just not my thing. R&B probably started appealing to me in grade...10? Sometime around the time when I drove down to the States with Katie's family, and we played the same songs over and over on her iPod. You could say, I acquired the taste and opened up to more songs of that genre. One of the early appealing characteristics of that music was that many songs had funny, entertaining lyrics that I never thought someone would write a song about. Sure I'd heard of the Milkshake song, but the songs that pulled me in were "My Humps", "Beep", "Touch my Body", etc. Btw, if I am confusing songs with genres, I am sorry. I just kind of mix everything I like into the "Christie genre" because I like songs randomly out of the blue. Eventually, I was able to appreciate some of the more normally lyricized songs for other reasons.
Most recently, I have been tragically drawn into kPop. My first year university roommate was a proud Chinese girl from my high school. Btw, I had no problems living with her, and I have a feeling she cannot say the same for me...again, other stories, which I hope never to divulge. Well yeah, she knew I was pretty out of touch with my cultural roots, so she, my other friend Sandra, John, and Ryan all kind of tried to "Azn-ize" me. Sadly, I have to admit it worked. Now I have Rain, Jewelry, Namolla Family, Lee Hyori, Wonder Girls, 2NE1 (NOT LOLLIPOP) + more permanently living in my iPod playlist. Too bad it's busted; yeah the buttons stopped working, so I have to listen to the iPod in order, all the way through from the beginning. Yeah, I know, life sucks, especially since all my Korean music is at the end of the list. You're right, I can't understand it, but I like the music and overall attitude of Korean music.
Btw, all the music I like is not based on bands or whatever. People have their ups and downs, so I just randomly like songs that I've heard or have had recommended to me. I don't really understand why people develop loyalty to certain bands. It kind of puts pressure on them to overproduce songs, and the quality just goes downhill from there. Also, I do not care much about their statistics or current love life status. I'm just interested in their music.
Well yeah, exam in...4 hours. Hopefully my mom knows how to get there. Oh and I just realized that on this "exam outline" thing my prof sent out, he recommends studying lectures, course notes, and the textbook. I have studied the lectures, the textbook, and my own notes (which I just wrote up from the lectures). It would be hilarious if my life got screwed up because I didn't buy the full version of some random course notes. Pray for me...4 hours...
Friday, August 7, 2009
Sense and Sensitivity
Tomorrow is finally my BIOL 273 exam. Pretty excited to finally be done with the course. As you may already know, I tend to get stressed out pretty easily, whether it's obvious or not. For example, this summer I've had tons of time to do my course and review the material, but I never feel like I can truly relax until the exam is complete. Same thing applies to the Christmas vacation between the fall and winter study terms. There's always this nagging at the back of my mind, reminding me not to let my guard down. There have been numerous instances in my life where I felt okay about a test or evaluation and ended up totally bombing it. Nothing feels worse than self-disappointment. These unfortunate circumstances have caused me to instinctively default to the life motto:
Expect the worst and you'll never be disappointed.
For any of my disillusioned or overly supportive friends, I am not naturally a dedicated student. I only started realizing school was important from grade 5. Unfortunately enough, that was also around the time I realized what a "boy" was. Previous to that year, I was getting horrible grades; I don't even remember how much effort or hard work I put into my schoolwork prior to grade 5 (somewhere around...little to none?). I carried on this dedication right up to probably the end of grade 11, where I kind of lost my patience and ran out of the will to work hard. I suppose it was a combination of being discouraged from the Accounting career path, the drama of getting into my first official relationship, discovering that no matter how much effort I put into Data Management, I could not succeed + a bunch of other things I can't remember right now/am too lazy to explain. I'm too fragile to handle, or even explain, all this emotional turmoil at once!
Anyways, at my private school, we had these dreaded "Friday envelopes" where all our tests would go home to our parents with the number of tests in them and a place for them to verify with a signature that they saw our tests. WELL, LET ME TELL YOU...my teacher must have been kind of stressed or totally out of it because it took her about...1.5 months to realize that I was signing my own envelope and tests with my own signature. Believe me, it wasn't because I didn't want my parents to be overimpressed by my AMAZING marks--quite the contrary, actually. Don't get me wrong, my teacher was my all-time favourite, actually the one who inspired me to want to become a teacher--until I came to my senses, of course. Teaching was not for me.
BUT ANYWAYS, I got in HUGE trouble from my parents and my teacher. Actually A LOT of drama happened in grade 4, just involving me. One story...
STORY TIME:
Basically, my teacher had family farm connections, so we hatched baby chick eggs in an incubator at the back of our classroom. She discovered a diplomatic and fair way to decide who would get to take each chick home for a weekend and who would get to keep them after that. I ended up taking one home for a weekend, thanks to a valid parental permission form.
I swear I was in heaven for that weekend, I took it outside, I took it everywhere around my house, I loved that chick within a day, but Monday morning came, and it wouldn't wake up. I had no idea why; maybe the weather was too cold for it?...but I couldn't stop crying. Not only because the chick died but because the person who was supposed to take it home for "keeps" was going to be really mad at me.
My mom went into school with me bright and early to tell the teacher, and I still hadn't stopped crying. My teacher sent me out of the classroom to "deliver a note to another teacher down the hall", and I'm pretty sure it said something about keeping me there for like 10 minutes because I just stood there for that time. Meanwhile, my teacher apparently told the class that the chick died, and I was really sensitive about it so they had to be nice and not mention it. I actually feel really bad and embarrassed now for wasting the class' time, forcing people to be nice to me, and just being a big crybaby in general. What's worse is that, after school, one of the kids in the other teacher's class (the one I got sent to) heard about the situation from one of the guys in my class, and he was making fun of me. What do you think I did?--I cried LOL. Yeah, and the afterschool program caretaker phoned my teacher who came down from her classroom upstairs, told the guy off, and rescued me yet again. Hey, at least now you know why she was an inspiration to me. As a side note, that guy actually ended up going to the Cawthra arts program...most of you probably heard of/know him, so I'm not gonna name him. All I know is...
