no interwebs = boo

HI GUYSS

i'm writing from my library right now because my house does not have internet. apparrently i'll be getting it next week. i hope the landlord is right. *crosses fingers*

can't be doing much of an update right now i have class in like 10 minutes but i'm all moved in and even thought i initially thought my room was sooo shoddy... it looks and feels relatively cozy. WOOHOOO.

i've met all my new housemates too. in total there are 3 girls and 3 guys which is a nice mix and they are all nice as far as they've demonstrated. we had some bonding time cleaning and bitching about our ever dependable landlord. *sarcasm*

anywhos. another year, another shit load of work.

cheers to our last year guysss :D

while the 'rents are gone...

i can:
- use the bathroom with the door open
- leave day old dishes in the sink
- eat other foods other than chinese everyday
- walk around the house in my underwear
- laugh as loud as i want
- sing as loud as i want

i'm a nerd... 8)


so i'm about half way through the "house to myself" situation. yayy even though the rest of my family is probably camping somewhere in the middle of idaho and montana, having a great view of the stars, eating smores and prancing on fields... i will generate my own forms of amusement. and if i may, i'd like to share them.

i was able to go to 2 summerlicious restaurants these past 2 weeks. first at a indian-italian fusion restaurant in yorkville called 5th element

it was pretty cool. i ordered some pomegranate, rose water mocktail (because their cocktails were $10 a glass and mocktails were a little half the price :p) and it was really yummy. for the actual meal i picked shrimp skewers as an appetizer, salmon for main and some cheese cake for dessert.




all so very yummy! :)

on my 2nd outing. i tried some french cuisine at MIDI bistro. it was like the total opposite of the first place, small but cozy feeling yay.


sadly i can't find any pictures of the foods online but it was delicious anyway (well maybe except the cod, that was a little bland lol. i had sweet potato soup as appetizer, cod with some mediterranean sauce and for dessert choux pastry with vanilla filling and chocolate sauce (as i learned, its just a fancy word for cream puffs hahaa) soo anyways i would like to thank my parents for subsidizing my meals while they are gone and my good friend timmy for company. :)


*i should probably give credit to those photos i stole (i hope they don't mind). from first to last

picture 1

picture 2

picture 3

picture 4

Homemade Lattes

I'm a big tea person and I don't think I could ever add up all the money I've spend at countless cafes and coffee chains over the years buying myself all kinds of tea lattes(yah I'm looking at you Starbucks). They just taste sooo good! But with the fact that I have no job for the summer, I have to start watching all the little extra items I buy (especially on whim) sigh. ENTER THE HOMEMADE TEA LATTES.

It started off a couple weeks ago when I was at square one. I was walking by the Zellers with me mum when I decided to venture into the little tea shop called Teaopia (cheesy i know) to satisfy my latte craving. I ordered the mint chocolate tea latte because it intrigued me (and ok.. the guy serving me was pretty cute too). At just a little under $5 I thought it'd taste amazing, but it fell short. It was pretty good, but I didn't think it was worth $5. To say the least I was somewhat disappointed.

Fast forward to last weekend while downtown my friend suggested we go into this tea place on queen st. to have a look around. They had all these canisters of loose leaf teas on the wall with flavours I didn't even know existed. Long story short, I entered empty handed and exited the store minus $6 and a canister of their mint chocolate rooibos tea. The justification was logical really. why would I go buy a cup of 5 dollar ok tea when I could make about 25 cups of the same tea at home for $6 (WORTH IT).

This is what the tea looks like. there's even real chocolate chips in it and it smells heavenly. sometimes I just open the canister to smell it haha

So here's to homemade tea lattes complete with FOAM :D

I've found that as a steeped tea itself it tastes just like regular tea with a little bit of a chocolate mint after taste. but when you turn it into a latte, the flavour is more prominent and it's pretty dang good! and yes it's in my mug because i don't have fancy cups. i wished i had a cool cup and saucer to drink out of

and that's my tea story. the end.

its raining.

yes it is. and it's suppose to rain until sunday. pooey. what better time to update my blog i say!

on sunday i headed to the luminato festival downtown on queens quay. what is it you may ask. it is a festival of arts and creativity where all things related to art are showcased. it was quite an enjoyable day. the sun was all nice and shiney (and hot), there was endless stalls of gourmet food to choose from and then there was a free cirque du soleil show at the end of the night. i'd definitely go back next year (especially for the stalls of food yum).



