Pilot's Guide to Vietnam

Here is a link to the Pilot's Guide to Vietnam.

If you don't watch anything else, skip to the 55min mark and see the guy try the "egg". It's hilarious and a very good warning to those of you who want to go to Vietnam!

Also, at the beginning, the chick goes to the Chinese market, Cho Long, literally translated as Large Market. It was here that I was headed when that woman threw up on me on the bus. Ahhhh...good times :)

Enjoy!

Truly random thoughts

Oh my God, it's almost the end of another month and I still haven't written an Oct blog. It's funny because as I go through the day to day chaos that is my life right now, I'll have brief pauses where I think "oh, must write about that" but then I sit in front of my computer for a few minutes and draw a total blank. Below are some of the things I can remember.

Romance part deux
Okay, up first is the sequel to last month's blog. A friend kindly reminded me that I left out the best part of this sad saga. After having escaped worse date of my life, I had to deal with this clueless dude repeatedly calling me. Not only that, he suggested that I go to a remote ranch with him by Merritt for a SECOND date. When I bluntly turned that down, he offered up his Whistler condo! Aside from the fact that I could barely suffer his company for 4 hours much less a whole weekend, who in the world suggests a mini-vacation as a second date?!?!?! Boggles the mind.

"Would you like fries with that massage?"
I recently witnessed the best pick up at a bar ever!!! A girlfriend and I were at a seedy sports bar on Granville St when a massage girl came over with her lotion and told my friend that some dude in the bar had bought her a massage. For those of you who don't know what a massage girl is, they're usually scantily clad women found at strip clubs who stand behind you and give you a 10 min massage while you're sitting there drinking with your friends. Um, not that I know this from experience. *cough* Moving on... So, anyway, my girlfriend wasn't really down with it but the massage chick just wouldn't take no for an answer. The result of this tactic is TBC but the actual pick up was genius. That dude's got some courage since we were sitting at a table with three guys. Kudos to you, you know who you are :)

Random thought
I recently added a widget to my iGoogle (yes, I'm a geek) which gives me "Things to ponder". This great little box provides great entertainment when I'm looking for a break and I've been known to sit there and hit the refresh button for ten minutes reading these. (I think we may have stumbled upon one of the reasons I'm single.) Anyway, the most recent one is this:

If it is tourist season, why can't we shoot them?

HAH! So relevant as I've been thinking about whether or not I want to be in Vancouver for the madness that will invariably be the 2010 Olympics. On the one side, how often will I be in a city while the Olympics are happening? On the other hand...well, isn't it obvious?

Here's another one to tide you over til next time: Why do old men wear their pants higher than young men do?

Something I dug up

So, I was cleaning out my old emails and came across something I wrote in January 2004 when I went to Vietnam with my friend Tammi. This is my last email before heading home after a month of travels in the Motherland. I'll try to find the other emails but in the meantime, enjoy.

Tammi and I are back in Saigon after several restful days on my Grandma's hammock.

After a few days in beautiful Hue, we took a 20 hour train ride back to Saigon and 4 hour bus ride back to Grandma's village. My first view of An Nhon was from the back of a 50-year-old motorcycle which I was afraid was not going to support my 95 pound frame. We were told that we could be taken straight from Saigon to the Village however about 5 kilometers from our destination, the driver of the bus kicked us out and got us on motorcycles for the remainder of the trip. Evidently he was late in picking up his girlfriend.

Grandma's village was fun but very, very quiet. The big thing was a "carnival" for the New Year. You could throw large, plastic bowls at some cans of juice on the ground (and win said can). Or there's the little ball that you toss into glasses and you can win noodles. My personal favourite was a type of roulette table that you can bet on and the prize is a large bag of MSG. Yes folks, that's right. MSG. Tammi and I were a huge hit there. Whatever booth we were at was packed! The villagers followed us around with a look of vacant awe on their faces. Very funny. (Note: This is because Tammi is a tall, white girl. The only other "whitie" these people had ever seen was my brother-in-law who had visited the year before)

We also went on a leisurely bike ride in the village. The bikes date back to the fall of Saigon and had little baskets on the front of them. Along the way, my aunt and uncle passed us on a motorbike and asked if we wanted to see their shrimp farm. We readily agreed and followed them on our rickety bikes. Soon we were mountain biking up and down small hills, avoiding large ruts and larger potholes. Then we had to dismount and walk across a monkey bridge. You may wonder what a monkey bridge is. Well the term "bridge" is very loose. Yes, it does allow you to cross over a body of water but it consists of a thicker log to walk on and one or two thin logs at waist height to hold on too. Though I seriously doubt that the handles could support any kind of weight should you feel like falling.


