My beautiful Sunday morning

View from my mid-morning dog walk with Okee and Q.

Cliff

Dear readers:

I'm unwell today.   While lying in my comfy bed I asked myself a lot of fun questions!   Here's one of them:

How would you approach a cliff?

*Possible answers*
*run
*walk
*run then jump
*walk then stand and ponder

The continued journey

Back in Jan of 2012, I wrote in my diary in an exciting tone because I obtained my first "real" full-time employment ever.   This was after being in a rut for three (3) years.

This weekend is Chinese new year and I guess I am writing in an exciting manner again because I'm starting a new phase in my  somewhat chosen career.  At least that is what I am telling myself anyways.  Hopefully my instincts and feelings about this new workplace is correct.

Anyways, the important thing is to remember to smile and have a positive attitude.

So here is my toast to my continued journey.  Cheers! :D

High Schooler's Lunch Time during the early 2000's

There were many ways you can spend your lunch hour as a high school student in a suburban area in North America during the early 2000's:

1)  Counted your pennies the night before so that you could pay the local bus fare to have a buffet at Pizza Hut then rushed out of Pizza Hut after full payment while being chased by the waiter for a tip; and finally, laughed on the bus during a discussion about why the waiter needed a tip when it was a freaking buffet and he has provided no service.

2a)  Happily witnessed other high school kids or speedy drivers be ticketed for speeding over at least 20+ km/hr on their craptastic/fantastic cars during the walk home for lunch to catch the re-run of Sailor Moon.

2b)  Failed to notice the lunch jogger/runner until such jogger or running was already motioning hi and/or goodbye with the back of her palm during the almost daily walk home for lunch to re-watch some favourite movies.

2c)  Saw the same crossing guard everyday waiting for an elementary school kid to cross the street during the walk home for lunch.

2d) Occasionally, ran into a classmate who would share sneaky ways of getting extra cash during the walk home for lunch.

2e)  Occasionally, at the school exit, bumped into an elementary school alumni who was attending the same high school and who was also going home for lunch and caught up during the walk to home for lunch.

3)  Lined up at the cafeteria for food then ate and finally killed time by chatting or playing some sort of game.

4)  Walked to the same local restaurant and ordered the same item on the boring non-changing lunch menu almost every time.

5)  Be busy doing your busy committee work while eating your microwaved lunch.

6)  Be busy finishing your homework that you should have finished one (1) month ago or be busy finishing your project that is due in an hour.

7)  Be a bug to your teacher by debating about how your incorrect answer should have been correct.

8)  Worked on your html website on the school library computer.

9)  Climbed a long flight of stairs to work out at the smelly smelly small gym and not taking a shower afterwards.

10)  See comment section for others' lunch time observations or experiences of high schooler's during the 2000s.  Please remember to specify the where (ie. urban? rural? suburban? continent?)

Facebook the digital yearbook ?

While looking at my high school yearbook over the weekend, I thought Facebook sorta feels like a never ending yearbook.

Note:  this piece of writing is based on my recollection of all things I have read,  saw and encountered about Facebook (thus far).

Point 1: Facebook started as a platform for Harvard students to compare the attractiveness of each others appearance on official Harvard student ID photos.  From what I've read,  two photos will be compared each time and the more attractive photo moved forward to be compared to another randomly selected photo.

So at the beginning you have to at least have an official harvard student photo to be in the initial Facebook.

Point 2: As this application, which is really just a stupid digital piece of line paper that you pass around during a boring class, got more popular, other "fun" functions were added to it.

Point 3:  More functions mean more expenses, more expenses mean the "struggling" Harvard student can no longer afford the expensive school tuition or time commitment and chose to drop out of Harvard and tour all other post secondary institutions instead.

Point 4:  After garnering enough support and resources,  eventually this application was opened to the public.   I believe the intention originally was to have your face on Facebook.  One person one account but it got too confusing or scary eventually for some users.   How many ways can you leave your face in the digital world wide web?
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I guess one major difference between my high school yearbook and facebook is that one is clearly a representation of the past while the other could represent the past, present and maybe the future.

Anyhow, I apologize for my uneducated rambling.

