Well kids.
Saturday, February 19, 2005
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
Evidently we're Irish pirates who can't do math.
Indeed it is good to be back home. Although I had a kick arse time in Montreal and Debs was an incredible hostess I missed my bed and the random dog hair which normally covers all my clothing. Naturally after any sort of short holiday/trip Aiya and I have a debriefing session. You know, just to catch up on what heinous things Ammi and Thathi have been up to. Naturally one thing leads to another and we either end up watching a stupid WIll Ferrell/Ben Stiller vehicle, or revert to our castle in the sky. Last night we decided on the latter. (For those of you who are unfamiliar with our castle in the sky. For shame! It's not as if either of us doesn't talk about it incessantly!)
Scene: Checking out the Sri Lankan restaurant talent, to see what kind of pathetic competition Aiya would have
Me: OO look there's a place called Clancy's Pub in Sri Lanka and it's Irish!
Aiya: Looks like we'll have to buy some pints of Guiness and scope the place out when we go there.
Me: Yeah and we can pretend to be Irish right?
Aiya: *attempting Irish accent* Arghh!
Me: Um, okay so instead of just being plain Irish, we can be Irish Pirates?
Scene: Looking over the menu from Athula Caterers and attempting to calculate the price for a 100 person function
Aiya: Okay, convert that now, so per head it's 500 RS, so how much would that be for a 100 people?
Me: Uh, 500x100?
Aiya: Yeah what is that?
Me: I think it's 5000 right? No wait, there's 4 zeros so it'd be 50,000?
Aiya: Just get the calculator and double check.
Me: When'd you become so smart?!
You might want to skip this
So on Sunday we were having lunch at a restaurant called the Three Amigos and conveniently enough they had paper placemats. Given my inability to see a piece of paper, or napkin without writing on it, we naturally had an impromptu handwriting analysis session. Which really blew because I couldn't remember how to analyse jack ;) But I hunted up the original analysis test and re-did it (today). Is it still disgustingly accurate? You bet! Joycie and Abs were wondering about the scientific accuracy of these things, and there doesn't seem to be a whole lot, but here's some useful sites. Wikipedia's take on things and the FAQ from the place I did the analysis from. And of course, for those of you who might be interested, here's the test itself.
Here are a few of my results, and for those in the know, none of them will be very surprising!
Margins: Far left margins indicate fear of the future and apprehension of moving forward.
My 'Y's: Selective in choosing friends, does not truly trust everyone, has a select group of people who are truly close and is careful in choosing inner circle of friends
My 'T's: Extremely ambitious, very sarcastic with comments that are funny but at times are harsh, bitter and caustic (so creepily true!!!)
My 'M's: Has a very investigative and creative mind. Investigates things rapidly b/c of intense curiosity. Extremely logical and ordered way of thinking. Takes on way too many projects at a time. Diplomacy is a strong suit; has the ability to say what others want to hear, tells things straight without offending and can disagree without being disagreeable.
My 'O's: Is highly opinionated and will be candid and direct when exrpressing opinions. Will give straight opinion when asked for it.
The stems on my 'D's and 'T's: Demands respect and will expect others to treat her with honor and dignity. Believes in her ideas and will expect other people to also respect them. Has a lot of pride (<-- WORD!)
The Left slant of my writing and pressure: Is withdrawn into herself, reserved and shows her feelings only at times of great anger, extreme passion, or tremendous stress. Is an introvert who makes decisions based on logic, therefore is rarely impulsive. Doesn't find any need for expressing emotions and sees this as an unnecessary waste of time. Many people do not understand and it is difficult for them to really know how she feels. Enjoys being alone, and prefers working alone. Working with her hands is a pleasure. Does feel emotions, as deeply as anyone else, but they're harboured inside. The first time someone angers her, she probably will not say anything to that person. However, she will mentally keep track of everything this person does wrong to her until she cannot hold her emotions inside any longer. Then, Boom! Will never regret telling someone off, because she knew what she was saying the entire time. She won't impulsively tell someone off. Emotional stories will not sway her. Thinks totally with judgment, first considering every situation by the effect it will have on her. Needs space and time alone.
My 'K's: Can be defiant. Sometimes has the attitude that if someone doesn't like it the way she is doing it, then they can just "go to hell!" This trait may reveal itself in a rebellious nature that is always ready to resist forces which she thinks are infringing upon her freedom of action.
Are you all believers now?! *shudder* That whole thing was disturbingly accurate. Other than the diplomacy thing of course ;) Go do the test and tell me what your results are!
Well, if you're still here after all of the above lol, check back in a little bit, maybe towards the middle of next week for pictures and other scintillating things from my trip to Montreal!
Scene: Checking out the Sri Lankan restaurant talent, to see what kind of pathetic competition Aiya would have
Me: OO look there's a place called Clancy's Pub in Sri Lanka and it's Irish!
Aiya: Looks like we'll have to buy some pints of Guiness and scope the place out when we go there.
Me: Yeah and we can pretend to be Irish right?
Aiya: *attempting Irish accent* Arghh!
Me: Um, okay so instead of just being plain Irish, we can be Irish Pirates?
Scene: Looking over the menu from Athula Caterers and attempting to calculate the price for a 100 person function
Aiya: Okay, convert that now, so per head it's 500 RS, so how much would that be for a 100 people?
Me: Uh, 500x100?
Aiya: Yeah what is that?
Me: I think it's 5000 right? No wait, there's 4 zeros so it'd be 50,000?
Aiya: Just get the calculator and double check.
Me: When'd you become so smart?!
You might want to skip this
So on Sunday we were having lunch at a restaurant called the Three Amigos and conveniently enough they had paper placemats. Given my inability to see a piece of paper, or napkin without writing on it, we naturally had an impromptu handwriting analysis session. Which really blew because I couldn't remember how to analyse jack ;) But I hunted up the original analysis test and re-did it (today). Is it still disgustingly accurate? You bet! Joycie and Abs were wondering about the scientific accuracy of these things, and there doesn't seem to be a whole lot, but here's some useful sites. Wikipedia's take on things and the FAQ from the place I did the analysis from. And of course, for those of you who might be interested, here's the test itself.
Here are a few of my results, and for those in the know, none of them will be very surprising!
Margins: Far left margins indicate fear of the future and apprehension of moving forward.
My 'Y's: Selective in choosing friends, does not truly trust everyone, has a select group of people who are truly close and is careful in choosing inner circle of friends
My 'T's: Extremely ambitious, very sarcastic with comments that are funny but at times are harsh, bitter and caustic (so creepily true!!!)
My 'M's: Has a very investigative and creative mind. Investigates things rapidly b/c of intense curiosity. Extremely logical and ordered way of thinking. Takes on way too many projects at a time. Diplomacy is a strong suit; has the ability to say what others want to hear, tells things straight without offending and can disagree without being disagreeable.
My 'O's: Is highly opinionated and will be candid and direct when exrpressing opinions. Will give straight opinion when asked for it.
The stems on my 'D's and 'T's: Demands respect and will expect others to treat her with honor and dignity. Believes in her ideas and will expect other people to also respect them. Has a lot of pride (<-- WORD!)
The Left slant of my writing and pressure: Is withdrawn into herself, reserved and shows her feelings only at times of great anger, extreme passion, or tremendous stress. Is an introvert who makes decisions based on logic, therefore is rarely impulsive. Doesn't find any need for expressing emotions and sees this as an unnecessary waste of time. Many people do not understand and it is difficult for them to really know how she feels. Enjoys being alone, and prefers working alone. Working with her hands is a pleasure. Does feel emotions, as deeply as anyone else, but they're harboured inside. The first time someone angers her, she probably will not say anything to that person. However, she will mentally keep track of everything this person does wrong to her until she cannot hold her emotions inside any longer. Then, Boom! Will never regret telling someone off, because she knew what she was saying the entire time. She won't impulsively tell someone off. Emotional stories will not sway her. Thinks totally with judgment, first considering every situation by the effect it will have on her. Needs space and time alone.
My 'K's: Can be defiant. Sometimes has the attitude that if someone doesn't like it the way she is doing it, then they can just "go to hell!" This trait may reveal itself in a rebellious nature that is always ready to resist forces which she thinks are infringing upon her freedom of action.
Are you all believers now?! *shudder* That whole thing was disturbingly accurate. Other than the diplomacy thing of course ;) Go do the test and tell me what your results are!
Well, if you're still here after all of the above lol, check back in a little bit, maybe towards the middle of next week for pictures and other scintillating things from my trip to Montreal!
Monday, January 31, 2005
Resort fun circa 1986
l-r Aiya, me and Gunther
I was digitizing a whole bunch of pictures last weekend. They were all really old school, from 1988 and earlier. Our entire life before we came to Canada pretty much. Most of the photographs are getting fuzzy and faded especially the colour ones from the 70s, but you know the old cliche "a picture is worth a thousand words." Most of them are really goofy, you know the usual collection of family photographs, nothing really profound exactly like our lives. As I was going through them though, I was struck by the above photo. Ammi had just gone to L.A. or to London (i don't remember which) and she was gone for about a month, so she and Thathi decided that we would go down south to a resort for a couple of days to spend some time together as a family. Aiya of course made fast friends with another little boy whom he spent most of our vacation with. His name was Gunther and he was visiting from Germany, he didn't speak any English and aiya didn't speak any German. They were pretty much insperable. Whenever Gunther's mom wanted to find him, she'd come to ammi and ask in broken English where he was, and Ammi did the same thing when she was looking for aiya. (Except not in broken English. I hope so at least.)
Even though this picture was taken almost 20 years ago, I couldn't but help thinking about the tsunami. It didn't take pictures of orphans in the newspapers, or black and bloated dead bodies on the internet for the gravity of the situation to hit me at a personal level. It was the picture of the three of us innocently smiling that did it for me. I wonder how many other little Gunthers and Erajs had become fast friends during an idyllic trip to the beaches of the south. It makes me go cold thinking about it. Not to be dramatic or anything, but that's what sealed the deal for me.
Speaking of tsunamis though, I think the current death toll is at 220,000. It's mind boggling to know that a lot of those deaths could have been prevented if there was a proper tsunami warning system in place. The amount of money that ordinary people are pouring out for relief is incredible too. I witnessed it first hand myself when i was taking phone pledges at the Canada for Asia benefit concert. There are some incredibly generous individuals out there. I was watching a documentary on the genocide in Sudan last nigt on the CBC called Living with Refugees. It was incredibly thought provoking. 300,000 people have died so far in the genocide there, and there are a further 2 million refugees. (That count doesn't include the amount of internally displaced people.) Here is another 'disaster' that could be averted. It's not as if people don't care, they do care, but it's difficult to get the attention of the neccessary people in government. Because really who are we kidding? Why should any of the Western nations help those in the Darfur region? There's absolutely no political gain to be had. Canada is more than willing to help with the tsunami relief efforts though. But only in Sri Lanka, even though Indonesia was the hardest hit area. Gee. I wonder why that would be. It probably has nothing to do with the huge Sri Lankan immigrant population in some of the key cities across Canada. I wonder how many votes the Liberals would be able to extract out of the Sudanese-Canadians?
*climbing off soapbox*
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
Double entendre this!
What's up with the "ironic" trend and when will it go away?! It was kitschy five years ago when UO started putting sexually charged slogans on seemingly innocent looking t-shirts, but now it's just getting plain tasteless. Sure FCUK is actually a nifty little acronym for French Connection: UK, and G-Sus isn't supposed to be another way of saying Jesus, it's supposed to mean G suspended as in the guitar chord. But does anyone know what TNA's excuse is? Because i have no idea. At the risk of sounding like a prude i find all of the above and then some really tasteless. Honestly what's the point of walking around with clothes that have the above brandings on them? (I don't even think FCUK clothes are even nice to begin with, but the G-Sus stuff, i'll admit, it's tempting ;) But not tempting enough!) It's not ironic! If anything it's borderline offensive, just like the Parasuco lesbian tag-team billboards. Just recently there was a bit of a brouhaha over someone wanting to use the acronym "WTF?" as a stand in for "Where's The Faith?" In my opinion that completely dilutes the point of the message. It's just as offensive as the underwear and bikini bottoms that Harrods was selling this summer. The ones with the hindu goddesses on them. Another example of pure tastelessness and lack of decorum. Yeah i'll shut up and have my high tea now. Everyone's entitled to be a bit prudish sometimes!
On a lighter note. Or perhaps a heavier one?
After coming back from the motherland Ammi has re-acquainted herself with some old friends and there has been a flurry of e-mails going back and forth between them. They're all hardcore artsies with a propensity for drama. Most of them (when we were still in Sri Lanka) were really fond of Aiya due to his rampant ADD and bouts of dyslexia; they haven't seen him in many years, so Ammi decided to send them some pictures! Of course she picked the MOST unflattering picture of the two us from my 20th birthday soiree and promptly proceeded to e-mail them half way across the world. Everyone responded in the same manner, "Oh Eraj (Aiya) looks just like Eksath (Thathi)!" and everyone ignored the other half of the picture. Me. Then along came Richard Simon who said "Eraj still looks just like Eksath and D still looks just like you (only a little bit plumper.)" Only a little bit PLUMPER? What the heck is that?! Come on Richard, if you're going to say someone's fat, then be a little bit more eloquent! You are a professional writer after all. Here is a sample of Richard's greatness.