(those pictures aren't mine. i found them on the luminato site haha)

new announcement .

this was actually announced in the news like a month ago..but to be honest i've only heard about it a couple weeks ago when my cousin told me... and receiving a text on my cell today reminded me to do this:

Rogers has decided to charge their customers 15 cents for every RECEIVING text msg they get if they don't already have a text msging plan (aka me because i don't text and i'm cheap on my cellphone plan). So i would really appreciate it if you don't send me any txts that aren't life changing/emergencies as i do not wish to give Robbers.. ahem.. i mean Rogers my lovely money.

please and thank you <3

i <3 arts & crafts

hehe so i've been tucked away making little figurines for the pass couple of days. i had to test-run my abilities to see if they'd turn out presentable and gift-able to my awesome special friends (yes you!). here's what i've been doing:

I've wanted to try making this stuff for a while now and to my luck Michael's decided to have a sale on practically all of my materials (woohoo for saving monies). So here's some paintbrushes, acrylic paints and sculpey clay (polymer clay)

Here's the first batch i made (thanks to deviantart for ideas). L to R: mr. octopus I, my sister's bunny face and mr. hippo.

To my disappointment the batch was ruined due to my negligence. Oddly enough, i wanted to be green and save energy so i chose to use my conventional oven to bake instead of my bigass stove oven but nope. didn't work. I had to throw them out :(

So i made a second batch and baked them in my big oven.

Then i painted and glossed them and voila! L to R: Mrs. Hippo, appleguy, cupcake, mr. toast, chocolate creamsicle, doughnut, and mr. octopus II. MIA (because i'm not finished with them): the roses pictured above, a orange flower, more doughnuts (choclate glazed and honey cruller mmm), more popsicles/creamsicles, another mr. toast and a tan coloured kitty cat.

Here's the fun part. pick one and call dibs! (but please don't choose mr. octopus II lol he was my first success so i'd like to keep him).

p.s. if what you wanted has been picked i can make another one OR if you have a special request i can see if i can make it :D. i've put a bid on ebay for some cell phone straps so hopefully i'll win and then i'll have straps for these figurines too. yayyy

GLEEEE

did anyone else catch the preview of the new fall show 'glee'? i would just like to express my fondness of it. it's like high school musical, hairspray and all those highschool cliches put together in a not lame way.. well so far. some of the characters are hilarious. sucks that i have to wait til the fall for the 2nd episode. hehe i think it's got so much potential to be a great show. GLEEEEEEE



ps. if you guys watch it. find the 55 minute uncut version. it's better than the one they showed on tv.

pps. here is the link to the lovestory/viva la vida mash up:
CLICK HERE. ENJOY!

List of Summer

So many things to do this summer. I know it'll go by just as quick as the other ones so here i organize a list of things to do:

- Take summer course and not slack off
- Apply for OSAP
- Exercise (memo: buy new pair of rollerblades)
- Read some books (so far i have):
      The Gun Seller - Hugh Laurie
      Life of Pi - Yann Martel
      My Sister's Keeper - Jodi Pikoult
      The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde (pending veronica lending it to
      me)
      any more suggestions?? I'm open :) and if any of you want those books I
      have e-books so i can send them to you.
- Get my G license
- Apply for jobs/ get one
- Make some type of garment (duno what yet)
- Hang out with a lot of people
- Go to wonderland and ride that damn Behemoth
- Go to the beach

I feel like there's a lot more. but this is all i can think of off the top of my head. merghhhh last summer as a student. i'm going to miss these summer vacations :(

detox

WOOHOO I AM DONEEEE lol i just had to get that out there... oh man. so i'm pretty excited for these next couple of days. everything seems to be falling into the right place for me *knock on wood*. yesterday after my exam i got a free ride on the GO bus and today i received my nail polish and my tax return money in the mail. my monies have been replenished. i'm quite surprised and happy with the amount of money i back. what i lovely way to start my first day as a school-free individual :)

