A Day In the Life of KaRe^BeAr

When I look back on these past 3 weeks, there are a few things that stick out like a sore thumb. I've decided to tell them in a series of mini-stores:

Online Purchasing Mishap: Part I - It was the company's fault!

I find myself again staying up late for absolutely no reason. It was a Thursday night, more like Friday morning. I sat there, in front of my computer, dry-eyed from starring at my computer screen for well over an hour. I contemplated sleeping, but decided on the cheap thrill of sleeping late. I thought this was a perfect opportunity to purchase Jimmy's x'mas gift online. I've been wanting to do this for a while now, and since I wasn't doing anything but staying up way past my bedtime, I thought there was no better time then the present. Because Jimmy might be reading this (highly unlikely, but you can never be to careful), I'll keep this company's name private and confidential. Let's call this company ABC. So I went to ABC's website, and within a few clicks I had ordered his gift, with his name engraved in it. All excited, I finally decided it was time to head to bed.

The next morning it had dawned on me that because of the steady climb of the Canadian dollar, it might be cheaper to buy Jimmy's gift on the American website. And I was right.. and not only that, it was on sale for in celebration of their Thanksgiving. So I thought.. WICKED!! I knew Bashar was coming back from California for x'mas, so I went on a mission and tired to track him down.. with no luck. That night, I mentioned to Jimmy, without mentioning what his present was, my situation and he told me to give his cousing June a call. So I did. So I got her to get it for me.. the only catch was that Jimmy would get the gift after x'mas. I ended up saving $100! So I paid June back using my credit card, then proceeded to cancel my original order. Now, when I checked the website, it said my order was "open", and according to the website, I was still able to cancel it. The website said to contact them immediately and provided me with a number. I called, and I got answering machine that told me their office hours were from Monday to Friday, 8:30am-6:00pm CST. So I left a message AND an email. Saturday I get an email telling me my purchase was already shipped! It also said in the email that I should call the call center, which is open from Monday-Friday 8:30am-6:00pm or Saturday-Sunday 9:00pm-5:00pm. I almost had a heart attack because not only did they not cancel my purchase, I had 2 of these items charged to my credit card! I almost had a fit! I quickly called June and told her to cancel the order, which was able to do.. *sigh of relief*. But the story doesn't end there...

Now, ABC's website, I felt, was really misleading. Item 1: The website says to call them immediately if I want to cancel my order BUT they do not tell you to call within the operating hours of the call center. I'm being nit-picky but hey.. it's true. Item 2: The call center hours stated on the answering machine do not match the one I got in the email or on the website I was on. I later found out that these were American hours. I called the call center on Monday and the customer service lady I was talking to told me I was on the American website. I told her this wasn't my fault, the Canadian website had linked the the website with the American information. Normally, I was not supposed to get a refund for the purchase because it had been engraved, but I got my refund. It pays to be nit-pick.. and be bitchy!

Online Purchasing Mishap: Part II - It was my fault!

Sunday night, Kathy told me she needed a book for her English Lit class, and the only way to get it was online (it was one of those unpopular books, so it was virtually impossible to buy it in a book store). I went to Amazon.ca, searched for the book, found it and then purchased it through a second-party supplier. Once I ordered it, I realized I had it shipped to my home address instead of my Hamilton address! oh no! So I quickly wrote an email to this supplier, asking them to change the mailing address. *sigh of relief*.. but again.. it's not over!

Monday, I check my email and I hadn't heard a response from the company. I waited until the afternoon.. still no response. So I sent them another email, asking for my mailing address to be changed. For some reason, I had the sudden impuse to check my order again.. and thank God I did! Instead of ordering the book for my sister, I had actually ordered the audio cassette tape of the book! OMG! I went into a full-fledge panic attack. I frantically emailed the company to cancel my order. Half hour later, I get an email from them.. my order has been cancelled! Woohoo! *big sigh of relief*

So within a 3 day span, I had experienced a online shoppers' nightmare. Has this turned me off from buying things online? For a few days.. I just bought myself a pair of earphones from Futureshop :)

Night at the Gay Bar It was Jimmy's friend's birthday. We started the evening at Chopsticks, where the food was just great! I think I'll be going back for sure! Afterwards, we were supposed to head over to the beer market, but seeing as it was so late, we decided to head to the club. The club was called El Convento Rico, known for their great salsa and latin club and their drag queen show. I had so much fun that night! Although the club seemed a bit dingy at first (it was in the basement), the music was awesome! But let me tell you.. there are more straight ppl than gay. I think every girl in our group got picked up at least once. And they're all so grabby. I was OBVIOUSLY dancing with Jimmy when this dude grabs me. Ick! So my conclusion: Girls are more likely to get picked up at a gay bar by guys. After Rico's, we headed to a place called the Burrito Box. Too bad I wasn't hungry.. those burritos looked good! :D

... And as usual, my project is a pain in the ass. I got to see my material under a transmission electron microscope.. which was kewls (you are probably thinking.. what the hell is that? who cares! haha). I'm such a geek! X'mas shopping has been a pain (read above). I think I've bought myself more gifts than gifts for friends! haha! I'm particularily proud of my most recent purchase: pink shoes w/ a pink purse to match. Yea pink shoes! I'm not sure if it's because the holiday's are coming up, I've been putting on this pre-jail Martha Stewart, baking cookies and cooking stuff. I made gingerbread cookies this past weekend (everyone liked them!) and I made stuffed mushrooms today. hm.. what should I make next..?