9:00 a.m. on a Mundane Monday

If you are reading this at 9:00 a.m. on a Monday.

You must be feeling mundane.  I am guessing you are either at work, at school or not at either of those places.

In any event, you are just trying to kill time.

Thanks for coming to my blog!  I am glad we are of service to your mundane life!

Bye!

Are you a Damsel?

The short answer to this question is:

A)  if you are a boy or a man or somebody with a y chromosome: NO.

B)  if you are a girl or a woman or somebody without a y chromosome: You could be.

According to my dictionary, you can call yourself a damsel if you are a young unmarried woman.  Please do not confuse "a damsel" with "a damsel in distress" (read my blog on a future undecided date for an explanation of damsel in distress).

----  rambling ensues  ----

I had too much time today because it is a Restful Sunday after all.  Last week, we blogged about the use of the word "Husky".  I thought, maybe this Sunday, I can blog about the word "Hunk" but it could be too easy or difficult of a topic because you can almost use this word like "Husky" except the criteria changes as follows: replace the word "tall" with "big" and add the word "sexually" in front of "attractive".   If you are confused, please read my blog post on "Are you a Husky?".

-----  Back on topic  -----

This afternoon, I was flipping through my high school year book and thought "I am no damsel in distress, I've survived High School".  I proceeded to ponder what a damsel is immediately after that thought and, once again, went to my most trusted dictionary which always provided me with a very satisfying definition for a long discussion with me, myself and I.

My dictionary only gave me one definition this time and didn't even provide me with a sample sentence to show me how to properly use this word in a sentence!

I have never called someone a damsel or heard my girlfriends calling themselves as a damsel so I guess it makes sense that there is only one definition for the word "damsel".

------  More rambling ensues  ------

I didn't have to resort to Google this time because I learnt last week that my dictionary provides me with a more well defined start to my research. To call yourself a damsel or to be called a damsel, you have to be (1) young, (2) unmarried, and (3) a woman.

(1) Young:  Everyone likes to think they are young and has not matured yet so this criteria is definitely up for discussion.

(2) Unmarried:  Not subjective at all, if you are unmarried, you are unmarried.  Unmarried means you are not married.

(3)  Woman:  Provided that you are not a boy or a man, like (1) Young above, can be a very subjective criteria.  It is difficult to know when and how a girl matures into a woman; some girls like to call themselves as young women while some matured women like to call themselves girls.

After thinking about these three criteria: "young", "unmarried" and "woman" separately, I decided I am not a damsel and, therefore, cannot be a damsel in distress.

-------  More creative rambling ensues, read at your own risk  -------

After a lot of confusing thoughts, I thought so what if I am a young widow (not a widower)? then can I be a damsel? and if a young widow can be a damsel then will a young widow automatically be a damsel in distress?

Similarly, what if I am a young divorced woman? then can I be a damsel? and if a young divorced woman can be a damsel,  is this type of damsel also a damsel in distress?

Lastly, is there an antonym for damsel? In other words, what do you call a young unmarried man? a bachelor?

My dictionary cannot give me the definition of damsel in distress in its entirety so I am done with this blog post.

--- last line before the end ---

Damsel is a literary word.

- the end -

10 Steps towards a Leisure Friday

Step 1:  Sleep in.

Step 2:  Crawl slowly out of bed.

Step 3:  Crawl slowly back to bed.

Step 4:  Turn on leisurely Friday music like "The Lazy Song".

Step 5:  Go back to sleep or sing along to a song like "The Lazy Song".

Step 6:  Find food.

Step 7:  Eat.

Step 8:  Bed.

Step 9:  Bundle.

Step 10: Zzz

My First Nightmare!

My classmate once told me that if you happen to dream while you are sleeping, you have to immediately write down your dream after you wake up.

I used to dream a lot, once in a while I would have a nightmare.  My most creative fun nightmare was definitely my first nightmare.  I was in the kindergarten hallway, aliens were invading earth (or maybe just where I was) and we somehow all escaped to the airplane in the end.  I think I ran away from one alien by sliding down the slide.  Hopefully, I remember it correctly but this is the gist of it.

