Most people recently try to be politically correct by saying 'Happy Holidays' but I don't give a damn since the origins of this holiday period can be traced to Christianity. So here's wishes from an apathetic Christian,
All my exams are over, in fact they were over on the 8th.
Its just a waiting game now, ugh... and the anticipation is killing me! I check my grades every damn day and somehow hoping that they're not published yet.
For the past 3 years, every semester before I drag my ass onto the "green mile" and into those dreadful exam halls, I faithfully jot down all the things I want to accomplish after my exams (an excuse not to concentrate on studying). Here is my hopeful last list:
THINGS TO DO:
4 more days till my graduating paper is due.
Actually its 3 more days left but I like to count today as a day on its own, just to console myself...
I'm starting to think that the next couple of posts will be little snippets of my life that will document my last days till I graduate.
Guess what? There were 2 nights in a row where I only accumulated a total of 7 hours of sleep. I stayed up to finish off a paper on Economic Development: Alleviation of Poverty in Kenya, slept 3 hours and woke up to get to morning class.
You won't believe the amount of ache I had around my eyes from staring at the computer screen. Guess it was all the build-up of lactic acid. I drove to school and set in the parking lot for awhile till I had a pounding headache and felt like hurling. It was time to go. Drove back home and jumped into bed.
Wow... I work sooo well under pressure.
I didn't think the last semester would feel this bad. Maybe this is all just in my mind.
Until school is over
and I just finished my last midterm last Thursday...
and I think I bombed my 2nd midterm on taxation...
how screwed am I?
11 more hours till the store opens...
Missed the premier of the Xbox360, missed the premier of the PS3, but I didn't care too much of those. I can't miss out on the premier of Nintendo's ultimate game console. THIS IS NO DOUBT THE EVOLUTION OF GAMING.
Some worries though: the motion sensors might not be very accurate to pick up your movements. Imagine playing 'Red Steel' and you wanted to slash your nemesis but it is just a second too late... you're dead.
I seriously hope there aren't other geniuses who thought of the same place as us. Boy I'd be pretty pissed if I couldn't get my hands on at least one of the four.
But obviously, if we could think of it, then others could too.... Should I get 2 instead? But there's not much profit for arbitrage. I'm not even sure if the Nintendo execs limited the supply like the execs at Sony did (which created anarchy).
I Am Sofa King Wii Todd Ed
I'm bored with the way my blog looks. I'm testing out new templates and colour schemes right now. So forgive me if you do happen to go blind due to some crazy neon colors that might appear temporarily...
hell no, I haven't... good thing I wrote a disclaimer about blogging a few posts back. *WINK*
To keep you updated on the recent daily affairs of my life:
Rach is too lazy to blog so I'm going to entertain you....with photos! Photos of things and events Rach and I experience when we are together, followed by a short caption...because writing the amount Rach usually writes is way too time consuming and bring brain much pain. much much pain.
-Dan
Pets:
Wonderin' Around:
China Town, Vancouver
Food:
This is a Japadog. The person who invented this is a genius. 
P-Toro Ramen. There's nothing more addictive than this...
I forgot what this is called, but I'm sure Rach will do a blog about this place later.
Learnin':
I've known this for quite some time now. Being in the state of denial for quite awhile, I've finally come to accept the fact:
Well, the 2 weeks have just whirled speedily past me and in my opinion it was a well-spent vacation. You might be expecting that I experienced something tremendously exciting or spectacular, but I did nothing of such. After combatting tumultuous times during exam period, my fantasy was simply to take refuge in the comforts of my home or his and attain 8 hours or more of REM sleep. It necessarily took 4 days to completely eradicate my sleep debt!
The path to relaxation requires that I hike up the Grouse Grind; spend time with my other half; hang out with girlfriends, have a day with dogs at the beach, hit the gym, have an insane amount of barbeque parties, and another day-trip to Seattle.
But of course, it is supposedly true that if anything is wonderful, it must cease to exist at some point, and in any case, I happily go back to my work feeling refreshed. I'm in a slight state of distress currently, seeing as it is my last semester at school even though it is to my knowledge that it will not be the absolute last. Graduation really frightens me. In the end, because I've spent all my life doing it, I've come to love reading, studying.
Random memory:
Isn't it peculiar how as one goes through life, life governed by nature, fate or a ubiquitous being rakes up something from your past?
This is one of those horrid eras of mine.
Quite probable that I'm 10 in that picture, standing on the left. I dreaded my elementary school life, almost every aspect of it. From the contemptible bitchy girls and snide remarks that sprung from their mouths, the squalid circumstance of the school giving it creepiness and perversity (hence countless of ghost stories), the distance it was from my home to the poor disappointing grades I acheived.
My dad came to pick me up that day and as I vaguely recall, I was asking this particular girl something and she gave me a usual rude response. Seeing that we were speaking he assumed she was a close friend of mine and told us to pose for a picture. Avoiding the possibility of ruining her squeaky-clean image she complied and I was told to put my arm around her for an effect.