Okay, I'd better go ahead and admit this now otherwise Tammi is going to blabber about it anyway. I fell. Off the bike. And got stuck. There. On the way back to the main road, I took a turn wrong and ended up with my head about a foot from some shit-brown water, my ass in the air and my foot caught under the bike on the path. Not one of my shining moments. Tammi was laughing so hard that she couldn't even help me up. Sheesh.

Yesterday, we went to see a fortune-teller. Tammi's gonna have a Vietnamese boyfriend and I'm gonna to be a dried up old spinster. Actually, she said with my personality, I'm going to have trouble finding a husband. I guess not that many guys can take my shining wit. Luckily though I'm smart and am going to be rich. Throughout the trip back to Saigon today, Tammi and I have been on the lookout for her boyfriend. No dice but we've got a few days yet.

Speaking of the trip back! Hitched a ride with my uncle (he had rented a mini-van). Little did I know that we had to stop to pick up his friend. This "friend" turned out to be half the population of a small village (men, women and children), enough food to feed them for an entire year AND a tree. At least on the local buses, they tie the tree and sacks of clams to the top of the bus! Next time, I go local bus...chickens and all.

In my month here I have been thrown up on, ALMOST trampled to death not to mention the near bath in shit-filled water!

I went there as a Canadian tourist and came back as a Vietnamese-Canadian, proud of my lineage and rich heritage.

Romance is not dead my friends. But it should be.

Okay, I'm committed to write in this thing at least once a month and this is the September edition, even though it happened many months ago.

The dating stories seem to amuse everyone the most so I go back to the original purpose of this blog. To entertain everyone with the trials of being a single girl who really doesn't want that to change.

So, many months ago I met a guy who had the alarm bells clanging almost immediately. For one thing, he told me within minutes that he was a "hopeless romantic". I told him I'm not particularly keen on getting to know anyone who describes themselves as "hopeless" in any sense.

And yet a few days later I found myself being "whisked away" (his words, not mine) in a 20 year old caddy convertible. We pick up some take out sushi in Kits and head to Spanish Banks. When we get there, he opens his enormous car trunk and it's crammed with everything! Blankets, cutlery, wine and I'm pretty sure I could've found a body somewhere in there if we dug around. I didn't look too closely. Anyway, we grab a couple of blankets, wine and his picnic basket Okay, WTF? What kind of man drives around with a freaking picnic basket in his trunk? But I digress.

So the date is us sitting on the beach eating, talking and waiting to watch the sun set.

Romantic, huh? Yeah, you'd think.

It was really unfortunate that Dude had virtually no conversation skills. After about 45 minutes of rambling I decided I didn't give a toss and just sat in peaceful silence. After all, it's rare these days that I'm not in front of my computer so I decided to enjoy the time off and just relax.

Well, I guess this made him uncomfortable so he opened his mouth and started talking.

After a few progressively stupid questions like "When was the last time you got drunk?" (He met me at the bar three days prior...while I was drunk) and "What's EA?" (He works in technology in Vancouver!!!), he caps it off with an absolute humdinger.
By now I've checked out and his voice is but a minor irritating buzz in my ear but then I catch what he's saying about a regressive movement of women. I perked up and asked what he meant by that. His response? "One of these days, you women are going to get sick of the rat race and return to the home." I stared at him in blank shock and finally squeaked out "You mean, we'll leave our jobs and be more content being pregnant and in the kitchen"? He answers, "Well, maybe not pregnant". And that sad, sad twat was utterly serious.

