The good thing about flying Cathay is that the connection is in HK, which is pretty centrally located. Almost a year has passed since my last trip back home to Msia, and since I would be stopping in HK anyway, I was considering making a trip from HK to Tokyo since Vic had been posted there till the end of this year. Nothing like Tokyo from an everyday perspective right? However I was planning to utilize my Asiamiles points, and also to take advantage of the Easter holiday weekend -- which is also a holiday in HK. So all of HK wants to fly to Tokyo too -- so much so that the Asiamiles desk even closed the waiting list.

Nevertheless, a backup plan. I'd called Sands since she's now based in HK and she would have hols too, and she'd suggested Seoul, South Korea or Hanoi, Vietnam. It took some back-and-forth-ness, and dithering on both our parts but we finally decided on Seoul. Or maybe it was me, cos there was no way I could pass up a chance to possibly see the spring cherry blossoms, esp since I was going to be in the region at about the right time too.

So, set out from Toronto on the night of Apr 1, arriving HK on Apr 3. Following Sands' instructions, took the Airport Express (it has only 4 stops??) to HK Island. Sands picked me up from there and with her much-improved Cantonese skills, we hailed a cab to her apt on Ladder St in Central.

Spent the day exploring Central and HK Island while Sands went to work. One thing I have to say abt HK -- lots and lots of stairs! Started out with Ladder St and detoured to Cat St which had a lot of antiques for sale. Passed the Man Mo temple on the way to having beef noodles at a well-known stall on Gough St off Hollywood Rd. It was a relatively short wait as I'd narrowly missed the lunchtime crowd and I was just one person -- so I was sat at the nearest vacant seat, sharing the table with a trio of salarymen and two other individual diners.

From there, walked downhill towards the harbour through the Sheung Wan area before ending up at Western Market -- a grand colonial building that nonetheless wasn't very interesting looking inside. Still, stopped for a bowl of black sesame seed soup with tong yuen (glutinous balls filled with ground nuts) before heading back up to where I started via the Central-Mid-Levels escalator -- also the "World's Longest Escalator" as certified by the Guiness Book of Records. As with most records these days... it was actually a series of escalators -- and one of them (which I suspect might've been at the steepest point) was actually not working! Then I had to climb up the superlong flight of stairs on Ladder St that I had earlier walked down. -_- Later on I realized that I had gotten off one escalator too early -- but it was too late by then. Still it was rather interesting to see the restaurants and bars of SoHo (yes, it's really called that) as I was going up.

When Sands got back from work, headed out for dinner -- started out at Lan Kwai Fong where all expat nightlife seemed to be, but then couldn't find anything to our liking. So went to a small but classy restaurant (which I can't remember the name of) on Caine St close to where Sands lived. Dinner was pretty good -- it was a yummy "filet of beef" (Sands got the fish) and we followed that with creme brulee for me and molten chocolate cake for her. Briefed each other on the latest news, continuing till we got back to her place and she packed and we called it a night -- the flight to Seoul would depart the next morn at 9.40am.

The weekend after getting back from Miami, it was a celebration of SS, NM's and Sus' birthdays. They weren't all born on the same day or anything but still, all March babies. So someone had the bright idea of celebrating that by going out for dinner and to a club/lounge afterwards. There was a tense moment just before we all left the office on Friday when we realized that we didn't even have a card for them -- the organizer (if there was one -- I'm seriously suspecting a Stand Alone Complex here) didn't think of it. So down I rushed to Carlton Cards and picked a couple up and quickly circulated them..so quickly that one of the newbies actually signed it wrongly. -_- Thankfully, we managed to black out the mistake.

That aside, headed to Jack Astor's but it was packed with the after-5 crowd so switched to Joe Badali's...which was actually not bad. In fact, a little more sit-down than Jack's, which suited the occasion just fine. From there, went to Schmooze...2nd time around and on a Fri night, it still didn't get better. I'm not going there again if I were organizing...

Saturday, went over to JCh's to touch base after what seems forever. NML was cooking dinner and it was the first time we were going to taste something other than her delicious desserts. On the menu: grilled shrimp on saffron couscous, greek salad, beef stew with biscuit, panna cotta with raspberry coulis and the fifth (!) course -- muffins iced with choco-hazelnut spread. ;) We're getting better at portion control -- not too full but satisfied. Watched 'Blood Diamond' after.

Sunday went out with the Waterloo gang: Jits, MarcL, Xian, Nic, Nat, Bong, bro and me. Went to Zucca Trattoria -- 2nd time around and they'd pared down the menu. We decided to go with the prix fixe menu, starting with a garden salad. The duck ragu was not as good as I remembered it, but the dessert was rather nice to look at -- cake dosed with grappa and set afire.

5 days later on the Fri, Young P's farewell party. Had originally wanted to skip dinner in lieu of JCh's birthday dinner and join them for after only, but got an earful from Young P. To paraphrase, "If you're not dating this guy, then you have no excuse." Well...

In any case, a good dinner at Milestones cos FI, a new manager I worked with in 2006 had decided to give up the stress of his position for family reasons. In addition, KS was leaving to Paris and I was going to miss HER farewell since I would've been on vacation by then. So....it all worked out well since I got to say goodbye to 3 ppl (FI and KS wouldn't have wanted to go to after-dinner celebrations).

So from there, ended up at Easy again. What can we say....cheap drinks, decent music and an ok crowd (altho admittedly not so good that particular night). The funny thing was that NML had been keen on "going out partying" with me, so this was the only weekend that worked...so no pulling out of this part of the night either. Also decided to call Ines since it had been forever since we met up. So again, killing 3 birds with one stone. And clubs are more fun with more ppl anyway. I think Young P had a good time ... altho he bought me more drinks than I did for him. -_- Still...many "Porn Star" shots and bear hugs later, I can't deny I'm going to miss the guy.

Sat started off with dinner at Edo with MelT, Mirchan and JCh -- for his birthday. Wanted to get the omakase ("leave it to the chef") but turned out that JCh (who made the booking) didn't know that he had to specify it in advance. The regular menu was only ok -- decent but a little pricey for the smallish quantity and regular quality. After that, karaoke at BMB Karaoke in Koreatown! I'd already lost my voice from trying too hard to talk in the club the night before, and was planning on just lip-synching....but of course the atmosphere was just too much fun to stick to the rules.

Someone had the great idea of making T-shirts with the Dong Cheim inside joke on them, and altho I didn't want one, DLee ordered one anyway -- essentially I'd been bullied into it. -_- Still, it was a fun night with the singing of torch songs, corresponding dance moves, shaking of tambourines, throwing of fruit at each other (well really, just between Harold and JCh), attempts to dong chim and/or squash each oher (among the guys) and of course, alchohol. Thankfully DLee was pretty gone...I managed to get away with less than 5 sips of the stuff. Not good for throats after all. Also pitched in for the food processor we ended up getting him.

Sunday afternoon, met up with GP for brunch (hadn't seen nor talked to him for ages) and tried brunch at Meggie's. It was better than I expected (the food blogs made it out to be some sort of greasy spoon). It's true that the food is not very diet friendly but the atmosphere was awesome -- it had a great cottage-y feel to it and I thought immediately of Winhill. Later stopped by the doc to pick up meds for an eye infection that I thought was just starting up. Also asked him to look at the cough I'd started to develop...but he said that there was nothing congesting my chest and I didn't need anything.

He was wrong on the latter. My weakened state incl loss of voice, combined with airplane air I had to breathe for 18 hours plus, all culminated in a cough that started in the plane, got worse in HK and slowly recovered from in Seoul, South Korea.

But more abt that leg of my vacation later.

Recently went for the annual training session held by my firm. This was the third time around and surprise, surprise, the first time we got to go somewhere other than Cleveland. Which is good cos I was getting sick of the Sushi Rock and Spy Bar ritual anyway. We were debating between NYC and Atlanta and altho I hadn't been to the latter before, discussion brought us to the consensus that since we'd be spending most of the day in class anyway, we wouldn't be able to see many of the sights in Atlanta. And NYC definitely had better nightlife.

NYC it was then! Flew out on the Friday, Mar 12 with not just my batch of hires, but the ones a level below us as well. I think the entire group numbered around 20...and that was just from the Toronto office. Lodged at a serviced apartment that night before moving to the hotel in Times Square on Sunday...reason being that Times Square is where the training was going to be held.

Was glad that I'd done NYC sightseeing with Sandy and friend Reina in 2004, because this time around, the group was all about the parties and the NYC atmosphere. Friday night, dinner at the Italian restaurant neighbouring our apartment in the mid-town Lexington area, followed by a jaunt to the AER Club in the Warehouse district. Saturday, Japanese dinner, also close to the apartment before the Warehouse district again to the Club Duvet. This club was probably cloned after Bed (made famous by Sex and the City) and was pretty nice...only that it played house music for a good couple hours after we got there. Now, anyone worth their salt knows that in North America...its all about the hip-hop. No one would dance to the music till Jenn S walked up to the DJ and bluntly asked, "When are you going to play hip hop?" He agreed to, and in 2 mins the floor started filling up. Jenn's gutsy that way.

