Thursday, June 30, 2005

Cont'd...

While walking to my new house for rent my new neighbour threw a water balloon at me from their 2nd storey window. Ai ya.

FYI: in Vancouver flashing green lights DOES NOT mean advance GO GO GO, there are no left turn lanes (hence the one laned major streets, which you can also PARK on, btw), and there is a street called Granville I would not go to after sunset. Think about how "regular" Vancouver people are earthy already. Then...think about the "other people".

I also saw the "clubbing district". Hum dinger.

Went to some awesome restaurants (Bin 942 and Nirvana) and walked around downtown. Went to Ginger 62 which is a lounge that Farah's dad owns. The Jazz festival was going on there and it was pretty interesting.

Tonight Farah and I are trying some recipes and renting movies :)
Long weekend is here I can't wait!

Monday, June 27, 2005

Vancouver week 1

WOW! It's beautiful here. It's also been a whirlwind since I arrived Saturday night. The plane ride was...warm. The A/C did not work in the beginning and we sat on the airplane for 1 hour before we moved an inch. Connection flight went smoothly especially since there was the hottest flight attendent ever on board. Also, my luggage came out first. P-Unit picked me up at the airport and we proceeded to find my place of work and we saw a room for rent I had found online earlier. It was in a nice area and 0.1 miles from GF Strong (according to Mapquest). However, it looked like crap. It was owned by some Chinese dude who lived upstairs and there were 3 other people inhabiting the basement apartment suites. My mattress was stained, the kitchen and bathroom were rusted and there was a mother of a fly in the shower stall. I think someone from the City of Vancouver needs to go check out housing codes on that one and tell the guy that he's not in China no more.

Then we went to Burnaby to see P-Unit's sister's house and eat dinner. We went to a very nice restaurant called Joey Tomato's (I think) and I ate lobster ravioli! Yum! Then we went home, looked for more housing as the previous one did not pan out and slept. The next day it took us until 3pm to get out the door because we are slow. Ok, I am slow. We went to Robson so I could sort out my Gap situation and then shopped a bit before trying to navigate to the first house appointment. The street was nowhere to be found and I called for directions, however, the guy was not there. It was 15 minutes past my appt and the guy was still not home. Well anyway, I left a msg and he never called me back. We went to the next house which was opposite of the first house we saw. Bad neighbourhood but really nice, new, clean basement apartment. I think I will sign it. Then we went to all you can eat sushi and ate until we couldn't talk anymore. We could barely breathe. Then we went to another house appt, but the guy was divorced, soft-spoken, and lived there by himself and a fiesty cat. So...let's not.

Then we went to Dragonball for some real good real fruit bubbletea and proceeded to Farah's house. I caught up with Farah last night and met her boyfriend who helped me find some more houses to call. However, I am lazy and do not want to go to all these places on a bus. So...looks like the Main Street basement apartment!

Today was my first day at GF Strong. It is a huge rehab hospital and I'm quite excited. Seating is kind of blah and so is AT (assistive tech)...but whatever, I'm in Vancouver and not in Cobourg any longer. Farah drove me there this morning and I walked home (about 30 mins). Oh, and on the way home I gave someone directions!!! WOOO GO ME! (I hope they aren't lost in the mountains right now). Tonight Farah and I are going out for dinner and perhaps Robson Street.

Some funny/weird answering machine messages:

  • "Hi, we're not home right now, but we look forward to meeting you in person."
  • (Insert Indian accent and singing voice to a made up tune)"Sorry, we're not home right now, leave a message and I'll call you later."
  • "Hi, UM, if you'd like to leave a message, you can now. If you don't, well then, you suck."

    Stuff here is so different! Stucco houses. Tall trees and huge hedges that cover an entire house's view. "Earthy" people who walk outside without their shoes. More updates later. Looking forward to having Triplets reunite (early!) and AVL.

  • Wednesday, June 22, 2005

    WHEE!

    Off to Vancouver on Saturday for the rest of the summer!
    TONS of stuff to update you all on when I get settled in.
    I'll miss you guys!! Pics and e-mails and posts to come.
    Have a great summer...


    p.s. see previous post for my game 7 prediction

    Friday, June 17, 2005

    This week

  • I have seen a beware of bears in the playground poster in the elementary schools (as opposed to beware of strangers poster)
  • I have driven directly behind a metal garbage truck in 35 degree Celsius weather on a one-lane country road...mmm yummy
  • I experienced my first "traffic jam" in Cobourg that lasted 5 minutes (these are due to no left turn lanes)
  • I have slept 14 hours in one night and still made it to work on time (6pm-8am)
  • I have read 2 novels
  • I have eaten enough for 3 people
  • My gym regimen has been almost completely obliterated
  • I drove by the farms and didn't even notice the stench

    Speaking of obliteration...San Antonio...who? What? Where?
    Yes, I am a fan of Mr. Artest and steadfast against his lame-o sentence. I hope he got to work on his music. However, I am also a fan of the "underdog" and I'm just a basketball fan who wants to see a good series aka Game 7 down to the second decision time 3 pointer by Rip himself.

