I decided part of what is making paper writing so difficult is that I haven't had a change in scenery. I spent my entire weekend either in my living room or in my room (the only other rooms left in my space that don't belong to my roommate are my bathroom and the kitchen). I can't handle the noise/children in the public library and was too lazy to trek down to school over the weekend. Today I decided to put in a couple hours on my paper at the Suzzallo reading room in our graduate library. I like to call it the Harry Potter room because it reminds me of Hogwarts. It definitely feels like a place where graduate students before me did a lot of thinking and coming up with brilliant ideas. I figured maybe that would rub off on me. Not sure that it did but at least the fact that you can hear a pin drop kept me quiet and still for a couple hours. I think I'm going to have to force myself to visit this place at least once a week for some quiet time. If only they could pump in some meditation music and light some candles in there and maybe add a fully stocked fridge. That would be perfect.2.27.2007
Suzzallo
I decided part of what is making paper writing so difficult is that I haven't had a change in scenery. I spent my entire weekend either in my living room or in my room (the only other rooms left in my space that don't belong to my roommate are my bathroom and the kitchen). I can't handle the noise/children in the public library and was too lazy to trek down to school over the weekend. Today I decided to put in a couple hours on my paper at the Suzzallo reading room in our graduate library. I like to call it the Harry Potter room because it reminds me of Hogwarts. It definitely feels like a place where graduate students before me did a lot of thinking and coming up with brilliant ideas. I figured maybe that would rub off on me. Not sure that it did but at least the fact that you can hear a pin drop kept me quiet and still for a couple hours. I think I'm going to have to force myself to visit this place at least once a week for some quiet time. If only they could pump in some meditation music and light some candles in there and maybe add a fully stocked fridge. That would be perfect.
2.25.2007
noise
Yesterday the people upstairs invited a herd of children to run up and down the fucking hallway while I tried to write a paper. I promptly went upstairs, opened the hallway door, and there they were all 5 of them (I think) staring at me. Each was no more than 4 1/2 years old. Realizing that you can't yell at kids that young and have them understand a thing I'm saying, I said in my most non-threatening voice "could I ask you guys not to run up here because it's very noisy downstairs." I went back to our apartment and the running ceased (probably because their parents heard me issue that warning...or I scared them back into their apartment). I was hoping it'd be older kids so I could yell a little bit because I like to do that. Y'know, yell at other people's children.
So now in an attempt to not completely lose my mind whilst writing, I have my candle burning and I'm listening to meditation music on shoutcast. Yes, meditation music. Laugh not. It's the only thing keeping me marginally sane. Thing is that I'm blasting this meditation music to drown out the rock music coming through the floor from downstairs. How fucked is that really? I hate my neighbors and I hate apartment living.
So now in an attempt to not completely lose my mind whilst writing, I have my candle burning and I'm listening to meditation music on shoutcast. Yes, meditation music. Laugh not. It's the only thing keeping me marginally sane. Thing is that I'm blasting this meditation music to drown out the rock music coming through the floor from downstairs. How fucked is that really? I hate my neighbors and I hate apartment living.
2.22.2007
asshole in 14c
[this is my first letter to a corporation that isn't a complaint or suggestion].
Dear Alaska Airlines,
I am writing this letter aboard Alaska Airlines 375 from San Jose to Seattle (departure 5:35pm on February 20, 2007). There is a man seated in 14C who is also writing a letter to Alaska Airlines as I can see it from where I’m seated in 15D. He is writing a letter of complaint and I am writing to defend the actions of the flight attendants on this flight. Our flight was delayed about 10 minutes prior to boarding and then we did not actually leave until 6:20pm. The second delay was caused by a woman in the 24th row having medical issues. I overheard the flight attendants mentioning that the passenger was dizzy and having a hard time catching her breath and they had a medic checking on her to see if she was okay to fly. After a short delay the lady was escorted from the plane and the flight attendants apologized for the delay and let us know that they were tending to the safety and well being of one of the passengers. No one else on the plane seemed to have a problem with this delay.
During the delay the man in 14C was complaining loudly that Alaska is never on time anymore and that he spent 1.5 hours waiting on the tarmac aboard an Alaska flight yesterday morning. It was obvious he was speaking in a loud volume in an attempt to garner support from nearby passengers but I think most people, like me, were just getting annoyed with his loud incessant complaining. While the fight attendant apologized for the delay due to the medical issue, he continued with comments like, “whatever, we’re going to get there at what time now? We were supposed to land at 7:38.” As we prepared to take off a flight attendant asked him to turn off his MP3 player and he scoffed at her, rolled his eyes dramatically, and gestured as though it was unnecessary, then turned it off. As she walked away, he said loudly, “last thing we need on Alaska now is bitchy flight attendants.” The flight attendant (blond woman) came back and said to him, “this is your last warning, or you’re going to the gate and getting off.” After another round of dramatic gesturing as though he had done no wrong, he finally shut up.
On a second check through the cabin before take off a flight attendant asked him to bring his seat all the way up for take off and leaned over to push the button and get his seat back up. The man got all flustered again and as the flight attendant walked away this time, he said loudly, “what a bitch!” I’m not sure if the flight attendant heard but by that time the plane was starting to pull away from the gate and I think everyone just wanted to get to Seattle with no further delays.
His behavior, tone of voice, and body language were unnecessarily rude, obnoxious, and hostile. People have medical problems and I think the staff onboard took the right precautions in making sure the passenger was safe to fly. That, of course, takes time but no one else on board seemed to have a problem with a delay that you cannot fault an airline for. And calling the flight attendants bitches is absolutely uncalled for.
I too get frustrated with airline delays but I have to come to the defense of the airline for once. That man’s behavior was despicable and I hope you take my perspective into account when you review his letter of complaint (it’s a long one). The flight attendants did no wrong (in fact they were fantastic) and do not deserve any disciplinary action whatsoever.
Sincerely, Vanessa Au
Dear Alaska Airlines,
I am writing this letter aboard Alaska Airlines 375 from San Jose to Seattle (departure 5:35pm on February 20, 2007). There is a man seated in 14C who is also writing a letter to Alaska Airlines as I can see it from where I’m seated in 15D. He is writing a letter of complaint and I am writing to defend the actions of the flight attendants on this flight. Our flight was delayed about 10 minutes prior to boarding and then we did not actually leave until 6:20pm. The second delay was caused by a woman in the 24th row having medical issues. I overheard the flight attendants mentioning that the passenger was dizzy and having a hard time catching her breath and they had a medic checking on her to see if she was okay to fly. After a short delay the lady was escorted from the plane and the flight attendants apologized for the delay and let us know that they were tending to the safety and well being of one of the passengers. No one else on the plane seemed to have a problem with this delay.
During the delay the man in 14C was complaining loudly that Alaska is never on time anymore and that he spent 1.5 hours waiting on the tarmac aboard an Alaska flight yesterday morning. It was obvious he was speaking in a loud volume in an attempt to garner support from nearby passengers but I think most people, like me, were just getting annoyed with his loud incessant complaining. While the fight attendant apologized for the delay due to the medical issue, he continued with comments like, “whatever, we’re going to get there at what time now? We were supposed to land at 7:38.” As we prepared to take off a flight attendant asked him to turn off his MP3 player and he scoffed at her, rolled his eyes dramatically, and gestured as though it was unnecessary, then turned it off. As she walked away, he said loudly, “last thing we need on Alaska now is bitchy flight attendants.” The flight attendant (blond woman) came back and said to him, “this is your last warning, or you’re going to the gate and getting off.” After another round of dramatic gesturing as though he had done no wrong, he finally shut up.
On a second check through the cabin before take off a flight attendant asked him to bring his seat all the way up for take off and leaned over to push the button and get his seat back up. The man got all flustered again and as the flight attendant walked away this time, he said loudly, “what a bitch!” I’m not sure if the flight attendant heard but by that time the plane was starting to pull away from the gate and I think everyone just wanted to get to Seattle with no further delays.
His behavior, tone of voice, and body language were unnecessarily rude, obnoxious, and hostile. People have medical problems and I think the staff onboard took the right precautions in making sure the passenger was safe to fly. That, of course, takes time but no one else on board seemed to have a problem with a delay that you cannot fault an airline for. And calling the flight attendants bitches is absolutely uncalled for.
I too get frustrated with airline delays but I have to come to the defense of the airline for once. That man’s behavior was despicable and I hope you take my perspective into account when you review his letter of complaint (it’s a long one). The flight attendants did no wrong (in fact they were fantastic) and do not deserve any disciplinary action whatsoever.
Sincerely, Vanessa Au
2.15.2007
packing
So I don't trust people particularly baggage handlers. I also don't like to check in bags because it takes too long for it to get to the baggage claim. Oh and stuff gets stolen and lost. So I decided that I'm only bringing a carry-on suitcase and my backpack. Problem is that I have to haul all the Wii shit down there for Simon and since I also fear getting mugged I've decided it's all going in my carry on suitcase and not in a shopping bag. Right, so that means 90% of my luggage space goes to the Wii, games, and my laptop and I get 10% for clothes and stuff. Miraculously it all fit. Being short and, as a result, having smaller clothes made it all possible. So yeah, a thin layer of clothing on top of what you see in the photo is all I'm bringing. Don't be taking me anywhere fancy. I won't be dressed for it.
2.14.2007
Valentine's
I hate Valentine's day just as much as I hate Christmas and my own birthday. I just don't do well with these celebratory holidays in general (or in the case of birthdays, I'm just not into marking the passing of time). I guess I kinda like Thanksgiving because it's not focused on emotionality and sentimentality and spending money for no reason, and it's more about food, which I'm more than fine with (okay so I ignore the giving thanks part, whatever). Plus doesn't Valentine's just feel like a day of making single people feel like shit? Having a Valentine almost makes me feel guilty. Okay enough ranting. I had a shitty day, can you tell? I'm going to crack open a beer and finish grading papers.
2.13.2007
locked out
For those who were eagerly awaiting the conclusion of the story of my friend locking himself out of his uncle's house while house sitting (and pictures) here it is.
story (you'll see from the pics that he had to smash a window and climb in)
pictures (click >> to advance the photos. Kinda funny how much smaller the window looks when Denny is climbing through it. hehe)
story (you'll see from the pics that he had to smash a window and climb in)
pictures (click >> to advance the photos. Kinda funny how much smaller the window looks when Denny is climbing through it. hehe)
2.12.2007
Spring Break
So the break between this quarter and Spring quarter is coming up and I'm thinking Vanessa needs a vacation. Either that or a good therapist or perhaps both. Was thinking to run around Manhatten but it's unseasonably cold right now and that's the last thing I need. Could make it a big snowboarding break but now that I live here I can go any time really. I think Hawaii is probably the furthest we can go without spending half the break on a plane. Definitely no more Mexico. After 4 visits there I need to really resist the cheap all-inclusive (read: drinking 24 hours a day and getting stupid drunk on the beach) and go somewhere else. Somehow we also have to fit in a big huge party for my friend Lieon who is finishing his internship here and going back to Duke to get that Phd. Hooray for Dr. Lieon.
Ivar's
Okay I thought McCormick and Scmicks had an awesome happy hour but tonight after yet another near break with reality due to too much work to do in too little time and really poor coping skills I decided I needed to get out and try to rescue my sanity. So happy hour it was. We went to Ivar's on Northlake and I had the cheapest raw oysters ever. $2.95 for a half dozen. I also got a crab quesadilla which was stuffed with huge chunks of real crab for $4.95. My heffie was $2.95. Check out this menu!!! Now I'm stuffed and over my grad school induced panic (for now). But my 4 page position paper which I haven't started unfortunately is still due Wednesday and I'm going to be observed while I teach (by two people no less) on Friday. I can't wait to get over this week. It is killing me (not at all softly).
2.10.2007
God make it stop
Oh I forgot to mention, it happened again. For some reason when people approach me I always assume that they're about to ask directions so I put on a big smile and get ready to do my good deed of the day.
And then they say, "Hi I'm from the Apostle's Mission, and I..." and then smoke comes out of my ears, "NO THANKS" comes out of my mouth, I put up my hand to block their God-fearing face from my view and walk the other direction.
For fuck's sake. Seriously. Stop it with the church recruiting nonsense. Can't you worship without running around trying to get everyone else to join you? If you are going to go about your religion, "bless" your heart. Do whatever makes you happy. But if I'm going to burn in some fiery hell, that's my business. Don't try and rescue me or whatever.
And then they say, "Hi I'm from the Apostle's Mission, and I..." and then smoke comes out of my ears, "NO THANKS" comes out of my mouth, I put up my hand to block their God-fearing face from my view and walk the other direction.
For fuck's sake. Seriously. Stop it with the church recruiting nonsense. Can't you worship without running around trying to get everyone else to join you? If you are going to go about your religion, "bless" your heart. Do whatever makes you happy. But if I'm going to burn in some fiery hell, that's my business. Don't try and rescue me or whatever.
dolls
This video about Black children prefering white dolls makes me sad (and proud of the girl who filmed it). And that's partly because I have vivid memories of choosing dolls that were blond haired and blue eyed because that's what all the perfect little kids on the commercials looked like. All the girls at school who had long "corn silk" hair were also the ones praised for their beauty. Even the pictures I drew were of people who were white and that's not just because the "flesh" coloured crayon was white (by the way, FUCK YOU CRAYOLA for that). Hello parents, how did you not clue in on this?
I did internalize my status as inferior because I wasn't white. I wish I had at least grown up in Vancouver, 40 minutes west of that stupid suburb I that I did time in. Even if there weren't any yellow skinned people on TV at the time, I could've at least seen other yellow skinned people in real life other than my parents and the other token few in my school (many of whom were regularly humiliated in one way or another). If you're a parent thinking to move to a place or send your kid to a school where s/he's an ethnic minority, stop now. Don't do it. It doesn't matter if it means a big back yard or a great academic program of some sort. It will make your child miserable and bitter for a lifetime.
