2012 - here we come!

saying goodbye to 2011 with what is probably the best rendition i've ever heard of the oft-played 'auld lang syne'. it purr-fectly reflects my mood at the end of this year.

here's to 2012! i say, bring it!

wishing everyone a happy new year!

a promise to myself

i'm not one to make new years resolutions, but there's something that i noticed that i've been re-missed about this past year. like a spotlight used in times of dense fog, it's become glaringly obvious to me. i haven't been cultivating my friendships like i should.

i know my friends will always be my friends but i feel like i've been absent in their lives. i feel like we've grown apart this year and that's not sitting very well with me. the reason for me is because of work. i've been so drained this past year, emotionally, physically and mentally, that i find it even challenging to muster up the energy to initiate meeting up or even catching up with friends by ways other than text or emails.

i know i'm not the only one guilty of this but it doesn't make me feel any better about it. everyone i know is also busy with work, partners and starting of families and thus, tend to neglect people outside their most immediate or nuclear circle. any sort of get-togethers are often because of birthdays or christmas. mind you, those are important things to celebrate and recognize, but there's also 365 days in a year. and lots of other opportunities to stay connected.

i want to make more of an effort in 2012 and changes are being made so this pronounced chasm that i'm feeling disappears.

oh, and i'm going to try my hand at baking in 2012.

2011: a retrospective

how did we get here already?

another 365 days gone by and as each year passes, it boggles my mind how time goes so quickly. someone, please tell me how that happens.

continuing my tradition of looking back at year's end and reflecting on the highs and lows, i present the past year in a nutshell.

drumroll, please!

january: my work at the opera makes it onto the front page of the entertainment section of the paper! i am egg farm! a night with the wonderfully weird george mcfly aka crispin glover. omg! omg! omg! interpol! a chicks and baby party for shizuka.

february: year of the kickin' bunny rabbit feet. a night of sugar high supreme for 2 aquarius'. surprisingly, not freaking out about turning another year older. 1.21 gigawatts! birthday dinner + a movie. company-wide blind-siding. a dozen of us get the chop. little ole' ladies having afternoon tea.

march: still feeling the ill affects of lostmyjob-itis. it may not have been ROH's, but RWB's alice in wonderland ballet was pretty darn entertaining. happy 2 year anniversary! may have been the best place to view the supermoon. ever. sean and i spending our 2nd anniversary out in the valley. earth hour day with mr. ed.

april: it's not japan but it's still a very nice sakura days at van dusen gardens. cavalia trots into town. yearly ritual of admiring cherry blossoms at QE park, plus one of the first date places. jonesy had a swinging time. i've been issuing words out into the blogosphere for 3 years now. practicing for the real thing.

may: the red pill or the blue pill? 2 competing job offers and i chose EA over future shop. we could sail to hawaii on a 28 ft boat, right? i'm so not cut out for the cruising life. landsickness, battlestar galactica exhibition and a visit with 2 boys in sea-town. back-to-back sailing, cruising and a rockin' trainride does my nut in. i am an avatar, bitches. (thx to christopher and roy!)

june: if aliens ever abduct me, i have no one to blame but myself. now i've done it. got myself a brand new iphone and used it at whytecliff park. jonesy as a model. and this is why vancouver can't have nice things.

july: hanging with bunnies and goats and my first look at their gumball machine pooping style. we can't seem to go to the park without jonesy. channeling our inner DYI inventor/scientist/geek at maker-faire. me tarzan. you jane. let's swing amongst the treetops.

august: sean wants to make his own salvador-dali lobster phone. family day at the park where i also found out that a cat can give one mean side-eye. that's why we have a soccer pitch! birthday fun in gastown. keep your computer locked or suffer the consequences! i haz wonky heart syndrome and get hooked up to an ekg.

september: overheated and not in the good way. a trip to k-town. giddyup at southlands. bus. no. more. the day my heart was stolen. welcome charlie! they make me feel like a cougar of a groupie but i love them anyways.