Sunday was a trip to Woodbury Premium Outlets, by far the best outlet mall I've been to. Trust MD to know about this one -- aside from the standards like GAP, Nike and Guess, it also had Versace, Camper, Prada, Kenneth Cole, Burberry (where MD blew her budget on an spring trenchcoat). Me? Just two pairs of sunglasses (one of them free), a Banana Republic tote bag, and an Esprit sweater. Later that night, dinner at Olive Garden and we called it an early night to prepare for the first day of training on Monday.

I thought that the training itself was pretty informative. Most of it consisted of Q&A and I got to hear what ppl from other regions do when it comes to managing teams/engagements. For breaks, we played 'Top 10' where each team brainstormed answers. Prizes were cheap but it was the non-cheesiest game I've played at a training session so far. I guess we're all growing up after all.

Mon night was a trip to see David Letterman live! I have much respect for AS post-trip...he really organized almost everything for us. The guest during our taping was Richard Gere who talked about his new movie and his new slow-food restaurant, and some guy who organizes the Discover Club's annual Exotic Food event. I would've preferred Jay Leno, but there was SOME amusement in watching David Letterman attempt to eat alligator meat and cow eyeballs. Got back to the hotel in time to have dinner on the firm. I had the seabass which I found a little overdone, but ppl who had the filet mignon pronounced it divine. The pre-dinner platter of raw oysters and shellfish, the yummy salad and the a dessert of rich and smooth creme brulee made up for the dissapointing main dish. Did I mention oysters already? :P

Post-dinner, went over to the drinking party at AS's room but called it an early night. Some went down to the hotel bar/lounge, and from the next morn's account of it, had a roaring good time, staying till the bar had almost emptied out. As an aside, my whole idea of what NY cheesecake is has been re-defined thanks to Lindy's just a block east of the Ed Sullivan Theater where the taping was held. Mmm cheesy yumminess.

Tue night was the last night of being at training, and keeping with tradition, we had to go all out. First was dinner at Dallas USA, a greasy spoon place I wouldn't have gone to if it weren't for Max and SK wanting to meet up with previous training session-mates who were based in NY. Still it was a good time cos MD, AD and I go to know the Vancouver ppl a bit better. Then we were sposed to go to a club called Marquee but decided it was too expensive -- ended up at Home instead just around the block which was really just fine too. It was really funny watching Young P and AS do the "lightbulb-screwing" (in Young P's words) dance move but poor NM and MD reached their party limit that night.

Wed we packed up and had a quick dinner at a Parisian bistro close to our hotel, then MD, NM, AD and I were on the plane to Miami! This leg of the trip was purely for leisure -- we figured that since we were in the US anyway, might as well take the rest of the week off for a respite from the chilly weather. Arrived at the serviced apt around midnight -- it was huge and we could've easily fit in another 6 ppl if we wanted to! However the price was still cheaper compared to the hotels in the South Beach area, which was where we were going to spend most of our time.

From Thu to Sun, visited the beach (just once, cos AD lost her less-than-48-hour-old sunglasses and that turned us off the sea) walked and shopped Lincoln Road Mall (a pedestrian mall) and the Art Deco district  and caught a movie ("I Think I Love my Wife") in between just relaxing and enjoying the sun. NY had been hit by a snowstorm Thu evening and I can't deny we felt lucky/smug that we'd escaped it by leaving earlier than the others (the juniors had class till Thu and had planned to take off on Fri).

This year, decided to go big and celebrate as excessively as I can. As far back as I can remember, CNY = eat + gamble + angpau/laisee (red packets) + new clothes + TV.

My DVD player blew a fuse, my TV had no S-video outlet to connect to a laptop and the video-jack method was of mediocre quality, so watching loads of CNY-themed TV (i.e. Chinese kungfu/mahjong/comedies) was out.

The new clothes tradition had been dropped by my family at least 10 years ago. Way too much fun to buy and wear new clothes throughout the year instead of only during CNY! I did however manage to buy 3 new plates (meant to signify more food hence prosperity), altho after the first day of CNY had already passed. Hope it still counts...

The red packets only work if I have married couples around me. Being away from the extended family and also parent's friends meant only one angpau this year -- from Aunt J. Still, it was thoughtful of her! I spose its partly a good sign too that my friends are not married...yet.

Gambling is really not a celebration unless you win. In a nutshell, I don't. Nuff said.

So, the only thing I can really do to celebrate CNY is to...eat. 15 days of it!

On CNY eve aka Reunion day, traditionally, everyone gathers at their hometown or a family member's house to have dinner together. On Feb 17, did that twice but in diff manners and settings: lunch at Restoran Malaysia with Jits + friend Jason, Poi, Ed. The place had been renovated -- gone was the barebones look and in its place, a romantic setting with dark wood furnishings and low lighting. However, the same reasonable pricing remained. Ordered rojak, hokkien mee, mee hailam, beef rendang, roti canai, teh tarik, char kuey teow. Mostly authentic except for two dishes. Beef rendang was nicely presented but on the less-authentic side, while mee hailam was flavourful but paled in terms of authenticity when compared to the hokkien mee. However as a whole, yummy. Poi and I agreed that the freshly made roti canai takes the cake! For dinner, DLee had kindly invited me to his 'small' family reunion -- which turned out to be larger than anticipated! Much food was to be had, of course, with dessert by NML.

On CNY day itself, called home and had the whole pass-the-phone experience...it was good to hear everyone so happy though. Dad seems to have taken over the role of 'fun adult' cos he was going to take LLL and her bro out to get ice-cream. Ah, to be a kid again -- LLL's dad used to take bro and I out to get KFC and whatnot. Later at night, dinner at Bombay Bhel at Yonge-Sheppard with MarcL, Poi, Jits, Nat, Nic, Xian, Mishy and bro. They forgot our order...and had us waiting for an hour before the food finally arrived. It was only ok....so I don't think I'm going back again.

A week later on Feb 24, received a call from Aunt J who offered me a  free ticket to the Malaysian Association of Canada's annual CNY dinner gala. Having never been, I said yes. NML and JCh were there, and MelT was hosting. It was a ten course meal at Diamond Banquet Hall at Hwy 7 and Woodbine...unusually for a Chinese dinner, we were not too too full. In addition to food, there were prizes drawn, and also entertainment in the form of numerous Mongolian dances by a particular Mandy Xiao, and a couple more by a Chinese female dance troup. Also, a couple of songs by a Filipino singer (forgot her name) and MelT's co-host Michelle (a former HK TV anchor). The Filipino singer (who btw, was really good) then performed a couple more duets with Fa.

At the door, they had someone dress up as the God of Fortune (Choy San) and give out angpau with chocolate coins. They even had a Lion Dance with the accompanying drums and 'choy'/lettuce finale to kick the whole event off, but somehow it feels muted when performed indoors. :o| Still, can't fight the weather, can we? MelT was right when she said the event was for the older crowd to enjoy themselves though -- 'aunts' and 'uncles' periodically got up to dance to the songs, and at the end of the evening, all of them got on the dance floor. I'm glad to see ppl happy, but I'd hold off on actually joining them. :P

The next day was Sunday, and I showed up early at DLee's place to help get ready for the open house. NML looked at me like I was crazy to offer myself for what essentially boils down to manual labour. Well... perhaps she's done it too often to appreciate it, but my CNY's have always been about helping get the house ready for guests, and then serving them when they arrive. So I had my own reasons for wanting to help out -- to somewhat get closer to what I'm used to doing back home. It was definitely work though, esp with all that standing (the back of my knees ached by the end of it) -- perhaps NML does it too often that it's become tedious.

Took away leftovers that lasted a week...hahahaah.

Thursday, went over to Mirchan's. Alan W + gf Loretta, JCh and DLee were there as well. Menu was grilled pork chops, Hainanese chicken rice, prawns steamed with ginger and soy sauce. All delish. I was not bursting with fullness yet satisfied.

Friday, Mirchan's again for games night. Mirchan + cousin (?) Alicia, JCh, DLee + friends Sam and Aleysia (?), Harold, Kelso, Andy S + gf Carmen, Alan W, NML. Two simultaneous games: poker and Cranium -- I played the latter, teaming up with Mirchan and NML against Harold, Kelso, Alicia and later on, Andy S. Our team won, at the expense of my voice which gave out from trying to outyell Harold. Wine probably didn't help either, altho I only had a little. Midnight snack of spaghetti bolognese ala JCh was yummy though. Followed this with a small bowl of cereal. There's something about eating at an ungodly hour that makes even cereal seem special. :P After the end of Cranium, JCh and Kelso tried to 'dong shim' random ppl but mostly each other. Then they played Jenga for a bit before startng into the 2nd round of poker -- at which point I called it a night.