I did internalize my status as inferior because I wasn't white. I wish I had at least grown up in Vancouver, 40 minutes west of that stupid suburb I that I did time in. Even if there weren't any yellow skinned people on TV at the time, I could've at least seen other yellow skinned people in real life other than my parents and the other token few in my school (many of whom were regularly humiliated in one way or another). If you're a parent thinking to move to a place or send your kid to a school where s/he's an ethnic minority, stop now. Don't do it. It doesn't matter if it means a big back yard or a great academic program of some sort. It will make your child miserable and bitter for a lifetime.
2.09.2007
seattle day tour
Recycling is good. Like recycling of an email I just sent to a friend who is in town for a couple days. I haven't been out too much around here but enough to recommend a day of stuff to do before heading up to Vancouver:
http://www.seattleweekly.com/food/restaurants/mccormickschmick.php
Happy Hour
It's always 5 o'clock at McCormick & Schmick's--except, of course, from 3 to 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. to midnight, when fancy snacks like oyster shooters, bay shrimp cocktail, and New York-style "counter burgers" (with fries!) cost a mere $1.95. 3-6p.m., 10p.m.-midnight daily
You must eat Crab Pot for lunch or dinner (dinner can get busy) --you get a bib and a mallet and a bucket of seafood dumped on the table. Simon's favorite. I would recommend going for lunch tomorrow and then hitting Pike Place Market before going to the Underground Tour
http://www.pier57seattle.com/restaurants.html
Underground tour http://www.undergroundtour.com/
Bruce Lee's grave -- Capitol hill
The cemetery address is, Lakeview Cemetery 1554 15th. Ave. E Seattle, WA -- look for the flagpole. it's nearby in among some hedges
http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showthreaded.php?Number=7936
Red Hook Beer Tour -- Woodinville
http://www.redhook.com/ $1 beer tours in woodinville very close to bothell. And you get a free souvenir cup
Ballard Locks -- you can see the water change levels and go downstairs to see salmon swim upstream
Hiram M. Chittenden Locks3015 NW 54th St Seattle, WA 98107Tel 206 783 7059
And unless youre on some angsty path of self destruction, dont eat dim sum in Seattle, it is HORRIBLE.
In Vancouver try to hit (my 2 favourite restaurants):
Guu on Robson http://www.guu-izakaya.com/robson.html
1698 Robson Street, Vancouver, B.C. V6G 1C7TEL: 604-685-8678[Mon-Sun] 17:30-0:00
Kiyo in Richmond (best sushi hands down anywhere, and good prices)
http://www.dinehere.ca/restaurant.asp?r=1063
http://www.seattleweekly.com/food/restaurants/mccormickschmick.php
Happy Hour
It's always 5 o'clock at McCormick & Schmick's--except, of course, from 3 to 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. to midnight, when fancy snacks like oyster shooters, bay shrimp cocktail, and New York-style "counter burgers" (with fries!) cost a mere $1.95. 3-6p.m., 10p.m.-midnight daily
You must eat Crab Pot for lunch or dinner (dinner can get busy) --you get a bib and a mallet and a bucket of seafood dumped on the table. Simon's favorite. I would recommend going for lunch tomorrow and then hitting Pike Place Market before going to the Underground Tour
http://www.pier57seattle.com/restaurants.html
Underground tour http://www.undergroundtour.com/
Bruce Lee's grave -- Capitol hill
The cemetery address is, Lakeview Cemetery 1554 15th. Ave. E Seattle, WA -- look for the flagpole. it's nearby in among some hedges
http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showthreaded.php?Number=7936
Red Hook Beer Tour -- Woodinville
http://www.redhook.com/ $1 beer tours in woodinville very close to bothell. And you get a free souvenir cup
Ballard Locks -- you can see the water change levels and go downstairs to see salmon swim upstream
Hiram M. Chittenden Locks3015 NW 54th St Seattle, WA 98107Tel 206 783 7059
And unless youre on some angsty path of self destruction, dont eat dim sum in Seattle, it is HORRIBLE.
In Vancouver try to hit (my 2 favourite restaurants):
Guu on Robson http://www.guu-izakaya.com/robson.html
1698 Robson Street, Vancouver, B.C. V6G 1C7TEL: 604-685-8678[Mon-Sun] 17:30-0:00
Kiyo in Richmond (best sushi hands down anywhere, and good prices)
http://www.dinehere.ca/restaurant.asp?r=1063
2.08.2007
hero
Headlines about the war, soldiers, or bombings no longer catch my eye and often I don't read them. Just more news of bloodshed and rhetoric quoted from the president about why it needs to continue. But this story was beautifully written. Can't really say what it's about because it will spoil the read, but I'll say it's not just another war report. It's about resistance. Read it. I would say that both are my heroes. The second certainly no less than the first.
2.06.2007
Vancouver
Went up to Vancouver for a night to celebrate a friend's 30th and to try on a couple bridesmaid dresses. Somehow on the trip up (I hitched a ride with another friend) I finished grading papers and on the Sunday I finished an outline for a paper so all was not lost this weekend. We even had time to pop in a movie that I brought with me and hadn't watched. Floored By Love is yet another story about lesbian Asian women. This one was a made for TV movie that aired on CHUM City TV. But unlike Saving Face and Red Doors the acting was horrendous. It was so painful to watch I had to turn away more times than I could count. Part way through the 50 minute film, my friend Alex, without consulting the other four people in the room, got up and shut it off. Not a word of protest was uttered. Actually I think I heard a sigh of relief. Seriously, I wanted to like it. I really did -- It's Canadian, it features Asian Canadians, it deals with a complex topic...but seriously I think our grade 9 production of Peanuts was more riveting.
2.02.2007
The Motel
So I've been on this 2 week free trial with Blockbuster online so I can catch up on all the films that my students are writing response papers on. I've since moved on to the $5.99 deal -- 1 movie at a time, 3 movies a month which is plenty for me. Anyways, I've seen Saving Face (okay until the cheesy ending), Long Life, Happiness, and Prosperity (a little contrived, not my favorite), Eat Drink Man Woman (hmm okay, older film), The Matador (that was not for class but pretty funny), and The Motel. I have to say The Motel by Michael Kang is my favourite by a long shot of the Asian American films I've seen recently. It seriously blew me away. It was touching, real, gritty, and didn't attempt a tidy happy Hollywood movie ending (which was my beef with Saving Face, Red Doors, and, well, most other movies). I can't believe this was Jeffrey Chyau's first gig outside of a couple commercials! The acting was really stellar and I wish I could've been there at the premiere at Sundance a few years back. If you rent this, be sure to watch the extras.
2.01.2007
breakfast
Taking Denny to the airport tomorrow. By the way he's fine after the locked-out-of-uncle's-house incident. Glass had to be broken though. Anyways, we're going to eat brunch before I take him to the airport. I've selected Pete's in Greenwood based on Citysearch reviews. Yay food.
1.30.2007
panic
Despite the welcome sight of sunshine peeking through my curtains this morning I woke up in a mad panic. I fucking hate that. I went to bed with a conference proposal half finished which means that I probably had nightmares about it all night. Actually I had a dream about five pin bowling but that is beside the point. I have to go out of town two or three more weekends before the end of this quarter and whenever I do the math it means that there is just not enough fucking waking hours to do all the reading and writing I need to do to survive this term. Add to that all the grading, lesson planning and research. I am more organized than anyone I know but that does not make it any easier. Tonight I will have the pleasure of waking up hourly in a series of panics about sleeping in which always happens when I have to get up early.
1.28.2007
going to Canada
I've been reading a lot of blogs about Americans and their trips to what they call "the great white north" or "Canada." Okay Americans, this post is for you. First of all, quit refering to my motherland as the great white north. Most of the time it is not covered in snow and if you think white refers to skin colour I will have to plant the blade of a hockey skate firmly into your eye. Also please, stop fucking saying shit like "I'm going to Canada" or "my friend lives in Canada" or "my trip to Canada" or "my granny is in Canada." For you Seattlites, it might help if I tell you that hearing that gives us the same reaction that you folks have when tourists say "Pike's Place Market."
Canada is a big huge fucking country, bigger than yours and it has PROVINCES and, oh my god, CITIES! Do you not chuckle just a little bit when a foreigner says "I'm going to America"? You guys even turned that shit into a movie called Coming to America to point out how people who aren't from here are stupid and think it's just one indistinguisable land mass. Guess what? Canada is not one indistinguishable land mass either and no you cannot walk to Niagara Falls from Vancouver for Christ's sake. (actually you could if you were Terry Fox or Steve Fonyo but you don't know who the hell they are, do you?)
When Canadians visit "America" we say things like "I'm going to Vegas" or "I'll be visiting Los Angeles" or even "I'm staying in lower Manhatten" or "the Mission district of San Francisco." We do not say, "I'm going to the United States of America for vacation." Please, please, recognize that we have provinces and cities and try to figure out which of those you'll be visiting before proudly announcing that you'll be gracing "Canada" with your presence.
Canada is a big huge fucking country, bigger than yours and it has PROVINCES and, oh my god, CITIES! Do you not chuckle just a little bit when a foreigner says "I'm going to America"? You guys even turned that shit into a movie called Coming to America to point out how people who aren't from here are stupid and think it's just one indistinguisable land mass. Guess what? Canada is not one indistinguishable land mass either and no you cannot walk to Niagara Falls from Vancouver for Christ's sake. (actually you could if you were Terry Fox or Steve Fonyo but you don't know who the hell they are, do you?)
When Canadians visit "America" we say things like "I'm going to Vegas" or "I'll be visiting Los Angeles" or even "I'm staying in lower Manhatten" or "the Mission district of San Francisco." We do not say, "I'm going to the United States of America for vacation." Please, please, recognize that we have provinces and cities and try to figure out which of those you'll be visiting before proudly announcing that you'll be gracing "Canada" with your presence.
film, food, falling
Friday night I went out with a few folks to see the Red Doors at the North West Asian American Film Festival down in the International District and late happy hour after that at McCormick and Schmicks ($4 fresh salmon burger, $3 for 3 raw oysters, yum). I was struck by how few films were in the festival and how few people attend. I have to remind myself sometimes that this is not San Francisco where tickets sell out days before the day the film screens and there are lines stretching for blocks to get into the theatre. Are there that few Asians in Seattle? Are they just not into the arts? I think it might be a combination of both?
I had a first today. I went out to a film by myself. Kudos to me for getting to the ID and back without the guidance of a GPS unit. There was something awesome about going to see a film by myself. No one to keep track of, wait for or talk to. Today's was a collection of shorts called Asian American Activism and I really enjoyed it. They varied in theme and length but all were well chosen and thought provoking and it was just this kind of stimulation I needed to come up with some more research ideas and just get into that head space. After the film, I went next door to have a bowl of pho before heading to Fremont to pick up my glasses which took forever to adjust thanks to my lopsided ears and large lump protruding from one side of my head which I think is a part of my skull. On the way home I stopped off at the liquor store and learned that WA state taxes the shit out of liquor here. Good thing there's always duty free.
Tonight I went to a classmate's potluck. You know when people in movies jump off a building and seem to scream forever and ever until they finally hit the ground? I had that moment tonight but I wasn't jumping off any buildings. I had finished looking at some photo albums and stacked them up on the floor. I turned around to get the big tupperware full of rice and stir fry I had brought and walked toward the sink forgetting that I had just put that pile of albums on the floor. Next thing you know I'm wondering why my foot is not making contact with the floor. Rice is flying everywhere. My foot finally reaches the little rug on the floor and then I slip violently and lose all control of my center of gravity for a second time. It felt like a lifetime before I finally landed knee first then body in a heap on the floor still clutching the tupperware now only half full of rice and stir fry. I guess it really is engrained in Chinese people not to waste food and to hang onto it for dear life. It was acrobatic and spectacular. I could tell from the look on everyone's face. One woman commented that at one point I reached a completely horizontal position in the air. Luckily I was in the company of people I consider friends now and, oh yeah, no bleeding and just a sore knee. Not even a bruise. I am a rock star.
I had a first today. I went out to a film by myself. Kudos to me for getting to the ID and back without the guidance of a GPS unit. There was something awesome about going to see a film by myself. No one to keep track of, wait for or talk to. Today's was a collection of shorts called Asian American Activism and I really enjoyed it. They varied in theme and length but all were well chosen and thought provoking and it was just this kind of stimulation I needed to come up with some more research ideas and just get into that head space. After the film, I went next door to have a bowl of pho before heading to Fremont to pick up my glasses which took forever to adjust thanks to my lopsided ears and large lump protruding from one side of my head which I think is a part of my skull. On the way home I stopped off at the liquor store and learned that WA state taxes the shit out of liquor here. Good thing there's always duty free.
Tonight I went to a classmate's potluck. You know when people in movies jump off a building and seem to scream forever and ever until they finally hit the ground? I had that moment tonight but I wasn't jumping off any buildings. I had finished looking at some photo albums and stacked them up on the floor. I turned around to get the big tupperware full of rice and stir fry I had brought and walked toward the sink forgetting that I had just put that pile of albums on the floor. Next thing you know I'm wondering why my foot is not making contact with the floor. Rice is flying everywhere. My foot finally reaches the little rug on the floor and then I slip violently and lose all control of my center of gravity for a second time. It felt like a lifetime before I finally landed knee first then body in a heap on the floor still clutching the tupperware now only half full of rice and stir fry. I guess it really is engrained in Chinese people not to waste food and to hang onto it for dear life. It was acrobatic and spectacular. I could tell from the look on everyone's face. One woman commented that at one point I reached a completely horizontal position in the air. Luckily I was in the company of people I consider friends now and, oh yeah, no bleeding and just a sore knee. Not even a bruise. I am a rock star.