Speaking of people being fat, has anyone caught the new George Stroumboulopoulos show on CBC Newsworld? The Hour? Anyone else noticed how much weight he's lost?! And a little tip to his make-up artist, go easy on the blush, the rosy cheeked thing doesn't really fly well on him. I'm a little bit disappointed about the show i must say, and i consider myself a fan! He was really the only redeeming thing about MuchMusic but the CBC's trying too hard to market his show as "edgey" and in your face, but poor Georgie's left looking like a try hard. He is edgey, and in your face; now he just comes across as unnatural. Sadly that's what happens on the CBC don't you think? They try sooo hard to market a person as being a certain way that they end up making caricatures of them. For example This Hour Has 22 Minutes and The Royal Canadian Airfarce, they'd have you believe that these shows are side splittingly funny. They have their moments, but by and large it's cheese. I guess that's marketing for you, but if that's the case then the CBC should get a new marketing company, our move out of doing it in-house!
On a lighter note. Or perhaps a heavier one?
After coming back from the motherland Ammi has re-acquainted herself with some old friends and there has been a flurry of e-mails going back and forth between them. They're all hardcore artsies with a propensity for drama. Most of them (when we were still in Sri Lanka) were really fond of Aiya due to his rampant ADD and bouts of dyslexia; they haven't seen him in many years, so Ammi decided to send them some pictures! Of course she picked the MOST unflattering picture of the two us from my 20th birthday soiree and promptly proceeded to e-mail them half way across the world. Everyone responded in the same manner, "Oh Eraj (Aiya) looks just like Eksath (Thathi)!" and everyone ignored the other half of the picture. Me. Then along came Richard Simon who said "Eraj still looks just like Eksath and D still looks just like you (only a little bit plumper.)" Only a little bit PLUMPER? What the heck is that?! Come on Richard, if you're going to say someone's fat, then be a little bit more eloquent! You are a professional writer after all. Here is a sample of Richard's greatness.
Speaking of people being fat, has anyone caught the new George Stroumboulopoulos show on CBC Newsworld? The Hour? Anyone else noticed how much weight he's lost?! And a little tip to his make-up artist, go easy on the blush, the rosy cheeked thing doesn't really fly well on him. I'm a little bit disappointed about the show i must say, and i consider myself a fan! He was really the only redeeming thing about MuchMusic but the CBC's trying too hard to market his show as "edgey" and in your face, but poor Georgie's left looking like a try hard. He is edgey, and in your face; now he just comes across as unnatural. Sadly that's what happens on the CBC don't you think? They try sooo hard to market a person as being a certain way that they end up making caricatures of them. For example This Hour Has 22 Minutes and The Royal Canadian Airfarce, they'd have you believe that these shows are side splittingly funny. They have their moments, but by and large it's cheese. I guess that's marketing for you, but if that's the case then the CBC should get a new marketing company, our move out of doing it in-house!
Monday, January 17, 2005
Has anyone seen a Mr. T. Sumani?
Hi you have reached the Jayawi... residence sorry we missed your call...
That's what our answering machine message sounds like now, but after December 26 i was so flipping tempted to change it to:
"Hi Ammi and Thathi are fine and alive, the entire island of Sri Lanka isn't under water, Oliver's still eating house plants and yes aiya and I are not starving and have not killed each other yet. If you're calling for any of the above thanks for your concern but please don't leave a message after the beep. Have a great day!"
For those of you who did call, thanks for all your concern it was much appreciated. But i think even the sanest of people would go insane if they had to walk in every day and hear "You have 14 new messages." And i'm not the sanest. Well ammi and thathi are back and are no worse for their trip, maybe just a little bit heavier ;) Of course they brought back some wicked stuff for us, mainly in the area of Mammah's (my grandmother, thathi's mom) baked goods, art work (or ahhht as we prefer to call it) and my personal favourite, family heirlooms. They didn't come back with a whole whack load of stuff like they normally do, granted the situation in the country didn't exactly lend itself to the wild shopping sprees that my parents are usually wont to take part in. Nevertheless the tsunami hung over pretty much every aspect of their vacation although they weren't directly affected by it.
Here i could regale you with stories about friends dying, almost dying and devastation. But i'm not the BBC so i won't. Instead here's a cheesey joke that emobdies all things Sri Lankan. Aunty Shiromal (who owns the Jetwing travel group of hotels and has her own tsunami tragedy stories) related this to ammi and thathi over dinner one evening. A little bit of background for those of you who might not know, apparently some geographical centre or something in Hawaii knew that the tsunami was going to strike S. East Asia and were trying to figure out a way to inform the countries that would be effected.
Person from Hawaii: "Hi may i speak to the President please?"
Sri Lankan: "Sorry she can't come to the phone right now may i take a message?"
Person from Hawaii: "Listen, it's very urgent that someone knows that a tsunami is coming from Indonesia, will you be able to inform the proper people?"
Sri Lankan: "Sir I can assure you that it will be taken care of. How do you spell tsunami?"
Person from Hawaii: "T-S-U-N-A-M-I"
Sri Lankan: "Thanks for informing us."
A little while later
Sri Lankan (To President): Mrs. President, someone from Hawaii called to tell us that a Mr. T. Sumani was arriving from Indonesia today, I didn't want to bother you with it so i sent the driver and the car to the aiport with a sign "MR.T.SUMANI from INDONESIA" to pick him up, but so far no one's shown up.
Isn't that great? I probably got it wrong in the re-telling, but you get the idea :P
Guilty pleasures are embarassing, but so good at the same time...
Along with Maroon 5, salacious celebrity gossip also finds its way on my long list of guilty pleasures. But it's not often that celebrity gossip will get me thinking. You must admit that this is starting out to sound like an oxymoron, but hear me out! Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston are separated, big deal you say. (I immediately said that i hope Jen dies, Brad becomes a Christian, moves to Toronto and starts attending our local church. Therefore making him available, no strings attached. Don't scoff. It could happen!) What really gets my quince about the whole issue is that Jennifer Aniston is suddenly being demonized for not wanting to have children. What are we living in the Middle Ages people? So what if she wants to put her career first, she's made the responsible and honest choice. God only knows how horrible the lives of her children might be if she didn't put them first, at least she know where her priorities lie. So back off, even my best friend Oprah doesn't want to have kids for the same reason! But then again, Oprah's not married to Brad Pitt.
I will be accepting housewarming gifts in denominations of 10
Aiya got me a new wallet. A cute little Matt and Nat number. Although i'm not a vegan nor do i ever intend on becoming one, the wallet's pretty fly. Is it just me, or is getting a new wallet a lot like moving? I mean making that transfer of highly personal items from a space that you've long had and are totally used to, into this harsh new space which you need to get accustomed to. You know, trying to crack the code of the new snap button, and finding the rhythm of the zipper on the coin purse. And of course, getting used to looking into a new wallet that is devoid of any money will take a while to get used to. You can make your housewarming gifts payable to me.
Quips
Man, something about the holidays makes people say absurd things. Not that we don't say absurd things otherwise. It just seems like we say more stupidness after long periods of time away from work and school.
Me: SoOoOoOo who wants to come with me to the Netherlands this summer?! It'll be fun, we can go backpacking!!
Genis: Isn't the Netherlands in Ireland?
Labro: Yeah she's really butch
Me: So she's all ugly and mannish?
Labro: Not really, she's just butch
Me: I don't get it, how can she butch and not mannish and ugly?!
Labro: I can't explain it!
Philbert: She means she's a tomboy
Me: *GASP* if you call her 'Butch' and she's just a tomboy, what would you call ME, Emily?!
Everyone: *hysterical laughter*
Labro: uh...
Her: Seriously though, i have nothing to be jealous of. I mean. You saw her picture.
Me: You did NOT just say that.
Her: No. Wait! I didn't mean it like that!!
Ammi bought aiya and i these KICK ARSE Mont Blanc attache cases. Aiya got a tan leather one, and i got a black one. Trust me, we're just one trip away from Marks Work Wearhouse from looking like two pathetic grad students. (Although aiya looks more like one than i do, b/c he has the little plaid shirt, cord pants, boots and Columbia jacket, all we have to do is make him wear them all at once and get him some nice arcticware gloves!) This is a convo we had about the merits of carrying around said attache cases.
Me: Ammi, how come you and thathi didn't pick up attache cases for yourselves?
Aiya: Yeah ammi, they're perfect for dumping all your crap into! Especially when you go for meetings, then you won't have to lug around your papers.
Ammi: I don't need an attache case, i have an assistant
Aiya: I'm sorry we're not in the business of feeling sorry for people, we're in the business of exploiting them
Ahh, aiya you put it so well. Exploitation is the name of the game kids!
PS: Abs and Debs, i couldn't be MORE excited!
That's what our answering machine message sounds like now, but after December 26 i was so flipping tempted to change it to:
"Hi Ammi and Thathi are fine and alive, the entire island of Sri Lanka isn't under water, Oliver's still eating house plants and yes aiya and I are not starving and have not killed each other yet. If you're calling for any of the above thanks for your concern but please don't leave a message after the beep. Have a great day!"
For those of you who did call, thanks for all your concern it was much appreciated. But i think even the sanest of people would go insane if they had to walk in every day and hear "You have 14 new messages." And i'm not the sanest. Well ammi and thathi are back and are no worse for their trip, maybe just a little bit heavier ;) Of course they brought back some wicked stuff for us, mainly in the area of Mammah's (my grandmother, thathi's mom) baked goods, art work (or ahhht as we prefer to call it) and my personal favourite, family heirlooms. They didn't come back with a whole whack load of stuff like they normally do, granted the situation in the country didn't exactly lend itself to the wild shopping sprees that my parents are usually wont to take part in. Nevertheless the tsunami hung over pretty much every aspect of their vacation although they weren't directly affected by it.
Here i could regale you with stories about friends dying, almost dying and devastation. But i'm not the BBC so i won't. Instead here's a cheesey joke that emobdies all things Sri Lankan. Aunty Shiromal (who owns the Jetwing travel group of hotels and has her own tsunami tragedy stories) related this to ammi and thathi over dinner one evening. A little bit of background for those of you who might not know, apparently some geographical centre or something in Hawaii knew that the tsunami was going to strike S. East Asia and were trying to figure out a way to inform the countries that would be effected.
Person from Hawaii: "Hi may i speak to the President please?"
Sri Lankan: "Sorry she can't come to the phone right now may i take a message?"
Person from Hawaii: "Listen, it's very urgent that someone knows that a tsunami is coming from Indonesia, will you be able to inform the proper people?"
Sri Lankan: "Sir I can assure you that it will be taken care of. How do you spell tsunami?"
Person from Hawaii: "T-S-U-N-A-M-I"
Sri Lankan: "Thanks for informing us."
A little while later
Sri Lankan (To President): Mrs. President, someone from Hawaii called to tell us that a Mr. T. Sumani was arriving from Indonesia today, I didn't want to bother you with it so i sent the driver and the car to the aiport with a sign "MR.T.SUMANI from INDONESIA" to pick him up, but so far no one's shown up.
Isn't that great? I probably got it wrong in the re-telling, but you get the idea :P
Guilty pleasures are embarassing, but so good at the same time...
Along with Maroon 5, salacious celebrity gossip also finds its way on my long list of guilty pleasures. But it's not often that celebrity gossip will get me thinking. You must admit that this is starting out to sound like an oxymoron, but hear me out! Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston are separated, big deal you say. (I immediately said that i hope Jen dies, Brad becomes a Christian, moves to Toronto and starts attending our local church. Therefore making him available, no strings attached. Don't scoff. It could happen!) What really gets my quince about the whole issue is that Jennifer Aniston is suddenly being demonized for not wanting to have children. What are we living in the Middle Ages people? So what if she wants to put her career first, she's made the responsible and honest choice. God only knows how horrible the lives of her children might be if she didn't put them first, at least she know where her priorities lie. So back off, even my best friend Oprah doesn't want to have kids for the same reason! But then again, Oprah's not married to Brad Pitt.
I will be accepting housewarming gifts in denominations of 10
Aiya got me a new wallet. A cute little Matt and Nat number. Although i'm not a vegan nor do i ever intend on becoming one, the wallet's pretty fly. Is it just me, or is getting a new wallet a lot like moving? I mean making that transfer of highly personal items from a space that you've long had and are totally used to, into this harsh new space which you need to get accustomed to. You know, trying to crack the code of the new snap button, and finding the rhythm of the zipper on the coin purse. And of course, getting used to looking into a new wallet that is devoid of any money will take a while to get used to. You can make your housewarming gifts payable to me.
Quips
Man, something about the holidays makes people say absurd things. Not that we don't say absurd things otherwise. It just seems like we say more stupidness after long periods of time away from work and school.
Me: SoOoOoOo who wants to come with me to the Netherlands this summer?! It'll be fun, we can go backpacking!!
Genis: Isn't the Netherlands in Ireland?
