Success

Success comes in many different forms. I think my brother's annual quote went something like this: "Everyone says that the definition of success is whatever you make it out to be. I'm still looking for a better dictionary." Well, the Vancouver Week-end to end Breast Cancer "[raised] 5,500,000 dollars for BC Cancer Foundation in support of research and enhancements to care at the BC Cancer Agency." Yay!

And last night I watched a pirated DVD from China about a British DJ (based on a true story!) who did drugs and got drunk a lot but was this amazing dance/techno DJ who got the party going like no other DJ...until he went completely deaf and his performances were terrible (because he couldn't hear what he was playing!) and he couldn't make a CD because it was crap. His trophy wife leaves him and he isolates himself in a room for a few months, where nobody bothers him and all he does is hope that by staying in the quiet his hearing will come back. No such luck. He comes out a new man, learns how to lip read, falls in love with his lip-reading instructor, who takes him out to watch a flamenco dancer. He realises that he can't hear the music or her dancing, but he can feel the vibrations from the port in the glass on the table. They go to a club and he can feel the vibrations coming from the huge speakers on the dance floor. So he goes back home and puts his feet on his speakers and decides to make music that way. He makes a CD which people think is better than the one he made when he wasn't deaf! He never hears it, he just "feels" it with his feet! He does this one absolutely out-of-this-world concert that has everyone raving about him - and then he disappears with his girl (the lip-reading instructor) never to be seen again. People don't know where he is! He just wanted to prove that he could DJ again and then he vanished!! It was a bit documentary-style with narratives from people who knew him, or people in the music business. It was a cool movie that I had never heard of but I bought because I liked the cover (yup, I'm that shallow; and for $1/DVD, I don't have to be picky).

So another success story. And I'm off to bed. Sweet dreams to ya!

Another great week-end...

I spent Friday volunteering at the Plaza of Nations collecting donations from the participants of the Week-end to End Breast Cancer. All afternoon in the sun. It was hot. It was registeration day and I was told it would take the participants a minimum of two hours to get through the whole process - first they line up to watch a "safety video" which lasts 20 or 25 minutes, and then they come to us if they have any last-minute donations (many of them did, so that's another line-up), and then they actually register (yet another line-up), getting their name tags and such, and then they have to go to tent assignment (since they sleep in tents)...all that just to participate. They pay an incription fee ($150 or $200 or something) and they must fundraise $2000 to participate in the walk. This one woman had only collected around $1000; she couldn't fork up $1000 on the spot, so she was going to spread it over five months. I felt so sorry for her. I almost felt like telling her not to do it!!! $211/month for five months....that's a chunk of money from a paycheque to hand over to a charity.

On Saturday I went to paintball for the first time in my life. It's a type of war game where you're put in teams, led to one side of a "field" (although it's full of trees and bushes and built hiding spots), and then you must "eliminate" the other team (who's hiding on the other side) by hitting each player using your gun, which shoots balls of paint that splatters on the enemy, thus making it clear they're "dead," and therefore must stop playing. We also played capture the flag, where you're still being shot at and trying to shoot the other team's players but the added bonus is you must bring the other's flag back to your homebase. It gets the adrenaline going. I thought it was a pretty cool game, except for the fact that I always got hit before being able to shoot anybody. I didn't kill anybody. And it's not because I didn't move. I did move in all of the games except one, where I sat and protected homebase - where the flag was - and not a single player from the other team got anywhere near us!!! Not my fault!!! It was cool because there were enough people from our group (around 20) to get our own field just for us. It was a hot and sweaty but very happy day.

And I have two war wounds on my chest to show off!!! James gets my right boob and Jeremy my left...thanks guys!!!

I feel bad because I killed a spider while taking a shower the other day. I did everything possible to prevent it - even stopped showering! - but the stupid creature ran into the water, crunched up into a ball, and then fell into the drain...poor thing.... I don't like it when spiders die. I really don't like spiders - they scare me! - but I hate it when I watch them being killed like that. They're so practical, interesting, even amazing (have you seen them make a web??!!??!!!

I hope to have pictures up soon. I really didn't take that many pictures this summer. A lot less than I would've liked. Oh well.