1.23.2007
what would you do
Imagine you are in "Canada" (because Americans can't name Canadian cities) housesitting for an uncle who is overseas. You go out to say hello to a friend and close the garage door behind you. When you go to head back inside you realize that the garage door is jammed and you can't get in because all the other entrances are barrel bolted from the inside. Luckily you have the keys to the rental car and a map to a relative's house drawn on a post it note but no phone, no laptop, no change of clothes or underwear and no way to get back into the house. You call the uncle and he says there's no way in with eveything bolted from the inside. The neighbours don't speak English and would probably freak out watching you break in. What would you do?
This is my friend's situation right now so if you see an unshaven guy with a 2 of spades tattoo wearing clothes that isn't his breaking into a house in Richmond please don't call the cops. I expect he'll have the details on his blog soon. (unless, of course, things go even more wrong and he ends up in jail for B&E).
This is my friend's situation right now so if you see an unshaven guy with a 2 of spades tattoo wearing clothes that isn't his breaking into a house in Richmond please don't call the cops. I expect he'll have the details on his blog soon. (unless, of course, things go even more wrong and he ends up in jail for B&E).
specs
So I decided to take advantage of my health insurance (hooray for grad school funding) and get another pair of glasses since I get $100 for lenses and $70 for frames. I got a pair of cool frames at 4 Your Eyes Only in Wallingford for $180. Before getting the lenses ($335 for 16.7 high index eeeek), the lady let me charge just the frames and take them with me to compare with other glasses. She said if I found something else they could just refund the frames. Sounded like a good idea.
Today I stopped in at the ever so popular Eyes on Fremont (ranked in NW Source and City Search). I found another pair of frames for $180 that I liked and asked Andrea there what she thought. She took a couple measurements and was honest enough to say that she thought my frames from the other store were better for me. Can you believe that?? I asked how much their 16.7 high index lenses were....$220 and 10% student discount. That's more than $100 less than the other place ($335 and same student discount). I called the other store for a price match and they tried to convince me that their anti-reflective coating was "premium" and they have a 2 year warrantee and couldn't match the price. Andrea at Eyes on Fremont explained that they had a 1 year warrantee, which was good enough for me especially if I'm saving a hundred bucks! So it was a done deal. My frames are from 4 Your Eyes and my lenses are from Eyes on Fremont and I've saved over a hundred bucks.
Next time I'll just head straight for Fremont. They have a tonne of really cool frames for about the same price or less, and you just can't beat that price for high index lenses.
Today I stopped in at the ever so popular Eyes on Fremont (ranked in NW Source and City Search). I found another pair of frames for $180 that I liked and asked Andrea there what she thought. She took a couple measurements and was honest enough to say that she thought my frames from the other store were better for me. Can you believe that?? I asked how much their 16.7 high index lenses were....$220 and 10% student discount. That's more than $100 less than the other place ($335 and same student discount). I called the other store for a price match and they tried to convince me that their anti-reflective coating was "premium" and they have a 2 year warrantee and couldn't match the price. Andrea at Eyes on Fremont explained that they had a 1 year warrantee, which was good enough for me especially if I'm saving a hundred bucks! So it was a done deal. My frames are from 4 Your Eyes and my lenses are from Eyes on Fremont and I've saved over a hundred bucks.
Next time I'll just head straight for Fremont. They have a tonne of really cool frames for about the same price or less, and you just can't beat that price for high index lenses.
1.18.2007
small world
Went out for a beer at Fado's last night so Denny could meet up with some friends and so I could invite my friend Lieon to meet them and get to know some other physical therapists so he can hopefully find a job here after he passes his board exams. Turned out these two groups of people already knew/knew of each other through other Canadians who live in Seattle. Everytime someone started a sentence with "so do you know so and so" the answer always seemed to be yes. Every Asian Canadian in a major US city seems to know one another. I thought I left Vancouver to escape all this incest but if you keep your nose clean and don't burn bridges, it's kinda cool that we are all connected I guess.
I'm almost done all my reading for next week so I can prepare for the pile of student papers I have to grade tomorrow. Need to churn out a couple conference submissions and I think I will be okay.
Oh, we went out to the Nintendo employee store to buy Wiis today. Thanks Wing!! I get to play with it until Simon comes up to visit next month and takes it back to SF. If I can lose 9lbs playing this, I'm getting my own.
I'm almost done all my reading for next week so I can prepare for the pile of student papers I have to grade tomorrow. Need to churn out a couple conference submissions and I think I will be okay.
Oh, we went out to the Nintendo employee store to buy Wiis today. Thanks Wing!! I get to play with it until Simon comes up to visit next month and takes it back to SF. If I can lose 9lbs playing this, I'm getting my own.
1.16.2007
weekend
I had a very busy and very fun weekend so I'll have to write this post in point form so I can catch up on my reading.
Thursday -- Simon and Denny arrived from SF and we headed out to 80s night at a club in Capitol Hill and it was AWESOME
Friday -- Extreme sleep deprivation. Solid and fun day of teaching where we dealt with Eurocentrism, Whiteness, and issues of Asian Americans and agency in film. Happy hour with my grad school friends at Finn MacCools where fish and chips were $3.95
Saturday -- Not enough sleep again. Met up with Laura and Phill for snowboarding at Snoqualmie. Taught two newbies how to turn and later how to link turns. Not very strenuous for me but I was happy just to get up to the mountains. Late lunch at Tamarind Tree (very good). Many friends and my cousin came down from Vancouver to meet up with us. We had dinner at B&O Espresso where service was ridiculously slow. Drinks at Metropolitan something or other where PBRs were 25 cents after 11pm. Played Wii until the wee hours at my friend's house
Sunday -- Lunch at Rocking Wok at an impossible to find location in Wallingford. Said goodbye to friends as they headed back to Vancouver
Monday -- Detox and recovery. Simon went home.
Snowed again today but that's okay because I have Tuesdays off to read, grade, and prep lesson plans. Revived WearingRacism blog. Need to go to bed early tonight and try this early morning thing again tomorrow. Wish me luck.
Thursday -- Simon and Denny arrived from SF and we headed out to 80s night at a club in Capitol Hill and it was AWESOME
Friday -- Extreme sleep deprivation. Solid and fun day of teaching where we dealt with Eurocentrism, Whiteness, and issues of Asian Americans and agency in film. Happy hour with my grad school friends at Finn MacCools where fish and chips were $3.95
Saturday -- Not enough sleep again. Met up with Laura and Phill for snowboarding at Snoqualmie. Taught two newbies how to turn and later how to link turns. Not very strenuous for me but I was happy just to get up to the mountains. Late lunch at Tamarind Tree (very good). Many friends and my cousin came down from Vancouver to meet up with us. We had dinner at B&O Espresso where service was ridiculously slow. Drinks at Metropolitan something or other where PBRs were 25 cents after 11pm. Played Wii until the wee hours at my friend's house
Sunday -- Lunch at Rocking Wok at an impossible to find location in Wallingford. Said goodbye to friends as they headed back to Vancouver
Monday -- Detox and recovery. Simon went home.
Snowed again today but that's okay because I have Tuesdays off to read, grade, and prep lesson plans. Revived WearingRacism blog. Need to go to bed early tonight and try this early morning thing again tomorrow. Wish me luck.
1.09.2007
mystery solved
OK so you know how I thought I was accidentally included on a distribution list run by some chick who excessively uses lame emoticons and says all sorts of cheesey and/or annoying shit e.g. her signature which reads "Think BIG. STRETCH your vision. Be all you CAN BE. TREAT others like you want to be treated." Could you be any more cliche?? Holy cow, how nauseating.
Turns out it was no accident that I'm on this email list. She decided to list her IM handle on her signatures yesterday and I recognized it immediately. This is the woman who put up a post for housing in Seattle that she was renting out in August. The place for rent was not what I was looking for but this bitch used my email address to add me to her Yahoo IM and would not stop harrassing me about coming to her house, being best friends forever, bla bla bla so she could tell me more about this great opportunity with W0rld Financial Group. I am not into bullshit get rich schemes especially those that involve annoying the hell out of all your friends and family and then using their social networks to piss off all their friends too. I immediately put her on my blocked users list so I guess her way to get at me was through this email distribution. Caitlin needs to get the fuck out of my life now.
Update: I just emailed her to tell her to get me off her list and the crazy lady has an autoresponse set up that reads:
Turns out it was no accident that I'm on this email list. She decided to list her IM handle on her signatures yesterday and I recognized it immediately. This is the woman who put up a post for housing in Seattle that she was renting out in August. The place for rent was not what I was looking for but this bitch used my email address to add me to her Yahoo IM and would not stop harrassing me about coming to her house, being best friends forever, bla bla bla so she could tell me more about this great opportunity with W0rld Financial Group. I am not into bullshit get rich schemes especially those that involve annoying the hell out of all your friends and family and then using their social networks to piss off all their friends too. I immediately put her on my blocked users list so I guess her way to get at me was through this email distribution. Caitlin needs to get the fuck out of my life now.
Update: I just emailed her to tell her to get me off her list and the crazy lady has an autoresponse set up that reads:
If you don't see my response to your mail immediately...please be patience
with me. Please rest assured that I will answer your mailpromptly when I
get a computer access. You are the best! Smiles ;0)
paper
I just came to the realization that grading 2 1-page response papers per week from each student means reading 128 pages per week of student writing. I'm supposed to give a check if it's done but me being me, I can't do it. If I see something that reflects a great deal of growth or insight, I can't help but comment. If a student writes something funny or clever, I can't help drawing a happy face. If a student totally missed the mark, I have to say something to get them on track. If they invent their own punctuation (e.g. its'), I have to fix it. If a student shares something deeply personal (which happens more than I thought it would), I feel like I have to recognize that. I know that I'm here to do research and focus on me because that is what I was recruited to do, but admittedly I like reading these response papers and right now I prefer doing that to starting on a proposal for my methods class. I think this might be a hint that a pedagogically focussed career is for me? There is something deeply fulfilling about teaching and it's certainly nothing I felt while doing ANYTHING at a software company.
I'm just happy that I'm finally out of my holiday funk (God damn I hate Christmas) and that my friends are all coming to visit this weekend. Yay, drinking, eating and snowboarding!
I'm just happy that I'm finally out of my holiday funk (God damn I hate Christmas) and that my friends are all coming to visit this weekend. Yay, drinking, eating and snowboarding!
1.07.2007
Dragon Boys
On the so-bad-it's-comical CBC series that I get to watch on Channel 99 -- Globe and Mail story.
And that statement about it being OK for a white executive producer to make a movie about Chinese Canadians? The answer is no. You have no right to define us, speak for us, or reconstruct our experiences for us thank you. Do you have a role to play in issues of race? Yes. Start by reading this and this. And this (pdf) is also a good read.
And that statement about it being OK for a white executive producer to make a movie about Chinese Canadians? The answer is no. You have no right to define us, speak for us, or reconstruct our experiences for us thank you. Do you have a role to play in issues of race? Yes. Start by reading this and this. And this (pdf) is also a good read.
CNY predictions
Chinese New Year is not here until Feb 18th but I was interested in checking out the accuracy of 2006's predictions. This was my fortune for 2006:
With a Dog year the Dragon will clash so you will need to take extra care this year but remember being prepared will give you the edge to make sure the year is good for you. Overall the year will bring change and this can be good for career and also business as it can steer you in a different direction that will be better for you. To improve your luck, keep fresh red roses in your office and home and wear red clothes. All Dragons need to be careful of wealth this year, do not worry about this as you will have money coming in but you need to concentrate on retaining it, so no gambling or taking risks.
I have to say, it wasn't too far off. I did move in another direction in more ways than one.
And for 2007:
[this one kinda sucks]
Dragon is very happy to see the pig. After a year of challenges by the yipping dog, the dragon is ready to sit at the banquet table and rest. The tired dragon must remember that the dog is not far away and the clouds of the dog year still dampen his fire. The pig year will bring fullness to the dragon who eats slowly. Self control does not come easily to the fierce dragon, but this year there is little energy stored after battling the dog. The wise dragon will spend resources with caution and build strength for new cycle starting with the rat year in 2008. Enjoy the quiet return to fullness and do not get frustrated at your weakness after battle with the dog all year in 2006. Your strength will return. This year plan trips and business ventures that will not need your full power. Success will come slowly. You will find many reasons for frustration with family and coworkers. It is not the fault of others that you cannot provide the energy you need this year. Control your fire breath and you will receive more assistance and find good fortune
[here's another from chineseastrology.com that's a little less confusing, sort of]
Pig years bring popularity, celebrity and an increase in reputation to lucky Dragons. During this year you may acquire income from more than one source and by the end of the year, new dreams may well have become reality. Express your personal opinions carefully, and demonstrate both consideration and respect. An auspicious year to take charge of your inner life and discover its hidden springs! Meditation, healing qigong, reiki or any of the metaphysical arts would be a harmonious pursuit for you in 2007. Use this year to continue plans already in motion, while you also start to branch out into new avenues. You are amongst the few who can do both.
With a Dog year the Dragon will clash so you will need to take extra care this year but remember being prepared will give you the edge to make sure the year is good for you. Overall the year will bring change and this can be good for career and also business as it can steer you in a different direction that will be better for you. To improve your luck, keep fresh red roses in your office and home and wear red clothes. All Dragons need to be careful of wealth this year, do not worry about this as you will have money coming in but you need to concentrate on retaining it, so no gambling or taking risks.
I have to say, it wasn't too far off. I did move in another direction in more ways than one.
