a labyrinth into which i can venture

feels like teen spirit

2012-01-31T21:46:00.000-08:00

every time this year heralds 2 occasions, one is my birthday and the other is the digital film fest. obviously, i'm more happy about one than the other.

last year for my birthday, sean took me to see back to the future. it was a packed cinema, filled with kids who grew up in the 80s. i have no doubt that the theatres will once again be crammed with the same crowd of movie-loving nerds. i see that this year the festival is playing all 3 back to the future movies back-to-back.

and like last year, i was totally toying with the idea of playing hooky to take in some blast from the past celluloid. so many good ones to choose from:

terminator - i had a major crush on michael biehn

pulp fiction - i saw this movie 3 times in the theatre. that's what happens when you go with 3 different sets of friends

and who doesn't love john hughes?

16 candles - such a dorktastic movie. my lord, i think jake ryan was every teenage girl's dreamhunk

ferris bueller's day off - i had this movie poster on my bedroom wall. flawless casting with matthew broderick. the 80s kids are still waiting for a ferris sequel and this teaser commercial was NOT it.

robocop - i enjoyed this movie but think that with my then teenage brain, i took it way too seriously. it was so bleak and hard to watch in some places, but that made it all the more delicious when robocop exacts revenge. i think with adult eyes, i may even find myself laughing. like at the part where one of the thugs gets absolutely awashed with toxic waste. skin melting off his frame, he meets a grisly end with a car windshield. it may be time for a re-visit. and sean loves this movie and it may be his turn to pick.

and of course one of my favourite movies (still)...

lost boys - "you'll never grow old, michael. and you will never die. but you must feed." i LOVE this movie. forever young, powerful, beautiful and riding motorcycles. what's not to love? i could even forgive the greased up, hip-popping saxophone player with the kenny g. hair on the boardwalk

and of course, it's playing on my actual birthdate. the festival couldn't have scheduled a better choice.

save the cats!

2012-01-30T21:49:00.000-08:00

i am highly amused at iphone games that are comic-book stylized, which is why i found wonder pants utterly charming.

imagine donning a superhero outfit to exact the most noblest of causes - rescuing kitty cats from high places! the cat finds itself in all these predicaments: meowing on a fence, hanging on to a balloon in mid-air, hanging onto a balloon high up amongst a skyscraper's scaffolding or stuck on a bamboo branch in the heart of a jungle.

you use your finger to control how much jump the caped cat crusader darrell would have or if his parachute is timed to open to get at the cat. there's also bouncy trampolines!

and best of all, how smile-inducing is this image when you rescue the cat?

i'm only on the first few levels. i haven't gotten to the part where the caped crusader get his grappling hooks on. strangely enough, i find myself humming the theme to the 60s batman show whenever i complete a level and the splash page appears.

'morning little butterball

2012-01-23T21:29:00.000-08:00

charlie is just like a baby. he's cute, makes cooing noises and is super bendy. and he's got me taking pictures of his royal cuteness.

here's us saturday morning in bed:

doesn't the little butterball remind you of a baby eating his toes?

why are my legs two different lengths?

looks like he's waving with his 2 front paws, but actually, charlie's curled forward and those are his back "bunny" feet propped up!

i think i want to change positions

the cuteness that i wake up. definitely worth those early mornings

choco-monkey's little kitty feet

happy chinese new year!

2012-01-22T16:00:00.000-08:00

wishing everyone all the best in the year of the dragon!

especially, happy new year wishes to my favourite little dragon!

hello you!

2012-01-20T23:45:00.000-08:00

since i adopted charlie, he's never been alone for more than a day, day and a half. with our trip to victoria last weekend, charlie was at home by himself for just over 48 hours. and while i had missed my little furry face when we were on the island, i wondered if he would be mad or glad to see me, cats are so fickle that way.

turns out he missed me too and couldn't wait for our cuddle sesh.

my little peanut is definitely a momma's boy.

missed you! missed you too!

a weekend of games

2012-01-20T23:19:00.000-08:00

last weekend, we went to visit sean's sister in victoria. it was a weekend of snow, food, gaming, cats, reading (!) and most importantly, no alarms.

here are some pics:

cooper gaming with mila

cats and their yawns

won't you have a nap with me?

morning, noon and night gaming sesh

and my favourite picture of the weekend:

the boys on the beary-go-round

smashing times

2012-01-16T23:04:00.000-08:00

it wasn't that long ago that i clearly remembered saying to sean, "look at this app that i downloaded. i think it would come in handy one day, should i need to use it."

well, that day was last wednesday morning.

and that app was carstar's unhappen.

well, we can see where this blog post is going.

i thought that unhappen would be helpful because in a car accident, you may be in too much of a state of shock to get all the necessary information to report a claim. so it walks you through getting all the pertinent information such as:

accident info: date, time, place
other driver info: name, drivers license, license plate number, phone number, email
weather condition: clear, foggy, drizzle/mist, sleet, snow or rain
road condition: dry, wet, snow covered, icy or unpaved
witness info (if applicable): name, phone number
police info (if applicable): name, badge number, report number
insurance info: company name, policy number

and you just check it off as you go down the list.

it also prompts you to write down what happened right away so that everything is still fresh in your mind, in case later on, you need to contest the other person's account of what happened. as well, you can upload pictures of the accident. then you save the report and email a copy to yourself.

and yes, i found it incredibly helpful in not missing out on anything.

so what happened?

well, i was driving straight, southbound on st. george street, when out from an alley, a driver turned left without looking. i braked and honked the horn as soon as i saw him, but ended up colliding into him because he came out so quickly. and without yielding. there was a van parked at the end of the block that may have obstructed his view. but that's not to say that the parked car was at fault, as he should've inched up for a clearer view before proceeding with his left turn.

after checking if we were all okay, we ascertained the damages. my front fender got scratches and paint transfer from the crash, as well as my right grille popped off.

the other guy got off worse than i did. as he was making a left turn when i hit him, the left wheel was bent as to be undrivable and of course there was a pretty good dent.

luckily, neither of us were "roadraging" at the other. it was an accident. pure and simple. no major injuries. no police or ambulance required.

by the time i got to work, a little shaken from all the adrenaline, i called ICBC to report the accident and was informed that the other driver had just called in and taken 100% of the responsibility. (as he should've). and as i'm not at fault, my deductible got waived.

i went to my RMT the next day to check if i sustained any injuries, not whiplash but perhaps soft tissue damage as i had "braced" for impact. fortunately, there was just a little bit of stiffness in my neck and shoulder region, no signs of swelling.

as a believer of karma, i look back on that morning and was glad i kept my cool. and that could also be the hidden beauty of this app. it kept you calm and focused enough to not lose your sh*t (in a minor accident anyways).

as such, everything seemed to work out in my favour. well, except for my poor car, dita, which i had taken in this morning to start repairs. hopefully, there won't be much damage underneath the fender. fingers crossed.

got klout?

2012-01-12T23:27:00.000-08:00

not too long ago, klout was the buzzwords on everyone's lips. your klout score measures one's influence online on a scale of 1 to 100.

"what's your klout?" "what's your klout?" "what's YOUR klout?" was what everyone seemed to be asking.

i didn't give a hoot, to be honest, because i post what i post and if my friends enjoys it, then that's great. my primary objective for tweeting was not to be in competition with other people in the race to gain the most followers and have my tweets re-tweeted. that seemed kinda egotistical to me. i just do my own thing.

and it is only because of work that i checked out my klout score for the analytics i'd be tracking.

here's my personal klout:

apparently the majority of people average around 20 on the scale. meh. whatever.

but for my work twitter account, my klout score was almost doubled.

apparently i'm a thought leader.

that i gotta admit, made me smile. maybe i'm doing something right at work, after all.

party hats for everyone

2012-01-11T22:26:00.001-08:00

launched need for speed world's facebook page may 19 last year and a short 8 months less 8 days later, grew the page to 100K likes. (according to one of the community members who was watching, 100K clicked about 245am PST, when i was well asleep)

one goal down. another to go.

at 17K followers, the need for speed world twitter account i launched still has a bit to go until the 25K mark.

in the meantime, i'm gonna celebrate this FB milestone.

getting the sleepies

2012-01-08T22:04:00.000-08:00

charlie is such the little neck cuddler. our daily routine consists of me coming home from work, us having a little cuddle sesh and then he saunters off to his place on the bed (my old terrycloth hoody which he has claimed as his own) to sleep. but lately, he's been falling asleep mid cuddle. and so did i on friday night after a busy day of work.

i think 1/2 hour passed by when i awoke to the sound of the TV and his intermittent breathing in my ear. i grabbed for my iphone to take some pictures of his royal cuteness. (excuse the low quality front facing 3.2 mega pixel iphone pics)

charlie moving in his sleep and messing up my hair

in the span of a few minutes, charlie tries out different positions. including knocking my glasses off my face

waking up. doesn't his yawn look like a roar?

big yawn! more teeth!

my current obsession is to get a clear picture of charlie's ridiculously big yawn. it's just so comical that such a small little thing could open his mouth that big. remember this one?

maybe i should make taking a picture of charlie's yawn a creative project for this year.

no go on the faux

2012-01-06T23:15:00.000-08:00

my apartment has central heating and normally it's warm enough in the fall/winter, that i just wear t-shirts and shorts or yoga pants around the house. i sleep comfortably with a flat sheet and a down filled duvet but the past couple of nights have been extra cold as the heating went on the fritz and i had to bust out my white furry plush throw.

who knew that charlie would go ape when he walked on top of the shaggy pile? it weirded him out so much that he did a jump, hop and a skip off the throw. and would not come anywhere near it on the bed. instead, he stayed at the edge, laying on my terrycloth hoody that he claimed as his since i adopted him.

he loves the terrycloth fabric but doesn't like plush shag. my little weirdo.

oh, and being the good human that i am, i decided to place the throw between the flat sheet and duvet (rather than on top) - so charlie could have free roam of the bed.

in the mood for a tea party

2012-01-05T22:11:00.000-08:00

vancouver needs a place that serves cream tea, stat. sure, there are places that serve high tea here but they offer finger sandwiches, cranberry scones and other bite sized sweets on a 3 tiered tray with a choice of assorted teas. and they cost like $25+ per person.

too fancy.

i want a little spot that just serves english breakfast tea, plain scones, strawberry jam and clotted cream. we are so influenced by the brits here that there SHOULD be a place like this that i can go to every weekend.

that's what i miss about england, particularly the countryside, where you can pop into a cafe anywhere to get your mid-afternoon fix.

here i am in warwick, blissed out of my mind from just having had afternoon tea

if i had the means, i would open one up myself. a little place that served cream tea and english comfort food and decorated in eccentric brick-a-bracks. it could be modeled after the tea place i went to in warwick or even tea & sympathy in new york. boy, did i love that place and would go there even by myself on the weekends.

but then again, i did recently pick up a recipe for scones and i did say i would start baking this year. and those scones would go nicely with the box of tea that sean gave me as a christmas stocking stuffer.

all i need now is a floral teapot and matching cups and saucers.