Reason was because I was meeting Hil and Jas for lunch on Saturday! Along with Nic, Nelson, CH and Ed, we went to Diamond Banquet Hall for dimsum. It's been a while since I'd talked to everyone (plus, Nic and Ed were late!), so we hung around for almost 3 hrs and caught up. On the way back, started into a convo with Hil and Jas that didn't feel finished even when we got to our destination aka Jas' place, so we decided to chat some more while checking out his apt.

Made it back in time to join Mirchan, DLee and JCh for dinner at Korean Village (?) on Bloor West, then watched Breach. Got home around midnight then started cooking -- bro woke up the next day surprised that I did what I said I would i.e. cooked before Sunday morning. :P

Reason being that some foods need to be stewed for a while before they taste good! Sunday was the 15th and last day of CNY celebrations, and I'd decided to put some effort into cooking something festive. MarcL and Xian arrived the earliest followed by Nat then CH, then JBong then finally Kimi. The menu was beef curry with potatoes, steamed chicken with Emperor herbs, stir-fried baby bok choy, mixed tofu with black fungus and glass noodles, sambal-ed fish, stir-fried pumpkin with dried shrimp, stir-fried prawns with ginger, chili, coriander and green onions. Nat made brownies and served them with vanilla ice cream. The prawns and fish were a success, the chicken less so -- MarcL and I thought it was prob cos we left it sitting on the table for 2 hours...and the lack of humidity probably resulted in it being a little too...gamey. And it looked so good when it first came out of the pot too!! :(

Watched Disney movies for a bit and also the tail-end of Bridget Jones' Diary on TV, then Nat, MarcL and I went to The Rex for their 7pm show with Kira Callahan headlining. She was ok...ran through some classics like 'Heaven' and 'Devil May Care' -- somehow altho I know she sang well, it didn't suit her style very much. I preferred the one Jobim song she performed (about loneliness -- didn't catch the name) and the Cole Porter ones ('Easy to Love' and 'It's All Right with Me'). She unfortunately could not or would not do my request ('In the Still of the Night')...citing that she didn't know it well enough to perform it. As I was thinking up another song request, I also noticed that she didn't do anyone else's requests either as far as I can tell...made me decide not to ask again.

Also decided to stay for the second band -- the Kirby Barretto sextet. Very different kind of jazz: funk/acid-ish compared to Kira's old-school style. MarcL thought the drummer was good, and they had a blind bongo-ist (for lack of better description) as well as a double bass player named John Mayer! No, not THAT John Mayer. A young feel to their music, but I'm not knowledgeable enough about this sub-genre of jazz...only able to evaluate based on the overall sound and the technical skills I can imagine myself NOT being able to do e.g. guitarist's fingers flying over the fretboard etc. Heheh.

The next day, fell sick. Boo. Stress from working in audit? Or too much eating and going out? ;)

In any case, New York bound this Friday evening, followed immediately by Miami! Gotta get well in 2 days! *crosses fingers*

I was talking to a friend online a couple days ago and we got to a point where we started taking turns accusing each other of being emo / depressed. Hey, at least I admit to being that way occasionally, right? You know who you are.

Paraphrased from another conversation around the same time: "It's ironic how a person like me who lives in the past so much can remember so little." Mainly in reference to how I'm really bad at remembering events. The most ironic thing is how if I write out my thoughts, I forget even faster....the blog in a way is my Pensieve. But I guess it's better to record it somewhere and have an increased rate of forgetting, than not doing so and forgetting eventually.

But today, a regular post for those who tire of listening to me getting all mopey. ;) Don't think it's all just for you guys though: this blog is also meant for me to keep track of what's been happening in my life lately. :P

So let's see...happenings. Was sposed to have started my secondment to the financial audit team on Monday, but manager asked to keep me for 2 more days, and fin audit manager agreed. Now, the secondment had already been pushed back a week, so we all thought that Wed b(i.e. today) would be the absolute start date. But really, Fate just does what it wants. There was a snowstorm warning for today, and the senior called me last night to give me a heads-up that they might work from home if the weather is too bad. 7.15 am today, she called and confirmed that no one was going out to the client site -- which would make it pointless for me to head out as well, cos I would know nuts.

Which is fine with me because 1) it was blowing snow out there and 2) I had work still outstanding for my previous clients. This extra day meant that I need to put in less overtime to complete the deliverables. Lately it's been rather intense to be honest, and I'm online or on the phone being fielded question after question till dinnertime, but today, a rare respite: it's Valentine's Day! Manager said he had to leave earlier. A coworker had said earlier that he would take a bunch of us date-less girls to dinner just because, but I think that fell through because of the storm. So since Bro has gone to KW to spend reading week with BYHo, and CNY is coming up, I decided to give the apt a more thorough cleaning than usual -- in lieu of the traditional spring cleaning we do as a family back home. I should go buy some new tableware too for tradition's sake -- will try to remember.   

Sunday, skating class as usual. Instructor's got me started on backward sculling (making bubble shapes with both skates), but I'm really not great at it. Plus I still am afraid of falling. Well, more lessons next Fall if schedule permits -- and an indoor rink for sure. Winter in an outdoor rink requires a more will power to show up for class (skipped the week before's cos there was windchill of up to -35C).

Saturday, had a curry laksa get-together with Jits, MarcL, Xian, Bong, Nat and bro. Met up with Xian and MarcL first and checked out the Curry's art store close to Chinatown (MarcL wanted to buy pencils and a kneaded eraser -- which is sposed to be gentler on the drawing medium), then to pick up ingredients for the meal. Back at the apt, we took much less time than last summer when we last cooked the dish...not quite sure why. Maybe cos we've made it before so we had a better idea of measurements (last summer we had pots almost overflowing and utensils everywhere)? Or was it cos we omitted eggplant? The latter is less likely tho a more interesting excuse. :P 

Friday, Hil's bday celebration at Coca Restaurant (a tapas place) on Queen St W along w JCh, Nic, CH and Nel. I have to give Nic and CH props for setting things up -- they even brought a cake w candles! Tummy wasn't in the best condition for the combo of oily food and wine though -- nearly thought I couldn't make it for PCh's bday bash at Easy. Stood outside for a good 10 mins altho there was no line, trying to decide if it was worth paying the cover to go in if I was going to leave early. I did end up feeling better though, so PCh got a big surprise when he showed up and I was there....I'd called him earlier to say I might not be showing up. However, did leave early cos tummy started acting up again, and from the looks of it, missed the best parts of the party. :S No regrets tho -- I needed the rest and Krupo generously offered a ride home. Thanks man!

Monday, Sunday and Saturday before that, eating with JCh, Mirchan and DLee: altogether very bad for weightwatchers. Duck ragu atop gnocchi and proscuitto-wrapped melon slices at Mirchan's apt with Kelso, her friend Alan and gf Loretta, Harold. Nasi lemak at JCh's on Sunday w MelT there as well. Saturday was Caesar salad, panfried monkfish, salmon and scallops followed by a poker game with additional bodies i.e. DLee's classmates Kelso, Andy S and gf Carmen, Corey, Kien.

The Friday just before that, went to Across the Road for Winterlicious w Young P, Krupo and gf HoY and some of his friends, including Andrea and her bro Mark and Veronika. On the menu -- mushroom soup (NOT the creamy kind), lamb shank w couscous and cabbage Also had said to PCh that I'd join the work crowd at Easy and felt really guilty abt skipping out -- esp since NM and Michy had implied they were going to flake. It turned out that the two ladies showed...and since it was pretty rare to see the both of them AND Young P all out at the same place and the same night (Young P hadn't been out in ages and he was hankering to go), Krupo graciously gave us a lift downtown -- thank again man!

As a side note, JCh thinks that I like Easy a lot. It's not that I like it a lot, but the drinks are cheap, the music's not too loud and the crowd is decent, making it relatively more conducive for hanging out and catching up with coworkers. At least on Fridays anyway. 

Moving on: we were really late, like 11pm-ish...so we were subject to the dreaded line. SJ was already in the line, and later PatM and Tom joined Young P and myself. It was freezing! I couldn't feel my toes by the time we got in -- but thankfully the bouncer was really nice and even gave us an ETA for getting in, something along the lines of "As soon as the crowd clears (from the top of the stairs where coats were checked  and cover was collected), you guys can go in."

It was a good night overall -- managed to get to know the new hires somewhat better at the very least, and caught up with the others.

