Infrastructure priorities

Ever since I moved after getting married, I have lamented the city in which I now live, as it's my firm belief that our city is poorly managed. I'm sure there are many politics behind decisions that are made, but often I think to myself, "Wow, I can't believe they said that" or "Why are they spending money on that?" When there was some issue about people being abducted near the casino, the city officials made some statement about how the casino is very valuable to the city, although of course they don't condone any crime. Ummmm... good then! Glad to see that profit doesn't weigh too heavily on their minds.

This week has really reinforced my dislike of city infrastructure. They'll spend what must amount to thousands on flowers for the medians, hanging baskets, Christmas lights, outdoor lighted reindeer... but will they plow the streets? No! I'm not asking for the small streets to be plowed, but when you're slipping and sliding down a major street covered in ice, that's a problem. Salt can only do its work when it isn't freezing out. PLOW THE STREETS. The city isn't even that big - what's the problem?? I drive through many other municipalities on my way to work and their streets are ALL free of snow. Grrr!

Hopefully the rest of y'all are safe and warm. I kinda like cold, sunny weather but I could do without the snow and ice.

NaBloPoMo is almost over - not that I've been able to post every day - but are you all enjoying the increase in posting? I sure hope so!

Winter sucks the big one

I said once that summer is my favourite season... and I think this weekend's weather really emphasizes my love of summer. Our gazebo collapsed under the weight of the snow... It took me twice as long as normal to get to work today (including 15 minutes of de-snowing my car) and that was only because I took the Oak St bridge which had virtually no traffic. Ugh! Snow is just the worst. I can think of virtually no redeeming characteristics of snow. Sure, yesterday I had some fun building a snow chair and a snow horse with some of my favourite kids - but really - isn't a hot summer day so much more fun... ugh. To all those who raved, "Snow is awesome!" - all I can say is Shut up! No it's not!

Moving on. This weekend, the hubby and I tried to buy our (second ever!) Christmas tree - but we couldn't really decide on whether to get the Home Depot $20 tree, or spring for the fancier (and more fragrant) Noble firs at the local tree farm/place/thingy. In the end we decided that we'll probably get a $15 tree at Ikea next weekend. I suppose $80 for a tree is a bit steep considering you toss it out at the end of the season. Although I really dislike winter, I do enjoy Christmas.. it's always a good time. We tidied up the house so that we could decorate for Christmas, but so far the only decoration up is my Purdy's Advent Calendar. Yay!

PS: Hey PJ - thanks for the website on GPS systems. Is this system the one that you were referring to on sale? It does seem like a good price although no text-to-speech - but maybe I could do without that...

Worth noting

1. Dear Canucks - I'm still a fan. Try not to have too many stinkers though.

2. PJ - hey - we still beat the Wings and I notice you didn't comment about that. Hiding your head in shame, I imagine? Three unanswered goals. Take that, I say to your 50-year-old goalie. The glory days are over... the Dominator has become... the Domino? He sure falls down a lot.

3. I am not a big Luongo fan and never really was. I still support the organization though.

4. I got snarked at by a barista today because she messed up my drink and somehow it wasn't her fault. I would just like to point out that I was extremely polite - yet nothing in return. Well, Merry Christmas to you too, grouchy.

5. I need a GPS navigational system - one that tells me where to go and where to turn. Driving through Surrey with only a vague idea of how to get where I'm going is unwise.

Ranting is worth it

Since my little diatribe about the Canucks sometime last week, it appears they've listened, buckled down, and won three games straight.

So PJ.... how about them Wings? They sure are tasty when they're roasted by the Canucks!

Expansion

Just received some news last week - one of my oldest, bestest friends is expecting her first baby! I am terribly excited for her - not only was she the first of us to get married, but now she's the first of us to be bearing offspring. I remember (it wasn't that long ago) that we were talking about how we are still kids ourselves, so the idea of having kids was pretty frightening.

The hubby and I haven't been married that long, but we do sometimes get asked when we're planning to have kids?

There are many families at church having babies too. In fact sometimes it seems like the babies are taking over the back half of the sanctuary. I like babies (and kids) - they're a lot of fun. I love how they grow up to be real people who can hold real conversations with me.

So all this has got me to thinking.... should we maybe consider... an expansion of our family? And the answer is... YES!

In fact I would love if it was no longer just the two of us... I mean.... wouldn't it be perfect to add.....




wait for it...





















Seriously how cute is this little guy? Ahh... it's just a dream for now - but maybe one day I'll get my yellow Lab. Dogs are more fun than kids anyway. Haha!

Day of childish games

Today was rather entertaining. Char received a lovely gift which was promptly opened and played with (competitively of course), to the squeals and delight of everyone except a small baby who doesn't like when other people scream. Here's a picture to give you an idea - except that Char's didn't look so much like Nemo.


Then, we headed over to the Dream House* to watch the Grey Cup... and since I don't really care for football, I played Go Fish, Hungry Hungry Hippo Frog, and Hide and Seek.

I'm pretty awful at Hide and Seek. Sometimes, I like to just sit and wait for the hiders to get bored and come out. Why work at it when waiting produces the same result... Can't say I'm too good at the other games either. Sigh.

I did manage to figure out the magic trick though, so at least it wasn't a totally poor day, games-wise.

*It has granite countertops AND hardwood flooring AND an upstairs laundry room. Drooool.

Questions to ponder (or answer)

1. There's a boil water advisory in your area - all water has to be boiled, including for brushing your teeth and washing your food. Do you:

a) start boiling up some water, or
b) spend your hard-earned money on bottled water.

2. Your faithful, four-year-old laptop gives you warning signs that all is not well (eg: screen appears to want to detach from keyboard.) Do you:

a) buy a new laptop immediately,
b) wait until "Old Faithful" dies a painful, inconvenient death and then buy a replacement,
c) ignore all warning signs and duct tape screen to keyboard portion?

3. Assuming you do eventually have to replace "Old Faithful", do you:

a) buy a Dell again (four years trouble-free surely means something)
b) buy a Macbook (oh - the prettiness)
c) ask, why a laptop? I'm a desktop guy/gal all the way.

Oh, Canucks...

I'm still a fan. For at least the next week or so - then we'll talk.

But why must you hurt me in this way? Surely you know that I'm a true fan (okay, okay, I'll stop calling you Shirley)... I mean, we did shell out ridiculous money to get season tickets to see you... TWICE... we do schedule our lives around watching your games... (or so it feels)... I've bought into the fever with your clothing and merchandise... I've even eaten a $5 Haagen Dazs bar (there's a doohickey on top of the first A - I haven't bothered to add it on).. knowing that the actual cost is what to you, 50 cents... and how do you repay us?

By stinking it up on the ice, that's how.

I'll admit that you haven't been playing the worst hockey I've ever seen, but I think we can agree that it certainly hasn't been the best either. Don't get me wrong - I appreciate the effort you've been putting into the games. Maybe you just need to work a little harder on our relationship, so that I can stick by you even while I cringe through every excruciating minute of your games. Maybe if every once in a while, you acknowledged me as a true believer.

Those "We are all Canucks" ads are mildly convincing, but you've gotta admit that telling me we're in it together isn't really a solution when we're having these kinds of relationship difficulties. I need action. I don't want to leave you, but I'm going to have to if things don't improve. My emotions cannot handle this roller coaster of a season.