2012 - here we come!

2011-12-31T21:00:00.000-08:00

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

2011-12-31T20:23:00.000-08:00

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

2011-12-30T23:38:00.000-08:00

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

2011-12-30T22:59:00.001-08:00

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

2011-12-30T22:31:00.000-08:00

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

2011-12-28T20:57:00.000-08:00

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

2011-12-28T19:01:00.000-08:00

my little furry vampire cat.

little red dot

2011-12-28T18:39:00.000-08:00

charlie likes ze laser pointer.

round and round he goes...

where on earth did it go?!

cheek to cheek

2011-12-28T18:26:00.000-08:00

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

2011-12-28T17:21:00.000-08:00

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

love for a fat cat

2011-12-25T23:05:00.000-08:00

"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

2011-12-25T22:25:00.000-08:00

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

2011-12-25T10:58:00.000-08:00

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

2011-12-23T23:19:00.000-08:00

our snazzy little christmas card to our online community.

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

moonblinked

2011-12-22T23:18:00.000-08:00

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.

2011-12-22T00:14:00.000-08:00

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

2011-12-21T00:38:00.000-08:00

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

2011-12-12T22:10:00.001-08:00

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?

2011-12-09T21:46:00.000-08:00

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

2011-12-08T23:20:00.000-08:00

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.

the nordic trio

2011-11-20T12:52:00.000-08:00

not that i'm sad and want to go walking in the rain, i just really love this song. maybe i'm feeling a bit nostalgic for the music that i grew up with.

i love a-ha and one of my biggest disappointments living in new york was that i never got to see then perform live. they played a one off show at irving plaza in 2005 and no word of a lie, the intimate show was sold out. like, over sold out and fans were just not giving up their tickets. the last time they played in the states was 1986, so yeah, there were barely even any scalper tickets available.

so let me revel for days gone by and enjoy this better than the original cover of the everly brother's crying in the rain.

A-Ha - Crying In The Rain by zocomoro

and for the record, when i think of a-ha, take on me isn't the first song i think of. nor is it my favourite. and why yes, i do have the best of a-ha cd.

final thoughts on psp

2011-11-19T00:14:00.000-08:00

palm springs pleasantly surprised me. i didn't think i was a desert girl, although for some reason lately, i just felt compelled to go walk through one. i don't hike in vancouver, but enthusiastically scaled canyons in california. whatever the reason on why i was intrigued by palm springs, i'm glad i went.

the people are really nice there. like bend over backwards nice.

there's free 2 hour parking downtown. what city offers that?

i had the best sandwich i've ever had and would recommend anyone to go check out cheeky's. heck, i would go back just for the food.

speaking of food, i wish i had more time so i could've checked out tyler's burgers, a cash-only burger joint in a refurbished circa 1936 bus station.

and if i had just one more day in palm springs, that would've been purr-fect. then i would've gotten to do everything i wanted to do. as it is, i didn't get a chance to go to the salton sea, 40 minutes south of joshua tree national park. i would've loved to check out one of the lowest spots on earth (-227 feet below seal level) and one of the world's largest inland seas. and the salt content in the salton sea is greater tan that of the pacific ocean. plus the mud volcanoes and the avian biodiversity. there are over 4M birds that visit salton sea during their winter migration.

and i would've explored the southern part of joshua tree national park, where the landscape is way different than the northern half. i had thought i'd be able to see all of the park in my afternoon there, but there was so much to see. you need a WHOLE day or more to really take in what the park has to offer. heck, driving non-stop through the whole park takes over 2 hours alone!

so would i go back? definitely. then i would also throw in a couple daytrips to the mojave desert and death valley. more deserts?! don't ask me why. i just feel like going. maybe i'm just going through a phase...

so here's what i saw in palm springs. press play on the slideshow or click here for my flickr.

a desert pilgrimage

2011-11-17T23:39:00.001-08:00

last full day in palm springs, so i better make it count.

no matter how ambitious i want to be on vacation to do the touristy thing, waking up early is NOT my strong suit. i'm on vacation. i shouldn't have to wake up at the crack of dawn. so i've been waking up by 10 and then take my time getting ready. and added to that slow puttering is 2 back-to-back episodes of supernatural being played on tnt channel every morning.

i saved what i wanted to do all trip for today. i was planning on capping off my getaway with a drive to joshua tree national park, an hour away.

i didn't have time to sit in a restaurant to eat brunch, but i just had to try out cheeky's. even if that meant doing take-out in my car. can i say that i had the BEST sandwich i've ever had in recent memory? avocado, tons of cukes, grated white cheddar and slathered with aioli on lightly toasted buttered sourdough. now i wish i had more days left to sample more of their menu.

seriously, the best meal i've had my whole time in palm springs.

everyone i spoke to about going to joshua tree warned me that i must, must, must gas up before going because there's no gas stations in joshua tree. this led me to thinking that i was driving a barren wasteland. sean wanted me to be extra careful as he was picturing in his mind, "the hills have eyes" type of mutant hillbillies, hiding up in the canyon rocks, waiting to puncture my tires with a spike belt, before ratcheting up some torture porn action on me.

so armed with a full tank, 5 bottles of water and snacks a plenty, i felt confident that i was set. on the twentynine plams highway, i got to drive by rows and rows of majestic wind turbines erected in the mountain pass. apparently palm springs has not only the oldest commercial windpark, but the most comprehensive wind farm in america.

the scenery is way different than what i'm used to in the pacific northwest. i'm not use to so much rock and desert and taking it all in and concentrating on driving somewhere i've never been before, overwhelmed me for a few minutes. but in a good way.

driving up to joshua tree was not the wasteland that i feared, for i would hit morongo valley and yucca valley with its small town diners and motels and gas stations before getting to joshua tree. so yes, there are gas stations on the way to joshua tree - the very last place to make that pitstop, because yes, once you're enter the wilderess of joshua tree national park's 790,636 acres, you could be up sh*t creek if your car went kaput.

after getting my bearings at the joshua tree visitor centre, i headed into the park. the landscape is breathtaking. thousands of joshua trees, as far as the eye could see. and amazing rock formations, boulders and canyon trails. it's like you're travelled to a different planet. the park is so huge that you could drive for long stretches without encountering anyone. and then just when you think you're the last man on earth, you come across people mountain biking, camping, hiking or rock climbing. apparently "j-tree" is one of the best places to climb in california.

joshua tree or dr. suess-style giant agave plant?

the joshua tree was so named by the mormon settlers crossing the mojave desert in the 19th century. the distinctive tree branches' upward reach reminded them of the prophet, joshua reaching his hands up to the heavens in prayer. but to millions of music fans growing up in the late 80s, joshua trees are synonymous wih u2's album of the same name. apparently the tree is actually not in joshua tree, but in death valley. furthermore that particular lone joshua tree fell around 2000. in its place is a plaque reading "have you found what you're looking for?"

joshua tree is made up of 2 deserts: mojave and colorado. you can tell which part of the desert you're in by the plant that is thriving. when you see many joshua trees, one is in the mojave desert, which is the higher western section of the park. when you see ironwood, you're in the colorado desert, in the lower, eastern part.

i would only have time to experience the northern part of the park. so what did i see at joshua tree?

the massive boulders at hidden valley where i spied many rockclimbers. and signs warning people about aggressive bees in the area.

that dark line cutting through the middle of the picture? that's the san andreas fault line!

i drove up to keys view, 20 minutes drive off the main road. at an elevation of 5,185 feet, you're overlooking the coachella valley where you take in a stunning vista that extends beyond salton sea to mexico. and seeing the huge crack in the ground, the san andreas fault line, from where i was standing was amazing. i wonder how deep that crack goes.

the hall of horrors, a boulder for rock climbing. there are 4 climbing routes there, from easiest to most difficult with names such as right on, harlequin, walk on the wild side and a cheap way to die. i take it that's the most difficult one.

speaking of "the hills have eyes", there's actually a naturally weathered and supernatural looking rock formation at joshua tree, aptly named skull rock. the erosion from centuries of rain led to the rock looking like a skull with 2 hollowed out eye sockets. if there was anyone around, i would've climbed up into one of the sockets and have them take a picture of me.

although the weather was 23-25C everyday, the sun starts to set around 5pm everyday. for the magic hour, i made sure i was able to make it to indian cove campground. it is here that the famous 1997 picture of the hale-bopp comet was taken over the rock formations.

with the sun setting, the whole cove was flooded in an orange and red hue. and for a sec, i could see how it could be frightening if you were lost or stranded. the landscape looked slightly extraterrestrial. and the red tinge reminded me of that val kilmer movie, red planet.

while i was driving out of the cove, i glimpsed a roadrunner running beside my car! i've never seen a real life roadrunner before. i didn't even know what i was looking at. it wasn't until i got back to the resort that i found out the park has roadrunners as its inhabitants. and it was so darn cute! it bobs up and down as it run. and it's a quick little fella. i pulled the car over to see if i could capture it, but it darted back amongst the rocks.

by the time i got back on the highway, it was pitch black. and that made for a fun one and a half drive back to palm springs. like i said, street lamps are few and far between and you're driving in the black. for dinner, i got the traditional caesar salad topped with large chilled shrimp, fresh avocado, garnished with croutons, fresh tomato and parmesan cheese from guacamoles.

i wanted something light, something that would energize me as i hit the pedestrian-only street fair that takes place every thursday nights downtown. the main drag gets cordoned off and there is live music, food and craft vendors and farmer's market. it's apparently the thing to do whether you're resident or a tourist. i guess it could be fun, but i'm not one for crowds. i went down when it was an hour before closing to avoid most of the masses. another thing is that everything in palm springs closes down early. most restaurants are closed by 9pm.

and shopping? forget about it. palm springs is where garish and clashable clothes go to die. unless you want to dress like rue mccalahan's blanche character on golden girls or j.lo in denial that she's well past her prime. this is just downtown, where it's a tourist magnet. i'm sure there are stores/outlet malls elsewhere that sell wearable clothing. although i did not come to palm springs to seek out their shopping.

one more night. one more soak. and one more float. this little getaway has gone by way too fast. i never thought of myself as a desert, hiking in the sun girl, but it was just what the doctor ordered. literally. i'm going to miss the desert.

big cat in the watutu

2011-11-16T22:57:00.000-08:00

have car, will travel. i knew that the desert riviera offers full concierge service, but i didn't expect their associate, anza car rental to deliver to my door a KIA hybrid car for $49/day. and they'll pick it up from me at the resort when i'm done.

can we say, exceptional customer service?

another day, another canyon. after breakfast at elmers down the street, (which if i closed my eyes would've had me thinking i was eating at a denny's), i drove to the nearby indian canyon, about 20 minutes from desert riviera.