october: warning! charlie cuteness overload here, here, here and here. mcsquinty no more. a day in ditchmond, er bitchmond, erm richmond. why yes, i do have a few people who've sworn to bust me out should i ever be detained there against my will.

november: we get freaky for halloweeny, parts un and deux. sean and i have a thing for stabbing and gutting pumpkins. getting yourself a furry face could save you from going to therapy. my one and only vacation this year and i chose to spend it roaming around in the desert. chillin' with the big cat at watutu. at one with nature at joshua tree national park.

december: you could totally guess what kind of mom i would be. influenced by legend of the guardians, not harry potter. "it's maru!!". charlie really is the cutest thing ever. he's a cat through and through. i did say charlie is the cutest thing ever, right? that came across, non?

so, how to sum up 2011 for me? it was a year of unexpected surprises - both good and bad. a year that i hadn't planned for. a year that threw out the window what i had originally wanted to do this year. it was a challenging year, professionally. the loss of a much loved job and the start of another.

it was also a year of emotional growth and development. there were many wonderful highlights, for which i am thankful for. and any challenges that presented themselves have hopefully made me a better partner, a better human. with all my soul-searching and re-evaluation of late, i'd like for more of my dreams realized next year.

but if 2011 taught me anything, it is to try to roll with the punches yet at the same time, not to lose sight of what i want and what is important to me.

and that will remain my focus for 2012.

there's always room for sushi

did someone say sushi?

you'd think that i'd be all over playing EA games, especially now that star wars: the old republic is out. but i prefer my zombie smash, stupid zombies and other games i can play on my iphone whenever i have a spot of time here and there. or when i need to decompress.

i tried out a new game and it's kinda fun. it's called sushi go-round.

you're the sushi chef and your job is to prepare the sushi correctly, serve them in a timely manner on the conveyer belt, all the while, strategizing and making sure you keep ordering enough stock to anticipate demand.



it's both fast-paced and frustrating. especially when you see the customers banging their fists on the table to show their displeasure at not being served quickly enough. that brings to mind catering to all those high-maintenance and slightly unappreciative customers we have ALL had to deal with.

i tried it for the first time the other night, memorizing what ingredients make up the various rolls and didn't do badly, scoring #2 on the leaderboards.

then knowing what to expect and becoming more adept, the next time i played, i really surprised myself with the ginormous difference in the points i accumulated.



well, i HAVE worked in a sushi restaurant before.

zombie killing part deux

after my being addicted to playing zombie smash, i never thought i would find another gem that would take up so much of my spare time. but i was wrong. stupid zombies is definitely fun.

you play a character that looks very similar to the evil dead's ash, who's packing a gun in the hopes of killing the undead using pool-like trajectory. it's all about angles, richocheting and how to adjust your shooting around obstacles and barriers, in order to take out as many zombies as you can with your limited arsenal of bullets. apparently it's similar to angry birds, which i have never tried nor will i ever try, thank you very much.





i've already completed all 4 stages in chapter 1, which means finishing 240 levels. (60 each stage)



i just started chapter 2 which introduces grenades, split and buckshot bullets as well as laser shots in your arsenal. this is taking it to a whole 'nother level.

kitty crack

sean got charlie a christmas present. i had no idea what it could possibly be when i laid it on the kitchen counter. charlie knew. he jumped up and knocked the present onto the ground, then started pawing at it. then tried to tear into it. i thought to myself, there's only one thing that could make a cat go crazy like that.

catnip!

i opened it up for charlie and here's his reaction:



i hadn't even had the chance to cut loose the toy balls yet and he's already going bonkerballs.



boy, he's really loves that catnip. trying to rip those balls loose himself.



you should see the fuzz that was strewn all over my floor as charlie tries in ernest to rip into the centre of the "lollipop".

yes, this was his very first introduction to catnip. i think it's safe to say he really likes it.

fangs

my little furry vampire cat.