My scariest nightmare was falling down a building, I actually felt the sensation of falling off a building.  I woke up though just before I hit the ground.  Many years later, I heard that if you don't wake up before you hit the ground you could really die.  An urban legend (?), something I can never find out and if I do, I might not be able to blog about it and it's completely out of my control.  A dream is a dream after all.

Dreams and Nightmares are all fun!

If I was a Something Game Something

When I was a student, I had time to play MMORPG.  Two (2) of my favourite MMORPG are Gunbound and Ragnarok Online.

Nowadays, due to the popularity of these games, many jobs have been created that's why I can't decide the title to this post.

If I was a hardcore game designer...
If I was a magical game map artist...
If I was a professional game player...

You see how I can go on and on with the title? so many options!  Anyways, I would like to be a Character Costume Game Dresser!!!!!

Illumina was my first client.  When I first met her, she was an acolyte and she was about to complete her priest exam which she knew she was going to ace.  She wanted to ensure that her tailored made priest dress would be ready for her as soon as she was done with her exam.  You see, she wanted to hunt down her first MVP immediately after she has been upgraded to a priest.

She also wanted some cute accessories to go with her priest dress.  We had to go shopping for her, we got her Elven Ears, Romantic Flower, Beanie and threw in a Wand of Occult as a freebie.

After her fitting, she rushed off.  Curious, we cloaked her to see what MVP she was going to defeat.  When we ended up in a forest, we were quite confused then Eddga showed up and she ran in circles and stood around to cast Holy Light.  We were holding our breath for her the whole time.  She got scratched a few times but she immediately healed herself every time.

We were relieved when Eddga finally fainted, she then proceeded to scrape some skin off.  Turns out she knows how to make hats.  That's how we got our Boy's Cap maker.

Are you a Husky?

The correct answer to this question is always yes, yes you are a husky.

You can describe yourself as a husky if you think you are tall, strong and attractive; however, others may not agree with your description of yourself.

-----  rambling ensues  -----

This morning, I googled the following statement: "who needs a boyfriend when you have a husky".  For some reason, the first search result google provided to me was a cosmopolitan article titled: "11 Things Only Women Who Dated Husky Guys Understand".

I have never described anyone as Husky and have never heard any of my girlfriends saying they find their boyfriend "husky" so I had to resort to google again and, eventually, my dictionary, for a more satisfactory description of the word "husky".

------ more rambling ensues  ------

Anyhow, I Googled more random questions, like "11 Things Only Guys Who Dated Flatchest and Flatass Women Understand".  I was returned with results like "11 Problems Only Girls With Flatbutts Understand" - not a cosmopolitan article.

Google provided me with a lot of fun and interesting titles to articles I may want to read.  One article stood out, it was about how a bigger guy can dress properly written in a non-intimidating/welcoming way with helpful advice presented in a humourous yet classy way.  I don't think I can find that article again, I lost it already.  It was the greatest article ever! (yes, i asked way too many random questions, sorry!)

Anyways, after my many fun searches, I returned to a more serious search of what does people mean when they describe someone as Husky.  According to my dictionary, you are not suppose to describe a female human being as Husky.  Therefore, it was no surprise, when I asked Google the same question and Google responded with many questions asked by (presumably) young girls about "what does it mean when someone calls me a Husky, are they calling me fat?".  Seeing that Google was not responding with a more scientific answer,  I had to start digging deeper by myself, like searching for the average height of a human in the world.  Based on my research, I think tall means 5'10 to 6'1.  If you are taller than that you are very tall until you reach the height of a giant.  (BTW superman is 6'3 and Batman is 6'2)

After having satisfied myself with the first component, I then proceeded to research on the "strong"  component of being described as Husky.  Based on my limited budget and time, I was unable to finish this important work so I am now searching for help to do this research for me for free.  (BTW according to the cosmopolitan article, see above, their Husky boyfriend may not be strong)

I have used up all my resources on the first two components that I didn't even have time to think about the final and most important component. ATTRACTION...ugh..I mean Attractive!  

It's Sunday.  Beauty is in the eye of the beholder ;)!

Skiing

I think I went skiing less than two handfuls of time.  Snowboarding is nil.

