New Car?

Time: 5:31pm
Mood: Confused as hell
Song of the moment: Beck - E-Pro (I need a copy of that song!!)

The lease for my Corolla is up soon and I have to make a decision within the next few weeks. What decison would that be? Well I have 3 options:

Option #1: Buy out the car that I have now
Option #2: Lease a brand new Corolla
Option #3: Dump my current car and get a brand new car-of-my-choice

I'm so confused. My situation is that I currently have $9000 at my disposal. I can use that to do either of these options. I'm kinda of stuck on #2 and #3 (#1 is a bit iffy for me.. I just don't like my current car and part of the reason is because it carries with it a lot of bad memories... I don't even want to keep the same licence plate because of that.. just getting rid of excess baggage, if you know what I mean). So what do I do. Here I am presented with an opportunity to own my very own Jetta (old style of course.. I won't touch the new one w/ a 10 foot pole). But I'm currently in the state of my life where I just need something that runs. If I go w/ #2, I have enough money to cover the lease for the next 3.5 years. That's a big burden off my back, considering all the stuff I have to save up for in the next 2 years. But.. Jetta! #2 sounds more pratical huh? *sigh* I donno what to do. The way I see it too is, when am I going to ever have enough money to get my "dream" car? I know expenses in the future are going to add up... will I ever be able to afford the car of my choice?

On a side note.. if I do go w/ #2, what colour should I get? Jimmy already has a silver one.. blah. Too many choices! Help! (Take poll below...)

Pro-Bowler BABY!

Time: 10:43pm
Mood: Lazy
Song of the moment: Beck - E-Pro

Lazy mood after a lazy long weekend. My weekend consisted mainly of sleeping, IKEA meatballs (damn good Swedish meatballs! I was there TWICE this weekend), getting my teeth cleaned (as usual my dentist said I had nice teeth!) and of course bowling.

Saturday night I went out w/ a bunch of ppl for Jenn's birthday. Couldn't make it for her birthday dinner, but I did make it out for bowling. I like bowling but I'm not particularly good at it. I have the occasional wicked games where I score over 100, but those are really really rare. On this one particuar night, a rare game did occur. I managed to score the highest I've ever scored in the game of bowling. Before this, my highest score was 117, and that was back in '98 in Taiwan. A bunch us Canadians and one American boy (I wanted to point that out because the entire night he emphasizing the fact that we were a group of Canadians) went out one night to check out the local bowling alley. That was the night I took a picture of Rob having an orgasmic experience on a massage chair (LoL). I was so close to getting 3 strikes in a row (is that called a turkey? oh I donno). Anyway, so my highest score to date was 117. So what was my score on Saturday night? 131 Baby!!! OH YEAH haha!

Girls Night (Devil's Martini)

Time: 10:36pm
Mood: Sleepy...zzZZzz
Song of the moment: Smashing Pumpkins - Today

My so-called "Murphy's Law" ended quite well I must say. My presentation on Thursday was GREAT! I got a lot of postive feedback on it, so that made me feel a bit more confident in my presentation skills. I even bumped into some ppl I used to work with! So it was a great evening. After that, I drove back to the Hammer to join my friends for some St. Paddy's Day celebrations @ Hess (hooray green beer!).

My baby Jimmy was sick this weekend, so I spent most of it taking care of him. Friday, I decided to head back to the T-dot early because I personally just had enough of the week and wanted to start my weekend a wee bit early (but I had to go to school first to run a tutorial for my stats class.. bugger! If it wasn't for that, I woulda headed back to T.O Thursday night). My poor Jimmy.. I've never seen him this sick before.. ever! We spent most of the weekend in front of the tv and watching anything on TLC. But Saturday night, I headed out w/ the girls (Ne, Char and Jo) for some girls night out action. I really love going to those. I guess it's because throughout uni, most of my friends were guys, so I was always the girl that was just one of the guys. I hadn't see those gals in a while (esp Char.. I havn't seen her since... geez I don't even know when!). We decided to go to Devil's Martini that night. When I got inside, I realized I've been there before.. when it was called Helium. Geez these clubs change names so often :S It was pretty fun! It was a +25 crowd, so we were hoping for no young retard losers, but as we fast found out, retard losers also exist in a +25 crowd :S haha! But it was great hanging out w/ those gals again :D Made me feel like I was still in HS (they are my HS friends afterall).