on another note, i stepped onto my scale for the start of my annual summer detox/ get back into summer shape plan. i was not pleased.. lol. gaining weight during school is a given because i get lazy, have no time to excerise, adopt a pattern of class, eat, class, homework, tv, sleep and i pretty much live in sweatpants and sweaters... let's just say i let myself go a little too much this year. usually i gain about 5 lbs, which isn't a big deal to lose. it usually takes me 3 weeks of exercise at home and i'm good. this year, i little less than double that. it still doesn't seem like much, but im pretty short so extra weight just sits there like a pile of dough. ugh. i don't mind exercising to get back into shape, but i hate having to "diet." sigh...it looks like that's what i'm going to have to do. i give myself 5 weeks to lose this excess weight. that is my plan. so here's to getting into shape for the summer! i hope you guises exercise plans are coming along. there's definitely going to be some bumps but i know we can do it! HERE'S TO THIS SUMMER BITCHESSSSS(not you guys, but in general.. hahaa)

study break

hehe i slaved for a week to catch up on my readings and note writing and now i'm done. yay for finishing up early and having the rest of the night off :D soo i'll spend a bit of my free night updating my blog and telling you guys what's been happening with my boring life. other than hiding away studying, i'm in the process of looking for a research assistant job.. so much effort in writing CVs and cover letters ughh. I also went shopping for the first time in weeks :DDDDD i'm totally obsessed with this new nailpolish colour from MAC called peppermint patti (it's in my fave colour so i had to buy it)
isn't it lovely??? weee it was sold out downtown and i wasn't able to check the store at square one so i had to buy it online, but it makes me happy. the colour makes me happy.

I also bought this on a whim:

it was too cute in it's little package. it's a usb stick. i kid you not. it's a puffy seal usb stick. it's name is pala-chan so says the box hahaa

anywho...enough with that.. I'm excited for next year and kinda scared. I picked my hospital placements a couple weeks ago for next year. I'm going to be working in the ICU!! and then rehabilitation in my final semester but that's not as exciting as the ICU sadly.

that's all i have for now. I miss you guys a lot and can't wait for school to be over and summer to start. hell yahhhh

*polish pic credit to www.alllacqueredup.com
*pala-chan ic credit to hitech.sanook.com
(in case i get in trouble for stealing pictures)

spring forward

~~ it's nice when it starts raining instead of snowing, when i see bits of green and brown instead of white, when i can wear a sweater instead of coat and when it gets warmer instead of colder. ~~ yesterday's weather was lovely, i hope there's more to come. :)

this blog is to just let you guys know i'm still alive. lol. i said i would blog more often, but so much for that eh?... my apologies for being so disconnected. it's never ending work with school :( sigh. spring is almost here though. that means less than a month left :D, then it's bye bye 3rd year. thank the lord.

links ahoy

I've always loved reading about other peoples lives. something about being able to sympathize, disagree or escape from my own life. how lovely. I'd like to share a couple reads for those days where you need a pick me up. Sometimes, you'll find you're not alone.

Read into people's past: http://toronto.en.craigslist.ca/mis/
this is the missed connections ads for toronto's craigslist. for those that don't know how it works, it's an ad you post up to express the regret of having not talk to someone (usually a stranger)when you were out. now you hope they read the and are able to reconnect with you. some of it's sad, some silly. funny how so many people can be so hopeful.

read about the present: http://www.fmylife.com/
this site is a twitter-like design where people can post a little blurb about something that's happened to them. they end their story with FML, which stands for fuck my life. funny, awkward, bad it's all there. out of the 3 links i'm posting, this is most recommended to view because most of it is funny.

The future's not certain: http://www.futureme.org/
this site isn't focused on other people, it's focused on you. the way it works: you can send yourself an email message from the future by writing it today and postmarking when you want it sent. it's a good idea especially if you want to write down your goals and have them done by a certain time.




~*~MEDIA CORNER~*~
on another note, if you've read the papers about the trouble ticketmaster's heading into, people are finally doing something about it. some lawyers are launching a class action suit against ticketmaster. apparently all those that have purchased tix from feb 9th 2007 onwards can be apart of it. i'm not sure as to the specific criteria, but it's worth checking out cuz if the suit wins, the compensations will be worth it. visit: http://www.ticketmasterclassaction.com/ for more details

also, here are some new songs from TAI, they're meh...
Tokyo Bay- from the vinyl edition of FTAB (i think):
http://www.sendspace.com/file/rnaqcl

Heartbeats- william b. acoustic unplugged:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/y9lp4t



Hope you enjoy all those links.

lol whut?