IMPORTANT NEWS

So I'm going to volunteer at the Plaza of Nations this Friday from 3-8 PM (ie: all afternoon) for the Week-End to End Breast Cancer. Women start walking 60 kms all around Vancouver on Saturday, I think, but Friday is DONATIONS day. I will be COLLECTING DONATIONS at the Plaza of Nations so please, please, PLEASE come on down and say hello and at the same time: give some money to a worthy cause!!!

Funny thing, the walk goes right down my street (Crown Street), so I'll be giving those neigbours living on either side of Crown street (from King Edward to 16th Ave) a pink ribbon to tie on a tree or pole or post to show their support! Rachel, that means you too!!!

In other news: Lucas celebrated 2 years of posting his comic (8 1/2 by Eleven) last week, so why don't you check it out?

Week-end

I just wanted to say I had a wonderful week-end and I would like to thank all involved for making it so nice...BBQ-ing and beach-volleyballing and going-for-dessert-ing and all the rest of it...Vancouver and its weather and its people rock!!!

Memories...

I have a student from my first-term adult class who sent me pictures which sent me back to October, 2006, when I spent a week-end "camping" (out in the Chinese countryside) with fourteen of my students and another English teacher (but she's Chinese - she's next to me in glasses).

Apparently I "blend right in" :-)
And if you didn't know, this class was known as "Class 7" - hence the depiction of a 7.
Here's me sticking meat on a stick which a student then cooked. I'm skewering the lamb I saw killed only hours earlier - all that squeeling and blood and everything. One of the students used to be a chef and he made us all this really great dinner. Worked very hard to make it perfect.

Registered

Finally registered (thanks mom!) for History 480: the Social History of Modern China. Checked out other history courses offered at UBC and wanted to participate in every one of them!!!

Home sweet home

Here's an amazing picture taken by my brother while he was in the south of France in July. It's a composite picture (originally there were twelve photos which he then stitched together on the computer and cropped) and I just really love it. The little guy in white coming down the path is the hereditary owner of the castle - called Comarque I think.

Did the Grouse Grind this morning. An hour and fifteen minutes. Quite proud for a first time this year (haven't done it in over a year) and seeing as I'm so out of shape.

1/4 mark: this isn't so bad. I can do this!
1/2 mark: my legs are getting tired
3/4 mark: I hate myself, I hate myself, I hate myself...
done: what? already? Let's do it again tomorrow! (just kidding...)

Now I'm so glad to be home and I'll probably sleep a good two hours before going to swimming practice at 6 PM.

Saw Miami Vice last night. Saw previews for it while in France and never ever thought I would see it. But I did and I actually quite liked it. Good summer blockbuster entertainment. Maybe I liked it so much thanks to the waitress' advice to "go in thinking it'll suck and that way you won't be disappointed." The point of paying the $11 is usually to see a movie you want to see.

200 Posts!

I think today's or yesterday's post was the 200th! Woo-hoo!

Last night we had some dear old family friends over for dinner. The woman - who's in her sixties - told me, "Let's see, what was I doing at 25? I was married with a child and miserable." I can see myself being married with a child right now. I don't think of it as an impossibility...although for the moment I'm glad I'm not!

***FOOD***

On the topic of food, I forgot to tell you I went to Guu on Robson Street on Saturday and the food blew me away! I was very happy with the egg enveloped in pumpkin (deep-fried) and the truly delicious beef tongue (mmmmm!) and the salmon carpaccio (raw salmon slices). I go there and try food I would never eat otherwise. And it's good to go with just one other person, that way you really get a good taste of everything you order (because it's important to order lots of different dishes!). I find that when I went there with groups of friends I was never able to eat enough of the food to really enjoy it!!!

And last night (Sunday), we enjoyed a wonderful summer dinner at home. Washing the potatoes and cutting up the parsley - things that take me forever to do! - it was all worth the work in the end. Potato salad, hard-boiled eggs, tomato salad, smoked salmon, cold cuts, lots of baguette and cheese...it was delicious!

Love

So I've spent some wonderful days in Vancouver. Extremely relaxing.

Friday I went to watch an American football game. I had never had this opportunity before! The last time I was at BC Place was maybe for a concert of some sort during high school... It was crazy big and not very intense and I was more interesting in players' bums than the actual playing...but I did manage to get the gist of the game by the end of the 3 hours!!!

