To Downtown, Scarborough and back

Friday nite I went with a group from Emmanuel for salsa dancing lessons at the Plaza Flamingo. Didn't know what to expect, so I was just gonna go there to check it out, not really thinking to join in the action. Well, we were late so we missed alot, but just watching the rest of the lesson was fun. I learned that there's alot of hip-action and the girls do 90% of the work! They taught alot of moves, but I couldn't really duplicate any of them... haha... being late certainly didn't help. I joined in when they later opened up the dance floor. I had a blast.

After salsa, headed north to Scarborough to join some Queen's friends and some Jaffray Alliance friends for pickup ice hockey. It seems everyone knew but me that DVP was closed, I was over a half an hour late. Before I got there, I thought maybe I shouldn't bother putting on my skates and just go home. But good thing I stuck with it, cuz it turned out that the previous group ended late. Yay, got the full hour! We had the rink to ourselves, 5 on 5, 2 goalies and no subs! Oh it feels so good to play again! I scored a goal almost as soon as I stepped on the ice! 5-hole through the goalie's pads... yeah!!

I missed hockey during my Kingston days. Sometimes we played on outdoor rinks at like 1 in the morning. Sometimes we rented an arena at 5 in the morning because it was cheapest then, occasionally skipping sleep altogether!! And picking up all the boyz in the church's huge Chevy van. Crazy fun times!

On Saturday, met up with my only aunt and cousins in Canada during the afternoon. We went to grandma's grave to pay our respects. Then at nite, chilled at Pat's place, eating and playing Taboo. I brought sushi from TNT and I must say, I was impressed!

I'll watch infernal affairs 2 before getting ready for another work week

Oblivious

Some of you know that over the course of the past 2 months half the workforce at my company was laid off. I was told that the local plastics industry is currently taking a downturn, which is true considering at least one big company went belly-up. And my boss told me it was a good time to restructure the company to be better prepared for when things pick up again, and to shift our focus towards the more demanding but higher profit medical products.

Well, my company was owned by a partnership until 2 weeks ago, one of the bosses decided to back out for "personal reasons." Turns out things were much more serious than that. Just last Friday, I found out that my job was literally hanging on the wire. I knew that my bosses often disagreed, but I never knew that either of them were ready to walk away. The bottom line was that the boss that I reported to was the one that held out, so my job is safe, for now anyway. But I never considered myself more loyal to one or the other, and the other boss was a good-humoured outgoing guy, so it was kinda sad to see him go. And now I see that the lay-offs weren't purely business-driven... my boss (who does all the sales) deliberately stopped getting new business since there was a 50% chance he was gonna walk away. It was sad to see how friends and business don't always mix.

Suprise!

Surprise engagement party for my ex-housemate and bandmate Kev, and fiancee Michelle. Congrats!

It's Worth the Work!

One of my faves

God of Wonders

Webster's Falls, tiny waterall, looking down from Dundas Peak, sleepy town of Dundas, wildflowers, bumble bee (wouldn't stop moving for a pic! argh!)

More pics in photo album.

Weekend with Family

Friday nite I was supposed to go to a friend's farewell party cuz she's leaving for Ottawa, and drop by at Emmanuel's potluck later. But, my folks tell me the nite before that Friday was the mid-autumn festival and I should be home for dinner. Being Chinese, I should know, but I didn't, and the festival didn't mean much to me. Anyway, stayed home for dinner, then went to the farewell party... spent most of the nite scrapbooking... thanks to Jen!

Saturday, I entertained the idea of joining a small posse of Emmanuel for hiking, but once again family won over. We had dim sum together and did a little hiking of our own (well, trail-walking to be exact). The climax would be the evening though, cuz we (minus the sister) would spend the nite downtown, which was ultra-rare. You would never find my 'rents downtown at nite, unless of course it was for a Classical concert.

Actually I treated my family to this concert. Thanks to the TSO's special promotion for people 15-29, tickets can be had for $12 each! This was my first time hearing the TSO live, and little surprise, it's on a whole other level from the MSO (Mississauga) which we were accustomed to. The concert kicked off with an adagietto from one of Mahler's symphonies, at the end of which I wasn't sure I could stay awake for the rest. But then came the Beethoven: piano concerto no. 3 was delightful; symphony no. 7 was powerful - invigorating and full of rhythmic energy. It was a good choice after all. And trust me, it is different being there in person.

There was a guy in his late 20's sitting in front of me. He dressed like a Quaker or something, with a mustache, thick beard, brown pants and a brown vest over a white shirt. Whenever the audience applauded, he would stand up, throw his hands in the air and yell "hooray! hooray!" I couldn't help but laugh!!

People may look at me weird after what I'm going to write next, but oh well, it was a part of me. Through my later high school years, I went through a period of Classical fervor. I shunned popular music and borrowed piles of Classical CDs from the library. I would maybe listen to popular music in the car, but at home it was all Classical. Then - came university, after which I became "normal" again, if you can put it that way.

Oh, and looks like squeegee kids just got lazier. They still walk up to your car asking for money, except they said screw it to the water bucket & squeegee. This is actually a good thing... I think people would rather not have them scratch up their windshields.

Rain Rain Rain

Last Sunday I wanted to go biking at Erindale Park, but dark clouds were looming and the forecast said rain. So I didn't go, but it turned out that it wouldn't rain for a good 3 hours. I kicked myself for staying at home.

So this Sunday, I decided I'd bike no matter what. Nothing was going to stop me. Just as I was about to leave home, it started to rain, but I didn't care. I faced the rain and the wind and made it to the park... haha. Good thing it wasn't raining real hard, and by the time I got there it had already stopped. It was a great ride. Shoulda seen all the mud on my jacket! I'm so glad I didn't back down this time.

Funny, the sun came out just as I parked the bike back in the garage :)

Much Better Friday

It was a fun Friday past, despite passing up another trip to Julian's cottage. Cliff and I went over to Elaine's where Elaine and Bonbon were making noodles. We played Crazy Taxi, ate, then watched Con-Air after Oli and Alana joined us. Con-Air was classic, after having recently watched some not-so-memorable movies.

Bonbon had EasyRock playing on the radio, so just for kicks, her and Elaine made their own request that went something like this:

"Elaine, Alana and I have been friends w/ Cliff, Dave and Oliver and all us ladies want to deepen our relationship respectively. We've been great buddies over the past year. They mean so much to us, I'm not sure what we'd do w/o them. We want to tell the guys how we feel, how special they are to us, in our hearts...through this song, 'How do I live' by Leanne Rimes."

We never heard our song though :(