what i did this week:
- tried to understand the complexity of a bee's communicative dance
- witnessed a doctor call students 'chicken' over teleconference
- interviewed fake patients in all awkwardness
- never been as confused as i've been in my whole life about data collection
- listened to Michael Buble
- showered with the bathroom door opened because i had my basement apt to myself

currently:
- in the middle of reading 60 pages about language acquisition and writing notes
- needing to wash my dishes
- wanting to take the bus home and having my mom make me food. yum

~*~

on another note. this is mostly aimed at jenicka and anita:

have you guys seen this?




tis the new SLH shirt in the works. alls i can say is i'm not impressed and definitely not excited (for it to arrive in my mailbox).

the allegory of the cave pt 2.

continuing on with the previous blog:

all the answers are quite plausible right? and whatever you chose, you had your reasons. i myself chose 'd' when i first heard it.

so the story continues (as anita already knows.. lol) he goes back to the cave, tells his friends and they kill him (congrats to jenicka haha).

moral of the story: they kill him because they're too afraid of change. change in their own perspective, their own little world that they've built for themselves all their lives. it's just so easy to automatically reject something that doesn't fit with our view of things right? oh the complexity of the human mind.

so i thought that was an enlightening story. hoped you enjoyed it :)

~*~*~

on a separate note, i'm going to *try* and blog more often. i've neglected it for a couple months now. i figure blogging is more harmless than online window shopping and "one click pay it now" options (curse you online shopping... curse you).

the allegory of the cave pt 1.

i was in my PBL class yesterday and my tutor/prof told me an enlightening story from dear old Plato. hope you guys haven't heard it before cuz i pass it on here and ask you guys to think of what it means:

There is a group of people who've been chained and imprisoned in a cave all their lives with no exposure to the outside world. They forever sat facing only one wall of the cave with a fire pit burning behind them. Every so often, there are puppeteers who'd come into the cave and perform shadow puppet plays on the wall for these cave people. Through the plays the cave people develop their own sense of the world outside of the cave. happy dandi. one day, a cave person breaks free from imprisonment and decides to trod out of the cave and actually explore the outside world. This guy lives amongst people in the outside world and adapts to the outside norms. Time passes and he decides to go back to his cave friends and tell them all about the wonders and happenings in the world outside the cave. When he goes and does this what do you think his cave friends did?

a) break free and join him in the outside world
b) sit on their butts and complain they'll never get to experience what he did
c) ask him to teach them of the workings of the outside world so they can adapt it in the cave
d) become angered then kill him
e) laugh at him and accuse him of being mentally deranged

i leave my blog here for you guys to pick one and say why you've chosen your choice. My next blog will finish the story. NO CHEATING BY LOOKING UP THE STORY ON GOOGLE! lol it ruins the fun.

here's a visual to accompany the scenario:

21 randos

i too will fill out this list of 21 things about me because i enjoyed reading your 21 facts.
haha! SCREW YOU TEXTBOOKS THAT NEED TO BE READ.

1. i will try any kind of food or beverage that has the words 'green tea' attached to it
2. when procrastinating, i like to pick clothes out of my closet to make new outfits
3. post-it notes are my life savers
4. my room is messy/disorganized pretty much all the time...
5. however, it pains me when my closet is not organized by clothing function or by colour
6. guys who look dork-chic, geek-chic or nerd-chic are awesome by my books
7. i hate any form of cleaning
8. i wish i had creative skills to design and make cool pieces of clothes
9. i love snooping garage sales and wished i had more time to go to them
10. i feel really bad when i eat anything after 8:00pm, but i do it anyways
11. one of my biggest pet peeves is going to the washroom first thing when i wake up and finding out there's no toilet paper on the roll-y thing afterwards
12. i like to set my alarm at least 1/2 hour earlier than when i'm suppose to wake up so i can "snooze" a couple times
13. i sleep with my blankets pulled over my head
14. i hate whole mushrooms in my food, but will eat it if it's diced
15. i'm currently recovering from a cold
16. i burn incense when i'm hardcore stressed out to help me relax
17. i'm more quiet than i would like to be
18. when i'm home, my hair is clipped up with a huge clamp on top of my head (like pebbles from the flintstones)
19. i think that guy-girl pop duos are so cute
20. i dislike using the eraser on top of lead pencils, i'd rather keep them unused
21. i really want to go overseas for a couple years after i graduate, but i'm afraid to actually do it

that was harder than i thought.

veronica it is YOUR TURN.