1. I felt really bad about getting him in trouble for such a stupid thing.
2. I doubt he ever really forgave me, but I have a feeling he pretty much TRIED to forget me.
3. I don't think we've spoken since elementary school.
I don't know if I've mentioned this already or not, but I'm a really sensitive person. Both mean, nice, and family people have been telling me this since grade 1 when I cried whenever I lost a game. Honestly, I've tried to toughen up, dish out insults in return for the ones I get, and basically keep my emotions to myself because, honestly, nobody cares. As clarification, I don't mean that as an emo statement, but I think individuals know their emotions the best, and they know what treatments they can and can't handle (not medical treatments, but like solutions--but I didn't "just use that word" because it didn't sound right). Initially people might care, but you can rarely take their advice word for word and see actual results. Soon enough, you'll just be plain annoying. Sure you can ask for advice or vent your emotions on a voluntary victim from time to time, but ultimately your own fate is in your own hands. But yeah, I think I've been making progress by being able to ignore criticism, insults, and hurtful commentary directed towards me. Of course I can't help but take these hits personally, as it usually is, but I don't blame them.
Just as a reflection on this post, I felt like writing about a more detailed, personal experience. Obtaining honest, sincere feedback about my blog from my good friend Randall has played a significant influence in the nature of this post. He subtly reminded me that my previous posts are rather judgemental, and, I'll admit, they are. Let me attempt to explain myself...
I suspect that my desire to analyze and improve myself has extended its scope to society. As a result, I try to be more observant and less ignorant of the places, events, things, and people around me to gain a greater understanding of my surroundings' strengths, areas needing improvement, and unfortunate shortcomings that we'll just have to deal with. I hope that by reading my blog, you too will take a more active role in taking the time to learn about and realistically analyze the world we live in. This way, we can hopefully enhance both our appreciation and enjoyment of the great mystery called life.
Expect the worst and you'll never be disappointed.
For any of my disillusioned or overly supportive friends, I am not naturally a dedicated student. I only started realizing school was important from grade 5. Unfortunately enough, that was also around the time I realized what a "boy" was. Previous to that year, I was getting horrible grades; I don't even remember how much effort or hard work I put into my schoolwork prior to grade 5 (somewhere around...little to none?). I carried on this dedication right up to probably the end of grade 11, where I kind of lost my patience and ran out of the will to work hard. I suppose it was a combination of being discouraged from the Accounting career path, the drama of getting into my first official relationship, discovering that no matter how much effort I put into Data Management, I could not succeed + a bunch of other things I can't remember right now/am too lazy to explain. I'm too fragile to handle, or even explain, all this emotional turmoil at once!
Anyways, at my private school, we had these dreaded "Friday envelopes" where all our tests would go home to our parents with the number of tests in them and a place for them to verify with a signature that they saw our tests. WELL, LET ME TELL YOU...my teacher must have been kind of stressed or totally out of it because it took her about...1.5 months to realize that I was signing my own envelope and tests with my own signature. Believe me, it wasn't because I didn't want my parents to be overimpressed by my AMAZING marks--quite the contrary, actually. Don't get me wrong, my teacher was my all-time favourite, actually the one who inspired me to want to become a teacher--until I came to my senses, of course. Teaching was not for me.
BUT ANYWAYS, I got in HUGE trouble from my parents and my teacher. Actually A LOT of drama happened in grade 4, just involving me. One story...
STORY TIME:
Basically, my teacher had family farm connections, so we hatched baby chick eggs in an incubator at the back of our classroom. She discovered a diplomatic and fair way to decide who would get to take each chick home for a weekend and who would get to keep them after that. I ended up taking one home for a weekend, thanks to a valid parental permission form.
I swear I was in heaven for that weekend, I took it outside, I took it everywhere around my house, I loved that chick within a day, but Monday morning came, and it wouldn't wake up. I had no idea why; maybe the weather was too cold for it?...but I couldn't stop crying. Not only because the chick died but because the person who was supposed to take it home for "keeps" was going to be really mad at me.
My mom went into school with me bright and early to tell the teacher, and I still hadn't stopped crying. My teacher sent me out of the classroom to "deliver a note to another teacher down the hall", and I'm pretty sure it said something about keeping me there for like 10 minutes because I just stood there for that time. Meanwhile, my teacher apparently told the class that the chick died, and I was really sensitive about it so they had to be nice and not mention it. I actually feel really bad and embarrassed now for wasting the class' time, forcing people to be nice to me, and just being a big crybaby in general. What's worse is that, after school, one of the kids in the other teacher's class (the one I got sent to) heard about the situation from one of the guys in my class, and he was making fun of me. What do you think I did?--I cried LOL. Yeah, and the afterschool program caretaker phoned my teacher who came down from her classroom upstairs, told the guy off, and rescued me yet again. Hey, at least now you know why she was an inspiration to me. As a side note, that guy actually ended up going to the Cawthra arts program...most of you probably heard of/know him, so I'm not gonna name him. All I know is...
1. I felt really bad about getting him in trouble for such a stupid thing.
2. I doubt he ever really forgave me, but I have a feeling he pretty much TRIED to forget me.
3. I don't think we've spoken since elementary school.
I don't know if I've mentioned this already or not, but I'm a really sensitive person. Both mean, nice, and family people have been telling me this since grade 1 when I cried whenever I lost a game. Honestly, I've tried to toughen up, dish out insults in return for the ones I get, and basically keep my emotions to myself because, honestly, nobody cares. As clarification, I don't mean that as an emo statement, but I think individuals know their emotions the best, and they know what treatments they can and can't handle (not medical treatments, but like solutions--but I didn't "just use that word" because it didn't sound right). Initially people might care, but you can rarely take their advice word for word and see actual results. Soon enough, you'll just be plain annoying. Sure you can ask for advice or vent your emotions on a voluntary victim from time to time, but ultimately your own fate is in your own hands. But yeah, I think I've been making progress by being able to ignore criticism, insults, and hurtful commentary directed towards me. Of course I can't help but take these hits personally, as it usually is, but I don't blame them.
Just as a reflection on this post, I felt like writing about a more detailed, personal experience. Obtaining honest, sincere feedback about my blog from my good friend Randall has played a significant influence in the nature of this post. He subtly reminded me that my previous posts are rather judgemental, and, I'll admit, they are. Let me attempt to explain myself...
I suspect that my desire to analyze and improve myself has extended its scope to society. As a result, I try to be more observant and less ignorant of the places, events, things, and people around me to gain a greater understanding of my surroundings' strengths, areas needing improvement, and unfortunate shortcomings that we'll just have to deal with. I hope that by reading my blog, you too will take a more active role in taking the time to learn about and realistically analyze the world we live in. This way, we can hopefully enhance both our appreciation and enjoyment of the great mystery called life.
As NOT seen on TV.
Just to restate the obvious--or not so obvious to my acquaintances--I have never had cable TV in my house since I was born. Well, actually, that is a minor lie. I have seen family videos of me as a baby sitting with my parents in the living room with a cartoon on. However, I have no recollection of a single episode or character, too bad.
