this and that

1. watching the hour with george stroumboulopoulos and he was in whistler over the weekend and he was wearing some olympic gear. he was wearing a hoodie, the famous trapper hat, and my colourful scarf! woo hoo! now, no doubt, he got all that stuff for free, but who cares, now i feel a personal connection to george. he's awesome.

2. what the hell was up with the closing ceremonies for the olympics? maybe you have to be italian to understand it. but the canadians were looking good in their gear. the canadian gear was, once again, very popular among the athletes and the locals. some people waited in line for 2 hours in torino to buy the stuff. crazy.

3. i was inspired by matt's post about his awesome meal. i didn't make a casserole, like him, but i did buy some ham, peas, and mushrooms, mixed it all up in a sauce, and made some pasta. now i have this huge bowl of sauce in my fridge that will probably last me the next 5 days, and by the 2nd day, i will already be sick of eating it. this will make up for me not cooking at all last week.

4. my shopping fast is almost coming to an end. i didn't crack and actually didn't buy anything. ok, so i did have a little caveat i gave myself, i bought one piece of olympic clothing b/c we were getting an extra discount, and i bought a hooded zip up yoga jacket. but otherwise, i didn't buy clothes, shoes, CDs, or anything else (except food). it was difficult at first, but it got easier as i weened myself off of shopping. i imagine it to be the same as trying to get off of drugs. shopping is my addiction. i will now need to load up on some CDs i didn't get to buy, ie. the curious george soundtrack, but i will try to curb my spending a little bit still. i know i can do it, i just need the willpower.

5. i'm going to 4 concerts in march. first up, city and colour on thursday. then bedouin soundclash on saturday. james blunt on the 21st, and coldplay the day after on the 22nd. out of them all, i'm most excited about city and colour. you thought i'd say coldplay, didn't you? well, i've seen them twice already, most recently in august, and considering city and colour is my new music obsession, and i've got 8th row seats, i'm totally looking forward to it.

6. i'm getting my wisdom teeth taken out in may. hopefully i don't look too much like a chipmunk.

that's all folks.

what sport would you compete in?

the olympics are ending tomorrow, and it's too bad, i love watching the olympics.

i was talking to someone about the olympics one day and we were talking about what olympic sport we would compete in. i've never been athletic or interested in sports, so even in a hypothetical sense, i wouldn't know what sport i would compete in.

seeing as i'm afraid of heights, not too keen on speed, especially in sports like downhill skiing, luge, bobsled, or skeleton, a little vain so i wouldn't want to have tree trunk legs like the speed skaters, and with my lack of athletic ability, i think the only winter olympic sport i could even have a remote chance at would be curling. not to knock the curlers, especially since canada won 2 medals in the sport, but if overweight, middle-aged people can be at the top of the game, maybe i can too?

i've always been more of a spectator than a player anyways.

kudos to canada for winning the most medals in torino than any other olympics we've participated in.

drunk or lightweight?

i inadvertently got drunk twice this week, during the week. on school days!

last night, i went out for drinks after work with some people i work with, had two beers, combine that with not eating dinner, equals a pretty tipsy me. and to top off that night, i had already made plans to meet up with another friend for drinks to catch up. so after leaving my work friends, i met up with an old friend and had another beer, but had it with food this time. i don't think i could have survived without eating.

and when i say beer, it was just cider, so it's not even like a real beer. so sweet, it's just like juice. which is maybe why it's deadly for me.

then tonight, i went to a wine tasting class at this wine store with a friend. combine that with no dinner again, equals another tipsy me. all together, we tested 3 reds, 1 white, and 3 ice wines. but there was very little of each, and all together, it was probably 2 glasses of wine in a span of 2 hours. but i was still pretty drunk afterwards.

so is this evidence that i'm a drunk or a lightweight? i'm voting on the latter.

oh chinese people

watching the olympics, and there is this chinese speedskater who's name is wang manli. but for chinese people, surnames are before the first name, so the cbc announcers changed it to say her name the north american way, first name before surname.

manli wang.

say it out loud. so funny. i'm a little childish.

dinner = breakfast

got home from work today and had toast and hashbrowns for dinner, with a glass of milk.

yep, the life of living on your own. it's awesome, i can eat anything i want. but when i'm craving a real dinner, i lack the skills to make it. damnit, it's a double-edged sword.

commercials

1. has anyone seen that tim hortons commercial with the chinese grandpa going to watch his grandson's hockey game and having that moment with his son where he finally admits that he was proud of him growing up and watched his hockey games from the sidelines.

when i saw it the first time, i almost wanted to cry. i had that "ahhhh" moment watching it because i thought it was so sweet.

but the more i think about it, and the more i see it, i have an opposite reaction. basically, the son never knew his dad loved him while he was growing up, and only learns it when he has a son of his own and his dad finally admits that he was proud of him. is this commercial an example of immigrant chinese dads not showing their affection? probably.

i never played sports growing up, so i'll never have this moment with my dad if/when i have kids. my brother dabbled in a few different sports, maybe they'll be on the next tim hortons commercial.