Remember how I mentioned that I was at Spanish Banks? Well, for those of you who don't know where that is, it's in a fairly remote area and there wasn't a hope in hell of me finding a cab. I can NOT believe I made the rookie mistake of getting stuck!!! He picked me up at 6 and the sun didn't frickin' set until 10 that night. Longest damned date of my life.

In case you may be thinking that I was a bit harsh on him, the dumb ass actually had the gall to call me for a second date. I'm still not sure if that's courageous or sheer stupidity. But I was too busy with my cooking classes. Had to get ready for my regressive movement after all.

You know it's bad when...

Last weekend, I spent several relaxing days at a Lake Cabin with my sister, her husband and their 5 year old son. One morning over breakfast, the little munchkin, Macen asked if Auntie Rita was going have a baby too. When told she needed a husband first, he asked when I would have a husband. After we said that I needed a boyfriend, he paused for a few minutes and then he said with all the earnestness of a child, "Well, I know a lot of boys". Oh, from the mouth of babes. The worse part is that I too know a lot of "boys" and that's why I am still single :).

Other than that, I spent several days alternating between sleeping by the lake and catching grasshoppers and butterflies with Macen. Life was great. Especially because there was no cell service there, meaning no blackberry!

PS, I love you

I decided on a whim that I deserved a mini-vacation, not only for working like a demon but also for officially reaching my third decade. So I booked a flight for Palm Springs with the vague plan of sitting by a pool and not talking to anyone for three days unless I required sustenance of the solid or liquid variety. So I book my flight late Wednesday night and write a comment on my Facebook profile about this. I should have known better. Early the next morning, my sister promptly booked a flight to Palm Springs. Incidentally, this is an hour after she asked me why I was going to Florida for the weekend and upon realizing Palm Springs was in California, saying only I would be crazy enough to hang out in a desert. She's just lucky I wasn't planning a secret rendevouz with a guy - it would've been really embarrassing to make her sleep on the balcony. So anyway, the next afternoon, we head out to the airport and find ourselves in balmy Palm Springs a few hours later.

When I land, I find out that my suitcase didn't make it with me. I have a bad moment when I realize that my bikini is my bag but luckily Sally has a few extras. For the first time in my life, I actually see an advantage to having a sister. Especially one who is close to my size. After checking in, we go on a hunt for food. Luckily just across the street from the hotel is a little pizzeria and this is what happens to Sally:

Let me clarify that I have seen my sister in similar situations throughout my life so don't worry about her. She worked her way through that monster meatball sandwich with little effort.

After dinner we head back to the hotel and I wrap up some work so I can relax for the next three days while Sally turns on the TV. Two minutes later, she starts shrieking in such a high pitch that my mortal, human ears could not hear it. She had found a piece of lint on her bed that she swore was a spider. This was the result:


This is NOT turning out to be the relaxed vacation of my dreams.

The next morning shines bright, clear and over 40 degrees. We start to walk around the quaint little town and then hit the pool. It's rather small but there's more than enough chairs that offer mists overhead. We grab a couple and within an hour and a half, Sally is looking a little lobster-ish. What kind of Asian is she anyway??? So we decide to rent a car and head to the outlet where we spend a pleasurable FIVE hours.


The next day we decide to take a drive into the cesspool that is LA. Sally is an avid reader of celebrity rags. Especially online ones like www.gossipfeast.com so she promptly directs us to Hollywood Blvd. We spend a couple of hours here and have lunch.


Then it was off to Robertson Blvd to shop where the stars shop. After visiting a few obscenely expensive stores we wearily head back to the car and back to Palm Springs but not before a pit stop at In & Out Burger. What would a trip to California be without visiting good ol' In & Out?

The last day was 6 hours of this:

which is how I ended up so burnt that I couldn't wear jeans for three days.

All in all, a fabulous trip. That is, until we start packing to go home. I had packed a larger sized suitcase, knowing that I was going to buy things to bring home. Sally on the other hand just packs a little carry on bag. Not only does she buy 6 pairs of shoes, a couple of bags and some clothes, none of which she can actually fit in her suitcase, she also buys two huge, fluffy bath mats. She goes on vacation and buys TOWELS!!! I ended up buying another suitcase to get our shit home. Still, it was good shit so well worth it :)

Another fun quiz. Uncanny how true these things can be!