Skiing can be fun, relaxing or exciting all at the same time.   You get to ride ski lifts, see beautiful winter sceneries and experience the thrills of the hills.   Don't forget the line ups for the lifts,  food, drinks, washrooms and rentals which leave plenty of room for chatting.

Anyways,  what are you doing this playful Saturday?  I'm taking a nap :)!

Flex schedule

Being the unemployed person who had never had the opportunity to experience the "flex schedule".  I pretended that today was my day off from the hours I have accumulated for my "flex schedule".

I ran many errands for myself including, but not limited to, biking (aka cycling).

See picture.

Toy story 4, please make it happen.

I can't wait till Pixar is done with Toy Story 4. It's a love story afterall and I'm pretty sure the guys and gals at Pixar are all pretty romantic! (I also want to buy bo-beep!)

I wonder if it will be a tragedy? It must be! It's a prequel to toy story 3. When when were they separated!  Hopefully,  the movie won't leave me with more questions!

end of this post.

Other sequels I dreamt about: back to the future iv with Michael J Fox, district 10...

Evolution of Devices that Plays Music

Do you ever re-live some of your favourite movie moments by listening to the entire soundtrack? I do!

I am no musical historian and this post is not about musical instruments (ie. piano, guitar, etc.).  This is my understanding of the evolution of devices that plays music:

1.  Someone was bored one day and started humming, whistling, kicking, etc.

2.  Someone else was bored and heard a pile of fallen leaves rolling around.

3.  Someone else who was not bored and very concentrated on something was spooked out by the sounds that #1Someone and #2Someone made or heard, respectively.

4.  #3Someone ask Someone about the sounds.  Someone told #3Someone that it was music.

5.  #3Someone was still confused about music and asked a bunch of someones about music.  #4Someone had to explain what music is to a bunch of someones.  Music was born!

6.  One day, one of the bunch of someones heard a never been heard before pattern of sounds.  It was the most beautiful pattern of sounds ever and this someone really wanted to share it with the rest of the someones.

7.  #6Someone tried to re-create #6pattern in its true glory!  The rest of the someones thought it sounded horrible.  #6Someone could not face the music and started looking for a device that can record sound.

= Fast Foward many many decades later=

8.  Someone created the recorder!

Anyways, my understanding is that there was like vinly record and a lot of people still like vinly, that's why they are still there, then there was cassette tape, floppy, CD, MD, VCD, DVD, BD and then now they are phasing out everything because Apple CAME!! The evolution of Music copyright and all. Good luck sharing without paying!

Who ripped it all out for you first? Torrent and all you know!  I have been through many torrenting applications too! 0.000001 kb/s...Who played it for you first? Who ____ first? More questions to follow... let's just end with did the egg came first? or the chicken?

If I was a Beauty Guru...

I don't like make-up but I like facial products sometimes.

I like to watch beauty gurus' videos sometimes for fun and have thought about the life of a beauty guru.  My ex-coworker (a senior) once made a comment about a beauty who is not a beauty guru, she said something along the line of "If I had all her clothes, and make-up and whatever, I would look fabulous too..." (she was commenting on a public figure)

This post is dedicated to anyone who wants to feel beautiful.

Before I begin, I have to say I love beauty gurus and I love trash the guru forums too.  I have not decided which one I like more but I like both!

If I was a beauty guru, I would probably fail miserably because it would feel like your "boyfriend" aka someone who doesn't know how to use make-up properly is teaching you how to use make-up.  Imagine those videos titled "My boyfriend put make-up on me" except you have only one girl and that girl is putting make-up on herself.

I would also say everything that doesn't inspire you or make you agree with me.  As a result, all my non-existing sponsors will cancel their contracts with me. I guess, I just have to say I don't agree with what beauty gurus say about make-up sometimes.  For example, a lot of them uses "your face is a canvas", "make-up is there to empower you", and many more.  To me, I am naturally beautiful, maybe not the most beautiful woman on earth but I love my face.  Why would I want to cover it up with so much stuff.

In summary, be kind to your body.  So, if you are going to put on make up, remember to put on your foundation.  Don't forget about the sunscreen after!  Make sure you know your skin type.  I have learned it the hard way, my face was covered with pimples because I used the wrong product to wash my face every single day for one (1) to two (2) years.  Water is a safer choice!