I'm telling you.. this non-stop excitement in my life is just SO hard to keep up with! I'm being sarcastic by the way :P Lack of events have lead to rarity of these entries. Seriously guys.. I eat, sleep and dream about my project. Ok maybe I'm embellishing just a tad. I do have a life outside skool! not much of one, but eh.. you gotta make do w/ what you have.

My birthday turned out to be a week-long celebration. That's what happens when you have a lot of friends *ego inflating slowly* haha! I'm kiddin! I was just too busy to celebrate w/ some friends so we had to do it later in the week. Now on the day of my birthday, I got pranked. My Mac friends have this tradition (started sometime this year...) where the person w/ a birthday gets pranked. My prank? Well.. for those who know me well know that I HATE feet. so when I got into my office on my birthday, I found that they had covered my desk in socks. Ewww! So nasty! I held myself a hot-pot party at my place the weekend after my big day which was awesome :D I thought I didn't buy enough food but turns out I did! My Waterloo-chemmie buddies and some of my hs friends came over. Hot pot can be quite filling... I spent maybe $50 on food and it fed 17 of my close friends! Cheap! The week after my birthday I celebrated w/ my Mac buddies :D So overall, my 25th birthday was just great :D Couldn't have been better!

The Green Day concert... OMG it was f**king awesome! I dragged poor Jimmy to the concert but I think he enjoyed it :D Oh they are so good live! Makes me love them even more :D It was great cuz they played a lot of old songs too.. ahh.. I love them :D

I think I need another vacation...

So the other day I was waiting for the elevator to take it up to my office (which is on the 4th floor). Waiting with me was a middle-aged professor and this lady who I guess worked for the school. They're flirting.. and it's obvious because they're standing really close to each other. The elevator comes, we all get in, I press 4 and she presses 2 and 3 (I never understand ppl that wait 5 min for the elevator just to go up to the second floor when the stairwell is right BESIDE the elevator.. but that's a whole different story right there). The elevator starts to move and she starts to talk about the temperature in some place in the states, and how the temperature is in Farenheit and not °C... and he's like "Oh wow! really?" haha! So she's giggling and stuff.. and the elevator stops on the 2nd floor. Their conversation comes to an end, and there's this pause. The door opens and she gestures to him for him to leave the elevator. They stand there, looking at each other.. meanwhile I'm standing there look at them waiting for the professor guy to leave the elevator. Then he strikes up another conversation. I got so fed up.. I said, pretty loud "This is RETARDED!!" and I stormed out the elevator. I can't believe they were holding up the elevator just so they can continue their little flirting session... out of MY time! haha! I have no tolerance for that level of stupidity. I swear to god.. some profs just don't know how to socialize.. socially inept. haha.. looking back it makes me laff :D

I'm telling ya.. dealing w/ stupid ppl is a full time job on it's own.

It's been a month and I've got stories to tell. It's a shame I'm just too tired to type 'em all out!

Let's start off with me actually getting tickets to a Green Day concert! Yes.. the time has finally arrived to see my favorite band kick ass live on stage! Green Day had just started a new tour that happens to pass through the T-dot on November 2.. and I was all over the tickets like.. as Sandy would say, a fat kid on a smartie. I really didn't have to get the tickets right when they went on sale, but like all Green Day albums since Dookie, I had to be at the front line and get it on that day. I got pretty good seats :D I'm dragging Jimmy to see them with me! I'm SUPER excited (cuz it's next week!! ahhh!!) but.. I can't say the same about Jimmy. I sorta feel bad for dragging him, but he said he doesn't mind :D

