Let It Snow

I can't get this song out of my head today. Actually, it started last night when it started snowing. That is right. First snow in Vancouver. Meaning: painful to drive the next day. I was lucky enough cause I couldn't wake up on time and miss all the big traffic madness out there. By the time I drove to work, it was as smooth as normal day. From what I heard from people, it was a pain as usual. Despite Vancouver does snow couple times a year, people seem to forget how to drive in bad weather. Oh, it is snowing; I should drive extra horribly slow. Last year was sooo horrible. I got out my house, stuck in traffic on E54th Ave for half a block for 15 minutes, gave up and drove to E49th Ave, stuck in traffic for another 10 minutes again, gave up and got down to E41st Ave, saw 3 cars doing zig zag in front of me and got suck longer in traffic, finally gave up and drove home. The usual 2 minute circle around my place took me over an hour that day! This morning I woke up in the hope that traffic would be so bad like last year that I got to stay home. But no, road was clear as ever. Going to lunch was a bit of pain though. It was still snowing when we walked to grab lunch. I can feel everything blowing to my face and I can't open my eyes. And I wore my runner and there were puddle of water here there. I had to jump around to avoid getting my feet wet. I finally missed a jump and landed in a puddle of icy cold water. My shoes and my socks were soaking wet and I can't feel my toes anymore. Tomorrow, I am bring extra pair of socks just in case!

Engagement

Another friend of mine got engaged on the weekend. She called me up today to tell me the news. I supposed I should be more excited but truth is, I got a bit numb after hearing 3 engagement in 3 weeks. So I sound kind of plain and congratulated her. She told me excitedly that I was supposed to be the first person to know. I still can't get myself excited. I supposed I should feel more honour. Anyway, I asked her more detail on planning. Apparently she is planning around Oct. I told her right away that I may not be there cause I may be in Hong Kong for my other friend's wedding because I am her maid of honour (I know, I know, I am kind of blunt.) She sound even more disappointed now. I supposed I should have kept my mouth shut. At least wait till I know the date for sure or whether I am going to Hong Kong first. What has been said has been said. I tried to make things better by saying that her sister is helping her anyway (which I think make things worse) She said it has nothing to do with needing my help. She just hoped I would be there because we have been good friends for so long. I was quite speechless after that. The fact is, we haven't been in touched much ever since she started dating. We only saw each other on birthdays. And we barely talked much otherwise. I guess we are still friends, just lost the closeness. It didn't bother me too much if I did miss her wedding. I felt a bit bad for my reaction and thought about calling her again later. But I didn't bother in the end cause I don't know how to start. Still feeling a bit bad...but I would still choose to go to Hong Kong.

Weekend Madness!!!

It was mad out there today. I can't believe so many people woke up on a Saturday morning. If I didn't have a game to play today, I wouldn't want to get up in this weather. It is like the best season to sleep in. Anyway, I was already late for the game and driving along Kingsway. And here it was, construction!!! I got stuck in traffic for 10 min and was only able to move a block. And I was already late for my game. Even got me more pissed is people don't let other lane's car merge in. Oh no no no, I could move half a spot, you are not moving in my lane. Stupid people! So I took the small street to try to get away from the jam. Good that we didn't have enough players for both teams so we didn't have a real game anyway. And then later in the afternoon, I walked in the Safeway close to my place and didn't know they are doing a re-opening. So everything is on huge sales. Result, tons and tons of people. I didn't notice at first, but just thinking it does have more people than usual, may be the renovation really brings more business. Then when I got all stuff I need, I found out the lineup was indeed long! But I don't have time to go to another place, so I figured I would just line up. While waiting in line, I saw all the people walking back and forth trying to pick up as many things as possible. It reminded me of Christmas shopping which I haven't started yet. I felt stressed just looking at them. I don't even want to think when do I have time to do it. And how annoyed I would get with all the people in the mall, the insane parking, the line up. Errr..it would be a nightmare!