If you really want to make things better between us, try phoning me once in a while, or hey, here's an idea, how about NOT RAISING TICKET PRICES EVER AGAIN... I mean, I know you have to pay for that fancy scoreboard and all, but really, try to be reasonable. I don't need a fancy scoreboard. Just a little love and appreciation. You don't want us to have to go to counselling, do you? Because if we do have to go, I'm putting you on notice that you'll have to pay. I'm saving my money for more Haagen Dazs bars.

Rage

I don't know what it is about traffic here, but I never seem to catch a break. Just as I can never choose a speedy checkout line at the grocery store, I can't seem to get through a day of travel without a ton of traffic.

I try not to blog about work, so I won't go into much detail here. But today, I was full of rage. I was told by someone I'll call "X" that I had to be at a particular location by 3pm. I was running late because of some horrendous traffic near Jr's school... but when I got there, I was so relieved. Unfortunately, X got the location wrong, so I missed the event altogether (with the bonus feature of looking like a total idiot when I was phoned by the person expecting me.) When I called the office, X denied having told me the wrong location... I ended up driving back to the office and it took me twice as long as normal because of more horrendous traffic... there are more details but I'll shut up. Suffice it to say, I was super angry....

...but eventually I just had to let the anger go.

It's funny how anger can consume me sometimes. I have a pretty short temper, not something I'm terribly proud of. I'm working on it. Patience, self-control - the hardest fruit of the spirit to grow.

Canada's Worst Driver

Has anyone seen this show? It is hilarious. I love how the drivers take no responsibility for their awful habits, and how almost everyone hits a ton of obstacles on the passenger's side, but almost none on the driver's side.

I'll admit that most of the tasks they are given are pretty challenging, but it is incredible how terrible they are. On this task, they are required to back down a narrow "driveway" onto an island surrounded by a muddy moat. Once on the island, they are supposed to make a six point turn, so that they will turn a full 360 degrees, and drive back off the island.

The first lady has already ended up in the muddy ditch, and she had to be pulled out by a huge truck with a short chain, and then she ended up rear-ending the truck once she was out. Haha! She is not only a truly horrible driver, but she also has bad vision, and refuses to wear her glasses when driving.

I love this show. They are awesome! Backing up while only looking backward... taking 16 turns for a regular 3 point turn... ahhh... hilarious.

Nosy....

Since I was a kid I've always liked open houses. I used to dream about having a huge room with my own bathroom (so I wouldn't have to share with my brother, of course), and one day my mom and I actually saw a house with these benefits. Unfortunately we weren't really in the market, so I never did get my huge room with private bath.

I mention this because our neighbours are selling, and since I can see their house from my living room window, I just found this out yesterday when the realtor put the sign up, along with the Open House sign. Nosy neighbour that I am, I immediately looked up their house on MLS and rushed over to see the open house. I've seen a lot of people drive by and walk through too (interestingly - not a single non-Asian...) We were around when the previous neighbours moved, and at the time we thought "Wow ... can't believe they got so much for the house" ... but then, they did do a ton of renovations. The current owners are looking to make even more of a profit now, having done not a single renovation themselves. I guess the housing market really is insane around here.

Well, I can't blame anyone for paying a high price to live here. We are within walking distance of a Starbucks, so who wouldn't want to live here? Heh.

And I didn't even have to apply!

I was pondering what to write in today's blog, so I wandered over to my email inbox and look what I found!

Thank you for your interest in a summer position with us.
With the number of applications from well qualified law students such as you, it has been difficult to make a decision. Unfortunately, we are not in a position to grant you an interview at this time.
We appreciate your interest in our firm. As you may be aware, our articling program is much larger than our summer student program. As a result, we encourage you to apply for an articling position with us in April.
All the best in what is left of second year law, and we look forward to speaking with you about our articling program.

This lovely email is from a local (large) firm, if you couldn't tell by the form-letterness of the email. There are several problems with this email, so I've been working on my response...

Dear Coordinator of Student Programs,

There seems to be a mistake. I don't recall being interested to any degree in your firm. Has my identity been stolen by some hapless law student? If so, I commend him/her on being well-qualified but undeserving of an interview. S/he is reminding me of me already.

If my identity hasn't been stolen, then I'm just plain offended that I could be rejected for a job I did not even apply for. (Is it because of my dangling prepositions?) I realize I'm not the sharpest tool in the drawer known as law school (and certainly not the biggest tool either! badabing! Thank you, I'm here all week.) but it is a serious affront to my ego to be sent this (as these are called) "PFO" letter by email. I resent the implications that a) I'm not good enough for your firm and b) I should be demoted to the ranks of second year law student. Hmm, wait. Maybe "demoted" isn't the right word. Maybe school is BETTER than work. I'll take that into consideration.

Irregardless (ack! A non-word!), I would like to thank you for advising me, via mass email, that I am not being considered for a position. I'm sure my boss will be overjoyed to hear that I will not be leaving to move to your illustrious firm. Why would I leave? I do get free parking here, after all.

Sincerely,

Ms. Snarky.

Commentary on Junior's post

Really briefly glanced at E's post about the "stereotypical" Chinese family and was musing as to whether I'm part of that stereotype. I guess it's hard to say, since it depends on your definition of that stereotype. I definitely didn't become a lawyer for the money, so does that qualify me as anti-Asian? If it helps, I also don't really like to eat white rice very often, and I almost always have a cold beverage during my meal, not afterward.

I do drive a small Japanese car, though... and as previously noted, I am also very cheap... hmm. Looks like it balances out!

Note to self

Always order the Venti Tea Misto. It's the SAME PRICE as the Grande. Oh Starbucks, why must you play with my wallet so.

Further note: apparently at some Starbucks locations, the Tea Misto includes vanilla syrup in the price.... of course, at the Starbucks I visit, I pay an extra 35 cents. Fabulous!

Onan unrelated point: our cell group is making boxes tonight for Operation Christmas Child. Can't wait - this is always the beginning of Christmas preparations for me. I love making those boxes! Soon it will be time to put up the tree. The big debate this year - should we buy the $20 tree from Home Depot (or the $15 tree from Ikea) - or should we spend more (than double!) and cut our own from a tree farm .... those ones are always more fragrant.

I really must avoid the morning radio shows...

This morning, the radio hosts decided to chat briefly about last night's Canucks game. Faithful fans will recall that a fluky goal was scored, reminiscent of the Lidstrom-Cloutier disaster some years ago... so the female host (I shall call her "Annoying") said that this fluky goal was scored by "Bieska" and that surely his coach would be mad at him for shooting on net from beyond the red line, because, according to Annoying, "you just don't do that", "you should shoot it in, work the line", "he should have passed it instead", etc.

The male host ("No Less Annoying") clearly knows nothing about hockey, as he didn't even have any comments to make.

I admit, I'm no hockey expert, but what coach would be mad at a player for putting the puck on the net? "Okay team... I know you've been shooting pucks at the net lately but let's change the strategy and pass it around a bit more instead." Grrr! And the worst is how Annoying and No Less Annoying claim to be such huge hockey fans! Boooo urns.

And how do you pronounce it?

This morning, on one of the radio shows I force myself to listen to (hey - sometimes it's funny), the host was talking about a book he is reading. He admitted that he hasn't actually read the whole book, but has only read the beginning part.... except he called that beginning part the "PRE-face" ... now... I don't know about you but I have always pronounced it as the "PREF-iss".

So... who's the dummy - me or him?

Shameless "borrowing"

Quality music is a challenge to find on the radio... and as I do not possess an iPod (nor the energy to learn how to use one - haha - I typed "sue" instead of "use" - and nor the computer to connect an iPod to, it's true...) I'm forced to entertain myself by listening to the radio to and from work.