That's abt it for the past two weekends. Now, abt some weekday stuff. ;)

Last Monday, gave my 2nd Toastmaster speech -- I titled it "How to Have a Successful Vacation" and was so nervous abt taking too long that I ended up too short! The target was 5-7 mins and I had a buffer period of 30 secs before and after....but I came up at 4 mins and a few secs. I nearly got disqualified i.e. having to give the speech again...but they gave me some leeway since they didn't really warn me abt it beforehand. After the speech, FY asked if I hadn't enough time to prepare. :S The truth was, yes, I did, but I thought giving an organized speech (the goal of Speech #2) was of higher priority than finishing on time -- if I'd dragged things out impromptu, I reasoned that the speech flow might get all choppy as I try to think of things to say.

Two Mondays before that, my first Toastmaster speech -- the Icebreaker. So, the backstory to this was that I'd been drafting the content since I first joined the club last summer, but hadn't finished organizing, and hadn't come up with a punchy intro nor conclusion. VP Ed had earlier sent me an email asking if I was still interested in the club -- I'd been away for a long time given the KW client -- and I'd told her I would be away till Apr but would drop by if ever I found myself in the office.

So that Monday, I was just thinking to myself that I'd do the latter and put in some facetime, but as soon as I walked into the door, she asked if I wanted to do a speech to fill in for the two scheduled speakers (my club unfortunately has a history of flakes -- ppl having to make last minute business trips or saying they're too busy). I don't know what came over me, but on the spur of the moment I said yes. In hindsight, it was probably her saying "You don't have to prepare -- the objective is just to get out there and speak in front of an audience." :P So, yeah, wrote the content out from memory onto a piece of paper (just to have something to refer to in case the mind went blank) in 10 mins before I went out there and did it! It's true what they say abt getting the ball rolling though -- it took me more than 1/2 a year since joining to give my first speech, but less than 2 weeks to give my 2nd!

Also, company dance group classes have started, reimbursable under the company's fitness plan. The dance is hiphop, and I signed up cos AD, Michy and NM was all enthusiastic, but when I showed up, no one did. Later on, AD said she backed out cos she thought she wouldn't be downtown often enough to make it. Michy and NM were on vacation while sign-up was going on, so they didn't get on the list in time. :S Still, since I signed up, might as well go. The conclusion after 2 classes: I'm really bad at it and I honestly don't dare look at myself at the studio's mirrors while doing the moves, altho I should, to find out if I'm doing anything wrong. Plus, I'm not awesome at remembering the sequence of steps. Lindy is soooo much easier!!!!! However, no objection to the claim that it's a good workout, although my leg muscles hurt after each class due to the 'snapping' movements (or 'popping' as Jeff B, my ex- lindy teacher would've called it). I think I'll have to be careful or end up with thunder thighs. :P And don't ask me to demo any moves! To debunk a popular misconception -- hiphop is best done with flat sneakers.. It's really a dance for the streets, requiring loads of attitude. Clubs are really not the place to dance real hiphop -- how many girls go to a club wearing that kind of footwear anyway?

Japanese classes at U of T's School of Continuing Studies started two weeks ago on Monday. 8 weeks long, 2 hrs per week, emphasizing speaking and for roughly $400, it's not cheap but the classes so far have been good -- the teacher, Noriko Yabuki-Soh, can remain enthusiastic for 2 hrs straight. From a speaking perspective, I think it's easier for me than say, French, but there are trying moments -- when it comes to saying one of the most important phrases (shitsure shimase) which is used for excusing oneself and saying good bye to bosses and so on, the first two syllables really give me trouble, since the 'i' in 'shi' is silent.

An aside: what are the chances of having two ppl with the same name in a class with 5 students? I'm sitting next to a LeAnne, who is also ethnic Chinese. How weird is that? This is one of the few times where ppl have to pronounce the 'Y' in my name to refer to me (teacher's only solution for differentiating the both of us) -- I myself usually underplay it to make things easier. LeAnne, the person, is friendly though -- works at Motorola. We walked to the subway after class together last Monday and she told me abt how she took a German crash course at the Goethe Institute over the summer -- 3 hrs every day for 5 days per week for 1 month...and it still worked out to be cheaper (on a per hour basis) than this Japanese course. Still, she said she liked the teaching style (better for beginners) and I agree.

Ok I think we're up to speed now, excluding reviews -- which will go up on another day. :P

After weeks of reminders, both email and visual (i.e. seeing other ppl walk around with new laptops), I finally handed up my laptop to be upgraded. This required a certain amount of prep as certain types of files, most notably the audit software that our company uses, is NOT automatically backed up. Hence, I had to make a backup copy and since I was at it, I might as well throw some stuff on the server too.

Our tech guys said that as long as we successfully completed an automatic backup, we'll be fine, but IMO they've learnt the language of auditors, and so they say "most files are backed up" as opposed to "all". Ordinary ppl might consider the probability of losing something they actually care about, and come to a (probably accurate) conclusion that the level of risk is acceptable....but I'm not at that point yet. When in doubt, err on the safe side.

Anyway, stayed in the office late last night for work and also to prep my laptop for the upgrade, altho I finished neither. Work gets done slower now that I've set limits on the number of hours I spent on it -- not that it's making me any happier, on the contrary, having the limits is what keeps me from falling off the edge entirely in my quest to address review notes and complete year-end rollforward testing. As for the laptop prep, I waited to fully backup the contents of my laptop itself, but after seeing the tool restart itself a handful of times, I decided that I'd best do it at home where I could at least get some shut-eye -- brought back the battery pack for good measure. Luck of course dictated that the backup would complete in a minute (no exaggeration!) once I connected from home. Carried that weight home for nothing, doh!

So, the upgrade was going to take 4-6 hrs, depending on content, and I'd scheduled it for the morning. It all worked out as planned -- I'm pretty pleased with myself. Basically, since the prep was completed the night before, I showed up at work and turned in my computer right away, then did an errand at Bay-Bloor, killed some time at the Indigo bookstore there, then caught a cab with MD back to the office, then went straight into lunch with members of the counselling group.

Lunch was at Canoe. Duo of white bread and purplish walnut baguettes came with chickpea spread to start. As appetizer, I had the Cumbrae Farms Steak Tartare w Cookstown chips, truffle creme fraiche and black trumpets. Main was Roasted Lamb Sirloin w northern woods mushrooms, sweet peas, basmati rice and garlic confit. For dessert, the Dark Chocolate Pot de Creme with Osi de Morti and cocoa nibs; and also a cappucino. Generally, I thought it was all nicely done -- if anything, my biggest complaint would be the table setting as it was rather run of the mill. If you're going to put the effort into the presentation of the food, accompany it with minimalist but warm decor, and top it all off with wall-to-wall views of the city (on the 54th F no less), why skimp on tableware? I've been to Jump (part of the Oliver Bonacini group of companies too) but at least they could say that we were sitting outdoors and it would naturally have fewer frills. Coworker also noticed that the wait staff didn't make us feel very special as they didn't come by to check on how we did and also didn't bring pepper and salt for his soup, but personally I just want them to be there when I need them -- which they were.

Halfway through lunch, the phone rang and it was NM. After the initial how are yous, I found out that the CISA results had been released and she wanted to know how I did! Honestly, that was quite a surprise and rather coincidental, esp since lately ppl have been asking abt when I expected to hear the results -- we'd been told "6 weeks" but with no word and after a check on the website said "8 weeks", I'd resigned myself to only finding out on Feb 10 or something.

So, imagine my impatience then! I just wanted to get back and check my email, but then again, my laptop wasn't ready for pickup yet. So, tried logging onto our webclient from LK's machine, but he didn't have the client installed and I didn't know if he would mind. Then, tried MD's instead, but her IE froze when it tried to load the client -- I guess the client won't load if it detects that we were already connected to the internal network? Just when I was beginning to despair....the phone call from tech support came -- my laptop was ready!

It was obvious what I had to do once I got it back -- check email! And yes, I'm sure the title of this blog gave it away...I passed. Not with flying colours, but I passed, along with everyone else from my office who wrote the exam with me. The notification email also had a breakdown of how my scaled score looked like, and I only really did badly (relatively speaking) in the disaster recovery/physical security section -- justifiable considering that I've barely done any work on the area. Scored highest on system development (no surprise there considering the amount of time I spent working on this section for the s5970 report) and second highest on the encryption stuff -- surprise surprise, since I found that section tricky in the exam. Now, another 1.5 years of experience and I can add 4 letters to the back of my name....

It's amazing how motivating news like this can be. After the results, I felt renewed energy at addressing those damn review notes.

It would've been a thoroughly good day if I didn't get a stomach upset -- sad to say, the culprit was probably the dish I liked best from lunch, the steak tartare, probably due to the rawness of the meat. :S The hardiness of my digestive tract has wavered since coming to Canada....

Well, win some, lose some.