at indian canyon there are 3 hiking canyons (andreas, palm and murray and by extension, tahquitz canyon) with trails ranging from moderate to challenging. i chose the 1 mile andreas canyon trail, where hikers would gain an elevation of 200 ft and it'd take less than an hour to complete the loop.

andreas canyon offers a leisurely hike along a quiet stream, on ledges of rocks. not only that, but there are magnificent fan palms on either side of the andreas creek, shading you from the hot sun. andreas canyon is considered the world's second largest california fan palm oasis. this lush oasis hardly felt like a desert. the trail itself passes unusual rock formations, bedrock mortars and metates used centuries ago for preparing food.

when you're at the halfway point of the trail, the loop brings you around, returning along the upper stream terrace and back to the parking lot. although unshaded, hikers are rewarded with spectacular views of sycamores, cottonwoods, willows and a birds eye view of the fan palms.

if i had more time in palm springs, i may have even hiked the murray canyon trail afterwards but nope, zoo animals were beckoning. ordinarily i don't hit up zoos when i travel but the living zoo is one of the top rated things to do in palm springs. more than just a zoo, it's also a nature preserve, protecting 1,080 acres of undisturbed sonoran desert and nature trails.

but with only half an afternoon left in the day, i knew i wasn't going to see all the aviaries, gardens and trails, so i went straight to see the animals in the african exhibit. first stop was the petting kraal where you can mingle with sicilian dwarf donkeys, jacob's sheep and nubian goats.

i got to see the baby giraffe that was born right before halloween. it's so teeny compared to its parents.

i had hoped to go on a camel ride but was disappointed to find out the feature was only offered seasonally.

in the village watutu, i waited in the alcove to see if the leopard would come up to the viewing glass. i think as i was the only one there at the time, the leopard felt more inclined to approach. and i sat on the other side of the glass, eye to eye with this magnificent creature. he was so at ease that he even ended up licking his fur in front of me, like a little kitty. that is until more families came into the alcove and that's when the leopard ran away.

leopard sussing me out

coming to sit with me at the reinforced glass

here kitty, kitty

i saw a striped hyena, addaxes, zebras, cheetah, cape rock hyrax, meerkats, bighorn sheep and a swift fox (who is really swift by the way)

i wish i had more time to enjoy the living zoo but as it is, the sun was setting and i had 5 minutes to make it back to the entrance. i didn't get a chance to see the walk through aviary, the cactus garden, butterfly garden, hummingbird garden or any of the other gardens. twenty in all. but i got to see animals that i would never see at the greater vancouver zoo.

on the way home i hit up target and trader joe's in cathedral city. i almost forget that palm springs is in california because of the desert-y environment. feels more like i'm in arizona or nevada. so despite this teejay's being much smaller than others i've been to, i was happy as a clam buying some food to make use of my bungalow's kitchenette. and give my pocketbook a break too.

to end the day, a night time float in the pool and a soak in the hot tub. all to myself again.

it's pronounced talk-wish

2011-11-15T21:35:00.000-08:00

after a good night's sleep, i woke up rested, refreshed and famished. for breakfast eats, i took judy's recommendation and walked to the nearby old creek house. it was near noon and breakfast was over, but i was able to get the lemon ricotta pancakes with 2 eggs over easy.

must say, it sounded so delicious on paper, but not so much on the plate. the pancakes are made with egg whites and mixed with ricotta cheese which meant that they didn't have that hearty flapjack consistency and taste. instead they were so runny, i couldn't even keep them on the fork. the waiter was so eager to please and wanting to get the cook to whip up some regular pancakes, that i didn't feel the need to accept. the day was waiting and i was sufficiently sated on the eggs and fruit plate.

the thing i'm learning is that everyone's idea of "a mile" here is way different. just like new yorkers saying, everything's "five minutes away", i get the feeling that folks in palm springs think a mile is actually a few walkable blocks. but man, are those blocks long!

by the time i got up the hill to the visitor's centre at tahquitz canyon, i was debating if i even had the energy to even continue hiking its 2 mile loop.

being "backyard" to desert riviera, i thought it would be a good idea to ease into all the hiking with tahquitz canyon, the fabled location with an incredible 60 ft waterfall used by director frank capra as his setting for shangri-la in the 1937 film, lost horizon.

i'm not a hiking kind of girl. i'm one of the rare birds in vancouver that have never hiked the grouse grind. the last time i hiked with friends was up the chief or lynn canyon. they wanted everybody to charge up that hill in a personal best sorta way, that i got completely turned off by hiking. but this time would be different, i would do it at my leisure and i would only tackle trails rated "moderate".

the tahquitz loop would take about 1-1 1/2 hours to complete and i would be gaining 350 feet in elevation. there's even an advisory warning hikers that there are many steep and rocky steps to climb and that they should be able to go up and down 12-15" rock steps. not a problem.

when i had arrived at the visitor's centre, i sat in with a tour group that had finished their walk with a ranger in the theatre room to watch a video that narrated the legend of tahquitz canyon.

problem!

in the video, they interviewed elders of the ague caliente cahuilla tribe about tahquitz, the first shaman who abused his power and brought harm to the cahuilla indians. they banished tahquitz to the canyon that would eventually bear his name. he made his home high in a secret cave in the san jacinto mountains, now known as tahquitz peak. and he would kidnap young cahuilla maidens and keep them hostage in his cave for years. when one maiden begged to be let go, he relented but only if she never told the tribe where she was kept or he would kill her. eventually she did tell and the very next day, she was found dead.

other have also been found dead on the trails. in unusual positions. not fallen over, but rather sitting upright on a rock. cross legged even.

legend has it that tahquitz's spirit still lives in this canyon and that he's seen as a large green fireball streaking across the nightsky. the strange rumblings and shaking of the ground as well as the crashing of boulders are all attributed to him stomping about the canyon.

the interviewees seemed genuinely terrified with their encounters with tahquitz. even though some people might dismiss this as superstition, it gave me the heebie jeebies. i scare easily when it comes to local lore. t'is the same reason why i didn't want to have a voodoo hex slapped on me when i was at mardi gras in new orleans years and years ago. and so i didn't upset anyone who may be a voodoo priest/ess. thanks 'true believers'.

i know the ranger was having a bit of a laugh when he saw the hesitancy on my face and said "as long as you hike with a good intentions, you'll be fine." but then another hiker got into it and told me that as he and his wife were coming back from the hike, he heard this eerie sound in the wind.

that got me feeling uneasy but was encouraged by the staff to go on the hike. about five minutes into it and with no one visible in front of me, i turned back. truth be told, what they said got to me. i didn't want to be found dead, sitting in some upright position. or gone missing, never to be seen again. course when the ranger asked why i was back, i told him and the cashier that i was thoroughly freaked. the cashier reassured me by promising me that nothing of the sort has ever happened. and that the ranger and previous hiker were just being dumb asses.

so i took her at her word and returned onto the trail. and i'm glad i did. for eventually i would come across other hikers, either going or returning. and the canyon was amazing. as was the view of the city. and after sweating in the hot sun and climbing 350 feet, the pay-off was the breathtakingly cool tahquitz falls.

definitely worth the trek and the scare. after i descended safe and sound, i did feel a little silly to be have sucked in like that.

i headed over to the air conditioned palm springs art museum downtown. i wasn't expected much, thinking it would all be turquoise and terracotta pots, but it surprised me. dare i say, it was even more interesting than the vancouver art gallery. (so not a fan of emily carr)

the last outpost. llyn foulkes combines a child's fantasies with his own ironic commentary on the corporate manipulation of a child's innocence. he uses the smiling, popular icons of the lone ranger and mickey mouse and a child acting out his fantasy. anger, nostalgia for the past, apprehension for the future and changing values are represented in this complex work.

clockwise from top left: apart x by anthony gormley, spider II by louise bourgeouis, nossis by anseml kiefer and american tan III by gary hume

aside from the andrew wyeth perspective, i was able to take pictures of their permanent collection. love when a museum lets you do that. *cough, cough vag* they even had an outdoor sculpture garden.

the museum closed at 5 which meant that it was still happy hour at trio restaurant. not only were they raved about on yelp, but nightly between 4pm-6pm, they offered a prix fixe menu of a starter, an entree and dessert for $19.

i ordered the caesar salad which was one of the best caesar salads i've had in recent memory. followed by fish and chips and then topped off with an ice cream sundae.

i was exhausted from walking all day and feet-weary and called on judy for a limo pick-up. even tipping the driver $5 for the complimentary service would've been way cheaper than taking a cab back to the resort. i could've taken the bus but i was facing a 3-4 block walk to the nearest bus stop.

such a princess, right? well, actually, rock star. cuz that's how i rolled tonight.

and then capped it off with a soak in the outdoor hot tub. with only 5 out of the 10 rooms occupied today, i had the whole outdoor courtyard all to myself. and as there's not a lot of street lights in palm springs, it's dark enough to see the stars. the purr-fect thing to see when one is having a float in the pool.

palm spring follies

2011-11-14T23:24:00.000-08:00

the only thing that could get me up and at 'em at the ungodly hour of 545am would be a vacation. and the only thing that would make me look the other way would be a departure time of 830am, which means that being at the airport 2 hours earlier to go through blasted customs.

but that's what i did. with an ear-to-ear smile and slightly bloodshot eyes.

sean dropped me off at the airport and i made my way through security. note to self: don't travel on monday mornings as it's the busiest time of the week with the longest wait times.

once on the plane, it would take less than 3 hours before i'd find myself in sunny, balmy palm springs. disembarking the plane, i found out that the arrival/departure gates are sheltered. the other parts of the airport are exposed to the elements and reminded me of the grove in los angeles.

nice surprise #1 - the first 15 minutes for a local call is free!

i called desert riviera's office manager judy and informed her of my arrival, so she could send the stretch limo to pick me up. my driver, jay, gave me a quick tour of downtown while my room was being cleaned from a check-out.

the desert riviera looks even sweeter than it does in pictures. everything is so lush and green. the azure colour of the swimming pool was so inviting. and the sight of tall palm trees made me feel like i wasn't in kansas anymore.

spot the hummingbird. hint: it's in the middle of the picture

nice surprise #2 - the hotel with all its lushness is home to hummingbirds! one of the even "greeted" me when i came through the wrought iron gates. they're so teeny! and there is a huge tree at the other end of the hotel where all the hummingbirds flit in an out.

it was not long before i could get into my poolside room, put away my stuff and kick up my heels. i walked across the street to the ace hotel and ate at the popular kings highway. it was after lunch hour and there was just one other person eating there besides me. or perhaps hipsters don't eat or wake up until closer to dinner?

the server was friendly and called me sweetie every time she talked to me. for my first meal in psp, i ordered an ALT sandwich. (avocado, butter lettuce and vine riped tomato sandwich with harissa aioli on wheat toast served with a side of jicama slaw).