Back on track...you're probably wondering, DON'T YOU GET BORED? Then I would answer, "It's okay, my mom sometimes connects the Internet for me...when she's in a good mood..." Then you would say, "YOUR PARENTS CUT YOUR INTERNET? HOW ARE YOU ALIVE?" And that, my friends, I don't really know. I guess it runs along the same lines as me going on 9 vacations in my whole life that I can remember-- Caribbean Cruise (taken by cousin, NOT even my own family), Turks&Caicos resort (Caribbean), two soccer tournaments to the states, and about 5 trips to Ontario resorts or cottages up north for the summer--I have no clue what I'm missing out on, so I manage to move on contently with my life. Essentially, I am pretty much trapped on this boring continent with no cable, and the rare spurts of Internet time. ALTHOUGH, I have been getting more time to work on academic material...heh...heh...
So yeah, I keep going off topic...ANYWAYS. What I wanted to preach today really was that there have been both benefits and lost opportunities due to my cableless upbringing. Lets start with the positives because that makes people happy (and it's probably shorter -_-"). Not having cable has helped me in the following ways:
-Watching fewer commercials has significantly helped me to avoid materialistic temptations.
-I am more tolerant of and don't mind boring situations in life (e.g. doing puzzles, reading, sitting around, awkward silences)
-I don't have to schedule my life around my favourite showtimes.
-My deteriorating eyesight can be narrowed down to other causes such as reading too close to the page, computer, or bad lighting.
ON THE OTHER HAND, Not having cable has disadvantaged me in the following ways:
-A major social handicap when it comes to talking about the latest episodes and the suspenseful wait between episodes. Since movies, music, and TV are key points of discussion in the typical teenager's life, I have shied away from public conversation and limited myself to the stereotypical Asian constraints of academic topics.
-lack of awareness about the latest trends and an unfamiliarity with the typical prices of things (e.g. music players, laptops, new restaurant dishes)
-I don't get to lazily absorb information, as provided on the Discovery Channel or Cooking shows.
-I am generally less knowledgeable about what's going on in the world--admit it, it's more fun/convenient to see the news instead of hearing it on the radio or reading it online because you don't have to be focused the entire time to be alerted of significant events around the world.
-Instead of taking advantage of all the movies playing on satellite or whatever, I have to find other..."cleverer" ways to watch movies (*coughchinesemalls).
But yeah, parents just blindly say TV is bad. Really, I think it's an important way for people to connect with the world and be informed of what's going on. It depends on what kind of shows you're watching, how long you're spending in front of the tube, and how much it hinders other aspects of your life. Like anything, doses of television, when taken in moderation, can be beneficial.
P.S. Yay for a short post.
Back on track...you're probably wondering, DON'T YOU GET BORED? Then I would answer, "It's okay, my mom sometimes connects the Internet for me...when she's in a good mood..." Then you would say, "YOUR PARENTS CUT YOUR INTERNET? HOW ARE YOU ALIVE?" And that, my friends, I don't really know. I guess it runs along the same lines as me going on 9 vacations in my whole life that I can remember-- Caribbean Cruise (taken by cousin, NOT even my own family), Turks&Caicos resort (Caribbean), two soccer tournaments to the states, and about 5 trips to Ontario resorts or cottages up north for the summer--I have no clue what I'm missing out on, so I manage to move on contently with my life. Essentially, I am pretty much trapped on this boring continent with no cable, and the rare spurts of Internet time. ALTHOUGH, I have been getting more time to work on academic material...heh...heh...
So yeah, I keep going off topic...ANYWAYS. What I wanted to preach today really was that there have been both benefits and lost opportunities due to my cableless upbringing. Lets start with the positives because that makes people happy (and it's probably shorter -_-"). Not having cable has helped me in the following ways:
-Watching fewer commercials has significantly helped me to avoid materialistic temptations.
-I am more tolerant of and don't mind boring situations in life (e.g. doing puzzles, reading, sitting around, awkward silences)
-I don't have to schedule my life around my favourite showtimes.
-My deteriorating eyesight can be narrowed down to other causes such as reading too close to the page, computer, or bad lighting.
ON THE OTHER HAND, Not having cable has disadvantaged me in the following ways:
-A major social handicap when it comes to talking about the latest episodes and the suspenseful wait between episodes. Since movies, music, and TV are key points of discussion in the typical teenager's life, I have shied away from public conversation and limited myself to the stereotypical Asian constraints of academic topics.
-lack of awareness about the latest trends and an unfamiliarity with the typical prices of things (e.g. music players, laptops, new restaurant dishes)
-I don't get to lazily absorb information, as provided on the Discovery Channel or Cooking shows.
-I am generally less knowledgeable about what's going on in the world--admit it, it's more fun/convenient to see the news instead of hearing it on the radio or reading it online because you don't have to be focused the entire time to be alerted of significant events around the world.
-Instead of taking advantage of all the movies playing on satellite or whatever, I have to find other..."cleverer" ways to watch movies (*coughchinesemalls).
But yeah, parents just blindly say TV is bad. Really, I think it's an important way for people to connect with the world and be informed of what's going on. It depends on what kind of shows you're watching, how long you're spending in front of the tube, and how much it hinders other aspects of your life. Like anything, doses of television, when taken in moderation, can be beneficial.
P.S. Yay for a short post.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
BR!
Don't you just LOVE bubble tea? My favourite flavour is honeydew milk tea, with tapioca, of course. My other regular flavours are mango, green apple. If I'm feeling especially adventurous, I get other kinds of fruit jellies instead of tapioca. Without these small touches of garnish, bubble tea is really just juice--I was really disappointed by the big Asian hype when I first had bubble tea.
Btw...
NOOO! BR DOES NOT MEAN BUBBLE REPUBLIC. DON'T BE SO ASIAN-MINDED!
Sorry, I just felt like trying out different font sizes 'n stuff. But yeah,
BR = Baskin Robbins !
Hm, for this post I'm gonna try something new, like not making it a million words long. Here goes...
So in my life, my parents have encouraged me to do activities that enhance my personal development, such as swimming lessons, skating lessons, competitive soccer, constantly aiming to improve my grades, joining orchestra, and just joining whatever random sports teams I can make it onto. They made a big mistake of not encouraging me to get a job. Sure, I know it's partially my responsibility, but when I'm still kind of young and so sheltered, they should give me a little push to start me off. As clarification, I don't mean that my parents should find a job for me, but they should have maybe warned me that around grade 9 I should start looking for an actual job. But no, they preferred that I stayed inside practicing piano and keeping my dainty little fingers safe. On a more serious note, I really only started trying to get a job this summer. After hearing no response from basic receptionist or secretarial/administrative positions, I decided to humble myself a bit. Hence began the visits to local convenience stores like Rabba, Bargain Shop, and, lo and behold, Baskin Robbins.