Your Birthdate: June 21

You're a restless rebel with an unpredictable nature. Bright but unbridled, you tend to seek out wild experiences over new ideas. People are frustrated by your great potential, but you love your unconventional life. You're a heartbreaker. People get attached to you, and then you're gone. Your strength: Your thirst for adventure Your weakness: Not taking time for slow pleasures Your power color: Hot pink Your power symbol: Figure eight Your power month: March

My shout out

My sister's boyfriend started an online gossip rag and has asked friends & family to write about it.

Cam, here's your shout out for www.gossipfeast.com

Check it out and stay abreast of what Britney's up to. Hmmm, maybe using the word "abreast" is not the best idea in this context.

All in the name of research

So, I finally had a quiet night in with my XBOX a couple of weeks ago. Took it home along with a couple of shooter games a colleague lent me. After having spent several hours with Gears of War, I'm still barely able to walk forward and forget about when people start shooting at me. I didn't even manage to get through the tutorial :( But I DID have fun shooting my guns randomly and throwing my body against doors and railings. That latter was not done on purpose but fun nonetheless.

The next weekend, I picked up Guitar Hero II as I'm currently working on another rhythm game. How FUN. I'm now absolutely addicted and played over the whole long weekend. And I RAWK. Well, in I do in easy mode anyway. This weekend was going to be all about Need for Speed but I haven't quite gotten away from Guitar Hero yet.

Here's the best part and why my family hasn't stopped laughing at me. Last Sunday, I went out to Future Shop and bought a new 32" flat screen TV on a whim and mostly cause my previous 21" was just too small to play games on. Yes, I can admit it.

Toothbrush woes

This is one of the funniest stories I've heard in a long time so I had to share it. I did warn my friends and family that if they did anything blog-worthy, they should be prepared to read about it.

My younger sister moved back to Vancouver a couple of weeks ago and is bunking down at my parent's place. The other day she was vigorously brushing her teeth and when she was almost done, looked down and saw her toothbrush on the counter!! She obviously freaked out and we had a great laugh about it over the weekend. When I asked who owned the toothbrush, she couldn't answer.

Today she got her answer. Sort of. Apparently, my youngest brother had used this toothbrush to CLEAN HIS GOLF GEAR. I can not even begin to imagine the germs and dirt she was swishing around in her mouth. Even worse, my brother very reasonably pointed out that it would've been a waste of money to buy a new toothbrush to clean golf gear. That means that at some point in the distant past, this was someone else's toothbrush! Sick.

So the origins of the toothbrush remain a mystery but the story remains hilariously disgusting anyway.

Oh well, this is the same girl who ate doggie treats by accident so I guess she's going to be fine. You'd think that at 25 though, she would know not to stick everything she sees in her mouth. Perhaps she's learned her lesson but somehow I doubt it.

Việt Kiều

Today is the 32nd anniversary of the fall of Saigon. Every year my parents go to some type of a dinner commemorating it but it has had little effect on my life. Tonight, we had dinner together and my parents spoke at length about their story and it hit me hard that it is also my story. A part of my past that somehow I have lost along the way. Granted I was still a toddler yet it saddened me that I knew so little about it. Over the years my parents have given me little bits of the story, some hilarious, some sad but all are invariably moving.

I've always known that my dad was an officer in the South Vietnamese army and spent the 4 years between the fall of Saigon and when we fled as a constant fugitive. There were many failed attempts at leaving and even more close calls before we successfully landed in Malaysia. Perhaps it's because we're older, but my parents were much more honest tonight about the horror and terror of those years. Even more shocking was realizing that they were younger than I am now when they went through this. And I thought I had troubles...

I did some quick research this evening and was shocked to find that there are an estimated 1.6 million Vietnamese boat people who fled Vietnam between 1975 to the late 1980s. According to the report of United Nations High Commissioner For Refugees, 1/3 of these people died at sea by killing, storms, illness,and food shortage. Luckily, my family landed safely in Malaysia's main refugee camp, the island of Pulau Bidong. A few months later, we flew to Campbell River, BC where I spent much of my youth.