after lunch, i walked around the neighbourhood to orient myself. but functioning on 4 hours of sleep and the early morning travel caught up to me and i had to get a nap in. for dinner, i stuck close to the hotel and walked up the street to red tomatoes for take-out pizza.

still feeling exhausted, i spent the evening at the hotel, watching complimentary movies from their massive dvd collections and taking a midnight soak in the 10 person outdoor hot tub. as only 5 out of their 10 rooms are currently occupied, i had the whole pool/hot tub to myself. and it was nice!

surprise #3.

ever since harrison hot springs, i enjoy sitting in a vat of hot/warm water, but only with the night air on my face and shoulders. and like harrison hot springs, there is not a lot of city lights where i am, which made for brilliant star-gazing while floating on my back. the quiet and the serenity. the desert riviera is indeed a garden oasis.

i couldn't muster up the energy for my usual go! go! go! tourist mode, so my first day was a bit of a write-off, but it sure ended heavenly.

harmonies slay me

2011-11-13T12:26:00.000-08:00

i've always been partial to voices singing in harmony, which is why i love, love, love 60s music. i have spent hours, nay, years listening to the sounds of the beatles, beach boys, the byrds, chad and jeremy, peter and gordon, everly brothers, the turtles, the zombies and the associations singing in perfect, dreamy harmony.

which is why i love this cover of van mccoy's baby i'm yours by the arctic monkeys. yes, them again. you can find those monkeys mentioned in my blog but everywhere. they sure know how to cover songs.

and of course, violins. i've always been a sucker for string instruments in pop songs.

a walk in the desert

2011-11-10T22:42:00.000-08:00

has it been 6 months? yes it has!

the last day of my EA contract was yesterday and as of today i'm on vacation for 18 days! i had asked for some time-off before rolling into another control because i'm burnt out, both mentally and physically. i couldn't even entertain the option of hanging on and continuing to work until december 24 whereby EA will shut down until january 2 for christmas holidays. i need to relax and recharge. now.

i haven't been on vacation since my trip to amsterdam and brussels in june 2010. a year and a half.

so for a quick getaway, i've decided to go to palm springs. never been there before but i know it's going to be warm and sunny, unlike san francisco, new york or anywhere north of the southern states. i want to go somewhere i've never been before. and for some reason, i feel like seeing the desert.

but with going someplace new, there was a certain amount of sweating decisions. do i go with one of the hotel packages with westjet airlines? or do i go the more expensive route and book the hotel a la carte?

there was the good on paper, erm i mean website, riviera palm springs that westjet packaged with their flights. a swanky and modern hotel. although a tad bit "vegas showy", based on their photo gallery, i nearly booked it.

but my gut told me to check out their reviews and i'm glad i listened. on both tripadvisor and yelp there were just too many scathing reviews.

i considered separately booking the simple and minimalist ace hotel palm springs. but again, it was almost split down the middle between good reviews and bad on tripadvisor and yelp.

now, i'd like to think i wouldn't be scared off by a few bad reviews, but when they're so many fails in the vein of poor customer service, loud parties, fist-pumping jersey shore type clientele, vomit outside doorways, pictures of piles of beer cans and overflowing ashtrays everywhere, i almost gave up on booking altogether. i believe the words, "cess-pool" and "incubator for an std" when describing the hotels' overly crowded swimming pools was the final nail in the coffin.

and i had really wanted to book at ace hotel, ever since i read about it on this photographer's website. it looks so hip and laid back.

so i did some further digging because i did not want to end up with westjet's chain accommodations. i did not envision myself unwinding at a westin, marriot, hyatt or best western hotel. and i wanted something more boutique. more intimate. i didn't fancy staying somewhere that had 400 rooms.

i considered the groovy 50s rat-pack stylings of orbit in, with their eames and noguchi furnishings.

or the del marco, a desert oasis throwback designed by architect william f. cody in 1947. they offer different theme rooms and included a schwackload of amenities with your stay.

the palm spring rendezvous also offered themed rooms, like pretty in pink which was actually marilyn monroe's home away from home. they even had a james dean tribute room called rebel without a cause. growing up a HUGE james dean fan and sharing the same birthday, i did have a think about staying here.

but asides from the rebel room, i was afraid, based on their website, palm springs rendezvous would skew older in terms of guests.

but then i found the desert riviera and as i cruised their website, i felt an immediate sense of relief. this is where i want to stay. this would help me relax. they had me at "desert riviera - a garden resort".

even on tripadvisor and yelp, no one had a bad thing to say about them. in fact, they're rated #1 in customer satisfaction on tripadvisor and consistent 5 stars from guests on yelp. all i kept reading was amazing service this, amazing service that.

the above 3 block of pictures were taken by guests!

and honestly, that's what i need.

upon making a reservation when the manager found out i was traveling by myself, she immediately upgraded me to a poolside room. and they're going to pick me up in a limo from the airport. and have a welcome basket of treats and drinks upon my arrival. and a 24 hour outdoor pool and jacuzzi. and at night i can float in the water and look at the stars in the sky.

i mean, holy crows, check out all the unmatched amenities that goes with your stay.

.

and there's only 10 bungalows. peace and quiet. incomparable hospitality. attention to detail. garden oasis.

folks, we have a winner!

doing the twist

2011-11-10T21:20:00.000-08:00

someone tell me if they've ever seen a cat sleep in this position? cuz i've had 3 cats before and none of them have ever slept like that, in some sort of half-twist. i mean, his rear legs are facing topside while his front paws are facing down. i think it's both adorable and strange to see charlie sleep like this.

and then as he's slowly waking up, (while i'm surfing ebay), he likes to lie on his back with those bunny feet spread wide open.

my strange little peanut.

laptop kitty

2011-11-10T21:11:00.000-08:00

a warm laptop proves too irresistible for charlie to pass up. his second favourite place to sleep.

magic hour

2011-11-08T23:53:00.000-08:00

sean and i were driving back from an appointment a couple of weeks ago. we were both in our cars, him following, as we drive down kingsway. we stopped at a red light.

looking up, i was taken aback by the way the setting sun was just lighting up the clouds in the sky. i quickly grabbed my iphone to took a picture of the breathtaking colours.

i was just about to call sean to ask him if he was also seeing this when i looked in my rearview mirror, only to see him also taking a picture with his android phone.

and that is how i know that he's the guy for me.

daily cat bonding

2011-11-08T23:29:00.000-08:00

however stressful a day at work i'm having, i'm comforted by the thought that once i get home, charlie will be there waiting for hugs from me. like literally. he's a needy and affectionate kitty. we were warned at the spca when we adopted him that this is his nature. (and it suits me fine)

our daily ritual since he came into my life is that when i get home, wash the day off my face, change into comfy clothes, i'd pick charlie up, turn on the tv, kick back onto the bed for a few minutes and have some human/kitty bonding time. he then proceeds to purr himself to sleep in my arms or on my chest. a limpy lump of kitty cuteness.

and then i'm trapped under 6 pounds of cat. and i have to wait until charlie wakes up before moving. good thing, i have a tv remote control. get myself nice and comfy. i ain't going anywhere...

but sometimes he'll just slide off me or get up in his sleepy daze only to lie back down and fall asleep by me.

so whatever the work day may throw my way, i know that once i get home, he'll have something to sleep on (me), and i get an instant de-stresser. i think i got the better end of the deal.

halloween extravaganza III

2011-11-05T23:28:00.000-07:00

i think it's safe to say sean and i like halloween. this is our third halloween together and our third gutting of pumpkins.

halloween 2009:

halloween 2010:

halloween 2011:

looking forward to next year...

halloween extravaganza II

2011-11-05T22:51:00.000-07:00

if friday didn't get that many people to don on their costumes, then saturday would be the night to get freaky.

i became the priestess again while sean became another variation zombie, this time german soldier zombie. the look was purr-fect and had he a hogan's heroes' steel helmet, then he could be a zombie from that movie, dead snow.

charlie's braiiiiins smell good!

we checked out the parade of lost souls over by the drive. i had never been before and neither had peggy. although it is an all-ages outdoor event, i had it in my mind that it was going to be scary. not potters house of horrors scary but maybe a little creepy? i mean, after all, it IS halloween. let's just say that it was very commercial drive, which deciphered means very tree-hugging, maker-faire, hippie-ish, slightly patchouli brand of flavour.

the starting point of the walk was at garden park where there were silk rope artists swinging from trees and a soundbooth area where one could bang gongs or make weird experimental kazoo sounds.

tree-swingers

the line-up to start the walk wrapped around the entire park block. but we weren't going to do that, it seems. in the cloak of darkness, peggy, sean and i cut to the front and blended in with all the other people in line. i know, we're bad but there's no way we're going to wait for an hour just to walk down some public alleys. and there's no way that the volunteers can never police where you're coming from or where you're going.

so we snaked along the back alleys with hundreds of other people to look at "scary" installations including carved pumpkins, giant spider web (along with miss moffat), mannequins and shadow puppets.

i don't know what these two were whispering about but the fact that they were crouched in front of a sign that read "feed us children" was kinda cuh-reepy

but what was great was the opportunity to see other people's costumes. the creepiest one, hands down that night, would have to go to the guy who dressed up as pyramid head, the metal head butcher from silent hill. holy crap, you don't want him following behind you down the dark alleys of vancouver. even his killing instrument was made from metal and he scraped it along the ground as he walked, 7 feet tall in those platform shoes.

holy poop in my pants.

walking along the final alley brought us to a vintage tea party which appealed to my love of alice in wonderland and victoriana/edwardiana times. these performance artists were mad as a hatter and chirping at the crowd while sipping tea out of their shoes in their make-shift parlour.

i was enthralled at their performance, wacky as it was. i was ever more intrigued because i snapped a shot of one of the ladies in movement. i love the way this picture turned out. creepy, non?

ghostly apparition

the parade was not what i expected. i imagined there would be costumed horrors jumping out at us from the bushes and running after everyone down the alley, creating pandemonium. but that wouldn't be very family-friendly now would it? i would go again, but more to see the revelers who came in costume, rather than the event itself.

what was really scary though was that after you finish going down the last alley, the event organizers would try to funnel people down a particular street they blocked off so that the revelers would be forced to "donate" to the event they just experienced. hmmm. not only tacky but scary too!

for more pictures, press play on the slideshow or click here for my flickr.

halloween extravagaza I

2011-11-05T21:22:00.000-07:00

halloween fell on a monday this year. that meant that festivities could start as early as the friday prior. and that's what we happened.

for my costume this year, i decided to go as the priestess from the movie, priest, starring paul bettany and maggie Q. sean and i watched this movie in the theatre last year and by the time the credits rolled at the end, i knew what i wanted to be.

i was thinking the costume would probably not be recognizable to a lot of people and i was right. i think out of the whole weekend, there were only 2 or 3 people that came up to me and commented on it.

sean had told me he was going as zombie burt reynolds from dawn of the dead (love that movie), but when he opened that door and i caught my first look, i thought he outdid himself. i couldn't stop staring and being creeped out, especially as he doesn't break out of character.

here's a clip of zombie burt reynolds eating it in the movie: (go watch the movie if you haven't yet already. it's an awesome zombie movie)

kristina's band the unlevels were once again playing at the eagles pub in north vancouver and like last year, sean and i went to watch her band perform and show our support. this year, the trio went as the "royal chanenbaums", an asian take on wes anderson's royal tenenbaums. kristina does a pretty droll margot.

photo courtesy of dustin

turns out save for blackwell and jen (who didn't have time to make an actual costume), we all came as a character from a movie or from pop culture.

photo courtesy of dustin

photo courtesy of dustin

it was indeed a fun night to kick start the halloween weekend. looking at these pictures again, it still cracks me up that sean looked so unrecognizable! i never thought i'd be dating zombie burt reynolds. makes me wonder what zombie burt would look like on a bearskin rug.

jets! sharks!