I passed out my resumes with all my half-decent looking qualifications (e.g. pharmaceutical assistant, hospital volunteer), which were really all obtained through family connections. -_-" I guess it's better that I started being realistic now rather than later, after all I finished my first year of university for goodness' sake!! In fact, I start my first co-op term in January. OMG, and if you don't get a job like...twice or three times, you FAIL the program. LOL. but anyways, I'll save my frantic delirium for personal contemplation.
So, nobody responded EXCEPT Baskin Robbins. Fun, fun. You know what, I lied, this post isn't going to be short at all. I just love talking too much, sorry. I went in for the interview, had no idea what to wear, and I ended up wearing black and white is completely inappropriate, but I just listened to my mom so it wouldn't be my fault if clothing was the issue. So anyway, they asked me basic questions about my definition of customer service, gave me a simple scenario, and they KEPT ASKING ME IF I WAS PHYSICALLY CAPABLE TO DO THIS JOB. This kind of annoyed me because it goes back to the Asian stereotype. Btw, the owners are Korean, and they thought I was Chinese--again, denied by my own people. I admit I don't have much upper body strength, but once I saw the other girls they hired, they're all thin white girls. I actually did not notice this point by myself; these co-workers were actually talking about it, and I agree with them wholly.
What made me even more offended at the interview was they were MORE INTERESTED IN MY BROTHER because he sounded mature answering the phone when they called to schedule my interview. They asked me, "Your brother is very smart, isn't he?" "Does he get good grades?" All that time working hard to keep up my grades, and my brother makes a better first impression. This also goes back to what I said about social skills, not intelligence or hard work, being the key determinant of one's success in the world. Anyways...after the interview I felt like crap and didn't think I would get the job, but they ended up hiring me anyway.
So yeah, I actually love my job, but that's probably because I've only worked there for about 1.5 months now. The other girls there hate it because they've been working there for at least a year now. From what they told me and their attitude on the job, their biggest issue is the crappy customers that drop in, complain about prices, try to take advantage of freebies, or the all-too-familiar-motto: The customer is always right. HAH! That is the biggest joke I've ever heard. Check out: http://www.notalwaysright.com/
Let me tell you one thing. This job has significantly increased my cynicism towards humanity and opened my eyes as to how spoiled North Americans really are.
I'll admit that BR is a bit pricey, and this can put people in a bad or picky mood. However, it's been around for a while, and the upper management probably thinks they can get away with slightly raised prices, since they have the general public's brand loyalty. This is actually kind of true; people complain about all kinds of ridiculous things then you see them coming back a few days later to further indulge their ice cream addiction.
Some of the people that I have had the misfortune of encountering are:
-one guy asks for extra topping in his milkshake then refuses to pay for it. Instead of communicating like a civilized grownup, he just shakes his head then refuses to pay. One of my co-workers, who has worked there a long time and is low on patience, gives in and tells me not to charge him. I don't blame her.
-sometimes people ask me to wash my hands after wiping the ice cream cabinet. All it is, is water and ice cream drops. If you're worried about that, should I sterilize the scoopers too?
-one lady asked me to wash my hands because "you guys touch money". Well, so do you, and you're the one actually touching and eating the product. We only touch the paper around the base of the cone and scoop the ice cream with a scooper, not our hands. My apologies, if you're one of those types who likes eating the paper.
-some people ask for a "LARGE single scoop". No such thing, there is a standardized measurement for a "single scoop". Got a problem? Go talk to the BR CEOs.
-one lady "doesn't like" the taste of our strawberry ice cream. She could have requested a taster spoon, but no. She insists that it tastes like milk and wants another scoop for free. I mistakenly indulged her request; I think I'm too soft to deal with the tragically flawed homo sapien.
Of course there are other instances like people wanting us to make things that aren't on the menu, complaining because we have a flavour at another location but not this one, or complaining about what season it is and why we don't have a certain "seasonal" flavour. I will never look at the cashier of any retail store the same way again. I totally feel your pain.
Just for interest, if you want to get ice cream at the location where I work (if you don't know already, it's top secret hmph), we currently have:
-Butterscotch Ribbon: butterscotch in vanilla ice cream
-Cotton candy: A purple+pink child classic, self explanatory
-Old Fashioned Butter Pecan: A senior favourite, has pecans and a strong mapley ice cream
-Love Potion #31: personal favourite (other than bubble gum), white chocolate, raspberry ribbon, and the chocolate hearts have raspberry syrup (pink and white =)), popular with females, wonder whyyy...
-Peanut Butter n' Chocolate: huge peanut butter chunks, quite popular
-Rocky Road: chocolate with almonds and marshmellows, a classic
-Chocolate Mousse Royals: chocolate mousse with chocolate chips, a co-worker's favourite
-World Class Chocolate: White and milk chocolate mousse, a co-worker's favourite
-Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough: Kid favourite, self-explanatory
-Cookies n' Cream: Vanilla ice cream with Oreo cookie bits, kid favourite
-Gold Medal Ribbon: Chocolate and Vanilla ice cream with caramel ribbon, yummy
-Rum Raisin: some weird beige ice cream that tastes horrible, very soft, but still somewhat popular =/
-Baseball Nut: Vanilla with raspberry ribbon and cashews
-Chocolate Chip: self-explanatory
-Citrus Twist: lemon lime, almost like a sherbet, kinda sour, popular--also used in fruit blasts
-Pistachio Almond: Pistachio flavoured ice cream (?) with almonds in it, surprisingly good
-Chocolate: yay
-Vanilla
-Non-fat vanilla yogurt
-Mint Chocolate Chip
-Cherries Jubilee: cherry ice cream, bits of those fake cherries, and hint of...rum?!, decent
-Jamoca Almond Fudge: Coffee flavour
-Very Berry Strawberry: strawberry with real strawberry bits!
-Mango Tango: mango with a mango ribbon
-Maui Brownie Madness: surprisingly good for a lower fat frozen yogurt!, popular
-Pralines and Cream: vanilla with caramel and praline nuts
-Perils of Praline: lower fat yogurt version of pralines and cream, not as good
-Coconut
-Pineapple coconut: lower fat yogurt, no sugar added, evidently a senior favourite
-Rainbow sherbet: pink, white, and orange sherbets? =S, visually appealing to kids
-Orange sherbet: orange flavour, preferred by kids--tastewise
Oh and I just realized when I started working there that the pink symbol between "Baskin" and "Robbins" is a 31, which they also use to stand for "B" and "R", in case you're slow like me :) Apparently, the 31 is because we are supposed to have 31 flavours, but not always.