Labro: Yeah she's really butch
Me: So she's all ugly and mannish?
Labro: Not really, she's just butch
Me: I don't get it, how can she butch and not mannish and ugly?!
Labro: I can't explain it!
Philbert: She means she's a tomboy
Me: *GASP* if you call her 'Butch' and she's just a tomboy, what would you call ME, Emily?!
Everyone: *hysterical laughter*
Labro: uh...
Her: Seriously though, i have nothing to be jealous of. I mean. You saw her picture.
Me: You did NOT just say that.
Her: No. Wait! I didn't mean it like that!!
Ammi bought aiya and i these KICK ARSE Mont Blanc attache cases. Aiya got a tan leather one, and i got a black one. Trust me, we're just one trip away from Marks Work Wearhouse from looking like two pathetic grad students. (Although aiya looks more like one than i do, b/c he has the little plaid shirt, cord pants, boots and Columbia jacket, all we have to do is make him wear them all at once and get him some nice arcticware gloves!) This is a convo we had about the merits of carrying around said attache cases.
Me: Ammi, how come you and thathi didn't pick up attache cases for yourselves?
Aiya: Yeah ammi, they're perfect for dumping all your crap into! Especially when you go for meetings, then you won't have to lug around your papers.
Ammi: I don't need an attache case, i have an assistant
Aiya: I'm sorry we're not in the business of feeling sorry for people, we're in the business of exploiting them
Ahh, aiya you put it so well. Exploitation is the name of the game kids!
PS: Abs and Debs, i couldn't be MORE excited!
Saturday, December 25, 2004
Happy Chrismukkah!
Damn you $13.00 movie tickets!
Um. Yeah. So i'm a Scrooge around Christmas. I'm not averse to it. Really i'm not. I just hate the whole retail part of it. You know the malls, the nauseating music. On the other hand i love getting prezzies. Yeah, can the "Jesus is the reason for the season" schtick, He wasn't even BORN in December! Another thing that's great about Christmas time, the kick arse movies. Aiya and I go nuts. Recently we were saying how weird it'll be NOT to sit through 3 hours of Lord of the Rings while our gluts go numb and we make fun of the effeminate characters. However as I have noted to some of you already, a lot of my current boyfriends are in some really good movies. Not just eye candy folks, but QUALITY as well, and that's always good! Here's the shortlist:
The Assasination of Richard Nixon
The Aviator
Bad Education
Beyond the Sea
Bride and Prejudice
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason
Closer
Finding Neverland
Hotel Rwanda
House of Flying Daggers
I am David
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
Meet the Fockers
The Merchant of Venice
Oceans 12
Ray
Sideways
A Very Long Engagement
Speaking of boyfriends and movies though. I watched The Sound of Music yesterday, and i remembered how great Christoper Plummer was in his youth! Come on ladies you have to admit, those girlie men like Jude Law et al (who are undoubtedly good looking nonetheless) are really nothing in comparison the men of old. They just don't make 'em like Gregory Peck, Paul Newman, or Robert Redford anymore.
What do you expect for 15 bucks!
Yeah. Uh. I got my haircut at WalMart. I told you fanners that i was going to live it up white trash styles this Christmas. Along with the haircut i have a full cupboard of KD, a fridge full of chicken weiners and other disgusting things that i would never normally eat. Aiya has just informed me that we will be partaking in a meal of Miss Vicki's jalapeno chips, KD, and vanilla coke. Pretty crappy Christmas eh? It feels like a total fast forward! To add to it, flipping Oliver decides to screw over my Christmas eve by EATING house plants and random intervals. This i'm not used to. He has his bouts of evilness, but i think this is the worst he's ever done in terms of destruction. There was potting soil all over the living room carpet, hopefully i can ground the dirt into it. That way my parents will be forced to get rid of it and we can have hardwood again!
Quips
Him: Niles, Copernicus called, he said you're not the centre of the universe
Her: Not only do i have a plan. I have a dress too!
Thathi and I talking politics
Him: It's terrible what happened to Viktor Yushenko isn't it?
Me: Yeah, it is. And he was pretty good looking too!
Him: Movie star good looks.
Me: umm.
Him: No. I'm the only every day man that has the looks of a movie star*
*side note* Aiya: "Yeah, a Tamil movie star"
Thorn and i discussing the merits of getting haircuts at WalMart
Her: What the hell did you do?!
Me: It was only 15 bucks! And i got what i expected
Her: Yeah. I learned a long time ago, it's best not to be cheap when it comes to personal appearance
Me: Amen!
Both: We're so superficial
Well Kiddies, MERRY CHRISTMAS and all that jazz. Remember 91.1 FM will be playing Christmas swing tomorrow so remember to listen! Hope to see you all on the 28th :)
Um. Yeah. So i'm a Scrooge around Christmas. I'm not averse to it. Really i'm not. I just hate the whole retail part of it. You know the malls, the nauseating music. On the other hand i love getting prezzies. Yeah, can the "Jesus is the reason for the season" schtick, He wasn't even BORN in December! Another thing that's great about Christmas time, the kick arse movies. Aiya and I go nuts. Recently we were saying how weird it'll be NOT to sit through 3 hours of Lord of the Rings while our gluts go numb and we make fun of the effeminate characters. However as I have noted to some of you already, a lot of my current boyfriends are in some really good movies. Not just eye candy folks, but QUALITY as well, and that's always good! Here's the shortlist:
The Assasination of Richard Nixon
The Aviator
Bad Education
Beyond the Sea
Bride and Prejudice
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason
Closer
Finding Neverland
Hotel Rwanda
House of Flying Daggers
I am David
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
Meet the Fockers
The Merchant of Venice
Oceans 12
Ray
Sideways
A Very Long Engagement
Speaking of boyfriends and movies though. I watched The Sound of Music yesterday, and i remembered how great Christoper Plummer was in his youth! Come on ladies you have to admit, those girlie men like Jude Law et al (who are undoubtedly good looking nonetheless) are really nothing in comparison the men of old. They just don't make 'em like Gregory Peck, Paul Newman, or Robert Redford anymore.
What do you expect for 15 bucks!
Yeah. Uh. I got my haircut at WalMart. I told you fanners that i was going to live it up white trash styles this Christmas. Along with the haircut i have a full cupboard of KD, a fridge full of chicken weiners and other disgusting things that i would never normally eat. Aiya has just informed me that we will be partaking in a meal of Miss Vicki's jalapeno chips, KD, and vanilla coke. Pretty crappy Christmas eh? It feels like a total fast forward! To add to it, flipping Oliver decides to screw over my Christmas eve by EATING house plants and random intervals. This i'm not used to. He has his bouts of evilness, but i think this is the worst he's ever done in terms of destruction. There was potting soil all over the living room carpet, hopefully i can ground the dirt into it. That way my parents will be forced to get rid of it and we can have hardwood again!
Quips
Him: Niles, Copernicus called, he said you're not the centre of the universe
Her: Not only do i have a plan. I have a dress too!
Thathi and I talking politics
Him: It's terrible what happened to Viktor Yushenko isn't it?
Me: Yeah, it is. And he was pretty good looking too!
Him: Movie star good looks.
Me: umm.
Him: No. I'm the only every day man that has the looks of a movie star*
*side note* Aiya: "Yeah, a Tamil movie star"
Thorn and i discussing the merits of getting haircuts at WalMart
Her: What the hell did you do?!
Me: It was only 15 bucks! And i got what i expected
Her: Yeah. I learned a long time ago, it's best not to be cheap when it comes to personal appearance
Me: Amen!
Both: We're so superficial
Well Kiddies, MERRY CHRISTMAS and all that jazz. Remember 91.1 FM will be playing Christmas swing tomorrow so remember to listen! Hope to see you all on the 28th :)
Wednesday, December 15, 2004
Ever Felt Dumped On?
Can it really be possible that I have run out track pants and oversized t-shirts? I mean COME ON now, how am I supposed to maintain my high standards of slovenliness during the Christmas holidays?! I had no intentions of doing laundry until I had to go back to school, but now i am forced to. So i'm free. My parents are leaving soon and i'm planning on having keggers and jams at my house. No. I swear. I will. Watch me. When i'm not inebriated and cleaning vomit off of the floor though I'm intending on doing some "pleasure reading." Because we all know that doesn't exist in a university student's vocabulary. I'm going to get under a blanket, curl up with Oliver, a good book and gain some crazy weight, so do not disturb! The first on my list is Shake Hands With the Devil, the book that Romeo Dallaire wrote on his experiences during Rwanda. Flipping amazing and i haven't even read 20 pages yet.
Pfft, Me? An indie snob? Never!
Thorn and I were discussing the other day the merits of being an indie snob. The sad reality is neither of us can truly achieve true indie snobbery because there just isn't enough damn time. We can't spend hours pouring over obscurity and going to concerts in seedier parts of town. But believe me, if we could we would so be there. See what's even sadder about our inability to be indie snobs is that when it comes to good music, we only have each other to talk to about it. What's that? Interpol, Broken Social Scene, Postal Service (who will, according to our hopefully incorrect speculations never make another album again), dntel, Death Cab etc. Yeah. Only got thorn *le sigh* We've gotta meet some more people eh? ;) With that said controller.controller totally worth your time! Not only are they from Toronto, but their frontwoman is brown and sri lankan. Is it possible that she will knock Gwen off of her current pedestal of cool in my mind? Even though Gwen can do no wrong in my eyes, i'm a bit disappointed with this whole "let's pretend to be Japanese" thing. First it was Indian, now Japanese, it would be interesting to see how she pulls off Saudi Arabian.In happier news though i'm waiting for the next Gorillaz album! My brit-pop boyfriend Damon Albarn + De La Soul + DJ Danger Mouse = a speechless me
Ever Felt Dumped On?
How wicked is the Oxfam, Make Trade Fair campaign "Ever Felt Dumped On?" which is trying to bring awareness about surplus food dumping. Interestingly enough, the other night i was snooping around the US Agency for International Development, and would you believe that they practice food dumping? Unbelievable isn't it? *snark* Well, there's some pretty amazing pictures on the site, so go check it out, and sign the petition!
Pfft, Me? An indie snob? Never!
Thorn and I were discussing the other day the merits of being an indie snob. The sad reality is neither of us can truly achieve true indie snobbery because there just isn't enough damn time. We can't spend hours pouring over obscurity and going to concerts in seedier parts of town. But believe me, if we could we would so be there. See what's even sadder about our inability to be indie snobs is that when it comes to good music, we only have each other to talk to about it. What's that? Interpol, Broken Social Scene, Postal Service (who will, according to our hopefully incorrect speculations never make another album again), dntel, Death Cab etc. Yeah. Only got thorn *le sigh* We've gotta meet some more people eh? ;) With that said controller.controller totally worth your time! Not only are they from Toronto, but their frontwoman is brown and sri lankan. Is it possible that she will knock Gwen off of her current pedestal of cool in my mind? Even though Gwen can do no wrong in my eyes, i'm a bit disappointed with this whole "let's pretend to be Japanese" thing. First it was Indian, now Japanese, it would be interesting to see how she pulls off Saudi Arabian.
Ever Felt Dumped On?
How wicked is the Oxfam, Make Trade Fair campaign "Ever Felt Dumped On?" which is trying to bring awareness about surplus food dumping. Interestingly enough, the other night i was snooping around the US Agency for International Development, and would you believe that they practice food dumping? Unbelievable isn't it? *snark* Well, there's some pretty amazing pictures on the site, so go check it out, and sign the petition!
Wednesday, December 01, 2004
Karma police, I've given all I can!!
This is what you get
This is what you get
This is what you get when you mess with us*
Today was pure evil. I swear. It was like the karma police were after me! There was no escaping. It all started with the wet hair that i went to bed with last night. I woke up and my bangs looked like Cameron Diaz's from that scene in There's Something About Mary, hence the bobby pin action. I had a crap load of books that i had to schlep with me so i put them all in a nice big, sturdy, impenetrable Gap bag. As always the Brimley bus was late and I had to stand out in the pouring rain as it hurled itself at me. So i get on the bus and i'm about to sit down when it jerks, and the bottom of my Gap bag gives way and everything falls out! Oh yeah. I forgot to mention. My bag was made out of paper. The ONE DAY i decide to pack my lunch had to be today, because of course it was in the bag, and my little tangerine rolled across the floor like it was doomsday. I also probably should have worn a Bounty paper towel rolls on my feet today instead of shoes, because they sure do feel like 'the thicker picker upper' right now. The sad thing is, the day isn't even over yet. I'll stop whining. I all of a sudden feel Jewish and it's scaring me.
Not Now Magical Arctic Puffin!!
Speaking of Jewish people, if you want some mindless yet hillarious entertainment, go and rent the Hebrew Hammer. I can say no more. It was too good. I FINALLY saw Elf. The same night as when i watched the Hammer. I've said it before, but man, Will Ferrell=GENIUS! I liked Elf, but A Night at the Roxbury and Old School were better. I'm STILL waiting to see Anchorman though, that looks flipping funny. I know it says so much about me as a person doesn't it? ;)
"You know what the 'W' stands for right?"