Against all odds, my parents landed in Canada with nothing and have overcome language barriers and cultural differences to raise 5 relatively normal and moderately successful children. I've always wanted to write their story and perhaps one day I will finally find the time and discipline to do it. In the meantime, these stories serve as a reality check for me and remind me how much I love and respect my mom and dad. I am currently awed by them and that's a great feeling.

I have totally sucked about keeping this updated. I even have 4 or 5 draft ideas that have been sitting there waiting to be written for the past month but just can't seem to find the time. That's because when I have a spare minute I'm on Facebook being a voyeur on other people's lives. Very odd how that particular social network has appealed to such a mass audience. Even more odd that everyones boundaries around privacy seems to have stretched significantly.

The worse part is that I've actually had a lot of people tell me that they've enjoyed this blog in recent days. Kind of funny to hear as I'm still not sure how I feel about sharing the writing. I've been writing in journals since I was a child but have always kept it private so no one has ever read anything I haven't written outside of work and the occasional rant email (unless one of my nosy siblings got to one of my books. Yes, Sally, that means you).

Anyways, this note is for you guys who do tune in...I haven't forgotten. Watch for the Vegas post coming soon.

The worse question in the world

Why are you still single?

Okay, how do you answer such a stupid question? Either you're conceited and say that you haven't found anyone good/hot/smart enough or are self-deprecating and say that no one wants you. God forbid you say it's because you actually *gasp* WANT to be single. That obviously doesn't compute for those...erm, fortunate ones(?) who are in a relationship.

As I write this, I can't help but think of the relationships I've seen fall to ruin all around me lately. Granted, at this age, you're either going to make a go at it or you'll walk away. No one really wants to waste their time but in our younger years we tend to tolerate more stupidity and ridiculousness for the trade off of having good conversation, sex or dinners. If you're lucky, you'll get all three, not necessarily in that order of course. But I digress.

This past year has seen a slew of train wreck breakups through my extended network of friends. I am luckily in a Utopia of no drama or stress, at least as it pertains to the opposite sex. I'm happily callous in my casual relationships and blissfully selfish with my time. That's right and I'm not afraid to admit it.

Oh, and I am VERY happy to be single regardless of the reason. Because frankly, does the "why" really matter?

Guitar Hero next door

It's Friday afternoon and I wonder if I will hear the Guitar Hero next door. Every Friday evening, the dude next door is either killing a cat or "playing" a guitar and singing at the top of his lungs. I can only hope that this is a bit of a joke and he's having fun on a video game. But I suspect he's not.

This in and of itself is bad enough but his repertoire of songs seems to be limited to old Guns N Roses and KC and the Sunshine Band. Sigh.

Biggest mistake of my life

Last weekend I walked out of my apartment and almost ran into THE EX. As in the big, fat-ass blob I was with for more than 2 months. And for the first time in the 4 years that we've been broken up, he didn't wave stupidly at me when he saw me. Possibly because he was actually walking with another girl.

As my sister points out, I run into my ex more than anyone else she knows. It's occurred to me though that this is my own freakin' fault. He was living in Delta - in his parent's basement when I met him. Yeah, yeah, I know...and no, I don't know what the hell I was thinking at the time. Anyways, it was ME that moved him into Yaletown. I moved him into my own neighbourhood!

Once I got past the anger with myself, I did have a great giggle cause he's got his cool, frosted tips back :)

Box labeled "Finished Business"

What is it with guys who resurface years after a relationship has died?

I had coffee with a girlfriend today who has had someone from the distant past resurface recently. His maudlin "what if" musings were not only incredibly stupid but such a waste of time. Aside from the fact that they haven't seen each other in over half a decade, he also lives half a world away. Then there's the fact that she's been with someone else for years.