Next up on the list is Cancun. Ah.. good 'ole Cancun! So me, Jimmy, Saloni, Jen and Joyce headed to the place of nice beaches, hot weather and drinks galore :D We left on the Saturday during Thanksgiving weekend and was welcomed to a 2 hour line up for customs. We had gotten there at around 9pm and waiting in line for 2 hours after being on a plane for 5 hours wasn't exactly pleasant. We finally got to our hotel close to 12... and a stroke of luck hit us.. we got upgraded! from a 3 and a half star hotel to a 5!! Lemme tell you.. the room was WICKED! it was huge.. the bathroom had a jacuzzi! The first day, we hit the beach and drank. I think I was buzzed for the entire day! haha! It was great! And I got a tan :D The second nite we were there we went to this club called Coco Bongo, which apparently is the best club to go to. We paid $35USD cover but wait!! before you judge, lemme tell u what it included! it was all you can drink.. plus a show that pretty much lasted all nite. It was awesome! Totally worth it! There was this stage there and me and girls got invited to dance on it.. twice. The first time it was fun.. the second time.. well.. they wouldn't let me off the stage for 30-45 min! I asked so many times to get off but the stage manager wouldn't let me! haha! On one of the days we rented a car and drove to Chechen Itza, a Aztec archeological site, which was pretty interesting. We got to experience Mexican roads at its finest (those frigging mountanous speed bumps!!). On the trip I got to do some shopping too... got cheap liquor from Walmart! haha! But all in all.. it was a great trip! Pictures can be seen here.

So since my bday is coming up, it means that all my cards are expiring. Ok.. no my credit cards.. I'm talking health card.. drivers licence and my car licence plate. It's been nuts just running around getting them.. and I still have yet to get my health card! Getting my drivers licence was no prob.. although I needed a new pic and I really like my old one *grr* but the lady at the DMV said I will like the new pic better than my old one.. I better! So *chi-ching* that was $75. As for getting my licence plate renewed... not so easy. This weekend, I discovered I needed a emissions test! agh! It was so rushed.. cuz I did it on a Sat morning, but that afternoon I had to drive my parents to the airport cuz they headed off to Hawaii (even better than Cancun!). So I got that done.. *chi-ching* $37. Then I had to get my licence plate renewed.. I went to one of those kiosks at the mall.. and the bugger thing... the A button didn't work.. and my licence plate begins w/ A.. A is one of the most important letters!! and it was broken! So I had to drive to another location, to another kiosk to get that stupid licence plate renewed... *chi-ching* $75. so I've spent $187 just so I can drive. This is how the Gov't of Ontario celebrates your birthday *grumble*

Ahh I should sleep! Well.. one more day being 24. Meh.. I feel old...

Yes.. sick again. I was doing so well until this cold snuck up on me and kicked my ass. It's so hard doing work while being sick. I was carrying a box of tissues with during the first phase of my cold. I've finally reached the last stage.. the coughing stage. It's been a little over a month and quite frankly, things have definitely stepped up a notch. I've been so busy.. too busy if you ask me. Even as of now, I'm in the lab, waiting for my material to finish analyzing (oh.. time to pop in a new sample!.. eek my results look so bad...)...

*que elevator music*

Thank GOD they installed internet in this lab. Before this wonderful time-consuming invention was graciously brought into this lab, I was killing time playing solitare. Let the good times roll!

I bought the new Green Day album last week. It came out last Tuesday. I've been waiting for this album for a very very long time! I love them! I own every CD they've come out with :D The album is AWESOME! Green Day fans will NOT be disappointed :D I tried getting tickets to see their concert but by the time I got around to going to ticketmaster.com, they were sold out. apparently they sold out within 9 minutes. dammit! I feel as if i'm getting too old to see Green Day in concert...

I find myself in a constant panic. I have no time to do anything really.. so it seems. But I manage to find time to watch my WB drama shows (esp Everwood and One Tree Hill.. I can't miss those!), do a bit of jogging, go drinking... hey wait a minute! haha! Ok maybe I should be spending less time with the social life and more time on the academic. I find myself being really behind on my reading.. I've been so busy with my experiements and TA duties lately I havn't found the time to sit down and just read articles. I gotta start writing my thesis soon too. My mind is constantly swimming with my "to-do" list. Have you ever had so much on your mind that everything begins to overlap? before one thought finished, another one begins. It's like sitting in a room with a hundred conversations going on, and you're trying to listen to each one. Maybe this is a sign that I'm going insane. I have no idea. All I know is, I have one year to sort out this mess. One year. That's such a short time...

On a lighter note, this is going to sound absolutly absurd considering I just wrote a rant about being stressed and having too much to do and all, I'm planning to go on vacation during Thanksgiving. The plan is to go to Cancun.. 4 girls (me, Saloni, Joyce and Jenn) and 1 guy (Jimmy.. poor Jimmy... haha), spend 6 days in the nice warm sunshine catching some rays and getting drunk. As of now, the trip is not booked.. it's all a fantasy. I hope we book soon.. it's kinda cutting it tight... dontcha think?

So I've been recently canned from teaching tutorials for the course I'm TA-ing. The original plan was, I was going to take one of the tutorials while the prof took the other, and the other TA was to mark assignements. I think the prof doesn't like the way I teach (.. I hate teaching.. and I guess it showed through my performance) so he made this excuse (a legit one might I add) that there were so many ppl in the class and it would be better for me to help with the marking. I was COMPLETELY fine with that! I did my last tutorial yesterday and I actually had fun. But eh... it's more hours I can focus on my project work. yea project work!