And for 2007:
[this one kinda sucks]
Dragon is very happy to see the pig. After a year of challenges by the yipping dog, the dragon is ready to sit at the banquet table and rest. The tired dragon must remember that the dog is not far away and the clouds of the dog year still dampen his fire. The pig year will bring fullness to the dragon who eats slowly. Self control does not come easily to the fierce dragon, but this year there is little energy stored after battling the dog. The wise dragon will spend resources with caution and build strength for new cycle starting with the rat year in 2008. Enjoy the quiet return to fullness and do not get frustrated at your weakness after battle with the dog all year in 2006. Your strength will return. This year plan trips and business ventures that will not need your full power. Success will come slowly. You will find many reasons for frustration with family and coworkers. It is not the fault of others that you cannot provide the energy you need this year. Control your fire breath and you will receive more assistance and find good fortune
[here's another from chineseastrology.com that's a little less confusing, sort of]
Pig years bring popularity, celebrity and an increase in reputation to lucky Dragons. During this year you may acquire income from more than one source and by the end of the year, new dreams may well have become reality. Express your personal opinions carefully, and demonstrate both consideration and respect. An auspicious year to take charge of your inner life and discover its hidden springs! Meditation, healing qigong, reiki or any of the metaphysical arts would be a harmonious pursuit for you in 2007. Use this year to continue plans already in motion, while you also start to branch out into new avenues. You are amongst the few who can do both.
maintenance
I really hate the management at my apartment. My latest maintenance request:
With the wind storms the siding has ripped off the outside of the apartment
in many places, one of them being a big patch below my bedroom window. It sounds
like more of the siding is coming off as I can hear it from inside at night. I
am also concerned that rain will soak through the insulation and cause mold to
grow in my walls. Further, I am concerned that having the outside of my
apartment missing in patches will affect the apartment's ability to retain heat
and could increase my heating costs. Even before the storm there was one piece
of siding missing from my neighbor's apartment for 3 months and still is
unfixed.
When will the management be fixing this?
With the wind storms the siding has ripped off the outside of the apartment
in many places, one of them being a big patch below my bedroom window. It sounds
like more of the siding is coming off as I can hear it from inside at night. I
am also concerned that rain will soak through the insulation and cause mold to
grow in my walls. Further, I am concerned that having the outside of my
apartment missing in patches will affect the apartment's ability to retain heat
and could increase my heating costs. Even before the storm there was one piece
of siding missing from my neighbor's apartment for 3 months and still is
unfixed.
When will the management be fixing this?
1.01.2007
NYE
The last 5 or 6 years NYE has been kinda quiet or disappointing, or one year, spent alone when the snow trapped me in my home. I have to say that last night was the best NYE ever. My closest friends were all there and we had a hotel room upstairs from the party. The music was awesome. Some really creative 80s/progressive house remixes. We partied until 5am before retiring to the room. What makes me sad is that parties like these are numbered. Once my friends start popping out babies, it'll be an end of another chapter. Hopefully they put that off so we can have a few more years of fun.
What's really cruel is starting the first full day of school on Jan 3rd. Today was recovery day, tomorrow is drive back to Seattle day, and school starts bright and early the day after that. Ugh. So exhausted.
What's really cruel is starting the first full day of school on Jan 3rd. Today was recovery day, tomorrow is drive back to Seattle day, and school starts bright and early the day after that. Ugh. So exhausted.
12.29.2006
sloth
Yay, I finished the book I need to read for the Asian American Cinema class I TA this quarter. Perpetually Cool: The Many Lives of Anna May Wong took me for-freakin-ever to read despite the speed reading skills I developed this past quarter (8 books/course readers in 10 weeks). I think it was because it was both a biography and a somewhat of a dense lesson in Chinese/Chinese-American history and I was desperately trying to retain the bulk of that info. It was also just really interesting and I didn't feel the urge to skim and scan at any point.
So yeah, I haven't gotten out of my pajamas (and this is the third day this week, though not in a row, that I've done this). I get like this when I'm at my parent's house. Finding the motivation to do anything but surf the web, watch TV, or read is akin to moving a mountain. I don't even have an appetite for food which tends to surprise people. It's almost as though the house that I grew up in swallows me whole and I re-live all that adolescent angst and apathy. I really wish my parents would move to a different house in a different neighborhood so I don't have to deal with this every fucking time I visit. Seriously, it's getting stupid. Their incessant nagging and other forms of annoying dysfunctional communication don't help any. At least now I'm old enough to drink my dad's stash of beer. In fact right now I'm having a nice Sleeman Amber Ale which is tastier than the Honey Ale that I had before this. Hopefully this will remedy the insomnia that also plagues me during these visits home.
So yeah, I haven't gotten out of my pajamas (and this is the third day this week, though not in a row, that I've done this). I get like this when I'm at my parent's house. Finding the motivation to do anything but surf the web, watch TV, or read is akin to moving a mountain. I don't even have an appetite for food which tends to surprise people. It's almost as though the house that I grew up in swallows me whole and I re-live all that adolescent angst and apathy. I really wish my parents would move to a different house in a different neighborhood so I don't have to deal with this every fucking time I visit. Seriously, it's getting stupid. Their incessant nagging and other forms of annoying dysfunctional communication don't help any. At least now I'm old enough to drink my dad's stash of beer. In fact right now I'm having a nice Sleeman Amber Ale which is tastier than the Honey Ale that I had before this. Hopefully this will remedy the insomnia that also plagues me during these visits home.
12.28.2006
firefox
How come no one told me my blog looks totally messed up in the latest FireFox. Dammit, one more thing to fix.
Dec photos
This is what the wind storm did to my parent's house. Good bye fence!
Here's the siding that ripped off my apartment in Seattle. Some of it got wrapped around a tree. And here I was cowering under the covers thinking that I was just imagining my home coming apart at the seams. When the hell does a wind storm qualify as a hurricane man?
My older cousin at our Xmas afterparty at his friends house
Alex admires the 64 oz. flask I got him for Xmas.
The recycle bin at CTV
Here's the siding that ripped off my apartment in Seattle. Some of it got wrapped around a tree. And here I was cowering under the covers thinking that I was just imagining my home coming apart at the seams. When the hell does a wind storm qualify as a hurricane man?
My older cousin at our Xmas afterparty at his friends house
Alex admires the 64 oz. flask I got him for Xmas.
The recycle bin at CTV
12.26.2006
not so merry
So Xmas always goes like this. I get nagged at all day to get dressed and go to my aunt's house. Then my parents bitch some more that I'm going to make us late for my grandpa's birthday cake cutting and he's going to get all pissed off. This year was no different. I think he even turned 93 again. I swear he's turned 93 the past three years. We get to eat this Chinese type fruit and cream cake with this awful chestnut shit that my older cousin always offers to take off my plate for me. Thanks! After that we go into the other room to watch movies while the grown ups talk in the other room. (ie my uncle talks about Jesus a whole bunch and then they break into gossip and shit about who's dating who, how ugly/fat/pretty they are, and why Vanessa is such a fucking unmarried loser).
We turn up the volume some more and keep watching or do some gambling. Since there's been a falling out in the Au family, one of the cousins and her parents hasn't shown up for Xmas for about hmmm 9 years so that makes the gambling less fun and we do that quite rarely. Anyways, as soon as the gifts are distributed we make the parents carpool home and we cousins go out drinking or to a karaoke. This year we had to hit a bar first because we had time to kill before heading to a friend's house. Not many were open. We ended up at Pub Med in Burnaby near my cousin's house. We find a seat out on the patio by a heat lamp and I head back in with my cousin to get a pitcher. He asks the bartender in his cheery-I-can't-wait-to-have-a-drink voice, "hi, could I get a pitcher of ____?" (can't remember the beer).
The bartender stares him down like he's going to jump the counter and stab us both many many times. He says coldly, "you don't talk to me like that!"
Drunk white dude sitting at the bar by himself says with a giggle, "he's having a rough night, man. He wants you to say please."
At this point I'm waiting for my cousin to (a) mouth off at the mother fucker and get us all out of there (b) do the opposite and ask REALLY nicely. He chooses (b). I read his mind. There's no other bars open in the area and he's thirsty. I'm disappointed but also glad that we didn't create any drama. The place looks family owned and family was outside at the patio and it could've gotten violent and ugly. But still I'm steaming mad that they could be like that to customers who are coming in on a slow night to bring them business. It's not like we owe them anything and it's not like my cousin was being rude. He even left a nice tip (I dunno why). So yeah, Pub Med, fuck you.
We turn up the volume some more and keep watching or do some gambling. Since there's been a falling out in the Au family, one of the cousins and her parents hasn't shown up for Xmas for about hmmm 9 years so that makes the gambling less fun and we do that quite rarely. Anyways, as soon as the gifts are distributed we make the parents carpool home and we cousins go out drinking or to a karaoke. This year we had to hit a bar first because we had time to kill before heading to a friend's house. Not many were open. We ended up at Pub Med in Burnaby near my cousin's house. We find a seat out on the patio by a heat lamp and I head back in with my cousin to get a pitcher. He asks the bartender in his cheery-I-can't-wait-to-have-a-drink voice, "hi, could I get a pitcher of ____?" (can't remember the beer).
The bartender stares him down like he's going to jump the counter and stab us both many many times. He says coldly, "you don't talk to me like that!"
Drunk white dude sitting at the bar by himself says with a giggle, "he's having a rough night, man. He wants you to say please."
At this point I'm waiting for my cousin to (a) mouth off at the mother fucker and get us all out of there (b) do the opposite and ask REALLY nicely. He chooses (b). I read his mind. There's no other bars open in the area and he's thirsty. I'm disappointed but also glad that we didn't create any drama. The place looks family owned and family was outside at the patio and it could've gotten violent and ugly. But still I'm steaming mad that they could be like that to customers who are coming in on a slow night to bring them business. It's not like we owe them anything and it's not like my cousin was being rude. He even left a nice tip (I dunno why). So yeah, Pub Med, fuck you.
12.24.2006
cruise
So I'm back from my California/cruise adventure. We spent last Saturday driving down to Santa Barbara where we stayed one night at the Harbor House Inn. Very nice little place with a mini kitchen and living room and a basket with juices, tea and fresh baked pumpkin bread. We spent that evening at a sports bar on State street drinking and watching the Canucks game, and later the Sharks. It was at this bar we met another hockey fan who told us he was the GM of KTVU for years. We Googled him when we got home and found out he is a racist son of a bitch.
Sunday we headed down to LA and checked into a hotel in Century City. We shopped down in Santa Monica and had a nice dinner at BOA steakhouse. Monday we headed down to Long Beach where we feasted at Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles. I've heard so much about this place but since I'm not a huge fan of fried chicken or waffles, it just didn't seem that great. After lunch we dropped off the car at a coworker's apartment and he gave us a lift to the cruise terminal. The 4 days of cruising were great. It's basically a 24 hour buffet for 4 days. We were assigned to a dinner table with a funny couple about our age, both of them in the Air Force. One works in finance and the other handles the contracting of projects to the private sector. It was fun hanging out with them and learning about the benefits they get and the kinds of things they do. To be honest I don't know anyone in the military.
The downer of the cruise, aside from catching a cold on the second to last day, was that our head waiter told us that he works 12 hour days, 7 days a week, 6 months at a time. Then gets 2 months off and is back at it again. He said it was fun when he was young and single but after 9 years he's tired and misses his kids. I decided to sniff around a bit and see if he was exaggerating to get bigger tips but .... I found this. And also this. And now I'm not sure how I feel about going on cruises. It's kind of like buying clothes at the Gap and Old Navy. I know they don't monitor the working conditions in their factories as well as they claim they do but then where can someone with a limited income buy clothes? Even if you buy from an independent designer who makes the clothes herself or you attempt to sew your own clothes, who knows under what conditions the fabric was manufactured (my prof in my globalization class brought that up and stumped us on that one).
I think I have more leeway to make sound decisions on where to spend my few vacation dollars though. I'm not sure I can in good conscience do this again knowing that the workers make less than $5 an hour if you count all the hours they actually work. I'm sure there are ways to explore the world without putting money in the pockets of big corporations and robbing the workers in the process. This fellow in Newfoundland has done a lot of writing on the cruise ship industry if you want to read more.
Anyways, time to tidy up and get ready to head to Vancouver tomorrow to spend the rest of my break.
Sunday we headed down to LA and checked into a hotel in Century City. We shopped down in Santa Monica and had a nice dinner at BOA steakhouse. Monday we headed down to Long Beach where we feasted at Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles. I've heard so much about this place but since I'm not a huge fan of fried chicken or waffles, it just didn't seem that great. After lunch we dropped off the car at a coworker's apartment and he gave us a lift to the cruise terminal. The 4 days of cruising were great. It's basically a 24 hour buffet for 4 days. We were assigned to a dinner table with a funny couple about our age, both of them in the Air Force. One works in finance and the other handles the contracting of projects to the private sector. It was fun hanging out with them and learning about the benefits they get and the kinds of things they do. To be honest I don't know anyone in the military.
The downer of the cruise, aside from catching a cold on the second to last day, was that our head waiter told us that he works 12 hour days, 7 days a week, 6 months at a time. Then gets 2 months off and is back at it again. He said it was fun when he was young and single but after 9 years he's tired and misses his kids. I decided to sniff around a bit and see if he was exaggerating to get bigger tips but .... I found this. And also this. And now I'm not sure how I feel about going on cruises. It's kind of like buying clothes at the Gap and Old Navy. I know they don't monitor the working conditions in their factories as well as they claim they do but then where can someone with a limited income buy clothes? Even if you buy from an independent designer who makes the clothes herself or you attempt to sew your own clothes, who knows under what conditions the fabric was manufactured (my prof in my globalization class brought that up and stumped us on that one).