I do not even remember what her name is.
Tonight is a quiet night. Its rather comforting to intermittently peel away from your other half and have some personal time to do your own thing, girly things such as shaving, plucking and waxing and some appreciated time sitting in bed reading a classic next to the bedlamp.
Feeling rather fidgety earlier on and unamused at the programs on the tele, I stumbled upon a reliable favourite of mine, something I can regularly depend on to entertain myself when nothing else is on (don't you realize yet that I'm a tv junkie?), good ol' Roseanne.
Do not be careless to think I go unpunished for my likings. I have been jeered at previously by Dan since a common undeserved early impression on this sitcom is rather grey: hickish and red-neck are the terms ordinarily used in its opinionated description. Is it reasonable for me to blame others, since the only 2 channels that still bear to air it are Prime and CMT (Country Music Television)?
The traces of personal tastes pertaining to the outback can only be effectually found on the dreary days of winter when I wear my cowboy boots. Similar to many fellow urban young adults, I do regard country music with an extent of disdain.
However, to my disappointment, I fear that most members of my age group fail to discern the value of this show. Other than journey down the timeline to comedy sitcoms concerning family life such as Leave it to Beaver or Father knows Best, Roseanne was a pioneering sitcom that aptly demolished those formal schemas to approaching family life. Riddance to those painfully stringent inapplicable rules to raising a family like those we once knew of when North America was still a good safe place and residents didn't necessarily have to lock up in their neighbourhood. Welcome satire, where parents need not be uptight, incessantly worried about their offsprings' future. Where parents and guardians can conceivably be light-hearted, sit back and laugh, strike up a joke or two. I recall watching it in my younger days and feeling so refreshed to their different angle and perspective on family life, half-cursing the circumstance of my family and asian culture, fantasizing that surely all North American families must have been liberal like theirs.
Lets not forget the chemistry that Roseanne Barr (her last name changed to Arnold during that period), John Goodman and their fictictious children have amongst each other. Recently, I watched a reunion of them on Larry King. To watch them foster warmth to each other, recalling memorable special episodes and singing 'inside' songs delighted me, seeing that colleagues can be amiable to each other. Quite dissimilar to the way Seinfeld characters relate to each other in reality.
Remember this?
Love the circular panning shot of the table.
Well, I can heave a sigh of relief now that all my grades have been published, and for one, I rather want to kill myself. It seems that my last race to considerably augment my marks have proven disappointing results. My talents can only reel in minute increments of improvements.
Fortunately, I still have one more semester and further of my adult life to accomplish gleaming results worthy of pride in my post-grad era. Ha. Ha. Ha.
On a happy note, I deserted all grievances and made a regrettable decision to plunge myself in hedonistic pleasures: Shopping and Useless chatter (euphemism for Gossip). How girlish.
I'm not quite sure how to approach my situation.
4 exams that cover a tremendous amount of material and 2 exams on one day.
Surely, I'm going mad.
On a lighter note, I'll have 2 days to escape my surburban hell and have some R&R at the Sheraton Wall Centre and hopefully, mostly do my studying there. I sorta see it as if I have to write something magnificently brilliant and I'm going to the Hamptons for some inspiration.
Ha! Ideally, that's what I'd hope it would be, but knowing my sloth of a character and the attention span of 'W' Bush, not too surprising to see me galavanting all day long.
Mmmm.... swimming.
So, I won't be blogging much for a couple of days. Till the 15th.
I know.... how shameful of me to not have blogged for such a long period of time, and now, more nothingness.
Well, if I made a living in blogging, you'd see posts everyday and perhaps more than one a day, but for now, my livelihood is being a student.
I'll have some interesting posts to excite you with very soon. *wink*
3 words.
I've finally been able to steal away some time for myself, after my seemingly interminable slavery to school, to spend some "quality" time with my sister, selecting this movie in hopes of reconciling the girly, dainty (ugh) side of me with my realistic, care-less pragmatic self.
To be rightfully honest, the plot of this movie isn't the work of some genius in which many years to come disciples will pay sincere homage to. Nothing of it will haunt you, no antagonist will wrench your heart and this protagonist takes no disposition in which one will easily grant sympathy for.
Simply put, it is another proverbial story in which one who is perceived to possess a supreme amount of power reigns with a draconian code of conduct towards her subordinates. Grounded on Lauren Weisberger's best-selling novel, the evil but admirable Miranda was allegedly based on the infamous Vogue editor, Anna Wintour (although from what I hear, Anna Wintour was mentioned as a different character many a time in the book itself.) Although treated in a unnecessarily harsh manner, Andrea Sachs (Anne Hathaway), an inhibited unstylish yet independent-spirited aspiring journalist, temporarily abandons her dreams converting to one of Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep)'s sophisticated minions. Most of the movie pays specific attention to Andrea's encounter with Miranda and in the end she takes an ethical re-consideration to her prior decision and leaves the glitzy glamourous life and a potential hunky man for a level-headed realistic job and back to her previous scruffy-looking unshaven man (Adrian Grenier). As if you couldn't tell from watching the trailer.