Ah.. my results look better. man.. my life revolves around my polymer. :S

For those of you that don't know me well, during the olympic games I experience a extreme case of tunnel vision. More so for the winter olympics, but it's still pretty bad for the summer games. I don't want to do work.. all I want to do is sit my ass in front of the t.v and watch whatever is on. I've been glued to CBC.. both french and english channels.. and occasionally I'll switch to NBC but frankly I find their broadcasters too annoying for my taste. I'll watch everything... volleyball, boxing.. even weight lifting :D I even "worked" from home today just so I could catch some olympic action. I get textmessages to my cellphone about the results of certain events and I consistantly check online for results. Yes.. it's become an obsession.

So around this time next year I should be done my masters. Key word being should. The times winding down.. I only have one year left. I hope I can finish on time. I feel as if i'm constantly on the edge. I guess I should be lucky the olympics are this year and not next year (then I would be screwed for sure!!).

One thing that has been bugging me for a very long time has been just my financial situation. Each visa bill I get spirals me into a "what the hell did I buy?!?!" frenzy. I really got to cut down on my shopping habits. I feel like Becky Bloomwood in "Confessions of a Shopaholic" although I think she was an extreme case. I really got to crack down on what I'm buying! I need to budget... I mean REALLY try this time! I think as a girl, this is and will be a constant struggle.

Summer is winding down and I have no idea where it went. I guess time passes by when you're just dead busy all the time. I feel as if I havn't done anything. Maybe it's cuz I didn't go on vacation this summer. I didn't even get to wear my new bikini this summer :( There is always next summer right?

GO TEAM CANADA!! :D

So I'm pissed off.. I'm just in one of those pissed off moods but I really don't want to say why. So just take it as is.. I'm pissed off.

It's been 2 months since my last entry. I guess I've been just really busy with school and with life. The past two months have been fun but stressful. here are just some things that have stuck out in my mind:

Madonna Concert - Went to the first show of Madonna's Re-Invention tour with Laura and her friends Karen, Hannah and Cathy. It was a fun nite, which included scalping a ticket to a french guy, buying a set of buttons for $15 (better than buying a t-shirt.. those were so expensive!), dancing to old and new Madonna tunes (she sang "Crazy for you!! my fav. Madonna song!) and bumping into Bashar. It was a wicked concert.. she really put on a good show! Worth every penny! I found out later on that my friend Grace was actually in the pit area by the stage... AHH! Lucky poo!!

Toronto Street Festival - I always like going to outdoor festivals in T.O :D I went with Jimmy, Jenn and I even took my mom along :D It was such a fun day! My mommy bought me icecream :D

Girls Nite Out - the Mac girls set out for a night on the town at the Hamilton Jazz Festival @ Hess. We started out the evening at Jenn's place and had a few drinks (of course I became all tipsy.. I morphed into my panda-eye mode in no time). Didn't help that I had to drive back to T.O that nite... oh goodness!

Going through 3 projects in 2 weeks - yes this is why I was so stressed out. I found out my first project wasn't work out so I got put to work on another project, only to find that a lot of work had been done on that topic already. So, I started another project 2 weeks ago. This happend all in a span of 2 weeks. Am I going to finish my thesis on time? I sure hope so!

Various Visitors - Unlike my time in Waterloo, I've actually had friends come visit me! Jenn came on several occasions (not to see me directly but she called me out!), Jimmy came too.. but that's kinda obvious why! Flo and Kin came for Canada day.. which was fun cuz we went to see fireworks, then polished off all my liquor :D Rita came with Eric the other day and we went for dinner, then yesterday I had my grandparents, my uncle, my aunt and little cousins that are visiting from Lloyd Minister come visit. Yea visitors!

There is more but I gotta go. I can't wait til this weekend.. not only is it a long weekend, it's extended for me.. i'm taking a few days off so I can spend time with Rita and my other little cousins before they leave. It seems like everyone is leaving me though.. Rita's going to Korea.. Jenn's going to Mexico.. and recently I found out that Tony might be moving to Singapore.. damn. Anway, off I go :D

I can't sleep. And this time it's not because of an overdose of tea. I've got a lot on my mind. I've been so busy the past couple of weeks i've completely neglected my web journal. I've had quite a bit of crap happen to me at the beginning of the month (9 unlucky days... they were as unlucky as it could get). I've slowly gotten over the events that occured during the beginning of the month.

I can't sleep...