I think I have more leeway to make sound decisions on where to spend my few vacation dollars though. I'm not sure I can in good conscience do this again knowing that the workers make less than $5 an hour if you count all the hours they actually work. I'm sure there are ways to explore the world without putting money in the pockets of big corporations and robbing the workers in the process. This fellow in Newfoundland has done a lot of writing on the cruise ship industry if you want to read more.
Anyways, time to tidy up and get ready to head to Vancouver tomorrow to spend the rest of my break.
12.13.2006
holy wind
It is ridiculously windy out here. I just got my cable back. Somehow the weather messed up the cable TV and Internet. The lid to the dumpster at the foodbank keeps flying open and closed. I have to spend my this afternoon watching my students deliver advocacy speeches in red square. I feel like I'm gonna need to anchor myself to one of the heavier students to prevent being blown away. This shit is kinda scary. I can't wait til next week. I'll be headed to LA this weekend and then will be laying around on a cruise ship headed from Long Beach to Catalina Island and Ensenada.
12.10.2006
web stuff
Dammit I hate the new Blogger beta. I have to friggin sign in twice and then I get this sloppy ass console and I can't go back to original blogger. Ah shit.
Anyways, I finished my last two papers today. I still need to do a proofread and sanity check and list of references but I'm otherwise done. I even had enough time today to update vanessaau.com and www.hammies.com.
And now I'm going to sleep for a very very long time. Tomorrow I'll send in that last paper, hit the gym and buy some groceries. It's going to be nice.
Anyways, I finished my last two papers today. I still need to do a proofread and sanity check and list of references but I'm otherwise done. I even had enough time today to update vanessaau.com and www.hammies.com.
And now I'm going to sleep for a very very long time. Tomorrow I'll send in that last paper, hit the gym and buy some groceries. It's going to be nice.
12.08.2006
distribution list II
Thought I would post another email from Caitlin, the person I've never met who sends out lame emails with annoying emoticons and atrocious grammar to this distribution list that they put me on by accident. Yes... there are rules for dim sum. How cute. Does anyone really go to dim sum with expectations other than of little baskets of delicious greasy goodness?
Hello Friends,
Here's the schedule for this Saturday event as follows:
WHAT = DimSum
WHERE = The New Kowloon Seafood Restaurant (it has parking garage!)
RULES: = Have fun. No expectations. Go with the flow. Bring a friend or friends!
AFTER THE DIMSUM: BOWLING, MOVIE, and SPORT ACTIVIES
We'll decide together as a group to play SPORTS, watch movies, and go bowling at night.
Oh and the other cool thing is they sometimes send out photos from the events in the emails. Turns out the party with the girls with way too much make up on were probably not part of this crowd. They were from a party they attended.
Hello Friends,
Here's the schedule for this Saturday event as follows:
WHAT = DimSum
WHERE = The New Kowloon Seafood Restaurant (it has parking garage!)
RULES: = Have fun. No expectations. Go with the flow. Bring a friend or friends!
AFTER THE DIMSUM: BOWLING, MOVIE, and SPORT ACTIVIES
We'll decide together as a group to play SPORTS, watch movies, and go bowling at night.
Oh and the other cool thing is they sometimes send out photos from the events in the emails. Turns out the party with the girls with way too much make up on were probably not part of this crowd. They were from a party they attended.
final week
One more week, 1.5 more papers to write, 29 more speeches to grade, and my first quarter will be over. What I've learned this quarter:
- 10 weeks goes by really fast
- the selection committee rocked because I love my cohort. Typically there's some abrasive asshole in the class, or the chick who can't stop talking because she wants to hear herself talk, or the "not the sharpest tool in the shed" student(s) who somehow slipped through during the selection process. None of those characters is in my cohort. What a far cry from my master's program. If Maya is reading this, I'm sure she is nodding and/or laughing.
- I'm not the smartest kid in the class anymore, not like back in elementary school where there wasn't too much competition. In fact, I sometimes wonder if I'm the dumbest. But everyone seems to be claiming that everyone else is smarter than him/her (including the insightful and articulate one who already has a book contract, jeesh). In any case, being a part of this program has been very very humbling and I have much to learn from my peers
- when you do not try to do a million things at once and just focus on one thing, that one thing is easier. I've managed to get through school without losing too much sleep but have sacrificed having a life.
- when you don't have a life and take the bus daily and eat at home and pack a lunch, you can live really really cheap
- it is possible to read 6 books, 2 huge reading packets, and other miscellaneous assigned readings in 10 weeks
- it is possible to write 11 papers in 10 weeks
- when someone dies (ie my professor) people gather to recall funny stories and say nice things about that person. I think people should do more of that when people are still alive to hear it.
- 10 weeks goes by really fast
- the selection committee rocked because I love my cohort. Typically there's some abrasive asshole in the class, or the chick who can't stop talking because she wants to hear herself talk, or the "not the sharpest tool in the shed" student(s) who somehow slipped through during the selection process. None of those characters is in my cohort. What a far cry from my master's program. If Maya is reading this, I'm sure she is nodding and/or laughing.
- I'm not the smartest kid in the class anymore, not like back in elementary school where there wasn't too much competition. In fact, I sometimes wonder if I'm the dumbest. But everyone seems to be claiming that everyone else is smarter than him/her (including the insightful and articulate one who already has a book contract, jeesh). In any case, being a part of this program has been very very humbling and I have much to learn from my peers
- when you do not try to do a million things at once and just focus on one thing, that one thing is easier. I've managed to get through school without losing too much sleep but have sacrificed having a life.
- when you don't have a life and take the bus daily and eat at home and pack a lunch, you can live really really cheap
- it is possible to read 6 books, 2 huge reading packets, and other miscellaneous assigned readings in 10 weeks
- it is possible to write 11 papers in 10 weeks
- when someone dies (ie my professor) people gather to recall funny stories and say nice things about that person. I think people should do more of that when people are still alive to hear it.
12.04.2006
H0H 0H0
It was funny that this story on the urban legends web site popped up on my home page via RSS. I actually remember writing letters to Santa and addressing it to him using the Canadian postal code H0H 0H0. However, I don't remember him writing back as it's claimed he does now. I think my parents took the letter and promised to drop it off in the mail but never did. I wonder who has the job of writing back to all these kids and who pays the postage for sending these letters.
And a couple updates. 3 of the 4 members of the missing Kim family have been found. Hopefully James Kim is found alive soon too. Less important update. I have put in an order to switch to Cingular so I can finally get a new phone (LG CU500) and not some piece of shit hand me down, and no I did not change my phone number.
Oh and I wanted to share something that made my day. One of the little multiple choice quizzes from my students came back with a little drawing up top. Yeeeeah, I rock.
And a couple updates. 3 of the 4 members of the missing Kim family have been found. Hopefully James Kim is found alive soon too. Less important update. I have put in an order to switch to Cingular so I can finally get a new phone (LG CU500) and not some piece of shit hand me down, and no I did not change my phone number.
Oh and I wanted to share something that made my day. One of the little multiple choice quizzes from my students came back with a little drawing up top. Yeeeeah, I rock.
12.03.2006
number
I've decided I've had enough with T-Mobile. I changed my plan online and it wasn't shown in my bill, nor did the web site have a mechanism to tell me that I did not qualify for one of the business plans listed as my options. When I emailed to complain about poor reception in my home I got no reply. When I emailed to complain that existing customers get a smaller discount on phones when extending a contract than do new customers, I got no reply. They have great cheap plans if you rarely use your phone (like me before I moved to Seattle) but at the $39.99 pricepoint or higher, I have to say that Cingular has a better plan and cheaper better hand sets.
The billing rep grew concerned about my frustration and passed me to an account rep to try to swing a deal to keep me. But as a customer for over 4 years, I've felt pretty unrewarded. Now with this number portability it's easy to switch....but my number has a Bay Area area code so I'm wondering if I should switch to a local Seattle number now.
The pros: my apartment will let me hook up the local number to the front door thing to let people in. People who actually use a landline won't have to call long distance to reach me. I might get a really cool number with 8s or that spell something memorable.
The cons: I have to change all my records and get all my friends to record my new number. They all use cell phones so it's just a hassle and makes no difference in terms of paying to talk to me. I might get a shitty number with 4s and shit in it. And there's one last one. That symbolically means I'm not a Bay Area gal no more. This would make me a real Seattlite and I'm not sure I'm ready to give up my 650 area code.
What to do?
The billing rep grew concerned about my frustration and passed me to an account rep to try to swing a deal to keep me. But as a customer for over 4 years, I've felt pretty unrewarded. Now with this number portability it's easy to switch....but my number has a Bay Area area code so I'm wondering if I should switch to a local Seattle number now.
The pros: my apartment will let me hook up the local number to the front door thing to let people in. People who actually use a landline won't have to call long distance to reach me. I might get a really cool number with 8s or that spell something memorable.
The cons: I have to change all my records and get all my friends to record my new number. They all use cell phones so it's just a hassle and makes no difference in terms of paying to talk to me. I might get a shitty number with 4s and shit in it. And there's one last one. That symbolically means I'm not a Bay Area gal no more. This would make me a real Seattlite and I'm not sure I'm ready to give up my 650 area code.
What to do?
missing
Find the Kim family missing since Saturday when they were last seen in Portland en route to SF.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/12/01/BAGJ6MNGK81.DTL
and an updated article here after a sighting in a Denny's Restaurant
http://news.com.com/Road+search+under+way+for+missing+CNET+editor/2100-1028_3-6140118.html
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/12/01/BAGJ6MNGK81.DTL
and an updated article here after a sighting in a Denny's Restaurant
http://news.com.com/Road+search+under+way+for+missing+CNET+editor/2100-1028_3-6140118.html
12.02.2006
Dion
I haven't been able to follow the elections from down here but based on reading the backgrounds of the two people battling to lead the Liberals, it looks like Dion is the right choice. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061203/ap_on_re_ca/canada_liberals_2
I can't wait to send Harper packing. Damn the Conservatives for pitching the idea that we needed a change from Liberal leadership and selling it so well to those who vote based on emotionally charged TV commercials.
I hope Dion is as fiesty as Chretien.
I can't wait to send Harper packing. Damn the Conservatives for pitching the idea that we needed a change from Liberal leadership and selling it so well to those who vote based on emotionally charged TV commercials.
I hope Dion is as fiesty as Chretien.
11.30.2006
week
Has it only been a week since I came back from Thanksgiving? Not even. I got back Sunday. What took this week so damn long to pass. I am looking forward to going for drinks with my cohort tomorrow to plan the "entertainment" for our department holiday as is the tradition. Yes the students who have been a part of the department for 10 weeks are in charge of putting on some sort of funny skit/show/entertainment for everyone else. I think what's supposed to be funny is just seeing what we can come up with seeing as we know barely a handful of the faculty and have just learned our way around the campus. Any ideas for work appropriate performances?
The last one I was part of was a dance routine at the Seagate Software Holiday party in 1998 which we did to the music from the Full Monty. It involved stripping down to shorts in a rather provocative way. All I know is I was so intoxicated that I almost for forgot the dance routine and my equally intoxicated friend took a bottle of wine "to go" when we left the party for a club. Incidentally the club bouncers did not let us in because we spilled out of the taxi visibly drunk. "uh uh, no way," he said. Actually was the wine stolen from the party or from the restaurant we ended up at... I dont remember.
The last one I was part of was a dance routine at the Seagate Software Holiday party in 1998 which we did to the music from the Full Monty. It involved stripping down to shorts in a rather provocative way. All I know is I was so intoxicated that I almost for forgot the dance routine and my equally intoxicated friend took a bottle of wine "to go" when we left the party for a club. Incidentally the club bouncers did not let us in because we spilled out of the taxi visibly drunk. "uh uh, no way," he said. Actually was the wine stolen from the party or from the restaurant we ended up at... I dont remember.
11.29.2006
dammit
What the hell is up with the city of Seattle? We're on day three of this weather and the sidewalks and side streets are still covered with ice and there is not a speck of salt or sand to be found. I have to literally skate in my running shoes to and from the bus stop and this is on a busy main street that is well traveled by pedestrians. I saw old women shuffling along on the ice with a cane in hand. Don't tax dollars go to things like salting roads and sidewalks so that people don't fucking kill themselves getting around? I thought BC was short on salt trucks and snow clearing resources but this is far far worse. I feel like bringing my own damn salt. I'm also going to complain of my own stupidity. I was vaccuuming and a corner of my 400 fucking thread count duvet cover got sucked into the vaccuum and now there is a big charred hole in the corner. Fuck, I guess I could stitch it up but my sewing machine is in SF.
11.28.2006
Deb
So the memorial for my professor takes place tomorrow at school. We have one person in our class, the only class Deb taught, who will say a few words on our behalf. Here's my contribution and a nice obituary in the Seattle PI.
Coming to a "research 1" university from a teaching university was a bit daunting. We've been told that we'll need to learn how to take criticism and so I braced myself. I came here expecting professors to use praise very sparingly. I thought maybe they'd want to toughen us up and make us work harder. But I remember there were a couple times where Deb reserved a good amount of class time just to tell us how impressed she was with us, how we've really grasped the concepts we've learned in class, and how much she appreciated our effort. I was really touched that she made a point of saying these things to us. She truly was a compassionate teacher.
---------------------
Getting around today really sucked. Half my students were stuck someplace where the bus didn't come or where the streets, like most, were covered in ice. Where the hell are the salt trucks? This is as bad as Vancouver. And Robyn, this is my first winter in Seattle but the weather tends to be similar to Vancouver's and snow usually comes only a few times a year and definitely not until December/January. I'm sure that this wacky weather is due to global warming making a mess of our enviroment. Why won't our world leaders pay attention to all this?