Harry Potter and the Movie

I went to see the new Harry Potter movie today. I have been wanting to see it badly ever since I knew a new movie came out this year. I was being extremely patient to wait for a week and let the crowd die down a bit. I heard different opinion on the movie. Some said it was good but I also heard some people said don't expect too much. I was pretty excited about it anyway, so I don't care. It turned out to be pretty good. Well, at least I like it. This is the one I like most so far. The first one was okay but not much story to it. Everything I read from the book just because more visual. The second movie was way better. It was a lot darker for sure. But I was a bit disappointed from the last one cause the director cut out a whole lot of details that I liked. I understand the book is too long for a 2 hour movie. But there are tiny bits that make the story and the characters completed, like the relationship between James Potter and his friends and Professor Snape. This new movie actually did quite good a job on shortening the film. Though there are still some bits and pieces that I hope would be there, but the movie no doubt is pretty complete on its own. One slight problem though, a friend told me something that he found annoying before I went watch the movie, something I won't normally pay attention. But since he mention that and now it stuck in my mind, I noticed it everytime it happen. I was sooo annoyed. I also like the new characters chosen for this movie. Well, a friend did complain that she expect Fleur to be way more beautiful. Since I never really like/dislike her, I don't care much. She didn't show up much in the movie anyway. I also liked Fred and George got to play bigger part in this movie. I really like these two characters from the book. Too bad Sirius didn't show up this time. I also hope to see Bill and Charlie but the director cut them out completely. Well, there is always next movie....in 2007.

Lost Email

Never send an email if you have something important to say. My friend emailed us about her engagement news to make sure everyone got it the same time. But we never heard from a friend in Hong Kong. It has been weeks now and we all wonder if she was too busy or what. I have been meaning to call her last week but I kept having hard time to find time to call her. I usually would call her around 4pm so it would be morning before work for her in Hong Kong. But last week I have been so busy at work that I kept on forgetting to call. Finally we got an email from her today and then I know she really never got the email. She told us how her multi-day hike went but she didn't mention anything about the engagement. And there is no way she has no reaction at all. I finally called her and turned out she got the e-card couple weeks ago after a multi-days hiking, click on the link but the site was down, and never bother to check again!!! So she didn't know until I called her up and asked!!! Lesson learnt here: always CALL!!!!

Christmas Eve

I felt so not loved by my parents. It is like the xth times they felt like ditching me. Some years ago it was mid-autumn festival. They decided to go traveling during then and my brother was still up in Prince George. So a festival supposed to be family gathering I end up eating at my friend's house. Last month, my parents ditched me for going to Toronto and then secretly planned to go Las Vegas on Thanksgiving. Once again, leaving me all alone of the family gathering day. Then again, my dad told me last night that they got ticket to see a show in the Richmond Casino on Christmas Eve. I was so shocked to hear that. We always do family dinner on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. Even my brother knows that he can't schedule anything for dinner those two days. But now my parents decided to ditch me yet again! Errrrr! They thought we only eat on Christmas day, and thought it would be perfectly fine to watch that show. My dad offered to take me to the show too, but I refused cause it is some dance thing that I was sure that I would fall asleep. I told my parents this year I am cooking instant noodle for them as dinner cause they upset me! (Starting few years ago, I made Christmas dinner for my family on Christmas Eve) I could have dinner with some friends, but Christmas usually is a family thing and I don't want to disturb their family gathering. Errrr, I am so not loved!

Proposal

Someone at church proposed at the end of service today. At the end of the service, my pastor said that one of the guys has an announcement to make. He went up to the stage, said that he wanted to sing a song. My friend who was sitting next to her originally ran away the moment he started singing. And all the camera are out (some of the guys know about it) And there, the whole church was staring at his girlfriend, sitting all alone now. She looked lost the first few second, then when she realized what is happening here, she was stunned. She didn't cry but a few girls were crying (including my friend whom now I pretend I know no such person) At the end of the song, he kneeled down and proposed. None of us remembered if she said yes or not (she may have nodded or something). But we are all really happy for her. Of course all the girls gathered around her to 'wow' at the ring (and all the guys shaked their head when they saw that) It would be the first wedding in my fellowship. It was really sweet of her fiancee to do it in public. And it was really brave of him too. All the guys were not impressed cause that mean they have a high standard to top off. We girls started suggesting bungee jumping, juggling, jumping over fire loop, all sort of weird trick. My other best friend got engaged recently too. Though I was happy for her, it didn't strike me the excitement till today. When I saw the look on the friend from church, I knew my friend must be very happy when she got the proposal. I felt very happy for her then. Yeah, I know, I am slow. But she sent me the e-card and it took me awhile to sink in that idea. Come to think about it, how come all my friends have funny proposal story (want to propose while the girl only want to pee, need to run for bus right after proposed, fell asleep before proposing, etc, etc), but the one I witnessed worked out perfectly accordingly to plan. Aii...all my friends suck!