2. when there's a catchy tune or song in a commercial, i automatically like it.

example #1: hbc olympic clothing commercials. and this isn't just because i work for the company, but i really like the song. "riiiiight before my eyes, right before my eyes...." it puts me in a good mood.

example#2: "hands in my pockets, hands in my pockets, hands in my pockets..." i love this commercial too, just because of the song. i don't even remember what credit card company it's for, but i always sing along with the commercial. the song may annoy some people, but i love it. and it's a funny commercial too.

i've got pep

today was the opening ceremonies for the winter olympics, and as the official clothier for the canadian olympic team, we had a pep rally at work. we all had to wear olympic clothing, even though some people didn't, and we get to wear it to work throughout the olympics.

we watched the parade of nations and watched team canada march with our clothes. it was a big secret as to what they were going to wear, so it was cool to see it finally. the jacket and the pants are athlete-exclusive, so you can't buy them in the store, but the hat, gloves, sweater, and boots are available in the store. now i can't wait to see what they're going to wear on the podium. we have so much olympic merchandise, and such a wide variety, the opening ceremonies almost didn't do us justice because you can only see the jacket. i also found it funny that the czech republic followed canada in the parade, and had almost the same uniform.

roots is the official clothier for the US team. the hats they wore in the opening ceremonies are basically the ones they did for canada a few years ago, the poor boy caps. so unimaginative, tsk tsk. of course i have to tow the company line and support my own company and country.

something cool that we did was give the canadian team extra articles of olympic clothing. it's common for athletes to trade pieces of their uniform with other countries, so we gave them extra so they can keep their uniforms and still trade to get others. maybe roots did that too, but i'll pretend we were the first to think of it.

i was wearing the same jacket and t-shirt as our CEO today. great minds think alike. my new job title should be CEO in-training. my olympic clothing count: 2 t-shirts, jacket, scarf, a zip-up yoga jacket, and a keychain. the jacket and the scarf were gifts, i didn't go as olympic-crazy as it seems. (although i probably would have bought them myself anyways).

so everyone, the olympics are from feb 10-26. watch it on tv. cheer for canada. see the clothes. go buy the clothes.

a not-so long overdue appointment

i went to the dentist today to get my wisdom teeth checked out. they've "erupted," as the dentist folk call it, which means they've broken the gums and are coming out. i got a referral from my roommate's friend for this dentist right by my house, which is convenient. and he's a super nice dentist too.

i know i need to get them taken out, but i just wanted to know how urgent it was. i got good news. he basically said it's not urgent, i can decide when i want to take them out, whatever fits into my schedule. that being said, i shouldn't wait til i'm 30 to do it, he suggested doing it before i turn 25 because the longer i wait, the more complications i could have.

he did suggest me to get a cleaning before the wisdom teeth extraction so that my teeth are in top condition for the surgery. and he suggested if i wanted to wait to do the surgery, i can take some time to get to know him, the staff, and the office, so i would be comfortable before doing the surgery.

he also said my teeth are in really good condition, and i don't need to get a cleaning every 6 months. my teeth can take a cleaning every 9 months. before i saw the dentist, the nurse asked me if i flossed everyday, and i flat out said no. she was like "at least you're honest" because i didn't even hestitate when i answered. but then the dentist reinforced my bad habits when he said i take good care of my teeth. but i know i could be paying for this in the long run when my teeth start deteriorating. the first step is to brush for at least 2 mins. i definitely don't do that, it's just so boring. bad excuse, i know.

for some reason, i always thought taking x-rays at the dentist was super expensive. but it didn't turn out to be as expensive as i thought. or maybe my edmonton dentist just ripped us off.

the first big test

i do well on tests.

we had to do some tests at work, to level set where everyone is. i got 100% on a retail math quiz, and tied for the highest mark in a excel test.

but these tests are easy. all you need to do is study and remember stuff. the real big test for me was when i went to a mall yesterday. because to pass this test, and not buy anything, i would need self control, which you can't study for.

but i passed. i didn't buy anything. i was looking around though. and i almost didn't go to the mall b/c i didn't want to tempt myself, but it was a mall i've never been to before, and i thought of it as research for work. i need to know what the malls look like, get a sense of the demographics of the customers, see what other stores are in it, etc. and this mall was all the way out in mississauga, which without a car, i'd never go to.

but like i said, i do well on tests. is it the end of february yet?

a long overdue appointment

yesterday i got my hair cut. it had been 7 months since my last haircut, so it was a long overdue appointment. i just went to the aveda academy, and when the student told the instructor it had been 7 months, he probably wanted to kill me.

my stylist was a gay chinese guy. i thought he was a little feminine when he introduced himself, and i knew he was definitely gay when he told me he loved brokeback mountain and thought it was so hot to see 2 straight guys making out. then he asked me who i liked better, heath ledger or jake gyllenhaal. i said heath ledger, but i must love jake b/c this is the second time i've mentioned him in my blog.

i totally redeemed myself to the instructor when he asked me what kind of flat iron i use, and i told him the chi. he smiled and said "the best" and i replied "you're proud of me, aren't you?" oh, he was.

i never think i need a haircut now that my hair is long, b/c i don't think it'll look much different if it was an inch longer or shorter. but after i get a haircut, i realize i totally needed it.

on a related note to my last post, i got tickets to the city and colour show. it was the 2nd show they added to toronto b/c of the high demand. and i got 8th row centre seats! so excited about it. it's at a really small venue, so any seat would have been good, but i'll take 8th row.

on a unrelated note, i'm trying not to buy any clothes, shoes, CDs, or any other unnecessary purchase this month. i know i shop too much, and have no self control, so i'm going to try and not buy anything. sure, this is the shortest month of the year, but it'll still be hard for me. i'm trying to save up to buy my own condo eventually, and at this rate, i'll be closer to living on the streets than in my own place. i've made one exception though, i'm allowing myself to buy 1 piece of olympic clothing b/c we're getting an additional staff discount and get to wear it to work during the games. sure i have a few pieces already, but what's one more? it's a nice compromise between having no limit on my shopping and going cold turkey. wish me luck.