I think it's the combination for a new roomate that keeps going in and out of her room every 15 minutes and has a tendancy of letting something slip out of her hands and fall on the floor... and school. I think today marks the day that I finally admit I'm not very fond of my supervisor. I tried to like him but he's just one of those guys that makes it hard for you to like. He's not easy to talk to nor is he approachable. He can be condescending and he's quite arrogant. I heard during conferences he would sit in on some presentations, then drill the presentor w/ a hard-ass question, sort of to say "I'm smarter than you and I've just put you in your place". According to some people, he's gotten a lot better (meaning, he's doing that less). They had a nickname for him: God. He just has this unique personality that thank God not a lot of ppl have. For those who know me well, they know that I can't STAND arrogant people. I just can't. I know he's smart, in fact, I might be bold to say he's brilliant. But to flaunt it and push down other ppl? That's a big no-no in my books. And he's so indecisive. Today I let him review my slides for a presentation I have to do next week. It's good he gave constructive criticism but the way he did it just ticked me off. He said some slides didn't make sense. The thing is, I just took slides from a presentation I prepared 2 months ago, and when I showed him those slides two months ago he didn't say anything. So how can something that made sense 2 months ago not make sense now? I just hope God will give me the strength to tolerate him. Working with him makes me wonder if I should have went to UofA instead...

I can't sleep.... I can't sleep.... I can't sleep....

I hate being sick. Why? No one takes care of me! haha! I'm such a big baby :(

My life hasn't been too exciting lately, so a day in the life of karebear is a bit of a *yawn* right now. One good thing that has come my way is the fact that I'm done exams! Not only for the term.. but FOREVER! yes guys.. finally! hah! It was bad though.. i sat there for an hour staring blankly at the questions going "what the hell is going on?" haha! C.L.U.E.L.E.S.S! But it doesn't matter how bad I did... I probably got an A... or worst case an A-! Yes guys.. grad school... they give out A's like candy! :D Which is good for me! haha :D Not only am I done exams, I'm going on an all expense paid trip next week to.... Windsor! yeaaa!! haha! I'm going for a conference. I have no choice.. I have to go. Everytime I ask someone what there is to do in Windsor I get the same responses: "go to the casino!" or "go to Detroit!". Dudes.. Windsor.. it's where it's at *thumbs up*! As you can see I'm wildly exciting about this whole Windsor thing.

So Rita came to visit me yesterday :D She's finally done school so I told her to come up to Ham-town. Me and my friends had planned some E.O.T festivites.. which included drinking, then going to the bar. But our plans were a bit messed up. For some reason why this ALWAYS happens to me. We started out at Alex's house for a little pre-drinking, then headed over to Billy-Bobs. It was dry, so we went to Quaters.. it was too packed. We waited an hour in line before just giving up, and headed back to Billy-Bobs. Ah we shoulda went to Hess Village but I think at that point we just wanted to go somewhere. It was my first time @ Billy-Bobs and I wasn't too impressed, although i did have fun. It was a hole. No joke. haha! And the ppl there were very entertaining: Tighty-Whity and Hop-Scotch Boy. Tighty-Whity found it kewls to pull his pants down just past his ass and show off his nice white underwear (don't ppl usually do that w/ boxers? hahah loser). Hop-Scotch Boy would hop back and forth w/ his legs stuck together in sparatic patterns which made predicting his movement across the dance floor virtually impossible. The dance floor was his giant hop-scotch. Quite entertaining :D I'm not sure if I would go back.. good music though :D But I think I was the only one having fun...

It's strange. I'm done exams yet I don't feel like I'm done. Maybe it's because I have so much work to do. *sigh* with grad school it never ends :P I need a vacation!

Yeah.. daylights saving time has gotten the best of me :P

Great news :D My grandpa's getting better! He's been out of the hospital for about a week and a half now and he's gradually improving. Thanks for all those that prayed for him. I've been going home every weekend to visit him, and each time I go he always tells me "Karen, you care so much about me! Stop worrying about me and concentrate on schoolwork!". I know my priorities... and it's w/ my grandpa :D

More great news! Guess who's going to the Madonna concert July 18th? any guesses? common.. just one? it's... ME! duh huh? haha! I can't believe it! Laura got tickets, and I told her I would go w/ her if she did get them! I'm super exicted! and I found out last week John Mayer is coming to town in August! I'm very excited! Tickets go on sale on the 17th :).

So I finally got to try Creme Brule for the first time! It's so good! Jimmy and I went to a restaurant on Saturday on Main St. Unionville called The Unionville House and it was pretty good :) Service was a bit slow.. but the place was really cozy. I had an awesome meal and to top it off, i had an awesome dessert!

Oh it's late... que exit scene..

This has definitely been the hardest week of my life.

My grandpa was admitted into the hospital last Monday for a variety of things. He has a swollen prostate, his sodium levels were low and to top it off, he had a mild heart attack. I saw him on Monday when he was in the emergency area and honestly, when I saw him I was scared. I stayed in Toronto until Wednesday last week (for a variety of reasons, one being my grandpa). I saw him on Wednesday and he looked a little better, but still looked pretty rough. He was put in the cardiology wing of the hospital. By Thursday they had moved him out of cardiology and into a more general wing of the hospital. I saw him again on Friday, and all thoughout the weekend. I had been pretty rough but he's looking better.