So, I had a fun-filled weekend :D I totally deserved it though! I'm so glad this week is a shortened week :D -Jimmy-baby I hope you get better *hugz*-

"Murphy's Law" Week

Time: 10:21pm
Mood: Grumpy
Song of the moment: Jennifer Lopez - Get Right

Ever feel like you're living one of those weeks that just feels like it's never going to come to an end? And whatever could go wrong has indeed gone wrong? Then you, like me and probably thousands of people out there, are experience what I like to call the "Murphy's Law" week. It usually follows a fun filled weekend and could squash your gung-ho spirts like a nasty slipper slapping a fat ass cockroach (Taiwan crew.. that one was for you).

My weekend was just great. Friday was a bit crazy though.. took me 2 and a half hours to get from Ham-town to the T-dot.. which is INSANE! The traffic is horrible! And after driving, I had to rush downtown to meet Jimmy and his friends for dinner. It was part of Sheldon and Minda's Tasty Toronto Tour, where every month they choose a tasty restaurant to go to. On occasion, Jimmy and I join them. Last Friday, we went to The Sultan's Tent, a Moroccan restaurant. I was a bit iffy on tryin this restaurant because I'm so picky with foods, and I'm not particularly keen on exotic spices. But let me tell you, I loved the food! The restaurant was nicely deocrated; we got to sit under this canopy-like tent and were entertained with the occasional belly dancing performances. Interesting experience! After the dinner, I headed to Madison's (hooray Maddies!) to meet up w/ Frankie for his birthday. Man, I saw so many old friends there.. people I havn't seen since the 2 Oktoberfest's ago in Waterloo! I broke the engagement news to a lot of them while @ Maddies.. and I got to show off my ring :D hehe!

Saturday, Jimmy and I met up w/ Mel, Jenn, Joyce, Peony for dinner @ Montanas. Yum. their ribs are AWESOME! Afterwards we caught "Be Cool", which was an alright movie. Funny, confusing at times and sometimes clever. Nothing to rave about though. Hm.. you know what I just noticed? It was an alcohol-free weekend. Damn.. those are rare!

So this week.. the hell week. It began on Sunday night actually.. when I realized I left my dress shoes in Toronto. Why is that bad? I have this big presentation to do on Thursday night in front of industry people (Society of Plastic Engineers Industry University Night) and I have to look my best because these are potential employers. So after much convincing, I got Jimmy to drive up to the Hammer to bring me my shoes. *sigh* Monday, I get yelled at by this lab tech because I was asking him how to log on to their computers (I needed to use their computers for some image analysis). I thought it was extremely rude of him, and what bothered me the most was the fact that he didn't even bother to apologize for yelling at me for such a petty thing. What a freak. Anyway, today I find out my supervisor has rearranged my presentation slides, deleted some and wanted me to combine slides. So all that practicing I've been doing for my presentation pretty much flushed down the toliet. *sigh* AND I'm getting sick. Sick + presentation.. not a good combination!

This week.... is never going to end...

A Morning With Gung Gung

Time: 9:46pm
Mood: Tired (lablablahlah)
Song of the moment: Tyler Hilton - When It comes

Last night I was lying in bed and as usual I was having trouble sleeping. Usually when that happens, my mind wanders. My mind keyed in on one particular memorable afternoon I spent with my grandpa (Gung Gung).

My Gung Gung is my favorite person. I don't know much about his past, just that he used to work for the HK gov't, used to smoke (I helped him quit!) and that he has a big heart. When I was younger and still living in HK, he used to play kickball with me (and that game stuck with me when I moved to Canada.. I can't count the number of times I begged my dad to play kickball with me when I was a kid). Everytime I talked to him on the phone he would constantly ask me what little Hello Kitty things I wanted. He also taught me a grave lesson about eating too much candy: "Karen.. if you eat too much candy, this will happen to you" And that's when he smiled to show me a row of pink pearly gums.