Ice cream makes me happy!~Just not the customers...
Btw...
NOOO! BR DOES NOT MEAN BUBBLE REPUBLIC. DON'T BE SO ASIAN-MINDED!
Sorry, I just felt like trying out different font sizes 'n stuff. But yeah,
BR = Baskin Robbins !
Hm, for this post I'm gonna try something new, like not making it a million words long. Here goes...
So in my life, my parents have encouraged me to do activities that enhance my personal development, such as swimming lessons, skating lessons, competitive soccer, constantly aiming to improve my grades, joining orchestra, and just joining whatever random sports teams I can make it onto. They made a big mistake of not encouraging me to get a job. Sure, I know it's partially my responsibility, but when I'm still kind of young and so sheltered, they should give me a little push to start me off. As clarification, I don't mean that my parents should find a job for me, but they should have maybe warned me that around grade 9 I should start looking for an actual job. But no, they preferred that I stayed inside practicing piano and keeping my dainty little fingers safe. On a more serious note, I really only started trying to get a job this summer. After hearing no response from basic receptionist or secretarial/administrative positions, I decided to humble myself a bit. Hence began the visits to local convenience stores like Rabba, Bargain Shop, and, lo and behold, Baskin Robbins.
I passed out my resumes with all my half-decent looking qualifications (e.g. pharmaceutical assistant, hospital volunteer), which were really all obtained through family connections. -_-" I guess it's better that I started being realistic now rather than later, after all I finished my first year of university for goodness' sake!! In fact, I start my first co-op term in January. OMG, and if you don't get a job like...twice or three times, you FAIL the program. LOL. but anyways, I'll save my frantic delirium for personal contemplation.
So, nobody responded EXCEPT Baskin Robbins. Fun, fun. You know what, I lied, this post isn't going to be short at all. I just love talking too much, sorry. I went in for the interview, had no idea what to wear, and I ended up wearing black and white is completely inappropriate, but I just listened to my mom so it wouldn't be my fault if clothing was the issue. So anyway, they asked me basic questions about my definition of customer service, gave me a simple scenario, and they KEPT ASKING ME IF I WAS PHYSICALLY CAPABLE TO DO THIS JOB. This kind of annoyed me because it goes back to the Asian stereotype. Btw, the owners are Korean, and they thought I was Chinese--again, denied by my own people. I admit I don't have much upper body strength, but once I saw the other girls they hired, they're all thin white girls. I actually did not notice this point by myself; these co-workers were actually talking about it, and I agree with them wholly.
What made me even more offended at the interview was they were MORE INTERESTED IN MY BROTHER because he sounded mature answering the phone when they called to schedule my interview. They asked me, "Your brother is very smart, isn't he?" "Does he get good grades?" All that time working hard to keep up my grades, and my brother makes a better first impression. This also goes back to what I said about social skills, not intelligence or hard work, being the key determinant of one's success in the world. Anyways...after the interview I felt like crap and didn't think I would get the job, but they ended up hiring me anyway.
So yeah, I actually love my job, but that's probably because I've only worked there for about 1.5 months now. The other girls there hate it because they've been working there for at least a year now. From what they told me and their attitude on the job, their biggest issue is the crappy customers that drop in, complain about prices, try to take advantage of freebies, or the all-too-familiar-motto: The customer is always right. HAH! That is the biggest joke I've ever heard. Check out: http://www.notalwaysright.com/
Let me tell you one thing. This job has significantly increased my cynicism towards humanity and opened my eyes as to how spoiled North Americans really are.
I'll admit that BR is a bit pricey, and this can put people in a bad or picky mood. However, it's been around for a while, and the upper management probably thinks they can get away with slightly raised prices, since they have the general public's brand loyalty. This is actually kind of true; people complain about all kinds of ridiculous things then you see them coming back a few days later to further indulge their ice cream addiction.
Some of the people that I have had the misfortune of encountering are:
-one guy asks for extra topping in his milkshake then refuses to pay for it. Instead of communicating like a civilized grownup, he just shakes his head then refuses to pay. One of my co-workers, who has worked there a long time and is low on patience, gives in and tells me not to charge him. I don't blame her.
-sometimes people ask me to wash my hands after wiping the ice cream cabinet. All it is, is water and ice cream drops. If you're worried about that, should I sterilize the scoopers too?
-one lady asked me to wash my hands because "you guys touch money". Well, so do you, and you're the one actually touching and eating the product. We only touch the paper around the base of the cone and scoop the ice cream with a scooper, not our hands. My apologies, if you're one of those types who likes eating the paper.
-some people ask for a "LARGE single scoop". No such thing, there is a standardized measurement for a "single scoop". Got a problem? Go talk to the BR CEOs.
-one lady "doesn't like" the taste of our strawberry ice cream. She could have requested a taster spoon, but no. She insists that it tastes like milk and wants another scoop for free. I mistakenly indulged her request; I think I'm too soft to deal with the tragically flawed homo sapien.
Of course there are other instances like people wanting us to make things that aren't on the menu, complaining because we have a flavour at another location but not this one, or complaining about what season it is and why we don't have a certain "seasonal" flavour. I will never look at the cashier of any retail store the same way again. I totally feel your pain.
Just for interest, if you want to get ice cream at the location where I work (if you don't know already, it's top secret hmph), we currently have:
-Butterscotch Ribbon: butterscotch in vanilla ice cream
-Cotton candy: A purple+pink child classic, self explanatory
-Old Fashioned Butter Pecan: A senior favourite, has pecans and a strong mapley ice cream
-Love Potion #31: personal favourite (other than bubble gum), white chocolate, raspberry ribbon, and the chocolate hearts have raspberry syrup (pink and white =)), popular with females, wonder whyyy...
