Snapshots from Montreal

(Above: Montreal skyline, restaurants adjacent to Jacques-Cartier square, Notre Dame cathedral)

Last weekend, I made a little roadtrip to Ottawa and Montreal. I don't think I'll be trying that again, or at least not with such a short time frame. At first I thought Ottawa and Montreal are close enough together, why not do both, right? Afterall, it saves me 2 trips. I hung out at Kel's place in Ottawa a little bit Friday nite and Sunday afternoon, but in the end, I spent most of my time in Montreal. Sorry Kel, next time, i'll make a trip just for you.

Montreal was alot of fun. Thanks N for showing me around. On the one hand, there were the bustling shopping malls that define any major urban center, and on the other hand, there was old montreal which, at this time of year, has an ironically small town charm to it. I wish my French was better, well, alot better... I envy people speaking the language, it has that sophisticated air to it. We had Schwartz's smoked meat, and man, there's nothing else like it in the world. Had to wait in line for like 15min., but it was well worth it, and we laughed at the tour bus that stopped and left because they couldn't afford to wait. Took a short walk in Chinatown because it was so tiny compared to Toronto's! Literally, it was all of a 2-block stretch on a single street! The food there was actually respectable.











In the evening, went to see N at her PT fashion show. It was very entertaining, they had a movie theme for the nite, so all the acts were somehow related to a movie. For example, there was a James bond one where there were 4 different Bonds dressed in tuxes posing with guns and fighting each other. Then the ladies came and reigned them in, and the act ended with the pairs dancing.

Next morning, attended church at Montreal Chinese Alliance. Very pretty, it was entirely stained-glass windows because it used to be a Catholic church. Then headed back to Ottawa, drove by the parliament buildings, museums, and downtown, and headed back to Kel's place for a bit, before C and I left for the long ride home. Which wasn't bad... Ottawa to Mississauga in 4 hours?

Next trip to the region: skating on the Rideau, and skiing at Tremblant. As long as I'm Canadian, a skate on the Rideau is one of my goals.

I have a new respect for my car now. I wasn't sure it would make the 1400km there and back, but it did. The car burns quite a bit of engine oil, but as I found out, it's much better with highway driving... didn't have to use any of the extra oil that I brought.

So... I still need new everything... shoes, pants, shirts, casual dress. Add to that a jacket too. It's so freakin' hard finding things my size, that i like :(

Stories from the ER

My friend in med-school from Vancouver visited in Toronto for 2 weeks. She told us some funny things she saw in the ER. One guy had an entire carrot stuck up his anus, which of course he couldn't get out. Another guy was in a similar situation, but instead it was a vibrator with the entire battery pack as well. Never even knew that was possible! Yeah, pretty wierd.

Had hot-pot at Shabu Shabu (Pac Mall) last night with my family for my mom's b-day. It was good, but it was the second time I was there this month, and it was one of those things where the sebsequent times will never be as good as the first one.

I need new everything... shoes, pants, shirts, casual dress. There are 2 things that prevent me from getting these:

1 - shopping malls make me feel sick (possibly the bright lighting, poor ventilation?)
2 - time?

Got a haircut at 8:45pm at Sheridan Mall yesterday (that place is so dead, by the way). Don't ask me why I went there. Anyway, the barber even told me, "I was going to go home early, but then this guy before you walked in... and then you walked in!"

Yay! Today the hole in my driveway was fixed! Well, the broken pipe, which is the most important part. This is the hole they dug to get to it (it's about 10 ft deep!) They fixed the pipe and backfilled it, but still have to come and repave the driveway. Finally, a step in the right direction. The weeks of persistence, and pestering the people responsible with emails and phone calls, finally paid off! To make a long story short, they were trying their best not to do anything about it. Thanks for all your advice and support, and thank God for answering my prayers.

I showed my co-worker pics of our 80's trash party, and he said "invite me to the next one" :)

Had a 5-hour nap after dinner and now i'm wide awake :( Just finished cleaning the fish tank.

Dilemma

The upcoming TSO concert is one I don't want to miss, featuring Schumann's Piano Concerto in A Minor and Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade. I love romantic-period piano concertos! The dilemma - I may be heading to Ottawa/Montreal that weekend. Unless I can somehow skip band practise or choir practise... then I could go to the concert on a weeknite.

Giller Prize

Yesterday, a chinese dude won the Giller prize, which I thought was pretty cool. Think about it... when people talk about good English novels, when does a Chinese name ever come up?Vincent Lam took top honours with "Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures", a collection of short stories about student doctors (I think). This guy looks like he's just in his early 30's, AND he's a emergency room doctor too, let alone being an author. Some people just has what it takes, and I sure ain't one of them.

To all you up-and-coming authors/writers, keep on writing... you'll get your chance yet!

Ma New Toys

I picked these up Sunday nite... that's why I missed THE "tea party" :(
Hope to have these on by the weekend.

Who's is that?!

So yesterday, this blue BMW 3-series (from the 90's, but still a classic) shows up at work. Lowered, with the M3 body kit, and race rims. Everyone was like who's car is that? Turns out one of the guys at work actually owns it. Apparently it's his "winter toy"... he drives a Mustang in the summer. >(

Looks something like this:

Catching Up

Mmmm... catching up on other ppl's blogs is fun. It's only been a week but feels like I missed a month's worth.