Coming to a "research 1" university from a teaching university was a bit daunting. We've been told that we'll need to learn how to take criticism and so I braced myself. I came here expecting professors to use praise very sparingly. I thought maybe they'd want to toughen us up and make us work harder. But I remember there were a couple times where Deb reserved a good amount of class time just to tell us how impressed she was with us, how we've really grasped the concepts we've learned in class, and how much she appreciated our effort. I was really touched that she made a point of saying these things to us. She truly was a compassionate teacher.
---------------------
Getting around today really sucked. Half my students were stuck someplace where the bus didn't come or where the streets, like most, were covered in ice. Where the hell are the salt trucks? This is as bad as Vancouver. And Robyn, this is my first winter in Seattle but the weather tends to be similar to Vancouver's and snow usually comes only a few times a year and definitely not until December/January. I'm sure that this wacky weather is due to global warming making a mess of our enviroment. Why won't our world leaders pay attention to all this?
11.27.2006
snow & bowling
Mother Nature caused my flight to be delayed 3 hours last night getting me to SEA past midnight, and me home at 1am which really sucks when you have a meeting in the morning. It snowed just a wee bit last night.
Now it's 5pm and as soon as I got off the bus, the snow started coming down like crazy in little snow balls about the size of fish eyeballs. Not as hard as hail but not as fluffy as snow. Here's how it looks RIGHT NOW. Good thing I don't have to drive anywhere because I'm pretty sure my car wouldn't make it up that incline you see there from the locked garage.
Snowy Seattle in November
Outside my place
In other news, my Thanksgiving weekend was fun. Lots of eating including fried turkey at our place and lunch at Shanghai Dumpling House in Millbrae which was delicious. I also coerced the gang to go bowling again and yes, I finally broke 100. So my theory is that drunkeness improves bowling ability to a certain point before it rapidly deterioriates -- I bowled 101 in game 1, 117 in game 2, and I scored 56 in game 3, an all time low.
Notice the impressive strike, gutter ball, strike combo in game 1.
Now it's 5pm and as soon as I got off the bus, the snow started coming down like crazy in little snow balls about the size of fish eyeballs. Not as hard as hail but not as fluffy as snow. Here's how it looks RIGHT NOW. Good thing I don't have to drive anywhere because I'm pretty sure my car wouldn't make it up that incline you see there from the locked garage.
Snowy Seattle in November
Outside my place
In other news, my Thanksgiving weekend was fun. Lots of eating including fried turkey at our place and lunch at Shanghai Dumpling House in Millbrae which was delicious. I also coerced the gang to go bowling again and yes, I finally broke 100. So my theory is that drunkeness improves bowling ability to a certain point before it rapidly deterioriates -- I bowled 101 in game 1, 117 in game 2, and I scored 56 in game 3, an all time low.
Notice the impressive strike, gutter ball, strike combo in game 1.
11.22.2006
distribution list
For the past couple months I've been part of an email distribution list that announces fun things to do on the weekend in the Seattle area. I've been invited to movies, potlucks at people's homes, concerts and even Thanksgiving dinner. The funny part is I have no idea who the hell these people are. Someone named Caitlin typically sends the emails and I have even clicked on the links to view photos from the events and I definitely don't know these folks. They're about 10 years younger than me and wear a lot of make up. At first I thought it was a nuisance and was going to email Caitlin so she could take me off this damn list. But I forgot to and kept getting these emails. Then the stalker in me found it kinda funny to know what people do on weekends. But the horrible grammar and the way she signs off the emails are getting to me.
e.g. "Don't forget to smile ;0) *Wink*"
Seriously. Is it necessary to type *wink* when the smiley emoticon is already winking? And it makes me want to puke violently when people sign off with some message about smiling. It's just. Lame.
I think I'll hide out on this distribution list a while longer before alerting Caitlin in case they write some more funny shit for me to share on this blog. God, I'm such an asshole!
e.g. "Don't forget to smile ;0) *Wink*"
Seriously. Is it necessary to type *wink* when the smiley emoticon is already winking? And it makes me want to puke violently when people sign off with some message about smiling. It's just. Lame.
I think I'll hide out on this distribution list a while longer before alerting Caitlin in case they write some more funny shit for me to share on this blog. God, I'm such an asshole!
11.20.2006
jeans
I felt like living on the edge today so I went off to school in a pair of jeans so ridiculously worn that I ran the risk of being bottomless by end of day. They are incredibly soft and comfortable and don't make my ass look wide so I wore them. Partway through a meeting about fulfilling "methods" requirements and finding the right advisor, I felt like my jeans weren't fitting right for some reason. I reached down and to my horror felt the back of where my ass meets my thigh. Being fully clothed and reaching back and feeling your own flesh is kinda surreal. My trusty jeans had finally given in and a hole had formed below my back pocket. Luckily it wasn't as big as it first felt. The first thing I did upon standing up at the end of the meeting was put on my long rain coat. I think until my entire ass is hanging out I'm going to keep wearing these jeans. Probably not on teaching days or even to school, but they have not seen their final days. Not yet. Didn't people of both genders wear spandex tights under jeans full of holes back in the early 1980s? Maybe that look will come back. The 80s were good.
11.19.2006
high school
I guess this thing would be appropriate since I spent Saturday afternoon reminiscing about (recalling the horror that was) high school.
Fill this out about your SENIOR year of high school! The longer ago it was, the more fun the answers will be. [I'm sorry but what the fuck is so fun about remembering high school. I'm doing this because it's sort of tragic and possibly entertaining/enlightening to other people]
1. Who was your best friend? I guess Caron A. but my circle of friends changed often depending on which way the wind blew. (i.e. who was doing the backstabbing that week)
2.What sports did u play? Gymnastics
3. What kind of car did you drive? 1986 Pontiac piece of shit hatchback
4. It's Friday night, where were you? Somewhere in the Edmonds Burnaby area hanging out with boyfriend and his friends
5. Were you a party animal? Does abusing substances while not at a party count?
6. Were you considered a flirt? What would've been the point. I went to a mostly white school long before it was fashionable to date/fetishize Asian girls.
7. Ever skip school? Not really
8. Were you a nerd? A bit but I didn't do that well in school either
10. Did you get suspended/expelled? Never, and what happened to #9?
11. Can you sing the fight song? What the hell is that?
12. Who was your favorite teacher? Can't remember his name but he almost sent me to counseling for coming in looking like I wanted to kill myself every morning.
13. Favorite class? I really hated high school.
14. What was your school's full name? Centennial
15. School mascot? Centaur
16. Did you go to Prom? It's not called prom where I went. It was called Grad.
17. If you could go back and do it over, would you? No, it was fucking lame.
18. What do you remember most about graduation? Riding there in a horse drawn carriage with my friends from gymnastics.
19. Favorite memory of your Senior Year? We called that grade 12. I didn't have a favourite memory. Although most vivid memories would be dealing with two suicide attempts by two different friends. One involved taking her to the hospital, the other involved helping a girl out of class to throw up the bottle of Tylenol she took and then calling her boyfriend to take her to the hospital
20. Where were you on senior skip day? Is this another American phenomenon? I don't know what this is.
21. Did you have a job your senior year? Coached gymnastics for 4 different organizations
22. Where did you go most often for lunch? On the floor in a hallway anywhere I could spot someone I knew. We had staggered lunch blocks which meant you didn't always get to lunch with friends. I guess that added to my isolation and hatred of high school.
23. Have you gained weight since then? Of course.
24. What did you do after graduation? Go to SFU where there was more than just a few token non-ESL ethnic minorities. Alas, someplace where I actually fit in.
25. When did you graduate? a long time ago
26. Who was your Senior prom date? my neurotic controlling bf
27. Are you going to your ten year reunion? This is obviously not directed to people my age if you talking about this being in the future. We didn't have a reunion because we were cliqueish and everyone hated each other. In a graduating class of 1000, if you didn't hate someone, you were either friends or didn't know them.
28. Who was your home room teacher? Jeez, I don't remember
29. Who will repost this after you? Whoever wants to demonstrate that their high school experience was more tragic than mine.
Fill this out about your SENIOR year of high school! The longer ago it was, the more fun the answers will be. [I'm sorry but what the fuck is so fun about remembering high school. I'm doing this because it's sort of tragic and possibly entertaining/enlightening to other people]
1. Who was your best friend? I guess Caron A. but my circle of friends changed often depending on which way the wind blew. (i.e. who was doing the backstabbing that week)
2.What sports did u play? Gymnastics
3. What kind of car did you drive? 1986 Pontiac piece of shit hatchback
4. It's Friday night, where were you? Somewhere in the Edmonds Burnaby area hanging out with boyfriend and his friends
5. Were you a party animal? Does abusing substances while not at a party count?
6. Were you considered a flirt? What would've been the point. I went to a mostly white school long before it was fashionable to date/fetishize Asian girls.
7. Ever skip school? Not really
8. Were you a nerd? A bit but I didn't do that well in school either
10. Did you get suspended/expelled? Never, and what happened to #9?
11. Can you sing the fight song? What the hell is that?
12. Who was your favorite teacher? Can't remember his name but he almost sent me to counseling for coming in looking like I wanted to kill myself every morning.
13. Favorite class? I really hated high school.
14. What was your school's full name? Centennial
15. School mascot? Centaur
16. Did you go to Prom? It's not called prom where I went. It was called Grad.
17. If you could go back and do it over, would you? No, it was fucking lame.
18. What do you remember most about graduation? Riding there in a horse drawn carriage with my friends from gymnastics.
19. Favorite memory of your Senior Year? We called that grade 12. I didn't have a favourite memory. Although most vivid memories would be dealing with two suicide attempts by two different friends. One involved taking her to the hospital, the other involved helping a girl out of class to throw up the bottle of Tylenol she took and then calling her boyfriend to take her to the hospital
20. Where were you on senior skip day? Is this another American phenomenon? I don't know what this is.
21. Did you have a job your senior year? Coached gymnastics for 4 different organizations
22. Where did you go most often for lunch? On the floor in a hallway anywhere I could spot someone I knew. We had staggered lunch blocks which meant you didn't always get to lunch with friends. I guess that added to my isolation and hatred of high school.
23. Have you gained weight since then? Of course.
24. What did you do after graduation? Go to SFU where there was more than just a few token non-ESL ethnic minorities. Alas, someplace where I actually fit in.
25. When did you graduate? a long time ago
26. Who was your Senior prom date? my neurotic controlling bf
27. Are you going to your ten year reunion? This is obviously not directed to people my age if you talking about this being in the future. We didn't have a reunion because we were cliqueish and everyone hated each other. In a graduating class of 1000, if you didn't hate someone, you were either friends or didn't know them.
28. Who was your home room teacher? Jeez, I don't remember
29. Who will repost this after you? Whoever wants to demonstrate that their high school experience was more tragic than mine.
weekend
I went deep into hiding this weekend since I had Friday off while half my department headed to the National Communication Association conference in San Antonio. After a quick trip to Target Thursday after lunch, I packed up and got on I-5 North only to get stuck in a massive traffic jam in Everett where there was an accident involving a cement truck earlier in the day. It me three and a half hours to finally get home. I didn't really tell anyone I was heading up because this was to be homework bootcamp for me.
After dinner Thursday night, I graded speeches and assignments until I couldn't keep my eyes open. In between grading I reviewed student speech outlines via email.
Friday was reading day. I spent the entire day (which started late because I slept in) reading Hugh Miles's Al-Jazeera and finished by 2am that night. Man, marathon reading is really gonna progress my already atrocious nearsightedness.
Saturday morning I worked out an outline for my review of the book for my globalization class, then headed out for lunch with some friends from high school. As soon as I got back from my very very long lunch, I buckled down and started on the paper. Took a break for dinner and finished the paper by 9:30 pm which is record time for me. Stayed up til 2am again reading for another class and started to outline a response paper Sunday morning.
Today all I had time to do was pack up, head out for lunch, get gas and hit the road. Luckily the rain held up for most of my drive home. 15 min wait at the border, 1/2 hour to get my visa stamped (which is a one time thing), total travel time 3 hours. Not bad considering the stop off for the visa stamp.
Hooray for a three day week!
After dinner Thursday night, I graded speeches and assignments until I couldn't keep my eyes open. In between grading I reviewed student speech outlines via email.
Friday was reading day. I spent the entire day (which started late because I slept in) reading Hugh Miles's Al-Jazeera and finished by 2am that night. Man, marathon reading is really gonna progress my already atrocious nearsightedness.
Saturday morning I worked out an outline for my review of the book for my globalization class, then headed out for lunch with some friends from high school. As soon as I got back from my very very long lunch, I buckled down and started on the paper. Took a break for dinner and finished the paper by 9:30 pm which is record time for me. Stayed up til 2am again reading for another class and started to outline a response paper Sunday morning.
Today all I had time to do was pack up, head out for lunch, get gas and hit the road. Luckily the rain held up for most of my drive home. 15 min wait at the border, 1/2 hour to get my visa stamped (which is a one time thing), total travel time 3 hours. Not bad considering the stop off for the visa stamp.
Hooray for a three day week!
11.15.2006
sad day
There's nothing more surreal than opening up your email in the morning and finding a message that says "I am sorry to report that Professor Deb Kaplan died in her sleep last night..." and then coming to school and seeing this on the front page of our school's daily newspaper. I've seen her twice a week the last 7 weeks as she was the prof for a foundation theory class all the entering graduate students take together. I almost feel like I'm watching all this happen as an outsider...the emails, the flowers, the grad students camped outside her door chatting and writing messages on colored paper to tape to her door, all the counseling and memorials our wonderful department chair and admin are organizing in one short day. It's like seeing it happen on TV. It's weird to think that someone you saw alive and well 6 days ago is suddenly not here. I realized I actually haven't had someone I see so regularly die before, not since high school when a number of my classmates got in fatal car accidents. I mean there were grandparents I saw very rarely and acquaintances I didn't know well, but definitely nothing this unexpected.