Up till now, I've had wrathful words for this movie, but yet it is categorized into one of those things you take guilty indulgence in, apologize for your superficiality and in time commit the same crime like an adulterous whore...
Same thing said for the attractions I (and I suppose many other women) have for sappy sob flicks whose entire plot can be forseeable and even calculated. Movies like 'Sleepless in Seattle' and 'The Notebook'(notorious tear-jerker). This is the same lure 'Sex and the City' has on me, I shamefully admit to.
Women adore 'Sex and the City' and 'The Devil wears Prada' because it strengthens further this embroidery of hedonistic illusions that we have meticulously concocted for ourselves, this mostly unattainable lifestyle. After mindful countless repetitive reinforcements, we've learned to associate
3 words that sums it up.
Today in Pitt Meadows, thermometer liquids surged quickly to match the sweltering heat that engulfed its surroundings. I peered at it only to see its reading of 32 degrees celsius.
I figured: oh well, it can't be that bad, I see people wandering around in their yards and on the street. Hence, I wildly slathered generous amounts of SPF 45 sunscreen everywhere which was liable to the sun, donned my athletic gear and laced up my shoes.
I thought I would be clever if I left some bottles of water at the doorstep, run up and down the street and stop for some quick hydration whenever I felt parched, but god was I wrong....
After running for what seems like eternity, 16 minutes and 26 seconds, only completing 1.9 miles, I unwillingly surrendered to the sun. It's ardent scorching rays slowly but surely withering it's subordinates. My lungs gave out and my aching hamstring muscles locked, I was defeated. I came through the door, gulping more water, brushing off beads of perspiration, feeling abashed. I've never given up half way through a run. I always complete it. Its a tad bit shameful, seeing that I hail from a tropical country so close to the equator.
It's truly admirable how Kenyans have made a name for themselves in the running arena, winning a great number of races around the world. I wonder, is it in their genetics that set them apart from the world? For many generations most of their population has depended on their feet as their main form of transportation and accordingly ran to quickly arrive at their destinations. Training in the severe heat also gives them a superior advantage of toughing out less intense versions in places such as Arizona.
Only thing I can do is get out there in the heat more often.
Ah well.
Sincere apologies for my absence in the past 9 days.
Endless midterms, one after another, has seized control of my life. This ceaseless cycle continues to interrupt my otherwise ho hom routine, injecting sporadic shots of adrenaline to my system. Sometimes I wonder: Perhaps worklife alone is not as stressful as the life of a student.
Just today, to combat my natural instincts of hitting the sack, I drank coffee.
Awful idea to drink something and not go to the bathroom before an exam. It left me wrought in nervousness 30 minutes to the end of the exam and madly punching numbers into my calculator. Quite a sight I must say, to see a girl frantically hand in a paper and thump (what she makes of as 'run') her way out of a hushed lecture hall.
That's Cookie, me bichon frise poooooch. Active boy he is.
So we were all down in Dan's basement, dogs and all, with nothing to do.
We stoop so low just for mere laughs and entertainment. Hear my thick and creepy laugh!
I promise longer posts in the future.
A cult following exists for t-shirts with cool designs and patterns that has mainly been kept underground.
I used to poke fun at how geeks, emo-kids and rejects from society were so hyped out about them because it was pure inconceivable to me how anyone who was in a stable state of mind could be so willing to part with substantial amounts of money for ownership. T-shirts, other than tawdry ones I wear to sleep, were not staples to my wardrobe. After all, they boast not of fine material nor of figure-flattering cuts. I failed to understand.
Until, I saw these. Armed and New Beginnings. How fickle I can be... in addition, I parted with more cash. It's difficult to explain the unreasonable extent and inconsistency of women. We are crazy like that. *ponders* Grrrooooovy. But I owe it to Jen for showing me these shirts. To give credit where credit is due: THANKS JEN!
The fascinating thing about Vancouver is that although it is quite the commercial city, it still manages to retain an in depth sense of charm and quaintness that one can only realize through exploring it.
Lately, I've noticed that the city has been focusing much attention on artwork and public displays specifically in the core of downtown. I'll take more pictures of the many displays soon for your enjoyment. I was strolling along the shopping district and chanced upon this. It is actually of a bear and there are many variations representing different themes planted all over the city which I usually don't care much for due to their corniness. But this one, all dressed up, just makes me laugh! Awesome!
This concludes the trip to weekend trip to Seattle, celebrating our anniversary. My nostrils might be flaring but check out how thin and sexy my butt looks in the mirror reflection! Makes my day.