But this one song comes up sometimes and I have found myself really enjoying it. Apparently it's by someone called "Starfield", who I always thought was one of those weird indie bands, the concerts of whom *some* of my friends are constantly attending... but who is actually a (weird indie?) Christian band. Anyhoo here are the lyrics which I have borrowed from another blog (colours and all):

Son of God, shaper of the stars,
You alone, the dweller of my heart.
Mighty King, how beautiful You are,
how Beautiful.

Son of God, the Father's gift to us,
You alone, were broken on the altar of love.
Precious lamb, our freedom's in Your blood,
It's in Your blood.

Jesus, oh Holy One, I sing to You, forgiven.
Savior, I'm overcome with Your great love for me.

Son of God, strength beyond compare,
You alone, the darkness cannot bear.
Lord of all, Your kindness draws me near,
it draws me.

Son of God, prophecy of old,
You alone, redeemer of my soul.
Come again and lead Your people home,
come lead us home.

Jesus, oh Holy One, I sing to You, forgiven.
Savior, I'm overcome with Your great love for me.

You are worthy,
You are worthy,
You are worthy of all my praise.
You are beautiful (You are beautiful)
You are beautiful (so beautiful)
I will lift up my hands and sing. (I'll lift up my hand and sing.)

Jesus, oh Holy One, I sing to You, forgiven.
Savior, I'm overcome with Your great love for me.

Puddles

It's been a very long week and I'm anxious for it to be over. This week I have driven to or at least by what feels like every single city in the Lower Mainland. I have met four dogs (all big ones) (five if you count my boss' little dog, who of course I've met before, so no, she doesn't count), and three cats (two friendly, one scaredy). I've stepped in two deep puddles (neither was animal-related - let's be thankful) and have been caught in the rain without a hood only three or four times. I've eaten approximately six pieces of Halloween candy. I've had Starbucks twice and Wendy's once. I have been thinking far too much. I am exhausted.

I love weekends.... almost as much as I love summer.

Praise God for getting me through another week.

Always one step behind

Over at one of the blogs I sometimes read, there's a new, um... contest, I guess. Not really a contest. More of a campaign for more blogging. It's referred to as NaBloPoMo - National Blog Posting Month - basically trying to get people to post one entry every day in November in order to liven up previously slow blogs. I saw this and thought, totally a great idea, I'm on board .. but then I failed to post yesterday.

So here's the scoop from yesterday. I spent most of my day in the car, driving all over the province, or so it felt. I drove to Chilliwack in the morning, then to Pitt Meadows, then to Maple Ridge, then to Pitt Meadows again, then back to work, then home. By the by, did you know that gas in Chilliwack was only 86 cents? Scandalous! I also drove through Mission (hi Tree!) but really don't recall much, except I did pass a lake of some sort. The drive to Chilliwack is quite nice. Too bad it's so ridiculously far.

Also in yesterday's news, we went to a company dinner paid for by the hubby's work. There are some interesting (=bizarre) people who work with the hubby. He's been there long enough to identify the folks I didn't need to meet, so that was nice. In a little speech, his manager referred to me as the most patient, tolerant, and understanding woman he's ever met, since I'm married to the hubby. Clearly, this manager doesn't know a thing about me. Oh, the deceptive webs I weave when presenting my public facade to strangers!

PS: I wanted to take the two week All-Bran challenge, but it's far too difficult to eat it every day. My mouth can only handle a certain amount of twigs and branches per week.

Frickin freezing

Those of you in my neck of the woods will probably relate when I complain about the recent cold snap we're facing. Actually I am not REALLY complaining ... I don't really mind cold, I just long for summer instead. But cold is preferable to constant rain, I suppose.

Whenever it gets chilly like this, I'm always reminded of my first month in Medicine Hat several years ago. I arrived there just after New Year's and was totally unprepared for how cold it was. On the flight over from Calgary (the one where they balance the sides of the aircraft based on passengers' weight!) the pilot announced that the weather in the Hat was a brisk -29. At this point I was wearing a sweatshirt with no jacket, and jeans. Because the planes (and the airport) are so small, you have to exit the plane using stairs, rather than the jet bridge you normally see into airports. I don't think I've ever been colder in my life than that day. The Alberta cold is really unique - it gets into you, you feel like everything is frozen, and your face hurts.

That winter was a learning experience for me. Lesson one - never live in Medicine Hat. Just kidding (Mel - don't kill me!). Really, I'm quite thankful for God giving me the opportunity to live somewhere else for several months - I certainly appreciate home much more. I might complain about the rain, but it does bring green grass all year round, and at least my car isn't all sandy/salty from the roads here.

Folks from other parts of Canada often scoff at us westcoasters when we say it's cold. I think they're just jealous. :)

Where's my prize?

I definitely deserve one after the breakfast I just had. To give you some background, we have some family history of poor health which causes my mom to worry that similar problems will happen to my brother and I... so lately I have been consuming more "fibrous foods" to improve my health (which is fine, by the way, so don't panic. I recently got rated in "very good" health - not quite "perfect" like the hubby, but whatever.)

For example, I have been buying a (really expensive) new kind of bread where each slice has 5 g of fibre. (You are supposed to have about 25 g of fibre per day.) It's good bread, made without flour (I suppose they just grind up the whole grains rather than using whole wheat flour) - very dense, and sometimes the grains hurt my teeth. I also try to eat one apple a day. By the way, I used to love Red Delicious apples but they are so mealy... so now, Gala apples. Yum.

Anyway, today, I took the fibre to a new level. The hubby bought some of this stuff the other day:

As per the suggestion on the box, I had a half cup (12 g of fibre!!) today... I ate it with some fat free yogurt (I'm on a roll here). True to my recollection, eating All-Bran is like.. well, imagine you were on the monkey bars in the school playground, and you fell face down with your mouth open into the twigs they use in place of gravel, and then you accidently swallowed some of the twigs. Totally unappetizing.

See? I told you I deserved a prize. I'm willing to accept monetary compensation.

Ten more random facts

1. Fall, winter, and spring are my least favourite seasons.
2. Rain automatically adds 15 minutes to my commute. Come on, folks, a little water shouldn't prevent you stepping on the gas pedal.
3. Heroes is such a cool show.
   
4. Veronica Mars is even cooler, except that I have missed all the episodes so far this season. Oops! I guess I'll be d/ling....
5. It's 9:30 PM and I'm feeling sleepy. This is not good.
6. The teacher on trial right now (for gross indecency...?) is all sorts of disgusting. It's a very upsetting situation and I hate even reading about it. What an arrogant and awful person.... it's so sad.
7. My toast has NEVER bounced up from the toaster like it does on TV. Is my toaster just not capable of hurling my toast into the air?
8. The Travelocity gnome is terribly annoying.... I would put him slightly behind the Wireless Wave guy on the radio (why does he have to say "Ro-JERS" and "Fi-DOHHH" like that) and the Spence Diamond guy (I've ranted before about him... he's reaching new lows lately.)
9. I've managed to bring a lunch to work every day this week. Thanks for packing my lunch, hubby!
10. Tomorrow is our first hockey game of the season, I can't wait to test out our new seats. And, one of my best friends is coming home for a visit! It's gonna be a good day.