A week has gone by since Mom and Sis left, and I still have many to-do's outstanding! Not to mention keeping up with my new year's resolution, to practise Mandarin. Yes, that's right, only one resolution this year...and I'n not very good at keeping them, but at least it's a goal I can attempt to work towards, no?

Last year I had three (practise Mandarin, learn a new language and learn to skate) and only one was really kept i.e. learn to skate. Even so, I'm still a novice at it -- last Sunday after having brunch with MarcL, X, Nat, Jits, Poi and her friend Maggie, Bro and Kimi, we went to Indian Palace, a small restaurant on Queen St W that served a buffet lunch. The price was competitive as it was very close 3 or so other restaurants offering the a similar buffet, so no complaints in terms of value-for-money. However, I think the other place a few doors down that I tried with MarcL, Jits and JB in the summer (Trimurti) had a better selection. I said that to MarcL but he says he can't remember. ^_- 

Anyway, skating. Harbourfront Centre, right by Lake Ontario and touted as the largest artificial outdoor rink in Canada (?). Maybe because I looked it up, that's why I was slightly disappointed to see that it was wider than a hockey rink but not much longer. Anyhoo, can't complain cos it's free and maintained! Zambonied every 2-3 hours or so. Was planning to meet Hil and Jas there, and managed to convince Bro and Kimi to go as well. It was the most fun I'd had -- probably cos I learnt enough to attempt to practise what I'd been taught? The outcome of almost 3 hours of skating was two sore spots on both legs (early warnings of blisters :S) and at least 6 falls (I really thought I dislocated a finger when I woke up on Monday -- so much so that I went to a walk-in clinic just in case -- but all seems well so far, doc told me to give it till Fri before possibly doing an X-ray) ..... but I think I'm getting the hang of the slalom (C-push with one foot, then switch feet). :D Like Kimi said, it's the sense of accomplishment! Of course, Kimi had skiing experience and altho wobbly sometimes, he started learning tricks and techniques from Jas.... all in all, a good day for all.

Saturday, dinner at JCh's w MelT, CH, Mirchan, ML and two of ML's friends, both alumni of Bristol Uni, UK but one originally from Birmingham who's now working with the govt in planning IT resource allocation, and the other a newly minted freelance writer based out of Msia. Dinner topics mostly covered socio-econo-political themes, and it was good to hear abt the latest happenings in Msia and to a lesser extent, the UK. Not forgetting dinner -- in theme with the collective new year's resolution to eat more healthily, we had roasted porchetta, roast veal chops (?), some grilled veal and pork and also spicy spaghetti with pine nuts(?), roasted red pepper atop fresh arugula greens. Not very sure abt the ingredients cos wasn't a very good elf re the main course. :P The starter and dessert was slightly more calorific: cream of asparagus and cauliflower being the former, and lemon and rasperry tart being the latter.

After that, watched a couple of eps of Dexter. ML's synopsis was that the series revolved around a serial killer who targets serial killers. So I think we all started off thinking that Dexter was a vigilante of sorts. The truth was, we were only half-correct. He is a vigilante, but he's also very clearly psychopathic himself -- he had just been encouraged to re-direct his bloodthirsty tendencies towards other killers. Every eps, he kills at least one person in a very serial killer-ish way....and the series is graphic about it. Anyway, for continuity across eps, there's an ongoing case abt a serial killer who drains his victims of blood before cutting them into pieces. My initial assessment: it has unusual and interesting direction/dialogue/camera angles, however, it leaves a queasy feeling in my stomach. After all, I really don't like serial killer movies.

Thought that I had to watch something happy once I got home, just to erase that uncomfortable feeling, but MelT was the one driving and we got talking abt interpersonal relationships and outlooks on life and how diff ppl handle things differently...so much so that we parked the car outside my apt building and went on for another good 1/2 (or maybe 1?) hr. I thought I was going to lose my voice! But it was a good chat (and no more need for the happy eps!)...lately I've been feeling rather like discussing these themes, and it was good to have someone to bounce ideas off of.

On Fri, had lunch with NM and MD at Ninki where we just caught up with what's been happening in each other's lives. NM just came back from India with her mom and she was telling us abt magical stones being levitated, and psychics predicting that she and her sis would be married in 2 years! India has always struck me as mystical, but having someone close to me elaborate on things like that....I was fascinated. MD on the other hand came back from vacationing in HK via Tokyo. This lucky gal had 2 weeks in Japan for client work and they liked her so much, they suggested she go back! Anyway so she was also updating us on how she and bf had compromised and how she was going to let him grow in his career and vice versa. I'm happy for her. :)

Later in the evening after work, a chat over a beer at the Duke of Devon w Young P. We both started out on an empty stomach and though we offset that with sweet potato fries midway, the alchohol went to our heads pretty quickly, but in a good way. :) We were both nicely cheerful -- we talked abt his latest vacation on a Caribbean cruise w his family (puking/drinking story snippets prevailed), then abt visiting the gf, then our recurring topic i.e. my dating activities or lack thereof. Young P says he wants to know abt the non-work sides of ppl, but he admits it when I suggested he might just be nosy.

So I was half-full with all those useless carbs by the time I met Mirchan and JCh for Japanese dinner at Yamato in Yorkville. Interesting fact: the ppl who own Yamato also own Fune, which has been suggested before by a client contact of mine. Anyhoo, we got the sashimi platter, the beef teppanyaki and also an order of zaru soba (cold buckwheat noodles to be dipped in a cold sauce mixed with raw quail's egg). The platter was #1 for me, tho JCh and Mirchan liked the teppanyaki immensely. Zaru soba was a little bit too cooked for my tastes -- I like a bit more bite in my noodles -- or maybe I was just not very hungry.

Looking forward: it's mid-year review time. Time to give and get feedback. I'm expecting less than stellar reviews among the total (I already had a middling one from last yr) but on a balance of 'feelings', I'm feeling kinda indifferent at this point in time. Had dinner just now at Swatow with LWA (in town for client work, direct from Msia) and JCh, and she thought I was getting burnt out...hmm...maybe I am. Still, I'm beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel and it's cheering me up a bit and probably giving me the subconscious energy to pull through.

Also today, talked to counsellor on long(er)-term goals....I'm glad I have him: he understands my motivations almost intuitively. But now that I've gotten those musings out, I'm divided in my feelings abt it: was it too early to tell him, given that I'm not sure of my directions myself? In a sense, I was almost just thinking out loud. Would he take action and if successful, would I then be faced with a decision I'm not yet ready to make? But at the same time, things like what I wondered to him abt, they take time to set into motion.

Yes, I think as a whole, it was ok to bring it up.... I hope though that he'll check with me again before he arranges anything too drastic.

Nov 24 there were 5 of us and by Dec 31 it was just Bro and myself.

We had food made from recipes we grew up on.

Went shopping at Yorkdale, Eatons Centre and Queen St W -- first round for winter items, second round for boxing day deals. The latter involved a lot of patience in sifting through piles of clothing e.g. sis' reaction after arriving at Zara 2 hrs before closing (echoing mine) "So this is the aftermath..." Aside from Zara (where Mom unusually bought a funky neo-70's short dress), also some stuff from H&M, Le Chateau, Fila, Esprit...and lots of Aldo.

Hunting for a part-time job with Sis.

Various brunches/dinners/lunches/snacks at Eggspectations, Fran's, St Lawrence Market, Shopsy's Deli, Druxy's Deli/Hero Burger, Marche, Solferino's Gelato, The Keg, Oh Geul Boh Geul, Hosu Bistro, Kama Indian Cuisine, Old Spaghetti Factory, Terroni, Pazza, Cafe Crepe.

Parents and Sis sat in at my skating lessons and proclaimed the pre-school class after mine "very cute penguins".

Dimsum in 3 diff places: Highway 7 and Woodbine, Leslie and Finch, and Chinatown.

AGM of the Malaysian Association of Canada (MAC).

Dinner with Jas and Hil -- they wanted to treat us for accomodating them when they visited M'sia.

Researched the possibility of owning property and of Sis coming here for Grade 12/Form 6.

Calvalcade of Lights kick-off at Nathan Philips Square after chicken rice dinner with JCh and CH.

Made dinner for family -- whole wheat spaghetti with roasted red peppers, mozzarella cheese, pesto, thyme and smoked ham.

Creme caramel project with Sis, along with frozen pizza project and molten chocolate cake project.

Two birthdays -- mine and Bro's -- complete with mee sua, cake and presents. Shopping for presents.

Convinced by Sis to donate to the UNHCR's Darfur crisis fundraising effort.

Messing around with iTunes and Bittorrent downloads.

Made Mom a fan of the anime 'Fantastic Children'.

Home cleaning with Mom.

Grocery shopping trips.

Putting together the Japan travel scrapbook with Sis -- that was a lot of cutting, writing and planning!

Discussing shopping with Sis.

Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO).