Aside from all this it also makes me wonder what "died in her sleep" means. Is that a euphemism? Is it really as painless, peaceful, and instantaneous as it sounds? People always say there's no better way to go but I always wonder if it really is as pleasant as it sounds. We're really not sure what the natural causes are since that covers a whole lot of stuff. I am pretty sure there were some underlying causes and things didn't just stop working (I think that only happens when you're really elderly) but still it reminds you just how fragile life is. I'm glad she got news of a book deal recently. I hope that she talked to some good friends, did something enjoyable, and had some nice meals last week. Makes me sort of think of things that you need to remember to do on a regular basis just in case your time comes unexpectedly. Talk to people, make time to do things that are fun, eat well, don't waste time stressing out or being a grumpy selfish asshole.
Aside from all this it also makes me wonder what "died in her sleep" means. Is that a euphemism? Is it really as painless, peaceful, and instantaneous as it sounds? People always say there's no better way to go but I always wonder if it really is as pleasant as it sounds. We're really not sure what the natural causes are since that covers a whole lot of stuff. I am pretty sure there were some underlying causes and things didn't just stop working (I think that only happens when you're really elderly) but still it reminds you just how fragile life is. I'm glad she got news of a book deal recently. I hope that she talked to some good friends, did something enjoyable, and had some nice meals last week. Makes me sort of think of things that you need to remember to do on a regular basis just in case your time comes unexpectedly. Talk to people, make time to do things that are fun, eat well, don't waste time stressing out or being a grumpy selfish asshole.
damn I'm tired
Ever stay up so late that you get too tired to actually pick yourself up off the couch to go to bed. That is me right now. Last weekend was a nice break and visit to SF where I went bowling (88 was my high score for the night), ate lots of good food, stopped at a friend's bday, worked out, and saw Borat (holy cow funny, sad, scary, and hard to watch all at the same time). On the way home I got stuck at SJC for 2 fucking hours because my plane was delayed in Denver. I hate that but it doesn't usually happen with Alaska Airlines (America West and Frontier, however, are the airlines I flew for work and they screwed me every trip and robbed me of many hours of my life). When I got back my garage was flooded with about 3" of water that I had to walk through to get to the door and up the elevator. That was a bitch. Since then I've been trying to play catch up since I was not doing a heck of a lot of work down in Cali. I'm going to hide out in Vancouver this weekend and try to get 1 book read and 3 papers written (yeah right). I have managed to find time for a little fun activity with my classmates. People call it stitch and bitch but we dont like the connotation of bitch so we call our group Purls of Wisdom. Knitting at a cafe in the UDistrict while discussing all the dense and sometimes hard to grasp theory we are learning in class. That's the other reason I need to go home. I need some knitting needles and yarn from my mom.
11.09.2006
midterm report
I don't actually take exams anymore (except my comprehensive exams or whatever in a few years) but it is midterm time. So far I have survived this program without losing much sleep, literally. I've kept to my goal of 8 hours per night or more and still gotten all my grading, reading, and writing done. I even have time to make dinner every night. Although sometimes I just make a HUGE batch of something that serves as dinner, lunch the next day, and also dinner the next day (sometimes for me and my roomate when she's home). So with proper eating and sleep I've managed my schedule and stayed sane so far.
However, things have had to go. The only TV I get to consume is a bit of news or Discovery or hockey on CBC during meals or late at night on a weekend. I've also been out to hang out I think a total of 3 nights since I moved here (my department grad student pub runs don't count because I NEED that beer on Fridays). Blog reading and writing has been drastically cut down sadly. Exercise has gone to the shitter too. I know that's supposed to be as important as the eat and sleep routine but I can't figure out the logistics of bus commute and trekking all the way to the IMA (gym) and carrying all my work out crap on the bus along with my backpack and laptop. So I've worked out on weekends a couple times and gone running a few times on sunny days. Sunny days are no longer and I don't do cold/wet weather running because I'm lame like that. So next goal is to better integrate exercise into my life. I wish I could go to gymnastics down the street but it would be a bit out of my budget. Damn.
However, things have had to go. The only TV I get to consume is a bit of news or Discovery or hockey on CBC during meals or late at night on a weekend. I've also been out to hang out I think a total of 3 nights since I moved here (my department grad student pub runs don't count because I NEED that beer on Fridays). Blog reading and writing has been drastically cut down sadly. Exercise has gone to the shitter too. I know that's supposed to be as important as the eat and sleep routine but I can't figure out the logistics of bus commute and trekking all the way to the IMA (gym) and carrying all my work out crap on the bus along with my backpack and laptop. So I've worked out on weekends a couple times and gone running a few times on sunny days. Sunny days are no longer and I don't do cold/wet weather running because I'm lame like that. So next goal is to better integrate exercise into my life. I wish I could go to gymnastics down the street but it would be a bit out of my budget. Damn.
11.08.2006
Rumsfeld
Being at home at strange hours in the day means I get to watch live press conferences on TV. Right now Bush is speaking (reading) and announcing the replacement for Rumsfeld. Oh my god, he still havsn't learned to pronouce nuclear. Watching him read is so painful. Despite my loathing for him, I can't help but feel a little bit embarrassed for him when he gets behind a lectern. OH man and now the spewing of rhetoric pertaining to enemies hating our freedom. Stop it already. They don't "hate our freedom" they hate you! Why don't people see through this?
long weekends
What I love about school is having a flexible schedule. I get a long weekend 3 weeks in a row. Veteran's day, the week after my department comes to a grinding halt with everyone away at the National Communication Assoc conference, then it's Thanksgiving. Yay! I'll be in SF this weekend and for Thanksgiving.
What I don't like about school scheduling is that next quarter I have the pleasure of 7 hours of back to back lectures 8:30am to 3:30pm no breaks. Doing 7 hours of any other work is normally tolerable but listening, learning, speaking, and taking notes for that many hours on end is no easy feat.
What I don't like about school scheduling is that next quarter I have the pleasure of 7 hours of back to back lectures 8:30am to 3:30pm no breaks. Doing 7 hours of any other work is normally tolerable but listening, learning, speaking, and taking notes for that many hours on end is no easy feat.
11.04.2006
snowboarding
A couple days ago before the rain started, I was smelling snow in the air. It shouldn't be long before we can hit the slopes and apparently the mountains are not very far away from the city in the Seattle area. It will be nice to have such easy access to mountains again. So Seattlites, which mountain is closest, and which is the best? I found this site but it only lists the distances for a couple of the mountains.
bowling
So last night I went bowling. I haven't bowled in probably about 7 years. I think last time I went was at Brentwood Lanes. I didn't bowl even once in California because we spent all our off hours at bars and I know I suck at bowling. Seeing as drinking often goes with bowling we probably should've gone more often. Last night was supposed to be dinner, couple drinks at my house and an early night but somehow my friend, who is here for a 5 month internship, and I ended up tagging along with another friend and his buddies who were planning on heading to Sunset Bowl in Ballard. This place is open 24 hours and it was packed. I, as predicted, bowled the lowest score, 78, and did not get even one strike or spare. Still, I was pretty happy with my score and realized that if you have had enough to drink bowling is pretty fun. I actually wouldn't mind going again and trying to break 100. They actually have a bowling alley at my school but they don't serve liquor there so that kinda defeats the purpose.
11.01.2006
rough
What do you do when you've had a long ass week, a midterm essay due, student stuff to grade, and two big final projects that need tending to really soon? You come home, have a beer and surf online for a fucking Christmas time vacation package. Can anyone suggest a good online travel agency other than Expedia and Orbitz? I'm thinking a South America adventure, someplace other than Mexico but maybe not quite overseas...
costume
For the first time in a long while I did not have a costume for Halloween. Actually I didn't really have a Halloween. No time, no money, nothing to do and several papers to write. Kinda sucks. I like Halloween too. There wasn't much going on at school either. I guess midterms and then getting drunk Halloween night is about all that is on the minds of the undergrads. I saw more staff/admin in costumes than I saw students. Best costume of the day was a woman's chihuahua with an awesome dinosaur costume made of green felt with big spikes all the way down the tail.
10.29.2006
shooting
So I tend to cite Gerbner's mean world syndrome and Cultivation Theory when people start worrying that it's not safe to walk alone, be out at night, drive alone etc etc. Last night I walked home down some dark streets alone and nothing happened to me and the chances of anything happening are not high.
However, that said, this kinda hits close to home. Two shootings on Greek Row at my university last night. Those hit were bystanders in their 20s, I'm guessing students.
I guess one could also say, it never hurts to take precautions. Maybe I should stop tempting fate and doing stuff like walking around in the dark by myself.
However, that said, this kinda hits close to home. Two shootings on Greek Row at my university last night. Those hit were bystanders in their 20s, I'm guessing students.
I guess one could also say, it never hurts to take precautions. Maybe I should stop tempting fate and doing stuff like walking around in the dark by myself.
Asian groceries
Finally a place to buy Asian groceries north of Chinatown and south of Edmonds. I cannot wait until they open. I'm a little disappointed by the lack of places to buy Asian food, which I guess comes with the small Asian population here compared to Vancouver, BC or the SF Bay Area. I checked out this list and there's nothing near my home. I did find this listing online D Unik Gift Shoppe & Oriental Foods 18002 15th Avenue Northeast, Shoreline, WA 98155 but have yet to check that one out. I think my classmate mentioned that it's mostly south Asian food products though. I sure miss living a 1/2 mile from Ranch 99.
10.28.2006
10.27.2006
history cont'd
So this piece of American culture is really interesting. Homecomings started in Illinois back in 1910 with a football game to bring back the alumni just as Robyn mentioned. Here's an essay about the history of homecoming in America (PDF file).
And the history behind frats and sororities? Here! and also here!
This is interesting
And the history behind frats and sororities? Here! and also here!
This is interesting
According to "The American Fraternity" an article written by Betty Mullins
Jones, the Greek association in fraternities and sororities comes from the fact
that all the early members studied Greek as an academic requirement.
10.25.2006
homecoming
Having never attended a big American university (they call it college for some reason), there are certain things I don't "get." I did my undergrad in Canada where college sports are not a big deal. They're not on the news and no one goes to watch unless you know someone on the team. Sororities and frats are also not as common and at my school not allowed. In general there are a lot of things that take place in American schools that are unheard of in Canada. I did my masters at an American state run comparatively low budget university where most students worked and commuted to school so there wasn't much of a big school atmosphere. So, things I don't get include definitions of words like "frosh" or "pledge." It wasn't until recently that I really understood what the heck a frat/sorority was about. To me it was an exclusive system of arbitrary friendships and a whole bunch of kids living in some gigantic house. Apparently I wasn't too far off but there are things like charity work and stuff that they take part in and the systems are entrenched in all this tradition etc etc. OK so I sort of get it and now I secretly want to take part in one of their little parties so I can say I did.
The other thing that is still a complete mystery to me is this whole idea of homecoming. Apparently this also happens in high schools. It's associated with a football game, marching bands (also uncommon in Canada), the crowning of a king/queen (in high school), and some sort of celebration. At UW there is a big banner announcing homecoming. There will be a rally, football game, "dawg" sled contest (students turning Costco shopping carts into dog sleds I think), scavenger hunt and a bunch of other activities. I really don't get it. Who is coming home and what the hell is being celebrated? What does football have to do with it and why do high schools crown a king and queen? Could you Americans enlighten me?
And how come we don't get to do all this fun celebratory stuff in Canada? Schooling seems so much less eventful there. The only fun thing I remember was Finals Fantasy parties but those were not hosted by the school. UBC's departmental beer gardens and outdoor concerts were pretty cool though.
The other thing that is still a complete mystery to me is this whole idea of homecoming. Apparently this also happens in high schools. It's associated with a football game, marching bands (also uncommon in Canada), the crowning of a king/queen (in high school), and some sort of celebration. At UW there is a big banner announcing homecoming. There will be a rally, football game, "dawg" sled contest (students turning Costco shopping carts into dog sleds I think), scavenger hunt and a bunch of other activities. I really don't get it. Who is coming home and what the hell is being celebrated? What does football have to do with it and why do high schools crown a king and queen? Could you Americans enlighten me?
And how come we don't get to do all this fun celebratory stuff in Canada? Schooling seems so much less eventful there. The only fun thing I remember was Finals Fantasy parties but those were not hosted by the school. UBC's departmental beer gardens and outdoor concerts were pretty cool though.
10.24.2006
continued
I guess there is a Vanessa Au down in LA. Continuation of the email guessing saga. Last message below from Hong.
Thanks for the clarification. I'm sure you are really fun to hang outIt sure pays off to secure a good email address early.
with too. I guess I'll have to find the other Vanessa Au to trash the
mansion with. If you are ever in town to party, just holler.Peace.
10.23.2006
guessing emails
I wish I had a little more creativity in me to mess with this guy (not in a sinister way). I think some guy had met someone with my name or a similar name and was email guessing when he sent this. The opportunity was so rich but this is all I could come up with. Lame. I should've attached a photo of someone really hot and claimed it was me or critiqued his approach or continued the dialog with an excited "hell yeah, you're so hot" (okay not the latter, that would fall under "sinister").
Hi Vanessa. Just wondering if you have any plans this Saturday night?
I had two tickets to this Halloween party that is being put on by my UCLA
MBA friend at some mansion atop somewhere in West LA. I didn't go last
year because of other commitments, but I heard it was really fun dressing up
and trashing some strangers house!! So let me know if you are interested.
I'd think it would be fun to hang out with you. Thanks. Hong
----------
Hi
I think you have emailed the wrong gal. While I believe I am fun to hang out with and would love to party in West LA, I live in Seattle and I'm pretty sure I've never met you before in my entire life.
Good luck tracking down the right Vanessa and scoring a date with her!
cheers,
vanessa
found
So a friend of mine found a wallet laying on the street with $700 cash and no ID inside. This leads me to wonder (1) who the heck carries that much money? (2) why would the ID be missing and not the cash?
I'm not the type to find things like that. Pennies don't count. I saw a quarter today when I was getting off the bus but didn't pick it up because I didn't want to get trampled by the people behind me. And for some reason having lucky things happen to me always makes me worry that it'll balance out with bad luck, like getting hit by a car or something. That reminds me of some news I read today. A fire truck was putting out a car fire on the I-5 when some jack ass drove into the fire truck. You know, big huge vehicle with bright flashing lights. Another version of the story I read noted that drugs and alcohol are suspected. Gee really?
I'm not the type to find things like that. Pennies don't count. I saw a quarter today when I was getting off the bus but didn't pick it up because I didn't want to get trampled by the people behind me. And for some reason having lucky things happen to me always makes me worry that it'll balance out with bad luck, like getting hit by a car or something. That reminds me of some news I read today. A fire truck was putting out a car fire on the I-5 when some jack ass drove into the fire truck. You know, big huge vehicle with bright flashing lights. Another version of the story I read noted that drugs and alcohol are suspected. Gee really?
10.22.2006
fusion
4 of my favourite friends came down from Vancouver this weekend which means lots of shopping, drinking and eating. We joined a birthday party of my friend's coworker that started at Wild Ginger and ended at Trinity club. So Wild Ginger is some fancy pants restaurant that is supposedly quite popular in Seattle. With reservations, they seated us 45 minutes late. The food was OK but it's hard for someone who is Asian to really appreciate the whole fusion thing. The guy spent FOREVER explaining a garlic green beans dish that I can make in a couple minutes in my sleep. The chicken was overcooked, scallops too oily and too peppery, and the place was just full of pretentious Marina District type folks. And simple stirfry dishes should cost $5-8, not $20-something. When a white man serves it in some upscale lookin' restaurant (where tea ain't free) and takes a couple minutes to describe each dish (like that sommelier mofo in last season's Top Chef) those stirfries suddenly cost three times as much. The most memorable part of the dinner was when the waiter cleared all our dishes, nicked the tray on a pillar and all the plates came crashing to the floor. He got a huge round of applause and a couple standing ovations. Trinity was alright. Generally I'm sick of and too old for clubbing but it was nice to get out, see friends and pound back some drinks. Paid for it today though.
In other news the usual blaring of punk music on Sunday afternoons has stopped. I guess management gave them a warning...or they're out of town.
In other news the usual blaring of punk music on Sunday afternoons has stopped. I guess management gave them a warning...or they're out of town.
10.20.2006
disconnect
The only thing that pains me more than poor student performance on an assignment is that student thinking s/he did an outstanding job. To use a rude, cruel, and entirely inappropriate analogy, it's kinda like when a woman who is a little on the chunky side wears tight low rider jeans and a baby tee, producing a large "muffin top" that spills out between the two articles of clothing and thinks it's all very flattering on her. Where is the disconnect? Is ignorance bliss? Ah crap. Now I feel guilty I wrote that. Bah, whatever. I'm tired and have way too much shit to get done. I wish there were such a thing as speed reading and that I had that ability. (I think it's bullshit) One day I will come up with a bullshit seminar on a DVD on how to do something that makes no sense and then retire rich.
10.16.2006
fucking neighbours
Dear Management,
I live in apartment #*** and I am writing to complain about loud music coming from the apartment below me. The tenants in that apartment regularly play loud punk music for several hours at a time in the early evening on weekdays and during the day some weekends. It is loud enough that I can identify the song and sometimes even make out the lyrics. The bass from their music vibrates the floor of my apartment and can sometimes be felt on surfaces of our furniture (such as a desk). I am a Phd student and my roommate is studying for her MBA and the music is extremely distracting when we are trying to study. I have on several occasions pounded on the floor to communicate that they need to turn it down but I don’t think they can hear me with the volume turned up that high. I do not, for reasons pertaining to personal safety, wish to confront the tenants directly. Please issue these tenants a noise warning.
Sincerely,
Vanessa Au
I live in apartment #*** and I am writing to complain about loud music coming from the apartment below me. The tenants in that apartment regularly play loud punk music for several hours at a time in the early evening on weekdays and during the day some weekends. It is loud enough that I can identify the song and sometimes even make out the lyrics. The bass from their music vibrates the floor of my apartment and can sometimes be felt on surfaces of our furniture (such as a desk). I am a Phd student and my roommate is studying for her MBA and the music is extremely distracting when we are trying to study. I have on several occasions pounded on the floor to communicate that they need to turn it down but I don’t think they can hear me with the volume turned up that high. I do not, for reasons pertaining to personal safety, wish to confront the tenants directly. Please issue these tenants a noise warning.
Sincerely,
Vanessa Au
10.15.2006
real northwest
My parents drove down to visit for the weekend. We spent yesterday touring the Fremont neighbourhood of Seattle (the self-proclaimed "center of the universe") where we had a delicious meal at Jai Thai, visited the troll under the Aurora bridge, and checked out the statue of Lenin. It got damn cold out. After that we walked through Pike Place Market which is a huge maze, then I took them on a long tour of the UW campus. Luckily we were finished with the walk and safely inside Target by the time it started to rain. And rain it did. We headed home where I made a quick chicken, onion, napa cabbage and celery stirfry for dinner. I put on the Constant Gardener for them (which I've seen and loved) so I could get the rest of my grading done. Hooray for long movies. If I had Lord of the Rings at hand (they'd hate it) maybe I could've finished my paper too.
Today fog rolled in to join the rain and it really started to feel like the Pacific Northwest. All the sunshine the past month was a little disguise that Mother Nature put on to help me adjust to living here I think. And for that I thank her. Today we headed out to Big Lots for some guaranteed good bargains and then over to Nordstrom Rack for one more attempt to buy shoes in the tiny size that my mother wears. By comparison I have rather long feet for my height. My feet would've made me rather unpopular a few generations ago in China but here and now they keep me from falling over (sometimes). Parents made it back to Coquitlam in record time ~ 2.5 hours while my roomate and her boyfriend made the reverse trip in 4 hours thanks to a 1.5 hour wait southbound at the border while customs searched people's trunks.
Back to writing my paper. It's dark and wet out and I can hear the cars and buses sloshing through puddles on the pavement. Sounds just like Vancouver. Hopefully the weather helps me to stay indoors and focussed on school. If it begins to have adverse effects I will be making a little appointment with that light box at the counseling center for people suffering from seasonal affective disorder.
Today fog rolled in to join the rain and it really started to feel like the Pacific Northwest. All the sunshine the past month was a little disguise that Mother Nature put on to help me adjust to living here I think. And for that I thank her. Today we headed out to Big Lots for some guaranteed good bargains and then over to Nordstrom Rack for one more attempt to buy shoes in the tiny size that my mother wears. By comparison I have rather long feet for my height. My feet would've made me rather unpopular a few generations ago in China but here and now they keep me from falling over (sometimes). Parents made it back to Coquitlam in record time ~ 2.5 hours while my roomate and her boyfriend made the reverse trip in 4 hours thanks to a 1.5 hour wait southbound at the border while customs searched people's trunks.
Back to writing my paper. It's dark and wet out and I can hear the cars and buses sloshing through puddles on the pavement. Sounds just like Vancouver. Hopefully the weather helps me to stay indoors and focussed on school. If it begins to have adverse effects I will be making a little appointment with that light box at the counseling center for people suffering from seasonal affective disorder.
10.13.2006
johari
Link borrowed from Syndromes. Some sort of personality - how you see yourself vs. how people see you kinda thing... http://kevan.org/johari?name=vanessaau
10.12.2006
bus
Now that I'm a daily user of the bus system here, I've noticed a few things:
- bus drivers here are exceptionally friendly
- 90% (by my estimate) of people thank the bus driver when exiting
- if a bus is full of people, it will drive right by you
- there will always be teenagers on buses who deliberately speak much louder than is necessary to communicate with the friend sitting next to them
- there will always be riders who have very personal conversations on their cell phones and it's rather hard not to eavesdrop (because it's interesting to hear about why she broke up with her boyfriend and how he keeps calling her)
- the bus driver has to manually open the back door and sometime s/he forgets and you have to yell "back door please"
- sitting in the seat where you ride sideways gives me motion sickness
- I can only read for about 10 minutes before I start to feel motion sick
- only the seat nearest the window has a rail to rest your feet on
- there is a fare free zone downtown which means you tend to get several homeless people getting aboard just for the hell of it
- bus drivers are not allowed to help people using wheel chairs to back into the space reserved for them (even if the rider is drunk and uncoordinated and it takes him damn near 10 minutes to figure it out)
10.10.2006
coffee crisp
This will be the first and only time I'll add a link to Fox News without prefacing it with disparaging remarks. So here it is (thanks to Enlai). Coffee Crisp will be sold here soon. It's not my favourite chocolate bar from Canada though. I much prefer the Aero Bar, Oh Henry, Caramilk and the Canadian version of KitKat which is much more creamy, less sweet and less waxy which seems the case for all our chocolate when compared to the disgustingly sweet wax-textured American chocolate (with the exception of maybe Dove and Ghirardelli). Here is a link to more Canada only products. I've had Cadbury bars from the UK and they taste even creamier than those from Canada.
10.07.2006
border
I have learned in the month that I've lived here that being so close to the Canadian border has an effect on the people and media here. And it's a good thing. First, people here say pop and not soda. I had never gotten used to saying soda in California because to me soda is just fizzy water. Boy was I relieved when I heard a bunch of people say pop machine and another student confirmed that, yes, pop is the term of choice in these parts. Second, sometimes local media here think of British Columbians as one of them. For example on Evening Magazine (a local news magazine show) the host interviewed an actor from Kelowna, BC who stars in Friday Night Lights and told the actor that Seattle considers him one of their own. Maybe it's because there aren't many actors coming out of Seattle to interview, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they are doing it as a friendly gesture. Third, there is a curling club near my home. Like the whole rink is just for curling. I know Americans are getting pretty good at the sport but I have never before seen a curling rink in the US with my own eyes. Fourth, the local KING5 news includes NHL action in its sports news coverage. That almost caused me to fall on the floor. But the best is that with my limited cable package I get CBUT, aka CBC Television, which means I get to watch HOCKEY without driving 2.5 hours home!
In other news, I ran into preppy asshole again in the elevator, twice this week. Tonight he looked at my SFU sweatshirt and the conversation went like this:
preppy asshole: SFU, what's that stand for?
me: Simon Fraser University
preppy asshole: Where's that?
me: Just north of the border. You've never heard of it? I thought most people around here have.
preppy asshole: [snarky grunt] I'm just not that into colleges. I dropped out. So yeah, I'm just not into the college thing. [exits elevator]
Man that khakis-and-golf-shirt-wearing Democrat-hating mother fucker is really getting on my nerves. At the same time I'm really curious as to what he does for a living and why lives in an area like Lake City (which I've decided is a cross between Surrey (not the nice parts) and downtown New Westminster, with a hint of East Vancouver).
In other news, I ran into preppy asshole again in the elevator, twice this week. Tonight he looked at my SFU sweatshirt and the conversation went like this:
preppy asshole: SFU, what's that stand for?
me: Simon Fraser University
preppy asshole: Where's that?
me: Just north of the border. You've never heard of it? I thought most people around here have.
preppy asshole: [snarky grunt] I'm just not that into colleges. I dropped out. So yeah, I'm just not into the college thing. [exits elevator]
Man that khakis-and-golf-shirt-wearing Democrat-hating mother fucker is really getting on my nerves. At the same time I'm really curious as to what he does for a living and why lives in an area like Lake City (which I've decided is a cross between Surrey (not the nice parts) and downtown New Westminster, with a hint of East Vancouver).
media
The last month or so has been some sort of horrible unintended social science experiment called deprive Vanessa of all media. My roomate was in charge of getting the Internet and cable set up and for whatever reason it just never got done. It was kind of a combination of Comcast messing up and lack of follow up on her part *sigh*. Finally Comcast came today and the technician happened to have a DIY Internet install kit in her truck so I am all set up now. Alas, I can watch something other than fuzzy NBC and blog and surf and check email from home. It's been weird coming home and not having anything to do other than cook, clean, and read. Granted I got a hell of a lot of homework done so I think I should learn from this experience by keeping the TV off once in a while and maybe turning off the wifi when I'm writing a paper.
9.28.2006
finger
So apparently athletic folks have a longer ring finger than index finger. Mine is but I wonder if they can actually use this to predict athletic ability. One can always draw out themes after the fact.
I have one more class to attend tomorrow that I haven't yet been to. The rest have been great including the two sections of public speaking that I teach. I lucked out with students who so far seem interested, enthusiastic, and courteous.
I am looking forward to seeing Simon and heading to Vancouver this weekend for a wedding, while dreading the hours I won't be able to spend getting the hundreds of pages of reading I need to do. I could probably get more done if the asshole living downstairs would turn down his fucking stereo. He has not responded to my pounding on the floor with my fist. At least he doesn't do this late into the night. I'll give him that much.
I have one more class to attend tomorrow that I haven't yet been to. The rest have been great including the two sections of public speaking that I teach. I lucked out with students who so far seem interested, enthusiastic, and courteous.
I am looking forward to seeing Simon and heading to Vancouver this weekend for a wedding, while dreading the hours I won't be able to spend getting the hundreds of pages of reading I need to do. I could probably get more done if the asshole living downstairs would turn down his fucking stereo. He has not responded to my pounding on the floor with my fist. At least he doesn't do this late into the night. I'll give him that much.
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