Fancy expensive dinner equals

...small portions of food on giant plates. You all know what I'm talking about, right... well, if I had been by myself I would have taken pictures. I'll give you an example. One of the courses was a tomato "salad". This meant a huge plate on which sat about five different kinds of tomatoes. Not the full tomato, of course, but a stack made up of a slice of a normal red tomato, a smaller slice of a yellow tomato, a smaller slice of some other type of tomato, etc, until the very top, which was a full grape tomato. Wow, filling. All the courses were accompanied by "local" wines ... unfortunately I am uncultured and have not yet developed a liking for wine. There was also some sort of tortellini (just one) filled with beef, sitting on top of some sort of vegetable, and over the entire plate was poured some veal consomme. Sigh.

I think the oddest part of the dinner was that of the five courses, for four of them I had to use the same glass for wine. I know next to nothing about wine, but I would have thought at least they could have given us different glasses for white and red wines. But no. In fact at one point I suppose my wine consumption was a little behind, so the waitress asked me to drink what was left in my wine so she could put a new wine in my glass. Not, in my opinion, the best customer service.

Anyway, the conference was good, and the hotel room was surprisingly nice, so that I almost didn't mind paying the $120. ALMOST.

Goodbye, Costa Rica... Hello ....

CHILE, SOUTH AMERICA! Yes ... a new destination has just been announced for our January missions trip and we are off to the long and skinny country of Chile. I'm super excited and have no idea where in Chile we'll be going, but it doesn't really matter. It's just exciting.

In other news, this is my fourth day back at work since the vacation, and it hasn't been a great week here at the office. Bad things happen in groups, that's for sure. I am looking forward to the weekend.... sort of ... to update, I have to go to Victoria this weekend (so I'll miss fellowship and church again!) for a conference. I already blogged about this conference, and I've decided to suck it up and attend the dinner. It still nags at me that my hard earned money is being spent on a meal. Well, I'll post an update after the dinner.

By the way, Mexico was fun, but very tiring. I learned, once again, that travelling with other people who are not as cool as your husband is extremely difficult. I also learned that I have a very short temper. Just kidding - I knew that long ago! The weather there was hot and dry, and the best part about the wedding was the 12 player mariachi band. Fantabulous. The worst part was realizing that someone we had met might possibly be, well, let's go with a "bad person". Anyway, congrats to the newlyweds, who are right now enjoying a sunny week in the Mayan Riviera.

Let's see... what else is new... I recently made some small (on sale!) purchases from a seller on Etsy.com and I'm quite happy. It's a cool site where people sell handmade stuff, crafts, jewelry, etc. I always think it's nicer to pay the artist than to pay some large corporation for stuff that has been made in a foreign country and then marked up to ridiculous levels. I suppose there's something to be said about the (corporation?) of Etsy.com itself profiting from the crafty endeavours of others, but I'll choose to be wilfully ignorant of the facts for the moment and just say, funky handmade pendant for only a few dollars? Sign me up.

Ten random facts about our trip so far

1. The plane ride from DFW (Dallas, for you non-airport-code-savvy people) was extremely turbulent. Gotta love the small planes.
2. Pancho Villa was not so named because he wore a poncho.
3. Kiefer Sutherland was in Stand By Me (well blow me over, I've never seen this movie.)
4. You can get your shots and drink only bottled water, but undercooked chicken will make you sick in any country.
5. It is extremely difficult to travel in a country where you don't know the language.
6. Drivers here take many risks. Why bother waiting behind someone when you can just use the shoulder to cut him off?
7. Tony the Tiger endorses cereal here too - but it's called Zucaritas!
   
8. A "tuna blanca" is a prickly fruit with a million seeds and a pear-like texture. It is NOT delicious.
9. Spanish is a lot like French - except that French makes so much more sense to me.
10. The wedding is in a few hours, and I gotta go!
    

Happiness is ...

Okay, I normally am a big Starbucks fan as opposed to any other coffee place, but seriously, the best drink EVER is the Dark Chocolate Mocha at Blenz. It is fabulous. Blenz uses real chocolate instead of that syrupy stuff. It's just the right combination of bitterness and sweetness. Yum.

Well, we're off to Mexico tomorrow. Happy Thanksgiving to all, or for our American friends, Happy Columbus Day! I'll post some pics when I get back.

In the meantime here is a picture of me in my legal attire, from my call ceremony ... and no there is no wig. Sorry to disappoint.

...but would you at least like to know what I had for breakfast?

This fun blogger recently wrote a book called "No One Cares What You Had for Lunch: 100 Ideas for your Blog". I admit that I haven't actually read the book, but on two of my favourite blogs, this book has been mentioned and used as well. Maybe one day I'll get around to reading it, and my blog? WILL BECOME FABULOUS. Just you wait.

Anyhoo. I'm sitting at my desk, drinking a lovely Grande Starbucks Awake Tea Misto (with Vanilla). I try not to buy into the Starbucks mentality more than once a week (one might argue that by getting a drink from there at all, I've already bought into the mentality - but that argument is for another post) - and when I do go to Starbucks, I go with the intention of buying a big fancy drink, and then I end up with a small fancy drink, or a big non-fancy drink. By small fancy drink, I usually mean a tall Caramel Macchiato (Non-fat), or a tall Mocha (Non-fat, Easy Whip) ... and by big non-fancy drink - well, that's the Tea Misto (also known as a London Fog).

It's a lovely combination of Earl Grey tea, steamed milk and foam, and some vanilla syrup. The best part is that since the tea is made with near-boiling hot water, I never have to complain about how my drink is lukewarm. That is the most frequent complaint about the Starbucks near our office - they have a problem making drinks the right temperature. I'm not sure if their thermometers are different from EVERY OTHER STARBUCKS but somehow, "lukewarm" is just the best way to describe them.

I'm always reminded of the verse in Revelation where God says to a church that their deeds are neither cold nor hot, lukewarm in fact, so he will spit them out. I'm sure this verse can be interpreted in different ways, but to me one meaning has always been that God isn't looking for Christians who don't really care, who don't seek him, who don't realize their own shortcomings.

It always makes me think.

I'm normally so well prepared

In a few short days, we're off to Mexico for a week to enjoy some fun in the sun. This is, at least, the plan. Unfortunately, I have no idea whether there will be sun, and as for fun, well, this isn't one of those typical-me trips where things are well planned and organized. Oh wait - I've just looked at the weather forecast and it appears we'll have mid-20s in the daytime, but fairly chilly evenings. Hmm. Some rain as well.

I am feeling a bit apprehensive about this trip, mostly because it's not an area I'm familiar with, and I'm going with a bunch of guys who don't seem to care much about whether the trip is organized. Apparently everyone's just looking forward to some Mexican beer. I can't recall the name of said beer, but I'm sure I'll figure it out after a few days. They're also looking forward to making odd purchases like buying "authentic" Mexican wrestling masks. Nacho Libre-style, I suppose.

In other trip-related news, we just got word that our trip to Costa Rica is now our trip to "destination as yet unknown." Was there a war in Costa Rica that I missed? I'm not sure. In any event, I don't know why the destination has changed, but I know the purpose has not. More updates when we receive them.

Hmm - I'm all out of things to say!

Blogger and my computer don't mix

I had a whole post written out. A good one too. But my work computer rejected it, or rejected Blogger maybe .. anyway. Byebye post.