The conversation got me remembering something I learned in a psych class back in university. Research shows that immediately after a breakup, women are depressed and upset and likely to booty call the recent ex. But they'll eventually get over it. Guys on the other hand, don't deal at all. They go on as if nothing has happened and resurface about 7-12 months later looking to recapture the "good times". By then, most of the anger and issues are forgotten and the guys only remember what they lost. Then they call the girl and wreak havoc on her life because chances are she's moved on by then. This is what I call opening the box labeled "Finished Business".

This has happened to me enough times that I've added it to my personal "not acceptable" list. Currently, there's only three items.

1. No opening the "Finished Business" box.
2. No cheating.
3. No mono-brows.

www.LiarLife.com

I found this on a friend's blog and it was just so funny that I had to share it.

I find it interesting that every one on online dating is fit and active and enjoys “hiking, snow-boarding, skiing, extreme sports”. Either they are all a bunch of liars, have done each sport once (i.e. “I walked to the store 2 weeks ago”, “I was ten and decided to stand on my toboggan going down the hill”, “I went on a class trip once to a ski hill”, “I was hammered with my friends and I ran into the middle of the freeway….man it was awesome…like Frogger”). Or...

Those good looking jocks from high-school whom we were all afraid of are the ones that are going to end up alone (ha). Well, wait a second; every one on there is also “very intelligent”.

So the intelligent jocks from high-school are going to end up alone. Do you remember any of those from high-school?

THEN add “good-looking" to the mix.

Where ARE all of these fabulous people in the real world and why do they need to resort to on-line dating?

There needs to be more marketing and less sales. How ‘bout a promotion? i.e. “date me and I will give you 5 free back-rubs a week”, “tell your friends I have a big c**k… dinner at the restaurant of your choice AND I will wash the floors and do laundry”.

NOW we’re talking.

Seriously, we are (I am) so sick of the sales game…I live in it daily…we are all trying to up-sell ourselves to one another…is that why so many marriage end in divorce now?

We fall for the sales pitch; once we’ve bought the vacuum we realize that it doesn’t suck. It just blows.

As for her promotion idea. How about a "try before you buy" promotion? Hundred percent returnable if it doesn't exceed expectations :)

A view into the future

My mom recently went to a fortune teller in Vietnam. She does this several times a year and every time, she's told that I will marry really late in life. Compared to most Vietnamese girls, I'm already REALLY late. The girls there marry at 22 in the city and 17 in the villages. Well, this time around, the guy told mom that I would be married in my 40's!!! At least I now have a target to shoot for :)

The other thing that came up was that I would be fabulously wealthy. I guess that means I should move back to Calgary and look for my oil tycoon?

A reason for a man

On Wednesday night I came home to find no water in the toilet bowl. Uh oh. That can't be a good thing. There are many, many things I have learned to do for myself. Living alone for over a decade teaches you a couple of things. One of the things I am not willing to learn or do is deal with a toilet. It's to sit on. Full stop. Nothing else I need to know about a toilet. So I called in the experts.

The two young guys arrived and put on their cute little blue booties, took one look and said it would be around $150 and did I want them to continue. What a ridiculous, rhetorical question. Even if I wasn't desperate for a pee, I would've said yes. What choice did I have at that point? Anyways, two more minutes go by and I hear the toilet flush. These happy little boys wander out for a $150 cheque!!! First of all, I'm so in the wrong business. Secondly, I realized that there actually IS a reason to have a guy around. At the very least I wouldn't have had to make small talk with two guys who just LOVE video games. Sigh.

Mandarin vs Cantonese

So my new thing is taking up a Chinese language. I figure that I've taken enough of the European languages and that's a total lost cause so I'm going to try something totally different. Or perhaps, given my background, it's going back to the basics.

I figure it's time to start getting on with my life again and my life includes a variety of classes. The difficulty now is deciding which of these languages to choose. I was doing a lot of reading on it and though Mandarin is the official language and more widely spoken, Cantonese is definitely the more prevalent here in Vancouver. Not only that, much of the Chinese popular culture I enjoy is in Cantonese so it's perhaps the better, if not the most useful. I also found out that as a fluent Vietnamese speaker, Cantonese may be easier as they have many similar sounding consonants. Huh. Never knew that.