So Dubya came to Canada. *woot*woot* (feel the sarcasm?) Funny thing is, a)He refused to address parliament and b)He didn't come to Toronto. What a wuss eh? If he had come to Toronto, the entire university would've shut down and we all would've been outside of the US Consulate. Bus loads of protestors went from U of T to Ottawa. So he played it safe and went to Halifax. I was watching the National last night, and they were taking a look at America's reaction to Canadian anti-Americans. It was so sad. One guy on Fox who was wearing a bow-tie said that Canadians don't like Americans because we 'feel inferior' to them. Yeah. That's it Pee Wee. You keep believing that. But really, what IS up with all the anti-Americanism that's going on? I think most Canadians are retards because they can't seem to separate Bush from America. I know it's pretty hard to, since the majority of Americans actually DO like him and that in itself is pretty scary. But still. Come on! Give it a break already.
The people have spoken
The Greatest Canadian? Tommy Douglas of course! I don't agree with anti-Americanism, but i don't agree with the people who say that Canada's an extension of the U.S either because clearly we're not. What other country would vote a Baptist Premier from out West who instituted universal healthcare as their greatest citizen? Canadians and their drugs eh?
Today's World AIDS Day, and I can't help but thinking about James Orbinski (instrumental in getting generic retroviral HIV/AIDS medication available, and also the president of MSF when they won the Nobel Peace Prize - note if you read the speech it was done in 1999, read what he has to say about the U.S' involvement in Sudan. Very interesting). I remember when he came in and spoke in one of my first year politics classes. He was such an inspiration! The only reason why Canada is such a leader in the fight against AIDS is because of people like him and Stephen Lewis. I think I agree with my boyfriend Bono when he said "The world needs more Canada."
*Karma Police - Radiohead
This is what you get
This is what you get when you mess with us*
Today was pure evil. I swear. It was like the karma police were after me! There was no escaping. It all started with the wet hair that i went to bed with last night. I woke up and my bangs looked like Cameron Diaz's from that scene in There's Something About Mary, hence the bobby pin action. I had a crap load of books that i had to schlep with me so i put them all in a nice big, sturdy, impenetrable Gap bag. As always the Brimley bus was late and I had to stand out in the pouring rain as it hurled itself at me. So i get on the bus and i'm about to sit down when it jerks, and the bottom of my Gap bag gives way and everything falls out! Oh yeah. I forgot to mention. My bag was made out of paper. The ONE DAY i decide to pack my lunch had to be today, because of course it was in the bag, and my little tangerine rolled across the floor like it was doomsday. I also probably should have worn a Bounty paper towel rolls on my feet today instead of shoes, because they sure do feel like 'the thicker picker upper' right now. The sad thing is, the day isn't even over yet. I'll stop whining. I all of a sudden feel Jewish and it's scaring me.
Not Now Magical Arctic Puffin!!
Speaking of Jewish people, if you want some mindless yet hillarious entertainment, go and rent the Hebrew Hammer. I can say no more. It was too good. I FINALLY saw Elf. The same night as when i watched the Hammer. I've said it before, but man, Will Ferrell=GENIUS! I liked Elf, but A Night at the Roxbury and Old School were better. I'm STILL waiting to see Anchorman though, that looks flipping funny. I know it says so much about me as a person doesn't it? ;)
"You know what the 'W' stands for right?"
So Dubya came to Canada. *woot*woot* (feel the sarcasm?) Funny thing is, a)He refused to address parliament and b)He didn't come to Toronto. What a wuss eh? If he had come to Toronto, the entire university would've shut down and we all would've been outside of the US Consulate. Bus loads of protestors went from U of T to Ottawa. So he played it safe and went to Halifax. I was watching the National last night, and they were taking a look at America's reaction to Canadian anti-Americans. It was so sad. One guy on Fox who was wearing a bow-tie said that Canadians don't like Americans because we 'feel inferior' to them. Yeah. That's it Pee Wee. You keep believing that. But really, what IS up with all the anti-Americanism that's going on? I think most Canadians are retards because they can't seem to separate Bush from America. I know it's pretty hard to, since the majority of Americans actually DO like him and that in itself is pretty scary. But still. Come on! Give it a break already.
The people have spoken
The Greatest Canadian? Tommy Douglas of course! I don't agree with anti-Americanism, but i don't agree with the people who say that Canada's an extension of the U.S either because clearly we're not. What other country would vote a Baptist Premier from out West who instituted universal healthcare as their greatest citizen? Canadians and their drugs eh?
Today's World AIDS Day, and I can't help but thinking about James Orbinski (instrumental in getting generic retroviral HIV/AIDS medication available, and also the president of MSF when they won the Nobel Peace Prize - note if you read the speech it was done in 1999, read what he has to say about the U.S' involvement in Sudan. Very interesting). I remember when he came in and spoke in one of my first year politics classes. He was such an inspiration! The only reason why Canada is such a leader in the fight against AIDS is because of people like him and Stephen Lewis. I think I agree with my boyfriend Bono when he said "The world needs more Canada."
*Karma Police - Radiohead
Thursday, November 11, 2004
In Flanders Field
by John McCrae, May 1915
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep,
though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
It's Remembrance Day! Hopefully I won't lose my poppy like i do every other year before the day is out. There's so much to say about today and it's impossible to do without sounding trite. I'm not going to bother though, i'll leave that to the real writers. Suffice it to say today I will Remember. I'm good at trivializing things, so here goes! The other day i'm at the Queen subway station in that no man's land between the Bay and Eaton's Centre. There's a veteran there with his box of poppies and there's a homeless man there too. The homeless man was picking a fight with the veteran b/c the veteran was on his "turf" and was distracting people from giving him money. But the veteran was all like i'm a veteran and i have a permit. It was getting really REALLY heated. I didn't stick around to catch the rest of it, but neither of them were there when i was going home. Like you'd think that the homeless guy would've let the veteran sell his poppies! If it wasn't for the veteran the homeless guy wouldn't even have the freedom to panhandle there.
When i was a kid, Remembrance Day was such a HUGE deal for me. Invariably i'd get to read one of my poorly written poems (they were seriously hurting) during the school assembly every year. Our teachers used to make us memorize In Flanders Field, i still know it by heart. It's engraved there like the Lord's Prayer (which is embedded in French as well thanks to Mme McQuaid.) Then there were the songs that we used to sing as part of choir and the little movie that we'd watch. It was the same movie every year, but it still made me sad even in grade 6 (my last year in elementary school). What i used to love BEST about Remembrance Day was when my classmates' grandparents who were veterans used to come in and talk to us about the war, we'd all cram into the library and sit on the brown patchy carpet and i'd devour everything they sad. Michael's grandfather came every year until he died and so did Danny's (he was my dance partner in folk dancing lol) grandmother. I think that's what makes me the saddest about Remembrance Day is that I don't see as many veterans around anymore.
Lest we forget.
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep,
though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
It's Remembrance Day! Hopefully I won't lose my poppy like i do every other year before the day is out. There's so much to say about today and it's impossible to do without sounding trite. I'm not going to bother though, i'll leave that to the real writers. Suffice it to say today I will Remember. I'm good at trivializing things, so here goes! The other day i'm at the Queen subway station in that no man's land between the Bay and Eaton's Centre. There's a veteran there with his box of poppies and there's a homeless man there too. The homeless man was picking a fight with the veteran b/c the veteran was on his "turf" and was distracting people from giving him money. But the veteran was all like i'm a veteran and i have a permit. It was getting really REALLY heated. I didn't stick around to catch the rest of it, but neither of them were there when i was going home. Like you'd think that the homeless guy would've let the veteran sell his poppies! If it wasn't for the veteran the homeless guy wouldn't even have the freedom to panhandle there.
When i was a kid, Remembrance Day was such a HUGE deal for me. Invariably i'd get to read one of my poorly written poems (they were seriously hurting) during the school assembly every year. Our teachers used to make us memorize In Flanders Field, i still know it by heart. It's engraved there like the Lord's Prayer (which is embedded in French as well thanks to Mme McQuaid.) Then there were the songs that we used to sing as part of choir and the little movie that we'd watch. It was the same movie every year, but it still made me sad even in grade 6 (my last year in elementary school). What i used to love BEST about Remembrance Day was when my classmates' grandparents who were veterans used to come in and talk to us about the war, we'd all cram into the library and sit on the brown patchy carpet and i'd devour everything they sad. Michael's grandfather came every year until he died and so did Danny's (he was my dance partner in folk dancing lol) grandmother. I think that's what makes me the saddest about Remembrance Day is that I don't see as many veterans around anymore.
Lest we forget.
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
Broadcast me a joyful noise unto the times, Lord!
A public service announcement followed me home the other day,
I paid it never mind. Go away
.....
Broadcast me a joyful noise unto the times, Lord!
Count your blessings.
The papers wouldn't lie!
I sigh. Not one more
It's been a bad day
Please don't take a picture
It's been a bad day.
Please.
....
The lights went out
The oil ran dry
We blamed it on the other guy
Sure, all men are created equal*
What a week eh? The kind that makes you want to clear your head with some good music, a pint (of vanilla Coke!) and a good long bike ride. Weeks like this are good every once in awhile, reminds me of how small and insignificant i am in the larger scheme of things.
First off
Bush gets re-elected. Was not surprised in the least bit but still really disappointed. At least this time around his win was legit (yeah i'm being naive, whatever.) Am I scared? Yeah for sure! Ammi sent me a forward the other day written by a Christian lady, it was her take on the rise of the religious right in American. She had some interesting points (and some really bad ones too lol). It's worth a read though.
I was reading the headlines on the BBC yesterday and i caught sight of this
When i was in Senegal, i befriended some missionaries who had to evacuate from the Ivory Coast during the September 2002 uprising. They were seeking safe haven in Senegal while trying to tie up loose ends in Abidjan before leaving back to Montreal. M. Gaucher's son Emmanuel was the same age as Josh, (the little boy whose family i was staying with) they came down for a play date and M. Gaucher ended up getting stuck at our place b/c the Autoroute was closed down for the Telefonica Paris - Dakar rally race (it's really fascinating, and a whole other story really, it would take pages!) Anyways what resulted in that day was us having a 4 hour conversation about life in the Ivory Coast for the believers in their church during that horrific time. There is so much political unrest in the world, and it's sad that certain countries just want to add to it.
Well not everything was bad
Ollie and i raked an obcene amount of leaves last week but really to no avail. Thathi was supposed to mulch them but he never got around to doing that. Now all my time was wasted b/c he's getting the gardener to come and do it instead!
(leaves in my back yard)
(Ollie vamping for the camera)
My room is ugly. It was worse before we moved, but it needs an extreme makeover. So far we've stripped the walls of the hideous incandescent wallpaper, the evil carpet needs to GO. I won't be satisfied until i have hardwood in there. Well last week ammi made me a new bedspread (out of a burgundy Sari). She used my ancient Beauty and the Beast comforter as the base. I still remember when she and thathi got it for me. I was in grade two and was flipping through a Zellers catalogue with amammah (my grandmother on ammi's side) and i saw the comforter. I FLIPPED out, b/c i LOVED Beauty and the Beast. LOL Ammi went out and bought it THAT very day (i'm not spoilt. I swear.) She was so taken aback that i was interested in something remotely girly that she didn't want to waste the oppurtunity to go and get it for me. And that is how the Beauty and the Beast comforter makes its way lovingly back onto my bed (when i make it) 12 years after it first found its way there.
(l-r Ammi and Aiya; Ammi looking totally paked out, and Aiya just looking fat ;))
l-r Ammi and her assistant)
(Ammi's assistant couldn't handle the pressures of being a seamstress and eventually broke down)
Oliver graduated from his puppy class. I don't really know how he managed to, but he did. And he won a prize too!! He was the fastest dog in the class in the little race that they had (which was run to your owner, and you'd only win if you sat down first, and surprisingly he did!!)
(l-r Me, Oliver, Kristi (his teacher), Terror (a Vizsla's whose owner's name i don't remember), Toby (Golden retreiver, again the name is non-existant), Max (an English Springer Spaniel with his owner's daughter. Max didn't win anything, and he got in a LOT of crap from his owner. Poor guy)
(l-r Oliver, his prize and Thathi)
I watched Rick Mercer's Monday Report today and there was a little segment of him and Justin Trudeau together chilling out in Montreal. It's so sad that he's engaged!! There goes the only thinking Canadian woman's man! Here's hoping that eventually he'll run for office, he's a great speaker, remember the eulogy he gave at his father's funeral? Speaking of his dad, today thorn and i were wondering around the nether regions of UC after a morning spent chatting in Diabolos and we stumbled on the Trudeau Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies . Kind of scary b/c all the doors had pictures of Pierre's head floating on them b/c of his nomination as the greatest Canadian. But back to Justin, as Rick Mercer pointed out, how wicked would it be if he ran for office against Ben Mulroney who for the record, i can't freaking STAND. Let's not even start about his dad.
*http://www.retroweb.com/rem/lyrics/song_BadDay.html
I paid it never mind. Go away
.....
Broadcast me a joyful noise unto the times, Lord!
Count your blessings.
The papers wouldn't lie!