Birthday Party

It is a friend's birthday today and I invited some people from work and some of her friends over at my place for pot luck. Originally I tried to organize a cooking party in the culinary school. So I emailed a bunch of people and asked if anyone interested. I needed at least 12 people to book the place. But after a few days, I still don't have 12 people (of course I found out later some people just being snobby and don't feel like replying!!!) My friends and I were decided to cook at my place anyway if the cooking party didn't turn out. I felt kind of bad to just cancel the whole thing after some of her friends said they would be interested. So I invited people over to my place for pot luck instead. I was kind of excited about the whole thing till when time closed by. I wasn't sure if that is what my friend wanted. Would she prefer to just eat with us instead? Am I organizing it to make her happy? Or to ruin her birthday for her? Seeing her being cranky this morning because of lack of sleep, I really regret that organizing it. I wasn't sure I am putting her through a party she never wanted. I know if I was tired, I don't want to see people. I started kicking myself for organizing it. When she showed up in my place in quite good mood, I felt a bit relieved. Things turned out not too bad. I was overly worried as usual. She seemed pretty happy. I was sooo glad thing turned out well, even my first time making spanakopita turned out quite tasty.

Bible Study

I went to a friend's fellowship tonight. I have always want to go to a different fellowship or church to see how things in other place is. My friend's church is extremely closed to my place. It is almost very tempting to switch church. The fellowship is very different than what I used to. First, it is a Cantonese fellowship. Everything is in Chinese. I don't really know how to read Chinese bible. Like computer, I only know those term in English. The discussion could be a challenge. Second, the format is different. My fellowship is usually in a more cozy environment and it is more sharing and chatting. This fellowship is at a church. It is more to the point study. I guess may be because my fellowship was doing a book study so you can add more personal opinion or experience on things. When it comes to bible study, it seems to be more to the point of studying. There is not much sharing you can do. Though I did learn something, but I don't really like spending an hour on studying a passage. It was more dry than I expected. And they also have song worship before discussion started. I never did that in my fellowship. Not to mention that I don't know any Chinese worship songs, except the one and only that I heard in my friend's wedding. Somehow the Chinese worship song sound weird to me. I guess I am more used to English worship song. It sure is interesting to see how other fellowship work. I don't think I want to commit to it though. I may just drop by whenever they have interesting event instead.

Animation Obsession

Got suck back to animation again thanks to some evil people. I am always a big fan of Japanese animation. But my obsession depends on my suppliers. If no one gave me anything, my obsession would slow down and I would actually stop watching it for awhile. I was talking to another friend and apparently he is a big fan too. We were talking about the series that we watched and apparently I am a bit out of date. There are quite a bit that I haven't watched or even heard of. He said he would lend me the new Ghost in the Shell series. And then yesterday another friend actually lent it to me without me even asking. I fell back to my obsession all over again. It is very different than the movie. I think I like the movie better, but the series is not bad, except that I really really don't like the main character's uniform. I bet it is to please male fan. My favorite one is still the Legend of Galactic Heroes (sorry guys, I am not sure you can find an English subtitled version. It was an old animation. And the only copy I have is Japanese with Chinese subtitled.). I actually first read the novel and fell in love with it. It was sooo well written by Yoshiki Tanaka. The story is nicely plotted and the characters are well developed. I became so obsessed with the novel and when I found out there is an animation, I quickly looked for it to watch. I loved it too (but may be I was biased but I think it is good!) My favorite character is Yang Wenli (the guy in the picture). He is not cute or anything. He is actually a bit clumsy. As described in the book, he is pretty much useless except the brain. But I really really liked him. He is still one of my favorite after all these years. I actually cried when I read that he died in the novel (well, I was young then, but I still felt sad reading it now). Another animator that I liked the best is Hayao Miyazaki. I loved his work. I simply liked anything done by him, from more kid stuff like My Neighbor Totoro to more dark stuff like Princess Mononoke. Even other animation from his studio is really good too. There are a lot of others that I really like too. But most of them are old. Hehehe, I guess I have to bug my suppliers more.

PS. I remembered I was reading a manga called The Earring of Moonlight long time ago but never finish (cause my supplier ran away). If anyone know where to find one, please let me know.