In hindsight, nothing really exciting -- after all, it's not the first time they've been here. But writing this...brings to mind the caption on a mug (now at home in M'sia) I got for one of my birthdays: "You enjoy being in love, but you especially treasure the love of family and friends."

It's cliche to believe in zodiac signs perhaps, but that's exactly how I feel.

Phew...finally, after the past weeks' insanity, things are finally beginning to slow down. I'm starting down the road of getting stuff off my plate, either through eating it up or pushing it to someone else's. Heehee.

For starters, the exam that's been worrying me all Fall is DONE as of Saturday, Dec 9. Yes, I'm talking to you, CISA Dec 2006!

Parents arrived since Nov 24 and one left today (Dec 11). Sis arrived with them -- the chickie got a part-time job working for Dairy Queen/Orange Julius. It's a good thing, me thinks. It's true she likes how the money will multiply by three times by the time she takes it back with her, but she's a generous one. Bought me 3 sets of earrings for my upcoming bday (in anticipation of her 1st paycheck)! In total, too many earrings to be able to regularly cycle through, so gave her 3 pairs and mom one. But it's the thought that counts.

So I wrote the exam on Saturday morn...will not comment on whether I'll pass or not, but I think any extra studying wouldn't have helped. In short, what I put down on that Scantron sheet was with the most prepared mindset that I had. If I wrote the exam later and did better, it would only be because I had more experience and not  because I studied more.

Anyway, exam was freaking 4 hours long and we had to be there approx 1/2 to 1 hr before it started, and I was rushing there to begin with cos I was worried I might get shut out.... so I was really hungry by the end of it! Streetmeat never smelt so enticing...and after that, I had a haircut. To be honest I'm not a fan -- liked the last one better....and the lady was kinda gruff too. Sniffed disdainfully at the person who cut it before until I told her I got it cut at the exact same place.  -_-

Night time activities....well, dinner at Mediterra Restaurant at Richmond and York St downtown. Well the manager told me to make sure everyone was on time or else he'd charge me...so yeah, I did get kinda worried and actually put it down on the Evite. I mean, I know ppl are wont to be late, however, I thought by putting it on the Evite, they would get it and actually try. Human nature is hard to change though...one by one, ppl either flake or they call and say they'll show up later than expected. When I arrived (with only LW), the manager actually said, "So all 15 ppl are here, eh?" However, it seemed to be a case of bark worse than bite, because nothing came out of the initial threat. In the end, the guestlist was: Young P, CR, JV, AK, RD, MelT, Mirchan, JCh, LW, KS, JW and SH.

Food-wise, I have to be honest and say that mine was only ok. The yellowfin tuna was perhaps a tad too...medium. I blame it on the style of cooking. Grilling does tend to take the juice out, and yellowfin is not exactly the fattiest fish. LW got the Chilean seabass and pronouced it awesome though.

Many presents later (JV -- scarf, LW -- Nina Simone remixed CD, AK -- one set of festive monkey-shaped gingerbread cookies and one set of chocolate cheesecake, JCh and MelT and Mirchan -- a special(!) teddy bear from the Stag Shop and a gift cert, JW and SH -- a dozen pink roses)...KS made the dinner complete (for me at least!) by surprising me with a piece of fresh tiramisu from their dessert menu with a candle on top! I like!

The next item on the plan was to go to Easy Social Lounge. However, it was their snobbity night and everyone had to be on a guestlist/VIP list before you could get in. Now you could either get on it in advance, or you could talk to this guy who stands outside the club and 'evaluates' your worthiness before possibly putting you on the 'special' guestlist. I didn't make an advance reservation  and I guess we didn't qualify for the 2nd category that night.... Oh well, I guess Fridays at Easy are better.

Moved onwards to Schmooze instead. Young P immediately deemed it to his liking and between him, LW, JCh, MelT and Mirchan, proceeded to get me really drunk....and after at least 3 tequila shots, two vodka 7's, a flaming shot (Lamborghini?), a Yaegerbomb and something red that the bartender recommended...i think they pretty much succeeded! I look bright red in the pictures, and I had a mighty hangover -- although no puking, I woke up at abt 6.30am (abt 4 hrs after getting into bed) with uncomfortable heartburn that gave way to a pounding headache that gave way to a hunger unsatisfied by the traditional bday bfast of mee sua (longevity noodles) and hard-boiled eggs. Although in hindsight, the heartburn could've been from the burritos we got post-club from Burrito Boyz. :P

Tis the season for appreciation....so....

Thanks to the ppl who wished me, through various means, good luck and success for the CISA...the very catchy "luck and pluck" is worth a special mention -- I was repeating it to myself all the way to the exam hall and even while waiting for the exam to begin.
Thanks to the ppl who sent me bday greetings -- its a multimedia world out there when you get them through emails, phone conversations, ecards, phone SMSes and of course, in person.
Thanks to the ppl who look out for me....among many other gestures: Cold-FX appearing next to my laptop with instructions on a Post-it note, giving me rides to skating class and to dinners/outings, delivering my presents post-bday bash, taking the long way back in the taxi to make sure I get home safe...I've said it in person so you know who you are.
Thanks to the client and managers who accomodated my last minute request to have a study day.
Thanks to my counselor who called me from Florida to wish me happy birthday...although he was a week early.
And of course, thanks to the family for being family.

The problem with not blogging for a long time is when I write abt what happened since the last time I did, a lot of the details on what made it interesting are lost....which is a pity. I have frequently wished that there would be some small gadget that I can just use to capture what I saw, heard, felt and knew at the time.... but I might end up not using it either. When I try to record that moment, somehow a bit of the subject matter is lost -- the sights just seem a little duller, the sounds a little less moving, the feelings a little less intense...and the knowledge, a little more rational.

That last one might actually come in handy though, in the case of someone like me who's so prone to speaking too quickly.

For now, I think a camera is for me, the gadget that captures the moment with minimal loss of the atmosphere.

So...what has happened since 2 weeks ago:

1) Japanese-themed dinner at JCh's on Sat w Mirchan and DLee...by far one of our healthiest dinners by his own admission. On the menu: tuna carpaccio salad, quail's egg with baby bok choy and braised pork belly, duo of hot and cold soba with mushrooms and pan-fried black cod, tau foo fah (soybean pudding) with sweet syrup. All made from scratch, save the tau foo fah itself. Followed that with some watching of 'Lost'.

2) Before heading to JCh's, decided to cook all the stuff in my fridge that was on the verge of going bad...and then some. And then cleaned the apartment...very dirty esp since starting this whole Kitchener assignment thing. Very pooped after it all.

3) On Fri, attended the first team planning event that I'd actively participated in.... although it helped that this particular one was focused only on the sub-division of the engagement I'm working on (the prev ones I've attended were always at the engagement level) and that our sub-team is pretty small. Then, went to see 'Wicked', playing at the Canon Theatre!

4) Thursday, townhall meeting for the industry I'm assigned to -- financial services institutions. Not very useful as it was organized by the financial auditors, who seem to have forgotten that they'd invited the specialty practices (of which my dept is part of) and so proceeded to give a presentation that seemed to only be focused on them. Heck, their "Welcome to the new hires!" portion totally ignored us! Plus, the atmosphere reeked of "I know you guys just got hired/promoted, but don't leave us! This is why you shouldn't leave us..." Sigh. it's common knowledge that the turnover rate is high...but the way they presented it... And I thought the campus recruitment video for the 2007 batch was cringeworthily cheesy.

5) Tues and Wed -- trying to recover from Boston while keeping it together at work. Frankly speaking, Tues was a pain -- we flew back in from Boston late Mon night, but I had to show up downtown to file my expenses and pick up the rental car...then drive straight from there to a meeting in Kitchener. After the meeting, I was desperately seeking rest, so called it a day and checked into the hotel. Worked after the nap and dinner instead.

6) 4-day trip to Boston! Stayed over at JCh's with Mirchan so we could take the Fri red-eye flight....and only realized it was one while calculating the exact time we had to wake up -- and realized it had to be 4.45am. O_o

(i) Day 1: Met LWA at Logan Airport just outside of downtown Boston, then picked up the rental car and headed towards Provincetown, stopping at Sandwich on the way. Cape Cod all day, battling the chill (I guess off-season really means off-season) -- thank goodness for modern heating! It does make one wonder how the Pilgrims survived when they first landed there. Stayed the night just outside Boston in a teeny town (probably just a business centre?) called Rockland -- it only warranted ONE roadsign....even Mashpee (doesn't the name scream 'rural'?) had more mentions.

(ii) Day 2: Drove into Boston to drop off the car and promptly felt thankful we decided not to drive the whole trip.... all those crazy one-way streets and flyovers! Getting to the drop-off took 1/3 of the entire car trip duration that morning. However, Jurys Hotel (formerly the Boston Police HQ) provided a warm welcome, we got to check in early and LWA and Mirchan extracted tourist info from the doorman who was from (surprise surprise) Montreal!