That said, the Cantonese one starts on a week that I'm in San Fran so it sucks that I would miss the first class. Still, it's probably the one I will choose.

Back in the dating scene?

I knew it was a mistake right from the start. I went out for dinner with a guy last week. First mistake was to agree to dinner as a first date. Coffee is the way to go. Easy escape.

Among many things that went sideways, he answered his VERY loud ringing phone the second we were seated. He then proceeded to check his blackberry EVERY 2 minutes. He even had it on the dinner table for Christ sake. This was made worse by his constantly flirting with the waitress, who was incidentally very cool. The only good thing was that I managed to inhale dinner and get home within an hour. If there's one thing I am an expert at, it's getting out of a bad date *grin*.

God, I can't believe I previously complained about not having a date in nine months.

Costco

I went to Costco for the first time in around 20 years tonight. WOW. I was loving the rows and rows of goodies but I had to wonder...who the hell would buy a Coach purse at COSTCO?!?!?! Which, let's admit, is barely a step up from Superstore. Who would even think of going there to buy one? What Costco buyer thought it would be a good idea to carry this type of merchandise?? Good grief. I wonder if it's a Yaletown thing though. Sounds just about pretentious enough to be limited to my corner of the world.

As I wandered though the uber bulk packages, I also had to wonder if I would ever get to a point where I would buy a package of 50 steaks. Please God, I hope not.

Here's another "hmmmm" thing. Why would Costco, home of the mammoth portions, not offer us bags to carry our purchases home?!?! Ridiculous. I was already concerned about buying a lot because I didn't want to haul it up to my apartment but didn't realize until AFTER I paid that they weren't even going to give me a bag! Instead, the pimply youth chucked my well chosen products into "boxes". That's a seriously tongue-in-cheek "boxes" too. They were little more than a cardboard bottom with corners. Not even cardboard all around. It was as if a child had cut out the middle pieces to make their arts and crafts. WTF? Here's a free CRM tip for Costco. If you want single females to shop there, you'll offer them something to carry their massive, 25 packaged boxes of tampons home. Jeez.

Though, I must say, I was very impressed with the clientele. Full of hot guys. I guess this is why you don't see them at Urban Fare. Why merely buy one pack of mac and cheese when, for just a few more dollars you get 40! That's like getting 37 for free!

I'm famous!

WoW Character

See how much of a geek I've become? This is my World of Warcraft personality apparently. I'm okay with this. I can embrace the inner geek.

Vietnam, Vietnam

My brother returned from Vietnam this weekend and I finally got his pictures. I love looking through them but it's also a bit sad as it makes me really miss being there. Lots of great pictures from there!

Here's a few of my favourites.

The wedding location was incredible.


The whole lot of us!


Lots of shots of the girls.





And the boys.



And of course, Macen.

My Gamertag

Here it is...I'm officially a total geek. And if you know what the below is, you're just as bad.

Medical system...fair?

I was having a conversation with a friend the other night about the medical system here in Canada. We were discussing the merits of a mixed private and public system. I've heard the argument that this would be unfair to the people who can't afford to pay for more. The argument on the flip side is that it would put much needed relief on the public system. I obviously am not an expert but I do know that in the places where this works, the doctors have to spend a vast percentage of their billable hours in the public system to ensure that there is sufficient support.

I got my back up when the discussion turned to fair. It occurred to me that the sick people who were not working, thus not paying taxes were the ones who got the best service. The poor suckers like me who pay 40% of my paycheque to the system and goes to a doctor once a year has to wait hours to even talk to someone. That surely is not fair. To be clear, I do not have a problem with paying the obscene amount of taxes but I should also have the option of paying extra to see a doctor if and when required.

Speaking of taxes, last week the provincial government came out with the fiscal budget. As part of that, there is to be a 10% tax cut for people who make under $108k per year. Knee jerk reaction was to celebrate but then I thought about it. Seems that there would be much better uses for those billions. There are always stories about our health care and education systems, not to mention the environment. Truly, the extra in my paycheque would be nice but since I don't miss it anyway, I would much prefer that this "excess" money is put back into the system. This reminds me of the tax rebate cheque all Albertans received early last year. They were all ecstatic and I snickered the whole time at how short sighted and ridiculous they all were and here we are a year later. Sigh.