I sigh. Not one more
It's been a bad day
Please don't take a picture
It's been a bad day.
Please.
....
The lights went out
The oil ran dry
We blamed it on the other guy
Sure, all men are created equal*
What a week eh? The kind that makes you want to clear your head with some good music, a pint (of vanilla Coke!) and a good long bike ride. Weeks like this are good every once in awhile, reminds me of how small and insignificant i am in the larger scheme of things.
First off
Bush gets re-elected. Was not surprised in the least bit but still really disappointed. At least this time around his win was legit (yeah i'm being naive, whatever.) Am I scared? Yeah for sure! Ammi sent me a forward the other day written by a Christian lady, it was her take on the rise of the religious right in American. She had some interesting points (and some really bad ones too lol). It's worth a read though.
I was reading the headlines on the BBC yesterday and i caught sight of this
When i was in Senegal, i befriended some missionaries who had to evacuate from the Ivory Coast during the September 2002 uprising. They were seeking safe haven in Senegal while trying to tie up loose ends in Abidjan before leaving back to Montreal. M. Gaucher's son Emmanuel was the same age as Josh, (the little boy whose family i was staying with) they came down for a play date and M. Gaucher ended up getting stuck at our place b/c the Autoroute was closed down for the Telefonica Paris - Dakar rally race (it's really fascinating, and a whole other story really, it would take pages!) Anyways what resulted in that day was us having a 4 hour conversation about life in the Ivory Coast for the believers in their church during that horrific time. There is so much political unrest in the world, and it's sad that certain countries just want to add to it.
Well not everything was bad
Ollie and i raked an obcene amount of leaves last week but really to no avail. Thathi was supposed to mulch them but he never got around to doing that. Now all my time was wasted b/c he's getting the gardener to come and do it instead!
(leaves in my back yard)
(Ollie vamping for the camera)
My room is ugly. It was worse before we moved, but it needs an extreme makeover. So far we've stripped the walls of the hideous incandescent wallpaper, the evil carpet needs to GO. I won't be satisfied until i have hardwood in there. Well last week ammi made me a new bedspread (out of a burgundy Sari). She used my ancient Beauty and the Beast comforter as the base. I still remember when she and thathi got it for me. I was in grade two and was flipping through a Zellers catalogue with amammah (my grandmother on ammi's side) and i saw the comforter. I FLIPPED out, b/c i LOVED Beauty and the Beast. LOL Ammi went out and bought it THAT very day (i'm not spoilt. I swear.) She was so taken aback that i was interested in something remotely girly that she didn't want to waste the oppurtunity to go and get it for me. And that is how the Beauty and the Beast comforter makes its way lovingly back onto my bed (when i make it) 12 years after it first found its way there.
(l-r Ammi and Aiya; Ammi looking totally paked out, and Aiya just looking fat ;))
l-r Ammi and her assistant)
(Ammi's assistant couldn't handle the pressures of being a seamstress and eventually broke down)
Oliver graduated from his puppy class. I don't really know how he managed to, but he did. And he won a prize too!! He was the fastest dog in the class in the little race that they had (which was run to your owner, and you'd only win if you sat down first, and surprisingly he did!!)
(l-r Me, Oliver, Kristi (his teacher), Terror (a Vizsla's whose owner's name i don't remember), Toby (Golden retreiver, again the name is non-existant), Max (an English Springer Spaniel with his owner's daughter. Max didn't win anything, and he got in a LOT of crap from his owner. Poor guy)
(l-r Oliver, his prize and Thathi)
I watched Rick Mercer's Monday Report today and there was a little segment of him and Justin Trudeau together chilling out in Montreal. It's so sad that he's engaged!! There goes the only thinking Canadian woman's man! Here's hoping that eventually he'll run for office, he's a great speaker, remember the eulogy he gave at his father's funeral? Speaking of his dad, today thorn and i were wondering around the nether regions of UC after a morning spent chatting in Diabolos and we stumbled on the Trudeau Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies . Kind of scary b/c all the doors had pictures of Pierre's head floating on them b/c of his nomination as the greatest Canadian. But back to Justin, as Rick Mercer pointed out, how wicked would it be if he ran for office against Ben Mulroney who for the record, i can't freaking STAND. Let's not even start about his dad.
*http://www.retroweb.com/rem/lyrics/song_BadDay.html
Monday, November 01, 2004
Fermez - la Bush!*
So, tomorrow's the US Presidential election, the real halloween if you ask me. Just wanted to get my presidential prediction out in the open before the 2nd. I think that Bush will take it by a very small margin, and i'm praying that i'm totally WRONG about that. Osama might have scored a victory for his buddy Bush but resurfacing in videotape format and scaring the crap out of Americans right before the elections. But then again, Kerry is pretty greasey, and the yanks don't really have that much to choose from. Unfortunately for them kerry is the lesser of two evils. I really wish i could like Dubya, but it's so not working.
To my American friends, GO AND VOTE!!!
And remember, if Bush gets elected and you need a place to stay after he imposes mandatory conscriptions for all his pointless wars, you can always dodge the draft at our place, we can squeeze at least 26 people in. I wouldn't want your blood spilled for oil or daddy.
*fingers crossed* Here's hoping (for the first time in my life) that i'm wrong!
*for the anglophones: fermez-la bouche = shut up; like the little pun? First saw it at an anti-war rally outside of the US embassy, our Frenchies seem to really like it!
To my American friends, GO AND VOTE!!!
And remember, if Bush gets elected and you need a place to stay after he imposes mandatory conscriptions for all his pointless wars, you can always dodge the draft at our place, we can squeeze at least 26 people in. I wouldn't want your blood spilled for oil or daddy.
*fingers crossed* Here's hoping (for the first time in my life) that i'm wrong!
*for the anglophones: fermez-la bouche = shut up; like the little pun? First saw it at an anti-war rally outside of the US embassy, our Frenchies seem to really like it!
Friday, October 29, 2004
Do you think there's a cure for Dromomania?
So Sven came and went. We had a wicked time, go and see Diarious de Motocicleta (Motorcycle Diaries) you won't regret it. (Plus Gael GarcÃa Bernal is so pretty!!!) I've always wanted to go to Peru, but frig, after watching that movie i want to go even more! I know it's not just me, but this week has been nuts eh? At least it's starting to calm down a bit, and i shouldn't really be complaining b/c us artsies get off really easily. I feel sorry for you guys who had to do mid-terms! I just had a crap load of papers, i remember Kellen once said during his first year of university he had so many term papers coming out of his arse he could feel the paper cuts >_<.
I think that the dromomania is settling in once again folks. Leave me alone. I know. It comes every three months, and it seems only when things get really hectic. But honestly i do think it's an incurable disease. *sigh* i guess that is my lot in life. Right now i want to go to Morrocco really badly, even when i was in Senegal i wanted to go to Morrocco. I think that's because the only person who was relatively close to my age was part Morrocan and part French, he had a lot to say about it, and also because i read that book "A Street in Marrakesh," that really was a clincher. Fricking books. If i didn't read them life would be so much simpler. I'd never want to travel anywhere ;). And i want to go to these places b/c the names are so exotic. How can you not want to go to a place named Dar Es Salam, Khartoum, Addis Ababa, Lagos...
Well flying away to some exotic locale is not the only way to cheer up the mid-semester blues. Shopping always does the trick, so perhaps i will go on a spree tomorrow. Getting my haircut is also fun, and something that needs to be done *cough* after the self-cut bangs affair of September. I've also suddenly been seized with the desire to clean my entire room up. Yeah. I can't explain it either. Then of course there's looking for some place to volunteer. We all know i only volunteer for self-serving purposes. Pfft, i wasn't at War Child for the kids, i was there b/c i was bored!
Speaking of War Child
The other day when Aiya and i were heading downtown we bumped into one of his acquaintances on the subway. He looked really familiar, and i recognized him from the NGO Fair from the spring, LOL where i manned the War Child booth and he even remembered that i was squeezed between the two Oxfam nuts. He's taken a year off from Med School and he's heading out to Latin America, i was burning with envy. Here's a conclusion i have come to, and a huge broad biased generalization. (Damn it i'm tired of being politically correct ;)) Have you noticed that people who are a lot like me, meaning love to travel, want to go into international development, listen to kick ass music (no bias at all) have somewhat of a sense of adventure (I AM adventurous. Stop laughing. It's called "calculated risk" remember!) the people who are like that tend to be gross dirty hippies. This guy was no exception. Yeah usually people like this tend to be white (esp. the U of T folk) but this guy, he was brown, and DISGUSTING. Stupid Aiya got off at PAPE station, so i was stuck with this yobo until i got to campus b/c we were going the same way. I have all the luck i know
Sorry, this post was pointless. My brain is totally fried. I'll give you guys something better next time. Hopefully i'll have some good pictures of Oliver's graduation (Monday's his last class!!!).
With your feet in the air and your head on the ground
Try this trick and spin it, yeah
Your head will collapse
But there's nothing in it
And you'll ask yourself
Where is my mind?
Where is my mind?
Where is my mind?
Way out in the water
See it swimmin'
I was swimmin' in the Carribean
Animals were hiding behind the rocks
Except the little fish
But they told me, he swears
Tryin' to talk to me to me to me
Where is my mind?
Where is my mind?
Where is my mind?
I think that the dromomania is settling in once again folks. Leave me alone. I know. It comes every three months, and it seems only when things get really hectic. But honestly i do think it's an incurable disease. *sigh* i guess that is my lot in life. Right now i want to go to Morrocco really badly, even when i was in Senegal i wanted to go to Morrocco. I think that's because the only person who was relatively close to my age was part Morrocan and part French, he had a lot to say about it, and also because i read that book "A Street in Marrakesh," that really was a clincher. Fricking books. If i didn't read them life would be so much simpler. I'd never want to travel anywhere ;). And i want to go to these places b/c the names are so exotic. How can you not want to go to a place named Dar Es Salam, Khartoum, Addis Ababa, Lagos...
Well flying away to some exotic locale is not the only way to cheer up the mid-semester blues. Shopping always does the trick, so perhaps i will go on a spree tomorrow. Getting my haircut is also fun, and something that needs to be done *cough* after the self-cut bangs affair of September. I've also suddenly been seized with the desire to clean my entire room up. Yeah. I can't explain it either. Then of course there's looking for some place to volunteer. We all know i only volunteer for self-serving purposes. Pfft, i wasn't at War Child for the kids, i was there b/c i was bored!
Speaking of War Child
The other day when Aiya and i were heading downtown we bumped into one of his acquaintances on the subway. He looked really familiar, and i recognized him from the NGO Fair from the spring, LOL where i manned the War Child booth and he even remembered that i was squeezed between the two Oxfam nuts. He's taken a year off from Med School and he's heading out to Latin America, i was burning with envy. Here's a conclusion i have come to, and a huge broad biased generalization. (Damn it i'm tired of being politically correct ;)) Have you noticed that people who are a lot like me, meaning love to travel, want to go into international development, listen to kick ass music (no bias at all) have somewhat of a sense of adventure (I AM adventurous. Stop laughing. It's called "calculated risk" remember!) the people who are like that tend to be gross dirty hippies. This guy was no exception. Yeah usually people like this tend to be white (esp. the U of T folk) but this guy, he was brown, and DISGUSTING. Stupid Aiya got off at PAPE station, so i was stuck with this yobo until i got to campus b/c we were going the same way. I have all the luck i know
Sorry, this post was pointless. My brain is totally fried. I'll give you guys something better next time. Hopefully i'll have some good pictures of Oliver's graduation (Monday's his last class!!!).
With your feet in the air and your head on the ground
Try this trick and spin it, yeah
Your head will collapse
But there's nothing in it
And you'll ask yourself
Where is my mind?
Where is my mind?
Where is my mind?
Way out in the water
See it swimmin'
I was swimmin' in the Carribean
Animals were hiding behind the rocks
Except the little fish
But they told me, he swears
Tryin' to talk to me to me to me
Where is my mind?
Where is my mind?
Where is my mind?
Wednesday, October 20, 2004
What the Helen of Troy is that?!
So have i mentioned to you about how flipping excited i am about tomorrow??? Sven is BAAACK!!!
*cue nostalgia*
The last time he graced us with his presence was what? Like two years ago? I shall proceed to reminisce on our past high school days. When i was the editor of the school newspaper (lol) and he was on Student Council. Remember the "office" we shared together? AKA the janitor's closet that was painted and had chairs in it. We froze in the winter and boiled in the summer. But it was all good. Thank God for the karaoke machine! Mrs. Smith used to always bust us for being way too loud. Our peels of laughter used to reverberate through the hallway while we listened to CHUM and made fun of such dignitaries as Spammie and the Conster Monster. I'll stop now.
Random sightings
I bumped into a crap load of people from church. You know that is ALWAYS fun. As usual my first instinct is to run away and hide, most of the time I'm really succesful. Yesterday i was late for a class and couldn't find a suitable place to hide.
Person from church (PFC): Oh my goodness i totally did not recognize you
Me: Oh hi PFC *smiles awkwardly*
PFC: It's your clothes!