After a quick walk towards Tremont St, arrived at Aquitaine for brunch, then split up as JCh and Mirchan headed to Newbury St to check out the stores, and LWA and myself decided to walk towards the Isabella Gardner Museum. This museum was unique to me cos firstly, it was artwork across many types of media and eras, and secondly, Ms Gardner insisted on the lighting being kept the way it was before she died in the early 1900's, and thirdly, most of the art was NOT labeled as per her will as she wanted ppl to view the pieces and not be influenced by the name or history of the artist. I thought it was a refreshing, albeit unusual take on the appreciation of art. No photography allowed though, unfortunately.

On the way there, stopped briefly at Copley Square and also the Christian Science Church compound (seriously looking like an ancient Greek temple) and then the Mary Eddy Baker library to see the Mapparium, which is a big globe made of stained glass that shows the world and its boundaries as of the early 1930's. Again, no photography! :( Then, Newbury St and Back Bay, before meeting back up with JCh and Mirchan at the hotel. Dinner at Kingfish Hall in the Quincy Market area.

(iii) Day 3: Walked Beacon Hill and checked out the pub that inspired Cheers -- the Bull and Finch Pub. Quick stop for gelato and coffee, then lunch at a Todd English restaurant, Figs -- yummy pizza, but it would've been useful if they told us each one can serve 2 ppl! Following that, walked the Freedom Trail then to Quincy Market / Faneuil Hall for some shopping...then wound up at the North End for Mike's cannoli. Dinner at Penang restaurant -- one of the best Malaysian I've tasted in North America: the asam laksa was seriously authentic.

(iv) Harvard! It's a lovely campus to walk, and our tour guides (seniors at Harvard) made it entertaining with little anecdotes, plenty of energy and good voices. LWA had to leave earlier for her flight, but the 3 of us spent the rest of the day wandering the shops around Harvard Square, then ending up back in the North End for simple Italian. Satisfying... Then it was back to the airport and Toronto.
 
7) On the Mon and Tues prior to the trip, JE CAATs (Journal Entry Computer Assisted Audit Technique) training. 2 days worth of learning how to use the ACL program to clean and process mounds of electronic records into useful info. Dinner at Marche on the Exec Director's tab and bfast/lunch included...they do try to make us comfy in spite of tightening budgets company-wide. *mini <3 to the organizer*

I must be the only one who attended but am not in line to perform actual work on it. My current engagement manager noticed and asked if I would like to try to fit something in after the complete end of this engagement (in Feb) and before my next one starts... I know that I won't remember much of the training unless I actually try it out on a real life case...but will I survive? Or rather, will my social life survive? I left his question open-ended...for now.

8) Thanksgiving celebrations at JCh's. Since Melly wasn't able to make it to Boston, we had it a week early on the weekend of Oct 1: Turkey, stuffing and pear frangipane tart! Yes, it was yummy...

I think we're up to speed now. Phew. Going forward...another trip to KW, and alongside it...stronger resolve to blog more often, perhaps? ;)

After almost a year...I've gotten assigned as a peer advisor. Counselor is obviously happy since I've achieved one of the goals I've set, albeit a couple months late thus not being able to get a mention during performance assessment.

So...went out yesterday with the new guy and his counselor to Jump Cafe & Bar. Food-wise I thought it was pretty good. His counselor had the Grilled Filet of Atlantic Salmon with new potatoes, fine green beans, black olives, tomato and lemon dressing. It looked alright but not spectacular... I had the Coconut Crusted Cherry Snapper with baby butter lettuce, mango, cucumber, bean sprouts and Thai lime leaf dressing. I really liked mine as it was light and suitable for summer. New guy had the Grilled Octopus with fennel, black olives and capers in a lemon oregano dressing. It was pretty big and perhaps I might try it the next time -- when I'm feeling less hungry.

We all got cappucinos to finish off, and it came with a nice slice of choc chip and walnut biscotti. Also, his counselor and I both decided to get the 'Tiny Desserts': she got the lemon cream (a small glass of well, lemon cream, topped with berry sauce) and I got the baked chocolate espresso mousse. No regrets on my part -- the mousse had a cake-like texture but was ultra fluffy and topped with the lightest whipped cream. MmMM.

Food aside, it was an interesting lunch date. I got to know my peer buddy better -- he recently came back from a honeymoon in Greece, he's got an accounting background but has interest in IT. I got to know his counselor better as well...I've always known she was nice and originally from Romania, but one thing really stuck out from that day...which is why I'm writing this down.

I was mentioning how I'm toying with the idea of going back to Malaysia to work for a bit, just to see what it's like there and also to get over my need-to-go-home-every-year-or-I'll-get-depressed feeling (maybe). She then talked abt her own experience coming to Canada. She said when she first came, she didn't go home for 4 years...and she was so homesick and wanted to go home etc. But when she finally got the chance to, she found that the Romania she went back to was not the same as the one she had in her memories...and she finally decided that she was better off here in Canada. She felt a little pang of homesickness, but that changed once her kids came along...

Kind of makes me wonder, what will it take to make me settle away from Malaysia...?

Day 3, everyone grumbled abt the early start, but there wasn't much we could do. JCh, DLee, Ron, Jeff C, YLee and myself were going white-water rafting at New World Rafting, which was an hr's drive away while MeLT and Mirchan had an appointment with an instructor to try out rock climbing on the natural rock face. Boon was the only one who escaped, going back to bed after bfast with everyone else -- but then he had a major hangover that I didn't envy too much.

White-water rafting was very wet, a little scary, very tiring (altho offset by the fact that our raft had 3 girls and 7 guys in it) but all in all very fun!

Anyway, about $116 got me a two trips down the course (once before and once after lunch), lunch, dinner, equipment (paddle, lifejacket, helmet), a guide and 8 other fellow rafters. 6 being our lil gang, 2 being a couple from Ottawa (Allison, a doctor and Mike, a photographer) and 1 being a London-based Pole (Mira, a lifeguard). DLee being a law student, we thought we had the combination of rafters most prepared for something like white-water rafting. ;)

J.P. was our guide for the day -- he teaches English to troubled kids for most of the year and is a rafting and kayaking guide during the summer. French is still his first language tho and when we had to come up with a name for our group, a suggestion of "Hungry Hippos" became something that got us really weird stares from the other rafts instead ("Hungry Nipples? Well I've not heard that one before, but ok! Everyone, let's say "Hungry Nipples!""). He also kept us entertained with random songs snippets and lots of jokes about potatoes, grains of sand and football players saving dogs from burning buildings. 

Allison was a former camp counselor as well, so she contributed with a couple of good ones, one abt a fortune teller and another one involving spelling, "I" and "ness". The latter was esp funny and really cracked J.P. up -- he insisted on stopping two other rafts on separate occasions to tell it to them.

Let's not forget abt the rafting! The course comprised of 5 sets of rapids (all between Class 3 and 4) on the River Rouge, flanked by the greenest scenery that rose up from rocky grounds....and we did it twice! I fell out twice and jumped out once, and we even did a 'candle', where we all crowded in the back end of the raft to make the front end stand up almost in a 6 o'clock positions. Got squished among elbows and knees and paddles, but still worth the experience.

As for falling out, we all did our first time together! It was the first rapid and J.P. asked "Do you want it hardcore?" ... and then our raft flipped over, emptying us all. One minute we were paddling like crazy, the next we were gently but unavoidably falling off, the next it was dark and water was all around and everyone was bumping into each other as they tried to swim up, the next we were on the surface and swimming towards the raft....

The second time I fell out, less than half the boat fell out with me. Altho water was going over my head, I felt strangely calm -- Mira tho sounded panicky as she kept calling out to me and asking if I was ok. Later on I found out that I looked like I was drowning since I had my whole head submerged in water.

Jeff C wasn't so lucky....he got dragged under the raft and altho it was technically filled with air, that thing is tough. Result was a concussion, a broken nose and some loose teeth. It was a good thing that we had Allison on board! Altho later on she joked that we never asked her what kind -- she turned out to be both a family and a pallative care doctor, the latter being the one in charge of terminally ill patients.

Tired out by the end of it all, and glad to be heading home to dinner and another good soak in the hot tub! Dinner was pasta with sauteed mushrooms, grilled chicken in Montreal spice, grilled steak and veggies...followed by the movie Capote on DVD -- a good film but in a talky kinda way.

Next morn, managed to secure an addt'l hr till checkout, so used it towards a more leisurely bfast of leftovers, both from the two prev dinners and whatever was left in the fridge. Drove out just before noon, stopped by Saint-Sauveur for some factory outlet shopping but didn't see anything I liked.

Arrived back in TO, had quick Chinese dinner, dropped off home by MeLT and hit the sack before 11pm. For the rest of the week, was achey, bruise-y and very exhausted....but it was all worth it.