What I wrote about was .. well I'll just re-create it. I have a conference to go to on the Island next month - just a short weekend thing. I don't have to pay for the fee, but I do "get" to pay for my transportation ($80) and my hotel ($120/nt.) Clearly not thrilling, but I accept that it's a necessary thing. There's much for me to learn about my area of law and conferences are great ways to absorb more. I just wish it didn't have to be so far away, given the cost. It was my plan to take an early ferry on the first day and be a smidge late for the seminar - thus saving on the hotel cost. For those that don't know, I'm very cheap. It may come from having been a student for a long time, or maybe it's just from being Chinese! In any event, I'm not a fan of spending a lot on stuff. I'm not RIDICULOUS or anything - I'll still spend money on Starbucks once or twice a week, and once in a while I even go out for lunch. And sometimes I buy clothes. But not expensive ones, let's not be silly.

So, back to the story, I got an email from the conference organizers about a dinner they have arranged for the evening. I had expected a dinner gathering, but thought it would be, what, $50 at MOST ... unfortunately - it's going to be $100. Does that not make your eyes bulge? Perhaps it's just me. But I have NEVER paid that much for a meal in my entire life. We did not even spend that much per person for our wedding reception, and unlimited booze was included in that event. It's some kind of a fancy restaurant. The hubby hasn't decided if he'll come to the conference or not, but if he does, there goes $200.

The hubby and I don't often go out to eat. We aren't fancy people. We's cheap people. It's true - I think we try to be generous with friends and such, but we are in general cheap. Our fanciest meals have been for $25/person at the Dine Out event... and sometimes we've said to each other afterward, "Hmm - I think I've had better food at [fill in name of inexpensive Asian restaurant]". Once in a while, I get a gift card for the Keg, and in the interest of saving money, we order one large size prime rib and share it - it's cheaper than getting two separate plates. (Are you rolling your eyes at me, Internet?)

SO - you can imagine my shock at opening this email. I don't really know what to do. It's sort of "expected" that I'll attend the dinner. Someone suggested that I make up a story about having to meet a friend, but I don't feel good about lying. I also don't feel good about ditching out and being the spoilsport. Among all the lawyers going, I'm surely the youngest (and the poorest!) - so I doubt they'd understand total honesty from me ("$100 for a meal!? What a ripoff!") Maybe I should suck it up and just go, and hope that the next time I have a conference to go to, I also have a higher salary.

Anyway. I shouldn't whine, I know, but seriously, I could spend that money soooo much better.

Winter makes me crave a warm bowl of...

I know winters in this part of the world are mild and really there is nothing to complain about.... aside from a little rain ... and we Vancouverites sure know how to rationalize the rain - "it makes our grass so green!" ... but I think secretly we all have times when we despise the weather and just want to curl up in front of the TV with a warm blanket. Well, I have already had two days like that and we aren't even really into fall yet.

Luckily I live with a master chef and he always makes me whatever I feel like for dinner. So tonight was congee night. I'm sure other people have this ability, but I don't, so I will brag about my husband's ability to take random ingredients and make something delicious. In less than an hour he had made a delicious pot of congee flavoured with chicken and dried scallops. I didn't even know we had dried scallops! No Chinese donuts (so clearly, that isn't my picture up there), but that's okay. We had some Costco dry ribs instead. Haha! Anyway, nothing cures my winter blues like a nice toasty bowl of congee. I don't like it so thick that a spoon stands up in it, and I don't like it too watery either.

I used to hate congee, actually, when I was a kid. I still have an aversion to congee with "weird" stuff in it (normal to everyone else - just weird to me) - like "pei dahn", for example.

Today was kind of a crappy day. I had to pick up my robes in downtown after work ... so I put in 3 quarters into my parking meter (= 18 minutes, what a ripoff) and the old fellow who works at the robes place is kinda slow. You know, as older people are. So I got my robes probably about 2 minutes past my meter expiry time and I sprinted/fastwalked (as best as can be done in heels) back to my car... only to see, as I was pulling out, a meter maid guy standing next to my meter, watching me leave. I expect a parking ticket in the mail in about a week or so. It put me in such a bad mood that I skipped the seminar I was supposed to go to.

It wasn't much better of a day AT work either. I've been feeling a little swamped lately, but it isn't always because I have too much work to do - it's more like I feel as though I know nothing at all. My boss said this is common to newbies, so I shouldn't worry - but I definitely still worry that I've forgotten things, or that I'll be such a royal screwup, my boss will fire me. It's the feeling of "Wow - I'm kinda stupid - wonder if anyone will find out." Let me tell ya - I'm not inspiring a lot of people lately.

Good thing, then, that there was congee tonight. I feel better already.

I suppose if the biggest problem I face is a parking ticket, I should really be more grateful for what God gives me.

Hair ... such expense for dead cells

I hate getting my hair cut ... it isn't because I always want long hair or anything like that. It's more of the effort required. After my wedding, I sort of abandoned my previous hairstylist, as we had a bit of an issue regarding the wedding hair prices she charged me. I then embarked on a hair salon search ... and today I decided to go to a new place in Kerrisdale. I liked it there, except that the shampoo girl made me feel a bit awkward (they don't speak much English ... was she laughing at me? the way I look? Or just curious at the Chinese girl who can't speak Chinese? I'll never figure it out.)

Here's my "before" ... this was taken a few weeks ago during a camping trip. Considering the icy cold showers at camping, my hair actually doesn't look terrible here. (Side note: have I ever mentioned that I HATE public showers? Yuck!) Anyway, my hair here is long, mostly shapeless, and the bangs were really killing me.

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And anyway, I decided to go for something shorter and possibly more professional looking. Here is the picture I brought to the hairstylist - knowing that my hair will never really look like this, unless I flat iron it every single morning and get highlights too.



And here is what I ended up with (typical webcam-style picture - I'm not even looking at the camera, haha):

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Obviously it isn't Ally McBeal's hair, but I'm pretty pleased. Of course, it will undoubtedly not look too good when I have to wash/dry it myself. We'll see tomorrow.

Anyway. Shockingly I spent $50 today. I think that's the most expensive haircut that I have ever had. Ever! Ouchie.

This post doesn't have a real point.... but that's okay.... one day I'll write something more meaningful!

Saved - are you really?

There appears to be a lack of interest in books, judging by the underwhelming response to my last two posts ... I'll just assume that if you do read, you just aren't inclined to share your favourite tomes with me ... and if you don't read ... you're embarrassed that you don't. :)

Okay, so the other day, hubby and I went to the video store. We decided to rent this movie:

If you haven't seen it, I recommend it. It's a bit of a teen movie, but really quite eye-opening if you're a Christian. It made me wonder how often I've been a hypocrite, or have looked at someone with disdain, not knowing their true situation.

Christians seem to have kind of a bad rap in the media and to be honest, sometimes I totally agree with the media. I remember a few years ago, when a gay student was killed on a university campus in the States, there was a preacher who joined the protest, except that instead of standing up for gay rights, he held a sign that said something like, "God Hates Gays".

Our cell group was thinking of going to a lecture next month where topics of faith will be discussed. In particular what stuck out for me was the part about how faith seems to come out wrongly - either because it isn't accompanied by any positive good work, or because it is practiced in a coercive or violent fashion. Interesting stuff.

Praise God that he forgives.

More Reading

My previous post inspired me to think a little more about books that I loved and books that I hated...

Here's a couple of books about animals that I thought were fantastic as a kid (okay - maybe there weren't necessarily ABOUT animals, but they definitely involved animals!):

On the other hand, here is the worst book I ever had the misfortune of reading:

Ugh, what a snoozer! Sorry, Richard Adams, but a book about travelling bunnies? Hmph. Check out a sentence I found in a book summary: "The little band takes off across the countryside. Along the way they encounter many obstacles such as a stream, a bean field, and a road. " You're kidding me, right? I'm sure the bean field posed a terrific opponent to a pack of rabbits.