*side note*
We don't even need to go there. You've all seen the hurting church wardrobe that only sees the light of day on Sundays. Meanwhile PFC is dressed totally the same way as they would be at any church gathering
Me: Yeah, well you know how it is on Sunday mornings, no time at all to get properly dressed. I just roll out of bed and throw something on
PFC: You look better on Sundays.
Me: Hey look at the time, I'm late for class (jerk face)
I don't even know what to say to that. I nearly died laughing though that's for sure. Ah, the church wardrobe. It's not even a real wardrobe. It's more like a uniform. Same thing every Sunday. There's no pleasing some people eh? Speaking of which, i'm in the market for some new t-shirts because Black t-shirt + white dog = disaster.
Quips
Aiya talking to me last night after getting back from his camping trip
Aiya: Are Louis Vuitton wallets really expensive?
Me: Uh. Yeah.
Aiya: How expensive?
Me: More than even you or I would ever spend on a wallet
Aiya: Oh. So then I guess that the Louis Vuitton duffle bag is totally out of the question.
Typical Sven
Sven: This one's for Yaweh!
Me meeting an old acquaintance
Her: So are you seeing anyone?
Me: No, I've got to much stuff going on.
Her: Really? So I guess you don't have much fun then?
Me: What do you mean I "don't have much fun?"
Her: How can you have fun if you're not seeing someone?
*side note*
When I want to have fun, I go and see a movie. Not freaking date someone.
Ammi and I last night
Me: Hey did you know that the Sri Lankan national anthem is in Tamil too?
Her: *rolls eyes* Uh. YEAH.
Me: I don't think I've ever heard it in Tamil
*side note*
WORST thing to have possibly said to a tone deaf woman who enjoys singing
Her: *singing* Sri Lanka..
And one from the vault
Ammi: Shauna can you eat spicy things? Like salt and pepper?
*cue nostalgia*
The last time he graced us with his presence was what? Like two years ago? I shall proceed to reminisce on our past high school days. When i was the editor of the school newspaper (lol) and he was on Student Council. Remember the "office" we shared together? AKA the janitor's closet that was painted and had chairs in it. We froze in the winter and boiled in the summer. But it was all good. Thank God for the karaoke machine! Mrs. Smith used to always bust us for being way too loud. Our peels of laughter used to reverberate through the hallway while we listened to CHUM and made fun of such dignitaries as Spammie and the Conster Monster. I'll stop now.
Random sightings
I bumped into a crap load of people from church. You know that is ALWAYS fun. As usual my first instinct is to run away and hide, most of the time I'm really succesful. Yesterday i was late for a class and couldn't find a suitable place to hide.
Person from church (PFC): Oh my goodness i totally did not recognize you
Me: Oh hi PFC *smiles awkwardly*
PFC: It's your clothes!
*side note*
We don't even need to go there. You've all seen the hurting church wardrobe that only sees the light of day on Sundays. Meanwhile PFC is dressed totally the same way as they would be at any church gathering
Me: Yeah, well you know how it is on Sunday mornings, no time at all to get properly dressed. I just roll out of bed and throw something on
PFC: You look better on Sundays.
Me: Hey look at the time, I'm late for class (jerk face)
I don't even know what to say to that. I nearly died laughing though that's for sure. Ah, the church wardrobe. It's not even a real wardrobe. It's more like a uniform. Same thing every Sunday. There's no pleasing some people eh? Speaking of which, i'm in the market for some new t-shirts because Black t-shirt + white dog = disaster.
Quips
Aiya talking to me last night after getting back from his camping trip
Aiya: Are Louis Vuitton wallets really expensive?
Me: Uh. Yeah.
Aiya: How expensive?
Me: More than even you or I would ever spend on a wallet
Aiya: Oh. So then I guess that the Louis Vuitton duffle bag is totally out of the question.
Typical Sven
Sven: This one's for Yaweh!
Me meeting an old acquaintance
Her: So are you seeing anyone?
Me: No, I've got to much stuff going on.
Her: Really? So I guess you don't have much fun then?
Me: What do you mean I "don't have much fun?"
Her: How can you have fun if you're not seeing someone?
*side note*
When I want to have fun, I go and see a movie. Not freaking date someone.
Ammi and I last night
Me: Hey did you know that the Sri Lankan national anthem is in Tamil too?
Her: *rolls eyes* Uh. YEAH.
Me: I don't think I've ever heard it in Tamil
*side note*
WORST thing to have possibly said to a tone deaf woman who enjoys singing
Her: *singing* Sri Lanka..
And one from the vault
Ammi: Shauna can you eat spicy things? Like salt and pepper?
Monday, October 18, 2004
Sri Lanka matha, apa Sri Lanka namu namu namu namu matha, Sundara siri barini*
Last night I was watching CBC's "Greatest Canadian" special. They're out to find the greatest Canadian according to the regular population. It's really fascinating (no really, it is), last night they went through the top 50 nominees and some of the people that were on the list, were names I remember because they're considered "important" but that's about it. I was drawing a blank as to what their contributions were. There were the obvious ones, like Alexander Graham Bell. Sandford Fleming was on the list too, I had no clue who he was, the place where I had all my psych exams last year were in a building that had the same name, that's as far as my knowledge went on him though. Anyways, turns out he's the man who standardised time! Go figure eh?
(*sigh* remember Heritage Minutes? They're online now! You can WATCH them and relive the "Burnt Toast" moment as if you were still in grade 3! And you can learn more about Sandford Fleming too. It's win, win)
Internally Displaced
(- Feel free to skip this, I promise, it will make your eyes bleed and you will have sudden urges to stab yourself with small pointed objects. Trust me. I did.)
{This morning in my French class we had a laboratoire, and we had to listen to a thing about Mordecai Richler "L'héritage d'un grand écrivain." Yeah, who has time to think coherently on a Monday morning let alone in French. Anyways since Richler was a Jew who grew up in Montreal, he had this sense of duality. I think that's a trait that all "immigrant" kids feel. I'm not just a Canadian. And I'm not just a Sri Lankan. Canadians don't view me as a "real" Canadian, and Sri Lankans don't think I'm really Sri Lankan. It's almost as if I'm in limbo, living in a parallel "bizarro" world.** The best way to put it is that I sometimes feel like I'm an internally displaced person. I'm not the only one, and it's always interesting to meet other immigrant kids who feel the same way. I think we're the better for having those two distinct cultures and mindsets living in one body. At times yes, it's like a complex form of schizophrenia. But then again you can't have everything.
Sometimes I wonder where to draw the line. Our family isn't hardcore paked out, and I don't think it's b/c we "assimilated." Even back in the motherland we weren't hard core. The other day on my way home on the subway I was chatting to an acquaintance of mine who I went to Jr. High with. She's Sri Lankan too, but jebus, our families could be from two different planets. She was so surprised that we were not steeped in the whole arranged marriage culture. I told her that none of the people in my parents social circle had arranged marriages. I didn't think it was that much of a big deal. That whole issue of dealing with parents who are totally far out there (like hers) was never ever a problem with our parents. Even after they became Christians they're still really liberal minded, more liberally minded than some of the non-religious parents i know. I'm glad that my parents never forced us to go to Sinhala classes, one of the pluses of being a minority in a hugely Tamil Sri Lankan population. (Then again though they brought Piyo [my childhood nanny] to Canada to teach us Sinhala. We ended up teaching her English. What. She was a fast learner!) Sometimes i feel like a traitor because I can't speak it. When I went to Senegal i felt so guilty b/c I could speak French better than my own "mother tongue" (lol and my French SUCKS, Gina can back this up). I try to embrace as much of my "culture" as I can, but sometimes it feels so overwhelming. I don't try to run away from it like Salman Rushdie's Saladin Chamcha from The Satanic Verses or Michael Ondaatje's Anil Tissera from Anil's Ghost. (Both are amazing books! Go and read them.) I'm trying to juggle and walk in that middle ground all at the same time, where I can still listen to the music I like and wear the clothes that I like without being termed "white washed." Yeah we always joke around about how I am, but if I was more like my compatriots and listened to Hip Hop, R and B, dancehall, and wore clothes from Stitches, would I still be washed? Pfffft. (*shudder* i'm going cold just imagining that)}
Esto Perpetua
I like to see Sri Lankan people succeed and get recognition for their work. So what would that be? Me feeling patriotic or rooting for the underdog (like Greece at the EuroCup?) Who cares. I saw this article on the BBC and it made me happy. Home Truths For Sri Lankan Film. On the subject of Sri Lankans in general. I love Michael Ondaatje. Not only is he a Sri Lankan, but he also did some growing up here in Toronto. (Read some of his early poetry, there's a lot about the city in it.) He doesn't come across as someone who champions his roots, especially in interviews and stuff. But it's obvious that he is aware of them. (He wrote an entire book about it ;)) I wonder what he "does" to keep himself in check with Sri Lanka. He's burgher, so maybe he likes to berate people in Sinhala like my parents do (apparently it's the only way to successfully malign someone). I know for a that he doesn't take huge pride in his Alma Mater. He's an almunist of St. Thomas' College (if I had gone there, I wouldn't blame him from not participating, that many Sri Lankans in one place is just dangerous). Like Thathi and Aiya. Funny thing is I don't ever remember him showing up to the children's Christmas parties! He would have made a MUCH better Santa Clause than my bribed and humiliated brother. (Who was in the height of his rugby days, so he didn't even have the fat to pull it off unlike now.) And let's not forget that right of passage, the "Big Match" aka getting a chance to watch all our decrepit fathers take to the field for a game of cricket against their arch-rivals Royal College. If he came to that, the social secretary would probably have combusted. Good ol' Uncle Chicko. There is always hope that he might grace them with an appearance at the "Thomian Dance." LOL talk about trying to relive your youth. A bunch of past-their-prime old Sri Lankans getting together to relive their high school prom. It's hurting. Trust me. I'm glad that I left you with such a sweet mental image.
*First three lines of the Sri Lankan national anthem
Translation:
Mother Lanka - We salute thee!
Plenteous in prosperity, Thou,
Beautous in grace and love.
(Entire lyrics and translation)
**Remember that episode of Seinfeld with Bizarro Jerry? :)
(*sigh* remember Heritage Minutes? They're online now! You can WATCH them and relive the "Burnt Toast" moment as if you were still in grade 3! And you can learn more about Sandford Fleming too. It's win, win)
Internally Displaced
(- Feel free to skip this, I promise, it will make your eyes bleed and you will have sudden urges to stab yourself with small pointed objects. Trust me. I did.)
{This morning in my French class we had a laboratoire, and we had to listen to a thing about Mordecai Richler "L'héritage d'un grand écrivain." Yeah, who has time to think coherently on a Monday morning let alone in French. Anyways since Richler was a Jew who grew up in Montreal, he had this sense of duality. I think that's a trait that all "immigrant" kids feel. I'm not just a Canadian. And I'm not just a Sri Lankan. Canadians don't view me as a "real" Canadian, and Sri Lankans don't think I'm really Sri Lankan. It's almost as if I'm in limbo, living in a parallel "bizarro" world.** The best way to put it is that I sometimes feel like I'm an internally displaced person. I'm not the only one, and it's always interesting to meet other immigrant kids who feel the same way. I think we're the better for having those two distinct cultures and mindsets living in one body. At times yes, it's like a complex form of schizophrenia. But then again you can't have everything.
Sometimes I wonder where to draw the line. Our family isn't hardcore paked out, and I don't think it's b/c we "assimilated." Even back in the motherland we weren't hard core. The other day on my way home on the subway I was chatting to an acquaintance of mine who I went to Jr. High with. She's Sri Lankan too, but jebus, our families could be from two different planets. She was so surprised that we were not steeped in the whole arranged marriage culture. I told her that none of the people in my parents social circle had arranged marriages. I didn't think it was that much of a big deal. That whole issue of dealing with parents who are totally far out there (like hers) was never ever a problem with our parents. Even after they became Christians they're still really liberal minded, more liberally minded than some of the non-religious parents i know. I'm glad that my parents never forced us to go to Sinhala classes, one of the pluses of being a minority in a hugely Tamil Sri Lankan population. (Then again though they brought Piyo [my childhood nanny] to Canada to teach us Sinhala. We ended up teaching her English. What. She was a fast learner!) Sometimes i feel like a traitor because I can't speak it. When I went to Senegal i felt so guilty b/c I could speak French better than my own "mother tongue" (lol and my French SUCKS, Gina can back this up). I try to embrace as much of my "culture" as I can, but sometimes it feels so overwhelming. I don't try to run away from it like Salman Rushdie's Saladin Chamcha from The Satanic Verses or Michael Ondaatje's Anil Tissera from Anil's Ghost. (Both are amazing books! Go and read them.) I'm trying to juggle and walk in that middle ground all at the same time, where I can still listen to the music I like and wear the clothes that I like without being termed "white washed." Yeah we always joke around about how I am, but if I was more like my compatriots and listened to Hip Hop, R and B, dancehall, and wore clothes from Stitches, would I still be washed? Pfffft. (*shudder* i'm going cold just imagining that)}
Esto Perpetua
I like to see Sri Lankan people succeed and get recognition for their work. So what would that be? Me feeling patriotic or rooting for the underdog (like Greece at the EuroCup?) Who cares. I saw this article on the BBC and it made me happy. Home Truths For Sri Lankan Film. On the subject of Sri Lankans in general. I love Michael Ondaatje. Not only is he a Sri Lankan, but he also did some growing up here in Toronto. (Read some of his early poetry, there's a lot about the city in it.) He doesn't come across as someone who champions his roots, especially in interviews and stuff. But it's obvious that he is aware of them. (He wrote an entire book about it ;)) I wonder what he "does" to keep himself in check with Sri Lanka. He's burgher, so maybe he likes to berate people in Sinhala like my parents do (apparently it's the only way to successfully malign someone). I know for a that he doesn't take huge pride in his Alma Mater. He's an almunist of St. Thomas' College (if I had gone there, I wouldn't blame him from not participating, that many Sri Lankans in one place is just dangerous). Like Thathi and Aiya. Funny thing is I don't ever remember him showing up to the children's Christmas parties! He would have made a MUCH better Santa Clause than my bribed and humiliated brother. (Who was in the height of his rugby days, so he didn't even have the fat to pull it off unlike now.) And let's not forget that right of passage, the "Big Match" aka getting a chance to watch all our decrepit fathers take to the field for a game of cricket against their arch-rivals Royal College. If he came to that, the social secretary would probably have combusted. Good ol' Uncle Chicko. There is always hope that he might grace them with an appearance at the "Thomian Dance." LOL talk about trying to relive your youth. A bunch of past-their-prime old Sri Lankans getting together to relive their high school prom. It's hurting. Trust me. I'm glad that I left you with such a sweet mental image.