Running out of time?

It's odd. I have recently been feeling like I'm running out of time. Make no mistake, this has nothing to do with a biological clock and a latent need to procreate. I surrounded by enough babies lately, thank you very much.

No, this is more about the fact that I've just returned home and turned 30. I feels that I shouldn't or couldn't really pick up and live in another country again. Not that I want to go anywhere (except back to the Motherland) but still, I feel like that option is simply not opened to me any longer. I guess I'm a bit afraid that I'll meet someone and settle down here and that would be it for my worldly wanders. Not just 2 week vacations, but where you settle into a different culture for an extended period of time. Having done this several times, I know that I will always return home to Vancouver because it's just that...home. However, I still like the freedom that comes from moving into a new city. Not only are the people and cultures different from home but I can be different. At this age, I'm comfortable enough to be who I am but it's still liberating to be in a totally strange environment with no ties to the society. To observe it as an outsider at the some time as I experience it as an insider.

I know that my recent sense of, I guess "urgency" is the best word, is ridiculous. I'm still young and have a lot of good years before I have to be worried about settling down. And yet, I can't help what I feel and I definitely feel age bearing down. Or is that reality biting me in the ass as I start to talk about settling down in Vancouver??? Food for thought.

2007 Outlook

After three months in Vancouver, I'm still living in boxes and for the most part feel like a transient, even though I really am not any longer. My excuse is that I'm waiting for a new couch, which come to think of it, is not much of an excuse. I could've just bought one months ago but of course I procrastinated. So my excuse is that I'm waiting...and I'm sticking to it. I was once told that procrastination is just like masturbation. In the end, all you're doing is fucking yourself. Hah!

I've been on the "settling down" obsession since returning in November. I even bought a car!!! As my sister keeps reminding me, that's a HUGE committment. My feeling though is that if I truly wanted to leave, I would find a way to get rid of the "stuff". It's simply not important enough to hold me back from doing what I want to do. What does stop me is that I owe the new company my first and second child for what they paid to get me out here. Yikes. Luckily I love it more every day and have no intention of going anywhere.


As for my social life, I have been out quite a bit lately. It feels like I've reintegrated back into Vancouver life. Finally. Feels good to be with friends and family on a regular basis again. The picture is of the Red Cross girls and I at a Dessert Party. Yum.

The flip side is that I've given up on dating entirely. I just realized that I had not been on a proper date since May. That's NINE months!!! My God. I used to be so good at this. Looks like I've lost my mojo. Must've misplaced it somewhere in Calgary. Not the only thing I left behind, but the thing I miss the most.

Actually, what I miss the most is meeting guys who actually make an effort. I was interested in this guy recently and after an hour and a half of talking to him, he just asked me to come out and watch his band play. That was it. The kicker is that when I finally did, he just kept on with the sales pitch to come watch him play at another venue. I guess he just didn't have enough groupies. Jesus. I miss the good ol' days when guys asked you for your number, called and you go out for dinner/coffee/drinks. What happened to that? I guess I've just gotten old. Fak that. I'm still going to the Roxy, aren't I? Oh wait....

My Gamer Character

I took one of those silly quizzes to see what kind of character I would be from the great, pre-1985 video game. What can I say? It's the new industry I've joined. However, this link was not given to me by a colleague...Anyways, this is what I turned out being. I am a Pacman Ghost. I like to hang around with friends, chatting, dancing, all that sort of thing. We don't appreciate outsiders, and do our best to discourage others approaching us. I enjoy occasionally wandering around randomly, and often find that when I do so, I get to where I wanted to be. What Video Game Character Are You?

It gets better. If I were not a Pacman Ghost then I would be...

I am Pacman. I am an aggressive sort of personality, out to get what I can, when I can. I prefer to avoid confrontation, but sometimes when it's called for, I can be a powerful character. I tend to be afflicted with munchies constantly. What Video Game Character Are You?