I have posted a parody video on Facebook with me promoting poochysmooch! See attached screenshot.  Guess what that product is! Comment below if you want to see this video.

Buying add-ons for existing furniture... priceless

Shopping fun :).  When I saw the SKOGN at IKEA today it just felt so right.  I came home and tested it out on a few furnitures and it's perfect for one of the oldest furniture I had purchased.

Hence the title of this post.

To Receive or Give - that is the question!

This was supposed to be last Friday's post but new year, old habits.  Too lazy to turn up the computer to type and edit what I have hand-written.

Last last week, I asked something along the lines of would you rather receive or give?

I would be neither because sometimes when I'm giving, I end up receiving and sometimes when I am receiving I end up giving.  It is not a choice.  It just happens.

The question is too broad.

Hayao Miyazaki, Studio Ghibli

Last night, I watched a documentary about Hayao Miyazaki.  I am not sure what it was called or if it was a documentary but it followed Hayao Miyazaki for about a year or two, between 2015 to the end of 2016.  He was working with a team of CG animators to produce a short about a caterpillar (?).

I previously watched other "documentaries" about Mr. Miyazaki and was always amazed by his sketchbooks.  He is very serious about his movies and appears to be a very hard critic/mentor/teacher.

Anyhow, his movies were always very inspiring, moving, beautiful and dreamy (imho, the wind rises was beautiful in a different way, I couldn't get into it).  If you enjoy his movies, I would recommend watching them more than once.

At the end of the documentary, Miyazaki-san was planning to produce and release another full-length feature in 2019.  Suzuki-san joked with Miyazaki that he better still be alive by the end of production.

You know the feeling you get when the credits are rolling at the end of a TV series, movie, video games, etc., I didn't get that feeling with that documentary but I hope to get that feeling at the end of Mr. Miyazaki's new movie if it is produced.

Other future things I am looking forward to... not listing!

Poetry Anthology

I handed in a Poetry Anthology assignment on January 12, 2004.

I was looking for materials for Hump Day which, in this blog, is short for a walk down memory lane (just a gentle reminder).

My Poetry Anthology contains only poems written by me so I am pretty sure I did not complete an anthology.  My poems in this "Anthology" are unintentionally funny so I am pretty sure they have never graced the wall of awesomeness. 

I have not decided which of my lovely poems to share with you on January 12, 2017 yet; however, I will describe in detail the assignment and the work I handed in almost a decade and a half ago.

------------

Before we begin with my amateur description which may turn into an amateur analysis of this assignment, please note the following:

1. I am not writing from memory, I am only making deductions based on the evaluated work.
2. The student, me, may have misinterpreted the instructions and rubric.
3. Special considerations may have been given to the ESL student, me.
4. The teacher may have misinterpreted the instructions and rubric.
5. The word "anthology" may have been incorrectly used in the one (1) page assignment handout setting out the instructions as well as the rubric for evaluation.

Description of the Assignment

I am so confused by the evaluation that I cannot describe the assignment.  I have already described the one (1) page assignment instructions/rubric handout.  The image to this blog post is the one (1) page handout including the evaluation in its true glory!

Description of the Evaluated Work

The evaluated work is contained in a red duotang with the name of the student black penned on the cover of the duotang.  

The duotang bound six (6) letter size (8.5" x 11") paper, only one side of each paper is printed, written and/or coloured on.  Only the fifth and sixth page of the duotang are written on in pencil, most likely by the teacher.  With the exemption of the final page of the duotang, every single page contains the same page border.

The first page of the duotang appears to be the cover page of the completed assignment submitted by the student.  In addition to the page border, the following three (3) things are printed on this page: (i) the title of the assignment, Poetry Anthology, which is underlined; (ii) the due date, January 12, 2004; and (iii) the name of the student, my name, which is preceded by the word By and the colon (:) symbol.

The second page appears to be the theme page.  The word LOVE is printed and partially covered by one of the three (3) cut-out magazine images glued to this second page.