*First three lines of the Sri Lankan national anthem
Translation:
Mother Lanka - We salute thee!
Plenteous in prosperity, Thou,
Beautous in grace and love.
(Entire lyrics and translation)
**Remember that episode of Seinfeld with Bizarro Jerry? :)
Sunday, October 17, 2004
Friday, October 15, 2004
This is My United States of Whatever
I watched the Presidential debate last night. 1.5 hours of my life that I will never get back. I was so bored and tempted to just turn it off and walk away, but I forced myself to sit through it. Oilver was out COLD. (The same thing happened to him during the DNC, he slept right through Al Sharpton's speech. Usually he's a pretty good judge, if something sucks he sleeps through it. Let me tell you, he's got KILLER taste in music, his only downfall, he enjoys Britney Spears.) Anyways. *yawn* I'm falling asleep just talking about last night. I wonder though if they found another bulge in the President's jacket.
God Squad
Am I the only one who felt really uncomfortable with all the Christian references last night? I don't know man, but the whole collision of Church and state, it doesn't sit all that well with me. While on the subject though, I've always wondered about this. George W. Bush claims very voiciferously that he's a Christian etc. What he stands for seems to be in direct contradiction. He is a proponent of the death penalty, but he's against abortion b/c it's taking away someone else's life. He wants America to be the global leader in spreading peace and justice, but his closest allies in the "War on Terror" happen to be vehmently against that. *cough* Saudia Arabia *cough* torturing people *cough* Let's not get started with Guantanamo. It just makes me sad the things that politicians do to further their own agendas in the guise of noble things like justice and peace when in actuality it's done in self interest.
It was like a tripod
Aiya and I talking about dogs on Thanksgiving day.
Aiya - I saw this gorgeous dog the other day. It was a Husky.
Me - Oh yeah?
Aiya - Yeah, you know the kind that has like those cool coloured eyes. But it only had three legs. So it was actually more like a tripod. But a really weird shaped tripod.
Me - I wonder how it pees
Aiya - Yeah i thought about that too. See it's right front leg is missing, so if it holds up it's back left leg to pee then it'll be able to balance without falling over.
God Squad
Am I the only one who felt really uncomfortable with all the Christian references last night? I don't know man, but the whole collision of Church and state, it doesn't sit all that well with me. While on the subject though, I've always wondered about this. George W. Bush claims very voiciferously that he's a Christian etc. What he stands for seems to be in direct contradiction. He is a proponent of the death penalty, but he's against abortion b/c it's taking away someone else's life. He wants America to be the global leader in spreading peace and justice, but his closest allies in the "War on Terror" happen to be vehmently against that. *cough* Saudia Arabia *cough* torturing people *cough* Let's not get started with Guantanamo. It just makes me sad the things that politicians do to further their own agendas in the guise of noble things like justice and peace when in actuality it's done in self interest.
It was like a tripod
Aiya and I talking about dogs on Thanksgiving day.
Aiya - I saw this gorgeous dog the other day. It was a Husky.
Me - Oh yeah?
Aiya - Yeah, you know the kind that has like those cool coloured eyes. But it only had three legs. So it was actually more like a tripod. But a really weird shaped tripod.
Me - I wonder how it pees
Aiya - Yeah i thought about that too. See it's right front leg is missing, so if it holds up it's back left leg to pee then it'll be able to balance without falling over.
I've been updating pretty frequently. Just watch though. It'll all go to crap pretty soon.
*Special thanks goes out to aiya, for getting that song stuck in my head at an early juncture this evening.Wednesday, October 13, 2004
It's not brain surgery. It's a samosa
*Gobble*Gobble*Gobble*
What a Thanksgiving. It's been awhile since we've had sooo many people crammed into one house. *sigh* the Malvern days, Thanksgiving day lunch with all the family and adopted family = fun times. This year we had 26 people staying with us for our Church convention. It was NUTS. Abs' younger sister came from Montreal! That was definitely THE highlight of the weekend. Then of course our feuding Inuits, celebrity guests and droves of children. I'm not going to lie, it had the potential to turn into a billeting nightmare from hell but thank God it did not! Here's a rundown...
Gus??
Thathi took the day off on Thursday. We found ourselves in Malvern. We seemed to be drawn back to the ghetto almost instinctively. It's a phenomenon. I can't explain it. Somehow we ended up at No Frills of all places. No Frills AND Malvern. Now that's class. Can someone tell me when 'Steve and Brian's No Frills' became 'Gus' No Frills?!'
(Gus and his No Frills)
Inuit Smack Down
*YAY* Debs came on Friday. Luckily we were able to sneak back home after picking her up at the bus station before all the hordes of people came over. Tonite was the nite the fun started. We had a family of 9, they had 7 kids ranging from the ages of 11 months to 9. A bunch of people from Washington two guys from New York (the celebrities, the webmasters of a church-ish website called Blueradius) and the best guests ever. The Inuit ladies. Most of you have heard the story already so i won't bother retelling it to you. For those of you who haven't, here's a scintilating snippet from the end of one of their conversations "I'm not sleeping next to that piece of sh*t." Call me. I'll give you the details ;)
To the scholars who came home for Thanksgiving. I really wanted to call you on Friday night. Honest. I did. I was thinking about you guys all weekend. Guess it'll have to wait for December.
Ollie Got Served
Saturday was crazy. Especially Saturday afternoon. Finally Oliver got a taste of his own freaking medicine! David and Judith's 6 kids "played" with him in the afternoon for like 2 hours. He couldn't take it. You know how normally it doesn't matter WHAT you do to the loser he never gets tired. Now we know. Let him lose with 6 wild children for two hours and he'll be exhausted.
(David and Judith's Clan 'hiding' from Oliver l-r Elizabeth (6), Davey (4), Joey (8), Josh (9.5), Sarah (7), Mercy (3), missing: Caleb (11 months))
(As if they could remain on the ground like that, here they are again (same order))
I had Samosa duty on Saturday. I've come to the conclusion that i can never be in the service industry. People irritate me too much. It's really simple guys. You have two choices, a mild samosa, or a hot one. Pick one. For the love of God. Just pick one and keep walking. Thathi and I had clean up duty at the church. AKA Washing huge massive pots that you could cook children in, but without hot water or good sponges.
(The ladies making Tuna sandwiches l-r Debs, Aunty Lydia, Vindhiya and Pasha)
"Would you like stuffing with that?"
I had Turkey duty on Sunday. It was unpleasent. I was manning the stuffing. Sunday was the last day of the Convention. And i was kind of sad to see it end. I had a lot of fun this year. Mainly because the house was rammed with people and Debs came from Montreal. At the same time having so many people really did suck. Only because one of the (many) things that I look forward to about having strange people come and stay at our house is getting to know them. This was virtually impossible this year. But here are a few things our family managed to collectively glean from random conversations with our guests.
Sis Robin from Washington - Her son has a very uncommon name. They look African American mixed with something else. I don't want to butcher his name but it's really cool. Ammi asked her what it meant. Turns out his name is Polynesian for Charles, his father named him that b/c he himself is Polynesian!
Sis Susan half of the Inuit duo - Susan is the sweetest old lady EVER. She stayed with us one extra day so i got to spend a little time with her. She's 77 years old and man has she been through a LOT. In a nutshell: She was married to an Anglican priest who was sent to the North to establish a church. It took him an entire year to save up enough money to buy sled dogs to make the journey. She and her 12 children went along with him. Only 5 of her kids died, the other 7 died due to the severe weather conditions. Her husband also died early on, some lung ailment, but she continued on. Remember that "Transformations" video that Radford made us watch? The one with the world wide revivals on it? The Inuit community that they filmed, that's Susan's home! And the church that was there is the one that her husband built!
(Susan getting some loving from Oliver)
Sis Pia - She's an official translator! She gets hired by the CBC and stuff to do work from Inuktituk (sp?!) into English and vice versa.
Ben from Yonkers NY - Wants to go to Africa for a year. (Good choice btw ;))
Franklin from Yonkers NY - Was watching his carb intake. Refused an offer to have raisins picked out from his breakfast to lower the carb count. Pure madness.
Bro Andy from Washington DC - LOVED Oliver. But was also afraid of him. They'd play but Andy would get scared and jump away. And do the nervous laugh. The "i'm not scared, but i'm scared" laugh.
Here are some random pictures
Sparky, looking a lot like Anthony Hopkins in promotional posters for the Shining
Debs and Lou reunited again after leaving Vancouver
A present from Sarah on our Magnadoodle
Aiya and Sis Gail representin'...Punchy's just blurry :P
(Remember, if there's a name that doesn't look familiar to you check the brief lexicon :))
That's all for now!
What a Thanksgiving. It's been awhile since we've had sooo many people crammed into one house. *sigh* the Malvern days, Thanksgiving day lunch with all the family and adopted family = fun times. This year we had 26 people staying with us for our Church convention. It was NUTS. Abs' younger sister came from Montreal! That was definitely THE highlight of the weekend. Then of course our feuding Inuits, celebrity guests and droves of children. I'm not going to lie, it had the potential to turn into a billeting nightmare from hell but thank God it did not! Here's a rundown...
Gus??
Thathi took the day off on Thursday. We found ourselves in Malvern. We seemed to be drawn back to the ghetto almost instinctively. It's a phenomenon. I can't explain it. Somehow we ended up at No Frills of all places. No Frills AND Malvern. Now that's class. Can someone tell me when 'Steve and Brian's No Frills' became 'Gus' No Frills?!'
(Gus and his No Frills)
Inuit Smack Down
*YAY* Debs came on Friday. Luckily we were able to sneak back home after picking her up at the bus station before all the hordes of people came over. Tonite was the nite the fun started. We had a family of 9, they had 7 kids ranging from the ages of 11 months to 9. A bunch of people from Washington two guys from New York (the celebrities, the webmasters of a church-ish website called Blueradius) and the best guests ever. The Inuit ladies. Most of you have heard the story already so i won't bother retelling it to you. For those of you who haven't, here's a scintilating snippet from the end of one of their conversations "I'm not sleeping next to that piece of sh*t." Call me. I'll give you the details ;)
To the scholars who came home for Thanksgiving. I really wanted to call you on Friday night. Honest. I did. I was thinking about you guys all weekend. Guess it'll have to wait for December.
Ollie Got Served
Saturday was crazy. Especially Saturday afternoon. Finally Oliver got a taste of his own freaking medicine! David and Judith's 6 kids "played" with him in the afternoon for like 2 hours. He couldn't take it. You know how normally it doesn't matter WHAT you do to the loser he never gets tired. Now we know. Let him lose with 6 wild children for two hours and he'll be exhausted.
(David and Judith's Clan 'hiding' from Oliver l-r Elizabeth (6), Davey (4), Joey (8), Josh (9.5), Sarah (7), Mercy (3), missing: Caleb (11 months))
(As if they could remain on the ground like that, here they are again (same order))
I had Samosa duty on Saturday. I've come to the conclusion that i can never be in the service industry. People irritate me too much. It's really simple guys. You have two choices, a mild samosa, or a hot one. Pick one. For the love of God. Just pick one and keep walking. Thathi and I had clean up duty at the church. AKA Washing huge massive pots that you could cook children in, but without hot water or good sponges.
(The ladies making Tuna sandwiches l-r Debs, Aunty Lydia, Vindhiya and Pasha)
"Would you like stuffing with that?"
I had Turkey duty on Sunday. It was unpleasent. I was manning the stuffing. Sunday was the last day of the Convention. And i was kind of sad to see it end. I had a lot of fun this year. Mainly because the house was rammed with people and Debs came from Montreal. At the same time having so many people really did suck. Only because one of the (many) things that I look forward to about having strange people come and stay at our house is getting to know them. This was virtually impossible this year. But here are a few things our family managed to collectively glean from random conversations with our guests.