As Ron put it:

"I'm back at work, and I'm writing to report that I am SERIOUSLY not happy about it. :(

And, I want that house."

Good times, ppl.

Pics and vids available at JCh's! This is probably when the curious should sign up for a Multiply acct. :P 

Day 2 began a little lazily but literally to the tune of 'Beautiful Day' as DLee turned up the stereo with my U2 CD. After bfast of french toast and sausages, set out to the Village to check out the activities on offer at Mont-Tremblant.

Settled on the Acrobranch as our first activity. This is a set of 5 networks (called 'games') consisting of ziplines (flying fox lines) and wooden logs and planks suspended above ground amongst trees. Each of us had to put on a harness with 2 safety carabinders on it: we had to make sure they were always clipped to the red 'lifeline'. Also hooked onto our harness was a heavy metal 'pulley' that we had to clip onto the ziplines before we traveled on them. The idea is to get from one point to another either by walking tightropes or hopping from log to log or sliding across the ziplines.

The beginning was slow-ish cos we had to get the hang of the safety equipment...plus, it's a little unnerving being so high up you know! In my case it helped that the sight of the ground was obscured by the tree branches...

In addition, saw 3 deer! In full daylight, late afternoon, even with the (admittedly few) attendants on ground level...they came out and walked around even as we were shouting to each other from the treetops.

Later, the gang split up -- Mirchan, MeLT and myself were going horseback riding. After a 1/2 hr drive to the ranch, met our horses and guide, Jonathan and an experienced couple from Ottawa. The trail was along the River Rouge (Red River), then up a mountain.

It was a bumpy ride made worse by all the mud and sludge from the heavy rain (a few of the communities lost power) a couple of days before. Interesting to go up a mountain on horseback, but when the horses have to navigate mud puddles filled with rocks...it also becomes a little scary. MeLT's horse stumbled a few times and Mirchan's took its time....but my horse decided to go its own way.

I'd thought from the beginning that my horse, Sultan, looked a little bad-tempered...and this was when I was proven right. The horse ignored most of my efforts to rein it back, and decided to strike out on its own path while forgetting that I'm on it..and I'm not made of air. I was running into tree branches (thankfully none too big that I couldn't push away with both hands) and scraping my legs against tree trunks, and at one moment, it ran down a small tree and it sprung back up and almost hit me. :S

We were quite glad when we arrived at our destination: abt 2/3 of the way up the mountain and a 1-min hike to a huge rock -- we made our way there and were rewarded with a view of the valley below us, backed by another set of mountains. The experienced couple had brought beers, and we just chilled on that rock as we watched the sun set. It was compensation for the rocky ride.

After that we had to go back down the way we came up! We were a little unnerved, but Jonathan assured us that it would be quicker and easier this time cos the horses know they're going back. He was right...perhaps too right. My horse decided that it wanted to go home very badly, and cantered at every possible moment in spite of me reining it back. It even pulled ahead of Jonathan's horse until he came over and gave the rope a hard yank. "Show him who's boss", he said... guess sometimes you can't be nice even if you try.

Arriving back at the house, we found the boys cooking a yummy dinner of chicken curry, beef rendang and shredded cabbage with corn beef. DLee had also fired up the hot tub, perfect balm for sore muscles! Lots of beer, a bottle of absinthe (70% alchohol) and magic brownies... Put that all together and you get crazy times in the hot tub and at the dining table. Not to mention ppl puking then passing out, but that gave certain others the opportunity to paint JCh's nails red.

And we brought no nail polish remover. ;) 

 

This past weekend has been an interesting mix of events and people.

Friday, got back from work late trying to meet deadlines. Kimi came to stay over from Mississauga -- he was writing an Econ distance ed exam early Sat morn and thought he could save travelling time by just staying the night in TO. Good call -- according to him, it took 1.5 hours by bus from where he's living now (he's co-oping in a company located there).

It was SJ's 27th bday celebration weekend tho, and though I skipped out on dinner at Marlowe's in Little Italy, I promised I would show at Shallow Groove for after-dinner festivities...so I did. He said it was at just at the intersection of College and Bathurst, but it was really a good few blocks away! So glad I was wearing ballet flats, else my back would've screamed bloody murder.

The place itself was a little...lacking in decor. Somehow it reminded me of the inside of a ship's hull. Probably because of the candle lighting and the wood panelling. It was just warming up when I arrived -- most of the ppl there seemed to be SJ's friend or co-worker. But it was certainly a big group, and after a few drinks (and they were pretty strong...else I was drinking them on a not-very-full stomach), everyone was ready to party. The dance floor that was a little recessed and had NO lighting at all, which actually made it all the better for anyone still sober and/or anyone shy to let loose. The DJ knew his stuff though...the music flowed smoothly from one track to the next.

We left almost immediately after SJ puked in the corner though. When I first saw him that night (about 4 hrs prior) he said he'd already had 8 shots...but I'm still surprised. He's a pretty big guy and it must take a lot of alchohol to bring him down. But someone bought him a beer and I bought him a vodka-cran...so I can't say I'm totally innocent. :P

Sat morn, Kimi had already left for his exam but MarL was still around. MarL and I met up with LWA and Des, then later with Kimi at the St Lawrence Market. Introduced them to Mustachio's veal-and-eggplant sandwich and also Carousel Bakery's peameal bacon sandwich. Between the two, I think I like the latter but LWA the former. Anyway, after that, browsed the market and got some stuff, then took the streetcar to The Beach for the Beaches International Jazz Festival. 

It was a very well-planned event with vendors in strategic positions giving out freebies (coupons for free Starbucks Frappucinos, anyone?) and easy navigation.... but the weather was terribly hot, around 38-40C maybe? There were also tons of ppl (everyone on the streetcar seemed to be heading there, not to mention the cars on the street) and none of the roads were blockaded, so everyone had to keep to the pavements. Did I mention how hot the weather was?

Got there in time to catch Jake Langley do some guitar-virtuoso-ing, and also Janiva Magness, 3-time winner of the "Best Contemporary Blues Female Artist" award. Funny cos I was really there for Janiva Magness and her after-hour style records...but when she did, it also started raining. -_- So we left. Went to Chinatown straight away because curry laksa was on the menu! MarL and myself were talking abt it all week.

We'd nv cooked together before so it was quite an interesting experience. We thought we'd spend only 1 hr max (the packet's instructions said 15 mins for the curry itself) but it turned out to be double that time. But I blame it partly on us going a little overboard with ingredients. :P

Noodle-wise we had yellow noodles and bihun (rice vermicelli). Vege-wise we had long green beans, bean sprouts and sliced eggplant. We also had tau foo pok halves and hard-boiled egg slices and steamed chicken from Chinatown. When I was trying to take a pic of a bowl of the final product, I found it hard to make sure everything had surface time. :P Of course the dinner was not possible without help from Des, LWA, my housemate and Kimi who helped prepare and also did the dish washing / stove cleaning...many thanks to them.

After dinner we settled down to dessert (apple strudel from the market) and to watch Princess Mononoke on DVD (see the My Reviews tab). Tired after overeating though, so slept early.

Sunday, time to get down to work. I promised my senior at work that I would complete a certain amt of deliverables by Monday...and after a few hrs at home, I decided it was more productive to do it at the client site. Plus my laptop's batt was dying.

The office was a little stuffy but it definitely helped concentration...constantly sipping iced water helped too.

Decided to go out for dinner with JCh, Boon, DLee and his bro at Nakwon at Yonge and Finch. Going with a bunch of guys definitely allows more food ordering! Between the 5 of us, we had the grilled mackerel, 2 bowls of bibimbap (stone bowl rice), a 2-person order of grilled beef with veggies (which came with 2 bowls of tofu and minced meat soup), the pork bulgogi on a hotplate, an undefined number of bowls of white rice and the 6-pc appetizer spread. And some quantity of white rice. Satisfying....

And now to end with something a bit more serious (in case you think I have fun all the time :P). I signed up for the CISA exam today. The exam will be written on Dec 9, 2006. That's a day before my birthday (what a way to celebrate huh).

I'd already decided a while ago that I might as well write it since the company will pay for it if  I pass. And that writing the exam (while not yet fulfilling the number of work hours required to get the charter and not being sure if I want to be in this line of work for life) is better than not writing it at all.

But today there was a lot of talk abt promotions at work and the likelihood of getting it or being held back...and I realized how competitive some of my co-workers are after all. I thought that by just constantly performing at my current level, I would be above average already (as I have been this yr), but perhaps it won't work as well in the coming year....

How much of a dog-eat-dog world is it out there?

EDIT:
- Added pic of Sat's curry laksa and apple strudel. Looking at the pics again makes me hungry! :S
- Added Beaches Jazz pics to the Photos tab.