It doesn't help that I was forced to read this book by the worst English teacher in the history of English teachers. I can only hope that she has entered retirement by now, never to wreak her obsession with hearts, stinky perfume, and lopsided hair buns on the current generation of kids.

Here are some of my all time faves:

That's all for now, folks! Feel free to leave comments about books I should read.

PS: Captain Underpants - what a great way to encourage toilet humour!

Reading

Once upon a time, I was quite the bookworm. My brother and I used to get dropped off at the mall library while my mother did the grocery shopping. I can still remember the sound of her heels as she came down the stairs to get us, and we would rush to the checkout, arms full of books. She still says that the best moments of peace when we were kids was right after a visit to the library, when we would both be immersed in whatever new book we had borrowed.

Here are some of my favourite reads from childhood:




Ah, it's nice to reminisce. I only owned the first two, but I definitely borrowed the other two more than a few times each. (My husband always thinks it's weird how I can read a book over and over again without getting bored.)

These days it's pretty hard to find the time to read, and whenever I do head to the library, it's either to get movies, or to quickly choose a book. Thus I haven't been able to find a really good read lately. I never really ask people what they like to read, as it's difficult for me to say what I like to read, so I don't feel I can trust their recommendations. Either that, or people around me just don't read very much. I suppose when there's such thrilling TV on as "Celebrity Duets", who wants to waste their time cracking open a book.

Aside from work-related reading, I have found myself reading blogs as a hobby ... there's Pink and Dooce, of course, and I also like Mimi Smartypants's Diary and Sweet Juniper. Sometimes it's just so cathartic to read something hilarious and totally unrelated to the stress in my life or in my workplace. Would that more people blogged about their lives so that nosy folks* like myself would be entertained ...

*Speaking of nosy folks, here's a tiny shout-out to the Tsang family! (Just kidding about the nosy remark!) Tell your dad that this blog is not appropriate for sabotaging, if that should be his intention .. but he's welcome to cyberstalk me from Boston. We miss you guys lots and will try to visit y'all sometime!*

It's amazing how quickly I can be messy

I'll quickly describe our trip to SF as "pretty fun". One of the best events that happened there is that I got a call from the Law Society to say that I didn't royally screw up my bar exams, and I can finally be a lawyer (after some stressful paperwork.) Of course, the wedding was nice and everyone had a good time. There were some really rowdy people at the wedding, and for once, it wasn't us! Shocking, I know. I didn't know before that even when there isn't an open bar and even when people don't buy drinks, they will still drink ridiculously, thanks to wine on the tables. Our table went through like five bottles of wine ... not really the bride's intention, but she should have assigned someone to keep an eye on her non-RCAC friends.

Here are a few pictures to entertain you (if they look pixelly, just click to see the full size pic):








Anyway. When I left work in May, my desk was fairly clean - I managed to finish most of my work, or turf it to someone else ... but when I got back, there were a few neat piles of work to do. Hey, no problem, I can keep my desk clean right? WRONG! It's only been three days, but my desk is a disaster again, and at least two files are just sitting on the ground. Ugh. I must get my act together soon, it's becoming embarrassing (not really - but I like neatness.) People really should stop giving me work to do. Haha!

My call ceremony (the formality of being called to the bar) is on September 22. I have the honour of having to wear robes that day. Man, are they expensive... and unattractive :) When I get mine, I will have to post a picture. We've been spending money like it's going out of style. Not good.

Stir Crazy

It's already the end of July and I'm finally feeling like I can enjoy the summer. I've finished my bar exams and PLTC is over. Spending more time studying would probably have bored me into complete sloth and lethargy. Good thing that's all over and done with.*

*Note: it's only all over and done if I haven't failed anything. I'm hoping that I haven't ... I did try my best even though I didn't appear to study hard!

In slightly less than two days, hubby and I are off to the land of heat waves, fog, and earthquakes. Good old Frisco awaits. (I heard the locals hate the name "Frisco.") I'm looking forward to the vacation, but at the same time it's been a difficult trip to plan. Our entire honeymoon was easier to plan, and it was twice as long. But I guess that's what happens when you travel in a group, and when people don't even live close together.

After the trip, we'll be back the long, hard grind of daily life. Hooray! Well, I suppose it isn't all bad. At least I'll eventually be referred to as a lawyer and not just a student.

In other news, hubby and I got accepted to an Operation Christmas Child shoebox distribution trip. You've probably heard about it before, but in case you haven't, here's the link to give you more information. We'll be going to Costa Rica, in Central America, sometime next January. Pretty exciting. I've actually never been on a short-term missions trip - the timing has never worked out for me. Now that I can take time off, it'll be a cool experience, I think.

When we were in Orlando we enjoyed some delicious ice cream at Ghirardelli's, which as you probably all know, originated in San Fran. Yummm... I'm looking forward to more of that. Here's a picture to keep you all entertained while we're gone. Stay safe!

Why do today what you can put off for tomorrow ...

By now, those of you who have been following must realize that I'm not nearly as studious as I might appear to be. If you looked in the dictionary under "procrastination", you'd see me ... that is, if I could get my butt in gear to send Webster my picture :D Hope I haven't burst anyone's perfect impression of me.

Anyway, Part I of my exams is over. It wasn't too bad, or at least, I hope I didn't do badly. Hey, I wrote something on every question, that's helpful eh! My next exam is on Friday. I'm not looking forward to it, as you can imagine. In fact, my plan for today is to do nothing at all. Heh.

Last night, we had a dinner of chicken wings and .. well... chicken wings! We also had watermelon, and then I made these for dessert (from a box - don't get excited):


These lava cakes are made by Dr. Oetker. When you put your fork in them, warm chocolate oozes out while the cake is nice and moist. (Sorry Char - I know you aren't a chocolate fan - but if you were - you'd enjoy these!)

Unfortunately, I missed one crucial step - I forgot to grease the little aluminum tins that come with the box. You wouldn't think this would impact the entire dessert, but so it did. (Actually - if you were a chef - you would TOTALLY think this would impact the entire dessert.) I ended up with a sort of chocolate sauce/cake puddle. Oops. Hubby still ate two and pronounced them delicious, particularly with vanilla ice cream. It takes a strong man to love someone who can't even prepare a dessert from a box correctly.

Only five more days until San Fran. I broke out the suitcases and got them ready for packing already. Okay... actually... the reason I got the suitcases out is because I had to load one of them full of books for my exam (it's open-book) and I already had one out when I realized it was too small. How nerdy! I wasn't the only one who showed up with a suitcase though, and personally, I think it's a little better than a big cardboard box filled with books. At least a suitcase is easy to pull around. I'm nothing if not ergonomically sensitive.

Till next time, friends!

Studying puts me into a haze.

I used to study in the Law Library on some occasions while in law school (this may seem like an obvious thing to say, but actually, a great portion of people in the Law Library aren't actually in law school. Why they would choose to study in the most dungeon-like building next to Main Library's bowels is beyond me.) I have to say that studying at school was pretty useless though, as I was armed with a laptop and wireless internet.

So, I started studying at home. You'd think that would be worse, but in fact, I got a lot done.

I haven't had to study in over a year, but now that the bar exams are close at hand, I'm forced to apply myself once again. So, I've been studying at my new home. It's very different. For one thing, the lighting is best in the living room (at my mom's house, the lighting was best in the kitchen) - so I'm studying on the couch. As well, it's very quiet here when the hubby is gone, and I hate quiet.