-Peanut Butter n' Chocolate: huge peanut butter chunks, quite popular
-Rocky Road: chocolate with almonds and marshmellows, a classic
-Chocolate Mousse Royals: chocolate mousse with chocolate chips, a co-worker's favourite
-World Class Chocolate: White and milk chocolate mousse, a co-worker's favourite
-Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough: Kid favourite, self-explanatory
-Cookies n' Cream: Vanilla ice cream with Oreo cookie bits, kid favourite
-Gold Medal Ribbon: Chocolate and Vanilla ice cream with caramel ribbon, yummy
-Rum Raisin: some weird beige ice cream that tastes horrible, very soft, but still somewhat popular =/
-Baseball Nut: Vanilla with raspberry ribbon and cashews
-Chocolate Chip: self-explanatory
-Citrus Twist: lemon lime, almost like a sherbet, kinda sour, popular--also used in fruit blasts
-Pistachio Almond: Pistachio flavoured ice cream (?) with almonds in it, surprisingly good
-Chocolate: yay
-Vanilla
-Non-fat vanilla yogurt
-Mint Chocolate Chip
-Cherries Jubilee: cherry ice cream, bits of those fake cherries, and hint of...rum?!, decent
-Jamoca Almond Fudge: Coffee flavour
-Very Berry Strawberry: strawberry with real strawberry bits!
-Mango Tango: mango with a mango ribbon
-Maui Brownie Madness: surprisingly good for a lower fat frozen yogurt!, popular
-Pralines and Cream: vanilla with caramel and praline nuts
-Perils of Praline: lower fat yogurt version of pralines and cream, not as good
-Coconut
-Pineapple coconut: lower fat yogurt, no sugar added, evidently a senior favourite
-Rainbow sherbet: pink, white, and orange sherbets? =S, visually appealing to kids
-Orange sherbet: orange flavour, preferred by kids--tastewise
Oh and I just realized when I started working there that the pink symbol between "Baskin" and "Robbins" is a 31, which they also use to stand for "B" and "R", in case you're slow like me :) Apparently, the 31 is because we are supposed to have 31 flavours, but not always.
Ice cream makes me happy!~Just not the customers...
BF...F?
Why do we have friends? Humans are naturally lonely creatures who almost always need someone to talk to and cheer us up when the chips are down. Believe me, my lonely old neighbour makes the tiniest excuse to invite us over, invite herself over, or even just talk to us for a small favour. The small minority of people who survive with minimal outside contact are usually...
-grumpy
-friends with a non-human companion (e.g. a dog, goldfish, an imaginary friend, aliens...maybe?)
-sad but unsure how to integrate themselves into society
-just simply NOT HUMAN, just kidding (but this is a very, very TINY minority)
Personally, I have a different issue with the topic of friendship. I believe in and value it, but I don't expect each one to last too long. Whenever I inform my current friends that I don't believe in long term friendship or I don't have a BEST FRIEND, they go into immediate shock. "Oh my God, you're a horrible person! You don't like me? We're gonna stay friends forever, you'll see!"--or at least they'll think something along those lines to themself and never admit it out loud. But the truth is...there's no such thing as friends forever.
Realistically, it's unlikely for two individuals from different families to both live in the same town or even province/state (if talking about N.A.)/country for their entire lives. Also, remember that people are always "changing". Depending on how much time you spend with them or how frequently you see them determines whether or not you notice it and how much it interferes in your friendship. Being even a 45 minute drive away from your friends, makes it difficult to keep in touch, particularly if you're not retired and you have a bunch of annoying things to attend such as school, work, or local social gatherings. OH and as a side note, many of the things I post about are my interpretations of personal experience, so it's not 100% my imagination.
STORY TIME:
I attended a private Christian school for my elementary education from grades 3-8. I made some amazing friends there, and we all got really close because 6 years is quite a long time when you're around that preadolescent age. So anyways, I actually had TWO--wow, I can't believe Christie's such a hypocrite!--best friends. They were Spanish, I felt totally comfortable around them (even comfortable enough to fight a lot actually--you know the typical girl fight, "I'm not talking to you" thing), the 3 of us lived a 5-10 minute bike ride away from each other, we talked about everything together (from classroom gossip to puberty experiences), we randomly showed up at each other's houses with 5 minutes notice, and we pretty much did everything together. That was an era of bliss and naivety where I believed in the prepubescent BFF doctrine with all my heart.
Graduation came. I was going to Cawthra, V was going to Mentor (hehe) College, and Pam was going to King's Collegiate. I even moved to opposite end of Mississauga, soon followed by Veronica (who I STILL haven't visited). Sure, no problem, we'll just hang out a lot and phone each other everyday. A few weeks into my grade 9 year, a series of phone calls ensued, "I don't think we'll be able to hang out this week", or "I'm kind of busy and I can't get a ride to your house". Darn that driving age of 16, huh? Thus, we settled for calling each other frequently. I talked to Pam almost everyday, updating her on everything...the kind of people at Cawthra, how the high school life compared to my expectations, any cute guys (HAH), and how we were gonna hang out again--the usual BFF stuff, you know? Eventually, the phone calls started getting shorter, filled out with awkward silences, and eventually both of us started getting too busy to return each other's calls. MSN and facebook would definitely not cut it--isn't the phone bad enough? Btw, for anyone who hasn't known me before high school, I used to use the phone A LOT. My parents would always be telling me to get off after the first couple hours. I never thought I would be one of those phoneline-hogging teenagers, but it's a disease that hits around...oh, late elementary school, I would say, so watch out for it when you have kids! But yeah, our friendship slowly faded away, and we each started making a new set of friends at our respective schools. Despite a comfortable transition between friend groups, there was still an unsettling feeling in my stomach and the sadness was sort of slow to hit me.
One day, my high school friend Irene gave me a big present bag full of goodies, and notes from my other close friend Nina, since they go to the same church. I felt really excited to get a second chance to maintain another elementary school friendship. The vicious notewriting on our oh-so-three-years-ago Lovely White paper began. We talked about the cherished past, the awkward present, and our possible post-secondary ambitions, which fed the conversation for a while. I tried to send stuff back, and we even made a scrapbook which we passed back and forth. It was really fun and it made me feel like I was making a better effort toward this friendship--but you can guess what happened: The same slowdown in communication, lack of things to talk about, and frequent writer's block. Even if we did manage to keep our communication going, was it practical for us to meet up through a 45 minute drive or should I make stronger connections with other kids at my high school, who were maybe a 15 minute drive away or could hang out after school? Eventually that communication ended too, and I realized I had to move on.
I'm not saying MOVE ON like it was easy. It was really hard, and that's probably what has scarred my perspective of friendship. Having to give up great friends, who were almost sisters to me, because of impractical circumstances. We even had a few summer gatherings at my house with a few movies (e.g. Borat, Step Up2, and other things I can't remember), sleepovers, gossiping about elementary people who changed (or got hotter -_-"), and chilling out with heaps of junk food. It was refreshing and it definitely felt right. However, I knew I couldn't get too comfortable because in a few more hours they were going to go back to their own lives, a 45 minutes' drive away. I actually felt really bad when one of my friends asked who was my best friend, while Pam was there. All I could think to do was be honest, "I don't have one." It kind of created an awkward moment and I'm sure Pam was hurt at least a little. Well, it hurt for me at least. Anyway, after all this letting go, I didn't feel like getting close to anyone at Cawthra. Most of them didn't even live near Cawthra, so it wasn't that convenient. Besides, we were only spending 4 years together, then we'd all be separated again.