This particular memory happened on a usually hot and sunny day, August 1998 in Hong Kong. I was there visiting after spending 7 fun filled weeks on the Taiwan "Loveboat" Study Tour. This particular day didn't start out unusual. I was staying at my uncle's apartment, which
was a few subway stops from where my grandparents lived. During the two weeks I was there, it was pretty much the same routine in the morning: get up, take the subway to my grandparents house and have breakfast there.

The subway pulled into Sau Kei Wan. I exited the subway, walked down an alley way, up some concrete stairs and immediately I catch the sight of my grandparents apartment block... Block B. I walked up the stairs to the third floor. My grandparents' door was open.. they were expecting me. The apartment is really old, made up of concrete everything: concrete walls, concrete floors. My mom spent most of her childhood in this very apartment. It was a small two bedroom apartment, all shared by my grandparents + 5 kids. The apartment had it's own distinct smell, a smell that when I think of it, I think of comfort. Usually my Gung Gung gets up early in the morning to get me fresh chinese buns and a bottle of milk for breakfast, but on this particular day, I was greeted by my grandma (Pau Pau), who informed me we were going out for lunch (yum cha). Gung Gung and my Aunt Fanny were already at the restaurant.

We had a wonderful lunch. I was constantly told to eat more, but to be honest with you, I love the food but I can never eat too much at a chinese restaurant. After lunch, my Gung Gung asked me if I wanted to take a walk. Of course I jumped at the chance. Time alone with my favorite person came at rare opportunites. We walked around the neighbourhood, where he pointed out personal landmarks. Here's where your mom used to go and buy candy! Here's where your Pau Pau goes grocery shopping. Here's where I used to come down to meet with my friends.. we chatted for hours!. Here's where I come to buy you breakfast every morning. Then we stopped in front of a horseracing betting establishment. He whispered in my ear "Karen.. are you 18?" I nodded. "Ok good! Let's go get you a lotto ticket!". We walked in (of course I got carded) and my Gung Gung bought me a lotto ticket. "Remember to check the numbers tomorrow to see if you won!" said my Gung Gung.

We headed back to the apartment after that. As we walked up the stairs I noticed that he was struggling, having to stop every few steps. Over the past few years he began to have some health problems and you can tell it was taking its toll on him. He told me "I'm old, I get tired whenever I walk up these stairs. Don't worry about me, just go on ahead up to the apartment." I smiled at him and said "Gung Gung, I want to keep you company." He smiled at me in a way that I will never forget, and we continued up the stairs. I will never forget that day.

That will possibly be the last time I would ever be able to take a walk with my Gung Gung. A series of strokes and old age has left him in a wheelchair, and he has no memory of me whatsoever.

Even though I lost, I kept that lotto ticket in my wallet.. until my wallet was stolen from me. Even though that lotto ticket is gone, the memory of that day lives on, and it brings me warmth every time I think of that wonderful day.

Home Alone

Time: 8:17pm
Mood: Bored
Song of the moment: Samantha Ronson - Built This Way

Friday night and I'm home alone. It's my fault actually.. I didn't really make any plans to go out. I wanted to get some work done before Jimmy came here for the weekend. Yeah, this weekend I'm in the Hammer.

This afternoon, I got into a writing mood. For those who don't know what writing mood means to me, it means I'm in the mood to write part of my thesis. These moments are quite rare. My biggest concern was the fact that I was at school, and I NEVER do any writing at school (I don't know why...). So I knew I had to quickly race home before this mood went away. Time was definitely not on my side. I had to wait about 10 minutes for the bus, and when I got home I realized that I was quite the hungry critter. By the time I actually I sat down, ready to write, it was about an hour and a half after I got into the mood, and it was diminishing at an exponential rate.

So what have I got down so far? Well I realized the prior stuff I wrote was a little to indepth, so I had to cut it down. Out of the 5 Word document pages I wrote, I was left with only 0.5 pages I could use. I wrote another 0.5 so I currently have 1 full Word document page (which, I would imagine is about 2 thesis pages) of work. I spent most of my afternoon procrastinating. I even mopped my kitchen floor for frigg sake. On paper, I feel as though I've degressed, but I'm more organized on what I'm going to write. I just have to write. That's the hard part.