What do I hate more than quiet? STUDYING. My gosh. It puts me into this lethargic, apathetic state. I get up in the morning and shower ... and then, it takes a herculean effort just to crack open a book. I spend most of the day in sweats or other unappealing clothing. I feel hungry but at the same time, I'm too lazy to actually make anything. I feel as though I absorb hardly anything when I am studying... ugh.

I know I shouldn't complain... but it's difficult not to :) Can't wait to go back to work!!!

It's crunch time

...and in more ways than one!

1) The first part of my bar exam is in about two weeks (it's two parts spread out over a few days.) Nervous, you ask? Nope! Shouldn't I be? Probably! I do need to do some major studying, but it's been difficult since they've also given us assignments to do in the next two weeks. What a waste of time.

2) In my haste yesterday, I managed to scratch someone's car while parking. I didn't feel a bump, but rather, I heard a lovely scratching noise. Fantastic! I'm so pleased with my driving. I was in a rush, so I left them a note and took a few pictures (I carry my camera everywhere, usually!)

3) There's less than three weeks to San Fran, and it's been an irritating process for me to plan this trip. I'm usually so good at the trip planning, so when I'm not good at it, it's incredibly frustrating. Blah. Too bad the Yam isn't getting married at Disney World, I would have been far more organized for that :)

4) I have a springform pan and would love to make a cheesecake sometime - but not those super dense ones. Unfortch, I've put myself on a three week starvation diet. Well, not starvation. But far less snacking and hardly any treats. Perhaps I shouldn't watch so much Food Network, it just makes me hungry!

One year and counting

It's a few days past our first anniversary now. Thanks to everyone who remembered - you guys are so sweet! We had a great weekend, very relaxing. Unfortunately, I had some delightful work to do in the form of an Assessment. (assignments = worth no marks; assessments = worth a pass/fail mark) Ugh. Oh well, we still had a good time. We bought a crepe maker and enjoyed some delicious banana/chocolate-filled crepes with ice cream (for breakfast! ridiculous.)

Hard to believe it's already been a year, maybe because we dated for a long time. Lots of people say the first year is the hardest, particularly when you're adjusting to living together for the first time. I have to say, however, that if this is the hardest year, life is gonna be incredibly easy for the rest of the years. Hubby and I get along pretty well (despite my bad temper and his slightly worse temper) and we seem to have a good balance of "us time" and "not us time". (The words - they are falling out of my head right now.) If there's one area to improve on, it's that we sometimes fail to put God first.

Here's one of our wedding pics. I really like this one (kinda blurry on the computer, we had film and not digital pics) - it's like we're walking toward our future, but with a glance back at our past.


Ahh, memories. Well, at least my voice is around this year.

Okay, onto other news.

I'm watching Bob Blumer right now. He's one of my favourite chefs on the Food Network. I'm not a huge Anthony Bourdain fan (sorry Char) or Jamie Oliver fan and I definitely could do without Bobblehead. But how cool is Bob Blumer - he cooks in a trailer shaped like a toaster! Fantastic! He just made pear wontons. I also like Michael Smith (the huge guy) - except that sometimes his staring is a smidge creepy.

Class is so dull right now that I've made it my goal to complete one crossword puzzle a day. Not as easy as it sounds, since I insist on completing the NY Times crossword. I got a lot of help today from classmates, so we finished all but three words (which were all names of people we don't know.) I used to do crosswords in law school too. I have a super short attention span, it's kind of unfortunate.

Hmm - Bob's making walnut gorgonzola bites with honey which he says are delish. Ummm.... I'll take your word for it, Bob.

Ode to a good friend (actually, two)

I'd like to introduce you to my good friends. Affectionately I refer to them as "sandals", but their technical name is Nike ACG "Air Deschutz" Sandals. These friends have walked with me (haha) through many good times.



I have owned this pair of sandals since 1998. In fact, hubby brought them back for me from Hawaii during his mission trip there. I can hardly believe it's been 8 years. That was a rocky time in our relationship - we didn't really know if we'd be able to stick it out - but I knew I meant SOMETHING to him because I was the only one who got souvenirs AND sandals when he came back.

I've worn these sandals faithfully every summer, on vacations, camping trips, etc. I haul them out whenever it seems like it'll be a sunny week. Some people are grossed out at the sight of feet, but I have perfectly normal feet and don't mind exposing them to the world by wearing sandals. (I would not, however, walk barefoot outside - I'm not Britney Spears, after all.)

Permit me to indulge in some fond memories with my Nikes.

Here I am in Victoria, pretending to be a dinosaur (June 2003):


If you look closely you can see my sandals on the carpet of my Campbell River hotel room (May 2006):


Look - we are meeting the Genie from Aladdin at Disney World (Feb 2003):


Clod is the center of this pic, but look - sandals during camping! (July 2004):


I think I'm saying grace before eating in this picture, but otherwise, it's eerily similar - same chair, same camp location ... it's when I went camping with some of my school friends in July 2003:



I have many other fun pictures, but I am afraid I might be wearing the same clothes in many of them. Darn that Old Navy hoodie - its versatility may be outweighed by its lack of photogenicity.

Anyway. In May 2004, I went to St. Louis with my family for my cousin's wedding. While we were walking up the steps to a fancy shopping mall, my mom noticed an issue with my sandals tearing at the back. I managed to sew them back together ... but I guess thread can only do so much. This month I noticed significant damage again ... Poor Nikes. View the damage below - warning - lovers of Nike sandals may want to avert their eyes!

Oh! The disaster!


I suppose I could have sewed them up again, but I just didn't think it would be worth the effort. So this past weekend, I bit the bullet and purchased a new pair of sandals. I hope they last another 8 years (that would mean $5/year - pretty good!) It's hard to say goodbye to such a good friend, but all good things must come to an end, right?

Here is a picture of my new friend: (don't worry - I bought both the right and left ones!)

Babies - part deux

As an addendum to my last post, I thought I would write a few more thoughts.

First - I guess not having kids definitely means a different perspective. I love kids, but actually, I really like that I can hand them back to their parents when I'm tired of them... in a good way of course. Obviously I can't predict how I'll react once we do have kids... maybe I'll feel totally different.

I once watched an episode of Dr. Phil which was like stay-at-home moms (SAHM) vs. working moms (WM) and I was honestly shocked at the attitude of some of the SAHM's. The way in which they condemned working moms was awful... suggesting that working moms don't have their kids' best interests at heart, that their kids will suffer, etc... most of the WM's either said that of course they felt some guilt about working all day but didn't have a choice.. or else that they wanted to show their kids that it was possible to balance a full time career with a full household.

The former Chief Judge of the Provincial Court here in BC worked all her life and has five kids. Five! My stars. I think being a lawyer isn't terribly conducive to staying at home, although I never want to be one of those big firm, partner-track lawyers who works 80 hours a week and has billing targets .. but I probably won't be able to fluff off work whenever I want either.

Finally, I borrowed a book called "Mommy Wars" today at the library. It's full of essays from both SAHM's and WM's. Should be a good read.

Okay, on to non-baby-related stuff. I tripped one of my 3" three ring binders yesterday and nearly ripped a nail right off my toe. Needless to say I was in terrible pain (although I am a pain wimp.) I don't think medical attention is necessary (or even useful) .. but I wish I could do something other than try not to re-injure it. I guess I'll have to wait several weeks. This puts a glitch in my plan to have nice polished nails all summer long (it is sandal season, after all.) I actually googled "torn toenail" to find some remedies. I love the internet.