Even in university, people are spending 4-5 years in undergrad, then they'll all be pursuing their own paths such as working, doing a master's, different co-op sequences, professional school, and perhaps even switching/dropping out. Even if you end up going to the same university as a friend, it's difficult to stay in touch with them if they don't have the same classes or practically live with you because you're always working, studying with other kids in your program, or participating in clubs that you're interested in--oh yeah, and exercise fits somewhere in there...but yeah, my main point is (I realize I go off topic a lot, because I don't want to forget what I'm thinking) that we make "friends" whenever it is convenient. Someone to keep us sane and work beside us. Someone with similar goals to cheer each other on. Sadly, someone who we can access without making TOO much extraneous effort.
Thanks to all my friends that have ever been, are, and are to come.
-grumpy
-friends with a non-human companion (e.g. a dog, goldfish, an imaginary friend, aliens...maybe?)
-sad but unsure how to integrate themselves into society
-just simply NOT HUMAN, just kidding (but this is a very, very TINY minority)
Personally, I have a different issue with the topic of friendship. I believe in and value it, but I don't expect each one to last too long. Whenever I inform my current friends that I don't believe in long term friendship or I don't have a BEST FRIEND, they go into immediate shock. "Oh my God, you're a horrible person! You don't like me? We're gonna stay friends forever, you'll see!"--or at least they'll think something along those lines to themself and never admit it out loud. But the truth is...there's no such thing as friends forever.
Realistically, it's unlikely for two individuals from different families to both live in the same town or even province/state (if talking about N.A.)/country for their entire lives. Also, remember that people are always "changing". Depending on how much time you spend with them or how frequently you see them determines whether or not you notice it and how much it interferes in your friendship. Being even a 45 minute drive away from your friends, makes it difficult to keep in touch, particularly if you're not retired and you have a bunch of annoying things to attend such as school, work, or local social gatherings. OH and as a side note, many of the things I post about are my interpretations of personal experience, so it's not 100% my imagination.
STORY TIME:
I attended a private Christian school for my elementary education from grades 3-8. I made some amazing friends there, and we all got really close because 6 years is quite a long time when you're around that preadolescent age. So anyways, I actually had TWO--wow, I can't believe Christie's such a hypocrite!--best friends. They were Spanish, I felt totally comfortable around them (even comfortable enough to fight a lot actually--you know the typical girl fight, "I'm not talking to you" thing), the 3 of us lived a 5-10 minute bike ride away from each other, we talked about everything together (from classroom gossip to puberty experiences), we randomly showed up at each other's houses with 5 minutes notice, and we pretty much did everything together. That was an era of bliss and naivety where I believed in the prepubescent BFF doctrine with all my heart.
Graduation came. I was going to Cawthra, V was going to Mentor (hehe) College, and Pam was going to King's Collegiate. I even moved to opposite end of Mississauga, soon followed by Veronica (who I STILL haven't visited). Sure, no problem, we'll just hang out a lot and phone each other everyday. A few weeks into my grade 9 year, a series of phone calls ensued, "I don't think we'll be able to hang out this week", or "I'm kind of busy and I can't get a ride to your house". Darn that driving age of 16, huh? Thus, we settled for calling each other frequently. I talked to Pam almost everyday, updating her on everything...the kind of people at Cawthra, how the high school life compared to my expectations, any cute guys (HAH), and how we were gonna hang out again--the usual BFF stuff, you know? Eventually, the phone calls started getting shorter, filled out with awkward silences, and eventually both of us started getting too busy to return each other's calls. MSN and facebook would definitely not cut it--isn't the phone bad enough? Btw, for anyone who hasn't known me before high school, I used to use the phone A LOT. My parents would always be telling me to get off after the first couple hours. I never thought I would be one of those phoneline-hogging teenagers, but it's a disease that hits around...oh, late elementary school, I would say, so watch out for it when you have kids! But yeah, our friendship slowly faded away, and we each started making a new set of friends at our respective schools. Despite a comfortable transition between friend groups, there was still an unsettling feeling in my stomach and the sadness was sort of slow to hit me.
One day, my high school friend Irene gave me a big present bag full of goodies, and notes from my other close friend Nina, since they go to the same church. I felt really excited to get a second chance to maintain another elementary school friendship. The vicious notewriting on our oh-so-three-years-ago Lovely White paper began. We talked about the cherished past, the awkward present, and our possible post-secondary ambitions, which fed the conversation for a while. I tried to send stuff back, and we even made a scrapbook which we passed back and forth. It was really fun and it made me feel like I was making a better effort toward this friendship--but you can guess what happened: The same slowdown in communication, lack of things to talk about, and frequent writer's block. Even if we did manage to keep our communication going, was it practical for us to meet up through a 45 minute drive or should I make stronger connections with other kids at my high school, who were maybe a 15 minute drive away or could hang out after school? Eventually that communication ended too, and I realized I had to move on.
I'm not saying MOVE ON like it was easy. It was really hard, and that's probably what has scarred my perspective of friendship. Having to give up great friends, who were almost sisters to me, because of impractical circumstances. We even had a few summer gatherings at my house with a few movies (e.g. Borat, Step Up2, and other things I can't remember), sleepovers, gossiping about elementary people who changed (or got hotter -_-"), and chilling out with heaps of junk food. It was refreshing and it definitely felt right. However, I knew I couldn't get too comfortable because in a few more hours they were going to go back to their own lives, a 45 minutes' drive away. I actually felt really bad when one of my friends asked who was my best friend, while Pam was there. All I could think to do was be honest, "I don't have one." It kind of created an awkward moment and I'm sure Pam was hurt at least a little. Well, it hurt for me at least. Anyway, after all this letting go, I didn't feel like getting close to anyone at Cawthra. Most of them didn't even live near Cawthra, so it wasn't that convenient. Besides, we were only spending 4 years together, then we'd all be separated again.