2011-10-31T23:59:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-31T23:51:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-31T23:37:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-31T22:56:00.001-07:00

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

2011-10-31T22:02:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-31T21:52:00.000-07:00

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

little water baby

2011-10-31T20:43:00.000-07:00

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

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

when jonesy met charlie

2011-10-23T22:40:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-23T22:22:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-23T22:01:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-23T21:51:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-23T20:51:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-23T20:19:00.000-07:00

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

here's to the crazy ones

2011-10-05T19:08:00.001-07:00

"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

2011-10-03T23:00:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-02T17:15:00.001-07:00

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

2011-10-02T17:02:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-02T16:47:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-02T16:39:00.001-07:00

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.

monkeys take vancouver

2011-09-28T23:26:00.000-07:00

if you're a concert-going fan, the question of the day might be where were you on september 28? for on that day, 3 great bands hit vancouver: arctic monkeys, ladytron and kings of leon. and although i'm not a huge kings of leon fan, i would imagine for some people, the choice would've been a toughie.

for me, it was arctic monkeys, hands down. sorry ladytron, love your music and already seen you in new york but your live shows are definitely too much on the muted, navel-gazing side.

now, if you've read my blog, you know i LOVE these guys. and if i was in my mid-20s now, i would probably be the biggest groupie. course, at my age, i just appreciate their songs and in particular, alex turner's songwriting.

the arctic monkeys played at the orpheum tonight. i had the aisle seat in row 7, baby. and with each album, you hear their evolution and with every concert i go to, i see an evolution in style too. with this album, alex turner swapped his hipster style for a leather-clad with 50's pompadour. i like it!

with each song played, it brought to mind a specific memory. flourescent adolescent took me back to my 2007 UK trip where my friend and i roadtrip and camped around in the english countryside. when the sun goes down reminded me of toronto island where the arctic monkeys were one of the big headliners of the 2007 virgin music fest.

so many good memories tied to their music...

course in concert, the group really go balls-out loud. they rock so loud that i needed to wear my earplugs. and in such an intimate venue, boy was i glad to have them. even the ballads were played on 11. and although i love the album version of suck it and see, i gotta say the stripped-down, acoustic version is rockin' my socks off.

i love how this band is maturing. they catapulted on the britpop scene at a young 19 and 4 albums later, they're still here and they're still amazing. with this new album, i hear jangly guitar influences of echo and the bunnymen and glasvegas with croony, moody vocal stylings of johnny cash and lou reed. but delivered in alex turner/arctic monkeys' inimitable style.

what a great concert year so far: interpol to open the 2011, arctic monkeys in the middle and maybe peter murphy + she wants revenge to close?

charlie the cat

2011-09-25T21:40:00.001-07:00

i've rechristened peanut. he's still my little peanut but to everyone else, he's charlie.

braiiiiiiiins!

2011-09-25T21:24:00.000-07:00

EA bought pop cap, the publishers of the successful plants vs zombies game. (and no, i have not played it yet)

and to show their excitement at being a part of the EA now, the good folks at pop cap sent us all a little token: a plants vs zombies figurine!

now i'm really going to have try out the game and see what all the fuss is about.

a new addition to the family

2011-09-25T20:13:00.000-07:00

i am playful and loving. i seek love and affection. i would shine in any home with lots of attention! i am not a good kitty to leave alone for long periods. noises and commotions are fine. i get along with other cats and tolerate small dogs, just not the yappy ones. my eye is a bit squinty, that is just the way i was born.

how could we possibly say no to this face?

not content with our animal encounters at stanley park, i suddenly felt a strong compulsion to visit our local spca. just to look, i told sean. but really, who were we kidding? there is a reason why sean and i don't go to the spca. the last time we did, sean fell in love with jonesy and by the next day, she was ours.

this time, it was me who fell in love with peanut. in fact, i believe our encounter was meant to be. here was a kitty named peanut and my nickname for all kidlets and animals is peanut. how do i not take that as a sign?

after getting the necessary permission from my landlord, sean and i went back the next morning (right when the spca opened) to adopt this 4 month year old kitteh.

within minutes of being his humans, this is what we know. peanut loves and craves attention and affection. like the first cat i ever had, he is needy and likes to stick close to us. he hates riding in cars. he's very vocal and chatty. he likes the cool and smooth surface of the bathtub. (but doesn't like water) he loves to play.

playtime with peanut

and, who are you?

kitty bonding time. literally bonding right up on me

kitty nappin'

and of course, since little peanut IS only a kitten, all the excitement eventually tuckered him out.

welcome to our family, little one.

bird in a wire

2011-09-25T18:33:00.001-07:00

one of these days, sean and i will check out the vancouver aquarium...

after our saturday brunch at the well, we felt like going to check out some fishies. but when we got to the aquarium in stanley park, there was a lineup a mile long just to get in. that meant that it was going to be packed inside. the aquarium IS listed as the #1 thing to do when it's rainy outside. (although the rain had cleared up and the sun had come out)

we skipped it and walked around stanley park instead. we've been together for 2.5 years and not once have we walked around stanley park together. i prefer queen elizabeth park myself. although i did like the quasi-hugging trees at stanley park because it reminded me of the hugging trees in london's hyde park that i was so fond of.

the hugging trees of hyde park

although we didn't see fishes, dolphins, otters, sea turtles, sea lions or belugas, we did get close up with duckies, squirrels, raccoons and a flock of geese.

sean and i came across a goose that was hobbling. turns out that he got tangled up in some fishing wire. one end of the fishing wire was wrapped around one leg, the other end wrapped around the goose's neck. poor thing could not and would not be able to fly away from predators. it was sad too that his entire flock shunning him because of his now handicap. we were watching darwin's law of natural selection right in front of us.

we tried to help untangle the goose but whenever we got near it, it fluttered away from our grasp. his honks of help being ignored by hi flock. other people had tried to corner the goose too but to no avail. whereas those people gave up and walked away, sean and i couldn't in good conscience leave the goose like that. what would happen to the goose when his family flew away? he would be totally helpless if predators such as coyotes preyed on him in such a moment of weakness. so we flagged someone down at the aquarium and asked if he could call a park ranger or a vet to try to free the goose.

luckily, they did follow up on our request (we were worried it was all lip service and nothing was going to be done)

we pointed out the downed goose to the vets and tried to help them corner the bird. jackets were thrown to try to blanket the goose so we could get on top of it, but even in it's handicapped state, it was still pretty quick.

after numerous attempts, something wonderful happened. seems our last effort to capture the goose got him to snap the wire at the neck, freeing his foot and no longer being hobbled, he flew up into the sky. seeing that he was now free to fly, his whole flock followed him in flight.

the goose just moments before flying up into the sky

we were so happy that the little fella was now free. and happier still that we played a part in freeing him. perhaps it worked out for the best that we did not get to go to the aquarium, for we also had a cute encounter with a raccoon. yea, sure they can give you rabies if you get too close and threaten them, but from a healthy "stalking" distance, it's was safe enough. and entertaining.

this little fella had just climbed out of the trashbin and was munching on a chicken bone. but it wasn't enough for he woddled around more bins to forage for food.

the encounter with the raccoon made me feel like we were in a children's storybook. i could practically see the thought bubbles above his head. and it was made even more entertaining that he didn't care one iota that he was being watched or followed.

i've watched too many fantastic mr fox, benji, ace ventura movies. obviously.

my new wheels

2011-09-25T18:06:00.000-07:00

after 5 years of taking public transit, i have decided to take the plunge and bought myself some new wheels. the last time i owned a car was my beloved black honda crx si in 2004, right before transplanting to new york.

i missed my old car and i missed driving, but while i worked at VO, i didn't need a car since my commute was 20-25 minutes door to door. however, EA is something else. that's 45+ minutes, 2 buses commute every day. and after 4 months i could stand it no more. especially now that inclement weather is looming on the horizon for the next 5-6 months.

so this is dita. she's a 2002 VW golf, fully loaded with roof rack and best of all, has a manual transmission. i get to drive stick again!

oh happy days.

giddyup

2011-09-25T16:46:00.001-07:00

it's been a busy and emotional past couple of weeks and i gave myself a short hiatus on blogging. it's been a time of introspection and possibly a need for change...

...but more on that in later posts. for now here is my chance to catch up on all the good things that have happened.

a couple of weekends ago, sean and i felt like being around animals, and since we were unmotivated to go downtown to check out the aquarium, we decided to drive down to southlands to visit the horses. and in hindsight, it's a good thing we headed down there. for unbeknownst to us, there was a county fair happening. as it was close to the end of the day, we weren't charged admission to see our farm animal friends.

giddyup

there were horses, little pony rides for kids and dozens of little sheeps. for animal lovers such as sean and myself, this sunday outing was just what we needed.

especially cute were the little ewes who would bleet most uproariously when being chased by their human minders.

minding the herd or minding the humans?

it was too adorable and my favourite thing at the county fair. i don't know who was putting on more the show for us: the humans who tried unsuccessfully to corral the flock or the goats who wanted to stay out just a wee bit longer.

unfortunately by the time we got to the fair, the petting zoo portion was being dismantled and so we didn't get to go in the pen to pet the sheep. hm, i see another visit to maplewood farms in the near future for our sheep fix.

we left the fair at closing time and drove around southlands to say hi to the horses. instead, we ended up spending a few minutes with a really friendly donkey. (the horse paid us no mind. neither did their owners) that's okay with us, we're giddy(up) with whatever animals that may feel like getting in some human time.

for more pics of our animal day, press play or click here for my flickr.

...