Anyway I could barely walk this morning and therefore I didn't go to school today. It's okay - I doubt I missed much. I felt a bit better after a good long sleep, but it's still difficult to walk properly. Stupid binders and klutziness.

Tis all for now. I haven't posted many pictures lately, but maybe I will do so soon ... I am waiting to receive a new adapter for my notebook ... Raf dropped my whole computer once and it partially severed a portion of the cord - and I finished it off the other day. Wow, I'm doing well, clumsiness-wise.

Babies, babies, babies

Someone asked me today when we're planning to have kids, and I gave my standard "Not right now" answer. I don't mind being asked - I figure it's the natural thing to ask people once they are married - it's probably more "normal" to ask that than anything else, really.

I can't say I really know what the answer is, though. I'm pretty happy with things the way they are - just the two of us in our spacious-for-two-people-with-tons-of-stuff house, not having to think about the needs of a little person, you know ... I recently read a post about how women today grow up in a culture of self-serving - pursue your own goals, travel, live your life how you want, work as hard as you want, etc ... and how there's possibly a shift in the mindset towards stay-at-home-momship and such... and maybe that there's something to be said about self-sacrifice - giving up your own goals to further the needs of your kids.

I don't know how I feel about this. My mom was kind of a combo of stay-at-home and working - as a piano teacher she was able to stay at home while working, so we didn't spend much time in daycares or with babysitters except when we were really young. In my profession, I probably won't be able to spend most of my time working from home. The reality is that if I have kids, they'll probably spend at least 3 days a week in daycare. I can't even imagine giving up my career for my kids. No right or wrong to be alleged here - just random thoughts. Maybe I'm selfish, or perhaps I'm just going to present to my kids the option of having kids yet still having a full-time job.

Well, good thing we don't have to consider this issue for a few more years :D

Losing steam

It's not really the end of the year for me, since I'm not really a student any more (PLTC notwithstanding.) But somehow, I still feel like I'm getting slower and slower as summer approaches. I have a lot less energy to devote to the many things going on in my life. Like fellowship - there's only a couple of weeks left, but it takes so much to plan an evening, and sometimes I don't even feel like it's worth it. Kind of a cynical view. It's definitely tough to watch as teens who used to be regulars start to drift away. I wish I could shake them and say, "Don't make this mistake ... don't leave ... you might never come back..."

We had an interesting conversation at cell group yesterday. I won't go into all the details, but one topic that arose really made me think. There's a few cliches floating around, like, God has bridged the gap and all we have to do is reach out for him ... or God has taken 999 steps and you just have to take one... you know, thoughts about faith and such. But Jason brought up a different way of looking at faith. Might we be better off giving all the glory to God, realizing that it is His grace and mercy which redeems us, and not our faith in Him that saves us... maybe it's more appropriate to say that God took all 1000 steps, and I don't deserve any of it, so that His grace is fuller and larger. Hmm, I suppose I never quite considered it in that way. But it is true - God continually reaches out for us, even when we don't reach for him. On the other hand, there's some aspect of turning ourselves onto the narrow path to follow Him too.

Well, maybe it's hard to explain. God is so unfathomable that it's very difficult to put into words how I have come to know Him and how I know that He is real and that He has saved me.

But I sure wish I could explain it better to the teens who have, consciously or not, stopped coming to church.

I'm too smart for school

Yes, I have concluded that I am just far too clever to be stuck in a classroom all day. Or maybe that's just my excuse for thinking that PLTC is full of everything I hate - a ton of readings which must be done immediately, fear of failure, boring lectures, and people bright enough to get through law school, yet not bright enough to figure out that they should bring their materials to class.

I am stuck in this course until the end of July. What a pleasant way to spend a summer, sitting in a classroom which alternates between icy cold and stiflingly hot. I'd much rather be working, to be honest.

I haven't learned much so far this week.... everything is common sense... don't steal money, call your clients back, don't harass other lawyers, etc. Blah. I could teach this course!

Oh well. Since I have to do it, there isn't much that can be done about it. School drags me down in general, I'm always tired... the commute is long and crowded (I drive partway and bus partway.) Oh, the bus - how I've missed the loser cruiser. I had almost forgotten that there's always one of the following sorts of people on board: a) the crazy guy ("I NEED TO GO TO CANADA TRUST AND THE CASINO. WHERE IS THE BANK? IS IT NEAR THE CASINO? I NEED TO GO TO CANADA TRUST! WHERE IS THE BANK? WHERE IS THE CASINO? RIVER ROCK? RIVER ROCK????? IS THAT NEAR THE BANK???? "; b) the guy with bad hygiene (fingers in orifices followed by touching the pole is unacceptable bus decorum); c) the guy who won't MOVE TO THE BACK OF THE BUS despite the constant recording urging you to move back; d) the guy who, when you get up to give your seat to an elderly lady, immediately takes your seat and will not give it up to said lady; and e) the guy who just will not remove his backpack so that when you're seated, it hits you in the face.

To all ye who display such behaviour, I hereby banish ye to a life of HAVING THE SAME THINGS DONE TO YOU. Or, I would also accept a life of you LICKING THE BUS FLOOR AND ALL OF THE POLES after guy with bad hygiene touches all the poles.

end rant.

Les Phoques

As some of my faithful readers might realize, I went to Campbell River this past week to spend a little time on the non-litigation side of the lawyering world. May I just say, litigation is the way to go. Corporate work is dull when you're like me and have a mind incapable of understanding company law. Real estate conveyancing doesn't look so hot either. Wills and estates - well, okay, those are actually not so bad. But litigation! Oh, the joys of that heart-pounding feeling every time I go to court... and it's not like I've even run a trial or anything.

Anyway, one of the best parts was that I got to go on a super cool boat ride with another lawyer and her husband. The husband turned out to be the MAYOR of Campbell River. How neat is that! "His Worship" was incredibly friendly, as was his wife, and they took me out to see seals, sea lions, and basically showed me that small town life isn't as boring as I might think.

Here's the inside of the boat (I had Wendy's for dinner - she makes gooood salads):


Sea lions? They are huge and noisy!


And finally - a gorgeous sunset on the water:

I have a few more pictures, but they aren't all as exciting. Maybe I'll post them later. I watched a lot of telly while I was away - there wasn't much else to do there! It's definitely a prettier town than Medicine Hat, AND it has a Starbucks (which I did not try b/c I was being cheap!)

Summertime madness

This picture was taken two years ago when the cell group came over and we had some trampoline fun. It's sometimes hard to remember what cell group was like then, but I'm reassured by this picture that we clearly had a lot of fun together.

I'm still in cell group and although the people have changed from the original group - some have moved on, some fresh faces have come, some have started other cell groups/may join other cell groups, some live on the Island or in the States or in Singapore, some had a baby, and of course, can't forget our Star Performer - it's still a terrific group. Colin first came up with the name "WHAM", for "With Heart and Mind", or maybe "With HAM"... :) and I still like to think of cell group as Wham, even though everything's changed.

It isn't that I want to relive the past, or that I don't enjoy the current makeup of the group. I love the way cell group is now. I guess it's just easier for me to say "Wham" than "Wednesday cell group" or anything of the sort. And after all, I think "With Heart and Mind" is still a great motto for our group.

Anyway, I dunno. I don't have a picture handy of the new group, but I'm sure I'll find one somewhere among everyone else's pics.