Even in university, people are spending 4-5 years in undergrad, then they'll all be pursuing their own paths such as working, doing a master's, different co-op sequences, professional school, and perhaps even switching/dropping out. Even if you end up going to the same university as a friend, it's difficult to stay in touch with them if they don't have the same classes or practically live with you because you're always working, studying with other kids in your program, or participating in clubs that you're interested in--oh yeah, and exercise fits somewhere in there...but yeah, my main point is (I realize I go off topic a lot, because I don't want to forget what I'm thinking) that we make "friends" whenever it is convenient. Someone to keep us sane and work beside us. Someone with similar goals to cheer each other on. Sadly, someone who we can access without making TOO much extraneous effort.
In fact, I DO have a best friend now: my cousin Katie. Same age, similar interests, totally comfortable around each other, we easily agree to disagree, I always learn new things from her, and I would trust her with my life. I'm so thankful that I have a cousin that I can depend on like a sister and who is the same age as me. Since she is also family, that makes our friendship tie stronger than your average BFF pair, and we have a better chance of living within comfortable proximity to each other. That way, we can take on life's challenges together, offering advice and an honest opinion to one another wherever possible.
Soooo, does this million word rant mean I think my friends are using me and I'm just using them? N-O--W-A-Y. Just because I don't believe in the long term friendship, it doesn't mean I don't CHOOSE to hang out with the people who are both accessible and likable in the present. Trust me, I'm pretty picky and judgemental of people, so if you made the cut, you must be doing something right. Also, just because we won't be friends forever, it doesn't mean you won't have impacted my life forever. Even if I refuse to let you change or affect who I am, I will still remember and look to you as a model of comparison for making new friends on my personal journey through life.Thanks to all my friends that have ever been, are, and are to come.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
I'm a copycat.
So today is a pretty gloomy day, or so it seems from my lonely study spot in my poorly lit guest room. Then I thought "What better way to waste time than to start a blog?", following the example of Alex, Michelle, and Sinthu (which I creeped from Alex's)--actually I did have a bunch of better ways to waste time, namely mafia wars (fb app), farmville (fb app), and SADLY neopets (considering my age, you have a right to be disappointed)--but anyways...it's all good because I have already accepted that I am a loser, seriously.
Actually, the real reason why I decided to start this blog is that I realize that I like giving my opinion and sharing my judgement of things, even though most people don't want to hear it. Most people just want a patient listener--apologies to all of my victims. Plus, as an angsty, pessimistic teenager I need an effective outlet other than sex. Just kidding, I'm a good girl. Well, according to the societal stereotype of Asians, don't I have to be?
Well, for conventions' sake, I suppose I'd better introduce myself even though most people who read this will already be familiar with my dull statistics. My name is Christie (I would have it spelled no other way), and I'm almost 18.5 years old. I have lived in the Mississaugan suburbs for my entire life, and I can't say I'm complaining. I am in my second year of undergraduate studies at the University of Waterloo in the Science and Business (co-op) program, and I love everything about it except the Science and Business workshop (how convenient!). Please don't ask why or what I plan to do with my life, and most importantly, please don't stalk me.
Moving on with my narcissistic rant, I believe almost all of my family is of Korean orient, making me a first generation Canadian. I'm not a hardcore patriot or anything of the sort, but I love being a "whitewash" and I love living here. We are luckier than most of us bother to realize. Randomly off topic, another reason why I decided to start a blog is that I enjoyed writing up my "About Me" on facebook because I felt I could be really honest about myself. Thus, there will be a lot of self-analysis in this blog, as well as my opinionated ranting. In terms of influences, my parents have had a tremendous influence on my personal development. To sum it up in a formula:
Me = My mom's conservativeness/introversion/sensitivity + My dad's realistic cynicism
Other things in the "Christie concoction" include irritability, lack of confidence, and a heated dislike towards stupidity and insensitivity (i.e. the typical guy or ditzes). Don't get me wrong though, I am not one of those butch, self-empowered feminists. Anyways, of course the "formula" is more complicated than that, but I don't want to give away the secret recipe. Honestly, the idea of personal clones running around is quite unsettling.
Oh and by the way, EVERYTHING in this blog is pure opinion, so feel free to disagree. I actually love hearing what other people are thinking and the rationale behind each of their actions--I just don't like arguing about it (i.e. tell me and go away, just kidding).
Well yeah, I'm kind of bored of writing crap right now, so I'm gonna end this post here. As a warning, my posting will be kind of random, not just one per day. Need I remind you that I have no life?
Actually, the real reason why I decided to start this blog is that I realize that I like giving my opinion and sharing my judgement of things, even though most people don't want to hear it. Most people just want a patient listener--apologies to all of my victims. Plus, as an angsty, pessimistic teenager I need an effective outlet other than sex. Just kidding, I'm a good girl. Well, according to the societal stereotype of Asians, don't I have to be?
Well, for conventions' sake, I suppose I'd better introduce myself even though most people who read this will already be familiar with my dull statistics. My name is Christie (I would have it spelled no other way), and I'm almost 18.5 years old. I have lived in the Mississaugan suburbs for my entire life, and I can't say I'm complaining. I am in my second year of undergraduate studies at the University of Waterloo in the Science and Business (co-op) program, and I love everything about it except the Science and Business workshop (how convenient!). Please don't ask why or what I plan to do with my life, and most importantly, please don't stalk me.
Moving on with my narcissistic rant, I believe almost all of my family is of Korean orient, making me a first generation Canadian. I'm not a hardcore patriot or anything of the sort, but I love being a "whitewash" and I love living here. We are luckier than most of us bother to realize. Randomly off topic, another reason why I decided to start a blog is that I enjoyed writing up my "About Me" on facebook because I felt I could be really honest about myself. Thus, there will be a lot of self-analysis in this blog, as well as my opinionated ranting. In terms of influences, my parents have had a tremendous influence on my personal development. To sum it up in a formula:
Me = My mom's conservativeness/introversion/sensitivity + My dad's realistic cynicism
Other things in the "Christie concoction" include irritability, lack of confidence, and a heated dislike towards stupidity and insensitivity (i.e. the typical guy or ditzes). Don't get me wrong though, I am not one of those butch, self-empowered feminists. Anyways, of course the "formula" is more complicated than that, but I don't want to give away the secret recipe. Honestly, the idea of personal clones running around is quite unsettling.
Oh and by the way, EVERYTHING in this blog is pure opinion, so feel free to disagree. I actually love hearing what other people are thinking and the rationale behind each of their actions--I just don't like arguing about it (i.e. tell me and go away, just kidding).
Well yeah, I'm kind of bored of writing crap right now, so I'm gonna end this post here. As a warning, my posting will be kind of random, not just one per day. Need I remind you that I have no life?
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