    ...more to come...today is Friday aka surf the web day and leave early
    Would anybody like a personalized Haiku?

  • Friday, June 10, 2005

    2 weeks

    I CAN'T WAIT!

    Taking it easy these past few weekends. I think I'm all partied out. Reconsidering my life. Went to the Cobourg waterfront the other day with two of my OT girls. It was beautiful. The weather's been awesome. I'm definitely not complaining of the heat. Just came in from tennis with Garlok. Good to be outside again...when I have a day off I definitely want to play volleyball on the beach...anyone down?

    The days are flying by...I'm looking forward to new people, opportunities, and a change of scenery. I think I definitely need it.

    I miss my Trips, VChau, PB, Bainiacs, Lin...

    Pics of the farm coming as soon as I get off my (getting even fatter) fat ass.

    Sunday, June 05, 2005

    Cynical? Who, me?

    Cynicism is a belief in...nothing. You've already met cynics, I'm sure; They're those people who tell you they see things how they really are and that things are really rotten. They believe that no one is sincere, and that everyone has secret, selfish reasons for the things they do. They'll tell you that everything is rigged against you, and no one means what they say. The world, according to the cynic is a cold and cruel place.... People who are cynical or jaded make their own lives cold because they lack courage. It takes courage to believe in things; sometimes things will disappoint you, sometimes people will let you down. To have faith is to risk having your heart broken, and the cynic isn't willing to take that risk.

    - from Boys Will Put You on a Pedestal (So They Can Look Up Your Skirt): A Dad's Advice for Daughters, Philip Van Munching



    Worst ever meeting today at Gap. What the hell. Do they think they can slave drive Canadian employees in addition to their third world country "employees" in sweat shops? Okay, my managers would freak if they read this. I worked from 10am-9pm today straight with a federally mandated 1 hour break. O CANADA.

    So today during my shift, keep in mind I usually never take a break to go to the washroom, I went to the bathroom to rest for a bit because I was feeling really nauseous from the heat of the gazillion white lights they have back there - why they gotta do that for, I will never know. If you ask them, they'll give you some "visual marketing, customer appeal, modern merchandising fluff". Anyhoo, I leave the bathroom and my manager is standing right there telling me they're swamped at adult Gap and they need me back right away. What the mother? Are you stalking me? Then she asked if I told anyone I was going to the washroom. Do I look like I'm in 3rd grade? Alright. So I go back and it's not busy at all - turns out the cashier was paging me by walkie talkie because he couldn't find a hold on the holds rack that I had put back there earlier, even though it was under the right alphabet letter. So the day just went downhill from there...and the meeting came.

    ENTER: Gap propoganda 2005. Two videos preaching words like: YOU BE YOU, INTEGRITY, RESPECT, PASSION, 2nd LARGEST RETAILER IN THE US (next to WALMART)...the list goes on. They weren't even talking about the words. They were just words on a TV screen. Can they do this? I want that tape confiscated and analyzed for subliminal messages. I had that whole picture in my head of people staring at the screen with black and white swirls and their pupils dilating as they watched it. Basically, they called the meeting a educational seminar on Gap Inc. and all it's brands including Old Navy and Banana Republic. AND IT'S ONLY THE BEGINNING. AI YA. So we played games with hidden facts like Gap's enormity on the international scale, how many employees it has, how much money it makes every year, how we can compete with Walmart (to which I was thinking, of course never saying, "you can't compete with Walmart, you idiots, unless you quadruple your net sales per year and start selling lawnmowers". Why are they comparing themselves with Walmart as opposed to J. Crew? Because they want to be number 1. Power-seeking, money-hungry, status-obsessed corporate America. I couldn't believe it. Actually, who am I kidding. Of course I could believe the superiority complex of the Americans, just not the audacity of blatently brainwashing their employees. Good thing I have a strong wall built against that kind of crap. And all my co-workers were gobbling it up like American Thanksgiving turkey (which is by the way the 2nd most commercially marketed holiday in the US). That will be a different post.

    Now you're all wondering why I'm still working there. Well, it's a guaranteed job wherever I go (e.g. Vancouver, Toronto, Kingston). I already know all I need to know to work there and it's just convenient. So I'm sticking with it until graduation. It pays crap, it treats you like you're one out of 14,000 employees (which you are), they let you know that you can be replaced with a one of a bazillion people who hand in their resumes each day, and it marks its clothes up so huge it's absolutely ridiculous. Does anyone want to start wearing hemp clothing with me?

    To those who know me: HAHAAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHHAHAAHAHAHA.

    Cynical? Who, me?