The whole week, the thought of my grandpa possibly passing has haunted me. I have never experienced anything like this; no one in my family has died. I don't know how to deal w/ even the possiblity this might happen. I know this will happen eventually, but I'm not ready. But is anyone ever ready? I couldn't do work all week. I felt just awful. With my best friend hundreds of miles away, I was left to deal w/ it alone. See.. with Rita, she understands what I'm going through b/c first of all, it's her grandfather too.. and second, she's never experienced death in the family either. She came back from Mexico on Saturday and we went out that night and talked. We both don't know how to deal. And it's not like anyone can tell us how to deal either. It's so hard, realizing that someone that is so dear to you, that you loved unconditionally will pass soon. This is the hardest thing I had to deal with. I'm numb, but am in pain all at the same time. The vision of my grandpa, and how he was on Monday is like a stab in the heart. I've spent hours just crying over this.

Please keep my grandpa in your prayers.

Just when I thought spring was starting to emerge, I really had to rethink that today. It was snowing! Not just any snow.. slushy snow. I only like that snow for one reason and one reason only: when I wipe it off my car, it cleans it! Driving in it wasn't too fun though..

I've been getting ready for spring. I've been doing a lot of cleaning and reorganizing.. at school and at work. I guess that's why I've been so busy! things are really kicking up a notch. I feel a bit overwhealmed with work right now. Maybe that's why I'm slacking off and writing in this! :D Another thing I've done to prepare for spring is I bought a new absolutely FAB jacket! It cost me quite much but worth every penny :D I know these past few days have been pretty cold (except last friday.. it was so damn warm!) but I still wore my jacket! Vanity over warmth.. isn't most girls like that? :D

Two weeks ago my dog Pepper got sick. One of this vertebral disk slipped out and he was in so much pain. Apparently this is a very common problem for small dogs because they have such short legs, everytime they jump up or go up stairs their back is put through a lot of stress and strain. He's ok now.. but he just can't jump up and down too much from now on. Poor Pepper. He looked so sad during the first few days but now he's back to normal :D Still wanting to chase those squirrels! haha! Silly dog :D

Last thursday I had the opportunity to see "The Passion of the Christ" with Jimmy (he came down to Hamilton for the night), Laura and Suzanne at the Westdale theatre. That movie was absolutely AMAZING. It was so incredibly moving. I cried through most of it because it felt so real. It's about time they made a movie that didn't suger-coat how Jesus sacrificed His life for our sins. Everytime He fell, and got back up I felt my heart just sink. To me, it was definitely a spritual journey that I will never forget for the rest of my life. I walked out being more appreciative of Jesus' sacrifice, His life and what he stood for. It wasn't (as some ppl have said) extremely gory or hard to watch (although when they were nailing him to the cross.. i couldn't watch it...). It's a great and powerful film, and I think anyone that believes in God should watch it. I highly recommend it (it gets a karebear's thumbs up!)

In complete contrast, I also saw "Starsky and Hutch" last night. Not a moving or powerful movie... but it was damn funny! It was just too bad I had these really loud and obnoxious ppl sitting behind me. They were just... rude. As rude as ppl can get. Shouting obscene phrases, talking, kicking my chair. Their kid started to throw stuff at the girl sitting beside me. I didn't pay to hear their commentary, or for them to add their personal touch to the movie. I would of told them to shush but they were just the kind of ppl that would have made a scene if you did tell them anything. It was like sitting in a movie theatre zoo!!

Oh I'm so sleepy! I think it was due to the excessive eating I did today during my early dinner with my sister. Oh.. res food is so fatty!

Ah.. reading week. Unfortunately I don't get one! haha! Come to think of it, I've never experienced a full reading week. Well, I think I'm giving myself a "waterloo engineering" reading "week" cuz I'm not planning to do much today.. or tomorrow :D In fact.. I'm going home today! Yes.. two days! Standard regulation Waterloo Engineering reading days :D. Since it is reading week at school, the campus is so empty.. which is a huge demotivator when it comes to doing work. For two days in a row I've played squash, then hit the gym (oh the muscle pain! I had to roll out of bed today!). I'm so fit now! haha! Yes.. after two days I've become the definition of fitness. I've also become the definition of dead tired! haha! Today, I'm going curling :D I'm so excited! I know.. curling? haha! I've always wanted to try, and now I'm getting my chance! wicked :D

I'm actually heading back home not because it's reading week and I thought i deserved a few days off. It's because Rita is leaving for Mexico City tomorrow. She's going for a month to teach. And this is only the beginning. I found out last week she took a job in Korea.. and she's going to be there for 2 years. I'm really happy for her.. but I'm also a bit sad. I donno.. seeing my best friend go for so long...