It was an evening of firsts, because then it was off to the Blarney Stone in Gastown, where I had never been before. It was interesting because the live band was all over 50 (and there was even a violinist who was celebrating his - what was it? - 76th birthday?), playing good ol' Irish music and some Beatles, but the crowd tended to be young-ish - all early twenties. The ambiance was awesome, the dancing was great and very exhausting.

And Saturday could be summed up by the evening of fireworks. Mexico won, but totally didn't deserve to. China (last Saturday) was best! I don't know what the judges were thinking and I don't know if it's possible to protest or something.

I didn't do anything for Pride Week. Every year I say I'll go to see the parade in the West End and I don't. Oh well.

I was checking out an old website I used to visit when I was following an Earth and Oceans Science course at UBC, called the New Scientist (linked by my EOSC website). Not sure exactly how reliable it is, but it's got some funny articles on love! From May 2003, I like the headline:

Handsome men have the best sperm
Good looking guys have faster, healthier sperm than men rated less attractive by women, reveals a new study.

And have you ever heard of the "rickety bridge" theory? Very funny:

It's all because of a strong connection between anxiety, arousal and attraction. In the "shaky bridge study" carried out by psychologists Arthur Aron and Don Dutton in the 1970s, men who met a woman on a high, rickety bridge found the encounter sexier and more romantic than those who met her on a low, stable one.

So go to Capilano bridge immediately and meet the partner of your dreams! ;-)

And the "Love Chemistry Graphic" is very entertaining. Some good Sunday afternoon reading...

***Thanks to Cheryl (my website editor) for the change in title and the profile update!***

The next US Pres...or not?

Have you seen this?

It's worth reading the press release to find out some things...

Interesting tid-bits

Well, seeing as it's such a beautiful day, I thought I'd look at some pretty disturbing sites. Thanks to james for the links!

First of all, there's this actually quite beautiful (as well as fascinating) slideshow on shivs - which are weapons created inside penitentiaries and made out of what materials inmates can find. Amazing. I think prisoners can be so unbelievably smart and quick-thinking and...resourceful! It's too bad we can't put their talents to better use!

Just remember: "In looking at these as formal objects of design, we should not forget their use and the context of their making. These objects were made to kill people ... or to protect someone from being killed. They may be evocative on many levels, but they should not be romanticized in their isolation; they also speak to a larger context of fear and danger."

Also fascinating is a site showing off prisoners' inventions. If you go to the bottom of the page you can even watch videos of how to make such diverse things as a candle or paper-mache dice, using the most elementary materials!

And I also found this guy who was arrested for drug dealing on school property and who succeeded in escaping from jail! I picked him because he's my age. It's just a little...strange...to view the info of a guy who probably doesn't have much of a chance to make it in life. But he made it out of jail!

If you view the comments on the first shiv page, you'll find links to zip guns and how they can be made. Don't understand a word - I couldn't make one! - but it's interesting stuff. Gotta love the internet.

Yikes!

Yikes, I forgot to register today... Missed the 9 o'clock start. Supposed to register for a UBC Chinese history course - by correspondance. Argh!

F*ck, I didn't pay the $100 registration fee. Why the h*ll does this always happen to me? Ah well. Tis life. I'll deal with it tomorrow...

Just finished reading a great little children's book set in Ethiopia. The author's Quebecois and the book's in French. How stylish is that?

Probably left the book I've been reading, Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky, at my father's place when I went to visit him yesterday. I'm hoping that's where I "left" it.

Katia and Loic made it safe and sound to France. Glad to hear it.

I start swimming lessons this evening. Yikes!

Oh right, that's me in the cold of winter in Beijing, practicing a super secretive, very difficult Chinese sport - Canadian style! Notice the campus is deserted - that's because it's too cold to be outside!!!

Eating in Vancouver

To add to the list of things I've done in Vancouver: eaten Gyoza's, eaten Mondo Gelato ice-cream, and had dinner at the Candia Taverna, a restaurant my family has gone to for twenty years. Yes, Vancouver life is all about gastronomy - eating is a big part of my life anyway!