little red dot

charlie likes ze laser pointer.



round and round he goes...



where on earth did it go?!

cheek to cheek

catching up on some charlie posts, obvs.

whether i'm laying on my back or on my side, charlie always comes up for a cheek to cheek before he fall asleeps.

such a little peanut.

oh and excuse my messy bed hair.

cuddle pals

seems i'm not going anywhere at the moment. charlie has got me pinned down.

love for a fat cat

"it's maru!!"

that was sean's exact reaction when he opened my i am maru book on christmas eve. the look on his face was priceless. like a little kid getting a wonderful and unexpected surprise from santa.

maru is a youtube sensation, his owner posting videos periodically about the day in the life of maru. maru on his kitty condo. maru lazing about. maru jumping into boxes. boxes are his favourite.

we're both fans of this cute fat cat. sean would email me the latest maru video to bring a little sunshine into my workday, but it had been a long while since we both caught up with maru.

so here we were, opening sean's mom's christmas care package to us when right in front of our eyes, jonesy jumped into the box it came in and curled up inside. sean exclaimed, "look! jonesy looks like maru in that box."




and that when i knew i just HAD to get him to open my presents, rather than wait til christmas morning.

the timing couldn't have been better!

and hence, the "it's maru!!"

merry christmas baby.

part of the team

i know it's not a big deal to anyone but little things like this make me smile.

there's been nearly 300 people involved in some capacity or another when it comes to need for speed world; from its inception in 2008 to the current team working day-to-day on the game. we currently have a team of nearly 40 (that's all!) working full-time now on the game.

i thought that since i joined the company just a scant 7.5 months ago, i wouldn't find my name on the credits, as they have existed there on the website long before i arrived.

but it is there. someone was on top of it and made sure that i was credited. that makes me feel kinda good about being a part of the team.

in another life i would make you stay

i can't say that i'm a huge katy perry fan. i know of her songs in that annoying yet at the same time, catchy, earworm way. i was on the fence, neither liking or disliking her songs. but that kinda changed when i heard 'the one that got away'. plus major points scored on getting diego luna to star in the music video.

and she's gone and upped the ante with her performance at the american music video awards in november. singing an acoustic version of the song, i think it's safe to say she blew people's perception of her away. including me. she's maturing into a serious player.

merry NFSW christmas

our snazzy little christmas card to our online community.

i am SO HAPPY that i'm now on break until january 3. squeeee.

moonblinked

did you know there was a place in vancouver that you could see owls, eagles and other birds of prey? (not counting spying one in the wild)

that place is O.W.L. and up until a month ago, i didn't even know it existed. OWL is a non-profit organization specializing in the rehabilitation of birds of prey. the centre opens for visitors on the weekends where one could see the 20 birds of prey that are permanent residents at the facility.

sean and i have a soft spot for owls, especially snowy owls. have you seen the legend of the guardians: the owls of ga'hoole yet? the little owlets were super cute!



we checked into the main office when we went a few weeks ago and was met by the tour guide. our first introduction was to a barn owl named sarah, the only bird that lives inside the office. she was born and raised in captivity and can never be released into the wild. although accustomed to people, we couldn't get too close to her, i mean she still has "bird of prey" instincts.


sarah the owl looking serious one moment and then like she's heard a funny joke the next


spreading her wings

we headed out to the outside cages and began our walking tour, starting with a couple of bald eagles, flash and curly.

all of the birds at OWL are there for one injury or another: flying into high rise buildings or car windshields, being electrocuted by power lines, injured in a chicken coop or hit by a plane. these birds could never be released back out in the wild because, although they survived their injuries, most of them can't fly properly and would be easy pickings in the wild. and living their lives here means that they have regular food, encounter no enemies and live 2-3 times past their regular lifespan.

a pair of hawks called ruby and rusty greeted us next. one of the hawks flew about its cage, acting very territorial and had we entered its cage (which we're not allowed to do), it would fly straight for our heads, talons at the ready.