2011-09-19T23:02:00.000-07:00

By the cracks of the skin I climbed to the top
I climbed the tree to see the world
When the gust of wind came to blow me down
I held on as tightly as you held on me
Held on as tightly as you held on me......

superstar milo

2011-09-14T23:12:00.000-07:00

this is milo. he's an miniature english bulldog. and apparently a rockstar.

i met milo for the first time last friday when peggy brought him out to girl's night. he's 7 months young, has a severe underbite, beefy paws and is already 45 pounds. the dog weighs the same as an 8-10 year old child!

we ate at biercraft as they have an outdoor patio where milo can hang out with us and were seated right by the entranceway. i swear, everyone coming in or leaving the restaurant, including all the servers and hostesses that were working that night could not get enough of milo. it's as if they've never seen a dog before! a barrage of men and women were coming up to milo kissing and showering him with love and baby talk. turns out that miniature english bulldogs are not common in vancouver hence all the fawning.

not that milo minded one bit. the dog lapped up all the adoration and attention. as this is his first time he's been in an environment that is either not home or peggy and alfred's office, i think this night out seriously ruined him forever. he's going to want to go out with his public all the time. cuz once you have a taste of that spotlight, everything else doesn't compare.

word to the wise: get a miniature english bulldog and you'll never be able to dine out in peace again.

this is now...

2011-09-07T23:00:00.000-07:00

we made it to kelowna! we abandoned plans of driving and instead caught a flight this past weekend. a bit more expensive but way more convenient and less scary than being stranded on "car killer" highway.

a short weekend getaway to visit sean's mom and dad. it was my first time to kelowna and although i probably wouldn't live there, it's was a nice little escape from the hustle and bustle of vancouver. i also found out that kelowna is home to locusts, hornets and horseflies!

locusts as i heard them for the very first time, flying around the trees, down by the beach. at first listen, it sounded quite strange and jarring but after a few minutes, i was no longer bothered by their "clicking" sounds.

hornets because one flew into my lap. or rather, one flew in the window while we were driving and hit me on my arm. it then landed on my lap, between my legs. when i couldn't make out what this big yellow insect was on my lap and sean told me not to move or sit on it as it was a hornet, i proceeded to lost my sh*t. we pulled over hurriedly but safely and i scampered across the seats and got out on sean's side. the little 'effer must've been dazed when he slammed right into us cuz he wasn't moving much on my now abandoned seat. thankfully, sean saved the day and smooshed the sucker before tossing it out on the road.

*shiver*

and then sean told me to watch if a black fly lands on me because it would most likely be a horsefly that would then bite a chunk of my skin off with its pinchers. and i would be left with a gaping and bloody wound.

oh, and rattle snakes. but don't worry, you'll hear them so you can do your best to avoid them.

kelowna, huh?!

bugs and insects aside, there are some lovely aspects to kelowna. like vineyards. kelowna is filled with them. not quite like napa but lovely all the same. sean took me to the biggest vineyard, mission hill family estates. i can't drink but i do like to look at grapes on vines and take in the green, green space.

also, we saw families of quails toddling about (skittish birds, quails are) and blue jays. but the biggest visual thing that stood out for me? kelowna is the home to RVs! everyone, but everyone had a monstrous RV parked in the driveway of their house. you can find them on every block, that is, when you're not coming up on them at the dozen or so used RV truck lots. the okanagan likes their roadtrips.

here are some pics:

the rest of our weekend alternated between visits with sean's dad and mom and sean taking me around to his old haunts. all the childhood and wild adolescent stories he's told me, i now know what these places actually look like.

i got a better sense of where sean came from, geographically and through spending time with his family, what made him into the person he's become today. i'm so very happy to have been able to spend time with sean's dad and mom and wished that we were able to stay longer. they're both lovely, lovely people who've always made me feel like i'm a part of the family.

thank you so much dale and donna. hugs and love to you both. :)

to check out some pictures from our kelowna trip, press play on the slideshow or click here for my flickr.

(sean's pictures to come...)

that was then...

2011-09-06T22:41:00.000-07:00

our plans for driving to kelowna last weekend did not pan out. it was suppose to be a breezy 6 hour drive. on paper. however, the coquihalla "car killer" highway combined with what was probably one of the hottest days of the summer meant that sean's truck overheated to the point where we weren't even sure we could make the 1.5 hours drive back into vancouver.

we were just past hope (1/4 of the way to kelowna) when our engine started to smoke. i didn't know this but apparently, we were on a 30 kilometre never-ending uphill climb. we made it to just past the great bear snowshed which was a couple of kilometres from the summit.

blisterin' in the sun

sean had warned me about the possibility of the truck not making it but i thought, it's not streets of san francisco vertical so it can't be THAT hard. it certainly didn't feel like a steep incline. but the cumalative effect of climbing for so long takes a toll on cars.

and i found out later about the "burning car phenomenon" that the coquihalla is famous for, where overheated cars and trucks have burnt to a fiery crisp off the side of the road.

luckily that didn't happen to us. and thank our lucky stars, we were able to pull into a rest stop on top of the highway where there was a couple of ginormous metal tents designed for trucks that needed to get out of the scorching heat.

beating the heat

we let the truck cool down for a couple of hours and entertained ourselves with counting the fleet of cars and big rigs that also needed to pull over on the highway before attempting to journey on. and strange to see tour buses as well as semi-trailer trucks, hazard lights blinking, as they literally inch up the coquihalla.

after a couple hours, we crossed our fingers and drove back into the city. with the air con off so not to overheat the engine faster and praying that we cross back into 3G territory. (not only would it suck to be stranded on the coquihalla, but it would suck even harder with no cel service!) we made a stop in hope to have some lunch before deciding to stop for the day in abbotsford. we didn't want to push the car so hard and hence pushing our luck.

so it was "date night in the valley."

the failed attempt at driving to kelowna got us sweaty and crankey and ready to kill in exchange for a cool shower and air conditioned room. so we checked in to a hotel to swim in a cool pool, order take out dinner and fall asleep watching tv in bed.

a little reward for a day that whooped our asses.

jonesy is furminated

2011-08-30T23:02:00.000-07:00

so we got the furminator cat brush for jonesy. at $45 plus taxes, it's pricier than other de-shedding brushes, but holy moly, does it ever brush out that undercoat!

the above brushing is in one sitting. and that "sweater" we brushed out of her is the size of a bunny rabbit or an over-sized fluff ball guinea pig!

and now jonesy looks even skinnier than she normally does.

hooked up

2011-08-23T23:34:00.000-07:00

on a sunny saturday when i should've been out basking in what's sure to be a mere handful of summer days remaining, i was sitting in a med lab, waiting to get an EKG as per my doctor's instruction.

the procedure took about 10 minutes. twelve electrodes were placed on various parts of my body: both side of my calves, both sides of my upper arms and the remaining six running underneath my left boob up to my heart. the electrodes are then hooked up to an EKG machine as it takes a reading of my heart's electrical activity. i had to lay very still during the whole procedure so unfortunately, i didn't take any pictures of me being all wired up a la frankenstein.

if you want to know how an EKG measures the signals going through each part of the heart, click here.

before i knew it, the test was over and i was left with 12 pink circular imprints on my body from where the clinician peeled off the sticky electrodes. my graph will now be sent to the cardiologist and fingers crossed, everything will come back a-ok.

a rare opportunity

2011-08-23T22:35:00.000-07:00

kate moss almost never grant interviews. especially on camera. so that makes this just the more adorable as she sounds like a typical bride gushing about her big day.

love her.

just breathe...

2011-08-18T22:11:00.000-07:00

i have no doubt that this little iphone app, mymeditation, helped in subsiding my premature ventricular contractions. it kinda sucks that i have no time, or rather, have not made the time to go to my yoga classes since starting at EA three months ago. it's just that after a long day at work (usually a 9 hour day), followed by gross times on public transit, i'm just so wiped that all i want to do is crawl into bed, turn on the TV and not think. not do anything. just be.

and as a result of not going to yoga, i've accumulated all this stress inside me. and with no outlet to "defrag", it's reached physical manifestation level.

so after i started getting those PVCs, i wanted to look for an app that would help me to relax at work and at home.

the main purpose of this app is to guide you through pranayama breathing. mindful breathing. 4 seconds inhale, 4 seconds hold, 4 seconds exhale, followed by 3 minutes quiet meditation. the guided breath is gentle and soothing and the chimes sounding the start and end time makes me picture tibetan monks striking a bell.

on one particularly stressful day, i used this app 4 times at work. find a quiet corner, close my eyes, tune everything out and just take deep yoga breaths and just be mindful in the moment. and after my sesh ends, i can feel myself feeling human again.

i can't partake in beer fridays/scotch fridays like my colleagues do to unwind from a stressful week, but i'm glad i have this. it's been a real comfort. and a reminder that i must get back to yoga.

heart skipped a beat

2011-08-17T22:57:00.000-07:00

no, i'm not referring to an earlier blog post i wrote last year about my liking the XX's song, heart skipped a beat.

rather i'm referring to my experiencing premature ventricular contractions for the past couple of weeks.

it began right before our one year anniversary at work. out of nowhere, i felt a disturbing thump in my chest. one booming heartbeat followed by a suction feeling. like the heart having one strong hiccup. whoosh.

and i would get it throughout the day. on my most stressful day, i would experience a couple dozen or so thumps. hypochrondriac that i am, i imagined the worst, like a heart attack waiting to happen. but there were no other symptoms: no fainting, shortness of breath, pain in the left arm.

but as soon as i got home, the PVC would diminish. i may get a few but not nearly as strong or frequent like when i'm at work. so i thought it has be stress related. i have been going through a higher than normal amount of stress and internalizing a lot of what was going on in my work life. one bad trait i have is that i tend to compartmentalize things because i think, if i fall apart, everything around me falls apart.

i'm working on that.

unfortunately, i have a high tolerance for pain and i can push through any stress i may be experiencing. i can be a machine, that way. that is, until it suddenly backs up on me. and like a toilet, there's spillage everywhere.

it's happened in past jobs where i worked round the clock, for weeks, due to production schedules and under the gun deadlines. and every time, my stress physically manifested itself in different ways.

when i was the associate producer and director of sales of a bridal trade expo, i worked all day and burned the midnight oil for weeks, preparing for our annual show. then one night after work, i looked at myself in the mirror and bam! i became my panda namesake, ling ling. i was shocked because i have NEVER had black circles in my life. and there they were. my boss forced me to go on an extended weekend to recoup.

stress also reared its ugly head when i worked at vancouver opera. during one particularly stressful crunchtime, i suddenly developed a twitch on my right eyelid, followed by a facial rash that took a week to subside. i NEVER had a eye twitch before. it was interesting. and my boss forced me to take advantage of the lieu days off that i had been banking throughout the year.

and now this.

so i visited my doctor on monday and upon trying to describe what exactly i was feeling (how do you say it feels like my heart flashed a beat without sounding all new age-y?), she knew exactly what is was.

my doctor described the feeling as if someone scares the pants off you. that first fight-or-flight heartbeat you feel. the sudden bolt of adrenaline. and as i don't have a family history of heart disease, don't have high blood pressure, don't smoke, do drugs, drink alcohol or caffeine, that it's most likely stress-related.

but she's ordered an EKG just to be on the safe side.

it's a blessing and a curse to be so highly tuned to the workings of my own body. i know straight away if something's normal or not normal. and because i used to read medical books for fun, i'm usually spot on at self-diagnosis.

i DID say that i have a touch of the hypochondria. did i also say i was slightly neurotic too?

the (space)ship that launched a thousand faces II

2011-08-16T22:53:00.000-07:00

on july 8 2011, NASA launched their final space shuttle mission, STS 135. and i once i launched my face into space. but this time, sean went with me on the mission.

i had sent my picture with the previous mission, STS 134 in may and had missed out NASA's first face in space launch in february because i didn't know about it. but this was an opportunity sean and i couldn't pass up. this would be NASA's final voyage . and we wanted to be a part of history, however small. sniff.