Sis Robin from Washington - Her son has a very uncommon name. They look African American mixed with something else. I don't want to butcher his name but it's really cool. Ammi asked her what it meant. Turns out his name is Polynesian for Charles, his father named him that b/c he himself is Polynesian!
Sis Susan half of the Inuit duo - Susan is the sweetest old lady EVER. She stayed with us one extra day so i got to spend a little time with her. She's 77 years old and man has she been through a LOT. In a nutshell: She was married to an Anglican priest who was sent to the North to establish a church. It took him an entire year to save up enough money to buy sled dogs to make the journey. She and her 12 children went along with him. Only 5 of her kids died, the other 7 died due to the severe weather conditions. Her husband also died early on, some lung ailment, but she continued on. Remember that "Transformations" video that Radford made us watch? The one with the world wide revivals on it? The Inuit community that they filmed, that's Susan's home! And the church that was there is the one that her husband built!
(Susan getting some loving from Oliver)
Sis Pia - She's an official translator! She gets hired by the CBC and stuff to do work from Inuktituk (sp?!) into English and vice versa.
Ben from Yonkers NY - Wants to go to Africa for a year. (Good choice btw ;))
Franklin from Yonkers NY - Was watching his carb intake. Refused an offer to have raisins picked out from his breakfast to lower the carb count. Pure madness.
Bro Andy from Washington DC - LOVED Oliver. But was also afraid of him. They'd play but Andy would get scared and jump away. And do the nervous laugh. The "i'm not scared, but i'm scared" laugh.
Here are some random pictures
Sparky, looking a lot like Anthony Hopkins in promotional posters for the Shining
Debs and Lou reunited again after leaving Vancouver
A present from Sarah on our Magnadoodle
Aiya and Sis Gail representin'...Punchy's just blurry :P
(Remember, if there's a name that doesn't look familiar to you check the brief lexicon :))
That's all for now!
Monday, October 04, 2004
It's, it's like a lava lamp!
OoOo lots of things to talk about!! I have been having lots of random fun.
But first
A lexicon of terms, for those who asked for clarification.
Ammi - Sinhalese, means mom
Thathi - Sinhalese, means dad
Aiya - Sinhalese, means older brother
Oliver - our Jack Russell Terrier
Punchy - Sinhalese for little, it's what we call my mom's younger sister
Ranjan Bappa - Punchy's husband
Vhindiya - My female cousin
Paul - My other female cousin
Bro/Sis - I go to a hardcore Pentecostal church, need i say more?
Alby, Copto, Genis/Gene/Tool, Labro etc - Friends from high school.
Thorn - University buddy
And now in no particular order a smattering of how i have been occupying myself
:) Slobo's Baby Shower - Baby Showers are fun. They're even more fun when they're for friends! Slobo's was great. The moment of the night had to have been the "Copto" revelation. Copto was demanding answers and no one could give him any! (Slobo holding up Genis' baby clothes!)
:) Meeting the Dutch hottie - Alby and I had loads of fun. Perhaps the best part of it all was watching Dirjk (the Dutch hottie) fold his massive 6 foot+ frame into ammi's tiny little Carolla. (l-r: Dutch cuties + Alby)
:P Going to the Blue Jays' Game - I hate baseball. I still had fun though. It all started off with a guy hitting on Alby, using the smooth pick up line of "Hi, were you at Spring Rolls on Sunday night? I saw you there, my name is Kelly" *extends creepy hand* Alby getting excited and hitting Sonic's hand and Sonic spilling Coke on her upper thigh. Labro "supposedly" getting asked for her phone number by Jays' starting pitcher 'Botista' none of us have a clue as to who the heck he is LOL. Being told we're not allowed to take pictures in the stadiuam b/c it's "distracting" to the players. Riight. So we took one anyway. (l-r: Sonic and Alby)
:) Shopping with Alby like it was 1999 - To make up for the lost summer Alby and i saw a tonne of movies after i finished work. The one that really sticks out the most though is the night we went to see Collateral (of course we had to assign real life characters, Alby was Jamie Foxx, and i was Tom Cruise i don't remember who was Jada Pinkett, but it was probably Genis as usual). We went shopping before the movie and came to this conclusion. It would be impossible for us to have a psychological disorder. We could never be anorexic b/c we don't have ANY self control...we must eat. And we can't be "cutters" either b/c neither of us would ever have the guts to cut ourselves :) Another more important conclusion. Shopping for jeans = robbing a chick of all self-esteem that they might have. Flipping jeans. The sad thing is. They really do. To make amends i bought a fetching purse for a fetching price.
:) Monet - So Thorn and i went to see the Impressionist exhibit that was going on at the AGO. Whistler, Monet, and Turner. Let me tell you. It kicked some serious arse. I had such a good time. We got our tickets for free b/c some lady didn't want to wait in the crazy long entrance line. I can't wait to go to Europe. I finally got a real taste of what it's like to see the work of artists that you admire up close. There was a certain thrill in looking at paintings that you're familiar with...seeing the individual brush strokes, looking at the signature and all the minute little details and knowing that you and a couple of hundred other people in the room are looking at a piece of history. *emo shudder.* This is also the day i cut my own bangs in the bathroom. They were getting too long! (Thorn at the crusty St. Patrick's Station hold up one of our FREE ticket stubs :))
:S People trying to be philosophical, when they shouldn't - I was on the subway and this was taped to the seat in front of me. I think the ridiculousness of it speaks for itself. I hope it's clear enough for you to read it. (Read me if you dare!)
:( It's, it's like a lava lamp! - I know low-rise, crotch dusting jeans are supposedly in style. I too hate wearing pants that are too high. BUT. Something about having your arse hang out of your pants everytime you bend over does not appeal to me either. PEOPLE. PLEASE. STOP. WITH. THE. OVER. EXPOSURE. So Thorn and I are walking on Bloor street b/c she wanted to go and check Aritzia out. Just ahead of us is a fat chick in low rise pants and a CROPPED vintage t-shirt two sizes too small. I'm not thin. I know that. But as i stated above, i don't wear those freaking ultra low rise pants. Her rolls were out for the entire world to see. There must have been a foot of exposure from the waist of her pants to the bottom of her shirt. I like to keep my rolls private. But really. They were mesmerizing. Thorn aptly pointed out that "it's, it's like a lava lamp."
More Recently
Fanners and I hit up H&M. I got a sweet men's hat :) After H&M we went to Old Navy. Where we tried on children's Halloween costumes. Fanners is freakishly small, and i have a freakishly small head and feet. We took these pictures in the mirror; hence the overall bad quality picture. I'm a mouse, and Fanner's is a fairy :P (l-r: Fanners et moi)
:D Olivier - He got a new collar. It's kind of like a muzzle. But not so evil and mean. He hates it as you can see here, here, and here lol. He started obedience school, and he's bad so he gets stuck with a "Gentle Leader" as it is called. For the Sri Lankan/Indians out there. When you were a kid did you ever use your dad's sarong/lungi as a swing? I used to do it ALL THE TIME. Oliver enjoys doing it too. Yeah, Thathi's wearing a Scotiabank t-shirt. (Thathi and Ollie at the kitchen table)
In other news
We might have 30 people staying with us for Thanksgiving weekend. Yeah it's that time of year again! Our church is having it's annual Thanksgiving Conference (which you are ALL most welcome to attend btw!! October 7-10) and they want to take advantage of all the space in our empty basement. We have 3.5 washrooms. Will this be a billeting nightmare(as in years past)? Or billeting fun time? Stay tuned to find out!
But first
A lexicon of terms, for those who asked for clarification.
Ammi - Sinhalese, means mom
Thathi - Sinhalese, means dad
Aiya - Sinhalese, means older brother
Oliver - our Jack Russell Terrier
Punchy - Sinhalese for little, it's what we call my mom's younger sister
Ranjan Bappa - Punchy's husband
Vhindiya - My female cousin
Paul - My other female cousin
Bro/Sis - I go to a hardcore Pentecostal church, need i say more?
Alby, Copto, Genis/Gene/Tool, Labro etc - Friends from high school.
Thorn - University buddy
And now in no particular order a smattering of how i have been occupying myself
:) Slobo's Baby Shower - Baby Showers are fun. They're even more fun when they're for friends! Slobo's was great. The moment of the night had to have been the "Copto" revelation. Copto was demanding answers and no one could give him any! (Slobo holding up Genis' baby clothes!)
:) Meeting the Dutch hottie - Alby and I had loads of fun. Perhaps the best part of it all was watching Dirjk (the Dutch hottie) fold his massive 6 foot+ frame into ammi's tiny little Carolla. (l-r: Dutch cuties + Alby)
:P Going to the Blue Jays' Game - I hate baseball. I still had fun though. It all started off with a guy hitting on Alby, using the smooth pick up line of "Hi, were you at Spring Rolls on Sunday night? I saw you there, my name is Kelly" *extends creepy hand* Alby getting excited and hitting Sonic's hand and Sonic spilling Coke on her upper thigh. Labro "supposedly" getting asked for her phone number by Jays' starting pitcher 'Botista' none of us have a clue as to who the heck he is LOL. Being told we're not allowed to take pictures in the stadiuam b/c it's "distracting" to the players. Riight. So we took one anyway. (l-r: Sonic and Alby)
:) Shopping with Alby like it was 1999 - To make up for the lost summer Alby and i saw a tonne of movies after i finished work. The one that really sticks out the most though is the night we went to see Collateral (of course we had to assign real life characters, Alby was Jamie Foxx, and i was Tom Cruise i don't remember who was Jada Pinkett, but it was probably Genis as usual). We went shopping before the movie and came to this conclusion. It would be impossible for us to have a psychological disorder. We could never be anorexic b/c we don't have ANY self control...we must eat. And we can't be "cutters" either b/c neither of us would ever have the guts to cut ourselves :) Another more important conclusion. Shopping for jeans = robbing a chick of all self-esteem that they might have. Flipping jeans. The sad thing is. They really do. To make amends i bought a fetching purse for a fetching price.
:) Monet - So Thorn and i went to see the Impressionist exhibit that was going on at the AGO. Whistler, Monet, and Turner. Let me tell you. It kicked some serious arse. I had such a good time. We got our tickets for free b/c some lady didn't want to wait in the crazy long entrance line. I can't wait to go to Europe. I finally got a real taste of what it's like to see the work of artists that you admire up close. There was a certain thrill in looking at paintings that you're familiar with...seeing the individual brush strokes, looking at the signature and all the minute little details and knowing that you and a couple of hundred other people in the room are looking at a piece of history. *emo shudder.* This is also the day i cut my own bangs in the bathroom. They were getting too long! (Thorn at the crusty St. Patrick's Station hold up one of our FREE ticket stubs :))
:S People trying to be philosophical, when they shouldn't - I was on the subway and this was taped to the seat in front of me. I think the ridiculousness of it speaks for itself. I hope it's clear enough for you to read it. (Read me if you dare!)
:( It's, it's like a lava lamp! - I know low-rise, crotch dusting jeans are supposedly in style. I too hate wearing pants that are too high. BUT. Something about having your arse hang out of your pants everytime you bend over does not appeal to me either. PEOPLE. PLEASE. STOP. WITH. THE. OVER. EXPOSURE. So Thorn and I are walking on Bloor street b/c she wanted to go and check Aritzia out. Just ahead of us is a fat chick in low rise pants and a CROPPED vintage t-shirt two sizes too small. I'm not thin. I know that. But as i stated above, i don't wear those freaking ultra low rise pants. Her rolls were out for the entire world to see. There must have been a foot of exposure from the waist of her pants to the bottom of her shirt. I like to keep my rolls private. But really. They were mesmerizing. Thorn aptly pointed out that "it's, it's like a lava lamp."
More Recently
Fanners and I hit up H&M. I got a sweet men's hat :) After H&M we went to Old Navy. Where we tried on children's Halloween costumes. Fanners is freakishly small, and i have a freakishly small head and feet. We took these pictures in the mirror; hence the overall bad quality picture. I'm a mouse, and Fanner's is a fairy :P (l-r: Fanners et moi)
:D Olivier - He got a new collar. It's kind of like a muzzle. But not so evil and mean. He hates it as you can see here, here, and here lol. He started obedience school, and he's bad so he gets stuck with a "Gentle Leader" as it is called. For the Sri Lankan/Indians out there. When you were a kid did you ever use your dad's sarong/lungi as a swing? I used to do it ALL THE TIME. Oliver enjoys doing it too. Yeah, Thathi's wearing a Scotiabank t-shirt. (Thathi and Ollie at the kitchen table)
In other news
We might have 30 people staying with us for Thanksgiving weekend. Yeah it's that time of year again! Our church is having it's annual Thanksgiving Conference (which you are ALL most welcome to attend btw!! October 7-10) and they want to take advantage of all the space in our empty basement. We have 3.5 washrooms. Will this be a billeting nightmare(as in years past)? Or billeting fun time? Stay tuned to find out!
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