samson and delilah or little sean and little ling

sean and i had a giggle at a couple of great grey owls called samson and delilah. we were facing these owls like they were facing us. completely still. a mirror image. and we were saying that they could be an owl version of us. then we found out that they were there from car accidents. samson had his wing amputated and delilah lost sight in her right eye. that gave us the sads a little bit. they were the gimpy owl version of us. but they're still life long partners, so that's a good thing.

we also saw a pair of barred owls called demon and daisy. demon got his name because after hitting an office tower, he's now has some balance issues and when upset, will fly at your head upside down.

next we stopped by and met a pair of peregrine falcons, ariel and gunther. then we got to our favourite...

snowy owls!


snowy owl serenity

the snowy white owls who are male are named piggy and kermit, while the spotted female is called serenity. and they the most vocal of all the birds at OWL. so cute! i was so wowed by them that my subconscious mind blocked out the fact that there was a mouse carcass in the habitat with them. correction. 2 mouse carcasses, one with its head ripped off. right in front of them. i even caught it on camera but didn't "see" it while marveling at the birds. until sean pointed it out to me. tunnel vision or what?!


serenity and kermit

awwww. why do snowy owls have to feast on mice? i had the sads again even though i adore these owls so very much.

we saw turkey vultures and holy cow, are they ever ugly. not only that, but they vomit their food AND projectile vomit when feeling threatened. and the smell is apparently HO-rrendous. oh turkey vultures, i just can't love you.

we barely saw blinkey and casper the great horned owls as they were just chillin in the corner, on the floor of their cage. due to their injuries, they also have ladders in their habitat as they have difficulties even flying up to their high perch.

another pair we didn't get to see was button and lacey the short eared owls. they hid themselves way in the back of the habitat and all i could make out were their shadows.

sad also was OWL's one resident, sammy the western screech owl just passed away recently. and they haven't gotten another screech owl in to replace him.


shooting big daddy

the last habitat of the tour belongs to this big ass bald eagle called daddy. he's recently arrived and looks to be playing nice with the golden eagle whom he's staying with. all i could think about when i looked at daddy was "american flag!"

but of course, we ended off the tour with another visit to the snowy owls. to listen to them "chat" and say goodbye. we even picked up a pair of snowy owl plush toys in the gift shop.


we ran into flinger the roadside hawk, one of the birds who gets taken out on "field trips" to schools. we were lucky to run into him, as he resides in another section of OWL where cages are off-limits to the public.

the tour guide had told us if we wanted to see some wild snowy owls, who are currently here for their winter migration, we just had to drive down the road to boundary bay, where tons of amateur/professional wildlife photographers set up camp to take pictures of the birds who come to roost.



sean and i did spy 2 huge snowy owls but unless you're geared up in thigh high fly-fishing boots, you're going to have a difficult time walking out onto the logs, rock and marsh. there was only one photographer who had made his way close yet not so close to the birds to take their pictures. and he was even doing it with a telephoto lens. but imagine those pictures!

and out in the bay, we could see a black mass flying this way and that in the sky. we were witnessing a murmuration! unfortunately, we were so far from the water that the flock of birds looked like horde of black flies. still it was nice to see this amazing phenomena.

speaking of which, don't you just love that video of the girls who rowed out onto the lake and had a murmuration take place right over their heads?