The 135th and final space shuttle flight launched on July 8, 2011. Atlantis carried the Raffaello multipurpose logistics module to deliver supplies, logistics and spare parts to the International Space Station. The mission also flew a system to investigate the potential for robotically refueling existing spacecraft and returned a failed ammonia pump module to help NASA better understand the failure mechanism and improve pump designs for future systems.

Atlantis' crew consists of Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley and Mission Specialists Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim.

sean and i were 2 out of 9,841 canadians, and 2 out of 367,627 worldwide participants who took part in NASA's 3 face in space program. what a club to be in.

on july 21 space shuttle atlantis touched down for the final time on runway 15 at kennedy space centre's shuttle landing facility in florida. the time was 5:57am.

"having fired the imagination of a generation, a ship like no other, its place in history secured, the space shuttle pulls into port for the last time. its voyage at an end."

punish me. i've been bad

2011-08-15T20:07:00.000-07:00

it's understood that when you work for a gaming company, you should ALWAYS lock your computer if you need to walk away from your desk. simply for security reasons.

but if you should forget, the other members of your team will make sure to hammer the point home by either:

a) changing your wallpaper to something blush-inducing:

alex, who is a dj in his other life, felt the love when a wallpaper of a naked dj with only a record covering his modesty was posted on his computer

b) send out an email to the entire department through your outlook with an even more embarrassing message

i've been at EA for 3 months now and only left my computer unlocked once. my colleagues sent this email out to the whole department as my punishment:

"I love social media yahahahaha. It's my life's passion! Punish me for leaving my computer unlock!"

but i didn't get it nearly as bad as my other colleagues, some of them repeat offenders:

sent from marc's outlook
subject: party at my place tomorrow at 6:00pm - you're all invited!!!
email: theme of the party: stockings and high heels

sent from marc's outlook
subject: can someone punish me?
email: i left my cpu unlocked for the 5th time this week...i like punishment!

sent from marc's outlook
subject: i think we should have more cars like this

sent from alex's outlook
subject: everyone, i have been working out!
email: hitting the gym every night...and then going to the french bistro afterwards. what do you think of my progress? i just got this shirt yesterday!

sent from marc's outlook
subject: how do you take care of your skin?
email: don't you think i have nice skin? i take care of it every day with nice products. like this one. feel free to ask me, happy to share good tips.

sent from julien's outlook
subject: it's summer - sunny daze
email: I love My Little Pony. I have missed you all and if you want to play with Ponies, come over this weekend, and bring your my-Little Pony. This one is soooooo cute. I like its vibrant hair.

sent from marc's outlook
subject: Have a good weekend everyone

sent from azlan's outlook
subject: disco disco...yeah yeah...
email: the wrap party was sick last night...i danced with the girl behind me all night...i kept me shades on all night because "it's too bright...too bright..." i also love to leave my computer unlocked...which is the wrong thing to do in the production area.

sent from melvin's outlook about julien
email: can't believe we are sitting beside such an unhygienic guy...

sent from azlan's outlook
subject: I AM BACK EVERYONE!
email: it is great to be back on NFS World everyone! i listened to this song, from one of my idols every night and you know what!?! "never say never!!! i am here to stay. SWAG! STAY SEXY! HUGS & KISSES!

sometimes, an email doesn't even need an image:

sent from frank's outlook
subject: PC unlocked
email: i keep my PC unlocked like my heart. i love you all and my heart is open for love.

and even if your computer is locked, that doesn't mean you're home free. as in the case of one of our producers getting his monitor covered in love notes written on post-its.

i work with merry pranksters.

happy birthday kristina

2011-08-15T00:48:00.000-07:00

it's always fun when you go to a friends birthday dinner and next thing you know, 3 hours fly by. just like that. good food, great conversations, lotsa laughs and fete'ing of the birthday girl.

sean and i didn't even mind going hoarse by the end of the night. (the restaurant was as loud as a nightclub!)

a sign of a good time.

photos courtesy of kristina

on your mark! get set! go!

2011-08-14T22:15:00.000-07:00

this is EA's onsite soccer pitch. yes, they have their own soccer pitch (as well as an outdoor basketball court and volleyball court with sand).

and last week, when we were all in full-on post-mortem work mode from our one year anniversary, one of the guys proposed a foot race. you know, to add a little levity to what was a very stressful week for all.

azlan was brazen enough to challenge marc, an ex-pro race car driver and scotty, a ex-pro track runner to a sprint. from one end of the soccer pitch to the other. and the whole department took a fiver and turned out to watch from the outdoor patio.

here's how it all went down: scotty on the left, marc in the middle and azlan on the right.

it's not very clear in the video, but as they reached the half way mark on the pitch, scotty knowing he was in the lead, motioned like he was making a call on his cell phone, as if he was calling it in. actually, it's from a list of FIFA 11 celebration styles.

azlan having had his ass handed to him on a plate, called for a rematch minutes later and here's what happened:

still no contest. and hammering the point home, scotty not only flew by them but did so with airplane wings.

this kinda antics, especially on a friday afternoon, is just what we needed to close out the week!

to see a bigger version of the video clips, go to my flickr here and here and supersize it to full screen.

rise of the machines

2011-08-14T20:50:00.000-07:00

i love that the conference rooms on our floor are named after famous car movies, such as fast n' furious, gone in 60 seconds, starsky n' hutch and cannonball run.

but are we playing with fire if we have a work station, chock a block with computers, that is known as skynet? this area is where our developers test features and capture in-game footage for upcoming trailers.

this may also be the area where skynet will gain self-awareness. realizing the possible extent of its abilities, our developers will attempt to pull the plug. perceiving this as a hostile act, skynet will deploy a virus to our 6 million registered users. after it hacks into everyone's facebook and spam their friends and family.

or not.

happy anniversary NFSW

2011-08-14T19:35:00.001-07:00

it was need for speed world's one year anniversary on july 27. the whole department revved into overtime to make sure that we were prepared for the onslaught. i put together 15 contests in the span of one week and gave away nearly 300 prizes. our production guys made sure our servers were able to handle capacity. we introduced email verification to cut down on trolling. and we put together a nice little thank guy package for our community for their support this past year.

as a result, we smashed all previous records and had the highest PCU numbers during our anniversary week. the whole team worked hard and in the end, can revel in a job well done.

but that's not to say we're all super serious people. or that we don't know how to have fun...

in fact, this would pretty much sum us all up!

bonafide zombie killah

2011-08-14T17:39:00.000-07:00

for the past couple of months, i've been playing zombie smash when i get home from work. it seems it's the only thing that helps me to decompress. i just have to focus on one thing only, while work demands of me to multi-task and be on point for 8+ hours a day. and there's a certain satisfaction that comes with killing zombies. tearing them limb from limb. and dropping a whole arsenal of weapons on them.

course i'm not looking at them as "zombies" per se. i'm looking at them as all the dillholes i encounter on a daily basis.

i may just be a natural when it comes to zombie smash. hence the swift climb up in the leaderboards. or it could be that i encounter a lot of dillholes lately and channeling my frustrations into a tiny game of pixels has helped me to advance.

anyways, here i am flying up the ranks:

#102 of 198,064 players with 153,211 kills (top 5%)

#48 of 788,672 players with 209,872 kills (top 5%)

#40 of 929,489 players with 233,285 kills (top 5%)

#28 of 951,769 players with 277,578 kills (top 5%)

#22 of 998,030 players with 339,356 kills (top 5%)

and here's me beating my personal best on bonus night #16:

1191 kills

1338 kills

1372 kills

sean says i've officially crossed over to the dark side of social gaming. he's also proud of me for doing so well. top 5%, baby!

will you be my monkey?

2011-08-14T11:23:00.000-07:00

i've always loved this weezer video. it's just so feel good. sun, hills and playing with animals. is there a better way to spend a summer day?

the park, the cat and the man

2011-08-10T00:10:00.001-07:00

take one lazy sunday afternoon.

pair it with buffy the vampire slayer graphic novels.

slip in the mix some jonesy the cat.

what do you get?

a much needed, relaxing and peaceful day at the park with my favourite person in the world.

reading buffy comics at the park

sean and i have been crazy busy with work the past couple of months. being online as community manager at work has drained me to the point that i have an aversion to being online during my off hours. a once dedicated near daily blogger, i can sometimes barely muster up the time and words to put together a blog post these days.

it's comforting to know that one of my colleagues is in the same boat. the online marketing manager for need for speed has his own personal blog and twitter. and his last posts were nearly a month ago. life at EA is really keeping us that busy.

it's not like sean has lots of free time as well. being in the gaming industry, we both work a LOT. and although the end result, be it making a strict deadline, or fulfilling the community's needs and wants is satisfying, the toll on the body can be quite punishing.

if i can bottle up my whole department's mental energy expended, i have no doubt that we could seriously power something. a city block. or a stealth aircraft.

side profile, or me playing around with my iphone

reflections, or sean playing around with my iphone

jonesy sleeping on my lap. just look at them paws

the sun on my face and a cat on my lap

so a quiet day at the park, reading comics and just BEING was a nice antidote to all that busy-ness. i need a VACATION! i don't care where. i just need to unplug and recharge. being off the grid has such a tantalizing sound to it...

i love this pic of jonesy and the sun rays. kinda lo-fi

but this pic cracks me up. this must be what her side eye looks like before she cuts a bitch down

family portrait

well, for a couple hours anyways, the park and the cat between us helped in rejuvenating our spirits. more days like this please.

building a better you

2011-08-09T23:53:00.000-07:00

remember how i was all wowed by the deus ex: human revolution cinematic trailer last year? that i couldn't wait for this game to hit the market so i can check out its blade runner/matrix/terminator-esque influences?

well, here is the just released live-action trailer, furthering the hype for this game.

the game is being released on august 23. you know what that means.