Anger

While driving to work today, I was listening to the program Turning Point on radio. The pastor said when you were angry with a person, you got chained to the person. You became slave to the person. You can't get away from the person. You don't have a waking moment that you are not thinking of this person. That saying actually has touched my heart. That is so true. I understand every bit of that bitterness. I tried to push those out of my mind but it seems I am more attached to it. The burden, the uneasiness, I just can't get it out. The pastor also said how to reconcile our anger. Don't come to worship till you find the person and get things right. You worship with love in your heart and not hatred. My first reaction is that I shouldn't go to worship anymore, I guess cause I don't know if I can do it. I did think about may be talking to the person before but how on earth I supposed to bring it up. I thought about writing an email too, but all I can think of is to write down what I am angry about. What would the other person think about getting my accusing email? I may as well leave things as is. I was never a confronting person. I don't know how to face people and talk things out. A friend talked about her experience the other day that she prayed to lift the bitterness from her heart and she could feel that it is gone that instant. I did pray for awhile on that already and how come my burden still here? Did I not pray enough? Or my heart already harden so much that I can't find peace on this anymore?

Dragged

Never felt more dragged to go to church than today. I actually made up my mind to skip last night. I stayed up kind of late and there was no way I could wake up that early. But as usual, my body obeyed Muphy's Law well, and I end up opening my eyes right on time. I struggled awhile on my way to church. But even during the drive, I was still struggling whether I wanted to go. I don't know if I can go worship when my heart had burden like this. In a place where I should find joy and peace, I feel that I find more struggle than other places. A friend signed me up for worship drama. Though I was never keen on doing it, I never really say no. Now come to think about it, I don't want to get too involved. What if I won't stay? What if I find Christianity in the end is not my thing? What if I don't want to stay in this church? Having more strings attached mean it would be harder for me to leave. More I think about during my drive, the more I want to resist to go. I know that the only reason I kept on driving is that today is birthday of a friend from church and she has been very caring person. I wanted to be there for her. That is. Finally, I arrived and was actually sort of on time (only 2 minute late! it is a record!) The sermon talked about Satan always attacked your weakest point. And you will find that your weakest point is always the same. May be that is why I don't want to go to church this morning. My burden make me feel like running away. I wonder how long it will take for me to release myself from it.

Rude

Got an email yesterday that made me so mad. At first, I thought it was a spam cause I didn't recognize the name. I was about to delete it and then I realize the subject sound work related. I opened it and it really is a work related email from a new person. The reason I was mad because the person started the email with 'hey, do you know so and so' My first reaction is who the hell is this. Why on earth would someone email me saying 'hey'. I never do that except when I am closed to the person I am emailing. I would never ever email someone who I never met so rude. Not even 'hey vivian' or 'hey viv'. Though if that person called me viv, I probably would still be a bit upset cause I don't really like people I don't know well called me viv. I once was in a teleconference with a manager that I met for the first time. And when he said viv can do this, I looked a bit annoyed and shocked. My manager who was in the same meeting laughed when we walked out the room. Now it is even worse. Aiii.. young people these days, so rude. No respect!

On a side note, I put "Don't freaking hey me" on my MSN today after getting that email. Result, a lot of stupid people kept message me just to say "hey you" just to piss me off! Errrr!

Back to Work

First day back from vacation always suck. I haven't woke up this early for so long. My body still felt so dead after a whole hour of struggling to get up. Taking shower definitely is no help. Coffee doesn't do it usual magic either. I was still as dead as I could be when I arrived later than my usual lateness. I expect my manager expect that anyway. It is sort of like a jet lag. You can't really expect your employee to work full speed the first day that they got back from vacation. Problem though is when I stepped into the office, my manager told me my VP wanted to see me. What on earth can the VP want to see me? Can't be because of my lateness (Well, a lot of people come in even later than me :P) Apparently he wanted to discuss the stock option with me. Apparently I was the only one in development haven't heard about mine yet. I finally found out how much my junk paper worth if the deal close at this certain date and if Mars aligned with Uranus at this precise hour and blah blah blah. Anyway, you got my point. I am not exactly excited or upset. Well, I sure hope for more so I could really retire or sit on my ass for a little while longer. But nope, I still need to work for my living. And living in Canada, that mean whatever extra money you may get your hand on, government will have their hand on it as well. Apparently this stupid stock option will be considered as taxable income. So no matter how small chunk of money I already getting, government wanted to take some of it as well. Now I could choose to use that money anyway (cause then I could totally use some extra cash) and let government took their share (errrrr!) or pretend this extra money never exist and put it all in RRSP (my new tooooy!!!! errrr!!!)

Crazy Neighbour II

I finally met my crazy neighbour last night. Yes, the one who complained about how much noise I was making the second day I got back from my vacation. It was closed to midnight and I was reading on my bed. I figured I should call it a night and got ready to sleep. When I was washing my face, I heard this banging noise from my neighbor. I got very upset cause it definitely was late and who on earth still try to hang something on the wall for so late at night. Then, I realize, it better not be my crazy neighbour now complained about me washing my face. If that was the case, there is really nothing I could do to make the pipe quiet. I then heard some noise out there and suddenly someone knock on my door. I saw a lady standing outside. I figured that must be my crazy neighbor and I knew I want to confront her cause seriously, I didn't do a thing last hour except sit on my bed and read. I opened the door and there she was. She said she lived downstairs and could I turn off my TV/radio. I told her I had nothing on last hour and I was basically reading. And half of my place was dark too and I was kind of obvious that I was getting ready to go to bed. She looked surprised and said she thought it would be me. I told I didn't know who it would be but definitely not me. I also asked if she was the one who slipped the paper under my door and explained that couldn't be me because I just got back from vacation back then. She told me she was going to call the strata tomorrow but figured have a talk with me first. I was glad she did. At least save me the trouble to talk to strata. And I sure was glad I decided to do some reading last night then I could really prove that the noise wasn't from me at all. Now the question is who would it be. If the noise is from my floor, no way I couldn't hear it (cause there was some concrete between floor and only wood between wall). May be it was her next door neighbor. My next question is, wonder if I should complain about my upstairs neighbor, he/she is definitely turning on the radio/TV louder and louder. If I didn't turn on my TV, I could totally hear what is going on up there. Problem is that he/she usually do it at normal awake hour. I guess I don't really have point to complain. Just very annoying.

So Long My Lazy Ass Days

Finally my last day of vacation will soon be over. I know a lot of people are jealous of my lazy ass week. I don't know how I am going to wake up on time tomorrow. I even had hard time waking up for church today (and I was so proud of myself! I was only 10 minute late!). I had never woke up before 11am last few days. Yesterday was the worse. I just woke up when a friend called me at 1pm :P I really like my pigging days. After this week, I came into a conclusion that I am so ready for retirement. All I need is a big chunk of money. I actually did get most of my stuff done last week, except the blood test which I could drop by a clinic anytime next week. I even have people over at my place for dinner two nights in a row. Next time, I don't think I would clean up before they came. It is such a waste of effort. I spent a day before and a day after to clean up (well, more like half a day, my days have been starting at 12 lately). May as well and do only one cleaning after everything. I don't know if I can deal with stress after my vacation. I was in the hope that everything will fix itself during my week away, but apparently not. Though it is a short week this week, four days still a long week consider how much need to get done. And it is 6 more weeks before I see another vacation again. I don't know if I can survive that long. I really enjoying my week of doing nothing. Why didn't I win that 40 million! Then I can sit on my ass as long as I want. Aiii..better sleep early to look less dead tomorrow. AIIIIII.......

Doctor

One of the things on my to-do list this week is to see my doctor. It has been ages when I go see my family doctor and I was supposed to see him every year cause I am supposed to take my blood test every year. One reason is that I have to wait at least 2 hours to see him. He is always late for his appointment but he is really good. Another reason is that he like to criticize people. That is the problem when your family doctor actually see you grow up. He got more annoying than my parents. And today is definitely the worse. He asked if I have a boyfriend and I said no (big mistake!) He started giving me advice what to do. He criticize my hair, my clothes, my choice of exercise (well, I guess kickboxing wasn't really girly exercise) I was a bit pissed off but I know I can't yell at him. My mom was there too and she kept smirking the whole time. He said I dress too much like those 'good' girl type and it is bad (I supposed to dress I am going clubbing everyday then?). Go to Robson Street and spend like $5000 (WHAT THE!). Get an image designer and get him/her to fix you up. You have to invest in this kind of thing (I kept rolling my eyes and holding my temper) It was like the most horrible half hour I stuck in his office. I never been so mad after a doctor's appointment. By the end we walk out the door, my mom was laughing like crazy and I was soooo mad and kept swearing. I got a relationship lecture twice in a week?! What the heck! I thought my family doctor was getting better last few years in criticizing people, but apparently I was wrong! I think it is time to think about changing family doctor too! Errrrrrr!