Last weekend was pertty fun. Friday night, me and my Mac buddies (+ Jimmy, Rita, Flo and Kin) headed out to Twister for some K-TV fun! :D It was so much fun! we chilled and sang for 3 hours! After that, we headed out for some food (of course it was chinese food!). The next day was Valentines day :D I spent the first half at the mall w/ Laura (who crashed at my place). We went shopping :D I bought a pair of brown boots for $40! what a deal! I saw them and I fell in love! I had to get them.. and for $40.. not bad :D After that i got to hang out w/ my sweetheart Jimmy :) For V-day we made dinner together. We made something called "Chicken in a bag". I called for a large glass of white wine, but I only had a small wine glass so we didn't put too much in. Thank God for that! Not all the alcohol evaporated from the chicken and the potatoes.. so we ended up having an alcoholic dinner! We were so giddy by the end of the meal! haha! so funny! we then went to see "50 first dates" which was really cute :D Sunday was Jimmy's birthday (yes.. I'm not a cheap ass.. I get him 2 gifts! hehe). Some of us headed out for some all you can eat sushi :D yum... sushi!

uh oh.. I better head to school. I gotta eat lunch (haha.. you thought i was going to school to do work?! what planet are you on? hehe)

Who thought being a grad student would be so hard?! I'm kiddin. It's just that I've been super busy lately.. although I did take one little road trip.. which I will talk more about if you keep reading :). Work has really started to pile up. Because I'm so horrible at stats I've been trying to understand all the stats stuff I didn't understand when I took it in second year. All I can say is.. I must have been pretty stupid back then because some of this stuff is not too bad! But still... I have a long way to go to being a stats queen.. something I'm not quite too sure I want to be but it would be nice to be one for the nxt 3 months! haha!

So just this past wednesday I took a mini road trip to Buffalo to see Jehnan. He was there for a med school interview so I decided to go see him. It's not very often a friend from Cali comes within driving distance of me! Plus I wanted to get out of Hamilton for a bit :D. I managed to convince Alex to come with me.. which was great b/c I was a bit iffy about going by myself (I still havn't cross the boarder on my own.. I don't think I ever want to!). We got there no problem.. no traffic.. no line up to cross the boarder.. no nothing! So instead of the anticipated 2 hours I had scheduled for the trek, it only took us 1h and 15 min. Ah.. like driving to Waterloo from T.O. Piece of cake! Since we got there so early we decided to hit a mall we saw on the map I had printed off of mapquest. I guess once I got into Buffalo I became directionally challenged.. b/c I kept taking wrong turns! By the time we got to the mall (which was really crappy btw), it was already time to meet Jehnan! So we went back to the motel he was staying at, and waited for 30 min before he showed up. We drove around to look for a place to eat.. ended up eating @ Montanas! haha! I shoulda tried an American restaurant eh? After dinner we were going to go check out downtown Buffalo but since none of us were from around there .. and I was scared of ending up in a dodgy area, we decided to play it safe and go to a mall. This time.. the mall we went to was nice! I saw a store that sold teddy bears you can make (I was so excited upon entering this store cuz I've never seen one like that before.. I later learned there is one @ Town Center! haha!). I also saw this soap store that I've always wanted to go to (my friend Joanna owns this bottle of hand soap that I thought looked kewls.. and it was from that store!). I was going to buy a bottle but.. ok.. I ended up buying 4. Wait! before you critizise or ask me "why do you need 4 bottles of hand soap?!?!" hear me out! one bottle costed $4.50.. but if you buy 4 it's $10. hmm...:D. That's the only thing I bought.. I swear! Anyway, when we left the mall it was snowing pretty bad and we all decided it was time to call it a night.. after we climbed up the HUGE mountains of snow that the snow plows had left in the parking lot! haha! Well once we left the mall, we were so sure we were going the right way. That bubble popped when I hit a toll booth (we never passed a toll booth on the way there!). HAHA! we got lost! But it's ok! it was fun :D We finally made it back to Jehnan's motel (after getting lost.. again!). It was a great nite! I'm so glad I got to see Jehnan again :D Driving back home took longer b/c of the snow. It was strange.. once we got back to Canada, Alex and I both felt a sudden sense of relief! It was just ... strange... haha :D

This weekend I actually stayed in Hamilton. Yes guys.. I stayed! haha! It was great! I went to see "Win A Date With Tad Hamilton" w/ Laura, Art, Suzanne and Dave on Friday nite. It was cheesy.. but I liked it. and yes.. I cried. I got made fun of! :( but it was just really sweet... made me feel all giddy inside! I'm a sucker for these kinda movies.. what can I say?!? Yesterday I went w/ the girls to IKEA! I finally met the perfect IKEA shopping buddies! They were exactly like me.. if not worse!! Oh.. it was so much fun! Shopping w/ them reminds me of shopping w/ Ri.. I wish she was there :( But I behaved.. I only spent $11! I'm a little upset b/c I was gonna get these little plastic bowls.. they're perfect jello bowls (I ended up buying a bunch of jello powder packages @ this chinese supermarket after going to IKEA). *sigh*. Well! more the reason to go back! That night Jimmy came to Hamilton and some of us went to watch the Leafs/Sens game :D Leafs won :D Poor Laura (the Sens fan)... took quite a whipping of insults! But anyway, I'm glad Jimmy came :D It really made my weekend.. and now my friends don't think he's fictious ne more! LOL :D