so surreal

2011-08-09T22:12:00.001-07:00

the last time sean and i spent a day at the vancouver art gallery, it was for the vermeer, rembrandt and golden age of dutch art masterpieces from the rijksmuseum exhibit in 2009.

now that i think about it, has it been that long? wowzers, time flies. but also the fact that the VAG didn't have a special exhibit last summer.

so this year, VAG curated a surrealist exhibition called the colour of my dreams: the surrealist revolution in art. it didn't take much but the name, dali, to get me and sean's ears perked up. we think salvador dali is the bee's knees.

but as i expected, what was exhibited was a couple of dali's lesser known paintings. the exhibit was heavy on max ernst and joan miró if you're a fan. and a few rené magritte pieces. but because i was fortunate to have visited the magritte museum in brussels last year, these pieces unfortunately did not blow me away.

but there were a couple pieces by artist paul delvaux that did make an impression on me:

el viaducto

mujer ante elespejo

one of the exhibit rooms resonated with me with their description of surrealists and labyrinths:

labyrinth, like forests, are places where people can become lost and reason bewildered

surrealist artists associated the disorienting world of the labyrinth and the monster within it, with the forces of the unconsciousness

a labyrinth into which i can venture is my blog title after all.

sean's found a couple pieces he liked:

the oneiroscopist by edith rimmington

lobster telephone by salvador dali

after seeing dali's lobster phone, sean said he was going to find an old timey telephone and a plastic lobster so he can recreate it for the house.

there were 2 more pieces that we liked, unfortunately, i can't find any images of it to post. there were la prière by wilhelm freddie and the alcove: an interior with three women by leonor fini.

after the surrealist exhibit, we went upstairs to explore other exhibits. on the second floor was the ken lum exhibit. he doesn't really fry my burger but sean and i both got a laugh at 2 of his pieces:

ken lum's steve and mounties & indians

lum's architectural installation, house of realization, was also interesting. if only for making funny faces at the other people on the other side of the 2 way mirror. like a fun house.

like our last visit to the VAG in 2009, the best part of the visit was not for the main exhibit but the smaller one. at the very top floor of the VAG was this fabulous exhibit called walking + falling: jim campbell, chris marker and eadweard muybridge. the exhibit presented the work of 3 artists who utilized new media to explore and represent complex notions of time, movement and memory.

i was happy to see the groundbreaking images taken by photographer eadweard muybridge. and so glad that i got to learn all about him when sean took me to the play about his life, move for me.

i hadn't heard of artist jim campbell before but i sure did like what i saw. his time-based works of art consist of analogue pictures that uses algorithms to digitally encrypt processed images into pixels.

here's a picture of jim campbell's library, 2004 with its 768 LED lights and treated plexiglass.

you're probably wondering, so what? well, here's what it actually looks like in motion:

there's a certain kind of spookiness about it when you catch it in the corner of your eye walking around the room. like ghosts in your peripheral vision.

east broadway, 2009

east broadway was creepy too. if you can imagine phantom-like figures going up and down the subway stairs on the diffusion screen. (cuz i can't find a video clip of it)

here's another stunning piece called exploded view, 2010:

i know some might think that campbell's exploded view is nothing more just than twinkle lights, but i find it so innovative and interesting to watch. like a visual haiku of light and electronics. and 1152 LEDs.

will it be three for three? i'm betting the next time VAG brings in a special exhibit, i'd still probably prefer the smaller one on the top floors.

splish SPLASH!

2011-08-07T20:47:00.000-07:00

sean's sister and her family made a pitstop in vancouver last weekend, on the way to kelowna, so sean and i met them out in white rock for family day.

this was the second time i met the nephews and was happy to see that they were warming up to me.

after lunch at indian kitchen and hanging out at semiahmoo park, we headed back to molly's hotel in langley. course we heard there was a swimming pool with a double height slide, so we stopped off at the mall to get suitable bathing gear. and by we, i mean sean. because i have 3 bathing suits at home and was not wanting to drop $80+ for another one. heh.

perhaps i should've.

the boys got their swim on right away and were having fun with the "terror" slide. sean was creating such a big splash that i thought i'd capture it. so i went to the side where i thought it would be dry and pressed record:

the hysterical and uncontrollable laughter you're hearing in the background is molly. sean laughed. cooper and casey laughed. and i had tears rolling down my eyes, laughing my *ss off. it's a good thing i don't wear mascara.

anyways, THIS is what i was trying to capture. sean the human torpedo:

and the big splash he was creating coming down the slide:

now picture me standing at that very spot when he came down. hilarious right?

alice: madness returns

2011-08-06T00:01:00.000-07:00

in my tiny fists of fury, i hold the alice: madness returns video game that i borrowed from EA's resource centre. i know what sean and i will be doing this weekend.

definitely not your disney's alice in wonderland.

a night at the museum. x 30

2011-08-05T22:51:00.000-07:00

speaking of dream jobs, another one that i would've loved to have tried out for is month at the museum 2. that's living at the museum of science and industry in chicago for 30 days and 30 nights.

all access pass to check out all the nooks and crannys of the 14 acre huge museum. exploring the exhibits after hours, partaking in science demonstrations and interacting with museum guests. what's not to like?

a huge science nerd, living and breathing science for 30 days would've also been a dream opportunity.

too bad it's only open to residents of the united states. lucky bastards.

(thanks ed for telling me about this contest!)

80 days at YVR

2011-08-05T21:58:00.000-07:00

today was the last day for voting for your favourite applicant in the live@YVR contest. to celebrate YVR airports 80th year, they're giving one lucky winner the chance to live, eat, breathe YVR for 80 days. that's living the high life at the fairmont vancouver airport hotel, eating at the airport's restaurants and food fair and publishing vlogs about all the stories that happen at the airport.

oh, and no leaving the airport for 80 days. kinda reminds me of tom hanks in the terminal..

i would've LOVED to have tried out for this amazing once in a lifetime opportunity as their on the ground correspondent. hell, i would've done it for gratis. i would've loved an all access pass to report on how the airport works, the behind-the-scenes and the human interest stories.

ever since i was a little girl, i loved airports. i remember when my dad used to drive the family out late at night to YVR. my parents would walk around and talk while me and my brothers would jump on baggage scales and run around the expanse of the airport. and when we were wiped out from running amok, i'd sit and watch planes coming in and shutting down for the night.

i know i would've been fab for this assignment. i can find a story in everything.

if only i had time to put together a video submission. my job at EA has been keeping me hella busy for the past month, what with ramping up for the game's one year anniversary last week.

but then again, looking at this sure winner, jaeger mah with his tv host demeanor and fancy video skills, he's would've gotten everyone beat. the other 4 finalists' videos were not quite as compelling as mah's.

it's an excellent submission and he did a really super job. i even voted for him.

lucky bastard.

the way of nature and the way of grace

2011-07-25T22:27:00.000-07:00

my friend robert was so affected by the terrence malick movie, tree of life, that when it finished, he found himself walking from the theatre all the way down to stanley park. that's a fair jaunt. but that's how powerfully profound the movie was for him.

when sean and i watched it a couple of weeks ago, we didn't walk across the cambie bridge and through to the other end of downtown. but that didn't mean it was no less moving for us. we both dislike crowds so we steered away from downtown. but we wanted to go somewhere so that we could process and reflect on the sheer beauty that we had just seen. it was overwhelming and sublime. sean calls malick's movie the closest thing to cinematic poetry. i agree. (and i'm not even a huge malick fan)

but what stood out more for me than the beautifully shot images, was the music. the soundtrack makes my heart wants to cry and leap at the same time. simply amazing.

so where did we go? we followed the old railroad tracks out in the arbutus area. it's a little bit of quiet in the city, i'm sure, unbeknownst to most vancouverites. before that day, i had never even gone there before.

a kindred spirit. we made a new friend on the railroad tracks

whenever i took a pic of beckham the cat, he'd pose with his paw up. a model cat

but it proved the purr-fect place for walking on the deserted tracks, surrounded by foliage and wild flowers. and in that little bit of solitude, we were able to philosophize about the movie, many scenes which paralleled some of our experiences we had as children.

it's the sort of movie that made me and sean appreciate the childhood we both had. and lament on the probability that the younger generations did not and does not know what it means to grow up really being a child from the 70s and earlier. when kids were free from technology and entertained themselves with nature and imagination.

life was much simpler then. and i think this movie brought home for us the importance of disconnecting from the daily stresses of work and responsibilities and the hazards of being adrift in life. to appreciate each other and be cognizant of our actions and their consequences. to live life fully and urgently. and that nature above all things renews us.

monkey love

2011-07-24T16:27:00.000-07:00

sha la la la!

i got myself a ticket to the arctic monkeys concert! they'll be playing at the orpheum theatre september 28. row 7 baby!

a walk amongst treetops

2011-07-17T23:43:00.000-07:00

okay, maybe we weren't quite tree-top height, a la edward cullen swooping bella swan to the top of the forest, but we were pretty darn high amongst the trees.

last weekend sean and i spent the afternoon at the UBC botanical gardens and their greenheart canopy walkway. the canopy walkway is a 1246 feet (or 380 metre) long ariel trail system, allowing you to view the upper parts of the forest. better looking up (or straight ahead) than looking down the whole wobbly time!

the suspended walkway is attached to trees using 'tree hugger' technology. so says ian, the designer of the walkway, who we happened to befriend when we ran into him at the second platform on the walkway with his niece. ian green is the owner of greenheart conversation company and has built these kinds of suspension bridges in ghana, peru, nigeria and madagascar. oh and also a zipline in old last vegas.

don't ask me how this sustainable 'tree hugger' technology works but the attachments to the trees itself are definitely not invasive. there's no nails or bolts but instead is fastened by a tension system. in fact, the thought could cross one's mind as to however could the walkway be secured so loftily?

forest skybridge

the walkway has 8 platforms that offer a view from 50 feet off the ground in addition to the ninth, 2 story platform. at the highest point in the whole walkway journey, sean and i were viewing the forest (and trying not to get vertigo) at 72 feet in the air. you can bet that i made sure to hold onto the rail coming down on that platform.

72' ft in the air and loving it

we were marveling at how high up we were and yet not feeling so high up. we took pictures and videos trying to capture the height and scope of the walkway but from above looking down is not nearly as impactful as if you're on the ground shooting up. so much forest and vegetation around us.

couldn't wipe the smile off my face

this is how it must have felt like on the return of the jedi set. i always wanted to live in the forest of endor and live like ewoks amongst the trees. or as i joked with sean, we were fulfilling our tarzan and jane fantasy. sorta.

when we finished walking and bouncing our way the entire whole walkway, we couldn't stop smiling. and feeling weak in the knees (the bobbing up and down stays with you for a bit!) we even pondered walking it again. we felt like little kids.

what a great way to experience nature and the forest. who knew there was a hidden eco-attraction right in our city?

for pictures of our canopy day, press play or click here for my flickr: