jets! sharks!

even though i don't work for vancouver opera anymore, i still "worked" for the opera on opening night. sean's partner mike was unable to make it for audience feedback, so i stepped in as interviewer, while sean took up mike's role as cameraman.

here's me catching random audience members and asking them questions after the show:



sometimes i miss working at the opera.

bathtub playtime

a whirl of black against white


followed by peek-a-boo eyes


equals charlie having fun in the bathtub

charlie may not be jonesy in standing under the drippy showerhead to catch some drops to bathe in, but he does like to get into the tub after i'm done.

and yes, that is my shower curtain ripped to shreds.

two flying over the cuckoo's nest

what does it say about sean if he brings me to a now abandoned and dilapidated mental hospital site for a sunday jaunt out?

what does it say about me that i liked it?

riverview hospital is a mental health facility located in coquitlam. the hospital is still in use, however due to budgetary cutbacks over the years, have drastically reduced the number of patients in their care.

riverview's many buildings include the crease clinic which closed in 1992, east lawn which closed in 2005 and north lawn which closed its doors in 2007. the most interesting, albeit creepiest building is the west lawn building. it was built in 1913 and at its height, treated 300 of the most seriously ill male patients.

the building itself is beautiful, not out of place in the southern states, i'd imagine. and in its current decayed, fenced and boarded up state, and overrun with fauna, i can picture it lost amongst other plantation houses in the bayous of louisiana. as dilapidated as west lawn building is, it made for some great atmosphere and picturesque photos. i kept wondering if i would see a ghostly figure looking out from behind the bars.










i call this one "let me in" because you can see all the scratch marks frantically made by someone's hands. from the outside.

although the hospital is public and you're free to walk around on the grounds and green space, we were stopped by a security guard in a patrol car who cautioned us not to take anymore pictures as riverview actually charges to take pictures as well as to film on its grounds. they make a killing renting to film studios. luckily for us, the guard let us off with a warning and didn't haul us off to have words with nurse ratchet.

for more pictures of our day at riverview, press play or click here for my flickr.

saturday in richmond

a few weekends ago, sean and i braved the drive into richmond, aka ditchmond or bitchmond depending on who you ask, to spend a lovely sunny afternoon at the buddhist temple.



although neither sean nor myself are religious, but rather spiritual, we found the buddhist temple lovely and serene. ah, the comforting smell of joss sticks bring me back to many a time in my childhood visiting my mom's friend's home where incense would be constantly burning on the altars.



unfortunately, once you walk into the temple, photography was not permitted. and i can understand why. aside from the reverency, it was difficult to capture with a regular slr camera the magnificence. the seven buddha pavilion in the courtyard was gold-laden and grandiose. the main gracious hall is the main building of the temple. since i haven't been to china yet, this temple is what i imagine it to look like. the main gracious hall with its five majestic statues, is where the monks and nuns pray and chant everyday.

i felt somewhat the same way i would feel, if i was at a church. a reverent and curious observer, unable to eat a wafer or light joss sticks but can admire the ritual all the same.

after the temple, sean and i went to nearby steveston to walk along the pier. actually, it's called fisherman's wharf, but i can't seem to refer to it as such because the "real" fisherman's wharf is in san francisco. oh, vancouver trying to be cosmopolitan.

armed with cups of coffee and tea, we walked the pier, onto the boardwalk and all the way to the britannia heritage shipyard.



we walked passed the murakami house where a japanese family of 12 lived up until 1942. also checked out the outside of the chinese bunk house, a tiny space where 75-100 chinese cannery workers lived while working at the cannery. there was also the japanese duplex, a complex of 16 buildings used by japanese workers and the first peoples bunk house, unfortunately, the shoddiest and most poorly kept housing block in the whole shipyard.

richmond is not a place where we normally go, (something about the lot of crazy chinese drivers), but we were happy we ventured out and saw some things, us being life-long vancouverites, don't normally get to experience.



as to when we'll go back, that remains to be seen.