Murmuration from Sophie Windsor Clive on Vimeo.

and with that, i'll close off this memorable day spent with the birds.

waterbaby. not yet.

here some videos of my little snickerdoodle "playing" in the bath.

i wonder when and if charlie will ever be a waterbaby, wading around in a warm tub of water like jonesy was when she was his age?

but then again, she's kinda grown out of that stage. however, she still loves her drippy showers.








curiouser and curiouser


just out of the water's reach


not quite wanting to jump in yet

bathtime with charlie

charlie is curious about the water. whenever i go to take a shower, he jumps into the far end of the tub with me. with water running from the faucet, i'd wave the water towards him, lapping his paws and tail. he likes the warm water. to a point. then he jumps out when he's sufficiently had enough.



so i wondered, how he would be with a bath? my previous cats, oscar and edie, loved to sit on the ledge but never came into the water. not even when the bath was drained.



not so with charlie. he doesn't sit on the ledge but does lean over to play with the water.



charlie is definitely not like "water baby" jonesy, who at his age loved wading stomach deep in the water. i have a feeling charlie doesn't like to be so wet. but it's still early yet.



and in the meantime, he may just turn me into a bath person.

none of you will leave this place

there was no doubt that tarsem singh's the immortals was going to be visually stunning (it is). but with his upcoming hot mess, the re-imagining of snow white, i was afeared that the immortals would be style over substance: weak story and over-acting. it wasn't shambolic. in fact, it was entirely watchable.

a disclaimer though - come armed with a strong constitution. the movie is uber-violent. like smash someone's head into smithereen with the hammer of the gods violent.

the look of the movie is incredible. it has tarsem singh's indelible signature style. minus jennifer lopez.



throw in the incredible costume designer eiko ishioka and i wouldn't be surprised if the movie picked up some awards for costumes. besides sandy powell, i love, love LOVE eiko ishioka. she not only was responsible for the costumes in francis ford coppola's sumptuous bram stoker's dracula, but she also conceptualized the wardrobe from tarsem singh's the cell and the fall.



(in another timeline, i'm pursuing my dreams of being a costume designer)

i like that the movie skewed a little more towards a surreal vision of ancient greece, rather than the gods and humans clothed in plain white togas a la socrates. in this way, everyone looks like warrior. all the more easier to become engrossed by all the 3D action, especially during the final 20 minutes stand-out climax - a full-on epic battle between the entombed titans and the gods.

in fact, i learned a new word looking into the CG breakdown of the final scene. photosonic. it's the purr-fect word to describe the gory battle.

so if you like fantastical costumes and dark, mythic sets, with just enough and pretty seamless CG thrown into the mix, check your brain at the theatre doors and just let the immortals take you over. it's a visceral thrill ride.

is that me better than this me?

what would you do if you found out there was another you? on another world? or in another timeline?

i've been waiting to watch another earth ever since i heard about it at this year's sundance festival. sean and i finally watched it last week. the main character makes a mistake that forever changes not only her life, but that of other strangers. she spends years punishing herself and trying to atone for what she did.

but with the extraordinary discovery of a "mirror" earth and an identical you, you get to wondering: how can this be? whose life is better? or worse? or the exact same? whose life is it, anyway? and what would you do if given the opportunity to visit "the other side"? is there a chance for redemption?



while waiting for another earth to be released, sean had me watch another similarly themed german movie called die tür, or the door in english. the movie stars mads mikkelsen, who was james bond's eye bleeding nemesis in casino royale and it's a pretty good thriller.



more suspenseful than another earth, it's about a father who through his own fault, loses his daughter in a drowning accident. years later and still grief-stricken, he stumbles on a way to not only save his daughter but to live out his days with her. the only problem is he's time travelled to 5 years earlier, which is why he knew how to prevent his daughter's untimely death, but it also means there's another him, the younger version of himself, to contend with.

so what do you do? which life do you want to live? and to what extremes would you take if you had the chance to live out the life you want?

with a loss so unimaginable, i believe i too, would grapple with what lengths i might go to in order to have my love back. but then how could i ever live with the fact that the life i've stolen was not mine to begin with? even if it was only taken from "yourself".

i like to watch you sleep

my adorable fuzzy face loves to fall asleep on my mac.



and like his human, charlie likes to sleep on his back with arms up. as in, "this is a stick-up" pose.



but try as i might, i just can't sleep in this half twist. with his top half facing one direction, while his lower half is facing another, it looks like he's been wrung out like a dishrag!



kitty paw. that is all.