And now.. the weekend is coming to and end. Hm.. i really had fun here! I should stay here more often :D

Ah.. the first entry of the new year :) bout time eh? I admit.. I have no excuse in not updating this. Yes.. I was lazy. But with good reason. Going back to school after doing 2 weeks of nothing is somewhat hard! I had to readjust my sleeping patterns which was a difficult task on it's own! So much for my new years resolution eh? I managed to miss the first week of my stats class cuz I didn't realize it was a 4th year/graduate course.. and those start the first week back! haha! Class is Tuesday and Thursday mornings (damn 8:30s!), i found out Wednesday, couldn't go to thursday class cuz I went skiing! haha! It's stats.. i'm so bad w/ stats. I'm bloody scared!

So this weekend, I decided to go to Chapters for 2 reasons. The main reason was to see Grace. I havn't seen her in so long. I told her I might stop by just to see her and to see how's she's doing. What I didn't realize is how happy it would make her. She was thrilled! :D It's good to see that such a simple gesture can really make someone's day. We chatted for a good half hour (she was working.. i felt so bad!). It really amazes me on how one person can handle so much. She's been going through a lot since her mother's passing.. it just seems like such a mess. She just wants to move on but she and her family still have to deal w/ a lot of legal stuff. It just sucks it was made so public. Anyway, Grace.. I hope everything works out for you! hang in there hun! *hugz* So the second reason (the minor reason) i went was to get a book. I've been told by numerous ppl that "Confessions of a Shopaholic" was a good book. And boy was it ever! I finished that book in a day! I just couldnt' put it down! insane!

So I found out this weekend that this actor I had a major crush on committed suicide last November. I don't even know why I'm thinking about it. That's so sad. I didn't even know. I just decided to google up his name to see what he's been up to recently and.. turns out he killed himself. No suicide note.. no nothing. I guess I"m thinking about it because back then, I knew almost everything about this guy.. I watched every movie he was in.. my friends knew how much I drooled over this guy. It's just sad... and shocking... and just makes you wonder why ppl kill themselves w/o leaving a note to why. That's the worst part I think.

alright.. back to work... no time for chitchat :D

My holiday is almost over, but I feel it hasn't been long enough. Maybe because I spent the better half of it being sick. The moment I got home, the cough started. I hate being sick at home, esp. during the holidays. It just made everything harder. It's harder to run through the shopping crowds while hacking out a lung. So I've had the question "Has Santa been good to you this year" quite a number of times. This may sound idiotic but I'm actually confused when they say this. Why? Because I still get items in my stocking. Yes.. I get gifts from "Santa". But I'm sure what everyone means is if I got good gifts. Haha.. idotic eh? Anyway, the answer is yes.. Santa was good to me :) I got a nice top that I wanted from Rita (I was searching for it all over the place but that girl.. such a keen eye! haha), a Carebear :D, a webcam and.. hm.. 2 automatic can openers. Yes.. 2. I must have been complaining lots or sumthing! haha! Jimmy really liked the PS2 I got him :) It was hilarous! I bought him the game console and a game, but to fool him I just wrapped and gave him the game. X'mas day, he opens it and just says "thanks". Obviously he had no idea it was a PS2 game.. so I told him to look at the game again. haha! Lets just say second time's a charm! Ah.. my 'lil doo-doo bird! :D

Anyway, today is the last day of 2003.. time for my reflections and review of this year. 2003 to me signified new beginnings. I guess it could also be referred to the "No-More-Drama" year. It was great. This year I feel as if I finally got into the drivers seat... I'm in control of my life now. I feel as if i accomplished so much (even though I sat at home all summer and did nothing!). I graduated from Waterloo this year and with that I had to leave my "home away from home" and surprisingly I've grown to be fond of. I do miss my family back in Waterloo though. Although I see some of them once in a while, it's just not the same, and I'm sure I have ppl to back me up on this one. But as they say, when you close one door, another one opens. With new beginnings, it meant starting a new school.. yet again. It has been great so far, esp. with my sister there. I feel this year we've grown closer, in which i'm really greatful for :).

So what do I hope for in 2004? I guess to have a year like 2003. I've had some pretty wicked times this year, which makes it all the harder to say so long to this great year. I hate making new year resolutions but I feel like I have to (just have to follow the crowd on this one). I guess.. my new years resolution is to work hard and play hard :D. I'm not going to even bother with adding going to the gym as one of them b/c I know very well it will be one I won't keep :D. So... farewell 2003, you've been great!