halloween at EA

so halloween at EA is a biggish deal but i wasn't exactly sure what to expect. turns out they really go all out with the decorations, invite employee's kids for a halloween movie in one of their theatre-sized rooms and hold costume contests for staff.

not surprising that the company i work for is into halloween.

press play for some pics or click here for my flickr.

charlie likes wet food

his forehead, cheeks and mouth no longer smell like just kibble. it also smells like wet food now. nom nom nom.

little water baby

and i thought jonesy was the only water baby...







but nope, charlie also seems to like drinking from the tap.

when jonesy met charlie

it was going fine until they became too curious about each other and practically touched noses. then it was all hisses and fur standing up on end for jonesy.

to be expected on the first encounter. we'll try again...

stretchy vampire bat

it's hard to have a camera all ready to go in order to capture a cat yawning, so i was happy this shot turned out. this picture of charlie cracks us up because when little chocolate coloured bear yawns, he looks a little bat!

and the fact that he looks like he's jumping up into the air like a little cheerleader.



course, then it's followed with this. i swear, charlie is some kinda yoga cat. he's always twisting and stretching into the weirdest little positions!

the old republic is almost here

when the star wars: the old republic cinematic trailer came out in the summer of 2009, i remember excitedly talking to sean about it because the trailer blew me away. i wasn't a gamer then (and just a social gamer now), but after watching that trailer, i thought perhaps i should pick up a console and see what i might be missing out on.

then sean burst my bubble slightly by explaining to me that gameplay does not look like the cinematic trailer. it's getting close, but i would be sorely disappointed if i expected the game to look exactly like that. even so, i'm excited to check out this EA MMORPG game when it's officially released december 21.

i'm sure it's not going to be as disappointing as other games. *cough cough alice: madness returns*

bright eyes

when we adopted charlie, the spca vet tech told us that charlie had partial paresis of the third eyelid on his left eye. this is where the nictitating membrane doesn't fully retract from the eyeball. even with this "genetic affliction", it didn't stop us from falling in love with little mcsquinty.

our family vet, however, said that charlie had an eye infection and with a course of antibiotic ointment, not only would the infection be cleared but that the nictitating membrane would go back to retracting whenever he blinked. and he was right.

after a week of using the ointment, hello bright eyes!

sleepy cat positions

charlie is a weirdo. especially when he sleeps.


basking in the sliver of sun. with his legs splayed outward as usual.


if he had thumbs, he would totally hog the remote


starting to turn onto his back...


...and ending up half twisted with his tail tucked and legs splayed out (again)


seriously cute

what a funny little peanut.

sleepy purry kitty naptime

it's hard to get out of bed when you have a cat sleeping on your neck.

here's to the crazy ones

"Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do."

through other's eyes

this piece of geek humour made its way around the office. must say, our whole team of developers, designers, project managers and QA all had a chuckle about it.

the monkeys' lost weekend

here's the video for the arctic monkeys' suck it and see. the leather clad rockers, the motorcycles, the open road, the desert and seedy roadside motels make me want to go on a road trip down to california / nevada. everybody needs a little "lost weekend".

directed by focus creeps, it's easy rider lite for the new generation.

furry collar

it's now 2 weeks since sean and i adopted charlie. he's happy, energetic, affectionate and a furball of kitty joy. his left eye is getting better. the spca vet tech's prognosis that charlie has a genetic affliction (partial paresis of the third eyelid) turned out to be just an eye infection. our vet prescribed some antibiotic ointment and a week later, charlie's left eye is now wide open and clear. we can no longer call him 'mcsquinty'.

although i can see him growing bigger and heavier everyday, he's still so teeny. and needy. and often lies on top of me when he naps. i have a fur collar around my neck.





help. i've been pinned down and i can't get up.

yoga cat

hm, i've had 3 cats in my life and known many more, but none of them ever laid themselves down like this. oh, charlie...

sleepy bear

this is how charlie sleeps...



yes, he always holds onto the remote as he falls asleep

yes, he really napped in that position on the windowsill

yes, he lays down with his legs splayed like that

and yes, he sleeps just like his human, on his back with both arms at his head



what a little peanut.