The third and fourth pages appear to be the poems compiled for the assignment, possibly all originally written by the student.  There are six (6) poems printed in some form of pattern, very close to a consistent format - but not quite, as follows: (i) the category of each poem is underlined and printed in the left-hand corner; (ii) the title of each poem is italicized, centered, mostly in the same font size and sometimes bold; (iii) the alignment of each poem follows the format of the type of poem and appears mostly to be in the centre of each section.  In addition to the printing, each poem is accompanied by two (2) dimensional artwork, possibly all originally hand-sketched and coloured by the student with pencil, crayon and/or pencil crayon.

The second last page of the duotang appears to be three (3) additional poems compiled for the assignment, most likely all originally written by the student.  The appearance of this page follows the same format as the preceding two pages with one small exception, there is a stand-alone underlined bold incomplete sentence, as follows: Other Poems I've tried.  This incomplete sentence is most likely the title of the final page of the student's assignment.

The sixth and final page of the duotang appears to be the printed instruction together with the printed rubric of evaluation provided to the student at the beginning of the assignment.  It would appear that the student has written in pen and pencil on the instruction portion of this page; while the teacher completed the evaluation rubric in pencil and cursively wrote her comments on the evaluation portion only.  The same cursive writing also appeared in the last poem of the second last page of the duotang, possibly because the  Originality of writing portion of the evaluation rubric only provided evaluation for up to six (6) poems and not nine (9) and the last poem provided was clearly mechanically incorrect.

Why I love Public Transit - Part 2 of 2 (currently)

PART II - WHY I LOVE RIDING THE TTC

TTC. Toronto Transit Commission

I love riding the TTC because it is very soothing and calming.

The sounds of people rushing to get a spot after a hard day of work,

The sounds of people complaining when there are delays,

The sounds of bus drivers kicking the broken back door,

The sounds of unclear PA announcements that make no sense whatsoever,

The sounds of staffs directing people to shuttles are all music to my ears.

Sometimes, when we are "lucky", we end up walking to our destination.

All of these excitements are needed to wake me from my slumber before the start of my evening shift work.

This is why I love the TTC.

-----------------------

All jokes aside, I really love the TTC.  It is very reliable.

For PART 1, please see my August 21, 2016 blog post.

If I was an Adventurer (1) - Preparing for my 2017 Parks Canada Visit(s)!

I have not written in a while so blogging on the first Monday of the new year (2017) does not feel mundane.

What have I been busy with? Absolutely Nothing.

I have been enjoying my unemployed life and reliving my summer days during winter.  Winter has come and the snow is still coming (hopefully)!

Around the last Pan Am Games, I  blogged about what people in my community could be doing on a Sunday.  I cannot find this lost blog post which had a short list of then current events that I was aware of and was interested in.  One of the events listed was Canada's preparation for its 150th birthday which is this year in July!

I guess, we are still eagerly preparing for the one hundred and fiftieth (150th) anniversary of the confederation of Canada.  How many times does one hundred fifty (150) happen? Where will you be this July 1st?  Will you be at home or elsewhere?  or maybe you are too eagerly waiting for the next important birth date?  Perhaps, Canada's one hundred and eightieth (180th), approximately three (3) decades from now?

As part of its celebration, Parks Canada/Parcs Canada has already opened its doors by granting you free access to all Parks Canada places.  According to the free resources, I have been able to gather to the date hereof (some of which are no longer working or are currently going through maintenance), there are 168 national historic sites, 46 national parks and 4 national marine conservation areas to visit!

As an adventurer, I have been reading many variations of the same map (ie. scale, legends, points of interests, colour, routes, methods of transport, etc).  I wanted to plan my adventure accordingly and travel safely, efficiently, affordably and comfortably at the same time.

According to my crammed research, there are five (5) National Parks, 13 (+3?+?) National  Historic Site, two (2) national marines and one (1) unfinished first (1st) National Urban Park in Ontario, where I reside.  The image to this blog post is a thirty (30) seconds summary of my thirty (30) minutes swift deciphering of the free resources I have gathered.  There are no national hot springs in Ontario, you have to go to Western Canada for that.

Along with my two (2) handfuls of traveling companions, I have traveled to the unfinished national urban park many times already.

New Year! New blog

New year.  New blog. About pets... dogs to be specific.

Okee & I?
The adventures of Okee and I?

Too lazy to turn on the computer.